Archive for February 15th, 2010

After the third round of play at the US Amateur Teams East in Parsippany, the “Kenilworth A” team was 3-0 and sitting behind the rope in contention for the title.  I’ll find out shortly how we did in Round 4 and if we are playing up or down in Round 5 today.  Meanwhile, I have a little gem of a game that NM Scott Massey played in Round 2 (PGN here) on Saturday that is sure to amuse you, featuring the Moeller Attack of the Italian Game or Giuoco Piano.  Scott, who was 3-0 himself after three rounds, says he figured all of this out at the board, having only the vaguest recollection of theory.  However, he did miss the quickest win in the second diagram: can you find it?

It was one of the most controversial decisions in chess history: on February 15, 1985, the President of FIDE Florencio Campomanes terminated the World Championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov after 48 games. Twenty years later “Campo” spoke about the reasons for the step he took. A new book published in Russia contradicts his version. Video and book extract.

You know him well, American GM Yasser Seirawan, the man with the smooth voice,
dapper suit and winning smile. If you don’t, you can at least listen to his live
Playchess commentary on today’s round
in Linares (from 5 p.m. onwards). Or you can get Seirawan’s My Best Games from
ChessBase. Michael Jeffreys writes: “If there is a better
chess DVD on the market, I have yet to see it.” Review.

You know him well, American GM Yasser Seirawan, him with the smooth voice,
dapper suit and winning smile. If you don’t you can at least listen to his live
Playchess commentary on today’s round
in Linares (from 5 p.m. onwards). Or you can get Seirawan’s My Best Games from
ChessBase. Michael Jeffreys writes: “If there is a better
chess DVD on the market, I have yet to see it.” Review.

Bulgarian GM and World Championship challenger Veselin Topalov scored a fine positional win over Azeri GM Vugar Gashimov. Alexander Grischuk of Russia dismantled Israeli GM Boris Gelfand, while Levon Aronian of Armenia used the Berlin Defence to get a somewhat shaky draw against Francisco Vallejo. Games with commentary by GM Anish Giri.