Javier

There's a misterious account on the playchess server which has everyone wondering: is it Kasparov? He uses the nick "Raffael" and nobody knows for sure who it is. Well, maybe some of the people at chessbase do know, but they're not telling: Oh yes, Garry has a nick called "Garry Kasparov", which he uses for special events. Whether he has a second account he uses to play regular games on the Playchess server? Now that will have to be kept a secret. Yasser Seirawan has said: "Everyone is saying that he is Kasparov, but I really don't know". Other people claim he's Kramnik and others still say he's Svidler. Here's a game that he played a few minutes ago. Judge for yourself.: Heimi92 (2969) - Raffael (3316) [b80] 4m + 1s, rated, 11.08.2007 [pgn]1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.g3 Nc6 7.Bg2 Bd7 8.0-0 Be7 9.Be3 0-0 10.f4 a6 11.Kh1 Rc8 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.g4 b5 14.g5 Nd7 15.a3 Nb6 16.Qg4 Nc4 17.Bc1 d5 18.exd5 exd5 19.b3 d4 20.bxc4 dxc3 21.Bxc6 Rxc6 22.cxb5 axb5 23.Be3 Ra6 24.f5 Qa8+ 25.Kg1 Re8 26.Bd4 Bf8 27.Rab1 Re4 0-1[/pgn]

It's hard to keep track of so many titles nowadays. Apparently, Viktorija Cmilyte, Anna Muzychuk Sopio Gvetadze have just tied for first in the European Women's Rapid Chapmionship. However, there were only 9 countries represented, most of them from Eastern Europe. One has to wonder whether events of this kind are worth organizing... Here are a couple of games from the event (Yes, they are short!) : 1 3 WGM Muzychuk Anna 2456 Slowenien 13,0 114,0 132,0 2 6 WGM Gvetadze Sopio 2371 Georgien 12,0 118,5 138,5 3 1 WGM Cmilyte Viktorija 2467 Littauen 11,0 115,5 134,5 4 2 WGM Javakhishvili Lela 2460 Georgien 10,5 116,5 136,0 5 10 WGM Voiska Margarita 2314 Bulgarien 9,5 117,0 137,0 6 7 WGM Cosma Elena Luminita 2370 Rumänien 9,5 115,0 135,0 7 9 WIM Muzychuk Mariya 2330 Ukraine 9,5 111,5 130,5 8 8 WIM Hryhorenko Natalia 2346 Ukraine 9,5 108,0 127,0 9 26 WGM Corke Anya 2149 Hongkong 8,5 117,0 134,5 10 17 WIM Dragomirescu Angela 2227 Rumänien 8,5 114,5 134,0 11 4 WGM Peptan Corina-Isabela 2411 Rumänien 8,5 114,0 134,0 12 22 WFM Craciun Paula-Iulia 2192 Rumänien 8,5 111,0 129,5 13 13 WIM Rudolf Anna 2275 Ungarn 8,5 109,5 126,5 14 19 WGM Doluhanova Evgenia 2218 Ukraine 8,5 107,5 125,5 15 5 WGM Vajda Szidonia 2410 Ungarn 8,5 105,5 123,5 16 11 WGM Motoc Alina 2289 Rumänien 8,5 102,0 119,0 17 12 WGM Huda Maryana 2278 Ukraine 8,5 98,5 110,0 18 14 WIM Gheorghe Corina 2247 Rumänien 8,5 97,0 112,5 19 40 Stefanova Milena 2018 Bulgarien 8,0 114,5 134,5 20 21 WIM Padurariu Ioana-Smaranda 2212 Rumänien 8,0 107,0 125,0

FIDE has just made the following announcement: The President of the Olympic Council of Asia, His Excellency Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah has informed the World Chess Federation (FIDE) on the decision of the OCA to include chess into the programme of the Asian Games 2010 which will be held from 12 to 27 November 2010 in Guangzhou, China. FIDE will assist in the organization of the Asian games in order to ensure the complete success of this big sport event. Meanwhile, there are countries like Australia where not only isn't chess condered a sport, it gets no goverment support whatsoever.

Charles Wood loves to play chess, and now he’ll have an opportunity to play more often at the Forest Park Senior Center. The center, 2517 W. 8th St., began its chess club Tuesday morning and is expected to continue at 10 a.m. each Tuesday.“I’ve wanted to do this since I’ve been here,” said Bruce Reynolds, executive director at the senior center. “Like most (programs), it’ll start off small. Then it’ll grow.” Reynolds said the same thing happened with the music class. “(It) started with two people. Now it’s up to two classes,” he said. Originally published on the Starpress, Read the full article here

16 Year Old, Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen recently won the Category XVIII Biel Tournament. Here's 3 questions from a full interview: Do you plan to attend university later? My parents would like me to, but I am not sure. I would like to dedicate myself to chess. Your fees and prizes are going up in tournaments. What is your relationship to money? To be honest, I do not know what to do with it. A company has been created for practical reasons. I am not a spender; I do not have big needs. I do not go shopping to buy clothes, and my cell phone bills are ridiculously low, as opposed to my friends. Do you dream of chess in your sleep? Rarely. When I do, however, nightmares wake me up with a jolt. I see myself make a stupid mistake, or I see my opponents cheat so that they can beat me! Read the full interview here! (Chessbase)

One of the strongest rapid chess tournaments in the world has just been won by Ponomariov. Here are the final standings of the first 40 players (164 took part): International Chess tournament "Ciudad de Villarrobledo" Rk. Name FED Rtg Club/City Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 1 GM Ponomariov Ruslan UKR 2706 7,5 50,0 54,5 38,5 2 GM Dreev Alexey RUS 2606 7,5 49,5 54,0 39,0 3 GM Topalov Veselin BUL 2769 CAN 7,5 48,5 52,5 38,5 4 GM Sokolov Ivan NED 2666 CAN 7,0 52,5 56,0 39,0 5 GM Nikolic Predrag BIH 2646 7,0 48,5 53,0 35,5 6 GM Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2762 7,0 48,0 52,5 38,5 7 GM Milov Vadim SUI 2678 7,0 46,0 51,5 34,5 8 GM Gofshtein Zvulon ISR 2541 7,0 46,0 50,0 35,0 9 GM Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2657 6,5 52,0 56,0 38,0 10 GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil GEO 2624 6,5 49,0 53,5 36,5 11 GM Malakhov Vladimir RUS 2676 6,5 49,0 53,0 38,5 12 IM Giaccio Alfredo ARG 2469 CAT 6,5 48,0 51,5 35,5 13 GM Evdokimov Alexander A RUS 2544 6,5 47,0 51,0 36,5 14 GM Shirov Alexei ESP 2735 AND 6,5 46,0 51,0 34,0 15 GM Ubilava Elizbar ESP 2540 CAT 6,5 44,0 48,5 34,0 16 GM Cramling Pia SWE 2533 CAN 6,5 44,0 48,0 34,0 17 GM Paunovic Dragan SRB 2531 GAL 6,5 43,0 46,0 33,5 18 IM Ortiz Suarez Isam CUB 2390 6,5 42,0 46,5 33,0 19 GM Cabrera Alexis COL 2514 VAL 6,0 50,5 54,5 34,5 20 IM Ibarra Jerez Jose Carlos ESP 2475 MUR 6,0 49,5 54,0 35,0 21 GM Fedorchuk Sergey A UKR 2618 6,0 48,0 51,5 35,0 22 GM Lalic Bogdan CRO 2509 6,0 46,0 50,0 32,0 23 GM Iljushin Alexei RUS 2520 6,0 46,0 49,0 32,0 24 GM Landa Konstantin RUS 2669 6,0 45,5 50,0 32,0 25 IM Castellanos Rodriguez Renier CHI 2471 VAL 6,0 45,0 48,5 32,5 26 GM Campora Daniel H ARG 2530 AND 6,0 44,0 46,5 32,0 27 GM Bellon Lopez Juan Manuel ESP 2442 CAN 6,0 43,5 47,5 31,0 28 FM Roa Alonso Santiago ESP 2445 MAD 6,0 42,5 46,5 29,5 29 IM Vassallo Mauricio ESP 2387 AND 6,0 42,5 46,0 31,5 30 Martinez Lozano Miguel Angel ESP 2203 CTM 6,0 42,5 45,5 30,5 31 GM Strikovic Aleksa SRB 2567 GAL 6,0 41,5 45,5 31,0 32 GM San Segundo Carrillo Pablo ESP 2537 CAN 6,0 41,5 45,5 30,5 33 GM Rodriguez Guerrero Enrique ESP 2447 AND 6,0 41,5 45,5 30,0 34 GM Arizmendi Martinez Julen L ESP 2522 VAL 5,5 48,5 52,5 32,5 35 IM Salgado Lopez Ivan ESP 2456 GAL 5,5 46,5 50,0 31,5 36 Jimenez Martinez Jose Vicente ESP 2207 CTM 5,5 44,0 47,0 28,5 37 FM Camarena Gimenez Rufino ESP 2332 VAL 5,5 44,0 46,5 29,5 38 GM Ljubojevic Ljubomir SRB 2550 5,5 43,0 47,5 32,0 39 Serna Lara Sergio ESP 2270 CTM 5,5 43,0 46,5 28,5 40 Fernandez Gil Marco Antonio ESP 2270 VAL 5,5 43,0 46,0 28,5 Click here to access the official website. Click here to access chess results site with information on the event.

The Ukranian team has 3 IM and 1 FM in the first 4 boards, and is leading after round 3 with India (both teams on 10/12), but watch out for the Australian team. FIDE provides no link to the event, but chessnia.com does! click here! or here! This is the information which FIDE has released: A record number of 36 teams are joining the World Youth U16 Olympiad 4th to 12th August in Singapore. Federations from all continents are participating, a sign that the tournament is growing in popularity and importance. Pre-tournament favorites are top seed Ukraine, Hungary and India. RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 1 UKR 9769 1 Vovk, Andrey IM 14114470 2504 2 Onischuk, Vladimir IM 14114038 2506 3 Zherebukh, Yaroslav IM 14116804 2418 4 Nyzhnyk, Illya FM 14118084 2341 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 2 HUN 9748 1 Fodor, Tamas Jr FM 723762 2436 2 Pap, Gyula 723323 2424 3 Mihok, Oliver FM 728012 2402 4 Prohaszka, Peter IM 726265 2486 5 Balog, Imre FM 728446 2376 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 3 IND 9392 1 Ashwait, R 5201049 2348 2 Adhiban, B 5018471 2406 3 Niti, S FM 5018277 2313 4 Swayams, Mishra 5028183 2186 5 Shyam, Nikhil P. 5024218 2325 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 4 AUS 1 8845 1 Ly, Moulthun 3204405 2295 2 Likeda, Junta 3204731 2194 3 Lin, Zhigen Wilson 3205592 2174 4 Song, Raymond 3203824 2182 5 Illingworth, Max 3205207 2137 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 5 UZB 8774 1 Mustafaev, Jamshid 14201445 2270 2 Mustafaev, Khurshed 14201135 2268 3 Pak, Evgeniy 14201712 2203 4 Tillyaev, Ulugbek 14202441 2033 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 6 SUI 8681 1 Dupont, Nicholas 1314424 2112 2 Lehmann, Marco 1309862 2279 3 Nuri, Kambez 1311433 2142 4 Rosenthal, Jonathan 1315684 2148 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 7 SIN 1 8559 1 Chan, Wei-Xuan Timothy 5802032 2245 2 Lo, Kin Mun Dominic FM 5801095 2153 3 Chan, Yi-Ren Daniel CM 5801583 2109 4 Chua Zheng Yuan Terry FM 5801150 2052 5 Tan, Weiliang 5801974 1961 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 8 IRI 8541 1 Khademi, Mohammad Miran 12503550 2253 2 Darini, Pouria 12502200 2183 3 Salehian, Sina 12506320 1989 4 Azemati, Amir 12505943 2116 5 Maleki, Amir 12502413 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 9 ENG 8295 1 Khandelal, Ankush 430470 2119 2 Kilpatrick, Callum 414425 2120 3 Sen, Subin 414433 2045 4 Parmar, Amisha 413879 2011 5 Thilaganathan, Jessica 414565 1917 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 10 TUR 8241 1 Karabavir, Mustafa Yilmaz 6300090 1808 2 Kanmazalp, Ogulcan 6304990 2093 3 Yilmazyerli, Mert 6305962 2071 4 Firat, Burak 6305881 2113 5 Aydogdu, Ataman 6303056 1964 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 11 SIN 2 8194 1 Neubronner, Jarred 5801834 2077 2 Chua Xing-Jian, Graham FM 5801656 2047 3 Aplin, Christer Jon 5800900 2042 4 Koh, Jonathan 5801672 2028 5 Fernandez, Daniel Howard FM 5801605 2007 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 12 ISL 7962 1 Thorgeirsson, Sverrir 2302462 2064 2 Asbjornsson, Ingvar 2302470 2028 3 Omarsson, Dadi 2302772 1951 4 Brynjarsson, Helgi 2302233 1881 5 Petursson, Matthias 2302918 1919 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 13 VIE 7625 1 Ton, That Nhu Tung FM 12401439 2247 2 Tran, Ngoc Lan 12401811 2073 3 Nguyen, Van Thanh CM 12402532 2105 4 Nguyen, Ngoc Hiep CM 12401641 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 14 SIN 3 7481 1 Muhd, Haikal FM 5802342 1914 2 Lee, Yi-Sen Ian 5801788 1896 3 Chan, Wei-Yi Victoria 5801737 1878 4 Wong, Shern Yang Jonathan 5802369 1793 5 Tang, Qing-Wei Joey 5801931 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 15 SRI 1 7275 1 Rajapaksha, RMCM 9901477 2148 2 De, Silwa N Rashin 9902260 2018 3 Hapuarachchi, H.L.M 9900543 1909 4 Sachintha, H.D. Sahan 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 16 SIN 4 6857 1 Chin, Matthew-Peter 5802253 1965 2 Toh Li Cheng WFM 5801087 1864 3 Sng, Zheng-Yang 5801885 1828 4 Lo, Yin-Ling Melissa 5801001 5 Er, Si-Hui Vivian 5800641 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 17 AUS 2 6687 1 Song, Angela WFM 3203832 2015 2 Guo, Emma 3200795 1747 3 Kinder, Jessica 3207994 1725 4 Oliver, Tamzin L 3207056 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 18 MAS 6591 1 Anas, Nazreen Bakri FM 5701147 2230 2 Sumant, Subramaniam 5702720 1964 3 Lim Zhuo Ren 4 Justin, Ong 5703565 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 19 USA 1 6539 1 Tanaka, Christian T 2026872 2114 2 Lau, Robert 2606100 2025 3 Tan, Jared E 2028042 4 Zhang, Eric 2005719 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 20 HKG 1 6371 1 Yu, Marco 6000452 2023 2 Yu, Melvin 6000460 1948 3 Chan, Cho Ki 4 Leung, Ho Yan Andrew 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 21 AUS 3 6293 1 Brown, Andrew 3206513 1953 2 Zulfic, Fedja 3208427 1940 3 Chibnall, Alana 4 Kanagarajah, Abbie 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 22 PHI 6116 1 So, Wesley IM 5202213 2516 2 Ochoa, Karl Victor 5200849 3 Pascua, Haridas 5203953 4 Grafil, Franz Robert 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 23 RSA 5890 1 Dole, Anant 14301490 1760 2 Hercules, Benjamin Vincent 14301938 3 Kruger, Eitel 14301520 4 Michaelides, Michail 14301555 1730 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 24 JPN 5754 1 Uesugi, Shinsaku 2024578 2154 2 Kobayashi, Atsuhiko 3 Tanaka, Toshiki 4 Koguchi, Naoki 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 25 AUS 4 5596 1 Yu, Derek 3206203 1996 2 Lau, Joshua 3200248 3 Ng, Isaac 3208400 4 Chitturi, Satya 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 26 KOR 1 5527 1 Lee, Kiyul 13200054 1927 2 Son, Romon 3 So, Byunghoon 4 Kim Sungmin 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 27 SRI 2 5401 1 Ediriweera, S 9901922 2 Perera, W.M.M 9902619 3 Sulakkana, S.H. Charuni 9901078 4 Kottahachchy, K.O.V 9901191 1801 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 28 INA 1 2 3 4 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 29 BRU 1 2 3 4 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 30 HKG 2 UR 1 Yu, Jeffrey 6000231 2 Chan, Yin Lok Linus 3 Mok, Francis 4 Mok, Wai Suet Sunny 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 31 KOR 2 UR 1 Jung, Younghoon 2 Gu, Injung 3 Kim, Gunhee 4 Lim, Hakyung 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 32 MAC 1 Mak, Tong Kuan 15400166 2 Calangi, Chio Joviniano 3 Celis, Chang Joel 4 Chang, Ieng 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 33 TPE UR 1 Liao, Chun Che 16300017 2 Liu, Yung Hung 16300157 3 Lin, Chieh-Sheng Jason 4 Lin, Chung Yu Lee 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 34 UAE UR 1 Al Amery, Haitham 9300090 2 Al Amery, Saleh 9300104 3 Al Zarooni, Ahmed 4 Al Zarooni, Eisa 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 35 USA 2 UR 1 Huang, Vincent 2015234 2 Gunawan, Cheston 2015161 3 Ambartsoumian, Michael 4 Polsky, Ryan P 2015838 5 RK FED TEAM RTG BOARD PLAYER TITLE FIDE ID FIDE RTG 36 ZAM UR 1 Gondwe, Lhnganiso 2 Tembo, Epah 3 Kalinga, Peter 4 ChibesaKunda, Chushi 5 Mtine, Jane Iomtunzi

(Javier: Kavalek's column includes an annotated game) Magnus Carlsen won the elite grandmaster group at the 40th chess festival in the Swiss city of Biel last week. The brilliant 16-year-old Norwegian grandmaster had to beat the top-rated Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan in the last round to catch Alexander Onischuk, a Maryland grandmaster and former U.S. chess champion. They shared first place in the tournament with 5 1/2 points in nine games, but Carlsen prevailed in the playoff 3 to 2. Radjabov, Alexander Grischuk of Russia, Judit Polgar of Hungary and Yannick Pelletier of Switzerland finished a half point behind the winners. Onischuk is having a great summer. At the end of June he shared third place in a powerful Aerosvit chess tournament in Foros in ... View the full article

Will chess soon become a millions dollar business like boxing or soccer? Dutch media tycoon Bessel Kok, 65, is chairman of the Amsterdam based company “Global Chess BV”. The aim of this enterprise, which reportedly commands an initial start-up capital of 4.5 million Euros, is the marketing of major FIDE events, with special attention to World Championships. German journalist Dr. René Gralla conducted an interview with Bessel Kok who, after having been the Vice-President of Český Telecom, now lives in Prague, from where he runs “Global Chess BV”. Dr. René Gralla: You are the chairman of “Global Chess BV”. The aim of that company, as far as we understand, is to professionalise of the marketing of chess. So big chess events, like the world championship, will be marketed in the near future like a world championships in soccer or boxing? Bessel Kok: We need to make chess more interesting to follow, both from the sponsorship perspective as well as the public perspective. The marketing strategy to promote chess is not like that of boxing, of course, since we represent a different product and concept. However we will have to rebrand FIDE and the game of chess as a sport which can be supported with benefits to all stakeholders. View the full article at HERE (chessbase)

Do you think chess has contributed to improve/worsen other areas of your life? For example, some chessplayers complaint that chess has a negative effect on their personal lives because chess is so time absorving that their partners can't stand it! What's your experience? Tell us about it!

You've probably read about it already: After 18 years of computing, a University of Alberta team has solved every possible game of checkers and concluded that as long as no mistakes are made, the game will end in a draw.' It took 18 years, because there are 500,000,000,000,000,000,000 positions in checkers. 18 years just to say: "It's a draw"? well, any chess player could have told you that in something like 10 seconds using common sense, you fools! Yes, ok, I know, they seem to have worked out all the possible variations. Personally I'd ask them to write them down manually. These Uni people seem to expect us to go "wow", but I have some interesting questions to ask: ¿who paid the salaries of the people involved in such an investigation for 18 years? I mean, 18 years on such an incredibly important task? Same question about all the computer hardware involved. IT DOESNT MATTER whether Checkers, chess, or any other sport has been worked out by a computer till the last move because chess, like other games or sports, is a lot more than knowing what the best move is, it's a battle of 2 brains, it's about seeing the shining in a kid's eyes when he has found an idea, it's about seeing a shy smile in the face of a beginner who's just checkmated someone because he/she doesn't want to offend his opponent, it's about the beauty that 2 human minds are capable of creating with just 32 bloody pieces of plastic, it's about all those things and a lot more. With current technology, we could create robots that could play a perfect game of say, bowling, would that be of any interest? of course there is a mathematical formula which would guarantee a strike with every shot, but so what? it is the imperfection of all human activities that makes them so interesting. Get it, University of Alberta NERDS? Now get your computers to find a cure against cancer or the origins of the Big Bang or some old equation from your phisics department. They will thank you. Humankind will thank you.

Take a look at the following 2 diagrams. The first one shows Carlsen making an incredibly risky move, 16.Bxh7??!! in his game against Pelletier, from the Biel 2007 tournament. The one on the right shows Fischer's controversial 29th move against Spassky from his 1972 World Championship match, 29...Bxh2??!!, after which g3 his bishop gets trapped also. Of course, a 2700 rated GM (Carlsen) and a WC candidate (and then WC) know very well what's going on, and what is at stake. So why risk it? Well, to begin with, both players thought they could defeat the odds and get enough play for the piece in the form of activity or captured pawns. But it's not just that, I think it has to do with the will and determination to explore the unexplored, to break the rules, to unbalance the position, to give the opponent as many problems as possible. Both players ended up losing, but even in their defeats, they were the main characters. Fischer ended up winning the match, and Magnus, despite losing this and his next game, actually won the tournament also. ¡These are absolutely unique minds! Spassky,B (2660) - Fischer,R (2785) [E56] World Championship 28th Reykjavik (1), 11.07.1972

Short's visit to Montreal has become a nightmare. After 7 rounds, he's on just one point. In this game, he self pinned his knight with 17.Ng6??, a move which soon resulted in one of the shortest defeats in his whole career. [pgn]Short,N (2683) - Harikrishna,P (2664) [C01] 8th It Montreal CAN (2), 20.07.2007 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d3 Nf6 6.d4 d5 7.Bd3 Bd6 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3 h6 10.Nc3 c6 11.Re1 Re8 12.Rxe8+ Nxe8 13.Ne5 Nd7 14.Bf4 Nf8 15.Qh5 Be6 16.Rb1 f6 17.Ng6 {??} Bf7 18.Bxd6 Nxd6 19.g4 Ne4 0-1[/pgn] What's happening to Nigel? it seems that it all has to do with some really awful teeth problems. I believe the story, but I wonder if the fact that Nigel has been playing too much blitz on the playchess server lately has added a certain superficiality to his play. I see him on-line just about everyday. Then again, I also see Harikrishna. HOWEVER, there could be a pattern here, and if you don't believe me, watch some of the mistakes he's making also: [pgn]Harikrishna,P (2664) - Charbonneau,P (2503) [D37] 8th It Montreal CAN (7), 26.07.2007 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.Bd3 Bb4+ 11.Nd2 Nc6 12.0-0 d4 13.e4 f5 14.a3 Ba5 15.b4 fxe4 16.Bxe4 Rxf4 17.bxa5 Nxa5 18.Qc2 h6 19.Rfe1 Bg4 20.f3 Bh5 21.Rac1 Rf8 22.Qc5 Bf7 23.Qf5 g6 24.Qf4 h5 25.Qg3 d3 26.Bxg6?? [unbelieveable! 26.Kh1 is correct. The move played in the game drops a piece for nothing. ] 26...Qb6+ 27.Kf1 Qxg6 28.Qh4 Nb3 29.Nxb3 Bxb3 30.Rc5 Rf5 31.Rxf5 Qxf5 32.Qg3+ Kh8 33.Qd6 Bf7 34.Qd4+ Kh7 35.Re5 Qg6 36.g4 hxg4 37.Re4 Be6 38.Rf4 Kg8? [38...Rc8! wins quickly] 39.Ke1 Qg5 40.Qe3 Re8?? [shocking! now white wins blacks Queen. Ok, it was the last move in the time control and Charbonneau was probably in time trouble.] 41.Rf8+ Kxf8 42.Qxg5 gxf3 ½-½ [/pgn] The final position is drawish, although I'm sure both players had had enough blunders for the day.

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! Anyway, shame on all these CEOs who run TV channels in Australia.

Please be aware that there have been some changes to the original calendar. I won't be doing lessons on the playchess server for a few weeks. The reason is that playchess refuses to add my lessons to the calendar. I think it's quite absurd: it would make things a lot easier for everyone, people whouldn't even have to visit my site to check the calendar. Don't ask me why, it's a very strange policy. I asked several times, but they never gave me a straight answer. What do they have to hide? Anyway, I never had any problems of this type on the internet chess club server (ICC, www.chessclub.com) so I'm now in conversations to resume my lessons over there. I'll let you know as soon as I know. I apologize for the inconvenience that this might cause to some people. I ask very little in return for my lessons, but playchess refusal without an explanation is more than I'm willing to take. I do not discard other free lessons on the playchess server in the near future, but I'd rather try the www.chessclub.com server first. Cheers.

My lesson on the 22nd of July will be my last lesson on the playchess server for the time being. Although originally I had announced the following lessons: Saturday 28th of July, 4 p.m. GMT (London time) : "Knigths don't bark, but they bite!" Sunday 29th of July, 6 p.m. GMT (London time) : "Endgames: Rook vs Pawn endings from scratch" Saturday 4th of August, 4 p.m. GMT (London time) : "Typical errors and how to avoid them" Sunday 5th of August, 6 p.m. GMT (London time) : "Endgames: The application of a well known principle..." Saturday 11th of August, 4 p.m. GMT (London time) : "f7 is much weaker than you think!" Sunday 12th of August, 6 p.m. GMT (London time) : "Rook magic in the endgame" Saturday 11th of August, 4 p.m. GMT (London time) : "Checkmate is not a foreign word" Sunday 12th of August, 6 p.m. GMT (London time) : "Masters and GMs humilliated" These are on hold for the time being. Basically, playchess.com refuses to accept my request to include my on-line lessons on their callendar. I don't know why, but it's their decission. I will be doing these lessons on the ICC server on dates which are yet to be announced. I apologize for the inconvenience. Regards, I.M. Javier Gil.

Thanks Lazker! No, I hadn't seen the game, but I have now. Very interesting indeed! (the variation played in the game has become very popular in recent months after many years in the shadow). Taking the Bishop seems to walk into disaster, but I'm not sure if black had much of a chance at that stage...

Hi everyone. I'm not feeling too well tonight and I'm going to have to cancell my free weekly lesson at playchess. My apologies. Regards.

Hello dr, you're absolutely right. Thanks for reporting this, I've added it to my to-do list. Thank you!

It depends what your level is. For an advanced player (over 1900), I'd definitely go for the the software version of the Enciclopedia of chess combinations (published by the people from Chess Informant). Lower than that, rather than a book I'd probably go for some tactics cd-rom. Tactics in particular is probably the subject where software can be a lot more helpful than a book: lots of content (I'm talking about thousands of examples!), easy to review once and again, you can add notes, etc. I won't suggest any in particular, they're all pretty good, and I really mean it.

This looks promising! "A giant monster movie that is shot using home video cameras from the point of view of people who are experiencing an attack on New York City." And this is what an IMDB reader had to say about it: I saw the preview when i went to go see the new transformers movie (best movie I've ever laid eyes on) i saw the preview and the first thing i thought was GODZILLA. the sound the "creature" makes sounds very similar to the original Godzilla. I own Nearly all the Japanese movies (yeah I'm a nut) but this would really excite me if it was. any one else get the Godzilla vibe? Hopefully IF thats what it is they won't mess it up like that last American Godzilla movie. It was good but didn't hold true to its roots, at all. Either way whether this is the big Thunder Lizard or not this movie seems very interesting and i can't wait to see the final product. i really like the perspective they plan to use to tell the story. anyways keep an eye on this one its gonna be a winner. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Z13Vaoi6U"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Z13Vaoi6U" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> Ok, science fiction doesn't interest you? how about horror? Here's a short horror story, played at the playchess server. I have changed the names, both players are strong GMs, ratings are blitz ratings at playchess. Player A (3174) - Player B (3184) [E53] 3m + 1s, rated, 22.04.2007 [pgn]1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.cxd5 exd5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nf6 7.Nf3 c5 8.e3 0-0 9.Bd3 Nc6 10.h3 Qa5 11.Bd2 c4 12.Bc2 Ne4 13.Qc1 Re8 14.0-0 Bf5 15.Nh4 Bd7 16.f3 Ng3 17.e4 Ne2+ 0-1[/pgn]

Chessnia's forums were updated today. We're currently using the latest version.

Deepmex, in your variation, after 5.a7 b5! is much better as black gets his queenside pawns rolling. My advice, however, is that you download the file which I posted earlier on in this thread, as that shows the correct winning line for white. Cheers!

Not bad at all! Ok, I'm enclosing a file with all the analysis. skwproblem.cbv

Oops, that was my fault, sorry. Try again, should be Ok now.