Archive for the ‘Life beyond the chess board’ Category

The often described ‘eccentric’ GM Vasilly Ivanchuk, who the entire chess once world took note of when he began playing losing chess after a mid-game meltdown has chosen not to represent his country at the current Olympiad, he’s snuck off to Poland to play in some draughts tournament instead! What a strange fellow! More details can be found in the following link https://en.chessbase.com/post/where-is-vassily-ivanchuk 

Of course how could we forget his missed mate in one? Go to 7.40 for the missed mate in one.

For a quality interview with Ivanchuk, the following link makes a good read.

http://www.chessintranslation.com/2011/04/vassily-ivanchuk-2-flawed-games-are-the-most-beautiful/

An oddity.

https://en.chessbase.com/post/kiing-the-queen-ivanchuk-s-new-che-game

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Dr. Marion Tinsley, the greatest draughts player the world has ever seen. A person who my friend Nick McBride had the pleasure of meeting when he came to England.

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In round 9 of the current Olympiad Hungary met Georgia. This meant that the world’s two most creative and original super Grandmasters clashed with one another. Rapport had the white pieces, Jobava played with the black. It was, perhaps, inevitable that the game would depart from theory quickly and that it did. With only 4 moves on the board, Rapport’s fondness for classical attacking chess which suits his tactical acumen showed once more as he steered the game towards a King’s Gambit type position but with Jobava in fine form he capitalized on some minor inaccuracies in the middle game and won with the black pieces after some clever endgame maneuvers. The game was quite entertaining and played curiously by black in places. It’s worth taking a look at if you have time. Highlights of it appear in Jan’s entertaining show at about the 4.30 minute mark.

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/42nd-chess-olympiad-baku-2016-open/9/7/1

 

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In round 5 of the current 2016 Baku Olympiad, played out in my former home-from-home Baku, England’s GM Gawain Jones beat his Vietnamese opponent with a queen sacrifice to help England win the match yet the commentators and those involved in producing highlights of the day’s play have not said anything about it. What do you have to do to become noticed I wonder? Unfortunately for Gawain, if ever there was a day not to win with a queen sacrifice, day 5 was it as there were many hair-raising encounters in matches of greater significance.

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Black plays 15. … fxe3. Is this home-prep? Is it sound even? I suspect not but his opponent is 200 points or so below him, so its not easy to find the right moves over the board. But well done Gawain nice to see him pull one off. I seem to recall his position deteriorated pretty rapidly when he played one against a certain M. Carlsen once upon a time.

Here’s da game.

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/42nd-chess-olympiad-baku-2016-open/5/14/3

 

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The position after 38. … Kb1

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1567830

Enjoy!

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The anti-transparency organization FIDE, who just happen to be the governing body of chess also, have once more confirmed how out of touch they are with reality at the current Baku Olympiad with yet another draconian ruling which is ‘absurd, humiliating, unworkable’, so it has been claimed. Some of the world’s leading players have signed a petition to have it removed, the ruling in question is as follows:

Players of every match MUST inform their Match Arbiter when they leave the playing area in order to go to the toilet, to the bar or to the smoking area. They are not allowed to leave the playing venue while their game is still in progress. The Captains are not allowed to leave the playing venue either while their Match is still in progress. If they want to be replaced by another person, they have to inform the Match Arbiter in writing. The replacement will be allowed only once per round.

http://www1.bakuchessolympiad.com/content/73

Further background info can be found here, I have to say all this reminds me of when I was at school and had to ask for permission to do a wee-wee or poo-poo:

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/olympiad-protest-at-anti-cheating-toilet-rule

Whether or not any player or group of players can influence this particular FIDE policy is yet to be seen but a twitterstorm is brewing:

 https://twitter.com/kalliste28/status/772332372968738816

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Poor old Enamul Hossain from beleaguered Bangladesh, forced to play for his country and defend its honour against world champion Magnus Carlsen. It is the second round of the 2016 olympiad, and after 16 moves the following position has been reached.asdfBoth commentators pointed out that even though black is not material down the position is completely lost! Black has given world champion Carlsen a free hand on the kingside, thus resignation is not far off. The game is here below.

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/42nd-chess-olympiad-baku-2016-open/2/39/1

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As you may know “Texas hold em” Poker is currently the world’s most poplar game by quite some distance. I’ve often thought the expression ‘putting a player on tilt’, heard so often in Poker coverage is applicable to chess also. In the following game at the Abu Dhabi Open, a tournament which has come a long way since I last entered it, GM V. Fedoseev (2670) begun with the black pieces in the most provocative fashion against England’s D. Eggleston (2384).

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The position after 1.e4 Nf6 2. e5 Ng8?!

I think black’s plan is to unsettle his lower rated opponent with dubious moves. A risky strategy but the great tragedy here is that black succeeds with his initial plan and then goes on to win in less than 30 moves!

You can find the game here below. I am informed that the variation at hand (2. … Ng8) is called The Brooklyn Variation. You may note that white’s idea of Qb5 is not correct – I suspect he was ‘on tilt’ at the time.

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/abu-dhabi-2016/1/1/4

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See below for how not to make a promo video:

Having spent nearly two years in Baku, I strongly suspect those participating in the vid know little about the place (the locals excluded of course!). No comments on the multitudinous rumours abound that the vid was scripted, that many of the GMs were coerced, were held at gunpoint during the filming, that the budget of 10 pence was not exceeded. (that’s £ 0.10 to non-Brits).

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