The Chess Mind

The first two games of the Anand-Karpov rapid match are now history, and they've gone about as one would expect: Anand won with White, then drew with Black. Games 3 & 4 will be on Monday. (The games can be replayed here.)

Interestingly, both Anand and Karpov are not only past (and in Anand's case, present) world champions, they are also former world junior champions as well. Whether any of this year's world junior participants will have a career of that sort is hard to say, but the inside track to at least win the junior title is currently held by Sergei Zhigalko, who defeated Michal Olszewki with Black and now has 8.5/10. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave only managed to draw, so he's half a point back, and Eduardo Iturrizaga is another half point back at 7.5. Another half point back are six other players, including Americans Ray Robson and Alex Lenderman, who both won their games.

Tomorrow's top pairings look like this:

Zhigalko (8.5) - Andreikin (7)
Vachier-Lagrave (8) - Lenderman 7
Grigorian (7) - Iturrizaga (7.5)
Robson (7) - Popov (7)
Margvelashvili (7) - Rodshtein (6.5)

(Full round 10 results here; full pairings for round 11 here.)

And it wasn't even that close!

Season Record: 6-2
Next Victim: Navy

On NBC, for those lucky enough to get to see it. Go Irish!

Yes indeed: this is shilling, but for a reason: I'm now one of ChessLecture.com's video presenters. It is a site requiring subscription, but with it you have full access to everything that's ever been done on there, and it's a lot. (1106 archived videos, according to the site.) Regular presenters include GM Eugene Perelshteyn, Josh Friedel and Jesse Kraai, together with several IMs including theory maven IM Dave Vigorito, and there are many more presenters (past and present) besides. (There are even a few videos by Dzindzhi, and they were very good!) The price is $12.95/month - but have a look here for a couple of samples to see what you think. Let me add that the site is beautifully organized, and it is very easy to filter searches by content, level of difficulty, presenter, video length and so on. Another nice feature is that there are generally PGN files with some or all of the videos' analysis content - mine included.

Thus endeth the ad; time now to quickly summarize my first ChessLecture presentation. I cover the two-bishop sacrifice best known from Lasker-Bauer, but take it a couple of steps further. First, I show a case where it works, despite the absence of some "canonical" feature (something you'd expect to be a part of the procedure, based on the Lasker-Bauer template), and then go on to show an instance where it fails, despite a seemingly ideal set of preconditions. The point is twofold: one should learn as many tactical themes as possible, but realize that the application of the model needs to be checked and not assumed.

For almost the entire tournament, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Sergei Zhigalko have been tied for first, and it's still true after round 9. The former defeated David Howell and the latter Li Chao, and now they both have 7.5/9, putting them half a point ahead of Eduardo Iturrizaga with four rounds to go. Among the Americans, Ray Robson drew and Alex Lenderman won, so they both have 6 points. (Fortunately, they aren't paired for round 10.)

Here are the leading pairings for the next round:

Iturrizaga (7) - Vachier-Lagrave (7.5)
Olszewski (6.5) - Zhigalko (7.5)
Popov (6) - Rodshtein (6.5)

Elsewhere in the 6's, Robson and Lenderman have Black against Howell and Vocaturo, respectively. Full pairings here.

And this is largely thanks to Daniel Stellwagen, who shockingly lost a drawn rook ending to Gashimov in the sole decisive game of the Azerbaijan-Netherlands match. As Russia could only draw with Spain, the Azeris didn't have to worry about tiebreaks and took clear first with 15 points. Russia came in second with 14, and although both Ukraine and Armenia finished with 13 points, it was Ukraine that won the bronze on tiebreak. (Full results here.)

When it came to individual performances, Pavel Eljanov had the best TPR with 2823, followed by Morozevich (2820), Gashimov (2813) and early TPR leader Hammer with 2792. (Full results here.) A note about Topalov. A few rounds ago I noted that he was in danger of slipping behind Carlsen on the top spot on the list; intriguingly, he insured that this didn't happen by taking the last four rounds off. (It's possible that he was pulling a "Brave Sir Robin" - I mean, these were the last four rounds, after all - but maybe he was ill or had another playing commitment somewhere else. Does anyone know?)

There is a thread where viewers can post games on the ChessVideos.tv website, and from time to time I present a show looking at the best games and most interesting moments from the selection. This week's show is one of those times, and as usual the games and highlights are diverse - you'll find opening commentary, some neat middlegame tactics and endgame instruction. Something for everyone, as they say.

The show (available here) is free (free registration required) and will be available on-demand for the next month or so.

In the European Team Championship, Russia defeated Armenia (2.5-1.5) and Azerbaijan beat Poland (3-1), and so they are tied going into the last round. Russia leads on tiebreak (the total points scored on the boards individually) by a single point, so the Azeris will have their work cut out for them. They've already played each other, so the top pairings for the last round look like this:

Russia 13 (20.5) - Spain 11 (19)
Netherlands 11 (19) - Azerbaijan 13 (19.5)
Israel 11 (17) - Ukraine 11 (20)
Switzerland 10 (17) - Armenia 11 (19)


As for the World Junior Championship, it's back in a tie for first, again between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Sergei Zhigalko, who both have 6.5/8. Here are the top pairings for round 9 (of 13):

Vachier-Lagrave 6.5 - Howell 6
Zhigalko 6.5 - Li Chao 6
Iturrizaga 6 - Popov 6

As for the Americans, Ray Robson has 5.5 and will face Dmitry Andreikin on board 4, while Alex Lenderman has 5 points and faces Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa on board 8.

On Saturday, world champ Viswanathan Anand begins a rapid match with Anatoly Karpov, but I don't understand all the details. The time control is 15' + 3", and they will first play in Bastia on Saturday and then Ajaccio on Monday, but I can't tell if these are two distinct matches or one or how many games they're supposed to play. If the info is available on the official site, I'm missing it, and a look at some other websites hasn't proved any more helpful.

If that seems overly retro to you, just wait: Viktor Korchnoi and Boris Spassky are playing a match this year, too. They played Candidates matches in 1968 and 1977, and another match in the late 1990s. Their first tournament game was in 1949, and here they are, 60 years later, doing it again. The match will be in Elista and runs from December 17-27. Who will win: the youthful Spassky (72 years old) or the amazing Korchnoi (78!)?

In the battle between first-place Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Armenians came out on top, 2.5-1.5. That, together with Russia's win over Georgia, created a three-way tie for first place: Russian, Armenia, and Azerbaijan all have 11 points after 7 rounds. As the first tie-breaker is individual points, Russian leads and Armenia is in second - but there are still plenty of rounds to go.

More info here. As for the World Junior Championship, I didn't see any new results today, so either the website hasn't been properly updated or - very reasonably - they had a rest day.

Most of the games we cover on our weekly show present chess at its finest, but it's entertaining and salutary to have an occasional look at high-level chess at its worst. So I've dug up some real lowlights of the professional chess scene for your amusement, with moves and other screw-ups you might expect from club players having a bad day.

It's not impossible that we'll learn something from these horrors, but the real point is enjoyment, and a reminder of our common humanity in all its limited glory. (Sometimes very limited.) So join me on this trip to the chessic banana peel, won't you? The show will start at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday night (that's 2 a.m. CET Thursday morning), and is free to all Premium members. Hope to see you there!

There were a lot of draws on the top boards, including a perfect(ly dull) four for four in the Russia-Azerbaijan match. As a result, Azerbaijan remains in clear first with 11 team points out 12, with Russia, Armenia and Georgia a point back with 9 apiece.

On the individual level, something many people would have predicted has come to pass: a young Norwegian player has the best performance rating of the event. (It's 2873.) The only "problem" is that it's not Magnus Carlsen, who decided at a very late moment to take a pass on the event, but Jon Ludwig Hammer, who sports a rating of "just" 2585! It's a very impressive feat so far, and puts him ahead of Fabiano Caruana's 2848 TPR (send him back!).

In the not-sporting-such-a-great-TPR category, we note that Veselin Topalov's performance is just 2710 so far, and it could have been worse. Of course 2710 is great for anyone reading this blog, but it's over 100 points below Topalov's actual rating, and according to the Live Top Rating page his hold over first place is fading to ashes. He is just 3.9 points ahead of Carlsen, and - all else being equal the rest of the way - he is one loss away from slipping into second. If Aronian can make up a few more points, we could have next year's world championship become a battle between the world's #2 and #4 players (and conceivably lower than that with the Tal Memorial and Wijk aan Zee coming up).

More stats and tournament info can be found here, while I cover an entertaining game from the Spain-Armenia match here.

Meanwhile, over in the World Junior Championship, Sergei Zhigalko is now in clear first with 6 points out of 7, half a point ahead of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Eduardo Iturrizaga and Falko Bindrich. There's a long, long way to go, however - it's a 13-round tournament. As for the Americans, Alex Lenderman has 5 points and Ray Robson has 4.5.

In the European Team Championship, Azerbaijan defeated Georgia in the battle of the last unbeaten teams, and is the only team with 10 points after round 5. Georgia thus has 8, and they are tied for second with rating-favorite Russia, who beat Israel in round 5 and will play Azerbaijan in round 6.

In the World Junior Championship, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Sergei Zhigalko lead with 5 points out of 6, half a point ahead of Li Chao, Maxim Rodshtein, Eduardo Iturrizaga, Dmitry Andreikin, Falko Bindrich, Yangyi Yu and Michal Olszewski. Americans Alex Lenderman and Ray Robson have 4 and 3.5 points, respectively.

Moving up in the world!

Round 4 occurred today, and many games caught my eye. You can see them, and what about them grabbed my attention, by following the link given at the end of the post. First, here are today's top results and standings:

Leading Round 4 Results:
Israel - Azerbaijan 1.5-2.5
Serbia - Georgia 1-3
Russia - Netherlands 2-2
Serbia - Armenia 1-3
Germany - Greece 2-2
(More round 4 results, and board-by-board details, here.)

Leading Standings After Round 4:
Georgia (8) - Azerbaijan (8) (A team gets 2 points for winning a match and one for drawing.)
Israel (6) - Russian (6)
France (6) - Armenia (6)
Spain (6) - Serbia 1 (6)
Netherlands (6) - Czech Republic (5)
(More here. "MP" = Match point, while "Points" gives the total number of points scored by a team's players taken individually.)

Now for a big batch of games, with the occasional comment: it's right here.

We just can't do anything the easy way, but the important thing is that we're (generally) winning.

Season record to date: 5-2.
Next victim: Washington State.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will beat up the Boston College Beagles starting in about 3 hours (at 3:30 p.m. ET); the carnage can be seen on NBC.

Meanwhile, to whet the appetite, pre-game materials are available here.

Yes, that's right: two final draws in the Unive Crown Group have brought the event to an end. Twelve games, eleven draws, and Tiviakov wins thanks to his round four victory of Polgar. Not all the tournament's draws were dull, and the same goes for today's games. Polgar-Ivanchuk was a non-effort, a quick Petroff where "Chuky" had no problems equalizing, but Tiviakov-Giri was a real game. Tiviakov played one of his pet variations, the Bishop's Opening. Giri responded with a well-known line in which Black surrenders the bishop pair for a little space and a very safe position. Tiviakov tried until move 56 to make his bishops pay off, but couldn't do it.

So the final standings look like this:

1. Tiviakov 3.5
2-3. Giri, Ivanchuk 3
4. Polgar 2.5

On to livelier events!

I think I've figured out what to do about the blog and where it'll be moved to, and hopefully it will at least start to be ready by early next week. Thanks to those of you who offered various suggestions.

In chess news, the Unive tournament again saw two draws (one fairly short, one fairly long), and so with a round to play Tiviakov continues to lead thanks to his one win, the only win of the tournament.

The European Team Championship had more high level games today (notably Adams-Radjabov, won by the latter after an Adams blunder), and the number of elite battles should rise dramatically in the next few rounds.

The World Junior Championship is also underway, and while a few GMs were nicked for draws, none lost in the first round. As for the American entrants, Robson won his first game while Lenderman started with a draw.

UPDATE: The World Junior Championship is up to round 4 (tomorrow). After 3 rounds four players are still perfect: GMs Olszewski, Rodshtein, Li Chao and the untitled (but 2509-rated) Yu Yangyi. Eight players have 2.5 points, including rating favorite Vachier-Lagrave, 2600s Andreikin, Zhigalko and Howell, and American GM-elect Robson (who will have White against V-L this next round). A few GMs have 2 points (none have less than 2), and the other American representative, GM-elect Lenderman, is in that score group as well.

This week I conclude my look back at the State Championship with my last round win. After a very successful opening, I lost the thread for a moment or two and had to start pretty much from scratch. In this case, it involved going all out for an attack, and as you'll see there were some incredible variations involved - for both sides. If you like nice, placid, clear strategic battles, this is not the game for you. Instead, prepare to have your head explode.

The show is here, and is available for free and on-demand for the next month or so.

In the Hoogeveen tournament's Crown Group, round 4 finally saw a decisive result. Ivanchuk-Giri was easily drawn by the youngster, but Polgar blundered the exchange with 29...Qd4 against Tiviakov and lost. (29...Ree8 was +=.) So Tiviakov leads with 2.5, Ivanchuk and Giri have 2, and Polgar is in last with 1.5.

The European Team Championship started today with a high percentage of draws and not too many battles between elite opponents. (Perhaps the most evenly matched high-level clash was Cheparinov-Caruana, won by Caruana when Cheparinov overpressed to the point of self-destruction.)

The World Junior Championship also starts today, but I have yet to see games or results - probably because it's taking place in the western hemisphere and so taking place as I write.

Games from the first two events can be replayed here, on the TWIC live games page.

A nice general interest article on this topic, focusing on Viswanathan Anand and his seconds in particular, can be found here. Be sure to thank Jaideep Unudurti, who not only wrote the article but let me know of its existence!

Powerblogs, the company hosting The Chess Mind, is shutting down permanently on November 30 of this year. Off and on over the years I've contemplated moving, but now I don't really have a choice! It's clear that this must happen as soon as possible, so that I can send people to the new location while I still have this forum to do so.

Suggestions?

This just in, by email:

Could you please add a replayable game link for the game covered in your Chessbase Show? Not the comments you make during the show, just the game itself.

I often want to play over the game as soon as you describe it, to see how your comments match up with the game play.

Thanks

The answer to this request is that I could, but I won't. Why not?

First, part of the fun of the presentation is the dramatic aspect. If people know what's coming, that disappears.

Second, I'll regularly stop at a given point in the show and ask people to guess the next move (it's usually a tactic, but not always). Again, if the game is already known to the audience, that becomes a pretty pointless exercise.

One might respond that not everyone looks at the game beforehand. That's true, but there's an unfortunate tendency of those who do know the game to share their knowledge with the audience, ruining it for those who are trying to figure it out on their own. I'd prefer not to foster that.

Third, unless it's a really obscure game (e.g. a game from a club tournament), it's easy as pie to find it using a search engine. (Generally speaking, you'll almost always be able to find a game on chessgames.com or on ChessBase's online database.)

Having explained why I am not interested in posting direct links, I do think the questioner's aim is commendable. The viewer will get the most out of my show, from a training perspective, by finding the game first, analyzing it (without a computer, obviously) as deeply as possible, and only then watching the show. (Only at that point, if mysteries remain that the viewer can't figure out for himself, would it be appropriate to switch on Frybka.)

Last week, we took a look at the famous Mikhail Botvinnik-Jose Capablanca game from AVRO 1938. That game is famous not only because of the concluding combination starting with 30.Ba3, but for Botvinnik's powerful strategy. The "pawn roller" he used to push through the center and create a kingside attack is not unique to that game, but has been used many times over the generations to steamroll helpless opponents in the Nimzo-Indian and certain Exchange Queen's Gambit lines. It is a very simple but powerful plan.

But despite this, it's not unstoppable and not an automatic win. This week, we'll have a look at a 1935 game between Andor Lilienthal (the world's oldest living grandmaster - he's 98!) and Viacheslav Ragozin (also a grandmaster, but no longer with us, having passed away in 1962). Ragozin, ironically one of Botvinnik's sometime trainers*, demonstrated Black's defensive resources in a poorly known gem. It required patience, and for quite a while all he did was prevent Lilienthal from achieving the e4 break. Finally, when it seemed as if it would finally happen, a timely exchange sacrifice reversed the initiative, and now it was White's turn to defend. He didn't manage to do so, however, and Ragozin finished the game in style.

Just like last week's game, the game was a battle between opposing strategies, and the triumphant strategy was crowned with accurate tactical play. In short, both were complete games with both instructional and aesthetic value.

To watch, go to the Playchess server at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday night (= 3 a.m. CET Thursday morning), enter the Broadcast room and find Lilienthal-Ragozin in the games list. (Note: Only premium members can watch for free; other viewers will have to pay 50 ducats (about five euros). ChessBase will make further announcements about premium memberships soon [I note some details here], but at the moment the only premium members are those with an activated copy of Fritz 12.)

* Perhaps the best-known story about Ragozin and his work with Botvinnik is this. Botvinnik, as a non-smoker, had a difficult time when his opponents smoked at the board. So he set up some training games with Ragozin where the latter not only smoked, but blew the smoke in Botvinnik's face as well. (Now that's training!)

Two more draws in Hoogeveen, same as yesterday and the day before. It was a bit of a hybrid round, as Polgar-Giri was even less inspiring than the first-round games (it was drawn in just 16 moves), while Tiviakov-Ivanchuk took the battle even further than the players did yesterday (drawn in 146!). But at the end of the day, the players remain in the same four-way tie they started with.

Games, on TWIC, here.

That makes it four for four in the games so far, though today's were much more interesting than yesterday's. Ivanchuk had a nice edge with White against Polgar, but after missing the point of her 16th move she equalized. Neither player made the most of his or her subsequent chances (for instance, with 46...Qd4 Polgar would have enjoyed a nice edge, but after her 46...Rxd3 White was clearly better instead), and the game was eventually drawn in a rook and bishop vs. rook and knight ending.

Giri-Tiviakov was interesting too. Giri sacrificed a pawn for a long-lasting grip on the position. Ultimately, he regained the pawn, but by that point there was nothing left to grip, so they split the point.

Tomorrow they'll complete the first cycle; today, you can replay the Ivanchuk-Polgar game, here, with my comments to its final stages.

It's an amusing interview, which you can watch in Norwegian or read in English, here.

Again passed along for your perusal and not to start an argument here. Those who like his political commentary may go read it, and those who don't want to can skip to the next post.

In round 1 of the Unive tournament in Hoogeveen, Dutch prodigy Anish Giri drew, with White, with Vassily Ivanchuk, while the Polgar-Tiviakov contest was also drawn. Those games, as well as all the games from the first weekend of the new Bundesliga season, can be replayed here. The page, sponsored by TWIC, looks like it should be a great resource if it's kept up to date.

Sooooooo close! The receiver slipped on the last play, which would have sent it into overtime. Ouch!

Season record: 4-2
Next week's victim: Boston College

The carnage will start in 30 minutes or so on NBC. Pre-game materials, to get you in the proper mood, are here.

Go Irish!

I just got a batch of review copies from Russell Enterprises; three of which I expected and looked forward to and three I had no idea about. Let's start with the good stuff:

(1) Karsten Müller, Bobby Fischer: The Career and Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion. Coming in at just over 400 pages, this book puts the good old collection by Wade and O'Connell and the far less good collection by Hays out of business...almost. Müller annotates every game, and while that's occasionally fulfilled to the letter rather than the spirit, trivial commentary is the exception. The overwhelming percentage of the games have at least a few useful comments and some have substantial analysis.

The book has some additional features: many photos (a large number of which I hadn't seen before), crosstables, a foreword by Larry Evans (comprising a series of vignettes from Fischer's life), an extensive introduction by Müller and an opening survey by Andy Soltis. Müller also offers a few narrative remarks when introducing each event; finally, the book rounds off with a summary of Fischer's career results and highlights, together with openings and opponent indexes. The only omission that bothered me was the failure to include his blitz games from Herceg-Novi in 1970 and the Manhattan Chess Club in 1971. (Oddly, at least if the rationale for not including games from those events is that they were blitz, he does gives the Evans Gambit Fischer-Fine blitz game Fischer presents in My 60 Memorable Games (MSMG).)

The book doesn't substitute for best-game works like Fischer's own MSMG or, say, Soltis's Bobby Fischer Rediscovered, nor does it cover Fischer's simuls (as John Donaldson has in a couple of books). But as a one-volume compilation of all his official match and tournament games, it's the best book out there by far. Unless you have a principled objection to buying a book on Fischer because of his crazy (or worse) political/ethnic views, I'd highly recommend its purchase.

(2) Mark Dvoretsky and Oleg Pervakov, Studies for Practical Players: Improving Calculation and Resourcefulness in the Endgame. Most of you probably know of Dvoretsky, who has achieved much fame in the chess world as a trainer and an author, but who, you might wonder, is Pervakov? The answer is that he is one of the great study composers of our time, and together they have written a book valuable for those who want to train and for those who love beauty in chess.

The book is just what it purports to be, but except for a chapter on Wotawa's studies it's not a series of "White to play and ----" diagrams followed by pages of solutions. You will find text aplenty, offering explanations, a discussion of themes, aesthetics, applications to and analogies with over the board play, and more besides. A further interesting feature is the final, 47-page chapter, which presents studies not by the professionals of composition but by practical players (most of the world champions, and a number of top-class grandmasters from Tarrasch to Morozevich). This book too I can highly recommend, and have already been working with the original, Russian-language edition for some time.

(3) Hikaru Nakamura and Bruce Harper, Bullet Chess: One Minute to Mate. The book won't make you as strong as Nakamura, but it can help you think like a bullet player. Nakamura and Harper emphasize that bullet chess is not "real" chess, and in most of the book's 20 chapters (Nakamura observers will know that it's one of his favorite numbers!) they present and illustrate bullet chess concepts.

For example, there are chapters on time (they don't try to quantify what it's worth in terms of material counts, but have some useful things to say about it), pre-moving (when to use it, when not to, and how and when one should sometimes use the opponent's pre-moving against him), simplification (this needs to be evaluated with an eye on time) and bullet endings (again, these need to be evaluated with the clock in mind).

It's not a bad book for bullet fans. One initially surprising aspect is that Nakamura included comparatively few of his own games and fragments. That's sensible when one remembers that he's writing a book for the amateur's benefit and not a sort of autobiography of his bullet career. However, having seen him perform in bullet (and blitz), I, and probably many others, would have enjoyed a separate chapter offering some of his "greatest hits". So if you're looking for Nakamura's Best One-Minute Games, you've come to the wrong place; if you're looking for a book that will help you think about playing better bullet chess (not "real" chess!), then buy the book!

(4-6) Those are the books I knew about and anticipated. The package also came with a three-part series called Teaching Chess Step by Step, by Igor Khmelnitsky, Michael Khodarkovsky and Michael Zadorozny. The series is designed to help teachers working with elementary school students, and is made up of a teacher's manual (book 1), an exercise book (book 2) and an activities book (book 3). My impression is that while they might be useful for teachers who know very little about chess, those who know more - like the readers of this blog - will benefit much more from a content-rich book like Gary's Adventures in Chess Country (which I reviewed here). But I must reiterate what I wrote in that review: I'm no expert in the beginner-book genre, much less in the sub-genre intended for young children.

In sum, I recommend the Müller and Dvoretsky & Pervakov books to all my readers, the Nakamura & Harper book to bullet fans, and the teaching books only to elementary school teachers with basically no knowledge of the game (but with the admission that my experience of introducing the game to elementary school kids is very limited).

A chess acquaintance and reader of this blog played a game with a very nice finish the other day and wanted me to see it. I'm glad I did, and am happy to pass it along to you.



Black's king is in big trouble, and there is more than one way for White to win. But what's the fastest and most elegant means to that end? The solution may not be so difficult, but it is (1) attractive, (2) was found in a blitz game, and (3) was found without someone standing there telling him to look for something special.

The answer is available if you click below.

The fields for the A- and B-groups of the great January event in Wijk aan Zee have been announced, and you can find them here. To save you a click, however, and to keep the info alive in case the link above gets broken at some point, here's the A-group (ratings given are the current official ones, almost all of which are somewhat out of date):

1. Anand 2788
2. Carlsen 2772
3. Kramnik 2772
4. Leko 2762
5. Ivanchuk 2756
6. Nakamura 2735
7. Shirov 2730
8. Karjakin 2722
9. Dominguez 2719
10. Short 2706
11. Tiviakov 2670
12. Caruana 2662
13. van Wely 2650
14. Smeets 2642

It's interesting and, I think, a good thing that they've invited Short. Recall that last year he dominated the B-group before blowing a won and then drawn game with Caruana at the finish; a game that secured the automatic berth for the latter. (I also seem to recall Short slightly protesting when some youngster who had similarly fallen short was given a "sympathy" promotion to the next year's event; now that he has received one as well he can't complain about this any longer!) Of course, this isn't mere sympathy: Short is a strong and famous player who has had some excellent results lately; he'll hold his own.

The top three are always interesting to watch, too. Will Anand be in good form in the months leading up to his world championship match against Topalov? Will Carlsen continue his incredible trajectory to the top of world chess? And will Kramnik continue his own post-championship successes and again challenge for the title?

The sponsor is new, but the chess festival isn't. The Unive Chess Festival in Hoogeveen starts today, but the part most chess fans will find interesting, the Crown Group, starts on the 18th. As usual, it's a four-player double round-robin with its standard formula of a top player, a top woman, a top Dutch player and a top junior. Filling the bill this year are Vassily Ivanchuk, Judit Polgar, Sergey Tiviakov and Anish Giri, respectively.

The European Team Championship you've already heard about, thanks to yesterday's mini-controversy. Even without Magnus Carlsen, it should be a very strong event, with players like Topalov, Aronian, Radjabov, Morozevich and plenty more 2700s. It takes place in Ohrid and runs from October 21-31.

The World Junior Championship (the main one, open to qualified players under 20 years of age) also starts on the 21st (in Puerto Madryn, Argentina), but carries on until November 4. It's not as strong as the ETC, but it's not exactly weak: there are 16 GMs among the 87 participants. The clear favorite is Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (it's a little surprising that he's participating, as it could be a little embarrassing for him to win Biel a couple of months ago ahead of Morozevich, Ivanchuk and Gelfand and then fail to win this tournament), but other promising stars like Wesley So are participating. I wrote that there are 16 GMs, but that only counts people who have completed the paperwork. Both American entrants have earned the title, but won't have the "G" in front of the "M" for a little while longer. The players? Alex Lenderman and Ray Robson.

Finally, though it starts sooner than the other events, the 2009/2010 Bundesliga season starts today. (Site here.)

I've pushed as hard as I can for information about the shows and premium memberships; here's what I know so far.

1. Those who try to watch the shows without a premium membership now will be charged 50 ducats (= 5 Euros) per show. That's expensive compared to the old price, though not too bad when you compare it to the price of buying a typical chess DVD. However, it's clear that the point is to push people to premium memberships.

2. There are three ways now/in the very near future to get premium memberships.

2a. Buy Fritz 12. This gives you a one-year premium membership, along with the usual things you get with the purchase. (A strong engine, database functions, 12 hours of videos from mostly elite players and some other bells and whistles.)

2b. Buy a one-year standalone premium membership. This is not yet available, but is supposed to be by some time next week. (I believe that offer will show up on this page.) This will reportedly cost 50 euros, so there really isn't any reason not to get Fritz 12 instead for the same price.

2c. Trade in your previous membership for a 2-1 deal. In other words, if you have six months left on your current, basic playchess membership, they'll convert it into a three-month premium membership. This too isn't yet ready to go, but I was given a guesstimate of two weeks for this one.

3. That's it. I've heard of another difficulty or two with this new system, and have passed them along to those with the power to do something about it. Don't write me with questions about why they're doing what they're doing, when such-and-such will change, or with technical support questions. If, however, you have a problem with the new system that hasn't been addressed in the foregoing, let me know (via the contact link) and I'll forward it along to the powers that be.

Last week we looked at my first round game from the Indiana State Championship, a battle against the "Matrix". This week the opening is more conventional, but the conclusion was anything but. After achieving a good position in the opening, I managed to confuse myself into blundering a pawn and had to suffer for a long, long time. Eventually I survived with a combination of hard defense and a little luck, and you can see for yourself how it all worked out. The video is free, available on-demand for the next month or so, and perversely entertaining.

This is good news for challenger Veselin Topalov and bad news for champion Viswanathan Anand, but since there were ultimately no other bids for their world championship match, the challenger got the home field advantage. (It's surprising that India didn't put up a bid, given Anand's great popularity at home, but maybe they felt it was inappropriate?) The Bulgarian bid was for 3 million Euros, of which 2 million goes to the prize fund. (Source: ChessBase)

In this post, I presented the following position:


Kaidanov-Anand, Moscow 1987

It's Black to move, faced with the simple but significant threat of 25.Qh8#. What should he do? The answer, along with comments to this entire, most interesting game, are here.

It's one of the most important news sites in the chess world, and historically the most important, so it's worth noting that TWIC (The Week in Chess) has moved (and changed its format). The new site is here; be sure to update your bookmarks.

That's the question, answered in the affirmative, in this Wall Street Journal article. I'd be inclined to go further and abolish women's championships and prizes too, but eliminating women's titles would be a good start. (However, since FIDE gets paid a fee every time it awards a title, don't look for this to happen in your lifetime.)

Though this time, Magnus Carlsen is taking a page out of the Karpov playbook by his relatively late withdrawal from the European Team Championship, which runs from October 21-31. The reason given, and it makes sense, is that he wants to rest up for the Tal Memorial; a super-event that starts November 5. The decision to withdraw from the former, made in consultation with Kasparov, makes plenty of sense.

The problem is that it made plenty of sense before he accepted the invitation to play in the ETC, too. By waiting until now, however, he has cost his team at least a full point (he can't be substituted for in round 1), and has possibly jeopardized the participation of the entire Norwegian team. (More about this here.)

Let's hope this is a one-off mistake by the youngster (he is still just 18, after all), and that in the future he plans his schedule more carefully and/or accepts and lives with his mistakes rather than burning organizers or teammates.

Gregory Kaidanov is one of the U.S.'s strongest grandmasters, though over the past few years he has spent more time as a trainer than a player. He just turned 50 this past Sunday, and to commemorate the occasion we'll have a look at one of his biggest scalps:


Kaidanov-Anand, Moscow 1987

White sacrificed a piece several moves ago, and now threatens 25.Qh8#. What should Black do? Try to support your conclusion with variations.

The solution will be given tomorrow.

It is one of the most famous games in chess history, one which used to be a part of every player's education back in the book era. Nowadays, though, there is so much information available to new players - most of it opening-related - and the old classics are often squeezed out. Overall, the increased access to information is a very good thing, but there's a downside too. There's a lot of beauty in many old games, and there's a lot of instructional value in them too. For one thing, there are plans that strong players know and take for granted that amateurs may never discover, because they never see the games that introduced them.

That's the case with the game we'll look at this week, a heavyweight battle between two all-time greats. Mikhail Botvinnik, world champion from 1948-1957, 1958-1960 and 1960-1963 had White, against Jose Capablanca, the champion from 1921-1927. Capablanca was renowned as one of the great "natural" talents of all time, someone considered to know chess like a native tongue; Botvinnik, on the other hand, was the exemplar of hard work, a man who burned the midnight oil to perfect his abilities and his opening preparation. Overall, the players broke even against each other for their careers, but on this particular occasion preparation beat over the board inspiration.

The game was a Nimzo-Indian, and while this game was not the introduction of White's pawn roller plan, Botvinnik worked it to perfection. He pushed forward in the center and kingside, while Black grabbed a queenside pawn and tried to break through over there. The race came down to a single tempo in the end, and Botvinnik won with the help of a very famous combination.

For some the game and the combo will be old hat, but for those who haven't will find both delightful and instructive. And those of you who know this game well should definitely tune in next week, as we'll cover a game that is a perfect antithesis to this one. That said, I hope you'll all come this week, too. The show starts at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday night/3 a.m. CET Thursday morning. Just log on, go to the Broadcast room and find Botvinnik-Capablanca under the Games tab. It's that simple!

[Addendum: Yes, the same show as last week, only this time it will work!]

In case two of my videos per week isn't enough for you (maybe you have insomnia, and the sound of my voice is the only surefire way to knock you out), you have a brand new option! I've just started doing videos for ChessCube.com. It's a pretty large site with both free and for-pay material, and I think mine is going to fall primarily under the second heading. If you're curious, I've started an A-Z series on the openings, and have recorded and uploaded an Intro followed by two videos on the Albin Counter-Gambit. (There should be one more on the Albin, and then it's on to the Benko Gambit.)

The European Club Cup finished this past weekend, and was won by "Economist Saratov", a team composed of neither economists nor Saratovians. Most unusually, the second place team really was a team with an intrinsic raison d'etre, as "Mika Yerevan" was essentially composed of the Armenian national team.

Anyway, while the winning teams and their sponsors are undoubtedly interested in and pleased by the results, most of us are only interested in the chess. So I'll note the high scorers by TPR (HT: Chess Today) and then present (without annotations) some of the nicest games of the last rounds.

Top TPRs:
Svidler 2920 (and it probably would have been a lot higher if he hadn't drawn a 2440 in the first round, as afterward he went +4 =2 vs. 2700s)
Volokitin 2912
Gashimov 2883
Adams 2863 (apparently he doesn't want to stay the British #2, behind Short, any longer than necessary)

Three nice games can be replayed here. The first, Grischuk-Aronian, is a Moscow Variation Semi-Slav where a wild series of captures turns out in Black's favor. Next up is Najer-Relange, which features some deft attacking play from the World Open champion. Finally, Svidler is able to parlay a very small edge against Motylev's Petroff into a full point. His advantages after the slick 19.Ng5 are of a small sort: a slightly better minor piece, a little more space, and the possibility of a minor kingside initiative. But putting them all together, Motylev was never able to "catch up", and Svidler put the cap on a great event. (With his gains in Ohrid, Svidler is now #8 on the Live Top List, with a 2753.7 rating.)

Grandmaster-elect, technically, but that doesn't matter. He has now earned the title, winning the Panamerican Junior Championship with a round to go. He started 7/7 and drew in round 8 to clinch. Although it was a comparatively weak event with only one GM (whom Robson defeated), it's apparently the case that winning the tournament confers an automatic GM on the victor.

Robson is already well over 2500, so with his third and final norm in the bag the title is his - he just has to pay FIDE its administrative bribe and have the USCF fill out the paperwork. Not only is he a grandmaster, he's the youngest grandmaster in U.S. history. The previous record-holder was Fabiano Caruana (send him back, Italy!), who achieved the title at the age of 14 years, 11 months and 20 days; Robson beat him by four days. That's a little over three months faster than Hikaru Nakamura did it, and six months and change faster than Bobby Fischer's old record. Look out, world! (Except for Carlsen, maybe.)

Source: Susan Polgar's blog.

18-year-old Magnus Carlsen put a worthy cap on a magnificent performance, defeating Dmitrij Jakovenko with another variation pulled out of the Kasparov playbook. It was an Exchange Queen's Gambit with Bf4, and Carlsen succeeded, a la Botvinnik and Kasparov, in developing the standard kingside pawn roller. The tactically alert 13.e4 let the roller form, and then 26.Nxd5 caused destruction in Black's camp.

So Carlsen won, and everyone else drew. Veselin Topalov pushed hard against Teimour Radjabov's King's Indian in a surreal 95-move game, while Peter Leko - Wang Yue was a more tame affair. In the end, therefore, Carlsen won the tournament by a ridiculous 2.5 point margin, made a 3002 performance rating, and brought his actual rating to 2800.8 on the Live Rating List. (Topalov still leads the list - for now - but his once hefty advantage is down to 8.8 points.) That said, it's not official until FIDE says it's official, and with the Tal Memorial coming up in November Carlsen has a chance to gain points or to fall below the magic number. If he maintains (or increases) his rating, he will be only the fifth player in chess history to reach 2800, after Kasparov, Kramnik, Topalov and Anand.

Final Standings:
1. Carlsen 8 (of 10)
2. Topalov 5½
3. Wang Yue 4½
4-6. Radjabov, Leko, Jakovenko 4

Games here; I've commented on Carlsen-Jakovenko.

Last week, I became the Indiana State (co-)champ, and most of my games were very interesting, despite some occasional errors. In round 1, I faced 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5, and while this might be a fearsome weapon in Nakamura's hands, that's because they are Nakamura's hands and not any intrinsic quality enjoyed by the opening. Lower down the food chain, it's a lot less wonderful, and you can see here. White was much worse by move 8, lost by move 16, and resigned - tardily - after my 25th move. If this opening has bothered you, watch the video (it's free and will be available on-demand for a month or so) and you'll be cured.

This is not from the super-GM event, but a concurrent women's tournament. Here's the position:



It's White to move in the game Shen Yang - Zhu Chen; Black has just played 25...Na5. Assess the position, trying to get the most you can out of White's game.

The answer, and the whole game, are here.

Though there were three draws today, the first was sufficient to grant him clear first - his very easy draw with Black against Radjabov. Jakovenko-Leko had a bit more bite to it. Leko enjoyed a very slight initiative, but nowhere near enough to make a dent against a player of Jakovenko's technical skills. Topalov, with Black against Wang Yue, pressed still harder - but again to no avail.

So the tournament is decided, and the only intriguing question for the last round is if Carlsen will manage to win. If he does, he'll wind up with a TPR over 3000 and a real rating of about 2800. Whether he does or not, however, this was a convincing success, and one that will frighten his rivals about the power of the Carlsen-Kasparov duo.

Standings After Round 9:
1. Carlsen 7
2. Topalov 5
3-4. Wang Yue, Jakovenko 4
5-6. Leko, Radjabov 3½

Games, without comments, here.

After starting with a draw against an IM in round 1, Peter Svidler has knocked off three consecutive 2700 players. In round 2 he defeated Hikaru Nakamura, and since then he beat Vassily Ivanchuk and demolished Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Here are the games (sans notes).

Technical problems reared their ugly head tonight, so it looks like we'll have to wait until next week for the Botvinnik-Capablanca show to air. See you there next week!

It's common to think that grandmasters have colossal, world-class memories. Although Adrian de Groot and others have to some extent debunked this*, it does seem true that GMs have outstanding domain-specific memories.** This is true, but shouldn't be exaggerated.

This thought was occasioned by two stories I came across today. The first came as I browsed the contents of ChessBase Magazine 132, in the section on tactics. IM Oliver Reeh recalls compiling the puzzles for the issue, when GM Leonid Kritz showed up. Reeh showed him an example starting 1.d4 d5 2.e3 Bf5 3.c4 c6 4.Qb3 Qb6 5.cxd5 Qxb3 6.axb3 Bxb1 7.dxc6 Be4, and now Kritz said "I know that motif!" Reeh replied "I should think so. After all, you were the one who played this game!" - which Kritz promptly denied! A quick browse of the database indicated that he had, albeit 11 years earlier.

The second story is buried in the notes to Lupulescu-Marin (here), and doesn't involve any such distant time span. In an earlier issue of ChessBase Magazine, he had offered a particular move as an improvement, but in his own game thought for a long time and failed to realize that he could immediately transpose into his own analysis.

This doesn't only happen to "ordinary" GMs either. The great Mikhail Tal tells one or two stories like this in his chess autobiography as well. And of course, it happens all the time to those of us further down the food chain. So while there are stories of Fischer remembering blitz games from 14 years earlier or Anand remembering ultra-complex ten year old analysis***, the truth is far more complex. There's no escaping it: errare humanum est.


* The standard experiment for this conclusion went roughly like this: they compared GMs, masters, and veritable novices on their ability to reconstruct a normal chess position they had seen for a few seconds. GMs and masters did very well, while novices had no real success. Then they had all three groups try to reconstruct nonsense positions, and this time there was no edge, or at least no appreciable edge, possessed by the stronger players. If GMs had some sort of "photographic" memory, this would not have been the case.

** In other words, they have developed the skill to remember chess positions, moves, ideas, etc. The stock explanation is that this occurs by "chunking"; that is, by compressing many distinct bits of chess information into a single concept. (A chess example: the formation of a white bishop on g2, king on g1, knight on f3 with pawns on h2, g3 and f2 might be seen as a single unit - one chunk - rather than as six distinct units. A universal example would be a word in a language. We process words as units, not as collections of letters.)

*** The Fischer story is that in 1971, at the time of his match with Taimanov, he showed Vasiukov (Taimanov's second) some speed games they had played in 1957 or 1958 when Fischer had visited Russia. The Anand reference is to his great win over Adams' Zaitsev Variation in the San Luis world championship; the analysis had been prepared for Kamsky a decade earlier.

Yet even these examples may not be quite as legendary as they may at first seem. For one thing, Fischer may have reflected on the games he played in Moscow, taking notes about the openings if nothing else. That process of study and overlearning makes memorization far less mysterious. I've also heard that the story has been exaggerated, that he didn't demonstrate all the moves of all the games, but bits of some of them. As for Anand's analysis, it's not given that he never looked at the analysis a second time from the moment he discovered it, and it's also quite likely that what he did during the game was a mixture of remembering and reconstructing. This doesn't mean that the examples aren't impressive - they are. But they are more explicable than it might at first seem.

A light interview, but hey - it's Kasparov.



HT: ChessBase

Today is/was a rest day at Nanjing, which will finish up over the next two days. Meanwhile, the Live Rating List looks like this at the top:

1. Topalov 2811.5 (He has essentially recovered from his bumpy start.)
2. Carlsen 2796.4 (That's a gain of 24.4 points from just eight games! If he can finish with a win and a draw - or better - he will become the fifth player in chess history to break the 2800 barrier, after Kasparov, Kramnik, Topalov and Anand.)
3. Anand 2788
4. Aronian 2783.9
5. Kramnik 2772

Numbers 2-5 (plus #6 Gelfand, #8 Leko, #9 Morozevich, #10 Ivanchuk, etc.) will be playing in the Tal Memorial in November, so with another great tournament Carlsen will have another chance to surpass Topalov (or rather, his rating; it's possible [though premature to claim] that he has already surpassed him in strength) by year's end.

As noted here, Nanjing isn't the only big show in the chess world. There's also the European Club Cup in Ohrid, with no less than nineteen players over 2700 participating. For your entertainment, and to help whet your appetite to look for more of the games on your own, here are two games - one each from rounds 1 and 2.

For the first time in the tournament, there was more than one winner in a round (usually just Carlsen); in fact, there were no draws today.

Carlsen defeated the only player who escaped his clutches in the first cycle - Wang Yue - and with the win leads by two points with two rounds to go. Their game was a real battle: a very sharp opening (the Morozevich Variation of the 6.Ne5 Slav), mutual attacks, sacrifices, time trouble and finally a very nice endgame win by Carlsen. It was an excellent fight that reflected well on both players.

Meanwhile, Topalov continued his second-half comeback by defeating Leko with the black pieces. For the second time this cycle, Leko defended the Karpov side of the anti-Gruenfeld line repeatedly used by the latter in his match with Kasparov. The game was unclear for a while, but Leko's 19th move may have been a mistake. After a plausible and nearly-forced sequence, Leko wound up with a rook and three pawns for a pair of bishops, but as a practical matter his position was extremely difficult. Sure enough, the bishops destroyed him, and Topalov kept his slim first-place chances alive.

Finally, there hadn't been any Dragons in the tournament up to now, but Radjabov wheeled it out against Jakovenko. From a purely theoretical perspective it might have been fine, but Jakovenko ground him down in a 2R + B vs. 2R + N ending.

Standings After Round 8:
1. Carlsen 6½
2. Topalov 4½
3-4. Wang Yue, Jakovenko 3½
5-6. Leko, Radjabov 3

Games here; I've annotated Carlsen's and Topalov's wins.

Jerry Hanken, well-known in U.S. chess circles as a journalist, politician and national master, passed away on October 1. Affable and present at practically every major American event for at least the approximately 30 years I've been involved with tournament chess, he will be missed by many.

Not only is his death a loss to his friends in the chess world (and, obviously, to his family), it is also the passing of an institution. It will be very strange not seeing him at tournaments, or reading his reports and interviews in Chess Life. He was also one of my first opponents in a tournament game (I lost), and it's always an unhappy day when someone you've known since your childhood passes away. Considering how long he has been around the tournament scene, I know there will be many others who will have had a similar experience.

Rest in peace.

(More about Hanken, here, with a forum to leave your own reminiscences.)

Carlsen held off Topalov in what was the last realistic chance for anyone to make a run at him, and with three rounds to go maintains a two point lead over the field. With Black, Carlsen repeated a line of the Sveshnikov Sicilian he lost with against Shirov, one in which he sacs three(!) pawns for counterplay. Topalov varied from that game first and Carlsen responded with an immediate novelty, but it looks like both players were still well in their prep for some time. (The game ended in under two hours, despite reaching move 43.) Eventually the position clarified: Topalov had a safe extra pawn, but with limited material and all the pawns on one side it was a routine draw.

Radjabov-Leko was a draw that never looked like anything but. On the bright side, Radjabov played 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.b3, so although it didn't lead to lively play, at least it was something out of the ordinary.

Finally, Wang Yue-Jakovenko was a Gruenfeld where White grabbed a pawn, but Black always had compensation thanks to the bishop pair. (See Gambit, Marshall.) Black had to sweat a little, but he held.

Standings After Round 7:
1. Carlsen 5.5
2-3. Wang Yue, Topalov 3.5
4-5. Leko, Radjabov 3
6. Jakovenko 2.5

Games (without notes) here.

Despite being a fairly big rating favorite, my success in the Indiana State Championship wasn't smooth at all. It took a miraculous win in round 2 and a gritty last round win that should have been comfortable to do it. (Actually, I'm co-champ with Mike Herron, though I did [surprisingly!] wind up with the better tiebreak score.)

More details later, either on the blog and/or on a subsequent ChessVideos show or two.

Not only did Magnus Carlsen not win today, someone else did! With Black against Peter Leko, Carlsen tried the Gruenfeld line Garry Kasparov repeatedly used against Anatoly Karpov in their recent rapid and blitz match. My very careful two minute examination of the game suggested that Leko was able to obtain a very small advantage and reached an endgame with an extra exchange. Unfortunately for Leko, Black had a pawn for the exchange and all the pawns were on the same side of the board, and Carlsen held comfortably.

Teimour Radjabov - Wang Yue was a dull draw, but Dmitry Jakovenko - Veselin Topalov was neither a dull nor drawn. In a game with loose pieces all over the place, the former world champ more successfully navigated the complications than his opponent. Is this the start of another famous Topalov comeback? The next round will be big as he'll have White against Carlsen.

Standings After Round 6:
1. Carlsen 5
2-3. Topalov, Wang Yue 3
4-5. Leko, Radjabov 2.5
6. Jakovenko 2

Games (without notes) here.

For the third straight week, Notre Dame's offense bailed out their porous defense - though their defense gets credit for a great goal line stand in the OT. Phew!

Season record: 4-1

As I've noted many times, team events (like the Bundesliga) are often overlooked by chess fans, but they often have some of the world's greatest players on stage. Case in point: the European Club Cup, which starts tomorrow in Ohrid. No fewer than 19 players there are rated over 2700:

Aronian 2773
Ivanchuk 2756
Svidler 2741
Gashimov 2740
Nakamura 2735
Grischuk 2733
Karjakin 2730
Shirov 2730
Mamedyarov 2721
Eljanov 2720
Gelfand 2719
Alekseev 2715
Malakhov 2715
Bu Xiangzhi 2714
Movsesian 2711
Motylev 2710
Ni Hua 2710
Bacrot 2709
Rublevsky 2703

This is an event that's at least worth keeping an eye out for, if not simply following. A caution, though: I'd recommend following it on TWIC and NOT the event website, which I won't bother to give. (It seems to be a jamboree of pop-ups, and unless you have really good hygiene software something bad might happen to your computer. It's probably safest not to even think about their website.)

HT: Chess Today

(That's the University of Washington.) The proceedings begin at about 3:30 p.m. ET, and can be watched in the U.S. on NBC. For some pre-game materials, have a look here.

Go Irish!

Which is to say that Magnus Carlsen defeated another hapless victim (today's episode co-starred Teimour Radjabov), while the guest stars drew their games (Leko-Jakovenko, Topalov-Wang Yue). If it weren't for his brief stumble at the end of the time control in round 3, Carlsen would have a perfect 5-0 score with everyone else at 2-3. It's embarrassing enough as it stands, though, at the end of the first cycle:

1. Carlsen 4½
2. Wang Yue 2½
3-6. Jakovenko, Leko, Radjabov, Topalov 2

Carlsen's TPR is in the lower-middle 3100s so far, and he has moved up to #2 on the Live Rating List. (He's still about 12 points short of Topalov, but since he has already managed to make up more than 28 points in the first 5 rounds - +19 for Carlsen, -9 for Topalov - that's not exactly an insurmountable figure.)

Tomorrow is a day off, and then the adventures of Magnus Carlsen and the 5 Dwarfs* resume on Sunday. Meanwhile, you can replay today's games here; I've offered comments to Carlsen-Radjabov.


* I hasten to add that I'd love to be any of these dwarfs, chessically speaking! But with Carlsen winning (almost) every game and no one else winning any game, it seems an apt description of what is going on in this particular tournament.

Here's an adventure of mine from last weekend. I won the game, but all three results were possible. It started with the tricky von Hennig-Schara Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4!?) and never calmed down. Have a look at it, but prepare to exercise your tactics muscles - it's crazy. Make sure you have some time to spend calculating the various positions; if you do, it will be worth your while.

As always, note that the show is free and will be available on-demand for the next month or so. (Free registration required.)

Less than a month ago, I was enjoying the summer in Greece. Most of the time was spent enjoying family, scenery, museums and the food, but I'm glad I was able to spend an evening at the Pagrati Chess Club in Athens. You can learn more about it, and see some nice pictures, at the link above, but if you don't want to deal with Greek or online translators, here's a brief description in English, from club Vice President Aggelos Tzermiadianos:

"Pagrati Chess Club was founded in 1973 and climbed in a short time in the 1st National Division. In the golden era of 1984-1992 the Club won two Greek Team Cups, one Young Team Championship and ended 2nd in a Greek Team Championship! The club has produced, among other important players, two International Masters, Ilias Kourkounakis and Andreas Tzermiadianos, also well known authors and trainers. In 2005, after many years of economic difficulties, one of the most historic players of Pagrati Chess Club, Fide Master Christodoulos Gerogiannis took the presidency, marking the rejuvenation of the club, which has become one of the most active ones in Greece, with plenty of tournaments, lectures and happenings. More information about Pagrati Chess Club can be found on its website."

Some of you may recognize Tzermiadianos' name on account of his brother (mentioned in the preceding paragraph) and his recent book supporting the Tarrasch as an anti-French weapon. But Aggelos, though not also an IM nor known as an author in the broader chess world, is certainly capable of some fine play in his own right. Here, for instance, is a position from the game Svetushkin-Ag. Tzermiadianos, Athens 2004.



It's Black to move; what should he do? Really give it a good try, and then find the answer here. It's a real treat.

Fortunately, he and club treasurer were George Nikolaidis were far more hospitable to me, and after a nice chat and some blitz games, I was treated to a very nice dinner as well.*


(Left to right: George Nikolaidis, Aggelos Tzermiadianos, yours truly, and club member Kostas Koutsoukos.)

All in all, it was a great trip, and I look forward to visiting the club again the next time I'm in Athens. In addition to the hospitality, it's simply a nice facility - all the sets are wood, there's a skittles room, computer, library and refreshments - everything that ought to be at the chess player's home away from home. So the next time you visit the Acropolis, make sure you drop by the Pagrati chess club as well!**


* Ah, the food in Greece. Someone save us in the midwestern U.S.!

** Thank you to George Mastrokoukos, who put me in touch with Aggelos and made the evening possible.

World Champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger (and rating #1*) Veselin Topalov are to play for the title early next year, but at the moment there seem to be problems with the bids. Here's a FIDE statement:

When the deadline expired for bids for the World Championship Match between GM V Anand (current World Champion) and GM V Topalov, three bids had been received at the FIDE Secretariat in Athens, Greece from Bulgaria, Singapore and Turkey.

These bids were opened in the presence of the FIDE Deputy President, Georgios Makropoulos and the FIDE Executive Director, David Jarrett.

Under the terms of the bidding procedure, the bids should have been accompanied by financial guarantees. As none of the bids provided such a guarantee, it has been decided that the bidders have until October 15th, the day before the opening of the FIDE Executive Board at Halkidiki, Greece, to meet this condition.

Mark Crowther thinks this is especially worrisome; I'm not so sure. Both candidates have significant backers, and - worst comes to worst - there's always Elista! We'll keep you posted as we learn more.

* This might not be true by the end of Nanjing, but it probably will be.

One more time! Magnus Carlsen won again and, again, was the only winner. Today's victim was Dmitrij Jakovenko, and his victimhood was of a largely self-inflicted sort. Carlsen played well in the beginning (with Black in a 6.Be2 Najdorf), but the players took turns making errors as the endgame approached and progressed. Maybe Carlsen's confidence and stamina were the difference, and with the win he now leads with an impressive 3.5/4.

Teimour Radjabov played the Scotch against Veselin Topalov, and obtained an advantage. Topalov's 19...d5 was a blunder, but when Radjabov inverted the proper order of the combination on his 22nd and 23rd moves his opponent escaped the worst of it. Still, White remained better, and later enjoyed a probably winning advantage. It just wasn't his day though, and Topalov escaped with a draw.

Wang Yue - Peter Leko was a model game for their detractors, a 29 move draw that was (a) dull, (b) a race to swap pieces, and (c) never in danger of being interesting. Perhaps Wang Yue had too much excitement in round 3, and wanted a day off?

Standings After Round 4:
1. Carlsen 3½
2-3. Wang Yue, Radjabov 2
4-6. Jakovenko, Leko, Topalov 1½

Tomorrow the players complete the first cycle. Saturday will be a rest day, and then the second cycle commences on Sunday.

Here are today's games, but without notes.

Brought to you by Europe-Echecs. The interviewer is French GM Robert Fontaine.