Here's what was New at Chessville between
1 October 2008 and 31 December 2008
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(11/30) Review:
Garry
Kasparov's Greatest Chess Games Vol. 1 by GM Garry
Kasparov, reviewed by
Prof. Nagesh Havanur. "Kasparov
chronicled his career up to the moment when he became Karpov’s
challenger(1984) in The Test of Time; subsequently he
wrote about how he gained and defended the world title in 1985/6. The
Russian edition of the latter book was called Two Matches.
After that, no comprehensive collection of his games has been published.
In this sense this book is a logical undertaking, long overdue..."
Includes the fully-annotated game Kasparov-Tal,
USSR Chess Olympiad 1983, of which Havanur writes, "A magnificent duel and one of the greatest
games ever played." |
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(11/30) Review:
Starting Out:
Sicilian Grand Prix Attack by Gaiwain Jones (Everyman Chess, 2008),
reviewed by Michael Jeffreys. "Many years ago I was standing in the
chess section of a Borders reading a book by Bent Larsen who in one chapter
wondered why White, against the Sicilian Defense, would trade a perfectly
good center pawn for a flank pawn!? In other words, after 1.e4 c5
2.Nf3 Nc6, why should White automatically play 3.d4 and trade his valuable
center pawn for Black’s c5 pawn? I remember reading that and thinking,
“Yeah, that’s an excellent point Bent!” Perhaps that is why I have
always liked playing the Grand Prix Attack against the Sicilian..." |
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(11/30) Deus Ex Machina: Albert Alberts
(Explorations in
Man-Assisted
Machine Chess (MAMS)) latest column looks at the
eternal question of who wins given best play on both sides. Is chess
really a draw? Could Bobby Fischer have been wrong? Maybe the
game is theoretically lost for Black!? Then again, maybe not.
What is "the ultimate solution" of classic chess? |
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(11/30) Chess Composition:
Finales...y Temas #50 (December, 2008) by ICCF-GM José A. Copié - en
español. This Argentine publication, widely distributed in PDF format
and through many chess pages, offers high quality articles and surprising
studies we are sure will entertain while teaching valuable endgame skills in
the bargain. Don't read Spanish? ¡No problemo! Finales... y Temas
uses figurine algebraic notation (FAN). |
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(11/30) Team Spirit: by FM
Amatzia Avni. Look Inside Avni's Mind
and see what it takes to perform above your team's average rating. "In
the recent Dresden Olympiad, November 2008, Armenia and Israel, rated 9th
and 8th respectively, somewhat surprisingly took the gold and
silver medals...Israel achieved its highest rank ever, and that without two
of its top players – GMs Sutovsky and Smirin. In this case too, the
local press praised the team spirit of its players. It appears odd to
talk about a team spirit in an activity where the overall result is
calculated by accumulation of individual scores. However,
team-spirit does indeed count..." |
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(11/29) Free eBook: The
Chess-Player's Handbook by Howard Staunton. This edition,
originally published in London in 1890 and featuring an alphabetical list of
all the principal openings by R.F. Green, is now in the Public Domain.
Wikipedia says of Staunton "His chess articles and books were widely read
and encouraged the development of chess in the United Kingdom, and his
Chess-Player's Handbook (1847) was a reference for decades." |
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(11/29)
Nuestro Círculo #330:
29 de noviembre de 2008, dedicado al ajedrecista georgiano Bukhuti
Gurgenidze que vivió entre los años 1933 y 2008. Publicamos, además de
su biografía y partidas, una nota sobre la reciente Olimpíada, "Damas: 29º
en Dresden" con partidas ganadas por los chicos y chicas argentinos y las
posiciones que ocuparon todos los equipos de Norte, Centro y Sud América y
una nota de Hebert Pérez García "Un gazapo del Mto. Mieses".
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez
editado en Argentina en lenguaje español. |
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(11/23) Chess Reports #5:
Bob Long offers another glimpse into The Chess Reports. This issue
includes a discussion of traps and a give & take between readers and Bob.
Of course there's the famous quiz page, and a review of
Opening for White according to Anand
1.e4.
Chess Reports is
an ongoing series of PDF files delivered every other Friday via e-mail.
Each issue contains a wealth of chess instruction, with a wide variety of
subject matter. |
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(11/23) New Linkmeister:
Chessville is pleased to welcome Scott Strattner to our team!
Scott is taking over the long vacant Linkmeister position, and is already
hard at work updating, reorganizing, and greatly improving our huge
chess links collection. His
first page is our listing of links to Chess
Clubs, which now includes a link to Google Maps! If you don't
find your club listed here, be sure to let Scott know so he can add your
club's link to our growing collection. |
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(11/23) Review: Starting Out: Pawn Endgames by GM Glenn Flear
(Everyman Chess, 2004),
reviewed by Mark Houlsby. "Over the past several months your intrepid
reviewer has, by various disparate forces, been drawn inexorably towards
what now seems to have been an inevitable conclusion: endgame books are
different from any other type of chess book. Here’s why: there is, it
seems, a definite trend with respect to nearly every type of chess book..." |
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(11/23) Training:
Recon64. A new Move Prediction Exercise from
Jim Mitch (aka
Professor Chester
Nuhmentz.) The latest edition features a strong game by the
Russian master Mikhail Chigorin,
demonstrating not only a defense against the Ruy Lopez named after him, but
also forceful endgame technique. Similar to Predict-A-Move and Solitaire-type
chess exercises, as an extra twist, players
'invest' Recon64 dollars on candidate moves. |
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(11/23) Free eBook: The
Grand Tactics of Chess by Franklin Knowles Young. Originally
published in Boston in 1898, this book is now in the Public Domain.
Young's hyperbole is on display in this short snippet from the introduction:
"In this volume is presented a complete system of chess-play. This
system is deduced from the play of the greater Masters; and those processes
by which they gained their renown are herein formulated and put into
language for the first time. The principles which govern these
processes are simple and clearly stated. These comprehend every
situation possible on the chess-board..." |
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(11/22)
Nuestro Círculo #329:
22 de noviembre de 2008, dedicado al ajedrecista inglés William E. Napier
que vivió entre los años 1881 y 1952. Publicamos, además de su
biografía y partidas, las notas "Olimpíada de Dresden", Homenaje a Fco.
Benko", "No confiar demasiado" y "Ellas 16,5 - Ellos 12,5".
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez
editado en Argentina en lenguaje español. |
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(11/16)
UCO Hero - IM Michael Basman by
Clyde Nakamura (The Search for Dragons
and Mythical Chess Openings). "Michael
J. Basman (born in 1946 at St Pancras, London, England) is an English chess
player, and International Master, who is a prolific writer, chess teacher,
chess coach and an organizer who has made many contributions to the field of
unorthodox flank chess openings..." |
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(11/16) Free Download:
Games of UCO Hero IM
Michael Basman.
From Clyde Nakamura (The Search for Dragons
and Mythical Chess Openings) we bring you a zipped pgn file
containing 743 chess games & lines by
IM Michael Basman, including such opponents
as Leonid Stein, Robert Huebner, Vassily Smyslov, Anthony Miles, Svetozar
Gligoric, John Nunn, Nigel Short, Stefan Buecker, Michael Adams, etc.
Find this free download on our
Games by Players
page, and also be sure to visit our main
downloads
page. |
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(11/16) Review:
Starting Out:
1.d4! by IM John Cox (Everyman Chess, 2006),
reviewed by Michael Jeffreys. "When I first began
playing chess 18 years ago, like most beginners I was influenced by Fischer
and began my games with 1.e4. After all, he did say it was “best by
test.” However, for some reason which I don’t remember I soon began
opening my games with 1.d4, and continue to do so to this day. I guess
my contrarian thinking at the time was, “Well, since most people are playing
1.e4, than I’m gonna open with 1.d4! Yeah, take ‘em out of book on
move one!!” Ha, ha… yeah, right..." |
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(11/16) Annotated Game:
Botvinnik – Smyslov, World Championship Match 1954
Game Ten. Annotated by Prof. Nagesh Havanur. “With the score standing at 5-4 in
Botvinnik’s favour, the World champion was clearly losing ground against
an opponent who seemed to be increasing in stature with every game… The
spectators, aroused by the terrific fight into which the match had
developed, thronged the hall...” |
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(11/16) Review:
The
King by GM Jan Hein Donner, reviewed by Prof. Nagesh Havanur.
"Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch once wrote, “Chess, like love, like music,
has the power to make men happy.” The great master could not bring
himself to write that the reverse was also true. Chess can drive men
to grief and despair when it brings defeat. Nobody put it as
eloquently as Donner: “A chess player’s path on earth is often strewn
with trouble and grief. The joy of victory is transitory and brief, while
it is in the midst of our happiness that we are bound to be struck by
horror…." The reviews includes
the annotated game Donner – Velimirovic,
Havana 1971. |
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(11/15)
Nuestro Círculo #328:
15 de noviembre de 2008, dedicado al ajedrecista alemán Rudolf Swiderski que
vivió entre los años 1878 y 1909. Publicamos, además de su biografía y
partidas, las notas "Felgaer gana en Chile", "El peón débil", "Videojuegos
violentos" y "Mayores dan jaque".
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español. |
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(11/15)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world. This
week: It’s all about the Dresden Olympiad; Berkeley International
Masters; World Championship; Strongest Chinese Chess Tournament Ever –
Category XXI; Brit Rapid-Play; "The Pride and Sorrow of American
Philosophy". |
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(11/12) Free eBook: The
Chess Tournament by Howard Staunton. Anderssen, Kieseritzky,
Staunton, Bird, Löwenthal, Horwitz, Jaenisch, etc., what more needs to be
said about the famous 1851 London tournament, the first international chess
tournament in the history of the modern game? Originally published in
London, 1873, Chessville presents it as a 12 MB zipped PDF file. |
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(11/11) Training: from
Jim Mitch. In the November Chess Vision exercise for
visitors from Chessville, moves are taken from a strong game by the Russian
master Mikhail Chigorin. He demonstrates not only a defense against the Ruy
Lopez named after him, but also forceful endgame technique. In the Chess
Vision exercise players try to imagine up to 10 moves from a starting
diagram, finding all the legal captures and checks that could be made in the
envisioned position. |
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(11/11)
JanXena on
Les Echecs
des Femmes: Jan Newton's monthly roundup of all that
pertains to the women in chess, and the chess in women! This month
includes looks at European Club Cup, 12th Essent Chess Tournament (Hoogeveen),
16th North American FIDE Invitational, 1st World Mind Sports Games, Cap
d'Agade, The Casino De Barcelona, World Blitz Chess Championship 2008, 2008
Chess Olympiad, and Jan's review of Chess in the News and this month's
Featured Chess Femme - Kelly Wang. |
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(11/11) Chess Collectibles:
The Fischer Spoon Chess Story
- by W. Bednersh. "At the [2000] National Spoon Convention in
Colorado Springs, Erwin Goldman convinced me to acquire this unusual
spoon... The pictured spoon is a heavy 5.75" art deco style sterling
spoon made about 1972. Sterling spoons were not hot collectibles
during that time period so it is rather unusual to have a sterling spoon
commemorating any event. This spoon, however, commemorates the very
famous cold war Chess World Championship between American chess genius Bobby
Fischer and the Russian Grand Master Boris Spassky which was held in
Reykjavik, Iceland..." |
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(11/11)
Nuestro Círculo #327:
8 de noviembre de 2008,
dedicado al ajedrecista
austríaco Heinrich Wolf que vivió entre los años 1875 y 1943. Publicamos,
además de su biografía y partidas, las notas "Ecos del Mundial" , "Brillantes
Partidas Argentinas", "El Ataque al Enroque" y "Torneo Rossetto 2008".
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español. |
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(11/11)
Nuestro Círculo #326:
1 de noviembre de 2008,
dedicado al ajedrecista
holandés Carl August Walbrodt que vivió entre los años 1871 y 1902.
Publicamos, además de su biografía y partidas, las notas "Anand 6,5 -
Kramnnik 4,5" con las últimas partidas del match, "Anand y la Merano" y "Brillantes
Partidas Argentinas".
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español. |
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(11/11)
Nuestro Círculo #325:
25 de octubre de 2008,
dedicado al ajedrecista (y
bailarín) alemán Max Harmonist, que vivió entre los años 1864 y 1907.
Publicamos, además de su biografía y partidas, las notas "Anand 4,5 -
Kramnnik 1,5" con las primeras seis partidas del match y "Ajedrez prohibido"
una historia de autor desconocido sobre las prohibiciones y limitaciones que
viene sufriendo el ajedrez desde el año 655 D.C. hasta nuestros días.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español. |
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(11/11)
Nuestro Círculo #324:
18 de octubre de 2008,
dedicado al ajedrecista
holandés Adolf Georg Olland, que vivió entre los años 1867 y 1933.
Publicamos, además de su biografía y partidas, las notas "Entrevista a Anand,
2a.parte", "Las derrotas enseñan" y "Ajedrez para ciegos".
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español. |
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(11/8)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world. This
week: A Massive Chess Politics Issue; A letter to Chessville
from GM Andras Adorjan; What to Play?; GM Polgar has replied; World Champ
via Lawyers and Money Interests?; Gata Kamsky replies to the USCF Board; 6th
Annual U Mass; Cap d'Agde – Big result for Nakamura; A Guest-Rant from GM
Jan Timman - “Ilyumzhinov FIDE president is a criminal”. |
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(10/18)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world. This
week: World Championship; The Parrot’s Greatest Hits; Another report
from the global chess village; Books - The Fire: A Novel; Chess Life at
Chessville; Batty News or Chess Marriages; Meanwhile, in Detroit, more chess
gossip; Russian Championship; Kramnik-Anand, some stats; Cheesed-off with
Chess? Chess Variants and Creativity Conversations with 2 players. |
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(10/18) Free eBook:
The Exploits and Triumphs in Europe of Paul Morphy the Chess Champion
by Frederick Milnes Edge. Originally published in 1859 by D.
Appleton and Company, New York. Written by the first universally
acclaimed World Champion's personal secretary, this book is a well-known
classic, recounting Morphy's famous year-in-Europe, wherein he dispatched
with great ease all the best the Old World had to offer, save only Howard
Staunton, who famously dodged playing a match with Morphy. This book
is now in the public domain, as a 5.6 MB zipped PDF file. |
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(10/12) Review:
The Best of Chess Informant: Vladimir
Kramnik
(CD) from Chess Informant, 2008, reviewed by Prof. Nagesh Havanur.
"Vladimir Kramnik (b.1975-) is a player with a striking original talent and
he would go down in history as the nemesis of Kasparov whom he beat in the
World championship match without conceding a single loss. In terms of
style he is the heir of former world champions, Petrosian and Karpov.
He is a virtuoso of positional play and endgame technique. He does not seek
kingside attack and combinative play like Kasparov and Shirov, but exerts
tactical control once he has the upper hand in the position..." |
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(10/12) Review:
The Best of Chess Informant: Viswanathan Anand
(CD) from Chess Informant, 2008, reviewed by Prof. Nagesh Havanur.
"Viswanathan Anand (b.1969-) is the crown prince of chess. Few players
have earned such public adulation since the days of Fischer and Tal.
Anand’s unfailing modesty, cheer and warmth have won him friends all over
the world. This CD is a tribute to a great player at the height of his
career..." |
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(10/12) Chess Composition:
Square Strategy
by FIDE Master of Chess Composition Peter Wong (Peter's
Problem World). "All chess moves involve two basic effects:
the departure from a square, and the arrival on a square. These concrete
effects of a move underlie most of what problemists would call strategic
play, such as the firing of a battery (a piece’s departure from a square
opens a line of attack), and self-interference (a piece’s arrival on a
square closes a line of defence). Strategy in this problem sense also
includes, besides the various forms of line play, some motifs that
specifically relate to squares..." |
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(10/12) Annotated Games:
2008 World Championship Preview with
GM Raymond Keene, OBE. "On October 14 the most important
event of the year commences in Bonn, the 12-game World Championship match
between defending champion Viswanathan Anand and the former champion
Vladimir Kramnik. The match will
consist of 12 games and there will be a rapidplay shootout if the score is
6-6. Here I shall be giving earlier games between the two. What
are the respective chances of the two grandmasters, the reigning and former
champions, who will be fighting for the crown over the next few weeks?..." |
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(10/12) News:
World Championship Preview with GM
Artur Jussupov. Jussupov, himself three times world
championship semifinalist, is part of the official team of commentators for
the World Championship. "After a long period of waiting the time has
come at last: we are to witness the World Championship contest between
Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik in Bonn! Like many other chess
friends I am hoping for exciting games...because this is a meeting of two
completely different types of players with different chess philosophies..." |
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(10/12) Free eBook: The
Fifth American Chess Congress by Charles A. Gilberg, New York, 1880.
"Containing a full report of the proceedings of the convention of chess
players, held in New York, in the year 1880; together with an account of the
preceding chess congresses, held in the United States, and biographical
sketches of noted early chess players." This book is now in the public
domain; we offer it as a 11.9 MB zipped PFD file. Find it on our
eBook page. |
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(10/11)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world. This
week: World Championship; Chess Express - yet another new product;
Category Kasparov, Site: Harlem; Meanwhile, in Budapest; Russian
Championship; World Mind Games; Commonwealth Championship; Chess Women as
Cultural Objects. |
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(10/11)
Nuestro Círculo #323:
11 de octubre de 2008, dedicado al ajedrecista rumano Georg Marco, que vivió
entre los años 1863 y 1923. Publicamos, además de su biografía y
partidas, las notas "El ajedrez es Teatro" , primera parte de un reportaje a
Anand, y "Argentino Femenino 2008" con partidas del Campeonato Argentino
Femenino 2008 que ganó María de los Angeles Plazaola con 6,5 puntos, seguida
por Stephanie Amed y Marisa Zuriel con 6 puntos.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español. |
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