Bennett and King on chess: Shaposhnikov-Geller, Russia 2007 -- 03-Jul-09
How should White, to play, make progress? RB Nothing - absolutely nothing - occurs to me. 1 Ne3 possibly with Nd5 or Nf5 in mind, except that would allow 1... b4 with counterplay on the queenside. Are there any constructive rook moves? What about 1 Rd3 with the idea of R2d2 and Qd1 to make a battering ram against the d-pawn? Trouble is Black has as many pieces to defend as White has to attack. I can't see any sensible queen moves either. So that leaves the pawns. I've just noticed that Black's last move was ... h6. It doesn't look as if it was made prophylactically. Did he make it because he'd run out of useful moves? What if I make a waiting move ... |
Topalov Ranked No. 1 Again, but Does It Matter? -- 02-Jul-09
The official world rankings from the World Chess Federation were released July 1 and there were no surprises. Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria is ranked No. 1, as he has been for the last year. Viswanathan Anand of India, the world chess champion, is No. 2, a spot that he has occupied most of the time since April 2004 (with a period at No. 1 in 2007 and 2008). While the rankings are still important, if for no other reason than that they are often used by organizers of chess tournaments to figure out which players to invite to their events, they mean less than they once did. One difference is that people know what the rankings will be before they are released because unofficial ... |
Chess, by Lubomir Kavalek -- 01-Jul-09
Give or take a few years, the successful career of a professional chess player lasts roughly a quarter of a century and goes through four stages. From the time we pick up the game to the early 20s, we are learning how to succeed. Around age 22, things get serious. We decide how big a part chess will play in our lives, and chess professionals are born. In the next decade, the great chess players separate from the large crowd and chess champions emerge. From then on to the age of 40, we reach our peak. After 40 it goes down for those who let it slip; some chess players retire, others hang on and just enjoy the game. But, of course, there are exceptions. The world chess ... |
Polgar: Try these basic chess principles to help you become a better player -- 30-Jun-09
Here is the question of the week: What are some of the most important things novice/ scholastic chess players need to know about chess? Chess is a very easy game to learn, but harder to master. Here are some very important principles in chess that will help you become a better player. • Control the center The center of the board includes the squares e4, d4, e5, and d5. When you start a game, place your pawns in the center to occupy and control as many of these squares as you can. Location, location, location. • Develop your pieces as soon as possible Get your knights and bishops out right away. This should be done before you try to checkmate your opponent, some ... |
David Howell challenging current incumbents for the top spot in British chess -- 29-Jun-09
The established order at the top of British chess could change this year after nearly two decades of supremacy by the world title finalists Michael Adams and Nigel Short. Short's golden period was 1990-95, when he beat the all-time No3 Anatoly Karpov in a chess match and challenged Garry Kasparov for the world chess championship. Adams reached the semi-final of the Fide version of the title in 1997 and the final in 2002, where he missed a one-mover which would have won the crown. Adams stayed for some years around the top ten and a 2750 world rating, but has recently slipped back and now struggles to maintain 2700. He seems to have lost some competitive ... |
World Federation Takes Notice of Young American Chess Players -- 28-Jun-09
The United States is minting international masters and grandmasters. Last week, the World Chess Federation, the game’s governing body, officially anointed Robert Hess, a student at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, as a grandmaster, and it confirmed three other Americans, Daniel Ludwig, Rusudan Goletiani and Enkhbat Tegshsuren, as international masters. They will soon have company. At the New York International chess tournament, which ended on Tuesday, Samuel Shankland, an 18-year-old international master from California, dominated the chess event until the last round, when he lost to the grandmaster Giorgi Kacheishvili of the republic of Georgia. With that loss ... |
Five-Way Tie at the New York International -- 27-Jun-09
Five chess players tied for first in the New York International (June 19-23, 2009) ; Lev Milman made his third and final GM norm. GM Giorgi Kacheishvili beat IM Sam Shankland as black in the last round to catch him at 6.5/9 and (partially) derail Sam’s norm hopes. The early chess tournament leader, Filipino IM Oliver Barbosa, won his last game against Igor Sorkin to reach the magical 6.5 score and share $10,000, but ironically, failed to make a GM norm because he had not played enough non-U.S. chess players. Zybneil Hracek and Alex Stripunsky drew each other to join the leaders. IM Lev Milman made his third and final GM norm by beating Leonid Yudasin in ... |
Bennett and King on chess: Short-Berg, Malmö 2009 -- 26-Jun-09
Black is tied down to defence, but how can White, to play, make progress? RB We've been looking at zugzwang over the last few weeks so here I'm going to imagine it's Black to move. 1...Kg8 obviously leads to disaster after 2 Re8+ Rxe8 3 Qxe8+ Kh7 4 Qd7. 1...Bh8 would allow 2 Qh3, threatening Qd7, and is also catastrophic. Nor can the queen move: after 1...Qc8, for example, 2 c7 would lead to wholesale exchanges on e8 followed by promotion of the c-pawn. That leaves the rook. Is 1...Ra8 a viable waiting move? White is clearly better but I can't see how to continue and Black's position doesn't fall apart the way it should in a zugzwang ... |
Alexander Motylev wins Karpov tournament -- 23-Jun-09
The 10th annual Karpov chess tournament ended June 12 in Poikovsky, a small city of 20,000 in western Siberia. Former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov designed this event as a 10-player round robin, and the tradition has continued as the chess tournament has gradually grown into one of the world's strongest, with an average rating of 2695. A Russian gas company helps sponsor the tournament. Alexander Motylev of Russia took first prize by defeating chief rival Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan in the penultimate round. Motylev scored an undefeated 7-2, while Gashimov finished second with 6-3. Alexander Onischuk of Maryland, the 2006 U.S. chess champion, scored ... |
Wisdom of Chess Champions -- 22-Jun-09
It is always fascinating to read what the world chess champions have to say about their clashes with other strong players and about chess in general. Last year, Russell Enterprises published two classic tournament books, using figurine algebraic notation. In "St. Petersburg 1909" the world chess champion Emanuel Lasker comments on all the games of the event, in which he shared first place with Akiba Rubinstein. Alexander Alekhine's "New York 1924" has been hailed as one of the best tournament books. It was another triumph for Lasker, in which he finished ahead of Jose Raul Capablanca and Alekhine. The book is valuable for its deep verbal annotations with ... |
After a Last-Place Finish, a Chess Champ Recovers -- 21-Jun-09
After turning in a particularly good performance, it is natural for a chess player to suffer a letdown. But it would be hard to imagine a bigger one than Alexei Shirov’s recent crash and burn. In May, Shirov, of Spain, won the M-Tel Masters in Bulgaria, a chess tournament that featured one of the strongest competitive lineups of the year. Just over a week later, he was in Poikovsky, Russia, for the 10th Karpov Tournament, named for the former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov. Shirov, the chess tournament’s top seed, started with four losses. Two of the games were hard fought, but Shirov was wiped out in the other two. He steadied himself to draw games ... |
Bennett and King on chess: Alekhine v Nimzowitch, San Remo 1930 -- 20-Jun-09
RB An abiding interest in chess history means that I know this game quite well. Alekhine, who won the world chess championship three years before this encounter, was at the height of his powers, and won the San Remo chess tournament with an incredible 14/15, with no losses. Even if some of the competition wasn't top flight, to concede two draws in 15 games is something very special. The "elegant" continuation involves exploiting the zugzwang theme we've been looking at over the last few weeks. But, if I'm honest, I know I would never find it. Instead, I'd almost certainly go for the plodding 1 b5. ... |
Chess, by Lubomir Kavalek -- 18-Jun-09
Bobby Fischer to St. Louis. Rex Sinquefield, the sponsor of the 2009 U.S. chess championship and the founder of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, purchased Bobby Fischer's chess collection last Thursday in New York. Sinquefield and his wife paid $50,000 plus an $11,000 commission to the San Francisco-based auction house Bonhams and Butterfields. The collection includes hundreds of chess books and periodicals, galley proofs of Fischer's best book, "My 60 Memorable Games," and other personal items. It is encouraging that Fischer's possessions found a good home and eventually could be displayed to the public. I am sure that more of Fischer's chess memorabilia is ... |
Chess stars battle at National Open in Las Vegas -- 17-Jun-09
Two Southern Californians led a powerful field at the National Open in Las Vegas last weekend. Grandmaster Varuzhan Akobian and IM Enrico Sevillano shared first place in the 89-player Open section with scores of 5-1. The chess tournament included 17 GMs. Entering the final round, 12 chess players were tied at 4-1. Three of the games between them ended in hard-fought draws, and a fourth was drawn without a struggle. However, Akobian defeated GM Laurent Fressinet of France, a 2008 co-winner, and Sevillano upset GM Evgeny Bareev of Russia, once ranked fourth in the world. Akobian overcame particularly difficult pairings. Earlier, he had drawn one of the favorites ... |
An Elite Chess Player Fails to Learn From a Competitor’s Mistake -- 16-Jun-09
Before the Internet and laptop computers and chess databases, chess players who wanted to keep abreast of developments in the opening phase of the game had to rely on magazines and books. They were published weeks or even months after important games, so the information was often out of date. Today’s top competitors have a wealth of up-to-the-minute information, particularly about games of other elite chess players. So they should be prepared for every match. But that’s not necessarily the case. At the rapid chess tournament in León, Spain, which ended last weekend, Wang Yue of China was leading Magnus Carlsen of Norway in a semifinal match. All he had ... |
Chess doesn't get respect it deserves -- 15-Jun-09
My 17-year-old son recently was away playing in a chess tournament. As a parent of a child who has been playing in chess tournaments since he was 8, I find myself wavering between feelings of amazement and disappointment. The kids I've met over the years at chess competitions are an amazing lot. They remain calm under pressure, endure long hours of intense concentration yet somehow manage to stay focused and analytical. While other sports depend at least in part on luck, winning chess players succeed by outthinking and outmaneuvering their opponents. What I find disappointing is how little attention chess players receive for their achievements. Our ... |
Larry Evans on Chess: Colossal egos -- 14-Jun-09
"Chess is vanity," observed former world chess champion Alexander Alekhine. Indeed, humility is a rare affliction among chess experts. Efim Bogoljubov was a born optimist unperturbed by losses, and Alekhine used him as a punching bag in two title matches while ducking his arch rival, Jose Capablanca. (Capa refused to pose with a film star, saying, "Why should I give her publicity?") In his heyday, Bogoljubov boasted, "When I am white, I win because I have the first move. When I am black, I win because I am Bogoljubov." He claimed that Alekhine hypnotized him and blithely explained away his steady losses to the new generation: "The young demons ... |
Favorites Win in Hungary, Spain and Sweden, but Not in China -- 11-Jun-09
The expected results materialized in three chess events that ended in Europe on Sunday, but in the Chinese chess championship, there was an unlikely, and unheralded champion after a favorite faltered. In Hungary, Viswanathan Anand of India, the world chess champion, beat Peter Leko, Hungary’s top chess player, in an eight-game rapid match. The final score was 5 to 3. The match between Leko and a hand-picked opponent has become an annual tradition since 2005. This year, Leko did not manage to make any dent in his formidable opponent. Anand won the second and fifth games and the rest were drawn. Anand’s wins, one with each color, were in Grunfeld Defenses ... |
Anand and Carlsen Triumphant -- 09-Jun-09
Last week was a busy time for some of the world's top chess players, most of them being involved in rapid chess exhibition matches. Yesterday, the world chess champion Vishy Anand of India defeated Peter Leko in an eight-game match in Miskolc, Hungary, with the score 5-3. Magnus Carlsen of Norway won yesterday's dramatic final of the XXII Magistral Ciudad de Leon in Leon, Spain, against one of the world's most active chess players, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, with a 4-3 score. Ivanchuk came to Leon directly from Prague, where he participated in the CEZ Trophy eight-game rapid chess match at the end of May against the top Czech grandmaster David Navara ... |
Bennett and King on chess: Kasparov v Yusupov, Linares 1996 -- 08-Jun-09
Variation from Kasparov-Yusupov, Linares 1996. How can White, to play, win from this position? RB I've puzzled over the position for half an hour now, and I still can't work out how to do this. Everything I've tried fails. 1 Ra7 - with the idea of the double capture of the pawn and bishop on a4 - runs into the well-known rook's pawn ending: 1...Bc2 2 Rxa4 Bxa4 3 Kxa4 Kb7 and Black's king will sit stolidly in the corner, blocking the pawn's path to promotion. I also looked at king moves, trying to see if there was a way to mate on the back rank, but 1 Kc6 Kb8 ruins that idea. Black's king always slips ... |
Assisting a World Chess Champion Yields Dividends in a Title -- 07-Jun-09
Chess players, even the best ones, can use help in developing strategies. That is why top chess players often employ trainers, also known as seconds, particularly when preparing for a match or important chess tournament. Players chosen as seconds usually have a variety of skills. Some are experts in openings, others are defensive specialists. Occasionally, they are even ex-champions. In last year’s world chess championship match between Viswanathan Anand of India, the defending chess champion, and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Anand had four seconds: Peter Heine-Nielsen of Denmark, Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan (former champion of the World Chess Federation) ... |
Stuart Conquest bucks British chess trend to triumph at Capo d'Orso Open -- 06-Jun-09
Long ago there was a tradition that the new British chess champion finished last at Hastings, the next major contest, so when I was invited there in 1954 I donated my place to my co-titlist Alan Phillips, who had to contend with one of the strongest ever Hastings and duly finished in the cellar. Nowadays both the British and Hastings have lost some significance, and the new chess champion has several chances in a year's reign to confirm his status. There still remains extra pressure on a grandmaster elevated above his colleagues, so Stuart Conquest's first prize with 7/9 last week at the Capo d'Orso Open in Sardinia is a significant achievement. The British chess champion ... |
Plenty of Chess to Enjoy -- 05-Jun-09
As in years past, the warm weather (at least in the northern hemisphere) has brought with it a blizzard of chess events. Topping the list is the annual chess match in Hungary between Peter Leko, the country’s top chess player (and No. 9 in the world), and one of the world’s top chess players. Each match has been eight rapid games (25 minutes per player, with 10 seconds added to the remaining time after each move) over four days. Since the series began in 2005, with Michael Adams of England as the challenger, the opponents have improved. After tying Adams, 4-4, Leko beat Anatoly Karpov, the former world chess champion, 4.5 to 3.5 in 2006. In 2007, Leko lost ... |
Alexey Shirov surprises in Sofia -- 03-Jun-09
Alexey Shirov of Spain won the M-Tel Masters in Sofia, Bulgaria, by defeating Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the final round. Shirov, ranked 13th in the world, scored an undefeated 6 1/2 -3 1/2 , while third-ranked Carlsen dropped into a tie for second place at 6-4 with Bulgarian star Veselin Topalov, the world's highest-rated chess grandmaster. Others: Wang Yue (China), 4 1/2 -5 1/2 ; Leinier Dominguez Perez (Cuba), 4-6; and Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), 3-7. Last year, Ivanchuk won this chess tournament and briefly attained the world's highest rating. Now he's 12th and slumping. The 30th Memorial Day Classic ended in a four-way tie for first place last weekend. John Daniel Bryant ... |
Highly Ranked Youth Loses Tactical Battle to an Old Chess Pro -- 02-Jun-09
It takes chutzpah to stick your head in the lion’s mouth. Do it often enough and you eventually get mauled. That is essentially what happened to Magnus Carlsen of Norway at the M-Tel Masters chess tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria, last weekend. Carlsen led the elite chess event heading into the last round. He had Black against Alexei Shirov of Spain, who was trailing Carlsen by half a point. Carlsen is fearless, but against Shirov, he should have been wary. Shirov, who at 36 is twice Carlsen’s age, has been a top chess player for a long time — he first showed up in the world’s top 10 when Carlsen was a year old. He is noted for his tactical acumen, and the apt titles ... |
Chess, by Lubomir Kavalek -- 01-Jun-09
By definition, the chess brilliancy does not need to be a perfect game, it may not be even sound, but it should include a moment when something astonishing, beautiful and inspiring happens on the chess board. A daring combination, an out-of-the-blue sacrifice, an unusual maneuver. The first chess brilliancy prize was created by the owner of Cafe International in New York during a chess tournament played in the fall of 1876. The Englishman Henry Bird won it for his queen sacrifice against Irishman James Mason. It was designed to prevent boring chess and as such it was always dear to the hearts of chess fans. Spoiling the Fun. In his peak, early in the 1980s ... |
Polgar: Chess has a rich global history, spanning continents and centuries -- 31-May-09
The question of the week is how chess came about hundreds of years ago. Here is a short history of the root of chess, which I wrote in my instructional chess book "Teach Yourself Chess in 24 Hours." Chess is different from other board games in that it is a more challenging game, and it has a rich and venerable history, filled with colorful legends, a lot of eccentric characters, and a surprising amount of controversy. At various times in history, the game of chess has been banned by governments or forbidden as sinful by religious leaders, but attempts to ban the game proved futile. Chess fired the imagination of too many people to be suppressed for long. Moreover, chess ... |
Magnus Carlsen loses out with needless gamble -- 30-May-09
Norway's 18-year-old Magnus Carlsen crashed out of first place at Sofia last weekend with the final-round game below, and raised some questions about the chess player widely tipped to become the first Western world chess champion since Bobby Fischer. The technical manner of his defeat was mildly shocking. Carlsen started the final round half a point ahead of Alexey Shirov and Veselin Topalov and, as it turned out, a calm draw with the black pieces would have secured top place and a ticket to this summer's Grand Slam final in Bilbao. But Carlsen went for broke, taking on the ex-Latvian Shirov, who now represents Spain, in one of the sharpest lines ... |
Bennett and King on chess: zugzwang variations -- 28-May-09
RB This looks lost for White, but maybe there's a stalemate. Let's get rid of the pawns first: 1 f7+ Kxf7 2 h7 Kg7 3 h8Q+ Kxh8. Now what's the right square for the king? Let's step back and see what happens: 4 Kb1, and now if 4 ... c3 5 Kc2. Wait a minute. Black can't promote. If 5 ... a3 then 6 Kb3 and the pawns can make no further progress. Is there something better for Black? What about 4 ... b3 ... ? No, that doesn't work either. White simply plays 5 Kb2. The black king can't do anything useful either. If it goes to f7 then I go h7 and it will be one of the white pawns that queens. So let's revise that first sentence, in which I meant to say: This looks ... |
Azerbaijan vs. the World, and a Rout Ensues -- 26-May-09
If the people of Azerbaijan felt the whole chess world was against them this month, they had a right to do so. On May 7-9, a chess team from Azerbaijan played eight rounds against a chess squad of competitors from around the world. On paper, it was not an unfair match: Azerbaijan’s team had three of the world’s top 20 chess players — Teimour Radjabov (No. 5), Vugar Gashimov (No. 16) and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (No. 20). But the world team was even more impressive, with Viswanathan Anand of India (No. 2), Vladimir Kramnik of Russia (No. 4), Alexei Shirov of Spain (No. 13) and Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine (No. 23). The final result was ... |
Chess, by Lubomir Kavalek -- 25-May-09
Luis Ramirez Lucena was the Spanish author of the oldest surviving chess book, "Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez con ci Iuegos de Partido." His 1497 work discusses some opening play and also includes 150 chess problems, sometimes with unusual tasks. For example, in one of them (White: Ke5,Ra1,Rf1,P:e6; Black: Kh8, P:f2) white has to mate with a pawn. How? An Elusive Weakness. The pawn on f7 is black's weakest pawn at the start of the chess game and beginners may learn it the hard way. Defended only by the king, the pawn has been a target in many games ending with the Fool's Mate (1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6?? 4.Qxf7 mate). Another attack ... |
Magnus Carlsen to make first UK appearance -- 24-May-09
Magnus Carlsen, 19, the best hope for the western chess world title since Bobby Fischer, will make his UK debut in the London Classic on 7-15 December. His seven rivals will include Russia's formidable ex-world chess champion Vlad Kramnik plus England's leading chess trio of Michael Adams, Nigel Short and Luke McShane. Carlsen has been in the world top six for the past year, and this week's game, played in the MTel Masters in Sofia which ends today, marks another milestone in his advance, a smoothly impressive victory over Bulgaria's current world No1, Vesselin Topalov. Yesterday, with two rounds remaining, Carlsen shared the lead on 5/8 with Spain's Alexey Shirov, ... |
Chess on Film -- 23-May-09
As one of the oldest and most ubiquitous of games, chess has appeared in movies almost since people started making them. While there have been some movies where chess played a central role, even advancing the plot, the game is usually a bit player. When chess appears in films or on television, it often gives the actors something to do while they talk, and the subtext seems to be that their characters must be intelligent if they can play the game. Of course, chess is a proxy for strategy and conflict, so it appears in advertising, sometimes in surprising places, as in this recent advertisement for the National Basketball Association playoffs. Often chess ... |
New Generation Emerges Without Fischer as Influence -- 22-May-09
The future of American chess is alive and well. For years, as the generation raised on Bobby Fischer grew older — chess players like Yasser Seirawan, Larry Christiansen and Nick de Firmian — there were questions about who would replace them. It was difficult to imagine another group as good coming along without Fischer as an inspiration. But the country is now awash in young chess talent. At the forefront is Hikaru Nakamura, 21, who has already won a United States Chess Championship title and is ranked No. 30 in the world. Josh Friedel, 22, who became a chess grandmaster last year, has won several major chess tournaments. So has Robert Hess, 17, who qualified ... |
Battle of Generations -- 21-May-09
The organizers of this year's U.S. chess championship in St. Louis offered a bonus $64,000 prize to the chess player who wins all his games. It was named after Bobby Fischer, who in the 1963-64 U.S. chess championship won all 11 games. It was an amazing performance. Fischer beat his nearest rival, Larry Evans, in their individual game with the King's gambit and finished 3½ points ahead of him. Repeating this feat is difficult. None of the chess players in St. Louis had a perfect score after the first three rounds and the Fischer Memorial Prize will not be awarded. The idea may stimulate other organizers. For example, FIDE may create the William Lombardy prize for the world's best ... |
Nakamura Wins Second US Championship -- 20-May-09
Hikaru Nakamura won the United States Championship on Sunday by making short work of his last round opponent, Josh Friedel. It was Nakamura’s second title; he also won in 2004, when he was only 16. Games from the chess championship, final standings and a video interview with Nakamura are on the Web site of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, which hosted the event. Nakamura, now 21, was the second-ranked chess player at the start and going into the last round, he was tied for first. Surprisingly, his closest competitor was not Gata Kamsky, the country’s top chess player, but Robert Hess, 17, who, when he is not playing chess, is a junior at the elite ... |
21-year-old regains US Chess Championship title he held at age 16 -- 20-May-09
A man who won the U.S. Chess Championship when he was just 16 has reclaimed the title at the age of 21. Hikaru Nakamura (pronounced Heh-CAR-uh NAH'-kuh-muh-rah) won the United States Chess Federation competition Sunday by beating Josh Friedel in the final round of the competition in St. Louis. He takes home a $40,000 prize. The chess ace from White Plains, N.Y., first won the title as a junior, breaking every age group record set by famed chess player Bobby Fischer, except that of youngest U.S. chess champion. The competition was held over 10 days at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis. ... |
Larry Evans on Chess: The one that got away -- 19-May-09
"Had the umpire in any other sport stepped in, as FIDE President Florencio Campomanes did in 1985, to halt a chess championship final without result at its most interesting and climactic stage, that unfortunate official would undoubtedly have been lynched by a raging mob of frustrated fans!" — Grandmaster Raymond Keene. The longest title match in chess history began in Moscow on Sept. 10, 1984. Anatoly Karpov, 33, faced challenger Gary Kasparov, 22, under new FIDE rules where the winner would be the first to win six games, draws not counting. After five months and 48 games, with Karpov leading 5-3 despite a late surge by Kasparov, Campomanes bent the rules to cancel ... |
Bennett and King on chess: King-Cafferty, 4NCL 2006 -- 18-May-09
RB The first thing I'd consider is 1 Rxd5. With the bishop on h6 and the queen controlling the h3-c8 diagonal, the black king isn't going anywhere soon, and after 1...exd5 2 Re1 the e7-bishop is pinned. Black could play 2...Rd8 or 2...Qd6 to support e7 but it still looks promising for White. So the question is how do I follow up? I'd like to use my bishop to increase the pressure on e7 but 3 Bg5 is answered simply by 3...f6. What about 3 Bd2 with the idea, after ... |
Chess with Luke McShane -- 17-May-09
Iceland is renowned for being the country with the greatest number of chess grandmasters per capita and the popularity of the game can be partly attributed to the 1972 World Chess Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky played in Reykjavik. Azerbaijan's population is much greater than Iceland's, but having three chess players currently rated in the world's top 20 is still a huge achievement. Chess has a certain pedigree in the country as Garry Kasparov, the 'Beast of Baku' himself, was born there. But the current crop of talents were mostly yet to be born when Kasparov became World Chess Champion in 1985. This month, a lineup of Azerbaijan's top chess players ... |
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