December 3, 2013, 4:00 am
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This was an actual game. It is White to move. How do you assess this position? Is this a draw, win for White or win for Black? What is the best way for White to proceed?
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December 3, 2013, 4:00 am
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We all feel depressed on Mondays, when we go to work again after the weekend. It must have happened so for the Ukrainian team today too, as they got their first loss against another team on fire, Netherlands. The other surprise of the round came from the Germany-Armenia match. Let's have a look at today's matches one by one.
If a team resembles a marathon runner in this championship, it's Netherlands. Like a greyhound letting the rabbit run first only to catch her again, they have beaten Ukraine 2,5-1,5 today. Anish Giri played a rather uninspired game as white against Ivanchuk like he also confessed on his Twitter account but still all Chucky could achieve was a draw. On the second board Korobov overextended against Loek Van Wely and the Dutch star made efficient use of the bad positions of white pieces so when Korobov's attack on kingside failed Black's win became obvious. The last two boards were drawn and if one side had a chance to win on either one of them, it was the Dutch side since Sokolov played a pawn up rook endgame against Kryvoruchko but didn't manage to win in the end. If it was drawn all the way until the end or not, one should better ask Mr. Dvoretsky!
The second surprise was Germany's convincing win against Armenia. To score 3-1 against the strong Armenian team is a huge success for any team in the world, especially for the German team who hadn't really gotten into the championship before this round. Even Meier was winning against Levon Aronian on board one so the score could be even worse. Finding himself in a lost position against an opponent in zeitnot, Aronian took the best practical decision: to complicate the matters even if it's objectively worse to play in that fashion. Meier couldn't cope with the complications with little time and allowed Aronian to slip from his hands with a perpetual. Movsesian is not in a good shape in this tournament and his game against Fridman was kind of a nightmare for the Armenian who lost second time in a row. On the third board Naiditsch played 5.Qe2 against Berlin Defense and then kept the queens on the board. When all the light pieces got exchanged, it was Akopian who had structural weaknesses and more importantly his king was not in safety so only white who could play for a win. So did Naiditsch and with success, forcing the black king to go on a long journey to the end of the night. On the fourth board Baramidze drew with black against Sargissian easily and did what he should do for his team. Armenia has been for the past few years the best performing national team, that's beyond any dispute, but this championship didn't turn out to be well for them. How they'll play in the coming rounds against Ukraine and Netherlands will be very crucial for the race at the top, if nothing but to decide the winner themselves they would not let anyone go easily with a win, that's for sure.
In the Azerbaijan-USA the decider was the game Robson-Guseinov on fourth board. Probably Guseinov missed 21.Nxc4 by Robson in his calculations and later he sacrificed many pawns for a mate attack but Robson parried it with threats against the naked black king and won the game. Kamsky-Safarli and Nidjat Mamedov-Onischuk games were very adventurous and a win could be achieved in either one of them but both games ended in a draw. The longest struggle of the match and the day was the game Rauf Mamedov-Aronian. Other players would have probably drawn the game on move 31 or so but not Nakamura. He kept on trying to win the fully equal endgame for 80 moves more, finding interesting tricks even at the very end. However the position was not too complex for the Azeri grandmaster and he saved the endgame like he should. After six hours of play the score was decided: 2,5-1,5.
Official website: http://wctc2013.tsf.org.tr
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December 3, 2013, 4:30 am
Susan Polgar Explains the French Defense, Tarrasch VariationSusan Polgar Explains the French Defense, Tarrasch VariationPosted on November 28,2013 By William in General Chess Articles. The Tarrasch Variation is one of the most common lines against the French Defense, starting with 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 as white protects his pawn on e4 but does not want to allow 3. Nc3 Bb4 - pinning the knight and doubling white's pawns for the rest of the game. However the Tarrasch Variation also has it's drawbacks as white will spend a lot of extra time to complete his development because his knight on d2 will be blocking natural developing[...]
How to Attack like a Grandmaster by GM Damian LemosPosted on November 25,2013 By GM Damian Lemos in General Chess Articles. Many beginner chess players are nervous at the board and this translates into timid play. If you prefer to build a solid position and wait for a mistake by your opponent, you are not playing good chess! If you want to win games, you have to attack your opponent at every chance. You must capitalize on every opportunity to make threats against your opponent and create problems that your opponent will be forced to solve. In this chess video excerpt [...]
Master the French Defense with GM Susan PolgarPosted on November 25,2013 By OnlineChessLessons.NET Contributor in General Chess Articles. The French Defense is the perfect opening choice for the beginner and intermediate chess player as it is an extremely solid defense against 1. e4, relying on a clear positional foundation to guide play in the opening and middlegame. The French Defense has been played by countless top players including Mikhail Botvinnik, Ulf Andersson, Vassily Ivanchuk, Hikaru Nakamura, Magnus Carlsen, etc.. so it is clear that this is an opening you can play thro[...]
Carlsen is the new World Chess Champion! (FINAL ROUND COVERAGE)Posted on November 22,2013 By GM Damian Lemos in General Chess Articles. Magnus Carlsen is the new world chess champion! In this video, GM Damian Lemos analyzes Round 10 of the world chess championship between Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand. Magnus needed just a draw to get the world champioshipn title. He opens the game with 1.e4 and Anand tries the Sicilian. We'll see a Rossolimo variation where White enjoys a plus due to his space advantage and after a couple of trades a draw-looking endgame arises. However, Carlse[...]
OnlineChessLessons.net is a producer of thousands of free chess articles and free chess videos by FIDE chess masters. They recently released the renowned Empire Chess series that has been taking the chess world by storm. Please consider checking out their chess blog and chess shopwith tons of free updated previews.
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December 3, 2013, 4:59 am
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December 3, 2013, 5:00 am
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December 3, 2013, 10:00 am
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There are Problems but Indians can Make it: Polgar
By Vishnu Prasad | ENS - CHENNAI
Published: 03rd December 2013 11:23 AM
Last Updated: 03rd December 2013 03:42 PM
She developed quite a bond with India during the recent World Chess Championship match and Susan Polgar thinks she knows just what is wrong with Indian chess. TNIE reported on Sunday how a lack of world-class tournaments had affected the development of chess players in India, but Polgar thinks there is more to the issue than meets the eye.
“Having world class tournaments is just one of the many aspects. A special nationalised one-on-one training programme with the absolute best players with top level talent is also required. But this requires either corporate sponsorship or government support,” said the former women’s world champion who was in Chennai as commentator during the World Championship tie.
Polgar brings up the case of Pentala Harikrishna and Parimarjan Negi, both of whom had bright starts to their careers, but has since not risen as fast as some of their contemporaries.
“Both of them are very talented, and both excelled when they were young. They have also achieved quite a bit in their careers so far. However, there is a big difference between being very good and being in the top 5-10 in the world with the potential of challenging for the world title. To reach the top 5-10 or even the very top, training hard alone is not enough. There has to be detailed special training to eliminate almost all weaknesses and improve on natural strengths. This is similar to what I do with my SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence) at Webster University in St Louis. An example is Wesley So. He was around 2650 when he started with me last year. Within about a year, he went to 2719.”
She also believes one of the main reasons behind Viswanathan Anand’s prolonged success was his decision to leave India and relocate himself to Spain. “Yes, Anand would have been less successful had he remained in India. It is difficult to travel so far and deal with jetlag issues. There are also more opportunities in Europe.”
The country may not have found a natural successor to Anand, but Polgar does not believe all is doom and gloom for Indian chess. “There are some good prospects like Vidit Gujrathi, MR Lalith Babu, SP Sethuraman, Vaibhav Suri, and especially Aravindh Chithambaram. But they require full-time training. Technology is one of the issues. Better software and hardware can lead to better analysis. They will need a lot of help to make the step up in the coming years.” Source: http://newindianexpress.com
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December 3, 2013, 3:31 pm
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The 34th Memorial Edoardo Crespi is taking place from 30th November to 8th December in the large tournament hall of Chess Club in Milan, via Sant’Uguzzone 8.
The main event is Master Group which is being played over nine rounds of Swiss system.
On 4th December two minor Groups, Open A (elo 1750-2050) and Open B (U1800) will start. Both events will be played over 7 rounds Swiss.
On 6h December two more events will start – Open C for Beginners and Open Under 16.
The Master Group has four Grandmasters in the field: Rusev Krasimir (BUL 2539), Sanchez Joseph (PHI 2529),Naumkin Igor (RUS 2460) and Arnaudov G. Petar (BUL 2448)
About Società Scacchistica Milanese:
Wide tournament hall, playing and analysis rooms, reading room and library, snack bar, gardens, open till late seven days a week
Via Sant’Uguzzone, 8 – 20126 Milano Tel: 02.2573478 – Fax: 0240044486
e-mail: info@scacchisticamilanese.it www.scacchisticamilanese.it
Last year winner was GM Yuri Solodovnichenko
Official website
Crespi Memorial History
(by Adolivio Capece)
Edoardo Crespi died in March 1910 and in his will he did not forget about chess: he bequeathed 45.000 lire to the Braidense library to create a small chess section, 300 lire per year to the SSM to organize a club tournament and 3.000 lire every 4 years for a national tournament.
The club tournament was held in 1914 when the funds were finally released, whereas the national tournament was postponed because of the war. It took place in 1916 and was won by Arturo Reggio.
The 2nd Crespi tournament, which was held in 1919 instead of 1918, was named the “Victory Tournament”.
The 3rd Crespi tournament, held in 1922, was memorable for two reasons: it was hosted by the “Società del Giardino” (the following editions were hosted by the “Società Patriottica”) and it witnessed the rise of Mario Monticelli who was to win the 6th and 7th editions in 1934 and 1938.
The 4th Crespi tournament was played in 1926 whereas the 5th edition – which was also the national championship – was postponed to 1931 to make it coincide with the Fiera Campionaria exhibition.
The SSM thrived in the 30s thanks to the patronage of its President Dal Verme and to the assiduous work of Ferrantes. The Crespi tournament became more and more prestigious: the 6th edition was held in 1934 and was won by Mario Monticelli, who also became Italian champion.
The 7th edition took place in 1938 and was again won by Mario Monticelli ex-aequo with Eliskases. It was the first International tournament, as conceived by Edoardo Crespi in his will. But it was also to be the last. Ferrantes had the idea to turn the Crespi tournament into a new event – “Aprile Scacchistico Milanese” – with an international tournament, two national tournaments and even the fist women national championship, not to mention a simultaneous display by M° Grob and a lesson held by M° Esteban Canal.
Today the Crespi tournament, besides being one of the most important Italian chess events, has also became a major event on the international calendar thanks to the participation of many strong players from all over the world. In the last edition there were about 300 players divided in five different tournaments.
International web sites (FIDE website, Twic, Chessdom, ChessToday, Susan Polgar’s blog, etc.) and magazines (Europe Echecs, Rochade) and the Italian media (Gazzetta dello Sport) and televisions have paid considerable attention to our tournament giving an important contribution to the development of the Italian chess movement as a whole.
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December 3, 2013, 3:35 pm
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Chennai based ONGC employee Grandmaster Sethuraman S P won the premier section of 2nd Hyderabad International Grandmasters Chess Tournament after drawing with Grandmaster Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia in the eleventh and final round that concluded here at Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Indoor Stadium, Yousufguda today.
Sethuraman finished with eight and half points out of a possible eleven and tied first along with top seed Ivan Popov of Russia, who defeated Georgian Grandmaster Levan Pantsulaia in the final round. But better Buchholz tie-break score helped Sethuraman to finish at top while Popov had to settle with runner-up position.
Vidit Santosh Gujarathi beat Georgian Grandmaster Tornike Sanikidze to take his tally to eight points and tied for the third spot along with IM Mozharov Mikhail of Russia who defeated Grandmaster Samvel Ter-Sahakyan of Armenia to achieve his Grandmaster Norm in the final round. Better tie-break score favoured the Indian to lift the second runner-up trophy while Mozharov ended fourth.
Sethuraman won the winner’s purse of Rs. 2,00,000/- while Popov took home Rs. 1,50,000/- and Vidit got the check of Rs. 1,25,000/- in the event sponsored by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, Mahindra Ecole Centrale, Andhra Bank, Petronet LNG Ltd and Airports Authority of India.
Andhra youngster Ravi Teja S brought cheers to the home crowd as he added his name to the list of International Master Norm achievers after defeating Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna in the final round.
The tournament produced as many as seven International Norms. Besides Mozharov’s Grandmaster Norm, six young Indian players Prince Bajaj of Delhi, Aniruddha Deshpande of Maharashtra, Dhulipala Bala Chandra Prasad, Ravi Teja S of Andhra Pradesh, Kunal M and Akash PC Iyer of Tamilnadu secured their International Master Norms during this event.
Women Grandmaster Bhakti Kulkarni finished adjudged as best player among Women’s while Tigran Petrosyan of Armenia and Visakh N R finished first among Junior and Sub-Junior categories. Matta Vinay Kumar and Cholleti Sahajasri secured Best Andhra Pradesh Men and Women prizes respectively.
Meanwhile, third seed Varun V of Andhra Pradesh deservingly won the Category ‘B’ tournament of the event that ended today. Varun logged eight points out of a possible ten to pocket Rs. 100000/- winner’s purse out of a total prize pool of Rs. 500000/-. In the final round Varun defeated state mate Ramana Babu B.
Sammed Jaykumar Shete of Maharashtra, Naveen S Hegde of Karnataka, Ameya Audi of Goa and Vishwanath Prasad of Andhra Pradesh finished in a tie for the runner up spot with eight points. But better tie break score helped Prasad to finish second while Hege, Shete and Ameya finished third, fourth and fifth respectively.
In a befitting closing ceremony, Shri. A S Murthy, Chief Technology Officer Tech Mahindra; Shri. Jayesh Ranjan IAS, VC & MD Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation; Shri. Rahul Bojja IAS, VC & MD Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh give away the prizes in presence of Grandmaster K Sasikiran, Grandmaster D Harika, Shri. Chandra Sekhar, Shri. Chalapati Rao, General Managers Andhra Bank, Shri. Praveen Raju, Chairman Suchitra Academy, Shri. Bandha Kavi, Head Sridevi Engineering College, Shri. TA Reddy, Principal St Peters School, Shri. K Kanna Reddy, Secretary Andhra Pradesh Chess Association, Shri. J Ramalaxmiah, Major Siva Prasad, A Narsimha Rao, Vice Presidents Andhra Pradesh Chess Association and International Master Lanka Ravi, Organising Secretary.
Top 10 (Category A):
1 GM Sethuraman S.P. INDIA 8½
2 GM Popov Ivan RUSSIA 8½
3 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi INDIA 8
4 IM Mozharov Mikhail RUSSIA 8
5 GM Pantsulaia Levan GEORGIA 7½
6 GM Gagunashvili Merab GEORGIA 7½
7 GM Mirzoev Azer AZERBAIJAN 7½
8 GM Arun Prasad S. INDIA 7½
9 Kunal M. INDIA 7½
10 GM Borovikov Vladislav UKRAINE 7
Top 10 (Category B):
1 Varun V Andhra Pradesh 8½
2 Vishwanath Prasad Andhra Pradesh 8
3 Naveen S Hegde Karnataka 8
4 Sammed Jaykumar Shete Maharashtra 8
5 Audi Ameya GOA 8
6 Lokesh N. Tamilnadu 7½
7 Rathanvel V S Tamilnadu 7½
8 Konde Gaurav Maharashtra 7½
9 Praggnanandhaa R Tamilnadu 7½
10 Rakesh Kumar Nayak Odisha 7½
Tournament website
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December 3, 2013, 4:13 pm
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December 3, 2013, 4:30 pm
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Chess Grandmaster Plays 25 Local Chess Players Simultaneously
By Ruth Morton
Updated: Tue 1:56 PM, Dec 03, 2013
December 2, 2013
A rare event for local chess players also worked to attract women and kids to the game.
The Playing Aces Chess organization and the Charlottesville Chess Club hosted a chess match with star power on Monday night.
Chess grandmaster Jesse Kraai read from from his newly published novel. Kraai's book, Lisa, a Chess Novel, promotes women and kids playing chess.
"The idea behind Lisa is to get more girls involved in chess -- get more kids involved in chess. Chess has a natural connection to S.T.E.M., Science Technology Engineering and Math," said Nathan Szejniuk, the founder of the Playing Aces Chess organization.
Kraai then played 25 members of the Charlottesville and University of Virginia chess clubs at the same time.
Grandmasters are among the world's elite in chess, a centuries-old game that the group can gives us skills for our lives today.
"In our rushing around world today, sometimes people have to go back and they have to redo work or they have to redo something. Had they slowed down a minute, thought about it, and had some planning, taken into consideration different options and different moves, perhaps the moves that they made that caused the mistake would have been better served by learning the patience that chess provides and the depth of thought. 'Cause in our world today, it's about our ability to think critically and think creatively and chess provides both of those," said Szejniuk.
The event took place at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Charlottesville.Source: http://www.newsplex.com
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December 3, 2013, 4:30 pm
http://simplechess.com/index.html
As you can tell from the name, SimpleChess is simple to navigate around the site. It is designed for amateur players who would like to have a good time by playing and /or learning online.
Our playing zone has more than 800,000 members. You can play 24/7 against players from all over the world. You can also play against computer at various levels. In addition, you can solve puzzles, read news or improvement tips, and watch instructional videos.
To celebrate this historic World Championship in Chennai, India, between legendary World Champion Vishy Anand and world #1 Magnus Carlsen, you can play and learn FREE on SimpleChess until February 1, 2014. After that, some parts of the server will remain free, while others will be available at nominal fees.
There will plenty of additions in the next few months. In the meantime, have fun and enjoy the greatest game on earth!
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December 3, 2013, 4:46 pm
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December 3, 2013, 10:03 pm
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December 3, 2013, 10:20 pm
Ukraine is leading the World Team Championship by 1 point over Russia. They are facing each other next round. If Ukraine wins, they clinch the Gold medal with one round to go. However, if Russia wins, they will virtually assure the Gold because they will face Egypt in the final round, a team which has lost every match so far.
Official website: http://wctc2013.tsf.org.tr
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December 3, 2013, 11:00 pm
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Anand says his opponent has refined his style a lot and is stronger and more effective with it.
Akhil is yet to turn three but inadvertently knows how to make all the right moves that helps ‘Papa’ Viswanathan Anand forget his pain and play without rules.
In the days after the World chess championship match, an understandably disappointed Anand has found an unlikely stress-buster in his son. Clearly, the five-time World champion will take time to deal with the situation but he is firmly on the recovery course.
Looking forward to playing in a 16-player rapid tournament from December 11 to 15 in London, a relaxed Anand spoke to Rakesh Rao of The Hindu in detail about his take on the World Chess Championship Match.
Excerpts are below, an extended version will appear in weekly sports magazine Sportstar.
Q: Anand, how have you been spending your time in the past 10 days?
A: Actually, it was quite nice. I came back home (after the match), back to Akhil and had some wonderful experiences with him, playing, running around the house, Akhil calling me “Papa… Papa…” Then we went to a school dance of his. It has been wonderful in the sense that though it’s only a week, it feels like it is months since the match passed; you really put it behind you. Then meeting up with friends, I also had dinner with some school friends. Generally, life goes on, what can you do? Honestly, in the last few days, I didn’t want to think about chess. I wanted to play with Akhil.
Q: Coming to the match, you had plenty of positives to look at from the first four games. After the third game, you said, your upside was not adequate enough to force a win. After detailed analysis, do you still have the same view?
A: I definitely feel it was a mistake that I underestimated my possibilities in that game. It was a mistake. He (Carlsen) mentioned it as well that he thought I had let him off the hook so easily. Well, that I more or less concede. I agree. I should have pressed him a bit more. Thereafter, I atoned by escaping, in Game Four, the way I did. It was a nice defence. The problem was that after Game Four I thought we were really into the match. We were warmed up and it was going to get exciting. But we know what happened next.
Q: Where did you lose the thread in the Game Five?
A: Actually, it was throughout the game, I mean, there were small mistakes, here and there. I didn’t lose the game in one move. I lost it over several and it’s exactly what I had hoped not to do but it was exactly what I did. So Game Five was one of those losses which hurt because you do it bit by bit. Not one blunder, but the game slips away from you.
Q: Going by your body-language during this game, is it fair to conclude that you were getting increasingly annoyed with yourself due to the choices you were making? You appeared to make some random moves, as well.
A: Yes. It is quite perceptive. I think, it’s clear I could feel I was making small mistakes and that was getting annoying. But you have to still get a grip on yourself because there is no use crying over split milk and all that. You have to get your thoughts back to the game but there was residue of annoyance. At every moment, I knew that had I been more precise earlier, it could have gone better or have been easier.
Q: Would you say your vast experience failed you, when it mattered, in the match?
A: Yes. I think so. Your strength comes into play when you are able to stop your opponent playing to his strengths. But I never really succeeded in doing that or only did that briefly. In the end, he was just stronger and he was able to impose his style of play.
Q: In my interview, Magnus Carlsen said he had planned to make you play slow, long games and force the errors. Was his energy-level in the fifth and sixth hours of play decisive since he continued to find moves of optimum strength?
A: Yes. I mean, I never really adapted to his style well. Clearly, he has refined his style a lot recently. He has become stronger and more effective with it. So, I also had this feeling that if I had managed to pull it off, it would have been a different story. But I didn’t manage to get a grip on his style.
Q: Having brought Carlsen under pressure from the start of Game Nine, mainly due to your decision to open the game with d4 (pushing the queen-pawn to the fourth rank), do you regret not doing so in the earlier games with white pieces?
A: Yes. But I made a big strategic decision to focus on e4 (pushing the king-pawn to the fourth rank). In hindsight, that was the worst move of the match. Again (smiles) in hindsight, many things are clear. For this match, for some reason, I just felt it was simpler to play e4 and there were grounds for it. Based on my tournament results and all, I felt it was better to concentrate on e4. And it turned out to be a bad mistake.
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December 4, 2013, 12:00 am
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White to move. How should White proceed?
Nimzowitsch 1925, presented by Andreas
q5k1/5p2/7Q/r2b1B2/8/8/r2R3K/8 w - - 0 1
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December 3, 2013, 10:30 pm
Uganda Chess Federation in drive to teach young girls chess
04 Dec 2013
Written by Phillip Corry
The Uganda Chess Federation in conjunction with Sports Outreach Chess Academy has organised a highly successful Chess Clinic focussing on teaching Chess to young girls.
The event that started on December 2 at Uganda Martrys High School, Rubaga climaxes on December 5.
Uganda Chess Federation's Director Development, Robert Katende is overseeing the event at which Uganda's teenage sensation Candidate Master Phiona Mutesi is one of the main facilitators inspiring younger girls to take on the game. Mutesi is sharing with them her Chess success story that has totally transformed her life.
Participation in the event is free of charge and this is well in line with the Uganda Chess Federation's objective of spreading the game by teaching youngsters the basic tenets of the game and giving them a chance to develop their skills at an early age.
Source: http://www.kawowo.com
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December 4, 2013, 2:15 am
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December 4, 2013, 3:00 am
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