Chess thread

[curnow]

www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4011396/the-shoe-assistant--ivanov-forfeits-at-blagoevgrad-031013.aspx

Nice story, Maxim Dlugy is a bit of a dude!

need to work on this , good plan for next congress !!!

[Tal]

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4011410/ivanov-ends-his-chess-career-051013.aspx

I somehow don't think this is over

[Tal]

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4011444/kasparov-for-president--2014-fide-campaign-081013.aspx

Garry Kasparov has thrown his hat into the ring to become the head of world chess at the next opportunity. Karpov tried a few years ago and, after all manner of controversies, disputes and bitter challenges, lost to the current President, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Ilyumzhinov has run the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) for the past 18 years and remains a popular figure in some quarters. I think Sepp Blatter would be a useful comparator. He divides opinion and makes decisions that leave senior figures and competitors scratching their heads. But he wins elections, so can't be doing everything wrong.

Kasparov is a more experienced political figure than Karpov and has assembled a strong team to mount a challenge. Few would dare to suggest he has no chance, but the current president holds a lot of sway and it will take a hefty barnacle scraper to get him out of office. Let us not forget that Kasparov himself has one or two people in Russia who aren't hugely keen on him.

It will be interesting to see what develops.


Elsewhere, there are tournaments galore involving all but two players (Carlsen and Anand). Chessbase and other sites have all the details and games.

[theprawnidentity]

Following the openings homework you gave me ages ago identifying various leaks with the mis-use / mistreatment of pieces, I present to you my revised workings.  Played vs a 1400 ELO shredder which just about gets the better of me.  Was quite proud with what I done 'ere.  Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated:

1.e2-e4 Ng8-f6 2.Nb1-c3 e7-e5 3.f2-f4 d7-d5 4.f4xe5 Nf6xe4 5.Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6 6.d2-d3 Ne4xc3 7.b2xc3 f7-f6 8.Qd1-e2 Ke8-d7 9.e5-e6+ Kd7-e8 10.Nf3-d4 Nc6xd4 11.c3xd4 Bf8-b4+ 12.Ke1-d1 Ke8-e7 13.c2-c3 Bb4xc3 14.Bc1-a3+ Ke7-e8 15.Ra1-c1 Bc3xd4 16.Qe2-g4 c7-c5 17.Qg4xg7 Rh8-f8 18.Qg7xh7 Bc8xe6 19.Qh7xb7 Be6-g4+ 20.Bf1-e2 Rf8-f7 21.Qb7-c6+ Ke8-f8 22.Be2xg4 f6-f5 23.Bg4-f3 Rf7-e7 24.Bf3xd5 Ra8-c8 25.Qc6-h6+ Kf8-e8 26.Bd5-c6+ Rc8xc6 27.Qh6xc6+ Qd8-d7 28.Qc6-g6+ Re7-f7 29.Rh1-e1+ Ke8-d8 30.Ba3xc5 Bd4xc5 31.Rc1xc5 Qd7xd3+ 32.Kd1-c1 Rf7-d7 33.Qg6-f6+ Rd7-e7 34.Qf6-h8+ Kd8-d7 35.Qh8-c8+ Kd7-d6 36.Qc8-c6#

Spent a good few hours on YouTube looking at openings and took your advice on the Vienna Opening.  Thanks for any feedback in advance!

[Tal]

Hi Tomsom. Things are a bit busy at Tal Towers atm but I will have a look over the next few days and feed back.

Glad to hear you're enjoying the opening.

[theprawnidentity]

Thanks. No rush, not sure there's such thing as a chess emergency.  More important that you keep the Tal empire ticking over.

[curnow]

just quick look at game , one thing that people make is not getting your king safe in the opening

7....f6 , a lot of people like this but it leaves your king exposed & moving your king stops you from castling & blocks your bishop from developing , you want to look to develop & get your king safe in the opening

there is a few moves like g5 instead of c5 , it stops the queen getting in & bringing your bishop back after he checked you on c6 but dont think you done that bad , its not easy against computers & easy to make mistakes & personaly prefer to play realy players like on chessworld.net even though its correspondence chess

[theprawnidentity]

Thanks a lot.  I will replay the game myself later and look for those things.  I quite the test of the computer because it's so unforgiving, also I'm a here and now kind of person and correspondence chess would be probably put me on life tilt.  A bit selfish really, I like to take my time and think things through and expect my opponent to play back instantly.  Some people!!!!!

[Tal]

Chess has been low on my priorities for the last few weeks (nothing bad, just very busy), so I've ducked the first few games for my league side. My first game will be on Monday and, given I haven't picked up a piece in anger in six months, it could be interesting.

[theprawnidentity]

GL with it, hopefully you run good.  Did my usually nightly hour vs the computer, still on 1400 shredder and I'm not sure where it went wrong here.  Possibly the shortest game I've ever played:

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. Nb5 h5 4. Be2 d5 5. Bxh5 g6 6. Bf3 Bd7 7. Qe2 d4 8. Qc4
Na6 9. c3 Be6 10. Qa4 d3 11. Nc7 1-0

It's weird cause I've never won this easily before.  Maybe getting better but does the computer make any serious errors here?

Instead of d3 it should have played f6?
I also thought h5 was a strange choice as well?

Also, as far as mates go, I think this one is quite sexy!!!

[Tal]

So, the first game of the season - well, for me, anyway - started better than it finished. I will post the game at some point, but don't have it with me and my days of remembering my games in their entirety are long behind me.

I played a Nimzo-Indian defence as black against 1.d4, which is to play Nf6, e6, Bb4 (to pin the knight that inevitably comes to c3) and usually c5 to attack d4 and undermine white's centre. I got a good position from it and we castled opposite ways. My king was less vulnerable to attack than his, though, and I soon found myself in the ascendancy.

Sadly, when you don't play for eight months (my captain greeted me with this stat), you will make mistakes. I am normally strong in time scrambles and tend to get the odd point or two late in games, but this time it was I who made the mistakes, pushing for a mate that the kibitzers now watching the last game left of the six boards informed me afterwards wasn't there. The match was already won, so it was a guilt-free pursuit of personal glory, but, alas, I snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

I'm pleased with how I played, nevertheless, although I think the villain was a little passive at times.

Never mind, we move on.

[curnow]

my last league game , over on after white's move on 17.Qb3 , it still takes me few mins to workout he had just blundered but think he should have resigned then instead of wasting next hour until he resigns , only thing think I should have done was push the e pawn like on move 28 , anyway happy spotted the mistake & easy win

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Bd3 g6 6. O-O Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8.
Nd2 Nbd7 9. N2f3 Nc5 10. Rc1 (10. e5 dxe5 11. Nxe5 Nd5) 10... Ncxe4 11. Ng5
Nxg5 12. Bxg5 a6 13. c3 Bd7 14. Kh1 Qa5 15. Bxf6 Bxf6 16. a3 Qb6 17. Qb3 Bxd4
18. Qxb6 Bxb6 19. f3 Be6 20. Be4 Rab8 21. f4 Rfd8 22. f5 gxf5 23. Bxf5 Bxf5 24.
Rxf5 e5 25. Rcf1 Rd7 26. Rf6 Re8 27. R1f3 e4 28. Rf1 Be3 (28... e3 29. Re1 e2
30. g3 Kg7 31. Rf3 d5 32. Kg2 d4 33. Rd3 dxc3 34. Rxd7 cxb2 35. Rxb7 Ba5 36.
Kf2 Re6 37. Rxe2 Bb6+) 29. h4 Bd2 30. R1f2 e3 31. Re2 Re6 32. Rf4 Rc7 33. g3 b5
34. Kg2 Rg6 35. Kf3 Kg7 36. g4 Rf6 37. Rxf6 Kxf6 38. Rxe3 Bxe3 39. Kxe3 Ke5 40.
h5 Rc4 41. g5 Rg4 0-1

[Tal]

I haven't done this in a while, but here's a game I played on Monday. I have no idea whether it went as smoothly as it ought and haven't played through the game with Shredder or Fritz.
 
Here goes:
 
White: Hero
Black: Villain
 
1. d4 (couldn't be sure what sort of game to expect from my opponent, so went with something quieter to start me off)
               Nf6
2. c4        c5
3. d5       d6 
4. Nc3     Bf5
5. e3  (I did contemplate 5.f3, with e4 and Be3 to follow and don't know the theory on this stuff. Seemed sensible to keep the light bishops on and keep the centre nice and tight for the time being)    
                Nbd7
6. Nf3      Bg4
7. Be2      g6
8. 0-0  (I'm really not worried about the long diagonal, especially with it being difficult for him to open the b-file effectively and having his pieces on the kingside. The pawn can stay on e3 until I'm ready, too)      
                 Bg7
9. e4 (ready!)
                  0-0
10. Bg5 (the idea will be obvious in a minute)
                  h6
11. Be3  (and now Black has a permanent weakness in his kingside, when he wants to be looking to challenge the centre with ...f5 or ...e6, as that's why he has his pieces on that side. If I can, I want to keep the bishop pair and slowly look for a way to expose His Majesty)
                  Kh7
12. Qc2  (possible was the explosive 12. Ng5+?! but, after the exchanges, Black can play Ne5 and pick up the c-pawn as compensation for the lost pawn on g5. I'm not convinced this is better than keeping the position tight for now)
                   a6
13. Kh1   (Black's pieces are nowhere near ready to try anything ambitious on b5, so there seems no point in playing 13. a4 and risking weakening my position. Meanwhile, I'm trying to encourage an exchange on f3)
                   Rb8
14. Rg1       Qc7 (He seems to be trying to get ...e5 in, but that's going to take some preparation)
15. Bd3       Rbe8 (Black has to concede defeat on his ambitious queenside plan)
16. h3     (I had held off on this move, as I would have preferred the exchange on f3 without any other damage to my king. Provided I don't let his queen in through d7, I'm fine, though)
                    BxNf3
17. gxBf3     e5  (this is going to need to work for Black to hold, but it fails somewhat spectacularly)
18. dxe6      Rxe6 (if he takes with the pawn, 19. e5! with the revealed threat on g6 is horrible)
19. f4 (the final preparatory move)
                    Rfe8
20. e5!         dxe5
21. Bxg6+!   Kh8 (if 21...Kg8 22. Bxf7+ KxBf7 23.Qg6+ is equally unpleasant for him)
22. Bxf7       exf4

I played one more move and Black resigned. What was it?
 

 
I don't get many games where the plan works. Black probably played a little passively but I don't think there was an outright blunder

Thoughts?

[The Baron]

Isn't there a heads up match in India somewhere this month. Both players sound alright from what I've heard.

Thoughts? Is it as easy as Carlsen wins?

Been looking forward to this for over two years.

[Tal]

Isn't there a heads up match in India somewhere this month. Both players sound alright from what I've heard.

Thoughts? Is it as easy as Carlsen wins?

Been looking forward to this for over two years.

I am hugely excited about it and so, I am sure, is the chess world.

It's more than Old Guy v New Guy; Anand was a child prodigy but came about at the wrong time. Kasparov dominated during the Nineties and he would give him a terrific game, but it's like comparing Jimmy Greaves to Pele. Anand was known early on for the speed of his play, much like his opponent next week. Both have calmed down.

Anand's style was aggressive, combined with a rigorous study of opening theory. He is a remarkable and gifted man who happens to play chess. That sounds unfair, but I mean it as a compliment. He won the World Title in an all play all comp in Mexico City but has justified the crown with his defences since. He excels at matchplay, perhaps because he had such a tough schooling playing matches against Kasparov, Karpov and the-like, when he was the next best.

Anyone expecting Carlsen to walk away with the title is sorely to be disappointed. Anyone who thinks the home field advantage won't count for anything is gravely mistaken; Carlsen and his people fought tooth and nail to prevent FIDE from awarding the match to Anand's home city and, when they ignored him and did it anyway, he issued a statement personally to express his disappointment. Commentators will rightly say he will be shipped in and out from a chessboard in a silent box, but he has to get there, acclimatise and eat, sleep and live in an unfamiliar city where everyone will be funking against him.

Anand is HUGE in India. In a country where Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni are almost worshipped as deities, Anand won the Sports Personality of the Year in 2012.

A couple of years ago, Anand played an exhibition rapidplay match against Alexei Shirov. Shirov is one of the few modern players to have a reasonably main line chess opening variation named after him. Anand prepared that variation. He worked hard on it and found an interesting move against it. He deliberately played his first few moves so that Shirov could play his variation and delivered his new move. Shirov - the man who invented the variation and made it a success - had no answer.

They played again the next day and Shirov avoided his own opening. This was quite a thing. Anand taunted him by allowing the same position to arise: "Do you have an answer yet, sir?", he effectively asked. That's what Carlsen faces: a man who is fiercely tenacious and who will look to get inside the Norwegian's head.

But this is Magnus. The highest rated chess player who ever lived. He will be happy to play long games and look to outplay Anand in his strongest part of the game: the endgame. He will vary his openings so as to make it difficult for his opponent to prepare. He might not play the same variation twice in the match, even if he wins a game.

I can't wait