(12/1)  Review: The King by GM Jan Hein Donner, reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "Imagine, if you will, Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch. With a 2500 Elo rating.  And a degree in literature. Sucking on a lemon …  Jan Hein Donner (1927 - 1988), Dutch grandmaster and chess journalist, could easily be mistaken for that curmudgeonly, green television character – as well as occasionally Oscar the Wilde, and even Oscar the Madison. If there were an Oscar for chess columns and commentary, he’d have pocketed that, too.  Not that Donner wasn’t a player. He saw himself as the Netherlands’s first chess professional. Donner battled masters and grandmasters at home and on foreign soil, winning the Dutch championship in 1954, 1956 and 1957 and taking first place at the international tournaments at Hoogoven (1963) and Venice (1967). His writings are informed by his knowledge, his experience, and his contacts as a grandmaster..."

(11/25)  Review:  Garry Kasparov On Modern Chess Part One Revolution in the '70s by Garry Kasparov (Everyman, 2007) reviewed by Michael Jeffreys.  "After Kasparov’s five volume opus My Great Predecessors, he had run out of former world champions to write about.  So he decided to tackle what he calls the “opening revolution” that took place in the 1970s. The funny part is the GMs that actually played during this era don’t really consider it a revolution!  Garry acknowledges this in the introduction:  "True, as was shown by my poll of nearly thirty specialists, who were playing at that time and took an active part in the development of the new systems, many do not consider those times to be revolutionary.  They would argue that any revolution presupposes an upheaval in consciousness, and a revision of old dogmas which have been refuted by time itself—and this supposedly did not happen.  However, in my view, the reassessment of chess values that occurred can well be called a revolution..." (Emphasis mine-MJ)"

(11/25)  Chess History: Capablanca - a brand new entry in our Vignettes series, contributed by Rob Mitchell.  "Capablanca was world chess champion from 1921-1927.  His domination of the game ran from 1919 through 1927 when he lost all to Alekhine.  Even after he suffered a mild stroke in 1938, he only lost 3 games that year!  He holds a record that has yet to be beaten..."

(11/25)  Review: The Chess Set in the Mirror, written by Massimo Bontempelli, translated by Estelle Gilson, illustrated by Sergio Tofano, and reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "In The Chess Set in the Mirror (written in 1922) we meet a nameless 10-year old who, for reasons unexplained, finds himself placed in a largely empty, locked room.  On the fireplace mantle is a mirror – and a chess set.  The room itself is boring, and the view out of the window is no more entertaining.  It is only a matter of time, as with Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1897), that the narrator finds himself (at the White King’s invitation) on the other side, in the mirror..."

(11/25)  Chess Quotes:  Strategy is the theme of this latest batch of fresh chess quotes, anthologized by Kelly Atkins.  An appetizer: "The separation of Strategy and Tactics is like the separation between Space and Time.  There really isn't a difference, but it sure makes it easier to talk about them. – Jason Varsoke"

(11/24)  Alekhine's Parrot:  Welcome to the weekly leader of chess events around the world.  This week: Fischer unwell The World Chess Cup takes place in Khanty-Mansiysk.  Arrival 22nd, Opening Ceremony 23rd and Round One 24th November... AussieKids and Chess FIDE News:  Olympiad, Anti-Doping, World Championships, Global Chess, etc... The Tal Memorial World Blitz Championship

(11/24)  Nuestro Círculo #277:  24 de noviembre de 2007, que dedicamos al Maestro austríaco Hans Kmoch (1894-1973). Publicamos su biografía y partidas y las notas: "El Aguafiestas 217", "1.e4...Cf6", "Vitoria-Gasteiz", "La tierra gira" y el "Memorial Tal 2007".  Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje español.

(11/18)  Chess Fiction: Chess Wedding Reception, by Gary K. Gifford.  "It was the letter I received today that reminded me of those events that played themselves out five years past.  Yes, the letter from GM Harvey Dunkelstein.  So, what did the letter say? you may be wondering.  And, what happened five years ago?  Fair enough… "

(11/18)  Chess Training:  A new "Recon64" Move Prediction Exercise from Jim Mitch (aka Prof. Chester Nuhmentz.)  Today's game is that featured in November's Chess-Vision exercise:  In the Wikipedia article on Vasily Smyslov, the game receives this glowing critique:  With one of the deepest pre-game home preparations ever seen, Smyslov unleashes a chain of tactical wizardry, including a queen sacrifice, to record a beautiful win ... The game was the 14th between Smyslov (Black) against Botvinnik during the 1954 World Championship Match.  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...

(11/17)  Review:  Engaging Pieces, Interviews and Prose for the Chess Fan by Howard Goldowsky (Daowood & Brighton, 2007), reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "I admit it.  Despite the many stereotypes that surround chess players, I find them – us – endlessly fascinating.  Sure, tell me why your Knight sacrifice shouldn’t have worked – but tell me, too, about the look on your opponent’s face when he saw the move.  Did he really just leave his clock running and exit the Club?  How did your team captain respond to your unexpected win?  What did that life-master say to you afterwards – why was she chuckling?  Who was it that you left with shortly thereafter?  Apologies to Barbara Streisand (a school mate of Bobby Fischer, by the way) but it seems to me that Chess people who need chess people are the luckiest people in the world...  Howard Goldowsky feeds this passion with his Engaging Pieces, serving up Interviews and Prose for the Chess Fan.  He has collected his writings from Chess Life, Chess Café, Chess Horizons, Squares and The Chess Journalist, added a few new ones, and produced a kaleidoscopic look at those – real and imagined – on the (mostly) American chess scene who involve themselves in this thing we call a game, an art, a sport, a struggle…"

(11/17)  Free Download:  11,000+ of the best Master-GM short checkmates, past & present, in PGN format, from Tom McCormick.  "I have sifted through my checkmates collections and separated only those games (for the most part) involving present and classic Masters and Grandmasters rated 2350+ by FIDE Oct 2007 list, or Dr. Arpad Elo's classic book for the "Classic" players such as Steinitz, Lasker, etc.  There are more than 11,000 of such games, and I have then sorted those by length of game...so the 6-move checkmates appear first, then 7-moves, etc. I stopped after 39 move games since I was trying to provide educational material to new and intermediate players.  The games have all been normalized using PGNTRIM6.EXE (freeware), and nearly all duplicate games have been removed..."  Check out this win by Alekhine: Alekhine,A (2690) - Maroczy,G (2620) Palma de Mallorca consult simul, 07.02.1935; 1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Qe2 Nbd7 6.Nd6# 1-0  Find this free, downloadable file, and a whole lot more, on our Free Downloads page.

(11/17)  Alekhine's Parrot:  Welcome to the weekly leader of chess events around the world.  This week: Texas, Antalya, Crete Players Corner: This week: The Parrot Has Landed in Chessville's Forum! Sugarland, Moscow, Alabama, Mukachevo... Celebrated chess player Warren Harper's signature is "a provocative waiting move."  He plays gently, deliberately appearing a little vulnerable, and waits... Tal Memorial A Beautiful Mind. This letter has a strange provenance – beginning in Alabama, but forwarded to readers’ attention from IGM Adorjan in Hungary...

(11/17)  Nuestro Círculo #276:  17 de noviembre de 2007, dedicado al Maestro inglés William Winter (1898-1955). Publicamos su biografía y partidas y las notas: "Partidas del M.I. Rubinetti", Capablanca y Stalin" "Vitoria-Gasteiz 2007" y "El Aguafiestas 217".  Cordialmente, Arqto.Roberto Pagura.  Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje español.

(11/16)  Chess History: David Bronstein - by Mark Crowther (The Week In Chess).  Originally published in Issue #631 of TWIC (simply - the most complete tournament news and game source) we offer it today as a new addition to Chessville Vignettes.  "David Ionovich Bronstein was born in Bila Tserkva near Kiev, Ukraine February 19th 1924 and died in Minsk, 5th December 2006.  David Bronstein emerged at the end of the second world war playing the kind of exciting and creative chess that was later to become the calling card of Soviet chess, but at the time it was incredibly new.  Bronstein's reputation as a creative genius was well deserved and he leaves a great legacy of fantastic games.  But the label of "creative" also has negative connotations of impracticality, which does a real disservice to his power as a player..."

(11/16)  Chess Quotes: The Value of Chess In Our Lives, another fresh batch of wit and wisdom from the world of chess, compiled by Kelly Atkins.  Here's just one example of what awaits you: "The poorest chess player is more to be envied than the most favored servant of the Golden Calf; for the latter grovels all his life long in the mire of materialism; while the former dwells high aloft, in the bright realms of imagination and poetry. - Weiss"  The Value of Chess In Our Lives, a part of the Chessville Chess Quote Collection.

(11/11)  UCO Opening Theory: Inverse Chess Openings by Clyde Nakamura (The Search for Dragons and Mythical Chess Openings).  "There exists a chess opening Universe that I am just beginning to understand.  What if you could play a Black chess opening from the White side of the board?   1.e3 e5 2.e4 is an example of an Inverse Chess Opening.  This would be like playing Black from the White side with the same move count.  You can have the same openings from the White side as you do from the Black side...In an Inverse Chess Opening you give up a move as White to play a Black Opening with White.  A reverse chess opening is an opening that you play with reversed colors but there is no move loss.  An Inverse Chess Opening is a chess opening where you play an opening of the opposite color with the loss of one move.  The term “Inverse Chess Opening” was invented by Eric Schiller..."

(11/11)  Review: How to Survive a Totally Boring Summer, Story by Alice DeLaCroix, Illustrations by Cynthia Fisher, reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "When we last saw Randall in The Hero of the Third Grade (2002) he had survived his parents breakup, a move to a new town, the challenge of making friends at a new school, and even the attentions of an annoying bully.  It’s not that Rushville is a bad place to live, but now that school is out Randall and his pals Max and Tara face an even greater challenge: How to Survive A Totally Boring Summer.  Lucky for our heroes, and upper elementary school readers everywhere, Randall can play chess..."

(11/11)  Chess Composition: Another new issue of Vratnica-64 #26, an e-mail based newsletter on chess composition, in PDF format.  This issue numbers approximately 10 pages, and contains some English-language translations.  Access this 426 KB file from our Downloads Page.

(11/11)  Review: The Chess Combat Simulator by Jeroen Bosch (New In Chess, 2006) reviewed by NM Bill McGeary.  "On the cover of the book are 2 subtitles, "Test and Improve your chess with 50 Instructive Grandmaster Games" and "Move by move you pick a Grandmaster's brain to become a better player."  When I received this book I was quite excited about it because of the title and what I knew about Mr. Bosch.  He is an IM from Holland who is noted for being the impetus for the "Secrets of Opening Surprises" series as well as editing that series..."

(11/11)  Chess Quotations:  Improvement & Advice, a fresh batch of chess wisdom from the famous and the not-so-famous, compiled by Kelly Atkins.  Here's a sample to whet your appetite with:  "To be creative, to be adventurous, to exhibit flair, is no excuse for not studying hard. The truth is exactly the opposite. You have to work constantly at your game, at your openings and endings. A deep analysis is necessary. Chess is not a fixed or static body of knowledge. It's dynamic. Even the books I've written on chess and the annotations I've made on my own matches are not set in stone. I keep updating them. There must be a constant questioning of old ideas, even one's own. – Garry Kasparov"

(11/10)  Alekhine's Parrot:  Welcome to the weekly leader of chess events around the world.  This week: Players Corner: This week: The Parrot has returned to - THE JUNGLE Adorjan appears to be correct in his premise... In other words, ...we play according to what we think we should be achieving, rather than any more objective factor...” Swedish chess shows, SPICE Cup, Ray Robson, Russian teams, Chess Champions League, Tal Memorial, World Blitz Championship

(11/10)  Nuestro Círculo #275:  10 de noviembre de 2007, que dedicamos al Maestro alemán Jakob Adolf Seitz (1898-1970). Publicamos su biografía y partidas y las notas: "Vitoria-Gasteiz 2007", "Anand y Kramnik", "Miniatura de Naymark", "Campeonaro europeo" y "Guerra de los sexos".  Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje español.

(11/4)  Review:  Chess Explained: The Meran Semi-Slav by GM Reinaldo Vera (Gambit Publications, 2007) reviewed by NM Bill McGeary.  "I started to play serious chess in 1972 and since then I have seen the ebbs and flows of chess fashion, how an opening or specific variation comes into vogue for a few years and then is surpassed by some other line.  The Meran Semi-Slav is an excellent example of this.  It had received a push around 1969-70 when Larsen  used it in the Candidates, fell by the wayside with the rise of the Benko and Benoni, and then returned to prominence in the late 1970's when Polugaevsky adopted it.  Of course it has been shelved and revived a couple times since then and is currently in the top tier of queen-pawn defenses, having been in the arsenals of elite players like Kramnik, Anand and Topalov.  With all of the attention the defense has received and its appeal to uncompromising players it was quite a pleasure to have Gambit come forth with a book on