(3/27)  Review: Emil Josef Diemer 1908-1990 A Life Devoted to Chess by Alan Dommett, reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "Shortly after completing my review of Kaj Björkqvist’s Romantic D-Pawns, An opening repertoire for White, I discovered Emil Josef Diemer 1908-1990 A Life Devoted to Chess (2003) by Alan Dommett.  Without wishing to put words in Professor Björkqvist’s mouth, it would nonetheless seem to me that those chess players who enjoyed Romantic D-Pawns and the gambits within will now find that A Life Devoted to Chess is what the good Doctor might have ordered next…"

Colin James III offers this analysis :  "The Berlin Defense is well known as an effective answer to the Spanish Opening, also named the Ruy Lopez.  The Fishing Hook or Fishing Pole is a variation at the fourth move for Black where a black knight is presented as bait to be taken by the rook pawn of White.

The move order is C65: 1 e4 e5  2 Nf3 Nc6  4 Bb5 Nf6  4 0-0 Ng4  5 h3 h5..."

(3/20)  Review: The Bishop's Opening Explained by Gary Lane, reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "The Bishop’s Opening is the Gumby of King pawn openings.  Bend it this way, you have the Vienna Opening.  Bend it that way, you have the Giuoco Piano.  Give it a twist, you have the Petroff.  Give it another twist and you have the Two Knights Defense.  Squash it flat and you get a Philidor’s Defense.  Unroll it and you have a Four Knights Game.  Pull it to its limits and you can wind up with a closed Ruy Lopez.  Snap it, and you get a King’s Gambit.  The opening’s flexibility once moved Tim Harding, (whose out-of-print pioneering study thirty years ago is still worth searching for) to title one of his 1998 “Kibitzer” columns “What Exactly Is the Bishop’s Opening?”  Luckily, we now have Gary Lane to explain..."
 

Jude Acers
2005 Tour

Lecture - Book Signing - All America Chess Tour.  Book Signing of:

Acers On Tour - Page 2
Acers On Tour - Page 3

(3/17)  Review:  Survival Guide for Chess Parents by Tanya Jones, reviewed by Phil Innes.  "Tanya Jones is the chess-mom of Gawain, who first made the headlines at age 9 when he beat an IM. She offers us this book of advice on chess parenting as a map of the terrain, and chapter by chapter covers most of its known landmarks, and all-in-all is the chess-mom we wish we all had!..."

(3/9)  BOBBY WILL BE RELEASED IF
HE RECEIVES AN ICELANDIC CITIZENSHIP

Masko Suzuki, Bobby Fischer lawyer received today a formal negative answer from the Immigration Office of Japan's Ministry of Justice, that RJF´s request for voluntary departure on the bases of his new Icelandic Alien Passport was declined.  However she learned through unofficial means that Bobby would be released right away if he would be granted an Icelandic citizenship.

(3/7)  BREAKING NEWS  From the Icelandic delegation in Tokyo, Japan:  Bobby's lawyer, Masko Suzuki, received this afternoon, ( late evening here) his passport which has been kept in the Icelandic Embassy here for more than a week.  She will, early to-morrow morning, notify the Directory of Immigration / Ministry of Justice and the Director of Detention Center "Tourist Camp Lock-Up" where the World Champion has been imprisoned for almost eight months because of an allegedly invalid US passport, and demand for his immediate release and free travel permission.  Read more, including touching news of Bobby's reunion with his old friend Sæmi, along with pictures of Bobby's passport, and the Icelandic Delegation in Japan to secure his release.

GMs Nakamura and Blatny
 

Why are these people smiling?

First World Championship
Chessdarts 2005

(3/4)  First World Championship Chessdarts:  On February 28, 2005 the first World Championship in Chessdarts took place in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 32 chess pieces and 3 darts, in addition to some excellent darts and chess players, is everything you need for an unique and original event. The venue of the World Championship was the magnificent Krasnopolsky Hotel, in exactly the same room where Max Euwe beat Alexander Alekhine in 1935.

(2/27)  Review:  How To Play Dynamic Chess by Valeri Beim, reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "Remember the old story about the guy with a piece of malfunctioning machinery who called in someone to fix it?  The mechanic looked things over, pulled out a mallet and gave a serious tap – and the machinery sprung to life.  “Five hundred dollars for that??” roared the manager when he was presented with the bill. “For ten bucks my son would have come over and hit the machine.”  “It’s ten bucks for me to come over,” replied the mechanic, “and four hundred and ninety dollars for knowing where to hit.”  Building on his well-received Chess Recipes From the Grandmaster’s Kitchen (2002) and Lessons in Chess Strategy (2003), Grandmaster Beim presents How to Play Dynamic Chess..."
 

ICELANDIC PASSPORT FOR BOBBY FISCHER

(2/23)  Update:  The latest news is that the Icelandic Authorities had just decided to grant Fischer a special foreigners’ passport which would allow him to travel to western Europe.  Read the details in this update from the Icelandic RJF Committee.

If this measure to help Bobby Fischer out does not work the Althingi will proceed with citizenship. Citizenship by parliamentary degree is granted twice a year, next time in April. Bobby´s Icelandic passport has now already been processed and will be sent by a diplomatic mail to the Icelandic Embassy in Tokyo and handed over by the Ambassador in due course.

Saemi Palsson, Bobby´s old friend and bodyguard, with another member from our group as a second will be traveling to Japan in a couple of days with the intention to escort Bobby Fischer to Iceland, hopefully next week.  Above is Fischer's official Icelandic passport photo.
 

(2/20)  Review: Chess Fundamentals (in eBook format) by Jose Capablanca, reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "Some chess books never seem to go out of fashion.  If they’re written by the best of the best and contain a high level of wisdom or excitement, they continue to hold players’ interest across the decades.  Witness the outrageous prices that people on e-Bay still ask for – and get – for Bobby Fischer’s My 60 Memorable Games.  Or consider the continuing popularity of Capablanca’s Chess Fundamentals, published almost 85 years ago and still going strong..."

(2/19)  Top Ten Tell-Tale Signs of Chess Addiction:  by Robert Tuohey.  "Leading Iraqi clerics, good men that they are, have seen through the subtleties of Satan’s game, and have banned chess.  Allah bless them!  George W. Bush, good old boy that he is, never even learned the moves of the game.  God bless America!  World leaders are thus in agreement: Chess is a dangerous form of mental addiction.  What about you?  Do you see people as pawns?  Yourself as king?  Friend, the mere fact that you’re here at Chessville reading this article ain’t exactly in your favor.  For your own good, for the sake of your loved ones, take e few minutes to determine if you are a chess-o-holic."

"Mommy, what’s a chess-a-holic?"

Part One

(2/13)  The Unfortunate Fate of Salo Flohr: Robert Tuohey's latest Past Pawns article.  "Contemporary chess finds its threshold in the 1930s.  The “modernism” of the immortal Morphy, via Steinitz, found full expression in Lasker and Capablanca.  In oblique opposition, the hyper-modern school, lead by Nimzowitsch and Reti, developed.  Harmonizing these theoretical extremes were such monumental players as Botvinnik, Keres, and, most notably, Alekhine.  Indeed, a veritable cauldron of chess evolution boiled and rolled!  And one of the most feared players of the time was Salo Flohr..."

(2/12)  Free Download: 691 games of Salo Flohr, from 1927 to 1967.  This zipped pgn file includes games by Flohr against all the great players of his era, including, e.g., Rubenstein, Bogoljubow, Nimzowitsch, Alekhine, Tartakower, Euwe, Botvinnik, Capablanca, Fine, Em. Lasker, Reshevsky, Keres, Smyslov, Bronstein, Najdorf, Petrosian, Taimanov, Geller, Benko, Spassky, Gligoric, and many others.  Find this 141 kb file on our Downloads - Games by Players page.
 

(2/6)  Review: Secrets of Chess Defense by Mihail Marin, reviewed by Jens Madsen:  "Secrets of Chess Defence is the first book penned by Romanian Grandmaster Mihail Marin.  The book is a catalogue of ideas that will help toughen your abilities to defend difficult positions.  Admittedly, there is something unglamorous over this particular area of chess study, where pragmatism often takes precedence over aesthetics, and likely this explains why so relatively few books have been entirely dedicated to this subject.  In comparison, lots of authors have laid out the sound principles of chess strategy – principles that should supposedly spare you from inferior positions in the first place.  Of course, the muddled realities of over-the-board chess rarely cooperate fully with such text book principles, and so the road to chess wisdom is beset with bad positions!"
 

IM Igor Khmelnitsky
 

White To Play And Win

"The last part of the book features a remarkable array of 300 compositions, including studies, two-movers, three-movers, help-mates, and an assortment of puzzles.  For reasons of space I have only chosen a few of Benko's endgame studies..."

Benko composed this study
when he was sixteen.

For the solution, read Prof. Havanur's review of
Pal Benko: My Life, Games and Compositions
by Pal Benko with Jeremy Silman and John Watson

(1/28)  Review: Romantic D-Openings, An Opening Repertoire for White by Kaj Bjorkvist, Ph. D., reviewed by Rick Kennedy.

"Dr. Björkqvist, world-renowned researcher and writer on the topic of aggression, has produced a chess book that gives his recommendations for an opening repertoire.  Who is surprised that its backbone is the rambunctious Blackmar-Diemer Gambit?

Romantic D-Openings (the title refers to the classical 1.d4, not some kind of friendly opening like the exchange Slav) offers the following repertoire..."

Benko - Keres
Curacao 1962

(1/28)  Annotated Game: Benko-Keres, Curacao 1962 (27) Notes by Prof. Nagesh Havanur based on annotations by Pal Benko.  This game may have changed the course of Keres' career, as it may have cost him a chance at taking on Mikhail Botvinnik for the World Championship.  This game was extracted from the Professor's review of Benko's fantastic biograpahy, Pal Benko: My Life, Games and Compositions by Pal Benko with Jeremy Silman and John Watson.  See also a companion game, Keres - Benko, Curacao 1962 (20).

FIDE Training
Don’t miss
the action!
 

(1/27)  FIDE Trainers Committee:  by International Master Jovan Petronic, Chairman, FIDE Computer & Internet Chess Committee.  "In 1998 FIDE formed a powerful Committee comprising of leading chess trainers around the chess globe. Accordingly, it was named the FIDE Trainers Committee, and below, I will try to summarize the immense useful information for the readers, current major chess training activities and appeals of the Committee, etc..."
 

Keres - Benko
Curacao 1962

(1/26)  Annotated Game: Keres - Benko, Curacao 1962 (20) by Prof. Nagesh Havanur.  Check out this tense encounter from the famous 1962 Curacao Candidates Tournament, extracted from the Professor's review of Benko's fantastic autobiography, Pal Benko: My Life, Games and Compositions by Pal Benko with Jeremy Silman and John Watson.

Fischer Freedom Watch

(1/26)  Update:  The latest news is that Fischer has asked the Icelandic Parliament for Icelandic citizenship.  Read the details in this update from the Icelandic RJF Committee, and see Bobby's handwritten letter.

Parallel Strategy:
156 Chess
Compositions

by Peter Wong
 

(1/23)  Review: Parallel Strategy: 156 Chess Compositions by Peter Wong, reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "I hadn’t given much thought to chess problems or compositions until recently.  Sure, as I was developing my chess game.  I hacked my way through Reinfeld’s 1000 Sacrifices and Combinations and 1000 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate, working on “pattern recognition” the way some people dutifully eat their vegetables, because it’s supposed to be “good for you”..."
 

Your Move's Internet division, the largest online chess store on the Internet, now almost a decade old, has taken the humongous variety of product and customer support that we are world famous for and has created an online chess store that is extremely easy to navigate, and with our

Lowest Price
Guarantee System!

(1/19)  Your Move
Chess & Games:

Chess Sets and More from America's Largest Chess Store.

Also check out our special page devoted just to chess sets of every type and size!

Fischer Freedom Watch

(1/16)  Update:  Two new updates for you - first Einar S. Einarsson, Secretary of the RJF Committe – Iceland, provides a status report of efforts to free Fischer from the Japanese prison where he has languished for more than six months now.  Next we offer an interesting article, “Six months in a Japanese prison over a passport” by one of our group Mr. Gudmundur G. Thorarinsson, former Member of the Icelandic Parliament and the former President of the Icelandic Chess Federation, and chief organizer of the “Match of all times” between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.  "...It must certainly represent a dubious honor for the Japanese legal system if its behavior results in permanent damage to the chess master’s health.  When Fischer’s attorney approached the Japanese  bureaucracy asking for an answer to the question of how long they intend to hold him there, the official replied, “We can keep him as long as we like. We can eat him if we choose to.”..."
 

(1/16)  Review: Excelling at Chess Calculation: Capitalising on tactical chances by Jacob Aagaard, reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "A tourist wanders the streets of Manhattan, finally asking a passer-by, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”  The answer arrives with a knowing smile.  “Practice,” says the New Yorker, “practice!”  You knew that was coming, didn’t you?  So, club player that you are, one day you pick up Jacob Aagaard’s new Excelling at Chess Calculation – maybe you know him from his well-received Excelling at Chess (2001), or you’ve heard of his more recent titles, Excelling at Positional Chess (2003), Excelling at Combinational Play: Learn to Identify & Exploit Tactical Chances (2004), Excelling at Technical Chess (2004) or even his DVD Basic Positional Ideas (2004), or CDs, Attacking Chess 1 & 2 (2004), and Right Decisions [with Lund] (2004) – and you drool over the back cover, which inspires you..."
 

(1/09)  Interview: Chessville plays 20 Questions with GM Maurice Ashley. Born March 6, 1966 in St. Andrew, Jamaica, Maurice's family moved to Brooklyn when he was 12. He is the first and only African-American to attain chess’ highest title of International Grandmaster. Active in many different areas of chess promotion now, Ashley remains dedicated to promoting chess with children. Find out who motivates him, what challenges he faced as a pioneering Black chess player in the USA, the latest in his fight against the so-called "GM-draw", what he thinks needs to change for the US to produce more home-grown GMs, and what he thinks is really going to make the difference in chess. Read 20 Questions with GM Maurice Ashley.

Hall of Champions

Chessville's
Online Chess League

(1/7) OCL Hall of Champions: The winners of the Online Chess League's Fall 2004 Tourney take their place with past champions in the OCL Hall of Champions.  Check them out, and get ready for the next event - the 2005 Winter Tourney!!

Sign Up Here For the 2005 Winter Tourney!!
Registration closes TUESDAY,   JANUARY   18th!

(1/6)  The 2004 Gothic Chess Computer World Championships:  by Ed Trice.  "The first annual Gothic Chess Computer World Championship was held in Pennsylvania from November 13 - 21, 2004.  Players from four countries were represented in this event, which was punctuated with high caliber play and many surprises. THE WINNER OF THIS EVENT WOULD BE GIVEN $10,000 DONATED BY THE GOTHIC CHESS FEDERATION..."

New to Gothic Chess?  Check out the basics of Gothic Chess, a chess variant that involves an 8x10 board, and two new pieces - the chancellor and the archbishop.
 

(1/2)  Review: Challenging the Sicilian with 2.a3!? by Alexei Bezgodov, reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "Perhaps I am showing my age, but rather than sit through a “Girls Gone Wild!” movie, I would prefer any number of possible videos from a “Grandmasters Gone Wild!” collection, especially those dedicated to creative chess openings.  I like to imagine classics like “GGW: The Rice Gambit,” based on the infamous King’s Gambit variation that received attention from top GMs in the early 20th Century.  Other titles might include a study of Bronstein on a good day, Miles on almost any day, and Tartakower even on a bad day.  Who wouldn’t want “GGW: The Hypermoderns”?  A full shelf of such videos would of necessity include a contemporary feature on GM Alexei Bezgodov, “Grandmasters Gone Wild: Challenging the Sicilian with 2.a3!?”  Unfortunately for us all, there is no such movie series – at least not yet, any way.  Fortunately, there is such a book, recently released by Chess Stars press..."