Archive for July, 2009

At 14 years and four months he was the ninth youngest GM in history. Today, at eighteen, he is rated 2703 and number 29 in the world. The French GM was leading after nine rounds, and with all three games from round ten being drawn he retained his half-point lead to take sole victory in the tournament. Alexander Morozevich and Vassily Ivanchuk took Silver and Bronze. Final report.

On the first day of the Chess960 World Rapid Chess Championship in Mainz Levon Aronian had dominated, winning all three of his games. On the second day US GM Hikaru Nakamura had won all of his to get into the finals. And there he beat Aronian in the first three of four games to take the 2009 title of 960 World Championship. Illustrated report. with video.

From July 20-28, Victoria, British Columbia played host to a number of events, including the Canadian Youth and Junior Chess Championships, and the British Columbia Open. Well attended and well received, the festival was highlighted by an encounter between GMs Mark Bluvshtein and Hikaru Nakamura during the opening ceremonies. Pictorial report.

The annual rapid tournament of Villarrobledo, Spain, concluded a few days ago, with good news for German fans. GM Arkadi Naiditsch finished clear first, with a solid 7.5/9, leaving the likes of GMs Alexei Shirov and Alexander Grischuk in his wake. Though an impressive showing, the victory was not without some serious adversity. Illustrated report.

I have posted A Black Fianchetto System in the Open Games, Part Two, which is the second of a projected seven-part series on a classical way of playing against 1.e4 with 1…e5 and an eventual g6. In this installment, we consider lines where White offers a pawn sacrifice by d4 followed by c3, which is widely recommended as White’s best response to Black’s fianchetto. We also examine ways of meeting the Danish and Goring Gambits.

In both the Spanish / Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.d4 exd4 5.c3) and the Italian (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 g6 4.d4 exd4 5.c3), it is dangerous for Black to take the pawn by 5…dxc3 when White speedily completes his development with 6.Nxc3 and is well positioned to attack Black on the weakened dark squares by, for example, e5, Nd5 and Bg5 or Bf4.

Position after 5.c3 dxc3 6.Nxc3

As my analysis shows, Black probably survives and can often hang onto the extra material, but he is definitely under pressure and must be constantly aware of very concrete threats by his opponent. Therefore, the majority of my analysis focuses on lines where Black declines the pawn.

Pushing Past with 5.c3 d3!?

The simplest way to decline the pawn is to “push past,” meeting 4.d4 exd4 5.c3 with 5….d3!? White is thus deprived of the best square for his Knight at c3 and, when he captures the pawn at d3, will eventually either have to move the same piece twice (with Bxd3) or place his Queen on an odd square (with Qxd3). White does retain a space advantage and a slight initiative, but the play takes on a much more strategic character where the best player has good chances to prevail.

The Nge7 System vs the Spanish

The final part of this survey offers a system with an early Nge7 by Black, which can be used against a wide range of White systems with c3. The survey of Nge7 lines begins with the little-known Svenonius Variation against the Danish (1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 Ne7!?) and ends with a line from the Cozio Variation to which our system can transpose after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.d4 exd4 5.c3 Nge7!? 6.O-O!? (we also consider the range of White options) 6…Bg7 (see diagram above). The game now typically goes 7.cxd4 d5 with balanced play.

I hope you enjoy this installment which offers a lot of different ideas to incorporate into your own play. I am now working on lines where White plays an early d4 and Bg5, lines where White plays d4 and Nxd4, and the interesting Larsen Variation of the Philidor (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 g6!?). I will probably post on one of those some time next month.

In the STC Championships this afternoon, I played a near-flawless Dutch-Indian & upped my record to 4-0.

Here are the note-filled PGN & java-replay.

On the first day of the Chess960 World Championship in Mainz a somewhat jet-lagged Hikaru Nakamura had scored a disappointing 1.0/3 points. On the second day the American GM fought back, winning all three games and bringing Levon Aronian into the danger zone of not qualifying for the final. But the Armenian did and Thursday will bring a clash between the two.

Alexander Morozevich continues his roller coaster play with a win over tournament leader Vassily Ivanchuk (who essentially dropped a rook). The Russian GM has single-handedly contributed to the low 63% draw ratio in this event, having drawn only two games in nine rounds. French GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave drew his game against Boris Gelfand and is now alone in the lead. One round left.

I have posted A Black Fianchetto System in the Open Games, Part Two, which is the second of a projected seven-part series on a classical way of playing against 1.e4 with 1…e5 and an eventual g6. This one took me a long time to do! I am still editing it a bit, but it is viewable so I am making it live. I will post a longer intro here later today or tomorrow along with a better edited version of the article.

We recently conducted a test: you had to choose a number between 0 and 100, and could win prizes if your number was closest to 2/3 of the average of the numbers given by all participants. The experiment is known as the “Beauty Contest” and goes back to John Maynard Keynes, one of the most influential economists who ever lived. Did chess players score above or below average?

After eight of ten rounds two players are in the lead by a full point: French GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave and Ukrainian perennial Vassily Ivanchuk. Russian GM Alexander Morozevich has been doing a roller coaster, with Caissa frowning on him in round six, smiling in round seven and frowning again in round eight. Illustrated round seven/eight report.

In a recent poll on the Russian website chesspro.ru
they picked their ten best games of 2008. The winner was Topalov-Kramnik, from
Wijk aan Zee – an explosive game between two mortal enemies. This game
is the subject of Dennis Monokroussos’ Playchess
lecture this week. If you don’t know it, you’ll love it; if you do, you’ll enjoy
a second, closer look. 9 p.m. ET.

It is a form of chess, originally proposed by Bobby Fischer, in which the position of the pieces – not the pawns – is shuffled randomly before the start of each game. This eliminates deep opening preparation and fosters a new form of creativity. Armenia’s top GM appears to have plenty of that. After the first day he leads with 3.0/3 – after a 40-board simultaneous display. Illustrated report.

… can actually be full of venom, particularly when they feature a weak back rank. Here White had just attacked the enemy rook with
34.Bxa5 and now Black had the choice between three moves: 
A) 34…Ra6
B) 34…Rb7
C) 34…Rxb3.
What would you advise? Only one continuation doesn’t lose!
The solution is here,
but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

The US Junior Invitational Championship was hosted by Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 12-17th. The top seven American juniors under the age of 21 were joined by last year’s Junior Open champion for this eight-person round robin event. The tournament drew one of the strongest fields ever with one GM, three IMs and three FMs. It was won by a 14-year-old, with a 2751 USCF performance!

Thirty years ago there was one player in the world rated over 2700. Fifteen years ago there were six. Today there are thirty-three. What is the cause of this “rating inflation”. A general improvement of chess skills? A larger number of players in the rating pool? The way the initial ratings are conducted? In this clearly written article statistician Jeff Sonas addresses these questions. Must read!

The 7th round games from the Kenilworth Summer Tournament have been uploaded.

In a rematch against my opening round opponent (Brian Wood), I won a 19-mover to remain tied for 1st. The final position is funny. Black’s poor Queen has 14 options but no safe square!

The 2007 Chess Classic starts on Monday, with a simul on 40 boards by GM Levon Aronian. The Armenian Olympic Champion and world number four goes on to defend his Chess960 title and then play in the Rapid World Championship against World Champion Vishy Anand. What does he think about the Mainz event? Levon clearly thinks it is great fun. Light-hearted interview.

The 2007 Chess Classic starts on Monday, with a simul on 40 boards by GM Levon Aronian. The Armenian Olympic Champion and world number four goes on to defend his Chess960 title and then play in the Rapid World Championship against World Champion Vishy Anand. What does he think about the Mainz event? Levon clearly thinks it is great fun. Light-hearted interview.

Of all the events in the Asia-Pacific region, the IGB Dato’ Arthur Tan Malaysia Open is establishing itself, not only as an annual tradition, but as a location for chess tourism and tough over-the-board battles. For those looking for a reason to take part, consider the tourist options, and the strong contingent of players converging on the area. Pictorial report by Edwin Lam.

The Open Netherlands Championship is taking place in Dieren, Holland. Jan Timman is playing here for the first time in several decades – he was Open Champion in 1970, when still a junior! But the talk of the town is Anish Giri, just turned fifteen, currently the world’s youngest grandmaster. Anish has won every game in the first five rounds. His performance: a stunning 3164!

Talk about mercurial and unpredictable: after winning the first two games in the Biel Chess Festival Alexander Morozevich lost in round four to the youngest participant, Fabiano Caruana, and in round six to Russian GM Evgeny Alekseev. “Moro” is now at 50%, together with three other players. Vassily Ivanchuk leads with 3.5/6 points. Round six report.

NM David Grasso vs. IM Dean Ippolito

Dean Ippolito and Jesse Kraai report at the USCF site (see “Jesse Wins Futurity; Dean Wins 1st FIDE Event“) on the two recent New Jersey FIDE events: the 3rd New Jersey Futurity (won by GM Jesse Kraai) and the 1st Dean of Chess Academy / Transnet FIDE Invitational (won by IM Dean Ippolito, with NM David Grasso a close second). Both were held at the Dean of Chess Academy in Branchburg. Kevin E. Chen took some excellent photos of the FIDE event (see sample above), which have been posted at Diamondback and Jim West’s blogs. Jim West also offers quite a bit of coverage, annotating several of his games and posting photos by Steve Ferrero. Special thanks to IA Glenn Petersen, TD Aaron Kiedes, and the sponsors — including TransNet Corporation, Dean of Chess Academy, and Michael Khodarkovsky’s International Chess School — for making it possible to offer FIDE rating and norm opportunities in the Garden State.

Chess, as we all know, is a magnificent game. It is also a great promotional tool. Banks, insurance companies, law firms – everyone seems to use chess motifs these day. Even car companies, and even in the Ukraine. Earlier this month German auto manufacturer Daimler presented two new Mercedes models, and invited WGM Natalia Zhukova to star in the event. Pictorial report.