Tartajubow On Chess II

2012-01-27T13:47:00.000-05:00

Upon checking my games at Lechenicher SchachServer I discovered I’m eligible to participate in the preliminary groups of the 2016 LSS/IECG World Championship. Don’t get excited! So are 300 other players. We 300 aren’t the site’s top rated players but appear to be the slugs from the ranks who are rated too low to qualify by rating. I doubt I’ll sign up because the time limit is much slower than I prefer. My preference is for “Rapid” events which means no vacations are possible and the T/L is 10 days basic plus one day per move. The one event I’m in now was started at the end of November last year and I have only three games left (out of 6) and we are on moves 40, 41 and 62, so they move pretty fast.

What caught my eye was the ratings of some of the players with ICCF and FIDE ratings.

For the ICCF players here’s the breakdown:

One Senior Master rated 2158,

Five International Masters with an average rating of 2119

Three Senior Masters with an average rating of 1951. The lowest rated SM is 1769

The FIDE rated players:

Two International Masters rated 2109 and 1922
17 FIDE Masters rated from 1664 to 2160 with the average rating being 1989

What I thought was interesting is that LSS allows engine use, as does the ICCF, in its tournaments and here are these obviously accomplished players who you would think would be among the site’s top rated by virtue of being good enough to obtain a title in either correspondence or otb play.

Looking at the site’s top rated players I see a lot of names of top level CC players, but only one otb titled player. That of Brazilain GM Alex Fier. The 24 year old Feir got his FM title in 1996, IM title in 2004 and was awarded the GM title in 2007 and currently sports a pretty good 2603 rating with the FIDE. Fier’s record on LSS so far is +1 -10 =5 which includes one forfeit win and 8 (!) forfeit losses. It looks like he got off to a bad start but he’s still playing and is ranked #2 with a 2644 rating.

Anyway, I just thought it was interesting to notice that even using an engine is no guarantee of success in correspondence play…just look at some of those ratings. Some of them are actually worse than mine!

A Tough Najdorf Sicilian

2012-01-26T13:53:00.001-05:00

In this game my opponent, who holds the LSS e-mail master title, seemed to have the superior position throughout the game, but I could not find any significant improvements in his play and the game eventually fizzled out to a drawn R&P ending.

The opening reminded me of a game played many years ago in the final round of the 1972 US Open Postal Championship against a former US Closed Championship competitor. We were following a popular opening booklet on the Najdorf Sicilian and after mailing him my move I discovered a flaw in the analysis. Unfortunately he discovered it, too. I liked the idea in that game of Black placing his N on e5 instead of c5 because I couldn’t find a way to continue the Q-side attack after 13…Nc4. So, I decided to play 13…Ne5 thinking the N would be more useful on the e5 square.

The engines didn’t like the move very much and it did look like White had a very strong attack. Still, there seemed to be no way for him to cash in on his position which included an extra P. At first the engines liked White’s position by a little over a Pawn but over the course of the game their evaluations showed a downward drift toward equality. I haven’t been able to find any way to improve on White’s play so could it be that the engines were over-optimistic? If that’s the case, it remains another case in point that you can’t always rely on them.

Regina Fischer

2012-01-24T15:47:00.000-05:00

Regina Fischer protesting the Vietnam war in Paris in 1973

According to a psychiatrist report in 1943 Regina Fischer spoke at least six languages (English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese) fluently and was brilliant but paranoid. Actually, she had good reason to be paranoid. The FBI read her mail and studied her canceled checks for years before finally concluding she was not a spy. No doubt much of the FBI’s interest was due to the fact that she studied medicine in Moscow during the Stalin era. Her outspokenness on political/social issues and her relationship with Hungarian scientist Paul F. Nemenyi, Fischer's father who was not listed on the birth certificate, probably did not help her situation either.

1942 found Regina Fischer in Denver, Colorado which was only just a stopping place for a restless woman who couldn't settle on a permanent home. She was taking classes at the University of Denver and working at a company that made chicken incubators. At 29, Regina had already lived in eight other cities and four other countries. This was her ninth job and her sixth university. She was the mother of 5-year-old girl Joan and she alone.

Her husband, Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, was away in Santiago, Chile and barred by immigration authorities from entering the U.S. This is when Paul Nemenyi appeared. Nemenyi was 47, a Hungarian refugee and a theoretical engineer teaching at a nearby college. He made $165 a month, was an animal-rights supporter and refused to wear wool. He walked around in winter with his pajamas sticking out from underneath his clothes.

Still, he had a compelling mind. "He was smart, very, very smart," recalls Charlotte Truesdell, who worked at a research laboratory with Nemenyi in the '40s. "He had a strange kind of memory. He remembered things by their shapes." A memory of Nemenyi can be read HERE

Regina was the daughter of a Polish dress cutter who had moved to the United States with his family while she was a baby and she returned to Europe as a young adult and studied medicine. She lived in Berlin in the early '30s when Hitler was coming to power. It was there that she met Fischer, with whom she moved to Moscow, where they lived for several years under Stalin.

In Colorado in 1942, Regina and Nemenyi were drawn together by their political beliefs. Nemenyi had told colleagues he preferred communism to capitalism and the FBI suspected Regina of communist sympathies. Regina never revealed what happened between them but it seems clear that in the summer of '42 a romance took place because the next year, Bobby was born.

There is an account of the affair in the FBI file. Their investigation began in 1942 when a baby-sitter found what she believed to be pro-communist letters belonging to Regina and turned them over to the FBI. Nemenyi told one FBI informant, a social worker, that he met Regina at the University of Denver. But whatever follows his account in the FBI file is censored by the FBI. In the narrative after that point Bobby is in the picture. The file says, "He (Nemenyi) advised he helped support the boy."

By the time of Bobby's birth Regina had moved to Chicago and Nemenyi was teaching in Rhode Island. She gave birth to Bobby in a clinic for poor single mothers. And on the birth certificate she listed Fischer as the father. She briefly considered putting Bobby up for adoption but after talking to a social worker (who later described the conversation to the FBI) she broke down and cried and was unable to go through with it.

She then moved into a Chicago home for fatherless families where she ended up leading a rebellion among the other mothers, encouraging them to question the institution's rules. The home called the police who arrested Regina and charged her with disturbing the peace. She was acquitted. Regina divorced Fischer in 1948 and moved to Brooklyn, New York where she worked as an elementary school teacher and nurse at Prospect Heights Hospital in Brooklyn.

Bobby’s only public statement about his father appeared in Start, a Zagreb newspaper where he said, “My father left my mother when I was two. I have never seen him. My mother has only told me that his name is Gerhardt and that he was of German descent.” However, later Bobby told a friend that he and his sister, Joan, did not have the same father. Joan Fischer Targ always insisted that her father’s name was Hans-Gerhardt Fischer. He died on February 25, 1993 in Berlin.

Regina (Wender) was born on march 31, 1913 in Zurich, Switzerland and died of cancer on July 27, 1997 at the age of 84 in the Stanford University Hospital.

A 750 page FBI report on Regina Fischer can be viewed HERE

Why No Recent Posts?

2012-01-19T12:26:00.001-05:00

A couple of reasons: mostly I have been busy with a lot of rather mundane tasks but another reason is no doubt due to my mild Seasonal Affective Disorder! I get mildly depressed in the winter but feel much better in spring and summer. I live in an area where winter days are short and there are big changes in the amount of daylight. Also, I’m finding I dread the snow and cold more and more as I get older. You know, getting dressed and going out in the dark and the cold to plow the driveway and the sidewalks; it gets harder every year even with the 5-forward and 2-reverse speed snow blower in the garage!

Experts are not sure what causes SAD, but they think it may be caused by a lack of sunlight. Lack of light may upset your sleep-wake cycle and other circadian rhythms. My sleep has been whacked out...to bed at 11 o’clock or mid-night and up early and mid-afternoon naps. SAD may cause problems with a brain chemical called serotonin that affects mood.

The symptoms are feeling sad, grumpy, moody, or anxious and losing interest in your usual activities. One may also eat more and crave carbohydrates such as bread and pasta and there is a tendency to sleep more and feel drowsy during the daytime.

Doctors often prescribe light therapy which it is said works well for most people and is easy to use. But, you need to stick with it and use it every day until the season changes. Other treatments include antidepressants which can improve the balance of brain chemicals that affect mood and counseling. They say regular exercise also helps. Actually, I’m not into any of these things because it’s not serious enough to cause a real problem; it’s just an annoyance.

But the fact remains that playing my correspondence games has become a burden and I don’t want to bother with them...I just grit my teeth and slog through them. Fortunately the lack of interest hasn’t cost me any points...yet. I have offered and accepted some draws in positions where I would normally have played on though. Fortunately all of those opponents have been higher rated so it hasn’t cost me any points. I have also been working part-time at my old job three mornings a week and that really helps because I’m so busy there. Still, I find myself yearning for some 70 degree weather and it getting dark at 9:30 or 10 o’clock at night!

It was said of some of the Soviet players that they learned a lot of chess because they spent so much time studying it during those long, cold, dark Soviet winters. I admire them for being able to survive, let alone being able to study chess. Anyway, if you live someplace where it’s warm and sunny, can I come and visit for a couple of months? It won’t cost much to feed me and we can play some chess. In the meantime I'm going to go eat some bread and butter then take a nap.

Firebird 1.2 vs. Rybka 3 Test

2012-01-12T07:58:00.000-05:00

Computer Chess Online has saved me the trouble of testing the Firebird engine. The Blog’s author tested both engines at a time control of 40 moves in 2 hours. The result? After 33 games the result was 4 wins apiece with 25 draws.

Firebird 1.1 Settings and New Release

2012-01-11T18:23:00.000-05:00

I recently came across a topic on settings for the Firebird engine on Open Chess Forums where a Dr. Wael Deeb has experimented with the parameter setting for thsis engine and claims “The settings are stronger than Houdini and Rybka 4.” He claims to have run over 300 games at long time controls (20 minutes + 20 seconds) against the Rybka,Houdini and eight of the strongest Ivanhoe versions and using his settings, Firebird it won three tournaments in a row without a single loss. Note: These settings are for version 1.1 only.

His settings for the parameters are:
Pawn Hash=64
Pawn Value=120
Rook Value=600
Queen Value=1170
Bishop Pair Value=70
Verification Reduction=8

Also now available is the new Firebird 1.2 which is commented by many computer chess specialists as the new strongest chess engine in the world, even stronger than Rybka 3 & RobboLito. Firebird is a UCI windows 'console' application, without any GUI (graphical user interface) that you may use with free programs like Winboard, Arena, Chess-gui or with Chessbase 9 & 10. DOWNLOAD

I have not had time to test any of these engines against Houdini yet, but plan to do so in the near future.

Another Loss to the Same Guy

2012-01-10T16:12:00.000-05:00

A while back I posted a game I lost to the same opponent when I tried the inferior capture with the b-Pawn instead of the d-Pawn in the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez. In this game I lost to him again as White in my favorite Torre Attack. As near as I can tell the loss was a result of misjudging the position after the exchange of Q’s at move 21. It never occurred to me the b-Pawn would be lost and with it the game. Well played by my opponent.

Frustration with Hewlett-Packard

2012-01-06T16:08:00.001-05:00

A few years ago I bought my wife a digital camera and it worked great. For managing the pictures we used software from Hewlett-Packard and a small, cheap inkjet printer called Photosmart Express. Last year when the old desktop died I tried installing the software on the laptop running Windows 7, but no luck…the software would not run. After consulting Hewlett Packard’s website I discovered the printer and software are outdated and would not run on Windows 7. Their recommended solution was to upgrade. No way was I going to do that; I settled for downloading the pictures using Explorer and then printing them out, if desired, on another printer.

So yesterday we came into possession of a desktop running Windows XP and I loaded the camera software onto it and all was well except the driver for the printer was nowhere to be found. I consulted the Hewlett-Packard website to locate the driver only to be confronted with a bewildering array of information overload. After about a half hour I gave up in frustration trying to locate the driver and called them.

To my surprise I was on the line with a tech representative in about 15 seconds. I explained the problem and they said they could help. The first question was did I want to place an order for upgraded equipment/software? “No. Everything works fine’” I said. “I just want to know where I can find the printer driver on the website.” The rep said she could help me with that. How did I want to pay? “What?! Excuse me! Are you asking me to pay for information about where on your website I can locate the driver I need?” I asked. The reply was, “Well, sir, your equipment IS out of warranty.” I hung up.

I was flabbergasted! Their website was so devilishly complicated I couldn’t locate the driver and they wanted to charge me just to tell me where it was! It took another hour of surfing the web, but I finally succeeded in finding a link where all had to do was click on it, download the driver and install it. The whole incident makes me think I will never buy H-P stuff again.

In the same vein, the new desktop lacks Word and Excel and I am not about to pay ~$300 for them. I went to Open Office and downloaded their software and in 15 minutes was able to open and save documents and spreadsheets in Word and Excel formats.

I guess that’s why I favor free chess software and engines…some of them work just as good as the stuff you pay a hundred dollars for.

Akiba Rubinstein

2012-01-03T19:18:00.000-05:00

Part 2
Part 3

Fischer at Santiago, 1959

2012-01-03T18:44:00.001-05:00

The second Torneo de Arturo Alesandri Palma was held from April 20th to May 6th, 1959 in Santiago, Chile. Thirteen players from Europe and the Americas competed in the event. The participants from Europe included Borislav Ivkov from Yugoslavia and Ludek Pachman from Czechoslovakia. The participants from the Americas included sixteen year old Bobby Fischer from the United States, João de Souza-Mendes from Brazil, Luis Augusto Sanchez from Venezuela, Herman Pilnik and Raul Sanguineti from Argentina, and Walter Ader Hausman, Rodrigo Flores-Alvarez, Carlos Jauregui, Rene Letelier Martner, Julio Salas Romo, and Moises Stekel Grunberg from Chile. The tournament was an important one for Fischer as he was still just beginning to compete in international events. Though he scored as many wins as the two first place finishers, Ivkov and Pachman at seven wins each, he suffered four losses while only drawing one game to finish +4 at the final to tie for 4th-6th place.

All the games from the event can be viewed HERE.

In an article in the German chess magazine “Karl” Pachman described his first encounter with Fischer: "I met him for the first time in May 1959 in Santiago de Chile [apparently Pachman had not "met" Fischer properly the year before in Portoroz]. On the day before the tournament he asked me to translate for him. He had arrived in Chile accompanied by his mother, and the organizer wanted to know if the two needed separate rooms. Bobby replied: 'You haven't understood, I want you to put up my mother in a room that is at least ten miles away!' Then he wanted to know about the prize money. The organizer asked if he hadn't read the letter of invitation? "I never read letters," said Bobby. The prize money that was named was too low and he threatened to leave. I told him his behavior was not correct, but he simply said ‘I have to get more.’

We stayed in the same hotel and talked every day, often preparing together for our games. That was unusual, since Bobby refused to analyze with the other players. He was suspicious of them all, fearing they would steal his ideas. But for some reason he considered me an exception. We had a kind of father-son relationship. I understood him and wished him a great future, hoping that he would mature as a human being in the process. But he remained exactly the same. He was completely apolitical. He hated the Russians, but not for political reasons. The last time I met him was at the chess Olympiad 1968 in Lugano. This was just a few weeks after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslavia. I was trying to get FIDE to expel the Soviet Union from the tournament and from the world chess organization. After a press conference Fischer came to me and thanked me for attacking the Soviets. 'Keep it up, attack the Russians,' he said."

Karch’s Washington Chess Letter

2012-01-03T16:23:00.000-05:00

I found an interesting little bit of history in the form of a pdf magazine from 1958 that was fun to look through. It’s interesting to note the Pacific Northwest had their own rating system in those days; top rated players were Arthur Dake, Elmars Zemgalis, Olaf Ulvestad and James McCormick who were masters with ratings over 2150.

On Saturday, August 2^nd & 3^rd there was a tournament announcement for the Seattle Seafair tournament at the YMCA, 6 rounds. The Entry Fee was $3.00 ($2.00 if under 18). First prize was $25 and other prizes based on entries and expenses.

The Western Open held in Milwaukee was won by Pal Benko on tiebreaks over Milton Otteson ahead of the previous year’s winner, Donald Byrne. Benko had escaped to communists is 1957 and was living in Cleveland, Ohio. Another Clevelander, Lajos Szedlacsek, and Dr. Paul Poschel of Ann Arbor, Michigan, both masters, also tied with Byrne but had inferior tiebreaks.

As a junior I played in several tournaments where the YMCA was a popular venue. You got a tiny room (with a community bathroom down the hall) for about $3.00 a night. The tournament room always had squeaky floor boards and since there was no air conditioning in those days, it was always stifling hot! Smoking was allowed back then and I still remember an opponent who smoked a corncob pipe during our game. Between the heat and humidity in the middle of July, or maybe it was August, and smelling that stinking pipe smoke, I can remember the nausea. I don't remember the game result or who my opponent was...but I do remember wanting to puke during most of the game! Come to think of it, I probably lost.

IM Mark Diesen

2011-12-31T13:43:00.001-05:00

Mark Diesen (born September 16, 1957 in Buffalo, New York, died December 9, 2008 in Conroe, Texas) earned the International Master title in 1976 by winning the World Junior Championship ahead of such noted players as Lubomir Ftacnik and and Oleg Romanishin. He was also the Louisiana State Champion in 1986, 1987 and 1988.

His father, Carl Diesen, was a strong tournament chess player in the mid-1940s, which resulted in strong family support for Mark's chess career. Diesen was a student of Grandmaster Lubosh Kavalek who, at the time, was one of the top rated GM’s in the world. Diesen was a player with a positional style that made him a difficult opponent to face for even the most experienced IMs and GMs. Among the top players he defeated in his short career were Larry Evans, Borislav Ivkov, John Nunn and Eugenio Torre.

Diesen’s only appearance in the US Championship was in 1980 but he had to withdraw after three rounds. He was well on his way to becoming Grandmaster when, in 1980 he began having drug problems. To his credit he overcame the problem and completed his college education. He was to return to chess off and on, but never seriously.

A graduate of the University of Tennessee, he had a degree in Chemical Engineering and after abandoning chess he worked as a reservoir engineer for Shell Oil, Pennzoil and Noble Energy. He was married with three daughters.

Here is his obituary from a Knoxville, TN, newspaper:

Mark Carl Diesen - age 51 of Conroe, Texas native of Buffalo New York, passed away suddenly December 9, 2008 in Conroe, Texas. He was a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He worked as a reservoir engineer for Shell Oil, Pennzoil and Noble Energy. Mark was a World Junior Chess Champion in 1976, the US Junior Co-Champion, the Louisiana State Champion in 1986, 1987, 1988, Texas State Champion, Southwestern Open Champion, and an active chess coach in Houston, Texas and online. He is survived by his wife, Melinda Diesen of Conroe, Texas; daughters and sons-in-law, Gina and Travis Perkins of Knoxville, Amy and Daniel Smith of Houston, TX, and Sarah Diesen of Conroe, TX; mother, Marjorie Diesen; sister and brother-in-law, Laura and J.C Butler all of Bristow, VA; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Paul and Joyce McGlothin of Knoxville; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Paul and Meredith Averill-McGlothin of Ossining, NY; several nieces and nephews. Funeral service will be 1:00 P.M. Saturday at The Episcopal Church of the Ascension with Rev. Dr. Howard J. Hess officiating. Interment to follow at Highland Memorial Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the U.S. Chess Trust, PO Box 838, Wallkill, NY 12589, 800-388-5464. Friends may call at their convenience at Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel. www.rosemortuary.com

Here is one of his games against IM Julio Kaplan:

Play an Online Simul Game Against an IM

2011-12-31T12:38:00.000-05:00

IM Atilla Turzo will be playing an online simultaneous at 1000 Bright Minds. The games will be played at 3 days per move. He will be playing Black in all games. Turzo will play his first moves on 11th January 11:00 am Budapest time

If you want to play him you do so by going to HERE then challenge him to a game. The stipulations are: 3-days per move time limit, the game must be unrated and you play white. You will have to be a member of chessdotcom to play. Membership is free and you can sign up HERE.

This is his attempt to gain students but that’s OK; it is your chance to play an online correspondence game against an IM. I won't be playing as I already have a full workload of games. However, if you do decide to play him, Good Luck! BTW, chessdotcom verifies the identity of anyone claiming a title and I have had private correspondence with Mr. Turzo sufficient to assure myself he is the real Atilla Turzo.

GM Alex Yermolinsky Lecture

2011-12-31T10:30:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately his Blog has not been updated since July, 2010, but I suggest you check it out anyway. His lectures are superb...check out his lecture detailing a game he played against Vinay Bhat.

Tarrasch GUI

2011-12-29T15:24:00.000-05:00

This is an extremely easy to use GUI that is intended to be simpler than any of the others available. In fact some reviews believed it was too simple to meet their needs, but for anyone desiring a GUI that is simple to use, this one is pretty good. The simplicity of Tarrasch doesn't mean there are no powerful features though. The move list is very nice with variations in bold and in color. When it comes to entering notes it has all the features of the more sophisticated programs. One feature that seems to be missing though is the capability to print out the game.

If you want to do simple analysis then this one is about as easy to use as they get; you can have it running in a minute. You can download Tarrasch GUI with the free Rybka 2.3.2a engine installed HERE.

Botching a Winning Attack

2011-12-29T12:14:00.000-05:00

This post was going to be about Rook Lifts but White, sadly, misplayed his attack and so the title became ‘Botching a Winning Attack.’ Rook handling is always a difficult task especially for beginners. CJS Purdy pointed out that one of the goals in the opening should be to connect R’s. Most players beyond the beginner level know that. Also, most of us know the rules about open files, but in many cases find difficulty in answering the question, which R? You know, decide which R goes on the open file, then move the other one onto it because we always choose the wrong one. We also know the importance of R’s on the 7^th (or 2^nd) rank. Ludek Pachman wrote that R handling requires a great understanding of the strategy suited to a particular position; there’s that word, strategy, that seems so despised by average players these days.

Another part of R handling is the R-lift where R’s are actively placed in front of the P’s to attack the opponent’s K. Sometimes the R can even be placed in front of its own P’s even when there is no thought of attacking the K. The reason for this is that P-advances are generally necessary to open files and long ago Steinitz showed that every P-advance reduces its prospects in the ending. In the closed positional type of game players often try to keep P’s on their original squares as long as possible. So, if the R’s are to operate they must do so in front of their own P’s. This is a good idea to keep in the back of your mind when the normal methods of using them on open files is ineffective or not available.

I was looking for some examples of R’s in front of its own P’s and came across this game and when I saw White lost, was going to move on to another one, but the game has redeeming qualities. Just check out Farago’s 35^th and 42^nd move. It also illustrates the point that even after you have established an overwhelming position games do not win themselves. After about 25 moves Eperjesi had a really great position but a series of weak moves let the game slip away. We all know from experience how easily that happens.

A Brief Guide to Engine Analysis

2011-12-26T20:20:00.000-05:00

I have taken several of the posts on this Blog that concerned engine analysis and combined them into an 18-page pdf booklet. This booklet describes how to get the best analysis out of an engine. The advice it contains is not mine, but comes from such strong players as Jonathan Rowson, Stephen Ham and Robin Smith. Download HERE.

Truth in Advertising

2011-12-23T12:25:00.001-05:00

Ever see the ads on television for the latest medicines? They make wild claims about how great the stuff is and how it will cure whatever ails you. Of course just to cover themselves they are required to mention the side effects even if they are trivialized. You know, little things like hair loss, erectile dysfunction, rectal bleeding, heart attack, stroke, birth defects or worst case scenario…death. Then there is the fine print (which isn’t on the screen long enough to read…not that it matters because it’s also too small to read anyway) in which they deny every good thing they said. We usually trust our doctors, but many doctors are paid to peddle this dangerous stuff and the result is, it’s very hard to get the truth.

Anyway, at least advertisers are required to state side effects even if they do downplay them. Too bad publishers of chess books aren’t required to do the same thing. Here’s a small random sampling of book “reviews” for some of the latest chess books:

Reading this book, aimed at juniors, will make you “one of the best chess players in your school…” because it “teaches the four basic tricks” by helping you “weed out silly moves…” Really? That’s all it takes to weed out silly moves?! Four basic tricks. I have to buy that one!

Then there is the guide that “makes winning at chess easy.” Add that one to my cart, too.

“Your results…will improve dramatically…” Great! Most of my improved results came painfully slow.

Then there’s the book that promises the ”winning formula for a quick and easy way to play chess today.” Quick and easy! Into the shopping cart.

Of one book it was said you can, “increase your skill and understanding of chess with the tactics that have produced unparalleled Russian grandmasters.” Yeah! I want to be a GM, so this one is a must have.

“To achieve success in chess, a little talent is required.” Well, “a little talent” describes me pretty good so this is another must have.

And finally I definitely need this one that offers “easy-to-follow advice on developing nifty tricks that will confound your opponent and help you win the game.”

All this makes me admire GM Alex Yermolinsky even more when he wrote, ”The Soviet School was strong in numbers. There were many talented kids in our chess club, but only a handful of us made it to become grandmasters…I haven’t developed a new revolutionary theory or system, neither have I any dreadful secrets of the Soviet School of Chess to reveal…there are plenty of examples of bad teaching…another hot selling approach is to wide masses of rank and file chessplayers who are are being told that there are certain ‘secret’ openings that will allow them to handle the resulting positions with ease…there is no ‘chess made easy’ advice that would immediately improve your chess. Widely disseminated promises to introduce ‘new methods’, to reveal ‘secrets of the Soviet School of Chess’, etc. are no more than smart advertising moves.”

Publishers ought to be required to put that in their reviews even if it is in fine print. At the very least they ought to have a disclaimer that informs us the people who wrote the blurbs are "not actual users" or "Results not typical. Your results may vary."

Another Archival Game

2011-12-23T10:29:00.000-05:00

In the waning days of my military “career” I was stationed at the US Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. One evening I returned from the mess hall to find a young man waiting for me who said he had heard I played chess. We retreated to an empty office and sat down to play what was to be the first of many games until I was discharged a few months later. Unfortunately, I have never been able to contact my opponent, but I believe he eventually became a dentist in New York.

The game was actually pretty well-played and has some instructional value.

Sidebar: I mentioned the Kashdan-Reshevsky match in the notes and there is a really nice Blog called Kindred’s Kaleidoscope that has some of the games from the match as well as other great stuff. Pay it a visit.

Opening Books by Harry Schnapp

2011-12-22T14:12:00.000-05:00

A variety of Mr. Schnapp's excellent opening books in ctg format can be found HERE.

The website Le Fou numerique also has a lot of interesting information and reviews of chess programs. Some of the material may be out of date (for example, the tips and tricks section dates back to 2004!) but there is some good stuff on Fritz 12 and13, ChessBase 10 and 11, Rybka Aquarium, etc, that may be helpful.

Tartajubow’s Super Opening Book

2011-12-19T16:55:00.000-05:00

I am making the opening book I use for my correspondence games available. This book is in Chessbase format contains 404,080 positions compiled from 15,620 correspondence and engine games (up to 30 moves deep) in which at least one player was rated over 2400. With this opening book you can be sure that you are playing the best moves in any given variation because they have been analyzed by strong CC players who were most likely checking the variations with engines.

Download it HERE

Chess King with Houdini 2

2011-12-17T16:25:00.000-05:00

A good review of the new Chess King with the Houdini 2 engine is available at Chesscafe.

Houdini 2 comes in the Standard Version and the Pro Version. The main difference between the twi is that the Pro Version comes with support for up to thirty-two cores, while the former is a single core version.

Some features are it can play at reduced strength, it has a GigaKing Database and Corr 2011 contain over five million chess games. These databases contain games from the sixteenth century up to November of this year. GigaKing contains almost all available master games, as well as games from many lesser tournaments, junior events, etc. Corr 2011 is a database of correspondence games.

Those features are OK, but there are other programs and some really weak engines that will allow you to play games at reduced engine strength, so for the price, I don’t see this as much of a plus. As for the databases, the main problem with almost all of them is that they contain games played by some really low rated players. The fact is you can use internet resources and make your own database for free. I don’t see this as much of a plus.

It has is a statistics database of positions that shows you how often a move has been played and the success rate of each move. Most programs have this feature and the free SCID offers the same thing. I don’t see this as much of a plus.

It also has chess puzzles and photos of more than 1,600 players. Again, all this stuff is available free on the internet somewhere. I don’t see this as much of a plus.

It’s rating is estimated to be 25 points higher than the last free version. I don’t see this as much of a plus. Houdini site

Short version: Save you money.

Final Theory of Chess

2011-12-17T08:50:00.000-05:00

From the site: The Final Theory of Chess Project is an online, open encyclopedia of chess openings that anyone can edit. Chess enthusiasts armed only with computer chess software and a passion for chess are writing the chess world’s equivalent of Wikipedia.

The author is attempting to discover what “perfect play” is and has made abundant use of computer analysis. He says, “The Final Theory of Chess is a practical opening guide for correspondence players, an aggressive repertoire for over-the-board players, and a solid foundation for future chess theory to build upon.”

You can download a 400 page pdf book of all his engine analysis covering various openings. Note: Not all openings are covered, for example, the Sicilian. To see what is covered in the book you may want to check out the contents before downloading it; go HERE.

Personally, I don’t think it’s a good idea to rely too heavily on engine analysis to select opening moves; I would prefer to rely on what GM’s think are the best moves because they understand long range planning and ideas that are beyond an engine’s capability to understand. That’s not to say there isn’t a time when engines are helpful in discovering a novelty, but I don’t think you can rely totally on engines to play the best lines. Anyway, I thought I’d give the link as it may be helpful to some.

Rashid Nezhmetdinov Biography

2011-12-16T14:48:00.000-05:00

I found an interesting 3-part biography on this fascinating player on Youtube! Part 1 is here. Click on the links to view Part 2 and Part 3.

How Do You Pronounce…

2011-12-16T14:44:00.000-05:00

Efim Bogoljubov, Anatoly Ufimtsev, Vasja Pirc, Roman Dzindzichashvili, Gideon Barcza and many other names? Find out on Youtube HERE.