Archive for September, 2009

The New Jersey Knockouts (4-0) play the Chicago Blaze (1-3) tonight at 8:00 p.m. in US Chess League action on ICC. Match previews are available from Joseph Criscuolo (”Knockouts Preparing to Dowse the Blaze“) and Tom Panelas (”Next Up: Jersey“), the latter of whom has some questions about the uncanny resemblance between Blaze manager Glenn Panner and Knockouts first board GM Joel Benjamin. I am personally most curious to see the match-up of Cadet champ Andrew Ng vs. Junior Open champ Eric Rosen. It should be an interesting match.

In “Based on Life or Fantasy, a Picture Goes to Auction” (The New York Times, September 30, 2009), Dylan Loeb McClain presents a balanced report on an etching meant to depict a chess match between Hitler and Lenin. Let readers and potential buyers be the judge of its authenticity. I just don’t know who would want to own a picture of either man, let alone one that shows both. (See also items from ChessBase and from Edward Winter).

Here are the pairings for Round 3 of the Sy Fish Memorial :

1. Kernighan (2.0) – Stoyko (2.0)
2. Komunicky (1.5) – Chieu (2.0)
3. Singh (1.0) – Mann (1.0)
4. Wojcio (1.0) – Mangion (1.0)
5. Pawlowski (1.0) – Sturniolo (1.0)
6. Mazzillo (0.5) – Renna (0.5)
7. Shiffman (0.0) – Agress (0.0)

Jose Garcia (0.0) gets a full point bye.

Third round and things are heating up. Whilst in the men’s tournament Magnus Carlsen narrowly failed to win, in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix GM Nana Dzagnidze was the sole player to remain on 100% with 3/3. She is followed by former Women’s World Champion GM Xu Yuhua and the untitled Ju Wenjun, both from China. Report with gorgeous pictures and annotated games.

In the Short-Efimenko
match, which finished last Saturday in 
Mukachevo, the young Ukrainian player went straight into the lead in round one,
but saw Short catch up immediately in the next round. The match was finally
decided in round five - in a rook ending, in which the experienced English
player demonstrated his faultless technique to secure the win. In the
position in the diagram Short (White) was on the move and held on to his
advantage with an accurate manoeuvre. Can you work out his 38th move? Our ChessBase
Magazine endgame expert GM Karsten Müller has analysed the
decisive phase of this game.

The recent match between Kasparov and Karpov in Valencia, Spain,
was a tremendous success. That is tragic,
says Garry Kasparov – when two old guys, one retired, the other no longer a real
force in the game, still are the greatest show in the world of chess. In his
interview with GM Robert Fontaine for the French magazine Europe
Echecs Kasparov vents his feelings on this and other subjects. Part two.

For a long time in round three it looked like Magnus Carlsen was going to pick up his third victory. The Norwegian had an extra pawn and great attacking opportunities. But he had used too much time and on his last move before the time control spoilt it to a draw. Peter Leko struggled with black against Veselin Topalov, but held; while Radjabov-Jakovenko was a less exciting draw. Illustrated report.

It took them 22 hours to get there – door to door. But after a quick acclimatizing the two, father and son, have settled down in the splendid hotel and are thinking chess, table tennis and Chinese food. Magnus won his first two games in the Pearl Spring Tournament, with his father Henrik watches, as usual, anxiously from the sidelines. Here’s a first installment of his Nanjing blog.

The gloves came off in the second round of the women’s event that is taking place parallel to the Pearl Spring tournament. After three wins in the first round we saw four decisive games in the second. Even the draws went the full length and all possibilities were exhausted before they were accepted by the Chief Arbiter Ignatius Leong. Report by FM Geoffrey Borg.

Not only can the Russian GM, who has been enthralling chess fans for over a
decade now, defeat anyone – he can do it playing practically anything:
the Chigorin, the Albin, 3…Be7 in the French, the King’s Gambit, the Evans
Gambit… In his Wednesday night Playchess
lecture Dennis Monokroussos shows us a game in which Vladimir Kramnik fell victim
to "Moro’s" brutal attacking play.

Bulgarian FIDE master Valeri Lilov, rated 2411, starts a weekly
show on Playchess. On Wednesday at 20:00h CEST (7 p.m. London, 2 p.m. NY),
he will be discussing the most interesting games from the great players.
This time he will focus on the most interesting duel in the history – the
matches between Kasparov and Karpov. Take a look, it’s free.

Knightmare Chess would make for an interesting gift or an amusing diversion during this season of Halloween. It is essentially a deck of cards to be used during chess to add an element of chance (or “chaos”) to the game. Each card allows you to do something unusual, such as moving a pawn like a King in checkers (see card above). Though the original deck and its second edition are currently out of print (making one of my decks rather valuable I suppose), the second set of cards called Knightmare Chess 2 can be had for under $15. I am especially intrigued by the many “handicapping” possibilities that the game offers, since I frequently play for fun these days against beginners, and the cards do naturally create possibilities for less skilled players to win.

The game is essentially a translation of the French language card game “Tempete sur L’Echiquier” (or “tempest over the chessboard”), discussed recently by Robert Oresick at the BCC Weblog, which seems to be out of print. However, while the French cards try to convey a sense of fun and slapstick, the Knightmare cards create a more mysterious, medieval, and dark mood — perhaps in emulation of Magic the Gathering. I have owned the game for many years and though I have only played it once or twice I have often used it as a class example in my game design class where it has often inspired students (see, for instance, “Lone Roll Poker” from my class). Recommended.

The training sessions with Garry Kasparov seem to be working out. In round two Magnus Carlsen scored a second, very convincing victory – over top seed Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. Peter Leko drew Teimour Radjabov in 32, Dmitry Jakovenko drew Wang Yue in 35 moves. Pictures to follow, here are all the games and results in our express report.

The Second Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament started off with a traditionally colorful pageant, with Chinese mimes, dancers, singers and acrobats – a visual feast. On Monday, in addition to the Men’s Tournament the Nanjing Fide Women Grand Prix got under way, a category eight tournament with an Elo average of 2447. Here’s a giant pictorial report with analysis of all games.

Chess Squared from Schools First on Vimeo.

I have been thinking about the effect of chess on self-control, especially as educators like myself have become more interested self-control as a predictor of school success. In “Can the Right Kinds of Play Teach Self-Control” (New York Times Magazine, September 25 2009), Paul Tough writes about the new interest that programs for young people have in self-regulation:

The ability of young children to control their emotional and cognitive impulses, it turns out, is a remarkably strong indicator of both short-term and long-term success, academic and otherwise. In some studies, self-regulation skills have been shown to predict academic achievement more reliably than I.Q. tests. The problem is that just as we’re coming to understand the importance of self-regulation skills, those skills appear to be in short supply among young American children. In one recent national survey, 46 percent of kindergarten teachers said that at least half the kids in their classes had problems following directions. In another study, Head Start teachers reported that more than a quarter of their students exhibited serious self-control-related negative behaviors, like kicking or threatening other students, at least once a week. Walter Gilliam, a professor at Yale’s child-study center, estimates that each year, across the country, more than 5,000 children are expelled from pre-K programs because teachers feel unable to control them.

There is a popular belief that executive-function skills are fixed early on, a function of genes and parenting, and that other than medication, there’s not much that teachers and professionals can do to affect children’s impulsive behavior. In fact, though, there is growing evidence that the opposite is true, that executive-function skills are relatively malleable — quite possibly more malleable than I.Q., which is notoriously hard to increase over a sustained period. In laboratory studies, research psychologists have found that with executive function, practice helps; when children or adults repeatedly perform basic exercises in cognitive self-regulation, they get better at it. But when researchers try to take those experiments out of the lab and into the classroom, their success rate is much lower.

Tough goes on to describe a program being developed in some pre-schools that immerses kids in serious make-believe play activities to keep their attention focused and motivate engagement. It’s an interesting idea, but you have to wonder if just getting kids to play games like chess could be as effective and readily available as a curricular addition.

Part of the recent interest in self-control stems from the rediscovery of Walter Mischel’s famous “Marshmallow Test” (which is both documented and re-enacted on YouTube), discussed by Jonah Lehrer in his excellent article “Don’t: The Secret to Self-Control” (The New Yorker, May 18, 2009). In this classic experiment, Mischel and his associates presented a series of individual pre-schoolers with a single marshmallow on a plate. Researchers then said they were going to leave the room briefly in order to get an entire plateful of marshmallows, which the children could have if they could avoid eating the first marshmallow until the researchers returned. As you might predict, most kids ate the marshmallow as soon as they were left alone, and quite a few ate it before the researcher even left the room. But what Mischel found is that some were able to distract themselves from eating it and succeed in delaying gratification. Later, and almost by accident, he discovered that the kids who could delay gratification were much more successful in school, and still later (as Lehrer documents) more successful in life. After all, if you can delay gratification (or learn to delay it), then you can accomplish a lot of things. Many studies have followed Mischel’s and demonstrated just that.

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

The critical question with all issues of chess and self-control is whether or not self-control can be taught. And if it can be taught, can chess teach it? After all, you have to ask whether chess teaches self-control or whether kids with good self-control are able to succeed at chess and therefore stay involved with a chess curriculum. I certainly believe that chess teaches self-control, but it would be nice to have proof. It would also be useful to have ideas on the specific type of chess activities or chess instruction that will encourage self-control most of all. After all, my own experience of teaching chess to young kids is that it often resembles barely controlled chaos. But if you are going to have a chess program to encourage self-control, then maybe you need to emphasize certain aspects of the game and have policies that require self-control in the classroom.

In my initial research, I see promising signs. At the very least, many seem to agree that chess can teach self-control even if they are not pointing to conclusive proof of the matter. The New Jersey Legislature passed a law in the 1990s that allowed chess to be taught as part of the second grade curriculum because, in part, “When youngsters play chess they must call upon higher-order thinking skills, analyze actions and consequences, and visualize future possibilities” (quoted in “The Role of Chess in Modern Education” by Marcel Milat) — which are skills important to self-control. After all, if you can think ahead, you are likely to wait for the plateful of marshmallows rather than eating the one in front of you.

The Chess-Squared Program in Australia (see video above) is clearly having a positive impact on students, and there is some suggestion that this is because of the ways that chess impacts self-control and engagement. Math teacher Steve Carroll has written some excellent posts about this at his blog, where he points to the work of Fernando Moreno, whose book, Teaching Life Skills through Chess: a Guide for Educators and Counselors, suggests that self-regulation, concentration and foresight are among the skills that chess imparts:

It is widely claimed chess is a game that engenders and encourages positive cognitive and attitudinal traits, also known as the affective domain, in those who embrace it. The attitudinal traits it encourages are; impulse control, improved concentration, resilience, managing feelings and deferment of gratification.

The skills in the cognitive domain it develops, amongst others, are; self talk, problem solving, forward thinking, anticipating consequences, meta-cognition and reflectivity…

It has been suggested students aren’t encouraged to think ahead at school. When students play chess they are encouraged to set clearly defined goals for themselves and choose strategic methods to achieve the desired outcomes. They then evaluate and compare results with their objectives, and evaluate the outcomes in terms of the strategies they adopted.

Chess is a game of prediction, calculation and pattern recognition. Predicting consequences and pattern recognition are key elements of mathematics and chess. In chess games players have to visualize and predict consequences. This is an area schools seldom teach students how to improve in.

Other programs (such as Chess for Success or a program in Kansas City) make similar claims, and these all make intuitive sense. I’d just like some hard evidence.

I hope to explore this topic further and welcome input. I am interested because I have begun working on a program at Rutgers where I have developed courses in writing, math and chess for the young people, and I think self-control should be an important part of the curriculum. I have started research and will likely put together a bibliography in these pages. There appears to be a lot of good material coming out, especially from Alexey Root, whose books I have begun reading. Reader suggestions for further reading are most welcome.

Garry Kasparov will be proud. His chess charge, Magnus Carlsen, won his first-round game against Peter Leko at the Pearl Spring Chess Tournament with a convincing Scotch Opening – Kasparov’s favourite during his active career. The other two games, Topalov-Jakovenko and Wang Yue-Radjabov were fighting draws. A big pictorial report follows, here for now are the games and analysis.

Garry Kasparov won the commorative match against Anatoly Karpov convincingly
with 9.0-3.0. After it was over GM Robert Fontaine, roving reporter for the
French magazine Europe Echecs, sat
down with the winner to discuss the games, the match, and Kasparov’s work with
the young chess star Magnus Carlsen. The interview is presented in two sections.
Here for your
enjoyment is part one.

The last game of the Efimenko – Short match in Mukachevo, Ukraine (which Short drew to win the match 3.5-2.5), featured the rather rare line against the Two Knights Modern or Scotch Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.e5 Ng4! You can find it annotated by GM Klaus Bischoff at ChessBase and by Dennis Monokroussos at his blog, and I imagine it will draw more commentators over the coming weeks. This line is much better than its reputation and I should really take a closer look at it in these pages.

After 5…Ng4 (which is a move I have studied from both sides of the board), White has a choice between recovering the pawn with 6.Qe2 Qe7 (which generally turns into a complicated ending after Black breaks with …f6 or …d6 and queens are eventually exchanged) or sacrificing it with 6.O-O. I prefer 6.O-O myself, but Black then has quite a few ideas, most of which are barely discussed by theory, including 6….Bc5 (transposing to a line from the Max Lange that is better than its reputation) and 6….Be7!? (with many possible continuations, including the shocking 7.Bf4 g5!? 8.Bg3 h5!?), but the most common move is 6…d6. White then must play 7.exd6 and now Black has a choice between recapturing with the Bishop or the Queen. Theory approves the Bishop recapture 7.exd6 Bxd6 8.Re1+ when it is generally thought Black must play 8…Kf8, but I recently lost a Garden State Chess League game against NM Peter Radomskyj when he played the surprisingly good 8….Be7!? and proceded to dismantle me in an equalish ending. Meanwhile, theory frowns on the Queen recapture with 7.exd6 Qxd6 because the Queen is exposed on that square. But Short played 7…Qxd6 anyway and was fine after 8.Na3 a6 9.h3 Nh6! followed by …Nf5, demonstrating pretty conclusively that theory really knows nothing about this line. Food for thought, and one reason I am not playing the Urusov Gambit much these days….

The Make Magazine weblog points us to Julia Suits’s pictures of a set of chessmen she and her kids created from hardware store nuts and bolts (and black spray paint). Fun.

“Nigel has a 3:2 lead, so it is quite simple for Zahar,” wrote GM Klaus Bischoff. “He has to win the last game, a draw is of no use. This must-win situation is unpleasant, but every chess player has been in there.” And who amongst us has not failed. The game ended in a draw and Nigel Short had won the match 3.5-2.5, pretty much in keeping with the rating difference. Final report with GM analysis.

The next great innovation in CBM is here. The new issue #132 will be shipped in a week,
in a completely new design. It will be with you much faster than ever,
presenting  the recent top-events in Bilbao, Jermuk, and
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On Saturday, October 10th, from 12 noon to 5 p.m., the Scotch Plains Public Library will be hosting a free chess tournament for players U1800 or unrated.

Here are the details :

Date : Saturday, October 10th, 2009

Site :
Scotch Plains Public Library
527 Bartle Ave
Scotch Plains, NJ

Format : non-rated, 3 round swiss
Time Control : G/45

Rounds : 12:00 noon, 1:40 p.m. & 3:10 p.m.

Entry Fee : Free!

Prizes : The Kenilworth Chess Club will be giving free memberships for the remainder of 2009 to each player scoring 2 or more points.

This event is limited to the first 24 entrants who

1. Have a USCF rating <1800
2. Pre-register by calling the library at 908-322-5007, extension 204.

Sun. 9/25 @ 11:19 a.m.- The dates are finally correct. Sorry for the mistakes.

The 67th Westfield Championship begins on Sunday, October 4th.

Here are the details :

Westfield Chess Club
220 Clark Street
Westfield, NJ

Format : 4-SS, USCF-rated
Time Control : 40 moves/100 + G/60

Rounds : 2:30 p.m. on each day

Entry Fee : $25
Westfield CC membership required ($50 Adults; $40 Juniors)

Prize Fund : $550 Guaranteed
Prizes : $150 for 1st place; $100 for 2nd place; $75 to top U2100, U1850, U1600 & U1350

Registration : at the site on 10/4, from 2:00-2:30 p.m.

No byes in the event.

Steve Stoyko, Mark Kernighan & Ken Chieu lead after 2 rounds of the Sy Fish Memorial.

Full standings :

• 2.0 Stoyko 2240, Kernighan 2200, Chieu 2109
• 1.5 Dan Komunicky 1496
• 1.0 Errol Singh 1900, Ian Mangion 1978, Don Carrelli 1794, David Pawlowski 1777, Mike Wojcio 1613, Ted Mann 1550, Lou Sturniolo 1530
• 0.5 Pat Mazzillo 1352, Joe Renna 1326
• 0.0 Bert Shiffman 1316, Gordon Agress 1277, Jose Garcia 973p

Board by results :

Round 1

1. Wojcio 0-1Stoyko
2. Kernighan 1-0 Mann
3. Sturniolo 0-1 Chieu
4. Singh 1-0 Mazzillo
5. Shiffman 0-1 Mangion
6. Carrelli 1-0 Agress
7. Garcia 0-1 Pawlowski

Kominicky & Renna late-joined & received 1/2-pt byes

Round 2

1. Stoyko 1-0 Singh
2. Mangion 0-1 Kernighan
3. Chieu 1-0 Pawlowski
4. Agress 0-1Wojcio
5. Mann 1-0 Shiffman
6. Garcia 0-1 Sturniolo
7. Renna 0-1 Komunicky

Mazzillo 1/2-pt. bye
Carrelli, who played as a fill in round 1, was not paired.

As for games, there’s just one to offer (see below) because most of the club’s scoresheets “disappeared” between meetings and we ran-out of them.

[Event "2nd Sy Fish Memorial"]
[Site "Kenilworth, NJ, USA"]
[Date "2009.09.24"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kernighan, Mark"]
[Black "Mann, Ted"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2200"]
[BlackElo "1550"]
[ECO "E76"]
[PlyCount "57"]

{King’s Indian Defense : 4 Pawns Attack, by transposition}
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 d6 6.Bd3 0-0 7.f4 Na6 8.Nf3 Nb4 9.Bb1 Bg4 $146 10.0-0 Rc8 11.a3 Na6 12.Qe1 Nc7 13.Nh4 a6 $2 14.f5 gxf5 $2 15.h3 Bh5 16.exf5 Qd7 $2 17.g4 Nxg4 18.hxg4 Bxg4 19.Qg3 h5 $2 20.f6 $1 Bxf6 21.Rxf6 $1 exf6 22.Bf5 Ne6 23.Bxg4 hxg4 24.Qxg4+ Kh8 25.Qh5+ Kg8 26.Bh6 Ng7 27.Bxg7 Kxg7 28.Nf5+ Kg8 29.Qg4+ 1-0

A replay page with this nice win & games from the remaining rounds will be uploaded next Friday.

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