Archive for December, 2009

FIDE has just released its January 1st 2010 rating list, and it has the 19-year-old Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen with 2810 in the number one slot, five points ahead of number two Veselin Topalov, and twenty points above World Champion Viswanathan Anand. Magnus is the youngest player to cross the 2800 mark and to top the world rankings.
Congratulations!

…White has only a bare king and Black has king and three pawns (no double or
triple pawns). It is Black to play and the result is a draw. That is a problem
submitted for our 2009
Christmas Puzzle series by Indian grandmaster Sandipan Chanda, who also
has a tough White-to-play-and-win position to tease the computer. There
are two more challenging positions in this December
31st installment.

After the final rounds of the Russian Championship, our endgames expert Karsten
Müller casts an eye back at the remarkable and extremely original endgame Timofeev-Khismatullin
from round five. The position in the diagram arose after 50.bxa5, after which
the two black rooks had to take up the fight against four linked passed pawns
and a knight – and it turned out to be hopeless for them.

Karsten Müller shows you for CBM
Online how this unusual position came about and how the
game ended.

• GM Josh Friedel Plays the Ulvestad
• Two Knights Defense, Fritz-Ulvestad Variation
• Nakamura Wins 2009 US Championship

Many chess lovers are well aware of what is on offer in each issue of ChessBase
Magazine: reports on the latest top tournaments; games analysed by world class
players; compact opening surveys (like this
one by Mihail Marin); and much more. You are not aware? Well visit our CBM
blog to keep abreast with the times, and read all about the new
ChessBase
Magazine vol. 133 here.

There were chances of a late-round upset, but in the end the two leading players stayed in front, winning the men’s and women’s sections by half a point. Alexander Grischuk had a 2851 performance that will put him on place nine in the world on the next rating list. Alisa Galliamova won the women’s title with a 2715 performance. The two picked up $25,000 and $11,700 respectively. Final report.

In 1856 the great Sam Loyd composed a chess problem, which 75 years later inspired Alexey Troitsky, one of the greatest composers of endgame studies, to create a puzzle with a similar theme. It proved to be flawed. 75 years after Troitzky another great composer, Pal Benko, took up his problem, improved on it and submitted it for our Christmas Puzzle page.

When 21-year-old Paul Morphy travelled to Europe in the summer of 1858
he destroyed all opposition. Except for one of Europe’s chess heroes, who avoided
a confrontation. Howard Staunton would only play consultation games, where you
can blame a loss on your partner. In his Playchess
lecture Dennis Monokroussos shows us an interesting example. Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET.

That’s a praiser of past times, conservative, old fashioned, classic. It describes our reporter at the International Chess Congress in Hastings – 28th December 2009 through to 5th January 2010 – but also the event itself. Steve Giddins, who received a Latin phrasebook for Christmas, is said reporter. We are using “oldstyle” ChessBase diagrams to keep him happy. Round one report.

Our 2009
Christmas Puzzle series is all about baffling computers. But that is not
easy, given today’s monster machines and super-smart programs. And sometimes
a bit daunting for human beings, who do not always grasp what their electronic
counterparts have missed. So today, as a relaxing prelude, we bring you an exhilarating
story of a hippophile
chess composer.

… was the situation in this recent game from the German Bundesliga, where White to play had to calculate the consequences of
27.Rf7-f4+. How would you assess the position after that (diagram)?
A) White is better; 
B) the position is balanced; 
C) Black has the advantage.

The solution is here,
but first ponder over it with a  larger version of the diagram.

If you are following our Christmas puzzles you will know that a new one is
being posted every day and can be viewed by going to the index
page (we do not post daily alerts). Number three showed a thrilling win,
number four a clever positional draw, both theoretically very difficult for
computers to comprehend. Some positions require a little lateral thinking by
us humany. Give
it a try.

Eben Harrell’s Time interview, “Magnus Carlsen: The 19-year-old King of Chess,” is the latest evidence that Carlsen has the ability to generate media interest in the game.  It is a very positive interview where the world number one says, “I’m not afraid the computer will find all the ideas and leave no room for imagination.”  Of course, the article also suggests that chess is still judged with suspicion in the media, as though it were responsible for Fischer’s dementia (instead of being the reason Fischer remained somewhat sane as long as he did): Carlsen is also asked, “Do you fear that trying to master a game of near-infinite variation can make you insane?”  The Time article even links to the 1972 article “Why They Play: The Psychology of Chess,” which recalls the Freudian view of the game frequently cited back then.  I think the Freudians would have a field day with Tiger Woods and golf, so it’s rather a shame their mode of interpretation doesn’t get wider play or parody today.  For more thoughts on the Time piece, check out Mig Greengard’s “Time for Magnus Carlsen.”

Alexander Grischuk and Peter Svidler both won in round six and drew in round seven to maintain their places at the top of the table. Grischuk has 5.0/7 with a 2833 performance, Svidler 4.5/7 at 2778. In the women’s section Alisa Galliamova has conceded a single draw. She lead by a full point, with a 2868 performance, but can still be caught, e.g. by Nadezhda Kosintseva.

Report by Misha Savinov.

The “Battle of the Giants” between tenth World Champion Boris Spassky, 72, and multiple World Championship challenger Viktor Korchnoi, 78 began with the latter pressing. But in the second half of the match it was Spassky who called the shots. He won two games and blundered away a good position in a third. Not bad after almost seven years of “hibernation”. Report and games.

"I try to tell people that I am like them. I am not some sort of freak.
I might be very good at chess but I’m just a normal person." Magnus Carlsen
is less than a week away from officially becoming the youngest player in history
to top the world rankings. "The 19-Year-Old King of Chess" spoke candidly
to Time Magazine in this must-read
December 25 interview.

Correct evaluation of pawn endings is an important pillar of good endgame
technique. So, e.g., in the following position Black had to come to a 
judgment as to whether, after the exchange of rooks with 47…Rxe2 48.Kxe2, the
ensuing pawn ending is a draw. Otherwise, he would be obliged to do without
the exchange and to defend the rook ending.
What do you think? Does the exchange of rooks lead to a drawn position?

The solution is here,
but first ponder over it with a  larger version of the diagram.

When he previewed our puzzle page on Christmas Eve John Nunn solved the first
position in fifteen seconds (yes, he’s slowing down with age). But then he woke
up on Christmas day in a cold sweat, realizing that the problem was flawed.
The same conclusion was drawn by problem expert Noam Elkies. Today we give you
an explanation, a correction, and a new position to bait
your computer.

There were four decisive games in round five of the men’s section, with one sensation: the leader, Peter Svidler, lost to the youngest participant, 16-year-old Sanan Sjugirov of Kalmykia. That put Alexander Grischuk, who won his game, in the sole lead. In the women’s section IM Alisa Galliamova continues her rampage and is leading by a full point. Games and statistics.

Those were the exact words that led to the misunderstanding of an Indian journalist and the viral spread of the report that Magnus Carlsen would be one of the seconds of World Champion Viswanathan Anand in his Sofia match against Veselin Topalov. One of our readers sent video footage, and also a delightful Christmas report on Anand’s visit in Bangalore.

It is tradition – during the week from December 25th to January 1st we
bring you daily installments of puzzles. This time the theme is the Revenge
of the Humans – problems that will (hopefully) stump computers, but which
biological brains are able to comprehend. New puzzles will appear daily on the
index page,
here for today, with best seasonal wishes, is our
first 2009 Christmas puzzle.

It is tradition – during the week from December 25th to January 1st we
bring you daily installments of puzzles. This time the theme is the Revenge
of the Humans – problems that will (hopefully) stump computers, but which
biological brains are able to comprehend. New puzzles will appear daily on the
index page,
here for today, with best seasonal wishes, is our
first 2009 Christmas puzzle.

In the men’s section only 50% of the games have been drawn so far – an excellent quota. After four rounds Peter Svidler leads with three points, followed half a point behind by Grischuk and Jakovenko. In the women’s section the draw quota is a breathtaking 20%. IM Alisa Galliamova is leading with a clean score of 4.0/4 points. Illustrated report.

• Review of Zuke ‘Em, Expanded Edition
  
• Interview with David Rudel, Author of Zuke ‘Em

An article in the Indian newspaper The Telegraph set off a flurry of excitement in news pages and chess blogs. “Magnus Carlsen will be one of my seconds [in Sofia],” World Champion Vishy Anand was quoted as saying. A misunderstanding, since Magnus, who is a great friend and will surely root for Anand, will not be assisting him in at the 2010 World Championship. Details.