Archive for April, 2009

Later this year Yahoo will close Geocities, which hosts my Checkmate Chess Club & Garden State Chess League sites.

So… my lame designs are in need of a new, preferably free, home. Any suggestions or recommendations?

In #475, I erroneously called Joe Renna’s bi-monthly newspaper the Peterstown Press. The correct name is “Around About Peterstown”.

Also, instead of publishing his USATE win over Kern, Joe opted to use our 2009 Checkmate Championship game.

I have 8 more games from the Ellner Memorial for you – 4 from Round 1 (courtesy of TD Geoff McAuliffe & Fritz 10) & 4 from last week.

Sorry I could only annotate my undeserved win vs. Mike Wojcio. Other games with openings of interest may be addressed at some future point.

1st round : replays PGN
2nd round : replays PGN

Moldovan-Wojcio
after 29.Raf1 -/+

Here are the last-round pairings for the KCC’s Irving Ellner Memorial :

1. Moldovan (2.0) – Kernighan (2.0)
2. Minkov (1.5) – Mangion (1.0)
3. Wojcio (1.0) – Tomkovich (1.5)
4. Mann (1.0) -Sturniolo (1.0)
5. Shiffman (0.0) – Mazzillo (0.5)
6. Renna (0.5) – Balint (0.0)

Games are to begin at 8:45 p.m. but paired players may start earlier, at 8:30, if they need or want to.

The Kenilworth Chess Club Calendar of Events has been updated.

Here is the revised May-early June schedule :

May

5 TUESDAY Garden State match : K. Karpovs at West Orange, 8 pm
6 WEDNESDAY Garden State match : K. Kortchnois at Hamilton, 7:30
7 Garden State match : Maplewood vs. Staten Island, 8:15 p.m.
Quiet skittles for those not playing in the match.
14 Meeting to consider becoming a 501c7 Not-For-Profit Organization
21 Non-league mega-match between the Karpovs & Kortchnois
G/60. No board or rating limit. All KCC members can play.
28 To be announced. Suggestions welcome.

June

4 Garden State match : Hamilton at K. Karpovs, 8:15 p.m.

The Summit-K. Kortchnois match is officially slated for 6/2 in West Orange but I hope it can also be played on the 4th.

That is how Mark Donlan characterises ChessBase Magazine 129 in ChessCafe.com.
He points out as an example of the abundance of content that CBM 129 contains
introductory videos by Karsten Müller and Dorian Rogozenco, and then columns
by Daniel King, Peter Wells, Karsten Müller, Oliver Ree and Rainer Knaak
and much, much more. Buy CBM
129 or read
this review.

We return to this Championship, which had 14 participants and was won, for the third time, by WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan, who scored 11/13 points. Bronze went to eleven-year-old WFM Sara Sadat Khademalsharieh. For those of you who have had enough flawless 2800 play for a while, here’s a big pictorial report by Reza Mahdipour with highly enjoyable chess highlights from the event. Don’t miss it!

With the debate raging over FIDE’s decision to change or not to change the K-factor used in calculating players’ ratings, we are glad to receive an important message from our voice-of-reason grandmaster. Dr John Nunn says “there seems no real evidence that K=20 will result in a more accurate rating system, while there are a number of risks and disadvantages.” His explanation and reader feedback.

“Using the FIDE Laws of Chess terminology, the move has been made, and no takeback is any longer possible.” Polish GM Bartlomiej Macieja is insisting that the decision to increase the K-factor in rating calculations is not just necessary and good in the current tournament situation, it is in fact irrevocable and can only be legally changed by the body that passed it. Open letter.

“If I knew that Garry Kasparov had already made a DVD on the Grünfeld Defence for ChessBase I would never have dared to make one myself,” confesses Alexei Shirov. Needless to say, Shirov is an expert here too, and with his games from the end of the 90s up to 2007 you can relive the development of this opening over the last ten years.
Buy his
Grünfeld DVD or read Bob Long’s
review.

Yesterday we published a letter by GM Bartlomiej Macieja asking the World Chess Federation not to delay the decision to increase the K-factor in their ratings calculation. Today we received a reply to Maceija’s passionate appeal from FIDE, outlining the reasons for the actions. In addition interesting letters from our readers, including one from statistician Jeff Sonas. Opinions and explanations.

With Aronian and Leko both leading by a full point cynics were predicting a quick GM draw. But it turned into a merciless battle with Levon Aronian dominating and eventually crushing Peter Leko after an exchange sacrifice. The Armenian took sole first by a full point and with a 2833 performance. Bacrot, Gelfand and Akopian also won their games. We bring you pictures from the closing ceremony.

The 13th and final round has started, two hours earlier than previous rounds.
The most exciting encounter – the decider – is between the leaders
Levon Aronian and Peter Leko. Svidler vs Grischuk also bears
watching, while Ivanchuk vs Kamsky is always good for surprise
action. You can watch all games live – and discuss them with others
– on Playchess, or follow
the moves on our Flash client.

This Wednesday night lecture by Dennis Monokroussos on Playchess
presents a 1973 encounter in Talinn between two immortals: Lev Polughaevsky
and Paul Keres. It shows the three-time Soviet champion Polugaevsky at his best,
executing devious little plans to wrong-foot his opponent. Come watch the lecture
and add the stutter step approach to your repertoire of tricks. 9 p.m. ET.

One round before the end Peter Leko scored an important victory over Rustam Kasimdzhanov to join Levon Aronian on the top of the table (Kasimdzhanov joined Ivanchuk at the other end). Sergey Karjakin defeated Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk beat Etienne Bacrot. Tomorrow Aronian plays Leko. Full illustrated report with commentary by GM Sergey Shipov.

A year and a half ago the President of the Turkish Chess Federation, Ali Nihat Yazici, invited Boris Kutin, the President of the European Chess Union to resign. The reason: the ECU was preventing Turkey from staging three major European Chess events. The matter went to arbitration, and now the court in Lausanne has decided in favour of the Turks – with dramatic consequences.

The games to watch today are Gata Kamsky vs Levon Aronian (who will
be eager to retain his pole position), and Peter Leko
vs Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Leko will try to win and catch Aronian). We are curious
how Vassily Ivanchuk will fare against Evgeny Alekseev. You can watch all
games from Nalchik live – and discuss them with other visitors –
on Playchess, or follow the moves on
our Flash client.

Yesterday we reported that FIDE had decided not simply to change the K-Factor in its rating calculation, but to publish two parallel lists for a year and then review the results. Today we received a passionate appeal by GM Bartlomiej Macieja not to delay the decision but increase the K-factor immediately. In fact he advocated recalculating the lists of the last two or even five years. Let the debate begin.

I have been analyzing More Games with the Left Hook Grand Prix (1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.a3!?), two of which cover the critical variations following 5…e6 6.b4!? (White’s “left hook” punch — though 6.d4 is also interesting): 6….d5 (hitting back immediately in the center) and 6…b6 (refusing to give up the center even to gain a pawn). I especially enjoyed looking at Igor Glek – Daniel Stellwagen, Wattenscheid GER 2007, which I had previously discounted but which I now consider one of the most important games for Left Hook theory. And I couldn’t resist throwing in some of my own games, including a few I’ve played at my new favorite play site Buho21 (where I should soon break the 2200 barrier playing as “urusov”).

Related articles include:

• Left Hook Grand Prix with a3
• The Left Hook Grand Prix Revisited
• Fun with the Left Hook Grand Prix
• The Grand Prix with a3
• Grand Prix Attack, Explained
• Grand Prix Attack Bibliography (Updated)

The New York Times reports how an acting Mayor in Sochi (where the Russian
Team Championships were held) who had managed to avoid confronting his critics
or even acknowledging their existence, was outfoxed by a well-known chess
grandmaster. Anatoly Pakhomov was running for reelection, Garry Kasparov was supporting his
rival Boris Nemtsov. Here’s
the NYT story.

The Arnold Eikrem Memorial, part of the 125th anniversary celebrations of the Oslo Chess Club, saw an exciting finish in true Norwegian social democratic spirit: it ended with half the field sharing first place! The open, Knut Bockman Cup, was won by the new shining star on the Norwegian chess heaven, FM Frode Urkedal (15) with a stunning 8.0/9. Pictorial report by GM Leif E. Johannessen.

At the top Levon Aronian and Peter Leko drew their games, to remain in first and second place respectively. Vassily Ivanchuk beat Alexander Grischuk, winning his first game in this tournament – he has lost three and is at the end of the table. Boris Gelfand ground down Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and a clean-shaven Etienne Bacrot beat Sergey Karjakin. Commentary by GM Sergey Shipov.

Leader Levon Aronian faces Rustam Kasimdzhanov with
the black pieces. Peter Leko, who is second, also has black and plays Pavel
Eljanov. Young Evgeny Alekseev will look eagerly for chances against Gata Kamsky. You can watch
all seven games from Nalchik live – and discuss them with other visitors
– on Playchess, or follow the moves
on our Flash client.

The World Chess Federation has opened the bidding for the next World Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov, scheduled for April 2010. At the same time FIDE has reacted to concerns of players and decided not to simply change the K-Factor in its rating calculation, but to in fact publish two parallel lists for a year and then review the results. Press releases.

Reputed to be France’s third most prestigeous open tournament of the calender year, the organizing Metz Alekhine Chess Club succeeded in surpassing expectations with the participation of 26 GMs and ten IMs in a field of 101 players from more than a dozen countries. The prize fund was 10,000 Euros, with four players tying for first, amongst them our reporter GM Kevin Spraggett.