Archive for October 12th, 2009

What GMs have to do for money these days…. Shades of “the Turk.” Hat tip Lizzy.

Goeller – Boudreaux, NC GP 1981
White to Play and Force a Draw

A small wave of nostalgia for the Smith-Morra Gambit has been building in me of late, culminating in my finding an old scorebook from 1981 where it featured in at least half my games as White. I have posted analysis of two of the better ones I unearthed in “Youthful Smith-Morras” (along with a PGN to download). I am impressed by the creativity in these games, and playing them over (even the ones with too many errors by both sides to show) I am surprised by how well I was doing as White in every game. In fact, I would say that none of my losses were due to the opening, while it gave me many quick wins.

I had been thinking about the Smith-Morra since I saw a series of lectures by GM-elect Alex Lenderman at ICC back in late 2007. The recent game Esserman – Bartell, USCL 2009 revived my interest to some extent. Then last week I stumbled upon a super Smith-Morra webliography at The Bishops Bounty (a great blog by the way). And today I came close to buying The Modern Morra Gambit by Hannes Langrock. I didn’t buy it, though (not yet, anyway). You’d think Tim McGrew’s “The Power of Ideas” and “A Little Learning” would have convinced me that the Smith-Morra is not just some youthful indulgence. Maybe I’ve grown old and curmudgeonly in my attitude, sort of like IM Mark Ginsburg (author of “Defending the Smith-Morra“) who analyzes the Esserman game at his blog, under the title “The Smith-Morra, again?” (you can just feel his exasperation). I should just dismiss the thought. But it is hard to resist the Smith-Morra Gambit’s siren call.

Goeller – Glickman, NJ Junior 1981
White to Play and Win

Once a great world center of chess, London is once again playing host to a very high level tournament, the highest in the city for 25 years. Participants in the eight-player Category 19 include Carlsen, Kramnik, Nakamura, Short and Adams. The event will be staged in December at the Olympia Conference Centre in West London. There will be free live broadcast on the Internet. Tournament details.

With his 8.0/10 score at the recent Pearl Spring tournament 18-year-old Magnus Carlsen will certainly go into the record books. But how does his result fit among the all-time great performances? Using a new formula that takes the length of a tournament or match into consideration, chess statistician Jeff Sonas evaluates Magnus’ Nanjing performance and puts it into historical perspective.

The legendary eleventh World Champion died on January 17, 2008. A year and a half later new pictures have emerged that show Bobby Fischer after his win against Boris Spassky in Reykjavik in 1972, just before he went into reclusive hiding, initially in Pasadena, California. The pictures are from a visit to the Philippines, Tokyo, Hong Kong in 1973. Unusual and strangely moving.