Javier

By default, the play chess on-line system will NOT send you a message every time an opponent has challenged you/accepted your challenge/made a move/made a draw offer, etc. That's why my advice is that once you're in the playzone, you change your settings and edit your "email notification" by adding your current email account. This way, everytime someoen challenges you, or your opponent makes a move or offers your a draw, etc. you WILL get a message on your mailbox.

It's taken many hours of work, but it's finally here: Chessnia's "play on-line" zone! Here are a few things you ought to know about our play-online system: it's a turn based system, i.e. the time rate is much slower than systems such as ICC (Internet chess club). It's a bit like a correspondence game. Whenever you start a game, your opponent may be on-line or he may not, in which case he will make his move when he gets on-line again. Usual time rates are something like 1 move per day, although the time rate can be set before teh game starts. We are planning to enable faster time controls in the near future. Although you can choose your language, only English is currently working When we get enough players, you'll be able to create teams or join them. If you're accepted into a team, you can leave that team later and then join another, but you cannot be a member of 2 or more teams at the same time. All players are given an initial rating of 1500. You can choose whther to play with or without rating. You can add notes not only to your games but also to games played by other players, which makes game analysis quite a lot of fun! Although games played by other players cannot be downloaded at present, this feature will be enabled soon PLEASE NOTE that at present you can only play chess on-line when you have registered on our forums first. The play-oine area uses an authentification system which will only let you register if you have registered on our forums first. Enter our play on-line zone right now!

The following game has won the prize for the best game at the Gibraltar Telecom Masters. If you're wondering, personally, I don't like it. Why? I don't think it's anything special, simple tactics and a rudimentary Queen Sac. Surely there must have been better games than this played at Gibraltar! oh well... here it is: Sulskis,Sarunas (2525) - Quillan,Gary (2354) [A00] Gibtelecom Masters Gibraltar (1.27), 23.01.2007 [pgn] 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 Qc7 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 cxd4 10.Ne2 Nbc6 11.f4 Bd7 12.Qd3 dxc3 13.Nxc3 a6 14.Rb1 Na5 15.h4 Nf5 16.Rh3 0-0-0 17.h5 Nc4 18.Ne4 dxe4 19.Qxc4 Bc6 20.h6 Qd7 21.h7 Qd1+ 22.Kf2 e3+ 23.Rxe3 Nxe3 24.Qxc6+ bxc6 25.Bxa6+ Kc7 26.Rb7+ Kc8 27.Rb5+ Kc7 28.Rb7+ Kc8 29.Rb5+ Kc7 30.Rb7+ Kc8 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

One of the strongest Open tournaments held in Europe (more than 20 GMs, GM Adams was seeded first), the Gribraltar Telecom Masters, has just ended. Armenian GM Vladimiar Akopian has won it. Here's the prizelist (In hard currency, British Pounds!). Gibraltar, located in southern Spain, is one of the last british colonies on European Soil and will probably remain so for many years to come... Prize Player Federation Score Prize 1st Vladimir Akopian Armenia 7.5 £10,000 2nd= Alexander Areshchenko Ukraine 7 £4,333.33 Hikaru Nakamura USA 7 £4,333.33 Emil Sutovsky Israel 7 £4,333.33 5th= Michael Adams England 6.5 £550 Mohamed Al-Modiaki Qatar 6.5 £550 Zahar Efimenko Ukraine 6.5 £550 Jaan Ehlvest USA 6.5 £550 Mikhail Gurevich Turkey 6.5 £550 Vadim Milov Switzerland 6.5 £550 Milos Pavlovic Serbia 6.5 £550 Michael Roiz Israel 6.5 £550 Chanda Sandipan India 6.5 £550 Ivan Sokolov Netherlands 6.5 £550 2500 – 2599 2,000; 1,000 1st Yuriy Kuzubov Ukraine 1.79 £2,000 2nd Chen Zhu Qatar 1.34 £1,000 2400 – 2499 2,000; 1,000 1st= Mohamed Al Sayed Qatar 1.84 £1,500 Robert Ris Netherlands 1.84 £1,500 2300 – 2399 2,000; 1,000 1st Thomas Rendle England 2.69 £2,000 2nd Jovanka Houska England 1.54 £1,000 2200 – 2299 2,000; 1,000 1st Carlos Salgado Allaria Spain 2.81 £2,000 2nd Zoltan Revesz Hungary 1.76 £1,000 Under 2200 2,000; 1,000 1st Kjell Magne Johnsen Norway 2.49 £2,000 2nd Vincent Heinis France 2.16 £1,000 Senior 1,200; 800 1st= Viktor Korchnoi Switzerland 5 £1,000 Nils-Ake Malmdin Sweden 5 £1,000 Junior 1,000 1st= Dronavalli Harika India 5.5 £333.35 David Howell England 5.5 £333.35 Kateryna Lahno Ukraine 5.5 £333.35 Women’s 4,000; 2,000; 1,500; 1,000 1st = Jovanka Houska England 6 £3,000 Antoaneta Stefanova Bulgaria 6 £3,000 3rd= Pia Cramling Sweden 5.5 £357.15 Dronavalli Harika India 5.5 £357.15 Irina Krusha USA 5.5 £357.15 Kateryna Lahno Ukraine 5.5 £357.15 Nisha Mohota India 5.5 £357.15 Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi India 5.5 £357.15 Chen Zhu Qatar 5.5 £357.15 U2300 500 Margarida Coimbra Portugal 1.85 £500

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!

Hello Lawrence. I guess you mean a position like this: With white to move, if he goes 1.g2-g4 black can indeed take white's g pawn en passant (1...hxg3) by moving his own pawn to g3 and removing white's pawn from g4. The fact that the square on h3 is empty makes no difference whatsoever, if there had been another piece or pawn of either color on that square, black could still take en passant.

Impressive victory by Topalov in Round four at Wijk aan Zee. I've uploaded the game with some of my annotations, feel free to download it here -> TopShi07.cbv Topalov,V (2783) - Shirov,A (2715) [D89] Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (4), 16.01.2007 [pgn]1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.0-0 Bg4 11.f3 Na5 12.Bd3 cxd4 13.cxd4 Be6 14.d5 Bxa1 15.Qxa1 f6 16.Qd4 Bf7 17.Bh6 Re8 18.Bb5 e5 19.Qf2 Re7 20.f4 exf4 21.Qxf4 Qb6+ 22.Kh1 Bxd5 23.exd5 Qxb5 24.Qxf6 Qe8 25.Qd4 Rd8 26.h3 Rf7 27.Rxf7 Qxf7 28.Qc3 b6 29.Ng3 Nb7 30.Ne4 Qe7 31.Nf6+ Kf7 32.Nxh7 Kg8 33.Nf6+ Kf7 34.Ng4 Kg8 35.Qd2 Re8 36.Qf4 Qd6 37.Qf2 Qc5 38.Qg3 Qd4 39.Kh2 Nd8 40.Qd6 Ne6 41.Be3 1-0 [/pgn]

With 0.5/3 this could be a very tough experience for young Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen. Ponomariov's 6th move is as unusual as it is logical. White has several ideas in mind, one of them being g4+h4, which is not easy to meet. I don't think 6...h6 is entirely correct though. Other moves that had been tried in that position were 6...e6, 6...Nbd7 and 6...b5. After white's 11th move, Bb5!!, black's position looks extremely difficult: Ponomariov,R (2723) - Carlsen,M (2690) [D10] Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 15.01.2007 [pgn]1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 a6 5.Nf3 Bf5 6.Ne5 h6 7.Qb3 Ra7 8.cxd5 cxd5 9.Bd2 e6 10.Rc1 Nbd7 11.Bb5 Bd6 12.Nxd7 Nxd7 13.Bxd7+ Qxd7 14.Na4 0-0 15.Nb6 Qd8 16.Nc8 Qxc8 17.Rxc8 Rxc8 18.Qb6 Bb8 19.0-0 Kh7 20.Rc1 Bc2 21.Ba5 Kg6 22.Qb4 Rc4 23.Qd2 Bf5 24.Rxc4 dxc4 25.Bb6 Ra8 26.Qe2 e5 27.Qxc4 exd4 28.Qxd4 f6 29.f4 Bb1 30.Qd5 1-0[/pgn]

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 usually works on his own). Here's Shirov's loss against Kramnik in round 2 at Wijk aan Zee. Alexei blundered a piece on his 34th move, but his position was already quite bad. He never had a chance to unfold any of his former imaginative skills... (and I keep observing that in his games). Kramnik,V (2766) - Shirov,A (2715) [A16] Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (2), 14.01.2007 [pgn]1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Qa4+ Bd7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 Bg7 7.e4 c6 8.d4 b5 9.Qb3 a5 10.e5 a4 11.Qd1 Nd5 12.Nxd5 cxd5 13.Be2 Nc6 14.0-0 0-0 15.Be3 Na5 16.b3 axb3 17.axb3 Qb6 18.Ne1 b4 19.Nd3 Bb5 20.Nc5 Nb7 21.Rxa8 Rxa8 22.Bxb5 Qxb5 23.Qd3 Qc6 24.Na4 Nd8 25.Rc1 Qb7 26.Qc2 f6 27.f4 Bh6 28.g3 fxe5 29.dxe5 Ne6 30.Qc6 Qxc6 31.Rxc6 Kf7 32.Kf2 Rb8 33.Ke2 Bf8 34.Kd3 Rb7 1-0[/pgn]

The Sydney International Open is definitely going to be one of the strongest chess tournaments ever held in Oceania. This is an excellent opportunity to play against a field of World Class Grandmasters in what is known to be one of the most beautiful cities in this planet: Sydney! The event will be held between Tuesday April 10th and Saturday April 14th. Here's a list of some of the players that have already confirmed their entry: 01 GM Shipov, Sergei (2591 - RUS ) 02. GM Mikhalevski, Victor (2590 - ISR ) 03. IM Stojanovic, Mihajlo (2576 - SCG ) 04. GM Timoshenko, Georgy (2563 - UKR ) 05. GM Chandler, Murray G (2548 - ENG ) 06. GM Matamoros Franco, Carlos S (2540 - ECU ) 07. GM Rogers, Ian (2529 - AUS ) 08. IM Smerdon, David (2460 - AUS ) 09. IM Zhao, Zong-Yuan (2455 - AUS ) 10. GM Johansen, Darryl K (2454 - AUS ) T So far, there are 9 GM's. 6 IM's. 3 FM's. 1 WIM's. 1 WFM's. Opportunities for gaining/improving a FIDE rating are high and FIDE title opportunities (FM/IM/GM) could arise. All players are welcome! Check out the official website Airfares cost something like 1200 Euros from Europe, although you might be able to get something even cheaper (Airfrance offers some really good deals) There's also a big open tournament in Thailand a few days before Sydney International, and another open tournament in Camberra (capital of Australia) a few days after, so you might wish to spend a short chess holiday Here are some pictures I took in Sydney last year:

The Wijk aan Zee will probably be one of the strongest tournaments this year. Here's the list of participants: GM Veselin Topalov BUL 2783 1 GM Viswanathan Anand IND 2779 2 GM Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2766 3 GM Levon Aronian ARM 2744 7 GM Teymour Radjabov AZE 2729 11 GM Peter Svidler RUS 2728 12 GM Ruslan Ponomariov UKR 2723 14 GM David Navara CZE 2719 15 GM Alexey Shirov ESP 2715 17 GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2690 24 GM Loek van Wely NED 2683 26 GM Sergey Tiviakov NED 2682 27 GM Sergey Karjakin UKR 2678 29 GM Alexander Motylev RUS 2647 58 Average rating: 2719 – Category: 19 Frist round was rather dull, with all games ending in a draw except this one: (2) Van Wely,L (2683) - Radjabov,T (2729) [E97] Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (1), 13.01.2007

Zong-Yuan Zhao, new Australian Champion, congratulations!! Final standings: 1 Zhao, Zong-Yuan NSW 2455 2498 9.5 40:W 27:W 9:W 3:W 2:D 16:W 6:W 4:D 5:W 22:W 7:D 2 Rogers, Ian NSW 2526 2623 9 39:W 13:W 8:W 4:W 1:D 9:W 5:L 3:D 6:W 11:W 10:W 3 Bluvshtein, Mark OS 2541 8.5 38:W 57:W 6:W 1:L 5:W 4:D 8:W 2:D 9:W 7:D 25:W 4 Johansen, Darryl VIC 2458 2467 8.5 45:W 21:W 22:W 2:L 29:W 3:D 12:W 1:D 10:W 16:W 5:D 5 Antic, Dejan OS 2437 2433 7.5 48:W 24:W 17:W 16:D 3:L 7:W 2:W 11:D 1:L 9:W 4:D 6 Goldenberg, Igor VIC 2358 2381 7 15:W 49:W 3:L 43:W 11:D 10:W 1:L 17:W 2:L 12:W 13:D 7 Tredinnick, Malcolm NSW 2189 2109 7 46:D 14:W 35:D 32:W 10:D 5:L 27:W 42:W 11:D 3:D 1:D 8 Rujevic, Mirko VIC 2278 2241 7 44:W 33:W 2:L 12:D 28:D 18:W 3:L 14:D 23:D 19:W 16:W 9 Stojic, Dusan VIC 2204 2183 6.5 54:W 30:W 1:L 33:W 18:W 2:L 19:W 13:W 3:L 5:L 11:D 10 Morris, Michael NSW 1819 2030 6.5 16:L 38:W 24:W 19:W 7:D 6:L 15:W 12:W 4:L 17:W 2:L 11 Suttor, Vincent NSW 2128 2135 6.5 37:W 28:D 12:D 45:W 6:D 22:D 16:W 5:D 7:D 2:L 9:D 12 Lin, Zhigen Wilson VIC 2066 2084 6.5 14:D 41:W 11:D 8:D 17:W 25:W 4:L 10:L 13:W 6:L 29:W 13 Wei, Michael ACT 2117 2120 6.5 18:W 2:L 48:W 35:W 16:L 29:W 22:W 9:L 12:L 33:W 6:D 14 Grcic, Milan ACT 1869 6.5 12:D 7:L 47:W 28:L 56:W 45:W 43:D 8:D 17:L 37:W 27:+ 15 Holt, Kenneth VIC 1953 1841 6.5 6:L 36:W 21:D 42:D 45:D 53:W 10:L 28:D 49:W 18:D 34:W 16 Ikeda, Junta ACT 2142 2146 6 10:W 35:D 46:W 5:D 13:W 1:L 11:L 20:W 27:W 4:L 8:L 17 Brown, Andrew ACT 1870 1853 6 47:W 25:W 5:L 22:D 12:L 24:W 21:W 6:L 14:W 10:L 23:D 18 McNamara, Gary NSW 1789 6 13:L 40:W 26:W 27:W 9:L 8:L 31:D 21:W 33:D 15:D 24:D 19 Bennett, Hilton OS 2104 1983 6 35:L 23:W 20:W 10:L 30:W 31:W 9:L 43:W 22:L 8:L 39:W 20 Schon, Eugene VIC 1849 1795 6 25:L 50:W 19:L 58:W 27:L 26:W 32:W 16:L 28:D 21:D 36:W 21 Truscott, Tony QLD 2111 2024 6 52:W 4:L 15:D 46:W 31:D 42:D 17:L 18:L 40:W 20:D 35:W 22 Smirnov, Vladimir NSW 2281 2314 6 51:W 32:W 4:L 17:D 43:W 11:D 13:L 49:W 19:W 1:L 0: 23 Yuan, Yi ACT 1712 6 43:D 19:L 31:L 41:W 26:D 44:D 45:W 46:W 8:D 27:D 17:D 24 Hu, Jason NSW 2051 2090 6 34:W 5:L 10:L 55:W 36:D 17:L 44:W 35:D 37:D 42:W 18:D 25 Oliver, Gareth ACT 2146 2128 6 20:W 17:L 45:L 37:W 44:W 12:L 29:L 51:W 42:W 35:W 3:L 26 Fedec, John WA 2029 1878 6 41:D 46:L 18:L 47:W 23:D 20:L 53:W 36:L 55:W 49:W 38:W 27 Dizdarevic, Mehmedalija VIC 2110 1996 5.5 36:W 1:L 44:W 18:L 20:W 28:W 7:L 29:W 16:L 23:D 14:- 28 Stones, Douglas VIC 1779 5.5 31:W 11:D 43:L 14:W 8:D 27:L 46:D 15:D 20:D 38:D 33:D 29 Hvistendahl, Robert NSW 1829 1833 5.5 30:L 56:W 49:W 57:W 4:L 13:L 25:W 27:L 43:D 32:W 12:L 30 Selnes, Hamish QLD 1968 1770 5.5 29:W 9:L 57:L 54:W 19:L 34:D 36:D 37:L 52:D 44:W 46:W 31 Oliver, Shannon ACT 1918 1786 5.5 28:L 54:D 23:W 53:W 21:D 19:L 18:D 33:L 38:L 47:W 43:W 32 Flitney, Adrian VIC 2023 1949 5.5 58:W 22:L 37:W 7:L 35:L 55:W 20:L 34:D 45:W 29:L 42:W 33 Mortensen, Henrik OS 2026 1961 5.5 56:W 8:L 58:W 9:L 48:W 35:D 42:L 31:W 18:D 13:L 28:D 34 Canfell, Mike NSW 1722 5.5 24:L 44:L 40:W 48:L 39:W 30:D 51:D 32:D 46:W 43:W 15:L 35 Vlietstra, Marc WA 1735 5 19:W 16:D 7:D 13:L 32:W 33:D 49:L 24:D 36:W 25:L 21:L 36 Fry, Peter VIC 1784 5 27:L 15:L 39:W 49:W 24:D 43:L 30:D 26:W 35:L 51:W 20:L 37 de Noskowski, Adrian ACT 1817 5 11:L 39:W 32:L 25:L 52:W 49:L 56:W 30:W 24:D 14:L 40:D 38 Korenevski, Oleg QLD 2009 1715 5 3:L 10:L 52:L 40:W 46:D 51:L 50:W 41:W 31:W 28:D 26:L 39 Van Der Wal, Fritz NSW 1998 1825 5 2:L 37:L 36:L 50:D 34:L 58:W 47:W 44:D 41:W 45:W 19:L 40 Holland, Dennis WA 1976 1829 5 1:L 18:L 34:L 38:L 50:W 47:D 55:W 53:W 21:L 54:W 37:D 41 Ninchich, Milan ACT 1629 5 26:D 12:L 42:L 23:L 47:D 54:W 48:W 38:L 39:L 56:W 53:W 42 Escribano, Jose NSW 1857 1687 4.5 0:D 43:L 41:W 15:D 57:+ 21:D 33:W 7:L 25:L 24:L 32:L 43 Mendes da Costa, Alex NSW 2038 1973 4.5 23:D 42:W 28:W 6:L 22:L 36:W 14:D 19:L 29:D 34:L 31:L 44 Guo-Yuthok, Sherab ACT 1893 1757 4.5 8:L 34:W 27:L 52:W 25:L 23:D 24:L 39:D 0:D 30:L 56:W 45 Stojic, Svetozar VIC 1992 1903 4.5 4:L 55:W 25:W 11:L 15:D 14:L 23:L 52:W 32:L 39:L 54:W 46 Jule, Alexandra QLD 1852 1740 4.5 7:D 26:W 16:L 21:L 38:D 48:W 28:D 23:L 34:L 55:W 30:L 47 Brieger, Chris NSW 1690 4 17:L 51:D 14:L 26:L 41:D 40:D 39:L 0:W 48:W 31:L 55:D 48 Lilly, Richard WA 1958 1839 4 5:L 52:W 13:L 34:W 33:L 46:L 41:L 54:D 47:L 0:W 50:D 49 Ali, Mosaddeque ACT 2029 1782 4 50:W 6:L 29:L 36:L 54:W 37:W 35:W 22:L 15:L 26:L 0: 50 Egan, Bill ACT 1540 4 49:L 20:L 55:L 39:D 40:L 0:W 38:L 58:W 51:L 52:W 48:D 51 Dickson, Ian NSW 1910 1573 4 22:L 47:D 54:D 56:D 53:L 38:W 34:D 25:L 50:W 36:L 52:L 52 Brockman, Roland VIC 1787 1607 4 21:L 48:L 38:W 44:L 37:L 56:D 58:W 45:L 30:D 50:L 51:W 53 Guo, Emma ACT 1535 3.5 0:D 0:D 0:D 31:L 51:W 15:L 26:L 40:L 54:L 58:W 41:L 54 Hale, Dennis NSW 1731 3.5 9:L 31:D 51:D 30:L 49:L 41:L 0:W 48:D 53:W 40:L 45:L 55 Ghobrial, Adel VIC 1814 1661 3.5 57:L 45:L 50:W 24:L 58:W 32:L 40:L 56:W 26:L 46:L 47:D 56 Garcia, Mat WA 1536 3 33:L 29:L 0:W 51:D 14:L 52:D 37:L 55:L 58:W 41:L 44:L 57 Farrell, Roger ACT 2122 2 55:W 3:L 30:W 29:L 42:- 0: 0: 0: 0: 0: 0: 58 Garcia, Eduardo WA 1337 1 32:L 0:W 33:L 20:L 55:L 39:L 52:L 50:L 56:L 53:L 0:

(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.Rxf3 Qh5 16.Qe2 Bf5 17.Raf1 g6 18.Qc4 Rf8 19.d5 Nd7 20.Nxd7 Bxd7 21.d6 1-0[/pgn] What are these rapid chess tournaments good for? do they have to do more with chess or with lottery or the physical ability to move your pieces faster, doesn't matter where? Do the games played in these tournaments belong to a museum of chess blunders? Maybe rapid chess is just that: FUN to watch, but little else. Link to ACP's World Rapid Chess Cup, Odessa.

That's ok. Cecil Purdy was the first World Correspondence Chess Champion. He was also the best Australian player for several decades and he wrote several books for beginners and intermediate players, explaining his methods. I'm glad that you have identified the threat, but if it took you a while to see that ...a4 was coming, forget long term threats and concentrate on elementary tactics, that's your priority. Thanks for your kind words. I'm going to add the link you have provided to our links section (you can find it in the country specific section, UK) Feel free to use this forum at any time and I hope you can challenge your son in equal terms sometime in the future.

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 styles saved. Stickies can be resized. Stickies can snap to each others edges to keep them lined up Stickies can be transferred from one machine to another either over a TCP/IP network connection, or by using an SMTP mail server or MAPI client:Hierarchical friends list, which may be automatically transferred from other friends Play a sound file on receive Signature for transmitted or emailed stickies Favourite friends, and custom lists can be made Stickies can be hidden for a certain period, until a specified date and time, or to wake every day, week or month, to act as reminders. Stickies can have alarms set to ensure you notice them at a point you choose Stickies can be transferred to and from your Palm or PPC PDA. International language support Stickies is small and simple, it writes to a single text file, and does not touch the registry ...and Stickies is completely free! FREE ON-LINE SUPPORT! Stickies website

Ok, if you're just taking your first steps in chess, forget about putting pressure on your opponent: you have other priorities! In other words, you should be more than happy if you actually manage to see your opponent's threats and intentions. What you've said about your opponent being able to take on d5 is true: you only have 2 pieces defending it and your opponent has 3 attacking it. But don't forget that he could have taken your pawn on d5 inmediately, but he hasn't... Have you actually followed Purdy's advice? did you find out why your opponent has played ...a5? I'll give you a tip: the principle of "inertia" also applies to chess pieces, but particularly to pawns. If a pawn advances, chances are your opponent will want to keep advancing it. What will happen then? these are the questions which you have to answer... Btw, welcome to chessnia's site! Tip: Do not use the "quote" feature if the message you're replying to is immediately above.

Ok, here's the solution!

Oops! apparently the setting were changed a couple of days ago when I updated the forum software. This issue has now been resolved. Thanks for reporting it!

I guess you don't want other people to actually play this game for you and if you have the computer's advice, chances are you will not make a tactical mistake, so I understand that you're only asking for "abstract" advice on how to find better moves for this game? If you follow Cecil's Purdy's advice ("ask yourself what your opponent is threatening after each one of his moves") I'm pretty sure you can see black's threat from this position As for the best move, there's not such a thing as the "perfect move" in most positions. It's a bit like asking which is better, 1.e4 or 1.d4. Of course, whenever there's a threat you have to do something about it and then you need to have a plan, follow your style, etc. We do not provide move by move assistance here, it's unethical. you should think by yourself and play your own game and try to learn from it. I'm sure a victory will taste much better that way.

Chess is now considered a sport in 124 countries. The lines which distinguish "mental and physical sport" are very thin. Concepts such as training and preparation, endurance, determination, wearing out and resistance play a major role in chess. Although many of those 124 countries in the world have trouble in coming to terms with the definition of "sport", they all agree that chess is definitely something worth supporting, and that's what usually tips the balance in most countries. Although chess is becoming very popular in Australia at junior level (over 8000 kids took part in the NSW 2006 interschool competitions), the Australian goverment refuses to consider chess a sport. Perhaps now that chess has been officially recognized as a sport in the UK is the time to tackle this issue. Perhaps now is the time for Australian players and federations to work together towards achieving this goal...

"I saw another incredible game at the club last night" "Here we go again. What happened?" "I can only remember that the game ended with 5...Rh1#." "Did that take the white rook?" "No, it wasn’t a capture at all." What was the game?

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 chessclub in my hometown, preparing new material for my students and for a new book, annotating games and improving my website adding more content and features. Which features? one of them is the forum's calendar: I'm adding all known Grandmasters birthdays as recurring events, and very soon you'll be able to tell on the spot which GMs (if any) were born on the same day as you. "Big deal!" I hear you say. True, on this specific task I only spend a few minutes a day, whilst I'm reading news or answering email. I actually enjoy most of the work that I do, which I guess is not a bad sign. And I'm also planning to update my blog very often. I nearly forgot, Happy New Year!

International Chess Federation's site (FIDE) Top 100, January 2007 FIDE's rating list. Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Year 1 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2783 17 1975 2 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2779 0 1969 3 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2766 11 1975 4 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2754 25 1985 5 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2750 33 1969 6 Leko, Peter g HUN 2749 9 1979 7 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2744 13 1982 8 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2741 15 1977 9 Adams, Michael g ENG 2735 0 1971 10 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2733 19 1968 11 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2729 6 1987 12 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2728 28 1976 13 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2727 6 1976 14 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2723 15 1983 15 Navara, David g CZE 2719 16 1985 16 Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2717 16 1983 17 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2715 21 1972 18 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2705 0 1983 19 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2705 0 1974 20 Akopian, Vladimir g ARM 2700 15 1971 21 Sasikiran, Krishnan g IND 2700 14 1981 22 Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2691 24 1983 23 Short, Nigel D. g ENG 2691 20 1965 24 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2690 11 1990 25 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter g ROM 2689 31 1976 26 Van Wely, Loek g NED 2683 11 1972 27 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam g UZB 2682 16 1979 28 Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2679 25 1982 29 Karjakin, Sergey g UKR 2678 6 1990 30 Dominguez, Lenier g CUB 2677 19 1983 31 Rublevsky, Sergei g RUS 2677 13 1974 32 Eljanov, Pavel g UKR 2675 29 1983 33 Harikrishna, P. g IND 2673 15 1986 34 Inarkiev, Ernesto g RUS 2669 34 1985 35 Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2669 10 1976 36 Tiviakov, Sergei g NED 2667 13 1973 37 Milov, Vadim g SUI 2665 8 1972 38 Timofeev, Artyom g RUS 2663 35 1985 39 Malakhov, Vladimir g RUS 2663 21 1980 40 Onischuk, Alexander g USA 2663 18 1975 41 Naiditsch, Arkadij g GER 2663 7 1985 42 Alekseev, Evgeny g RUS 2661 24 1985 43 Georgiev, Kiril g BUL 2661 18 1965 44 Dreev, Alexey g RUS 2658 37 1969 45 Bologan, Viktor g MDA 2658 21 1971 46 Zvjaginsev, Vadim g RUS 2658 13 1976 47 Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2658 6 1986 48 Sargissian, Gabriel g ARM 2658 6 1983 49 Lautier, Joel g FRA 2656 0 1973 50 Miton, Kamil g POL 2655 28 1984 51 Smirin, Ilia g ISR 2654 26 1968 52 Sokolov, Ivan g NED 2652 6 1968 53 Krasenkow, Michal g POL 2651 16 1963 54 Nielsen, Peter Heine g DEN 2651 10 1973 55 Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2651 6 1987 56 Jobava, Baadur g GEO 2650 0 1983 57 Tkachiev, Vladislav g FRA 2649 6 1973 58 Motylev, Alexander g RUS 2647 9 1979 59 Fressinet, Laurent g FRA 2646 6 1981 60 Volokitin, Andrei g UKR 2645 13 1986 61 Wang, Yue g CHN 2644 45 1987 62 Areshchenko, Alexander g UKR 2644 28 1986 63 Bu, Xiangzhi g CHN 2644 20 1985 64 Izoria, Zviad g GEO 2644 13 1984 65 Avrukh, Boris g ISR 2644 0 1978 66 Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2643 38 1966 67 Zhang, Pengxiang g CHN 2643 37 1980 68 Sakaev, Konstantin g RUS 2641 14 1974 69 Cheparinov, Ivan g BUL 2640 9 1986 70 Kobalia, Mikhail g RUS 2639 24 1978 71 Beliavsky, Alexander G g SLO 2639 0 1953 72 Nijboer, Friso g NED 2638 16 1965 73 Seirawan, Yasser g USA 2638 0 1960 74 Movsesian, Sergei g SVK 2637 25 1978 75 Wojtaszek, Radoslaw g POL 2637 16 1987 76 Volkov, Sergey g RUS 2636 27 1974 77 Gurevich, Mikhail g TUR 2635 26 1959 78 Asrian, Karen g ARM 2634 7 1980 79 Lputian, Smbat G g ARM 2634 4 1958 80 Spraggett, Kevin g CAN 2633 29 1954 81 Miroshnichenko, Evgenij g UKR 2632 21 1978 82 Ni, Hua g CHN 2632 20 1983 83 Azmaiparashvili, Zurab g GEO 2632 2 1960 84 Sutovsky, Emil g ISR 2629 36 1977 85 Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2629 24 1931 86 Riazantsev, Alexander g RUS 2629 24 1985 87 Macieja, Bartlomiej g POL 2629 18 1977 88 Socko, Bartosz g POL 2629 18 1978 89 Afromeev, Vladimir f RUS 2628 0 1954 90 Moiseenko, Alexander g UKR 2627 44 1980 91 Fridman, Daniel g LAT 2626 18 1976 92 Nikolic, Predrag g BIH 2626 0 1960 93 Tomashevsky, Evgeny g RUS 2624 40 1987 94 Fedorov, Alexei g BLR 2624 16 1972 95 Smirnov, Pavel g RUS 2621 27 1982 96 Hansen, Curt g DEN 2621 0 1964 97 Wang, Hao g CHN 2619 24 1989 98 Hracek, Zbynek g CZE 2619 16 1970 99 Istratescu, Andrei g ROM 2619 16 1975 100 Khalifman, Alexander g RUS 2619 16 1966

I was taking a quick look at some of the games from the 2006-2007 Australian Open when I noticed a particularly interesting one. Hu is a young australian player who came close to beating GM Antic (he was a piece up at one stage). The fun begins after 16... Nxe5!, which white answered with 17.Qh4!, creating some nasty threats against the black King (note that 17.Qf4 is met by 17...Qc2!). Then GM Antic played the unexpected (but wrong) 17...Ng4, which was apparently refuted by Hu's 19th move. Unfortunately, Hu kept on trying to checkmate his opponent rather than exploit his material advantage. Judge for yourself: Hu,J - Antic,D [D85] Australian Open Tuggeranong (2.5), 29.12.2006 [pgn] 1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 g6 7.Bb5+ Nd7 8.0-0 Bg7 9.d4 0-0 10.h3 Qc7 11.Be3 b6 12.e5 e6 13.Ng5 Bb7 14.Qg4 Rfd8 15.Ne4 cxd4 16.cxd4 Nxe5 17.Qh4 Ng4 18.Qxg4 f5 19.Qg3 Qxg3 20.Nxg3 Bxd4 21.Bxd4 Rxd4 22.Rfe1 Kf7 23.Rac1 Bd5 24.Rc7+ Kf6 25.a3 h5 26.Ne2 Re4 27.Bd3 Re5 28.Rec1 Rd8 29.Rh7 Bxg2 30.Rcc7 Bf3 31.h4 Rc5 32.Bc4 Rxc4 33.Rxc4 Bxe2 34.Rc3 Rd4 35.Rxa7 Rxh4 36.Rb7 b5 37.Rb6 Rg4+ 38.Kh2 Bc4 39.f3 Rd4 40.Kg3 h4+ 41.Kf2 Rd2+ 42.Ke3 Ra2 43.f4 h3 44.Kd4 h2 45.Rh3 Bd5 0-1 [/pgn]

The Australian Open Chess Championship is taking place from the 28th December 2006 to 9th January 2007. Alongside the Australian Open will be a number of other chess tournaments. These are the Australian Open Major (Under 2000), the Australian Open Minor (Under 1600), The Australian Open Seniors (players aged 50 years and above), and the Australian Open Lightning Championship. The tournament is being hosted by the Southern Cross Club located in Tuggeranong, Canberra, ACT. The list of participants is shorter than the organizers expected, and the fact that there are 4 GMs (!!) taking part in the event does not seem to have attracted as much interest as was to be expected. After round 3, these are the standings: 1 GM Johansen, Darryl K VIC 2458 2467 3 19:W 30:W 9:W 2 GM Bluvshtein, Mark OS 2541 3 55:W 17:W 12:W 3 GM Rogers, Ian NSW 2526 2623 3 57:W 11:W 10:W 4 IM Zhao, Zong-Yuan NSW 2455 2498 3 56:W 18:W 16:W 5 GM Antic, Dejan OS 2437 2433 3 37:W 35:W 20:W (58 participants) Here are some useful links: Main page Bulletins and games Live games