Archive for July 29th, 2009

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.