Archive for January, 2021

…on this day…

I posted the following on fb nine years ago today.

Given the advanced nature of black’s pawns, the position appears ominous at first glance for white, however, the win is straightforward as both Kf1 and Rc8 win for white. As soon as one of the pawns move, its game over, owing to the good position of the white king.

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The Numbers

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The confectionary I couldn’t play chess without once upon a time. Cost -55p: rating increase +5.

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I posted the following on fb nine years ago to the day.

White plays the counter-intuitive c5 and wins since the black king is too far to do anything.

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A mere 26 years on, since I ran away from the responsibility of being Tournament Organizer at my home club, I’m back at it again. The difference is, this time its all on-line quickplay stuff, which is a damn site easier to do than club championships where more than half never even shown up once!

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Quintessentially Soviet

It could be argued that the Soviets played much more attacking chess then their, comparatively affluent, counterparts in the west. Partly because of what is ingrained in their culture/spirit, and partly because winning meant more or at least in becoming titled the government made more effort to look after you, and partly because the competition was much stiffer. And here’s a fine example from the 9th Soviet Championships, a spirited Levenfish shows us how it was done.

White played g4 here and could because black has not applied pressure to the centre.
Not looking good is it?
Quite a finale

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1090615

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If you teach then perhaps you know that the website www.readinga-z.com has become a force to be reckoned with in the context of blended learning. And since ‘enlighteners for the little blighters they be, below lies a Level G reader all about Chess. You are, of course, quite welcome to download it and do whatever you so wish. And yes I have already contacted the publisher to suggest improvements as the initial definition of chess clearly isn’t correct.

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Light-squared symphony

As a rule of thumb, the more complex the concepts you grapple with are, the better the player you are. By this I mean when you move away from the material to the abstract, it means the more you are absorbing, very generally speaking. If you never consider control over colour complexes, it’s fair to say you are most likely playing for pleasure than playing to push yourself towards becoming a professional player. Those at the very top are able to win by means of controlling colour complexes and here’s a fine example by the first accredited Soviet Grand Master Verlinsky. Yes of course in retrospect we see Botvinnik as being the first but that wasn’t so. And so here is our old Soviet friend, who played without hearing, doing what he does best, showing why he was indeed world class.

The final position before Rauzer resigned. He’s not down on material but all the light squares have been taken away from him. The collapse of his position was like a slow-motion train crash.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1272362

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2021

2020 was

135 posts

1258 games online

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