The Chess Connoisseur

Carlsen on top of chess Olympus

2009-12-16T05:36:00.006+10:00

NORWEGIAN Magnus Carlsen, who turned 19 on 30th November, won the London Chess Classic held at the Olympia Conference Centre from 8-16 December. The Category 18 event with an average rating of 2696 is a single-round robin contest using the Bilbao scoring system of 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 for a loss.

During the seventh and final round, all three of the winless Englishmen attempted to score their first win but only two succeeded. Michael Adams prevailed over compatriot Luke McShane while David Howell defeated China’s Ni Hua to share 3-4 places with Adams. Current number one English player Nigel Short tried all his might to score a win against Carlsen but the latter also has the same determination. The two finally halved the point when Short was about to pluck Carlsen's remaining pawn in the queen yet pawnless ending.

Earlier former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia halved the point with Hikaru Nakamura of the USA to wind up with 12 points, one point behind the winner Carlsen. Nakamura and Short were unable to win a game, with the former losing one game while the latter suffered two losses.

In addition to the tournament victory, Carlsen is now absolutely certain to top the next FIDE Rating list which will come out on 1st January 2009. He is now the youngest player ever to achieve that feat and also the first player from a western nation to reach the top since Bobby Fischer in the 1970s.

He aims to become the world chess champion and shows his determination by engaging the services of Gary Kasparov, the former world champion (1985-2000) and number one player for twenty years (1985-2005).

That he would become the world chess champion is never doubted. The only question that remains to be answered is when?
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Gelfand’s experience prevails in 2009 World Chess Cup

2009-12-16T02:34:00.005+10:00

Photo: http://ugra-chess.ru

ISRAEL's Boris Gelfand became the 2009 World Cup champion by beating Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in the playoff games on Monday, 12 December.

That the fight for the title would be tightly contested was predicted by The Chess Connoisseur in its previous post. The first four games of the playoff were rapid games where Gelfand took the lead by winning the second game. But Ponomariov, with his back to the wall, won the last rapid game to tie the match again.

There followed another playoff, this time a series of twin-blitz chess (5 minutes per player per game) and Gelfand once again took the lead by beating Ponomariov in the first game when he managed to trap Ponomariov’s queen in 21 moves. Ponomariov rallied again, winning the second game.

The second pair of blitz games ensued where again Gelfand won the third blitz game. In the fourth blitz skirmish Ponomariov finally ran out of reserves, losing the game and the match, 7 points to 5.

Gelfand was the top seed in the 128-player event. At 41, he was also the oldest, but that did not deter him in the long tournament. Afterward, in an interview published on the tournament’s website, Gelfand pointed out that he had come to the World Cup after competing in the Tal Memorial and the World Blitz Championship that followed it. Altogether, he said he had played more than a month of top-level chess, but he added, “Now I will relax, make up for lost sleep, walk with my daughter. So I will be back to ‘normal’ life.”

This was the second time that Ponomariov, 26, was runner-up in the World Cup. He lost in the final in 2005 to Levon Aronian of Armenia. Still, he came in as the 7th seed, so he performed above his pre-tournament rank.

Our toast and congratulations to both gentlemen together with the wish for a good and much needed rest.

Youth and experience clash in World Cup final

2009-12-10T01:06:00.003+10:00

Photo:http://ugra-chess.ru/

THE saying ‘when the going gets tough, the tough gets going’ holds true again in the completion of the cast for the finals of the 2009 World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Israel super GM Boris Gelfand (2758, seed 1st) will be contesting the World Cup title with former FIDE World Chess Champion (2001-2003) – Ukraine's super GM Ruslan Ponomariov (2739, seed 7th).

Their trek to the top of the ladder could hardly be described with anything but tough. Gelfand has to beat in Round 4 the current world junior champion and French champion, Maxine Vachier-Lagrave (2718, seed 17th) in the second blitz tiebreak after the regulation two classical games, the four rapid tiebreak games and the first blitz tiebreak game all ended in draws. In Round 5 he saw off Russia's Dmitry Jakovenko (2736, seed 9th) with the score of 3.5–1.5. In Round 6, he displayed his excellent form by shutting out, 2–0, Ponomariov’s countryman and former second, Sergey Karjakin (2723, seed 12th), to notch the first finals berth.

Ponomariov needed a tiebreak to subdue France's Etienne Bacrot (2700, seed 23rd), 3.5–2.5, and advanced to the round of eight – the quarterfinals. He then disposed the current European champion, Vugar Gashimov (2758, seed 2nd) of Azerbaijan, 3.5–1.5. In the semifinals, he faced off with Russia's Vladimir Malakhov (2706, seed 22nd) who in the previous round sent home his compatriot, Peter Svidler (2754, seed 3rd) who he defeated, 1.5–0.5. Prior to the Ponomariov–Malakhov meeting, the latter a former European vice-champion, has the best rapid tiebreak record of 8.5 points out of 9 games.

The Ponomariov–Malakhov tussle went into the rapid tiebreak after they drew their two classical regulation games. True to form, Malakhov, won the first tiebreak game to improve his rapid-format record to 9.5 points out of 10 games. That's an incredible 95 percent performance at the top level by any standard. However, as Chaucer said “all good things must come to an end,” Malakhov's stupendous rapid record reached its pinnacle and has nowhere to go but down. His rival, Ponomariov, showed other remarkable traits such as resilience and toughness, which overcame his rival’s early lead and stamped his own class by winning the next 3 games and the match, 4–2, to notch the remaining finals berth.

The four–game finals match between Gelfand and Ponomariov is a classic experience-against-youth encounter. Ponomariov is not new to this situation as he has won the 2001 FIDE World Championship, the predecessor of the current event, against his rival’s contemporary and his countryman Vassily Ivanchuk to become the youngest ever world chess champion. Gelfand, despite being a perennial world chess contender, has only reached this very height for the first time. The onus would be on him to prove that he can overcome the challenge of his young protagonist. His results against strong youngsters from rounds 4 to 6 indicate that he would be up to this task.

Expect a very tough contest between these two equally deserving finalists.

Young amazons trip chess legends

2009-12-08T07:47:00.004+10:00

Photo: Official website

A NOVEL chess match between four chess legends, all former world championship candidates, and four young lady players took place from 28th November to 5th December at the Cristal Palace hotel in Marianzke Lazne.

Chess legends—Viktor Korchnoi (78 years old), Jan Timman (58), Robert Huebner (61), and Vlastimil Hort (65)—competed with young woman grandmasters—Humpy Koneru (22), Anna Muzychuk (19), Katerina Lahno (20), and Jana Jackova (27)—in a double-round Scheveningen contest dubbed as ‘Snowdrops and Old-hands’ Czech Coal Chess Match 2009.

The rate of play was 90 minutes for 40 moves with additional 30 minutes to the end of the game and 30 seconds added for each completed move starting from the first move. The tournament was organized by Prague Chess Society—a civic association.

The youngsters won the match by the narrowest of margin, 16½ to 15½. The ladies went off to a fast start in the first round, winning 3 matches and drawing one, to take a lead of 3 points at the halfway mark.

The first two matches in the second round were drawn as it appeared that the ladies were coasting along and maintained their three-point lead. The seasoned chess celebrities won the last two matches, both by slimmest of margin of one point, but were not enough to overcome the ladies early big lead.

The best performance was registered by India’s Koneru (rated 2603) with 5½ points out of 8. The only blot in her escutcheon was a last round loss to the ‘evergreen’ Korchnoi. She drew with Huebner (two draws) and Korchnoi (split wins), beat Timman (1½-½) and Hort (2-0). The shutout victory over Hort gave the amazons the marginal point for the match victory. A single draw would have resulted into a tied match.

Slovenia’s Muzychuk (2532) turned in a plus one score (4 ½); Ukraine’s Lahno (2499) registered an even score (4); while Czech’s Jackova (2388) had a minus three score (2½) but scored her lone win over Viktor, the Terrible.

The performances of the veterans were more or less even. The Netherlands’ Timman (2591) was top with a plus one score (4½), Germany’s Huebner (2603) had an even score (4), whereas Switzerland’s Korchnoi (2567) and host country Czech’s Hort (2494) both turned in a minus score (3½). Korchnoi was the lone victor (no pun intended) against Koneru.

The event was graced by another chess legend, the former world chess champion Boris Spassky (1969-1972).

Malakhov’s best in rapid chess

2009-12-08T07:43:00.003+10:00

Photo: Official website

WESLEY So’s exit from the 2009 World Cup via a lopsided score of 1-4 against Russia’s Vladimir Malakhov could be attributed to his ‘inexperience’ and ‘internal weakness’ spotted by Russian GM Sergey Shipov.

The Filipino, who was once quoted by foreign journalists in Khanty-Mansiysk that he prefers to play in rapid tiebreaks, could “not oversee that Malakhov feels completely at home in rapid.” But Wesley overlooked that Malakhov has the best record in rapid tiebreak games.

A little bit of retrospection would confirm that Malakhov was likely to beat, and he did beat, So (3-0!) in the rapid tiebreak games.

Consider the fact: Malakhov has a stupendous record in the rapid tiebreak.

After a draw in the first game of Round 2, he won the next two against Israel's Ilia Smirin (2662, seed 43rd) and advanced to the third round.

In Round 3, he won three straight games against Ukraine's Pavel Eljanov (2729, seed 11th) and advanced to the fourth round.

In Round 4, as it is now history, he won three straight games against the 2009 World Cup rising star Wesley So.

That’s 8.5 points out of 9 games in rapid format! This is the one phenomenal and outstanding performance in the 2009 World Cup.

In the meantime, Malakhov needed no tiebreak against Peter Svidler as he won the mini-match, 1.5-0.5. (Svidler probably thought Malakhov is unbeatable in rapid and went just one game down in the classical format that saw him off from playing rapid games with his in-form rival.)

As of this posting, Malakhov is contesting one of the finals berth against former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine.

The young ones’ run comes to end

2009-12-08T07:30:00.002+10:00

THE truism “all good things must come to an end,” attributed to Chaucer (1374), was once again spot on in Round 4 of the 2009 World Chess Cup when the triumvirate of future chess stars all went down in flames.

The Philippines’ Wesley So, Italy’s Fabiano Caruana and France’s Maxine Vachier-Lagrave all went down in defeat against their respective rivals in the fourth round (round of 16) of the 2009 World Chess Cup.

Caruana (rating 2652 and seed 50th) lost to Vugar Gashimov (2758, seed 2nd) of Azerbaijan, 1.5-3.5. The 17-year-old Caruana, who played against GM Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan, could not stand up the extra class performance of his opponent (although he had winning position in the second game of the match) and could not control the situation after his first defeat in the rapid game.

Earlier, Fabiano defeated Lazaro Bruzon of Cuba (2619, seed 79th), 1.5-0.5, in Round 1; in the next round, Fabiano eliminated the current Cuban number one and last year's world blitz champion, 15th seed Leinier Dominguez (2719) with the score of 4-2 from twin victories both with the black pieces in the rapid tiebreak. In Round 3, he showed the door to former Russian champion Evgeny Alekseev (2715, seed 18th), 3.5-2.5, with the lone victory from their rapid tiebreak encounter.

The 19-year-old Vachier-Lagrave (rated 2718, seed 17th) is this year's world junior champion—the title he earned from the event that preceded the World Cup. He disposed China's Yu Shaoteng (2529, seed 112th), with the score of 1.5-0.5 in Round 1; then pipped Germany's George Meier (2653, seed 48th) in the fourth rapid tiebreak game to win the match, 3.5-2.5, in Round 2. Maxine made mincemeat of another Chinese in Round 3, beating Yu Yangyi (2527, seed 113th), 1.5-0.5, that ended the latter's surprising advance. In Round 4 he had a brilliant match against top seed GM Boris Gelfand of Israel, but could not cope with him in the blitz game after their two-game classical and four-game rapid tiebreak matches all ended in draws.

So, 16, rated 2640 and seeded 59th, shut out Azerbaijan's Gadir Guseinov (2625, seed 70th) in the rapid tiebreak after they split their two classical games with a score of 4-1 and advanced to the second round.

A sensational upset was scored by Wesley when he defeated Ukraine's Vasily Ivanchuk (2739, seed 7th) in the first game and drew the second game that kicked the latter out of the World Cup. The loss to a relatively unknown and weaker player caused Ivanchuk to declare, in a fit of frustration and disappointment, his retirement from professional chess.

Fortunately for the chess fans, he retracted his retirement declaration and apologized to his fans, three days later. This he only did after Round 3, when So similarly disposed of the defending World Cup champion, the American Gata Kamsky (2695, seed 27th), with a similar score of 1.5-0.5.

Wesley's twin victories over two chess titans, Ivanchuk and Kamsky, sent shock waves in the global chess community and easily ‘overshadowed’ the similarly fine performances of Caruana and Vachier-Lagrave.

So, dubbed by the foreign chess media here as the “biggest sensation in the tournament,” lost all his three rapid tiebreak matches to GM Vladimir Malakhov of Russia in their fourth round showdown and bowed out of contention at the Khanty-Mansiysk Center of Arts.

The 16-year-old Filipino, whose strong positional games during the prestigious, 128-player competition earned him comparison with former world champion Anatoly Karpov, failed to shake off the older and more experienced Malakhov in the first two classical games.

It was a divergence from his stints at the previous rounds, where he stunned former world championship finalist GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and defending champion GM Gata Kamsky of the US both in two games.

Slowed down by two hard-fought draws in their classical games, So was forced to battle it out with the 22nd-seeded Malakhov (Elo 2706) in the rapid tiebreak stage. But the Filipino, who was once quoted by foreign journalists here that he prefers to play in rapid tiebreaks, could “not oversee that Malakhov feels completely at home in rapid.”

The final score: 4-1 for Malakhov.

The event is now on its semifinal round (round of four) featuring Israel’s Boris Gelfand against Ukraine’s Sergey Karjakin and Ruslan Ponomariov, also of Ukraine, against Wesley So’s conqueror –Vladimir Malakhov!
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Young Filipino GM Wesley So sends shock waves in 2009 World Chess Cup

2009-11-30T00:09:00.005+10:00

Photo: http://www.ugra-chess.ru

WESLEY So. Filipino. 16-year grandmaster currently ranked 7 among world junior players. Seventh youngest ever grandmaster in the world at 14. Youngest ever national champion of the Philippines. Youngest ever Philippine chess Olympian at age 13 (2006 Chess Olympiad in Calvia, Spain). Winner of 2009 Corus Group C tournament.

He made the world took notice of his resounding wins over elite grandmasters in the second and third round of the 2009 World Chess Cup.

The Chess Connoisseur traces his Cup trek so far.

Defeated GM Gadir Guseinov of Azerbaijan, 4-1, in Round 1 (21-23 November). He won the first but lost the second of the normal time-control games. Won three straight games of the four rapid tie-break games.

Proceeded to Round 2 (64 participants remaining, 24-26 November). Registered a shocking and surprising win, 1.5-0.5, over the famous super GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine—the defeated 2001 FIDE world championship finalist; winner of various super tournaments and matches. Ivanchuk, having the white pieces in the first game, rejected a possible perpetual check and went all out for a win that backfired on him. He was not able to equalize in the second game and was out of the World Cup with a figurative thud that reverberated through the chess world.

Wesley proceeded to Round 3 (32 participants remaining, 27-29 November). Registered another shocking win over super GM Gata Kamsky of USA, the event’s defending champion; conqueror of So’s compatriot GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr (1.5-0.5) in round 1 and Chinese GM Zhou Weiqi (1.5-0.5) in round 2. So, playing black, outclassed Kamsky, himself a former chess prodigy and a defeated world championship challenger who admittedly chose the wrong openings, in the first game, a French Defense, and held the second game, a Dutch Defense opening, to send the latter home.

With outright wins in his two-game mini-matches in rounds 2 and 3, Wesley avoided playing tie-break matches and got two ‘free’ days for rest and preparation after each mini-match. He is now among the remaining 16 participants of the initial 128 entries. Will proceed to round 4 (30 November-2 December).

Already his present achievements have far exceeded all expectations from his home country, the Philippines. Still hopes are high that he can cash in on his winning momentum. The World Cup organizers already acknowledge his talent and potential in an article titled ‘There is a new rising star in Khanty Mansiysk?’ Read it here.
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Bobby wins first junior chess title

2009-11-24T09:56:00.003+10:00

AUSTRALIAN student Bobby Cheng has topped a field of 142 budding grandmasters to become the country's first under-age world chess champion.

Cheng finished the 13-day tournament in Antalya, Turkey, a half-point better than runners-up Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland, Richard Wang of Canada and David Paravyan of Russia.
His score of nine points from 11 matches comprised two draws, a loss and eight wins including a crucial final-round victory over the tournament's top seed, India's Suri Vaibhav.

Cheng moved to Melbourne from New Zealand in 2007, and started representing Australia last year. (He participated in the 2009 Oceania zone chess championship held in June at Gold Coast, Australia where he obtained his FIDE Master title together with his former compatriot Mike Steadman of New Zealand. - TCC)

The student from Balwyn High in Melbourne's east is coached by Australian Grandmaster Darryl Johansen, who two weeks ago won the Victorian state championship for the 12th time.

The world championships which finished on Sunday encompassed competitions for players in age-groups from under-eight to under-18.

A total of 15 Australians took part in this year's festival, with Sydney's Anton Smirnov finishing in a tie for second place in the under-eight championship.

Source: World News Australia

News of Bobby Cheng's unprecendeted victory can be read from the following online web and blog sites: The Australian, Chess Express, The Closet Grandmaster.

World Youth Chess Championship Category Winners

The players that finished in the top three places in each category of this 11 day marathon event are as follows:

U-18 General category
1- Maxim Matlakov (Russia) 9 points
2- Ivan Salgado Lopez (Spain) 8,5 points
3- Kacper Piorun (Poland) 8 puan

U-18 Girls’ category
1- Olga Girya (Russia) 8,5 points
2- Tsatsalashvili Keti (Georgia) 8,5 points
3- Kübra Öztürk ( Turkey) 8 points

U-16 General category
1- S P Sethuraman (India) 9 points
2- Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (India) 9 points
3- Maxime Lagarde (France) 8 points

U-16 Girls’ category
1- Deysi Cori (Peru) 10 points
2- Meri Arabidze (Georgia) 8,5 points
3- Paikidze Nazi (Georgia) 8 points

U-14 General category
1- Jorge Cori (Peru) 9 points
2- Kamil Dragun (Poland) 8,5 points
3- G V Sai Krishna (India) 8,5 points

U-14 Girls’ category
1- Marsel Efroimski (Israel) 9 points
2- Aleksandra Lach (Poland) 9 points
3- J Saranya (India) 8,5 points

U-12 General category
1- Bobby Cheng (Australia) 9 points
2- Krzysztof Duda Jan (Poland) 8,5 points
3- Richard Wang (Canada) 8,5 points

U-12 Girls’ category
1- Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iran) 10 points
2- Anna Styazhkina (Russia) 9,5 points
3- Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia) 8,5 points

U-10 General category
1- Jinshi Bai (China) 9 points
2- Murali Karthikeyan (India) 9 points
3- Han Yu Zhang (China) 9 points

U-10 Girls’ category
1- Gunay Vugar Qizi Mammadzada (Azerbaijan) 10,5 points
2- Maria Furtado Ivana (India) 8,5 points
3- Hikmet Qizi Hojjatova Aydan (Azerbaijan) 8,5 points

U-8 General category
1. Aryan Gholami (Iran) 9 points
2. Tanuj Vasudeva (USA) 8,5 points
3. Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei (Iran) 8,5 points

U-8 Girls’ category
1. Ruotong Chu (China) 9,5 points
2. Samritha Palakollu (USA) 8,5 points
3. Yunshan Li (China) 8,5 points

Source: Official website of the World Youth Chess Championship

Kasparov slams Illescas 'confession’

2009-11-21T22:55:00.002+10:00

AS The Chess Connoisseur went through the 25th anniversary issue of New In Chess (NIC) magazine (Issue 7/2009), he has just gone through its two-page table of contents and read in its reader’s opinion page, Your Move, the reaction of former world champion and world number one player over two decades–Garry Kasparov–to Spanish grandmaster Miguel Illescas’ interview that appeared in NIC Issue 5/2009.

In the article based on said interview by NIC editor Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Illescas narrated his involvement as an adviser and trainer in two historic match defeats of Kasparov against the computer Deep Blue in 1997 and his pupil Vladimir Kramnik in the 2000 London world championship match.

Illescas noted that in the rematch with Deep Blue the only time Kasparov played normal openings (GK employed anti-computer moves in the other games) were in the second and sixth (the last) games. He further revealed that on the morning of the last day of the match the Deep Blue team had worked on the variation of the Caro-Kann that came up in that game.

Kasparov believes and still contends that the IBM Deep Blue team ‘cheated’ him. In both losses, he essayed variations he had never played before – the Smyslov Variation of the Spanish Opening in game two and the 4… Nd7 variation of the Caro-Kann Defense in game six, yet in both instances, the Deep Blue team had ‘anticipated’ and ‘worked’ on them, the last being on the morning of the last day of the match.

For Kasparov these incidents were never mere coincidences. At the outset of his letter to the NIC editors, Kasparov wrote ‘… far from alleviating my suspicions, several of his (Illescas’) comments justify, if not entirely vindicate, my abiding doubts about IBM’s behavior during the matches.’ He concluded that ‘on these points I feel he (Illescas) is asking for a much greater leap of faith than I am.’

Kasparov mentioned ‘the perils of having a competitor also (as) the organizer and arbiter.’ He has learned this bitter lesson and never involved himself again in any ‘scientific experiment’ against a computer like IBM’s Deep Blue that was totally dismantled shortly after the match.

Readers may subscribe to New In Chess by either logging in to http://www.newinchess.com/, or by sending email to nic@newinchess.com.

World Cup 2009 underway

2009-11-20T23:27:00.007+10:00

THE schedule of the World Cup 2009

Date_____Events______________Venue

20.10.09__16:00 Players' meeting
_________17:00 Opening ceremony__CH “Octyabr” 
21.11.09___Round I game 1_________Center of Arts
________________________________Beginning of the
________________________________games at 15:00
22.11.09___Round I game 2
23.11.09___Tie break
24.11.09___Round II game 1
25.11.09___Round II game 2
26.11.09___Tie break
27.11.09___Round III game 1
28.11.09___Round III game 2
29.11.09___Tie break
30.11.09___Round IV game 1
01.12.09___Round IV game 2 
02.12.09___Tie break
03.12.09___Round V game 1
04.12.09___Round V game 2
05.12.09___Tie break
06.12.09___Round VI game 1
07.12.09___Round VI game 2
08.12.09___Tie break
09.12.09___Day off
10.12.09___Round VII game 1
11.12.09 ___Round VII game 2
12.12.09___Round VII game 3
13.12.09___Round VII game 4
14.12.09___Tie break
__________Closing ceremony
15.12.09___Departure

In the end of every competition day press conference with players will be held in the Press Centre.

Australian grandmaster David Smerdon represents the Oceania zone. The Philippines has 3 grandmasters who qualified to play in the event, namely Rogelio Antonio, Jr., Darwin Laylo and Wesley So.

Official website: http://ugra-chess.ru/eng/main_e.htm
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Boxing record holder Pacquiao is an avid chess player

2009-11-15T22:42:00.006+10:00

MANNY Pacquiao, boxing's undisputed best pound-for-pound pugilist, registered an unprecedented 7 world boxing titles in as many weight classes when he blasted Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto to submission in the 12th round of their world welterweight championship match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, 14 November. Pacquiao's victory gave him Cotto's World Boxing Organization's welterweight title.

Pacquiao knocked down Cotto two times, one each in rounds 3 and 4. Pacquiao, the pride of the Philippines, won every round except the first and the fifth in another surprisingly dominating performance against a heavier, bigger and stronger opponent.

The Puerto Rican's corner was ready to throw in the towel after 11 rounds but the dethroned champion refused to quit but after sustaining more punishment in the final round the referee, Kenny Bayless, stepped in and stopped the carnage to protect Cotto, who was bloodied in the nose and mouth and cut in the brow, from further harm. The fight was dubbed "Firepower" which seemed to live up to it in the first 5 rounds, but from thereon it became a one-sided fight in favor of the Filipino champion.

The victory has cemented Pacquiao's claim as the best boxer in the planet. Together with his two-round demolition of England's Ricky Hatton, the former junior welterweight champion whose belt Pacquiao snared early this year, Pacquiao is a shoo-in again for ‘Fighter of the Year’ accolade. Similarly, his trainer Freddie Roach would be the undisputed ‘Trainer of the Year.’

Pacquiao is a multi-talented and physically gifted athlete who can sprint in the track oval, play basketball, and other physical games.

Before anyone think that this post is out of place, we would like to inform our readers that Pacquiao is an avid chess player. In between training sessions in the past, he used to play chess with his former promoter, the late Rod Nazario. Pacquiao admits that he, at times, applies principles of chess struggle in his boxing matches. This goes to show that the boxing champion's preparation and moves on top of the ring are well planned and thought out—skills derived from chess playing.

Consider the following:

During the 4th round at what still seemed a very close fight, Pacquiao put his back to the ropes, gloves up in a posture conveying a great dare, as he waited to take shots from his bigger rival.

"I wanted to test his power," said Pacquiao. "I heard that he is stronger than me."

His trainer and coach, Freddie Roach, yelled at him every time he used the high-risk ‘rope-a-dope tactic,’ "Why are you fighting his fight?" to which Pacquiao replied, "I can handle him!"

With his back to the ropes his rival Cotto freely banged his body which he pretended not getting hurt.

Fox News columnist Mark Kriegel observed Pacquiao "is also a daring, if underrated strategist...in taking punishment with his back to the ropes, he had Cotto exactly where he wanted him."

Pacquiao explained "I was trying to control the fight," pointing to his temple, "in my mind."

Have the readers spotted any resemblance to chess struggle?
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New chess talent on the horizon

2009-11-12T04:17:00.008+10:00

Photo: Nottingham Evening Post

ENGLAND's answer to Utah's Kayden Troff and Gold Coast's Daniel Lapitan could be Mark Kenyon, who has recently won the country's under-11 chess competition.

Here's the full report from the Nottingham Evening Post by Tanya Holden.

'A nine-year-old boy has beaten youngsters two years older than him to become the England under-11s chess champion.

Ravenshead youngster Mark Kenyon has been playing chess since he was four and hopes to be a grand master in the future.

He won five matches out of five to be crowned the winner of the competition, held at Nottingham High School.

The win means he has qualified for trials to play for England.

Mark said: "I'm happy I won.

"I enjoy competitions, especially when I win them, and I hope to be a grand master one day."

The Ravenshead C of E Primary School pupil practices his chess skills every night with his dad and brother.

He also has weekly sessions with coach David Levens.
Mark said: "I find it all interesting.

"There are millions of combinations and I like using the pieces and getting them to work together."

Dad Alan said Mark wanted to join the chess club at school when he was in Year Two but was too young.

After Mark had won a few competitions he took the trophies into school and they let him join the club.

But Mr Kenyon said if Mark wants to be a grand master, the only way is to practice.

He said his son is currently one of the top three chess players of his age in the country.

"He's got a lot of ability," said Mr Kenyon.

"He's pretty confident on the chess board and that helps him.

"It's what makes the difference between being quite good and the best."

Mark will undergo trials for England in the spring.
Mr Levens said: "He is a future grand master without any doubt.

"He has a terrific attitude and is very confident in a pleasant way. He will overtake me."

The Chess Connoisseur is always on the lookout for young chess talents who are prospective stars of the future.
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Top Oceania players

2009-11-04T03:37:00.006+10:00

THE top 3 places are occupied by Australia’s 3 grandmasters. GM Zhao Zong-Yuan and current Oceania Zonal champion and World Cup qualifier GM David Smerdon retained their September 2009 ratings and 1-2 places. GM Darryl Johansen lost 3 rating points but kept his 3th place ranking. IM Aleksandar Wohl gained 40 rating points and rose from 11th to 4th place. IM George Xie dropped to 5th place without any rating change.

New Zealand is headed by its only grandmaster Murray Chandler. Young IM Puchen Wang, targeting to become the country’s second grandmaster, is still a far second but keeps on improving.

Papua New Guinea is led by Joselito Marcos who came from a six-year layoff with a rating of 2115. He lost a huge amount of rating points (85!) from the 2009 Oceania Zonal. His last appearance prior to the zonal was in the 2003 PNG chess championship which he won undefeated. Stuart Fancy is in second place with 2104. PNG chess federation secretary, Shaun Press, recent winner of the Solomon Islands international, is tied with Helmut Marko with a rating of 2076.

Despite dropping 67 points (also from the 2009 Oceania Zonal), Damian Norris still leads the Fiji list with a rating of 2053. However, Manoj Kumar is now a near second with just 25 points behind.

Oceania Women Ranking by Country

Here is the list of top women players of each Oceania federations.

Top 10 chess countries

2009-11-04T02:43:00.004+10:00

ONE of the interesting features of the FIDE Rating is the federation ranking which is based on the average rating of each country’s top 10 players. Russia leads the roster with an average of 2726. Asian countries China, ranked 4th with 2639, and India, ranked 7th with 2636, are among the top 10 countries.

Oceania countries

Australia, ranked 55th in the world, remains ahead of other Oceania federations, with an average rating of 2443. New Zealand is next but only ranked 75th overall with 2304, followed by Papua New Guinea at 117th with 2048 and Fiji, ranked 130th with 1835. Palau and Solomon Islands are not listed.

See the next post for list of top players for each Oceania countries.

Class of 1990 dominates top juniors list

2009-11-04T02:32:00.003+10:00

WITH a meteoric gain of 29 points Norway’s Magnus Carlsen has increased his lead by 78 points over Ukraine’s Sergey Karjakin who has a rating of 2723. A close third is French champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with 2718. The first 5 places remain unchanged although Italy’s Fabiano Caruana went down by 10 points. Bulgaria’s Sergei Zhigalko took 6th place without any change in rating due to Russia’s Dmitry Andreikin’s loss of 23 points who dropped to 8th place. The Philippines’ Wesley So, despite losing 4 rating points, came 7th also on account of Andreikin’s rating dive.

Nine out of twenty, or roughly half in the list, are born in 1990. These include the top 3 – Carlsen, Karjakin, and Vachier-Lagrave. The others are Russia’s Dmitry Andreikin, Ukraine’s Yuriy Kuzubov, Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, France’s Romain Edoard, Vietnam’s Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, and Russia’s Ildar Khairullin.

Girls list is Chinese’ domain

China’s Ju Wenjun’s gigantic gain of 66 rating points caused a major shakeup in the top girls ranking. Previously untitled and ranked 8th, Ju, now with the women’s grandmaster title, leaped to third place with 2509. Fellow Chinese GM Hou Yifan and Slovenian IM Anna Muzychuk retained their 1-2 places. Ukraine GM Katerina Lahno and Indian IM Harika Dronavali each dropped a rank due to Ju’s rise. The 5 Chinese girls in the list are among the top 11 players.

Shakeup in November FIDE Rating List

2009-11-03T23:32:00.010+10:00

FIDE has released its November Rating List with Norway’s Magnus Carlsen becoming the fifth player and the youngest ever to reach the 2800 mark. Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov remains on top with 2810 against Carlsen’s 2801. Currently undisputed world chess champion, India’s Viswanathan Anand is in third place with 2788. Levon Aronian of Armenia was just two points behind Anand but dropped a place due to Carlsen’s quantum leap.

There are now 35 players with ratings of 2700 and above. Two Chinese are in this elite group: Wang Yue with 2734 ranked 16th and Wang Hao with 2708 in 28th place. The highest placed player from the Americas is now Cuba’s Leinier Perez Dominguez in 21th place with 2719, outranking USA’s Hikaru Nakamura who dropped to 24th place with 2715. Nigel Short retains his position as top English player with 2707 in 29th place. Armenia’s Vladimir Akopian in 35th place has a rating of 2700. The rating 2642 is now only good enough for 100th place shared by Ukraine’s Anton Korobov, France Vladislav Tkachiev, and Russia Pavel Tregubov.

The Philippines’ Wesley So, who lost 4 rating points, dropped to 2640 and just out of top 100 in 102nd place.

It is a welcome treat for active and professional players including organizers that the FIDE ratings are updated and released every two months. With increase chess activities and advancement in technology this move by FIDE showed its keen sense for improvement. Previously FIDE used to release its rating list on semi-annual, then quarterly bases. There is reason to believe, and if the current trend is considered, that in the near future FIDE may come up with a monthly rating list.

Here is the list of the top 35 players (ratings of 2700 and above).

The list of the top 100 players can be found here.

Top three women places unchanged

The top 3 places among top 100 women players is retained by Hungarian GM Judit Polgar, Indian GM Humpy Koneru and Chinese GM Hou Yifan. A major shakeup in the top 10 places took place as Georgian GM Nana Dzagnidze, former women’s world champion Bulgarian GM Antoaneta Stefanova, and Slovenian IM Anna Muzychuk occupied 4th to 6th places, displacing China GM Zhao Xue, Russian GM Tatiana Kosintseva, and Swedish GM Pia Cramling.

Dzagnidze gained 12 points and jumped from 7th to 4th place; Stefanova earned 14 points and rose from 9th to 5th place; while Muzychuk lost 1 point but gained 2 places.

Heavy losers was Zhao who lost 36 points and dropped to 14th place; Kosintseva lost 14 points but still among the top 10 at 8th place; Cramling dropped 10 points and by 1 rank.

Here is the list of the top 15 women players (ratings of 2500 and above).

The list of top 100 women can be found here

Who would you believe?

2009-10-30T06:38:00.006+10:00

A COUPLE of weeks ago, October 14 to be exact, a Wall Street Journal article titled “Abolish Women’s Chess Titles” created a big stir that drew reactions from various web and blog sites. The author, Ms. Barbara Jepson, posited that awarding titles for women at lower levels of accomplishment is an “anachronistic and demeaning practice.” She views women’s chess titles as “gender-segregated,” which US international master (yes, that’s a chess title for men) Irina Krush described as “really a marker of lower expectations.”

The full article can be read from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703298004574457393421190888.html.

The Chess Connoisseur would have preferred to keep mum on the issue because the writer of the article is not known as a chess player and has used only the view of 25-year-old Ms. Krush as authority to add some chess credibility to her article. However, his attention was caught when Women World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, herself having a grandmaster title for men, strongly reacted to the WSJ article in her October 17, 2009 post, titled: “Abolish Women’s Titles? Ridiculous!” in her blog site, http://www.chessblog.com/.

Ms. Kosteniuk’s lengthy reaction is summarized by this statement: “The proposal of abolishing women's chess titles is absurd, sounds more like a title for a "yellow" newspaper rather than the Wall Street Journal to attract attention, and would hurt rather than help getting more girls and women to play chess.” (Emphasis by the Chess Connoisseur)

Ms. Jepson, who writes about music and art for the Journal, is researching child prodigies in multiple disciplines.

Ms. Kosteniuk is a co-chairperson of the FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess. Her twin proposals: the annual FIDE Caissa Award for best female chess player and the annual FIDE Golden Women’s Tournament Organizer Award, were approved in the most recent FIDE Executive Board meeting held on October 12 in conjunction with the 80th FIDE Congress that took place in Kallithea, Khalkidhiki, Greece from October 11 to 18.
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Chess – Palau style

2009-10-29T01:28:00.005+10:00

THE 12-man round robin finals of the 2009 Palau chess championship is underway. The Chess Connoisseur initially reported its commencement in its August 20, 2009 post. A last minute change in the format, following the suggestion of PNG’s Joselito Marcos, brought about an exciting 5-round Swiss system qualifying event where the top 8 placers joined Palau’s 4 FIDE-rated players in the single round robin finals.

Our correspondent, Tia Belau’s chess columnist Roberto Hernandez, himself a finalist and among the indefatigable organizers of this year’s event, sent us scores of completed games and results. In his Chessmate column in the country’s weekly newspaper, Hernandez reported that those who failed to make it to the finals play in the consolation group, also a round robin event with prizes for winners.

The nature and the schedule of work of chess participants prohibit all games of a round to be completed on a single day. In the consolation group, one contestant withdrew his participation because of conflict in his job schedule. Hernandez explained ‘Palau has the most flexible chess schedule in the world to accommodate ALL players whatever their schedules are.’

Despite the explanation the player still withdrew from the formal competition. Before leaving, however, he played–and won!–a couple of games with bets against an available finalist.

Games are played in two venues and participants play against whoever is available regardless of round because of the all-play-all format. As such only provisional standings can be shown because of different number of completed games per player.

Well, that’s Palau chess!

Here are the latest interim standings of 2009 Palau Chess Championship.

  1. Jun Mahor                 2½/4
2-4. Roberto Hernandez    1830  2/3
     Menandro Manuel      1942  2/2
     Cyril Montel, Jr.    1870  2/2
  5. Romeo Caballes            1½/5
6-9. Bernard Garcia             1/1
     Masum Billah               1/4
     Gene Pastrana        1870  1/1
     Paquito Suringa, Jr.       1/3
 10. Michael Mercado            ½/1
 11. Elpidio Manaligod          ½/2
 12. Craig Dittrich             0/2

Here are some selected games from the ongoing event.

An upset right on the first day of the championship finals was in the making when top qualifier, Michael Mercado (Black), who topped the qualifying event with a perfect score of 5 points, found himself in this position against qualifiers’ runner up Jun Mahor.

Diagram 1 – Position after 29… Kh8.

30.Qxd6?

White went pawn hunting and overlooked a forced mate in five moves: 30.Rh7+! Kxh7 31.Qd7+ Qe7 32.Qxe7+ Rf7 33.Qxf7+ Kh8 34.Qg7#!

After 30... Qe3+ 31.Kf1, Black himself came up with a rook sacrifice of his own with 31… Rxf3+! which was only good for a draw but enough to keep his unbeaten streak. A draw could still be achieved without sacrifice through queen checks but Black wanted to get it with flourish. The game concluded with 32.gxf3 Qxf3+ 33.Kg1 Qd1+ 34.Kh2 Qxc2+ ½–½.

Equal second seed, Cyril Montel Jr (FIDE rating, 1870), registered the shortest victory so far —a 20-mover—in his game against Paquito Suringa Jr. It could have been shorter by 4 moves if only Montel (Black) found the forced mate on his 11th turn.

Here is the game with light notes from The Chess Connoisseur.

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.e4 d6 4.d5?

An early mistake. Against the principle of moving the same piece twice, this move aggravates the infraction by unnecessarily opening up the a1-h8 diagonal for Black’s fianchettoed bishop.

4… Bg7 5.Bd2 c6 6.Bc4?

Another inaccuracy, which Black exploited to initiate an attack on White’s king. Better was 6.Nf3 0–0 7.Be2 Nbd7, but Black still has a slight edge.

6... b5 7.Bb3 b4 8.Nce2?

White could have maintained material equality with 8.Na4, but Black has a clear advantage.

8... Nxe4 9.Bxb4

If 9.Nf3, then 9… Bxb2 wins.

9... Qb6!

Hitting simultaneously the bishop at b4 and the f2-square which effectively decided the game. White must give up a piece to avert the threatened mate at f2.

10.Nd4 Bxd4 11.Bxd6

Surrendering another piece. Instead if 11.Bd2, Black weaves a mating net starting with 11… Bxf2+ 12.Ke2 Ba6+ 13.Kf3 Nd7 14.g3, and now the surprisingly sparkling move 14… Bf1!! finishes off White.

Diagram 2 – Position after 11.Bxd6?

11... exd6?!

A rather prosaic way of winning the game. Instead, Black has a forced mate in five moves with 11... Bc3+!! 12. Ke2 (12.bxc3 Qxf2#) 12... Ba6+ 13.Kf3 (13.Bc4 Bxc4+ just prolongs the game by one move) 13… Qxf2+ 14.Kg4, and Black has choices of mate among 14… h5+ 15.Kh3 Ng5#; 14... f5+ 15.Kh3 Ng5#; and 14... Qf5+ 15.Kh4 Bf6#.

12.Nf3 Bxf2+ (Still missing the decisive 12... Bc3+!) 13.Kf1 Ba6+ 14.c4 0–0 15.Qe2 cxd5 16.Rd1 Nd7 17.Rxd5 Ndf6 18.Rd3 d5 19.Rd1 Ng4 20.Rd3 Nxh2+ 0–1

Disaster struck when fourth-seed Roberto Hernandez (White), a whole rook up, suffered an upset loss against qualifier Masum Billah, a Bangladeshi.

Diagram 3 – Position after 25… Kg6

26.h5+?

Good only for a draw. The order of the day was to bring the queen back to action with 26.Qe8+. After 26… Kf5 27.Rf8+ Kg4 (if 27... Ke5 28.Qb8+ Ke4 29.Qd6! wins), then 28.Qb5! (A difficult-to-visualize continuation in the midst of checking the opponent’s king) 28… Qe3+ 29.Rf2 Kxg3 30.Qf1, defends White’s king and keeps his attack on.

26... Kf5 27.Rf8+??

The losing moment. White checked with the wrong piece that led to his downfall. Correct was 27.Qf8+! Nf6 28.Qxg7 Qd1+ 29.Kg2 [but not 29.Kh2??, or 29. Kf2??, because of 29… Ng4+ 30.Kg2 Qe2+ 31.Kg1 Qf2+ (31... Qh2+ 32.Kf1 Qf2#) 32.Kh1 Qh2#] 29... Qe2+ 30.Kg1 Qe1+, with equality.

27... Kg4! 28.Rf2 (28.Qb8 Nf6 wins) 28... Qe1+ 29.Rf1 Qxg3+ 30.Kh1 Kh3 31.Qxd5 exd5 0–1

Games between players without much tournament exposures usually lead to comedy of errors. The winner in the following game, as Savielly Tartakover once said, was ‘the player who made the next to the last mistake.’

Mahor,Jun - Garcia,Bernard
Palau Chess Championship, Koror, 18.10.2009

The moves leading to the diagram were: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.a3?! When an amateur plays a move like this annotators readily put a question mark, while if a professional does it an interesting move “!?” is appended. A case of double standard in annotating games. 3… Nd4 4.c3 Nxf3+ 5.Qxf3 Nf6 6.d4 d6 7.h3 c6 8.Bg5 Be7 9.Nd2 Qb6 10.Nc4 Qc7 11.Bd3 Be6 12.0–0 Bxc4 13.Bxc4 Qb6 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.Qf5 Qc7 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Rad1 0–0 18.Rd7 Qc8 19.Rfd1 b5 20.Ba2 a5 21.g4 h6 22.h4 Bxh4 23.Bxf7+ Kh8 24.Qg6 Bf6 25.Be6 Qe8 26.Bf7 Rxf7 27.Qxf7 Qc8 28.f3 Qa6

Diagram 4 – Position after 28... Qa6.

29.Kg2

Better was 29.g5! If 29… hxg5, then 30.Kg2 g4 31.Rh1+ Bh4 32.Qxg7# (32.Rxh4#).

29... Rg8 30.g5!?

One move too late. Better was 30.R1d6! b4 31.c4 Qc8 32.Rxf6! wins.

30... Bxg5 31.Qg6

It is still not late for 31.R1d6. White wins after 31… b4 32.c4 Qa8 33.Rg6 Qe8 34.Qxe8 Rxe8 35.axb4 axb4 36.Rxc6.

31... b4 32.Kg3

32.Qxg5! wins.

32... Qe2 33.Rg1??

A blunder. The correct move, 33.Qxg5, still wins for White.

33... Bf4+!

Turning the table.

34.Kg4 Qf2?

Black’s turn to err. Instead, 34... Bh2! wins.

35.Kf5 Qxf3 36.Ke6 Qh3+ 37.Rg4??

White blundered anew and failed to make the most of his chances. Instead, 37.Qf5 Qxf5+ 38.exf5 would give White a slight advantage.

37... h5!

It’s all over. The game concluded with 38.Rxg7 Qxg4+ 39.Qxg4 hxg4 40.Rc7 Rg6+ 41.Kf7? Rg7+ 0–1.
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Something new, something old (Part 3)

2009-10-24T12:45:00.008+10:00

THIS is the third and last part of the three-part series in the Two Knights Defense. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2 h6, White may continue with 9.Nf3 or 9.Nh3. The latter move is examined in this post.

The knight retreats to h3 – the old approach

9.Nh3!?

Diagram 6 – Position after 9.Nh3.

In his excellent reference book, The Modern Chess Instructor (1889), the officially acknowledged first world champion Wilhelm Steinitz (1886-1894) recommended 9.Nh3!?–a move that has thoroughly been studied and employed successfully in practice by the 11th world champion Robert Fischer (1972-1975).

This old move, favored by Steinitz although it did not bring him success in his famous 1891 cable match against Chigorin, is a rare guest on top level games. The Steinitz Variation was mostly forgotten until Fischer revived it in the 1960s. English GM Nigel Short, a former world chess challenger, led a second revival of 9.Nh3 in the 1990s, and today it is thought to be about equal in strength to the more common 9.Nf3.

White is not afraid of worsening his pawn structure, after 9… Bxh3 10.gxh3, because he gets the bishop-pair and control of the half-open g-file.

On 9...Bf5, Steinitz gave the continuation 10.0–0 Qd7 11.Re1 Bxh3 12.gxh3 Qxh3 13.Bf1 Qg4+? 14.Qxg4 Nxg4 15.h3, winning for White.

Against 9... g5, White gets the advantage, according to English GM John Nunn, after 10.d3 g4 11.Ng1 Bc5 12.Nc3 Qb6 13.Na4!

Black’s standard choices 9… Bc5 and 9… Bd6 have been busted in practice—the former move by Fischer and the latter by Short. Here is how they did it.

Black continues with 9… Bc5

9… Bc5

Diagram 7 – Position after 9… Bc5.

10.0-0

Against Radoicic, Poughkeepsie 1963, Fischer continued with 10.d3! 0–0 11.Nc3 Re8 12.0–0 Bxh3 13.gxh3 Qd7 14.Bg4 Nxg4 15.hxg4, with the advantage for White.

10… 0–0

After 10... g5 11.Kh1 g4 12.Ng1 Ne4 13.Bxg4! Nxf2+ 14.Rxf2 Bxf2, White has a slight edge according to H. Gottschall.

11.d3 Bxh3

If 11... Nd5, then 12.c4 Ne7 13.Kh1 Bxh3 14.gxh3 Nf5 15.f4 exf4 16.Bxf4 Ne3 17.Bxe3 Bxe3 18.Nc3, White is winning as in Steinitz-Chigorin, Habana WCH(6) 1892.

12.gxh3 Qd7 13.Bf3

13.Bg4?! Nxg4 14.hxg4 f5, with the initiative to Black; 13.Kg2 needs to be tried in practice.

13... Qxh3 14.Nd2

The careless 14.Bg2 is met by 14… Qh4! 15.Qe1 Rfe8! 16.Qxa5 Ng4 17.h3 Bxf2+ 18.Rxf2 Qxf2+ 19.Kh1 e4! 20.hxg4 exd3, wins for Black.

14...Rad8 15.Bg2 Qf5 16.Qe1 Rfe8 17.Ne4 Bb6 18.Nxf6+Qxf6 19.Kh1 c5 20.Qc3! Nc6 21.f4 Nd4 22.Qc4! Qg6 23.c3 Nf5 24.fxe5 Rxe5 25.Bf4.

Here instead of 25… Re2, as in the game Fischer-Bisguier, Poughskeepie 1963, won by White in 29 moves, Black should continue with 25… Ne3 26.Bxe3 Rxe3, with equal chances due to opposite colored bishop. Still Fischer, known for his dogged determination to win and capacity to obtain the maximum from any position, he will certainly pursue a win because all major pieces are still on the board.

Black continues with 9… Bd6

9...Bd6

The move suggested by Steinitz himself.

Diagram 8 – Position after 9… Bd6.

10.d3!

This is Short’s preferred move since Chigorin’s 10.d4 is effectively countered by Fischer’s 10...e4, when Black is okay.

10… 0–0 11.Nc3 Nd5

Against 11... Rb8?! Short has tried two different continuations:

a) 12.Bf3 Qc7 13.Ng1 (The important factor is time, if White can finish his development he is a healthy pawn up and the knight on a5 is out of play.) 13... c5 14.Nge2 c4 15.Ng3 Rd8 16.0–0 Bf8 17.Qe2 cxd3 18.cxd3 Ba6 19.Rd1 Nc6 20.Bxc6 Qxc6 21.Qxe5 Bd6 22.Qe2 Re8 23.Be3 Bb7 24.Nge4, White is clearly ahead as in Short-Mitkov, EU-chT Batumi 1999; and
b) 12.0–0 Rb4 13.Kh1! Bxh3 14.gxh3 Rh4 15.Rg1 Rxh3 16.Rg3 (Short-P.Nikolic, Skelleftea 1989) 16... Rxg3 17.hxg3, with a slight advantage to White.

12.0–0

There are more thickets of variations here.

12.Bf3?! Nxc3! 13.bxc3 Qh4

a) 14.0–0!? Bxh3 15.gxh3 Qxh3 16.Bg2 Qh4, wins back the material with some attacking chances, although the knight on a5 remains pitiable to look at;
b) 14.Ng1 is already too slow.
b1) 14...f5 15.g3 Qf6 16.Ne2 e4 17.Bg2 Ba6 18.0–0 Rad8 19.Be3 c5, with compensation as in Tringov-Geller, Capablanca memorial Havana 1971;
b2) 14...Rb8 15.g3 Qa4 16.Bg2 f5 17.Nf3? e4 18.Nd4 c5 19.Ne2 Ba6, with the advantage to Black as in Paoli-Matanovic, Zagreb 1964. Better was 17.Ne2.

12.Ne4 Bc7 13.c4 13.0–0?! allows Black a direct assault against the white king.

a) 13... f5 14.Ng3 Qh4 15.Kh1 Be6 16.Bd2 Nb7 17.Bf3 Rad8 18.Qe1 g5! 19.Ng1 g4, Black has the advantage as in Paoli-Lengyel, Kecskemet 1972;
b) 13... Ne7 14.0–0 f5!? 15.Nc3, as in Kamsky-Jussupow, Tilburg 1992. Here Beliavsky suggested 15... f4!?, giving up the vital square e4 but continuing the attack on the kingside. After 16.Kh1 Nf5 17.Ng1 Nd4 18.Nf3 Bf5, Black has compensation.

12.Bd2 Rb8 13.b3

a) 13.Qc1 Bxh3 14.gxh3 Nf4 15.Rg1 f5 16.Bf1 c5 White's king is still in the middle. 17.Bg2 Nxg2+ 18.Rxg2, is unclear as in Bobkov-Korelov, corr 1975;
b) 13.Rb1!? Nb7 14.Ng1 Both players improve their knight's position.
b1) 14... Nf4 15.Bxf4 exf4 16.Bf3 Bb4 17.Nge2 Qa5 The pin on the a5-e8 diagonal is rather nasty. 18.Qd2 Re8 19.0–0 Bd7! 20.a3 Rxe2 21.axb4 Rxd2 22.bxa5 Rxc2 23.Ne2 Nc5, is unclear according to Beliavsky;
b2) 14... f5!? 15.Nf3 Qe7 Black has an active position and a strong center for the pawn. 16.d4 e4 17.Ne5 Bxe5 18.dxe5 Qxe5 19.Nxd5 cxd5 20.Be3 f4 21.Bd4 Qe7, with an attack.
b3) 14... Nc5 Ivanchuk-Beliavsky, Dortmund 1998.

12... Rb8

12... Qh4!? wins back the material but gives up the bishop-pair for a very passive knight. 13.Kh1 Bxh3 14.gxh3 Qxh3 15.Rg1 e4 16.Rg2 exd3 17.Qxd3 Qxd3 18.Bxd3 Nf4 19.Bxf4 Bxf4 20.Ne4 Be5 21.Rb1 Nb7 22.b4, as in Lalic-Jonkman, Ubeda open 2001. Now Black should play 22... Nd6, with equality.

13.Kh1 Nxc3 14.bxc3 Be6 15.f4 Bxh3 16.gxh3 exf4 17.Bxf4 c5 18.Qd2 Rb6? 19.Be3! Qh4 20.Bg4 Kh7 21.Rf5.

White has excellent attacking chances on the kingside on account of his active bishop-pair and the g-file. Short –Wedberg, Malmo 2002 concluded as follows: 21... Qe7 22.Rg1 Re8 23.Bxh6! Black is kaput! 23... g6 24.Bg5 Qb7+ 25.Bf3 Qd7 26.Rd5 Qe6 27.h4! Reb8 28.h5! Rb1 29.hxg6+ fxg6 30.Be3 Nc6 31.Rdg5 Rxg1+ 32.Rxg1 Ne5 33.Be4 Qh3 34.Qe2 Rf8 35.d4 Qh4 36.Bg5 Rf2 37.Bxh4 Rxe2 38.dxe5 Bxe5 39.Bxg6+ Kh6 40.Bg3 Bxg3 41.Rxg3 1–0

Conclusion:

After 9.Nh3, Black’s game is “in the last throes,” to borrow from the unofficial English world champion Howard Staunton’s words. Fischer had effectively busted 9… Bc5 while Short had effectively put an end to 9… Bd6.

Black, if he wants more than equality, has to look elsewhere on move 5. The line arising from 5… Na5 may be good enough at club level but not at the top level.

The Chess Connoisseur hastens to add that the second player must also be ready against a White divergence on move four, like 4.d4.

We hope this series provides direction to serious players in preparing for and against the Two Knights Defense. The analyses of the particular lines featured in this series are not meant to be exhaustive.

The general idea enunciated here may be applied in other chess openings as well.

The Chess Connoisseur acknowledges and appreciates the various sources used in the preparation of this series.

(End of Series)

Something new, something old (Part 2)

2009-10-24T11:28:00.006+10:00

THIS is the second part of the three-part series in the Two Knights Defense. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2 h6, White may continue with 9.Nf3 or 9.Nh3. The former move is examined in this post.

The knight-retreat to f3 – the modern approach

9.Nf3!?

Diagram 2 - Position after 9.Nf3.

The usual move here is 9.Nf3, after which Black obtains some initiative after 9... e4 10.Ne5 Bd6 (this is considered to be the main line of the Two Knights Defense). This is the favorite move of Alexander Morozevich who scored notable wins with it against Alexander Onischuk (twice) and Yuri Balashov. English number one, Nigel Short, a former world championship challenger, had employed this move successfully, although he was more successful with the Steinitz variation.

This is also the move of choice by the 13th world championship, Garry Kasparov (1985-2000), in a rapid game against another former world championship challenger, Dutch GM Jan Timman.

9… e4 10.Ne5 Bd6 11.Nc4?

This knight move—already the fifth just within the first 11 moves—is a blatant mistake, most likely a losing one, because after the normal exchange of pieces White finds himself greatly lagging behind in development. When a player uses 5 moves with a piece (his knight) just to have it exchanged to his opponent’s knight on the rim, there must be something wrong somewhere—evidently a faulty strategy.

The correct move was 11.d4. The position after 11… exd3 12.Nxd3 has brought about victories to Morozevich, Short, and Kasparov among a host of prominent players.

11… Nxc4 12.Bxc4 0–0 13.0–0??

White's last move was completely mistaken—a lucid example of castling without thinking. The position demands that development matters more over “king safety." At the expense of a pawn Black has a big lead in development and has two ways of continuing from here.

Diagram 3 - Position after 13.0-0??

From Diagram 3, Black has two equally strong attacking continuations: 13… Bxh2+ and 13… Ng4.

Black continues with 13… Bxh2+‼
A decisive sacrifice played in the game A. Rine-F. Berry, Bartlesville 2008.

Diagram 4 – Position after 13… Bxh2‼

14.Kxh2

If 14.Kh1 then 14… Bc7 15.d4 Qd6 16.g3 Qd7 17.Kg1 Qh3, is winning for Black.

14...Ng4+ 15.Kg3

On 15.Kg1 Qh4 wins.

15... Qd6+

Likewise decisive was 15...h5.

16.f4 exf3+ 17.Kxf3 Ne5+ 18.Kf2 Qd4+ 19.Ke1 Nxc4 20.Rf2 Bg4 21.c3 Rae8+ 22.Qe2 Rxe2+ 23.Kd1 Ne3# 0–1

Black continues with 13... Ng4!
From Diagram 3, Black has this equally very good continuation aside from 13… Bxh2.

Diagram 5 – Position after 13… Ng4!

Commencing an attack similar to that of the original Marshall attack in the Ruy Lopez opening.

14.h3?

If 14.g3, then 14… Ne5 15.Be2 Bh3, Black has the upper hand.

14...Qh4 15.Qe2

If 15.d4, then 15… Nh2 16.Nd2 Nxf1, with the advantage to Black.

15... Nh2!

Already there is no salvation for White.

If 16.d4 Nf3+! (also 16... Bxh3! 17.g3 Bxg3! Black wins; on 17.Nd2 Nf3+! 18.Nxf3 exf3 19.Qxf3 Bh2+! 20.Kh1 Bg4!, again winning for Black) 17.gxf3 Bh2+! wins for Black;

on if 16.d3 Nf3+ 17.gxf3 Bh2+ 18.Kxh2 Qxh3+ 19.Kg1 exf3, Black wins material;

if 16.Re1 then 16... Nf3+! 17.gxf3 (17.Kf1 Bxh3 18.Qxe4 Bxg2+! winning after 19.Kxg2 Nxe1+ 20.Qxe1 Qg4+ 21.Kf1 Qh3+ 22.Kg1 Rae8) 17...Qg5+! 18.Kh1 Qf4 19.Kg1 Qh2+ 20.Kf1 Bxh3#; and

if 16.g3 Qxh3 17.Qxe4 Bg4 is winning for Black. The game J. Saenz-D. Gonzalez Gandara, Azkotia 1991, concluded with 18.f4 Bc5+ 19.d4 Bxd4+ 20.Qxd4 Qxg3+ 21.Kh1 Nf3 0–1.

Conclusion: The games A. Rine-F. Berry, Bartlesville 2008 and J. Saenz-D. Gonzalez Gandara, Azkotia 1991 indicate that the first player is either short of or has a shallow preparation.

Anybody who wants to play the modern line should refrain from 11.Nc4? and instead prepare in depth the continuation 11.d4 exd3 12.Nxd3.

The Chess Connoisseur acknowledges and appreciates the various sources used in the preparation of this series.

(End of Part 2 of 3)
To be continued.

Something new, something old

2009-10-24T11:13:00.008+10:00

THIS is the first of a three-part series. Make that four if the previous post is included as an introduction.

The previous post was inspired by a couple of games in the Two Knights Defense, a highly interesting opening first mentioned (according to the German Handbuch) by the Italian author Polerio in 1590.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6

This move defines the Two Knights Defense. Steinitz described “this defense is in reality a counter-attack on Black's third move, which being so early instituted ought to be disadvantageous to the second player on principle.”

4.Ng5

Against the principle of not moving the same piece twice in the openings, the ‘violator’ must have a very good, if not excellent, preparation otherwise the game will again become an affirmation of that principle.

Siegbert Tarrasch called 4.Ng5 a "duffer's move" (ein richtiger Stümperzug) and Oscar Panov called it "primitive", but this attack on f7 practically wins a pawn by force. Despite Tarrasch's criticism, many players consider 4.Ng5 White's best chance for an advantage and it has been played by World Champions Wilhelm Steinitz, Bobby Fischer, and Garry Kasparov.
Max Lange’s 4.d4 will be a subject for future posts.

4... d5

The Chess Connoisseur maintains this is Black’s most reasonable reply.

5.exd5 Na5

Both 5...Nd4!? (Fritz,A) and 5...b5!? (Ulvestad,O) are interesting alternatives for Black. On the other hand the immediate recapture 5... Nxd5?! is dangerous for Black. White obtains the initiative after 6.d4! Likewise interesting is the sacrifice 6.Nxf7!?

Black's alternatives to 5...Na5, the Fritz Variation 5... Nd4, and Ulvestad's Variation 5... b5, are related as they share a common subvariation. American master Olav Ulvestad introduced 5... b5 in a 1941 article in Chess Review. German master Alexander Fritz (1857–1932) suggested 5... Nd4 to Carl Schlechter, who wrote about the idea in a 1904 issue of Deutsche Schachzeitung. In 1907 Fritz himself wrote an article about his move in the Swedish journal Tidskrift för Schack. White's best reply is 6.c3, when the game often continues 6...b5 7.Bf1 Nxd5 8.Ne4 or 8.h4.

The recapture 5... Nxd5?! is very risky. Pinkus tried to bolster this move with analysis in 1943 and 1944 issues of Chess Review, but White gets a strong attack with either the safe Lolli Variation 6.d4! or the sacrificial Fried Liver (or Fegatello) Attack 6.Nxf7!? Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Ke6 8.Nc3. These variations are usually considered too difficult for Black to defend over the board, but they are sometimes used in correspondence play.

6.Bb5+

After 5... Na5, Morphy would play to hold the gambit pawn with 6.d3. The Morphy Variation has not been popular, since it has long been known that Black obtains good chances for the pawn with 6...h6 7.Nf3 e4 8.Qe2 Nxc4 9.dxc4 Bc5. (Bronstein once tried the piece sacrifice 8.dxe4!? with success, but its soundness is doubtful.)

6… c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2

The move 8.Qf3?!, popular in the nineteenth century and revived by Bogoljubov in the twentieth, is still played occasionally, but Black obtains a strong attack after either 8... h6! or 8... Rb8.

8… h6

Diagram 1 - Position after 8… h6.

White has a choice of retreat for the knight between the squares f3 (modern preference) and h3 (old preference). Which of them is best?

The Chess Connoisseur acknowledges and appreciates the various sources used in the preparation of this series.

(End of Part 1 of 3)
To be continued.

Those who forget the past are destined to repeat it

2009-10-17T01:43:00.004+10:00

ONE problem with playing ‘book’ moves is it reveals one's depth of preparation or the lack of it.

A quote from George Santayana (or was it Edward Burke?) goes like this: “Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.” There are many variations to this quotation and like this one which similarly applies to chess: “Those who forget the past are destined to repeat it.”

This brings to mind a player’s failure to study openings and games of the masters of old that resulted to a painful loss due to ignorance.

During the 1970s and 1980s when the acknowledged chess bible was the semi-annually published Informator and when chess databases consisted of stacks of index cards or notebooks containing opening lines, it usually takes a month or two before any new opening move (novelty) is published in chess magazines or chess columns after it was played. While new moves or ideas become known to most and while some unsuspecting competitors—chess professionals included—fall prey to them when confronted, it was considered a grievous chess sin if one displays ignorance of old lines.

With the advent of computers a number of changes—mostly drastic and sweeping—chess databases are now in electronic form where the retrieval system is not only fast and efficient but much useful in preparing for a particular chess opening or specific opponent. Coupled with the advancement in communication technology, the Internet included, what was played in one part of the globe could be known by the rest of the world while the move or game is being played (‘live’ games) or just a few hours or minutes after the game. Top professionals monitor top level competitions as they happen to keep abreast with current trends.

The preparation of elite players are mimicked by budding players, particularly the monetary-endowed ones who can afford to purchase computers, chess books, chess software and other training stuffs. While there is nothing wrong in finding one’s self in this fortunate situation, the horrible thing is to see some players in this level boast about their relative ‘superiority’ over their less fortunate victims, or curse under their breath when beaten (‘upset’ is the kindest word commonly used) by apparently ‘inferior’ opponents. In the first instance, the well equipped player already has an undue advantage in that the playing field is not level. In the latter instance, the second player is either the more talented or ‘more prepared’ in coming up with an old (or even antique) move which the first player has not studied at all because his attention is always on what is current or fashionable.

Having modern chess tools at one’s disposal is not enough to propel one at the top. Talent alone, however, to the neglect of available training materials and stuffs could carry one up to a certain level only. To become really successful at the higher level it would be ideal to combine both talent and tools. (Those who do not fall into this category of players play chess for fun, for social reasons or simply for the love of it.)

It is not enough to learn modern chess opening theories one has to know the theories of old as well. It pays to know ‘old’ or ‘antique’ moves or variations (past) in order to avoid surprises over the board; surprises that could lead to a painful defeat specially losing a game like a patzer.

We will feature illustrative examples in our next post to illustrate the points raised here.
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Ray Robson, USA’s youngest grandmaster ever!

2009-10-13T08:29:00.009+10:00

Ray Robson (Photo: wikipedia.org)

NO sooner than we made our prediction from the introductory statement of the last post that Ray Robson will obtain the grandmaster title did the breaking news come out that he has already done so by winning the Pan American Junior championship and became the youngest US grandmaster ever.

In so doing The Chess Connoisseur got both prediction and distinction correct but not the timeframe (‘before this year is over’). With the title, still to be confirmed by FIDE which is just a matter of procedure and formality, Robson (born October 25, 1994) beat by four days the record set by Fabiano Caruana two years ago.

Like a house on fire, Ray was in such a hurry that he beat his first seven opponents before allowing a draw in a superior position to secure the grandmaster norm and the title, on his way to winning the tournament with one round to go. For topping the event, he automatically earned a GM norm—his third, and accordingly the GM title since his rating is already above the 2500 minimum.

Although it was a relatively weak event with only one GM (Andre Diamant of Brazil, who he defeated the second time in less than 3 weeks; the first was at the SPICE Cup B in late September), it's apparently the case that winning the tournament confers an automatic GM norm on the victor.

Robson’s next assignment, his first as a grandmaster, will be the World Chess Cup to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk in November 2009. His acquiring the grandmaster title provides justice and adds credence to his nomination by the FIDE President to this event.

News of Robson’s recent feat may be found from here:

Breaking News! Robson is the newest American GM!
Ray Robson is the newest American GM!

Highlights of Ray Robson’s chess career:

• Pan American Youth Chess Championship in Brazil, tied for first; awarded the FIDE Master (FM) title in June 2005
• Earned the USCF National Master (NM) title in January 2006 by raising his chess rating above 2200 (the minimum required for the title of National Master).
• Earned the three norms needed for the IM title in only six weeks: the first at the 6th North American FIDE Invitational on November 3, 2007, in Chicago, Illinois
• Earned second IM norm on November 27 at the World Youth Chess Championship in Antalya, Turkey
• Earned third and final IM norm on December 10, 2008 at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) GM Invitational in Dallas, Texas, making him the youngest IM-elect in the United States.
• Tied for first place in the 2008 Florida championship.
• Won the U.S. Junior Chess Championship, becoming one of the youngest such champions ever on July 16, 2009.
• Tied for first at the Arctic Chess Challenge in Tromso, Norway in August of 2009 garnering his first GM norm in the process.
• Went on that same month to earn his second GM norm by winning the 23rd North American FIDE Invitational in Skokie, Illinois.
• Won the Pan American Youth Chess Championship in Uruguay, October 2009; earned his third and final GM norm and thus GM title .

Watch out, Ray Robson! This Utah boy got game!

2009-10-09T01:44:00.016+10:00

THE Chess Connoisseur predicts that IM Ray Robson would obtain his third and final grandmaster norm before this year is over and become USA’s youngest grandmaster ever. Robson, 14 years old, missed the target by a mere half-point in the 2009 SPICE Cup B tournament held recently at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas.

But don’t look now! It may not take long before Ray gets competition from a Utah kid three years his junior.

Look at these accomplishments:

• Gold Medal Winner North America Youth Championship 2009
• Member of the 1st Place 2009 Utah Championship Team
• 2009 Utah State Quick Chess Champion
• 2009 Utah State Bughouse Champion with partner DamianNash
• 2009 Utah State Chess 960 Champion
• June 2009 Top in the Nation for 10 year olds and Quick Under 13
• 2009 Utah State 5th Grade Elementary Champion
• 2009 Utah State G60 Chess Champion
• Invited as one of 8 youth in the nation to attend the US Chess School to be held in NY in July
• 2009 Utah State Speed Chess Champion (never won by a scholastic K-12 player before)
• 2007 to Present - Teaching Assistant TNT Chess Camp run by the Troff and Treiman Families Top 20 in the Nation for the 2008 Junior Grand Prix
• 2008 Junior Grand Prix Utah Champion December
• 2008 - 2nd Place in the 5th Grade National K-12 tournament in Orlando, Florida
• March 2008 - K-6 Utah State Elementary Blitz Champion
• March 2008 - Utah State 4th Grade Elementary Champion
• 2008 National All American Chess Team
• July 2007 - 1st Place Utah Class B USCF Tournament
• March 2007 - Utah State 3rd Grade Elementary Champion
• 2006-2007 Utah Scholastic Grand Prix Champion (5 tournaments throughout Utah with a perfect 25-0 score)
• March 2006 - Utah State 2nd Grade Elementary Champion
• February 4, 2006 - Won his first USCF rated tournament (first time tournament was ever won by a 2nd Grader)
• 2005-2006 Helped instruct Elk Ridge Middle School Chess Team
• March 2005 - Utah State Elementary First Grade Champion

Remember this name: Kayden William Troff from West Jordan, Utah.

Kayden Troff (Photo: Kayden Troff's album at photobucket.com)

Kayden (born 1998) is acknowledged as a chess prodigy – Utah’s own “Mozart of Chess” — because of his numerous extraordinary chess accomplishments at a very young age.

He is the reigning North American Youth Champion under age 12, winning the Gold Medal in Mazatlan, Mexico as a representative of the USA. At the same event—Kayden’s first international competition—where he won the medal he became a Candidate Master. At eleven he is also the highest rated chess tournament player in the State of Utah. He is the current Utah state champion for all ages of several time controls and chess variants: Game in one hour, Game in 15 minutes (quick chess), Game in 5 minutes (speed chess), Chess960 (Fischer random chess) and Bughouse Chess (partner chess).

In Mazatlan, Kayden and nine other American youth were selected to compete for the USA. The team came away with four gold medals and two bronze medals. By virtue of winning this event, Kayden has earned a right to represent the USA and compete for the gold in the Pan American Youth Championships in Brazil in 2010. Additionally, it is expected that he will be named to represent the USA in the 2010 World Youth Championships in Greece.

Kayden’s current ratings are: FIDE rating 2174, USCF rating = 2186, USCF quick rating = 2180 (#1 in the USA for under age 13) (June and August 2009)

After making it to number one in the nation on the 10 year old list, Kayden turned 11 and moved to number 3 for all 11 year olds. However, he remains number one on the Quick Under 13 list once again!

Kayden is now officially the highest rated active player in the state of Utah on both his standard and quick rating.

Here is an interesting game played by Kayden at the Utah Expert series #2:

Kayden Troff's opponent in this game, Tony Chen, age 15, has been in the top 50 in his age group since he started playing tournaments many years ago.

Tony Chen – Kayden Troff
Expert Series #2, 28.03.2009 Queen’s Pawn [D00]

1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f3 c5 4.e4 e6 5.Be3 cxd4 6.Qxd4 Nc6 7.Bb5 Bd7 8.Bxc6

After 8.Qd2 a6 9.exd5 axb5 10.dxc6 Bxc6 11.Qxd8+ Rxd8, Black is slightly better.

8... bxc6 9.exd5 exd5 10.0–0–0 Be7 11.Bg5 0–0 12.h4?!

On 12.Nge2 Re8, Black has the advantage.

12...Re8 13.g4

If 13.Qd2, then 13... Qb6 is advantageous for Black.

13... c5 14.Qf4?

Better is 14.Qd2 d4 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Ne4, but Black still has a clear, if not winning, advantage (development, two bishops, active pieces and control of open files).

14...d4 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Ne4 Be5 17.Qd2 Qb8!?

This move shows the boy has talent although still raw. Better was 17...Qb6!?, with the same idea without bottling up his a8-rook.

18.Ne2 d3?!

Eager beaver. Still not too late and better was 18... Qb6, with a winning game for Black.

19.cxd3 Bb5 20.f4?

20.Qc2!? may be tried. (See diagram)

20...Bxd3! 21.N4c3 Bxe2 22.Nxe2 Bxb2+!

Identical would be 22… Qxb2+ 23.Qxb2 Bxb2+ 24.Kxb2 Rxe2+.

23.Qxb2 Qxb2+ 24.Kxb2 Rxe2+ 25.Ka1 Re4!

Kayden’s endgame technique, although still needs polishing, is sound. He brought home the point without much difficulty.

26.Rhf1 Rc8 27.Rd7 a5 28.Kb2 c4 29.Kc3 Re3+ 30.Kd2 Rh3 31.Rc1? h6 32.a4 c3+ 33.Ke2 Rc4!

A very efficient finish.

34.Rd3 Re4+ 0–1

Photo from Kayden Troff blogsite

Read more stories about Kayden and his chess exploits from the following:

Sydney International Open is alive!

2009-10-07T02:03:00.010+10:00

Brian Jones, SIO organizer (Photo: The Chess Connoisseur)

THE adage 'you can't put a good man down' and its paraphrase 'you can't shut a good chess tournament off' aptly describe both international organizer FM Brian Jones and the Sydney International Open.

After 3 successful annual staging the 2010 edition was on the verge of death caused by the withdrawal of its main sponsor just after this year's international tournament.

It was then that Jones made an appeal for contributions from generous chess-loving individuals and groups through the Australian Chess Federation and Australasian Chess magazine. Neighboring New Zealand Chess Federation joined in soliciting contributions to save the annual international event.

Jones, the experienced organizer that he is, minced no words in stating the minimum amount required to be raised that if not met on a specified date would mean the cancellation of the event.

The response of the chess community was fantastic! The 2010 Sydney international events have been saved according to this press release from Jones.

"Entries are invited for the 2010 Sydney International Open and Challengers Chess Tournaments, to be held 7-11 April 2010.

The organisers have received financial support from a variety of sources and the principal sponsor for 2010 is GM Murray Chandler.

The venue is again the historic Parramatta Town Hall in Western Sydney and free hotel accommodation (twin share room) is offered to International Chess Grandmasters.

There are two nine-round FIDE-rated swiss tournaments, the Sydney International Open (SIO) and the Sydney International Challengers (SIC).

Cash prizes exceed A$16,000 and visas can be arranged on request for overseas players (please provide passport details).

More information is available here.

For those players that want even more chess, the Doeberl Cup will be held in Canberra from 1-5 April 2010. See http://www.doeberlcup.com.au/. Transport from Canberra to Sydney on Tuesday 6 April 2010 will be provided free of charge for all overseas players.

We look forward to welcoming all players to Sydney and to Australia."

SIO's organizer Brian Jones contact information are as follows:

Brian Jones
Australian Chess Enterprises
1 Garfield Road East
Riverstone NSW 2765 Australia
Tel: 61-2-9838-1529
Fax: 61-2-9838-1614
Email: info@chessaustralia.com.au
Web: http://www.chessaustralia.com.au

Previous SI Open winners are: 2009 - GM Darryl Johansen, Australia; 2008 - GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, India; and 2007 - GM Georgy Timoshenko, Ukraine.

The SI Challengers was introduced only last year and had won so far by Australians Colin Savige (2009) and David Lovejoy (2008).

The main sponsors are: Gold - GM Murray Chandler, NSW Chess Association; Silver - Castle Hill RSL Club, Charles Zworestine; Bronze - Phil & Louise Fernandez, Roland Brockman, Shaun Press, William Gletsos, Parramatta RSL Club, North Rocks Medical Practice; others - Scott Colliver, John Kable, Jonathan Adams, Dr Tony Dowden, George Lester, Lawrence Bretag, Elliott Renzies, Blayney Chess Club, Dr Vladimir Smirnov, Arthur Huynh, and Hamish Selnes.
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Twin chess problems

2009-10-06T21:36:00.006+10:00

WHEN two problems are nearly identical in their setting, but have some slight difference that changes the solution, they are termed twins. The difference may be in the location of a single man...Twin problems sometimes may be formed by a change in the entire location of the men, without any change in the men themselves or in their relation to each other. (Classic Chess Problems by Pioneer Composers by Kenneth S. Howard, 1970, 114 pages)

Twin - two or more problems which are slight variations on each other, composed by the same person. The variation is usually brought about by adding, removing or moving a piece in the initial setup. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_problem_terminology#T)

Twin problems — two (or more) separate but closely related positions — offer tantalizing challenges to composer and solver alike. Sometimes the two positions are identical except that one is shifted up, down, left, or right; often a single piece is relocated. The solutions, of course, though often thematically related, are always different. (Outrageous Chess Problems by Burt Hochberg, 2005, 128 pages)

The following twins were composed by Joselito Marcos from the Philippines. Marcos, a resident of Papua New Guinea since early 1996, is a member of PNG chess federation and has represented PNG in the 2009 Oceania zonal chess championship held in Gold Coast, Australia. He is a member of the PNG team to the 35th chess Olympiad held in Bled, Slovenia in 2002. He has won undefeated the last PNG chess championship in 2003.

White mates in 4
(A) Diagram
(B) Move the black pawn at d7 to b7

Drag your mouse to view the solutions from here Solution (A): 1.Ba7! h4 2.Rb1 h3 3.Rb6! (forming a battery) Kd4 4.Rb4#; Solution (B): 1.Bb6! h4 2.Re1 h3 3.Re6! (a battery is formed only after Black's next move)Nxb6 4.Re4# to here.

GM Gawain Jones wins Kiwi Masters

2009-10-05T05:38:00.001+10:00

THE George Trundle NZ Masters tournament held at the Auckland Chess Centre in Auckland, New Zealand from Saturday September 26 to Sunday October 4, ended with yet another triumph for England grandmaster Gawain Jones who tallied 7½ points in the 10-player closed event.

It may be recalled that GM Jones, England’s number 6 from the September FIDE rating list, wiped out the opposition at the 32nd Waitakere Licensing Trust Open over the Queen's Birthday weekend (June 6-7). New Zealand is becoming to be a good chess honors hunting ground for Gawain.

Incidentally his girlfriend, Sue Maroroa, is one of Kiwi country's top female players who recently obtained her WIM title from the 2009 Oceania zonal chess championship held in Gold Coast, Australia in late June.

Equal second with six points each are Austalia’s GM Darryl Johansen and IM Stephen Solomon.

Fourth and best New Zealander is event organizer Mike Steadman with 5 points. He inflicted the winner’s lone loss in the second round on the very day New Zealand’s 2009 daylight saving time began. Mike, one among most active Kiwi players and organizers, obtained his FIDE master title from the 2009 Oceania zonal.

Photo shows New Zealand Masters winner GM Gawain Jones receiving his prize from organizer FM Mike Steadman. (Photo: New Zealand Chess)

Steadman, Mike (2252) - Jones, Gawain (2553)
George Trundle NZ Masters 2009 (2), 2009.09.27"
E70 – King’s Indian Defense

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Nge2 Nd7 7. Be3 e5 8. d5 Nd4 9. Nb5 Nxb5 10. cxb5 O-O 11. Ng3 h5 12. Qc2 b6 13. f3 h4 14. Ne2 Nc5 15.Bc4 f5 16. b4 Nd7 17. Bd3 Rf7 18. Rc1 Nf8 19. Qc6 Rb8 20. h3 Bf6 21. Qc2 Bg5 22. Qd2 Nh7 23. a4 Ra8 24. a5 Bd7 25. Nc3 Qf6 26. Ra1 Bf4 27. Bxf4 exf4 28. Rc1 Re8 29. Kd1 bxa5 30. bxa5 Qd4 31. Ra1 Ng5 32. Ra4 Qe5 33. exf5 Bxf5 34. Rxf4 Bxd3 35. Rxf7 Kxf7 36. Qxd3 Qf4 37. Qd2 Qb4 38. Kc2 Nh7 39. Ra1 Nf6 40. Ra4 Qc5 41. Rxh4 Re5 42. Rd4 Qa3 43. f4 Re7 44. Ra4 Qc5 45. Kb2 Qg1 46. Rc4 Qf1 47. Kb3 Qa1 48. a6 Qf1 49. Qd4 Qa1 50. g4 Nd7 51. Rxc7 Nc5+ 52. Rxc5 dxc5 53. Qxc5 Qh1 54. d6 Re1 55. Qxa7+ Kf8 56. Qb8+ Kf7 57. Qc7+ Kf8 58. a7 Re3 59. Qb8+ Kg7 60.a8=Q Qb1+ 61. Kc4 Qd3+ 62. Kc5 Qxc3+ 63. Kb6 Qd4+ 64. Kc7 Qc4+ 65. Qc6 Qxf4 66.Qd7+ Kh6 67. Qh8+ 1-0.

Games of the combined event may be downloaded from here.

A collage of photographs from the event taken and placed in the public domain by Simon Lyall may be found here, here and here.
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Daniel Shen, 14, wins 2009 George Trundle Qualifier

2009-10-05T05:32:00.003+10:00

Daniel Shen, smiling winner of Trundle Qualifier (Photo: New Zealand Chess)

THE 2009 George Trundle Qualifier, a 10-player all-play-all tournament, held side-by-side with the 2009 New Zealand Masters, was won by 14-year old Daniel Shen with 6½ points from 9 games. Shen spearheaded Auckland Grammar team as Secondary Champions in the National Interschool Finals held at Palmerston North just before the Qualifier. Shen will see action in the New Zealand Masters next edition.

In solo second place is 51-year old Bruce Wheeler, just one-half point behind the winner. Bruce could have altered the final picture if not for an upset lost to Edward Tanoi in round 3 in the event’s shortest game.

Veteran player and organizer Bennett Hilton, 54 years old, scored 5.5 points to win third place honor. Hilton is the only undefeated player in the event.

WFM Helen Milligan, 47, formerly of Scotland, won his last round game with black against Bob Gibbons that secured for her a fourth-place finish. Milligan is the webmaster of New Zealand Chess website.

Here is the score of the tournament's winner-defining game between Wheeler and Tanoi.

Wheeler, Bruce (2077)—Tanoi, Edward (1967)
George Trundle Qualifier 2009(3), 2009.09.28
C47-Four Knights Opening

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3?! Bc5 5. Nxe5?? (Almost a reflex reaction. With a black bishop at c5 and a knight at c6 White’s knight pseudo-sacrifice followed by the pawn push to d4 was ‘standard play’. The problem was it doesn’t work in conjunction with 4.g3) Nxe5 6. d4 Bxd4! 0-1 (White resigned, realizing that he cannot recapture with 7.Qxd4 because of 7…Nf3+, winning White’s queen. Not possible if only the g-pawn was still in its original square!)

Games of the combined event may be downloaded from here.

A collage of photographs from the event taken and placed in the public domain by Simon Lyall may be found here, here and here.
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George Trundle and Auckland Chess Centre sponsor 2009 Kiwi Masters

2009-10-05T05:30:00.001+10:00

George Trundle accepts his award on 8th February 2008 at the clubrooms of the Auckland Chess Centre. Presenting the award is NZCF President Paul Spiller. (Photo: New Zealand Chess)

THIS year’s New Zealand Masters tournament took place from Saturday September 26 to Sunday October 4 in Auckland, New Zealand.

The event was sponsored by Auckland Chess Centre and avid local chess enthusiast George Trundle.

George Trundle, 91 years old, a lifelong chess enthusiast has generously supported a number of New Zealand chess events in recent years. In particular his annual Trundle Masters provide invaluable title norm opportunities for New Zealand players. In 2008 the New Zealand Chess Federation introduced the concept of "President's Awards" for outstanding services to chess and the first award was fittingly made for George Trundle.

The Auckland Chess Centre was first incorporated in 1871. The centre’s clubrooms are situated at 17 Cromwell Street, Mt. Eden, Auckland.

The Auckland Chess Centre meets weekly on Monday and Friday nights. It runs a series of competitions throughout the year. The center participates in interclub chess tournaments between other Auckland chess clubs and host major tournaments.

Get more information about the Auckland Chess Centre here, and its history here.
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Shirov fire on Gold Coast boards; Ketsana rain in Manila castles

2009-10-03T07:45:00.014+10:00

WHILE tropical storm Ketsana was wreaking havoc over the weekends in Metro Manila, Philippines, a figurative wildfire was ablaze in the Land Down Under—at the Surfers Paradise in Gold Coast, Australia—when Spanish super grandmaster Alexei Shirov, one of the world’s elite players, took on 26 opponents in a simultaneous exhibition at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre on Sunday, 27th September.

Ketsana, locally named Ondoy in Manila, poured a heavy volume of rain the country has never seen before to unsuspecting population in the metropolis and nearby cities and municipalities. Nearly a month's worth of rain fell in just six hours Saturday, triggering the worst flooding in the Philippine capital in 42 years, which stranded thousands on rooftops in the city and elsewhere.

Destruction to houses and properties and death tolls were colossal in magnitude. The raging flood caught by surprise both the unwary local and national governments. A selection of photographs from the affected areas over the past week can be viewed here.

Surfers Paradise triple chess events

The Shirov simultaneous exhibition is part of the Surfers Paradise triple chess events held at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre and organized by Amir Karibasic who is fond of novelty events. Here’s a description of the events from the tournament chief arbiter, Charles Zworestine:

"For the 2008 event, Super GM Alexei Shirov judged the brilliancy prize: a nice feature of the event, which understandably proved very popular. But this time, both Amir and Alexei did substantially better: Alexei showed up in person! Yes, he made the long trip to Australia (his second visit, after the 2000 Olympics in Sydney where he played an exhibition game against Vishy Anand) to give a talk on the Saturday night and a simul on the Sunday afternoon.

Shirov played against 26 “brave souls” (in Dr. Zworestine’s words) from across Australia including youngsters, adults and seniors such as Gold Coast organizer Graeme Gardiner who was seen playing for the first time by most Aussie chess players and parents. It was originally planned for Shirov to play against 25 players but Amir decided to use the opportunity to play the super grandmaster who willingly accommodated him as the 26th entry.

Here is the list of the participants to GM Shirov’s simultaneous display:

Wildfire on chess boards

The spectators were all amazed to witness one of the world’s chess elite players aggressively attacked on practically all boards. The kibitzers and the challengers realized why Shirov's play is described as 'fire on board' which bear the title of the two volumes of his best games. No wonder after almost three hours of play all challengers went down in defeat save for one! The last man standing (‘last kid sitting’ is literally more apt) was 11-year old Daniel Lapitan who offered the grandmaster a draw after his 28th move of their Sicilian Sveshnikov encounter.

"I drew with the Super Grandmaster!"	Daniel Lapitan's Score Sheet

As a matter of protocol a draw offer should come from the exhibition player but here Shirov did not mind consenting to a draw because as he told the crowd after their game Daniel, playing black, ‘has a better position’.

Shirov gave Daniel his new book entitled “Fire on Board Part II”, along with an autographed chess board. This was the second time Daniel finished in a draw with a Grandmaster in a simultaneous chess game. He was only eight years old on the first occasion when he finished in a draw with Grandmaster Dejan Antic from Serbia/Montenegro.

Another junior player, Amin Fazel also came close to getting a draw as Shirov, who admitted afterwards, thought about offering a draw in their game. Amin played for a win but lost in the end, as it was the super GM who better handled the pinning tactics…

Here is the score of the Lapitan (Black) game:

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 Bg7 11.Bd3 O-O 12.c3 Re8 13.Nc2 f5 14.Qh5 f4 15.g3 Ne7 16.Ncb4 Bb7 17.gxf4 Nxd5 18.exd5 e4 19.Be2 Qf6 20.Rg1 Rf8 21.Rg4 Kh8 22.O-O-O Qh6 23.Qxh6 Bxh6 24.Nc2 Rae8 25.Ne3 f5 26.Rh4 Bg7 27.Rg1 Bc8 28.Kd2 h6 1/2-1/2

Eight of the 26 games were streamed live on the internet via Monroi and can be replayed from here.

Shirov lecture on Saturday night

Besides the simultaneous display Shirov also gave a lecture the night before on Saturday. He first showed one of his games as Black in the complicated Dragon variation of the Sicilian Defense. He used it to demonstrate how top players prepare for a game, trying to find favorable transpositions to improve on the standard positions arising from the opening. Then he showed something completely different: how he thought at the board in a game where his position was not good, and managed to win the game.

Chess Results

Here are the results of the main tournaments:
The tournament arbiter's description of the main tournament follows:

"Amir’s 3 tournaments: the 6 round Open and Under 1600 events on both days, and the 6 round ‘fun tournament’ on the Sunday. While not quite as strong as last year, the Open event still featured our latest GM, David Smerdon, as top seed; an IM, fourth seeded Leonid Sandler; a WIM, fifth seed Anastasia Sorokina; and two FMs, second seed Vlad Smirnov and young Gene Nakauchi. Add to this a former Australian Junior Champion, third seed Moulthun Ly, and we knew we're in for a fun event!"

Open Prizes: = 1st Moulthun Ly, Phachara Wongwichit, David Smerdon 5/6; = 4th Leonid Sandler, Jonas Muller, George Lester (the latter two = 1st Under 2000) 4.5/6; = 5th (and all = 3rd Under 2000 except the first two) Vladimir Smirnov, Ben Lazarus, Yi Liu, Brodie McClymont, Ian Rout, Ryan Stevens, Justin Tan, Bruce Williams 4/6.

Under 1600 Prizes: 1st Joerg Hackenschmidt-Uecker 5.5/6; = 2nd Doug Williams, Alex O’Flynn 5/6; 4th Craig Stewart 4.5/6; = 5th Axel Stahnke, Mark Cervenjak 4/6; = 1st Under 1200 Joe Delmastro, Kees Huband-Lint 4/6.

Under 1000 (Fun Section) Prizes: 1st Curtis Jack 5.5/6; = 2nd Jake Pyper, Andrew Peck 4.5/6; = Best Junior (latter two also = Best Female) Alex Jack, Melanie Karibasic, Shelley Xing 4/6.

Uzbek GM Filippov snares PGMA Cup in Manila

2009-10-01T22:56:00.009+10:00

GM Anton Filippov of Uzbekistan emerged as the champion in the fourth President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup international chess championship which came to a fitting end at the Duty Free Fiesta Mall in Paranaque City.

(The event which took place from September 24 to 30 was suspended for a day after 4 rounds of play because of flooding in Metro Manila caused by tropical storm Katsena, locally named Ondoy. As a result a number of players lost by way of forfeit.

The devastating effect of tropical storm Katsena in the Philippines and Vietnam can be seen here. -TCC)

Filippov, seeded third with an ELO of 2595, subdued IM Richard Bitoon of the Philippines in the eighth and penultimate round late Tuesday and drew with top seed GM Mikhail Mchedlishvili of Georgia in the final round to finish with a nine-round aggregate of 6.5 points on four wins and five draws.

Four other players – GMs Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam, Ehsan Ghaemmaghami of Iran, Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia and Gopal Nayanan of India – also finished with similar scores of 6.5 points but lost the title to Filippov in the tiebreak.

Truong Son, who held the solo lead after the seventh round, settled for back-to-back draws with Mchedlishvili and Gagunashvili in the eighth and ninth rounds.

Ghaemmaghami, the lone Iranian player in the field, made the biggest jump when he defeated GM John Paul Gomez of the Philippines in the eighth round and GM Tigran Kotanjian of Armenia in the ninth round to finish in a tie for first place.

Gagunashvili beat GM Meng Kong Wong of Singapore and halved the point with Nguyen, while Nayanan drew with Kotanjian in the eighth round and trounced GM Darwin Laylo of the Philippines in the final round.

The five players, however, earned US$4,000 each out of the total prize fund of US$40,000 in the tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and supported by the Department of Tourism, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, PAGCOR, Duty Free, Local Water Utilities Administration and Crown Regency Hotel.

NCFP president Prospero “Butch” Pichay awarded the trophies and cash prizes, assisted by NCFP executive/events director Willie Abalos and chief arbiter Toti Abundo.

Mchedlishvili, the highest-rated player here with an ELO of 2613, finished in sixth place with six points in a tie with GMs Rogelio Antonio, Jr. and Oliver Dimakiling.

Antonio, one of three players who will represent the country in the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia next month, drew with GM Anuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan in the eighth round and then nipped compatriot GM-elect Ronald Dableo in the final round.

Dimakiling drew with Dableo in the eighth round and won over No. 16 Pyotr Kostenko of Kazakhstan in the final round to join Antonio as the highest-placed Filipino players.

Mchedlishvili, Antonio and Dimakiling pocketed US$1,333 each.

Nine other players, led by Filipino GMs Jayson Gonzales, Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor and Gomez and IM Richard Bitoon, finished in ninth to 17th places with 5.5 points. They received US$933.

Also in the group are Kotanjian, Ismagambetov, GM Das Neelotpal of India and Emmanuel Senador.

A big letdown was Bitoon, who managed only half point in the last two rounds. After the loss to Filippov, he drew with Senador in the final round.

Laylo, the reigning Asian Zone 3.3 champion, and Dableo, the country’s newest GM, led four other players with five points.

(Dableo was joint leader with GM Wong Meng Kong after 4 rounds but forfeited their 5th round match for having arrived late due to transport problem caused by typhon Ondoy. -TCC)

Defending champion, GM Eugene Torre, who won the title in a three-way tie last year, withdrew after the seventh round.

The 11th-seeded Filipino GM finished with only 2.5 points on five draws and two losses to No. 28 seed David Elorta in the sixth round and No. 36 FM Haridas Pascua in the seventh round. –By: Ed Andaya

Source: http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php?issue=2009-10-01&sec=7&aid=104066
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Curtain’s down in 2009 SPICE Cup

2009-09-30T21:14:00.017+10:00

THE most popular chess tournament in the USA over the past two weeks—the 2009 SPICE Cup—has ended with resounding success.

For the first time in its three staging, the SPICE Cup organizers decided to have a second group of 10 participants with title norms are stake. True to expectations it turned to be an exciting one which almost eclipsed the Category 16 first group consisting of very strong juniors and last year’s champion.

The tournament, dubbed as a chess festival, culminated with a traditional farewell party and blitz tournament in the home of organizer Susan Polgar.

Two titles in SPICE Cup B

IM Ben Finegold achieved his third and final GM norm in the penultimate round while FM Daniel Rensch got his long overdue international master title with a draw in the last round against IM Ray Robson, himself seeking his 3rd and final GM norm to become the youngest ever American grandmaster.

Finegold, who led the B-tournament throughout, could have been the outright winner with a draw in the last round against Eugene Perelhsteyn. The euphoria of completing his title quest, however, caused him to lower his guard and enabled Perelhsteyn and GM Vinay Bhat to catch up with him.

A three-way tie resulted among Perelhsteyn, Bhat and Finegold, all of USA. Officially Perelhsteyn is declared tournament winner for obtaining the highest tiebreak score among them.

IM Ray Robson's failure to win his last round game halted him temporarily from achieving his aim of becoming America's youngest grandmaster ever. A win could have achieved for him not only that distinction but also a piece of the tournament top honors via a 4-way tie. As fate would have it, that was not to be. No, not yet! Robson can still achieve the honor from one of his next tournaments before the year is over.

The excitement generated by the fighting spirit displayed by the protagonists in the B group ensures that it will become a permanent fixture of SPICE Cup tournaments in the years to come.

Kuzubov wins blitz playoff, takes SPICE Cup A title

A three-way tie for first resulted in the SPICE Cup A-group among Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukraine), Dmitry Andreikin (Russia) and Rauf Mamedov (Azerbaijan), with 5.5 points apiece. Another three-way tie for last place ar0se among Jon Ludvig Hammer (Norway), Wesley So (Philippines) and Varuzhan Akobian (USA), each with 4.5 points. These results were an indicator of the equality in relative playing strength of the competitors.

The top three in Group A—Kuzubov, Andreikin and Mamedov—all scored plus one undefeated while the remaining three with minus one. Wesley lost one game against Hammer in round 2 and drew 9 games. Akobian got his only win from Hammer in the penultimate round against 2 losses. Hammer has the most number of wins with 2 and, consequently, with most number of losses 3.

The double round robin blitz playoff that ensued in determining the tournament winner provided some exciting moments in the otherwise ‘lackluster’ closed event in terms of sporting results (decisive games total of 20% only). Actually the playoff was not a double-round robin but rather a single round robin of two-game mini-matches.

The first round witnessed Kuzubov split his mini-match with Mamedov, 1-1. Andreikin trounced Mamedov in the second round, 1.5-0.5.

Standings going to the third and final round: Andreikin, 1.5 out 2; Mamedov, 1.5/4; and Kuzubov, 1/2.

The third and final round between Kuzubov and Andreikin started with a draw in the first game. Andreikin still leading with 2/3 and Kuzubov 1.5/3. The stage was set for a very exciting second and final game between the two. Andreikin needed only a draw to bag the title and the trophy. .

The final game saw Kuzubov edged out Andreikin who contrived to lose the endgame despite being both exchange up (rook against bishop) and one minute ahead on the clock! In fact Dmitry was the one who even lost on time!

The diagram shows the position after Kuzubov’s (White) 30th move. Andreikin erred with 30… Rb8??(30… Kf8 would lead to a draw with precise play and the SPICE Cup would be his).

White concluded the game adroitly with 31.Kf3 Kf8(One move too late!)32.Ke4 Ke7 33.Kd5 Rd8 34.Kc5 Rb8 35.a4 Rd8 36.h4 f6 37.Bf3 Kd7 38.Kb6 Kd6 39.Be4 Re8 40.Bf3 Rd8 41.h5 gxh5 42.Bxh5 Rf8 43.Bg4 Rb8 44.Bf5 h5 45.f3 h4 46.Bg4!(Zugzwang) Rxb7 47.Kxb7 Kc5 48.Kc7 Kb4 1-0

Despite the high drawing percentage (the most prevalent result in closed events among players of relatively equal strength) most of the games were well fought out.

The Philippines number one player Wesley So, second seed in the event, failed to win a game to the disappointment of his many followers. The number of hits in Susan Polgar's blog showed his games and results were the most sought after by internet users.
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Press tops Solomon Islands international chess

2009-09-29T09:37:00.013+10:00

THE first ever international chess event in Solomon Islands’ soil took place in Honiara from September 24-28 and wound up a resounding success.

The visiting Australian players lived up to their billing as favorites by occupying the upper half of the cross table of the 9-round closed competition. However, this did not come easy as the Aussies encountered stiff opposition from the spirited Islanders. Their surge came only in second half of the 5-day tournament.

Initially ranked 3rd, Shaun Press emerged as the clear winner of the first Solomon Islands international chess championship. Press, a mainstay of the Papua New Guinea team to 4 consecutive Olympiads since 2000, registered an unblemished record of 7.5 points from 6 wins and 3 draws. With steady and cautious strategy he grabbed the lead in round 7 and never relinquished it.

Press is concurrently the secretary of both the PNG chess federation and the Oceania zone. He maintains a blog known as ChessExpress where he posted daily highlights since day one of the chess event .

FIDE Master Brian Jones, editor and publisher of Australasian Chess magazine, was also undefeated and finished solo second with 7 points from 5 wins and 4 draws. Brian is renowned as slow-starter but with a strong finishing kick—a character he showed again in this event.

Tied for 3-5 places, all tallying 6 points apiece from identical 5 wins-2 draws-2 losses counts, are FIDE Master Lee Jones, Fernando Aguilar and Kerry Stead.

Brandon Tangaibasa is all alone in sixth place with 5 points scored from as many number of wins matched with 4 losses.

The lower half of the cross table were occupied by Scarden Tesua with 2.5 points, Price Tepuke and Takika Tuata with 2 points apiece, and Budds Maruia with 1 point.

Local chess officials were very pleased with the performance of their local players especially their most experienced representative, Aguilar, who led all scorers with a perfect score of 5 points at the halfway mark after 3 days of play.

Aguilar, however, tired out in the second half of the event. His winning streak came to a halt when he was held to a draw by FM Brian Jones, which enabled Press to catch up and shared the lead with him after 6 rounds. He finally capitulated the lead to Press when he suffered a heart-breaking loss to compatriot Tangaibasa in round 7.

His woes were compounded by a second consecutive drubbing from the resurging Lee Jones. He ended the event with a mutual draw with Press in the last round. Still Aguilar’s performance can be described as superlative for having held his own against the visiting Australians by scoring 50% initiated by his win against Kerry Stead in the first round.

Tangaibasa could have caught up with the triumvirate of Lee Jones, Aguilar and Stead. However, instead of a win he suffered an unfortunate loss in the last round inflicted by compatriot Tepuke, demonstrating the fighting form and spirit of the Islanders. He is the only national, aside from Aguilar, who has scored a win against the overseas guests when he defeated Lee Jones in round 5.

Aside from the experience of an international competition on local soil all the resident participants will obtain FIDE ratings -the main objective of this event which was concocted by Oceania zone president IA Gary Bekker and organized by the Solomon Islands Chess Federation. The next FIDE Rating List comes out on November 1.

A benchmark has been set by this event which the chess federation will use as standard in preparing for and participating in future international competitions.
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Odette Alcantara—a friend of chess and of earth—left legacy

2009-09-27T13:45:00.006+10:00

Photo by Ramon Flores

ODETTE Alcantara, environment activist, writer, artist, friend of chess, and of the earth.

She breathed her last on Monday, September 21, after suffering from an aneurysm at the age of 68.

She collapsed on Sunday, September 20, after a luncheon with her sons and grandchildren Ara, Ika, Miguelito, Tish-tish, Nicolie, Super-love, Bambino, Bola, Tam-tam, Gio, Gia, Ryan, Ashton and Brianna (all pet names given by their lola) at the Heritage Art Center on Main Avenue in Cubao.

Odette Alcantara is a well-known ecological artist and environmentalist who is the convener of Mother Earth Philippines. She owns Heritage Arts and Antiques gallery which is the venue for many an artist’s exhibits and sometimes host to chess events.

She campaigned for the environment; an ecological artist, writer, convenor of Artists for the Environment, founding member of Earth Philippines and the ecological waste management project ‘Zero Kalat para sa Kaunlaran Foundation’ (Zero Waste for Progress Foundation).

Among the notable quotations from her many speeches and writings was the opening words in her speech at the celebration of the national hero Jose Rizal's birthdate June 19 - an activity organized by her at the Orchidarium, Luneta Park: "Ang Kalikasan ay mukha at katawan ng Diyos" (The environment is God’s face and body).

Odette has a passion for the game of chess. She has been very active two to three decades ago in organizing chess events for artists and writers like her —the group who would not bother to play in more competitive environment.

A journalist friend, Alex Dacanay, explained why Odette loved a chess game: “She didn’t see it as symbolic aggression, which it is, and which is why men are attracted to it. She saw it as a metaphor for planning and doing.”

“She had no problem holding up her game against fairly strong players. We called her Odettesky in mock Russian. She would challenge even [Florencio] Campomanes, the grand daddy of Philippine chess, with this line: ‘Defend yourself against the conqueror, men.’ Everyone took this in good humor and [they] were ritualistically slain.”

“Later, this became applied chess. It was how to checkmate garbage in three moves: One, segregate; two, compost; and three, recycle. Basura (garbage) resigns.”

Odette left her legacy as an institution in the environmental movement; she fought for Mother Earth and gave herself back to her…literally.

Thank you, Odette.

Online tributes to Odette Alcantara can be read from these links:

A pioneering international chess event in the Solomon Islands

2009-09-26T00:28:00.017+10:00

Four rated Australians (wearing flower garlands) and six Solomon Islanders complete the cast of the first ever international chess tournament in Solomon Islands. Front row from left: Fernando Aguilar, Australians Shaun Press and Kerry Stead. Back row: FMs Lee Jones and Brian Jones. The other nationals in the picture are not identified. (Photo: Solomon Star)

THE ground-breaking international chess tournament in Solomon Islands kicks off on Thursday, September 24, at the Red Mansion Comfort Inn at Panatina Ridge, Honiara, Solomon Islands.

The official opening of the Solomon Islands International Chess Tournament was hosted at the Red Mansion on Thursday night.

The tournament system is a single round-robin (or all-play-all) format which means there will be 9 rounds of play. The first round takes place on the same day of the opening ceremony.

The participant roster include four FIDE-rated Australian players and six national players. The rated players are FIDE Masters Lee Jones (rated 2117) and Brian Jones (2065), Shaun Press (2076), and Kerry Stead (2087). The national players are Fernando Aguilar, Brandon Tangaibasa, Price Tepuke, Scarden Tesua, Budds Maruia and Takika Tuata.

The tournament chief arbiter is no other than Oceania zone president, International Arbiter Gary Bekker, who collaborated with the Solomon Islands chess federation in organizing the country’s first international chess event.

The only player in the Solomon Islands team who has played in an international rated event is Fernando Aguilar who represented the island nation in the 2009 Oceania zone chess championship held in Queensland, Australia last June. He, however, did not make it to the September FIDE rating list as he lacked one game from the required minimum of nine.

The Solomon Islands chess players will earn their international ratings after the tournament which ends on Monday, September 28.

The Solomon Islands chess federation is the latest member of the world’s chess governing body— FIDE (Federation Internationale des Echecs) to be registered under the Oceania chess zone which include the countries of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Palau.

Before the Solomon Islands the Palau Chess Federation was accepted as member of FIDE in 2005 and had conducted its first international tournament in 2006. Palau, incidentally, is currently going about its national chess championship this year with four of its six international rated players participating.

Both the Solomon Islands and Palau are yet to participate in the biennial chess Olympiad which was last held in Dresden, Germany last year. There is high hope that they can join in the next Olympiad scheduled late next year in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

Brief facts about Solomon Islands

• Full name: Solomon Islands
• Population: 507,000 (UN, 2008)
• Capital: Honiara
• Area: 27,556 sq km (10,639 sq miles)
• Major language: English (official), Melanesian dialects
• Major religion: Christianity
• Life expectancy: 63 years (men), 64 years (women) (UN, 2008)
• Monetary unit: 1 Solomon Islands dollar = 100 cents
• Main exports: Timber, fish, palm oil and kernels, copra
• GNI per capita: US $730 (World Bank, 2007)
• Internet domain: .sb
• International dialling code: +677

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1249307.stm

THE Solomon Islands is a double chain of islands located 1860 kilometres to the north east of Australia. Shaped by earthquakes and volcanic activity thousands of years ago, the 922 individual islands, of which 350 are uninhabited, are divided into nine provinces.

The six main islands of Choiseul, Santa Isabel, Guadalcanal, Malatia, Makira and New Georgia make up most of the 28,000 square kilometre land mass. Hundreds of smaller islands and atolls are scattered throughout the group.

The Solomon Islands are a uniquely, beautiful environment, wild and untamed. The landscape is mountainous with 80% of the islands covered in dense rainforest.

Located along the Pacific Ring of Fire, there are several active volcanoes and numerous uplifted atolls and coral islands.

The nation is largely untouched by tourism. Most of the population live in small villages and follow traditional cultures and lifestyles with hunting, fishing, carvings, handcrafts and subsistence farming being their main activities.

The Solomon Islanders are a friendly, warm and generous people who make visitors to their Islands feel most welcome.

Source: http://www.wayfaring.info/2006/09/28/the-uniquely-solomon-islands/

Further information about the Solomon Islands may be obtained from the following links:

www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2799.htm - Facts about the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, foreign relations of Solomon Islands.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bp.html - Features map and brief descriptions of the geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military and transnational issues.

www.lonelyplanet.com/solomon-islands - Solomon Islands tourism and travel information including facts, maps, history, culture, transport and weather in Solomon Islands.

Chess legends Kasparov and Karpov renew chess rivalry

2009-09-23T02:17:00.002+10:00

TWENTY five years after their historical match for the world’s champion title Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov are going to play each other again in a match from 21st to 25th September in Valencia, Spain. Both players contested five world championship matches between 1984 and 1990, which set an unprecedented record in the sports.

One of the fiercest and most politically charged rivalries in world chess resumed on Monday when former world champions Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov arrived in the Spanish city of Valencia for a rematch.

The two Russian grandmasters will play 12 games starting Tuesday. The new match will have 12 games – four semi-rapid and eight rapid – with Kasparov, 46, and Karpov, 58, facing off under the watch of Dutch chess arbiter Geurt Gijssen.

The rematch renews a battle that began in 1984 in an epic series of world title games that lasted five months and came to symbolise the competing forces then at play in the Soviet Union.

The Valencia rematch is being held on the 25th anniversary of that match, which ended in a draw because officials feared for the health of both competitors.

Kasparov, who is now 46 and a vocal opponent of the Russian prime minister and former president, Vladimir Putin, went on to beat Karpov in 1985 to become the youngest chess world champion.

At the time Karpov, now 58, was a darling of the Soviet establishment. Kasparov's youth and energy made him unpopular with the party leadership, but he did not become a dissident until after the collapse of communism.

Kasparov's eventual victory came to symbolise the triumph of youthful energy over the creaking Soviet empire.

Karpov regained his world crown between 1993 and 1999, but by then Kasparov, together with England’s Nigel Short, had broken away from the chess governing world body, FIDE, to form the rival Professional Chess Association. The Kasparov-Short breakaway from FIDE caused schism in international chess for more than a decade – a decision that Kasparov admitted was a “mistake”.

Karpov and Kasparov have played each other in a record 144 games, including 40 drawn games in their world title bout between September 1984 and February 1985. The two last played each other in 2002.

Chess legends Garry Kasparov and Anatoli Karpov said Monday they hope the re-match of their epic 1984 world championship this week in Spain will renew interest in the game.

"We are here to recover, if not a golden age at least a silver age, for chess," Karpov, 58, told a joint news conference with his old foe Kasparov in Valencia in eastern Spain on the eve of the start of their clash.

Kasparov, 46, who has been active in the political opposition to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin since withdrawing from competitive chess in 2005 and setting up his own political party, said the World Chess Federation "had let the game die".

"The chess that is played today is more technical, more aggressive, with younger players, but it has lost its glamour," he added.

"The duel will put chess in the spotlight once again, as it did 25 years ago," he said in an interview published in Spanish daily El Pais on Monday.

Karpov, who is taking seriously this match having arrived a few days early and bringing a team of assistants that includes strong grandmaster Viktor Bologan, drew White during the drawing of lots on Monday. Kasparov, on the other hand, who has not played competitively for 5 years since his retirement, only had training sessions with chess wonder grandmaster Magnus Carlsen in Oslo, Norway.
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2009 SPICE Cup—USA's highest rated international closed event—begins

2009-09-21T00:19:00.006+10:00

FOR close to two weeks, 11 days to be exact from Saturday, 19 September to Tuesday, 29 September, the center of attraction in the United States will be the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) Cup chess tournament in Lubbock, Texas.

The tournament features six chess grandmasters in its Group A category which will be a double-round robin event. These players have an average rating of 2631, making it a Category 16 tournament. This is the highest-rated international round robin tournament held in the United States.

This is the first time that SPICE Cup included a second group consisting of 10 players playing a single round robin contest.

The tournament commenced on Saturday, September 19th at 1:00 p.m. in the Matador Room of the Student Union Building on the Texas Tech University campus.

Here is the list of invited participants in both groups.

SPICE Cup A Group – Category 16 (6-player double round robin) - Average rating: 2631 – Average age: 20

Grandmaster Dmitry Andreikin, Russia, 2659, 18 years old (Top-rated Russian Junior and reigning Russian Junior Champion)
Grandmaster Wesley So, Philippines, 2644, 15 years old (Top-rated Filipino and member of the 2008 Filipino Olympiad team)
Grandmaster Varuzhan Akobian, United States, 26 years old, 2636 (2008 SPICE Cup Co-Champion and 2-time Olympiad Bronze Medalist)
Grandmaster Yuriy Kuzubov, Ukraine, 2636, 19 years old (2nd ranked Ukrainian Junior and 8th in the world)
Grandmaster Rauf Mamedov, Azerbaijan, 2626, 21 years old (5th ranked Azerbaijani and member of the 2008 Azerbaijani Olympiad team)
Grandmaster Jon Ludvig Hammer, Norway, 2585, 19 years old (2nd ranked Norwegian and member of the 2008 Norwegian Olympiad team)

This event will break the U.S. record by a big margin. Last year's SPICE Cup was a category 15 event with average rating of 2605.5. This year's average rating will be over 2630!

SPICE Cup B Group – Category 11 (10-player single round robin) - Average rating: 2503

International Master Gabor Papp, Hungary, 2562, 22 years old (Texas Tech student and member of the TTU Knight Raiders)
International Master Davorin Kuljasevic, Croatia, 2547, 22 years old, (Texas Tech student and member of the TTU Knight Raiders)
Grandmaster Eugene Perelshteyn, United States, 2542, 29 years old (2007 SPICE Cup Champion and former winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship)
International Master Ray Robson, United States, 2527, 14 years old (Reigning U.S. Junior Champion and winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship)
Grandmaster Andre Diamant, Brazil, 2526, 19 years old (Top rated Brazilian Junior and Reigning Brazilian National Champion)
International Master Ben Finegold, United States, 2515, 40 years old (2-time U.S. Open Champion, 2-time National Open Champion and former winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship)
International Master Gergely Antal, Hungary, 2486, 24 years old (Texas Tech student and member of the TTU Knight Raiders, 2009 National Collegiate Champion)
Grandmaster Vinay Bhat, United States, 2474, 25 years old (2007 USCL MVP and former winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship)
International Master Dean Ippolito, United States, 2459, 30 years old, (Former winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship and 11-time All-American)
FIDE Master Danny Rensch, United States, 2388, 23 years old (Former National Elementary, Junior High, and High School Champion and 6-time All-American)

All ratings listed are from the September 2009 FIDE rating list.
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How to become a better player

2009-09-19T22:02:00.006+10:00

THE three phases of the game of chess—the opening, the middle game and the endgame—are all interrelated. In the study of chess systematically they should be closely connected to each other. It would be a mistake to treat the openings in isolation.

This is happening to some of the young generation of players. The symbols in opening literature found in the modern magazines and books such as + or —+ are taken as final by some young players. And then many of them get confused and cannot understand why they cannot reach a decisive position in the subsequent middle or endgame situations.

The opening books are only a tool, to be used properly to one’s benefit.

Certain openings will lead to quite definite middle game and endgame positions and this relation must always be kept in mind. In the Queen's Gambit for instance (1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. cxd5 exd5), White can aim for the minority attack (two pawns against Black's three pawns on the queenside) which usually saddles Black with a backward c-pawn.

Therefore anyone wishing to play this line would do well to study also the endgame that teaches him how to exploit or defend this kind of position. In many variations of the Grünfeld Defense and the Modern Benoni, Black will go for a queenside majority of pawns while White gets a pawn majority in the center. As Black, one should know what to do in a typical Rook and Pawn ending with a queenside majority of pawns instead of finding it out over the board which may prove a psychological disadvantage.

What openings should one choose to lead to what type of positions? First of all one needs to know one’s self — one’s personality, likes and dislikes.

Those who are of the timid type looking for quiet and balanced positions one can stop thinking about studying the Sicilian or the King’s Indian. It's better to take up the Caro-Kann or Queen's Gambit Declined as Black or go for slow balanced variations involving 1. c4 or 1. Nf3 as White.

The following example illustrates the incompatibility between one’s temperament and the openings chosen.

An aggressive player who was good in his/her middle game but had an affinity, whenever given the chance, to fianchetto both his/her bishops, for instance Bg2 and Bb2 as White. Such variations lead to a slow build-up which was inconsistent with his/her style. Once this was pointed out to and was recognized by the player his/her game would be lifted tremendously and gain better results in future tournaments.

Once a player decided his/her traits, he/she needs to work out a repertoire for White and for Black. One needs to study well one or two variations as White and the same for Black. It is not wise to select another opening tomorrow because one had lost in this opening today, unless there are strong psychological reasons. Great players like Fischer, Kasparov and Karpov have a fixed repertoire of openings and are consistently successful in playing them.

One’s study of the openings and the subsequent play is all the more intensive and stimulating when one has a model, a star to revere upon, whose style attracts the player. One could choose Capablanca or Alekhine but we would advise selecting someone still alive, because he will still be creating new ideas for the determined player to follow until he/she is capable enough to be self-creative.

We would recommend that one just buy a basic text on openings for easy and convenient reference, but what is important is to keep a notebook beside one all the time so that he/she can jot down at that time what one had found or recollected whether in a train or in the club or elsewhere. Otherwise a player will tend to forget the vital fact or information that was available to him/her at that time.

The next thing is to keep in touch with what is going on. An aspiring chess player must have a good information system in order to progress otherwise he will find it difficult to survive at the international level.

Together with a good openings book like the one by Kasparov a good magazine to subscribe to is New in Chess edited by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam and GM Jan Timman. Some national magazines like the British Chess Magazine are highly informative. Australasian Chess magazine edited by FM Brian Jones is likewise informative.

For those who can afford more there are many books to choose from especially from Everyman Chess or Gambit Publications, but we would advise not to have too many. One will confuse oneself and clog the brain with more than one really can handle.

These days one cannot adequately prepare for competitions without a chess database and a chess playing software. We would recommend either ChessBase or Chess Assistant for one’s chess database system. A player needs not have both, just one or the other. For a chess playing software, most popular are Fritz, Rybka, Shredder and Hiarcs. Just like books, these software are instruments only that must be used for one’s benefit. The aspiring player must know how to use them to his/her advantage.
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Chess in schools

2009-09-19T19:51:00.005+10:00

FROM time to time The Chess Connoisseur will feature articles about the benefits of chess.

Previously the benefits of chess for children are only of the anecdotal variety and never documented. Nowadays, findings and researches, both formal and informal, abound attesting and supporting that chess is good for kids. Nations other than those of Europe and western countries like the United States of America and Canada have now included chess in their curriculum. The latest among them is the Philippines in Asia.

U.S. chess master Jerry Meyers believes that chess directly contibutes to kids' academic performance by teaching the following skills:

Focusing
Visualizing
Thinking ahead
Weighing options
Analyzing concretely
Thinking abstractly
Planning
Juggling multiple considerations simultaneously

Consequently these skills lead to:

Children are taught the benefits of observing carefully and concentrating. If they don't watch what is happening, they can't respond to it, no matter how smart they are.
Children are prompted to imagine a sequence of actions before it happens. We actually strengthen the ability to visualize by training them to shift the pieces in their mind, first one, then several moves ahead.
Children are taught to think first, then act. We teach them to ask themselves "If I do this, what might happen then, and how can I respond?" Over time, chess helps develop patience and thoughtfulness.
Children are taught that they don't have to do the first thing that pops into their mind. They learn to identify alternatives and consider the pros and cons of various actions.
Children learn to evaluate the results of specific actions and sequences. Does this sequence help me or hurt me? Decisions are better when guided by logic, rather than impulse.
Children are taught to step back periodically from details and consider the bigger picture. They also learn to take patterns used in one context and apply them to different, but related situations.
Children are taught to develop longer range goals and take steps toward bringing them about. They are also taught of the need to reevaluate their plans as new developments change the situation.
Children are encouraged not to become overly absorbed in any one consideration, but to try to weigh various factors all at once.

None of these skills are specific to chess, but they are all part of the game. The beauty of chess as a teaching tool is that it stimulates children's minds and helps them to build these skills while enjoying themselves. As a result, children become more critical thinkers, better problem solvers, and more independent decision makers.
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On medical leave

2009-09-04T18:53:00.003+10:00

THE Chess Connoisseur webmaster is on leave for medical reason. The site will be updated as soon as he gets well.

We appeal for the understanding of our readers.

Australasian Chess latest issue now out

2009-08-25T04:35:00.009+10:00

THE latest issue (September-October) of the bi-monthly Australasian Chess magazine has been delivered to subscribers two weeks ahead of schedule. The current issue features in its cover the group photo of the participants to the Oceania Zone chess developmental meeting held in Gold Coast, Australia.

The 2009 Oceania zonal was the main story of the issue which was comprehensively covered by no other than the tournament chief arbiter himself, Dr. Charles Zworestine.

The magazine is published six times a year by Australian Chess Enterprises and is competently edited by international organizer FM Brian Jones, who is a good friend of The Chess Connoisseur. Among its regular features include columns on games, problems, combinations, and book reviews in addition to news brief from events around the world, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

With 72 quality pages to digest in each issue, the cost of sixty six Australian dollars per year for Oceania subscribers is a real bargain. For America and Asia the cost is AUD 77.00; for Europe and the rest of the world it is AUD 82.50. However one looks at it still it is cheaper compared to other international chess magazines. Its four center pages consist of photographs, mostly colored.

Australasian Chess magazine can be obtained from

Australian Chess Enterprises
P.O. Box 370 Riverstone
NSW 2765 Australia

The reader may contact the publisher by email at info@chessaustralia.com.au, or visit its website at http://www.chessaustralia.com.au/.

Subscribe now!
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World Cup qualifiers announced

2009-08-25T04:05:00.004+10:00

FIDE announces the updated list of original qualifiers for the World Cup to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from 20 November to 15 December 2009.

The list comprised of the following number of qualifiers and qualifying events:

....1 -- World Championship 2008
....4 -- World Cup 2007
....1 -- Women's World Championship
....2 -- Junior World Champions 2007 & 2008
..20 -- FIDE Rating List, average 7/2008 & 1/2009
..46 -- European Championships 2008 & 2009
..19 -- Americas
..19 -- Asia/Oceania
....6 -- Africa
....6 -- Nominees of the FIDE President (TBA)
....4 -- Nominees of the local Organizing Committee (TBA)
128 -- Total number of players

The list of qualifiers can be found here.
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A tribute to Alfredo B. Base, Filipino, US chess master

2009-08-25T00:46:00.012+10:00

WHAT he never achieved in the Philippines, Alfredo B. Base obtained in the United States—the US senior chess master title—when he immigrated there in early 1990s. Earlier he used to be a regular participant in most Metro Manila tournaments and had swapped chess pieces with the likes of FM Fernie Donguines, national master Antonio Calvo, and other local masters playing for the Philippine Army in the 1980s.

Base has a solid style of play, preferring slow build up over direct attack on his opponent’s king. As such his play tended to be passive and boring but this suited him just fine as he could take advantage of his opponent’s impatience, over-confidence or lapses.

As White he always opened with 1.e4, apparently an open game, but most often continued with the King’s Indian Attack setup. With Black his bread and butter was the French Defense. With both colors most of his games featured pawns on white squares usually in stonewall formation. This proved successful in open chess competitions in the United States where he achieved the US senior chess master title.

Among the tournaments he had taken part with in the United States include open events in Chicago (1991 and 1996), Las Vegas (1994), Memorial Day in Long Beach (1994), and Continental in Los Angeles (2000), the 1995 National open in Las Vegas and the Oak Park Master Challenge in 1996.

Reportedly the highest international rating he obtained was 2310; his current FIDE rating is 2222 as his FIDE profile shows.

His peak US Chess Federation rating was 2375 between 1996 and 1997, the period of his immense chess activities. However when his USCF rating took a deep plunge from 2310 (approx) in 1999 to 2200 in the beginning of the 21st century, his tournament participation became sporadic while his rating leveled at 2203.

The news of his death was learned by The Chess Connoisseur from the Philippine Boxing website (its webmaster, it seems, is a chess enthusiast). The full article follows:

Base, US Chess Master, Writes 30

LOS ANGELES—Alfredo Base, a former member of the Philippine Army chess team, passed away last August 19. A US Chess Master residing in Los Angeles, Base was 47.

Base, a strong master who once held an Elo of 2310, teamed up with National Masters Fernie Donguines and Antonio Calvo to form a solid team for the Philippine Army before migrating to the United States where he reportedly did not have a family.

Nobody has claimed his remains, which is still connected to a life support system in order to preserve his organs. His has lost brain impulses.

His body remains at the ICU Room 6328 of Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Los Angeles. Reports indicate that he is a native of Butuan City and a search for relatives has been conducted by friends. Should nobody claim the remains, the life support system will be unplugged by Saturday afternoon, (early Sunday morning in Manila), and legal interment proceedings will be administered by the hospital.

Philippine relatives can get in touch with Base’s church mate Jennie Irving, telephone no. 310 735 7745, or email Irving_jean@yahoo.com. Kaiser Permanente Hospital is located at 1526 N. Edgemont St., Los Angeles, CA 90027, telephone number 323 783 4011.

Source: PhilBoxing.com, Sat, 22 Aug 2009
Our readers may replay some of Base’s won games in our ChessViewer. Note: You must have JRE (Java Runtime Environment) installed in your computer to view and replay the games.

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Palau chess championship starts August 30

2009-08-20T10:38:00.014+10:00

THIS year’s Palau national chess championship takes place at two alternating venues—D. J. Cruz General Merchandise and Palau Royal Resort—both in Koror city starting on Sunday, 30 August, according to Tia Belau’s chess columnist Roberto Hernandez.

The closed championship will see in action four of Palau’s six internationally rated players, namely Menandro Manuel (1942), Cyril Montel Jr (1870), Gene Pastrana (1870), and Roberto Hernandez (1830). Palau’s two other rated players, Jose Omega (1870) and Manny Nedic (1830), had left the country for good one after the other.

Palau’s top four: Menandro Manuel, Cyril Montel Jr, Gene Pastrana, and Roberto Hernandez.

The country’s top player for the past four years, Manuel remains the heavy favorite to win the title. It may be recalled that he tied for fourth-fifth places, the highest among local entries, in the first international chess tournament held in Palau in 2006 that was won by New Zealand’s Hilton Bennett.

Meanwhile the next Palau international is planned for next year where Papua New Guinea champion Joselito Marcos (2200), a newfound correspondent of Hernandez, and Australian-Filipino chess prodigy Daniel Joseph Lapitan are among the invited rated foreign participants.

Pastrana continues to be a formidable contender together with Montel who now intends to incorporate silicon assistance in his preparation. Each of them is expected to give a good account of his self and offer defending titlist Manuel a run for his chess money.

The ever active Hernandez, who organizes the event with venue host Pastrana in addition to writing his weekly column Chessmate, is the tournament’s dark horse. His recent participation as Palau representative to the 2009 Oceania zonal championship held in Queensland, Australia would undoubtedly boost his chess stocks and confidence.

A musician by profession, Hernandez works at Palau Royal Resort, a five-star international resort hotel developed and owned by Royal Hotel Group and operated by Nikko Hotels International, which opened in June 2005. He has been a working resident in the country for the past 17 years.

Palau Royal Resort

The inclusion of three Bangladesh nationals—Masum Billah, Hasan Mamud and second timer Mohammad Manik—would add fuel to the excitement generated by this year’s championship which, Hernandez averred, shall be rated by the World Chess Federation known by its acronym FIDE. Palauans Tutii Joe Chilton, Francis `Sno' Temaungil and Morton Sawaichi lead the cast of local contestants who are out to obtain international ratings.

In the meantime, the election of new officers of Palau Chess Federation is planned to coincide with the opening of the championship. Current chairman Temaungil shall be persuaded to serve for another term at the top post.

Palau Chess Federation was admitted as a member of FIDE in 2005 and registered under the Oceania zone comprising of member countries in the South Pacific, namely Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands (the zone’s most recent member).

Brief facts about Palau

Palau's new capitol

Palau, officially the Republic of Palau (Palauan: Beluu er a Belau), is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles (800 km) east of the Philippines and 2,000 miles (3,200 km) south of Tokyo. It comprised of 16 states, including the states of Hatohobei and Sonsorol located some 250 miles southwest of Koror. Having emerged from United Nations trusteeship (administered by the United States) in 1994, it is one of the world's youngest and smallest sovereign states. In English, the name is sometimes spelled Belau in accordance with the native pronunciation. It was formerly also spelled Pelew.

Further information about Palau may be obtained from the following links:

http://visit-palau.com/
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/palau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palau
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1840.htm
http://www.palaugov.net/
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Pinoys' wins in the 2009 Oceania zonal

2009-08-17T23:10:00.014+10:00

WE feature a selection of games won by Filipino players from the 2009 Oceania Zonal. The Chess Connoisseur used Chess Viewer for this post as it allows replay of multiple games and with annotations at that! A caveat though—the board display becomes fuzzy when you scroll up or down the page. This can easily be remedied by minimizing and then restoring your browser’s window.

Most notable were the couple of sensational victories scored by ten-year old Daniel Lapitan. The first against Fiji representative Gaurav Raicar (FIDE rated 1560) was the shortest game in the Open section, while the second was an upset of Fiji's top rated player, Damian Norris (2142). It would appear that Daniel has got the Fijians' number but this could not be confirmed as he has not played the other two Fiji players—Manoj Kumar (2017) and Calvin Prasad (1912) who both performed very well in this event. The onus is still on the Fiji players.

(Photo: Roberto Hernandez)

Benjamin Franklin's “The Morals of Chess”

2009-08-11T01:07:00.005+10:00

HERE is the text of Franklin’s famous chess essay (mentioned in the previous post), which Franklin himself submitted to and was published in the Columbian Magazine in its December 1786 issue.

The Morals of Chess

The game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired or strengthened by it, so as to become habits, ready on all occasions. For life is a kind of chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effects of prudence or the want of it. By playing at chess, then, we may learn:

1. Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the consequences that may attend to an action: for it is continually occurring to the player, “If I move this piece, what will be the advantages of my new situation? What use can my adversary make of it to annoy me? What other moves can I make to support it, and to defend myself from his attacks? “

2. Circumspection, which surveys the whole chess-board, or scene of action, the relations of the several pieces and situations, the dangers they are respectively exposed to, the several possibilities of their aiding each other; the probabilities that the adversary may make this or that move, and attack this or the other piece; and what different means can be used to avoid his stroke, or turn its consequences against him.

3. Caution, not to make our moves too hastily. This habit is best acquired by observing strictly the laws of the game, such as, If you touch a piece, you must move it somewhere; if you set it down, you must let it stand. And it is therefore best that these rules should be observed, as the game thereby becomes more the image of human life, and particularly of war; in which, if you have incautiously put yourself into a bad and dangerous position, you cannot obtain your enemy’s leave to withdraw your troops, and place them more securely; but you must abide by all the consequences of your rashness.

And lastly, we learn by chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in the state of our affairs, the habit of hoping for a favorable change, and that of persevering in the search of resources. The game is so full of events, there is such a variety of turns in it, the fortune of it is so subject to sudden vicissitudes, and one so frequently, after long contemplation, discovers the means of extricating one’s self from a supposed insurmountable difficulty, that one is encouraged to continue the contest to the last, in hopes of victory by our own skill, or, at least, of giving a stale mate, by the negligence of our adversary. And whoever considers, what in chess he often sees instances of, that particular pieces of success are apt to produce presumption, and its consequent, inattention, by which more is afterwards lost than was gained by the preceding advantage; while misfortunes produce more care and attention, by which the loss may be recovered, will learn not to be too much discouraged by the present success of his adversary, nor to despair of final good fortune, upon every little check he receives in the pursuit of it.

That we may, therefore, be induced more frequently to choose this beneficial amusement, in preference to others which are not attended with the same advantages, every circumstance, that may increase the pleasure of it, should be regarded; and every action or word that is unfair, disrespectful, or that in any way may give uneasiness, should be avoided, as contrary to the immediate intention of both the players, which is, to pass the time agreeably.

Therefore, 1st. If it is agreed to play according the strict rules, then those rules are to be exactly observed by both parties; and should not be insisted on for one side, while deviated from by the other; for this is not equitable.

2. If it is agreed not to observe the rules exactly, but one party demands indulgences, he should be as willing to allow them to the other.

3. No false move should ever be made to extricate yourself out of a difficulty, or to gain advantage. There can be no pleasure in playing with a person once detected in such unfair practice.

4. If your adversary is long in playing, you ought not to hurry him, or express any uneasiness at his delay. You should not sing, or whistle, nor look at your watch, nor take up a book to read, nor make a tapping with your feet on the floor, or with your fingers on the table, nor do any thing that may disturb his attention. For all these things displease. And they do not show in playing, but your craftiness or your rudeness.

5. You ought not to endeavour to amuse and deceive your adversary, by pretending to have made bad moves, and saying you have now lost the game, in order to make him secure and careless, and inattentive to your schemes; for this is fraud, and deceit, not skill at the game.

6. You must not, when you have gained a victory, use any triumphing or insulting expression, nor show too much pleasure; but endeavour to console your adversary, and make him less dissatisfied with himself by every kind and civil expression, that may be used with truth; such as, You understand the game better than I, but you are a little inattentive; or, You play too fast; or, You had the best of the game, but something happened to divert your thoughts, and that turned it in my favour.

7. If you are a spectator, while others play, observe the most perfect silence. For if you give advice, you offend both parties; him, against whom you may give it, because it may cause the loss of his game; him, in whose favour you give it, because, tho’ it may be good, and he follows it, he loses the pleasure he might have had, if you had permitted him to think till it occurred to himself. Even after a move or moves, you must not, by replacing the pieces, show how it might have been played better: for that displeases, and may occasion disputes or doubts about their true situation. All talking to the players, lessens or diverts their attention, and is therefore displeasing; nor should you give the least hint to either party, by any kind of noise or motion. – If you do, you are unworthy to be a spectator.-If you have a mind to exercise or show your judgment, do it in playing your own game when you have an opportunity, not in criticizing or meddling with, or counseling, the play of others.

Lastly. If the game is not to be played rigorously, according to the rules above mentioned, then moderate your desire of victory over your adversary, and be pleased with one over yourself. Snatch not eagerly at every advantage offered by his unskillfulness or inattention; but point out to him kindly that by such a move he places or leaves a piece in danger and unsupported; that by another he will put his king in a dangerous situation, &c. By this generous civility (so opposite to the unfairness above forbidden) you may indeed happen to lose the game to your opponent, but you will win what is better, his esteem, his respect, and his affection; together with the silent approbation and good will of impartial spectators.

First American chess players and writers

2009-08-10T23:35:00.011+10:00

BENJAMIN Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, was widely believed to be the earliest chess player in the future United States who can be identified by name. A passage in his autobiography seems to indicate that he was playing at least around 1733.

“I had begun in 1733 to study languages. I soon made myself so much a master of the French...I then undertook the Italian. An acquaintance…used often to tempt me to play Chess with him. Finding this took up too much of the Time I had to spare for study, I at length refused to play any more, unless on this condition, that the victor in every Game, should have the Right to impose a Task…”

Moreover, Franklin was recognized as being the first person in the New World to publish anything about chess, through his essay “The Morals of Chess,” which appeared in The Columbian Magazine in 1786.

“The Morals of Chess” turned into one of the most famous pieces on chess ever published. It has been translated into a number of languages, and in 1791 it appeared in the first chess-related book ever to appear in Russia.

Incidentally, in late 1974 The Chess Connoisseur has read and copied by hand Franklin’s famous chess essay from “The Chess Reader: The Royal Game in World Literature” by Jerome Salzmann (New York: Greenberg, 1949), a hardbound book borrowed from a public library. A few weeks after returning the Salzmann book, he was ready to borrow it again but was shocked and disenchanted to discover that it was among the volumes withdrawn by the library to provide space for its new acquisitions. Available copies, if any, of “The Chess Reader,” itself a valuable tome of chess literature, are rare and could only be obtained, if you are lucky, from chess collectors or sellers of antique books usually at a stiff price.

A Huguenot minister in New York City by the name of Rev. Louis (or Lewis) Rou was also documented as playing chess around 1734. Since Franklin’s “acquaintance” with whom he played around 1733 was not named, Franklin and Rou are apparently the first chess players in the future United States who can be definitely identified by name.

In 2003 David Shields, Professor of English at the Citadel, discovered that Rev. Louis (or Lewis) Rou also published a poem about New York chess players in 1744. This long-lost publication was discovered in the Library of Edinburgh in Scotland. The discovery was subsequently published in Chess Life, the official publication of the US Chess Federation.

Through this discovery, it seems that Rev. Rou now has replaced Franklin with the distinction of having written the first American publication on chess. The Rou poem was apparently written around 1735, so Franklin and Rou retain the distinction of being the two earliest-named players in the future United States. Yet Benjamin Franklin has a well-documented and secure place as one the earliest known players and writers of chess in the future United States.

The Chess Connoisseur is yet to get a glimpse of the purported Rou poem.

An icon of democracy rests in peace

2009-08-06T08:35:00.006+10:00

FORMER Philippine president Corazon ‘Cory’ Aquino, who died of colon cancer last Saturday, 1st August, was laid to rest on Wednesday, 5th August, beside her late husband at Manila Memorial Park. Mrs. Aquino is hailed as an icon of democracy for having toppled the dictatorial rule of the late Ferdinand Marcos in a popular bloodless uprising called ‘People Power’ revolution in 1986.

Her death brought people from all walks of life together like her husband's, former senator Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino, who in 1983 was assassinated as soon as he got down to the tarmac of the airport which now bear his name. While the funeral for Ninoy welded people together by anger and hatred against the dictatorship that of Cory’s united the Filipinos because of grief and love.

We could add forgiveness as explicitly expressed by the late president before her death through her youngest daughter Kristina ‘Kris’ Bernadette Aquino, a popular showbiz personality, who stated on national television that their family’s arch enemy for decades, the Marcoses, are forgiven. The next day after that pronouncement, the two Marcos siblings, Imee and Ferdinand Jr, paid their respects to the departed former national leader which were warmly appreciated by the bereaved members of the Aquino family.

Cory Aquino, it would be remembered, officially opened the 1992 Manila Chess Olympiad held at the Philippine International Convention Center. This biennial Olympiad, already the 30th then, was regarded arguably as the best chess Olympiad ever.

Two Filipino GMs conquer Vietnam chess zonal

2009-08-01T18:35:00.005+10:00

AFTER the smoke of battle has cleared in the Vietnam Zone 3.3 chess championship held in Ho Chi Minh City from 23rd to 29th July, two Filipinos got the two qualifying berths to the World Chess Cup.

Grandmaster Darwin Laylo (FIDE rated 2494), who already qualified with a round to spare, wound up his impressive performance with yet another win in the final round and emerged as Zone 3.3 champion, one and a half points ahead of the other qualifier—compatriot grandmaster Wesley So (2646).

Needing only a draw to secure first place, Laylo conquered GM Zhang Zhong (2613) in the last round to register eight points (7 wins-2 draws-0 losses) in the 9-round Swiss System event. Laylo’s win enabled So to take the undisputed second spot following a draw with Vietnamese GM Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen (2592). This is Laylo’s second trip to the World Chess Cup.

Meanwhile, GM Mark Paragua (2487) also won over Vietnamese CM Hoang Nam Nguyen (2320) to grab the share of third to seventh spots, with six points.

IMs Richard Bitoon (2495) and Rolando Nolte (2458) both scored 5.5points for a of share 16th to 24th positions. Bitoon registered 4 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses, while Nolte had a very solid performance of 1 win, 8 draws (!) and without a loss.

Philippine chess living legend GM Eugenio Torre (2560) regrettably ended up last among the members of the Philippine contingent, following two losses against lower rated rivals–Singaporean FM Timothy Chan Wei-Xuan (2344) in round 6 and Vietnamese untitled Le Quang Long (2279) in round 9. He scored four and a half points (2 wins-5 draws-2 losses) for a share of 25th-32nd places.

Both Laylo and So will join countryman GM Rogelio Antonio Jr in the World Cup. Antonio had qualified earlier through his 6th place finish in the Asian Individual Chess Championships held in Subic, Philippines in May 2009.

The best ever performance of a Filipino woodpusher in the world championship was accomplished by Asia’s First GM Eugene Torre who made it to the candidates matches in 1983 but lost to Hungarian Super GM Zoltan Ribli in the quarterfinal. Torre also made it to the main draw of the World Chess Championships after topping the 1982 Interzonal in Toluca, Mexico.

In last year’s World Chess Cup, Laylo succumbed to French champion and super-GM Etienne Bacrot in the second round.

Filipinos in the Oceania Zonal

2009-07-24T02:21:00.007+10:00

From left: R. Hernandez, J. Marcos, K. Tan, J. Tan, D. Lapitan, and R. Lapitan. (Photo: Ric Ambatali)

FIVE Filipino chess players, representing four different countries, saw action in the open section of the 2009 Oceania Zonal chess championship. They are Joselito Marcos (FIDE Rating 2200), Papua New Guinea; Kevin Tan (1956), Australia; Roberto Hernandez (1834), Palau; Daniel Lapitan (1287), Australia; and Fernando Aguilar (unrated), Solomon Islands.

The event took place in the Visions Conference Room of the Outrigger Twin Towns Resort in Tweed Heads, Gold Coast on the Queensland/NSW border from Saturday 20 to Friday 26 June 2009. Australia’s newly minted grandmaster David Smerdon topped the 9-round Swiss System event.

Kevin Tan, highest placed among the Pinoys, tied for 45-50 places, with 4 points (3 wins-2 draws-4 losses). Marcos (2-3-4), Lapitan (2-3-4), and Aguilar (3-1-5) tied for 51-61 places with 3.5 points apiece. Hernandez (3-0-6) tied for 62-66 places with 3 points.

Tan has only a solitary point in the first 5 rounds but made up for it by scoring 3 points in the last 4 rounds, which was only good for a rating performance of 1650 according to the Chess Results website.

Marcos, who has a starting rank of 20 out of 73 participants, was among the leading pack until his mobile phone alarmed in the midst of 4th round action against New Zealand’s Paul Spiller that dearly cost him the game. He was on 50% performance after 7 rounds but unfortunately lost his last two games. His rating performance of 1892 is tops among the Pinoys. Still it was a big disappointment because he prepared long and hard for the competition.

Eleven-year old Lapitan over-performed with a performance rating of 1751. Tallying 1.5 points only after 6 rounds, he scored 2 points in the remaining 3 rounds, and finished the event with an upset but convincing victory over Fiji’s top rated Damian Norris (2142). Daniel also registered the shortest victory in the Zonal open when he beat another Fijian, Gaurav Raicar (1560), in 12 moves in the fifth round.

Aguilar, easily the most senior among them at 67 and playing in his first international tournament, was winless over-the-board after 4 rounds. Having finally gotten accustomed to the zonal atmosphere after two days, he stabilized his play and scored 50% in the last 5 rounds for a performance rating of 1790.

Palau Royal Resort musician and chess columnist Hernandez, was probably awed by the strength of the competition and did not perform to his rating level. The international exposure, nevertheless, would likely boost his confidence in future competitions.

An internationally published problem

2009-07-19T02:04:00.038+10:00

DO YOU KNOW that the Chess Connoisseur is an accomplished problemist?

Here is his first internationally published chess problem that appeared in the May 1989 issue of Chess Life magazine, the official publication of the U.S. Chess Federation.

White: Kd5, Rg6, Bb1, Pc4, f2
Black: Kf4, Pf3, f6
White mates in 5 moves

Don't let the number of moves intimidate you from solving this! However, if you are stumped click the button for the solution.

Postings from the Closet Grandmaster

2009-07-13T17:21:00.016+10:00

The July 09, 2009 posting of the Closet Grandmaster features the losing effort of Joselito Marcos in the fourth round of the 2009 Gold Coast Open that took place immediately after the zonal. Marcos is one of PNG's two representatives to the 2009 Oceania Zonal that immediately preceded the GC Open.

Here is the posting:

"The Joselito Hustle

The PNG's Joselito Marcos dropped in and posted an analysis of the last few moments of his game against Marc Vlietstra from the Gold Coast Open. Here's the starting position.

... Joselito takes over from here.

2009 Gold Coast Open
Vlietstra, Marc
Marcos, Joselito

41. bxc3 Bh3!

(Black only has 23 seconds left on his clock at this juncture; White still has more than 3 minutes.)

42. Qe7+ Ka8 43. Qg5 Rb1+

(An alternative was 43... Rb2. During the postmortem Vlietstra tried 44. Rg1? Bxg2+ 45. Rxg2 Rb1+ 46. Nf1 Rxf1+ 47. Kh2 Qh7+ 48. Kg3 and now with a clear head, and possibly more time, Black could win with 48... Rf8!. Correct was 44.Qg8+.)

44. Rxb1 Qxb1+ 45. Nf1 Qxf1+ 46. Kh2 Bxg2 47. Qxg2 Qf4+ 48. Kh3 Qh6+ 49. Kg3 Qg5+?

(The check on the WRONG SQUARE. In his excitement Black missed 49... Qg6+!! 50. Kf2 Qc2+ 51. Kg1 Qb1+ 52. Kh2 Qh7+ 53. Qh3 Qc2+ 54. Kg1 Qb1+ 55. Kh2 Qc2+ 56. Kg1 Qb1+ 57. Kh2 Qc2+ is equal)

50. Kf2??

(White panicked as he was becoming short of time while Black was gaining his. 50. Kf3! -- a shame that White overlooked this excellent chance -- Qf5+ 51. Ke3 wins)

50... Qd2+ 51. Kg1 Qd1+??

(Again a check on the wrong squate. With this move Black loses his second and final opportunity to even things up. For Black not to lose all he has to do is keep on checking on the long diagonal b1-h7. Better was 51... Qe1+! or 51... Qc1+! Check this out with your silicon friends.)

52. Kh2 Qh5+ 53. Qh3 Qe2+ 54. Kg3 Qe3+ 55. Kg4 Qg1+ 56. Kf5 Qf2+ 57. Ke6 Qxa2

(The game dragged on with Black stripped off his d pawn and White his c and d pawns but was able to promote his e pawn to a queen. The succeeding desperate checks by the black queen was deptly evaded by White to score the win.)

58. Kxd5 Qb3 59. Qc8+ Ka7 60. Qc7+ Ka6 61. Qc6+ Ka7 62. Qd7+ Ka6 63. e6 Qxc3 64. e7 Qf3+ 65. Kd6 Qf4+ 66. Kc6 Qe4+ 67. Kd6 Qxd4+ 68. Kc7 Qb6+ 69. Kc8 Qc5+ 70. Qc7 Qf5+ 71. Kd8 c3 72. e8=Q Qd5+ 73. Qcd7 Qg5+ 74. Kc7 Qf4+ 75. Kc8 1-0"

In an earlier posting dated June 29 (GM Jones wins GC Open) the Closet Grandmaster cited the results of the 2009 Gold Coast Open won by English GM Gawain Jones. After featuring a nicely played game of his own, he mentioned this incident that made impressions on him and the spectators:

"...It was a fun tournament overall and there were quite a few notable moments. ...there is my new mate, the PNG's Joselito Marcos. Like a typical Pinoy this man played to hustle. Down to his last few seconds, he somehow moved quick enough, eventually raising his time back to over a minute, and created enough confusion OTB that his opponent, Vlietstra, was forced to defend a won position! It was amazing to watch. Still, Marcos lost. The next day he insisted that it was only because he gave the wrong check..."

Having proved one's point deserves publication. Right, Mr. Closet Grandmaster?

Getting ready

2009-07-12T04:21:00.009+10:00

Slowly the Chess Connoisseur is getting ready for his chess postings. Here is an old game played in the 1977 Cabanatuan Bicentennial tournament for replay.

Has anyone played the line chosen by Black before ?

Marcos,Joselito - Lao,Enrique
Bicentennial Cabanatuan (4), 03.07.1977
B33: Sicilian: Najdorf and Dragon Variations
(Annotations by the winner)

With just one and one-half points from the three previous rounds I found myself in a must-win situation going into the last two rounds to make it to the finals. This game was the first into that tough task.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 g6 7.a4

This move would be marked a novelty when one uses Mega Database 2009 as reference database because there was no game with this move available there. The continuations found there were:

(a) 7.Be3 Bg7 8.f4 d6 9.0–0 Bd7 10.Kh1 h5 11.f5 Qc7 12.fxg6 fxg6 13.Nf3 0–0–0 14.Nd5 Nxd5 15.exd5 Ne5 16.Nxe5 Bxe5 17.c4 Rdf8 18.Qb3 Kb8 19.Rfc1 Qa5 20.a4 Rc8 21.Bb6 Qd2 Simunek,J (2056)-Plicka,P/Prague 2006/0–1 (38);

(b) 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5 Ng8 9.Bf4 Qb6 10.Qd2 Bg7 11.0–0 Qa5 12.Qe3 h5 13.h3 e6 14.b4 Qc7 15.Ne4 Ne7 16.Nd6+ Kf8 17.c4 Qa7 18.Qe4 Rb8 19.Be3 Qa8 20.Bc5 Kg8 21.Rad1 Bf8 Armengol Comas,J (2290)-Pla Ferreres,I (2045)/Spain 1998/1–0 (35); and

(c) 7.0–0 d6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Kh1 Bb7 10.Bg5 Bg7 11.f3 0–0 12.Qd2 Qc7 13.Bh6 Rad8 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.a4 d5 16.exd5 cxd5 17.a5 e5 18.Na4 Rfe8 19.Qc3 Qe7 20.Nb6 d4 21.Qa3 Qc7 Hilmer,K (1355)-Gmeinwieser,H (1669)/Germany 2003/½–½ (35).

7...d6 8.Be3 Bg7 9.0–0 e6?!

A move that could readily be condemned for it created an organic weakness—a hole— on f6.
Normal was 9...0–0 10.Nb3. Here Black had continued with:

(a) 10... Be6 11.f4 Na5 12.f5 Nxb3 13.cxb3 Bd7 14.fxg6 hxg6 15.Bc4 Bc6 16.Qf3 b5!?; the position was even but was won by Black in Bastrikov,G-Alatortsev,V/Leningrad 1938/0–1 (55); and

(b) 10... Bd7, as essayed by V. Ignacio against me in our local match in 1977. The game continued with 11.f4 Qc7 12.Kh1 Rac8 13.a5, White has a clear plus; Marcos,J-Ignacio,V/Cabiao, (m/3) 1977/1–0 (40)]

10.f4 0–0 11.Nb3 Qc7 12.a5!

This move gives White a clear advantage. On the other hand, needing a win in the crucial last round game of Araw ng Kabanatuan 1978 against R. Guillermo I played the double-edged 12.g4!? Rd8 13.a5 Qe7 14.g5 Nd7 15.Qd2 Nc5 16.Bf3 Rb8 17.Qf2 Nxb3 18.cxb3 Nb4 19.Ba7 Nc6 20.Bb6 Re8 21.Rad1, and after lots of complications. White went on to win the game and topped the tournament, 1–0 (47).

12...Ne8?!

This was a prelude to a novel idea of kingside counter-play. The normal 12...Nd7 keeps White ahead.

13.Qd2 f5!?

The idea behind 12... Ne8. Each protagonist wanted to win and ventured into unchartered and dangerous waters.

14.exf5 Rxf5 15.Bb6 Qe7 16.Rae1 Bxc3 17.bxc3!? Bd7 18.Qe3

White still leads after 18 Bf3 Rf7.

18...Ng7 19.Bd3 Rf7 20.g4 Raf8

Black's best try for equality was 20...e5.

21.Qg3 Kh8

Black should try 21...e5.

22.Nd2! d5?

Black feared the knight leap to e4 so he prevented it. Instead, 22... e5!?² is the best option Black has.

23. Nb3!!

An exquisite switchback. Both 2009 Deep versions of Fritz and Rybka evaluated this position as winning for White.

22... Qf6 24.Nd4 Re8

Better but not enough was 24... Nxd4!? 25.Bxd4.

25.Nxc6 Bxc6 26.Re5

Also 26.Bd4 Qd8 27.h4 e5 28.Bxe5 is winning.

26...Rc8 27.Bd4! Qe7

If 27...Kg8 then 28.Ree1 Qe7 29.f5 with White winning.

28.f5!!

A decisive breakthrough. Black ran out of time having failed to make 40 moves in two hours.

1–0

The Chess Connoisseur finds a new home

2009-07-10T02:40:00.010+10:00

To all chess enthusiasts out there, here's good news. The Chess Connoisseur has found a new home at blogspot.com.

Wait for further updates as we post fresh materials.

See you soon!

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The old pages can still be accessed at:

http://users.datec.net.pg/~komrad

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