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The Moment of Zuke:
Critical Positions and
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by David Rudel
author of Zuke 'Em
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7 modules written just for
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lessons written in Rudel's crystal-clear, inimitable style |
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Thematic Lessons
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Here's what was New at Chessville between
1 January 2007 and 31 March 2007
|
(3/31)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: Canadian ratings, Cincinnati, New York, Alpheta
challenges The Parrot.
TheParrot Squaawks about drawing, and he's not talking
about pens, pencils or crayons..
|
.jpg)
|
(3/31)
Nuestro Círculo
#243:
31 de marzo de 2007, dedicado al Maestro Internacional húngaro radicado en
los EEUU, Herman Steiner (1905 - 1955), cuya biografía y partidas publicamos
junto a una muy interesante nota de Eduardo Stilman titulada "La Partida
Infinita."
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
|
(3/31) Chess News:
An Open Letter to FIDE President
Kirsan N. Ilyumzhinov from top Moroccan Chessplayers and Arbiters.
"Dear Mr. President, We are writing an open letter to you regarding our
previous complaint about the large scale falsifications of some
International Arbiter applications that were submitted to FIDE by the
Moroccan Chess Federation in the last few years. This scandal has
affected Morocco's image both at the Arab and international levels..." |
 (3/25)
Review:
Alexander Alekhine's Chess Games, 1902-1946 : 2543 Games of the Former
World Champion by Alexander Alekhine, Robert G. P. Verhoeven and
Leonard M. Skinner, reviewed by
Rick Kennedy. "This book is something special. Alexander
Alekhine’s Chess Games, 1902-1946 is subtitled: 2543 Games of the
Former World Champion, Many Annotated by Alekhine, with 1868 Diagrams, Fully
Indexed, adding With A Foreword by Alex A. Aljechin. That
alone should get your heart thumping. After all, that’s almost 1,000
games more than the earlier (unannotated) The Games of Alekhine
(1992) by Caparrós and Lahde, and over 1,200 more than what is contained in
the Alekhine file in Six World Champions (2006)..." |
|
IM Igor Khmelnitsky
Igor is a winner of many national and
international tournaments in Europe and the United States.
At various points during his career, he has won individual
encounters with many of the game’s best players.
In total, Igor has beaten over 30 different Grandmasters. He
has been a participant in the Ukrainian National Championship as
well as a three times contestant in the US National Championship.
|
|
|
(3/25) Chess Instruction:
Reviewing Games After A Tournament,
with IM Igor Khmelnitsky.
"Reviewing your own games is the most important part of the training
process. Why it is important and how to do it have been discussed in
numerous books and publications. I have written my share in my books –
Chess Exam and Training Guide
and Chess Exam and Training Guide:
Tactics.
In this article I want to show some highlights from the
recent review of the games played by my student - he is retired, enjoys
chess and is been making a steady progress (rated now about 1100). My
focus when reviewing the games is on identifying critical positions worth
discussing and then highlighting concepts and ideas in hope that they will
stick in the memory of my student.
I see a very little benefit to simply point their
errors and provide better moves. In fact, running the games through Fritz
can easily do this. However, I am skeptical that knowing the move that you
should have played will help you find it if similar situation occurs in
another game 2 days or 3 months later. Instead, I am attempting to
identify some general principles that, if understood, can help the student
to find the optimal plan and best move in a similar situation. Let’s
look at some of the examples..." |
|
|
(3/25) Chess Fiction:
Horsing Around,
a Perry the
PawnPusher tale from Rick Kennedy. "It was in this
role that I found myself – not advisor to Madison Avenue mavens or
instructor to Hollywood hucksters, but providing sober after-game analysis
and guidance to Club members in the thralls of the Spring Open. I had
just finished working with a young lady on a
Rook-pawn-plus-Bishop-of-the-wrong-color endgame, and was clearing the board
when the chair across the table from me screeched rudely. It was
slowly filled by patched jeans and then a ratty sweater, topped by a mangy
beard that grinned below smeared wire rims. Perry the hopeless
PawnPusher, of course. I had caught sight of the sad sack’s game on my
last stroll through the playing area. Armed with some opening analysis
(a bag of tricks, mostly) that I had once provided him (a sad tale in
itself) Perry had won a piece in the first few moves. Following GM
Reuben Fine’s wisdom, he had then swapped just about everything off, winning
a pawn in the process. I set up the last position I remembered..." |
|
(3/24)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: ratings, Frank Berry, and red ink; Amber, Karpov,
Ruy Lopez, Onischuk and Yifan.
TheParrot Squaawks about
a national federation on the brink of
bankruptcy.
|
|
(3/24)
Nuestro Círculo
#242:
24 de marzo de 2007, dedicado al Gran Maestro estadounidense Isaac Kashdan
(1905 - 1985). Además de su biografía y partidas, aparecen en este número
notas del M.I. Jorge A. Rubinetti, Frank Mayer y Bill Wall.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
 (3/18)
Review:
Starting Out:
Chess Tactics and Checkmates by GM Chris Ward (Everyman Chess, 2006) reviewed by Michael Jeffreys.
"While opening theory is important, tactics and checkmates are
definitely the “money skills.” I mean, what’s more satisfying (not to
mention fun) than broad-siding your opponent with a tactical shot that
leaves them shaking their head in utter consternation!? Or blasting
open their monarch’s fortress and then systematically marching the enemy
king to his demise!? On the other hand, we’ve all been on the
receiving end of a tactical shot seemingly from out of nowhere. Things
seem to going along smoothly when suddenly BANG!, our opponent hits us with
a “shot from the dark” and instantly our mind is sent reeling. “Oh
@#$%!, what just happened!?” we think as the cruel truth on the board is
suddenly revealed to us—and with it the painful realization that we’re now
in a lost position. Obviously, it is far better to be the giver
of these tactical blows, than to be on the receiving end. And the best
way to make this happen is by staying sharp tactically. Fortunately,
GM Ward has put together a fun little book that can help you do just that..." |
(3/18) Review: The Elephant Gambit for Black – 1. e4 e5 2.
Nf3 d5!? and
Amar Opening: The Krazy Kat System – 1. Nh3 e5 2. f3 d5 3. Nf2!?
and assorted Opening Monographs,
by David Robert Lonsdale, all reviewed by
Rick Kennedy, who describes this as one of his "wander-off-the-paths
things." Kennedy writes, "The Internet can be a jungle.
Luckily, on my last visit I had a guide. I spotted an elephant, a
krazy kat, an orangutan, some birds, and, yes, even a monkey’s bum.
Ebay.com, in particular, is a lot like that eatery Arlo Guthrie sang about:
“You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant…” In my case, as
always, I was looking for chess books, preferably ones about the openings,
especially unusual ones. That is how I encountered David Robert
Lonsdale’s series of monographs – and, through an exchange of emails, the
author himself. Whose unorthodox-opening-seeking-eyes wouldn’t get
caught by the following list..." |
 (3/18)
Keene On Chess: Tigran's Army
is the latest contribution from GM Raymond Keene (Keene
On Chess). "Armenia
won the gold medals in the Turin Olympiad last year (2006). Their team
was led by world ranked number three Levon Aronian and composed of
 young
men who would have been nurtured on hero worship of the great Armenian world
champion Tigran Petrosian, who held the supreme title from 1963-1969.
In Armenia Petrosian is a national hero- imposing statues
are erected in his honour and public squares named after him. The
victorious Armenian team from Turin was captained by the Armenian defence
minister and when they returned to Erevan a crowd of thousands greeted the
newly crowned laureates in the streets..." |
 (3/18)
Training: A new "Recon64" Move Prediction Exercise from Jim Mitch (aka Prof. Chester Nuhmentz.)
Today's game is that featured in March's
Chess-Vision exercise, Morphy vs the Duke of
Brunswick &
Count Isouard, Paris, 1858. Many chess
players know this game -- the famous 'Night At
The Opera' miniature -- by heart, and will do
very well predicting moves this month! Similar to Predict-A-Move and Solitaire-type
chess exercises, Recon64 challenges players to
find candidate moves from games played by
masters. Players are encouraged to search
for several strong candidate moves in each position, and are rewarded as
long as their list of moves includes the move selected by the master during
the game. As an extra twist, players
invest Recon64 dollars on candidate moves based
on how likely they think each move was used in
the original game. |
|
(3/17)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: a deafening silence, trouble in The Windy City,
and MAMS.
TheParrot Squaawks about
"Sponsor an
Opening Inc Leaders Society [SOILS]"
|
|
(3/17)
Nuestro Círculo
#241:
17 de marzo de 2007, dedicado al Maestro Alemán Ludwig Engels, cuya vida
transcurrió entre los años 1905 y 1967. Publicamos su biografía y partidas,
las dos últimas rondas del Torneo Morelia-Linares 2007 (que ganó Vishy Anand
seguido por Magnus Carlsen), y las notas "Amor y Ajedrez", "Difusión y
dinero" por R.P. y "Tablas muy luchadas" del MF Gustavo Aguila.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
 (3/11)
Review:
How to Calculate Chess Tactics by Valeri Beim (Gambit, 2006)
reviewed by Rick Kennedy. "Chips and dip make a wonderful, almost
irresistible snack – I am reminded of the old Lays potato chips challenge
“Bet you can’t eat just one!” Still, there are times when we must
attend to something a bit more substantial, i.e. pawnpushers do not live
by junk food alone… Luckily “Chef” Valeri Beim – otherwise known
as Grandmaster, professional trainer and author of four previously
well-received books (Understanding the Leningrad Dutch (2002),
Chess Recipes from the Grandmaster's Kitchen (2002), Lessons in Chess
Strategy (2003), and How to Play Dynamic Chess (2004)) – has
emerged from his Grandmaster Kitchen with a hearty platter of red meat (or a
savory lentil stew, for our vegetarian readers) for the aspiring chess
player with a lean and hungry look. The intention is to look at
how Grandmasters think..." |
 (3/11)
Special Report: The Queen Wins Oscar. "Special
Report by Correspondents Candi Kane and Bambi Darlin, those Fabulous
Las Vegas Showgirls, to TIC. Dateline: February 25, 2007,
Los Angeles, CA
Bambi: Oh Candi, I am
so excited about this special assignment. It has been a long time since we
were contacted by The International Chessoid to do a story.
Candi: Oh Bambi, I am excited,
too. Can you imagine - The Queen has won an Oscar - for Best Actress, no
less. By the way, did you check with our bank to see if those funds TIC
wired to us are good?
Bambi: Oh - we're on! Hello
World! Here we are, live from backstage at the Academy Awards where we're
on special assignment for that fabulous international chess news tabloid,
The International Chessoid!!! As everyone has no doubt heard by now,
The Queen has won an Oscar! Now how fabulous is that? We're here to
interview her - oh there she is now - Helen - Helen - " |
|
(3/10)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: Buy your way into the US Championship!
Also: candidates & kings, cheating & pawn-odds, Kasparov, Fisher,
Anand, Benjamin.
TheParrot Squaawks about
cheating with the
MonRoi system.
|
|
(3/10) Chess Composition:
More-Movers, the latest from
Peter's
Problem World, with FIDE Master of Chess Composition Peter Wong.
|
"Longer directmate problems, in which White forces mate in four or
more moves, are grouped under the term more-mover.
The length of play in such compositions allows themes of greater depth
to be realised, such as those involving elaborate manoeuvres.
Nevertheless, long directmates are not necessarily more difficult to
solve than two- and three-movers. Often White’s choices are limited
to making short mating threats, to keep the black force under control.
Also, lengthier problems tend to possess fewer variations – one
full-length variation is typical in very long more-movers – hence they
don’t become unduly complex..." |
|
Read Peter's other columns as well:
What is a Chess Problem?,
Phases of Play, and
Three-Movers. Words,
phrases
and terms that have special meaning in chess
composition are in the Glossary.
|
 (3/10)
USCF
Election Interview Continues:
The Parrot interviews
four candidates for the USCF's Executive Board. The USCF Executive
Board (EB) manages the affairs of the Federation, including employment and
other contracts, between meetings of the Board of Delegates and performs
other duties as specified in the Bylaws. In last week's first installment
of this interview, we presented five questions asked of both GM Susan Polgar and Randy Bauer.
This week we add the responses from
two more candidates, Dr. Mikhail Korenman and Paul Truong.
|
 Dr.
Mikhail Korenman:
I still remember how chess programs were generated and supported in
former USSR and in Russia. I hope that some of those ideas might
help to generate some new life and enthusiasm in the US chess
community... |
 Paul
Truong:
We are
wasting so many opportunities to make chess and the USCF more viable
which in turn will bring more absolutely needed revenues. I plan
to propose to create a strong chess marketing and promotion committee
and I plan to work closely with this committee to give the USCF
something it never had before... |
|
(3/10)
Nuestro Círculo
#240:
10 de marzo de 2007, dedicado a Sultan Khan, Maestro hindú que vivió entre
1905 y 1966. Aparte de su biografía y partidas, publicamos la nota "Lasker y
Capablanca" y las 20 partidas de las rondas 8ª a 12ª del Torneo
Morelia-Linares 2007 que lidera Vishy Anand (también hindú) seguido por
Magnus Carlsen, el joven G.M. noruego de 16 años.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
(3/4)
USCF
Election Interviews:
The Parrot interviews
four candidates for the USCF's Executive Board. The USCF Executive
Board (EB) manages the affairs of the Federation, including employment and
other contracts, between meetings of the Board of Delegates and performs
other duties as specified in the Bylaws. In today's first installment
of this interview, we present five questions, both asked of both GM Susan
Polgar and Randy Bauer.
|
 GM
Susan Polgar: The USCF should set
ethical standards for its many programs. I do think that we
should get feedback from our members to set better standards.
|
 Randy
Bauer:
The USCF
needs regular membership growth - without it, we will always be
careening from one financial crisis to the next. In many respects, we
are still a makeshift operation with a lot of questionable business
processes. |
Read the complete interview
here.
Next week we will bring you answers to these same five questions by two
other Executive Board candidates - Dr. Mikhail Korenman and Paul Truong.
|
|
(3/3)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: David MacEnulty, the 2007 US Championship,
Jennifer Shahade, Alexander Zhukov, Linares, Markowski and a New
Fischer title.
TheParrot Squaawks about Adorjan’s series of titles,
Black is Okay….
|
|
(3/3)
Nuestro Círculo
#239:
3 de marzo de 2007, dedicado al Maestro Internacional ruso Vladimir
Makogonov (1904-1993). Publicamos en este número su biografía,
partidas de las rondas 6 y 7 del Torneo Morelia - Linares 2007 y una
nota de David Llada cuyo tema es la superstición en grandes maestros
del ajedrez.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
 (2/25)
Review:
Chess Explained:
The English Opening by Zenon Franco (Gambit, 2006), reviewed by S.
Evan Kreider. "Gambit Publications is clearly interested in developing
its new Chess Explained series (no doubt to compete with Everyman’s
Starting Out series), as evidenced by how many titles is has put out
recently and how many more are on the horizon. In this review, I’ll take a
look at Chess Explained: The English Opening, a title I’ve been more
than a little curious about, given that the English is an opening I myself
play on occasion. According to the table of contents, the book covers
the following..." |
 (2/25)
Aishwarya Rai and Chess - Six Degrees of
Separation: by Jan Newton. "What's that adage about
coincidence - "there is no such thing"... A few weeks ago my
Goddesschess cohort and fellow
goddess, Georgia, and I were email-chatting about movies and I recommended
"Bride and Prejudice" to her as an hilarious romp with great dance scenes
and music, a fun, feel-good interpretation of the Jane Austen classic "Pride
and Prejudice." (It sure made me get out of my chair and shake my
booty.) Some days later Georgia rented the video and she and Michelle
(daughter goddess) loved the movie. Georgia decided to buy it for me
as a gift (thank you, ÔSis). The beautiful Indian actress (1994 Miss
World), Aishwarya Rai, starred in the film as Lalita Bakshi, Elizabeth
Bennet's alter-ego. (Photo of Rai from
BizHat.com.)
Rai, a superstar in her native India, has appeared in over 40 films..." |
|
(2/24)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: bright lights & shade, the USATE, Quigley’s
Marshall bust, Morelia,
and
Aeroflot.
TheParrot Squaawks about responsibility and
accountability.
|
|
(2/24)
Nuestro Círculo #238:
24 de febrero de 2007, dedicado al Maestro Internacional estadounidense
Anthony E. Santasiere que vivió entre los años 1904 y 1977. Además
publicamos en este número una nota del Ing. Eduardo Iacobacci y 20 partidas
correspondientes a las 5 primeras ruedas del Torneo Internacional
Morelia-Linares 2007.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
|
GM
Raymond Keene |
(2/18) Annotated Games: Robert Wade:
GM Raymond Keene (Keene
On Chess) looks back at Bob Wade's many and varied contributions
to the chess world and particularly to the chess scene in Great Britain.
Player, champion, organizer, author, administrator, teacher and coach,
Bob Wade OBE, is a
two-times British chess champion and "chess coach to the nation."
GM Keene also analyzes one of Wade's best games, his 1970 confrontation
in the British Championship with 10-time British Champion Jonathan
Penrose. As a further treat, Keene has unearthed some analysis by
Bob Wade himself of a pair of titanic battles with GM Victor Korchnoi in
Buenos Aires 1960 and Havana 1963. |
|
.jpg) (2/18)
Silman's Complete Endgame Course:
From Beginner to Master by IM Jeremy Silman,
reviewed by Michael Jeffreys. "There are few individuals in the chess
world more respected/liked than Jeremy Silman. Whenever he is
lecturing at a chess tournament, he always attracts the largest turnout.
Why? Well, part of the reason is his personality. He is just a
natural showman who presents his material in way that is as entertaining as
it is instructive. Not only is he funny, but he has a way of
connecting with his audience that few can match. Having been to
several of his lectures over the years, I can tell you that one of his
secrets is that he never talks down to his audience. He answers a
question from a 1200-player with the same seriousness and respect as from a
2300- player. He is able to do this because unlike many GMs/IMs, he
hasn’t forgotten what it’s like to be a struggling class player. This
is the reason why his books have always been so popular. And why
year-in and year-out, How to Reassess Your Chess is consistently at
the top of most class player’s “best chess book” list. So when Mr.
Silman comes out with a new book, the chess world eagerly awaits its
arrival. His latest effort is a monster: a 530 large-page paperback
that weighs in at a hefty 2.5 lbs! Before we get into the content, a
word about the layout: this thing is the Anna Kournikova of chess books..." |
 (2/18)
UCO: The Devin Gambit - The latest in Clyde Nakamura's
Search for Dragons and Mythical Chess Openings.
"Some
players have believed that chess is almost dead. That there is no more
to be discovered in the openings. That you have to memorize 20 moves deep
to play a correct game of chess. I do not believe that this is true.
There are still many new and exciting opening lines to discover. Chess
is still vast and unexplored."
I agree with
Eric Schiller that the 3...Nxg4 4.e4 Qh4 line is bad for White, however I do
not believe that the Devin Gambit is bad and not playable - because Schiller
did not look at 3...Nxg4 4.Nf3 which stops Black's Queen from moving to h4.
If Black accepts the g-pawn sacrifice and castles kingside, Black will be
facing a very strong kingside attack... |
  (2/18)
Danailov – Topalov Busted:
Sign System Cracked!
By Robert T.
Tuohey. "On
October 14, 2005, Veselin Topalov swept the FIDE championship; the sweetness
of success, however, was made bitter as allegations of computer-assisted
cheating rose to haunt the new World Number One. A year later, in
Elista, Kalmykia, when Topalov faced Kramnik for the undisputed world-title,
the entire affair was nearly flushed via Toilet-Gate. Once again,
cries of “Foul!” are being heard. A recent
ChessBase
article reports that a German newspaper has obtained video footage in
which Topalov is seen to receive signals from his manager, Silvio Danailov,
standing just off-stage. Are these accusations true? What could
the mysterious “signals” be? Let’s go to the footage..." |
 (2/18)
Training: A new "Recon64" Move Prediction Exercise from Jim Mitch (aka Prof. Chester Nuhmentz.)
Today's game is that featured in February's
Chess-Vision exercise, Stefano
Tatai vs. Anatoli Karpov; Las Palmas, 1977. In
this game played from 1977, during Karpov's
reign as World Chess Champion, Karpov plays brilliantly as Black --
quickly grabbing the initiative then creating a
relentless series of threats with sharp tactical
play. Similar to Predict-A-Move and Solitaire-type
chess exercises, Recon64 challenges players to
find candidate moves from games played by
masters. Players are encouraged to search
for several strong candidate moves in each position, and are rewarded as
long as their list of moves includes the move selected by the master during
the game. As an extra twist, players
invest Recon64 dollars on candidate moves based
on how likely they think each move was used in
the original game. |
(2/17)
Nuestro Círculo #237:
17 de febrero de 2007, que hemos dedicado al Maestro alemán Karl Helling que
vivió entre los años 1904 y 1937. Aparte de la biografía y partidas de Karl
Helling, este número contiene las notas: "Diálogo con Borges" (con pintura
de Norah Borges), "Argentina en las Olimpíadas", "Dice Kasparov" y "Capablanca
brillante" del Profesor Erich González.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
|
(2/17)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: the Polgar Nationals, CISCCON, Moscow, Morelia (Patzcuaro!).
TheParrot Squaawks about losing almost a third
of a million dollars.
|
|
 (2/11)
New & Notes #14 with ICCF-GM
Yoav Dothan. Sharpen your tactical vision with positions
from 19 different games featuring such Super-GMs as Morozevich,
Svidler, Shirov, Mamedyarov, Gelfand, Grischuk, and Van Wely along
with a host of other Masters & GMs. 35 diagrams in all.
Plus: recent news from the world of international correspondence
chess, including a new Game-of-the-Month feature by the 11th
ICCF World Champion and news from the ICCF Olympiad XIV Final (1st
ICCF Email Olympiad.) See more of GM Yoav Dothan's efforts in
News & Notes. |
Morozevich,A
(2747) - Mamedyarov,S (2728)
Tal Memorial Moscow RUS (7), 14.11.2006
  
 
White to move
Did Morozevich miss a win in the endgame?
|
|
 (2/11)
Review: Chess
Explained: The Taimanov Sicilian by
IM James Rizzitano, reviewed by S. Evan Kreider. "Faithful
readers of my reviews will recall that I’ve been curious about the Taimanov
Sicilian for some time now. Though it’s not my main defense to 1.e4, I’ve
always been attracted to its simplicity – relative to the Sicilian in
general, that is. It’s less theoretical and much safer than something like
the Sicilian Dragon, but it still has the potential for double-edged attacks
and counter-attacks when necessary. In fact, the only problem with the
Taimanov to my mind was the serious lack of decent literature devoted to it!
In recent times, this has begun to change. Graham Burgess’
The Taimanov Sicilian is
an excellent theoretical manual published in 2002, and last year saw
Alexander Delchev’s The Safest
Sicilian, a fantastic Taimanov-based
repertoire book. Still lacking, though was a good pedagogical manual on the
Taimanov. At long last, we have one – thanks to James Rizzitano and Gambit
Publications and their excellent book The Taimanov Sicilian..." |
(2/10)
Nuestro Círculo #236:
10 de febrero de 2007, dedicado a Pedro Damiano, ajedrecista y
teórico portugués que vivió entre 1480 y 1544. Aparte de la biografía, este
número contiene las siguientes notas: "Festival Playa Unión", "Atletismo y
Ajedrez", "Videojuegos en Cuba", "Videojuegos y el Papa", "Ecos del Corus
2007" y la "Nota 200 del Aguafiestas."
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
|
(2/10)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: USCF going broke? and the State of World Chess.
Oh yes, Canadian Ch., Millennium Festival, Moscow Open, Linares,
and the French Team Ch.
TheParrot Squaawks about
tough questions about future directions for the UDCF.
|
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 (2/4) Review:
Thomas Frère and the Brotherhood of Chess
- A History of 19th Century Chess
in New York City by Martin Frère Hillyer, reviewed
by Rick Kennedy. "It was a different world, and from 1820 to 1900,
Thomas Frère was there. Thomas Frère and the Brotherhood of Chess:
A History of 19th Century Chess in New York City is his
great-great-grandson’s warmly written account:
Along with no television or radio, there were no organized sports
associations, and there was no electricity in the homes, so for
entertainment, city folks gathered and started public clubs, whist, checkers
and chess clubs. …[Frere] was one of the leading organizers during
this time period and is given most of the credit for the development of
chess rules for play and for player’s conduct during tournaments and match
competition. It is through his writings, books, letters, chess columns
and his personal scrapbooks that many aspects of the important events and
history of 19th century chess in the United States are
documented..." |
(2/3)
Nuestro Círculo #235:
3 de febrero de 2007, dedicado al ajedrecista y sacerdote siciliano Pietro
Carrera (1573-1647). Incluimos 26 partidas y tabla final de posiciones del
Torneo CORUS 2007 en el que resultaron vencedores, con 8,5 sobre 13 puntos
en juego, los Grandes Maestros Levon Aronian, Veselin Topalov y Teimour
Radjabov.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
|
(2/3)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: Women's Grand Prix, Moscow Open, Corus,
Gibraltar, Krush, and clock-simuls.
TheParrot Squaawks about
a
crisis point of no return - is there hope on the horizon?
|
|
 (1/28)
Review:
Discovering Chess Openings - Building
A Repertoire from Basic
Principles by GM John Emms (Everyman Chess, 2006), reviewed by
Michael Jeffreys. "Oftentimes the stronger a chess player is,
the less likely he is able to remember what it was like when he was just
starting out. Ideas and concepts that he takes for granted frequently
baffle or completely elude the beginner. This is why chess authors like
Irving Chernev, I.A. Horowitz, and Fred Reinfeld were so loved by beginners;
even though they were strong players their books did a superb job of
explaining things in easy to understand terms...In many respects a book such
as this is not easy to write. Opening concepts and rules that most players
take for granted have to be broken down and explained step-by-step being
careful not to leave anything out, no matter how “obvious” it may be. Emms
does a good job of not only doing that in this book, but of also keeping the
reader engaged with his friendly commentary throughout..." |
 (1/28)
Review:
Chess Puzzles for
the Casual Player Volume 1 by Kevin Houston,
reviewed by Rick Kennedy. "Okay. Your buddy Charlie’s
been getting back into chess, and he says he needs a little help, so you get
him Vukovic’s The Art of Attack but it winds up untouched on his
bookshelf next to War as I Knew It by Patton and Infantry Attacks
by Rommel? You try again with Reinfeld’s 1001 Winning Chess
Sacrifices and Combinations, but the next time you drop by his place you
see he’s got it under the short leg of a coffee table, where it levels
things out real fine. You’re beginning to realize that your pal is a
casual chess player, and no chess book is going to be of any use to
him unless he opens it and actually reads it…
Fortunately, Kevin Houston feels your pain..." |
|
(1/28) PGN Utilities from Tom McCormick: A collection of freeware pgn
utilities, including PGNTRIM5 for "normalizing"...a process of cleaning PGN
syntax errors and producing consistent output files. A combination of
these utilities may be used to remove duplicate games within one PGN file,
or to set the sequence of games within one PGN file, such as sorting games
in order of YEAR, or ECO code, or Result, etc. A few additional
utility programs may be used in special situations... This file was
recently updated by the author to include many new utilities as well as
enhancements to existing ones. Find this FREE Download on our
Downloads Page, along with
lots of other stuff you can download for free! |
|
(1/27)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: Canada, Great Britain,
USA, India, The Netherlands, Gibraltar, and France.
TheParrot Squaawks about tournament scoring and the
"draw-death".
|
|
(1/27)
Nuestro Círculo #234:
27 de enero de 2007, que dedicamos al M.I. inglés William Albert Fairhurst,
que vivió entre los años 1903 y 1982.. Además de la biografía, este número
contiene notas de María Pérez, Hebert Pérez y Gustavo Águila.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
 (1/21)
Viktor Korchnoi - Fearless Competitor of
World Chess: GM Raymond Keene (Keene
On Chess) provides an overview of the life and career of this
remarkable competitor. "Viktor Lvovich
Korchnoi is one of the giants of 20th and 21st century chess, contesting
three matches that determined the destination of the world championship and
winning games against no fewer than eight world champions: Botvinnik, Tal,
Smyslov, Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer, Karpov and Kasparov. (His
lifetime score against Tal, for example, was an overwhelming 13 wins with 6
losses and 29 draws.) He additionally registered plus scores against
Petrosian and Spassky and was level with Botvinik and Fischer. Korchnoi also set
various records for longevity of elite chess performance and in this regard
he can be rivaled only by his hero Emanuel Lasker and by Vassily Smyslov.
He remains the world’s oldest active Grandmaster in 2006, still with a
super-GM rating of 2610..." |
 (1/21
Chess History:
We are happy to bring you another in what we hope will be an ever growing
collection of Chessville
Vignettes, an edited Chessville reader's column. Today's column
focuses on Harry Nelson Pillsbury, whom some say
may have become the greatest champion of all
time, had he lived and been unencumbered by illness.
Do you have your own story to tell? Send 500-700 words of player biography or anecdote to
Vignettes@chessville.com and we may feature your contribution in a
future column, plus your name as contributor, and add it to
the Vignettes archive. A Chessville editor may edit the text
and/or provide any necessary graphics, including copyright-free
photographs and national flag of the player. |
|
(1/21) Chess Composition:
Three-Movers
- FIDE Master of Chess Composition Peter Wong brings us a new lesson from
Peter's Problem World. This month Peter
takes us into the realm of 3-movers, which are an order of magnitude more
complex than the 2-movers we've seen so far, but they also open up the door
to more themes of play than are possible with 2-movers.
Peter writes: "Three-movers
are broadly divided into the two schools of model-mate and strategic
problems. The point of model-mate compositions lies in their variety of
striking final mating positions, whereas strategic problems emphasise the
interplay between the white and black forces."
Peter has also updated his
Chess Composition Glossary, adding new terms that have special meaning in the field of chess
composition.
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(1/21)
Review: The Fascinating Reti Gambit by Thomas Johansson,
reviewed by Rick Kennedy. "Listen to the book's siren call: 'Are
you one of those e4-players who absolutely hate to face the French Defence?
And when it occurs, do you get the feeling that black has all the fun,
whether he's pressuring your d-pawn, breaking down your pawn centre,
rounding up your a-pawn or boring you to tears with the Rubinstein?'
Even those club players who relish their own secret recipes against the
"King Pawn one square" defense - say, the tasty Winkelmann-Reimer Gambit,
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 dxe4 6.f3 or the spicy Wing
Gambit 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4 - may wish to try some of Johansson's
home cooking.
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(1/20)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: USCF bankrupt? CJA books a mystery?
Bad weather at Corus.
TheParrot Squaawks about playing for peanuts - and the
honor of your country's championship.
|
|
(1/20)
Nuestro Círculo #233:
20 de enero de 2007, que dedicamos al Maestro polaco Salomón (Salo)
Landau, quien nació en 1903 y murió en 1943 en un campo de concentración
nazi. En este número podrás leer su biografía y notas de Leonardo Lipiniks,
Eduardo Iacobacci, Gustavo Aguila y una carta de Joan Canal, lector de N.C.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
 (1/14)
Chess History:
We are happy to bring you another in what we hope will be an ever growing
collection of Chessville
Vignettes, an edited Chessville reader's column. Today's column
focuses on Frank James Marshall, US champion, grandmaster and
conqueror of virtually all the greats of his day.
Do you have your own story to tell? Send 500-700 words of player biography or anecdote to
Vignettes@chessville.com and we may feature your contribution in a
future column, plus your name as contributor, and add it to
the Vignettes archive. A Chessville editor may edit the text
and/or provide any necessary graphics, including copyright-free
photographs and national flag of the player. |
 (1/14)
Review:
Dangerous
Weapons: The Sicilian by John Emms and Richard Palliser (Everyman,
2006) and
Dangerous
Weapons: The Nimzo-Indian by John Emms, Chris Ward, and Richard Palliser
 (Everyman Chess, 2006),
both reviewed by S. Evan Kreider. "This week, I have the pleasure of
reviewing a whole new series of opening books published by Everyman Chess.
According to the publisher, this series is designed to “supply the
reader with an abundance of hard-hitting ideas to revitalize his or her
opening repertoire. Many of the carefully chosen weapons are innovative,
visually shocking, incredibly tricky, or have been unfairly discarded: they
are guaranteed to throw even your most experienced opponent off balance.”
Sounds good to me, Everyman! But tell me, how exactly does it do this?" |
|
(1/14) Instruction:
Pieces in Motion - The Isolated Queen
Pawn, another Great Pawn Hunter
Chess Tutorial. "Today, I have chosen to demonstrate a game
that has a pawn structure weakness, a weak central pawn. However, by
centralizing his pieces White obtains a dynamic position full of attacking
potential. I am hoping that if you see a real game played out by
grandmasters, instead of being scared and going on the defense, you might
look to make your pieces active and counter balance the weakness in your
camp." |
 |
In the diagram, the (d4) pawn is weak because it has
no other pawns on neighboring files. However, during the
middlegame, the pawn can be used to control central squares during an
attack or used as a battering ram for central expansion.The general
rule of thumb against the player with the weak pawn is to:
- restrict the pawn from advancing by attacking the d5 square with
pieces;
- blockade the pawn by moving a piece onto the d5 square;
- reduce the material on the board by trading pieces;
- attack and win the pawn.
|
|
Read Pieces In Motion - The
Isolated Queen Pawn
The Great Pawn Hunter - with Manny
Paddy Fealey & Wiskey
|
|
(1/14)
News & Notes #13 with ICCF-GM Yoav Dothan.
A brand new installment in ICCF-GM Yoav Dothan's look at what might have
been - in positions culled from current master and grandmaster games.
Both entertaining and instructive, these tactics make great study material
for the improving player. Today's column looks at the LXXI Spanish
Championship - Leon Spain. Check out GM Yoav's
previous dozen columns too! |
(1/13)
Nuestro Círculo #232:
13 de enero de 2007,
que dedicamos al Maestro
español
Ramón Rey Ardid, quien vivió entre los años 1903 y 1988. Aparte de
su biografía, podrás leer en este número notas de Leonardo Lipiniks (M.F.),
Jorge A. Rubinetti (M.I.), y R.P.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
|
(1/13)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: Nashville, New York, a big secret and the future.
Hastings, Reggio Emilia, Odessa and Corus.
TheParrot Squaawks about chronic problems with FIDE and
the USCF.
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|
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(1/7) The
Ninth Gate Problem: A new Past Pawns article
from Robert Tuohey. "Usually this column is devoted to an examination
of under-appreciated or lesser-known players of the past; in this particular
installment, however, I’d like to shed some light on a completely ignored
chess position from a relatively recent film. To wit: the chess
position briefly seen in “The Ninth Gate” (1999).
  Directed
by Roman Polanski, starring Johnny Depp, the plot of “The Ninth Gate”
revolves around the restoration of a medieval occult text, “The Nine Doors
to the Kingdom of Shadows”, which, in its original form, is said to outline
a ritual capable of summoning Satan. The heart of this ritual,
however, is not stated directly, but rather alluded to in a kind of “Satanic
riddle” which takes the form of nine engravings: these the occultist must
correctly interpret in order to successfully perform the working.
It should be carefully noted, in view of what is to follow, that these
engravings, although historically fictitious, are very far from mere
mock-ups or props: the general style and the esoteric symbology shown are
rather accurate (borrowing heavily from the Tarot cards, and the artists
Dürer and Holbein). Before examining the seventh engraving, which
specifically concerns us, for the reader’s general reference, here is the
entire set..."
The Ninth Gate
Problem |
 (1/7)
Review:
Six World
Champions (4 CDs) from Convekta, with annotations by GM
Alexander Khalifman, reviewed by Rick Kennedy. "The other
day I was thinking about the old “desert island” question, “If you were
going to be stranded on a desert island for a long period of time, what one
chess book would you want to take with you?” I decided that if I
modernized the task a bit and took a laptop computer along with me, then I
wouldn’t settle for a mere book as a companion; I’d want the software
collection Six World Champions, from Convekta – those good folks who
have brought us Chess Assistant,
and, more recently Openings
Instructor. In the 4-CD set are the games of Emanuel Lasker,
Jose Raul Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal and
Boris Spassky. Plus there are photographs, tournament crosstables and
position quizzes, where you get to “Play as Alekhine” or “Play as Tal” (or
Lasker, Capablanca, Botvinnik or Spassky) by choosing the correct move and
continuation from actual games the Champions played in..." |
|
(1/7)
Chess
History: A brand new Mad Aussie's Trivia page!
Check out this latest installment of Graham Clayton's collection of the
weird and the wonderful, from the Popes to the paranoid, from beginnings to
endings, The Mad Aussie has more than two dozen new chess history factoids
for you to enjoy, including several new Who Am I? features for you to puzzle
over. And don't forget all the previous installments of The Mad
Aussie's Chess Trivia:
|
(1/6)
Nuestro Círculo #231:
6 de enero de 2007, que hemos dedicado al M.I. alemán Georg Kieninger
quien vivió entre los años 1902 y 1975. Aparte de su biografía, podrás
leer en este número notas de Leonardo Lipiniks (M.F.), Jorge A. Rubinetti (M.I.),
Roberto A. Ney (A.N.) y Roberto Pagura. ¡Con este número, Nuestro
Círculo ingresa a su sexto año de vida !
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
|
(1/6)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: is anyone actually playing chess in the US?
Then there's Hastings and Reggio Emilia.
TheParrot Squaawks about chess reforming itself.
|
|
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Chess History: