The Chess Mind

Tomorrow, Magnus Carlsen makes his debut as a 2800 in the Tal Memorial, and it's not much of an exaggeration to say he has taken the chess world by storm. Although he is just 18 (19 later this month), he has been a prominent, elite player for some time now. While it has been some time since anyone else has been a leading player at such a tender age, there are precedents. Carlsen's most notable predecessor in this regard is, of course, the late Bobby Fischer.

By age 15, Fischer had already qualified for the Candidates (the final elimination tournament to see who would play for the world championship), and at 19 he had done it twice, won an Interzonal and no less than five U.S. Championships. And as fantastic a player and talent as Carlsen is, the gap between him and his contemporaries is significant but not (yet?) huge; with Fischer, however, only the young Spassky was even in the same galaxy, and it took him three years longer to become a grandmaster than it did for Fischer.

The point of the comparison is not to denigrate Carlsen, who may be on his way to becoming the greatest player of all time, but to remind the reader of Fischer's early achievements, before he demolished the chess world in his run from 1970-1972. Speaking of those early achievements, we'll look at one this week: his victory over William Lombardy from the 1960 U.S. Championship. It was played in round 2, but may have decided first place, as Fischer won the event two points ahead of Lombardy.

It's a very interesting game (and possibly well-known to you, if you have a copy of Fischer's My 60 Memorable Games), with interesting moments in the opening (5.f3 vs. the 2...d6 Sicilian), middlegame (a dynamic ...d5 pawn break/sacrifice, and a long combination with a sneaky punchline), and endgame (no foreshadowing for this one). It's a very nice game to watch, and you can do so tomorrow night. Here's how:

Log on to the Playchess server at 9 p.m. ET (Wednesday night; that's 3 a.m. Thursday morning, CET), go to the Broadcast room, and select Lombardy-Fischer under the Games tab. The show is free for Premium Members (in most cases, this will be individuals who have a registered copy of Fritz 12); it's 50 ducats for everyone else.

Hope to see you there!

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!

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!)

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.

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!]

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!

Alexander Morozevich has been exciting chess fans for over a decade now as not only one of the strongest but most imaginative players around. Not only can he defeat anyone, he can do it playing practically anything: the Chigorin, the Albin, 3...Be7 in the French, the King's Gambit, the Evans Gambit...and on occasion he'll play normal openings too. It's not just that he plays unusual openings; his creative play extends to all phases of the game. This, his fighting spirit and streaky results all contribute to making him the fan favorite he is today.

As an example to illustrate what he is capable of, we'll have a look at his impressive win over Vladimir Kramnik in last year's Tal Memorial. Choosing a main line - the 6.Qc2 Anti-Meran with the Shabalov/Shirov Gambit (7.g4), he went right into the heart of Kramnik's preparation and proved himself more than up to the task. Kramnik played very well for a while, and the balance between Morozevich's initiative and Kramnik's extra pawn remained intact for a good while. As it turned out, Kramnik blinked first, and his single inaccurate move was all Morozevich needed to take over - and he did, going on to win with brutal attacking play.

We'll look at this outstanding game tonight - Wednesday night - at 9 p.m. ET (3 a.m. CET Thursday morning for European late-nighters). Just log on to the Playchess server, go to the Broadcasts room and look for Morozevich-Kramnik under the games tab. It's as simple as that, and I look forward to seeing you there.

If you want to, anyway. It's a great engine and comes with some nice bells and whistles, but of course if you already have 20 other engines that can whup you, me, and Anand too, you might not really feel the urge.* The reason I'm mentioning this is because of its relevance to watching shows like mine on the Playchess server, complete with free access to all the archived materials. Better still, it costs even less than I thought it would: just under 50 euros (which I expected), but only $60.80 in U.S. money.

More Fritz 12 info here, more info about premium Playchess memberships here, and more info about accessing my archived Playchess shows here.

* On the other hand, if you're the sort of person who has 20 other engines, why not make it 21?

With a draw in the next to last round of the Spice Cup B-Tournament, Ben Finegold has, at long last, achieved his third and final grandmaster norm. As he fulfilled the rating requirement long ago, all that's left is the paperwork and the payment. Congratulations!

As for Ray Robson, he won his game, too, against GM Diamant, and is still in the running for his final GM norm as well. To do it, he'll need to defeat FM Rensch in the final round. And if he does it, he'll be the youngest GM in American history: younger than Fischer, younger than Nakamura, and younger than Caruana (send him back!). Meanwhile, have a look at his brutal win over Diamant:

IM Ray Robson (2527) - GM Andre Diamant (2526)
Spice Cup 2009, Round 8, 9/26/2009

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Qd2 Bb4 8.f3 d5 9.a3 Qa5 10.Nb3 Bxc3 11.bxc3 Qc7 12.c4 dxe4 13.Bc5 exf3 14.gxf3 Ne7 15.O-O-O Nf5 16.Bh3 b6 17.Bb4 a5 18.Bc3 a4 19.Be5 Qe7 20.Bxf5 exf5 21.Bd6 Qd8 22.Qg2 axb3 23.Bb4 Qc7 24.Qxg7 1-0

As I was informed by a reader earlier tonight, the ChessBase archives are up and running, and my shows are all there, waiting for your viewing pleasure. To find them, log on to the Playchess server, then in the Rooms window select Watch Premium Training Videos - Radio ChessBase - English - Great Games with Dennis Monokroussos.

I don't think the new pricing has gone into effect yet (I assume it won't until Fritz 12 is out), so those of you who don't intend to become premium members should watch now while the price is still a pretty trivial 2 ducats (about 30 U.S. cents) a show.

Thank you for your patience; at last you can dig in!

With the recent news that Magnus Carlsen is working with Garry Kasparov, it seems like only a matter of time before he reaches the very top of the chess world. Of course, that has been a common opinion for some years anyway, and it's games like the one we'll look at this week that have encouraged such speculation.

Played when he was just 13, his victory over the experienced and strong GM Evgeny Vladimirov was both important and remarkable. Important, because it jump-started him in the tournament on the way to his final grandmaster norm and the title; remarkable, because afterwards Vladimirov - one of Kasparov's former trainers, declared that Carlsen's future in chess was as the number one player!

We've all had some time now to appreciate Carlsen and to see Vladimirov's prediction come closer and closer to fruition, but it's worth having a look at this game in particular, to see what so impressed Carlsen's opponent. Those of you who want to see the game in advance can undoubtedly do so, but for those who want to enjoy the surprises with fresh eyes, I'll keep any possible spoilers out of this blurb.

What I will tell you is that you can watch the show tomorrow night - Wednesday night - on the Playchess server, at 9 p.m. ET. (That's 3 a.m. CET on Thursday, for my European insomniac and early-rising viewers.) To watch, simply log on, go to the Broadcasts Room, find Carlsen-Vladimirov under the Games tab, double-click and you're good to go. See you then!

[N.B. I don't think the Premium membership rules are in effect yet - I assume this won't happen until Fritz 12 is out - so if you haven't re-upped yet you're probably still okay. If I learn otherwise, I will update this paragraph.]

ChessBase's PlayChess server is changing its policies somewhat. The gist is this: if you are a premium member, which seems to require nothing more than buying Fritz 12 (when it comes out) or a separate serial number, you get everything free on the server: my show (live and archived - a pretty good value since there I've done over 200 shows), others' shows, the chance to play in simuls, leagues and everything else. For those with basic memberships, some features are blocked altogether while others are fairly costly. Here are more details, as they've been given to me by ChessBase staff:

Premium members

New on the server are the Premium members. Purchasing Fritz 12 or a separate serial number, Premium Members have access to all offerings of the chess server.

For Basic members, live commentaries and training are still available through Ducat payment (50).

All important tournament will be commented live. Premium members can watch all offered live shows for free. For Basic member, the shows will cost 50 Ducats each.

Our range of training programmes will be extended. Oliver Reeh and André Schulz will broadcast in German every week as usual, just like Dennis Breder. Dennis Monokroussos and Valeri Lilov will broadcast in English every week, and so will Daniel King every month. Leontxo Garcia will broadcast in Spanish every month. In addition, there will be further authors for training. Premium members can watch all offered training programmes for free. Basic members again pay 50 Ducats per programme.

Starting 2010, we will introduce a Single League managed by Martin Fischer. Furthermore, simuls versus title holders will be offered on a regular basis. Only Premium members are admitted there.

Moreover, we offer weekly workshops in English and German showing important and useful programme functions. These will be free for all members.


Training: Premium: Free; Basic: 50 Ducats per programme.
Live Shows: Premium: Free; Basic: 50 Ducats per programme.
Single League: Premium: Free; Basic: No admission [i.e. can't participate].
Simuls: Premium: Free; Basic: No admission.
Archives: Premium: Free; Basic: 50 Ducats per programme.
Workshops: Free for all.

Related Posts (on one page):

1. ChessBase Show: Archives are Up!
2. ChessBase Shows: Important Information

The NH Tournament in Amsterdam, which finished a couple of weeks ago, wasn't a great event for Hikaru Nakamura. Some heavy travel the past few weeks may have helped get the flu (or something flu-like), and the result was his worst performance of the year. He only won one game, but the good news is that it was a great one.

The victim was the legendary Alexander Beliavsky, a former World Junior Champion, Candidate and a 4-time Soviet Champion. He's 55, but with a rating of 2662 he remains a member of the elite, if no longer a member of the Grand Slam scene. Best of all, he continues to work very hard at the game, and is renowned for his uncompromising chess (that's the title of his chess autobiography).

In their second game in the event, Beliavsky took his revenge, but in the game we'll look at in this week's ChessBase show, he was the victim. Playing White in a Classical King's Indian, he followed the script and went for the queenside while Nakamura went king-hunting on the other flank. It looked like Beliavsky had the better of it - that was certainly the opinion of the online commentators I saw - but Nakamura's extremely energetic attacking play, replete with sacrifices, led to a successful conclusion.

More than this I will not say, so that if you haven't seen the game, you won't have any of the surprises taken away in advance. So here's what you do: tune in tomorrow night (9 p.m. Wednesday in the Eastern Time Zone; 3 a.m. Thursday morning CET) on the Playchess server. Just log on, go to the Broadcast room and find Beliavsky-Nakamura under the Games tab. Double-click, watch, and enjoy - that's it! Hope to see you then.

In the greatest series of matches in chess history, the most dramatic was probably the fourth between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. Played in Seville, Spain in 1987, Karpov took the lead with one game to go by winning in game 23, only to have Kasparov break his heart yet again by winning the final game. The result was a pity for Karpov, of course; not only for the obvious reason, but because he had the most interesting theoretical contributions and the match initiative much of the way. While history only remembers the winners (or in this case, the "draw-er" who kept the title, Karpov's best efforts in the match are worth another look.

One such effort was his win in game 16. The players had a vigorous battle in the English in that match, and in the variation 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Bb4 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 in particular. Karpov won with Black in game 2 and Kasparov avenging the defeat in game 4, and afterwards one side or the other avoided this position until game 16. In the earlier games Karpov played 6...e4, but now he chose 6...Re8 - a variation that continues to be tested at the highest levels to this day. The game quickly grew tense, with both sides enjoying their trumps: White a mobile pawn center and the bishop pair, Black the better pawn structure and strong blockading knights. On this occasion, Karpov handled the strategic complications better and won - and this despite the painful memories of game 16s past.

We'll say more about that, and much more about the game itself, when we present it on the Playchess server this Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET (= 3 a.m. CET Thursday morning). It's free to watch; just log on to the server at the relevant hour, go to the Broadcasts room, find and select Kasparov-Karpov under the Games tab, and you're good to go.

Hope to see you then, especially as this will be our last show for several weeks. (We aim to resume regular service on September 17.)

I was informed yesterday that the next time ChessBase reboots the Playchess server, the archived shows will once again be available. As it is now, they're all in the correct directory (unfortunately, still with my last name uncapitalized), and the last two shows are currently available. (They cost a couple of ducats each to watch; a ducat runs 1/10 of a Euro or roughly $.15 in American money, so watching these programs won't exactly break the bank.)

For those who haven't watched any of the shows there, what you do (after purchasing some ducats from ChessBase) is this: log on to the Playchess server and work your way in the Rooms list through to the following: Audio/Video Training on Demand - Radio ChessBase - Great Games with Dennis monokroussos [sic]. Then find the game you want to watch under the Games tab, double-click on it, and respond to the request to chip in a couple of ducats once the prompt comes. It's not quite as simple as watching the ChessVideos shows, but it's not difficult.

The 2009 Arctic Chess Challenge recently finished in a four-way tie for first, and one of the four winners was 14-year-old American IM Ray Robson. In the process he achieved his first grandmaster norm, and it is games like the one we'll examine this week that show his considerable promise. His game with GM Stig Allan Rasmussen was a success in every way.

First of all, it looks like a triumph of preparation. Rasmussen played an idea that had not been seen in practice, though it had been advocated in a recent, important theoretical work. The result? No problem: Robson found an interesting idea that wasn't discussed in that work, and it turned out that he was not the surprisee but the surpriser. We'll see if White's idea can be rehabilitated, but in the game Rasmussen made a series of natural moves, only to be hit by a truly brilliant idea that won Black the game.

The game is thus of theoretical significance, attractive, and offers an unusual concept we can add to our general understanding of the game. Want more details? You'll have to tune in! It's easy: just log on to the Playchess server at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday night (that's 3 a.m. Thursday morning, CET), go to the Broadcasts room and find Rasmussen-Robson in the games list. It's free, and that's all there is to it. Hope to see you then!

I noticed when ftp'ing tonight's show to the Playchess server that all the games had been moved to the "Great Games with Dennis monokroussos" [sic] directory, which looks like a big step in the right direction. To my surprise, when I tried logging on to that directory none of the games appeared, except the one I presented today. So while most of the shows are apparently unavailable, you can at least watch tonight's.

The Grünfeld Defense is a very popular chess opening, and with good reason. It's fundamentally sound, yet dynamic, which means that Black gets fairly good winning chances without doing anything too insane.

This is not to say that there are no risks, of course. White typically enjoys a big center, and one of the main ways in which he can use it is to provide cover for his pieces as he builds up a kingside attack. Black will often gain counterplay on the queenside and against his opponent's center, and then the race is on. On this occasion, in our game for this week, it's the attacker who wins the race.

More specifically, we'll examine the game Alexander Riazantsev - Valeri Yandemirov, played in an open tournament in Moscow last year. Yandemirov chose a sideline he had used before, with success, but Riazantsev found a different way to pursue the attack. With the committal move 15.e5, White put all his eggs in one basket: mate or else be positionally lost. After Black's reply, White was desperately weak on the queenside and on the light squares, but none of that would matter if he could deliver mate. You already know what happened, of course, but seeing the "how" of it is well worth watching - especially because it's an attacking idea you can use in your own games.

So: To watch the show live, log on to the Playchess.com server at 9 p.m. ET tonight (Wednesday night)/3 a.m. CET Thursday morning, go to the Broadcast room and click on Riazantsev-Yandemirov in the Games tab. It's free to watch, and a good time will be had by all.

In a recent poll on the Russian website chesspro.ru they picked their 10 best games of 2008, and the winner was Topalov-Kramnik, from Wijk aan Zee. The game had a bit of everything: a startling opening novelty, sacrifices, brilliant attacking ideas and some errors and missed chances to boot. If you don't know the game, you'll love it; if you do, you'll enjoy a second, closer look.

"What must be done?" - you ask. The answer is simple: tune in to the Playchess server at 9 p.m. Wednesday night (that's ET; in Europe, it's 3 a.m. CET Thursday morning), go to the Broadcast room, find Topalov - Kramnik under the games tab, and you're good to go. (But bring your own popcorn.)

See you then!