(9/30)  Mexico:  GM Ray Keene's latest article (Keene On Chess) looks at the FIDE World Championship and includes two annotated games:  Botvinnik-Euwe, World Championship Match-Tournament The Hague/Moscow 1948, a Slav Defence; and Kramnik – Morozevich, World Championship, Mexico City 2007, a Catalan Opening.  "Traditionally, the title of world champion is decided by a mano a mano battle between the world’s two top players.  This format was recognised even in the early matches between Staunton and St Amant, and Morphy and Anderssen, which predate the widely accepted year (1886) from which the Championship officially emanates.  The sole exception to this rule hitherto was 1948 when Alekhine’s death as incumbent caused an interregnum which necessitated a five-man match tournament to decide the destination of the title..."

(9/30)  Review:  World Champion Fischer (CD) by GM Robert Huebner, Reviewed by Prof. Nagesh Havanur.  Fans of the Professor's reviews know he almost always includes two or more fully annotated games in each review, and this one is in that mold.  Included are the games Tringov - Fischer, Havana 1965; Ficher - Larsen, Candidates'  Match Semifinal ( 1) 10.6.07.1971; and Fischer - Huebner, Interzonal, 09.11.1970.  "November 9, 1970. Play at the Interzonal, Palma de Mallorca  has just begun.  The tournament hall is abuzz with excitement.  Robert James Fischer, the American champion, has once again staked his claim at the World Championship cycle.  After his resounding defeat of Petrosian in the Match of the Century (3:1) and victories at the Rovinj–Zagreb and Buenos Aires events ahead of the Soviet GMs, there has been no looking back for Fischer.   His first round opponent is a slim bespectacled player, Robert Huebner from Cologne, West Germany.  His shy and serious demeanor betrays no sign of being intimidated by his formidable rival.  The game  takes a dramatic course, with Fischer blundering away a piece in the later middle game.  It is drawn only after a dynamically balanced position is reached.  The rest is history.  Fischer won the First Prize at the Interzonal  and beat Taimanov (6-0!), Larsen (6-0 again!) and Petrosian (6.5-3.5) in the Candidates’ Matches.  Soon after he won the World Championship after beating Spassky in what was billed as The Match of The Century.  The rise of his young opponent Huebner was less spectacular..."  World Champion Fischer (CD)

(9/30)  The Parrot's Rare Chess Photo Collection - Album 2 From the first half of 2007.  [See also The Parrot's Rare Chess Photos - Album 1]

(9/30)  Chess Fiction:  The Great Raccoon Hunt, by P.D. Fawcett (also known as The Hawk).  The Hawk on The Hawk:  "My stories are based 'loosely' on my own experiences & have a ring of truth to the events I write about.  The characters are in fact real people, but their names have been changed to protect the innocent..."

(9/29)  Alekhine's Parrot:  Welcome to the weekly leader of chess events around the world.  This week: Players Corner Take-2 on the Dilworth VISWANATHAN ANAND IS THE NEW FIDE WORLD CHAMPION !! Enter… The Rook YOUR FORTUNE IN THE PAWNS

(9/29)  Nuestro Círculo #269:  29 de septiembre de 2007, dedicado al Maestro Internacional húngaro Tibor Florian (1919-1990). Además de su biografía, publicamos todas las partidas de las rondas 7 a 11 del Campeonato Mundial México 2007 que está encabezando el GM indio Viswanathan Anand cuando sólo faltan 3 rondas para consagrar al campéon del mundo. Te invitamos a leer su biografía y las notas "Ajedrez popular", "Partidas amenas" y "Andrés Palu: 8 años".  Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje español.

(9/23)  Chessville Vignettes: If You Must Meet Arnold Denker, a remembrance by Larry Parr.  Denker, former US Champion, and once among the top-20 players in the world, about whom Al Horowitz once wrote, "He can handle an attack with a fertility of ideas and richness of imagination that are rare."  The author, Larry Parr is currently living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and is the collaborator with Dato' Tan Chin Nam on the memoir, Never Say I Assume! (MPH Publishing, 2006).  Another Chessville Vignette!  "My first meeting with Arnold Denker back in 1983 was simultaneously exciting and deflating.  We ended up getting along fabulously.  Arnold was visiting Seattle, Washington, with his beautiful wife Nina, who had done radio and movie work in the 1930s and 40s.  Robert Karch, a local chess organizer and a future USCF secretary, asked if I wished to meet the great man, and I reverentially toted along my copy of If You Must Play Chess, his book of best games published in 1947.  “What’s this?  A British edition?” Arnold asked in booming Noi Yawkese as he autographed the book without my asking.  “They never told me about it.  I’ll have to ask them for royalties.”  All of this, and we had not yet said hello, though he had slapped me on the back with the force of someone who had once been a boxer and a fight manager..."

(9/23)  Chess Quotations:  A fresh batch of quotations, from Quotemaster Kelly!  That's our Forum Host, Kelly Atkins, who collected and organized our original quote collection, back at it again, with another look into the sound-bite world of chess.  Enjoy!  "Chess is my world.  Not a house, nor a castle where I can hide from life's troubles, but precisely a world.  A world where I can express myself." – Mikhail Tal

(9/22)  Nuestro Círculo #268:  22 de septiembre de 2007, dedicado al Gran Maestro ruso Vladimir P. Simagin (1919/1968).  Te invitamos a leer su biografía y las notas "¿Ajedrez=aburrido?", "Lara Stock GMF" y "Mundial Méjico 2007".  Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje español.

(9/22)  Alekhine's Parrot:  Welcome to the weekly leader of chess events around the world.  This week: Players Corner: This week: an unusual Sicilian when, instead of the usual pawn gambit, the Queen is offered up in payment in this Alapin variation. Karpov:  "I am not in favour of children having to study chess during the whole period of the school education.  It is difficult to be forced to study this game..." Fritz/Rybka play the "Game of the Century" Byrne-Fischer EXACTLY like RJF did.  Amazing and Greetings from Amsterdam.  Albert H. Alberts, author of How to Fool Fritz

(9/22)  Chess Cartoon:  by Randall Munroe, of the website xkcd.  Just click on the link - and enjoy!

(9/16)  Chess History: Lord Dunsany - Master of Pen and Sword.  A brand new Past Pawns article by Robert Tuohey.  "Merely being christened Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, would seem, if not actually to augur, at least to foreshadow, a life of some importance. In the present case, however, Fate triple-guarded herself: the appellation rang with dignity, the family background was illustrious, and, most importantly, the child so-named was possessed of many exceptional qualities (note 1).  The father, John William Plunkett (17th Lord of Dunsany), was a descendant of one of Ireland’s most distinguished families (first official record of this hereditary title is 1190). The 17th Lord was, as his son was to be, a man of many parts: politician, mechanical engineer, scholar, and sportsman. The mother, Ernle Grosvenor, was from a well-established English family. The couple was married in 1877, and roughly one year later, July 24, 1878, were blessed with the aforementioned son..."

(9/16)  Chess Fiction:  The Three Sailors' Gambit by Lord Dunsany.  "Sitting some years ago in the ancient tavern at Over, one afternoon in Spring, I was waiting, as was my custom, for something strange to happen.  In this I was not always disappointed for the very curious leaded panes of that tavern, facing the sea, let a light into the low-ceilinged room so mysterious, particularly at evening, that it somehow seemed to affect the events within.  Be that as it may, I have seen strange things in that tavern and heard stranger things told..."  This story, originally published in 1916, was excerpted from Robert Tuohey's Lord Dunsany: Master of Pen and Sword.

(9/16)  Review:  Play the Nimzo-Indian by IM Edward Dearing, reviewed by NM Bill McGeary.  "The Nimzo Indian has been a standard for players of all strengths since the time of its namesake, Aron Nimzovich.  There can hardly be a better endorsement than the fact that every world champion since Capablanca has had the Nimzo in his repertoire.  The appeal of the Nimzo is its greatest strength, its flexibility.  Sorting through the vast cornucopia of variations in the mainline Rubinstein variation (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 c5 6.Nf3 d5 7.0-0 Nc6 - diagram) was a chore that few amateurs would relish.  Still, becoming bogged down in one variation or branch of the opening would be to deny that strength we know - flexibility.  Books on the Nimzo have generally been overviews of the morass which defines the opening as a whole.  Only a couple of authors had attempted to write "repertoire" books on the Nimzo, and those authors didn't receive the praise due them.  So when I saw that a new book "Play the Nimzo Indian" was out, I expected another compendium of material that was only useful when I played somebody else who had read the book.  Instead, I was surprised, delighted and wrong.  Dearing has gone quite a long distance in writing this book..."

(9/16)  The Parrot's Rare Chess Picture Collection:  Beginning with his July 22, 2006 column The Parrot has provided the chess world with "Rare Chess Pictures" each week.  Today we present the first photo album from this amazing and absorbing panoply of images and ideas from the world of chess.  Pages may take a while to load - your patience shall be rewarded though with a wonderful assortment of images.  Pictured are such luminaries as Capablanca, Fischer, Larsen, and others including Che Guevara, Tom Hanks, even Alekhine's police-"death photo"  There's even a photo of The Parrot his-self.  Enjoy all 35 images in this initial collection of The Parrot's Rare Chess Pictures - Album 1!

(9/16)  Chess Training:  A new "Recon64" Move Prediction Exercise from Jim Mitch (aka Prof. Chester Nuhmentz.)  Today's game is that featured in September's Chess-Vision exercise, from the famous St. Petersburg tournament of 1914.  Emmanuel Lasker develops positional advantages and controls the initiative in this game, restricting Jose Capablanca to an uncomfortably defensive role.  Similar to Predict-A-Move and Solitaire-type chess exercises, Recon64 challenges players to find candidate moves from games played by masters.  Players are encouraged to search for several strong candidate moves in each position, and are rewarded as long as their list of moves includes the move selected by the master during the game.  As an extra twist, players invest Recon64 dollars on candidate moves based on how likely they think each move was used in the original game.

(9/15)  Alekhine's Parrot:  Welcome to the weekly leader of chess events around the world.  This week: Players Corner: This week: another Spanish Gambit: Ruy Lopez - Möller System Short shrift from FIDE Nigel Short has been  making comments and asking questions that FIDE doesn’t like... Editor:  Also check out: The Parrot's Rare Chess Pictures - Album 1

(9/15)  Nuestro Círculo #267:  15 de septiembre de 2007, que dedicamos al Gran Maestro húngaro Laszlo Szabo (1917/1998). Te invitamos a leer su biografía y las notas "Aguafiestas", "La televisión dinamita", "Kasparov opina", "Campeón argentino", "Campeonato Femenino 2007" y "México 2007".  Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje español.

(9/9)  Review:  Discipline by Paco Ahlgren, reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "Discipline concerns Douglas Cole, a young man who, as the book opens, is living in Austin, Texas.  He is clearly both on his way up - and on his way down.  His work side is in finance, trading futures, which is a bit of an ironically-titled vocation, given that his play side is a live-action depiction of the ravages of hard core drug abuse.  At one point he works on a software program to help him more effectively analyze financial data and improve his money-making actions.  Predictably, he fares like Chess Challenger 7 in a match against Kramnik...  In its unfolding Discipline investigates the concept of time (and time travel) – “With the concept of time we have manufactured a monster” – any chess player who has experienced zeitnot knows this woe intimately.  What would it take to go forward or backwards in time?  How do you prepare for the future when it’s already past?  (Or as the old t-shirt puts it: Time flies like an arrow.  Fruit flies like a banana.)  Connected to this is the notion of the “multiverse,” that for every choice a person makes, there is an alternate universe where the person makes another choice.  (Imagine a universe where Bobby didn’t play 29…Bxh2 in his first World Championship game with Spassky.)  In that scenario we quickly run up a whole lot of universes..."