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Playing the board, not the piece. An example of playing the lines and squa
2008-05-16 06:08:00
In my first games on Chessmaniac I played against some fine new players. Here is a player whose elo was listed as 13xx, but he played at a much higher level! The Game is a Morra Gambit, accepted. When I first played chess I preferred open games, so I played 1. e4. I was usually met with e5. In time, as my level grew and my opponents became stronger, I began to increasingly meet 1. e4 with c5, the Sicilian. Soon, the Sicilian was being played against me in more than 50% of my games. The problem I faced was in trying to learn all of the lines and variations. The Sicilian has more lines and variations than any other chess opening I know! I felt it would take me years to learn to play against it effectively. I eventually learned that this is typical, and it caused me to develop a particular repertoire in order to continue my growth as a player. In developing that repertoire, I needed a weapon against the Sicilian, something to take Black out of his favorite variations and int...
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THE IMPORTANCE OF THE INITIATIVE IN CHESS
2008-04-30 05:28:00
In chess, there are two basic principles that must be respected:1.Without blunders, only the attacker can win the game. A game is always won by an attack. As long as your opponent is attacking you are occupied by parrying that attack. 2.Only the player with the initiative can successfully attack! The player that does not have the initiative can often bring forth a sortie, but in order to gin up a successful attack the player must have the initiative.Couple this thinking with the fact that white has an initiative by virtue of the first move. Thus, white is favored to win. He will win if he can hold the initiative. He can lose if he loses the initiative. In many games the initiative changes hands, sometimes it changes often: perhaps because it is not respected; or because both players value it and fight for it.Statistically, White wins 54% of games decided, Black wins 46% of those games. It seems clear that White has an 8% advantage due to the first move! This is the initia...
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CHESS TALENTS
2008-04-01 01:21:00
There are three major skills in chess. If we possess one of the three we can play chess. If we possess two of the three we can play chess well. If we possess all three, to a high degree, we will become expert at the game. These, like all other skills, are honed with practice or ‘calisthenics’. Let’s look at each of the three, briefly.First is memory. Playing mental games often hones memory, but few of us will use more than a tenth of this ability in our lifetime. In chess, the openings require memory. What is important is not memorizing the moves, but in memorizing the position arrived at by the moves. Let’s look at an example: A few months ago one of my students wrote and told me that he wanted to play the Semi-slave with Black; but his opponents were taking him out of the opening. He pointed to a game where the moves were: 1. d4 d5, 2. Nf3. He was looking for the move 2. c4, to which he would have responded 2. … e6. Because he was looking at the moves ...
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In Online Chess You Must Plan Your Play And Play your Plan Part 2
2008-03-24 15:52:00
I discussed many ideas in the previous article; if any of those ideas don’t seem clear, take your time, work through them. There is no reason to rush through this course. If I talk about a position, set it up on your chess board; Look at it on the screen. Take your time and make sure you understand the idea of my plan. Remember, in general, when you are studying chess, if your brain hurts, if you are pushing yourself, you’re stretching your mind, then you are learning. If you are just playing through variations, if you don’t strain to try to understand subtleties of the position, then you are not going to be learning. Basically, you are going to get out of chess as much as you put into it.One of my teammates has asked me some questions related to my first piece. Here is his message:I am curious to find out how you determine a plan. I know that the opening is the main factor in determining a plan, but after each side has done their best possible moves how do you determine a pla...
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In Online Chess You Must Plan Your Play And Play your Plan!
2008-03-07 02:31:00
The primary factor that holds players below 2000 elo is, in my opinion, planning. I know that this will be disputed by many players, but it is my firm opinion. Play ers do not plan to fail, they simply fail to plan. Let’s start with how a player approaches planning. When he first learns chess he plans at that level. As he progresses he plans at increasingly higher levels. Finally, he is drained of ideas. Here is how it may go: 1. I plan to attack and checkmate quickly. 2. I plan to develop, to get my pieces into play quickly. 3. I plan to occupy/control the center. 4. I plan to play my favorite opening for the first few moves, and then take advantage of whatever appears. 5. I plan to get to an endgame where I have more material. These are all important and often effective plans, but they are temporary in nature, they soon dissipate as the game moves ahead. Sometimes we have a bad plan, mere wishful thinking: "I plan to watch my moves and wait for my opponent to make a mistake." - Y...
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Media continues to discuss Bobby Fischer
2008-02-09 17:28:00
Almost a month after the passing of Robert(Bobby ) Fischer the main stream media continues to discuss this controversial figure. A recent article on the New York Times website has a great video of Fischer's appearance on the Tonight Show hosted by Dick Cavett in 1971. The article is appropriately titled "Was It Only a Game?" Dick Cavett discusses the Bobby he knew. A well written and wonderful article that everyone should read.A Filipina woman who claims Bobby Fischer is the father of her child is demanding a share of his $1.8 million estate. Read more..In 2005 when ChessManiac.com was a very young site I sent an email message to Bobby Fischer inviting him to play chess. Then I would check my logs to see if anyone from Iceland had visited the site. Sure enough there were a few visitors from Iceland shortly after I sent out the email. I feel honored that Bobby Fischer may have played or at least checked out the site at one point in time. Here's to you, Bobby...Dennis Steelehtt...
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Bobby Fischer Dead at 64
2008-01-19 06:32:00
Bobby Fischer , considered the greatest chess player in the world, dies at the age of 64. Fischer led a very inspiring life. He was the the only United States world champion. In 1972 he beat Boris Spassky to take the world title away from the Soviet Union. It was described as "The Match of the Century." Bobby Fischer . This enigmatic genius elevated the game to hitherto unimaginable heights, reaching the front pages of the world's newspapers and more than doubling the number of registered players in the Western World. Fischer's popularization of the game he loved had a pronounced effect on chess literature. Since December 1970his successful journey on the road to the World Championship title, more chess magazines were born, more newspapers published chess columns, and many more chess books appeared on the market than ever before over the same time span. It surprises me that only a small handful of these books have been about Fischer.We must thank Bobby Fischer for being Bobby Fi...
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Chess Psychology
2008-01-11 09:08:00
There is an extensive scientific literature on chess psychology. Alfred Binet and others showed that knowledge and verbal, rather than visuospatial, ability lies at the core of expertise. Adriaan de Groot, in his doctoral thesis, showed that chess masters can rapidly perceive the key features of a position. According to de Groot, this perception, made possible by years of practice and study, is more important than the sheer ability to anticipate moves. De Groot also showed that chess masters can memorize positions shown for a few seconds almost perfectly. Memorization ability alone does not account for this skill, since masters and novices, when faced with random arrangements of chess pieces, had equivalent recall (about half a dozen positions in each case). Rather, it is the ability to recognize patterns, which are then memorized, which distinguished the skilled players from the novices. When the positions of the pieces were taken from an actual game, the masters had almost total...
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Ron Paul Plays Chess With The Neocons
2007-12-07 08:28:00
Ron Paul a political underdog has been gaining support across the country. Paul's political chess opening is compared to that of the "Giuoco Piano" which is Italian for "quiet game" or the Giuoco Pianissimo which is Italian for "quietest game"Paul favors a slow strategical grass roots battle by gradually building up tactical opportunities which explodes later into the political middle game and finally winning the endgame.Paul aims for a slow buildup deferring his major thrust until it can be prepared. By avoiding an immediate confrontation in the center Paul prevents the early release of tension with a solid consistent message of liberty and freedom. Entering a political positional maneuvering middle game which could propel him to the Republican nomination and finally President of the United States.According to James Buchanan, "if this were a chess game, the Neoncons have just put our king in check."The Neocons are against Ron Paul's foreign policy of non intervention. Neocons f...
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Online Chess News: Garry Kasparov Arrested
2007-11-25 03:57:00
Garry Kasparov , the Russian chess champion turned opposition leader, was detained by police and charged with public order offenses after an anti-government rally in Moscow today, a week before parliamentary elections.Kasparov and some of his supporters tried to march through central Moscow to hand in a petition at the central election commission following an hour-long demonstration by his loose opposition coalition, The Other Russia. A brawl ensued between demonstrators and police, and Kasparov and his bodyguards were bundled into a bus by OMON special police and driven a short distance. It's the second time he's been arrested this year.Kasparov was then taken to Moscow's Meshchansky court and charged with two breaches of public order, Lyudmila Mamina, spokeswoman for The Other Russia, said in an e-mailed statement. He was ordered to be detained for five days, a later statement from Mamina said.Read Morehttp://www.text-link-ads.com/xml_blog ger.php?inventory_key=1RU9897F28IZR04WWK. ..
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Online Chess Opening Stonewall Attack
2007-11-20 07:07:00
The Stonewall Attack is a chess opening; more specifically it is a variation of the Queen's Pawn Game. It is characterized by White playing 1.d4, 2.e3, 3.f4 and 4.c3, usually playing 5.Bd3 as well, even though the moves are not always played in that order (see transposition). The Stonewall is a system White sets up, rather than a specific variation. If White puts up the Stonewall formation it is called a Stonewall regardless of how Black chooses to defend against it. When Black sets up a Stonewall formation, with pawns on c6, d5, e6 and f5, it is a variation of the Dutch Defense.General remarksAs the name implies, the Stonewall setup is a solid formation which is hard to overrun by force. If Black fails to react energetically to the Stonewall setup, White may launch a lethal attack on the Black king, typically by bringing a rook to h3, advancing the g-pawn, and making a well timed bishop sacrifice at h7. Often this attack is so powerful that White does not need to develop the knigh...
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From the Online Chess Wall -- Brian Wall on Alekhine's Defense
2007-11-16 15:41:00
I learned a ton about the Alekhine's Defense preparing for Joe Fromme -I won with both sides our last two games. I expected another thematicdebate on old Ale and Wine but Joe played 1 e4 e5. For a quarter centuryI played the Danish Gambit so I was a little relieved when my new bookgave me an excuse to play an animal opening, the Clam. After 25 yearsof whiteknuckling the opening with a lost game I was like a pilot whohad flown too many missions, I could not hold my coffee cup withoutmy hand shaking. The problem with the Lemmiwinks Clam Opening is thatit puts no pressure on Black - with the Danish I get a quick win 90%of the time and a lost position 10%. With the Clam everybody gets aa good solid structure with zero tough decisions. 9 year old JacksonChen beat my Clam in my Poor Richard's Lion simul. Joe Fromme had agreat game for 20 moves.[Event "Poor Richard's Restaurant Wednesday Night Chess Tournament"][Site "324 North Tejon Street, Colorado Springs, CO"][Date "2007.11.14"][Rou...
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Sicilian Defence Online Chess Opening
2007-11-15 15:36:00
The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves 1.e4 c5.At the master level, the Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. One sixth (17%) of all games between grandmasters, and one quarter (25%) of the games in the Chess Informant database, begin with this opening. Grandmaster John Nunn notes that the reason for the Sicilian Defence’s popularity “is its combative nature; in many lines Black is playing not just for equality, but for the advantage. The drawback is that White often obtains an early initiative, so Black has to take care not to fall victim to a quick attack.” The earliest recorded notes on the Sicilian Defence date back to the late 16th century by the Italian chess players Giulio Polerio and Gioachino Greco.By advancing the c-pawn two squares, Black asserts control over the d4-square and begins the fight for the centre of the board. This move thus fulfills the same purpose as the move 1…e5, the next mo...
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Ruy Lopez Chess Opening
2007-11-01 04:30:00
The Ruy Lopez , called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game outside of English speaking countries, is a chess opening characterised by the moves:1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 The Ruy Lopez is one of the most popular openings. It has such a vast number of variations that in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings all codes from C60 to C99 are assigned to them.HistoryThe opening is named after the 16th century Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura. He made a systematic study of this and other openings in the 150-page book on chess Libro del Ajedrez written in 1561. However, although it is named after him, this particular opening was known earlier; it is included in the Göttingen manuscript, which dates from around 1490. Popular use of the Ruy Lopez opening did not develop, however, until the mid-1800s when Carl Jaenisch, a Russian theoretician, "rediscovered" its potential. The opening is still in active use as the double king's pawn opening most commonly used in master play; it has been adopted ...

Portrait of a Genius As a Young Chess Master
2007-09-08 10:26:00
As exasperating as he is talented and as determined as he is eccentric, Bobby Fischer promises to become the game's most respected and least understood champion.RUSSIA'S traditional hold on World Championships in chess is about to be challenged by the United States in the person of an eighteen-year-old boy from Brooklyn named Bobby Fischer. Bobby has been United States Chess Champion for four years. He won the title at the age of fourteen, the youngest player ever to do so. He has since successfully defended his title three times and has won virtually every major chess title in the country.In an international tournament at Bled, Yugoslavia, last summer, he astonished the chess world by defeating Russia's Mikhail Tal in his only game against this former World Champion. The present World Champion, Mikhail Botvinnik, did not participate in the tournament. Fischer is aching to play Botvinnik. "I know that I deserve to be World Champion and I know I can beat Botvinnik," he has said. "...
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Online Chess Tribute To Magnus Carlsen
2007-08-15 03:48:00
Carlsen lives in Lommedalen, Baerum, near Norway's capital, Oslo. He played his first tournament at the age of eight and was coached at the Norwegian Sports Gymnasium led by the country's top player, International Grandmaster(GM) Simen Agdestein. Agdestein put his civil worker and master player Torbjorn Ringdahl-Hansen, currently a FIDE master with IM and GM norms, as his coach and they had one training session every week, together with one of Magnus' close friends. The young International Master was given a year off from elementary school to participate in international chess tournaments during the fall season of 2003. In that year, he finished third in the European Under-14 Boys Championship.In the October 2006 FIDE ratings, Carlsen advanced to world number 22 with a rating of 2698. In the January 2007 ratings he dropped to 2690 and rank 24. In the April 2007 ratings he regained number 22, now with a rating of 2693. And in the July 2007 ratings, after a series of strong results...
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The Art of Attack on Chessmaniac #2
2007-07-24 22:30:00
Trajan vs. BDub-The Power of Knights Often I see that people neglect their knights, or their opponent's knights, in favor of the farther-reaching bishop. They either throw their knights on the 3rd or 6th rank and forget about them, or sometimes not move one of them at all. Other times they neglect to see threats posed by their enemy's knights until it is too late. Maybe it's because the bishop is a long range piece and the knight is more of an in-fighter, or because inexperienced players don't quite understand the knight. Perhaps it's because it can be harder to coordinate an attack with two knights instead of two bishops. Many times a player will throw out a bishop as soon as they can in an attempt to start an immediate attack with little back up. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to put the bishop down, he's a useful guy. I'm just trying to stand up for the little guys (in case you haven't noticed, knights are my favorite pieces). My opponent in this ga...
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Jose Raul Capablanca Online Chess Tribute
2007-06-28 15:15:00
Referred to by many chess historians as the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart of chess, Capablanca was a chess prodigy whose brilliance was noted at an early age. Richard Reti said about him 'Chess was his mother tongue'.According to Capablanca, he learned the rules of the game at the age of four by watching his father play. He said he noticed his father make an illegal move with his knight, accused him of cheating, and then demonstrated what he had done. Capablanca was taken to the Havana Chess Club when he was five, where the leading players found it impossible to beat the young boy when giving him the Chess handicap of a queen. In 1901, just turned 13, he defeated Cuban national champion Juan Corzo by the score of 4 wins, 3 losses, and 6 draws.He later began a semester as an undergraduate student of chemical engineering at Columbia University in New York City, but did not complete it, and chess became his profession.In 1909, at the age of 20, Capablanca won a match against US champion F...
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The Art of Attack on Chessmaniac #1
2007-06-20 18:29:00
Trajan vs. FrodoI'm back people. Did you miss me? I've been on hiatus for too long, but I'm back now, at least for the time being. Have you been spreading the word about the Trajan Variation of the Petroff? You better be. I want to start a (hopefully) monthly column on attacking and tactics using my own games from Chessmaniac. First up was a worthy opponent named "Frodo". Frodo didn't necessarily err in the opening with the Wilkes Barre Variation of the Two Knights Defense, but personally, I have little respect for it either way. The game quickly turned into a slugfest that would have proved that material advantage means nothing when you see mate. Unfortunately Frodo did not see that I had a few options, which quickly turned his "tactical advantage" into a liability, and eventually his downfall. I hope you enjoy this game as much as I enjoyed playing it. 1. e4 e52. Nf3 Nc63. Bc4 Nf64. Ng5 Bc5 This starts the Wilkes Barre Variation. You can play it if yo...
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Kramnik - Kasparov London (6th matchgame) 2000
2007-06-14 11:34:00
Queen's Gambit Accepted1. d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 e6 4 .e3 c5 5. Bxc4 a6 6. 0-0 Nf6 7. a4 Nc6 8. Qe2 cxd4 9. Rd1 Be7 10. exd4 0-0 11. Nc3A very well known position arising from the Queen's Gambit Accepted. White's pieces are again on active "e" square, but black also has positional trumps. Earlier on white played a2-a4 to prevent Black expanding on the queenside with ... b7-b5. This has left black with an outpost on b4, which may be used by the Knight on c6.11. ... Nd5Black prevents Whites from playing an early d4-d5 by simply blocking the pawn. This is a theoretical position which has been assessed in various places as either equal or a slight advantage to Whites.11.... Nb4 also preventing d4-d5 is Black's main alternative here.12 Bb3Whites has many other moves, including 12. Qe4 and 12. Bd3 Ncb4 13. Bb1 in the latter variation white's rook on a1 looks entombed, but white can often activate it with the imaginative Ra3.12.... Re8 13. h4!?Cutting edge stuff! As you m...
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How to beat the Fritz chess program
2007-05-26 05:37:00
1.e2-e4 c7-c5 2.f2-f4 winkensmile:In all fairness, CHESSBOT Fritz originally wanted to play 2. ...e6 here, but I wanted to explore the Queen Sac line here, known as The Grand Prix Attack, and Fritz forced the move 2. ...d5.Fritz adds: [3.Bf1-b5+ Bc8-d7 4.Bb5xd7+ Qd8xd7 5.d2-d3 e7-e6 (5...Nb8-c6 6.e4xd5 Qd7xd5 7.Ng1-f3 e7-e6 8.Nb1-c3 Qd5-d7 9.0-0 Ng8-h6 10.Nf3-e5 Nc6xe5 11.f4xe5 Nh6-f5 12.Bc1-f4 Bf8-e7 13.Nc3-e4 0-0 14.Kg1-h1 Qd7-c6 15.Qd1-g4 c5-c4 16.Rf1-f3 c4xd3 17.c2xd3 Qc6-b5 18.Ra1-f1 Ra8-d8 19.Qg4-h3 Rd8-d4 20.Bf4-d2 Salaun,Y (2386)-Karr,J (2376)/France 2003/CBM 094/0-1 (33)) 6.Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6 7.0-0 Ng8-e7 8.Nb1-a3 g7-g6 9.Bc1-e3 Bf8-g7 10.Be3xc5 Bg7xb2 11.Ra1-b1 Bb2-g7 12.Na3-b5 0-0 13.e4-e5 b7-b6 14.Bc5xe7 Nc6xe7 15.Qd1-e2 Ne7-c6 16.c2-c3 Rf8-c8 17.h2-h4 Bg7-f8 Larsen,B (2515)-Zhu Chen (2490)/Bad Homburg 1998/CBM 066/1-0 d7-d5 winkensmile:I had just battled CHESSBOT Fritz to a draw in a Sicilian, Najdorf, Poisoned Pawn variation, and during that opening, I was doing some...
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Create your free online chess account now!
2007-05-09 05:17:00
Want to know what it is like to play chess on www.chessmaniac.com?Catch the thrill of it! Can you handle playing 20..30 or even 100 games at one time?Chess Maniac.com Features:1. Members can play unlimited online chess games.2. Members can create their own online chess tournaments, online chess teams and online chess clubs.3. Members can play online live chess or play online correspondence chess.4. Members can annotate their own online chess games or have another player annotate them for them.5. Members' chess games are stored for future reference.6. Members can create their own chess buddies list.7. Members can post their games to the forums for comment.8. This site does not charge any fees to join. It is a completely free online chess site.Create your free online chess account now!Many people do not understand just how much the game of chess can get into their soul. Chess is a game with a rich history that dates back thousands of years. Chess has the power to make people happy. ...
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Create your free online chess account now!
2007-04-03 22:30:00
Want to know what it is like to play chess on www.chessmaniac.com?Catch the thrill of it! Can you handle playing 20..30 or even 100 games at one time?Become a member of the Chess Maniac.com Club and find out if you have what it takes to play simultaneous chess with opponents from around the world.ChessManiac.com Features:1. Members can play unlimited online chess games.2. Members can create their own online chess tournaments, online chess teams and online chess clubs.3. Members can play online live chess or play online correspondence chess.4. Members can annotate their own online chess games or have another player annotate them for them.5. Members' chess games are stored for future reference.6. Members can create their own chess buddies list.7. Members can post their games to the forums for comment.8. This site does not charge any fees to join. It is a completely free online chess site.Create your free online chess account now!http://www.text-link-ads.com/xml_blog ger.php?inventory_...
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Anand is number one chess player in the world
2007-04-03 09:29:00
New Delhi, April 2 (IANS) India's Viswanathan Anand was formally crowned world No. 1 Monday when the world chess governing body corrected its mistake and gave the pride of place to the grandmaster.Anand, with 2,786 rating points, becomes numero uno following his triumph at the Morelia-Linares tournament in Spain last month - the last tournament taken into calculation for determining the rankings.The 37-year-old Indian thus displaces Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria from the top. Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik are now joint second with 2,772 points, though the Bulgarian has been given the second spot.The Indian's elevation marks the first time in a decade that Anand, who has been among the world's top three players for 15 years, had officially been named No. 1. He won the World Championships in 2000 but then Russian Garry Kasparov was the world No. 1.Earlier Sunday, FIDE made a faux pas by listing on its official website Anand as No. 2, behind Topalov, ignoring the Indian's Linares perf...
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Anand and the 16-year old Carlsen share first place in Mexico International
2007-02-26 13:08:00
Bulgarian chess master Veselin Topalov defeated Russian Alexander Morozevich in the last round of Linares-Morelia chess tournament in Mexico .Topalov won playing White and gained three points in the competition. The result placed him in the 7th position together with Hungarian Peter Leko.Topalov ended games in a draw against Peter Svidler from Russia, India's Vishwanathan Anand, Armenia's Levon Aronian and Hungarian Peter Leko. He lost against Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk and Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.India's Vishwanathan Anand was held by Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in the sixth round.Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen is in the sole lead with four points after the penultimate round of the tournament. Anand and Levon Aronian of Armenia remained on his heels with 3.5 points each.Carlsen had a quick draw with Peter Leko of Hungary while Aronian drew with top seed Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and the Russian duel between Alexander Morozevich and Peter Svidler had the same fate.Anand...
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Second Victory against Kramnik in the Last Match ? Deep Frit
2006-12-07 23:20:01
In the sixth and final game of World Chess Challenge, chess computer Deep Fritz(Germany - white) held onto its lead against Vladimir Kramnik (Russia - black), and even notched up a second win against the World Champion. That means the world's leading chess computer is the ultimate winner of the Man vs. Machine duel. Four draws and two wins for Deep Fritz - that's the legacy of World Chess Challenge, which excited fans all over the world have been following closely since November 25. After more than four-and-a-half hours and 47 moves, Vladimir Kramnik accepted the defeat against his opponent ? an opponent whose computational abilities are almost unfathomable: Deep Fritz calculated eight to ten million positions a second during World Chess Challenge. The audience at the Federal Art Hall in Bonn responded to today's epic battle between human and artificial intelligence with applause. The World Chess Challenge Cup was then handed over to the Deep Fritz team in a presentation cere...
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Kramnik and Deep Fritz battle to a draw in 4th game of the W
2006-12-04 11:17:01
Today's battle between World Champion Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and chess computer Deep Fritz (Germany) in the Federal Art Hall, with five and a half hours and 54 moves the longest match of World Chess Challenge 2006 so far, ended with a draw. After four matches out of six, Deep Fritz thus continues to lead Kramnik by one point. For the first time in the World Chess Challenge 2006 a game was opened with 1.e4. With Fritz playing white, Kramnik opted for the Russian defense. Just as in the third match, Fritz quickly took the initiative and began to exert enormous pressure on Kramnik. The Russian world champion, though, drew on his considerable defensive skills once more and successfully countered Fritz's moves, denying the computer any real leverage. In the endgame Deep Fritz pitted two rooks and a bishop against Kramnik's pair of rooks and a knight. Following the exchange of both rooks, Fritz's strong bishop and active king put him in a slightly superior position in the bish...
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World Chess Challenge Update
2006-12-02 17:15:02
Start of World Chess Challenge 2006: First Match between Kramnik and Fritz Ends in a Draw At the start of World Chess Challenge 2006, World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and the world's leading chess computer program, Deep Fritz (Germany), ended the first game in a draw after 47 moves. Kramnik (white) kept the pressure on the computer with a Catalan opening, and dominated the entire match. The WorldChampion was obviously well prepared: He needed only 15 minutes for the first 20 moves, while Deep Fritz took three times as long. The two adversaries battled down to the last pawn. In the end, the computer managed to gain thecrucial half point against the World Champion. "I'm happy with the draw. It was a good start for this competition. I put the computer under pressure, but Deep Fritz mounted a precise defense," said the World Champion after thematch. The two opponents played before a full house at the hotly anticipated World Chess Challenge 2006 in the Federal Art Hal...
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Chess Etiquette Part 1
2006-11-25 22:57:02
This is the first installment in a series on chess etiquette. This is of course an opinion piece and should not be taken as any concrete enforceable rule. This is just a way to help some of our players that may be new to the game and do not know how precisely they should conduct themselves in play. First, chess is a noble game and it should be treated with respect at all times. This game, in its various forms, spans almost to the birth of written history. Whilst the days of romantic chess are long past, there are things we can do to help the spirit of the game survive. Living as we do in a technological age it is easy to forget that there is another person across the board even when we are playing online chess. We must, through our own actions, display good taste and fair sportsmanship. We must act civilized and proper even when it is not returned. One of the most common questions that I see arise with online chess sites and over the board games is when it is proper to resign....
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2006 Capablanca Chess Memorial Tournament November 19-30
2006-11-18 10:42:01
Just came across this on Susan Polgars Chess Blog.The 2006 Capablanca Memorial is taking place from November 19 to 30, 2006 at the hotel Habana Riviera. The event is a 6 player double round robin with Vassily IvanchukEvgeny BareevKamil MitonRuben FelgaerLenier DominguezLazaro Bruzon Here is the official website. Who is your pick to win this very strong tournament?
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