Today's tactic

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Today's example comes from the game Kotenko vs Iordachescu , played in the Moscow Open this year.  Black has some pressure in the position below, which occurred after Black's 39th move (...Rb3). The b-pawn is in need of constant attention, and the Black h-pawn creates some cramping on the King side.

Even so, White's position is quite sound and there should be little doubt that the game must end in a draw with correct play.  White should now play the active 40.Nc4 and after 40...Rd3 play 41.Rc2! Black will have to worry about is own a-pawn.

INSTEAD, WHITE DID NOT REALIZE THE DANGER AND PLAYED THE PASSIVE 40.Nf1?

AFTER BLACK'S SURPRISING 40...Rd3! WE GET BY FORCE THE NEXT POSITION AFTER THE EXCHANGE OF ROOKS: 41.RxR NxR:

White must have thought that this was the simplest way to draw.  But a big surprise is waiting for him!  Do you see it?  White  is dead lost no matter what he plays...White now played the logical 42.Kf1 and Black shocked White with the cruncher 42...Nxb2!

Black can not take the Knight because Black wins by simply advancing the a-pawn!  Black is now a passed pawn up and the end is quick once the Black King marches into the King-side....43.Nc3 a3  44.Ke2 Kf6!

45.Kd2 Ke5! 46.Kc2 Kf4!

White resigns.  It is hopeless.  After 47.Ne4 Black wins easily with 47...Nd3! and 48...Ne1.  Black will soon be three pawns up.

Moral of the story?  Watch out for those damn Knights...

Odds and ends

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

An old Chess Review magazine from 1946!  The US Delegation

I can recognize Reshevsky, (foreground)  Kashdan, Kevitz , Weaver Adams, Dake

This magazine is on sale at EBAY.  Starting price is 1 euro!

http://cgi.ebay.de/Chess-Review-1946,-Schachzeitung-USA,-viele-Photos-(!)-_W0QQitemZ190370952931QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20100206?IMSfp=TL100206165001r4145

Imagine Capablanca on the cover of TIME...1925.  He was still world champion then

These photos were taken during the Leipzig Olympiad (1960), the first Olympiad that Bobby Fischer participated.  One evening the Americans went over to the hotel where the Soviet players were staying (in East Germany there was no night life).  Mikhail Tal, then World Champion, was in his typically joking mood, and holding court.

In the photo on the left, Fischer is reading Tal's palm:  ''I can see in your palm, Mr. Tal, that the next World Champion will be ...Bobby Fischer.''  Everybody breaks out laughing...(photo on the right). Lombardy and Weinstein are behind Fischer.

But there is more to this photo than just this story.  Just prior to Fischer reading Tal's palm, Tal actually read Fischer's palm!  I know this because my friend Joaquim Durao was present in that hotel that evening.  The story is that Tal , upon reading Fischer's palm, said:'' I can see in your palm, Mr. Fischer, that the next World Champion will be an American!''  Tal let this hang in the air for a few seconds, and then turned around to Lombardy and said ''Congratulations Mr. Lombardy!''  Everyone broke out laughing...then Fischer decided to read Tals palm...

This coming October will be the 25th anniversary of the Montpellier Candidates Tournament.  If you remember well, I actually participated in this great tournament, along with Yasser Seirawan.  The tournament had a budget in excess of one million dollars!  It was one of the first tournaments to use state of the art electronic boards.

Mr. Jean Py, one of the principal forces behind the organization of this tournament, has collected all of the videos, TV interviews and media-information.  He has been incontact with me these past few years , asking my input, analysis of games, and what not.

It is planned that a website will go online by October 12 of this year.

In the meantime, my readers can get a taste of what is coming by taking a look at the following link:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbq2dh_il-y-a-25-ans-deja_sport

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Today's laughs

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

THE POLITE WAY TO PEE

During one of her daily classes, a teacher trying to teach good manners, asked her students the following question: 'Michael, if you were on a date having dinner With a nice young lady, how would you tell her that you have to go to the bathroom?'

Michael said, 'Just a minute I have to go pee.'

 

The teacher responded by saying, 'That would be rude and impolite. What about you Sherman, how would you say it?'

Sherman said, 'I am sorry, but I really need to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back'

'That's better, but it's still not very nice to say the word bathroom at the dinner table. And you, little Johnny, can you use your brain for once and show us your good manners?'

'I would say: Darling, may I please be excused for a moment? I have to shake hands with a very dear friend of mine, whom I hope to introduce you to after dinner.'

Thanks LA!

 

 

THE GAY TERRORIST

 

Yomama Bin Shoppin

 

 

Thx Randy!

Figure these out!

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

In the position below, Black seems to have everything under control, despite being an exchange down.  If White takes twice on c7 then the Black King is stalemated.  And if White takes only once on c7 and then slides his King over to defend his Rook, Black captures the b-pawn with his Knight and the draw is airtight.

What had Black missed?

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN. HOW?
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The next position occurred in the game between  Ivanisevic and Jovanovic, in the 2009 Serbian Team Championship. White has sacrificed a piece for the attack. Black reasoned that if White now tried to exploit the pins with Nxf6ch, the King slides over to d8 and Black is quite safe.

Instead, Ivanisevic made a move that Black completely overlooked, and Black resigned immediately!  What move did White play?

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Saturday's tactics training

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

TODAY'S TRAINING SESSION!

'Our attitude toward life determines life's attitude towards us.'

Earl Nightingale

The following chess problems were composed by Canadian chess master Bill Evans, and the solutions may be found at the following link:

http://www.mrbiller.ca/BILLEVANS/CHESS/k351_400/index_437_515.html

GOOD LUCK!

Fischer curiosities for sale

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

On the website listed below you can find all sorts of chess-related items for sale. I found four Fischer-items (photos below), that you can snatch up for the bargain price of 950 euros!  Even if you are not interested in buying, take a visit to the site!

ITALIAN Chess Philatelic WEB Site of Riccardo ANDREIS

http://digilander.libero.it/ricky.and/index.html

Gregorio Hernandez Santana (1943-2010)

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

http://www.gregoriochess.com/

Player, international arbiter, chess promotor and life-long passionate collector, Gregorio Hernandez Santana died 2nd February in Las Palmas after a lengthly illness.  He was 66 years old.

Yoyo, as he was warmly called by his friends, loved chess in all of its facets.  Gregorio was the first president of the Federación Canaria (1986-1994), founder of the CajaCanarias Chess Club, and owner of one of the most amazing chess collections ( la colección Esquizofrenia Chess), certainly the largest in the world, with more than 100,000 objects connected to every aspect of chess, past and present.

Gregorio was a generous and kind person, and whenever he could help a chessplayer he did.  He was a good friend of Veselin Topalov, and remained so until his death.

I met Gregorio on numerous occasions, in Spain as well as Portugal.  Often he would bring parts of his amazing collection of items related to chess (stamps from all over the world, photos, curiosities, etc) to exhibit during tournaments. On one occasion (the Narciso Yepes International Chess Tournament, 2004) Gregorio showed up at the closing ceremony (I had won first prize) and tried to convince me to sell him the trophy (a rare sculpture of Yepes) for his collection.  He explained to me that it was the only trophy missing from his collection!  I gladly gave Yoyo  the trophy free of charge!

Narciso Yepes (1927-1997) was a legend of the classical guitar

 

I invite the readers to visit  http://www.gregoriochess.com/, where Gregorio has posted many interesting photos of some of the more than 100,000 pieces in his collection. He collected everything about every aspect of chess: cartoons, advertizements, photos, statues, chess sets, stamps, procelaine, autographs, trophies, LP-covers etc ,etc.  Much of his collection consists of originals. 

 

I don't know how much it is worth, but 100,000 of anything must be worth tens of millions of dollars!   I include below just a sample of photos, magazine covers and what not that you can find on his website.  Enjoy

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Notice the JakeMate insecticide!!