Why Bobby Fischer Came Back
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1.e4 d5 2.e5 e6 3.d4 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.c3 Be7 6.g3 Bd7 7.Bd3 ½–½ Counted among the mysteries that I just do not understand... PHILIDOR’S DEFENSE (C41) White: Matthew Ross (800) Black: Paul Rellias The Check Is in the Mail IECG 2005 DECEMBER 2006 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 f6 4. Bc4 Ne7 5. This month I honor a 25-year old dxe5 fxe5 6. 00 Bg4 7. Nxe5 Rg8 8. tradition of featuring miniature games in Bxg8 h6 9. Bf7 mate “The Check”. You may find it surprising that miniature games can Sometimes postal chess is an easy game happen to all ranks of chess players. – you just follow book for 10 to 15 They do, and here is the proof. The moves or so, and when your opponent February issue of Chess Life will also thinks for himself, you’ve got ‘em! contain some of these snowflakes, little wonders of nature. SICILIAN DEFENSE (B99) White: Olita Rause (2720) There are more tactics in this mini than Black: Vladimir Hefka (2574) you will find in three regular-sized 18th World Championship, 2003 games. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 RUY LOPEZ (C70) 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 Qc7 White: Nowden 9.0–0–0 Nbd7 10.g4 b5 11.Bxf6 Nxf6 Black: Kristensen 12.g5 Nd7 13.f5 Nc5 14.f6 gxf6 15.gxf6 Correspondence 1933 Bf8 16.Rg1 h5 17.a3 Bd7 18.Kb1 Bc6 19.Bh3 Qb7 20.b4 1-0 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Bc5 5.c3 b5 6.Bc2 d5 7.d4 exd4 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.0–0 Bg4 10.exd5 Qxd5 11.Be4 Qd7 12.Qe1 0–0–0 13.Bxc6 Qxc6 14.Ne5 XABCDEFGHY Qe6 15.Qe4 c6 16.Qxg4 f5 17.Qxg7 8 +-+- ( Bxd4 18.Bf4 Bxb2 19.Nc3 Bxa1 20.Qa7 1–0 7++-++-' 6+-+& Two amateurs distill the essence of the 5+-+-+% Grandmaster draw. -
Computer Analysis of World Chess Champions 65
Computer Analysis of World Chess Champions 65 COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONS1 Matej Guid2 and Ivan Bratko2 Ljubljana, Slovenia ABSTRACT Who is the best chess player of all time? Chess players are often interested in this question that has never been answered authoritatively, because it requires a comparison between chess players of different eras who never met across the board. In this contribution, we attempt to make such a comparison. It is based on the evaluation of the games played by the World Chess Champions in their championship matches. The evaluation is performed by the chess-playing program CRAFTY. For this purpose we slightly adapted CRAFTY. Our analysis takes into account the differences in players' styles to compensate the fact that calm positional players in their typical games have less chance to commit gross tactical errors than aggressive tactical players. Therefore, we designed a method to assess the difculty of positions. Some of the results of this computer analysis might be quite surprising. Overall, the results can be nicely interpreted by a chess expert. 1. INTRODUCTION Who is the best chess player of all time? This is a frequently posed and interesting question, to which there is no well founded, objective answer, because it requires a comparison between chess players of different eras who never met across the board. With the emergence of high-quality chess programs a possibility of such an objective comparison arises. However, so far computers were mostly used as a tool for statistical analysis of the players' results. Such statistical analyses often do neither reect the true strengths of the players, nor do they reect their quality of play. -
2020-21 Candidates Tournament ROUND 9
2020-21 Candidates Tournament ROUND 9 CATALAN OPENING (E05) easy to remove and will work together with the GM Anish Giri (2776) other pieces to create some long-term ideas. GM Wang Hao (2763) A game between two other top players went: 2020-2021 Candidates Tournament 14. Rac1 Nb4 15. Rfd1 Ra6 (15. ... Bxf3! 16. Bxf3 Yekaterinburg, RUS (9.3), 04.20.2021 c6 is the most solid approach in my opinion. I Annotations by GM Jacob Aagaard cannot see a valid reason why the bishop on f3 for Chess Life Online is a strong piece.) 16. Qe2 Nbd5 17. Nb5 Ne7 18. The Game of the Day, at least in terms of Nd2 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Nfd5 20. Nc4 Ng6 21. Kh1 drama, was definitely GM Ding Liren versus Qe7 22. b3 Rd8 23. Rd2 Raa8 24. Rdc2 Nb4 25. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Drama often Rd2 Nd5 26. Rdc2, and the game was drawn in Ivanchuk – Dominguez Perez, Varadero 2016. means bad moves, which was definitely the case there. Equally important for the tournament 14. ... Bxg2 15. Kxg2 c6 16. h3!N 8. ... Bd7 standings was the one win of the day. GM Anish Giri moves into shared second place with this The bishop is superfluous and will be The real novelty of the game, and not a win over GM Wang Hao. exchanged. spectacular one. The idea is simply that the king The narrative of the game is a common one hides on h2 and in many situations leaves the 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bf4 Bd6 11. -
2009 U.S. Tournament.Our.Beginnings
Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis Presents the 2009 U.S. Championship Saint Louis, Missouri May 7-17, 2009 History of U.S. Championship “pride and soul of chess,” Paul It has also been a truly national Morphy, was only the fourth true championship. For many years No series of tournaments or chess tournament ever held in the the title tournament was identi- matches enjoys the same rich, world. fied with New York. But it has turbulent history as that of the also been held in towns as small United States Chess Championship. In its first century and a half plus, as South Fallsburg, New York, It is in many ways unique – and, up the United States Championship Mentor, Ohio, and Greenville, to recently, unappreciated. has provided all kinds of entertain- Pennsylvania. ment. It has introduced new In Europe and elsewhere, the idea heroes exactly one hundred years Fans have witnessed of choosing a national champion apart in Paul Morphy (1857) and championship play in Boston, and came slowly. The first Russian Bobby Fischer (1957) and honored Las Vegas, Baltimore and Los championship tournament, for remarkable veterans such as Angeles, Lexington, Kentucky, example, was held in 1889. The Sammy Reshevsky in his late 60s. and El Paso, Texas. The title has Germans did not get around to There have been stunning upsets been decided in sites as varied naming a champion until 1879. (Arnold Denker in 1944 and John as the Sazerac Coffee House in The first official Hungarian champi- Grefe in 1973) and marvelous 1845 to the Cincinnati Literary onship occurred in 1906, and the achievements (Fischer’s winning Club, the Automobile Club of first Dutch, three years later. -
Chess Viewer the Power of XSL Lies in Its Ability to Perform Radical Transformations of the XML Data Source
DEVELOPER'S ZONE SHOP SEARCH Products Demos Stories Solutions Support Download Customers Partners Company Sitemap Chess Viewer The power of XSL lies in its ability to perform radical transformations of the XML data source. This page contains yet another proof for this fact: you can build a chessgame viewer with a stylesheet! The source document is a transcription of a chess game played by Garry Kasparov against a chess supercomputer -- IBM Deep Blue. The game is encoded in a form resembling the well-known Portable Game Notation (PGN) format. The source is very compact: a sample game on this page [DeepBlue.xml] is less than 4 kBytes in size. The stylesheet converts this arid text into a sequence of board diagrams, drawing every intermediate position as a graphical image (a special chess font is used). Applying a 23 kB stylesheet [chess.xsl], we get a 415 kBytes (!) FO stream [DeepBlue.fo]. These numbers give an idea of how deep the transformation is. The final step of the whole procedure consists in converting the result into PDF using XEP. The resulting PDF file [DeepBlue.pdf] is much smaller than the source FO stream -- less than 90 kBytes. (XEP implements PDF compression). We hope XSL fans will enjoy this example; and XSL foes will acknowledge its power! More chess games created by the same stylesheet: Description FO Source PDF PostScript Fischer-Euwe.xml Fischer-Euwe.fo Fischer-Euwe.pdf Fischer-Euwe.ps Robert Fischer - Max Euwe Fischer-Tal.xml Fischer-Tal.fo Fischer-Tal.pdf Fischer-Tal.ps Robert Fischer - Mikhail Tal Kasparov-Karpov.xml Kasparov-Karpov.fo Kasparov-Karpov.pdf Kasparov-Karpov.ps Garry Kasparov - Anatoly Karpov Note: We have used an unabridged chess notation; the original PGN data are even more concise.We know it is possible to process even the short chess notation by XSL, and gladly leave this exercise to volunteers . -
1 Najdorf Sicilian Focus on the Critical D5 Squar One the Most Common Openings in the Past 50 Years Is the Najdorf Variation Of
1 Najdorf Sicilian will try to keep full control over the d5 Focus on the Critical d5 Squar square, and try to maintain the possibility of placing and keeping a piece One the most common openings in the on d5. Fully controlling the d5 square past 50 years is the Najdorf variation of allows white to affect both sides of the the Sicilian Defense. The Najdorf offers board. In order to assure that control, many different possibilities, starting from white wants to trade off black pieces extremely sharp, poison pawn variation that can control d5. For example, he (1. e4, c5 2. nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 wants to play with Bg5, in order to trade Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. off the Knight on f6. He also will Qd2 Qxb2! ) to extremely positional lines increase the number of his own pieces (1. e4, c5 2. nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 that can control d5, with maneuvers like Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 ... ) bishop to c4, then b3, and the knight on Somewhere between those two lines is f3 going to d2-c4-e3. It seems that white the following position, which I will try to has full control of the situation. So why explain. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 does black choose to create this pawn 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nf3 structure? The answer is because this is Diagram one of the rare Sicilian pawn structures abcdef gh that gives the black side a slight space advantage. -
The Evects of Time Pressure on Chess Skill: an Investigation Into Fast and Slow Processes Underlying Expert Performance
Psychological Research (2007) 71:591–597 DOI 10.1007/s00426-006-0076-0 ORIGINAL ARTICLE The eVects of time pressure on chess skill: an investigation into fast and slow processes underlying expert performance Frenk van Harreveld · Eric-Jan Wagenmakers · Han L. J. van der Maas Received: 28 November 2005 / Accepted: 3 July 2006 / Published online: 22 December 2006 © Springer-Verlag 2006 Abstract The ability to play chess is generally Introduction assumed to depend on two types of processes: slow processes such as search, and fast processes such as One of the important challenges for cognitive science is pattern recognition. It has been argued that an increase to shed light on the processes that underlie expert in time pressure during a game selectively hinders the decision making. Across a wide range of Welds such as ability to engage in slow processes. Here we study the medical decision making and engineering, it has been eVect of time pressure on expert chess performance in shown that expertise involves both slow processes order to test the hypothesis that compared to weak such as selective search and fast processes such as the players, strong players depend relatively heavily on recognition of meaningful patterns (e.g., Ericsson & fast processes. In the Wrst study we examine the perfor- Staszewski 1989). This distinction between fast and slow mance of players of various strengths at an online chess processes is very applicable to the game of chess and server, for games played under diVerent time controls. therefore research on chess is of considerable impor- In a second study we examine the eVect of time con- tance for the understanding of expert performance. -
A Feast of Chess in Time of Plague – Candidates Tournament 2020
A FEAST OF CHESS IN TIME OF PLAGUE CANDIDATES TOURNAMENT 2020 Part 1 — Yekaterinburg by Vladimir Tukmakov www.thinkerspublishing.com Managing Editor Romain Edouard Assistant Editor Daniël Vanheirzeele Translator Izyaslav Koza Proofreader Bob Holliman Graphic Artist Philippe Tonnard Cover design Mieke Mertens Typesetting i-Press ‹www.i-press.pl› First edition 2020 by Th inkers Publishing A Feast of Chess in Time of Plague. Candidates Tournament 2020. Part 1 — Yekaterinburg Copyright © 2020 Vladimir Tukmakov All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher. ISBN 978-94-9251-092-1 D/2020/13730/26 All sales or enquiries should be directed to Th inkers Publishing, 9850 Landegem, Belgium. e-mail: [email protected] website: www.thinkerspublishing.com TABLE OF CONTENTS KEY TO SYMBOLS 5 INTRODUCTION 7 PRELUDE 11 THE PLAY Round 1 21 Round 2 44 Round 3 61 Round 4 80 Round 5 94 Round 6 110 Round 7 127 Final — Round 8 141 UNEXPECTED CONCLUSION 143 INTERIM RESULTS 147 KEY TO SYMBOLS ! a good move ?a weak move !! an excellent move ?? a blunder !? an interesting move ?! a dubious move only move =equality unclear position with compensation for the sacrifi ced material White stands slightly better Black stands slightly better White has a serious advantage Black has a serious advantage +– White has a decisive advantage –+ Black has a decisive advantage with an attack with initiative with counterplay with the idea of better is worse is Nnovelty +check #mate INTRODUCTION In the middle of the last century tournament compilations were ex- tremely popular. -
No. 123 - (Vol.VIH)
No. 123 - (Vol.VIH) January 1997 Editorial Board editors John Roycrqfttf New Way Road, London, England NW9 6PL Edvande Gevel Binnen de Veste 36, 3811 PH Amersfoort, The Netherlands Spotlight-column: J. Heck, Neuer Weg 110, D-47803 Krefeld, Germany Opinions-column: A. Pallier, La Mouziniere, 85190 La Genetouze, France Treasurer: J. de Boer, Zevenenderdrffi 40, 1251 RC Laren, The Netherlands EDITORIAL achievement, recorded only in a scientific journal, "The chess study is close to the chess game was not widely noticed. It was left to the dis- because both study and game obey the same coveries by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories rules." This has long been an argument used to in New Jersey, beginning in 1983, to put the boot persuade players to look at studies. Most players m. prefer studies to problems anyway, and readily Aside from a few upsets to endgame theory, the give the affinity with the game as the reason for set of 'total information' 5-raan endgame their preference. Your editor has fought a long databases that Thompson generated over the next battle to maintain the literal truth of that ar- decade demonstrated that several other endings gument. It was one of several motivations in might require well over 50 moves to win. These writing the final chapter of Test Tube Chess discoveries arrived an the scene too fast for FIDE (1972), in which the Laws are separated into to cope with by listing exceptions - which was the BMR (Board+Men+Rules) elements, and G first expedient. Then in 1991 Lewis Stiller and (Game) elements, with studies firmly identified Noam Elkies using a Connection Machine with the BMR realm and not in the G realm. -
Anatoly Karpov INTRODUCTION
FOREWARD In December of 1998 as I was winning the first ever FIDE World Active Championship in Mazatlan Mexico, I noticed I had the same person working the chess wall board for my very difficult final matches versus Viktor Gavrikov and Roman Dzindzichashvili. Imagine my surprise as I was autographing a book, when he asked if I would consider an American second for the upcoming Candidates Quarter-final match with Hjartarson. The idea seemed interesting as more and more matches were taking place in English speaking countries, so I suggested we meet at the end of the event after the closing ceremonies. In checking with my team, we discovered in his youth, Henley had scored impressive wins versus Timman, Seirawan, Ribli, Miles, Short and others, followed by a very long gap. I also found it a good omen that Ron shared the December 5th birthday of my first trainer/mentor and very good friend Semyon Furman who passed in 1978. Throughout the nineties, Ron joined our team for matches with Anand, Timman (2), Yusupov, Gelfand, Kamsky and Kasparov. In “Win Like Karpov” Henley explains in a basic easy to understand level many of the strategies and tactics that brought me success at key moments in my career. I have contributed notes, commentary and photos to several key moments from my “Second Career” in the 1990’s when I achieved my highest ELO - 2780 and regained the FIDE World Championship. GM Henley has done an excellent job of identifying several key opening positions as well as certain types of recurring themes in my Classical Style of middlegame play. -
A Glimpse Into the Complex Mind of Bobby Fischer July 24, 2014 – June 7, 2015
Media Contact: Amanda Cook [email protected] 314-598-0544 A Memorable Life: A Glimpse into the Complex Mind of Bobby Fischer July 24, 2014 – June 7, 2015 July XX, 2014 (Saint Louis, MO) – From his earliest years as a child prodigy to becoming the only player ever to achieve a perfect score in the U.S. Chess Championships, from winning the World Championship in 1972 against Boris Spassky to living out a controversial retirement, Bobby Fischer stands as one of chess’s most complicated and compelling figures. A Memorable Life: A Glimpse into the Complex Mind of Bobby Fischer opens July 24, 2014, at the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) and will celebrate Fischer’s incredible career while examining his singular intellect. The show runs through June 7, 2015. “We are thrilled to showcase many never-before-seen artifacts that capture Fischer’s career in a unique way. Those who study chess will have the rare opportunity to learn from his notes and books while casual fans will enjoy exploring this superstar’s personal story,” said WCHOF Chief Curator Bobby Fischer, seen from above, Shannon Bailey. makes a move during the 1966 Piatigorsky Cup. Several of the rarest pieces on display are on generous loan from Dr. Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield, owners of a a collection of material from Fischer’s own library that includes 320 books and 400 periodicals. These items supplement highlights from WCHOF’s permanent collection to create a spectacular show. Highlights from the exhibition: Furniture from the home of Fischer’s mentor Jack Collins, which -
Braille Chess Association Annual General Meeting and Chess Congress
ChessMoves March/April 2010 NEWSLETTER OF THE ENGLISH CHESS FEDERATION £1.50 BraiLLe Chess assoCiation annual General Meeting and Chess Congress George Phillips of Kingston-upon-Thames, winner of the Minor section This chess extravaganza took place at the Hallmark Hotel, Derby from the 5th – 7th March 2010. Chris Ross and George Phillips each achieved perfect five from five scores in the open and the minor events respectively in the annual BCA AGM tournament. One way of boosting attendance at an AGM! (continued on page 3) editorial Today (18/03/10) CJ de Mooi the ECF President visited the Office at Battle for the first time (the original The ECF April Finance Council Meeting will be held in visit was postponed because of the LondonECF on the 17th April. FullNews details and a map are horrendous weather in January). available on the ECF website (www.englishchess.org.uk) This was only my second meeting with CJ and what a really nice, new eCF Manager of Women’s Chess! approachable man he is, unlike the public persona portrayed on Ljubica Lazarevic websites. [email protected] Cynthia Gurney, Editor Ljubica’s interest in chess began watching games played at her secondary school’s chess club. Soon after she eCF Batsford joined what was Grays Chess Club (now Thurrock Chess Club). Over the past few years Ljubica has co-organised Competition tournaments including the British Blitz Championships, Winner JANUARY-FeBrUARY as well as playing in congresses in the UK and abroad. Guy Gibson from Kew Having recently completed her doctorate, Ljubica takes on the role The correct Answer is 1.e5 of manager of women’s chess and is keen to make the game a more This issue’s problem approachable and enjoyable experience for women of all ages and Robin C.