Javier

Although I very much doubt that Kramnik is using any kind of external "help" (the quality of his games has been really bad!), I must admit Topalov's complaint is justified in this case: To the Organizing Committee of the match Topalov vs Kramnik To the Appeals Committee Mr. Makropoulos Mr. Azmaiparashvili Mr. Vega To all mass media Ladies and Gentlemen, The careful study of the video recordings from the rest rooms done by the technical experts of the Bulgarian team revealed the following facts which we would herewith like to bring to your attention: 1. After each move Mr. Kramnik immediately heads to the rest room and from it directly to the bathroom. During every game he visited the relaxation room 25 times at the average and the bathroom more than 50 times – the bathroom is the only place without video surveillance. 2. Unlike Mr. Kramnik, the World Champion Veselin Topalov spends his time mainly at the playing table. The average number of times he visited the rest room and the bathroom is 8 and 4 respectively. A short statistical sample derived from the camera recordings in the rest room during the third game shows: 15.54 – Kramnik plays move 15 15.55 – Goes into the bathroom 15.56 – Goes out of the bathroom 15.57 – Goes into the bathroom 15.59 – Goes out of the bathroom 16.03 – Goes into the bathroom 16.04 – Goes out the bathroom 16.07 – Comes out for move 16 The behavior of Mr. Kramnik is very similar to the above during all games played so far. The logical question arises: How many times during a game does a player need to go to the bathroom and with what regularity? The logical answer is: between 5 -10 times at the most, but not 50 as the statistics from the games played so far shows. We would like to once again remind you that the bathroom is the only place without video or audio surveillance. In our opinion these facts are quite strange, if not suspicious. In relation to the above, and to ensure the best conditions for fair play and rule out all suspicions we demand: 1. To stop the use of the rest rooms and the adjacent bathrooms for both players. 2. If a player needs to go to the bathroom, he can use the public bathroom, but only with permission from the Arbiter and accompanied by an assistant arbiter. 3. The Organizing Committee should present the video tapes from the rest rooms to all journalists accredited in the press-center so that they can verify for themselves the facts described by us. Should this extremely serious problem remain unsolved by 10.00 o’clock tomorrow (September 29th, 2006), we would seriously reconsider the participation of the World Champion Veselin Topalov in this match. 28.09.2006 Elista Sincerely: Silvio Danailov Manager of the Bulgarian team

Please note that in order to be able to vote, you must be registered and logged in. This quiz was released on September 28th, 2006. Click here to take the Quiz! If you've taken this quiz, please vote for it here. Suggestions welcome!

In my opinion, people can be better at tactics/closed positions/endgames, etc. but if you can't play blitz at all and you blunder all the time in over the board games, then perhaps it's not so much that you have a different ability but rather that your general ability has to improve. It is true that some people are really good at correspondence chess, but normally they make good otb players as well.

Actually, I'm not, but this was part of the conversation. That never crossed my mind, I thought your post was polite. I'm pretty sure that people who come here have read about the free beginners' ebook which they can download here, "Learn chess or call me an idiot!!", and the free quizzes and free on-line support already, so I don't expect people not to talk about other books! Cheers.

Here's the link to FM Bill Jordan's website, which includes several programs: Link to Bill Jordan's site.

Please note that in order to be able to vote, you must be registered and logged in. This quiz was released on September 25th, 2006. Click here to take the Quiz! If you've taken this quiz, please vote for it here. Suggestions welcome!

Please note that in order to be able to vote, you must be registered and logged in. This quiz was released on September 25th, 2006. Click here to take the Quiz! If you've taken this quiz, please vote for it here. Suggestions welcome!

The match begins on Saturday, September 23 at 3:00 p.m. local time (Elista, Republic of Kalmykia). The event lasts until October 12.

After working for the Sydney Academy Of Chessfor more than a year, doing chess coaching at many schools all over Sydney, I was inspired by the experience and a few months ago I started working on an interesting project: a free book which would complement my coaching at those schools so that kids could use it as reference, but also a valuable tool in itself for anyone (kid or adult) wanting to learn chess from scratch. But how exactly did this coaching experience inspire me? In two ways: I've been a chess player for more than 30 years and a chess coach for more than 15, and teaching chess to beginners has renewed my interest in chess itself after realizing how much it can mean to them, despite the fact that they've only got to know it for a few months... Inevitably, in any classroom or group you'll always get a number of students who fall behind. When writing the book, I was continually thinking about those people: perhaps this book can be an aid to their understanding of the basics of chess. Anyway, a few days ago I finally released it, and I've called it: "Learn Chess Or Call Me An Idiot!!". (and to avoid any missunderstandings, "me" refers to me, the writer!). As a book reader myself, I've always felt the urge to ask questions about what I was reading, and often never got any answers... that's why I've tried to make this book an interactive experience: I've set up a support section on my forum so that anyone who has read the book can ask questions, make comments, suggest improvements, etc. Online quizzes are currently being built, 6 of them are already available. New versions of the book will be published. They will include suggestions by the readers, and new features as well. The book contains lots of animated graphics, smileys and, well, the ocassional joke (ok, I've tried to write witty explanations, but don't expect too much from a serious guy like me ) The book is completely FREE and so is the support for it. At present, you can download it from 2 different sites (more to come!): Download from chess.com (more than 10.000 downloads so far!) Download site #2 Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

In order to view LOCMAI's on-line quizzes, you will need Flash installed on your computer. Most PCs with internet access have Flash player installed, as a lot of sites use it. Anyway, here's the official details: Flash Player 6,0,79 or later (http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflash) One of the following browsers: Windows: Windows 98: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x, Netscape 4.7, Netscape 7.x, Firefox 1.x, AOL 8, and Opera 7.11 Windows Me: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5, Netscape 4.7, Netscape 7.x, Firefox 1.x, AOL 8, and Opera 7.11 Windows 2000: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x, Netscape 4.7, Netscape 7.x, Firefox 1.x, CompuServe 7, AOL 8, and Opera 7.11 Windows XP: Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0, Netscape 7.x, Firefox 1.x, CompuServe 7, AOL 8, and Opera 7.11 Macintosh: Mac OS 9.x: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.1, Netscape 4.8, Netscape 7.x, Mozilla 1.x, and Opera 6 Mac OS 10.x: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.2, Netscape 7.x, Mozilla 1.x, AOL 7, Opera 6, and Safari 1.0 (Mac OS 10.2x or later only) Linux: Linux: Konqueror 3.3.1, Mozilla 1.7.3, Firefox 1.x

Please note that in order to be able to vote, you must be registered and logged in. This quiz was released on September 19th, 2006. Click here to take the "Chess pieces (intro)" on-line test. If you've read the book, this quiz should be a piece of cake!

Have you found a spelling or grammatical error? Maybe a bug? Please report it here by simply replying to this post. I'll try to fix it for the following version of LOCMAI. If I get lots and lots of bug/error reports I'll creat a new forum for this, but I sincerly hope I don't have to!

Do you have a suggestion for the next version of "LOCMAI"? if so, simply reply to this thread. Before you ask: when will version 2 be released and how different will it be to the current one? If everything goes according to plan, I'm planning the next release of LOCMAI sometime between May and July 2007. Some of the planned features and improvements are: - Expanded content for most sections - Simple comprehension tests included in the book - Text formatting improvements - More Please bear in mind that this is not a spelling or grammar erros thread. If you wish to report one of those errors, please do so ....over here. (click).

LOCMAI is the abreviated form of "LEARN (CHESS) OR CALL ME AN IDIOT!"

The 39th Biel International Festival took place 22nd July - 4th August 2006 and was won by Alexander Morozevich, who only lost two games, both of them against Carlsen. (how Carlsen can beat a 2731 rated played with both white and black is simply unbelieveable!). Magnus, however, also lost both of his games against Volokitin. GM Biel SUI 2006 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 Morozevich,A 2731 +131 ** 00 1½ 11 11 11 7.5/10 2 Carlsen,M 2675 +72 11 ** ½½ 00 1½ ½1 6.0/10 30.75 3 Radjabov,T 2728 +9 0½ ½½ ** 1½ 1½ 1½ 6.0/10 25.50 4 Volokitin,And 2662 -58 00 11 0½ ** ½0 ½½ 4.0/10 19.50 5 Pelletier,Y 2583 +36 00 0½ 0½ ½1 ** ½1 4.0/10 15.75 6 Bruzon,L 2667 -190 00 ½0 0½ ½½ ½0 ** 2.5/10 Average elo: 2674 <=> Category: 17 gm = 4.40 m = 2.30 The ladies group was won by Pia Cramling: Accentus Ladies 2006 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 Cramling,P 2521 +69 ** 1½ ½1 ½½ ½1 1½ 7.0/10 2 Socko,M 2464 +20 0½ ** ½0 1½ ½½ 11 5.5/10 3 Dembo,Y 2465 -17 ½0 ½1 ** ½½ ½½ 10 5.0/10 4 Muzychuk,A 2456 -42 ½½ 0½ ½½ ** ½0 ½1 4.5/10 5 Skripchenko,A 2421 -37 ½0 ½½ ½½ ½1 ** 00 4.0/10 20.75 6 Atalik,E 2377 +14 0½ 00 01 ½0 11 ** 4.0/10 18.75 Average elo: 2450 <=> Category: 8 gm = 7.30 m = 5.30 Here's Morozevic's shortest victory from the event: Morozevich,A (2731) - Pelletier,Y (2583) [C10] GM Biel SUI (9), 02.08.2006 Official website.

Apparently, Kasparov has accepted an invitation to play a blitz tournament in Switzerland in which Karpov, Kortchnoi and Judith Polgar will also take part. In the Swiss newspaper "Komersant", Kasparov is quoted as saying: "I'm a bit annoyed that I actually ended my career before Kortchnoi (currently 75).I played in Luzern (Switzerland) when I was 19 and he was 51.". I've read the news in an article which appeared today in the Spanish newspaper "AS". (warning, the following link leads to a page in Spanish): Link to Spanish newspaper article.

Magnus Carlsen won his round 7 game against Adgestein and was set to win the Norwegian Championship for the first time in his life, but then he spoiled it by losing his last game against Berge Ostenstad. The event was played at Moss, not far from Oslo, from July 8th to July 15th. Final Standings: 1. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2673 7.0 2. Agdestein, Simen g NOR 2575 7.0 3. Ostenstad, Berge g NOR 2480 6.0 4. Johannessen, Leif Erlend g NOR 2555 5.5 5. Sahl, Bjarke m DEN 2364 5.5 6. Lie, Kjetil A g NOR 2536 5.5 7. Bae, Torstein f NOR 2284 5.0 8. Djurhuus, Rune g NOR 2462 5.0 9. Tallaksen, Geir S f NOR 2356 5.0 10. Hole, Oystein f NOR 2346 4.5 11. Gabrielsen, Stig f NOR 2288 4.5 12. Gabrielsen, Trond NOR 2235 4.5 13. Hammer, Jon Ludvig f NOR 2325 4.5 14. Hansen, Torbjorn Ringdal f NOR 2319 4.5 15. Elsness, Frode m NOR 2428 4.0 16. Lie, Espen f NOR 2357 4.0 17. Dannevig, Oystein f NOR 2382 4.0 18. Sagafos, Magne NOR 2331 4.0 19. Stokke, Kjetil NOR 2303 3.0 20. Stubberud, Ornulf NOR 2202 3.0 21. Madsen, Dag f NOR 2290 2.0 22. Jansson, Joran f NOR 2300 1.0; Official site: http://www.nm2006.sjakknet.no/ Here's the game between Magnus and Simen: Magnus Carlsen - Simen Agdestein Landsturneringen 2006 Moss (7), 2006

Due to work committments, I had to spend most of my available time on my spanish site (www.ajedrecista.com) which now has more than 500 users and nearly 20.000 posts. The good news is that I can finally concentrate on chessnia, something I've been willing to do for quite a while.

Shocking story! I wonder who runs that club but let me tell you that it definitely isn't someone who a) knows much about chess/respects chess knows how to teach kids. The desire to quit is understandable after a traumatic experience. However, perserverance can help your son to build his character. Maybe you should take your son somewhere else.´ As for learning chess, yes, things have definitely improved, but you're always bound to run into people who simply don't know how to teach others and how to develop their interest in chess. I couldn't agree less with the sentence "chess simply can't be taught".

I don't know about other programs, but they do work with chessbase.

If you want a really large database (and I must say that many of those games are quite useless!), maybe you can Try this link. (completely legal)

I use twic myself: http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html but it is true that it gets a little tiring. Chessbase does it automatically: it collects the database from twic and updates your own database. Never heard about chessmix. I'll give it a go!

June 13th, 2006. Front page of the site has been polished and a few more graphics have been added. I still have to edit a few things here and there, but it's getting fairly close to what I want it to look like. June 12th, 2006. Static and interactive diagrams are working again on the forums. May 30th, 2006. New links system added to the forums. Few links at present, but I'm adding lots of new ones every week... January 13th, 2006. I'm currently working on several improvements for this website. Soon to be announced. November 12th, 2005. FIXED! It was only this week that I realized that my wanadoo account hasn't been working for several weeks (months?). The most direct consequence of this is that all student application forms were being sent to an account that I simply had no access to. This has now been fixed and the student application form is working again. August 18th, 2005. Dont ask me how, but I've managed to lose my laptop's ac adaptor and that means my computer is just dead! (the plug that connects the adaptor to the laptop has a really weird shape, it's not the usual one, that's why it's so hard to find...( Toshiba is sending me a new adaptor, but that will take several days... I guess I should look at the bright side of things: away from my computer for a few days! July 25th, 2005. I'm currently living in Sydney(Australia). I'll be investing more time on the website over the next few weeks. June 22nd, 2005. The blog system is working fine. Check out my first entry, "Chess in Tokyo". Í'm currently working on the "on-line" playing system. The new changes will make it a lot more user friendly. June 16th, 2005. All menus have now been updated and are working! This includes the 5 menu options under main ones: About us, FAQ, Advertise with us, Contact us and Apple Machintosh users! The "Most popular features" list is now working also. v What's next? I've got to upload some new pictures, fix a few things in "play on-line" area and work on the forum and blogs! June 13th, 2005. Conversion of all pages has now been completed. I've got to rewrite the code so that the links work on every single page, and that will take me a couple of days. I'm really looking forward to it, as then I'll have some spare time to use my blog, amongst other things. June 1st, 2005. Installed a pictures gallery and uploaded 20 of my own pictures. You can take a look at them HERE.. You are allowed to laugh... in silence. May 29th, 2005. After some more editing, there are a total of 26 menu and submenu options working already. May 28th, 2005. Some more work today: - The forum software has been updated to the latest version. - The blogs feature has now been installed. I'll be doing some testing soon. May 27th, 2005. Some of the stuff I've been doing over the last few days: - "Credits" page has been updated and converted to the new design. - "About Javier" page has been updated and converted to the new design. I've added a section where you can now view 38 of my games! - "Application form" page has been updated and converted to the new design. May 25th 2005. Yet another design change? In one word, yes! The old design was a little too dark for most people's liking, so I decided to change it. I have simplified the dropdown menus and added some new sections, mainly the "shop", which however won't open till August. Please note that the site is still under heavy construction. Many of the links still don't work (most of the dropdown menus do work, however). I'm currently working to get it all done over the next 30 days or so (My stimation is that work should be completed by June 10th). The "apple mcintosh user's menu" should be completed by then also.

It's black to play here. In order to get this position there is one move black must have played at some point, which move is it?

Just when we expected a peaceful draw in the first round, Kramnik upset everyone and won the first game as black in a Petrov. Vladimir sacrificed his Queen too!