Chess thread

[Tal]

Had a nightmare with HH's and replayers and things but decided to alter cause I finally found something that works:

http://www.chess-poster.com/english/pgn/pgnviewer/lt_pgn_viewer.htm

1.g3 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.Bh3 d5 4.Bxc8 Qxc8 5.0-0 Qh3 6.Re1 Nd7 7.b3
Ngf6 8.c4 0-0-0 9.d3 e6 10.Ba3 c6 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.d4 Kb8 13.Nbd2
Qf5 14.Rc1 h6 15.Nc4 g5 16.Nce5 Nxe5 17.dxe5 Bxe5 18.Nxe5 Qxe5
19.Qd2 Qe4 20.Bb2 f6 21.Qa5 Ka8 22.Rc4 Qf5 23.e4 b6 24.Qa4 b5
25.Qa5 Qg4 26.exd5 Qf3 27.Rxc6 Qxd5 28.Bxf6 Qxc6 29.Bxd8 Rf8
30.Bc7 Rf7 31.Be5 Rd7 32.h4 gxh4 33.gxh4 a6 34.Re3 Rf7 35.Rg3
Qc1+ 36.Kg2 Kb7 37.Rg8 Qc5 38.Rb8+ Ka7 39.Bg3 e5 40.b4 Qc3 41.Qb6#
1-0

Think I played ok in this.  Im sure there will be some mistakes somewhere.  This is vs Shredder playing somewhere between 1350-1400.  Any thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated.  Was a bit confused by the computers Qc3 move, why wouldn't it have played Qc6?

Hi Tomsom

I think you played that well. I would definitely look to keep your light-squared bishop on the board. When you set up that pawn formation of f2-g3-h2, you give the bishop lots of scope. If you take the bishop off the board, you leave holes.

A good trick to rememeber is one I mentioned the other day: if your pawns are fixed on one colour, keep the bishop on the OTHER squares. This is your "good" bishop. By extension, the bishop your opponent will be trying to swap your good bishop off for is his "bad" bishop.

In your game, by playing 3.Bh3, you got rid of what would generally turn out to be your good bishop and his bad bishop.

Concentrate on getting the pieces working together in an attack and watch out for any little tricks and traps your opponent might be setting.

Curnow covered a lot, so I hope this all helps.

[theprawnidentity]

Thanks a lot for taking some time to look at my game.  I will defo take your advice on board and look to improve.  I defo need to think more about a long game with chess, at the moment I seem to focus my game on a move by move basis (well, never much further than 2-3 moves ahead anyway).  I will also look at buying that book you suggested, but for the next 2 weeks at least, I should probably focus a little bit more on finishing my course!!!!

[Tal]

Thanks a lot for taking some time to look at my game.  I will defo take your advice on board and look to improve.  I defo need to think more about a long game with chess, at the moment I seem to focus my game on a move by move basis (well, never much further than 2-3 moves ahead anyway).  I will also look at buying that book you suggested, but for the next 2 weeks at least, I should probably focus a little bit more on finishing my course!!!!

Yeah finish your course first. Books will still be there when you're done.

The majority of your thinking will be 2-3 moves anyway, but positional play is important to balance that. This is the more general stuff like keeping your better pieces and getting rid of the villain's better pieces, improving your pawn structure and weakening the villain's defences.

Nimzovich should tick a few of those boxes rather nicely.

A few on this thread haven't read the book for a while (myself included). Be interested to hear your thoughts on it as and when.

Good luck with your studies.

[Tal]

For those who don't know what I'm on about but don't fancy reading a chess book (you know who you are ), here's a wiki on the basics:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_System

[Tal]

A spectator gets excited at the French Open tennis final, when Novak Djokovic wins a point against Rafa Nadal:



Former World Champion and Paris resident, Vladmir Kramnik.

[Tal]

A brilliant piece on a match between Ivanchuk and Giri. Ivanchuk had a bit of a Ronnie O'Sullivan moment after the second day, threatening retirement. Day three was ten five minute games and the other Chucky turned up. Proper pwnaments:

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4010110/ivanchuk-beats-giri-in-leon-100613.aspx

[exstream]

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4010032/experts-weigh-in-on-ivanovs-performance-060613.aspx
This was a good read, maybe already mentioned.
Thoughts?

[Tal]

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4010032/experts-weigh-in-on-ivanovs-performance-060613.aspx
This was a good read, maybe already mentioned.
Thoughts?

Thank you for that, exstream.

I've mentioned the chap briefly before but not this article. It really is a fascinating topic. It seems like the majority accept he's cheating but no one can prove it. This begs the question: if no one can prove he's cheating, despite all the searches and all the exposure (literally), shouldn't we conclude he isn't cheating?

If he is swindling, it will be as impressive a feat as The Turk, because no one has found out how he's doing it.

[Tal]

An amazing first day in Moscow. Kramnik took huge risks against Carlsen but threw one too many haymakers, left himself exposed and lost.

Nakamura looks burned out and this is not the sort of comp to do that in. He won the blitz tournament yesterday, but that's his absolute comfort zone. He lost after making a mistake against Mamedyarov and the Azeri was completely ruthless.

The other decisive game was Caruana beating Anand by going full throttle at the World Champion. Very brave but exceptionally well played.

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4010138/tal-01-carlsen-caruana-and-mamedyarov-strike-130613.aspx

[MintTrav]

Nakamura looks burned out and this is not the sort of comp to do that in.

That reminds me of Ali - "It is the wrong time to get tired George."

[Tal]

Nakamura looks burned out and this is not the sort of comp to do that in.

That reminds me of Ali - "It is the wrong time to get tired George."

A few players will be reflecting on how they organise their calendars. It's annoying for spectators, too

[Tal]

As you saw today, the emphasis was not really on winning in the opening. As long as I'm in good form, and I have a good attitude towards the games, I can do very well. It may not depend too much on opening preparation. I probably won't play all my ideas for the World Championship here, but that's probably because I don't know what they are yet!

The words of Magnus Carlsen after his win yesterday.

An alternative report of the action:

http://www.chessvibes.com/carlsen-caruana-mamedyarov-start-with-wins-at-tal-memorial

[Tal]

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4010147/tal-02-nakamura-and-gelfand-win-with-black-150613.aspx

Obviously, I bokked Kramnik good and proper by suggesting Nakamura was in trouble. To be fair, he was, as Kramnik got a dominant position that you would expect him to see home with little difficulty. Not to be, though, and Nakamura complicated the position by the clever find 27...Nc4! He outplayed the Russian from there, as if given confidence by that move.

Gelfand's win against Caruana was a belter. I'd emplore you top have a look at it and/or to watch the video by Danny King on the link above.



Hikaru Nakamura

[Tal]

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4010152/tal-03-a-trio-of-precise-wins-150613.aspx

Round Three

Vishy Anand   1-0 Alexander Morozevich   
Boris Gelfand ½-½ Dmitry Andreikin   
Magnus Carlsen 0-1 Fabiano Caruana   
Hikaru Nakamura    1-0 Sergey Karjakin
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik

Nakamura shows us just how fine the lines are between triumph and disaster. He was all but dead yesterday and was looking tired. He found one move against Kramnik and it seemed to be the catalyst for a complete resurgence. He won today very impressively against Karjakin. It is incredible how in so many sports, games and pursuits at the top level, just one result or one moment of inspiration can turn it all around.

Anand beat Morozevich in a quiet game. The Ruy Lopez is an opening very familiar to these guys and the position after 25 moves has probably been seen a few times in their analysis. Anand had opted for patience against a player who likes to try something when the position is boring. Good decision. Morozevich must have taken the critical sip of coffee on move 37 and pushed his f-pawn forward unwisely. Anand was wholly without Ruth. He was ruthless.

Carlsen has looked borderline mortal of late. He is actually not winning every tournament and has even occasionally made mistakes. Today, he did it again, misjudging an endgame against the temperamental Caruana. The Italian has beaten Anand and Carlsen already, so that's the World Champ and the Candidate. But he lost to Gelfand, who would have been a big price to win this comp.

That said, here is the crosstable:





Lord Smug of Smuggington. Increditekkers.

[AdamM]

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/8zLxVR/:ley5iHpA:PgAhZ8lj/www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgeYScYe8wI/