SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Monday, November 7, 2011
Question of the Day!
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
I'm the smallest of my kind, no doubt about that;
Compared to my brothers, I seem like a rat.
A blue face have I, a blue face, you know;
It's awfully cold here, with poisonous snow.
My name came from a god, a god with great might;
Although you know of me, I'm way out of your sight.
What am I?
ANSWER: Pluto
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
A picture is worth a thousand words...
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
 |
| Danailov and Makropoulos Two of the most controversial figures in the chess world. The people other people love to hate. But they atleast have each other! Here both can be seen virtually arm in arm at the party held during the European Team Championship in Greece. Don't they make such a cute couple ?! SPRAGGETT ON CHESS |
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Bulgaria defeats Russian juggernaut!
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
While former world champion V.Topalov said afterwards in an interview (below) ''We were lucky...'' , I think a closer look at the games reveals that Bulgaria was more lucky to be strong rather than lucky at luck! All 4 games were hard fought and very interesting affairs. Bulgaria got off to a good start and seemed to be heading to a match win...regardless of whether Topalov would have won or drawn.
White is attacking f7. Black should now play the cold blooded 27... Rf8! when if 28. Nf5 Nxf5! 29. gf Rd6! 30. Be3 g6! 31. Bxb6 Rxb6 32. Rad1 gf Black is keeping his head out of the water and the game is completely wild with chances for both sides.
The 4th round saw Bulgaria pull off a great upset against pre-event favourites Russia, 3-1, with no draws!
While former world champion V.Topalov said afterwards in an interview (below) ''We were lucky...'' , I think a closer look at the games reveals that Bulgaria was more lucky to be strong rather than lucky at luck! All 4 games were hard fought and very interesting affairs. Bulgaria got off to a good start and seemed to be heading to a match win...regardless of whether Topalov would have won or drawn.
The Topalov encounter with the current Russian champion Peter Svidler no doubt will go down as one of the great match ups in this team event. The game featured a topical Spanish Opening, an opening that both sides are experts at. It became evident early on that a tense, complex struggle was about to ensue when the Bulgarian superstar played his 10th move:
10.a3!?
GM SVIDLER
GM TOPALOV
White indicates his intention to withdraw his Bishop to a2 (keeping the a2 to f7 diagonal under watch) instead of the routine 10.c3, allowing for the withdrawal of the Bishop to the customary c2 square. In recent times White has not had much success retreating to c2.
By move 20 a critical position had arisen:
With only one pawn exchanged so far, the position could explode at any moment. I prefer this kind of position with the White pieces, where guerrilla tactics often take the prominent role in the course of play. Here White can virtually repeat the position with 21.Nh4 Qh5! 22.Nf3 Qg6!. However, as Topalov mentioned in the post-game interview, since his team mates had good positions at this point, he felt confident about playing a bit loose:
21.g4!?
This entirely logical move requires some courage since it opens the White King position and subjects him to some counterplay with moves such as 21...h5. HOWEVER, careful analysis of the position reveals that after 21...h5(?!) 22.Nh4 Qh7 23.Ng5! Qh8 (what else?) 24.Qe2! the presence of the White Queen on the K-side is dangerous for the Black King.
THEREFORE, Svidler reacts with more restraint:
_________________________________________________________
21... Nf6!? 22. Nh4! Qh7
_________________________________________________________
21... Nf6!? 22. Nh4! Qh7
Here Topalov lets pass an opportunity to get the edge: 23. g5! hg?! (23... Nxe4 24. g6! is embarrassing for Black; but 23...Nd5 is the best try to keep White at bay) 24. Bxf7! Kf8 25. Ng6 Kxf7 26. Nxg5 Kxg6 27. d4! e4 28. Nxh7 Kxh7 29. Bg5 and White is on top, though the position is still not won.
INSTEAD, Topalov played the less precise (but much more complicated) 23.Nf5 and the game seemed to swing back and forth in no-where land until the following position was reached after White's 27th move:
White is attacking f7. Black should now play the cold blooded 27... Rf8! when if 28. Nf5 Nxf5! 29. gf Rd6! 30. Be3 g6! 31. Bxb6 Rxb6 32. Rad1 gf Black is keeping his head out of the water and the game is completely wild with chances for both sides.
INSTEAD, Svidler played indecisively with 27...g6?! and after the energetic 28. g5! Rd6?! 29. gh! the Bulgarian superstar started to dominate the play, maintaining a grip on the position.
Everything seemed to indicate that Topalov had good chances for victory when time control was reached at move 40:
POSITION AT MOVE 40 :
After such a tense and complicated fight it is difficult to change gear and play computer-perfect techical chess! Here 41.Qd5! is a finesse that must have escaped Topalov. After 41... Qxd5 (41...Kh7 42.Qxd6 is hard to meet) 42. ed Rc8 (42...Ra8 43.Ra5!) 43. Rxa6 Rxc3 44. Rxd6 White will probably win without much problem...
HOWEVER, Topalov played the imprecise 41.Qxb5 (?!) which ALMOST gave the Russian champ chances to crawl back into the game. The critical position would arise after White's 52nd move:
DID SVIDLER MISS A DRAW?
Here Black might be able to achieve a well known theoretical draw with 52... Rh5! 53. Kg3 Rxh6 54. Rb7? 54... Rg6! 55. Kh2 Rf6!. (Diagram, right) To avoid the repetition, White must pull back his Rook with 56.Rb3, but this allows Black to bring up his King with 56...Kg7! and after the logical 57. Kg3 Ra6! activates the Rook.
HOWEVER, instead of 54.Rb7 White can gain a vital tempo and play 54.Rb8! Kh7 55.Rb7!! when , according to the latest tablebases, White wins!
''Life is too short for chess...''
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
''Chess is a quite repulsive game....'' No, this is not Toronto's GM Mark Bluvshtein whining about LIFE. Instead, once more Mark Weeks of Chess for all Ages fame has outdone himself and uncovered a really great video on chess (1974). Enjoy! (Where do you find this stuff, Mark?)
Chess is a quite repulsive game. ♪
Fills me with such frustration. ♪
And in the end my patience runs out. ♪
Life's too short for chess. ♪
Cold and calculating, such a boring mating. ♪
Cold and calculating, such a boring mating. ♪
So give me a game of chance and there's romance.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Nice song!
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
I really like the music of Sophie Madeleine! ''Shown here, for the first time anywhere, is this wonderful video of Sophie Madeleine performing "Oil & Gold." It was shot at the the Indaba Music offices in New York. Sophie says, "You may already be acquainted with Indaba Music and what they do. But just in case you're not - they provide a wonderful service and online community where musicians and songwriters can network and collaborate with one another." LINK
Short goes down in flames
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Mickey Adams (left) playing board 1 alongside Nigel Short. Short seems to be suffering already....
The European Team Championship in Greece has produced some very interesting chess so far. And quite a few upsets. Here Nigel Short, former challenger for the World Championship, is upset by his Greek opponent (Dmitrios Mastrovasilis) and loses in quite spectacular style.
POSITION AFTER WHITE'S 24th MOVE (24.Rhd1):
GM SHORT
GM MASTROVASILIS
It has been a rough game so far for the English star , who played the Caro Kann, an opening that he is more often seen with the White pieces. Perhaps he was hoping to benefit by the element of surprise. IN ANY CASE, Nigel misplayed the opening and soon found himself going down hill. QUICKLY.
In the above position, Black is quite lost. Probably the most resistant line of defence is 24...Rc7 (stopping Rd7), but what prospects does Black have even after the simple 25.Qxb4 ? If 25...Nxh6 then 26.Rd8-ch is fun only for the White side.
Probably already resigning himself to the inevitable, Short played 24...Qc7?, which has the (dis)advantage that it ends his suffering very quickly.
A desperate move that offers no resistance at all. INFACT, it seems to be begging White to put him out of his misery. White did not disappoint: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
NASTY! The Rook can not take the Bishop without losing the Queen. And 25...Nxh6 would not prevent a loss after 26.QxQ RxQ 27.Bxh6, which even threatens some back rank mates while being a clean piece up....SO, Nigel shows that an English gentleman can have a sense of humor:
A desperate move that offers no resistance at all. INFACT, it seems to be begging White to put him out of his misery. White did not disappoint: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
25.Bf8!!
NASTY! The Rook can not take the Bishop without losing the Queen. And 25...Nxh6 would not prevent a loss after 26.QxQ RxQ 27.Bxh6, which even threatens some back rank mates while being a clean piece up....SO, Nigel shows that an English gentleman can have a sense of humor:
25...QxQ!! (For the spectators!) 26.Bg7-mate!!!
A mate like this deserves a pint of Guinness!
A picture is worth a thousand words....
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Kirsan's inter-stellar spaceship and the players playing right below it! (Ok, I am joking! This is the beautiful playing hall)
Has anyone ever written a book '' Pray like a 2700-player'' ?. No, probably not. But here Russia's Peter Svidler seems to be trying to establish a direct connection with God...during his game with Navara.
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
The one and only Viktor Korchnoi who, despite his 80 years, continues to set new records for both quality of his game and relentless drive to win game after game! Here he is at the European Team Championship in Greece,taking place as I write, in obviously great spirits. Follow the link above for more photos and details (live games,etc)
Looks like this could be any American weekend Open; casual dress, packed in like sardines and completely informal! BUT, this is the European Team Championship! AND the front tables are all world famous players: (left to right) Svidler (w) playing Bologan; Grischuk looking on, and in the far right corner, Morozevich with his hand on his forehead...
But I especially like Bologan's extended leg! An anti-spectator weapon or was there simply no room under the table to extend?
The striking greek wgm Anna-Maria Botsari in all of her glory!
''These boots are made for walking...'' Some intense conversation between a spectator and a player (I am not sure which is which).
''What are you looking at? Go away!'' Serbian GM Dragon Solak seems to be saying with his eyes (during his game with Shirov)
Kirsan's inter-stellar spaceship and the players playing right below it! (Ok, I am joking! This is the beautiful playing hall)
Has anyone ever written a book '' Pray like a 2700-player'' ?. No, probably not. But here Russia's Peter Svidler seems to be trying to establish a direct connection with God...during his game with Navara.
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Friday, November 4, 2011
Question of the Day!
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Wiki defines happiness as ''a mental state of well being...'' I suppose that is a good enough place to start, but the reality is that while most of us would agree with that definition, it falls short of helping us to find happiness and achieve it in our daily life. Atleast, we don't seem to be able to maintain that ''happiness'' for any durable period of time.
For most of us, our life seems like an endless quest for finding and embracing happiness...that kind of enigmatic happiness that our parents constantly told us about. That kind of happiness that our parents wanted us to grow up and have. How many times we were told that ''money can not buy happiness''...BUT IS THAT SO? That brings us to the topic at hand...
QUESTION OF THE DAY:
CAN MONEY BUY YOU HAPPINESS?
(And if so, what is the minimum dollar amount that I would need?)
__________________________________________________________________
ANSWER:
Yes! Money can buy you happiness, or atleast, you can not be happy for less that $60,000 a year! LINK
Daniel Kahneman is an Israeli-American psychologist and Nobel Laureate, specializing in the psychology of judgement and decision-making, behavioral economics and hedonic psychology. In the video below, he argues a very pragmatic perspective, that is, that while money should not really buy you happiness ‘’We know something about what controls satisfaction of the happiness self. We know that money is very important...I think the most interesting result that we found in the Gallup survey is a number, which we absolutely did not expect to find. We found that with respect to the happiness of the experiencing self. When we looked at how feelings vary with income. And it turns out that, below an income of 60,000 dollars a year...we can not be happy at all. ''
______________________________________________
____________________________________________
______________________________________________
Friday's chess puzzles
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Good morning Friday! Today's composition is one of my favourites. White is a rook down but has a passed pawn that is dangerous and gives White some drawing chances. The problem is that the Black Rook and Bishop are two pieces that work exceptionally well together and queening that White pawn is going to be more difficult than White hopes.
Your mission, should you accept it, is to find the unique idea that will save White. Good luck!
Troitzky (1866-1942)
TODAY'S CHESS COMBOS
1
Panno vs James Sherwin, Copenhagen, 1953
Panno vs James Sherwin, Copenhagen, 1953WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
2
White Mates in 6. Panno vs Boris Spassky, Goteborg, 1955
3
Panno vs Ronaldo Cantero, Rio de Janeiro, 1957
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
4
Panno vs Gregorio Idigoras, Buenos Aires, 1958
2
White Mates in 6. Panno vs Boris Spassky, Goteborg, 19553
Panno vs Ronaldo Cantero, Rio de Janeiro, 1957WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
4
Panno vs Gregorio Idigoras, Buenos Aires, 1958 WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
5
6
Panno vs Carlos Bielicki, Buenos Aires, 1963
5
White Mates in 4. Panno vs Gedeon Barcza, Munich, 1958
6
Panno vs Carlos Bielicki, Buenos Aires, 1963 WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Question of the Day!
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Thx, Karen!
Today I want to inaugurate a new series called ''Question of the Day!'', which-naturally-will consist of an interesting, thought provoking question followed ( though not necessarily) by an answer. I want to thank wgm Ana Matnadze for the inspiration of this series. I hope to do her justice!
At the same time, I would like to thank all of the readers from Saudi Arabia for discovering this blog: after the US, Canada, the United Kingdom , Germany and Portugal, yours is the country with most visitors to my blog today (!), ahead of the ''regulars'' France, Brazil, Spain, Australia, Holland, Russia and South Africa (and several dozen others). Welcome to the world's most liberal chess blog!
HOW MUCH DOES THE INTERNET WEIGH?
Thx, Karen!
George Orwell was off (2011 minus 1984) 27 years...
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
''The future is a boot smashing a human face forever.''
George Orwell(1903 - 1950), 1984
Capablanca on his ''gift'' and the end of classical chess
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
‘’You can divide masters of chess into two classes. There is the natural playing type like me and the other that acquires his game through hard work, study , linked with talent for the game,of course. I have never worked hard at chess, but Dr.Lasker and Dr. Alekhine did.''
To many fans , Jose Capablanca (1888--1942) was the greatest player of the game. In a remarkably candid interview granted to Ed Hughes and published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on the 18th of February, 1931 and recently re-published at Edward Winter's Chess History , Capablanca admitted:
‘’Yes, it (chess-ed.) must have been a gift with me. I can remember playing and beating my father when I was but 4 years old. I had only a child’s intuition, but how unerring it was! You might say I played without knowing how, which also might be a good illustration of genius, natural ability.’’
‘’You can divide masters of chess into two classes. There is the natural playing type like me and the other that acquires his game through hard work, study , linked with talent for the game,of course. I have never worked hard at chess, but Dr.Lasker and Dr. Alekhine did.''
E.Lasker (1868-1941) and A.Alekhine (1892-1946)
''They work out their problems in a very methodical, patient, painstaking manner. That is their style, the way they were made for the game. Great players of this type pledge themselves to much research work. By their effort they have scientifically worked out a solution of practically every move on the board.......I honestly believe that research types like Lasker and Alekhine will completely exhaust the present game in, say, 20 years. Infact, seeing this, I have frequently pointed out that the board should now be enlarged with the addition of two new pieces. What a game that would make!’’
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Today's quotation
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
A recent photo of Ilya Levitov (left) and Alexander Grischuk
Who is Ilya Levitov? Since the Karpov-Kasparov FIDE election scandal rocked the Russian Chess Federation (RCF) last year, a facelift has taken place and entirely new people have appeared. Levitov is now one of the most influential men in chess: President of the Russian Chess Federation Board, a FIDE Vice President and part of the new Foundation for Modernisation.
A hands-on type of individual, Levitov recently attended the training camp for the Russian Team that will tomorrow start playing in the 18th European Team Championship in Greece. Here he can be seen taking part in a friendly football match with Svidler and Grischuk.
In an interview given just the other day, he was asked whether the 2012 Candidates Tournament will be held in Russia, and in his response he alluded to the seemingly disproportionate number of elite events being held in Russia these days:
''I don't think it would be entirely correct to hold all the major competitions in Russia. We recently held the Candidates Tournament in Kazan; in May we're holding the Anand-Gelfand World Championship match in Moscow...and then at the end of the year we're supposed to hold the Candidate's Tournament again?...I think that this time it is unlikely.''
In an interview given just the other day, he was asked whether the 2012 Candidates Tournament will be held in Russia, and in his response he alluded to the seemingly disproportionate number of elite events being held in Russia these days:
''I don't think it would be entirely correct to hold all the major competitions in Russia. We recently held the Candidates Tournament in Kazan; in May we're holding the Anand-Gelfand World Championship match in Moscow...and then at the end of the year we're supposed to hold the Candidate's Tournament again?...I think that this time it is unlikely.''
______________________________________
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
