SPRAGGETT ON CHESS: 2009-07-26

Friday, August 7, 2009

Today in history

AUGUST 7 IN HISTORY

1498 Columbus arrives in Caribbean

1934 US Court of Appeals upheld lower court ruling striking down govt's attempt to ban controversial James Joyce novel "Ulysses"

1970 1st computer chess tournament

Quote of the day

''Never, never listen to anybody that tries to discourage you.''--Mariah Carey

Good day, Friday! A great week has come to a close: spectacular chess puzzles and a high percentage of correct solutions. Congratulations to all of my readers who have participated on a daily basis!

Today's chess puzzle will leave your head spinning! Black seems to have everything under control and at first sight might even have winning chances...but upon closer inspection things are not so simple: the awkward position of the Black King is not easy to solve. Can you see the winning theme? Go for it! White to play and win. Good luck!

KASPARIAN 1985

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

Kasparian (1910-1995)

Chess memories

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

I recently found some old photos that my readers might be interested in . Inspite of the internet becoming such a big part of our lives, it is still difficult to find the old stuff! The google and yahoo and bing (to name the most prominent ones) search engines offer image searches too, but they are more focused on the present day.

PHOTO 1

THE 1954 AMSTERDAM OLYMPIAD GROUP PHOTO

please click on photo to enlarge and see the numbers

5 Guðmundur Pálmason; 7 Friðrik Olafsson; 8 Guðmundur Ágústsson; 13 Peter Clarke; 14 Leonard Barden; 17 Enrico Paoli; 18 Ingi R. Jóhannsson; 20 Arthur Dunkelblum; 22 Alfons Franck; 25 Nathan Divinsky; 26 Fedor Bohatirchuk; 27 John Prentice; 28 Georges Noradounghian; 30 Frank Anderson; 31 Maurice Fox; 35 Lodewijk Prins; 36 Robert Lemaire; 37 Georges Thibaut; 39 Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander; 40 Jim Walsh; 42 Alexander Rueb; 46 Harry Golombek; 47 Brian Reilly; 51 Gedeon Barcza; 52 Jiří Fichtl; 53 Miroslav Filip; 57 Børge Andersen; 63 Otto Benkner; 68 E. Verner Nielsen; 70 Axel Nielsen; 71 Harald Enevoldsen; 72 Palle Nielsen.

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/amsterdam.html

The Amsterdam Olympiad took place in September 1954, with 26 teams: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Saar, Soviet Union, Sweden, Switzerland, West Germany and Yugoslavia.

1951 COMMONWEALTH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

Commonwealth tournament 1951[Chess , Vol. 17 No. 195, Dec. 1951, p. 47]

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=598

Ceremonial first move - Commonwealth Tournament[Chess, Vol. 17 No. 195, Dec.1951, p. 46]

1951 CANADIAN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

Dave Creemer, Hayes, Ridout, Holowach, Adrian Russell, Jursevskis, Millar, Taylor, Yanofsky, Vaitonis, Anderson, Fox, Bohatirchuk, Divinsky. Missing: Yerhoff

http://www3.telus.net/public/swright2/homepage.html

A very strong championship! With grandmaster-level participants like Yanofsky, Vaitonis, Anderson, Fox and Bohatirchuk, the championship was one of the strongest ever.

Certainly the 2009 Championship ,which begins tomorrow, will pale in comparison! At times it seems as though chess in Canada is moving backwards....but I suppose most of the change is about the gradual loss of prestige and visibility of the game itself. Not just in Canada, but in many other countries.

It was difficult for the CFC to decide whether or not to organize a zonal this year. The then president of the CFC (David Lavin) showed no initiative in the project. It was only after considerable pressure was placed on him that a sponsor/organizer was sought. Hal Bond volunteered for the task. We have to thank him for that!

But if a chess federation finds it so difficult to make its national championship a priority...should we be surprised that the vast majority of country's best players take neither the federation nor its championship seriously?

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Thursday's chess puzzle

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Good morning Thursday! The Knight is a mysterious piece...the only one that can jump over other pieces and still remain agile and and dangerous. The characteristic of the Knight in racing from one side of the board to the other is hardly intuitive. Just how fast can the Knight race?

Today's Kasparian gem features a theme containing these same qualities: can the White Knight catch the Black pawn? You will be surprised by the solution! Often the fastest route is not the most direct one! White to play and win. Good luck!

KASPARIAN 1972

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Today in History

AUGUST 6 IN HISTORY

1965- Beatles release 'HELP' album in UK

1675- Russian Czar Aleksei bans foreign hairs cut

1911- Lucille Ball born in Jamestown NY, comedienne/actress

(I Love Lucy, Mame)

1809- Alfred Lord Tennyson born ; poet laureate of England

1945 Hiroshima Peace Day
atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima by "Enola Gay"

1890- 1st use of electric chair in US, John Hart, in NY for murder

1927 -Andy Warhol born; pop artist

1917 -Robert Mitchum born in Bridgeport Ct

actor (Winds of War, North & South)

1998-Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky spent 8 1/2 hours testifying before a grand jury about her relationship with President Bill Clinton.

1914- Austria-Hungary declares war against Russia

1914- Serbia declares war against Germany

1623 - Anne Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare, dies

1661 - Holland sells Brazil to Portugal for 8 million guilders

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Quote of the day

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Marie Antoinette

''I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and you deprived me of my children. My blood alone remains: take it, but do not make me suffer long. ''

A Summary of what happened at her execution on October 16 1793...

Many French people hated the Queen for her Austrian blood and her expensive tastes. Marie Antoinette was called Madame Deficit and blame was placed on her for the country's financial problems. As she matured, Marie Antoinette became less frivolous. She tried to change her image by wearing simple gowns and posing for portraits with her children, but her efforts had little effect on the brutal public.

In October, she was tried by a mock trial, as was her husband. Marie Antoinette was convicted of treason and sentenced to be guillotined. On October 16, 1793 she was taken through the streets of Paris in an open cart. For the occasion 30,000 soldiers were mobilized. She maintained her dignity until the bitter end. On the scaffold she accidentally stepped on the executioner's foot, and her last words were, "Monsieur, I ask your pardon. I did not do it on purpose."

She died just short of her 38th birthday.

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Humour

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

A retired corporate executive, now a widower, decided to take a vacation. He booked himself on a Caribbean cruise and proceeded to have the time of his life. That is, until the ship sank. He found himself on an island with no other people, no supplies, nothing...only bananas and coconuts.

After about four months, he is lying on the beach one day when the most gorgeous woman he has ever seen rows up to the shore.

In disbelief, he asks, "Where did you come from? How did you get here?"

She replies, "I rowed from the other side of the island. I landed here when my cruise ship sank."

"Amazing," he notes. "You were really lucky to have a row boat wash up with you."

"Oh, this thing?" explains the woman. "I made the boat out of raw material I found on the island. The oars were whittled from gum tree branches. I wove the bottom from palm branches, and the sides and stern came from a Eucalyptus tree."

"But, where did you get the tools?"

"Oh, that was no problem," replied the woman. "On the south side of the island, a very unusual stratum of alluvial rock is exposed. I found if I fired it to a certain temperature in my kiln, it melted into ductile iron. I used that for tools and used the tools to make the hardware."

The guy is stunned. "Let's row over to my place," she says.

After a few minutes of rowing, she docks the boat at a small wharf. As the man looks to shore, he nearly falls off the boat. Before him is a stone walk leading to an exquisite bungalow painted in blue and white.While the woman ties up the rowboat with an expertly woven hemp rope, he can only stare straight ahead, dumb struck.

As they walk into the house, she says, casually, "It's not much, but I call it home. Sit down...please. Would you like a drink?"

"No! No thank you," he blurts out, still dazed. "I can't take another drop of coconut juice."

"It's not coconut juice," winks the woman. "I have a still. How would you like a piña colada?"

Trying to hide his continued amazement, the man accepts, and they sit down on her couch to talk. After they have exchanged their stories, the woman announces, "I'm going to slip into something more comfortable. Would you like to take a shower and shave? There is a razor upstairs in the bathroom cabinet."

No longer questioning anything, the man goes into the bathroom. There, in the cabinet, is a razor made from a piece of tortoise bone. Two shells honed to a hollow ground edge are fastened on to its end inside a swivel mechanism.

"This woman is amazing," he muses. "What next?"When he returns, she greets him wearing nothing but vines, strategically positioned, and smelling faintly of gardenias.

She beckons for him to sit down next to her."Tell me," she begins suggestively, slithering closer to him. "We've been out here for many months. You've been lonely. There's something I'm sure you really feel like doing right now, something you've been longing for?"

She stares into his eyes. He can't believe what he's hearing!

"You mean," he swallows excitedly and tears start to form in his eyes, "don't tell me you've built a golf course!!!"

(Thx Goomie!)

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Quote of the day

''When I got hoarse, the manager would say, 'Drink this. Joplin used to drink this,' and I used to say, 'Joplin? Joplin's dead.' '' Cindi Lauper

Coming attractions to this blog

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

APPLIED SPORT PSYCHOLOGY

THE CHESS COACH IN THE ERA OF THE PC

An article that traces the role of chess coach/trainer from the era of the Soviet school of chess to modern times. What impacts have advances in sport psychology had on tournament chess players and coaches? How have the needs of the data-base generation affected chess coaching?

Traditionally, chess coaching has focused on two central aims: helping the player reach his full potential as student of the game and specific tournament preparation. With the advent of the data-base programs the coach is less necessary for tournament preparation, but his role has become even more important in guiding the player in his personal development. What do the world's top coaches and trainers think of the new challenges?

This article explores the difficulties that both players and their coaches face in adapting to the new technologies.

........................................................................................

THE RISE AND FALL OF CANADIAN CHESS

This article's publishing date has been put back to the end of the summer.

This controvertial article is my version of what has happened -and why- to organized chess in Canada these past 20 years. This is a true story. A bird's- eye view, so to speak ,of the incestuous relationship between Canadian chess organizers, special interests and money.

This is the story that will be remembered by future generations of Canadians of what really happened, long after we are all gone.

Divided into 5 parts, the article will be presented as a series:

Introduction

1) The Kevin Spraggett Foundation for Chess (1988-1992) and the FQE

2) Larry Bevand's personal war on organized chess (especially 1996-present)

3) The ChessTalk fiasco

4) The sale of Canada's National Team (especially the Yves Charbonneau saga)

5) The last days of the CFC

.........................................................................

The long promised article on the life and games of Miguel Najdorf is close to completion!

Grandmaster Miguel Najdorf

Najdorf was one of the most colourful players of the 20th century. Born in Poland in 1910, he found himself stranded in Buenos Aires in 1939 when the war broke out, and he decided not to risk returning to Europe. Just as well, as his entire family was murdered by the Nazis.

Having to make his life all over again, he became a citizen of Argentina. His business interests quickly made him the richest chess player of his generation. But his passion was chess. He was a candidate for the highest title for decades, having played 11 world champions in over the board competition.

Najdorf was a close friend of Bobby Fischer. Here we see Miguel having a good time trying to tempt the American genius.

Wednesday's chess puzzle

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Good morning Wednesday! The two knights can not deliver mate by themselves, and as such many compositions have been created based on this theme. One such puzzle is today's Kasparian gem. White is a solid Rook down, but even so he manages to draw. Domination and discovered check are co-themes. Find the idea! Good luck!

KASPARIAN 1982