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Here's what was New at Chessville between
1 October 2006 and 31 December 2006:
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(12/31) 2006 Staunton Memorial:
GM Ray Keene (Keene On Chess)
looks at the old Master and the most recent event memorializing
"...that great British polymath and chess champion Howard Staunton,
after whom the modern pieces are named..."
Keene On Chess
is Sponsored by...YOU!!
Support this column -
shop with
Chessville! |
 The
fourth Staunton Memorial was characterized chiefly by the extreme fighting
spirit of the players. The final tally of 70% wins as against
30% draws reverses the trend of most grandmaster events. The ultimate
victor was the Dutch grandmaster Ivan Sokolov (formerly of Bosnia)
who carved his way through a powerful field which constituted the strongest
tournament held in England since the GLC event of 1986..."
Keene looks at several games in this month's column, including Saint Amant-Staunton,
Paris 1843; along with games from this year's event, including miniatures by
Peter Wells and L'Ami. He caps off the coverage with analysis of
Sokolov – Howell, Staunton Memorial London/Crowthorne 2006. |
 (12/31)
Opening
Preparation:
Points for Free –
Prepared Lines in the Opening,
a brand new
Tom Rose Rant. "Every
chess player would like to win at least some games through opening
erudition, or by springing their home preparation on an opponent, but modern
instruction books tell us that studying the openings is far less important
than improving your endgame technique and your general skill in the
middlegame. What is more they tell us that rather than memorising
specific sequences of moves we should spend our time learning the typical
pawn structures and piece configurations to which an opening leads, and the
related plans and combinational motifs to which they give rise.
Learning detailed variations, in an effort to catch out our opponents is,
they say, a poor use of limited study time. They are right of course. The
return on the effort invested is poor. It rarely happens that an
opponent walks straight into a losing line. But it is fun when they do!" |
(12/31) Chess Fiction:
The Champion by Gary Gifford.
"It was a cold wet day in late October, with a strong
wind blowing leaves around beneath a heavy gray sky. And it was a day
when I received a strange call from Tom, a close friend of mine for three
decades. Of course, aside from an unfinished chess match from last
year, I had not heard from him much after the unexpected illness and death
of his beloved wife. Tom was devastated; and he pretty much withdrew
from what he could only see as a very harsh world. But now, at this
moment, he was beaming with excitement. “Do you know who this is?” Tom
asked..."
 (12/30)
Review: The French Defence (DVD) by Ari Ziegler (ChessBase,
2006), reviewed by
Michael Jeffreys. "When I ask club king-pawn opening
players the defense they most hate to face, somewhat surprisingly the answer
I get most often is NOT the Sicilian, but the French! Apparently this
rock-solid reply to 1.e4 proves to be a tough nut for many White players to
crack. Perhaps it’s that White feels he is entitled to be the one
attacking, yet he has to spend the first several moves of the game defending
Black’s siege on his d-pawn. Sacré bleu! And now things have just
gotten a whole lot worse for White as ChessBase has released a new DVD on
the French by Swedish IM Ari Ziegler. In it he gives Black a complete
repertoire on exactly how to make 1.e4 player’s lives extremely unpleasant." |
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(12/30)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: World Series & The Crossroads, Hastings &
Pamplona.
TheParrot Squaawks about cheating at home.
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(12/30)
Nuestro Círculo #230:
30 de diciembre de 2006, que dedicamos a la "Liga Argentina de Ajedrez por
Correspondencia" (LADAC). En este número, además de la nota sobre Ladac,
podrás ver las dos partidas premiadas en el reciente "Torneo de la
Legislatura" y dos sonetos de ajedrez del Poeta Arqto. Horacio Amil Meilán.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
 (12/24)
Jewel Royale: Looking for a
last-minute gift idea for your favorite chessplayer? The Most Expensive Chess Set in the World,
commissioned by Jewel Royale and created by Boodles, a leading UK Jeweler,
might just be the thing! Valued at over £5
million, this single chess set is the most expensive and luxurious game set
in the world. Constructed in gold and platinum, it is set with
diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires and pearls. The king alone is
set with 73 rubies, 146 sapphires, 748 diamonds and a secreted pearl! The set’s playing
surface is made of yellow and white gold and set with diamonds. The corners
are supported by a crystal ball with a gold centre post. Each ball is
inlayed with a 16 carat yellow gold spiral of diamonds. Check out the
Jewel Royale Chess Set. |
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(12/24) Chess Composition: Phases of Play
- FIDE Master of Chess Composition Peter Wong brings us a new lesson from
Peter's Problem World. In this month's column
Peter reviews the various phases of play that occur in chess compositions,
or problems as they are also known. "The full solution of a directmate problem often consists of
more than the
key-move that solves it and the
ensuing variations. In addition to the
actual play that follows the key,
there may be other
phases of play, such as set play and
try play, that are of
thematic interest..." Peter has also updated his
Chess Composition Glossary, adding an
even dozen new terms that have special meaning in the field of chess
composition.
If you missed Peter's debut column here's a second chance -
What is a Chess Problem? |
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|
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(12/23)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: Polgar, Kasparov press on, Kirsan & Kok -
unlikely bed-fellows.
TheParrot Squaawks about the lighting of a candle.
|
|
(12/23)
Nuestro Círculo #229:
23 de diciembre de 2006, dedicado esta vez al Mto. estadounidense
Alexander Kevitz, que vivió entre 1902 y 1981. En él podrás ver, aparte
de la biografía de Kevitz, una brillante partida de Bronstein, dos partidas
de Jorge Rubinetti (M.I.) y una lista de los jugadores clasificados en los
primeros 50 puestos del Torneo Internacional de la Legislatura.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
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IM Igor Khmelnitsky
Igor is a winner of many national and
international tournaments in Europe and the United States.
At various points during his career, he has won individual
encounters with many of the game’s best players.
In total, Igor has beaten over 30 different Grandmasters. He
has been a participant in the Ukrainian National Championship as
well as a three times contestant in the US National Championship.
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(12/22)
Have we met before?
- IM Igor
Khmelnitsky's
latest article, wherein Déjà Vu has him reviewing four very similar
positions: "A couple of days
ago I saw an interesting position that occurred in the game of two strong
GMs - Becerra vs. Blehm from the match Miami vs. Baltimore (US
Chess League, I suggest you visit this site frequently and find a team
to route for).
See the diagram 1
below. The way White dismantled Black's position was very impressive,
but I did have a strange Déjà Vu feeling. Then I recalled a
few of positions I saw and stored in my workbooks that were somewhat
similar. See diagrams 2-4..."
 |
| #1 After
22...Ne5 |
|
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(12/21)
Review: Schach auf
Ölgemälden (Chess
in Oil Paintings) reviewed by the author, Gerhard
Josten (see also
The
Anatomy of Chess.) Here Gerhard very briefly
self-reviews his latest book,
Schach auf Ölgemälden (Chess in Oil Paintings),
written in German but - who needs a language for chess and painting?
Check out all four examples Gerhard includes in his review, including
the one to the right, then visit the inside of his book for a few
pages, and see another six examples. Chess truly is art! |
Moritz August Retzsch (1779 - 1857) |
|
|
(12/20)
The
Parrot’s Famous 20-Questions Christmas Chess Quiz: Judge
your own, if you score reasonably well, rush to the fridge and quickly
pencil in a chess item you absolutely deserve! Some suggestions
later. Here are the questions, below them are the answers.
Lots of firsts here! Like question # 1:
When was the first chess newspaper column? (Editors Hint:
The Chessville Weekly began
publication in 2002!) |
|
Regularly priced at $29.95,
Chessville now brings it to you at a
special price, just
$23.95! -
SAVE 20%! |
Speed Chess
Superblitz Knockout Championship
Qualifying Stage (DVD)
Four of the hottest grandmasters in the United States battle for supremacy
in a fast paced and exciting competition. Legendary attacking player
Larry Christiansen, strategic genius Joel Benjamin, daring
tactician Alexander Shabalov, and the young phenom Hikaru Nakamura
test their will, speed and determination in a deadly race against the clock.
With dynamic and instructive commentary by world class chess announcer GM
Maurice Ashley, get inside the minds of the GM's as games full of drama
and tension unfold before your eyes. With only ten minutes on the
clock, anything can happen!
Get More Information
|
 (12/17)
Finales...y Temas #41: ICCF GM
José A. Copié of
Argentina brings you another fine issue of Finales...y Temas (Endings...and themes), a
multi-page quarterly publication focused on chess endings and studies.
Although written in Spanish,
Finales... y Temas utilizes figurine algebraic notation, so
this publication can be of great value in your study of this important
phase of the game no matter what language you speak! |
 (12/17)
Review:
Starting Out:
King's Indian Attack by John Emms, reviewed by Rick Kennedy."Dearest
Santa, I played 13 different openings in 13 different games at the
Club– and lost 13 times. That’s naughty, not nice. Could you
please send me an Unbeatable Opening? - Perry
My Dear Perry,
Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa thinks you’ve been reading too much of “Kennedy
Kids”
[“Unbeatable Defense”]
! Here’s a tip: recently Rudolph has been very successful using Grandmaster
John Emms’ Starting Out: King’s Indian Attack in all his reindeer
games. - Santa
Dearest Santa, I was
hoping for something wacky from Myers Openings Bulletin or
Randspringer, not an opening characterized by the moves Nf3, g2-g3, Bg2,
0-0, d2-d3 and e4. Are you sure the KIA is right for me? -
Perry PawnPusher
Dear Mr.
PawnPusher, Openings innovator Hugh Myers has always been a King’s
Indian Attack maven. An improvement suggested early in Emms’ KIA book,
for Nazarov – Yandemirov, Azov 1991, comes from a game by Rainer Schlenker,
Randspringer’s editor. Trust Santa on this one: 50 well-explained
games, in the very effective style of Everyman Chess’ “Starting Out” series.
- Santa Claus
Dear Santa, So the
opening can be played by club members and improving players, not just
Masters and Grandmasters? Against any defense? Sounds like too much
theory..."
Read the review! |
|
 (12/17)
Move Prediction Exercise:
Jim Mitch, aka
Prof. Chester
Nuhmentz, is back with his patented training exercise for
December-January. This game is the
same one used for the
Chess
Visualization Training for November. For the greatest benefit,
visit that page first (if you haven't already done so) and work through that
exercise first. Or, for pure fun - jump right in and tackle this
month's Move Prediction Exercise.
|
Click on the portrait of
Adolf Anderssen to try this month's move
prediction exercise (Recon64) for the
readers of Chessville:
Adolf Anderssen vs. Jean
Dufresne; Berlin, 1852
 |
The game features one of Anderssen's most famous
combinations, in what has become known as
The Evergreen Game. 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. This game is also featured as December's
Chess
Vision exercise for Chessville readers.
You're invited to try your skills at foreseeing
the possible captures and checks while
envisioning moves yet to be played on the board. |
|
 (12/17)
Vignettes Update:
We've updated our debut column, which spotlights Isaac Kashdan,
and was contributed by Wojciech Bartelski from Poland, owner of
OlimpBase.org, with additions from two readers. Bob Avery & Jon Haskel
add their tidbits of information about the life of one of the strongest
players in the world in the 1930’s. Check out their additions today!
Do you have your own story to tell? Send 500-700 words of player biography or anecdote to
Vignettes@chessville.com and we may feature your contribution in a
future column, plus your name as contributor, and add it to
the Vignettes archive. A Chessville editor may edit the text
and/or provide any necessary graphics, including copyright-free
photographs and national flag of the player. |
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(12/17) ACP World Cup
Participants: Sixteen world level grandmasters will take part
in this competition, which will be a knock-out tournament.
On December 13th 2006, a press conference was held at Bank Pivdennyi
(Odessa, Ukraine) by Mr. Vadim Morokhovsky, (left) Chairman of the Board of
Bank Pivdennyi, Vice-President of the Ukrainian Chess Federation, and
President of the Odessa Region Chess Federation, and Grandmaster Pavel
Tregubov, (right) President of the Association of Chess Professionals.
They announced the list of participants of the 1st ACP World Rapid Cup,
which will take place in the Hotel Londonskaya, Odessa, from January 4th to
8th 2007. |
(12/16)
Nuestro Círculo #228:
16 de diciembre de 2006, dedicado a dedicado a Don Alberto Daroqui, uno de
los fundadores del Club Argentino de Ajedrez y brillante Presidente del
mismo durante varios períodos. En este número puedes leer notas de Jorge A.
Rubinetti (M.I.), Frank Mayer y Marín Bellón.
Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje
español.
|
(12/16)
Alekhine's Parrot:
Welcome to the
weekly leader of chess events around the world.
Chessville welcomes your Feedback to TheParrot on
this week’s news where selected letters will be featured.
This week: Randy Bauer drops by the cage, Dirty Words on the
World Championship, and Russia's champs.
TheParrot Squaawks about draws, Kasparov, and cats &
dogs.
|
|
 (12/10) Review:
Winning Chess
Combinations by GM Yasser Seirawan, reviewed by Rick Kennedy.
"After six titles in his Winning Chess series, maybe you
thought Yasser Seirawan was done. What more would the American
Grandmaster have to say after Play Winning Chess,
Winning Chess Strategies,
Winning Chess Tactics, Winning Chess Brilliancies,
Winning Chess Openings and Winning Chess Endings? I’m glad
you asked! His new Winning Chess Combinations is the answer.
(An answer, indeed: in the book’s Introduction Seirawan points out that many
readers had specifically requested that he provide more information on
combinations.) If your chess has been improving as you worked your way
through those half-dozen earlier titles – and Yaz suspects it has – then
that’s a good thing, because he’s going to step up the pace a bit in some
places in Winning Chess Combinations..." |
|
(12/31)
