Chessville
...by Chessplayers, for Chessplayers!
Today is


Site Map

If you have disabled Java for your browser, use the Site Map (linked in the header and footer).

Chessville
logo by
ChessPrints

 


Advertise
with
Chessville!!

Advertise to
thousands
of chess
fans for
as little
as
$25.

Single insert:
$35
x4 insert:
@ $25 each.



From the
Chessville
Chess Store



 


 


From the
Chessville
Chess Store

 

 

 

 


Headlines for March 2008

(3/23)  The Chess Reports:  Bob Long's latest creation, brought to you in PDF format each week, contains a wealth of chess instruction, with a wide variety of subject matter: "Topics of Coverage: Endgame; Odds and Ends; Openings; Planning; Psychology; Strategy; Tactics; Traps."  Check it out for yourself - Issue #9 is available for you to download free!

(3/23)  Kelly's Quotes - Chess Books:  Another fresh batch of quotes about the Royal Game by Kelly Atkins (Kelly's Quotes.)  Here are a couple examples - just to whet your appetite: "A classic is a book, which people praise and don't read. – Mark Twain"; or how about: "Whenever my wife complains about my chess book addiction, I threaten to take up golf! – J. D. Marino"

(3/23)  Review: How to Play Chess Like an Animal by NM Brian Wall, reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "I can understand grown-ups being excited about the benefits of children learning and playing chess, but if we’re not careful we’re liable to turn the Royal Game into a vegetable – “Push your pawns, Abby: chess helps build strong brains eight ways!”  Yuk.  Fortunately, Anthea Carson and Brian Wall [Editor: insert gratuitous link to Wall's column Going to the Wall, right here at Chessville!] have made sure to put a lot of Fun into their How to Play Chess Like an Animal.  That makes a whole lot of sense, especially from a young kid’s point of view..."

 

(3/23)  Problem of the Week for 2008.03.23
Tactical training with our weekly puzzle









White to move and win

Click here for the solution

(3/23)  Chessprint for 2008.03.23
"for the sheer joy of chess"









Black to play and win

Click here for the solution

 
(3/23)  Photo Report - GM Duncan Suttles Book Launch:  "On March 15, 2007, a book launch event was held in the Vancouver Bridge Centre, in Vancouver Canada.  Among other events there were a set of tandem (alternating move) simultaneous displays by Grandmasters Duncan Suttles and Yasser Seirawan.  One such simul pitted the dynamic duo against juniors rated under-1800 (a hot dog and pop/juice lunch was provided) and later against adults, selected juniors and juniors who won or drew in the first simultaneous.  Later still a social gathering (business attire) was held, for both chess players and non-chess players, complete with food..."

(3/22)  Nuestro Círculo #294:  22 de marzo de 2008, al Maestro inglés Harry Golombek que vivió entre los años 1911 y 1995. Publicamos, además de su biografía, la segunda parte de una nota sobre Bobby Fischer, otra titulada "Deleites del Ajedrez" y "Partidas del torneo Amber - Niza 2008".  Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje español.

(3/22)  Alekhine's Parrot:  Welcome to the weekly leader of chess events around the world.  This week:

Players Corner:  This is when the KID really was a young opening.  F.D. Yates was born in Yorkshire in 1884, and never made a very big splash in chess until his mid twenties - while at the Karlsbad tournament in 1923he played A. Alekhine...

XIX Pan American Youth Festival 2008, Villa Carlos Paz, Provincia de Córdoba - Argentina; June 29 – July 6, 2008 The Championships of Russia among boys and girls under 20 took place in Saint-Petersburg 8th-18th March...

(3/22)  New Portal Pages:  You might not have noticed yet, but we're trying to get better organized, and trying to make it easier to find what you need, while reducing some of the clutter.  Soon we'll have an entirely new look on our home page, but first we have a series of new pages that draw together links to much of the material we have here at Chessville.  While we still have a couple of pages to go, we wanted to share the following pages with you:

  • Opening Resources:  We have gathered together links to the various opening resources here at Chessville, and placed them all on this one page.  From here you can branch off into basic opening theory, visit with IM Andrew Martin, or visit the wild & wonderful world of Unorthodox Chess Openings.  There are lots of other pages here to visit too, so check it out - and enjoy!

  • UCO Opening Resources:  UCO stands for Unorthodox Chess Openings; here at Chessville it stands for fun!  As with our Opening Resources page we've gathered together links to the various UCO opening resources here at Chessville, and placed them all on this one page.  Check out Clyde Nakamura's Search for Dragons and Mythical Chess Openings, or travel with IM-CC Keith Hayward down The Road Not Taken.  There is something interesting behind every click!

  • Chess in Art, Fiction & History:  Another new neighborhood-page here at Chessville, this one combining links to all of our chess art, chess-themed fiction, and especially our collection of chess history, including Robert Tuohey's highly respected Past Pawns column.

  • Downloads, Links & Reference:  This time we've gathered links to our various pages containing free downloads, links to other great chess sites, and a collection of reference materials, which includes ECO codes, Alternative Piece Letter Identifiers, Annotation Symbols, and much more.

  • Chess Book &Product Reviews:  Links to our review index, recent reviews, introduction to our review philosophy, and reviews of chess products and web sites, all on one convenient page.

  • News, Editorials & Interviews:  Just as it sounds - from here you can find all of our pages devoted to news past & present, interviews including our famous 20-Questions series, and a wide variety of editorials, including another Chessville favorite - Alekhine's Parrot.

(3/16)  An Appreciation of Bobby Fischer: GM Raymond Keene (Keene On Chess) looks at several of his favorite Fischer games, including the so-called Game-of-the-Century against Donald Byrne when Bobby was just 13 years old.  Also included: Lombardy-Fischer, Monte Carlo 1967; Fischer-Unzicker, Siegen Olympiad 1970; Gligoric-Fischer, Siegen Olympiad 1970; and Fischer-Najdorf, Siegen Olympiad 1970.
 
(3/16)  Review:  Chess Rumble by G. Neri, art by Jesse Joshua Watson, reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "Eleven year old Marcus is not mad all the time.  It’s not because his Daddy left, or because his younger brothers have dedicated their lives to driving him crazy.  It’s not because of that fool Latrell hassling him at school.  And it’s certainly not because his sister died a year ago.  If that clueless Ms. Tate, the principal, would only stay out of his way and let him deal with things.  But no, now she’s got him going to the library to meet with some big guy called CM.  Marcus can sure beat him, too..."

 

(3/16)  Going to the Wall:  Chessville is extremely proud to debut a brand new columnist - NM Brian Wall.  In his initial offering here at Chessville, Brian looks at the recently concluded match between GM Roman Dzindzichashvili and the strongest chess engine in the world, Rybka.

Brian is also the author of How to Play Chess Like an Animal, "a magical introduction to Chess with 30 Chess openings named after animals..."

Life Master Brian Douglas Wall was born March 26, 1955, and learned to play chess from his father when he was six years old.  At age 17 he won the Colorado Junior Championship, becoming a master at age 23.  As an adult he scored at least as many points as the winner in five Colorado State Championships, as well as six Denver Opens.  In 2002 he tied with four GMs for 2ndf place in the Governor's Cup (South Dakota).
 
Paul Keres(3/16)  Chess Training:  A new "Recon64" Move Prediction Exercise from Jim Mitch (aka Professor Chester Nuhmentz.)  This month the exercise is based on Byrne-Fischer, New York, 1963 -- you may think there's an error in the exercise or that White somehow lost on time when you reach the point where the game suddenly ends with Black as the declared winner.  The un-played continuation that Bobby Fischer had calculated began with...

UPDATE:  Jim has reworked the Recon64 exercise and added several new features:  Some of the new features include having users choose whether they want to study the moves of White, Black, or both; a choice of a risk/benefit setting for the game that affects the number of guesses per turn and amounts than can be won or lost per turn; and a re-working of how the page is formatted and behaves to allow for easier entry of predictions & investments.  Be sure to check it out today!  Similar to Predict-A-Move and Solitaire-type chess exercises, Recon64 challenges players to find candidate moves from games played by masters.  Players are encouraged to search for several strong candidate moves in each position, and are rewarded as long as their list of moves includes the move selected by the master during the game.  As an extra twist, players invest Recon64 dollars on candidate moves based on how likely they think each move was used in the original game...

 

(3/16)  Problem of the Week for 2008.03.16
Tactical training with our weekly puzzle









White to move and win

Click here for the solution

(3/16)  Chessprint for 2008.03.16
"for the sheer joy of chess"









Black to move and draw

Click here for the solution

(3/15)  Nuestro Círculo:  Courtesy of Roberto Pagura, we bring you the entire collection of the first 290 issues of Nuestro Círculo, including bonus files.  This is a HUGE downloadable zipped file, nearly 22.2 MBs in size.  Inside you'll find a total of 301 files in Word format (.doc).

(3/15)  Alekhine's Parrot:  Welcome to the weekly leader of chess events around the world.  This week:

Dear Reader, who are you?  Recent analysis of our readership is very interesting.  There is a strong following of Chessville in the USA, and in Canada, but also throughout...

Keres & Botvinnik Revisited...
Contemporary importance of chess history.
A public conversation with ex-Chess Life editor Larry Parr and The Parrot

What to Play?  More eye-watering moves from English Players in the English Defence. Featured Game is Garces-Keene, Lausanne 1977

(3/15)  Nuestro Círculo #293:  15 de marzo de 2008, dedicado a la ex Campeona Mundial de nacionalidad rusa, Elisaveta Bykova (1913-1989). Publicamos, además, notas sobre el Torneo Linares - Morelia 2008 y el Iberoamericano 2008, el Aguafiestas 229 y la primera parte de una nota sobre Bobby Fischer.  Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje español.

(3/14)  Chess Art:  From the gallery of Roger J. Morin we bring you images of his work.  Visit early and often, as we will be adding new images periodically.  There's also a link to the artist's cyber-gallery, where you can check out other (non-chess themed) works, most of which are oil paintings, and many of which are for sale.

 

(3/9)  Chess Training:  A Sacrificial Lamb - the March Chess Lesson of the Month from IM Igor Khmelnitsky.  "Chess books and software tools dedicated to the subject of Tactics always have a section devoted to the advanced passed pawn.  In my Chess Exam Tactics, one of the six Motives I am rating the readers on is the “Advanced Pass Pawn”.  However, the majority of the examples are usually on the themes (or methods) that are aimed at getting the passed pawn through.  Eliminating and deflecting the defender(s) are the most popular ideas.

For example, in the diagram on the right: 1.Rxb6 (defense elimination) and 1.Rxd5 (deflection of the defender).  Rarely, you will see examples where the coveted passed pawn is actually given up for some material or even positional gains:  1.Pc8Q Nxc8 2.Rxd5.  A recent encounter at the very top level triggered my decision to discuss the situation where the "golden pawn or pawns" that reached the 7th (2nd) rank are sacrificed.  The examples you will see in this article are from my lessons.  First, let’s take a look at the game that prompted this article..."

 
(3/9)  Review:  Zugzwang by Ronan Bennett (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007) reviewed by Rick Kennedy.  "Dr. Otto Spethmann, psychoanalyst, has a small practice in St. Petersburg.  On behalf of his patients, he searches for reason amongst their unreason.  Mourning his late wife, Elena, indulging his daughter Catherine, and chiding his talented, rascally friend Kopelzon, Spethmann would seem to have enough work as it is, without getting caught up in the dogged Inspector Lychev’s investigation of two murders, avoiding the ever-present eyes and ears that report to the secret police’s Colonel Gan, and invoking the machinations of the rich and powerful man known as “The Mountain.”  For love the good doctor will cross personal and professional boundaries and find himself in the arms of his intriguing, and married, patient, Anna Ziatdinov..."
 
(3/9)  Interview:  Chessville plays 20 Questions with GM Michael Adams.  Chessville interviews the famous English GM, including some surprise contributions from three Grandmasters, The English Chess Federation, Chessville's own Forum Members, and a Cornish Grandmother!  See what 'Mickey' has to say about the value of "wacko" openings, FIDE's handling of the World Championship cycle, how he spends his preparation time, whom he'd most like to play chess with from Caisa's storied past, and his advice for aspiring junior players.  All this and much more, as we play 20 Questions with Michael Adams.

 

(3/9)  Problem of the Week for 2008.03.09
Tactical training with our weekly puzzle









White to move and win

Click here for the solution

(3/9)  Chessprint for 2008.03.09
"for the sheer joy of chess"









White mates in 5 moving only the king

Click here for the solution

 

(3/9)   JanXena on Les Echecs des Femmes:  In her March column Jan reports on the Asian Team Championships, the Moscow Open, Aeroflot, and Capelle le Grande, along with upcoming events, Natasha Galinka, a scandal when it was learned that the reigning Women's World Champion Xu Yuhua was accidentally left off the Ataturk Women Masters invitation list, and the featured Chess Femme of the month - IM Dronavalli Harika (IND 2455), shown at left.
 
(3/9)  Free Download:  Clyde Nakamura (The Search for Dragons and Mythical Chess Openings) offers this zipped PGN file containing some 13,000+ games & lines in the Latvian Gambit:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5

This file can be downloaded from Clyde's page or from our Games by Openings download page.








 

(3/8)  Alekhine's Parrot:  Welcome to the weekly leader of chess events around the world.  This week:

Chess Tributes:
And even though until the end, for example in Buenos Aires, 1939, as I am about to demonstrate, he could still evolve true pearls of the chess art, he had not sufficient stamina for obtaining practical success in a big tournament...

The youngest master record is considered one of the most hallowed marks of the USCF. Future World Champion Bobby Fischer was considered a prodigy when he became a master at the age of 13...

...should anyone with a current job wish to apply to USCF for a position in chess, then that person should be aware of this circumstance, since USCF are apparently not too careful about personnel material and the law of the land...

(3/9)  Nuestro Círculo #292:  8 de marzo de 2008, dedicado al Maestro holandés Theo Daniel van Scheltinga (1914-1994). Publicamos su biografía y partidas de los torneos Linares - Morelia 2008 e Iberoamericano 2008.  Nuestro Círculo, un boletín semanal de ajedrez editado en Argentina en lenguaje español.

(3/2)  The Modern Defence:  Opening theory in the form of three annotated games, all quick kills with this most modern of openings, and all with the wit and wisdom of GM Nigel Davies.  "Some practitioners of the Modern (Colin McNab and David Norwood for example) like to try and close the position up with ...c6 and possible ...d5.  But I have my own interpretation involving a fierce counterattack against the d4 square.  Above all I want that bishop on g7 to breathe fire, to strike terror along the h8-a1 diagonal.  Sometimes I play ...c7-c5, sometimes ...e7-e5, but always something against the d4 square and with that long diagonal in mind.  There isn't enough time to show all the ins and outs of this defence, but the following games show my interpretation in action against a variety of White set-ups and how this opening has served me faithfully in some critical games.  Amongst my victims with this opening are the likes of Bent Larsen and Viswanathan Anand, but on this occasion I'll show you the real crushes..."
 
(3/2)  Chess Composition - Zagoruiko: FIDE Master of Chess Composition Peter Wong (Peter's Problem World) is back with a new composition theme to educate and entertain us.  "Zagoruiko - Changed play represents one of the essential ideas in directmate problems, especially two-movers where it is most commonly found. In response to a certain black defence, White makes a mating move in the actual play that is surprisingly different from that in another phase, such as set play and try play, against the same defence. This concept of changed play is intensified in the Zagoruiko theme, which specifies a framework of changed variations. A two-mover demonstrates the Zagoruiko scheme if the following occurs: at least two black defences lead to changed white mates, with each defence provoking at least three different white mates in separate phases. The theme is named after a Russian composer who devised some notable examples in the 1950s."

78. Michel Caillaud
British Chess Problem Society, Kingston 1999
Prize