We have had more readers’ letters on the “Fantasy Variation”, dealing with alternatives to the move 8.Be2 as praised by Marcus
Schmücker. Dr. Gottfried Braun mentions some very old analysis by Damian Reca, several times
Argentinian champion in the 1920s: 7.c3 b5! 8.Bb3 Ngf6 9.Qe2 Qb6! 10.Be3 c5!! Alfredo Cueva from Lima (Peru) thinks on the other hand that 8.Bd3! is a
very good move and backs this up with
analysis of his own.
However, if doubts are raised about 3…dxe4, then there is all the more reason
to give due attention to the Georgian specialty 3…Qb6.
Nepomniachtchi-Jobava (with 3…Qb6!?) annotated
Archive for March, 2010
Some more Fantasy
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010IM/WGM Elena Tairova passes at eighteen
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010Very sad news from Russia: the talented young player Elena Tairova, born on August 28 1991, has died at the age of just 18. Elena became a WGM at just 14 years of age, and a full IM the following year. She won a succession of European and World girls’ junior titles, and in 2006 was the Russian women’s under-20 champion. We offer our deepest
condolences to her family and friends.
Amber: Carlsen closes in on tournament leader Ivanchuk
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010Vasily Ivanchuk defended first place in the overall standings with two draws against Vugar Gashimov. With two rounds and four games to go the Ukrainian grandmaster has a half-point lead over Magnus Carlsen, who defeated Leinier Dominguez of Cuba 1½-½. Vladimir Kramnik also improved his position, moving into third place, which he shares with Alexander Grischuk. Round nine report.
Like to help Chess Movie get off the ground?
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010Over the last two years Katie Dellamaggiore has been producing and directing a documentary about scholastic chess with her company Rescued Media. Her ultimate goal: to secure a television broadcast for Chess Movie and a small theatrical release. Requirement: pledges pledges must total at least $4,000 by April 25. You can watch a five-minute teaser and back the project.
Nakamura Takes Dos Hermanas Blitz
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
U.S. Champion and world famous blitz player GM Hikaru Nakamura won the 11th Dos Hermanas online blitz championship, played on ICC. As you can see from the Finals Grid, Nakamura (Smallville), author of Bullet Chess: One Minute to Mate, began the finals by beating former Kenilworth Chess Club Champion Yaacov Norowitz (a tough first pairing for YaacovN!) and went on to beat GM Yaroslav Zinchenko (MEGAYARICK) in the final match. You can download the games in PGN from the ICC site.
Anand – Topalov Countdown
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
The World Chess Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov begins in exactly a month, on April 23, in Sofia, Bulgaria. Prematch predictions have tended to favor Topalov, if only because he is playing on his home turf — as Vladimir Kramnik points out in a recent interview.
Technique in rook endings
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010In rook endings tiny subtleties are often what decides between victory and a draw. This position from the game Heinig-Prusikin from the German Championship is a good example of this. Should White, to move, immediately go for a clearing up of the situation with 50.h4 gxh4 51.Rxh4 or does he have a better continuation? What do you think? As usual on ChessBase Magazine Online, you will find analysis by our endgames expert Karsten Müller and in addition there is a reader’s comment on the previous week’s endgame Lubbe-Huschenbeth.
ChessBase Magazine Online.
Baklan wins Hypercube Blitz in Utrecht
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010This popular blitz tournament was held in the National Mindsport Centre in the Dutch town of Utrecht for the eleventh time this year. The event was won by top seed Vladimir Baklan of Ukraine, who beat all GMs, drew four games and lost two – against talented Dutch youngsters. The most colorful figure was GM Vladimir Epishin, who played in coat and cap.
Big pictorial report by Fred Lucas.
#649 Checkmate Championship – Round 3
Monday, March 22nd, 2010Mark Kernighan & Ari Minkov won their games & remain tied for 1st with 2.5/3. Joe Renna is clear 3rd at 2.0.
For full standings & games, see the Checkmate CC site.
#648 Kenilworth Quads – Round 2
Monday, March 22nd, 2010Kenilworth Quads #3
Standings,
2nd Round Results,
& 3rd Round Pairings
Section 1
1. NM Mark Kernighan (2200) 1.5
1. Ken Chieu (2180) 1.5
3. Arthur Macaspac (2131) 1.0
4. Ari Minkov (1968) 0.0
3/18
Macaspac ½–½ Kernighan
Minkov 0-1 Chieu
3/25 (choose for colors)
Kernighan vs. Chieu
Macaspac vs. Minkov
Section 2
1. Don Carrelli (1866) 2.0
2. Joe Demetrick (1660) 1.0
2. Ian Mangion (1923) 1.0
4. Glen Hart (1707) 0.0
3/18
Hart 0-1 Mangion
3/22
Demetrick 0-1 Carrelli
3/25 (choose for colors)
Mangion vs. Carrelli
Hart vs. Demetrick
Section 3
1. Ted Mann (1515) 2.0
1. Gordon Agress (1331) 2.0
3. Dan Komunicky (1481) 1.0
3. Lou Sturniolo (1507) 1.0
5. Bert Shiffman (1315) 0.0
5. Jim Cole (1133) 0.0
3/18
Mann 1-0 Komunicky
Agress 1-0 Shiffman
Cole 0-1 Sturniolo
3/25
Agress – Mann
Sturniolo – Komunicky
Shiffman – Cole
Round 2 Replays link fixed 3/23 @ 8:10 a.m.
Round 2 PGN
Standings updated 3/23 @3:48 p.m.
Amber: Kramnik defeats Carlsen, Ivanchuk retains the lead
Monday, March 22nd, 2010Magnus Carlsen lost a key encounter with Vladimir Kramnik ½-1½, and actually couldn’t complain that he didn’t lose both games. Kramnik moved up to joint third place with Boris Gelfand, only half a point behind Carlsen. Vasily Ivanchuk retained first place in the overall standings. Monday is a free day. Europe Echecs interviewed Kramnik on the Anand-Topalov match in Sofia. Round eight report.
Tactics with Hartmut Riedel
Sunday, March 21st, 2010We all have our tactical
weaknesses, some more than others. So we can actually never get enough tactical
training. And when that is offered in entertaining form, all the better. Hartmut
Riedel, born 1965, tries to teach children not to leave their queen en prise.
The teacher from Berlin has made his own selection of games from the Corus
Tournament. The tasks are packed full of with and irony, but don’t let yourself
be distracted by the free and easy presentation. Everything can be solved, even
if all the solutions were not played over the board in Wijk aan Zee.
To a somewhat different retrospective
on Wijk aan Zee.
Merci, Nigel
Sunday, March 21st, 2010Did you know
that when White plays 5.Nf3
in the French (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6
4.e5 Nfd7) that indicates he is
going to play against Black’s
“hanging pawns” on e6 and d5? It is strategical knowledge of this kind that
Nigel Davies presents on his new DVD on the French Defence. Bob Long has gone
through the entire course and regards it ‘the most useful DVD I have seen in a
long time’.
Buy it
now or read Bobs review with sampler.
Chess Mates in the News
Saturday, March 20th, 2010
Kenilworth Chess Club Champion Arthur Macaspac, who expects to open his Chess Mates cafe soon, is featured in an article in Central New Jersey’s Home News & Tribune titled “Chess lover opens cafe in Rahway.”
Amber: Gashimov beats Carlsen, Ivanchuk leads
Saturday, March 20th, 2010Vasily ‘Mr Amber’ Ivanchuk once again back in the sole lead. The Ukrainian beat Alexander Grischuk 1.5:0.5, while his main rival, Magnus Carlsen, lost 0.5:1.5 to Azeri GM Vugar Gashimov. Sergey Karjakin scored 2-0 against his compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov, while Vladimir Kramnik and Levon Aronian shared the points with a win each. Round seven report.
Rijeka: Medals, statistics and quotes
Saturday, March 20th, 2010In our previous
report we gave you the gold medal winners of the European Championship.
On Thursday the silver and bronze medals in the open and womens groups were
played out. The statistics of the event are impressive: 566
players from 41 countries, 440 players with titles, 196 of them grandmasters. Of the 3,078 games 2,088 or 68% were decisive, only 32%
drawn. Final report.
Amber: Carlsen scores a fourth 2-0 knock-out
Saturday, March 20th, 2010Apparently nothing can stop the world’s highest-ranked player. In round six of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament Magnus Carlsen dispatched Boris Gelfand, who had won his four previous games, with a 2-0 score. Carlsen is now alone in the lead. Dutch GM Jan Smeets won his first game in Nice – against Vladimir Kramnik in blindfold. Round six report with video interviews.
Amber: Carlsen scores a fifth 2-0 knock-out
Saturday, March 20th, 2010Apparently nothing can stop the world’s highest-ranked player. In round six of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament Magnus Carlsen dispatched Boris Gelfand, who had won his four previous games, with a 2-0 score. Carlsen is now alone in the lead. Dutch GM Jan Smeets won his first game in Nice – against Vladimir Kramnik in blindfold. Round six report with video interviews.
IM Dean Ippolito at SPICE
Friday, March 19th, 2010
New Jersey IM Dean Ippolito came very close to gaining a GM norm at the 2010 SPICE Spring Invitational in Lubbock, Texas. But his loss to IM Gergely Antal in Round 8 (see video above of his resignation) ended his title chase in this tournament — though it gave Antal a shot at his own norm. Dean did score a couple of nice wins along the way, though, including a tactically sharp victory over celebrated youngster Darwin Yang.
BBC’s “How to Win at Chess”
Friday, March 19th, 2010The BBC has produced a wonderful hour-long documentary titled “How to Win at Chess,” most of which has been posted at zaphod319’s YouTube channel. It is also widely available for download, though not yet available for sale. Structured rather like David Shenk’s The Immortal Game, it follows an arranged game between British chess personalities Ray Keene and Daniel King (which the two players use as a vehicle for instruction) while jumping off into various aspects of chess history, culture, and competition. Highly recommended.
Hat tip to Mark Weeks, who often posts about videos on Friday.
Pocket Fritz 4: Full ahead!
Friday, March 19th, 2010To play and to analyze – those are the most important element in a chess program. To this respect, Pocket Fritz 4 provides a real thoroughbred, not just a bean counter. But don’t be afraid: you don’t need a special training course to run this beast. Everything is very easy, with a pleasant and intuitive interface. To study and to have fun, Pocket Fritz 4 offers you versatility and power.
Pocket Fritz 4: Full speed ahead!
Friday, March 19th, 2010To play and to analyze – those are the most important element in a chess program. To this respect, Pocket Fritz 4 provides a real thoroughbred, not just a bean counter. But don’t be afraid: you don’t need a special training course to run this beast. Everything is very easy, with a pleasant and intuitive interface. To study and to have fun, Pocket Fritz 4 offers you versatility and power.
Killerladies
Friday, March 19th, 2010Passed pawn versus kingside attack was the theme of this game from the European Women’s Championship, where mighty batteries had been erected in the c and g-file. White is to play – which move would you recommend to her now?
A) 34.c8Q
B) 34.Kxh3
C) 34.gxh3
The solution is here,
but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.
Amber: Carlsen’s winning streak ends after seven games
Thursday, March 18th, 2010It must surely be a record: seven wins in a row for the Norwegian super-talent Magnus Carlsen. But he was stopped by a defeat at the hands of Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine. Boris Gelfand, Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler all scored 2-0 wins, while Vassily Ivanchuk celebrated his 41st birthday by regaining the overall lead at the Amber tournament. Round five report.
Rijeka: Nepomniachtchi, Cramling European champions
Thursday, March 18th, 2010The European Championship ended with a bang, not a whimper, with great games on the top boards. Open section leader nineteen-year-old Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi was victorious against Armenian GM Vladimir Akopian. He took the title alone and with a 2868 performance. Swedish GM Pia Cramling defeated IM Viktorija Cmilyte to become Women’s champion. Final report.