TheChessWorld Blog

Here is a little tactics puzzle from the game I recently played in a Club Championship (it was actually yesterday). I was playing on the black side and got so excited calculating variations that missed simple and straightforward win. It cost me a game – we drew. Try to think would would you do here. Black to move.

Black to move

What is Garry Kasparov doing today? According to the interview he gave to the CNN’s Becky Anderson, Kasparov is still doing some kind of chess work. First of all, he trains Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus  Carlsen, who is currently number 4 in the top list FIDE, September 2009.  Kasparov is also working on chess theory books and of course playing friendly matches with A. Karpov. Becky Anderson have asked Garry “Have you missed a few moves on your political path?” and Kasparov replied “No, I’ve started from totally lost position. The fact is – I’m still in the game. The Russian Opposition does exist.”

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Top List FIDE. September 2009

Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov played the famous World Championship Match in 1984. Now, 25 years later in 2009 they played again – unofficial match in Valencia, Spain. The match was consisted of 4 rapid games and 8 blitz games. Kasparov won. There is no big surprise here since Garry is almost 200 points higher rated than his opponent. Congratulations to both players, they played great chess.  Check out the final standings and the video from the event below.

Kasparov – Karpov Valencia, 2009 Match Results

Kasparov - Karpov match, Valencia 2009

Garry Kasparov in a game against Karpov

Picture credits and info:

ChessBase.com

I was analyzing Thechessworld’s server logs today and find out that many-many players are looking for an advice “how to beat better player at chess”.  I’ve decided to go ahead and write some of my thoughts over this topic.  First of all, there is no magic formula in chess I can tell you that will *guarantee* a win.

Previously I have posted some suggestions how to beat stronger player at chess. This post is the continuation of what was written before.

According to IM Simon Webbs, the basic approach when playing a stronger opponent is to make the position as complicated as possible. If neither of you know what to do in such hyper-complex position, you will have a lot higher chances for survival. Obviously you are more likely to lose, but by increasing randomness you are increasing your chances for positive result.

That's what I call "random chess position". Impossible to achieve but you opponent will be very confused if you do!

What opening should you play against stronger opponent? The best choice is to play something sharp which you are familiar with at the same time. Sharp openings usually result in the wildest positions possible. Look for tactics. Do not, however, sacrifice a couple of pieces for one or two checks and resign 5 moves after. Be reasonable.

Don’t be afraid to play your favorite gambit just because you’re playing a higher rated opponent.  Strong player does not automatically mean a walking openings book. Some high rated players will deviate from the book quickly and try to outplay you later on.  If your opponent plays an opening move in your line which you haven’t seen in the book before, it’s most likely not very good one. Remember there are no novelties early in the game these days (say before move 10).  Try to figure out what’s wrong with the move. Maybe it weakens the king, overextends pawns, looses tempo or something else, there are plenty of options. Use it to your advantage.

You need to play aggressively. Even if playing for a draw you should attack. You will more likely to get a draw if your position is better and you offer a draw than in equal looking one.

As I mentioned in my previous post do not automatically exchange pieces. Stronger players are usually good endgame players as well.  Endgame for them will mean easy point without taking unnecessary risks.  Think of it this way: fewer pieces you have on the board – less randomness you can create. Don’t give your opponent something for nothing! Make him fight for every single piece of advantage.

You may also want to check out 7 Deadly Chess Mistakes Every Novice Player Make .

List of top 10 excuses for loosing a game of chess:

1. Dog ate score sheet;
2. Dead batteries in hidden transmitter;
3. Went outside for fresh air, forgot about tournament;
4. Disturbed by own reflection in opponent’s sunglasses;
5. Still despondent over 1964 death of Fred Reinfeld;
6. Inexplicably confused ECO A29 line 13 note 87c with ECO A13 line note 87c; lost queen;
7. Unlucky pairing with historical nemesis G. Kasparov;
8. During play, pondered both sides of ICC controversy; lost on time;
9. Studied book *How to Beat Bobby Fischer*; was unprepared for other opponents;
10. After making move, accidentally punched opponent instead of clock.

Humor by Don Scoones

Some more chess jokes from random online sources:

A chess master died – after a few days, a friend of his heard a voice; it was him!
“What’s it like, where you are now,” he asked.
“What do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news.”
“Tell me the good news first.”
“Well, it’s really heaven here. There are tournaments and blitz sessions going on all the time and Morphy, Alekhine, Lasker, Tal, Capablanca, Botvinnik, they’re all here, and you can play them.”
“Fantastic!” the friend said, “and what is the bad news?”
“You have Black against Capablanca on Saturday.”

A Chess Player is walking from the lake carrying two fish in a bucket. He is approached by the Game Warden who asks him for his fishing license. The Chess player says to the warden, “I did not catch these fish; they are my pets’ pawn. Everyday I come down to the water and whistle and these fish jump out and I take around to see the sights only to return them at the end of the day; remember that the Chess Board is like an ocean; full of fish”. The warden, does not play chess, he not had any idea what he’s talking about; not believing him, reminds him that it is illegal to fish without a license. The Chess Player turns to the warden and says,
“CHECK” “If you don’t believe me then watch,” as he throws the fish back into the water. The warden says, “Now whistle to your fish and show me that they will come out of the water.” The Chess Player turns to the warden and says, “What fish!?”

In a park people come across a man playing chess against a dog. They are astonished and say:
“What a clever dog!”
But the man protests:
“No, no, he isn’t that clever. I’m leading by three games to one!”

Frasier: I can see why she likes the game – “the king is stationary, the queen has all the power”.

“So I was having dinner with Garry Kasparov – Problem was, we had a checkered tablecloth and it took him two hours to pass the salt!”

Q. Which chess piece is the most powerful?
A. The Knight, It goes over the top.

2 friends see themselves by the street and one of them says:
- My wife says that if tomorrow I go to the chess match, it will take my children and it will leave me.
The other friend asks to him:
- And what you will do?
And the other answers to him:
- E4, like always!

Q – Which group of women are the best chess players?
A – Feminists. Their opponents begin with King and Queen, but *they* always start with 2 Queens.

A gentleman must play a game of chess with a blind person, he proposes to the blind person:
“As him cannot see he will grant an advantage to him as part of the deal. We will not play in equality of conditions.”
“This sound really fair” replied the Blind Person.
Then he asks the gentleman: “When?”
“Very well”, the other men responded to him “any night that you prefer.”

“I’ve created a chess program that mimics human play” said the computer science major.
“So it plays at GM level then?” asks the advising professor.
“No, but it does blame its loss on outside conditions!”

My computer beat me at chess.
Unfortunately my computer is not as good at kickboxing.
I think my computer will have to forfeit the tiebreak round.

Looking for some more chess humor? See my 10 real chess jokes post. And have fun!

Image Credit: http://www.zazzle.com

Chess is a royal game which is supposed to be taken seriously if you want to get better in it.

However,  a good laughter is great way to relax a bit before continuing the hard work. Here are the 10 chess jokes which are supposedly taken from real life chess stories by Dan Scoones and dugg by me from someplace in the net.

Let’s start with a chess quote to warm you up before real jokes: “Well, hmmm, endgames, yes, they are important, Yaaaaawwwwnnnnn!“

–Norbert FRIEDRICH

Moments when you should feel danger at chess:

1. There has been a change in the pawn structure. Your opponent has 8 and you don’t have any.
2. Your opponent begins to throw pawns at your eyes.
3. You have a position won but your opponent has a gun.
4. The Director tells you not to bother turning in your score sheet after the game.
5. Before game begins you notice your opponents 1st initials are ‘GM’.
6. After completing your development you sense your opponent playing the endgame.
7. Just as you make your opening move your opponent announces mate in 11.
8. You don’t control any squares at all.
9. Your draw offer sends all the people watching your game into uncontrollable laughter.
10. Your opponent has 3 bishops.

Author: Dan Scoones.

Finally I have decided to play a game of chess on Twitter. You say I’m a chess freak?  Maybe you right.  Twitter is a social network that can also be used to play this game in “correspondence mode”.

We agreed not to use any outside assistance including chess programs, databases (sorry ChessBase), opening books, pocket Grandmasters, etc.

Approximate time control is 1 day/move. I will post the game here so that all of you can follow, discuss  and criticize our play.  Yes, you are more than welcome to say what I or my partner doing wrong. We’ll just listen, fight back and get better!  Okay, enough said, first Twitter Chess Game right below:

Tem Jeito – Yury Markushin
Twitter Chess Game 1

Yury Markushin – Rick Nerwin (1-0)
Twitter Chess Game 2

Yury Markushin – Joseph Criscuolo (1-0)
Twitter Chess Game 3

If you’d like to challenge me at game of chess leave a comment here or Tweet me.

Chess Tactics

We all know that tactics is the most important part of chess. If you are good at chess tactics you will win many-many games. So how do we get better at it? How do we learn rapidly and effortlessly find tricky chess combination which lead to winning material or a checkmate, impressing others? The answer is simple: practice. You ask how? Solve puzzles.

Nothing is better for your tactical vision than  couple dozens of good chess puzzles daily. Grab a cup of coffee, tea or whatever you’d like and dive into it right away. Here is the first part. Find the checkmate in 3. Good luck!

Jump to Video Puzzles (they are available in the top menu also )

Who said chess is a cheap game to play? French artist Bernard Maquin asks 500,000$ for the chess set. That’s what he estimates the work of 30 craftsmen, which spend about 4500 hours working on this chess set. If you think about it for a second his craftsmen make only 3.70$/hour each including the cost of materials. Not much, hah?

Anyway, Charles Hollander Collection “The Royal Diamond Chess” is entirely handmade of 1168.75 grams 14 K white gold and 9900 black and white diamonds weighing 186.06 carats. Charles Hollander Collection, one of the most respected names in the diamond industry.

Check out the pictures of this beautiful chess  set:

Checkout another expensively cool chess sets: Money Chess Set and  Jewel Royale Chess Set.

Reference:

Charles Hollander Collection

This is another very cool animated chess video called “Knights Tale”. Basically the chess pieces fight to win and disappear when they are taken. The whole movie is 6 minutes long. Beethovens 5th is playing as background music.  Animation and music are perfectly matched which makes this high quality video even more interesting to watch. If you like chess animations you may want to check out some other movies: Geri’s Game and Chess Love Story. Enjoy and don’t forget to share your thoughts.

YouTube User SteamingStanier commented:

A superb video – excellent use of beethoven’s music

and the chess game. well done indeed!