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| The Big ChessVibes Christmas Trivia Quiz (part I of III) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Recently, the editor of the New in Chess Yearbook Series, René Olthof, turned 50. For his birthday he organized a trivia quiz, and came up with 64 questions about chess. Many of them were quite interesting and almost all of them quite difficult! He agreed to share the questions with the ChessVibes audience and so now you also get a chance to answer a selection of them. Leaving out the ones that are going into too much detail about the Dutch chess scene, we’ve selected 30 questions for you to answer. Today we present the first set of ten questions. Tomorrow ten more will follow, and the day after the last ten. Send your answers before Sunday, December 27th, 23:59 CET to christmas09@chessvibes.com and who knows, you might end up winning one of the following prizes*: Prizes
*Participants of the Olthof 50 Quiz are not eligible for prizes. Big ChessVibes Christmas Trivia Quiz – Part I
True or not true?
6. Of which Chess Olympiads are the following logos?
8. What do the following artists have in common?
That’s it for today. Tomorrow ten more questions! Feel free to discuss the quiz in the comments, but needless to say, no answers please! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:17:47 +0000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A Silly Little Move | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| From time to time I add another small chapter to my Veresov manuscript. Whether it will ever become a chess book I have no idea. One deciding factor will be the analytical conclusion of some critical lines. However, occasionally I start looking at moves that really don't belong in a serious chess book. That's when I turn to this blog. A couple of days ago I started looking at 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bg5 Nbd7 4.a3?!. (Dia)  The reason I even noticed the possibility was Giddins' very readable 'How to Build Your Chess Opening Repertoire' in which he mentions the line 4.f4!? e6 5.a3!?, a speciality of British correspondence expert A.M. Steward.4.a3 appears a silly move but after 4...c5 5.dxc5 it’s not at all clear that Black can win his pawn back. The position arising after 4...e6 5.e4 (5.f4 transposes to Steward's line) 5...dxe4 6.Nxe4 Be7 7.Nxf6+ Bxf6 8.Bxf6 Qxf6 (Dia) must be worse for White than similar French lines (Burn and Rubinstein) but may still be somewhat easier to play for White:  a) 9.Qd2 c5 10.Nf3 0–0 11.0–0–0 cxd4 12.Qxd4 Qxd4 13.Rxd4 += Schinzel-Pinkas, Bydgoszcz 1976. b) 9.Nf3 0–0 10.Qe2 (10.Be2 e5! is at least equal for Black) 10...c5 11.0–0–0 cxd4 12.Rxd4 e5 13.Rd2 Re8 14.Qe3 a6 15.Be2 Qe7 16.Bc4 h6 17.Re1 += Schweber-Quinteros, Villa Martelli 1996. Whether you find such positions attractive or not is to some extent a matter of taste. From a practical viewpoint it must be taken into account that some black players may dislike them. Quite possibly Black must look into the untested 4...c6 or 4...h6 if he is looking for a more interesting path to equality. Rubbish? I honestly don't know, but now I can with a clear conscience exclude these lines from my manuscript!  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:00:00 +0000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Confusing Names | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| With double rounds for the first three days, there is not much time for preparation against a specific opponent. But for the morning rounds (3 and 5) there is in principle possible to do a quite thorough check of your opponents games and try to guess what will be the battle ground. However, for this game I was very partially prepared for a quite peculiar reason: There are two Indian IMs of roughly the same strength, one named Roy Saptarshi and one named Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi. Both play BCC Thailand Open and I assumed they were brothers. The first player (without Chowdhury) has no games in Megabase 2009, the second has 219. I assumed that the two players had gotten merged into one by Chessbase staff and looked for a way to guess what games might have been played by my opponent. I found that there were quite a number of Veresov games and in lack of anything more useful assumed that my opponent (possibly the younger brother) was the one playing this rather rare opening. So my only preparation was for the continuation 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Bf5(!) 3.f3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.Nxd5!?. Of course this proved quite useless. Roy Saptarshi - Sv.Johnsen BCC Thailand Open (5) 1.e4 There went my preparation - wrong player? 1...c6 This I have not played in a tournament game for 20 years, but I have an interesting line against the Advance variation. 2.d4 d5 3.f3!? The Fantasy variation. It doesn’t look particularly threatening but can lead to quite complicated play. 3...e6 Had I had any idea that this position might appear on the board I probably would have had a look at 3...e5?! which I enjoy playing in blitz (but probably is unsound) and 3...Qb6!? (which I think may be underestimated). 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bf4 Nf6 6.Qd3 Qa5!? This more or less obliges me to give up my dark-squared bishop for a knight. Two more popular continuations are: a) 6...b6 7.Nge2 Ba6 8.Qe3 0–0 9.0–0–0 Nbd7 10.g4 Rc8 11.Ng3 Bxf1 12.Rhxf1 b5 13.Kb1 Qb6 14.Nce2 Qb7 15.Bg5 Kh8 16.e5 Ng8 17.f4 += Prusikin-Brunner, Switzerland 2008. b) 6...0–0 7.Nge2 (7.0–0–0 Bxc3 8.Qxc3 dxe4 9.fxe4 Nxe4 10.Qe1 f5 11.Nf3 Nd7 12.h3 a5 13.Bd3 Ndf6 14.Be5 a4 unclear Winants-Fridman, Netherlands 2005) 7...c5 8.0–0–0 c4 9.Qe3 b5 10.Bg5 Be7 11.e5 Ng4 12.fxg4 Bxg5 13.Nf4 f6 =+ Kurmann-Pavlovic, Biel 2006. 7.Nge2 7.Bd2 b6 8.Qe3 dxe4 9.fxe4 e5 10.Nf3 exd4 11.Qxd4 Qc5 12.Qxc5 Bxc5 13.e5 was a little better for White in Gofshtein-Bruk, Israel 2002. 7...b6 In an earlier my opponent (or his namesake) faced 7...c5 8.0–0–0 dxe4 9.fxe4 cxd4 10.Nxd4 0–0 and after 11.Nb3 Qb6 12.Nb5 Na6 13.Be3 Nc5 14.Qe2 Bd7 15.N5d4 Rac8 16.Qf3 Ncxe4 17.Bd3 Nc5 Black was clearly better in Roy Chowdhury-Al Sayed, Port Erin 2006. 8.Bd2 Or 8.a3 Ba6 9.Qe3 0–0 (after 9...c5 10.0–0–0 Bxe2? 11.Nxe2 White was practically winning in S.Gabrielsen-T.Eriksen, Asker 2000) 10.g4 Be7 11.g5 Nfd7 12.exd5 cxd5 13.Kf2 Nc6 with unclear play in Boulard-Dumitrache, Sautron 2001. 8...Ba6 9.Qe3 dxe4 10.fxe4 0–0 It seems 10...e5 is too early: 11.0–0–0 Bc4 12.Kb1 exd4 13.Nxd4 Bxc3 14.Bxc3 Qxa2+ 15.Kc1 += Permuy Lorenzo-Miguel Lago, Mondariz 1995. 11.a3 c5 This seems better than 11...e5, e.g. 12.dxe5 Ng4 13.Qg3 Nxe5 14.Ra2! Bd6 15.b4 +- Carmeille-Bastian, Germany 2006. 12.0–0–0 (D)  12...cxd4 I considered 12...Bxa3 but stopped my calculations after 13.bxa3 (13.e5 is critical too) 13...Qxa3+ 14.Kb1 Qb4+ 15.Ka1 Qa3+ (Rybka prefers 15...Nc6 with roughly equal chances) 16.Na2 which not only stops the checks but also threatens a queen exchange. However, Rybka quite likes Black's position after 16...Qa4 with 17.e5 Ng4 18.Qf4 Qxc2 as a kind of main line. 13.Nxd4 Bxc3 14.Bxc3 Qa4 15.Bd3 Bxd3 16.cxd3 Nbd7 17.Kb1 Rac8 18.Rc1 Rfd8 19.Rhf1 Ne5 20.h3 My opponent told me he had spent quite a lot of time calculating 20.Nxe6 Rxd3 21.Bxe5 (21.Qg5 fxe6 22.Qxe5 Qxe4 is nothing for White) 21...Rxe3 22.Rxc8+ Ne8 23.Nxg7 but stopped when he saw 23...Qxe4+ followed by 24...Qxe5. 20...Qa6 21.Rfd1 (D)  Now 21.Nxe6 fails to the simple 21...Rxc3 22.Rxc3 fxe6.21...Nxd3?? After 21...Qa4 a quite reasonable continuation is 22.Rf1 Qa6 23.Rfd1. My opponent almost certainly would not have played this and indicated in a brief post mortem that he had planned 22.g4, but then 22...Rxc3! 23.bxc3 Rxd4! 24.Qxd4 Qb3 is a perpetual. 22.Qxd3! Qxd3+ 23.Rxd3 e5 23...Nxe4 is a little better but completely hopeless. 24.Nf5! 1–0 I had missed the simple fork on e7. 24.Nc6! wins just as easily. After the game a friendly Indian IM explained me a bit more about Indian names and about this particular name confusion. It turned out that the first names (Roy and Roy Chowdhury respectively) are the family names, and the last (Saptarshi) is the given name. The two players are not related but quite happy to be mixed up by Chessbase.  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:30:00 +0000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Veresov System | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the club level you often get players who specialise in an offbeat opening, defending its soundness no matter what the current 'theoretical' opinion is. While these openings may be suspect at the highest levels, they often work at lower levels, mainly due to the strength of the opposition. I see plenty of Colle players, the odd Budapest or Nimzowitsch defender, and of course the Blackmar-Diemar Gambit arouses fierce passions in its adherents. I've spent 25 years playing the Traxler as Black, and have even shifted more and more towards 1.Nc3 as my weapon of choice. However, there is one opening which I haven't seen anyone utilise on a regular basis is the chess circles I move in. The Veresov System (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bg5) doesn't seem to be a bad opening, but I can't recall seeing anyone play it in the tournaments I've played in. And I have no explanation for its unpopularity, especially given that the opening ideas seem pretty straightforward. So in attempt to increase its popularity here is a short game from last year. White goes for rapid queenside castling with 4.Qd3 and after Black bites of more than he can chew with 13. ... Bxa3 , happily surrenders his queenside pawns in the knowledge that mate is not far away. Ibba,I (2222) - Bieg Pagel,C (1988) [D01]  Capo d'Orso Open Porto Mannu Palau ITA (6), 21.05.2008 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5 e6 4.Qd3 Be7 5.f3 Nc6 6.0-0-0 0-0 7.e4 Nb4 8.Qd2 c6 9.a3 Na6 10.Bxa6 bxa6 11.Nh3 Rb8 12.Nf2 Qa5 13.Bxf6 (D) 13. ... Bxa3 14.Qg5 Bxb2+ 15.Kd2 Qxc3+ 1-0  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:41:00 +0000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A Veresov Idea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I have a framework for a book on the Veresov opening. Most of the chapters and sub-chapters are almost empty and will remain so until I start serious work on the opening. And that will only happen when I stumble over something promising against 3...Nbd7 and a few other challenging lines. The game below was interesting but I doubt it will be 4.Qd3 that makes me take up the Veresov again. Vaganian-Adamski, Copenhagen 2006 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 I read somewhere that Vaganian has made a habit of playing the Veresov once a tournament. It seems he still does. 2...Nf6 3.Bg5 Nbd7 4.Qd3!? (Dia)  This isn't how my first chess coach taught me to play the opening. Nevertheless this move has been played by some strong GMs and prepares e4. I have tested it in a few blitz games and I often am annoyed that it is hard to employ my light-squared bishop anywhere more active than on e2.In order to keep your repertoire consistent it is natural to combine this line with the related 3...c6 4.Qd3. 4...c5!? The other critical move is 4...h6 when 5.Bf4!? seems more promising than 5.Bh4. Against quieter moves I believe White can reasonably expect an advantage (although a minor one). 5.0–0–0!? Can this really be the move that saves the Veresov? White's most popular move has been 5.Bxf6 but I find it hard to believe that giving up the bishop-pair for so little visible compensation can promise any advantage. A more likely candidate is 5.e4 but it doesn't seem to give any edge either. 5...cxd4 It seems logical to make White's queen move again. After 5...e6 two recent games continued: a) 6.Nf3 cxd4 7.Qxd4 h6 8.Bxf6 Qxf6 9.e4 Qxd4 10.Nxd4 dxe4 11.Ndb5 Kd8 12.Nxe4 a6 13.Nbd6 Bxd6 14.Nxd6 Ke7 15.g3 += Sirin-Swiercz, Gaziantep 2008. b) 6.e4 dxe4 7.Nxe4 Qa5 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.Kb1 f5 10.Nxc5 Nxc5 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.f4 0–0 13.Nf3 Be7 14.g4!? Barhudarian-Eidelson, St Petersburg 2007. 6.Qxd4 e5 After 6...e6 7.e4 these are relatively recent encounters: a) 7...dxe4 8.Nxe4 Qa5? 9.Bxf6 gxf6?! (9...e5 offers more resistance) 10.Nxf6+ Nxf6 11.Qxf6 Rg8 12.Bb5+ 1–0 Hector-Kirkegaard, Copenhagen 2006. b) 7...Bc5 8.Qd3 d4 9.Na4 b6 10.f4 Qc7 11.e5 Nd5 12.Nf3 h6 13.Bh4 Bb7 14.Nxd4 Nxf4 15.Qd2 (15.Qc3) 15...Bxd4 16.Qxd4 Nd5 (16...g5) 17.Bg3 0–0 18.Bd3 Rfc8 =+ Andrzejewska-Koziak, Koszalin 2005. 7.Qa4 d4 8.Nd5 (Dia)  This position reminds of the one arising after 4.f3?! c5 5.e4 cxd4 6.Qxd4 e5 7.Qa4 which I used to play quite frequently a dozen years ago. In that line White has one more move (f3+e4 instead of 0-0-0) as his queen got to d4 in one move. However, as we shall see the two pawn moves may be irrelevant.7...Be7 It looks normal to break the pin. The alternatives are: a) 8...Bd6 probably should be met by the immediate 9.f4. b) Rybka likes 8...b5!? 9.Qxb5 Rb8 which gives Black a lot of play for the pawn. 9.Nxe7 Qxe7 10.f4! This is White's idea, undermining Black's pawn centre. 10...0–0 11.fxe5 11.Nf3 too is interesting. 11...Nxe5 12.Nf3 12.Qxd4 Bf5 13.Nf3 Neg4 14.Qf4 Bxc2!? 15.Kxc2 Rfc8+ 16.Kb1 Nf2 is very unclear. 12...Nc6 13.Nxd4 Nxd4 14.Qxd4 (Dia)  With opposite castling the position is very hard to assess but it seems to me that White must be somewhat better. However, I am not sure I would be happy to play the white pieces in a practical game.14...Bf5 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.e4 Rfd8 17.Qe3 Rxd1+ 18.Kxd1 Qxe4?! With the queens off White's better pawn structure must count for something. I would have been more worried about 18...Qe6. 19.Qxe4 Bxe4 20.Bd3 Rd8 21.Ke2 Bxd3+ 22.cxd3 This position too is hard to evaluate but the only question is how large White's advantage is. His passed pawn may well be decisive. 22...Kg7 23.Rc1 Rd7 24.Rc5 Kg6 25.g4 b6 26.Rb5 Rd4 27.h3 Ra4 28.a3 Ra5 29.Rxa5 bxa5 30.Ke3 f5 31.Kf4 fxg4 32.hxg4 Kf6 33.a4 h6 34.d4 Ke6 35.Ke4 Kd6 36.d5 f6 37.Kd4 a6 38.b3 Kd7 39.Kc5 f5 40.gxf5 h5 41.Kd4 h4 42.Ke4 h3 43.Kf3 1–0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:01:00 +0000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Missing the Veresov | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opening preferences are not only a matter of analysis and preparations. At least for some of us personal preferences, practical considerations and even nostalgia come into consideration. For roughly ten years I almost exclusively played the Veresov Opening (1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5 or 1...Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bg5) (Dia) with White. Initially it worked great, and indeed there is a lot to be said in its favour:
 Yet I have not taken up the Veresov again. The main reason is that I have not found a line I am happy with after 3...Nbd7. It's really surprising that such a modest move should prove such a challenge. I used to play 4.f3 but have completely lost faith in that line. I also have experimented with 4.Qd2 which generally leads to the same kind of positions as 4.f3 and which 4.Qd3 which actually may give White a minimal advantage. Even 4.e4 I review from time to time. However, after reading Davies' book the move which interests me the most is 4.e3!?, planning a Stonewall set-up with f4, Nf3 and 0-0 against most of Black's replies. There is, however, one major problem: after the modest-looking 4...e6, Davies' suggestion 5.Qf3 seems to lead White into a difficult position after 5...Bb4 (Dia).  Eric Prie has something to say about this in his May column at Chess Publishing. So I am still looking for something promising for White after 3...Nbd7. In the meantime I will improve my London-files in preparation for Bangkok Chess Club Open. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:05:00 +0000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CIA 2008, IV turno: solo Rombaldoni dietro a Caruana | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Il quarto turno del CIA 2008 registra meno emozioni rispetto a ieri, ma fondamentali per la classifica. Caruana riprende, inesorabile, la sua marcia battendo Brunello, uno dei pochi che poteva sperare di contrastarlo. Ma ecco Rombaldoni, che batte Contin e rimane a mezzo punto dal capolista, mantenedo viva la lotta per il primato. Piscopo - Genocchio 1/2 E' una inusuale difesa Nimzovitch, nella quale entrambi cercano di sorprendere l'avversario. Genocchio arrocca lungo e gioca aggressivamente, aprendo le colonne sul Re avversario. Ma Piscopo riesce ad organizzare un efficace controgioco sul Cc6 avversario. A quel punto Genocchio, che ha già sacrificato due pedoni, si rifugia in uno scacco perpetuo che chiude la contesa. Bruno - Garcia Palermo 1/2 Una partita di Donna nella quale, dopo una breve schermaglia posizionale, ci sono diversi cambi di pezzi che inaridiscono rapidamente il gioco, ragione per la quale viene concordata la patta. Caruana - Brunello 1-0 In una Ovest-indiana, Brunello accetta di giocare con i pedoni "sospesi" c-d pur di prendere l'iniziativa. Poi, di conseguenza, decide di sacrificare la qualità, ottenendo in cambio un bel pedone passato. Ma la posizione è molto delicata, Caruana non sbaglia nulla ed è sufficiente un'imprecisione del nero (probabilmente teneva 29..Cxd3!?) per far pendere la bilancia dalla parte del bianco. Brunello tenta di resistere, ma Caruana è implacabile. Rombaldoni - Contin 1-0 Rapida vittoria di Rombaldoni, che imposta un tranquillo "Colle" contro il quale Contin pareggia rapidamente il gioco. Ma inspiegabilmente Contin decide di sacrificare un pezzo per tre pedoni, senza avere alcuna attività pedonale o contro il Re avversario, rimanendo con il proprio al centro. Rombaldoni ringrazia e con poche, efficaci manovre costringe l'avversario all'abbandono dopo sole 23 mosse. Shytaj - Valsecchi 1/2 Shytaj cerca di sorprendere il giovane avversario impostando una partita Veresov, ma Valsecchi dimostra di non avere timori riverenziali, prende la coppia degli Alfieri e organizza una difesa attiva. Shytaj riesce ad incunearsi nella difesa avversaria sfruttando la debolezza delle case chiare, ma Valsecchi non se ne preoccupa minimamente e pareggia la partita con uno scacco perpetuo. Godena - Dvirnyy 1/2 Dvirnyy gioca una difesa Caro-Kann, cede la coppia degli Alfieri ma organizza un ottimo blocco di Cavalli e pedoni. Godena prova ad aprire il gioco ma Dvirnyy ne frena efficacemente le velleità, costringendolo a cambiare i pezzi pesanti e, di conseguenza, a siglare la patta.
Classifica dopo il quarto turno: Caruana 3,5 Domani alle 15 quinto turno: Garcia Palermo - Piscopo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2008-12-06T21:51:05+01:00 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Concept by Valerio Tirri :: Powered by Portaneo :: Yourchess.net ::  :: Share :: Tags |
Enjoying a small Christmas holiday on December 24, 25 and 26, these days instead of news, reviews or columns the ChessVibes team offers a quiz: the Big ChessVibes Christmas ‘09 Quiz! And yes, you can win prizes!
1. In this quiz we call Wilhelm Steinitz the first World Champion, and Viswanathan Anand the sixteenth. We don’t count the FIDE World Champions Khalifman, Ponomariov and Kasimdzhanov.
2. Of all chess players, Paul Keres beat the most World Champions. How many did he beat?
3. Where were they born?
4. This questions is about five important chess cities: Dortmund, Hastings, Linares, Reggio Emilia and Beverwijk/Wijk aan Zee.
5. Vladimir Kramnik played a total of eight matches in different World Championship cycles.
7. A question about the FIDE rating list, invented by Hungarian Professor Arpad Elo.
9A Two of the sixteen World Champions never played at an Olympiad. Name them.
