I'm currently still in Spain and yesterday night I was watching the following endgame being played by two local players, one of them from the club which I do coaching at:
White has just played Ke5, which is actually a mistake.
Would you have been able to save this ending as black? are you possitively sure?
Well, if you're not, you can always download my annotations:
oncecas.cbv
Btw, if you're wondering, the "victim" in this game was the player from my team but we stil
A couple of weeks ago I got my jacket stolen. It was a great leather and wool jacket.
Not only did the thief get my jacket, he got my mp3 player as well. I'm not sure what he's going to do with it though, as it was purchased overseas and the recharger is not sold in Australia.
Anyway, last week I decided that I would get a Sony voice recorder with a basic mp3 player and FM tuner. Here's the beauty:
I looked it up at Sony's site and it sells in Australia for 199 Australian Do
I took this quiz today, and this is the disappointing result that I got. Now you know absolutely everything there is to know about my thinking style, so don't use it against me if we ever play each other, ok?
Your Dominant Thinking Style: Modifying
Super logical and rational, you consider every fact available to you.
You don't make rash decisions and are rarely moved by emotion.
You prefer what's known and proven - to the new and untested.
You tend to ground those arou
So, what have I been up to?
I'm currently in Spain for a few months before I return to Australia. I'm really looking forward to being back in Sydney again and perhaps I'll be moving there permantely...
chessnia.com used to be visited by quite a number of people, but due to work committments and a problem with my forum's database, all data was lost a couple of years ago and I had to start from scratch.
Nowadays I spend most of my time teaching on the internet, doing coaching at a local ch
I use a really good personal organizer called "Do-organizer", but if you want something simpler and free, how about one of those electronic sticky notes programs? They're really useful, and this is one is feature rich.
I've tried just about every single one there is and and I can safely say that this is one of the top 3.
Once on screen, stickies will remain where placed until closed, even through reboots
Stickies appearance can be customised; fonts, colours and buttons may be changed, and s
Hey, how do you like my autobot?:
Transformers, the movie produced by Spielberg, premiers worldwide on July 4th.
The Decepticons (known as Destrons or on occasion Deathtrons in Japan) are the enemies of the Autobots, and the villains in the fictional universe of the Transformers toyline and related spin-off comics and cartoons. Their best known leader is Megatron.
Despite being the villains, the Decepticons are very popular. Part of their popularity comes from having many more
Timoshenko's has won the Sydney International Open and I figured that I might as well publish one of his games on my blog. It's kind of funny, but I actually have had a lot of trouble finding the typical "spectacular" victory of his in this event!
I'm not saying that his games were not interesting, but they were not very eye catching (don't we all wish we could play so efficently too?).
Anyway, I finally came accross the game that he played on round one against a player who was rated nearly
Ivanchuk,V (2750) - Topalov,V (2783) [b90]
XXIV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (2), 18.02.2007
Maybe he's like Tahl, who rarely had a good tournament start, but watch what happened when Topalov (black) had to make his 40th move before the time control:
40...Qf7?? 41.Qxc4! 1-0
Admitedly, Ivanchuk was a Pawn up already and enjoyed a comfortable advantage.
Another thing Topalov has in common with Tahl is that he usually wins the tournaments he takes part in, regardless of
Dramatic day for Topalov in Mexico: after 64 moves of fighting chess, he resigned a drawn position, look:
Magnus has just played 64.Qg6 and Topalov sees no defence against Qh7 and Qh8, but there was a rather simple defence! (if you can't see it, download the game with full analysis of the whole game here: carlstopa.cbv )
However, it'd be completely unfair to claim that Carlsen's victory was undeserved. Watch the first diagram, when he's about to play 48.h6!
Or can
Australia's number 1 player, GM Ian Rogers, is currently leading the Sydney International Open with 5/5. If you're wondering how Ian can still play at the top after nearly 3 decades of success, I have but one answer: let the games speak by themselves!
[Event "Sydney International Open"]
[Date "Apil 10th, 2007"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Rogers, Ian, ACF 2621"]
[black "Lane, Gary W, ACF 2452"]
[Result "1-0"]
[pgn] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8
(2007 Oscar, best documentary)
The subject is AIDS in China. Specifically in Anhui province. The victims are poor families. The adults donated blood in evidently unsanitary conditions: one individual apparently connected to the blood drawing procedure describes combining the donated blood of fifty individuals and then re-injecting a little bit of the mixture into the veins of the donors. It is hard to believe that China's health system would be so primitive! The consequence is not surprisin
I've just read an article in the Sydney Morning Herald. Here's an extract:
"SYDNEY'S rental crisis hit home yesterday when up to 100 people queued to inspect a single property ( )
The frenzy illustrated the predicament faced by renters, with agents warning the city's lowest rental vacancy rate in 20 years could push up weekly rents by as much as $150 by year's end. "
Another 150$ a week is something like 650$ a month (on top of what the price is already!). Who the hell can afford t
A few days ago I wrote a review on Stickies, which is without doubt one of the best electronic sticky notes programs. Version 6 has just come out and guess what? it remains FREE!
Click here to visit Stickies website!
Australia is playing against Japan in a crucial match which will decide who gets into the semifinals of the Asian Cup.
Soccer is BIG in this country. Yes, sure.
Let me check the TV guide for today:
2 p.m, channel 10, AFL, Collingwood vs Essendon.
7:30 p.m. channel 10 AFL: West Coast vs Sydney.
10:00 p.m. SBS, Tour de France!
11:00 p.m. Netball!
11:25 p.m, channel 9: Golf!
Midnight, channel 10: Motor racing! wow!
Where's the soccer game? ah? PayTV, that's where it is!
Ok, I'm aware that it is highly unlikely that I'll be coaching GM Alexei Shirov in a while , but how does this player choose his opening repertoire? I mean, he keeps on playing the Petrov against 1.e4 and the Grünfeld against 1.d4.
How on earth can one of the most imaginative players that has ever lived play the Petrov? it's just shocking! What has happened to this man? I don't understand it, but one thing is for sure: whoever is giving him advice, cannot be called a friend! (I think Shirov
Ok, Shirov is out of the WC Cycle after drawing his last game against Aronian. It was a rather depressing game. I'm not sure if Shirov had any seconds during this match, but his opening choice was really quite a bad one (once again). I mean, just look at the position after black's 16th move. It doesn't matter whether it's book or not, it's just a really sad position for a player with such an imagination. Watch:
Shirov,A (2699) - Aronian,L (2759) [C88]
WCh Candidates Finals Elista RUS (
Cathy Rogers, publicity officer for the Sydney International Open, wrote on Friday: "The biggest disappointment of the tournament has been the dismal showing of top seed, Russian Grandmaster Sergei Shipov, formerly ranked among the best 25 in the world. His world ranking will suffer enormously from this result." She actually wrote this before learning about his dramatic loss in game 8 against Bernardino, from the Philipines, a player rated 2146 (around 450 points below the Russian GM!).
But
Well, not exactly holidays ,but it must be a seasonal thing, I'm not too "productive" (don't I hate that word!) in September.
Anyway, I've been working under the shadows and soon I'll be able to let you know about some interesting changes on this website.
As for chess... hmm... How about this 3 minutes victory over a strong GM at playchess.com?
The combination wouldn't make any sense if I hadn't seen my 33rd move.
Hey, maybe I'm talented player?
Nah!
A few days ago we saw how Seirawan killed Harry Potter, but as you know, anything can happen when you play a 3+1 game of chess. Yes, I do mean anything, for example losing in just 16 moves... (btw, the numbers in brakets are blitz ratings on the playchess server. Accord is one of the strongest blitz players on this server).
Accord (3146) - Yasser Seirawan (3127) [b15]
3m + 1s, rated, 02.05.2007
[pgn] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 g6 Javier: Strange that Yasser should choose this line wher
Harry Potter is dead, I saw it with my own eyes!
I guess such a sad loss is not something I should be sharing with others, , but some of the stuff I watch on TV nowadays has taken away all the sensitivity left which I had!
Oh, and for the record, Harry Potter WAS NOT WHITE, HE WAS BLACK!
[pgn] 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 c5 4.e5 Ng8 5.d4 cxd4 6.Qxd4 Nc6 7.Qe4 d6 8.Nf3 dxe5 9.Nxe5 Nxe5 10.Qxe5 Nf6 11.Bf4 Bb4 12.Be2 0-0 13.0-0 Bd7 14.Rfd1 Qc8 15.Nb5 Bxb5 16.Qxb5 Bc5 17.Bf3 Bb6 18.Bd6 1-0 [
I was reading the Sydney Morning Herald today and learned that "A large English cheddar cheese has become a star of the internet, attracting more than 1 million viewers to sit and stare at it as it slowly ripens" (Click here Visit the website!)
Oh well, what can I say? , if you think perhaps you might have something A LITTLE BETTER TO DO (particularly if you're a chess player!) you might want to watch the following game which I saw last night on the playchess.com server.
GM Andrei
(25) Morozevich,A (2733) - Radjabov,T (2729) [b30]
ACP World Cup Odessa (2), 07.01.2007
Here, one of the strongest players in the World now played b5??, dropping his Rook on c5.
Here's a short game from the same event:
(2) Leko,P (2749) - Sokolov,I (2652) [C64]
ACP World Cup Odessa (1), 05.01.2007
[pgn]1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.c3 f5 5.d4 fxe4 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.Nxe5 Qd5 8.0-0 Nf6 9.Bf4 Bd6 10.c4 Qe6 11.c5 Be7 12.Nc3 Qf5 13.Bg3 Be6 14.f3 exf3 15.Rx
I tried to find the ugliest move ever played in one of my games, but couldn't find any ugly moves, I wonder why? and then I remembered a position I saw during my Singapore-Sydney flight... Look at the position of white's King, I mean, it's so UGLY, isn't it?
However, it's white to play and draw! If you can't find the answer, slide your mouse over the black line.
That wasn't so ugly, was it? True, but look at this now:
The dog above has won the "ugliest dog in the
One of the best movies I've seen in recent months has been "The illusionist", with Edward Norton (a most versatile actor) and Jessica Biel.
Now take a look at the following position. It's black to play and... win?????????
Yes, this is not an illusion, it's not a magic trick. And I really ought to know it because I was black and my opponent resigned after my next move!
As usual, avoid tmptation and do not slide you mouse pointer over the black line unless you know the answer!
