The Chess Mind

Bela Perenyi (1953-1988) was "only" an IM, but his mark on the game it out of proportion to his title. Just for starters, two immensely important main lines in the Najdorf are named for him, and he made significant contributions to other openings as well. And there's no doubt that he would have made an even bigger mark on the chess world, were it not for his tragic death in a car accident 20 years ago this month.

Lest you think from the foregoing that Perenyi was mainly a theoretician without any special aptitude for the game, I hope this week's show (and part of next week's as well) will make it clear that this is not the case. We'll look this week at a remarkable game played in 1985 against German FM Martin Fette. It defies easy description, but Perenyi's willingness to give up material in the most unusual ways for purely long-term compensation - in an endgame, no less - makes this a must-see show. This is no cookie cutter game, and you'll be glad you tuned in to see this contest, I assure you.

All Playchess.com members need to do is show up at 9 p.m. ET tonight - Wednesday night - go to the Broadcasts room, find "Fette-Perenyi" under the games tab, double-click, watch and enjoy. I look forward to seeing you then.

The late Lembit Oll (1966-1999) was a very talented and strong Estonian GM. Like any strong grandmaster, he could play to the needs of the position, but he seemed especially at home in extremely sharp opening variations. That makes his games a real pleasure for fans to play through, and the game we’ll look at this week is no exception.

Playing in the 1989 USSR Championship against Mikhail Ulibin, Oll, with White, went into a sharp line of the Winawer French, going into a subvariation that had recently become popular at GM level. Thanks in part to a brilliant idea of Oll’s first demonstrated in this game (subsequently refined), it went out business in a hurry. The concept is a beautiful one and it still sometimes catches amateurs by surprise, so it’s worth your time both as an aesthetic experience and as something you should know if you play or face the Winawer French.

It’ll make for a great show, and all you need to do is show in the Broadcast Room at 9 p.m. ET and find “Oll-Ulibin” under the Games Tab. It’s free to watch for registered Playchess.com members. Hope to see you then!

The match is over, and Viswanathan Anand has retained his championship title, defeating Vladimir Kramnik 6.5-4.5. In the first half of the match, he dominated in every respect: his preparation was superior, he was able to reach positions where Kramnik was uncomfortable and his tactical prowess was superior. Even when Kramnik managed to reach playable positions out of the opening, something else would go wrong. After six games, Kramnik was almost fortunate to be down by only three points.

As the match wore on and neared its end, though, Kramnik started to turn the tables. Now it was his preparation that was better, and he started pressing in every game. It wasn't enough to save the match, but it did turn a rout into a genuine contest with a little drama.

So this week, in our final show on the match, we'll take a look at the last act. Game 9 was a great chance for Kramnik, who was just about winning near the end. In game 10, Kramnik even managed to win with his best novelty in the match. And then there was game 11 - a very interesting contest, but one in which Anand reasserted himself and drew confidently, putting an end to the match. Good and interesting games one and all, and we'll examine them tonight, Wednesday night, at 9 p.m. ET. Log on to the Playchess.com server, go to the Broadcast room, and find Anand-Kramnik in the games list. Hope to see you there!