1. 2010 World Chess Championship: Anand vs Topalov – Game #4 Post by Jerry This is an analysis video covering Game...
2. Chess Queens Fight – Alexandra vs Judit Post by Jerry The following is a blitz game from...
3. 10 Ways to Improve Your Chess The following is a video tutorial presentation providing insight on...

1. Topalov vs Anand – Game #12: 2010 World Chess Championship This is an analysis video covering Game 12 of the...
2. Chess Queens Fight – Alexandra vs Judit Post by Jerry The following is a blitz game from...
3. 10 Ways to Improve Your Chess The following is a video tutorial presentation providing insight on...

1. 2010 World Chess Championship: Anand vs Topalov – Game #4 Post by Jerry This is an analysis video covering Game...
2. Topalov vs Anand – Game #12: 2010 World Chess Championship This is an analysis video covering Game 12 of the...
3. Chess Queens Fight – Alexandra vs Judit Post by Jerry The following is a blitz game from...

Sul sorgere dell’estate, tra alberi secolari!

La nascita di un nuovo torneo a 9 turni non può che essere salutata con grande piacere, sperando che la nuova manifestazione riesca a mettere radici solide e a porsi  come buon punto di riferimento del nostro calendario. Del torneo Verde Sila abbiamo già accennato diverse volte nell’ambito degli articoli sul Progetto Ausonia, la bella iniziativa con l’ASD Alto Tirreno Cosentino, di cui siamo sinceramente orgogliosi.

La manifestazione si svolge a Croce di Magara (circa 25 km. da Cosenza), piccola frazione di Spezzano, situata nel Parco Nazionale della Sila, in un contesto naturalistico superbo. Il Parco è stato istituito nel 2002, comprendendo il precedente Parco Nazionale della Calabria, e si distribuisce su diversi altopiani, con molte riserve e aree faunistiche, anche con la reintroduzione di specie che fino a pochi secoli fa erano tipiche della zona, come il cervo e il capriolo, ormai presenti in centinaia di esemplari.

Tra gli obiettivi del parco anche la salvaguardia e lo sviluppo della grande tradizione agro – pastorale della Sila, con una enogastronomia straordinaria, aspetto sempre di notevole rilievo in una bella vacanza!

Il torneo si svolge a due passi dalla riserva naturale dei “Giganti di Fallistro”, una delle ultime testimonianze dell’antica selva silana. Alcuni alberi hanno un’età vicina ai 400 anni, con splendidi esempi di pini larici e alcuni magnifici aceri montani. La riserva si visita esclusivamente a piedi, attraverso un percorso che passa anche per l’Antica Filanda. Innumerevoli poi le altre possibili escursioni a disposizione!

In questa cornice di grande fascino e bellezza si colloca la sede di gara, l’Hotel Magara, a 1450 metri di quota, con una capacità di accoglienza e una offerta di servizi di ottimo livello (4 stelle), fino alla piscina coperta, con una ottima convenzione (50 euro in pensione completa), scontata rispetto alle normali tariffe, dettaglio che mostra l’attenzione e la validità organizzativa. D’altra parte, anche se si tratta di una prima edizione, le garanzie organizzative sono notevoli, basandosi sull’esperienza dell’ASD Alto Tirreno Cosentino e di Marcello Rametta, con curate e splendide esperienze come il bel Festival di Amantea e la grande passione nella promozione del gioco, con migliaia (!!) di ragazzi coinvolti attraverso l’attività nelle scuole.

Le caratteristiche della situazione sembrano poter favorire una situazione da “cittadella degli scacchi”, un’occasione di incontro e di conoscenza che ha spesso costituito un valore aggiunto nei pochi tornei che possono vantare condizioni analoghe (mi viene in mente, ad esempio, Porto Mannu, purtroppo non svoltosi quest’anno).

Si gioca dal 20 al 27 giugno, 9 turni per il Magistrale (Elo superiore a 1800) e 8 turni per l’Open (Elo inferiore a 1900) e l’Under 16. Tempo di riflessione 90 minuti per 40 mosse più 30 minuti per finire, con incremento di 30 secondi a mossa a partire dalla prima. 5.000 euro il montepremi, ben distribuito anche rispetto all’Open con i 400 euro previsti per il vincitore.

Il Verde Sila fa parte del Chess Calabria Tour 2010, manifestazione che comprende anche il già disputato torneo Costa Viola e i Festival “Città di Amantea” (29 agosto – 5 settembre) e “Riviera dei Cedri” (6 – 12 settembre), con un montepremi aggiuntivo attraverso una classifica cumulativa per chi partecipa ad almeno due delle manifestazioni.

E il Verde Sila è anche, come accennato, il secondo torneo del Progetto Ausonia. Comunicheremo a breve i nominativi dei due ragazzi (un under 16 e un under 14) che parteciperanno, che saranno seguiti durante il torneo da due tutor d’eccezione come i Grandi Maestri Milan Drasko e Miroljiub Lazic, due dei titolati internazionali che parteciperanno alla gara.

Milan Drasko (da Greekchess)...

Miroljiub Lazic (foto R. Tonel)

Le premesse per una nuova bella manifestazione ci sono evidentemente tutte! Il sito di riferimento è quello dell’Alto Tirreno Cosentino, http://www.altirchess.com/ , sempre ottimamente aggiornato in tutti i precedenti Festival organizzati.

According to conventional wisdow, there’s no such thing as chance. So was it a coincidence that in the same week in which ChessVibes published two articles on Anatoly Karpov, I suddenly found a copy of Find the Right Plan with Anatoly Karpov, by Karpov and Anatoly Matsukevich, on my doormat? In any case, I decided not to tempt fate and started reading immediately.

Anatoly Karpov has written many books in various flavours, including a series on chess openings. In this new co-production with Russian author Matsukevich (translated from the Russian original by Sarah Hurst), Karpov explores the already densely-populated genre of chess improvement books. Find the Right Plan with Anatoly Karpov is published by Batsford Chess, and I guess this is a good moment to make a small digression on publishers of chess books in general. Don’t worry, there will be game fragments and diagrams later on as well!

When I started to become interested in chess books, which was in the mid-80s, Batsford was one of the most active and popular publishers of chess books in English. About ten years later (around the time I worked as a chess book seller in Amsterdam), Batsford got serious competition from publishers like Gambit and Everyman (previously known as Cadogan). Still a few years later, New in Chess started to dominate the market and the lists of popular quality chess books. I think it’s fair to say that Batsford has lagged behind a bit in recent years, perhaps still shocked by all the competitors they’re having to deal with now.

So it may surprise you that they’re actually still very actively involved in the chess book business. In fact, they’re covering a much bigger range of chess book styles than most publishers, for an impressively differing range of audiences. For instance, I recently read the hilarious chess tutorial for beginners Learn Chess Quick by Brian Byfield (who “first picked up and Alan Orpin the game when he knocked over his father’s board at the age of two”) and Alan Orpin (”hangs out in obscure Hamburg coffee shops playing chess with strangers for money”) and illustrated by Gray Jolliffe, who (despite knowing “diddly-squat about chess when he started the drawings for this book”) did an excellent job in capturing the lighter side of chess in cartoon-style.
A bigger contrast with the highly serious new book by the twelfth world champion is hardly possible!

Actually, I kind of understand why other publishers have become so popular in recent years. Find the Right Plan with Anatoly Karpov is a good-looking, neatly published work, no doubt about it, but the layout of the text, the font style and diagrams somehow remind me of an older generation of chess books. Take a look at some of New in Chess’s recent books, with their beautiful shiny covers, photographs and outstanding general editorial quality, and see for yourself. We’re really becoming a bit spoiled in this respect.

And then there’s that title… it’s not exactly catchy, is it? More importantly, what about the authorship of the book? Didn’t Karpov just lend his name to another project by Russian chess author Matsukevich, who has published several co-authored books? Well, it’s true the introduction doesn’t say anything about the division of labour between the two Anatoly’s, but the quality of the book is so high and does have a distinct ‘Karpov flavour’, as we will see, so we shouldn’t worry about it too much. The fact is that Karpov and Matsukevich’s book is a true gem which is very hard to put down once opened.

In the introduction, the authors describe the following questions every improving chess player struggles with:

How can you find your way in every situation, even those that are completely unfamiliar, and how can you choose the correct order of actions to accomplish the main task? How can you learn to distinguish important features from secondary ones, and if you’ve managed to do this, what do you do next? Our book is about all of this.

These are good questions. After all, it’s one thing to create a system which hands you all the separate elements of what you need to know in chess on a silver platter, but it’s quite a different thing to balance them against each other, to compare apples with what, unfortunately, often turn out to be oranges, and to make a sound decision based on the concrete position on the board instead of general concepts. With their book, Karpov and Matsukevich have done an important step in the right direction. Moreover, they show great chess and place emphasis on players and subjects that are often overlooked in other chess improvement books.

The book starts with a chapter on the history and evolution of chess thought. I was pleasantly struck by the emphasis and importance the authors put on the ideas of the great Philidor. All too often, histories on positional chess thought start with Steinitz or Nimzowitsch, but it was, of course, Philidor who was the first to consciously express the thought that chess is not only about attacking in brilliant style. Philidor’s influence is also acknowledged by Karpov’s eternal rival Garry Kasparov’s in My Great Predecessors 1, but Kasparov devotes a mere one and a half page to the great Frenchman in a chapter ominously called ‘Chess before Steinitz’. Karpov and Matsukevich stress that Philidor was the first to look at chess objectively, and this is something we’ll see time and again in their book. Here’s what they say about Steinitz:

Steinitz went down in chess history as the creator of a new doctrine of positional play, the essence of which was the following: any plan in a chess game must have a justification; it should be sought not in the personality or desires of the player who is able to find the correct move or direction of attack in some kind of flash of inspiration, but in the actual position on the board, in its evaluation.

How do the authors see this evaluation concretely? They suggest comparing the following seven basic principles:

1. Material relationship between the forces.
2. Presence of direct threats.
3. Position of the kings, their safety.
4. Possession of open lines.
5. Pawn structures, weak and strong squares.
6. The centre and space.
7. Development and the position of pieces.

As a result of comparing these elements the chess player makes a statistical evaluation of the position, selects a plan of action and begins searching for specific moves and calculating variations.

This is all nothing very new, of course, but somehow the lucid simpliticity with which Karpov and Matsukevich show that it’s possible and realistic to do this in an actual position (without requiring seas of time) is quite convincing. Next, as a result of your objective evaluation, a plan of action can be chosen. Again, the explanation sounds deceptively simple and easy to achieve: “in better positions – with an advantage in development – you should try to prevent your opponent from completing the mobilization of his forces. To achieve this you should choose, as the opportunity arises, moves that present concrete threats, forcing your opponent to waste time and energy deflecting them.”

Kramnik-Leko
Brissago, 2004 (14)

Comparative analysis

1. There is material equality on the board.
2. At first glance it appears that all White’s threats have been successfully rendered harmless.
3. The white king is ideally placed, the black king should preferrably be on e7 or move away to the flank after it has castled.
4. White is exerting pressure along the c- and g-files, but without additional efforts this doesn’t promise anything.
5. Neither side’s pawn chain has obvious defects. However, White has an opportunity for a pawn attack on the queenside that isn’t immediatelt obvious.
6. The centre is firmly blocked.
7. White’s pieces are excellently placed, but the position of Black’s pieces requires improvement.

General conclusion

White has a clear advantage, but additional efforts are needed in order to exploit it.

22.a4! This pawn sacrifice throws Black’s incomplete defensive line into confusion.

22…Kd8 If he takes the pawn then the rook penetrates to the seventh rank. (…)

What I very much like about this fragment is that it sounds completely realistic in the sense that I feel I could have produced this train of thought myself as well. There’s apparently nothing mysterious or ‘grandmasterly’ about it, which makes it a very good example – even if, obviously, a clearly expressed thought always sounds as if anyone could have thought of that, though that’s rarely the case.

Likewise, the authors describe how to play inferior positions and equal positions. Realistically, they note that “in equal positions the battle, as a rule, goes peacefully: unnecessary aggressive actions might only ruin everything.” Again, we see an emphasis on objectivity and this is also clear from the examples, which make it clear that sometimes, there’s nothing wrong with making a draw.

Tal-Botvinnik
Moscow 1960 (3)

Black is a pawn up, for which White has virtually no compensation. The correct plan for Black is to develop the initiative in the centre and on the queenside with the help of Bc5, then Bb6 and a pawn advance. White constructs a defensive plan based on kingside counterplay so as to distract his opponent from carrying out his plan.

27.Rh7 Rf8 Better is 27…Bc5 and 28…Rd7.

28. Bf4 Qd8 29.Bd3 Rh8 30.Rxh8 Impossible, of course, is 30.Rxf7 because of 30…Qe8.

30…Qxh8 31.Qa5! Black’s queen has gone off to the kingside and so White urgently organises counterplay on the queenside. Now on 31…Kb8 follows 32.Bxb5! cxb5 33.Qxb5+ Kc7 34.Qa5+ Kc8 35.Qxa7 with real counter-chances.

31…Qh1+ 32.Ka2 Qxf3 33.Qa6+ Kb8 34.Qxc6! Qxf4 35.Bxb5 Qxe5 36.Qe8+ Kb7 37.Qc6+ Half a point saved: White has secured a perpetual check.

While these are great examples, making every step in the thinking process explicit and clear, I didn’t find all examples equally convincing. Karpov and Matsukevich’s prose suffers from extreme brevity from time to time, reducing the power of their theories to a certain degree. Also, they sometimes tend to drift away from their initial subject a bit too much in my opinion, such as when they suddenly start explaining about Troitsky’s analysis of the infamous KNN vs. K+pawn endgame in a chapter on ‘unique situations on the chessboard’. It’s a funny digression, but I didn’t really see what it had to do with the other examples in the chapter.

In subsequent chapters, the authors elaborate on the above-mentioned elements in extensive fashion, before coming to the ‘most important law of chess’, which according to them is “restricting the mobility of your opponent’s pieces and in association with this: domination by your own.” It’s the basis of an equally thorough explanation of the seven “bases for restriction” which they again cover with clear and sometimes a bit less-clear examples, often explaining very important aspects and inside-knowledge of various opening variations as well.

One curious thing about the book is that them authors included little sections at the end of each chapter with miniature games of at most 12 moves to illustrate the themes discussed in the chapter. ‘Club-12′, they call it. Quite an original idea, but I somehow felt the frivolous nature of most of these games was a little bit out of place in such an otherwise highly serious and important book. (Admittedly, they make up for this with by showing some great endgame studies!)

Everything considered, Finding the Right Plan with Anatoly Karpov, despite its somewhat cheesy title, is a great read and deserves to be mentioned together with the other great chess improvement books that have been published in recent years. And of course, with Karpov involved in the project, that’s definitely no coincidence.

Links

• Get yourself a copy of Find the Right Plan with Anatoly Karpov
• Read more book reviews

This post is a replacement for the more than 80 chess lessons post that has been published before.

At the moment there are more than 100 chess lessons on almost all stages of the game and for all levels of play on Chess Teaching. You can get a quick overview by looking at the chess lessons index page, but you can also navigate through this site by using the tags or categories or by using the search option on this site.

It is my believe that the interactive way this site offers the chess tutorials gives you something that books are unable to accomplish.
New lessons are added on a regular base and are linked together by links at the end of each lesson about how to continue. At the footer of each lesson you can also find a link to the previous and to the next lesson. This offers you an easy possibility to study all the lessons in the right order. This is not the order based on the publication date, because I am going to continue adding chess lessons on all levels.

Don’t try to learn all the lessons in a couple of days. Take your time. Replay and try some of the things learned on a board and stop after one or two lessons. Keep note of where you stopped, bookmark the page, and return for more when you can give your complete attention to the (next) lesson.

If you are new to chess and not familiar with the rules of the game the chess tutorial about the starting position may be a good start.

Having read mostly chess improvement books and opening manuals lately, I was delighted to see a new publication in the best tradition of chess writing: a serious tournament book. Strangely, it’s a tradition that seems rather unpopular these days – a very unfortunate development indeed.

The tournament book tradition has given us many classics, e.g. Bronstein on Zürich 1953, Alekhine on Nottingham 1936 and, more recently, Jan Timman on Curacao 1962. Nowadays, tournament books are a rare guest among the countless opening guides, chess tutorials and personal game collections. Still, a serious tournament report has many advantages over these other genres.

If a single game is like a newspaper column, and a game collection is like a short story, a collection of all games from one tournament is, in my view, like a full-grown novel, with different story-lines and intricate plots, small personal dramas and highlights, seemingly trivial details and an intricate plot leading up to a satisfying or thought-provoking finish. I would like you to see Mihail Marin and Yuri Garrett’s Reggio Emilia 2007/2008, published by Quality Chess, as an intriguing and well-written novel, rather than ‘just another’ chess book on the market.

On of the characteristics of a good tournament book is that all games are seriously analysed. As Garrett, the tournament’s technical director, writes in the introduction, in the current book, 25 out of the total of 45 games are analysed by at least one of the combatants, 3 of them present the views of both players and the remaining 20 have been annotated by GM Mihail Marin.

One of the very nice things is of this is that quick, ‘boring’ draws are also seriously analysed. This is something you don’t see in regular game collections or in New in Chess magazine, but I’ve always found it very instructive to see how the big guys make these draws, especially with such an outstanding explicator as Marin commenting them:

Korchnoi-Almasi
Reggio Emilia (2) 2007

How realistic are White’s chances of retaining even a tiny edge? In the absence of knights, there is no way to take advantage of the relative weakness of the d6-square. Speaking about “ifs”, under certain circumstances a knight jump to f6 would have been devastating. The way it is, I see only one (highly unrealistic) possibility: exchange all the rooks in order to avoid any form of counterplay, install the queen on e4 to dominate both wings, and advance (by some miracle) the b-pawn to b5, in order to put the black pawns placed on dark squares in potential danger. Admittedly, there is no way all this could happen.

16.Bxb7 Maybe Korchnoi’s initial intention was to keep control of the long diagonal with 16.Qf3. However, in this case he would have lost control of another important avenue, the d-file, after 16…Bxe4 17.Qxe4 Rad8 18.Rad1 Rd7! followed by …Rfd8. This would also have led to plain equality.

16…Qxb7 17.Qe2 Rfd8 18.Rad1 Qc6 19.f4 g6 20.Qg2 This is the only way to try to activate his position, but the almost complete simplifications that follow lead to a dead draw.

20…Qxg2+ 21.Kxg2 h5 22.Kf3 Kf8 23.Ke4 Rxd1 24.Rxd1 Rd8 25.Rxd8+ Bxd8 26.h3 Ke8 27.g4 hxg4 28.hxg4 Kd7 When this position was reached, Korchnoi said in a loud voice, “What can I do?” A draw was agreed.

Of course, the tournament not only consisted of solid draws, but also of some very spectacular and beautiful chess. And again, Marin takes us by the hand towards a crystal-clear understanding of the games.

Almasi-Marin
Reggio Emilia (5), 2008

28.e6! White sacrifices his central pawn to clear the e5-square for his knight and make the e-file available for his rook. Black’s contorted piece coordination, which was quite functional in the closed position before Almasi’s breakthrough, will soon lead me to defeat. (…)

28….Qxe6 29.Ne5 c6 To tell the truth, I was still optimistic at this point, especially since, judging from his physical reaction, I knew Almasi had overlooked this defensive resource. My pleasant state of mind was not altered by his next strong move.

30.Bd2!! I would have enjoyed playing one of my favourite type of defensive positions – an exchange down – after 30.Nxg6 hxg6. Then Black has practically no weaknesses and his structure is much better than White’s. Moreover, if the black knight reaches the e4-square, White would be in trouble.

In this fragment, we see Marin at his best. He honestly describes his emotions yet manages to stay objective all the time, enabling him to explain the technical details without ever becoming boring or repetitive. He also shows a constant concern for the reader trying to make assessments of the arising positions. Marin even comes to the rescue in annotations by the other participants, when they have not been explicit enough to Marin’s satisfaction. The very first game of the book is a good example: Zoltan Almasi analyses his victory over Pentala Harikrishna in a solid, but rather clinical fashion, so Marin jumps in at several points in the analysis to add useful comments like “It may seem that Black has regrouped his forces harmoniously and his kingside counterplay is developing without problems. However, White’s space advantage in the centre and on the queenside should not be underestimated.”

Reggio Emilia 2007/2008 (it started on December 29, 2007) was in many ways perfect for a tournament book. Not only were there a number of world-class players such as Vugar Gashimov and David Navara, but also the legendary Viktor Korchnoi was present, as well as two rising stars from Asia (Pentala Harakrishna and Ni Hua), and of course Mihail Marin himself. As is good practice in a literary review, I won’t give away the ending of the ‘novel’, nor any other spoilers. In the end, however, it’s the moves and the games that tell the story of this tournament, not the results.

I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself into this tournament (even though I had never seen a single game from it before), identifying with the players and the problems they were facing during the games, and I suddenly felt it as a real loss that such books are hardly ever written anymore these days. I think a tournament book is the closest a chessplayer can come to identifying with fictional characters, and it’s a true pleasure to be able to enjoy the excitement of chess for once without having to think about improving my own game or updating my opening or endgame knowledge. This is simply top level chess entertainment.

Apart from the tournament itself (the heart of the book) there are numerous interesting extras in Reggio Emilia 2007/2008, such as excellent interviews with the players, a history of the Reggio Emilia tournament (including some memorable games from past editions) and a sympathetic description by Garrett of how this particular tournament was organised. Garrett is a keep observer who not only loves to watch the games but also the players themselves:

It was also interesting to witness the cultural differences between the players, ranging from Almasi’s assertive comments to the hesitant and modest ones by the Chinese warrior, Ni Hua (…). Gashimov whispered his fascinating comments, which were charcterized by a wildly tactical approach (albeit with that raw touch so typical of the young player who has yet to fully exploit his potential).

I hope readers will consider buying this very charming book; perhaps it will energize publishers to publish more serious tournament reports. It’s too beautiful a tradition to be written off already.

Links

• Get yourself a copy of Reggio Emilia 2007/2008
• Read more book reviews

Chiudiamo la “prima puntata” del Progetto Ausonia con i resoconti dei due partecipanti selezionati per il torneo Costa Viola, Roberto Palazzotto e Giacomo Gregori, due ragazzi simpatici e in gamba, come emerge con chiarezza anche dai resoconti inviatici! Siamo contenti e orgogliosi di questa iniziativa intrapresa  insieme all’Associazione Alto Tirreno Cosentino, con lo splendido impegno di Marcello Rametta e degli altri amici calabresi, tanto che speriamo di poter proseguire con ulteriori iniziative a favore dei giovani. A giorni la presentazione del secondo torneo del Progetto Ausonia, il Verde Sila (a Croce di Magara - CS, dal 20 al 27 giugno), con il 31 marzo quale termine per la presentazione delle domande di partecipazione.

Dal racconto dei due ragazzi emerge un’esperienza decisamente valida e interessante. Quello che forse i nostri due giovani non sanno è quanto positiva è stata l’impressione che hanno destato anche nei loro tutor, il GM Igor Efimov e il MI Duilio Collutiis (ai quali va un sentito riconoscimento!), che parlando con gli organizzatori hanno molto apprezzato sia le buone qualità del loro talento scacchistico che le eccellenti doti personali. Un’esperienza su cui i due tutor hanno investito le loro ottime qualità di didattica e il desiderio di “trasmettere”, di valorizzare l’esperienza: un piccolo esempio, segnalando come Igor Efimov, appreso dell’impegno come tutor di Palazzotto, abbia telefonato prima del torneo a Francesco Bentivegna per avere notizie del giovanissimo palermitano!

Roberto Palazzotto

L'esperienza calabrese si è rivelata fantastica, non solo dal punto di vista scacchistico, infatti, seppur impegnato con torri, alfieri, orologi e scacchiere, ho avuto l'opportunità di conoscere persone davvero simpatiche, come la famiglia Gregori (Giacomo lo conoscevo già) e molti ragazzi calabresi.

Riguardo alle partite penso di aver giocato sopra ogni aspettativa (anche mia) dato che mi sono trovato: ad una mossa dalla vittoria con Gromovs (30.Dg5), con la qualità in più con Stromboli C. e partita vinta, con un bell’attacco con Della Corte (anche se forse non c’era niente). Sono contento di aver battuto un Maestro (Scerbo), un CM (Serratore) ed un giovane Prima Nazionale (Familari); ho pareggiato inoltre con un forte siciliano che conosco, Gangemi (2100)!! Quindi penso di aver giocato molto bene, infatti ho guadagnato 25 punti e ora me ne mancano altrettanti per raggiungere il mio obiettivo, diventare Candidato.

Sono stato contentissimo di conoscere il GM Igor Efimov, che mi è stato assegnato come tutor e mi ha seguito per tutto il torneo, analizzando ogni partita da me giocata e dandomi preziosi consigli e suggerimenti; ho notato anche che è una persona simpaticissima e disponibile!

Mi sono divertito molto anche ai tornei lampo organizzati da Serratore: in uno sono arrivato 1° con 7/8 e ho vinto una bella scacchiera di legno, nel secondo ho fatto 4/7 perdendo all’ultima partita col vincitore, lo stesso che al primo torneo avevo battuto, mentre nel terzo ho fatto 4.5/8 pattando con Seletski!! Ringrazio moltissimo lo staff organizzativo, l’Alto Tirreno Cosentino e la redazione di Scacchierando e per avermi concesso quest’opportunità! Devo fare anche i complimenti all’organizzazione, ottima, e all’hotel molto accogliente.

Riporto degli spezzoni di partita che mi sono piaciuti di più!

Fig. 1: …Txh4!!

Nella fig. 1 ero il nero contro Serratore e sono riuscito a vincere con questo bell’attacco. Dopo Txh4+ segue gxh4 Dxh4 e ora ci sono due varianti: 1) Rg2 Dh2+ Rf3 (Rf1 Dh1#) Dh3# 2) Rg1 (la corretta) Dg3+ (se Rh1/f1 c’è Cf2/h2+ e deve sacrificare la Donna) Dg2 DxT+ Af1 Cxe3 e sono in vantaggio decisivo di 3 pedoni, la partita è continuata per altre 5 mosse.

Fig. 2: Dg5!! con l’imparabile minaccia Tg1!

Nella fig. 2 avevo il bianco contro Gromovs e dopo Dg5 la partita è finita   infatti se De3+ Rb1 e minaccio anche la T in d8 se Tc8 Tg1 e matto alla prossima, se f5 Dg8 e segue matto, se Dc7 Tg1 e segue matto IMPARABILE, avevo vinto…  . Io ho giocato Rb1 (ero in zeitnot quindi ho mosso subito dopo la sua mossa Tf4), purtroppo ha fatto Tc8 e finalmente ho visto Dg5 ma era troppo tardi, infatti dopo Dd8 l’attacco è finito.

Fig. 3: Dxg6!!

Nella fig. 3 ero contro Carlo Stromboli, l’ultima sua mossa è stata Tg6, segue Dxg6 TxC Dc2 (più forte di DxT) Tg6 e qui con g4 si evita tutto infatti se Ah1 f4 e se Ag2 Dd3, purtroppo io in zeitnot non ho visto g4 ma ho fatto Cc5 segue Txg2+ Rf1 Th2 CxD Af3 ƒ¼, se invece Ca5 segue Txg2+ Rf1 Af3!! Minaccia Th2 su CxD e matto inevitabile. 

Giacomo Gregori

Le mie aspettative alla vigilia di questa avventura scacchistica non sono state disattese. Il paesaggio montano e marittimo (Aspromonte – Costa Viola) così naturale e imponente, la grande ospitalità, l’efficienza degli organizzatori, la partecipazione di famosi giocatori, le attività collaterali all’evento, hanno reso questa esperienza “indimenticabile”.

In compagnia della mia famiglia sono partito da Ancona la mattina del primo gennaio, per arrivare la sera a Sant’Eufemia d’Aspromonte. Ad attenderci all’uscita della Salerno - Reggio Calabria c’era la signora Pina Romeo, una responsabile dello staff organizzativo, per accompagnarci fino all’Hotel che ci avrebbe ospitati. Questo gesto di cortesia è stato molto gradito, successivamente abbiamo compreso che non era un’eccezione riservata a dei privilegiati ma un semplice benvenuto di spontanea ospitalità e rispetto umano che il popolo calabro manifesta verso tutti coloro che ospita.

Quando i turni di gioco lo consentivano, abbiamo approfittato per qualche escursione turistica, la visita al paese di Sant’Eufemia, fino a salire nell’Aspromonte per vedere il mausoleo di Garibaldi e i luoghi dedicati ad Anita, per poi arrivare a Gambarie, simpatica località sciistica. A Bagnara Calabra e Scilla il forte vento di maestrale aveva dipinto un paesaggio incantevole, fino a mostrare il caratteristico colore violaceo del mare. Percorrendo quel tratto di costa con limonaie, aranceti, alberi di mimose in fiore si aveva una piacevole sensazione, come di vivere la primavera. La sera dell’ultimo giorno di gara, dopo la premiazione, siamo arrivati a Palmi. Durante il crepuscolo abbiamo ammirato un paesaggio marittimo particolarmente suggestivo, delineato dalle luci elettriche. La bellezza di Reggio Calabria ed il fascino del lungomare che si affaccia sullo Stretto, li ho ammirati nelle foto che i miei genitori hanno scattato una mattina di splendido sole, quando io ero impegnato nell’ultimo turno di gioco in prima scacchiera, contro il vincitore del torneo il CM Vito Ielapi. La mattina della partenza, dopo aver fotografato le isole Eolie, ci siamo fatti una promessa comune, di ritornare in Calabria.

Il torneo di scacchi “Costa Viola”, è stato ben ideato con le tre categorie, il Magistrale, l’Open e gli U16, che hanno consentito a tutti i partecipanti di cimentarsi nella fascia più idonea alle proprie potenzialità di gioco, permettendo anche ai giovanissimi una divertente competizione. Ciò che ha contribuito in maniera determinante al successo dell’evento, oltre l’ottima organizzazione, sono state le numerose iscrizioni (oltre 110 giocatori) tra cui personaggi noti come il Grande Maestro Igor Efimov ed il Maestro Internazionale Duilio Collutiis, nonché la nutrita e calorosa presenza dei rappresentanti le istituzioni e degli accompagnatori.

Il merito che può essere attribuito a questa manifestazione scacchistica con il “Progetto Ausonia” è di aver messo i giovani e giovanissimi in primo piano, in poche parole voler aprire una finestra sul “ futuro degli scacchi”. Gli organizzatori hanno coinvolto diverse scuole elementari, promuovendo la partecipazione di molti studenti, dando l’opportunità anche a giovani di altre regioni con diverse esperienze scacchistiche di essere presenti, per dare il loro contributo ed essere testimoni e beneficiari delle tradizioni e della cultura Calabra.

Il mio torneo è stato piacevolmente divertente, caratterizzato dalla giusta tensione competitiva. Ho ritrovato coetanei come Vincenzo Violi, Roberto Palazzotto, con i quali avevo condiviso altre competizioni come l’ultimo Campionato Italiano U16 a Courmayeur, ed è stato bello raccontarci l’esperienze vissute e scambiarci nuove idee di gioco. Il conseguimento del secondo posto nella categoria Open è stato un traguardo che mi ha reso particolarmente soddisfatto, superiore ad ogni mia aspettativa.

L’amichevole e simpatica presenza del tutor, il MI Duilio Collutiis, ha trasmesso sicurezza e coraggio. Dopo ogni mia partita disputata in gara, seguiva l’analisi con il maestro Collutiis. In questa fase, particolarmente formativa, si commentavano gli errori commessi e si analizzavano le soluzioni migliori; non mancavano i suggerimenti e le battute umoristiche di chi assisteva, generando un clima disteso e divertente. Trascrivo la partita giocata con il bianco al terzo turno, che a giudizio condiviso con il mio tutor, è stata la più corretta.

Gregori G. – Arcidiaco F.

1.d4 d5 2. Af4 Cf6  (in questa partita ho preferito affidarmi al sistema Londra che più volte mi ha dato buoni risultati)

3. e3 Cc6  (a mio avviso uno sviluppo non ottimo del cavallo a causa del controgioco che avrò sulla colonna “c” e con l’attacco del pedone “b7” )

4. Cf3 a6  (forse una perdita di tempo, migliore era 4…Ag4)

5. Cbd2 Af5 6. c4 e6 7. Db3

Posizione dopo 7.Db3

7...Ab4  (con le ultime due mosse ho voluto continuare il mio piano cercando di aprire la colonna “c” e di attaccare “b7”; 7…Ab4 é imprecisa a causa di 8.a3 ed ora deve cedere la coppia degli alfieri )

8. a3 Axd2 9. Cxd2 Tb8  (questo cambio ha rafforzato il mio alfiere in “f4”)

10. Ae2 0-0 (con l’alfiere in “e2” evito il cambio del suo collega “ Af4” a causa di 10. …Ch5 !? )

11. Tc1 Ce8 12. 0-0 f6 ( sviluppando tutti i miei pezzi porto la torre sulla colonna “c” facendo pressione indirettamente sulla casa “c7”; grazie a 12. …f6?! guadagnerò un pedone)

13. cxd5 exd5 14. Tc5 Ae6 ( la mancanza dell’alfiere campo scuro del mio avversario mi permetterà di incolonnare le torri e attaccare ulteriormente sia la casa “d5” che quella “c7”)

Posizione dopo 14...Ae6

15. Af3 Ce7 16. Tfc1 Cc6 17. Axd5 Axd5 ( ultimo errore del nero, era preferibile 17. …Af7)

18. Txd5 (il nero perde la donna inevitabilmente, subendo con lo spostarsi della torre uno scacco di scoperta).

Il nero abbandona.

Baraka Shabazz (ba-roka sha-boz) is a famous name is Black chess lore. The name exudes power, but her arrival on the scene was as sudden as light shedding darkness. Then as fast as she rose she tumbled into obscurity and disappeared. Baraka’s story is so common of young talents who either become disenchanted, or simply move onto other activities. In Baraka’s case, perhaps it was the prospects of a bright future and initial success that may have blinded her.

Originally born in Denver, Colorado, Baraka spent her early years in Anchorage, Alaska, with her stepfather Yusef Shabazz and mother Raqiba Shabazz. Mr. Shabazz bought a chess set for the family and taught his children the moves. Baraka showed glimmers of talent. It wasn’t long before she began beating her stepfather. In an interview, her mother noted, “Who ever heard of a black girl playing chess?”

Here is the story as Baraka told it in a 1981 interview in The Spokeman,

“He went out and bought us a chess set,” Baraka recalls, “and he gave it to my sister and me and said, “Here, play chess.” We told him, “We don’t know how to play,” so he showed us how the piece work and said, ‘You have to get your opponent’s king,’ and that was the first time I played. Six week ater Febuary 16, 1978, I entered my first chess tournament and won three games out of five.”

At that point, the parents Raqiba and Yusef decided to afford her the best opportunities to excel at chess. The initial efforts bore fruit as she began her assault on chess competition and three years, she was the #6 woman in the country at age 15. She was the first female player of African descent to reach the rank of “Expert” or a 2000 rating in the U.S. Chess Federation system. Many supporters chipped in including a private tutor. According to a 1981 People magazine article,

…Oakland Mayor Lionel Wilson has paid the Shabazzes’ rent bill from a community fund, and others—including a black-owned travel agency and entertainer Eartha Kitt—have donated money and services so Baraka can compete in distant tournaments.

Reflecting on future plans, “I’ll have time for friends, travel, college. Maybe I’ll be a diplomat. I’ve been taught you go after what you want—I want to be a symbol of achievement for blacks. I’ll make it, you’ll see.” The family made further sacrifices and after two years in California, the family moved to the “Mecca” of U.S. chess, the east coast. There the family settled in the Baltimore area. Here she gained her legend in Dupont Circle. Baraka originally had to overcome sexism and men taking her lightly.

Opponents blew smoke in her face. In another case, a 17-year old boy looked at his opponent and told his mother, “You won’t have to wait for me, I’ll be back in half and hour.” Baraka dragged the game out for hours and hit him with a tactical shot winning the queen. The boy swept the pieces off the board. Success was coming for Baraka and she was indeed living up to her name, meaning “blessed.”

There were some rumours that her stepfather was overbearing and especially harsh when Baraka lost. National Master Charles Covington reflected on his stint as a trainer for Baraka. During training games, Mr. Shabazz would be watching carefully and was very critical of Baraka. Covington also mentioned that the stepfather would scold her when he suspected she was not focused. Assessing the situation, Covington admitted to being an easier opponent to avoid contributing to her humiliation.

Baraka got an invitation to play in the 1981 U.S. Women’s Championship and was #6 ranked player. Alexey Rudolph, now Dr. Alexey Root, was also in that tournament and told The Chess Drum both she and Baraka were the youngest in the tournament. Root was another rising talent and won their individual encounter. Baraka failed miserably coming in an abysmal last place.

After that setback, the family hit hard times resulting in the family having to receive public assistance housing in Maryland’s Prince Georges County. According to the article in Jet magazine (December 17, 1981), the family’s case was taken up by Delta Sigma Theta’s Dr. Grace Hewell who charged, “this wouldn’t have happened to a Black who can sing, dance or excel in sports.”

It was a sordid ending to a bright moment in history. No one knows the current whereabouts of Baraka Shabazz, but Covington has gone on record to say that she became disenchanted and wanted nothing more to do with the game. However, Baraka’s story is one that is important to know. She was a young talent with promise, but did not have the proper combination of resources to help realize her talent.

Baraka, meaning ‘Blessed’, will go down as one of the historic figures in Black chess. Her drive is inspiring, but the story contains many lessons for the ages. She stated that she wanted to be a symbol of achievement for Blacks. While she never became a World Champion, or reached Master level, but she certainly accomplished her goal. The chess community commends Baraka’s efforts as one of the first female prodigies in U.S. history.

Simeon Booker, “Ticker Tape USA“, Ebony Jr., 17 December 1981, 13.

Sackgasse (Foto von Asif Akbar)

In einer Partie wird eine Mattstellung erreicht. Doch beide Spieler machen noch einen weiteren Zug. Erst dann stellen sie das Matt fest und beenden die Partie. In einer Turnierpartie zwischen Großmeistern wäre dies schon sehr seltsam, oder. Vergleichbares geschieht aber regelmäßig in bestimmten Remisstellungen. Und kein Schiedsrichter greift ein. Nach den Regeln ist die Partie beendet. Trotzdem wird ein weiterer Zug gespielt, aufgeschrieben und alles auch noch veröffentlich. So geschehen gerade wieder in der Partie Arndt Lauber gegen Konstantin Landa am letzten Bundesligawochenende.

Regelwerk

Die aktuelle Version der FIDE-Schachregeln (siehe hier) wurde im November 2008 beschlossen, vom DSB übersetzt (siehe hier), und gilt seit dem 1. Juli 2009. Im Artikel 1.3 heißt es: “Ist eine Stellung erreicht, in der keinem der beiden Spieler das Mattsetzen mehr möglich ist, ist das Spiel “remis” (unentschieden).” Daraus folgt: Lässt sich für eine Stellung zeigen, dass ein Matt nicht mehr möglich ist, ist die Partie sofort beendet.

In einigen anderen Artikeln wird der Inhalt von 1.3 aufgenommen und ausführlicher formuiert. Ich zitiere Artikel 5.2 b): “Die Partie ist remis, sobald eine Stellung entstanden ist, in welcher keiner der Spieler den gegnerischen König mit irgendeiner Folge von regelgemäßen Zügen mattsetzen kann. Eine solche Stellung heißt “tote Stellung”. Damit ist die Partie sofort beendet, vorausgesetzt, dass der Zug, der die Stellung herbeigeführt hat, regelgemäß war (siehe Artikel 9.6).” und Artikel 9.6: “Die Partie ist remis, sobald eine Stellung entstanden ist, aus welcher ein Matt durch keine erdenkliche Folge von regelgemäßen Zügen erreichbar ist. Damit ist die Partie sofort beendet, vorausgesetzt, der Zug, der diese Stellung herbeiführte, war regelgemäß.”

Der Artikel 5.2 gibt der Sache einen Namen. So können wir kurz und knapp sagen: Eine “tote Stellung” (”dead position”) ist immer und sofort remis. Weder eine Zeitüberschreitung noch ein dritter regelwidriger Zug ändern daran etwas. Weitere Wiederholungen, inhaltlich aber nichts Neues, bieten übrigens noch die Artikel 6.9 und 7.4 b. Es gibt dazu auch einen kleinen Wikipedia-Artikel “Tote Stellung”.

Interessant ist die Geschichte des Artikels 1.3. (Im Folgenden stütze ich mich übrigens auf die Sammlung älterer FIDE-Schachregeln von Otto Janko (siehe hier). Eine kommentierte Geschichte der Regeländerungen wäre hilfreich. Ich konnte aber keine finden und freue mich über jeden Hinweis.) Er taucht zum ersten Mal in den FIDE-Schachregeln von 1996/97 auf (siehe hier: “If the position is such that neither player can possibly checkmate, the game is drawn.”) Die weiteren oben angeführten Ergänzungen wurden dann in späteren Fassungen hinzugefügt (siehe z. B. hier).

In den FIDE-Schachregeln von 1992/93 (siehe hier) gab es noch keine allgemeine Formulierung, sondern in dem damaligen Artikel 10.4 nur eine Aufzählung besonderer Stellungen, König gegen König, König und Leichtfigur gegen König, und König und Läufer gegen König und Läufer bei Läufern auf gleicher Farbe:  “The game is drawn when one of the following endings arises: (a) king against king; (b) king against king with only bishop or knight; (c) king and bishop against king and bishop, with both bishops on diagonals of the same colour. This immediately ends the game.” Artikel 10.5 stellte dann noch klar, dass ein bloßer König nicht gewinnen kann.

Gegenüber 1992/93 gab es also 1996/97 eine sinnvolle Erweiterung. In der Version der FIDE-Schachregeln von 1977 (siehe hier) fehlte noch jeder Hinweis auf später so genannte “tote Stellungen”. Groben Unfug wie eine Spielen auf Zeit mit König und Springer gegen König hätten die Regeln damals noch zugelassen. Hier hätte der Schiedsrichter eingreifen müssen.

Schachkomposition

Die Komponisten von Schachproblemen haben einen besonderen Sinn für die offiziellen Schachregeln. Ich verweise nur auf den schönen Artikel “In the Twilight Zone of Chess Rules” von Jens Kristiansen. Berühmt ist die so genannte “Pam-Krabbé-Rochade” (siehe hier und hier), die zu einer Präzisierung der Rochade-Regeln führte.

Im Problem von Tim Krabbé (siehe Diagramm) setzt der Anziehende den schwarzen König im dritten Zug matt: a) nach 1.e7 gxf3 2.e8D+ Kd3 durch die lange Rochade 3.0-0-0# , b) nach 1.e7 Kxf3 2.e8T d4 durch die kurze Rochade 3.0-0#, und c) nach 1.e7 Kxf3 2.e8T Kg2 durch die Pam-Krabbé-Rochade 0-0-0-0# mit weißem König auf e3 und weißem Turm auf e2. (Vgl. Tim Krabbé: Schach-Besonderheiten, Bd 1, Düsseldorf (Econ) 1987, S.19f.)

Zum Zeitpunkt der Komposition entsprach die Pam-Krabbé-Rochade vollkommen den Regeln. Weder König noch Turm hatten gezogen. Und nur der Turm übersprang ein vom Schwarzen bedrohtes Feld. Durch die Einführung der weiteren Bedingung, dass nämlich König und Turm auf einer Reihe stehen müssen, wurde die vertikale Rochade dann aber bald ausgeschlossen.

Nach der Aufnahme des Artikels 1.3 in die FIDE-Schachregeln 1996/97 durfte man rückblickend fast erwarten, dass Schachkomponisten sich der neuen Regel annehmen würden. Wenige Jahre später war es dann soweit. Andrew G. Buchanan beschreibt seine Entdeckung in seiner FAQ for Dead Reckoning so:

“A weird thing happened. I stumbled across a chess rule that no one knew about before. No, really. The International Chess Federation updates the Laws of Chess every few years. Obviously, they don’t change the key stuff: like how a bishop moves. But they do fiddle around at the margins, and in 1997 they introduced a rule which has little impact on the real game, but does have consequences for chess problems. It wasn’t until late 2000 that anyone noticed these consequences. It happened to be me.”

Um welche Regel es sich handelt, wissen wir ja schon. Jedenfalls machte sich Buchanan ans Werk und komponierte eine ganze Reihe von wunderbaren Aufgaben. Auf der Website Some Novel Chess Problems hat er eine ganze Sammlung zusammen mit einführenden und erklärenden Texten veröffentlicht. Hier zwei Beispiele, die zeigen wie solche Probleme funktionieren.

Bei nur zwei Königen auf dem Brett zu fragen, wer zuletzt gezogen hat, mag auf den ersten Blick ganz sinnlos erscheinen. Aufgrund der “Tote-Stellung-Regel” lässt sich das Problem von Buchanan (siehe Diagramm) aber leicht lösen. Nehmen wir an Schwarz hat zuletzt gezogen. Dann ging der König von b8 oder a7 nach a8. War das Feld frei, war die Partie mit nur den Königen vorher schon beendet, und die Diagrammstellung konnte gar nicht mehr entstehen. Diesen Schluss nennt Buchanan “Dead Reckoning”, was ich ein bisschen holprig mit “Tote-Stellung-Überlegung” übersetze.

Weiter: Der schwarze König muss auf a8 eine weiße Figur geschlagen haben. Bei einer Leichtfigur wäre die Partie vorher schon mangels Mattpotential beendet gewesen. Und bei einer Schwerfigur war der schwarze König gezwungen zu schlagen. Damit wäre die Partie ebenfalls bereits beendet gewesen. Wieder eine “Tote-Stellung-Überlegung”.  Eine Bauernumwandlung auf a8 führt zu einer der beiden schon behandelten Fälle. Daher kann der schwarze König nicht zuletzt gezogen haben. Für den weißen König lässt sich dies dagegen zeigen. Er könnte z. B. auf c6 einen Turm oder Bauern geschlagen haben (Buchanans Erläuterung hier).

In der Aufgabe von Elkies (siehe Diagramm) steht auf a6 ein Bauer, markiert durch das Kreuz. Ob dieser weiß oder schwarz ist, weiß man nicht. Es lässt sich aber erkennen, dass die Stellung ganz unabhängig von der Farbe des Bauern bereits remis ist. Die Pattsetzung des schwarzen Königs ist nicht zu vermeiden, sowohl nach 1.axb7 oder 1.Dxb7 oder auch 1.Dg2 Lxg2+ 2.Txg2. Die Partie ist also in der Diagrammstellung beendet.

Im letzten Zug muss der schwarze Läufer nach b7 gezogen sein, entweder von a8 oder c8. Falls er auf b7 eine weiße Figur geschlagen hat, hatte Schwarz keine andere Zugmöglichkeit und die Partie war schon vorher beendet. Wieder eine “Tote-Stellung-Überlegung”. Ebenso, falls auf a6 ein schwarzer Bauer steht und der Läufer von c8 kam. Auch dann hatte Schwarz nur den Läuferzug nach b7.

Die einzige Konstellation, in der Schwarz bei seinem letzten Zug eine Wahl hatte, ist die mit dem schwarzen Läufer auf c8 und einem weißen Bauern auf a6. Nur dann hatte Schwarz eine Wahl zwischen Läufer schlägt Bauer a6 und dem Schachgebot auf b7. Nur dann war die Partie nicht bereits vor dem schwarzen Zug beendet (Buchanans Erläuterung hier).

Turnierpraxis

Im Unterschied zu den Komponisten kümmern sich die Spieler nur wenig um die Schachregeln. Turnierordnungen geht es da im Übrigen nicht besser. Schiedsrichter können ein Lied davon singen. Über Unsicherheiten bezüglich der Rochaderegeln sogar bei Großmeistern gibt es einige Anekdoten (siehe hier). Wobei die Gründe in diesen Fällen eher in Aufregung oder Anspannung als in Unkenntnis zu suchen sein dürften.

Im Falle der “toten Stellungen” fehlt es nicht allein an Regelkenntnis. Nach meinen Beobachtungen gibt es einen ausgesprochenen  Widerwillen gegen die Vorstellung, dass nach dem Wegnehmen der letzten eigenen Figur die Partie bendet ist, ohne dass man seinerseits noch den letzten Stein des Gegners vom Brett nehmen dürfte.

Nun aber endlich zur eingangs erwähnten Bundesligapartie Lauber – Landa (siehe Diagramm). Mit 95.-Tf3-f1+ stellte Landa seine Gewinnversuche ein und tauschte alles ab. Zwar war nun 96.Ta1xf1 erzwungen, aber die Partie deswegen noch nicht beendet, da Schwarz anschließend nicht auf f1 schlagen musste und sozusagen noch den Verlust wählen konnte. Nach 96.-gxf1L aber war die Partie sofort remis. Der weiße Zug 97.Kg1xf1 daher nur noch eine Zugabe nach Partieende.

Bemerkenswert ist, dass die Stellung nach 96.-gxf1L schon nach den Regeln von 1992/93 beendet war. Allerdings wäre dies nicht der Fall gewesen, hätte Landa mit 96.-gxf1D+ oder 96.-gxf1T+ in eine Schwerfigur umgewandelt. Danach wäre die Partie erst nach den Regeln von 1996/97 beendet gewesen. Dieser Unterschied ist insofern bedeutsam, als Weiß im Falle einer Zeitüberschreitung früher verloren hätte, später nicht (siehe hier und hier).

Kleine Regelfrage zwischendurch: Wie ist die Partie zu werten, wenn Schwarz während der Ausführung seines 96. Zuges die Zeit überschreitet? a) Schwarz schafft es noch, seinen Bauern nach f1 zu setzen und den weißen Turm vom Brett zu nehmen, schafft es aber nicht, eine neue Figur auf das Brett zu stellen. b) Schwarz schafft es nur noch, seinen Bauern g2 anzuheben, aber nicht mehr, den weißen Turm f1 vom Brett zu nehmen.

Im Fall b) liegt eindeutig eine Zeitüberschreitung vor. Im Fall a) scheint mir die Sache kniffliger zu sein. In Betracht kommen die Artikel 4.6 und 6.9 (siehe hier). Nur was wiegt schwerer: Dass der Zug nicht vollständig ausgeführt ist oder dass die Stellung bei jeder Umwandlung, also schon mit dem Bauern auf f1, remis und somit die Partie schon vor der Zeitüberschreitung beendet ist? Ich würde auf Remis entscheiden. Natürlich ohne Gewähr.

Schluss

Aus der Schlussstellung nach dem 97. Zug von Weiß in der Partie Lauber gegen Landa lässt sich übrigens leicht eine kleine Retro-Aufgabe formulieren (siehe Diagramm).

Angenommen, den letzten Zug hat Weiß gemacht. Auf welchem der drei Felder e1, e2, g1 kann der weiße König vorher nicht gestanden haben? – Mit wenigen “Tote-Stellung-Überlegungen” (”Dead Reckoning”) kommen Sie schnell zu einem eindeutigen Ergebnis. – Schon witzig, oder.

In der Praxis halten die Turnierspieler offensichtlich an einer alten “Gewohnheit” fest und spielen fröhlich nach Partieende weiter (hier ein extremes Beispiel aus Schweden). Die Schiedsrichter lassen die Spieler gewähren und schweigen dazu. Aber was würde eigentlich passieren, wenn ein Spieler wirklich einmal in Mattstellung weiterspielt und noch einen Zug macht und aufschreibt? Ein bisschen neugierig bin ich schon…

? 2-6 GENNAIO - 1? torneo del CHESS CALABRIA TOUR 2010, con?5 GM!

Update: Roberto Palazzotto (under 16) e Giacomo Gregori (Under 14) i due giovanissimi partecipanti attraverso il Progetto Ausonia!

Update 2: Igor Efimov e Duilio Collutiis saranno i tutor rispettivamente di Roberto Palazzotto e di Giacomo Gregori durante il torneo!

Un buon successo sin dalla prima edizione del 2008 per il ?Costa Viola?, torneo d?inizio d?anno che ha tutta l?aria di poter costruire una bella tradizione. Sia nel 2008 che nel 2009? commenti molto soddisfatti dei partecipanti, a testimoniare l?ottima organizzazione. Non potrebbe essere diversamente data la passione dello staff, capeggiato da Rodolfo Attinà, dirigente scolastico e appassionato scacchista, fondatore del Circolo Zatrikion e protagonista della bellissima promozione degli scacchi a Sant?Eufemia d?Aspromonte, nelle scuole e tra i giovanissimi, e da Marcello Rametta, vulcanico organizzatore anche di Amantea e del Chess Calabria Tour oltre che dello ?ScacchiTour?, manifestazione che coinvolge decine di istituti scolastici e migliaia di ragazzi!

Quest?anno ci si sposta di qualche chilometro, da Bagnara Calabra a Sant?Eufemia d?Aspromonte, ed entrambi i comuni supportano la manifestazione. Prestigiosa la sede, il Park Hotel Mediterraneo (quattro stelle), che abbina all?ottima accoglienza una convenzione eccezionalmente economica: solo 35 Euro in pensione completa!

Due immagini del Park Hotel Mediterraneo, sede di gioco

Superfluo citare i meriti della cucina calabrese, che nella Costa Viola abbina i sapori forti dell?entroterra alle delizie del mare; siamo tra l?altro nella zona d?elezione del pesce spada (il ?pinocchio? della Costa Viola), pescato da millenni con le tradizionali tecniche (introdotte dai Fenici!).

Due tipiche ?Filuche? o ?Spadare?, con le torri per l?avvistamento, alte anche più di trenta metri.

Bagnara Calabra e Sant?Eufemia d?Aspromonte sono due dei sei comuni (insieme a Scilla, Palmi, Seminara e Villa San Giovanni) il cui territorio compone l?area geografica della Costa Viola. Chiusa tra il mare e l?Aspromonte, la costa presenta un paesaggio superbo, caratterizzato dalle alte e frastagliate scogliere e dalle trasparenze del mare, con spiagge splendidamente incastonate.

La costa vista da Scilla

Il nome Costa Viola viene dai riflessi violacei delle acque del mare al tramonto e sembra derivi da Platone, che navigando lungo la costa rimase colpito dalle trasparenze e dalle tonalità del paesaggio. E se la balneazione è prerogativa dei mesi caldi, immagini e colori possono essere ancora più profondi in inverno!

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Tre i tornei, il Magistrale, riservato a giocatori con Elo superiore a 1800, l?Open Nazionale, Elo inferiore a 1900, e l?under 16. Ottimo il montepremi, di 5.500 Euro, che garantisce premi notevoli e ben superiori alla media anche nell?Open Nazionale. Data la grande promozione giovanile già accennata non stupisce la bella partecipazione anche nel torneo Under 16, con una trentina di giovanissimi in entrambe le precedenti edizioni. Sette i turni di gioco, tempo di riflessione 90 m + 30 s.

Sito di riferimento http://www.altirchess.com/ ?

Ben 5?GM tra i prescritti, Milan Drasko (2527), Nikita Maiorov (2511), Joseph Sanchez (2487), Miroljub Lazic (2454) e Igor Efimov (2435), ed è iscritto anche il Maestro Internazionale Duilio Collutiis (2426), già protagonista delle due precedenti edizioni. Nel 2008 Duilio si è imposto precedendo per spareggio tecnico Drasko ed Efimov, mentre nel 2009 piazzamento nel quartetto di testa a 5 su 7 ma con vittoria per il GM Vladimir Georgiev.

La premiazione di Collutiis nel 2008. In primo piano il prof. Rodolfo Attinà

Ottimo protagonista delle precedenti edizioni (insieme a Bentivegna, ai fratelli Stromboli, tra gli altri) anche il MF Nicolò Napoli, del quale riportiamo una splendida vittoria, annotata da Megalovic, dell?edizione 2009 contro il forte IM Rusev (2536), prima scacchiera delle Due Torri di Bologna nell?ultimo Master.

[Event "It op 2nd Master"]

[Site "Bagnara Calabra"]

[Date "2009.01.06"]

[White "Napoli, Nicolo"]

[Black "Rusev, Krasimir"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "D01"]

[WhiteElo "2313"]

[BlackElo "2536"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 Nbd7 4. e3 e6 5. f4 Be7 6. Nf3 c5 7. Bb5 a6 8. Bxd7+ Bxd7 9. O-O O-O 10. Ne5 Rc8 11. Rf3 Ne8 12. Rh3 f6 13. Qh5 h6 14. Bxh6 fxe5 15. Bxg7 Nxg7 16. Qh7+ Kf7 17. Rg3 Ke8 18. Rxg7 {il bianco ha sacrificato un pezzo ma ha sufficente compenso grazie ai due pedoni in più e alla disposizione infelice dei pezzi del nero} Bb5? {un tempo perso. Meglio Ac6} 19. dxe5 Bc6{giocata con una mossa di ritardo} 20. Rd1 Rc7 21. Ne4!+- Qb8 22. Qg6+ Kd8 23. Qxe6 Rd7 24. Nf6 Bxf6 25. Rxd7+ Bxd7 26. Rxd5 Qc7 27. exf6 Kc8 28. Qe7 Re8 29. Rxc5 Rxe7 30. Rxc7+ Kxc7 31. fxe7 Kd6 32. e4 Kxe7 33. Kf2 {l'alfiere del nero non può nulla contro i 5 pedoni in più del bianco. Una partita molto bella di Napoli)} 1-0

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CHESS CALABRIA TOUR 2010

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Il ?Costa Viola? è anche il primo dei 4 Festival che compongono il ?Chess Calabria Tour 2010?, insieme al ?Verde Sila? (Croce di Magara ? CS, 20 ? 27 giugno), al ?Città di Amantea? (Campora San Giovanni ? CS, 29 agosto ? 5 settembre) e al ?Riviera dei Cedri? (Scalea ? CS, 6 ? 12 settembre), con un montepremi aggiuntivo di 1800 Euro (1? premio € 700) riservato ai partecipanti (non invitati a spese dell?organizzazione) che prenderanno parte ad almeno due delle quattro manifestazioni aderenti al circuito.

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Infine, il Festival ?Costa Viola? è anche il primo torneo del Progetto Ausonia, che prevede due inviti gratuiti (torneo e soggiorno pensione completa a cura dell?organizzazione) riservati ai giovanissimi (1 under 16 e 1 under 14) in ciascuno dei tre Festival del progetto, con il ?Verde Sila? e il ?Città di Amantea?. Per le modalità di partecipazione rinvio all?articolo sul Progetto Ausonia, ricordando che per la richiesta di invito al Costa Viola il termine è il 6 dicembre!

Insomma, tanta carne al fuoco, e sono tanti i dettagli che fanno comprendere con quanta passione questi tornei sono pensati e curati. La crescita dei giovani e gli scacchi: ottimi motivi per una splendida passione!

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Update 12 dicembre: Roberto Palazzotto (under 16) e Giacomo Gregori (Under 14) sono i due giovanissimi che parteciperanno grazie al Progetto Ausonia!

Roberto Palazzotto (Palermo 28/01/1995) è Prima Nazionale e alla prossima lista di gennaio dovrebbe avere un Elo di 1927 (+78). E? stato più volte campione?siciliano nella sua fascia di età?e ha ottenuto ottimi piazzamenti ai campionati italiani, fino a un eccellente quinto posto nell?under 12 del 2007.

Anche Giacomo Gregori (Ancona 25/01/1996) è Prima Nazionale, con 1791 (+4) previsto alla prossima lista Elo. E? campione under 14 delle Marche e ha ottenuto un ottimo 16? posto ai campionati italiani U14 2009, nonostante i soli 13 anni.

Da parte di entrambi due belle e-mail, scritte bene e con semplicità, lasciando trasparire una bella ed evidente passione per gli scacchi. E anche al di là di questo, due ragazzi in gamba! In bocca al lupo!

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As an experienced player, when I came across “The Immortal Game: A History of Chess”, by David Shenk, I didn’t feel much inclined to pick it up. I mean, after having read such classics as The Development of Chess Style by Max Euwe, and Chess History and Reminiscences, by Bird, what could some general history have to offer? Further, the author, by his own admission, far from an expert player, is not even a rated amateur.

By Robert T. Tuohey

It was this last point, in fact, that nearly caused me to shut the cover on this book before I had even opened it. To be blunt, non-chess players writing about chess is something akin to Norman Mailer scribbling about boxing (i.e. just this side of ridiculous). Ostensibly, only the seasoned practitioner or the true aficionado (as, for example, Papa on Death in the Afternoon), can have anything of depth to say.

Well, life has a wonderful way of proving us wrong, and I was certainly wrong about Shenk’s book. The Immortal Game is well-researched, interestingly written, and, in a general way, informative. Shock of shocks, it’s actually entertaining. I can’t even remember the last time I said that about a chess book.

Having now had time to consider the matter, I believe that David Shenk’s unique qualifications (i.e. expert writer, very average player) are what make this book so good. For the novice, Shenk serves up a general history in fine style: key points are presented in an engaging, non-technical manner. For those of us who have been pushing wood for longer than we’d care to admit, much here we may have heard before, but the perspective is rather different. Shenk is always thoughtful, and often very insightful.

It’s really something of a rarity that players at either end of the chessic spectrum can profit by the same book. In fact, anyone who has even the vaguest interest in chess would find this little book a good read.

Wow! I had to interview this guy.

Please tell us something of your general background.
Thanks for your interest, Bob. I’m a non-fiction author of six books, and a contributor to National Geographic, Wired, Harper’s, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and NPR. I am currently a correspondent for TheAtlantic.com My ambition is to write literary non-fiction, to explore fascinating worlds usually known to a relatively small group of insiders and to make those worlds accessible to a general audience. Often, if I do my job right, my books can also be interesting and informative to the experts themselves. There are many disadvantages to my outsider approach, and one big advantage. The advantage is that I can stand back far from the trees and hopefully see things about the whole forest.

What was your inspiration for the book? What type of research did you do? And how long did it take you to write it?
Several things led to me to chess. I’m interested in the history of ideas, and also in the workings of the brain. When I learned that chess was 1500 years old, and not just 400 or 500, I became intrigued. I wanted to understand how a game could last so long, and be so accessible to people of all ages and cultures. I also have some chess ancestry I wanted to explore.

I spent three years researching and writing the book. What type of research? Everything. I read everything I could get my hands on, talked to historians and players, traveled, chased down apocryphal stories, etc. etc. I went to Germany and to London to spend time with chess historians and to learn more about the Immortal Game from 1851.

David Shenk

The overall structure of the book is paired chapters of basic analysis from the famed Immortal Game (by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky), followed by a chapter of more general historical review. I believe this idea is somewhat unique in chess literature, and certainly serves several purposes. Could you tell us how you came up with this interesting design?
It goes back to one of first tenet of writing: You have to keep people reading. A basic 1500-year chronology is so boring I don’t think I could even stay away awake writing it. I had to come up with a way of organizing all this fascinating information that would keep people reading all the way through. A great story or idea on p. 192 is completely worthless unless readers actually get to that page and read it. Interspersing The Immortal Game was a way to keep people reading, and a way to talk about the basic dynamics of the game — all inside an amazing story.

Your great-great-grandfather Samuel Rosenthal was something of a luminary in the 19th century Paris chess scene. Only the hardcore aficionado would know his name today. Please give us a bit of background on this by-gone chess teacher.
From my book:

“Rosenthal’s young competitors in Warsaw [Poland] had been among the very sharpest in Europe, and he brought to Paris a stamina and consistency that immediately overwhelmed most of his native French competitors. He won the [Café de La] Régence’s championship in 1865 and repeated his triumph in 1866 and 1867. As the new dean of French chess, he began drawing invitations to the leading international tournaments. He represented Paris in Baden-Baden in 1870, in Bonn in 1877, and in London in 1883, where he twice defeated the great champion Wilhelm Steinitz.* In 1884–85, Rosenthal led a Paris team against Vienna in a two-game correspondence match that lasted twenty months. (For his effort, Rosenthal was presented with a spectacular engraved gold pocket watch—the watch that entered our family lore.) In 1887 he was awarded, by the Spanish queen regent, the Charles III Order for his contributions to chess.

With his public displays, café and tournament wins, magazine columns, and private tutoring, Rosenthal was said by Wilhelm Steinitz to be one of the few chess players in the nineteenth century who made a nice living from chess. It didn’t hurt that he mentored some of the leading public ?gures in France—Prime Minister Pierre Tirard, the society portraitist Raimundo de Madrazo, and the powerful French banking family Pereire. His star pupil was Prince Napoleon, a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte.”

In the book you touch upon the phenomenon of chess prodigies, and come down on the side of nurture, as opposed to nature (i.e. great chess players are made not born). Of course, this is contrary to the popular conception. Could you summarize your view for the readers?
It’s not quite that simple, because “nature” and “nurture” really cannot be separated. But having spent another three years researching and writing a follow-up book about human talent and intelligence, I’m convinced that most people are not doomed to mediocrity by their genes. There is an extraordinary abundance of talent waiting to be tapped if individuals, families, and cultures can learn how to do it. My new book about this is called The Genius in All of Us. It will be published March 9, 2010. I write regularly on the subject for TheAtlantic.com.

Having now studied something of the greats in chess, do you have any favorites as players, or even just as personalities?
I admire Ben Franklin, because he was very serious about both the game itself and about chess as metaphor.

Computers and the internet have certainly been a boost to chess activity; however the contemporary view of chess is also radically different as a result. Having worked through the history of chess this must be apparent to you. Could you make some general comparisons?
On the whole, I think computers make chess a lot less interesting. I personally can’t stand to play against a computer, not because I always lose — that happens with my human competitors too — but because it’s not a human experience. Chess is many things, but above all else it is a game between two individual human beings.

After all you research and thought on chess, can you take a stab at what you think is the enduring fascination of the game?
Sure. It’s a game that is simple enough that a five year old can learn to play, but complex enough that a 95 year-old can still be flummoxed even after spending his whole life studying it. The five year old can play the 95 year old and they can share an intimate human experience, even if they don’t know each other’s name and don’t speak the same language. It’s a game that can endlessly fascinate the human brain and also being human beings together.

Any predictions on the future of chess?
It will last forever. Longer than cockroaches.

Last, was this book a one-shot for you, or do you plan any further works on chess?
I’m very proud of the book and the work that went into it. An epic project like that lives on forever in a writer’s head and affects everything he or she does in the future. But I doubt that I’ll ever write another full-length book on chess per se.

Links

• Get your copy of The Immortal Game
• Read more book reviews

December 11, 2009 12:15 PM
It's national checkmate for Fullerton teens
By BARBARA GIASONE
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

FULLERTON Two options emerged.

Crush the opponent for a quick checkmate. Or force the opponent into a situation to either lose or take an unsalvageable position.

Sunny Hills High School senior Sean Manross, 17, used the first strategy to win the 45th American Open Scholastic Chess Tournament in Los Angeles last month, becoming the undefeated champion in the nationwide competition.

His classmate, Andrew Kao, 15, wasn't far behind.

Kao, a sophomore, won second place while Troy High School senior Botao Jiang bagged the fourth prize in the contest that drew about 50 competitors.

"Chess is a game of war where the pieces are the soldiers and the players are the generals," said Manross, offering a quick overview of the centuries-old game. "Historically, chess was played between royalty as a way of resolving war without taking lives."

Manross latched on to the game at age 5 when his family was snowed in at Lake Arrowhead. His father, Gary, pulled out a chess board to pass the time. Sean was hooked.

"Dad knew the basics but had really never played a game," Manross said. "I guess you could say we learned together."

By fourth grade, Manross fell under the tutelage of Fullerton Host Lions Club member Pete Barton, who was instrumental in starting a citywide chess club. Manross progressed quickly; he tutored via phone with Grand Master Sam Palatnik.

Within a few years, the astute player was winning dozens of competitions including school, county and national tournaments. In 2006, Manross competed in the first U.S.-Russia Scholastic Chess Match in Moscow.

He scored second place in the Susan Polgar World Open Championship, earning a $36,000 scholarship to Texas Tech University.

Manross said it's worth noting that playing chess has been proven to prevent Alzheimer's and provides a balanced life.

"When I'm stressed out, I sit in front of the fireplace and play chess against myself," he said.

Kao took up chess in the seventh grade after arriving from Taiwan. He, too, was tutored by Baron through school chess clubs and started winning competitions.

"At first, I thought I should focus on my English skills," Kao said. "My dad said I should be a grand master by my junior year so I can use the special talent to get into college."

Meanwhile, the high school winners are staying focused on improving their skills.

Manross said he continues to follow the romantic style – an open and tactical approach "where the player beats the challenger with fireworks or goes down in flames crying."

Kao uses the position style – a controlling, one-step tactic to push the opponent to death.

Their enthusiasm has helped bolster attendance at the Sunny Hills High Chess Club, which meets weekly at lunch.

"We're proud of these young men with their strong showing in the championships," Sunny Hills High Principal Judy Fancher said. "I know the rules of the game, but my 13-year-old can easily beat me."

Chess news from Susan Polgar

• Aquarium 2010 (version 4.0.2) update has been released just recently. Download — 7.5mb.
• German language pack for Aquarium 2010 is released. Download
• Rybka Opening book by Jeroen Noomen has been updated to run in Aquarium 2010 package. In case of any problems you need to redownload and reinstall the updated version of the book. You can download the updated book from there using your serial key.
• Peshka training interface has been updated fixing a couple of bugs and allowing course updates. You can download the updated interface from there. After downloading reinstall Peshka.

Read below for more information about updates.

What’s new in Aquarium 4.0.2

(also available in the Aquarium FAQ)

Features
* ‘Go to game number’ menu item in the games list
* IDeA Presentation options allow to customize some IDeA behaviour
* IDeA warns you if you start it with more than one active project (this warning can be switched off in the Presentation options)
* Changed the root node list dialog: description and tree score columns are added

Bugfixes
* Fixed inability to launch a search from the game view
* Opening commentary now works
* ‘Preferred side’ is not reset upon pressing ‘Apply changes’
* Some fixes to CBH reading and converting
* Fixed the ‘IDeA options’ dialog OK button not doing anything
* Default layouts for IDeA Control Center and IDeA Project View now exist
* IDeA: Fixed the excess task adding when searching for alternatives in the root node
* Changed the column name in IDeA engine list from ‘#’ to ‘Count’
* Fixed inability to start the engine when it takes too long to load TB
* Fixed inability of 4.0.1 version to access TB on ChessOk server.

How to install German patch for Aquarium

1. Download the following file (it works for all types of Aquarium 2010 packages)
   http://www.chessok.com/download/Aquarium/LangPack_4_02_GER.zip
2. Unpack files into Aquarium 2010 program folder.
3. Note that language pack is valid only for Aquarium 2010 (version 4.02: http://www.chessok.com/download/Aquarium/Aquarium402Full.exe).

It is supposed that additional work for improving the translation will be done in the future.

German documentation can be download from here: DOC, PDF

• FM Danya Naroditsky, 2378, #1 age 13 (Board 3)
  
• NM Greg Young, 2272, #2 age 14 (Alternate)
  
• NM Yian Liou, 2226, #2 age 12 (Board 4)
  
• Kyle Shin, 2088, #6 age 11
  
• Samuel Sevian, 2079, #1 age 8
  
• Tanuj Vasudeva, 1904, #3 age 8

Pre-order Fritz 12 and save 10%!

The world’s most popular chess program got even better, and comes with loads of new features:

– a completely redesigned ergonomic interface
– the new Fritz engine is even stronger than its predecessor
– a new openings book
– a free twelve months premium(!) membership on Playchess.com
– updated database of 1.5 million games from 1625 to 2009
– twelve hours of chess tutorial videos with international trainers
and world class players such as Kramnik, Anand & Kasparov.

We expect Fritz 12 to arrive by the end of next week.

This is a temporary price only, so pick up this bargain now!

Aquarium 3.2.1 Update has been released just recently.

You can download it using ChessOK Downloader or from our site:
Full update from any version
Incremental update 3.2.0 to 3.2.1

The download size is 18 Mb.

Read below what’s new in Aquarium 3.2.1 (also available in the Aquarium FAQ):

Features

* Seriously reworked Setup position dialog
* You can change the opponent engine’s opening book during the game in Play mode
* You can have separate opening book setting for Play mode

Bugfixes

* Fixed occasional crash when starting infinite analysis
* Fixed the crash when infinite analysis is started upon closing IDEA
* Fixed the focus change from tree to notation that occurs when the mode is changed
* Fixed move number when setting up position - it’s no longer 1 in all cases
* Fixed move number ignoring when the position on board doesn’t change
* Fixed possible change of starting move number whenn pasting a game from clipboard or otherwise joining two notations. This also means that TB6 online respects the move numbers now.
* Fixed the fact database root was ignored for engine_games database
* Fixed the occasional situation when moves made from tree window were not reflected on the board
* Increased the total move limit from 500 to 1000 moves
* Fixed occasional JavaScript error (missing

I’ve upgraded this chess tutorials site to WordPress 2.8.1.
So far I didn’t experience problems, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
WordPress 2.8.1 fixes many bugs and tightens security for plugin administration pages. The admin pages added by certain plugins could be viewed by unprivileged users, resulting in information being leaked. Not all plugins are vulnerable to this problem, but I upgraded to 2.8.1 to be safe.

Aquarium 3.2.0 Update has been released just recently.

You can download it using ChessOK Downloader or from our site:
Full update from any version
Incremental update 3.1.1 to 3.2.0

The download size is 18 Mb.

For German version: after installing the update, delete the file Aquarium.ger-rs-map.

Read below what’s new in Aquarium 3.2.0 (also available in the Aquarium FAQ):

Major Features

* Play mode: eliminated the observer engine. All engine assistance is now performed by the opponent engine.
* Play mode saves its state after exiting Aquarium. You can close Aquarium, then open it again and continue playing.
* Play mode: you can make moves (and get engine answers) from any position (in Fun mode): in variations and subvariations. This is more Fritz-like behaviour.
* You can export the game (game list, iBook page) as a ‘blog entry’, not to a separate HTML page.
* You can use Aquarium to create animated GIFs with board images.
* iBook edit mode is quite usable now. Most commands are presented as popup menu items, systax is highlighted etc.
* iBook search function is vastly enhanced.
* After pressing Esc (or otherwise stopping infinite analysis), the analysis window doesn’t disappear. Second Esc hides the window.

Minor Features

* You can add a single game to the tree.
* Adding game (or game list) to the tree now allows automatic move coloring.
* iBook writing: nested sections are allowed now.
* iBook writing: you can see what text in edit window corresponds to the selected text in View window.
* iBook writing: new commands are added to the command language.
* iBook writing: added some options to automatically convert the game notation to i-Book.
* DGT board input now allows inverting the position.
* Play mode: The time is now specified for the player and the engine (not for White and Black).
* Play mode: You can modify the clock values by double-clicking the clocks.
* The best line is not bold now in the infinite analysis display. It varies in color.
* Position search now does NOT respect castling rights.
* You can switch to a different Infinite Analysis preset while analyzing.
* Copy Board Image to Clipboard now creates the same image as ‘Save Board Image’.
* Engine Competitions list now have non-empty Standings for engine matches.
* Improvements to position setup: Move number, flip horizontally/vertically
* The move number from a pasted FEN string becomes the current move number.
* You can copy and paste the graphic commentary string (Aquarium specific).
* Added support for remote UCI engines via our servers.
* You can change the number of plies in infinite analysis with +/- keys, not only Num+/Num-.

Major bugfixes

* Fixed the bug in Engine-Engine matches when the engine was reloaded after each game if it had custom hash size settings.

Minor bugfixes

* Fixed the loss of game header when the game is moved between some Aquarium modes.
* iBook: in some cases the iBook commands misjudged the side to move.
* Increased minimum size for infinite analysis options window.
* Fixed occasional lack of last mistake commentary in Game Analysis.
* Fixed occasional appearance of 5-digit Elo ratings in PGN database reading.
* ‘Sensible’ window layout is shown after it was corrupted, not the blank window.
* Fixed incorrect timestamp placement in CQLSearchResults.eld
* Changed Infinite Analysis time display to a more convenient h:mm:ss
* The highlighted move in the Notation window is now visible after entering the mode.
* Fixed occasional bug when changing settings for one engine during IA affected other engines’ settings.
* Save board image: image sizes are accurate now.
* Save board image: opponent move red arrow is now preserved in the image.
* Fixed the situation when analysis presets were not loaded correctly.
* Fixed the loss of game header when the game is moved to another database via drag-and-drop.
* Fixed ‘List index out of bounds’ error when enabling Tree and Classifier for the iBook.
* Fixed excess database connections (and error message spam) when searching for position in current dataset.
* Fixed occasional display of incorrect Ribbon tab when closing the i-Book page.
* The status bar tooltips (IA history, engine state, etc.) do not disappear any more.
* Fixed spelling error in engine match dialog.
* Fixed inability to add text markers on the board.
* Fixed crash when editing text markers.
* Added more sensible failure message when opening a database locked by CA.
* Added size constraits to iBook page select dialog.

Discussion and feedback

Thread on Rybka Forum

Schools First is a fantastic new initiative that is about improving outcomes for young people.

At its heart, Schools First is about bringing together students, teachers, parents and community members, to support each other and help improve student outcomes.

With a prize pool of $5 million every year for three years, Schools First is a national awards program that provides:

• Financial recognition of success in establishing effective school-community partnerships; and
• Financial support to build stronger school-community partnerships.

In support of the awards and their objective, Schools First will also:

• Provide regional workshops to support schools and communities to form or strengthen partnerships and prepare submissions for an award;
• Showcase successful partnerships as a means of inspiring other school communities; and
• Assist in developing a "knowledge bank" of resources on which school communities can draw.

And it's open to all Australian primary and secondary schools, whether they're public or private, special needs, religious or independent.

The awards include up to 60 local awards of $50,000 each and up to eight state awards of $100,000 each. One outstanding national award recipient will receive between $500,000 - $1 million.

Schools First is brought to life by NAB in partnerships with Foundation for Young Australians and Australian Council for Educational Research.

Partnership proves chess is more than a board game.

The ancient game of chess is leading to real outcomes for students in the Castlemaine region of central Victoria, and provides another fine example of school-community partnerships that Schools First aims to support.

About four years ago, Castlemaine Secondary College junior campus welfare co-ordinator Steve Carroll was becoming concerned about the negative attitude displayed towards students who were part of the weekly lunchtime chess program run by Castlemaine Chess Club volunteer Harry Poulton.

“Harry and I decided that this wasn’t an ideal culture within the school, so we hatched a plan to try to change that,” said Mr Carroll. “We thought that if we could get chess into all the feeder primary schools at grade 6 and build a program around that, then when the kids came to the secondary college chess wouldn’t be seen as any big deal.”

Mr Carroll is also a maths teacher, so he and Mr Poulton decided to build their program around maths and numeracy. “When we started, we spent six months planning it,” said Mr Carroll. “That was a really critical part of why it worked so well.”

They researched national numeracy policy and identified about 30 benchmarks that could be directly related to chess. “It gave us a policy link that leveraged us into the curriculum,” said Mr Carroll.

Mr Carroll and Mr Poulton then presented proposals to the Mount Alexander cluster of primary schools and before long the Chess-Squared program was part of the curriculum in 12 local schools.

Once a fortnight, during terms two and three, a tutor from the Castlemaine Chess Club runs a one-hour session for grade 6 students, and the schools are encouraged to run more chess activities during the other weeks.

The program is now in its fourth year and continues to have many benefits for students, and teachers too.

For students, there are real curriculum outcomes in terms of improved numeracy, problem solving, strategic thinking and so on. Mr Carroll said there are also other benefits, such as learning about sportsmanship, teaching students how to stop and think before acting, development of planning and strategy skills and more.

“Chess teaches kids that they have to live with the consequences of their actions,” said Mr Carroll. “That’s a powerful thing embedded in the program.”

And importantly, it’s helping a wide cross-section of children with their learning. “Kids who were underachieving or not performing are finding success and building confidence,” he said.

There are also benefits for teachers, with Mr Carroll and Mr Poulton pursuing further education through James Cook University based on research to do with the program. This helps them to improve the program, along with deepening their knowledge base and skills so they can then offer assistance to other schools and teachers.

Mr Carroll said that parents are very positive about the Chess-Squared program. “Some of the research is showing that kids want to play chess at home,” he said. “They’ve seen that it’s something really positive and that their kids are quite excited about it and like chess. They can see that something productive and real is happening at school.”

Castlemaine Secondary College has no curriculum-based chess program, but students who move from the primary schools into the secondary college are more likely to be part of the lunchtime chess clubs, and tournaments around the state.

Mr Carroll said it’s hard to know exactly how many students have participated in the Chess-Squared program, but the yearly tournaments give an indication.

“At the end of the year we run a tournament at the old Castlemaine jail, and we’ve had about, on average, 250 kids a year,” he said.

These tournaments are also starting to draw in schools from other regional Victorian towns, taking the benefits of the program even further.

Mr Carroll set up a blog that was intended to be a communication tool for 12 primary schools, but it has now become a site of global interest, spreading the impact of the program around the world.

“The blog has 57 articles about a range of issues related to chess and education, and findings and insights into the Chess-Squared program,” said Mr Carroll. “It has had more than 2400 visitors from around the world.”

To visit the Chess-Squared blog, click here.

Chess news from Susan Polgar

• Advanced Class (1400-1800) on Monday evenings

• Dates 6/1, 6/8, 6/15, 6/22 from 8:00 to 10:30 PDT
  
• Lecture Topic: Modern Chess Champions: From Kramnik to Topalov, Anand and now Carlsen
  

• Intermediate Class (1000-1600) on Tuesday evenings

• Dates 6/2, 6/9, 6/16, 6/23 from 8:00 to 10:30 PDT
  
• Lecture Topic: Intermediate Endgames: King + Pawns and Rook + Pawns

• Advanced Class (1400-1800) on Monday evenings

• Dates 7/6, 7/13, 7/20, 7/27 from 8:00 to 10:30 PDT
  
• Lecture Topic: Advanced Endgames: Rooks, Minor Pieces and Queens
  

• Intermediate Class (1000-1600) on Tuesday evenings

• Dates 7/7, 7/14, 7/21, 7/28 from 8:00 to 10:30 PDT
  
• Lecture Topic: Importance of Gaining Tempo
  

REGISTRATION: Send email to michael (at) fpawn (dot) com with your real name, ICC username, age, USCF rating, email address, phone number and the session you wish to sign up for. I will reply with further info, including the final dates and how to pay. First come, first served.

IMPORTANT INFO: All classes will be conducted on the Internet Chess Club. The instructor examines a board for students to follow. He sets up a position or studies a game, communicating through text (kibitz) and by drawing on the board. The students may also speak with the instructor through text (kibitz or tell). Newcomers to online chess should check out this tutorial.

WARNING: Online classes are not for everyone! It is easy for students to become distracted and it is difficult for the teacher to monitor them. Parents are expected to watch their children closely.

QUESTIONS? Send email to Michael Aigner at michael (at) fpawn (dot) com.

These days it’s hard to keep up with everything that is happening at ChessOK in a monthly column. In recent months the focus has mostly been on Rybka Aquarium, but now they have a brand new product, Peshk@, which is to be released soon. It is a welcome addition to their long line of respected training and improvement programs. Many readers are probably familiar with ChessOK training programs, such as CT-ART, Chess Tactics for Beginners etc. Peshk@ (”peshka” is the Russian word for “pawn”) is a completely new product, with a modern user interface and new features.

In addition to all the changes, the most popular features of CT-ART and other training programs were also added to Peshk@. Taking Advantage of the Internet Peshk@ is the first ChessOK training program that takes advantage of the Internet. The basic package will be available both on DVD and as a download. It comes with one training course, but users can browse a list of other available courses from inside the program. The list is automatically updated when new courses are released. Users will be allowed to try out new courses before they buy them. Since they are presented through Peshk@ there is no need to install a new program. The trial versions will allow you to make a more informed decision about buying or not. If you decide to buy, the purchase only requires a few mouse clicks and you will be able to start using the new course within minutes.

Peshk@ is the next generation of ChessOK’s training programs.

This design allows users to quickly build a library of courses that address those areas that need the most improvement.

There are several interesting ideas in development with regards to new courses for specific rating ranges, etc. As is usual with ChessOK, I’m sure that they will listen closely to their customers when it comes to developing material for Peshk@.

Improvements Based on User Feedback

The improvements in Peshk@ compared to older ChessOK training programs are to a large extent based on feedback from users. Although previous programs have been very successful, users have pointed out several important opportunities for improvement. Many of those have been incorporated into Peshk@. Here are some examples:

1. Improved user interface. Peshk@ is based on a modern user interface that is similar to Office 2007, but much simpler. Rybka Aquarium users will also feel right at home with the “ribbon” user interface. Note that you can minimize the ribbon by double-clicking on one of the tabs in order to maximize the working area. This can be helpful for users with low-resolution screens.
2. Improved piece and board graphic. Peshk@ comes with a nice selection of boards and piece sets. The pieces are vector based so they look smooth at any size. Board themes and piece sets are interchangeable between Peshk@ and Rybka Aquarium.
3. Consistency across different training program. This is solved by Peshk@. Instead of creating a different program for each training course, Peshk@ can handle multiple courses as described below.
4. Vista UAC compatibility. Peshk@ is fully compatible with Windows Vista UAC and doesn’t need administrative rights to run.
5. Auto-update and an option to download courses from the Internet. Both of these features are built into Peshk@. Note that Internet access is only required while you are checking for and downloading new courses. Otherwise everything is done locally; so for training, Peshk@ works in the same way as previous ChessOk training programs.

One Program Many Training Courses

One of the more interesting features of Peshk@ is that it is module based. This means that many different training courses will be available and can be plugged into Peshk@.

The training courses in previous ChessOK training programs are of very high quality and ChessOK worked closely with several chess schools and experienced trainers to develop the training regimen. Many of the existing courses will also be available for Peshk@.

One of the advantages of the ChessOK training courses is that they squeeze as much value as possible out of each exercise. As an example, the user must find all important moves in a combination, not just the first one. Sometimes he may even be required to find the correct continuation against different defending moves. If he is in trouble, Peshk@ will help put him on the right track using different methods without actually revealing the correct moves.

	The “Courses” button in the ribbon at the top of the application window presents a list of available courses in the “Course Browser,” which is shown in the image below.
The “Courses” button displays the available training courses.

You can use the buttons at the top of the window to filter the list, so you only see the courses that you are interested in. The courses are displayed in a configurable multi-level list. In the example above I have placed rank or difficulty at the top of the hierarchy. The next level shows two categories: “Local” and “Online.” The local courses are already available on your computer. They were either part of the Peshk@ package or you may have downloaded them separately. The Online list shows additional courses that are available for download. If you click one of the items in the Online list, you are presented with a purchase link or a download link if it’s a demo.

The “Course Browser” shows local and Online courses.

	Before you can start using the Online resources you must register. Click the “Go online” button at the bottom of the course browser window.
Additional courses and demos can be downloaded.

If you are already registered at the Chess Resource Server (e.g., through the ChessOK Downloader) you can enter your login and password here. Otherwise click the “Register now!” link to register. After you log in the “Top up balance” button replaces the “Go online” button at the bottom of the course browser window.

In case you are planning to buy a new course, click this button to add the required amount to your account. After that you can purchase the course in Peshk@ and it will be automatically downloaded and installed.

Starting Peshk@ for the first time The first time you start Peshk@ you are asked to create a profile with your name and estimated Elo rating. In this example, I’ll register a new user by the name of John with an estimated rating of 800. The reason why you must create a profile is that Pehsk@ can keep track of several user profiles. Each user’s performance is recorded and the statistics are available for viewing. This makes the program ideal for use by trainers, schools, and chess clubs.

It’s important that you enter a realistic rating, as it is updated after each exercise to reflect your progress. If you are unsure about your rating, it’s better to start too low than too high. Your rating will increase to the appropriate level once you have solved a sufficient number of exercises. After that the rating changes will tell you how fast you are improving.

Some of the training courses are designed specifically for lower rated players. If you enter a rating that is too high, you may be surprised if it doesn’t increase when you solve the exercises intended for much lower rated players. The reason is the same as when one player beats a much lower rated player in a tournament. He doesn’t gain any rating points. But in case he loses, his rating decreases.

Finally, don’t expect the rating level to be directly comparable to other rating systems; of course you can compare your rating to others who are also using Peshk@.

Different Approaches to Training

Peshk@ uses the same basic approach as most ChessOK tutorial programs. It offers four different methods to teach and reinforce the material:

• Learn (theory): In this mode a new topic is introduced via a narrative and examples that the user can play through on the screen. When available, this should be your starting point for each new topic.
• Learn (practice): When you select this mode you are given exercises to solve from the selected topic. The program keeps track of your practice results.
• Play: In this mode you can play against the built-in chess engine, starting from any position on the board.
• Test: Here you can select various test parameters. The program keeps track of your test performance.

These methods correspond to the first three buttons in the Home tab as shown in the image below. Additionally, you can switch between theory and practice in learn mode using the course navigator.

The Course Navigator The course navigator serves as an outline for the training regimen by breaking it down into manageable sections and providing a framework for studying. It is displayed in the working area, but you can switch it on and off with the click of a button. The navigator allows the user to select a lesson for study or practice. The text at the top of the pane shows that “The 1st Stage of Studies” is the currently selected course. Below that, the table of contents for this course is displayed. It is divided into sections, two of which are currently visible, “Mate in 2″ and “Sacrifice material.” Each section is further broken down into several subsections or lessons. The user has selected the “Queen sacrifice” lesson in the “Sacrifice material” section. The “Practice” button at the bottom of the image is highlighted by default. If the course contains theoretical sections, the “Theory” button is also enabled, allowing you to study the theoretical part of the course. As mentioned above you can switch the course navigator on and off as you like. Just click the “Navigator” button in the “Tools” tab to toggle the display of the navigator pane.

The course navigator.

Here the “Navigator” button is highlighted, which means that the course navigator pane is displayed. Click the button to switch it off. By default, the course navigator is displayed when learning mode is active, but not in play or test modes.

Learn Mode Learn mode lets you study the topics of the course both through theory and practice. The theoretical lessons use specific examples, graphic illustrations and verbal explanations. Several positions, often from real games, are used to show how the theoretical material works in practice. When in learn mode you can switch to practice mode by clicking the “Practice” button in the course navigator pane. You are then immediately presented with the first exercise as shown in the next screenshot. At the top of the image there is a slider with one notch for each exercise. It moves automatically as you go through the exercises. You can also drag the slider left or right with the mouse.

Peshk@ uses the slider to let you keep track of the exercises you have competed. The following screenshot shows what the slider might look like after you have completed some of the exercises.

The leftmost exercise was solved successfully so it is shown in olive color. If you failed to solve an exercise, it is shown in orange color. The light-gray color shows exercises that you have not yet tried to solve.

Learn mode allows you skip an exercise and then come back to it later using the slider. Few users will be able to solve all the exercises at first, so don’t hesitate to skip exercises and solve them later.

The chessboard is below the slider. The small white square in the lower left corner of the board shows that it is White’s move. The buttons below the board are disabled until you have finished the exercise. Then you can use the buttons to play through the moves.

You should keep an eye on the status bar at the bottom of the window, because it shows several fields with useful information. Going from left to right:

• Learn mode. This field displays the current mode.
• Task 1 of 11. The first number “1″ shows that you are currently working on task number 1 and “11″ tells us the total number of tasks or exercises.
• Score 0 of 30. The first number keeps track of the score for the current task. The second number shows the maximum number of points for the task (30 in this case).
• Attempts 0. This field keeps count of how many attempts you have made to find the correct move in the current position. The penalty increases every time you make a wrong move.
• Time spent 00:00:19. Here you can see how much time you have spent on the current task; 19 seconds in this example.
• Task Elo: 1500. Each exercise has an Elo rating attached to it based on its difficulty. This field is not visible in the image above.

Finally there is a task status field (not shown) that displays the status of the current task, such as whose move it is and if the task is completed. When you find the correct move, the program responds and then asks you for your next move. Sometimes there is more than one good move in a position and you will be asked to consider other moves besides the one you chose. If you don’t play the correct move, the program will guide you by highlighting the most important pieces and using arrows to draw attention to key aspects of the position, as shown in the diagram below: If you still don’t find the correct move, the piece that you are supposed to move will blink. If you can’t find the correct move after that, the program will make one or more moves for both sides and resume the exercise from there.

It’s also possible to ask Peshk@ to give you a hint by clicking the “Task Hint” button in the “Help” tab. After solving an exercise you can play through the variations on the board. This is recommended, because there are sometimes additional variations given that were not played, plus it helps to review the solution.

Test Mode

The main difference between learn mode and test mode is that the exercises are randomly selected and presented in varying order. You also have greater control over which exercises are included in the test. You can even set up a test that covers exercises from the whole course instead of a single lesson.

Test mode is started by clicking the “Test” button on the “Home” tab. There are several parameters that the user can set before a test begins, as shown in this screenshot. In the “Scope” pane you can either limit the test to the current lesson, as I have done here, or the whole course. The “Task selection” pane defines which tasks from the selected scope are included in the test. “Unsolved” limits the test to tasks that you haven’t solved. If you don’t want to exclude any tasks from the scope, select “All.” By selecting “Erroneous,” you can create a test consisting of tasks that you failed to solve. You can also limit the test to tasks that are above a certain Elo rating. This option can be helpful if the simplest exercises are too easy for you. Finally you can decide the number of tasks in the test by using the “Number of tasks” slider. I have selected ten tasks. When you are ready, just press the “Start test” button.

Statistics As you progress with Peshk@ and complete more tests, the program evaluates your rating changes based on your performance. You must realize that it is the rating changes that matter most, but not the actual rating level. This feature is helpful to trainers, who can use it to compare the performance of their students. Each column on the bar graph below corresponds to one exercise. Basically, if you correctly solve an exercise, without any clues from the program, then your rating will increase. If you fail to solve it, your rating will decrease. If you need help from the program to solve an exercise, you will receive penalty points. In this case your rating change depends on the number of penalty points.

In this column I have given a quick overview of Peshk@. Users of current ChessOK training programs were given some insight into the differences between Peshk@ and previous training programs and new users got a taste of what it is like to work with Peshk@.

Since I’m working with a beta version, readers must keep in mind that some of the screenshots and descriptions I have given above may change before the final release.

Dadi Jonsson

• Advanced Class (1400-1800) on Monday evenings

• Dates 6/1, 6/8, 6/15, 6/22 from 8:00 to 10:30 PDT
  
• Lecture Topic: Modern Chess Champions: From Kramnik to Topalov, Anand and now Carlsen
  

• Intermediate Class (1000-1600) on Tuesday evenings

• Dates 6/2, 6/9, 6/16, 6/23 from 8:00 to 10:30 PDT
  
• Lecture Topic: Intermediate Endgames: King + Pawns and Rook + Pawns

• Advanced Class (1400-1800) on Monday evenings

• Dates 7/6, 7/13, 7/20, 7/27 from 8:00 to 10:30 PDT
  
• Lecture Topic: Advanced Endgames: Rooks, Minor Pieces and Queens
  

• Intermediate Class (1000-1600) on Tuesday evenings

• Dates 7/7, 7/14, 7/21, 7/28 from 8:00 to 10:30 PDT
  
• Lecture Topic: Importance of Gaining Tempo
  

REGISTRATION: Send email to michael (at) fpawn (dot) com with your real name, ICC username, age, USCF rating, email address, phone number and the session you wish to sign up for. I will reply with further info, including the final dates and how to pay. First come, first served.

IMPORTANT INFO: All classes will be conducted on the Internet Chess Club. The instructor examines a board for students to follow. He sets up a position or studies a game, communicating through text (kibitz) and by drawing on the board. The students may also speak with the instructor through text (kibitz or tell). Newcomers to online chess should check out this tutorial.

WARNING: Online classes are not for everyone! It is easy for students to become distracted and difficult for the teacher to monitor them. Parents are expected to watch the children closely.

QUESTIONS? Send email to Michael Aigner at michael (at) fpawn (dot) com.

Il y aurait de quoi écrire plusieurs livres sur les ressources documentaires disponibles sur le net et dédiées au jeu d'échecs. John Nunn avait déjà abordé la question dans son excellent livre le secret de l'efficacité aux échecs en développant une grande partie de son chapitre à Fritz et à Chessbase. Pour l'étude spécifique des ouvertures, l'utilisation des ressources informatiques par les champions a été développée dans l'excellent livre de Steve Gidddins et ce chapitre est téléchargeable ici. Il y a toutefois une autre façon agréable de se cultiver aux échecs, c'est de visionner des séquences vidéos, qui ont l'avantage de coupler un commentaire verbal au mouvement des pièces et de rendre l'étude des échecs plus vivante. Ceux qui veulent découvrir ce vaste domaine ont plusieurs façons de s'y prendre. La première est de se limiter aux produits commerciaux. Souvent (très) chers, ils ont l'avantage d'être magnifiquement présentés et d'impliquer des GMIs et MIs pas forcément à l'aise avec l'écriture (et son côté peu rémunérateur !) mais capables d'être très didactiques. Outre les DVD Chessbase - que certains internautes malhonnêtes arrivent à pirater - (chut !) - il y a l'excellent site ICC qui donne accès à ses abonnés à des vidéos très bien commentées (les interventions régulières de John Watson et Joel Benjamin, en particulier, sont toujours réussies) consacrées à des parties d'actualités ou à des "leçons" classiques (sur des ouvertures, par exemple). Un aperçu peut être obtenu en vous abonnant (gratuitement) à leur newsletter. Pour ceux qui souhaitent du matériel pédagogique en langue française, le choix est plus limité. Fritz 10 et Fritz 11 sont vendus avec des vidéos très bien conçues animées par Marie Sebbag mais destinées aux débutants. Il est dommage que Chessbase n'ait pas prévu ne serait-ce que d'apposer des sous-titres aux vidéos les plus réputées (celles de Kasparov sur la Najdorf ou le gambit D, par exemple). Il y a aussi le site europe-echecs.com qui a tout d'une usine à fric insupportable (un aperçu de leur convivialité vous est donnée dans le lien ci-dessus), ainsi que des vidéos payantes distribuées par DiagonaleTV et imineo.com. Vous aurez compris que je suis un obsédé de la gratuité ! Je n'ai donc pas privilégié cette première voie. La seconde façon d'explorer les ressources vidéos est plus chronophage, plus aléatoire, mais totalement gratuite. En vous armant de patience, vous pourrez trouver quelques perles. Bien que peu nombreuses, les vidéos en langue française sont les plus reposantes. Le site echecs-académie du GMI Jean-Luc Chabanon vous permet d'accéder à quelques vidéos magnifiques (il faut toutefois faire le tri et laisser de côté les videos-interview sans grand intérêt). J'ai en souvenir un bon moment passé à visionner une partie de Bronstein commentée à l'occasion de sa disparition. Il y a aussi un must sur la défense Philidor commentée par Christian Bauer, un spécialiste international du sujet. Sur DailyMotion et youTube, vous pourrez trouver une multitude de vidéos d'échecs de qualité inégale. Les vidéos en français y sont rares. J'ai repéré le très beau travail de Nicolas Normand alias Scandien, le webmestre du site de l'échiquier de Bures. Son style est sobre, sa voix agréable et ses propos intelligents ! Il semble, en particulier, bien connaître la défense Pirc (berk !) et être un inconditionnel de Bobby Fischer (il a colligé une superbe série de documentaires sur la rencontre Fisher-Spassky de 1972).Bien entendu, ceux qui n'ont pas peur de l'anglais ou de l'espagnol auront l'embarras du choix. Encore faut-il savoir faire des recherches efficaces. Les recherches trop générales, utilisant, par exemple, le mot clé "chess" sont peu rentables, alors que la précision paie très vite (essayez, par exemple, votre variante d'ouverture préférée, ou des mots-clés comme "trap opening" et vous serez surpris du résultat. Il y a même (chuuut !) des extraits de DVD chessbase qui sont accessibles sur youtube ! J'ai personnellement un petit faible pour la (trop courte) série "5 min chess tips" animée par Igor et Gleb et leur accent à couper au couteau tout droit sorti des carpates (un exemple ici). Parfaite pour les amateurs qui souhaitent se cultiver sans effort ! Vous trouverez aussi des joueurs amateurs enthousiastes (un peu comme moi !) qui osent publier et commenter l'une de leurs parties jouées sur le net (voici un exemple espagnol- olé!- joué sur Buho21). L'inconvénient de youtube reste tout de même le problème de la rentabilité du temps passé à chercher son bonheur. Aussi, l'une de mes trouvailles les plus rentables a été d'utiliser la recherche de podcast sur itunes (les aficionados du mac connaissent par coeur ; il y a aussi une version PC). Parmi les podcasts dédiés aux échecs, deux sortent vraiment du lot : la série PE's ChessCast animée par un "professional Chess Tutor" dont je me suis demandé quel rapport il avait avec l'alcool (son logo représente un éléphant rose...), et le ChessKiller Tips d'Alexandra Kosteniuk, la plus sexy des championes du monde. Tous deux sont orientés "tactique"...

Cette liste n'est pas exhaustive et il y a sûrement d'autres perles qui m'ont échappées. Aussi, n'hésitez pas à les signaler dans vos commentaires pour que tout le monde en profite !

Bobby Fischer ya fue motivo en 1993 de una magnífica película, escrita y dirigida por Steven Zaillian. Y este año fue noticia debido a su fallecimiento. Pero Fischer era sólo una figura misteriosa de la que tomar el título y no un personaje en aquel film.

El ajedrecista venció a Boris Spassky en el campeonato mundial de 1972 y esta batalla de talentos, que se tomó como un símbolo de la guerra fría, está recogida en el libro de David Edmonds y John Eidinow ‘Bobby Fischer Goes To War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time’ (‘Bobby Fischer va a la guerra: cómo los soviéticos perdieron la partida de ajedrez más extraordinaria de todos los tiempos’). La obra será llevada al cine de la mano de Kevin Macdonald, una vez termine ‘State of Play’. El guión será de Shawn Slovo, mientras Tim Bevan y Eric Fellner se encargarán de la producción para Working Title, que se ha asociado con Universal para producir ‘Bobby Fischer Goes To War’.

Macdonald ganó un Oscar por el documental ‘One Day in September’ y luego debutó con ‘El último rey de Escocia’ (‘The Last King of Scotland’), para rodar a continuación ‘My Enemy´s Enemy’. Después de ‘State of Play’, dirigirá el drama sobre Roma ‘The Eagle of the Ninth’.

Nacido en 1943 en Chicago, hijo de inmigrantes alemanes, Bobby Fischer aprendió por sí mismo a jugar al ajedrez a partir de las instrucciones que venían en un pequeño juego que le regaló su hermana. A la edad de 7 años se unió al club de ajedrez de Brooklyn, donde su presidente, Carmine Nigro, se encargó personalmente de su formación. Dejó el instituto sin graduarse y John W. Collins, que había sido tutor de otros jugadores sobresalientes, le aceptó como alumno y se convirtió en una figura paterna para Fischer.

Pablo Morán dijo en su libro ‘Los niños prodigio del ajedrez’ que Bobby Fischer, “como niño prodigio no fue muy brillante; en cambio, como adolescente prodigio no ha tenido parangón en la historia del ajedrez”. A la edad de 15 años, logró el título de Gran Maestro al ocupar el quinto puesto en el Interzonal de Portoroz, siendo el ajedrecista más joven en obtener esa distinción hasta ese momento. A pesar de conseguir sensacionales resultados en los torneos internacionales desde finales de los años 50, diversos factores (a veces su propio carácter, en otras ocasiones la auténtica supremacía de los ajedrecistas soviéticos) retrasaron su lucha por el título máximo.

Aquarium 3.1.1 Update has been released just recently.

You can download it using ChessOK Downloader or from our site:
Full update from any version
Incremental update 3.1.0 to 3.1.1

The download size is 17 Mb.

For German version: after installing the update, delete the file Aquarium.ger-rs-map.

Read below what’s new in Aquarium 3.1.1 (also available in the Aquarium FAQ):

Features

* Export whole book to HTML (into a directory, complete with classifier, index.html etc).
* Shift+drag inputs dashed arrow in markers edit.
* Configurable indentation for variations.
* F11 toggles ‘Maximize view’.
* Percents column is automatically added to each tree configuration.

Bugfixes

* Multivariation in Infinite Analysis works OK again.
* JavaScript errors fixed, so that HTML export works with Chrome.
* Other changes to HTML export, including correct export of database-bound pages.
* Fixed Windows 7 stack overflow bug.
* Fixed bug with tool buttons in a collapsed Ribbon.
* Board window can now be maximized.
* Fixed crash when i-Book text search returns no pages.
* Fixed Sampled Search output: some moves were wrongly reported as 1st, while they were elsewhere in the line.

What’s next

i-Book editing enhancements. Play mode revisit (yes, adjourning games!). Probably IDEA improvements.

Discussion and feedback

Thread on Rybka Forum

Aquarium 3.1.0 Update has been released just recently.

You can download it using ChessOK Downloader or from our site:
Full update from any version
Incremental update 3.0.8 to 3.1.0

The download size is 17 Mb.

For German version: after installing the update, delete the file Aquarium.ger-rs-map.

We are also glad to announce the release of Aquarium Opening Book by Jeroen Noomen.

Read below what’s new in Aquarium 3.1.0 (also available in the Aquarium FAQ):

Major features

* New, more convenient, ‘Paint-like’ way of editing color markers in the game and in the tree.
* You can read Aquarium i-Books. Editing possibilities are limited, they’ll be enhanced in futher update. However, if you are not afraid of writing a Wiki-formatted text, you can edit/create new i-Books.
* You can run Game Analysis from the Sandbox.

Major bugfixes

* Fixed occasional header fields loss when pasting a game into the database game.
* ‘Remove before’ no longer cripples games that stared from non-initial positions.
* Randomizer match dialog is now displayed correctly.
* Engine evaluations are now printed correctly.

Minor features

* Added a popup menu for changing tree configuration in the Tree window header.
* Added possibility to view only main tree moves in a tree configuration.
* Smart Input is now ‘even smarter’: you can right-click (with left button pressed) to cycle through available moves.
* You can manually edit opening book play probability for each move in the tree configuration.
* You can set clocks during the game in Play mode (double-click the clocks).
* Allowed playing against Fritz via Auto232 network protocol (works OK on all our computers, but not tested much).
* Using Ctrl+move to exclude moves from infinite analysis now changes the analysis pane display.
* There is a clearer indication of which window has focus. Helps to determine whether we are browsing tree or notation.
* New feature: opponent move to limited depth. After reaching this depth the engine switches to normal analysis.
* Ribbon double-click minimization is more convenient now.
* Board sounds now active in the Sandbox and database game view.
* Export options dialog changed slightly to be more logical.
* Newly created database is added to the Recent list.
* When loading a EPD string, the leading and trailing spaces are now ignored.

Minor bugfixes

* Fixed memory leak issue in analysis chart.
* Display options dialog: checkbox for ‘Show board navigation’ is consistent with ‘Material imbalance’.
* Fixed occasional clearance of game header by Game Analysis.
* Improved hit detection when clicking on the game flag in the games list.
* Fixed tree window reappearing after it was hidden by the user.
* Selected cell in Games list is no longer made gray.
* Ctrl+move in Two clicks input mode now works as well. If it’s done during IA it excludes the move from the search, otherwise it adds a variation.
* Using Ctrl+move to exclude moves from infinite analysis works with Smart move too.
* Fixed occasional incorrect conversion of PGN NAGs to ‘Long after’ comments.
* Tree options dialog: advanced controls no longer peek out of the bottom of the window.
* Notation position change after switching to another application and back is partially fixed.
* ‘Insert deleted moves to clipboard’ option works now.
* Fixed smart move inability to drag the pointer from destination to the source square.
* Cursor is position correctly after ‘Delete variation’.
* Fixed occasional mouse pointer disappearance when editing the game header.
* Analysis pane is no longer cleared when the mate score is achieved.
* Engine match view now respects board cursor settings.
* IDEA display now respects board orientation.
* Game Analysis now respects ‘Show coordinates’ and ‘Show board navigation’ settings.
* Fixed diagram display in HTML export.
* Fixed absence of sampled search display after switching to Rybka 3 from another engine.
* Fixed small bugs in tree custom coloring.
* Finished Engine Competition date is no more reported as 30/12/1899.
* Fixed some issues in CTG book handling.

What’s next:

We are going to enhance the editing possibilities for Aquarium i-Books, so that you can easily write such books yourselves. This, and some more minor fixes and features, will make a 3.1.1 update. Then it’ll be time for another ‘large’ project.

Discussion and feedback

Thread on Rybka Forum

Rybka Aquarium offers new analysis methods as well as improvements to older methods. In previous ChessOK Cafe columns we examined Interactive Deep Analysis (IDeA) and Infinite Analysis . This month we take a look at Game Analysis.

About Aquarium’s Game Analysis

Aquarium’s Game Analysis is an advanced analysis method which performs an automatic analysis of one or more chess games from a database. In most chess GUIs, game analysis is a simple process where a chess engine analyzes each position for a fixed length of time. If a better move is found, its evaluation is compared to the evaluation of the played move. If the improvement exceeds a predefined value, the engine variation and evaluations are added to the game notation. Aquarium’s Game Analysis uses a more advanced, dynamic approach, consisting of several stages.

Caption: Game Analysis will analyze all 6 games If some of the games in the list are marked, then only those games will be analyzed.

First, Aquarium scans the whole game quickly to get a bird’s eye view of how it developed. If one of the players had a completely winning advantage in the final moves of the game, those moves will not be analyzed further. The same applies to the opening moves of the game which are instead annotated with reference games, human evaluations and stored engine evaluations.

After selecting the positions which will be analyzed further, Aquarium analyzes each of them more deeply. They are analyzed for the same length of time – calculated from the analysis time specified by the user and the number of positions.

In the next phase, Aquarium goes to work on the most interesting parts of the game. It digs into the improvements suggested in the previous phase using auto-play, leading to a more reliable assessment. In case there are many blunders the most important ones are assigned a higher priority. Prioritization and other decisions related to the analysis are based on so-called mini-max evaluations that come from iterative deepening and the analysis of whole variations instead of single positions. Consequently, some mistakes that appeared to be minor during initial analysis may turn out to be major blunders after deeper analysis and vice verca. This unique feature of Aquarium’s Game Analysis sets it apart from other implementations.

Caption: Game Analysis will only analyze the two marked (highlighted) games. Game Analysis is started from the Analysis tab, as you might have guessed.

In the final phase, Aquarium inserts the results of the analysis into the game as variations and evaluations. The user can choose settings which affect the annotations, such as the number of variations added to the game. If the number is set to a low value, only the most important blunders will be annotated. Otherwise all of them will be annotated.

One interesting feature of Game Analysis is the annotation of “tempting” moves which actually are blunders. Let’s say that a player had a chance to capture a piece with a pawn but didn’t do so. If the capture would have been a mistake, Aquarium will show the capturing move (with a “?”) and the variation that refutes the move.

Running Game Analysis If you are viewing a game when you start Game Analysis, only that game will be analyzed. If you want to analyze multiple games, open a list with the games and then start the analysis. If some of the games in the list are marked, then only those games will be analyzed.
	Caption: Game Analysis is started from the Analysis tab. The Game Analysis button is a split button. Clicking the downward pointing triangle will drop down a menu as shown in the next image. Clicking somewhere above the triangle will start Game Analysis using the current settings.

Comment Opening adds opening commentary to the current game. The commentary consists of human evaluations, reference games and pre-computed engine evaluations.

Clicking Options on the Game Analysis drop-down menu opens the game analysis settings.

Caption: Game Analysis settings

At the top of the window there is a drop-down list (“Engine”) with all installed chess engines. Select the one you want to use for the analysis.

Below the engine there are two tabs, “Time limit” and “Manual.” There is no interaction between these two tabs so the time settings will be based on the tab which is active when you close the dialog box. In this article I will only discuss the Time limit tab. The reason is that it is simpler and I still haven’t found manual settings which outperform Aquarium’s automatic time allocation.

Caption: Game Analysis time settings

“Time for game analysis” specifies the total analysis time in minutes. In this example I have set it to 480 minutes, which is suitable for overnight analysis of a single game. The time specified should be considered approximate. Therefore Aquarium gives you the option to decide what happens if the analysis is still running when it has used up the allocated time. The available options are listed in the “When time is up” pane. My experience shows that Aquarium seldom oversteps the allocated time by more than a few minutes when I select “Let me finish current analysis stage” so that is my preferred setting. If you are in a situation where it is important to have the analysis results after exactly the specified time you should choose “Finish analysis immediately.” “Let me finish analysing the current position” stops after completing the analysis of the position which is being analyzed when the time runs out.

“Do not analyse when score is above” tells Aquarium to skip the final moves of the game if the same side keeps the advantage and the evaluation (in centipawns) stays above the specified limit. In this example it is set to 900 centipawns or 9 pawns.

Caption: Rules for adding analysis results to the game

The “Commenting options” shown in the image above do not affect the analysis itself. But after the analysis is finished, they instruct Aquarium how the results should be treated and added to the notation as commentary.

Maximum variation length specifies the maximum length of variations copied from the analysis into the notation.

The variations produced by chess engines can be quite long and the first moves of the variation are usually more accurate than later moves. The Untrusted engine halfmoves specifies how many moves should be cut off the end of the engine variations.

The number of variations that Game Analysis adds to the notation will never exceed Maximum total variations . Setting it to zero allows Game Analysis to decide how many variations will be added.

One of the features of Game Analysis is adding reference games to the opening phase of the analyzed game. This allows you to see how others have played the same opening, where they have tried different moves etc.

Caption: The database for reference games

You can use the default database as shown here, or any other CDP database. This allows you great flexibility in controlling what type of games are referenced. You could, for instance, use a database of recent games by top players. If you are analyzing and publishing games from an ongoing tournament you might want to add games by the participants to the database. This could be games played previously as well as games played in the tournament itself. Finally, if you are analyzing a local tournament it might be interesting to have games played by local players in the database.

One of Aquarium’s unique features is that it saves all its analysis to disk. This means that your analysis isn’t lost even if you accidentally turn off your computer while Game Analysis is running. When you resume the analysis, it continues from where it left off. In some cases, however, you may want to repeat the analysis and discard previous results. In that case select “Discard previous analysis.”

After setting all the parameters for Game Analysis you can “Start” the analysis or “Save” the new settings. Clicking “Cancel” discards any changes you have made.

The Results of Game Analysis

When the analysis is finished the commentary is automatically added to the game. Before the first move of the game, Aquarium adds information about the computer that was used to run the analysis, the engine, and the analysis time as shown in the image.

This information can be a helpful reminder at a later time.

The opening moves of the game are not analyzed by the engine. Instead Game Analysis draws information from several sources.

Human evaluations. As you can see in the image above the position is evaluated as equal after 4.Bb5. This evaluation is taken from the Chess Openings 2008 database.

CAP evaluations. Aquarium comes with two analysis trees, containing previously analyzed positions, mostly from the opening phase. The smaller one contains 20 million positions analyzed by Rybka and the bigger one has 44 million positions analyzed by Rybka as well as other engines. You can see examples of evaluations coming from the Rybka tree after White’s 5 th and 7 th move as well as the final CAP evaluation, which comes after White’s 9 th move and is marked with ‘CAP’.

Reference games. As was mentioned above you can specify a database which Aquarium will use to add one or more reference games to the opening ( Opening database (CDP) in the Game analysis settings). An example is shown above after White’s 7 th move, where a game fragment between Malaniuk and Ivanchuk has been inserted.

Novelty. Aquarium searches for two types of novelties. The first uses a tree created from HugeBase (Atreesstatisticsd2m). In the game above 9…a6 is a novelty which was not found in the tree. The second one uses the opening database from which the reference games are taken. The move 7.Nxd4 was not found in the database, so it is marked with an ‘N’ and a reference game follows. Note that if I had chosen HugeBase as a referrence database, there would be only one ‘N’ as the tree is built from that database. In that case Aquarium would inserted a different game after 9…a6, probably played by much lower rated players. Another idea is to use a database with your own games. In that case you would immediately see where the game deviates from your own, and how your game continued at that point.

After the opening, the engine analysis takes over. The below image shows an example of analysis by Rybka.

Here we see three variations which have been inserted by Game Analysis. Let’s take a closer look at the last one. White’s 17 th move, 17.Qc2, is adorned with a “??,” meaning that it is a blunder. Rybka’s evaluation of the position after that move is +0.00 (equality). As an improvement, Rybka suggests the variation 17.f5 gxf5 18.Qh5+ with an evaluation of +1.72, which tells us that White would have had a much better game after 17.f5 instead of 17.Qc2.

Game Analysis is a valuable addition to other analysis tools available in Aquarium. It’s fully automatic so you can let it run overnight and have the completed analysis available in the morning. It gives detailed information about all phases of the game and its advanced analysis method means that it’s more likely to give a realistic assessment of the game.

Major update to Aquarium

I recommend that you check out the new Aquarium version 3.07, which is a major update. It’s free for existing customers and adds new features such as greatly enhanced database handling, printing and exporting (including web publishing). All the new features are explained in the Aquarium FAQ (http://rybkaforum.net/tutorials/FAQ/version_3_0_7.html).

The update can be downloaded through the ChessOK Downloader. For further information see the announcement on the Aquarium support forum: Aquarium 3.0.7 ( http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=8158 ).

Dadi Johnson

Should mind drugs be allowed or forbidden in chess competition? Less than two weeks after super GM Vassily Ivanchuk missed a doping test at the Olympiad, scientists in Nature published an article that says ‘cognitive enhancement’ should be allowed in modern society.

In their commentary on the website of Nature - one of the most important science magazines in the world - seven prominent neuroscientists and university teachers conclude that we must ‘reject the idea that enhancement is a dirty word’. According to research quoted in Nature,

almost 7% of students in US universities have used prescription stimulants (…) and (…) on some campuses, up to 25% of students had used them in the past year. These students are early adopters of a trend that is likely to grow, and indications suggest that they’re not alone.

Although the authors do not specifically mention chess, it’s obvious that the subject is closely related to our royal game. Indeed, the authors state that

in the context of sports, pharmacological performance enhancement is indeed cheating. But, of course, it is cheating because it is against the rules. Any good set of rules would need to distinguish today’s allowed cognitive enhancements, from private tutors to double espressos, from the newer methods, if they are to be banned.

 This is exactly the point that many proponents of drugs in sports have made in the past (and indeed on this website as well): why is some chemical substation more of a ‘drug’ than a private tutor or wealthy parents who can afford to buy lots of chess books?

The article in Nature explicitly states that ‘mentally competent adults should be able to engage in cognitive enhancement using drugs’, and they support their conclusions with results from peer-reviewed research. They are not blind to possible dangers, however, and they do make an exception for children. Their suggestion that drugs are to be evaluated by an evidence-based approach, and not on irrational sentiments (and most anti-drug sentiments seem to be just that), seems reasonable and wise to us. It’s probably too late for Ivanchuk, but it would be interesting to see FIDE respond to this article.

You can read the entire commentary here (and more on a similiar piece in Nature from last year here and here). Do let us know what you think in the comments.

Rybka 3 Aquarium 3.0.8 Update has been released just recently.

You can download it using ChessOK Downloader or from our site:
Full update from any version
Incremental update 3.0.7 to 3.0.8

The download size is 16 Mb.

For German version: after installing the update, delete the file Aquarium.ger-rs-map. We’ll release special German 3.0.8 update soon.

Read below what’s new (also available in the Aquarium FAQ):

Added features

• Main tree is now flushed to disk when Tree Options dialog is displayed.
• Hash size can be set separately for each engine in engine match.
• Column sizes in games list are now saved.
• Rybka is not requested sampled search when it is switched off.

Major bugfixes

• Fixed crash when starting Game Analysis for a new game in PGN/CDP.
• ‘Load CTG’ button now works again.
• Fixed Infinite analysis crash when the game was closed prior to stopping analysis.
• Game analysis now works if the game starts not from the initial position.
• Improved pasting PGN into IDEA display.
• Fixed crippled Navigation Pane view with Large Fonts.

Minor bugfixes

• Version number in the About box is correct.
• Fixed early clock starts in engine matches (the clocks started before the engines finished initializing).
• Fixed a rare bug with losing board-notation synchronisation after setting up position.
• Aquarium now prompts whether the user wants to delete/rewrite the database.
• Fixed missing ‘Date’ and ‘Round’ PGN fields at export.
• Fixed Infinite analysis bug with Chess960 castling.
• A new line is no longer added to a CQL script after each CQL search.
• Switching to wrong Engine type in the Engines list no longer crashes.
• Fixed occasional Aquarium crash when the engine crashes itself.
• Fixed crashes with changing engine list during the match.
• Removed occasional ‘zombie’ engines left in memory after Aquarium exit.
• Fixed incorrect behaviour when the active engine is renamed.
• Common Hash size in engine tournaments now working and is displayed properly.
• Fixed crash when the engine resigns that was playing with a multi-PV handicap.
• Fixed the text in ‘When time is up’ box of Game analysis settings.
• Fixed wrong behaviour at column dragging in the games list.
• Fixed column order in game lisis of different database types.
• Fixed different popup menus appearing in Tree window when right-clicking around.
• Allowed restoring the database for opening commentary in game analysis.
• Fixed occasional crashes in game analysis of the PGN game.
• ‘Turn’ in Position search now has effect in non-DSN databases.
• Infinite analysis display now doesn’t skip depths.
• Fixed crashes when changing engine settings and then loading.
• Fixed crash during game list column resize.
• Fixed occasional ‘go infinite’ sent to engine before ‘readyok’ is received.

What’s next:

This concludes the Aquarium 3.0 series.
Our next goal as adding a new major feature or two around January. Details won’t be disclosed yet, but it isn’t IDEA.

Discussion and feedback

Thread on Rybka Forum

Rybka Aquarium offers new analysis methods as well as improvements to older methods. In previous ChessOK Cafe columns we examined Interactive Deep Analysis (IDeA) and Infinite Analysis . This month we take a look at Game Analysis.

About Aquarium’s Game Analysis

Aquarium’s Game Analysis is an advanced analysis method which performs an automatic analysis of one or more chess games from a database.

In most chess GUIs, game analysis is a simple process where a chess engine analyzes each position for a fixed length of time. If a better move is found, its evaluation is compared to the evaluation of the played move. If the improvement exceeds a predefined value, the engine variation and evaluations are added to the game notation. Aquarium’s Game Analysis uses a more advanced, dynamic approach, consisting of several stages.

First, Aquarium scans the whole game quickly to get a bird’s eye view of how it developed. If one of the players had a completely winning advantage in the final moves of the game, those moves will not be analyzed further. The same applies to the opening moves of the game which are instead annotated with reference games, human evaluations and stored engine evaluations.

After selecting the positions which will be analyzed further, Aquarium analyzes each of them more deeply. They are analyzed for the same length of time – calculated from the analysis time specified by the user and the number of positions.

In the next phase, Aquarium goes to work on the most interesting parts of the game. It digs into the improvements suggested in the previous phase using auto-play, leading to a more reliable assessment. In case there are many blunders the most important ones are assigned a higher priority.

Prioritization and other decisions related to the analysis are based on so-called mini-max evaluations that come from iterative deepening and the analysis of whole variations instead of single positions. Consequently, some mistakes that appeared to be minor during initial analysis may turn out to be major blunders after deeper analysis and vice verca. This unique feature of Aquarium’s Game Analysis sets it apart from other implementations.

In the final phase, Aquarium inserts the results of the analysis into the game as variations and evaluations. The user can choose settings which affect the annotations, such as the number of variations added to the game. If the number is set to a low value, only the most important blunders will be annotated. Otherwise all of them will be annotated.

One interesting feature of Game Analysis is the annotation of “tempting” moves which actually are blunders. Let’s say that a player had a chance to capture a piece with a pawn but didn’t do so. If the capture would have been a mistake, Aquarium will show the capturing move (with a “?”) and the variation that refutes the move.

Running Game Analysis

If you are viewing a game when you start Game Analysis, only that game will be analyzed. If you want to analyze multiple games, open a list with the games and then start the analysis.

Caption: Game Analysis will analyze all 6 games

If some of the games in the list are marked, then only those games will be analyzed.

Caption: Game Analysis will only analyze the two marked (highlighted) games

Game Analysis is started from the Analysis tab, as you might have guessed.

Caption: Game Analysis is started from the Analysis tab

The Game Analysis button is a split button. Clicking the downward pointing triangle will drop down a menu as shown in the next image. Clicking somewhere above the triangle will start Game Analysis using the current settings.

Comment Opening adds opening commentary to the current game. The commentary consists of human evaluations, reference games and pre-computed engine evaluations.

Clicking Options on the Game Analysis drop-down menu opens the game analysis settings.

Caption: Game Analysis settings

At the top of the window there is a drop-down list (“Engine”) with all installed chess engines. Select the one you want to use for the analysis.

Below the engine there are two tabs, “Time limit” and “Manual.” There is no interaction between these two tabs so the time settings will be based on the tab which is active when you close the dialog box. In this article I will only discuss the Time limit tab. The reason is that it is simpler and I still haven’t found manual settings which outperform Aquarium’s automatic time allocation.

Caption: Game Analysis time settings

“Time for game analysis” specifies the total analysis time in minutes. In this example I have set it to 480 minutes, which is suitable for overnight analysis of a single game. The time specified should be considered approximate. Therefore Aquarium gives you the option to decide what happens if the analysis is still running when it has used up the allocated time. The available options are listed in the “When time is up” pane. My experience shows that Aquarium seldom oversteps the allocated time by more than a few minutes when I select “Let me finish current analysis stage” so that is my preferred setting. If you are in a situation where it is important to have the analysis results after exactly the specified time you should choose “Finish analysis immediately.” “Let me finish analysing the current position” stops after completing the analysis of the position which is being analyzed when the time runs out.

“Do not analyse when score is above” tells Aquarium to skip the final moves of the game if the same side keeps the advantage and the evaluation (in centipawns) stays above the specified limit. In this example it is set to 900 centipawns or 9 pawns.

Caption: Rules for adding analysis results to the game

The “Commenting options” shown in the image above do not affect the analysis itself. But after the analysis is finished, they instruct Aquarium how the results should be treated and added to the notation as commentary.

Maximum variation length specifies the maximum length of variations copied from the analysis into the notation.

The variations produced by chess engines can be quite long and the first moves of the variation are usually more accurate than later moves. The Untrusted engine halfmoves specifies how many moves should be cut off the end of the engine variations.

The number of variations that Game Analysis adds to the notation will never exceed Maximum total variations . Setting it to zero allows Game Analysis to decide how many variations will be added.

One of the features of Game Analysis is adding reference games to the opening phase of the analyzed game. This allows you to see how others have played the same opening, where they have tried different moves etc.

Caption: The database for reference games

You can use the default database as shown here, or any other CDP database. This allows you great flexibility in controlling what type of games are referenced. You could, for instance, use a database of recent games by top players. If you are analyzing and publishing games from an ongoing tournament you might want to add games by the participants to the database. This could be games played previously as well as games played in the tournament itself. Finally, if you are analyzing a local tournament it might be interesting to have games played by local players in the database.

One of Aquarium’s unique features is that it saves all its analysis to disk. This means that your analysis isn’t lost even if you accidentally turn off your computer while Game Analysis is running. When you resume the analysis, it continues from where it left off. In some cases, however, you may want to repeat the analysis and discard previous results. In that case select “Discard previous analysis.”

After setting all the parameters for Game Analysis you can “Start” the analysis or “Save” the new settings. Clicking “Cancel” discards any changes you have made.

The Results of Game Analysis

When the analysis is finished the commentary is automatically added to the game. Before the first move of the game, Aquarium adds information about the computer that was used to run the analysis, the engine, and the analysis time as shown in the image.

This information can be a helpful reminder at a later time.

The opening moves of the game are not analyzed by the engine. Instead Game Analysis draws information from several sources.

Human evaluations. As you can see in the image above the position is evaluated as equal after 4.Bb5. This evaluation is taken from the Chess Openings 2008 database.

CAP evaluations. Aquarium comes with two analysis trees, containing previously analyzed positions, mostly from the opening phase. The smaller one contains 20 million positions analyzed by Rybka and the bigger one has 44 million positions analyzed by Rybka as well as other engines. You can see examples of evaluations coming from the Rybka tree after White’s 5 th and 7 th move as well as the final CAP evaluation, which comes after White’s 9 th move and is marked with ‘CAP’.

Reference games. As was mentioned above you can specify a database which Aquarium will use to add one or more reference games to the opening ( Opening database (CDP) in the Game analysis settings). An example is shown above after White’s 7 th move, where a game fragment between Malaniuk and Ivanchuk has been inserted.

Novelty. Aquarium searches for two types of novelties. The first uses a tree created from HugeBase (Atreesstatisticsd2m). In the game above 9…a6 is a novelty which was not found in the tree. The second one uses the opening database from which the reference games are taken. The move 7.Nxd4 was not found in the database, so it is marked with an ‘N’ and a reference game follows. Note that if I had chosen HugeBase as a referrence database, there would be only one ‘N’ as the tree is built from that database. In that case Aquarium would inserted a different game after 9…a6, probably played by much lower rated players. Another idea is to use a database with your own games. In that case you would immediately see where the game deviates from your own, and how your game continued at that point.

After the opening, the engine analysis takes over. The below image shows an example of analysis by Rybka.

Here we see three variations which have been inserted by Game Analysis. Let’s take a closer look at the last one. White’s 17 th move, 17.Qc2, is adorned with a “??,” meaning that it is a blunder. Rybka’s evaluation of the position after that move is +0.00 (equality). As an improvement, Rybka suggests the variation 17.f5 gxf5 18.Qh5+ with an evaluation of +1.72, which tells us that White would have had a much better game after 17.f5 instead of 17.Qc2.

Game Analysis is a valuable addition to other analysis tools available in Aquarium. It’s fully automatic so you can let it run overnight and have the completed analysis available in the morning. It gives detailed information about all phases of the game and its advanced analysis method means that it’s more likely to give a realistic assessment of the game.

Major update to Aquarium

I recommend that you check out the new Aquarium version 3.07, which is a major update. It’s free for existing customers and adds new features such as greatly enhanced database handling, printing and exporting (including web publishing). All the new features are explained in the Aquarium FAQ (http://rybkaforum.net/tutorials/FAQ/version_3_0_7.html).

The update can be downloaded through the ChessOK Downloader. For further information see the announcement on the Aquarium support forum: Aquarium 3.0.7 ( http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=8158 ).

• President: Stephen Mugford
• Vice-President: Mos Ali
• Secretary: Jim Kitay
• Treasurer: James Satrapa
• Junior Delegate: Shun Ikeda

Thierry Hugues a écrit:
ce tutoriel existe t il sur le fou numerique ?

peut on creer sa propre bibliotheque avec le logiciel fritz à partir de sa base de parties  ou faut il necessairement le logiciel chessbase ?

cordialement à tous