SPRAGGETT ON CHESS: 2010-11-28

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Tidbits

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

COOL CHESS VIDEO!

AFRICAN POLITICAL CARTOON

How green is your valley? Innovative coping in corporate America

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

http://www.wikihow.com/Live-in-Your-Car

HOW TO LIVE IN YOUR CAR

''Living in a car isn't something that anyone would recommend. However, when you get laid off, your emergency fund runs out, your home is foreclosed (or you get an eviction notice) and there's nobody to help, living in your car might be the only choice, especially if you don't feel safe at a local shelter. Unfortunately, in many places, sleeping in your car is not only frowned upon, but also illegal. Here's how to get by until something better comes along.

Remember, you are not alone and you have a vehicle. Lots of people have survived and even thrived while sleeping in cars.''

USEFUL TIPS

__________________________________________

MODEL A: NO FRILLS

___________________________________________

MODEL B: FRILLS:

Suelen Lima de Vasconcelos

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

www.alexakechess.com

One of my favourite chess blogs is that of Alex Rodriguez (http://www.alexakechess.com/) and I had previously written about this some time ago. Rodriguez's site is a kindred spirit of my own blog, part chess, part anything goes, part nonsense and 100% fun! I strongly recommend my readers to visit, not knowing spanish should not pose a big problem...

Alex is rightfully proud of his sister-in-law (Suelen Lima De Vasconcelos) who is a well known international model with a successful career, including doing commercials for cell-phones and beauty products. Below are some videos and photos of Suelen that Alex shared with his readers.

Today's study

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Richard Reti came from a family of artists and musicians. Even though he died relatively young (in Prague, 1929, at age 40), Reti left the world a legacy that only a handful of grandmasters can better. In the realm of endgame study compositions his name --even today--is held in high reverence. Below is a pretty gem that is one of my favourites. On an open board with only 5 pieces who would think of there being a mating position in only 3 moves?

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

R.Reti 1923

Solution below

________________________________

While Reti was hardly the first player to specialize in the opening beginning with 1.Nf3, his manner of playing it was unique and today we often call this opening the Reti opening. Reti often combined the double-fianchetto with the moves Nf3 and c4, giving the opening its distinct stamp.

Reti is second to the right, top row.

At the 1924 New York International , Reti finished a respectable 5th place, behind Lasker (the winner !), Capablanca , Alekhine and Marshall. However, in some ways Reti's performance stands out in terms of artistic achievement. He inflicted on the world champion- Capablanca- his only loss of the tournament and was also responsible for one of Alekhine's only 2 defeats.

But the manner in which Reti did so is remarkable for 2 reasons: first, each game was exactly 31 moves long; and second, the first and last moves of each game were identical (!!): 1.Nf3 and 31.Rd5

Witness yourself!

____________________________________

SOLUTION: It looks as though the White Rook will have to sacrifice itself in order to stop the far advanced Black pawn from Queening. However, a bit of magic allows White to , instead, give his Bishop for the pawn, leaving an easily won ending (Rook vs King). 1.Rc3!! b2 (nothing better; otherwise Bc1) 2.Bc1!! b1(Q) Ofcourse, taking the Bishop prevents mate, but the ending would then be child's play to win! 3.Ra3 mate!

Monday, December 6, 2010

Today's insightful quotation

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

"The system filters out the thoughtful and replaces them with the faithful. When everybody is thinking the same thing, nobody is thinking at all."--George Orwell

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Potpourri

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

DECEMBER 6, 1917

MORE THAN 2,000 PEOPLE KILLED. MORE THAN 9,000 INJURED. EVEN TODAY, THE LARGEST MAN-MADE ACCIDENTAL EXPLOSION IN HISTORY!

The Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with the Norwegian SS Imo in "The Narrows" section of the Halifax Harbour. About 2,000 people were killed by debris, fires, or collapsed buildings and it is estimated that over 9,000 people were injured. This is still the world's largest man-made accidental explosion.

At 8:40 in the morning, the SS Mont-Blanc, chartered by the French government to carry munitions to Europe, collided with the unloaded Norwegian ship Imo, chartered by the Commission for Relief in Belgium to carry relief supplies. Mont-Blanc caught fire ten minutes after the collision and exploded about twenty-five minutes later (at 9:04:35 AM). All buildings and structures covering nearly 2 square kilometres (500 acres) along the adjacent shore were obliterated, including those in the neighbouring communities of Richmond and Dartmouth. The explosion caused a tsunami in the harbour and a pressure wave of air that snapped trees, bent iron rails, demolished buildings, grounded vessels, and carried fragments of the Mont-Blanc for kilometres.

While it is unknown exactly how many deaths resulted from the disaster, a common estimate is 2,000, with an official database totaling 1,950 names made available through Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management in the Book of Remembrance. As many as 1,600 died immediately in the blast, the tsunami, and collapse of buildings, with an additional 9,000 injured, 6,000 of them seriously. 1,630 homes were completely destroyed in the explosion and fires, with 12,000 more houses damaged. This disaster left roughly 6,000 people homeless and without shelter and 25,000 without adequate housing. The city's industrial sector was in large part gone, with many workers among the casualties and the dockyard was heavily damaged.

(WIKI)

_________________________________________

HOW CRAYONS ARE MADE

________________________________________________________

BETTER DEAD THAN RED

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Sunday, December 5, 2010

A great attacking finish!

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

The Brazilian Chess Championship is currently taking place and almost all of Brazil's best players are participating. Here is the link to the official website: http://www.fpx.com.br/2010/brasileiro/

The tournament is one of the strongest in Brazil's history, with 6 GMs , of which 2 are rated more than 2600 and the rest all over 2500. Eight rounds have been played, with 3 more to go. Vescovi finds himself in first place followed by Fier a half point back. Everything is still possible and I expect an exciting finish!

Today's round saw GM Rafael Leitao (number one rated in the tournament) win a great attacking game, which I give below. Leitao is probably not well known to my readers, but he is infact one of the strongest players of his generation. Born in 1979, Leitao won 3 world championships for his age group: U8, U12 and U18. He is currently participating in the World Correspondence Championship which began this past summer.

POSITION AFTER BLACK'S 17th MOVE (17...Bf6):

GM EL DEBS

GM LEITAO

Black's last move turns out to be a critical error in an otherwise sharp and complex positiion. Now Leitao embarks on a precisely calculated sacrificial attack against which Black can only survive move to move, hoping that White will let him off the hook.

18. Bxf7! ch Kxf7 19. Qb3 ch

The Black King is caught in the cross-fire of White's pieces. The King can not now retreat because of the Knight fork on e6.

19... e6

Black is up a piece, but his Queen side pieces are still in the box. White now continues the attack with great energy, constantly creating threats and driving the Black monarch into the open.

20. f5!

Black must play very precisely not to go down in smoke here! Completely wrong would now be 20... Bxh4 21. fxe6 Kg7 (21... Kg8 22. e7 Kh8 23. Rf8 Kg7 24. Ne6) 22. Rf7 etc.

Also losing, but not as easily, would be 20... Kg7 21. Bxf6 Kxf6 22. fxe6 Ke5 (diagram,right) 23. Qd1! Na6 24. Rf7 Qd8 25. Qf1 and Black gets mated

THAT LEAVES ONLY:

20... g5!?

Black does his best to keep his head above water!

21. fxe6ch Kg6 [ If 21... Kg7 then 22. Bxg5! is crushing]

The Black King is exposed and invites a number of promising attacking continuations to White. Just as good as the game continuation would now be 22. Rxf6!?ch Kxf6 23. Rf1 Kg6 24. Bxg5 Kxg5 25. Qd1 etc and Black should not survive very long.

22. Qc2!

With the threat of e5 discovered check. Black's only defence is to put a piece on e5. But which one offers the best chances of resistance? After 22... Be5!? 23. Bxg5! Kxg5 24. Qd2!ch Bf4 (24... Kg6 25. Nf5 Bg7 26. Nh4) 25. Rxf4!ch Qxf4 26. Nf3!ch Black loses his Queen. So Black played the only other idea...

22... Qe5!?

Leitao deserves credit for his powerful finish:

23. Rxf6!!ch Kxf6 [Worse is 23... Qxf6 24. e5!; or 23... Kg7 24. Rf5!] 24. Qf2!ch

24... Kg7 There is nothing else!

Now one way to win is 25. Qf7ch Kh8 26. Rxb7!. Leitao's method is almost the same thing...

25. Rxb7! ch

There is no adequate defence. After 25... Bxb7 26. Qf7ch Kh6 27. Nf5ch Qxf5 28. exf5 White wins easily enough

25... Kh8 !?

26. Bg3! [1:0]

The Queen can not leave f6 unprotected. A great attacking finish!

Untranslatable insults

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Insulting appears to be a universal skill amongst otherwise civilized cultures. Curiously, however, not all insults can be accurately translated and attempts to do so most often completely distort the original intent or just don't have the same snap. This leads to each language having one or two particular insults that are really juicy , if not excessively colourful.

''Glorious, elaborate, profane insults of the world''

http://www.boingboing.net/

An open Reddit thread entitled "What are your favorite culturally untranslateable phrases?" rapidly degenerated into a collection of rollicking, profane, grotesque insults, each more alarming and delightful than the last. http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/efee7/what_are_your_favorite_culturally_untranslateable/?sort=confidence

Read the whole thing, of course, but here are some of the less profane examples:

* The Dutch phrase for giving too much attention to insignificant details is "ant fucking".

* Afrikaans: "Jou mammie naai vir bakstene om jou sissie se hoerhuis te bou Vieslik!" your mother engages in prostitution in order to raise funds for the building materials necessary to construct a brothel from which your sister will operate.

* German: "backpfeifengesicht" - a face in need of slapping

* Finnish: "Kyrpä otsassa" - a vulgar way to say you're incredibly annoyed. It means that you have a dick in your forehead (should be visualized as hanging forward, rather than actually in your forehead, for some reason).

* Finnish: "pilkunnussija" - a comma fucker; someone who corrects little or meaningless things.

* Spanish: "Está tratando de cagar mas alto de lo que le da el culo" - He's trying to shit higher than his ass can reach.

Sunday's tactic

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

http://wwcc2010.tsf.org.tr/

The following is from the 1st round of the Women's World Chess Championship currently underway in Turkey. Study the diagram below before looking at the game continuation. Try to figure out what you would do if you had the White pieces. Good luck and enjoy!

Heredia Serrano

GM Hou Yifan

This position arose from a popular variation of the Caro Kan that often sees opposite side castling. Here the pawn storms by both players seem roughly the same, but it is White's move --and as is logical in such cut and thrust play--this makes all the difference. Yifan can now take the pawn on g5 with the Knight and gain the initiative, but instead she finds a brilliant sacrificial idea that allows her to build up her attack unchecked:

23. Bxb4!! Bxb4 24. Rxg5

This is Yifan's idea. If the Black Queen retreates (say to d6) then White wins by direct attack by doubling on the g-file: 24...Qd6 25.Rhg1 g6!? (what else? 25...Rfb8 26.Rxg7ch Kf8 27.Ng5! is a massacre) 26.Rxg6ch!! fxg6 27.Rxg6ch Kf7 28.Ng5ch! etc

Yifan and Serrano playing on the right

24... f5 25. h6

Now the King can not make a run for it because of the h-pawn: 25... Kf7 26. Rxg7 Ke8 27. h7 Rh8 28. Rg8 Ke7 29. Qg5ch etc.

25... Rf7 26. hxg7 Rxg7 27. Rhg1!

Once more the doubling theme! Black is surprisingly helpless

27... Bf8 28. Rxg7 Bxg7 29. Qh6 Kaput!

Black could resign here with confidence, but instead tried to make a desperate run for it. White won on the 35th move.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Sunday morning moonshine

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Thx, Ed!

Photographer Michael Donovan

http://2photo.ru/en/post/20708

“New Swedish Opening” by joseph, can now be seen at the National Gallery, Stockholm

1928

When oil was discovered along the Kern River bank in 1899 near Bakersfield, California, thousands of fortune seekers, oil companies, and railroads rushed to the state, setting up oil fields up and down the coast. This particular picture is from Huntington Beach (Surf City).