The number posted for making reservations at the Kissimmee, Florida Holiday Inn that we had posted earlier is incorrect. It has been corrected on the relevant post. The correct number is
888-465-4329 (888-HOLIDAY)
Thanks to Joe Sanderlin for bringing this to my attention! I have let the organizer of the event know, as the incorrect number (which was earlier connecting to a Medical Alert Bracelet line) is on their website and on their flyers as well.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Games & a trick from the World Rapid Championships
I was watching the coverage of the 2016 edition of the FIDE World Rapid Championships today and saw a game of some interest to the many of us in the club that play the French Defense. Anna Muzychuk playing White mated Alina Kashlinskaya in 23 moves in a French Defense Exchange Variation. Not only that, the queens came off the board on move seven! A lesson on how NOT to play the French Exchange as Black.
A game that I liked (Komodo 8)
The moves 68 Rb6-b5+ Ke5-d4 have just been played. Nepo has almost achieved his goal, which is to capture the a-pawn and bishop, securing a draw. But there's a trick! If now 69 Rxa5 Kc4 and White finds himself on the losing end of a mating attack!
Aronian is a real artist at the board, and this is just another example.
However, Nepo realized there was a rat and played 69 Rh5 instead, and eventually made the draw. I'll try to remember to post the whole game score later.
[Event "World Rapid Women 2016"]
[Site "Doha QAT"]
[Date "2016.12.27"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "Muzychuk, Anna"]
[Black "Kashlinskaya, Alina"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2558"]
[BlackElo "2429"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "2016.12.26"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bd3 Bd6 6. Qe2+ Qe7 7. Qxe7+ Bxe7
8. Bf4 c6 9. h3 Ne4 10. O-O O-O 11. Re1 Bf5 12. Nbd2 Nxd2 13. Rxe7 Nxf3+ 14.
gxf3 Bxh3 15. Rxb7 Re8 16. Kh2 Be6 17. Re1 Rd8 18. Bc7 Rc8 19. f4 g6 20. f5
gxf5 21. Rg1+ Kf8 22. Bd6+ Ke8 23. Rg8# 1-0
Yuck!
On a more amusing note, the game between Nepomniachtchi and Aronian featured a nice trick in the endgame. Here's the position:
The moves 68 Rb6-b5+ Ke5-d4 have just been played. Nepo has almost achieved his goal, which is to capture the a-pawn and bishop, securing a draw. But there's a trick! If now 69 Rxa5 Kc4 and White finds himself on the losing end of a mating attack!
Aronian is a real artist at the board, and this is just another example.
However, Nepo realized there was a rat and played 69 Rh5 instead, and eventually made the draw. I'll try to remember to post the whole game score later.
Monday, December 26, 2016
Merry Christmas
Now don't strain your eyes....
White to play and mate in 8 moves!https://t.co/fPEDHmr07b pic.twitter.com/WtdJreUrha
— lichess.org (@lichessorg) December 25, 2016
Monday, December 12, 2016
Dumpster Diving on a sunny afternoon - somewhere not here, somewhen not now.
[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2016.12.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "fischerrevange"]
[Black "THDurham"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1761"]
[BlackElo "1764"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[TimeControl "180+2"]
1. f3 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Nf6 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 2. e4 {[%emt 0:00:02]} d6 {[%emt 0:
00:02]} 3. d4 {[%emt 0:00:02]} g6 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 4. c3 {[%emt 0:00:02]} Bg7 {
[%emt 0:00:04]} 5. Be3 {[%emt 0:00:02]} O-O {[%emt 0:00:01]} 6. Bd3 {[%emt 0:
00:02]} e5 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 7. d5 {[%emt 0:00:02]} b6 {[%emt 0:00:07]} 8. Ne2 {
[%emt 0:00:01]} Na6 {[%emt 0:00:03]} 9. b4 {[%emt 0:00:09]} Nb8 {[%emt 0:00:04]
} 10. O-O {[%emt 0:00:02]} a5 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 11. b5 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Nbd7 {
[%emt 0:00:10]} 12. c4 {[%emt 0:00:14]} Nc5 {[%emt 0:00:05]} 13. Bxc5 {[%emt 0:
00:03]} dxc5 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 14. h3 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Ne8 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 15.
Nbc3 {[%emt 0:00:03]} Nd6 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 16. a4 {[%emt 0:00:07]} f5 {[%emt 0:
00:05]} 17. Rc1 {[%emt 0:00:05]} Bh6 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 18. Rc2 {[%emt 0:00:04]}
Be3+ {[%emt 0:00:02]} 19. Kh1 {[%emt 0:00:02]} f4 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 20. Qa1 {
[%emt 0:00:06]} Qg5 {[%emt 0:00:10]} 21. Nd1 {[%emt 0:00:11]} Bd4 {[%emt 0:00:
04]} 22. Nxd4 {[%emt 0:00:03]} exd4 {[%emt 0:00:14]} 23. Nf2 {[%emt 0:00:04]}
Nf7 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 24. Qd1 {[%emt 0:00:04]} Ne5 {[%emt 0:00:01]} 25. Re1 {
[%emt 0:00:03]} Qg3 {[%emt 0:00:06]} 26. Ng4 {[%emt 0:00:09]} Bxg4 {[%emt 0:00:
17]} 27. hxg4 {[%emt 0:00:02]} g5 {[%emt 0:00:14]} 28. Bf1 {[%emt 0:00:17]} Rf6
{[%emt 0:00:03]} 29. Kg1 {[%emt 0:00:11]} Rh6 {[%emt 0:00:02]} 30. Qd2 {[%emt
0:00:15]} Nxf3# {[%emt 0:00:19]} 0-1
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
“Any [redacted]-head could do a better job.”
The title is a quote from 2010, uttered by Anatoly Karpov, twelfth world champion, regarding Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's reign as President of FIDE. Yes, it violates one of the blog's policies, but that can't be helped, as it (a) is an accurate quote and (b) sums up the situation regarding the World Chess Federation perfectly, even if it is six years old.
This is all brought up due to a somewhat interesting article on FIDE and the current World Championship Match published by Bloomberg. You can find that article here.
This is all brought up due to a somewhat interesting article on FIDE and the current World Championship Match published by Bloomberg. You can find that article here.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Crushing disappointment? No, a ray of sunshine!
Last Saturday, November 19, 2016, Paul Leggett and I trekked over to Daytona for the November Chess Challenge, put on by Stephen Lampkin. It was a good tournament for both Paul and me, as we both picked up about 70 rating points on our regular ratings. Additionally, I finished second, and beat my first master in a rated game. Woo hoo!
But I'm not here to write about any of the good stuff. I'm here to write about my sole loss from the tournament, against FM Jorge Leon Oquendo, USCF 2473, FIDE 2380. The game started kind of strangely, as you will see, and became very complicated. Mikhail Tal once wrote, "You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one." This I did! And though the balance swung a little this way and that, it was my opponent who eventually stumbled and fell! But two moves later, in a fit a utter carelessness, I missed the winning move and lost in turn. Yes, I lost a game I should have won against a player rated almost 2500.
But rather than feeling crushing disappointment at this missed opportunity (this is only the second time I have even played a senior master in a rated game), I feel quite good. After all, I did play mostly well enough to win against such a good opponent, and it gives me hope that I am once again starting to get better at the game. It has been many years since that was true, but circumstances have given me the means and opportunity to improve my game even at the advanced age of 48.
I've placed the game, with my hand-written notes, below the fold. I have partly supplemented them with a few computer suggestions. I'm not going to put it in the ChessBase viewer this time, so this post will be long. I will include plenty of diagrams so that the game can be followed. (The time control was Game in 45 minutes, with a five second delay. Numbers in parentheses after the moves show time remaining in minutes, and later in minutes & seconds.)
But I'm not here to write about any of the good stuff. I'm here to write about my sole loss from the tournament, against FM Jorge Leon Oquendo, USCF 2473, FIDE 2380. The game started kind of strangely, as you will see, and became very complicated. Mikhail Tal once wrote, "You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one." This I did! And though the balance swung a little this way and that, it was my opponent who eventually stumbled and fell! But two moves later, in a fit a utter carelessness, I missed the winning move and lost in turn. Yes, I lost a game I should have won against a player rated almost 2500.
But rather than feeling crushing disappointment at this missed opportunity (this is only the second time I have even played a senior master in a rated game), I feel quite good. After all, I did play mostly well enough to win against such a good opponent, and it gives me hope that I am once again starting to get better at the game. It has been many years since that was true, but circumstances have given me the means and opportunity to improve my game even at the advanced age of 48.
I've placed the game, with my hand-written notes, below the fold. I have partly supplemented them with a few computer suggestions. I'm not going to put it in the ChessBase viewer this time, so this post will be long. I will include plenty of diagrams so that the game can be followed. (The time control was Game in 45 minutes, with a five second delay. Numbers in parentheses after the moves show time remaining in minutes, and later in minutes & seconds.)
Friday, November 25, 2016
Tournament Players PROTIP #8
[Redacted on advice of counsel. Counsel believed it was too likely to lead to fist fights and other types of grievous bodily harm. So don't do that - not that you know what that is. Seriously, just don't.]
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Brief Thoughts on the Carlsen vs Karjakin Match
So far the World Championship Match has had a few surprises. One is that after nine games Sergey Karjakin leads, with one win, no losses, and eight draws - Magnus's inability to win a game is striking, especially given that he had winning positions in both games three and four. Another is that the vaunted Russian preparation machine has failed to impress in the openings - Sergey hasn't really gotten much out of the opening phase, and game nine was the first one with really deep opening prep, and that was old prep that Magnus chose to walk into, apparently with no improvements in mind.
I believe this is all part of the same story. To me, Sergey's match strategy has now become apparent - had really become apparent after game five, and especially game eight. I believe that a great deal of the preparation of Karjakin's team has not really been opening prep, but has been psychological assessment of both players, tailoring a match strategy to combat Carlsen effectively, and working on increasing Karjakin's internal resources and preparing him to execute the match strategy they have prepared.
That strategy, I believe, has been designed solely with the intention of frustrating Magnus to the point where Magnus would start lashing out. This was a risky strategy, as if Karjakin had fallen behind, as he almost did, it would be hard for Sergey to switch gears. But it seems to be working. I believe that Karjakin's team had noticed some small psychological weaknesses that they believed they could exploit - a certain arrogance and impatience on Magnus's part. (My favorite bit of arrogance was at a tournament earlier this year which had both Carlsen and Karjakin as participants. At one press conference Magnus stated that only one person at the tournament had the talent to defeat him for the world championship - and that it wasn't Sergey.) Thus a plan to frustrate Carlsen at every turn by simply keeping everything balanced - and then let Magnus stew in it. Being pleasant and relaxed away from the board would probably add to Carlsen's frustration, as it wouldn't give him anything to latch onto psychologically - and indeed, Karjakin has been a model of conduct at and away from the board.
The biggest part of this strategy would consist of Karjakin not doing anything to unbalance a game unless he clearly saw an easy advantage in doing so. Thus he passed up some opportunities in earlier games that appeared promising, but had some risk. He even did this in game eight, passing up the opportunity to play ...Qg5 at one point when it looked very strong. And it was. But it also entailed risk, and would have given Magnus the chance to outplay him in dynamic position with unbalanced chances. That might have also had something to do with Karjakin playing Bxf7 at one point today instead of Qb3. He didn't quite see the final strokes to make Qb3 work, so he went with the piece sac, which was the much safer continuation. I suspect that in a normal tournament game Karjakin would have pulled the trigger on Qb3 and taken his chances. But the stakes for any one game in a match are much higher, so he stuck with his strategy, and almost won anyway.
This strategy would require enormous self-discipline, and a great deal of confidence in one's abilities. Everyone was remarking upon Karjakin's demeanor during and after the first game - not only did he not seem overwhelmed by the moment, he seemed completely comfortable during the most important contest of his life. I wouldn't be surprised to find that he had been doing extensive work with a sports psychologist , even a hypnotist, in his training camps. A sense of destiny might help in this regard, too, just so long as he can maintain discipline.
With three games left in regulation, two of them with White, Magnus needs to make up ground. He CAN do it, of course. He is the best player of his generation, and when all is said and done may well be the greatest player of all time. But Karjakin seems completely in the moment, while Carlsen is looking shakier from game to game. I can't wait to see how it ends!
I believe this is all part of the same story. To me, Sergey's match strategy has now become apparent - had really become apparent after game five, and especially game eight. I believe that a great deal of the preparation of Karjakin's team has not really been opening prep, but has been psychological assessment of both players, tailoring a match strategy to combat Carlsen effectively, and working on increasing Karjakin's internal resources and preparing him to execute the match strategy they have prepared.
That strategy, I believe, has been designed solely with the intention of frustrating Magnus to the point where Magnus would start lashing out. This was a risky strategy, as if Karjakin had fallen behind, as he almost did, it would be hard for Sergey to switch gears. But it seems to be working. I believe that Karjakin's team had noticed some small psychological weaknesses that they believed they could exploit - a certain arrogance and impatience on Magnus's part. (My favorite bit of arrogance was at a tournament earlier this year which had both Carlsen and Karjakin as participants. At one press conference Magnus stated that only one person at the tournament had the talent to defeat him for the world championship - and that it wasn't Sergey.) Thus a plan to frustrate Carlsen at every turn by simply keeping everything balanced - and then let Magnus stew in it. Being pleasant and relaxed away from the board would probably add to Carlsen's frustration, as it wouldn't give him anything to latch onto psychologically - and indeed, Karjakin has been a model of conduct at and away from the board.
The biggest part of this strategy would consist of Karjakin not doing anything to unbalance a game unless he clearly saw an easy advantage in doing so. Thus he passed up some opportunities in earlier games that appeared promising, but had some risk. He even did this in game eight, passing up the opportunity to play ...Qg5 at one point when it looked very strong. And it was. But it also entailed risk, and would have given Magnus the chance to outplay him in dynamic position with unbalanced chances. That might have also had something to do with Karjakin playing Bxf7 at one point today instead of Qb3. He didn't quite see the final strokes to make Qb3 work, so he went with the piece sac, which was the much safer continuation. I suspect that in a normal tournament game Karjakin would have pulled the trigger on Qb3 and taken his chances. But the stakes for any one game in a match are much higher, so he stuck with his strategy, and almost won anyway.
This strategy would require enormous self-discipline, and a great deal of confidence in one's abilities. Everyone was remarking upon Karjakin's demeanor during and after the first game - not only did he not seem overwhelmed by the moment, he seemed completely comfortable during the most important contest of his life. I wouldn't be surprised to find that he had been doing extensive work with a sports psychologist , even a hypnotist, in his training camps. A sense of destiny might help in this regard, too, just so long as he can maintain discipline.
With three games left in regulation, two of them with White, Magnus needs to make up ground. He CAN do it, of course. He is the best player of his generation, and when all is said and done may well be the greatest player of all time. But Karjakin seems completely in the moment, while Carlsen is looking shakier from game to game. I can't wait to see how it ends!
Monday, November 21, 2016
How Karjakin can be World Champion without winning a single game!!
It is strange but true- GM Sergey Karjakin does not need to win a single game to become the next FIDE World Champion of Chess.
If the regular games in the match are all drawn, the process calls for successive games in the form of "mini-matches" based on progressively quicker time controls.
If the players are still even, the final will come down to one sudden-death game, To avoid any hint of miscommunication, here is the exact citation from the Match Rules:
As the challenger, and without winning a single game.
Here is the link to the complete match regulations
If the regular games in the match are all drawn, the process calls for successive games in the form of "mini-matches" based on progressively quicker time controls.
If the players are still even, the final will come down to one sudden-death game, To avoid any hint of miscommunication, here is the exact citation from the Match Rules:
3.7.3 If the score is still level after five matches as described in Article 3.7.2, the players shall play a one sudden death game. The player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the color. The player with the white pieces shall receive 5 minutes, the player with the black pieces shall receive 4 minutes whereupon, after the 60th move, both players shall receive an increment of 3 seconds starting from move 61. In case of a draw the player with the black pieces is declared the winner.The scenario I allude to in the title is this: Karjakin draws every game, all the way to the sudden death final game. If he draws black, he only needs to draw the game to become World Champion.
As the challenger, and without winning a single game.
Here is the link to the complete match regulations
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Insider Theory
Today on Twitter, not-quite-our-own Theo Slade had a very interesting exchange with Peter Svidler about opening theory. (@polborta is Svidler's personal twitter account.)
One can come up for many reasons for Svidler to defer further comment, too. Ultimately, anything he says could be construed as giving away information to potential competitors about what he does and doesn't know, or may or may not know. Although choosing what to believe of anything he says after that last tweet would become a poker problem, and not a chess problem, if that makes any sense. (And it may not. I am sick at the moment, and I'm not sure that my brain cells have survived the illness, or if having survived they still function with a reasonable modicum of coherence.)
@theosladechess In topical lines in particular, top players independently look at the same positions in great depth, resulting in a pool 1/— Peter Svidler (@polborta) November 16, 2016
@theosladechess ... of shared knowledge which has not yet been shown in practice, creating a kind of 'insider theory'. Official theory is 2/— Peter Svidler (@polborta) November 16, 2016
@theosladechess ...stuff that has already been seen in published games, and is therefore openly available to everyone.— Peter Svidler (@polborta) November 16, 2016
@polborta existed. So would that mean that, eg, Black shouldn't go 9...d5 for fear of "insider theory," or is it more a case of Carlsen 2— Theo (@theosladechess) November 16, 2016
Apologies for formatting issues, but I think that's easy enough to follow.@theosladechess That's a lot harder to say, requires levels of speculation I am not happy with, sorry. Both are possible.— Peter Svidler (@polborta) November 16, 2016
One can come up for many reasons for Svidler to defer further comment, too. Ultimately, anything he says could be construed as giving away information to potential competitors about what he does and doesn't know, or may or may not know. Although choosing what to believe of anything he says after that last tweet would become a poker problem, and not a chess problem, if that makes any sense. (And it may not. I am sick at the moment, and I'm not sure that my brain cells have survived the illness, or if having survived they still function with a reasonable modicum of coherence.)
Meanwhile, at the REAL world championship...
Today Jonathan Tisdall tweeted:
The game, from the TCEC Superfinal, which is essentially the world championship of chess programs, can be found in the archives at the TCEC site. It's completely insane. And there was some controversy, apparently, with the ending. Q vs BB is a win, but not within the fifty move rule. Or at least, I read that somewhere today. Take THAT with a grain of salt. But the game is nearly incomprehensible for long stretches. Maybe if I say down and looked at it more closely with a computer running it would make sense. But I'm not going to do that. For all effective purposes, the top programs running of good hardware are playing a different game than we do. You can watch the games of the Superfinal at this link.Suggest marking Game 17 of Stockfish-Houdini superfinal today for when you have a few years to study a game. Kudos to our robot overlords.— Jonathan Tisdall (@GMjtis) November 15, 2016
Monday, November 14, 2016
Carlsen-Karjakin, Game Three - a tremendous fight!
Game three went about six hours and 40 minutes. The game was fairly level until Sergey blundered with 31...c5? That wasn't an OBJECTIVE blunder, probably, but it was a SUBJECTIVE blunder as it made Sergey's life hard from that point. Magnus nursed the position and eventually forced an objective blunder much later. I imagine Paul will put the game up on Facebook. Here's a link to Mark Crowther's (of TWIC fame) quick take on the game.
Regardless, it was an epic struggle. According to what I'm reading about the press conference, Magnus is disappointed, and Sergey must be tremendously relieved. And tomorrow Karjakin starts a stretch in which he will have White in four of six games: games four, six, seven & nine. I think Karjakin's chances just improved significantly, so long as he doesn't blunder from fatigue tomorrow.
UPDATE: Here's Chess.com's report by Mike Klein, with analysis of the game by GM Robert Hess. I should also point out that this is another example of fighting to the bitter end.
Regardless, it was an epic struggle. According to what I'm reading about the press conference, Magnus is disappointed, and Sergey must be tremendously relieved. And tomorrow Karjakin starts a stretch in which he will have White in four of six games: games four, six, seven & nine. I think Karjakin's chances just improved significantly, so long as he doesn't blunder from fatigue tomorrow.
UPDATE: Here's Chess.com's report by Mike Klein, with analysis of the game by GM Robert Hess. I should also point out that this is another example of fighting to the bitter end.
Sesse
From somewhere in Norway, I believe, someone is running Stockfish on a supercomputer to get extremely deep analysis of the World Championship games. The link can be found here:
http://analysis.sesse.net/
http://analysis.sesse.net/
Friday, November 11, 2016
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Quality Chess Publishing has another contest
This time it concerns the World Championship match. The questions aren't that hard, it's more a matter of being reasonable and getting lucky. You can find the quiz here, and as the prizes are awesome, I recommend everyone give it a try.
I wanna rock watch chess right now!
Don't want to wait until 2PM tomorrow to watch some top chess? The European Club Cup is happening as we speak, with Ivanchuk vs Kramnik just under way. Watch the rest at your viewing portal of choice. Remember, folks, it takes two!
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Back to Chess
First, a candidate for Move of the Year:
Sam Copeland reporting for Chess.com has the rest of the story.
In other news, the USCF has a Couch Potato's Guide to the World Chess Championship, written by GM Ian Rogers. It's quite a good read, and I recommend it. I may even try the cheesecake recipe.
I also have a couple of comments on the Carlsen-Karjakin match that starts Friday in NYC. First, the games will be at 2 PM Eastern, which is perfect for those of us in the Club.
Second, the betting odds favor Magnus heavily. If you're a betting man (or woman), and have access to a (legal) book, I'd recommend betting on Sergey. Yes, Magnus should be the favorite, but I don't think he should be favored by more than three to one, tops, and possibly only two to one. If I had spare cash and access, I'd bet on Sergey just because I think the EV is good. That said, if I had to be the rent money, I'd bet on Magnus, because he's Magnus. But I've heard the odds are as much as 8 to 1, and that's just absurd.
Finally, one last note. I now have a TD license, and the Club is looking into running some rated events. Perhaps just quick quads or small quick swisses, perhaps ladders, and maybe eventually larger events. We still have a couple of minor administrative issues to work out. We'll let you know when we get going.
Black to move
Sam Copeland reporting for Chess.com has the rest of the story.
In other news, the USCF has a Couch Potato's Guide to the World Chess Championship, written by GM Ian Rogers. It's quite a good read, and I recommend it. I may even try the cheesecake recipe.
I also have a couple of comments on the Carlsen-Karjakin match that starts Friday in NYC. First, the games will be at 2 PM Eastern, which is perfect for those of us in the Club.
Second, the betting odds favor Magnus heavily. If you're a betting man (or woman), and have access to a (legal) book, I'd recommend betting on Sergey. Yes, Magnus should be the favorite, but I don't think he should be favored by more than three to one, tops, and possibly only two to one. If I had spare cash and access, I'd bet on Sergey just because I think the EV is good. That said, if I had to be the rent money, I'd bet on Magnus, because he's Magnus. But I've heard the odds are as much as 8 to 1, and that's just absurd.
Finally, one last note. I now have a TD license, and the Club is looking into running some rated events. Perhaps just quick quads or small quick swisses, perhaps ladders, and maybe eventually larger events. We still have a couple of minor administrative issues to work out. We'll let you know when we get going.
Thursday, October 27, 2016
When to quit.
You know it's time to quit when: you get the TD certification and then no one at your club can attach you to the affiliate, and then you're planning on playing in your first tournament in months and you end up having to spend hundreds of dollars on car repairs and can't afford to go, and then you go to the club and no one shows up, and then you get on Chess.com and get the following position as White in a 15|10 game with over ten minutes left on the clock ...
...and lose horribly.
I get it, I'm not supposed to play chess anymore. I quit.
I get it, I'm not supposed to play chess anymore. I quit.
It's always dangerous.
One can never be too careful. Peter Doggers tweeted the following yesterday.
The main sequence can be found here. I have left out the details, but put in the most essential moves.
So Black played a solid set-up, nothing ambitious about it at all. But White's position doesn't look good, and the king's position looks awful. In fact, Black is winning tactically. Can you find the move?Last night I played myself; a rare thing these days. Went for a solid setup and out of the opening there was a sudden win! Black to play. pic.twitter.com/izrOBONL5x— Peter Doggers (@peterdoggers) October 26, 2016
The main sequence can be found here. I have left out the details, but put in the most essential moves.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
FICS is dead.
At any given moment now there are maybe five real, live, honest human players on FICS. The rest are a collection of open computers, people that intentionally lag up to ten minutes for ONE MOVE, and cyborgs that play five moves of crap and then turn it over to their computer programs until they get a huge plus in the evaluation and then finish the games themselves, usually badly.
It was a good run, but FICS is dead.
It was a good run, but FICS is dead.
Sunday, October 23, 2016
Botvinnik's Rifle
One of the "Hansen Effects" on the Central Florida Chess community is a dramatic shift in opening play on the part of amateur players- to which I was not immune.
In particular, both Lars and Jen Hansen encouraged me to set aside the "safety blanket" of "system openings" and to play "the best moves", which the are the main lines of chess theory. The idea is that the main lines are what they are because the best players try to play good moves and avoid inferior ones- that's part of why they are the best (players AND moves, that is)!
In my case, it meant moving beyond fianchetto structures to other ideas, and since I have several friends who are French Defense players, so I decided to give it a fling.
In the course of learning the French Defense, I came across a very nice idea in a game by GM Alexander Morozevich, involving the use of his g-pawn. I was not completely surprised by the idea -GM Hansen has a chapter on "The g4 Revolution" in his book How Chess Games are Won and Lost (which I highly recommend- it's like 5 books crammed into one, where in many cases he uses lessons from his own games [some losses- he is objective to a fault] to illustrate his points. It is a book to be studied, not just read), but this particular application shocked me a little. It reminded me of "Alekhine's Gun" in that it was like the g-pawn was shot out of a "d8 queen/e7 bishop" rifle barrel right at white's king.
But enough text- let me show you what I mean:
Click here to see GM Morozevich fling his g-pawn at GM Michael Adams
As it turns out, this idea is a main line in the French Tarrasch. Here is a much "cleaner" example from a game between GM David Howell and GM Hikaru Nakamura, annotated by GM Sergey Erenburg in the Chess Mega Database from Chessbase:
Click here to see Nakamura's application of the idea
It was only several months later, studying a very different opening -from the other side of the board, for that matter- that I recognized the same idea had already been played. It prompted some further research on my part, and what I learned is what Hansen and Kramnik and other great players say all the time: study the classics. It turns out that the idea applied by Morozevich and Nakamura had been played by GM Botvinnik way back in 1934.
As it turns out, the game in question, Botvinnik-Alatortsev, 1934, is in the Chessbase Mega Database 2014, and annotated by "Kasparov". Unfortunately, I can't tell if it's Garry or Sergey Kasparov, but the notes are excellent. Consider this a review of the Mega Database, as Kasparov introduces us to the idea that I now refer to as "Botvinnik's Rifle":
Click here for the first shot from Botvinnik's Rifle
Some further investigation showed that Botvinnik's idea (as we have already seen), can occur in a variety of opening ideas, from the French to the Queen's Gambit, and also the Nimzo- Indian. Almost 20 years later after his initial debut, we see Botvinnik hunting different game in the form of GM Mark Taimanov and his pet idea in the Nimzo-Indian:
Click here to see Botvinnik aim his rifle at Taimanov's Nimzo
The beauty of Botvinnik's Rifle is that is it more than just a tactic. It is really a strategic theme with tactical implications, and the kind of maneuver that stands the test of time. My final example from Botvinnik's praxis is a game from the winter of his career, after he had finished his run as World Champion. In the game he catches a strong player off-guard right in the opening, and then never lets him recover:
Botvinnik's Rifle, "once more unto the breach"
I learned two lessons from this journey. One is the idea of Botvinnik's Rifle itself, as an idea that can be applied in my own games. The second lesson? A familiar one: Study the classics, as there is treasure in the attic!
In particular, both Lars and Jen Hansen encouraged me to set aside the "safety blanket" of "system openings" and to play "the best moves", which the are the main lines of chess theory. The idea is that the main lines are what they are because the best players try to play good moves and avoid inferior ones- that's part of why they are the best (players AND moves, that is)!
In my case, it meant moving beyond fianchetto structures to other ideas, and since I have several friends who are French Defense players, so I decided to give it a fling.
In the course of learning the French Defense, I came across a very nice idea in a game by GM Alexander Morozevich, involving the use of his g-pawn. I was not completely surprised by the idea -GM Hansen has a chapter on "The g4 Revolution" in his book How Chess Games are Won and Lost (which I highly recommend- it's like 5 books crammed into one, where in many cases he uses lessons from his own games [some losses- he is objective to a fault] to illustrate his points. It is a book to be studied, not just read), but this particular application shocked me a little. It reminded me of "Alekhine's Gun" in that it was like the g-pawn was shot out of a "d8 queen/e7 bishop" rifle barrel right at white's king.
But enough text- let me show you what I mean:
Click here to see GM Morozevich fling his g-pawn at GM Michael Adams
As it turns out, this idea is a main line in the French Tarrasch. Here is a much "cleaner" example from a game between GM David Howell and GM Hikaru Nakamura, annotated by GM Sergey Erenburg in the Chess Mega Database from Chessbase:
Click here to see Nakamura's application of the idea
It was only several months later, studying a very different opening -from the other side of the board, for that matter- that I recognized the same idea had already been played. It prompted some further research on my part, and what I learned is what Hansen and Kramnik and other great players say all the time: study the classics. It turns out that the idea applied by Morozevich and Nakamura had been played by GM Botvinnik way back in 1934.
As it turns out, the game in question, Botvinnik-Alatortsev, 1934, is in the Chessbase Mega Database 2014, and annotated by "Kasparov". Unfortunately, I can't tell if it's Garry or Sergey Kasparov, but the notes are excellent. Consider this a review of the Mega Database, as Kasparov introduces us to the idea that I now refer to as "Botvinnik's Rifle":
Click here for the first shot from Botvinnik's Rifle
Some further investigation showed that Botvinnik's idea (as we have already seen), can occur in a variety of opening ideas, from the French to the Queen's Gambit, and also the Nimzo- Indian. Almost 20 years later after his initial debut, we see Botvinnik hunting different game in the form of GM Mark Taimanov and his pet idea in the Nimzo-Indian:
Click here to see Botvinnik aim his rifle at Taimanov's Nimzo
The beauty of Botvinnik's Rifle is that is it more than just a tactic. It is really a strategic theme with tactical implications, and the kind of maneuver that stands the test of time. My final example from Botvinnik's praxis is a game from the winter of his career, after he had finished his run as World Champion. In the game he catches a strong player off-guard right in the opening, and then never lets him recover:
Botvinnik's Rifle, "once more unto the breach"
I learned two lessons from this journey. One is the idea of Botvinnik's Rifle itself, as an idea that can be applied in my own games. The second lesson? A familiar one: Study the classics, as there is treasure in the attic!
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
E62: King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto, Karlsbad, Uhlmann-Szabo System
Learn it. Know it. Live it.
...
The opening moves are
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 d6 5.g3 O-O 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.O-O e5
which takes 63 characters to write out. But
E62: King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto, Karlsbad, Uhlmann-Szabo System
takes 66 characters to write out, and that's not including the five key strokes for the "E62: ". A full 71 key strokes! That's just wacky, and I don't mean the Japanese stand-up comedian.
Here's an online speed chess PROTIP: Playing 8. dxe5 followed up by 9. Bg5 with the idea for White of trading his dark-square bishop for a knight and then playing to make Black's dark-square bishop look stupid works quite well. White's play is easy, and Black usually has to start thinking a bit about how to arrange his remaining minor pieces so that they don't trip over each other. It shouldn't be that hard, and this must be an old system (look at the names involved), but the Black players I face online (typically 1700-1900 on Chess.com) don't seem to know them, and consequently they burn lots of time. Plus, as often as not the opening of the center takes KID devotees out of their comfort zone. This plan has worked pretty well for me at much slower time controls, too. My favorite game I played this year came out of this opening system in a game in 120.
Disclaimer: Past results do not guarantee future performance.(cont.)
...
The opening moves are
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 d6 5.g3 O-O 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.O-O e5
which takes 63 characters to write out. But
E62: King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto, Karlsbad, Uhlmann-Szabo System
takes 66 characters to write out, and that's not including the five key strokes for the "E62: ". A full 71 key strokes! That's just wacky, and I don't mean the Japanese stand-up comedian.
Here's an online speed chess PROTIP: Playing 8. dxe5 followed up by 9. Bg5 with the idea for White of trading his dark-square bishop for a knight and then playing to make Black's dark-square bishop look stupid works quite well. White's play is easy, and Black usually has to start thinking a bit about how to arrange his remaining minor pieces so that they don't trip over each other. It shouldn't be that hard, and this must be an old system (look at the names involved), but the Black players I face online (typically 1700-1900 on Chess.com) don't seem to know them, and consequently they burn lots of time. Plus, as often as not the opening of the center takes KID devotees out of their comfort zone. This plan has worked pretty well for me at much slower time controls, too. My favorite game I played this year came out of this opening system in a game in 120.
Disclaimer: Past results do not guarantee future performance.(cont.)
Friday, October 14, 2016
One crappy feature of Chess.com
I started playing internet chess over 20 years ago. At that time, FICS and ICC were the big places for serious players, with places like YAHOO's game site merely places for creating ridiculous ratings because of the ill-thought out features.
These days we have many more options, notably ChessBase's PlayChess server, Chess24.com's site, and Chess.com's site. Recently I have found myself playing mostly at Chess.com for a couple of reasons. First, I'm poor, so I can't afford the premium sites like I used to. (Thank you George W. Bush and Barack Obama for creating the worst economy in almost a century.) Secondly, the other free sites have problems of their own. For some reason I just don't do well, visually, with the interface at Chess24 when playing, and these days FICS is a rather depressingly empty place to play. So the look of the interface and the number of players means, as well as the cost, leave me at Chess.com.
There is one HUGE drawback, however. In the early days of internet chess, the big problem was LAG. Lag was what happened when there was a slowdown between your location, the chess server's location, and your opponent's location. It could me you were making insta-moves and still see three minutes disappear off your clock. (The time control of 2 minutes with a 12 second increment wasn't the early favorite on the internet without reason!) This problem was solved with the creation of time stamp/time seal programs, that took note of when one received a move, and let the server know how much time one actually used making the move, thus removing lag as a cause of losing on time. Lag was still annoying to deal with, but at least one didn't lose on time on move two any more.
Well, the problems that were solved on USENET in the way back, are still problems for the web-based servers. Today I've lost two games on time when I made a move, and then watched helplessly as dozens of seconds ticked by before the server told be to commit anatomically impossible acts upon myself - and oh-by-the-way-you-lost-on-time, sucker.
It's bad enough being in slump without having to deal with this nonsense. I guess it's back to FICS and the other two dozen people that haven't left yet. Yay!
These days we have many more options, notably ChessBase's PlayChess server, Chess24.com's site, and Chess.com's site. Recently I have found myself playing mostly at Chess.com for a couple of reasons. First, I'm poor, so I can't afford the premium sites like I used to. (Thank you George W. Bush and Barack Obama for creating the worst economy in almost a century.) Secondly, the other free sites have problems of their own. For some reason I just don't do well, visually, with the interface at Chess24 when playing, and these days FICS is a rather depressingly empty place to play. So the look of the interface and the number of players means, as well as the cost, leave me at Chess.com.
There is one HUGE drawback, however. In the early days of internet chess, the big problem was LAG. Lag was what happened when there was a slowdown between your location, the chess server's location, and your opponent's location. It could me you were making insta-moves and still see three minutes disappear off your clock. (The time control of 2 minutes with a 12 second increment wasn't the early favorite on the internet without reason!) This problem was solved with the creation of time stamp/time seal programs, that took note of when one received a move, and let the server know how much time one actually used making the move, thus removing lag as a cause of losing on time. Lag was still annoying to deal with, but at least one didn't lose on time on move two any more.
Well, the problems that were solved on USENET in the way back, are still problems for the web-based servers. Today I've lost two games on time when I made a move, and then watched helplessly as dozens of seconds ticked by before the server told be to commit anatomically impossible acts upon myself - and oh-by-the-way-you-lost-on-time, sucker.
It's bad enough being in slump without having to deal with this nonsense. I guess it's back to FICS and the other two dozen people that haven't left yet. Yay!
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Low energy. Sad.
Ever since hitting 1900 on Chess.com, I have completely forgotten how to play a decent game of chess. Therefore I have nothing to report, chess-blogging-wise. Hopefully I will remember how to play a decent game of chess again sometime soon. I did finally remember my brother-in-law's best friend's name today, so there may be hope for me yet. Maybe.
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Friday, September 30, 2016
Thoughts on the old FIDE World Championship format
A while back I was reading one of IM John Watson's book review columns at The Week in Chess. This time Watson was reviewing Andre
Schulz's work The
Big Book of World Chess Championships; 46 Title Fights – from
Steinitz to Carlsen (
352 pages; New in Chess 2015). It's a typically lengthy review, and worth reading. (The tl;dr version of the review is that Watson found the book very enjoyable, and recommends it highly.)
Among the other bits Watson culls from the book is this "oddity", as he calls it:
But when I was a young player, even before playing in my first rated tournament I noticed an interesting fact: between the time when Botvinnik won the title in 1948 and Anatoly Karpov's first title defense against Korchnoi in 1978, the reigning World Champion had only won a single match for the world title, when Petrosian defeated Spassky in 1966. (In act, when I first learned of all this history, it was Christmas of 1980, and I didn't actually know that Karpov had defended his title successfully in 1978. I learned all of this from Golombeck's Chess: A History.)
The titles & matches went as follows (defending champion listed first):
That led me to the conclusion in my youth, which I still mostly believe to this day, that unless the Champion is an extremely dominant player, he just can't count on winning a match as Champion. So Karpov and Kasparov were both able to win multiple World Championship matches as Champion, but Kramnik couldn't until he met Topalov, when one Champion had to lose. Anand did, which makes him unique in that he wasn't dominant as Champion, and Carlsen has now done so once, which fits the pattern.
Note too that if one looks at all of the "Classical" list of Champions (plus Topalov), almost half of them have not been able to win a match as Champion: Capablanca, Euwe, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Spassky, Fischer & Topalov all failed in that quest, while Steinitz, Lasker, Alekhine, Petrosian, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand and Carlsen have succeeded.
Or to quote Ric Flair, "To be The Man, you gotta STAY The Man!" And only about half of Champions have had staying power.
Some additional points to make: Steinitz, Lasker and Alekhine all had the benefit of choosing their own opponents, which helped considerably, though Steinitz was willing to play anyone and everyone. (Capablanca and Euwe also had that option, but they failed to choose wisely!) Kramnik sorta kinda had that option, as did Kasparov for a while, but both did win against duly selected challengers at some point in their careers as Champion.
Since FIDE assumed control of the title following Alekhine's death in 1946, six have failed to defend their titles while only five have succeeded. (I'm excluding Kramnik from this list.) What this has told me is that regular practice against the toughest opponents when one NEEDS to win is the best preparation for a World Championship match. Anything less leaves everything to chance.
Among the other bits Watson culls from the book is this "oddity", as he calls it:
“At the FIDE congress of 1955 in Gothenburg, Botvinnik had submitted several suggestions. Thus the World Champion made efforts to be allowed to play in the candidates’ tournament because he was of the opinion that the qualification cycle conferred an advantage on the challenger for the WCh match, since unlike the inactive title defender he (the challenger) was getting tournament practice."The Patriarch had a point, but not exactly the one he claimed. In Botvinnik's case he wasn't getting much practice because he largely refused to play in anything other than World Championship matches through most of his title reign. That was entirely on him.
But when I was a young player, even before playing in my first rated tournament I noticed an interesting fact: between the time when Botvinnik won the title in 1948 and Anatoly Karpov's first title defense against Korchnoi in 1978, the reigning World Champion had only won a single match for the world title, when Petrosian defeated Spassky in 1966. (In act, when I first learned of all this history, it was Christmas of 1980, and I didn't actually know that Karpov had defended his title successfully in 1978. I learned all of this from Golombeck's Chess: A History.)
The titles & matches went as follows (defending champion listed first):
Botvinnik drew with Bronstein, 1951So the defending Champion's record in World Championship matches throughout this period was a woeful 1+, 6-, 2=, 1 forfeit. Over ten matches the Champion was as likely to forfeit the title in a fit of pique as he was to actually win a title defense. Of the six champions of this period, four couldn't win more than one match, and a fifth (Botvinnik) could only win rematches.
Botvinnik drew with Smyslov, 1954
Botvinnik lost to Smyslov, 1957
Smyslov lost to Botvinnik, 1958
Botvinnik lost to Tal, 1960
Tal lost to Botvinnik, 1961
Botvinnik lost to Petrosian, 1963
Petrosian DEFEATED Spassky, 1966
Petrosian lost to Spassky, 1969
Spassky lost to Fischer, 1972
Fischer forfeited the title to Karpov, 1975
That led me to the conclusion in my youth, which I still mostly believe to this day, that unless the Champion is an extremely dominant player, he just can't count on winning a match as Champion. So Karpov and Kasparov were both able to win multiple World Championship matches as Champion, but Kramnik couldn't until he met Topalov, when one Champion had to lose. Anand did, which makes him unique in that he wasn't dominant as Champion, and Carlsen has now done so once, which fits the pattern.
Note too that if one looks at all of the "Classical" list of Champions (plus Topalov), almost half of them have not been able to win a match as Champion: Capablanca, Euwe, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Spassky, Fischer & Topalov all failed in that quest, while Steinitz, Lasker, Alekhine, Petrosian, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand and Carlsen have succeeded.
Or to quote Ric Flair, "To be The Man, you gotta STAY The Man!" And only about half of Champions have had staying power.
Some additional points to make: Steinitz, Lasker and Alekhine all had the benefit of choosing their own opponents, which helped considerably, though Steinitz was willing to play anyone and everyone. (Capablanca and Euwe also had that option, but they failed to choose wisely!) Kramnik sorta kinda had that option, as did Kasparov for a while, but both did win against duly selected challengers at some point in their careers as Champion.
Since FIDE assumed control of the title following Alekhine's death in 1946, six have failed to defend their titles while only five have succeeded. (I'm excluding Kramnik from this list.) What this has told me is that regular practice against the toughest opponents when one NEEDS to win is the best preparation for a World Championship match. Anything less leaves everything to chance.
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Tournament Players PROTIP: Mikhail Tal edition
Given that the Tal Memorial Tournament is currently going on in Moscow, it seems fitting to dedicate an edition of Tournament Players PROTIPS to The Great One hisownself. With no further ado, here's a collection of Tal's best PROTIPS:
- You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.
- In my games I have sometimes found a combination intuitively, simply feeling that it must be there. Yet I was not able to translate my thought processes into normal human language.
- If you wait for luck to turn up, life becomes very boring.
- Of course, errors are not good for a chess game, but errors are unavoidable and in any case, a game without any errors, or as they say a 'flawless game', is colorless.
- Quiet moves often make a stronger impression than a wild combination with heavy sacrifices.
- Fischer is Fischer, but a knight is a knight!*
- If (Black) is going for victory, he is practically forced to allow his opponent to get some kind of well-known positional advantage.
- I go over many games collections and pick up something from the style of each player.
- For pleasure you can read the games collections of Andersson and Chigorin, but for benefit you should study Tarrasch, Keres and Bronstein.
- I like to grasp the initiative and not give my opponent peace of mind.
- Drink your coffee only when it is your opponent's move!
Journalist: It might be inconvenient to interrupt our profound discussion and change the subject slightly, but I would like to know whether extraneous, abstract thoughts ever enter your head while playing a game?
Tal: Yes. For example, I will never forget my game with GM Vasiukov on a USSR Championship. We reached a very complicated position where I was intending to sacrifice a knight. The sacrifice was not obvious; there was a large number of possible variations; but when I began to study hard and work through them, I found to my horror that nothing would come of it. Ideas piled up one after another. I would transport a subtle reply by my opponent, which worked in one case, to another situation where it would naturally prove to be quite useless. As a result my head became filled with a completely chaotic pile of all sorts of moves, and the infamous "tree of variations", from which the chess trainers recommend that you cut off the small branches, in this case spread with unbelievable rapidity.
And then suddenly, for some reason, I remembered the classic couplet by Korney Ivanović Chukovsky: "Oh, what a difficult job it was. To drag out of the marsh the hippopotamus".
I do not know from what associations the hippopotamus got into the chess board, but although the spectators were convinced that I was continuing to study the position, I, despite my humanitarian education, was trying at this time to work out: just how WOULD you drag a hippopotamus out of the marsh? I remember how jacks figured in my thoughts, as well as levers, helicopters, and even a rope ladder.
After a lengthy consideration I admitted defeat as an engineer, and thought spitefully to myself: "Well, just let it drown!" And suddenly the hippopotamus disappeared. Went right off the chessboard just as he had come on ... of his own accord! And straightaway the position did not appear to be so complicated. Now I somehow realized that it was not possible to calculate all the variations, and that the knight sacrifice was, by its very nature, purely intuitive. And since it promised an interesting game, I could not refrain from making it.
And the following day, it was with pleasure that I read in the paper how Mikhail Tal, after carefully thinking over the position for 40 minutes, made an accurately calculated piece sacrifice.* Decades later Peter Svidler would add to this, "A pawn is a pawn." Later still, either Svidler or Jan Gustaffson extended this to, "Two pawns are two pawns." Chess wisdom is extended a little further each year!
— Mikhail Tal, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Alibis II
I saw the following on Twitter yesterday.
But I have an alibi! Just as I started to solve it, my daughter (age six) walked up and wanted to discuss the care and ownership of a cat which not only hasn't been born, it hasn't even been conceived yet. Such are the vagaries of life with a young child!
Forty-five seconds to solve it - seems sufficient, but it took me between two to three full minutes, maybe even a little longer.Chop it up 😝 pic.twitter.com/ped835K3cF— Jennifer Shahade (@JenShahade) September 26, 2016
But I have an alibi! Just as I started to solve it, my daughter (age six) walked up and wanted to discuss the care and ownership of a cat which not only hasn't been born, it hasn't even been conceived yet. Such are the vagaries of life with a young child!
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
2017 USATS Information
The information for the 2017 USATS, to be held in Kissimmee Florida, can be found to the right in the section for Chess References. The article contains all the appropriate links, as well as hotel reservation information.
Alibis
I picked up a book by Tony Santasiere, My Love Affair with Tchigorin. At the end of Game 19, a loss Tchigorin suffered to Blackburne at the Berlin 1881 tournament, Santasiere writes the following:
* I have had cause to make use of this one, as have other players I know.
The game was a hard one, with Tchigorin obviously not in the best of form alibis are perfectly justifiable and should be mentioned and kept for reference: A Russian among Germans and playing a Scotsman, the popular time pressure, an ache in the head or stomach or bowels*, temporary stupidity, fatigue, the lights too strong or too weak, the noise (even a whisper has been known to induce a nervous breakdown), the smell of garlic or onions from across the table (more likely whiskey from Blackburne) - and we won't even consider the feminine sex or crying children! No doubt you could make a valuable contribution to this list. Ah - to be a Bobby Fischer, and make demands!Others to add to this list might include an opponent with a vibrating eyeball, an opponent's intestinal distress, contagious projectile vomiting, and collapsing tables.
* I have had cause to make use of this one, as have other players I know.
Monday, September 26, 2016
Mark Dvoretsky, 1947 December 9 - 2016 September 24
It was reported today that Mark Dvoretsky has died. Rather than try to add anything about the man and his work, I will simply point the interested reader to Peter Dogger's obituary on Chess.com. A sad day for the chess world.
The article is worth reading on its human merits, but it also contains a problem worth considering on its own. (How could it be an article about Mark Dvoretsky without an instructive bit about the game of chess?) I've added a screen capture of the problem below. Look for that problem in the text of Dogger's column for the full solution. Pay particular attention to the alternate line 3...Kg6 and its solution.
The article is worth reading on its human merits, but it also contains a problem worth considering on its own. (How could it be an article about Mark Dvoretsky without an instructive bit about the game of chess?) I've added a screen capture of the problem below. Look for that problem in the text of Dogger's column for the full solution. Pay particular attention to the alternate line 3...Kg6 and its solution.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
"They are trying to convince me to play the French. With Black... "
"... There are some really weird people out there" - Peter Svidler, a.k.a. @polborta
— Dan (@AntonSquaredMe) September 17, 2016
Friday, September 23, 2016
An anticpated book...
Jan Timman is publishing a new book through New In Chess, Timman's Titans: My World Chess Champions. Here's a part of the advertising blurb from the publisher:
In any event, I have been very impressed with both of the books of his that I own, and look forward to owning this one. There's always another shelf to be cleared....
In this fascinating book, Jan Timman portrays ten World Chess Champions that played an important role in his life and career. Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946) he never met, but the story of how in Lisbon he bought one of the last chess sets belonging to the fourth World Champion is one of many highlights in this book.I'm pretty sure the connection to Botvinnik will be the one he covers in the introduction to The Art of Chess Analysis. I presume the connection to Fischer has a lot to do with his joint book with Euwe on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky match, though he may well have covered the 1992 match in person.
Timman has a keen eye for detail and a fabulous memory, and he visibly enjoys sharing his insider views, including many revelations about the great champions. Timman’s Titans not only presents a personal view of these chess giants, but is also an evocation of countless fascinating episodes in chess history.
Each portrait is completed by a rich selection of illustrative games, annotated in the author’s trademark lucid style. Always to the point, sharp and with crystal-clear explanations, Timman shows the highs and lows from the games of the champions, including the most memorable games he himself played against them.
In any event, I have been very impressed with both of the books of his that I own, and look forward to owning this one. There's always another shelf to be cleared....
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
The mark of the true chess player.
The mark of distinction that separates the true chess player from a person that merely plays chess is that the true player will do very stupid things like stay up to play speed chess on-line when he otherwise can't even keep his eyes open or his head up.
It doesn't have to be that specifically, just something of similarly stupid nature - perhaps you stayed too long at the club (by four or five hours) when you knew your wife was making your favorite dinner, or you stayed up all night at the tournament reviewing games when you should have gone to sleep. What it proves is that you have an addiction, as certain as anyone who frequents an opium den. (Do such still exist?)
True players will know from whence I write. My own preferred variety of stupid is that not only will I START playing on-line speed when I'm dead tired, but that after inevitably losing a few games I will insist on not stopping until I have won not one game, but two games in a row. As sure as day follows otis, that's what I'll do. And then I'll blog about.
It doesn't have to be that specifically, just something of similarly stupid nature - perhaps you stayed too long at the club (by four or five hours) when you knew your wife was making your favorite dinner, or you stayed up all night at the tournament reviewing games when you should have gone to sleep. What it proves is that you have an addiction, as certain as anyone who frequents an opium den. (Do such still exist?)
True players will know from whence I write. My own preferred variety of stupid is that not only will I START playing on-line speed when I'm dead tired, but that after inevitably losing a few games I will insist on not stopping until I have won not one game, but two games in a row. As sure as day follows otis, that's what I'll do. And then I'll blog about.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Additional Olympiad Note
The US actually tied with Ukraine on match points, but won on the Sonneborn-Berger tie breaks. (Final match results: Team USA 9+ 0- 2=, Team Ukraine 10+ 1- 0=. Note that the US beat Ukraine in their individual contest.) Apparently, the final result was determined by Germany beating Estonia in the final round. Yikes!
Matthias Bluebaum with the win of the tournament! Thanks for the help, Germany! :)
— Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru) September 13, 2016
Olympiad Final Round Update
In Round Ten, Jim won by forfeit against Congo, as I expected, and the Virgin Island team won their second match.
That left them playing a surprisingly strong team from Haiti in the final round, Round Eleven. Unfortunately, our guys lost all their games. So the final result for Jim is three wins, one draw, and five loses in games played, as well as the forfeit win and the team bye in Round Five. Overall, the Virgin Island team won two, lost ten, and the bye. Overall the Virgin Islands finished 167th out of 170 teams that played, with another ten teams that appear to have never shown up. Their seeding number was 158 (or 156 after adjusting for the absent teams), so that isn't too far off expectations.
Jim finished with a performance rating of 1974, and according to the website his new rating would be 2116. I don't know if that last bit is correct or not, though, as Jim's earlier rating was provisional, I believe. I'll try to remember to check the FIDE site next month for an update.
We'll have to wait to talk to Jim to see how he and they feel about it, but from here this looks like a decent result, and a good result if they had a good time. (Jim looked like he was enjoying himself in his photos posted to his Facebook page.)
I've looked for more photos of Jim on the official site, but I didn't see any. If anyone else wants to look the link can be found here.
In other Olympiad news, the US Team won the Gold Medals in the Open Section, with Wesley So winning individual Gold on the Third Board. Ukraine took Silver, and Russia a disappointing (for them) Bronze. The Open Board Prizes can be found here. Note that Board Prizes are decided on Tournament Performance Rating (TPR) and require a minimum number of games to qualify.
Some more Board Prize results: Caruana was third on the First Board while the Georgian Baadur Jobava (whose games I highly recommend) took Gold, Nakamura was fifth on Second Board while Kramnik took the Gold, So took Gold on Third Board, Sam Shankland finished a disappoint ninth on Fourth Board after taking Gold on that Board in the last Olympiad while Laurent Fressinet of France took Gold. Finally, on Board Five Andrei Volokitin of Ukraine took Gold.
The performance of Eugenio Torre (2447 FIDE) of the Philippines deserves special note. Playing in his 22nd Olympiad, he scored 9+ 0- 2=, was the only Filipino to play all eleven rounds, and won the individual Bronze Medal on Board Three with a TPR of 2836! Not bad for a man that turns 65 in a few weeks.
Caruana was First Board but Nakamura anchored the team, playing all eleven rounds. Caruana only skipped the first round, and So only missed the second. Shankland skipped the third, fifth and eighth rounds. The team only suffered three individual loses and had no team loses. They were the most consistent team of the event. On board points we would have only finished second, behind Russia (32) by a half-point, but that's only the second tie-break these days (after SB), not the primary scoring method, which is by match points.
In the Women's Olympiad, China took Gold (as expected), Russia Silver, and Poland Bronze. The US Women's Team finished sixth, which was their seeding number. The US Women played the 1, 2, 3, and 5 seeds in this tournament, so they had rough pairings. The Women's Board Prizes can be found at this link. None of the US women really came close to winning a Board Prize, from what I can see.
And thus concludes the best event on the Chess calendar. I'll see what stories or game notes I can get out of Jim when he gets back to the club.
That left them playing a surprisingly strong team from Haiti in the final round, Round Eleven. Unfortunately, our guys lost all their games. So the final result for Jim is three wins, one draw, and five loses in games played, as well as the forfeit win and the team bye in Round Five. Overall, the Virgin Island team won two, lost ten, and the bye. Overall the Virgin Islands finished 167th out of 170 teams that played, with another ten teams that appear to have never shown up. Their seeding number was 158 (or 156 after adjusting for the absent teams), so that isn't too far off expectations.
Jim finished with a performance rating of 1974, and according to the website his new rating would be 2116. I don't know if that last bit is correct or not, though, as Jim's earlier rating was provisional, I believe. I'll try to remember to check the FIDE site next month for an update.
We'll have to wait to talk to Jim to see how he and they feel about it, but from here this looks like a decent result, and a good result if they had a good time. (Jim looked like he was enjoying himself in his photos posted to his Facebook page.)
I've looked for more photos of Jim on the official site, but I didn't see any. If anyone else wants to look the link can be found here.
In other Olympiad news, the US Team won the Gold Medals in the Open Section, with Wesley So winning individual Gold on the Third Board. Ukraine took Silver, and Russia a disappointing (for them) Bronze. The Open Board Prizes can be found here. Note that Board Prizes are decided on Tournament Performance Rating (TPR) and require a minimum number of games to qualify.
Some more Board Prize results: Caruana was third on the First Board while the Georgian Baadur Jobava (whose games I highly recommend) took Gold, Nakamura was fifth on Second Board while Kramnik took the Gold, So took Gold on Third Board, Sam Shankland finished a disappoint ninth on Fourth Board after taking Gold on that Board in the last Olympiad while Laurent Fressinet of France took Gold. Finally, on Board Five Andrei Volokitin of Ukraine took Gold.
The performance of Eugenio Torre (2447 FIDE) of the Philippines deserves special note. Playing in his 22nd Olympiad, he scored 9+ 0- 2=, was the only Filipino to play all eleven rounds, and won the individual Bronze Medal on Board Three with a TPR of 2836! Not bad for a man that turns 65 in a few weeks.
Caruana was First Board but Nakamura anchored the team, playing all eleven rounds. Caruana only skipped the first round, and So only missed the second. Shankland skipped the third, fifth and eighth rounds. The team only suffered three individual loses and had no team loses. They were the most consistent team of the event. On board points we would have only finished second, behind Russia (32) by a half-point, but that's only the second tie-break these days (after SB), not the primary scoring method, which is by match points.
In the Women's Olympiad, China took Gold (as expected), Russia Silver, and Poland Bronze. The US Women's Team finished sixth, which was their seeding number. The US Women played the 1, 2, 3, and 5 seeds in this tournament, so they had rough pairings. The Women's Board Prizes can be found at this link. None of the US women really came close to winning a Board Prize, from what I can see.
And thus concludes the best event on the Chess calendar. I'll see what stories or game notes I can get out of Jim when he gets back to the club.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
The latest Olympiad news on our man in Baku
Jim won his round eight game against the Djibouti team, and drew his round nine game against a player from San Marino. Tomorrow the Virgin Islands (which won against Djibouti and lost to San Marino) will face the team from Congo. Congo seems to have four players registered but only three onsite. If I'm understanding what I'm seeing, Congo has been posting that fourth, non-present player as their FIRST board, allowing the other three to play down. If that's the case tomorrow, Jim will get a win by forfeit, which I always find disappointing. But it will help the team.
So good luck in the last two rounds to the Virgin Islands and James McTigue!
So good luck in the last two rounds to the Virgin Islands and James McTigue!
Never surrender!
If You ever lose all hope,just remember this Knight on h8
— Rakesh Kulkarni (@itherocky) September 11, 2016
You can die there,Or maybe Fight n become a hero! #FightOn pic.twitter.com/3yRnr3JJGd
Friday, September 9, 2016
Jim wins again, and inspiration for a bitter ender.
Jim McTigue won again today. It was a very smooth victory. As an interested observer I was also much happier with his time management today. That's steadily been getting better, and I think he's now finally settled in. Unfortunately, the team lost 1.5-2.5 again, and again at one point they were poised to do a little better. C'est la vie.
Tomorrow the Virgin Island team is paired against Djibouti, and I expect them to win. Djibouti had problems with their travel arrangements (many of the African countries did), and wasn't able to play until Round Six. (Hopefully they didn't miss the Bermuda Party, too.) Djibouti only has three players on their team, so they will be starting down one point to start the match. Of their three players, only one is rated - the second board sports a 1502 FIDE. Hopefully "our" guys will crash through to a good match victory tomorrow.
...
In other news, Russia smashed Czechia (don't blame me, it's what they call themselves now for marketing purposes) 3.5 to 0.5, and the US team beat the now former tournament leader India by the same score, setting up a Russia-USA match tomorrow. (That match-up will also occur in the Women's Olympiad.) The US now has sole lead of the tournament in match points, but it didn't come as easy as the score would suggest.
Shankland was flat out dead busted, stone cold lost, buried, finished, had bought the farm, and "everything that goes with it", against S. P. Sethuraman, but he played on. To lift a Shankland quote from Chess.com's report (which I recommend be read in full), "I wanted to resign, but I didn't." Perseverance paid off, even though his opponent was rated 2640, and Shankland went on to win a game in which his evals were at least as bad as -9.5. (Shankland had White.) That game is embedded in Chess.com's report, and is yet another example of why I play on until there is no possibility of my opponent letting me back in the game, and no one I play is rated anywhere close to 2640 FIDE.
...
A couple of other bits. First, Nepomniachtchi is now on 7/7, and has a performance rating over 3300. (I though they couldn't calculate those for players on perfect scores, as that's what I remember people saying from Caruana's streak in St. Louis a couple years back.) He's a very bad man in Baku, and I wouldn't want to meet him anywhere - unless I was on his team, of course.
Second, you'll need to read the bit on Nigel Short. He had "fun" with the organizers again today when they tried to inspect him for cheating in the middle of the game, in time pressure. Just read about it at Chess.com. Unbelievable, and one can't help but wonder if he didn't get singled out for this because of his well-known and long-running stance against FIDE.
Tomorrow the Virgin Island team is paired against Djibouti, and I expect them to win. Djibouti had problems with their travel arrangements (many of the African countries did), and wasn't able to play until Round Six. (Hopefully they didn't miss the Bermuda Party, too.) Djibouti only has three players on their team, so they will be starting down one point to start the match. Of their three players, only one is rated - the second board sports a 1502 FIDE. Hopefully "our" guys will crash through to a good match victory tomorrow.
...
In other news, Russia smashed Czechia (don't blame me, it's what they call themselves now for marketing purposes) 3.5 to 0.5, and the US team beat the now former tournament leader India by the same score, setting up a Russia-USA match tomorrow. (That match-up will also occur in the Women's Olympiad.) The US now has sole lead of the tournament in match points, but it didn't come as easy as the score would suggest.
Shankland was flat out dead busted, stone cold lost, buried, finished, had bought the farm, and "everything that goes with it", against S. P. Sethuraman, but he played on. To lift a Shankland quote from Chess.com's report (which I recommend be read in full), "I wanted to resign, but I didn't." Perseverance paid off, even though his opponent was rated 2640, and Shankland went on to win a game in which his evals were at least as bad as -9.5. (Shankland had White.) That game is embedded in Chess.com's report, and is yet another example of why I play on until there is no possibility of my opponent letting me back in the game, and no one I play is rated anywhere close to 2640 FIDE.
...
A couple of other bits. First, Nepomniachtchi is now on 7/7, and has a performance rating over 3300. (I though they couldn't calculate those for players on perfect scores, as that's what I remember people saying from Caruana's streak in St. Louis a couple years back.) He's a very bad man in Baku, and I wouldn't want to meet him anywhere - unless I was on his team, of course.
Second, you'll need to read the bit on Nigel Short. He had "fun" with the organizers again today when they tried to inspect him for cheating in the middle of the game, in time pressure. Just read about it at Chess.com. Unbelievable, and one can't help but wonder if he didn't get singled out for this because of his well-known and long-running stance against FIDE.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Olympiad pics
I've been looking through the official pictures from the Olympiad. I've found a couple of interest.
First, here's one of Jim in action versus Oman from Round 4.
The second one is a picture of a couple of members of the Estonian team.
That dude on the right is trying very hard to get his Phelps face on!
(Both of the pics from the Olympiad were taken by Maria Emelianova.)
First, here's one of Jim in action versus Oman from Round 4.
The second one is a picture of a couple of members of the Estonian team.
That dude on the right is trying very hard to get his Phelps face on!
(Both of the pics from the Olympiad were taken by Maria Emelianova.)
Books.
I rearranged my chess book shelves today. I consolidated everything down to six shelves in two bookcases in the front room. I plan on clearing a seventh shelf to keep my main tournament kit. Clocks and most of my extra boards, pieces and bags are also on those shelves. (I've got four tournament sets, and two analysis sets. I've got nothing like Garry's collection, and my newest set was a gift from him.)
I've got 164 or 165 books (not counting duplicates), depending on whether or not I decide to keep my copy of Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. Of those, 18 are opening manuals, including my 1932 edition (!!) of the MCO. I have eleven books on the endgame. Games collections of one type or another form the bulk of my collection.
These numbers do not, of course, include a couple of digital books, my databases, my magazines, or my notes.
For the record, my wife and I have over 2,000 books, not counting all of our daughter's books for children.
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.
I've got 164 or 165 books (not counting duplicates), depending on whether or not I decide to keep my copy of Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. Of those, 18 are opening manuals, including my 1932 edition (!!) of the MCO. I have eleven books on the endgame. Games collections of one type or another form the bulk of my collection.
These numbers do not, of course, include a couple of digital books, my databases, my magazines, or my notes.
For the record, my wife and I have over 2,000 books, not counting all of our daughter's books for children.
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.
Jim wins! Jim wins! Jim wins!
Looks like a disappointing day for the team, though. It looked like they were going to win 3-1 at one point, but board three blundered a whole rook in a winning position, and boards two and four are getting ground down. 1-3 looks the likely result now.
But Jim Mctigue is on the scoreboard!
Here's the game.
Update: The US Virgin Island team lost 1.5 to 2.5. The Liechtenstein Board Four took a draw to win the match. Not sure if he saw that he could play for a win or not. It was probably trickier sitting at the board to see the right moves than it was sitting at home with an analysis engine running! Still, "our" team is finally getting board points. Hopefully match points will follow!
Update: The US Virgin Island team lost 1.5 to 2.5. The Liechtenstein Board Four took a draw to win the match. Not sure if he saw that he could play for a win or not. It was probably trickier sitting at the board to see the right moves than it was sitting at home with an analysis engine running! Still, "our" team is finally getting board points. Hopefully match points will follow!
At a guess ...
... here's someone who really hates the new bathroom rules!
Evelyn Romero Moncayo of Ecuador. She is due soon, Olympiad baby? :) @bakuchessol2016 @WOMChess #bakuchess pic.twitter.com/3zAMun114u
— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) September 8, 2016
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Time for a little experiment.
How well can a 48 year-old man play online speed chess while blasting Deep Purple?
UPDATE: Probably not the best thing I could have done, but not awful! Up 13 points on the night. The problem stretch came with the Mark II line up. It left me flat until we got to the Machine Head era. (Yeah, you know what I'm talkin' about!) Closed it out with Perfect Strangers, and now it's time to stop, because I think I've finally got that Cardigans song out of my head.
UPDATE 2: Only an idiot would analyze a game of speed chess, and I am that idiot! The last game of the night featured an interesting piece battle. Follow the link, if you dare!
UPDATE: Probably not the best thing I could have done, but not awful! Up 13 points on the night. The problem stretch came with the Mark II line up. It left me flat until we got to the Machine Head era. (Yeah, you know what I'm talkin' about!) Closed it out with Perfect Strangers, and now it's time to stop, because I think I've finally got that Cardigans song out of my head.
UPDATE 2: Only an idiot would analyze a game of speed chess, and I am that idiot! The last game of the night featured an interesting piece battle. Follow the link, if you dare!
Tricks with Knights & Rooks
In an earlier post, I had a messy position from the Eickelman-Slade game in the club championship. Working my way through it I came to a position wherein White has to win with a Rook, g- & h-pawns versus a Knight & h-pawn. It turned out that winning the position wasn't too hard, but it put me in mind of the famous Em. Lasker-Ed. Lasker game from the New York, 1924 tournament. Looking up that position in my trusty copy of Fundamental Chess Endings, I came across the following study.
This will eventually resolve itself into a R vs N endgame. If the knight is close to the king, the defending side can often draw the game, as in the Lasker-Lasker game above. However, sometimes the knight can be separated from the king, even when they're close together at the start. To see some endgame magic, check below the fold for the solution.
J. Moravec, La Strategie, 1913
White to move and win
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Olympiad Update
The Olympiad has been tough for the Virgin Island team. They've mostly been heavily out-rated and it shows in the results, as they've been blanked in all four rounds in which they played. They received a bye today. (An odd number of teams means someone has to out each round, and that usually falls to the lowest scoring team that hasn't had a bye previously.) Tomorrow they will face Liechtenstein, and once again they will be out-rated on most boards. Jim will likely face Marcel Mannhart (2128 FIDE).
Jim HAS had some good games, though, despite the results. Paull Leggett has been posting the games to Facebook. As Paul wrote about Jim's fourth round game:
Game Two link
Game Three link
Game Four link
It should be noted that Jim appears to be having a good time regardless. He posted a bunch of pictures he's taken around Baku on his Facebook feed. He may even be at the Bermuda Party as we speak!
Jim HAS had some good games, though, despite the results. Paull Leggett has been posting the games to Facebook. As Paul wrote about Jim's fourth round game:
He equalized easily, and the game stayed even for a very long time. After a protracted defense (just playing through it is draining), it ends with a painful and undeserved loss, much in the way Karpov started losing to Kasparov. It is a very valuable study piece, even if the story has an unhappy ending.Clock management issues (especially in Game Three, according to a note by Jim) seem to be the biggest problem at this point. Hopefully, during the next round it will got better!
Game Two link
Game Three link
Game Four link
It should be noted that Jim appears to be having a good time regardless. He posted a bunch of pictures he's taken around Baku on his Facebook feed. He may even be at the Bermuda Party as we speak!
Monday, September 5, 2016
What he said.
The depravity of morals in modern #Chess may be traced to those who essay the London System and other ignoble débûts.
— Howard Staunton (@HowardStaunton) September 5, 2016
There ain't no justice, Part "I Stopped Counting After the First Million Examples I Encountered"
There ain't no justice, and don't let anyone ever convince you that there is. Win games are often lost, lost games are often won.
But this isn't just an advice post, this is a practical post on how to win lost games, or even win dead even positions, using the mental attribute of perseverance and a little next level strategy. In the game presented below, I used both. To win the game, I had to unbalance the position by giving away material (not sacrificing, mind you, but by just losing material), obtaining an objectively lost position after ten moves. But I persevered and and applied next level strategy to win the game. Let me show you how it's done.
But this isn't just an advice post, this is a practical post on how to win lost games, or even win dead even positions, using the mental attribute of perseverance and a little next level strategy. In the game presented below, I used both. To win the game, I had to unbalance the position by giving away material (not sacrificing, mind you, but by just losing material), obtaining an objectively lost position after ten moves. But I persevered and and applied next level strategy to win the game. Let me show you how it's done.
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Tournament Players PROTIP #7: NFL Player Edition
Watching the UMass-UF football game tonight (a dreary affair if one is a Gator), I heard an inspirational story. The announcers were discussing Florida player Brian Cox, Jr., who is the son of Brian Cox, Sr. (What a coincidence!)
Senior was an NFL player of note back in the 1990s & early 2000s. He played linebacker, a particularly violent position. Mr. Cox had a unique motivational tool. Before games he would have someone leave a ransom note in his locker, written on the opposing team's stationary, stating that the other team was holding his children hostage.
"Well," I thought, "chess is a very violent game, mentally and emotionally. Is this something I can apply to my tournament practice?" I don't have an opportunity to test this out any time soon, so if any of our reader(s) gets a chance to put this into practice, drop us a note!
Senior was an NFL player of note back in the 1990s & early 2000s. He played linebacker, a particularly violent position. Mr. Cox had a unique motivational tool. Before games he would have someone leave a ransom note in his locker, written on the opposing team's stationary, stating that the other team was holding his children hostage.
"Well," I thought, "chess is a very violent game, mentally and emotionally. Is this something I can apply to my tournament practice?" I don't have an opportunity to test this out any time soon, so if any of our reader(s) gets a chance to put this into practice, drop us a note!
Friday, September 2, 2016
Round One Results
Unfortunately the US Virgin Island Team got blanked today. Tomorrow, Angola, which is another tough match-up. If Jim plays, he'll face one of two international masters on the Angolan team. (I'm not sure what the substitution pattern will be for Jim's team.)
I should note that the individual pairings are determined right before the round. So the US Virgin Islands (and both their opponents thus far) have five players, of whom four play. The exact line-up is determined shortly before the round starts.
ADDED: Paul added the game (with a few notes) to the Club's Facebook feed.
Editorial Note: I'm seeing some hand-wringing on Twitter concerning the event's use as propaganda by the Azeri dictatorship. (And the FIDE leadership, of course.) Perhaps I missed it, but I didn't see similar hand-wringing when Qatar hosted several events late last year. It certainly seems like a case of selective outrage.
I should note that the individual pairings are determined right before the round. So the US Virgin Islands (and both their opponents thus far) have five players, of whom four play. The exact line-up is determined shortly before the round starts.
ADDED: Paul added the game (with a few notes) to the Club's Facebook feed.
Editorial Note: I'm seeing some hand-wringing on Twitter concerning the event's use as propaganda by the Azeri dictatorship. (And the FIDE leadership, of course.) Perhaps I missed it, but I didn't see similar hand-wringing when Qatar hosted several events late last year. It certainly seems like a case of selective outrage.
A violation of the rules.
-or-
Don't eat the sushi in Baku!
Don't eat the sushi in Baku!
Weird anti-cheating rule at @bakuchessol2016 - players must warn arbiter each time they intend to go to toilet and arbiter must note request— Ian Rogers (@GMIanRogers) September 1, 2016
It has been dubbed a 'shit rule' by the players https://t.co/7trjXqEnYh— Jon Ludvig Hammer (@gmjlh) September 2, 2016
It could happen to you.
#BakuChess #Bakuchessol2016 #PartyWithCaution #Beer #JustChessPlayerThings #ThingsNoOneBelievesUntilItHappensToThem pic.twitter.com/zJ7CILvw3h— NakaFacts (@NakaFacts) September 2, 2016
PS Jim is slightly worse as White against IM Muhammed Lutfi Ali after 20 moves. The worrying part is that he's already used an hour on the clock, leaving him down by thirty minutes.
Thursday, September 1, 2016
First round pairings are up!
The US Virgin Isles (ISV) are paired against Indonesia (INA) in Round 1. It looks like Jim (2205 FIDE) will have White against either GM Utut Adianto (2556) or IM Muhammed Lutfi Ali (2411). Adianto is a name familiar to us older players. Lutfi Ali is only 18 or 19, so I'm not familiar with him even by name.
2017 United States Amateur Team Championship South Hotel Reservation Information
[Bumped to the top. Originally published 2016 AUG 29, 12:34 AM.]
Ten days back, I mentioned that Jon Haskel had placed the winning bid for the 2017 USATS. I now have a bit more information to pass along.
Ten days back, I mentioned that Jon Haskel had placed the winning bid for the 2017 USATS. I now have a bit more information to pass along.
The event will be held over the weekend of February 17-19, 2017, at the the Holiday Inn Orlando SW - Celebration Area, in Kissimmee, Florida. (Click the link for the hotel's website.)
If anyone would prefer to call into the hotel's Central Reservations
department, call 800-465-4359. Booking code is CHE.
As per Jon Haskel's original email announcing the event:
The special Hotel rate is $75 per night. The Hotel has waived its normal $15 resort fee, so guests will have free high speed internet, unlimited use of the fitness facility, outdoor pool with fresh towels, free parking, and free daily newspaper. A full breakfast buffet will be available for only $6 per person.
In an email I received a few hours ago with the additional information, Jon states that anyone who wants the $6 special breakfast buffet needs to email him (jon@bocachess.com), and that we should all feel free to spread the word.
So spread the word!
Can you feel that?
No, we're not down with the sickness. (Not all of us - I can't speak for everyone.) No, we're feeling the excitement of the Chess Olympiad in Baku! Clermont actually has two players (one current, one former) playing in the Olympiad this year: doughty club stalwart Jim McTigue*, and Ray Robson, who made his way through the club many years ago on his way up the ladder. (Clermont - where Champions are made! Several Olympic medalists from the recently concluded Summer Games train in Clermont, too.)
And it's not just us. I think there's more excitement for this event on my Twitter feed than any other since I got on Twitter several years ago. Not even world championships have had this much interest. It really is a unique event in the chess world, and I'm looking forward to it.
The opening ceremony is today. The games start tomorrow at 7:00 AM Eastern Time. One should be able to follow the games at the Baku Olympiad Official Website, ICC, Chess.com, Chess24.com, or any of the usual suspects.
So far many of the people that have gone have commented on the hospitality of the organizers, but a few glitches have been reported. Nigel Short has reported some problems with the accreditation process, and he also reported that Uganda and Kenya have had problems.
One other thing I'm wondering about: Will the French team adjust their board order so that MVL plays White in every game?
No word from Jim, and I don't expect to hear anything from him during the event. He'll be too busy having a good time, we hope! Good luck, Jim, and here's hoping for a great event!
* I'm probably reading too much @HowardStaunton at the moment.
** Who does NOT train in Clermont!
And it's not just us. I think there's more excitement for this event on my Twitter feed than any other since I got on Twitter several years ago. Not even world championships have had this much interest. It really is a unique event in the chess world, and I'm looking forward to it.
The opening ceremony is today. The games start tomorrow at 7:00 AM Eastern Time. One should be able to follow the games at the Baku Olympiad Official Website, ICC, Chess.com, Chess24.com, or any of the usual suspects.
So far many of the people that have gone have commented on the hospitality of the organizers, but a few glitches have been reported. Nigel Short has reported some problems with the accreditation process, and he also reported that Uganda and Kenya have had problems.
We'll see. It'll probably be the usual large event, where some people have a great time and some have nothing but problems - and some create nothing but problems for themselves. (Note to the players and other people associated with the Baku Olympiad: Don't be Ryan Lochte**!) Hopefully the average will tend towards the former.Two countries - Uganda & Kenya - left high and dry by promises of tickets from Presidential Board friends. #nosympathy #bakuchess— Nigel Short (@nigelshortchess) September 1, 2016
One other thing I'm wondering about: Will the French team adjust their board order so that MVL plays White in every game?
No word from Jim, and I don't expect to hear anything from him during the event. He'll be too busy having a good time, we hope! Good luck, Jim, and here's hoping for a great event!
* I'm probably reading too much @HowardStaunton at the moment.
** Who does NOT train in Clermont!
Wow.
From Rashit Ziatdinov's Facebook page: White to play and win. The first move is obvious. After that it gets hard! This one requires a little technique, as well. Unfortunately I don't know the origin of the study, but it's a beauty!
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Pandering, or an attempt to look smart? You decide!
What does #TeamGov do after two rallies, a couple dozen interviews, and 4 or 5 hours on the road? #Chess pic.twitter.com/SiykYlUUds— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) August 27, 2016
Chess by candlelight? Horrible!— Clermont Chess Club (@ClermontChess) August 31, 2016
But at least it appears they set up the board correctly. https://t.co/PeIOVUJVAr
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Speaking of the article on Keres...
In the previous post I discussed an article Chess24 had published on Keres. I hadn't read it then, but I have now. If you're a fan of Keres or chess history, I highly recommend it. And not only is the article to be commended for its content, but Chess24 has done an outstanding job with the format. One can click on the games mentioned in the text and not only play through them, but play through them with a chess engine to provide analysis. The interested reader can even supply his own moves and see how the computer evaluates them. Chess24 has really pushed chess publishing online forward another step.
Speaking of Keres...
In the last post I briefly mentioned Paul Keres. It so happens this year is the centenary of his birth, and to mark the occasion, Chess24.com will be publishing a series of articles. Their introduction to the series:
To mark [Keres's] centenary his compatriot Joosep Grents looks back on the life and career of the “Eternal Second”, starting with Keres’ early years until his explosion onto the international scene at the 1935 Olympiad.The author's introduction to the piece presents what he hopes to accomplish:
To mark the Year of Paul Keres, in the following months I’m aiming to publish a series of articles shedding light on the events of his life. A lot has been written about a player who was prevented from playing a World Championship match against Alexander Alekhine by World War II, and who Chessmetrics report was ranked world no. 2 for 52 different months between 1943 and 1960. The material available in English, however, is limited. Most extensive biographies – and literature going beyond mere game collections – has been published in Estonian, and mostly by Keres’ biographer Valter Heuer. This has not, to my knowledge, been translated into English. The motivation for these articles is therefore not only to celebrate the centenary of Keres’ birth, but also to open up literature that may not be available to non-Estonian speakers.I haven't read the first article yet, as it's long and I have a six year-old to chase, but it looks promising. And those with an interest in Keres's games should check the club library. Keres's wrote three collections of his games, and the single-volume English translation by Golumbek is up on the shelf. The books (or book in this case) are simply outstanding. There are two downsides to the volume, however. First, it is the size of a standard paperback novel, and thus doesn't lay flat when open. (The collection is quite large.) Second, it is in the old English Descriptive Notation. That's not a problem for me, but I know some of you break out into hives at the thought of it. So, fair warning!
Monday, August 29, 2016
Show you drawing zone? I show you drawing zone!
After the simul on Saturday, I played a few blitz games against Hleb. The results were as expected. However, in analysis after one of the games, we determined that we could have reached a Q+P vs Q ending, with Hleb having the extra pawn - on a rook file.
For some reason or another I had been looking at that ending a few months back, and I remembered that the "drawing zone" could be surprisingly large for the weaker side. I couldn't prove this, though, as (a) I'm not good at this kind of technical exercise, (b) I didn't actually remember anything I had (maybe) learned, and (c) Hleb outrates me by 400 points. But I kept repeating that "There's a drawing zone!" and Hleb would reply "Show me drawing zone!"
Now that I'm home and can look things up, I will show you drawing zone! Muller & Lamprecht's Fundamental Chess Endings shows a couple of examples.
In both cases, if Black has the move and his king is on one of the squares highlighted in green, it is a tablebase draw. But if you want the proof, you'll have to look it up elsewhere, or investigate the positions yourself!
I will add this, however: in the case of the a7 pawn, according to Muller & Lamprecht, "... h8 is a draw for specific tactical reasons, and does not constitute a drawing zone in the normal sense."
...
It seems that this ending had not merited much attention from GMs in the past. Reuben Fine in Basic Chess Endings (1941) simply states, "A RP draws just as easily as a KtP: once the Pawn gets to R7, the K to R8, perpetual check is unavoidable."
Paul Keres in Practical Chess Endings (1973, West Germany) Was slightly wordier in his exposition: "We shall not examine positions involving the RP, which only offer White slender winning chances. The reason for this is clear: White's king has difficulty escaping checks."
And of course, all of this reminded me of an anecdote from a tournament played over 40 years ago. In the 1975 Hoogovens Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, the following position was reached in the seventh round:
I'll pick up with Kavalek's notes, from R.H.M.'s tournament book:
Incidentally, Kavalek's book for R.H.M. on the 1975 Wijk aan Zee grandmasters tournament is my favorite tournament book of all time. Eleven of the sixteen players contributed some notes to the games, and Kavalek annotated a great many others. But Kavalek's notes before each game are what really make the book a winner, as it gives a good "slice of life" look at such a tournament. If you come across a copy somewhere, I'd recommend picking it up.
For some reason or another I had been looking at that ending a few months back, and I remembered that the "drawing zone" could be surprisingly large for the weaker side. I couldn't prove this, though, as (a) I'm not good at this kind of technical exercise, (b) I didn't actually remember anything I had (maybe) learned, and (c) Hleb outrates me by 400 points. But I kept repeating that "There's a drawing zone!" and Hleb would reply "Show me drawing zone!"
Now that I'm home and can look things up, I will show you drawing zone! Muller & Lamprecht's Fundamental Chess Endings shows a couple of examples.
Q + a5P vs Q
Q + a7P vs Q
In both cases, if Black has the move and his king is on one of the squares highlighted in green, it is a tablebase draw. But if you want the proof, you'll have to look it up elsewhere, or investigate the positions yourself!
I will add this, however: in the case of the a7 pawn, according to Muller & Lamprecht, "... h8 is a draw for specific tactical reasons, and does not constitute a drawing zone in the normal sense."
...
It seems that this ending had not merited much attention from GMs in the past. Reuben Fine in Basic Chess Endings (1941) simply states, "A RP draws just as easily as a KtP: once the Pawn gets to R7, the K to R8, perpetual check is unavoidable."
Paul Keres in Practical Chess Endings (1973, West Germany) Was slightly wordier in his exposition: "We shall not examine positions involving the RP, which only offer White slender winning chances. The reason for this is clear: White's king has difficulty escaping checks."
And of course, all of this reminded me of an anecdote from a tournament played over 40 years ago. In the 1975 Hoogovens Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, the following position was reached in the seventh round:
Jan Smejkal (2600) vs Walter Browne (2550)
After 57 ... Kc6-b5
I'll pick up with Kavalek's notes, from R.H.M.'s tournament book:
Here the game was adjourned for the second time.Walter reportedly said that he did not know how Smejkal could advance his pawn. But what seemed hard for the American was easy for the Czech. I recommend that you be patient and watch Smejkal's winning technique. It looks rather convincing, even though according to some opinions Black could have had good drawing chances.So, some practical difficulties exist!
A week after this tournament was over the Yugoslav Grandmaster Ljubomir Ljubojevic gave a clock exhibition in a small Dutch town. After five hours one game had to be adjudicated. Each player had a queen on the board and Ljubo had one pawn: it was a KRP on the fifth rank. The result was a draw but somebody pointed out that the same position was won by Smejkal against Walter Browne. The master who called Ljubo's game a draw said, "But that's impossible! How did he win it?"
Incidentally, Kavalek's book for R.H.M. on the 1975 Wijk aan Zee grandmasters tournament is my favorite tournament book of all time. Eleven of the sixteen players contributed some notes to the games, and Kavalek annotated a great many others. But Kavalek's notes before each game are what really make the book a winner, as it gives a good "slice of life" look at such a tournament. If you come across a copy somewhere, I'd recommend picking it up.
Baku Chess Olympiad
As of this writing, the Baku Chess Olympiad starts in about three days. The official web page for the event can be found here. A listing of the teams can be found here. Our own Jim McTigue is listed on the US Virgin Islands Team, and those of us in Clermont will be following his results closely.Good luck, Jim!
I've added a Twitter account for the Club
Said account is creatively called @ClermontChess, because I am the creative type. If you've got a twitter account, follow us so I can add more accounts to follow! There's a limit to home many accounts one can follow, and that limit goes up as one adds followers. At the moment I'm locked out from following @HowardStaunton, which is killing me! Grrr. And if that weren't bad enough, I also can't follow @Nakafacts! It's a tragedy, I tells ya!
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Simul Saturday in Clermont
Yesterday we had the pleasure of having a master join us at the Club. Hleb Zharkov (originally from Belarus, who came here via France and Jacksonville, FL) gave a simul for five of us. Below are a couple of pictures Joe Sanderlin took with his phone.
That's Hleb standing in both pictures. In the top picture we have, from the right, a young man from Venezuela whose name I keep missing (I have some hearing issues), Paul Leggett, Norm Meintel, and me. In the bottom picture it's the same group of people. Joe isn't pictured for the obvious reason.
(I'm fiddling with my phone, but I wasn't cheating. I lost on my own, thank you very much. I saw Joe taking pictures and decided I should get some with him in the frame. Sadly, though, the camera on my phone no longer works very well, so my pics didn't come out.)
We went five and oh - five loses and no wins for the club regulars! Hleb cleaned our clocks. I'm not sure if it was me or the young man from Venezuela that lasted longest, but in my case I could have resigned sooner, save for my bitter-ender strategy.
(I'm fiddling with my phone, but I wasn't cheating. I lost on my own, thank you very much. I saw Joe taking pictures and decided I should get some with him in the frame. Sadly, though, the camera on my phone no longer works very well, so my pics didn't come out.)
We went five and oh - five loses and no wins for the club regulars! Hleb cleaned our clocks. I'm not sure if it was me or the young man from Venezuela that lasted longest, but in my case I could have resigned sooner, save for my bitter-ender strategy.
Every Russian Schoolboy Knows....
That what the tweet below demonstrates not only isn't checkmate, it isn't even stalemate. It's a draw by repetition.
Checkmate! pic.twitter.com/AaC70MSNNs
— Only In Russia (@CrazyinRussia) August 28, 2016
Friday, August 26, 2016
Fun with pawns!
The pawn looks unstoppable. Can you find the impossible defense? pic.twitter.com/RmcqY4IJpP
— Johan Salomon (@JohanSalomon) August 26, 2016
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Chess Olympiad Quiz
Quality Chess is running a quiz/guessing game about the upcoming Olympiad in Baku. It's free to enter and the winner gets 20 free books from Quality Chess, ten of the winner's choosing and ten of Quality Publishing's choice.
Give it a try and if any of you win, I want a cut!
Give it a try and if any of you win, I want a cut!
Programming Note: August 2016 edition
I finally made myself finish analyzing my games from the Space Coast Open, and also the games from last Saturday. Some of it is actually interesting, instructive even, and some if it is tragi-comic. The more entertaining/instructive bits will be coming shortly. But I'm really proud of the coming lectures on how to become a Class B player - I think it can help a lot of people!
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