• Event: Fremont Open
  
• Date: July 31 - August 1.
• Location: Club Sport.
  
• Format: 4 round swiss in 3 sections (M/X, A/B and U1600).
• Schedule: Register: Saturday 9:00-9:45. Rounds: both days at 10:00 and 3:30.
• Time control: 30/90, G/60.
• Entry fee: Postmarked by 7/26: $60. On site: $70. Play up for $10 per section.
  
• Prize fund: $2400 based on 70 paid entries, including $350 for 1st place in M/X.
• Contact: kenneth.zowal (at) sbcglobal (dot) net
  
• Tournament Flyer
  
• Advance Entry List
  

Sometimes the big new titles from the big publishers get all the attention. It’s true these are often great buys, but there’s also the risk of overlooking little gems by smaller publishers. Or, as the great Italian philosopher Calimero used to say, “Life’s so unfair when you’re small”.

Even though it’s only 130 pages and looks decidedly modest in size, Modern Ideas in Chess by Richard R�ti (1889-1929) is a real classic in chess literature. First published in 1923, Russell Enterprises recently published a “21st century” edition in English with figurine algebraic notation and a foreword by Andrew Soltis. I hadn’t read the book before. I wish I had.

Modern Ideas in Chess is a compilation of 45 essays on the evolution of chess understanding from the mid-1850s until the 1920s. After almost ninety years, it is still as fresh and insightful as it was to contemporaries of the great Slowakian player. In fact, one of the reasons why the book still looks so modern is probably because of its compact size. R�ti’s style of analysing is also very sober and his prose quite imaginative. Most importantly, he had an incredibly sharp eye when observing the chess style of his great predecessors.

The book starts with some lucid chapters in praise of Paul Morphy, whom R�ti saw as “the first positional player”. For instance, he points out that in the following position after 5.Ng5, a move “Morphy would certainly never have made”, players before Morphy often used to play 5…Ne5, because it looked attractive to protect the pawn at f7 and attack the bishop on c4 at the same time.

However, after 5…Ne5? 6.Bxf7+ Nxf7 7.Nxf7 Kxf7 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qxc5 White has a clear advantage. Morphy, on the other hand, simply played 5…Nh6! and if White proceeds in similar fashion by taking on f7 and then picking up the bishop at c5,

The pawn at d4 is protected, as Morphy (in consequence of his developing move 5…Nh6) exchanged the otherwise undeveloped piece and not the already developed knight at c6. White has a bad game and the premature attack by 5.Ng5 is refuted.

Actually this example served as a good wake-up call to myself, since it made me realize chess is not about making nice moves, but about making good moves. (It’s the rule I tend to forget most in chess.) It is a point R�ti makes time and again in his essays. Here’s another great example from his analysis of Morphy’s fourth match game against Anderssen in 1858, which is also a good illustration of R�ti’s often original way of describing chess moves.

Anderssen – Morphy
Paris (4) 1858

13.Nc3 Does Anderssen intend to make a developing move here? Certainly not. That it happens to be one is merely chance. It is essentially an attacking move which threatens 14.Nxd5, 15.Qd3, while 14.Qd3 can at once be parried by Black with 14…Nf6.

One of the things that make R�ti’s book such an entertaining read, even today, is his constant comparison between great players. This is something that isn’t often seen those days. Kasparov, in his monumental My Great Predecessors series, explicitly says comparing players from the past is pointless because each great player contributed something valuable to the development of chess. This is in fact the same point of view R�ti expresses in his book, but R�ti doesn’t shy away from comparing the great players with concrete examples, which is something Kasparov never does.

Steinitz-Chigorin
Havana (4) 1892

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3

One sees here at once the difference between Morphy and Steinitz. The former was always anxious to press on at the earliest possible moment with d2-d4. Steinitz on the other hand does not want to break through the center, but is more concerned with buidling up for himself a strong position, to enable him subsequently to prepare an attack on the kingside.

R�ti constantly comes back to the points he previously made, maintaining a clear line throughout the book. One of the highlights is the chapter on Capablanca. Probably my favourite fragment is where he describes a consultation game he once played together with the great Cuban. It proved to be a turning point in R�ti’s own development as a chess player.

F�hndrich & Kaufmann – Capablanca & R�ti
Vienna 1914

A position was arrived at here in which the opportunity presented itself to develop a hitherto undeveloped piece and indeed with an attack. The move 14…Re8 would have had that effect and was in accordance with the principles prevailing when I grew up and which correspond almost entirely with Morphy’s principles (for he would without considering have chosen that move).

To my great astonishment Capablanca would not even consider the move at all. Finally he discovered the following maneuver by means of which he forced a deterioration of White’s pawn position and thereby later on his defeat:

14…Bd4 15.Qd3 Bxc3 16.Qxc3 Ne4! 17.Qd4 g5 18.Ne5 Bf5

With this game began a revolution in my conviction as to the wisdom of the old principle, according to which in the opening every move should develop another piece. I studies Capablanca’s games and recognized that contrary to all the masters of that period he had for some time ceased to adhere to that principle.

R�ti goes on to explain that Capablanca, of course, also had to develop his pieces in order to carry out any plan at all, but that the difference lies in “those particular and unusual moves” which made Capablanca so vastly superior. Again, he doesn’t shy away from comparing Capablanca’s new technique with that of the older masters. The following position is from a well-known line in the Four Knights game.

R�ti first shows how in a game Tarrasch-Lasker from 1908, White developed normally by means of 11.Bg5, which develops a piece and looks in accordance with everything we know about chess. But then he points out that

The essential element of the position is due to the center pawn formation at e4 and d6. By means of it White can get the knight on to the fifth rank and it would be well protected. In order to avail himself of that possibility Capablanca in same position [Capablanca-Fonaroff, New York 1918] played 11.Qc3 so as to land the knight on b5 via d4 on the favourable square f5.

(Interestingly, it seems that the move 11.Bg5 has prevailed after all, since it is by far the most popular choice in my database. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that last year, the strong Brazilian grandmaster Vescovi did play Capablanca’s 11.Qc3. In the end, of course, R�ti’s point is not about the objective value of Qc3 over Bg5, but about Capa’s creative – and revolutionary – vision.)

R�ti’s description of chess evolution brings him, naturally, to the Hypermodernists. Interestingly, here not all attention goes out to Alekhine automatically. This is, of course, partly due to the fact that Alekhine hadn’t become World Champion yet at the time of Reti’s writing. In fact, R�ti attributes a lot of Alkehine’s development of strength to Capablanca:

When Alekhine divided with Nimzowitsch the first prize at the all-Russian tournament of 1914, everybody said that he had been lucky. Alekhine’s friendship with Capablanca, who went to Russia in 1914, marked a turning point in his chess career. During his intercourse with Capablanca, he learnt the latter’s new technique, the lively dynamics of which suited Alekhine’s disposition, and added a methodical groundwork to his originality, whereupon he was able to build still further.

But besides Alekhine, R�ti also pays tribute to now lesser-known players such as Gyula Breyer, and the book contains very interesting and nuanced portraits of Akiba Rubinstein and Efim Bogolyubov. (More nuanced than Kasparov’s, I’d say.) R�ti’s open-mindedness and constant self-reflection also shows in the following fragment on the youngest generation (which included young Max Euwe):

He who with inward struggles and frequent doubtings has co-operated in elaborating a new school of chess [i.e. Hypermodernism - AWM], experiences a remarkable feeling when he realizes how the younger masters, without trouble, and almost as a mattter of course, accept and make use of recent technical acquisitions as if such acquisitions had been merely presented or handed down to them.

Richard R�ti

Tellingly, one of the very few fragments in the book from R�ti’s own games is a crushing loss against Bogolyubov (Berlin 1919). It’s a pity that his own games and the impression he made on others are strangely absent from Modern Ideas in Chess. We have to be content with such marvellous quotes as:

The layman thinks that the superiority of the chess master lies in his ability to think out 3 or 4, or even 10 or 20, moves ahead. Those chess lovers who ask me how many moves I calculate in advance, when making a combination, are always astonished when I reply, quite truthfully, “as a rule not a single one.”

It’s only fair that history has given Richard R�ti, who died at the age of 40, a firm place in Caissa’s eternal Hall of Fame. His grand idea of chess as an ever developing science is still the foundation of every chess improvement book that appears on the market. But before buying those, you should read Modern Ideas in Chess.

Small in size though it may be, in importance it is enormous.

Links

• Get yourself a copy of Modern Ideas in Chess
• Read more book reviews

Karpov: I think talent accounts for 20 percent of success and up to 80 percent is training hard and gaining experience from your own games.

Q: To develop chess, which conditions does a country need?

Karpov: The prerequisite condition is a broad chess movement. Then chess players must show their professionalism. In addition, the assistance of the government and businesses is very important.

Q: What do you know about Vietnam�s chess?

Karpov: You have Le Quang Liem, who has played at world leading tournaments. I believe that Vietnam has many talents and it will be the home to many world chess champions.

Q: Chess players have good mathematical thinking. Is it better if you don�t play chess, but research mathematics?

Karpov: I don�t know, but chess helps life a lot. Through chess, people can train their discipline and logical thinking ability to perfect themselves and improve their memory.

Q: How does chess playing benefit students?

Karpov: Chess playing has really developed in the last two decades. More masters and grandmasters of chess have appeared. In many countries, chess is taught at schools. That�s the nursery to discover who will become grandmasters of chess and excellent mathematicians.

Q: If you are elected as FIDE Chair, what will you do to further develop chess?

Karpov: If I�m elected, I will exempt appointment fees for grandmaster and master titles and I will do my best to support chess playing movements in developing countries.

Developing chess must originate from mass movements, so I will set up at least one chess club for each age in nations with chess movements.

In Vietnam, I have thought of building two chess clubs, one in HCM City and one in Hanoi.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

While the Black Stars of Ghana were unable to convert penalty kicks to beat Uruguay in the 2010 World Cup, 15 hours away another group of Black stars would square off against competition from around the world. The World Open is a venue where people from every demographic group come to compete on the largest stage America has to offer.

For players of African descent, the tournament serves a number of purposes. It is a time to reunite with friends and to pursue personal chess endeavors. There are norms and titles to earn and of course the attractive lure of big winnings. Of course each has an acute level of difficulty. Typically Black players have done well at this marquee tournament.

In the 2010 World Open, Black players were well-represented in a diverse sea of players. In the Open section, there was GM Amon Simutowe who is finishing his Master’s degree at University of Texas-Dallas and has been accepted into eight elite schools for advanced study including Oxford, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia and Duke.

The Zambian national has been occupied with his studies and has not had much of a chess appetite. However, he came with a student and ended on a respectable 5.5/9, but certainly not a great performance by his standards. Nevertheless, he played an interesting draw with GM Evgeny Najer, the 2008 champion.

Kassa Korley will probably be getting his FM title soon as he approaches 2300. He entered the Open section with norms on his mind. The New York native has narrowly missed a couple of norms, but in this tournament he was never able to gain momentum and finished with an even score. There is no question that Korley is brimming with talent and needs opportunities to maintain the momentum. Sylvester Smarty decided to try the Open section and beat IM Marc Esserman in the first round. However, he stumbled for seven rounds before ending with a win and 3.5 points.

In the high-octane under-2400 section, several heavy hitters entered this section including the legendary IM Emory Tate and red-hot Farai Mandizha. The Zimbabwean recently earned “IM-elect” status after earning a norm at the Philadelphia International. IM Oladapo Adu is a mainstay in the American circuit and is always a threat in this section.

Top boards in under-2400 section. Epic battle unfolds between IM Emory Tate and IM Oladapo Adu. A surging IM-elect Farai Mandizha enroute to a last round win against FM Ilye Figler.

All three of these players were in the thick of things until the last two rounds. While Mandizha charged on, Tate dropped his last two games ousting him from contention and ending him on 5.5/9. One of the games he lost was to Adu, who finished with 7/9 and a share of joint 3rd. Mandizha closed with clear second on 7.5/9.

While these are great results, perhaps the best result among the Black players was turned by 12-year old Justus Williams. The scholastic All-American scored a strong 5.5/9 and including his win over FM Alexander Barnett.

Lawyer Times finished strongly on 5.5/9 after losing three of first four games. FM Norman Rogers and Okechukwu Iwu scored even with 4.5/9. Three other scholastic stars played up a section. Experts Darrian Robinson (3/9), Josh Colas (2.5/8) and James Black, Jr. (2/8) took some harsh lessons, but gained valuable experience against tough competition. There seems to be a friendly competition as four scholastic players played up.

In the under-2200, Kola Adeyemi scored 6.5/9 for a share of 3rd place. Adekunle Ogunmefun was just out of the running with 6/9. Other plus scores were rising star Jehron Bryant who scored 5/9 as did Nigeria’s Abiye Williams.

Some notable performances occurred in the under-1600 section. In the last round Khalee Ward was set to defend his 2008 under-1600 title and had 7.5/8 going into his last round encounter with Lerrenzo Davis who was on 7/8. Davis won the contest to take first place and a $10,345 paycheck. Ward settled for $3160.67. Also in the hunt was Brianna Conley who scored a spectacular 7/9 losing only one game.

Brianna’s proud father Robert Conley remarked that this was her best performances. After the tournament, rising senior from Columbus, Ohio was headed to Harvard, Brown and Yale to look at schools. She will compete in the Polgar Girls later in the month.

Orrin Hudson of Besomeone, Inc. with Brianna Conley.

Last but not least, was the performance of Dwayne “Vortex” Darby. He scored 7.5/9 under-900 section and was interviewed about his performance. He gave credit to his coaches and gave an acknowledgment to his high school team, “The Dark Knights”.

Standings: http://chesstournamentservices.com/cca/category/world-open/world-open-standings/
Games (Open): http://www.thechessdrum.net/palview4/worldopen2010.pgn
Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=182385&id=513866269&l=14d7fc2035

First of all, I apologize to my regular readers for this extended absence. I am battling an annoying intestinal ailment that has deprived me of much of my usual zest for over two months. Unfortunately, it is still not cured, although the doctors can't seem to find anything wrong in my medical test results.

The 8th Silicon Valley Challenge hosted by the Sun Chess Club will be this coming Sunday! As in recent years, the event will be held at Susan's Dance Studio in NE San Jose.

This year takes on a little more significance since Charles graduated from Saratoga High School and will begin classes at UC Berkeley next month. I began teaching him in 2004 and had the pleasure of watching him grow into a smart and confident young man. Charles was never one of my star students, but his success at big money tournaments (Las Vegas!) remains unparalleled by my students. I still remember watching him improve from 1394 to 1806 in the summer of 2005. He attributed that quantum leap to learning to pay attention to tempo in chess.

In high school, Charles took over the leadership of the Saratoga High School club, extending the streak of state titles to a record six straight years. He also began organizing a couple of rated tournaments each year. Read about last year at this blog post. Over four years, a total of 350 players participated in 11 events, with an impressive peak of 62. Charles generously treats his players to free snacks and drinks, which may help explain why many come back each year.

• Event: Silicon Valley Challenge #8
  
• Date: this Sunday, July 11
• Location: 2146 Ringwood Avenue, San Jose (off I-880 near Milpitas).
• Format: 4 round swiss in 2 sections (Open and U1600).
• Open schedule: Reg: 8:30-8:50. Rounds: 9:00, 11:30, 1:45, 4:00.
• U1600 schedule: Reg: 10:30-11:15, Rounds: 11:30, 12:30, 1:45, 3:00.
  
• Time control: G/60 for Open; G/30 for U1600.
• Entry fee: $45 adults, $40 juniors on-site. Masters FREE!
  
• Prize fund: $510 total including $100 for 1st place in Open section.
• Go to Sun Chess Club website for the entry form
  
• Or check the advance entry list.
• Site capacity: 54 players.

A round table conference took place in Odessa on May 29th on the theme �Popularisation of the game of chess: experience, perspectives, plan of action�. Both famous chess players (Ivanchuk, Eljanov, Gashimov, among others) and top-level managers of the chess world (including FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov) participated. We received a report on the round table, and our visitors are invited to join the discussion.

The report below was written and sent to us by WIM Olena Boytsun, who is General Secretary of the International Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) and working in marketing and PR for chess. Since June 2010 she is full time employed as Marketing Director of the Ukrainian Chess Federation.

After the findings of the round table were published earlier this week by Chessbase, Olena also sent us the material, adding

…it would be very interesting to gather any comments, suggestions, ideas on the subject – I usually follow the comments after ChessVibes articles with interest, although never participated. It is always great to brainstorm, and chess community is such a creative and wise community.

We gladly publish the report, and invite our readers to join the discussion below in the comments section.

By Olena Boytsun

The main aim of the round table was to estimate already existing ways of chess game promotion and to develop plan of actions both for Ukraine and the international chess community. The questions of the target audience for chess projects, building the personal brand of a chess player, ways to improve the effectiveness of the implemented marketing decisions were reviewed.

The participants defined the following factors as having a positive influence on the popularization of chess:

• Support from a government, national state programs for chess development;
• Inclusion of the game of chess into the programm of the Olympic games, work with the International Olympic Committee (is among the current priorities of FIDE);
• Support from a sport manager, who may help chess players to concentrate on the game and on other chess promotion activities. A manager assists in administrative questions as well as in questions of negotiations with sponsors and contract signing; however currently there is a lack of professional chess managers in the chess world;
• Stable event calendar and the clarity in the cycle of the World Chess Championship, the clear definition of the beginning and the end of the cycle;
• Targeted actions toward the audience (currently most of the event on chess popularisation are not planned, but are spontaneously organized);
• Informational materials on media relations (the absence of permanent and systematic communication among press, federations and players was noticed);
• Perception of the chess popularization as the project-oriented activity, reputation management;
  Social-corporate responsibility of business community;
• Widening �the base of pyramid� (increase of the number of amateurs);
• Efficiency of the project management etc.

The importance of the control under the situation and the effective allocation of resources and contacts (including contacts with press) while providing the policy of development was also emphasized.

The main result of the round table is that participants developed propositions of practical application. The following propositions were supported:

• To suggest tournament organizers to include in players’ contracts a paragraph stating that these players would take part in special promotion events (seminars, simuls, blindfold games, commenting on games, communication with the audience, special actions etc) during the tournament at a convenient time for them;
• To develop a detailed description of the possible event package for chess promotion (simuls, blindfold games, seminars, informal meetings with a chess player etc);
• To develop a separate rating list for rapid chess;
• To organize a team of professional managers who wouldn�t deal with the promotion of certain tournaments, but would promote the game of chess in general. In case the international manager structure is not possible to create so far, to use the connection chess player � trainer and to organize the manager courses for trainers;
• To develop and to publish an informational handbook containing the Public Relations information for chess professionals, managers, national federations as well as for mainstream media journalists and wide audience with an interest in chess. The publication of the informational handbook is to be annual with constant information update, including press contacts in every country that is a member of FIDE. The ACP suggested developing the media handbook for FIDE.

On the invitation of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov Olena Boytsun will present the results of the round table at the FIDE Presidential Board meeting in July 2010 in Norway.

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov identified several priority target groups to develop projects to promote chess. The first step is to focus the attention on the increasing number of fans and the development of children’s chess. In addition, Ilyumzhinov said that the recognition of chess an Olympic sport is one of the major challenges for FIDE.

Vadim Morohovsky, ACP President and Chairman of the Bank PIVDENNY, noted that the main purpose of the ACP is to protect the rights of professional players, but at the same time, the ACP also includes the development and chess and organizing special activities for children.

International grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk, among other things, noted that the knock-out system helps to promote chess, because inherent in such a system, an element of entertainment and wrestling helps to attract additional interest from the audience. Ivanchuk also suggested to add more activities in tournaments (seminars, lectures, simultaneous games and more) with the involvement of players.

Journalist and International Grandmaster Mikhail Golubev encouraged, in chess development policies, not to forget about existing resources and contacts, “not to alienate those who can help”. In particular, Golubev mentioned the situation with the chess representative of the news agency Associated Press. As a result of the fact that the date of the big chess events are postponed several times, the leading information agency was unable to plan their chess media coverage with their correspndent and therefore abolished their coverage. Golubev expressed the opinion that at this stage the popularization of chess depends on FIDE incomparably more than on the ACP, and referred to the transfer of a number of major events in 2008-2009, and urged “not to create a negative image of chess by making decisions that were not necessary.”

Vassily Ivanchuk, Sergei Movsesian and Pavel Eljanov emphasized the desirability of introducing a separate rating list for rapid chess, because it is rapid chess that has great television potential. The clarity of the world championship cycle was also named among the necessary conditions for the successful promotion of the game of chess, because it is fighting for the world title that attracts the most attention from the media and the general public.

International Grandmaster Vugar Gashimov raised the suggestion of organizing a team of professional chess managers, whose main task would be to ensure sponsorship and promotion of chess.

International Grandmaster Ernesto Inarkiev supported the idea of special events in general, highlighting the interaction with kids as a priority. Among the reasons that in chess it is difficult to work with a personal manager, is primarily a financial issue, said Inarkiev.

Paul Tregubov made a proposal to develop and distribute a special handbook for journalists and national federations with useful information for all interested groups.

Ali Nihat Yazici, President of Turkish Chess Federation, shared the secrets of the “Turkish miracle”: in five years the popularity of chess in Turkey has increased by several times. Yazici emphasized the need for interaction between the national federation of state bodies, as government support is essential to the success of projects such as chess in schools. According to Yazici, the efficiency of the national federation is the key to a successful promotion of chess in each country.

Photos � Boris Bukhman

Links

• Association of Chess Professionals
• Marketing Chess

We formulated ten questions related to Developing Chess Talent and every Monday we’ll ask them to an interesting personality in the chess world.

1. Please introduce yourself (name, age, nationality, etc.)!
Sebastian Siebrecht, 37 years old but still feeling young, from Essen (Germany). Young, dynamic and always radiant with joy. Probably the world’s tallest (2.02 m) grandmaster.

2. What is your role in the chess world?
I love chess, I can become highly enthousiastic about chess and feel like a chess ambassador. My promotional activities include show matches, simuls, blindfold games, training sessions, blitz handicap games and all sorts of commentary. I’m trying to install chess at elementary schools in my home region. At some point I was probably the most active player of the tournament circuit with 220 rated games in one year. Besides my chess activities I run a small event agency.

3. How did you develop your chess talent as a kid?
I watched my dad and my brother playing and was very interested. Then I started playing with my dad. When I entered highschool I was lucky that they had an active chess group. The guy sitting next to me in school was just as enthousiastic about chess as me and we played blindfold chess during mathematic lessons. We pushed eachother forward from age 13 until 15, this was essential for my chess development. Lateron I started reading a lot, books and magazines. And of course I played a lot.

4. Who had a profound influence on your chess development?
Definitely my dad, since he always supported me. School notes were relatively unimportant and even when I graduated from university (law) he was perfectly happy with the fact that I focused on chess from that point on (see question 6).

5. What are your favourite sports besides chess?
I used to be a good basketball player, used to be in the regional (NRW) U17 selection. Lateron I focused more on individual sports because of a lack of time. Recently I took part in my first triathlon, which actually was a fantastic event to be part of.

6. What would be your advice for young people?
Do whatever you enjoy most. For the simple reason that when you enjoy something you will be able to achieve most.

7. What has your main concern in life besides chess?
My family and the people I care for are very important for me. Seven weeks ago I became a father, which was a life-changing experience.

8. What is the best chess game you played?
I find this a very hard question to answer, since I have a lot of respect for my opponents. I am especially happy when I manage to create something new.

9. What’s your connection with ‘Developing Chess Talent’?
I’m playing for the Apeldoorn team in the Dutch League for about six years now. I play in eight different leagues (Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Greece) and the atmosphere is best in Apeldoorn/The Netherlands. I agree with many of the ideas in the book about creating a chess culture (see also next question).

10. What question do you miss and what would be your answer?
What are your goals? How do you see the future? I want to live life very intensively and do as much as possible. Brilliant games are nice and fantastic, but indeed, the most important is, to build something more then a chessgame. I have deep respect for all people who are involved in social matters without selfish reasons. So I guess to make chess more popular and involve everybody in the party should be great. Chess ist a teamsport Yasser Seirawan once said, and I agree completely. Everybody has his role and that is the goal. Let us celebrate it!

Background information

These interviews are produced for the Facebook Group Developing Chess Talent

Chessvibes is hosting them here and they will be linked to from the Facebook Group

The book Developing Chess Talent is written by Karel van Delft and Merijn van Delft and can be ordered via www.chesstalent.com

?

Beautiful Days In Roseto

? Roseto, Saturday ,12th of June, 2 o?clock in the afternoon, the Roseto tournament has just ended, and we settle down at the bar for a coffee with Oleg Mikhajlovic Romanishin : it?s time for that interview that was promised us. Romanishin speaks fluent English,? as was evident during the magnificent coaching session held on Wednesday night. Luckily, the Scacchierando team is in full force, with LightKnight and Stefano Bellicampi who are far more proficient than me.

The prize giving ceremony with the town councillor, Dr. Antonio Porrini

Le belle giornate di Roseto

Roseto, sabato 12 giugno, ore 14, il torneo si � appena concluso. Per il caff� del dopopranzo ci sediamo al bar con Oleg Mikhajlovhic Romanishin: � il momento della promessa intervista. Romanishin parla un inglese fluente, come gi� dimostrato nel magnifico stage tenuto mercoled� sera. Per fortuna Scacchierando � presente in forze, con LightKnight e Stefano Bellincampi che se la cavano molto meglio di me.

Per una ventina di minuti si � seduto con noi ad ascoltare anche Lorenzo Pescatore, alle prese con un gelato. Giovanissimo speciale Lorenzo, scacchisticamente e non solo! Il clima della chiacchierata � immediatamente piacevole e cordiale: non si parte con una domanda ma parlando di scacchi azzurri.

Romanishin: Gli scacchi in Italia stanno sicuramente crescendo e si disputano molti tornei. Ho incontrato molti giocatori italiani: ho giocato con Mariotti, a Leningrado nel 1977, un giocatore molto creativo, molte volte con Godena, giocatore interessante, sempre molto solido, e con tanti altri. Ho anche avuto modo di tenere un breve training con Vocaturo e Piscopo, organizzato da Nicola Pienabarca.

Scacchierando: Che impressione ha di Caruana?

Romanishin: con tutta evidenza un giovane di talento, ma non saprei dire di pi� senza conoscerlo direttamente, giocarci e analizzare con lui.

S. : Qui ha giocato con Axel Rombaldoni.

Romanishin: S�, l?avevo gi� incontrato a Bratto. Ho vinto entrambe le volte, anche se � un giovane con buone qualit� e potenzialit�. Forse, per ora, tende a sbilanciarsi troppo in attacco. Ho incontrato due volte anche Denis.

S. : Quando � venuto per la prima volta in Italia?

Romanishin: Nel 1978, a Genova, in occasione di una Festa dell?Unit�, tenendo diverse simultanee. Sono tornato nel 1984, sempre per delle simultanee, in varie citt�. Il primo torneo � stato quello di Reggio Emilia 1984 / 85 . Da allora sono venuto molte volte e mi trovo sempre benissimo in Italia, mi piace molto la cucina e adoro il caff�. Durante il Torneo di Frascati, nel 2006, ho avuto modo di passeggiare per Roma con la mia famiglia e di prendere un caff� a Piazza di Spagna: ho un magnifico ricordo di quella giornata. Prima di ripartire (per un torneo in Ungheria, a Heviz, sul lago Balaton) mi fermer� un giorno?a passeggiare per Roma, citt� che mi piace moltissimo.

S. : Ha imparato a giocare a 5 anni.

Romanishin: S�, con mio padre, che era un forte giocatore, ha vinto anche un Campionato di Leopoli (Lvov), la nostra citt�. Mio padre aveva molti libri e a casa c?era una bella atmosfera scacchistica. Io sono l?ultimogenito: anche i miei fratelli giocavano ma con minor dedizione.

S. : C?era grande spazio per gli scacchi nell?Unione Sovietica di allora.

Romanishin: Ah, s�, erano il gioco pi� seguito dopo il calcio! Il governo promuoveva il gioco, che era davvero molto diffuso. Si parlava di scacchi sui giornali, non solo su quelli specializzati ma anche sui quotidiani, e c?erano delle trasmissioni alla radio. Durante il match tra Botvinnik e Petrosjan, nel 1963 (Romanishin aveva allora 11 anni - ndr), c?era un aggiornamento ogni ora, con le mosse giocate. Io e mio padre seguivamo le partite alla scacchiera, analizzando e in attesa delle mosse successive.

S. : Poi ha studiato con Viktor Kart. Oltre che un ottimo istruttore, Kart era un forte giocatore?

Romanishin: Non proprio allora, era un buon Candidato Maestro (ricordando che un CM sovietico dell?epoca corrisponde almeno a un forte FM di oggi - ndr), in un certo qual modo � cresciuto anche lui con noi, il suo primo gruppo di allievi, con me, Alexander Beliavsky e Adrian Mikhalchishin. I successi di Stejn, buon amico di Kart, avevano entusiasmato l?ambiente scacchistico di Lviv. Nel 1973 io vinsi il titolo europeo dei giovani e Beliavsky vinse il mondiale. Viktor si dedicava con passione e capacit�. Invitava forti giocatori per un periodo di allenamento con noi, ad esempio Korchnoj, nel 1976. Oggi vive in Germania, ha 80 anni, siamo ancora in contatto.

Beliavsky, Viktor Kart e Romanishin a Lviv in occasione del festeggiamento dell'80? compleanno di Kart (foto Chessbase - segnalo il bell'articolo http://www.chessbase.com/newsprint.asp?newsid=5548?)

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S. : La sua crescita � stata rapida?

Romanishin: Abbastanza, sono diventato Candidato Maestro a 14 anni e Maestro a 16. Ho avuto il titolo di Maestro Internazionale con la vittoria all?europeo e sono arrivato a quello di GM nel 1976 (dopo aver gi� partecipato a due finali del Campionato Sovietico, con un fantastico secondo posto nel 1975, con Tal, Vaganjan, alle spalle di Petrosjan? Altri tempi e altri titoli! ? ndr).

S. : Come giovane promettente fu affiancato a Tal.

Romanishin: No, questo non � esatto. Sono stato mandato a giocare un torneo insieme a Tal. Poi, nel 1975, abbiamo giocato di nuovo insieme e siamo diventati ottimi amici. Abbiamo svolto tre periodi di training insieme. Nel 1977 abbiamo vinto a pari merito il torneo di Leningrado, davanti a Karpov, Smyslov, Vaganjan, Taimanov, Ribli, Balashov, Beliavsky? Io sono stato fortunato, ho avuto modo di giocare e lavorare con grandissimi campioni.

Mikhalchishin, Romanishin e Beliavsky?(foto Chessbase)

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S. : Il suo stile � stato ispirato da qualcuno in particolare?

Romanishin: Non direi? Si apprende da tutti, da tanti diversi stili. Era la forza dell?Unione Sovietica di allora, c?erano tanti fortissimi giocatori, una grande diversit� di idee e di fermenti. Ho sempre dato molto valore alla molteplicit� dei punti di vista. Ho giocato con quasi tutti, anche con Leonid Stejn (detto con un sorriso, nel ricordo del grande campione ucraino, prematuramente scomparso). Oggi i giovani lavorano molto con i database ma hanno minori opportunit� di allenarsi con i grandi campioni. Gli scacchi sono cambiati, sono diventati pi� veloci, forse troppo, i giovani hanno l?energia giusta per gli scacchi di oggi. Io dopo una partita di 5 ? 6 ore sono esausto, per non parlare di un doppio turno.

S. : Lei � un attaccante e un grande teorico delle aperture.

Romanishin: Era maggiormente possibile proporre novit� teoriche una volta, se lavoravi molto alla scacchiera. Oggi giochi una novit� e dopo poche ore � conosciuta in tutto il mondo. Io ho sempre giocato cercando la vittoria, senza calcoli rispetto al torneo. Quando ho usato prudenza non sempre � andata benissimo. Nel 1975 giocai un torneo ad Olot, in Spagna. Ad un certo punto della gara ero in testa con 7,5 insieme a Csom e Filip. Il turno dopo giocavo con il bianco contro Csom, che usava spesso una sorta di ?Riccio?. Pensai poco prima della partita a una novit� nella sequenza 1.Cf3 Cf6 2.c4 e6 3.Cc3 b6 4.e4 Ab7 , giocando Ad3 al quinto tratto (la mossa era stata gi� sperimentata da Huebner contro Johannessen a Oslo, l?anno precedente, ma allora non c?erano i database e Romanishin non conosceva quella partita - ndr). Tuttavia non volli rischiare, giocai in modo diverso e persi malamente. Ci restai malissimo e passai tutta la notte ad analizzare la partita e la nuova variante. Alla fine dello stesso anno, al Campionato Sovietico disputato a Yerevan, giocai con Petrosjan e stavolta utilizzai Ad3: vinsi una bella partita! ( http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1107067?) Il giorno dopo Lev Polugaevsky gioc� allo stesso modo contro Boris Gulko, poi � stata una variante giocata anche da Tal e da molti altri. In quel Campionato giocai un?altra buona novit� contro Geller. Ricordo che Petrosjan mi disse che potevo anche giocare due buone novit� a torneo ma che poi dovevo anche giocare tutte le altre partite! C?� una piccola curiosit� successiva: nel 1996, 21 anni dopo, durante le Olimpiadi di Yerevan, andai in una farmacia e l?uomo dietro il banco esclam�: ?Io la conosco! Lei ha distrutto il nostro grande Petrosjan nel Campionato del 1975!?. Mi sono trovato in una situazione simile al penultimo turno di Groningen, nel 1993, in una partita con il nero contro Beliavsky, decisiva per la qualificazione al Torneo dei Candidati della PCA. Due ore prima della partita pensai ad una novit� nella variante Capablanca della Nimzoindiana, con Donna f5 (1.d4 Cf6 2.c4 e6 3.Cc3 Ab4 4.Dc2 d5 5.cxd5 Dxd5 6.Cf3 Df5 ). Stavolta, a differenza di Ad3, la giocai e vinsi! ( http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1105910?) All?ultimo turno affrontai Benjamin, non feci calcoli, giocai per vincere e and� bene, chiudendo con 7 su 11.

S. : Ha giocato con molti campioni del mondo.

Romanishin: Si, molte volte. Sono in vantaggio con Tal, Petrosjan, Spassky, anche con Kasparov, anche se ho giocato con lui solo quando era molto giovane, prima che arrivasse al titolo mondiale. Ho uno score tremendamente negativo con Karpov. Parlando della molteplicit� degli approcci, Karpov ha una visione della scacchiera molto globale: di fronte a una posizione tende a valutare quali pezzi cambiare, quali valorizzare, a formulare un piano generale pi� che varianti. All?estremo opposto c?� Ivanchuk, con il quale ho svolto un periodo di training. Ivanchuk si affida alle sue eccezionali capacit� di memoria e di calcolo, con varianti profondissime, anche di una quindicina di mosse!

S. : Ha vinto qui a Roseto!

Romanishin: Oh si, ho vinto, ma gli avversari mi hanno aiutato!

S. : Ha vinto molti tornei, ricorda quanti?

Romanishin: No, assolutamente! Poi bisogna distinguere tra i diversi tornei. Un secondo o terzo posto in una gara di valore mondiale ha un peso rilevante. Ho vinto tornei importanti, come a Odessa 1974, Hastings 1976, il gi� citato Leningrado 1977, Jurmala 1983, Mosca 1985, ma ricordo anche con piacere, ad esempio, il secondo posto a Tilburg 1979, a mezzo punto da Karpov e precedendo tanti grandissimi giocatori, come Portisch, Larsen, Spassky, Timman, Smyslov, Huebner, Hort, Sax, Sosonko e Kavalek? Un torneo durissimo!

S. : C?� una partita a cui � maggiormente legato?

Romanishin: Tutte! Forse di alcune sono particolarmente orgoglioso, come quella con Tibor Karolyi, a Tbilisi nel 1986, con un bel sacrificio, una partita incredibile (?http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1118572 ). Anche quella con Amador Rodriguez, nel 1977, una partita particolare,?con tantissime mosse consecutive di pedone. Poi sicuramente la vittoria con Spassky a Tilburg (?http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1118162 ), le gi� citate partite con Petrosjan e Beliavsky.

S. : Ha giocato alle Olimpiadi sia con l?Unione Sovietica che con l?Ucraina.

Romanishin: Nel 1978, a Buenos Aires, venni convocato in quanto mancava Karpov, impegnato per il match con Korchnoj. Sono stato vicino alla convocazione altre volte ma quella fu l?unica occasione olimpica con l?URSS, mentre ai Campionati Europei ho vinto sei medaglie d?oro. Con l?Ucraina alle Olimpiadi ho vinto due argenti e due bronzi. Non mi piace molto il sistema attuale delle Olimpiadi, con i punti squadra. Soprattutto non mi piace la tolleranza zero nell?arrivo alla scacchiera, una regola idiota, in particolare alle Olimpiadi, con migliaia di persone in sala. Basta nulla per un ritardo. E? una regola insensata per gli scacchi. Nel tennis, e il tennis ha grandi esigenze televisive, � ammesso un ritardo di un quarto d?ora! E nel tennis e in molti altri sport il riscaldamento pre - gara si svolge in campo, a scacchi non � cos�! A Wijk Aan Zee si paga una penale per il ritardo, pi� alta per il torneo A. E? gi� un buon compromesso.

S. : Gioca a scacchi da 50 anni, ha ancora la stessa passione?

Romanishin: Da giovane ero pi� motivato, avevo molte ambizioni. Oggi vivo di scacchi, e si, comunque, li amo molto tuttora.

S. : C?� un campione del passato che le piace particolarmente?

Romanishin: Tutti! E? come ho accennato per la scuola sovietica, la molteplicit� di punti di vista e di stili � un valore. Mi dispiace non aver mai giocato con Keres, lui ha disputato il suo ultimo Campionato Sovietico nel 1973 e io il primo nel 1974. Ma l?ho conosciuto! (con un sorriso molto simile a quello fatto ricordando Stejn, con un segnale di stima, e di affetto per il ricordo ? ndr).

La premiazione, con l'Assessore al Turismo di Roseto, Dr. Antonio Porrini?

Qui si conclude l?intervista, durata ben due ore, ma non il pomeriggio con Oleg! Ci offriamo di dargli un passaggio per la premiazione, che si svolger� nella piazza del comune; nell?attesa ci troviamo davanti a una scacchiera della sala analisi e Stefano chiede a Romanishin delle valutazioni su alcune varianti minori della Nimzoindiana. Ne esce fuori una diversa sequenza di mosse, naturalmente segreta!! Si va alla premiazione e dopo accompagniamo Romanishin a fare il biglietto per il pullman, verificando in albergo la possibilit� di essere accompagnato l?indomani mattina presto alla stazione. Alla compagnia si aggiunge il Maestro Internazionale Pap. In macchina si chiacchiera, non solo di scacchi. Si parla di Roma e risulta evidente l?interesse che susciterebbe un bel Festival nella citt� eterna. Romanishin trova un interesse in comune con Stefano nel tennis, sport che ha scoperto tardi ma che gli piace molto. Oleg ha anche una figlia sedicenne che � una buona promessa del tennis?e disputa gi� tornei internazionali giovanili. Dopo il torneo sul Balaton, Romanishin giocher� un open in Germania e il suo carnet di impegni � gi� pieno fino ai primi di settembre, senza la previsione per ora di altri tornei in Italia.

Si torna al Villaggio?e dopo cena ci salutiamo con grande cordialit�. In macchina verso Roma io e Stefano commentiamo le belle giornate di Roseto e lo splendido pomeriggio. E? stato davvero un grandissimo piacere conoscere Oleg Mikhajlovhic Romanishin!

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FIDE is holding a seminar from July 5th-10th which will serve as administrative training for federation management. Each federation is having their flights and lodging paid for the five-day seminar. The seminar will take place at the Taj Pamodzi Hotel, a five-star establishment.

There is an extensive agenda with the guest speakers including FIDE VP candidates Ali Nihat Yacizi and organizer Lewis Ncube, current FIDE VP. The agenda appears to be filled with useful activities and includes topics like: Chess-in-Schools, Federation-Government strategies, Federation Financing and Tournament Organization.

This seminar may provide federations with an opportune moment for delegates to raise questions about the FIDE agenda for Africa. The organizers should be well-equipped to address these questions.

Note: Each federation should send his/her application along with passport scans by 30th June 2010 to lewis.ncube@zamnet.zm, lewisncube@live.com, cfz@zamnet.zm or Chanda.Nsakanya@total.co.zm. Full details can be read in the invitation letter here.

FIDE is in the midst of a fierce campaign to elect the next head of the 158-member chess organization. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is the current President and has waged a battle to extend his 15-year reign. His opponent is the 12th World Champion, Anatoly Karpov who has made inroads to many federations including several countries with schools in his name.

Typically a challenger has to have a very clear strategy to prove they can do a better job than the incumbent. Thus, Karpov is making his rounds to different regions to make his point. Currently Karpov is visiting the subzonal 2.3.5 to present his platform to officials and players from 15 Caribbean nations.

Chess journalist Michael ‘Mig’ Greengard of chessninja.com told The Chess Drum that Garry Kasparov is supporting Karpov’s thrust in the Caribbean after having visited Central America. Champions #12 and #13 have reached an unbreakable detente since their heated rivalry ended. Karpov recently had a fundraiser in New York and enlisted the support of world’s #1 player. Magnus Carlsen.

The Karpov 2010 campaign is looking for an audience to explain their vision for the next era of chess. He will be in the Bahamas for three days and hopes to set up meetings with the delegations at the subzonal. Greengard who has joined the Karpov team:

We are attempting to set up meetings with as many federation people as possible to listen to their concerns and ideas and to share those of Karpov’s campaign.

If you are interested in speaking with Mr. Karpov, contact Mig Greengard at +917.495.9460 or at miggreengard@gmail.com.

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Beautiful Days in Roseto

After many a rainy day the sun decided to turn up just in time for the beginning of this tournament here in Roseto, setting the stage for a really beautiful event, which benefits of a village on the beach, very good facilities and plenty of space, starting with the tournament hall, which is in the congress room in the Hotel ; here you can meet old acquaintances and make new ones in a setting where chess is more or less everywhere, from the tables in the Hotel to the ones in the verandas of the villas in the residential area.

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www.scacchierando.net/dblog

A very nice setting for an excellent chess festival, which will very probably be repeated in the future, with even more events which will enhance the “ chess citadel ��“ atmosphere which is charming this year’s participants.

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I had hoped to interview Sveshnikov back in 2008 , at the Cesenatico tournament, but I knew that the great player and theoretician didn’t speak English very well, ( neither do I, in any case … ) and neither is my Russian particularly fluent �… :O) . Here, I was lucky� to be helped out by Sandra, a beautiful Lithuanian girl. Sveshnikov agreed to the interview immediately, especially as he learns that I represent an amateur blog, whose only goal is the promotion of our game.

Scacchierando : You were born in Cheliabinsk, and currently live in Riga

Sveshnikov : Yes, I was born in Cheliabinsk , in 1950, I am 60 years old ( this was the wonderful article by chessbase to celebrate his 60^th birthday www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6124 ) but I can’t really say that I feel my age ! My mirror reflects an image that I have a hard time recognising … (Sveshnikov smiles broadly throughout the interview, sometimes with sly, playful humour, with an intelligent look in his eyes, the look of someone who is passionately interested in every aspect of life ) . I divide my time between Cheliabinsk, where my two daughters live, and Riga, where my two boys are. I have married twice : when I was 33 I had a very serious illness, and during that time my first marriage broke down ; Two Russian women, a brunette and a blonde ( said with the smile of someone who has always admired women ).

S :� At what age did you learn the game ?

Sveshnikov : When I was two I used to play with checkers ! When I was five my father taught me the rules of chess. I played with him and my grandfather, and soon enough I was able to beat them , even if chess was still only a family pastime. Things changed when I was 8 ; I went to a summer camp, with kids of all ages, and competed in the chess tournament, which I won ! I consider it the first of the 93 tournaments I have won so far. The prize consisted in a wooden plaque with “ The Winner “ written on it, and I still have it ! I hope I will be able to reach the 100 mark sometime.

S : You then played in the Pioneer palaces, did you have any teachers ?

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Sveshnikov : Yes, I started playing more frequently. I had only one teacher, a candidate ( a Russian candidate of the time is comparable in strength to a present-day FM or IM ) , Leonid Aronovitch Gratvol, who is 73 today and lives in , we are still in touch . I have never been a child prodigy. My growth as a player was slow and mostly due to the effort and passion I put in my studies.

S : Apart from chess, were you able to complete your studies ?

Sveshnikov : Yes, I earned a degree in engineering when I was 22 and following that I started work. I hadn’t done my ( compulsory ) military service, and when I was 24 I was asked if I wanted to serve in the army or, since I was a Master, if I wanted to play chess: I chose chess, and I rapidly became IM at 24 and GM at 27. When I was a boy I loved Geography and dreamed of seeing the whole world ; chess has given me the opportunity of doing so and there’s very few places where I haven’t been !

S : Did your interest in theory start early in your career ? I read that you have worked a lot with Gennadi Timoshchenko.

Sveshnikov : Not really. Timoshchenko also lived in Cheliabinsk and after one of our games , which I won, he asked about my idea and the strategic themes I was working on, so we ended up working together for a while. I have always been interested in theoretical work, and I started to teach very early in my career, when I was 30.

S : I thought that as a Latvian, and being a great attacker, you had had ties with the great Riga school, but it seems this is not what happened …

Sveshnikov : No, not at all. Gratvol was my only coach.

S : What success in your chess career do you remember more fondly ?

Sveshnikov : I don’t think I have a favourite, as on the one hand I love the game on its whole, on the other hand I am more attached to single games, to creativity, nice combinations, to particular moments in a game. Botvinnik worked a lot to bring forth a scientific-mathematical view of chess, being, as he was, a pioneer on computer science research, which was a strong influence on the Russian school and the very development of chess. I have always preferred a more artistic and creative vision.

S : Then you probably are an admirer of the great creative attackers, like Tal, Nezhmetdinov …

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Sveshnikov : Definitely. I knew Nezhmetdinov well, I shared a room with him during a one-month training session. An interesting and brilliant man, the only person I know capable of excelling both in checkers and chess. With Tal I have a plus score, 4-3 in my favour, I believe.

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In the first row, on the far left, 15 year old Karpov. Behind him, always on the far left, a 17 year old Sveshnikov.

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S : You have met many world champions …

Sveshnikov : Many ! My overall score against World Champions is nearly level, 22 – 23. Besides Tal, I have played with Smyslov, Petrosjan, Spassky, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik and Anand. I don’t consider the Fide knock-out tournament winners World Champions. As far as I’m concerned, the title went from Kasparov to Kramnik and then Anand.

S : What are your memories of the Chess Olympiad in Turin ?

Sveshnikov : In general I don’t like Chess Olympiads very much. I have played in many team competitions, sometimes with flattering results. Concerning Turin, I particularly remember the playing hall, truly splendid. I have played many times in , the first time in Marina Romea in 1977. I particularly like Sicily, where I won a tournament. I think I won 6 tournaments in overall.

S : Chess requires a lot of time and effort. Does it take more than it gives ?

Sveshnikov : Everyone is looking for something in Chess, and Chess has a lot to offer. I have always had a great passion for it, and I still find it wonderful.

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2 wins and a loss against the mighty Smyslov.

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S : You support the idea that it should be necessary to introduce rules protecting the great players, giving them copyright of the games they play.

Sveshnikov : Absolutely. Games are instantly available to anyone all over the world. It would be enough to introduce a small fee for watching live games to change things. Also, databases make playing and creating very difficult. It’s too easy to become a GM nowadays, and too many grandmasters limit themselves to “ push pieces around “. The elbow room for creativity is far too small today

S : Could Chess 960, Fischer Random, be a new frontier ?

Sveshnikov : I don’t like Chess 960, many starting positions are too unnatural or unbalanced ( we had some trouble communicating at this point , and we hope to have rendered Sveshnikov’s thoughts correctly, as our interpreter had no knowledge of Chess )

S : A last question , which champion of the past have you loved the most ?

Sveshnikov : Well, loving chess, all of them ! But I might add that I hold in great esteem not especially, or not only, the World Champions, but also the great innovators. The names of Paulsen, Chigorin, Nimzowitsch �spring to mind. In a more modern setting, I would name Boleslavsky, Geller and Polugayevsky. These are men who have ventured to a deeper level of understanding, who have explored not only the practical, or competitive side of chess , but the game in its entirety. Maybe, like the great explorers of old, they are the true winners in the history of chess.

Here the interview came to a close, a one hour walk through history and the vision of a great such as Evgeny Sveshnikov. And talking about great innovators … Mark Taimanov described the Sveshnikov variation of the Sicilian Defence as the last great innovation in Openings theory.

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Last night, on the 8^th of June, Sveshnikov held his coaching session talking about openings, starting from very simple concepts known to all chess players. Slowly though, still using those concepts such as occupation of the centre, piece development and safety ( not only of the king ) , the wonder of the chessboard as seen through the eyes of the great player and researcher started to find its way in the perception of the participants. And Sveshnikov definitely felt that, passionately giving is all for three hours, only wrapping things up at one o’clock in the morning ! A regard for openings very much tied to ideas of centre occupation with pawns, very coherent with the openings developed by him. A closing detail : talking with Petrosian and Karpov about the pawn to e5 push, he was told that he couldn’t play like that, that it just wasn’t right. “ But I think history has concluded otherwise “, were the parting words of Evgeny Ellinovic Sveshnikov.

www.scacchierando.net/dblog

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Dopo tante giornate di pioggia il sole ha deciso di intervenire sin dall’inizio del torneo qui a Roseto, ponendo l’ultimo tassello per una manifestazione davvero bella, che fruisce dei pregi di un villaggio sul mare, dalle ottime attrezzature e dagli spazi ampi, a partire dalla sala di gioco, situata nella sala congressi dell’hotel. Ci si incontra, si rinnovano o instaurano conoscenze ed amicizie, e gli scacchi sono un po’ dappertutto, dai tavolini della struttura a quelli delle verande delle villette che compongono la zona residence.

Un bel clima per un ottimo festival, che verr� con ogni probabilit� riproposto, incrementando con apposite iniziative quell’aspetto di cittadella degli scacchi che gi� quest’anno sta affascinando i partecipanti.

Avevo sperato di intervistare Sveshnikov gi� a Cesenatico 2008 ma sapevo che il grande campione e teorico non parla molto l’inglese�(nemmeno o, peraltro...)�e il mio russo non � particolarmente fluente… �Qui ho la fortuna di essere aiutato da Sandra, una splendida ragazza lituana, e Sveshnikov accetta subito di essere intervistato, specialmente sentendo che si tratta di un blog amatoriale, che ha come unico fine la promozione del gioco.

Scacchierando: Lei � nato a Cheliabinsk e vive a Riga.

Sveshnikov: S�, a Cheliabinsk, nel 1950. Ho 60 anni (segnalo il bell'articolo di Chessbase in occasione del�suo 60mo compleanno www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6124�)�ma nel mio cuore e nella mia mente non li sento! Lo specchio mi restituisce un’immagine che faccio fatica a riconoscere… (per tutta l’intervista Sveshnikov sorride con piacere, a volte quasi con fare sornione, con gli occhi che brillano di acume, di chi guarda con passione e interesse a ogni aspetto della vita). Sono tuttora diviso tra Cheliabinsk, dove vivono le mie due figlie, e Riga, dove abitano anche i miei due figli maschi. Mi sono sposato due volte. A 33 anni ho avuto una gravissima malattia e durante questa il mio primo matrimonio � fallito. Due donne russe, una bruna e una bionda (detto con un largo sorriso, di chi ha sempre ammirato molto l’universo donna).

S. : A che et� ha imparato a giocare?

Sveshnikov: A due anni giocavo con una scacchiera e le pedine della dama! A 5 anni mio padre mi ha insegnato le regole degli scacchi. Giocavo con lui e con mio nonno, e abbastanza presto sono arrivato a batterli entrambi, anche se gli scacchi restavano solo un passatempo familiare. Le cose sono cambiate quando avevo 8 anni, partecipando ad un campeggio estivo, con ragazzi di tutte le et�. Venne organizzato un torneo di scacchi e lo vinsi! Lo considero il primo dei 93 tornei che ho vinto fino ad oggi. Il premio era una grande targa di legno con inciso “Il vincitore” e lo conservo tutt’ora! E quanto alle vittorie spero di arrivare a quota 100.

S. : Poi, ha giocato nelle Case dei Pionieri, ha avuto dei maestri?

Sveshnikov: S�, ho cominciato a giocare pi� assiduamente. Ho avuto un unico maestro, un candidato (non ci si inganni, un candidato maestro russo dell’epoca corrisponde a un MF o IM di oggi! - ndr), Leonid Aronovitch Gratvol, che oggi ha 73 anni e vive in Israele, siamo ancora in contatto. Non sono mai stato comunque un bambino prodigio. La mia crescita � avvenuta lentamente, studiando con impegno grazie alla mia passione per il gioco.

S. : Oltre agli scacchi ha portato avanti anche gli studi?

Sveshnikov: S�, mi sono laureato in ingegneria a 22 anni e ho iniziato a lavorare. Non avevo ancora fatto il servizio militare e a 24 anni mi fu chiesto se volevo svolgerlo normalmente o, in quanto Maestro, se volevo giocare a scacchi. Scelsi gli scacchi, diventando rapidamente Maestro Internazionale e Grande Maestro a 27 anni. Da piccolo adoravo la geografia e sognavo di vedere tutto il mondo; gli scacchi mi hanno aiutato a farlo e sono pochi i luoghi dove non sono stato!

S. : Ha avuto da subito l’interesse per l’approfondimento teorico? Ho letto che ha lavorato molto con Gennadi Timoshchenko.

Sveshnikov: Non proprio. Anche Timoshchenko viveva a Cheliabinsk e dopo una nostra partita, in cui vinsi, mi chiese delle mie idee e degli sviluppi strategici su cui ero impegnato, lavorando insieme per un po’. Sono sempre stato interessato dal lavoro teorico e peraltro ho iniziato molto presto, a 30 anni, ad insegnare.

S. : Pensavo che come lettone e grande attaccante avesse avuto dei legami con la grande scuola di Riga, ma mi sembra di capire che non sia stato cos�…

Sveshnikov: No, in effetti no, Gratvol � stato il mio unico insegnante.

S. : Quale successo della sua carriera ricorda pi� volentieri?

Sveshnikov: Forse nessuno in particolare, da un lato amo il gioco nel suo insieme, dall’altro sono a volte legato pi� alle singole partite, alla creativit�, alle belle combinazioni, momenti del gioco che mi entusiasmano. Botvinnik ha lavorato molto per una visione scientifico–matematica degli scacchi, anche come pioniere della ricerca informatica, influenzando la scuola russa e lo stesso sviluppo moderno degli scacchi. Io ho sempre preferito una visone pi� artistica e creativa.

S. : Quindi dovrebbe apprezzare particolarmente i grandi attaccanti creativi, come Tal, Nezhmetdinov…

Sveshnikov: Certamente. Ho conosciuto bene Nezhmetdinov, dividendo con lui la stanza per un mese durante una fase di training. Un uomo interessante e geniale, l’unico che conoscessi capace di eccellere sia nella dama che negli scacchi. Con Tal ho uno score positivo, 4 a 3 per me, mi sembra.

In prima fila, all'estrema sinistra, il 15enne Karpov. Alle sue spalle, sempre all'estrema sinistra, Sveshnikov, qui 17enne (foto Chessbase)

�

S. : Ha incontrato molti campioni del mondo…

Sveshnikov: Tanti! Il mio punteggio complessivo contro i campioni del mondo � quasi alla pari, 22 a 23. Otre a Tal ho giocato con Smyslov, Petrosjan, Spassky, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand. Non considero tra i campioni del mondo i vincitori dei tornei knock-out della Fide, per me il titolo � passato da Kasparov a Kramnik ad Anand.

S. : Che ricordo ha dell’Olimpiade di Torino?

Sveshnikov: In generale non amo particolarmente le Olimpiadi. Ho giocato in molte competizioni a squadre, in particolare agli europei, anche con risultati lusinghieri. Di Torino ricordo particolarmente la sala di gioco, davvero splendida. Ho giocato molte volte in Italia, la prima occasione fu a Marina Romea, nel 1977. Mi piace molto la Sicilia, dove ho vinto anche un torneo. Mi sembra di aver vinto sei tornei in Italia.

S. : Gli scacchi richiedono molto tempo e grande impegno. Prendono pi� di quello che danno?

Sveshnikov: Ognuno cerca qualcosa negli scacchi e gli scacchi offrono molto. Io ho sempre avuto una grande passione e li trovo sempre meravigliosi.

2 vittorie e 1 sconfitta per Evgeny contro il grandissimo Smyslov

�

S. : Lei sostiene che sarebbe necessario introdurre delle regole per tutelare i grandi giocatori, dando loro i diritti sulle partite che giocano.

Sveshnikov: Assolutamente. Le partite in pochi istanti sono disponibili in tutto il mondo. Basterebbero pochi centesimi da parte di chi segue le partite in diretta per cambiare le cose. E i database rendono molto difficile giocare, innovare. Oggi � troppo facile diventare GM e troppi Grandi Maestri si limitano a “muovere i pezzi”. Lo spazio per creare si � troppo ridotto.

S. : Gli scacchi 960, il Fischer random, possono essere una frontiera?

Sveshnikov: Non mi piacciono gli scacchi 960, molte posizioni iniziali sono troppo innaturali o sbilanciate (qui e in qualche altro punto abbiamo avuto qualche difficolt� a capire e speriamo di aver interpretato bene il pensiero di Sveshnikov, dato che la nostra interprete non conosceva affatto gli scacchi - ndr).

S. : Un’ultima domanda, il campione del passato che ha amato di pi�?

Sveshnikov: Ah, amando gli scacchi, tutti! Forse, ho una grandissima considerazione non tanto, o non solo, per i campioni del mondo quanto per i grandi innovatori. Mi vengono in mente Paulsen, Chigorin, Nimzowitsch, soprattutto. In epoca pi� moderna citerei Boleslavsky, Geller, lo stesso Polugaevsky. Sono uomini che hanno intrapreso un viaggio pi� profondo di conoscenza, che non hanno esplorato solo la partita ma il gioco nella sua interezza. Forse, come grandi esploratori, sono i veri vincitori della storia degli scacchi.

Qui si � chiusa l’intervista, una passeggiata per oltre un’ora nella storia e nella visione degli scacchi di un grande come Evgeny Sveshnikov. E parlando di grandi innovatori… Mark Taimanov ha definito la variante Sveshnikov della Siciliana come l’ultima grande acquisizione della teoria delle aperture.

Ieri sera, 8 giugno,�lo stage. Sveshnikov ha parlato delle aperture, partendo da concetti semplicissimi e noti a tutti gli scacchisti. Pian piano, per�, continuando ad utilizzare come guida l’occupazione del centro, lo sviluppo dei pezzi e la sicurezza (non solo del re), il fascino della visione della scacchiera del grande giocatore e ricercatore si � fatto strada nella percezione dei partecipanti. E Sveshnikov l’ha sentito, spendendosi con passione per tre ore, fino all’una di notte! Una considerazione dell’apertura molto legata all’occupazione del centro con i pedoni, coerente con le linee di apertura da lui sviluppate. Un ultimo dettaglio: parlando con loro della spinta e5, Petrosjan e Karpov gli dicevano che non poteva giocare cos�, che non poteva essere giusto. “Ma credo che la storia abbia detto il contrario”, ha concluso Evgeny Ellinovic Sveshnikov!

Two of a kind may not win many poker hands, but in chess a pair it is certainly something to applaud. Chess not only has a pair of siblings, but a pair of twin siblings who have now found chess success at an early age. Nigel Bryant is the latest having broken the crucial 2000-level barrier. Nigel’s younger twin Jehron accomplished the feat earlier this year.

Nigel accomplished this feat at New York’s May Open scoring a respectable 2.5/4 featuring a draw with National Master Yevgeni Margulis. This is yet another of the promising talent that now makes way for the largest collection of Masters in the African-American community since the 80s. Kassa Korley has graduated on to reach 2300-level and is clearly on course to make International Master. There are a large cadre of Candidate Masters (2100-2199) and Experts (2000-2099) mostly coming from the New York area. This development is due to a rich chess culture, regular strong opposition and several programs that provide young players with an environment to reach there dreams.

Nigel has been encouraged by his peers and wrote a very warm comment to his twin,

As your twin brother you know that I�m supporting you 101%. I will not be shocked to see Jehron Bryant holding the National Masters title soon. I�m very proud of you and I�ll be up there soon, you can count on it.

Now Nigel has joined his brother and several of his friends, notably Justus Williams and Josh Colas, two of the most promising talents who are U.S. All-Americans. Derrick Bryant made these comments about the twins.

Inspired by his twin brother’s accomplishment last December, when Jehron reached 2007, plus the inspiring words from your bloggers, I’ve never seen Nigel worked that hard to attain such accomplishment. Like what I’ve written before, your site with your inspiring words especially to our young has such a positive influence. I guess with the right amount of push, parental support and guidance, with enough motivation, one can achieve what they want in life much sooner than later. Expect more positive things to come from the Bryant twins as they plan to soar much higher this summer as they are graduating in 1 week from middle school, after being inducted to National Junior Honor Society.

Perhaps the biggest fan of the Nigel and Jehron would be Belinda Pura, the proud mother. A native of the Philippines, she stated that the country would be reading accomplishments of her sons. Given the rich chess talent that the country produces, Filipinos can claim an “assist” here. Both of the Bryant twins will be at the World Open in a couple of weeks to make an impact amongst the 1200 players scheduled to compete.

On May 15th, I left Chicago’s O’Hare airport for a long journey to Africa. I finally set foot in Africa on May 18th in Johannesburg, South Africa. My trip was delayed two days because of a passport issues. I finally got my passport corrected, boarded my flight and flew a smooth 15 hours over the Atlantic Ocean, Namibia and Botswana.

I was amazed at the wide variety of movies on the entertainment system. I settled for “Blind Side”, “Fight” and Arabic language movie “Ameerika”. I landed at Oliver Tambo Airport in Johannesburg at around 5:20pm and a driver came to pick me up. World Cup fever was in full force as the airport was festooned with all types of paraphernalia of the pending football tournament.

World Cup fever is everywhere in Africa!

After a 40-minute drive from the airport, I arrived at the Garden Court Hotel, a nice accommodation sitting across from the Nelson Mandela Court. Since I was delayed two days, my plans to meet with officials in CHESSA, the official federation of South Africa, fell through. I had informed Rista DeBeer of CHESSA that I would miss our scheduled meeting. I had intended on meeting IM Watu Kobese, but it turns out he would be in Angola for BCI tournament. I did make contact with a Ph.D. classmate who has lived in South Africa for 12 years. That would be the only night I spend in the city.

My group consisted of thirty professors from around the U.S. on a “Faculty development Tour”. They already had visits to Vodocom, Chamber of Commerce and the University of Pretoria. Before heading to Kenya, we visited Soweto, the Mandela Museum and the Apartheid Museum before catching the five-hour flight to Nairobi, Kenya.

Soweto is always a historic treasure to visit as there are many landmarks to commemorate the successful struggle against apartheid. This was my second time to South Africa and while I did not see the squatter camps this time, these landmarks are reminders that the struggle continues (a luta continua).

The flight to Nairobi was uneventful and we set down in Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at around 7:30pm. As we exited customs, we were met with a crush of people waiting for other travelers. After accounting for all 30 in our group, we boarded the vans and then set out on the dark roads of Nairobi. Artistically arranged billboards dotted the roads with the illuminated lights overhead. As a frequent traveler, I have learned not to spend time talking to fellow travelers instead of silently taking in the new scenery. Interesting view.

We arrived at the famous Stanley Hotel, reputed to one of the best accommodations in Nairobi. The lobby is one of the most important features of a hotel and the Stanley lived up to its billing. Prior to my trip I had posted messages on the Kenya Chess Forum and made contact with the chess players via e-mail. They stated that the hotel is in the middle of the commercial section and that I would be close to the chess club.

After a couple of grueling days visiting Kenyan businesses and traversing the streets of Nairobi, I arranged with some of the local players to visit the chess club. The days were very interesting as I was able to get an idea of the pace of Kenya. In one instance, I experienced the stifling Nairobi traffic. Once I got to the hotel it had begun to rain a bit. This means that traffic would intensify. There are so many potholes in Kenya that one has to be careful not to land in a water-filled crater. I finally made contact with the Kenya players and was picked up by Mehul Gohil and Kim Bhari during the rainy evening.

Daaim Shabazz signing a Wilbert Paige booklet for Githinji Hinga.

Daaim Shabazz with Mehul Gohil and Kim Bhari.

The club resided in an office building on the 2nd level and the room resembled a small lounging area. There were several tables arranged and there were players engaged in blitz battles. I presented club members with several copies of the Wilbert Paige Memorial booklet and dozens of monogrammed ink pens. After taking several pictures I played a round of blitz games with several players. The games were interesting apart from a few blunders and sluggish play on my part. I was well-received at the club and it was a wonderful evening.

On the next morning, we took a drive from Nairobi to Arusha, Tanzania. It was a tortuous road filled with massive potholes and in total disrepair. Our driver weaved as if he were navigating an obstacle course in a sports competition. Apart from the weaving and bobbing, the scenery was idyllic… beautiful plants and flowers, tropical trees, huge termite mounds and sights of the Maasai herding their cattle were common on the four-hour journey. There were stretches of the road that were paved with brand new black top. The Chinese have been making quite a bit of progress in improving the infrastructure and they could be seen on the road in their hard hats.

Idyllic view of mountains in Tanzania.

Arriving to Tanzania, we were shown Mount Kilimanjaro in the distance. It is a handsome structure that was partially covered by clouds on our Nairobi-Arusha drive, yet it yielded an imposing presence. We saw many of the beautiful man-made mud structures that are characterized in racist literature, but that are absolutely stunning and ingenious. We arrived in Arusha, but our hotel had a power outage on a few of the floors, so we have to change venue.

Tanzania is a country that shows a lot of character and not the typical commercialization that strips the cultural uniqueness. The streets were bustling and in the outskirts there were countless road markets. The country is very lush with all types of foliage, gardens on the roadsides and miles of coffee and corn plantations. In the city, there were hawkers everywhere and if you step out of the hotel, they were ready to sell you an array of overpriced souvenirs.

In one episode, one gentleman wanted to sell me a ski cap and and a bracelet for 55,000 shillings. Of course it is overpriced, but I told him I wanted the ski cap with the Tanzanian flag. He said 45,000 shillings. I asked him for a calculator and quickly showed him that the cap he was trying to sell me was about US$34.00. “That’s not a good price,” I told him. The same cap I can get for US$5.00 in the states. I eventually gave him 10,000 shillings (US$7.00) for it. The price haggling was good fun.

After sending the night in Arusha, we took a road trip to Ngorongoro. As we drove, the acacia trees were a staple in landscaping and children were seen fetching water and being industrious. There were also a number of schools off in the distance. The Maasai warriors were never too far out of view. We stopped for bathroom breaks, but many were urged not to photograph the locals unless permission was granted. We finally arrived at the Ngorongoro Lodge which set on a coffee plantation. It couldn’t help to think about my coffee plant of 19 years.

Young Maasai apprentices

The thing that I most remember about Tanzania is its greenery. There were plots of plants and flowers along the road for miles. Animals were grazing just short of cars and trucks whizzing past. We were sometimes stopped by a caravan of cows crossing the road. We visited a large coffee plantation and were given a tour of how coffee is produced from the tree to the roasting. We also visited a lush banana plantation which gave us an opportunity to understand why people in Africa sometimes live off US$1.00 a day.

There were rows and rows of banana trees at different stages of development. We also ran into other fruits such as passion fruit, papayas, avocados and limes. There were also a pumpkin patch and a rice plantation. We got quite an extensive explanation of banana processing and how they were harvested. While I knew about the nine-month gestation period for bananas, I never knew how they sprouted and that they bore a pretty, purple bulbous flower at the end of the stem.

We visited a volcano crater, the home of a abundant array of wild animals. We saw wildlife in all its magnificent… wildebeest, zebras, warthogs, gazelles, bucks, elephants, lions, cheetahs and baboons. The most exciting part of the trip was climbing 4,000 feet up the crater on a precipitous slope of mud. We stopped once or twice to get a fantastic view of nature’s creation. However, there was nothing guarding us from a fatal tumble over the cliff. Nothing but a skillful driver. It was nerve-wrecking for some of the passengers as the wheels were only a few feet from the edge.

Stunning view of the crater!

On our second visit to an animal conservation, we saw a lot of giraffes and many of the animals mentioned. We rode by a colony of baboons and for about 10 minutes, we watched them socialize in their human-like ways. The giraffes were the most interesting and I was exposed to their “necking” ritual in which two males compete for a mate. On the third animal safari, we went on foot and came within 30 meters of animals. As we approached a herd of buffalo, they watched us closely for about 10 minutes. We were able to walk the trails of the animals and to see how they managed their habitat and co-existed. Fascinating!

Crested Crane, national bird of Uganda

On the walking safari, we came face-to-face with the animals.

No introduction is needed.

The handsome Superb Starling.

In this set of pictures to follow, I have chosen approximately 140 photos for this segment. The last set is dedicated to Tanzanian wildlife and nature. Links to all the pictures are also included if you’d like to take the time to view them. The total is close to 600. Enjoy!

The battle for the FIDE Presidency took another lurch towards chaos on Thursday when FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced he was suing Presidential Candidate Anatoly Karpov. Meanwhile, the Ilyumzhinov campaign has just declared its ticket and claimed the support of 35 countries, including… Russia. An update on the latest political developments.

By Colin McGourty

Ilyumzhinov takes Karpov to court

In an on-line interview with Gazeta.ru, Ilyumzhinov said that the case against Karpov was being brought by the FIDE Presidential Council before courts in Moscow (where Karpov is resident), an international court (where FIDE is registered) and the FIDE Ethics Commission. The charge is libel for Karpov�s alleged comments about corruption in FIDE, a topic that was already covered three weeks ago in an article by Arne (and see Mig Greengard�s comments below it). The legal case looks weak, and Mark Crowther may well be correct when he writes at TWIC that it seems �a completely empty threat�. Perhaps that explains why in the interview Ilyumzhinov focussed on the less newsworthy Ethics Commission. A court case might drag on and damage both candidates, but could the Ethics Commission come to a quick ruling that would exclude Karpov from running in the election?

Legal threats are, however, a double-edged sword. In the same interview Ilyumzhinov responded to the question of why Karpov and Kasparov have united against him:

�They need the financial and political resources of FIDE. 15 years ago they did everything they could so that FIDE wouldn�t be united. Now, when FIDE is a prosperous international organisation in a financial sense, and has great political authority, they need a platform for their ambitions. As chess players they�ve exhausted themselves, people have begun to forget about them and with their inadequate declarations they�re trying to draw attention to themselves again.�

Setting aside the dubious content, the above echoes earlier statements by Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Russian Chess Federation Arkadij Dvorkovich which provoked Karpov to respond with an official letter on his campaign website: �It is ironic that Mr. Dvorkovich libels me as pursuing the presidency of FIDE for improper purposes�.

Makropoulos: ‘Only dirt’

FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos, if anything, went even further in an interview a few days ago. He says only �dirt� is coming from Karpov, that he �doesn�t like to work�, that, �Gary can write a programme for Anatoly. But Anatoly himself can�t�. Kasparov is exploiting the campaign for his own political ends and, to cap it all, �Karpov is being used as a Trojan horse�, according to Makropoulos, in order to end the one-country, one-vote system (the �logic� seems to be that Russia already has great influence now despite only having one vote). Another almost surreal example of the depths to which the campaign has sunk came in an interview Karpov gave to argumenti.ru:

�Interviewer: They�ve started to say all sorts of things about you. In particular there are hints about a homosexual tie to the current President of the chess federation, Alexander Bakh. What do you have to say to your opponents? Are you going to sue?

Karpov: Thanks for the revelation. It�ll really help me to establish better ties with the mayors of the largest cities: Paris, London, Berlin (laughs). But of course I won�t sue. In my time I�ve heard so much, they�ve thrown so much dirt, that I understood that it�s better not to pay attention.�

New vote!?

Of course as well as libel, Karpov�s camp have accused Dvorkovich and others of much more serious offences. A continually developing story revolves around claims that some of the delegates who supported Karpov�s nomination at the Russian Chess Federation meeting last month failed to represent the wishes of their local organisations. The official website now has a colourful map of Russia with links below it to signed letters that together are meant to demonstrate that Ilyumzhinov really is the �people�s choice�. A new council may well vote to nominate Ilyumzhinov. In the argumenti.ru interview mentioned above Karpov commented on that situation:

�Now they�re trying to twist the arms of certain members of the council in the regions. They demand that they rethink their positions. They threaten them with dismissal, repression and even physical violence. I never thought that I�d live to see such fighting in chess. The most peaceful of games is living in a state of war.�

Still, perhaps it�s worth taking a step back from these recriminations to try and assess the current campaign on the level of ideas and normal debate. The following comparison pays particular attention to the opinions of well-known GMs, as well as comments on Russian chess forums (where the debate has been fiercest):

Ilyumzhinov:

Pros: Although enthusiastic voices are few and far between (his campaign website even chooses to quote GM Alexander Khalifman�s: �But, I think that the criticism addressed to the incumbent President is deserved�), Ilyumzhinov�s FIDE finally has a unified World Champion and runs a regular series of events. GM Vassily Ivanchuk was quoted in Odessa as saying that the life of a chess professional has improved during Ilyumzhinov�s reign. Khalifman notes that if required Ilyumzhinov, �reaches in his own pocket�.

Cons: The question of finance works both ways. Should a reputable international organisation have a president who, in the interview where he announced suing Karpov, also boasted: �For 15 years I was his sponsor. I personally set aside a few million American dollars from my fund and the money of my businessmen friends��? Major sponsors may be wary of becoming involved with Ilyumzhinov, even if they do not credit, for instance, the accusations of the Jabloko political party, who said that the nomination of Ilyumzhinov brought shame on Russia (they refer to the murder of the Kalmykia opposition journalist, Larisa Yudina). Apart from these serious issues, Ilyumzhinov has also lately become something of a figure of fun. In the same interview, instead of laughing off his alien comments, he addressed the topic in total seriousness, adding:

�When the American astronaut Armstrong set down on the Moon his first phrase was: they�re here. Later they concealed it (�) For the first time I�m officially declaring: I don�t work for any alien intelligence.�

Despite the above, Ilyumzhinov himself is perhaps not even the main issue. Chess players seem almost unanimously united against Ilyumzhinov�s team, with Makropoulos (now confirmed on the new ticket), the focus of much anger for his alleged contempt for grandmasters and his handling of chess finances. In a recent Russian radio interview on poker, Grischuk said he had no enthusiasm for either candidate but would, if forced, come down in favour of Ilyumzhinov. But he mentioned that he could only ever actually support Ilyumzhinov if Makropoulos and others were removed from the ticket.

Karpov:

Pros: Sponsors and political figures should be happy to be seen meeting a former world champion, and the support of Carlsen and Kasparov is a great international PR success. He offers at least the prospect of change, and should be able to bring the perspective of a player to bear on chess organisation.

Cons: For now his programme, ticket and potential sponsors remain a mystery (Khalifman calls his campaign �words, words, words�), with some sub-elite grandmasters worried that the money the World Cup and similar knockout events provided will disappear. Also, although his self-destructive tendencies in interviews are no match for Ilyumzhinov, Shipov and others have noted his tendency to go overboard on self-promotion when mentioning e.g. his medals from Yeltsin and Putin, or the extraordinary number of schools in his name. Though, at times, you perhaps want to cheer him on:

�But why should he (Dvorkovich) set any conditions? I�m the world of chess. If he wants to be in the world of chess then he has to respect world champions. And not only me, but also Kasparov and the other champions. Stalin once said to his minister of culture: �I don�t have any other writers for you!� Just as there are no other world champions for Dvorkovich.�

The other dominant issue has been Kasparov, whose involvement has provoked predictable questions about his motivation, and divided opinion. Karpov is adamant that politics are not involved, and that his condition for working with Kasparov was focussing solely on chess.� In fact, he even half-joked:

�I think that the authorities should be grateful to me: Kasparov has barely engaged in politics for three months now, and won�t until the end of September. He�s got no time, we�ve agreed to travel around different countries and promote chess!�

Which is a reminder that the FIDE elections are still three months away! Karpov�s team had an early lead, with only Turkey having come out in support of Ilyumzhinov at one point. In the interview mentioned above Makropoulos claimed that countries had adopted a waiting stance after Karpov persuaded them that Ilyumzhinov might not even be a candidate. That now seems to have changed, with the Ilyumzhinov campaign website claiming the support of 35 federations.

Ticket announced; more candidates!?

They have also announced their ticket. As well as confirming Makropoulos� involvement the other name that perhaps stands out is that of Ignatius Leong as General Secretary. The Karpov campaign site had previously quoted Leong as saying that he would not stand beyond the current term…

Where does the campaign go from here? All that�s certain is that we can expect many more twists and turns in the coming months. One likelihood is that it�s all about to become even more complicated. In the same interview where Ilyumzhinov managed to mention libel, and aliens, and that Karpov was �his friend�, he also added:

�At present I know of two more candidates who want to come forward�.

Viktor Bologan, Dmitry Jakovenko, Sergei Karjakin and Alexander Riazantsev started with one draw and one win at the Karpov tournament in Poikovsky, Russia. The other participants are Ivan Sokolov, Emil Sutovsky, Alexander Onischuk, Baadur Jobava, Sergei Rublevsky, Arkadij Naiditsch, Nikita Vitiugov and Alexander Motylev.

The 11th edition of the tournament named after 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov takes place June 2-13 in Poikovsky, Russia. For the first time the tournament now has not 10, but 12 players. In this round-robin of 11 rounds, the rest day is on June 8th.

Poikovsky is located in the Nefteyugansk region of the Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous area. It’s about 150km eastern of Khanty-Mansiysk. Its name comes from the nearby river Poyka. The population is close to 30,000 people and the main economic drive is the extraction of oil and gas.

Eleven years ago local authorities decided that a big chess tournament would do the region well. A year later a chess school for children was opened, like the tournament named after Anatoly Karpov. This year the chess school celebrated its 10th anniversary on June 1st, International Children’s Day. The festivities were opened by Karpov himself.

In the 11th tournament there are two players who never missed a single event in Poikovsky: Bologan and Onischuk. Jobava, Karjakin and Vitiugov make their debut this year. Motylev is defending his 2009 title.

Evgeny Surov posted a first photo report on Chesspro, where many players can be seen planting a tree in Poikovsky, including Anatoly Karpov himself.

Top seed this year is Sergei Karjakin, who just finished the ACP World Rapid Cup successfully a few days ago. He and the other finalist in Odessa, Dmitry Jakovenko, started with 1.5/2, and so did Viktor Bologan and Alexander Riazantsev.

Games rounds 1-2

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC

Fide, the International Chess Federation, holds its five-yearly presidential election in September and it is turning nasty.

The incumbent since 1995 is Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, controversial ruler of Russia's semi-autonomous Caucasian state Kalmykia. In his early years as Fide president Ilyumzhinov built a 'chess city', made the game mandatory in Kalmyk schools, and financed grandmaster chess so generously that his dubious human rights record and eccentric claim to have met "humanoid aliens" were shrugged off. But recently Fide's excessive reliance on ex-Soviet tournament venues and an autocratic rule change where a player loses if not seated at the board at the start have provoked a deluge of criticism.

Ilyumzhinov will be opposed by Anatoly Karpov, all-time world No3 and backed by Garry Kasparov, all-time No1, abortive challenger for the 2008 Russian presidency and a fierce Kremlin critic. K and K, supported by the current world No1 Magnus Carlsen, held a fund-raiser in New York which raised over $100,000 for the Karpov campaign. A similar evening with Kasparov and Nigel Short is planned for Simpsons in the Strand, London, in August. K and K believe they can attract more Western sponsors to chess.

Many Western chess federations including the US and England have announced support for Karpov but Fide has 161 member nations, not far off the 200-plus of Fifa and the IOC, and Ilyumzhinov has won the last three elections with the help of sweeteners to third world delegates. Karpov is famous enough to turn some small countries his way, but the vote will be during the biennial team Olympiad at Khanty-Mansiysk in Siberia, a favoured Ilyumzhinov site.

An ugly fight for the Russian federation vote shows that the contest has a wider significance than just for chess. A majority chose K and K but a rival group led by the economist and presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich first claimed a technical win then sent in security men to evict the pro-Karpov officials. Kalmykia's strategic position and its oil and gas, plus Kremlin hostility to Kasparov, may prove a key to this bitter contest.

3141 1 Bxf7+! Kxf7 2 Rc7+! Kf8 (if Nxc7 3 Qxg5 or Kg8 3 Qxe6+ Kh8 4 Qf7) 3 Qh8+ Qg8 4 Qf6+ mates.

Sometimes, I get a little tired of reading about the big names in chess all the time. Another super tournament with seven players out of the top 10; another huge open featuring dozens of well-known GMs fighting hard for serious money prizes; another great exhibition rapid match between two former World Championship candidates. In such cases, reading something from Genius in the Background, is the perfect remedy for me.

Genius in the Background by Tibor K�rolyi and Nick Aplin (published by Quality Chess) is a book about, well, geniuses in the background. As K�rolyi writes in the preface:

Most of the people featured in this book have recorded significant achievements, yet they remain virtually anonymous to the great majority of chess fans. A few of them are known amongst certain segments of the chess world, but none are known widely as I believe they deserve to be. (…) Your author, who is first of all a junior trainer who desires to pass on knowledge, believes that getting acquainted with these remarkable chess personalities will deepen anyone’s understanding of our game.

In other words, the presentation of these unknown heroes is not only interesting, but also useful. For me, they shed some special light on the development and choices of such great players as Topalov and Kasparov that have in my view so far not been emphasized. In the chapter about Topalov’s former coach, Petko Atanasov, the choice of openings for the young Veselin is discussed. It turns out that Atanasov, rather surprisingly, taught Topalov the Old Indian Defence against 1.d4 and the French against 1.e4. Atanatov adds that at some point Topalov “refused to play it and started to play the Sicilian Defence instead.” Quite telling if you ask me.

Karolyi gives some interesting, excellently annotated examples from Atanasov’s own games, showing how his preference for exchange sacrifices influenced Topalov:

Atanasov-Ilievski
Ruse 1978

27.Rd5!! This is another lovely exchange sacrifice. White needs to play like this in order to invade.

27…Bxd5 In the long term Black cannot avoid taking the rook. For instance: 27…Qb4 28.Kc2 (White is also better after 28.Qc2 Bb8 29.Ne1) 28…Bb8 (28…a4 29.bxa4) 29.Ra1 Black cannot avoid the type of position he gets in the game.

28.Rxd5! Taking back this way really chokes Black.

28…Qc6 29.Ne1! Atanasov improves all his pieces.

29…Bb6 30.Qd1 Ke7 31.Rb5 Forcing Black to decide where to put the bishop. (…)

Despite the obvious achievements of these geniuses in the background, there’s often more than a touch of melancholy in the words of the former trainers. Asked about his current relationship with Topalov, Atanasov embarks on a somewhat bitter personal story:

“In 1991 there were big changes in Bulgaria and in my life too. Sport societies were cleared away and I was thrown out of work. At the same time I built my own appartment and the problems grew every day. Exactly at this critical moment Silvio Danailov made an offer to Vesko [Topalov] to leave for Spain. From this moment it was clear that there was no future for our partnership. (…) Unfortunately, I have not been a coach for a long time. In 1993 the sport society ‘Dunav’ was closed. Since that I have had many jobs of various types in different places. Now I’m unemployed.” (…)

Do they invest money into junior chess or just the big Sofia event?

“No one gives money for junior chess in Bulgaria! Only some people with bigger financial opportunities try to support chess, but this is unprofitable for them and they give up very soon. (…) I personally evaluate the big changes – economical and political – as negative. Thousands of Bulgarians, most of them young people, left the country. There is widespread unemployment, small salaries, corruption and criminality. This is what we have after the changes up to now. (…) I’m already 61 years old. Looking back and considering my life, I see that there are many things to regret. But most tragic is that my future promises to be very hard.”

Such extreme honesty, almost painful to read, makes for fascinating background information on both Topalov’s chess career and his country’s current efforts to promote chess and is a valuable contribution to chess literature. However, not all of the book’s interviews with former trainers, are quite so compelling. In the chapter on Alexander Shakarov, one of Kasparov’s earliest trainers, questions are often answered in such a brief way that they one raise more questions than they answer:

What does chess mean to you?
“Chess for a long time was the most important thing for me. I was a fanatic, then it became my profession.”

Can you recall when you first met Garry?
“The first time was in January 1972 when he played at the schoolboys’ championship where I was an arbiter.”

When did you start training him and how long did you train him?
“Officially in September 1976, unofficially from 1973.”

Obviously not satisfied with these short answers, the interviewer tries again, but Shakarov prefers to stay on the surface:

Could you explain it in a more detailed way?
“In the years 1973-1975 I worked with Garry unofficially, and it was not that regular. There were even some weeks when we did not do anything. There were two groups and Garry officially was in the other one. The trainer of the other section was Oleg Privorotsky who was his first trainer. However, from 1973 onwards Garry was selected for the national teams of Azerbaijan. I was senior trainer of these national teams.”

Did you follow any plan when you trained him?
“The main plan was constructed by Botvinnik.”

Once again, the interviewer feels there must be more to it than this, but he’s in for another disappointment:

Could you please say a few words about what a session was like?
“I no longer remember well what themes we worked on – you know, three decades have passed. In our sessions we usually followed Botvinnik’s and Alexander Nikitin’s plan. And in addition sometimes we analysed very tough and complicated opening positions. I recognized the ‘tracks’ of our work in Garry’s play only in the openings.”

Reading this interview, I’m left with the feeling that Shakarov didn’t exactly have a huge role in this period, and I wonder how important he actually was to Kasparov’s development. How close was he to Kasparov, anyway? According to K�rolyi, he and Kasparov analysed and annotated about two dozens of games together, but I can’t help wondering whether this was perhaps Botvinnik or Nikitin delegating the analyses and Kasparov doing most of the work? When asked if he was present during the final game of the 1985 World Championship match against Karpov, Shakarov only says “No, I was not in the tournament hall during that game.” It’s all a little puzzling, if you ask me.

On the other hand, the book convincingly shows that Alexander Shakarov was a truly great chess player himself, and the games section of the chapter dedicated to him is one of the highlights of the book. Here’s an example of what K�rolyi calls Shakarov’s influence on Kasparov’s ability to “execute brilliant attacking ideas on the edge of the board”.

Rubin-Shakarov
Corr. 1975

18…Rd2!! It is thematic to get to the opponent’s second rank; however, it is extraordinary to achieve it so early, especially with Black. The text also creates a strong aesthetic impression by placing the rook en prise.

19.e4 The rook is immune because of 19.Qxd2 Ne4!, with terrible mating threats along the g-file. And if 19.Rad1 Rxe2 20.Rxe2 Qxf3 Black forces mate. (…)

19…Rfd8! 20.Kh1 Nh5 21.Rab1 There are many alternatives, but Black prevails in all lines (…).

21…Qg6 22.Rg1

22…Rxe2! Black keeps playing on the second rank. The loss of the queen is a small price to pay for the wonderful attack he obtains.

23.Rxg6 hxg6 24.f4 After 24.Rg1 Rdd2 25.Bc1 Rc2 26.Qe5 Rxf2 27.Be3 Bg2+ 28.Rxg2 Rxg2 29.Bxc5 Rgd2 White’s king is caught. (…) Finally, in the event of 24.Qb3 Rxf2 25.Be5 b6 26.a4 Rdd2 27.a5 Bg2+ 28.Kg1 Rxf3 Black simply has too many pieces surrounding the enemy king.

24…Red2! This clever switchback with the rook was tough to anticipate; it looks more natural to look for a way to double on the second rank. However, upon closer inspection, White’s position is bleeding as the back rank is so weak. The damage is irreparable. It takes a little preparation but Black invariably succeeds in every variation. (…)

In this fragment, K�rolyi shows his great annotation skills (the analyses are much more elaborate than they are reproduced here) and his ability to see patterns in games and player’s qualities. K�rolyi is always looking for comparisons between teacher and pupil, trying to make connections between past and present and linking skills and sometimes lack thereof.

Genius in the Background isn’t about chess trainers only. It’s a much more ambitious project than that. There’s a chapter on the development of chess culture in Singapore. It features elaborate and loving portraits of endgame study composers Yochanan Afek and Karsten M�ller. And indeed much, much more. One of the most fascinating chapters is about the remarkable Laszlo Lindner (1916-2004), a Hungarian chess player and endgame composer who survived the Nazi concentration camp Bor, now part of Serbia. Lindner actually recorded some chess games he played in the camp against the later Hungarian chess champion Tibor Florian.

The games were played on a small chess set Florian managed to bring inside the camp. The player hid behind their barracks and the moves were scribbled in a notebook by Lindner, a picture of which is reproduced in the book. I can’t help quoting one game in full.

Florian-Lindner
Bor 1944

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 b6 6.f3 d5 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bg5 Nbd7 9.e3 0-0 10.Bd3 h6 11.Bh4 Re8 12.Bf2 c5

13.Ne2 The early moves tell us that the two players were quite well educated in opening theory.

13…c4 14.Bc2 Nf8 15.g4! This is a modern approach. Even today world-class grandmasters use the same idea, although nowadays Black will usually have exchanged the light-squared bishops on a6. The most famous game involving this central structure was the immortal encounter Botvinnik-Capablanca, Avro 1938.

15…Qc7 16.Ng3 Ng6 17.h4 Nh7

18.Qb1?? The presence of such a blunder indicates that our heroes were already in very bad shape.

18…Nhf8? 18…Rxe3+! wins instantly.

19.Nh5 Rb8 20.Kf1! On the other hand this is a subtle move.

20…b5? 21.e421…dxe4 22.Bxe4

22…Bxg4?? This is a bluff, but it does the trick.

23.Nxg7? After the simple 23.fxg4 Qd7 24.Bf3 Black is a piece down with no compensation.

23…Kxg7 24.fxg4 Qf4 0-1 Though White has a reasonable position, he resigned. Probably his physical state no longer allowed him to see things clearly.

Replaying these games, knowing in which circumstances they must have been played, is a weird sensation. Who knows what might have caused Florian to resign in this position? And this is only the beginning of an utterly haunting chapter on a truly extraordinary character in 20th century chess history.

Genius in the Background is a unique book, a one-of-a-kind experience in chess literature. It’s beautifully published and extremely well-researched and annotated. Sure, some chapters are more interesting than others, but the overall concept is so gripping that that’s easily forgiven. If you are interested in more than – or from time to time even a bit bored by – the constant stream of daily chess news, then this is the right book for you. Personally, I think everyone should read it.

Links

• Get yourself a copy of Genius in the Background
• Read more book reviews

Koshnitsky�s patrons were grown women, of course, and to create a player of top class it was surely necessary to begin with much younger pupils. That is where the second creator of mountains enters. Evelyn Koshnitsky has made her life�s work the promotion of chess among the young and her special passion has been to get girls to play. First in Sydney and then in Adelaide from the early 1960s when the couple moved there she cajoled, begged and bullied support. Manpower, money, venues � she is an expert at getting what she wants from parents, schools, government, business � whoever might have something of use.

Birmingham, Alabama is perhaps known more for its Civil Rights legacy than for chess. Chess in Alabama has not met a renaissance although the state has produced several strong players. The lack of such a presence may make it difficult to find models to emulate. However, scholastic chess has blossomed in spite of this fact.

In Birmingham, Charles Smith has been able to carve a niche in helping to foster chess development on the scholastic level. One of his pupils is 12-year old Sydney Morris who recently won the Birmingham Middle School Championship with 5/5. In doing so, she will represent her state in the Polgar National Invitational July 25-30 at Texas Tech University.

Source: http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-stories/2010/05/birminghams_sydney_morris_is_s.html

Besides his team of seconds in Sofia, Viswanathan Anand was helped by some big names before or during his World Championship match against Veselin Topalov. Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik all contributed to Anand’s victory in Sofia. The World Champion Monday revealed this in an interview on Playchess.

Right after the end of the World Championship match, Viswanathan Anand revealed his team of seconds. As it turned out, the same names as two years ago in Bonn worked for the Indian: GMs Surya Ganguly, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Peter Heine Nielsen and Radoslaw Wojtaszek. However, this week Anand revealed another, quite interesting list of helpers: Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik.

In a remarkable interview with Frederic Friedel and GM Jan Gustafsson, held last Monday on Playchess, Anand first tells about his cooperation with world’s number one Magnus Carlsen, who worked with Anand before.

Basically I had him as a sparring partner. We did check some openings together, but the basic idea was that I would get to play a lot with him. Very few people can simulate a real tournament situation like Magnus can. We played a lot of blitz, and I felt good, because I was able to test a lot of areas I was unfamiliar with before. With Magnus you can test almost any position, because he can play almost any position, and play it reasonably well. In that sense his practical skills are very helpful.

Carlsen worked with the retired, 13th World Champion Garry Kasparov last year and in fact Kasparov also offered his help to Anand himself. The Indian said about him:

Garry got in touch and said he wanted to help a little bit. I sent him some details about what we were planning to play� (…) I sent him some questions and he said he would check them against his own notes and let me know if it was okay.

Frederic Friedel, one of the founders of Chessbase and the editor of the English news page, then reveals that he put Anand in touch with Vladimir Kramnik, his opponent in the previous World Championship match. Anand about Kramnik’s assistance:

He actually started participating actively. He was also very understanding � he knew I would go to sleep once in a while, so he was happily speaking to the other team members as well, especially Rustam. They started getting in touch with each other and he gave us quite a few heavy-duty ideas, so that was nice. Actually he got in touch consistently over the next few days, and I cannot think of anyone who was more relieved than him when I stopped playing the Elista ending. He said �it�s an awful ending, why do you keep defending it every day?�

The fourth name on Anand’s ‘remote seconds list’ is the Dutch super-talent GM Anish Giri:

Anish also did a couple of days of training with me. It was very similar to what I was doing with Magnus � I got to test a lot of things. There were a lot of areas I had no practical experience with, like the Catalan which I was playing almost the first time, the Elista ending and so on. Anish also sat and went through that.

We recommend reading one of the most remarkable and revealing interviews we’ve ever seen on Chessbase. Part 1 is here, and part 2 here. In the interview several times “Topalov’s computer cluster” is mentioned, and in fact today we received a brief interview with Topalov, from the World Championship organizers, in which this is explained:

1. Grandmaster Topalov, regardless of the outcome, during the match between you and Viswanathan Anand we watched your dominance in the openings when you played with the white pieces. What caused this fact?

- During my preparation for the match, me and my manager Silvio Danailov, we decided to approach something non-standard and to seek additional resources to increase the advantage over my opponent.It turned out that there is such a possibility, we found that in Bulgaria is installed and running one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world – Blue Gene / P of IBM. And because the computers and the chess software are a necessary component of the preparation of the modern grandmasters, we decided to use the vast computational power of this machine. The IBM�s Blue Gene/P has 8192 processors and you can imagine for how huge possibilities we are talking about.

IBM Blue Gene P supercomputer | Photo Argonne National Laboratory, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

The problem was the fact that in the world currently there is not any chess software whose source code is written to work with such a multiprocessor platform. However, me and Silvio, we did not gave up and he managed to gather an international team of leading experts who have created a project for a chess program that can use the computing power of this extraordinary supercomputer. And now is the time to express my great thanks to the General Manager of IBM Bulgaria Mr. Alexander Rakov and the IT architect of the company Mr. Yovko Lambrev for the access to the resources of Blue Gene / P they provided to us and that they have made enormous efforts that our idea become a reality. I want to thank to the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Mr. Boyko Borisov too, who allowed us the access to the supercomputer, which as you know is state owned.

So ultimately, even though I lost the match, I managed to achieve a dominance over Anand in the openings in all games, in which I played with the white pieces. This advantage was demonstrated very clear especially in the first game, when I won fast and with decisive priority.

What�s next for gm Veselin Topalov from now on?

- Short break and chess again. In my closest plans, however, it�s included an initiative to increase young people’s interest in relation of the high technologies and the artificial intelligence, which will be held under my patronage in cooperation with IBM Bulgaria.

I will do it because of my direct experience I know how important are and will be the computers and high technologies for our future and the career development of the young people.

In a few days we will announce an essay contest among high school students from Sofia concerning a topic in the field of high technologies. First five best students will form a representative team which will play a mini chess tournament / three games / against the IBM�s supercomputer Blue Gene / P.
After each of the games I’m going to comment the game and will give my advices to the young players. IBM Bulgaria will arrange for the finalists meetings with its leading experts to get them acquainted with the vast world of high technologies.

If all goes as we imagined it, the initiative will become annual.

Zambia has produced just one Grandmaster so far, but this little fact hasn't deterred Zambians from taking up chess and dreaming of making it big one day.

Phiri Richmond, from the Zambian capital Lusaka, is one such dreamer. He is here to participate in the Parsvnath Commonwealth Chess Championship.

Born to a family of farmers, the 22-year-old is the youngest of seven siblings. "My family grows and keeps all kind of stuff," says Richmond.

"From keeping pigs, to growing tomatoes, bananas, peas, baby corn and other vegetables."

By his own admission, coming to India and playing the Championship wouldn't have been possible, had it not been for his sponsors who spotted him at the African Ch�ship in 2006. " I finished third in the championship. Later, the Green Eagles Club approached me and I grabbed the offer," said the Zambian champion, who has an ELO rating of 2165.

There's been no looking back for Richmond. In 2006, he clinched gold at the Chess Olympiad in Turin. The African won the 'junior champion' title for two consecutive years (2007-08) and claimed the national championship in 2008.

Interestingly, none of his siblings play chess. But at this point, Richmond is quick to add, " The important thing is they don't stop me from playing either. I remember, in 2004 I was about to quit school for the love of the game. But my parents asked me to quit chess instead. They wanted me to concentrate on studies. That was a difficult experience."

He belongs to Zambia's 'Chewa' tribe, and fluent in the tribal dialect. When asked to say something in his native tongues, Richmond rattles off a line that translates into, " Wait for me. I can make it big."

Chess daily news from Susan Polgar

• Daniel Liu 2.0
• Daniel Ho 2.0
• Justin Wang 1.5 (drew with James Black, rated 2070!!)
• Audrey Zhao 1.5
• Emily Zhu 1.5
  

• Kesav Viswanadha 2.0
• Allan Beilin 2.0 (Kesav and Allan play on boards 1 and 2 on Saturday morning)
• Art Zhao 2.0
• Cameron Wheeler 1.0 (too many upsets in this section already)
• Jeffrey Tao 1.5
• Armaan Kalyanpur 1.5
• Alvin Kong 1.5

• FM Tanuj Vasudeva 2.0
• Michael Wang 2.0
• Joanna Liu 2.0
• Amit Sant 2.0
• Leyton Ho 1.5
  

• Solomon Ge 2.0
• Mihir Bhuptani 2.0
• Daniel Mendelevitch 2.0
• Luke Zhao 2.0
• John Chan 2.0

• Weibel K-6 is in 5th place with 5.5
• MSJE K-6 is in 8th place with 5.0
• MSJE K-5 is in THIRD PLACE with 5.5
• Weibel K-5 is in 11th place with 5.0
• Weibel K-3 is in FIRST PLACE with 6.0
• MSJE K-3 is in 9th place with 4.0
• MSJE K-1 is in SECOND PLACE place with 7.0

Update 30 aprile

Baku, Azerbaigian � Giunge alla quinta edizione la �President�s Cup�, dedicata in verit� all�ex Presidente dell�Azerbaigian, deceduto nel 2003, Heydar Aliyev (l�attuale Presidente � suo figlio Ilham). Nelle prime tre edizioni il formato scelto era stato quello dell�open, nella quarta si era invece assistito ad un match tra Azerbaigian e Resto del Mondo a cadenza rapid, dove i pur forti giocatori locali non avevano potuto resistere ad una micidiale formazione composta da Anand, Kramnik, Shirov e Karjakin!

Quest�anno otto sono i partecipanti, quattro locali e quattro �stranieri�, ma il formato scelto � quello di un girone all�italiana di sola andata, quindi tutti contro tutti.

Questi i giocatori invitati:

Strano il mancato invito di Vugar Gashimov, ma l�Azerbaigian certo non sorprende in questo campo: in precedenza lo stesso Mamedyarov, a Torino 2006, non aveva preso parte alla squadra olimpica azera per problemi con la propria federazione.

Cadenza 25� a testa; due turni previsti il 29 aprile, tre il 30 e gli ultimi due il primo maggio. Il 2 maggio si terr� un torneo blitz.

Immagini dal sito ufficiale

Primo turno, campeggia il Presidente

Secondo turno, Mamedyarov batte Kramnik!

Eccola: la President's Cup!

And the Winner is!

Vladimir Kramnik, Russia!

Sito ufficiale

[Biker - 29/04]

Nalchik, Russia � E� in corso la terza prova del �Grand Prix FIDE Femminile�, competizione costituita da una serie di tornei (sei) che hanno la funzione di designare la prossima sfidante al titolo del Campionato del Mondo Femminile che si disputer� nel 2011. La Campionessa del Mondo in carica � Alexandra Kosteniuk, che difender� il proprio titolo in Turchia nel dicembre di quest�anno, in un Campionato del Mondo KO. La Campionessa del Mondo designata da Turchia 2010 sar� appunto sfidata l�anno successivo dalla vincitrice del Grand Prix Femminile.

Attualmente leader del Grand Prix Femminile � la cinese Zhao Xue.

Queste le partecipanti alla terza prova del GP Femminile:

La prova si svolge dal 26 aprile al 7 maggio, giorno di riposo il primo maggio. Dunque 11 turni; la vincitrice del torneo disporr� di 6.500 euro, 15.000 per la vincitrice del Grand Prix.

La favorita � Koneru Humpy, ma non avr� gioco facile contro Tatiana Kosintseva, le cinesi Hou Yifan e Zhao Xue, senza dimenticare la Campionessa Europea Pia Cramling. Le altre giocatrici sono comunque tutte molte competitive e non ci sarebbe troppo da stupirsi di un loro inserimento nella vetta della classifica finale.

Immagini dal sito ufficiale:

Koneru Humpy, India

Hou Yifan, Cina

Tatiana Kosintseva, Russia

Zhao Xue, Cina

Baira Kovanova, Russia

Betul Cemre Yilmiz, Turchia

Elina Danielian

Nana Dzagnidze

Zhu Chen

Sito ufficiale

[Biker - 28/04]

Praga - Consueto match “rapid”, denominato “?EZ CHESS TROPHY“, che ha avuto gi� diverse edizioni sempre con protagonista David Navara. Nel 2007 si confront� con Nigel Short, con vittoria di David; nel 2008 con Kramnik che ovviamente stravinse; nel 2009 fu la volta di Ivanchuk, netta vittoria per Chucky. Nel 2010 � Judit Polgar la sfidante di Navara, avversaria tutt’altro che facile, molto forte nel gioco veloce.

And the Winner is…

Judit Polgar!

Il confronto � previsto dal 22 al 24 aprile.

Interessante il programma della manifestazione, anche per alcune accattivanti conferenze:

Gioved� 22

4 p.m. � �Vera Menchik � world’s first women’s chess champion�- lecture by GM Vlastimil Hort

5 p.m. � 1st game of the match David Navara � Judit Polgar

6.15 p.m. � 2ndgame of the match David Navara � Judit Polgar

7.30 p.m. � 3rd game of the match David Navara � Judit Polgar

Venerd� 23

4 p.m. � Quiz of History of female chess � prepared and held by GM Vlastimil Hort

5 p.m. � 4th game of the match David Navara � Judit Polgar

6.15 p.m. � 5th game of the match David Navara � Judit Polgar

7.30 p.m. � 6th game of the match David Navara � Judit Polgar

Sabato 24

4 p.m. � �On beauty, women and little bit on chess� – lecture by GM Lubomir Kavalek

5 p.m. � 7th game of the match David Navara � Judit Polgar

6.15 pm. – 8th game of the match David Navara � Judit Polgar

7.30 p.m. � tie-break (if the need arises) of the match David Navara � Judit Polgar

Domenica 25

4 p.m. � simul of GM Judit Polgar against 25 competitors

Sito ufficiale

[Biker - 22/04]

Kragujevac, Serbia. Il Campionato Serbo si svolge dal 18 aprile al primo maggio. Quest�anno si sono registrate importanti defezioni, comunque il livello � sempre notevole.

La lista dei partecipanti:

Dicevamo delle assenze. Certo la mancanza di Bojan Vuckovic, 2630, di Robert Markus, 2618, e soprattutto di Ivan Ivanisevic, 2630 e Campione Serbo sia nel 2008 che nel 2009, si faranno sentire; comunque Milos Perunovic � un giocatore notevole, gi� Campione Serbo nel 2005 (per quell�anno � pi� corretto parlare di �Serbia e Montenegro�) e nel 2007, e la concorrenza � senz�altro di tutto rispetto.

Milos Perunovic, in una curiosa immagine (foto Chessbase)

Ovviamente girone all�italiana, tredici turni. Giorno di riposo il 23 aprile.

And the Winner is…

Nikola Sedlak!

Sito ufficiale

[Biker - 18/04]

Hanoi, Vietnam – E’ in corso di svolgimento un match amichevole tra le rappresentative della Germania e del Vietnam, nel corso del 35� anniversario dell’inizio delle relazioni diplomatiche tra i due paesi.

L’incontro si svolge su sei scacchiere di scacchi “internazionali” (quattro maschili e due femminili) e una di scacchi “cinesi” o Xiangqi. Le due nazioni hanno preso molto sul serio l’evento, schierando formazioni molto competitive, come pu� risultare evidente sia per la Germania che schiera giocatori come i GM Daniel Fridman, 2650, e Jan Gustafsson, 2646, sia per il Vietnam che non risparmia i propri gioielli: Le Quang Liem, 2689 e Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, 2642. Il compito non certo semplice per i tedeschi di tenere il campo nella specialit� dello Xiangqi � stato affidato nientemeno che a Robert H�bner, scacchista di primissimo livello che non ha mai nascosto la propria passione per i giochi “da tavolo” orientali, come appunto lo Xiangqi e il Go.

Questi i primi due turni in programma per quanto riguarda gli scacchi “internazionali”; nello Xiangqi H�bner ha dovuto cedere nella prima partita contro Huu Cuong Vu.

H�bner affronta Vu Huu Cuong nella specialit� Xiangqi

L’articolo di Chessbase sull’evento

[Biker - 15/04]

Metz, Francia – 28� Open di Metz previsto dal 10 al 16 aprile.

Partecipazione di tutto rispetto, questi gli iscritti Over2500:

1 GM BAUER Christian 2607 FRA
2 GM BURMAKIN Vladimir 2604 RUS
3 GM CORRALES JIMENEZ Fidel 2585 CUB
4 GM SPRAGGETT Kevin 2580 CAN
5 GM FELLER Sebastien 2576 FRA
6 GM SOKOLOV Andrei 2563 FRA
7 GM NIJBOER Friso 2562 NED
8 GM EINGORN Vereslav S 2560 UKR
9 GM ABBASOV Farid 2549 AZE
10 GM BHAT Vinay S. 2549 USA
11 GM ZINCHENKO Yaroslav 2546 UKR
12 GM ZUBAREV Alexander 2536 UKR
13 GM BRODSKY Michail 2527 UKR
14 IM PAP Misa 2521 SRB
15 GM LEON HOYOS Manuel 2521 MEX
16 GM MILANOVIC Danilo 2507 SRB

Christian Bauer

Un’attenzione particolare per questi due giovanissimi, entrambi classe 1994:

29 FM LAGARDE Maxime 2412 FRA

30 FM RINGOIR Tanguy 2401 BEL

Maxime Lagarde

Tanguy Ringoir

Previsti nove turni di gioco a cadenza 90′x40 mosse + 30′ per finire, sempre con l’incremento di 30″.

Primo premio 2500 euro.

And the Winner is…

Andrei Sokolov, Francia (foto Wikipedia)!

Sito di riferimento

[Biker - 12/04]

Kyustendil, Bulgaria – 74^ edizione del Campionato Nazionale della Bulgaria dal 7 al 17 aprile. Ovviamente assenti Topalov (che al Campionato nazionale ha partecipato solo da giovanissimo) e Cheparinov (che invece l’ha vinto due volte, nel 2004 e nel 2005) in questo momento in ben altre faccende affaccendati; manca anche Delchev, colonna della squadra olimpica bulgara. In compenso � presente il n� 2 bulgaro (dietro a Topalov e davanti a Cheparinov) l’esperto Kiril Georgiev, Elo 2669, molto stabile vicino alla soglia dei 2700 ormai da una dozzina d’anni; a suo tempo fu Campione del Mondo Juniores e nel 2009 ha partecipato anche al Campionato Italiano a squadre, nella squadra “Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova”, contribuendo alla conquista del titolo. Senz’altro interessante anche la presenza di Kiprian Berbatov, classe 1996, gi� Campione Europeo Under 12, vera e propria speranza nazionale, tanto che � gi� stato candidato (nientemeno che da Danailov) come componente della prossima squadra olimpica bulgara.

Questo il lotto dei partecipanti:

Kiril Georgiev

Kiprian Berbatov

Girone all’italiana, tredici turni. Sono previsti un paio di doppi turni, la cadenza � quindi piuttosto “agile”: 90′ x 40 mosse + 30′ per finire, sempre con l’abbuono di 30″.

Primo premio: 2.000 euro.

And the Winner is…

Boris Chatalbashev!

Sito di riferimento

[Biker - 08/04]

Kuala Lumpur, Malesia � Si svolge dal 7 al 12 aprile nella capitale della Malesia il 3� KL Open.

Partecipanti Over2500:

Presenti anche Aleksander Wohl (IM australiano, 2441, �secondo� di Aronian in diverse occasioni) e molti Indiani con Elo non alto ma sicuramente pericolosi.

Mikheil Mchedlishvili (foto Tiviakov per Chessbase)

Top Player dunque il georgiano Mikheil Mchedlishvili, da un paio d�anni solidamente sopra i 2600; ma probabilmente l�attrazione del torneo � Hou Yifan, nonostante il fatto che negli ultimi due anni si sia un pochino arenata, non mantenendo forse le aspettative che molti avevano nei suoi confronti all�epoca della sua esplosione a soli 12 anni: comunque avendo ora solo 16 anni le prospettive di un�ulteriore crescita certo non le mancano�

And the Winner is…

Hou Yifan, Cina!

Nove i turni di gioco previsti. Primo premio di 10.000 ringgit malesi, equivalenti a circa 2300 euro.

Sito ufficiale

[Biker - 07/04]

Salonicco, Grecia � E� tempo di �Festival dei Giochi� a Salonicco: per la sesta volta viene organizzata questa �kermesse� in cui accanto a biliardo, freccette, giochi di carte ed altri giochi da tavolo, anche gli scacchi sono in bella mostra. Quest�anno sono diverse le manifestazioni scacchistiche nell�ambito del �Festival dei Giochi�, a partire dall�Open �Thessaloniki 2010�, che vede la partecipazione anche di giocatori italiani particolarmente competitivi.

Questa la �TopTen� del torneo:

Sono inoltre presenti:

Daniele Vocaturo (foto Chessbase)

Sono previsti nove turni di gioco.

Cadenza: 90′ x 40 mosse + 30′ per terminare, sempre con abbuono di 30″.

Primo premio di 1.000 euro.

Piuttosto variegato l’orario d’inizio delle partite:

Monday April 5th 16:00 Round 1
Tuesday April 6th 10:00 Round 2
Tuesday April 6th 17:00 Round 3
Wednesday April 7th 16:00 Round 4
Thursday April 8th 16:00 Round 5
Friday April 9th 10:00 Round 6
Friday April 9th 17:00 Round 7
Saturday April 10th 16:00 Round 8
Sunday April 11th 09:30 Round 9

Questo il quadro completo delle competizioni di scacchi organizzate presso il �Festival dei Giochi�:

A) European Individual School Championship dal 5 all�11 Aprile

B) Open Thessaloniki 2010 dal 5 all�11 Aprile

C) International Open Blitz, l�11 Aprile

D) Campionato Europeo Seniores Rapid, 8-9 Aprile

E) Campionato Europeo Seniores, dal 10 al 18 Aprile

And the Winner is…

Marijan Petrov, Bulgaria!

E nel Campionato Europeo Seniores “the Winner is…”

Vitaly Tseshkovsky, Russia!

Sito ufficiale

[Biker - 06/04]

Dubai, Emirati Arabi Uniti – Il 12� Dubai Open � previsto dal 5 al 13 aprile. E’ questo un torneo che per montepremi, confort di soggiorno e inviti non lesinati attira sempre un folto gruppo di GM anche di ottimo livello: l’edizione 2010 non fa eccezione.

Questa la “Top 20” del 12� Dubai Open

Gabriel Sargissian

Nove turni di gioco. Cadenza 90′ con incremento di 30″ a mossa. Primo premio di 8.000 $.

Il 9 aprile � previsto un giorno di riposo (solo per alcuni, visto che � in programma un torneo ‘Blitz’). Doppio turno il 10 aprile.

And the Winner is…