Denker Qualifier update

Andi Rosen is posting updated results here.

I'm sorry to hear that Zack Kasiurak had to withdraw from the event due to illness (hard to play chess with a 102-degree fever!)

He's a very talented and complete player, as I learned last year:

Kramnik beats Carlsen in their blindfold game

Carlsen's idea is interesting: I have no idea why the promising attack fizzled so quickly.

Carlsen-Kramnik

After 9...O-O: White to move

Is the attack worth a pawn?

 

"Budget Cuts Could Check-Mate School Chess Programs"

CBS 2 Chicago visits the recent Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation / CPS event and reports on the threat to future years' funding.

Story here.

Video here.

from the Volokh Conspiracy, via Andrew Sullivan

Too smart to become the chess world champion?

Magnus Carlsen says he's not quite as bright as John Nunn. It's interesting that this Carlsen interview got mentioned in two influential political blogs....

K-8 coverage at ICA

Penny Xu vs. Sam Schmakel

Andi Rosen has the story, accompanied by some nice photos taken by Eric Rosen.

I want my PGN

Just sayin' 

Denker and Girls' Invitational players (and their TDs) are invited to send me raw / annotated game scores.  That goes for last weekend's winners as well.  Or if you're a geezer like me who's played an interesting game lately, just send it in!  If you're from Chicagoland, that helps.

And just what is Portable Game Notation (PGN)?  It's a broadly-accepted format for sharing chess games between computer programs.  You can enter your games in PGN and share them with the rest of the world.

2010 World Amateur Championships in Skokie!

The action starts tonight!

You'll find more info at USCF, on the ICA Calendar and at the official website.

Illinois State Scholastic Championships

The 2010 Illinois State Scholastic Championships drew 594 players from kindergarten to 8th grade to the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles last weekend, March 13-14.

Jason Daniels (1286) took the K-1 section with a perfect 7-0; David Wallach and Sean Yu Li tied for second with 6-1.

Matthew Stevens (1587) won the Grades 2-3 section with a perfect 7-0 score.  Chetan Reddy, Nathaniel Sobery, Akhil Kalghatgi, Randaheer Tripuraneni, and Rishav Sinha all tied for second with 6-1.

Bryce McClanahan (1791) grabbed the Grades 4-5 section with 7-0; Zhaozhi Li (1808), Conrad Oberhaus (1692), Ian Gilchrist (1567), Lorenzo Barbin (1543), and Abe Sun (1506) tied for second with 6-1.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Yue Xu (1812) won the Grades 6-8 section, downing second place finisher Sam Schmakel (1960); Alex Bian (1796) and Samuel Heil (1528) also tied for second.

Jeff Wiewel and Gary Jannsen directed, assisted by Betsy Dynako, Erv Sedlock, Colley Kitson, Jeremy Von Hatten, Elizabeth Villaflor, Wayne Clark, James Greer, and Blair Machaj.  The event was organized by Machaj and Paul Raso of Illinois Chess Teachers.  Bill Barton served as bid liaison on behalf of the Illinois Chess Association.

ICA Denker Qualifier and Girls' Invitational this weekend!

Andi Rosen provides the details at the ICA website.

The "Denker Qualifier" is the Illinois Chess Association High School Invitational Championship.  Seven players face each other in a six-round round robin. As there's a odd player sitting out each round, the event actually takes seven rounds to complete.  Action begins tonight and continues through Monday.

The invitees this year are Michael Auger, Josh Dubin, Zach Kasiurak, defending champion Trevor Magness, Ashok Raife, Eric Rosen and Matt Wilber.

In this year's Girls Invitational Championship, the players are Victoria Bian, Adele Padgett, Shayna Provine, Rachel Ulrich, Sonya Vohra and Yue Xu (congratuations on making Class A in style, Penny!) . 

I've had the pleasure of playing against, analyzing with, or studying the games of virtually all this weekend's contestants.  Whoever wins, Illinois can be very proud of its representatives!

The People's Champion

Vasily Ivanchuk (happy 41st birthday!) retakes sole first place at the Amber Tournament.  See the official website for today's report.

CPS Elementary Schools Sports Program - Regional Playoffs

David Heiser reports on the March 6 playoffs.  CPS finals will be at King High School on March 20th.  Read all about it at Chess Life Online!

Only a few hours left...

For preregistration at this year's Chicago Open.  Last chance to save a buck!

Note the big change in this year's format:

Open Section: 9 rounds, May 27-31. 5-day schedule only, 40/2, SD/1.

In all other sections, one is free to choose between the 4-day, 3-day, and 2-day formats, just as in prior years.

Chess without Borders at Navy Pier

Go read Kiran Frey's story on Chess Life Online!  Helping another human being is grabbing a pawn: it's worth a little trouble.

More at this blog.

Craigslist cut-and-paste

Again, I haven't bothered to check out the ad: job seekers, do your own due diligence!  (Looks similar to the one I linked to earlier.)

Fun, Enthusiastic Chess Teachers Needed! (Chicago and Suburbs)

---

Date: 2010-03-14, 2:46PM CDT
Reply to: job-uztwe-1643894702@craigslist.org

---

The largest chess academy in Illinois is looking for people to fill teaching positions immediately. We are looking for energetic, enthusiastic instructors to fill part-time teaching positions in a classroom setting. If you love chess, have teaching experience, and are free in the afternoon, this is the job for you. Strong chess ability, reliable transportation and a positive attitude required. If you feel that you could make chess fun for kids of all ages, please reply with:

1) Resume and contact information
2) Availability
3) A brief paragraph describing why you would be a great chess teacher

This job is an excellent source of supplemental income for students, actors, teachers, and people who love chess!

• Location: Chicago and Suburbs
• Compensation: $36-60 per hour
• This is a part-time job.
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

PostingID: 1643894702

are you playing the Mid-America Open?

It's next weekend in St. Louis.... 

Chess Life Online needs a reporter!  Drop me a line if interested.

Knight Moves Chess Club Spring Open

At the Chicago Public Library, Lozano Branch, on Saturday, March 27:

Info is here:

Knight Moves Chess Club Spring Open

Date: Sat. March 27, 2010
Time: 9:00 am
Location:
Lozano
1805 S. Loomis Street
60608
About this event:
Section I is open to Players 15 years of age and older.
Section II is open to Players 14 years of age and younger.
The first of 5 rounds begins at 10:00 a.m., with a 30 min. per player per game time control. 

An award ceremony will begin at 4:30 p.m.
Registration:
Registration will take place from 9:00 am to 9:30 am the day of the event.

 And I bet you could find out details by calling our friend Hector Hernandez.

of interest to Chicago & chess bibliophiles

The Library of Congress offers online access to the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection.  (His father Julius Rosenwald, the president of Sears Roebuck & the founder of the Museum of Science & Industry, was Reshevsky's patron.)

Amber round 1 is finishing right now

Ivanchuk-Carlsen will be one of the three games.  (Ivanchuk won the blindfold game earlier today.)

You can follow the action here.

Sicilian Grand Prix with 5.a3!?

The former Sicilian player in me says "thanks for the tempo!"  But our own Matt Pullin and Michael Goeller of the Kenilworth (NJ) Chess Club are both pretty smart, so I'll suspend judgment.


 
Matt mentions that the late Billy Colias had played this line: does anyone have these games?

Rook Dreams

Somehow I missed this December 2008 Atlantic article.

I normally don't get excited about opening books....

a tabiya in the English Hedgehog

Black to play

Suba's out-of-print book on The Hedgehog is brilliant, and I've won at least one tournament game thanks to it.  But it's also one of the most disorganized and confusing books I've ever read.

But now there's a much better alternative.  I just got my copy of Sergey Shipov's The Complete Hedgehog, Volume 1.  So far, I've only thumbed through the 527 (!!) pages and read the introduction to various sections, I can tell you that it looks like an absolute masterpiece of clarity (considering how confusing this opening can be!).  Furthermore, it looks to me like that rare opening book suitable for both 1600 and 2400 players.

First ten thousand views

(How many views were mine when I wasn't signed in?  I don't want to think about that....)

Thanks to the many good people who have sent material to the blog: from grandmasters to my fellow patzers.  Please keep it coming!

And special thanks to the other editors on this blog....the less we hear of me, the better.

If you could take the time to follow this blog or link to this blog or send me something cool related to Chicago chess, it'd be appreciated!  I'm always happy to plug folks' events in Chicagoland (or even events of interest to Chicagoans): stuff already in html format is most appreciated.

Over 150 at Greater Chicago Scholastic Chess Championships

Jeff Caveney reports at Chess Life Online!

top-notch rerun

 GM Mesgen Amanov and friends

 Courtesy US Chess Online.

Opening night

...for Theo Ubique's production of Chess at the No Exit Café.

This coming Saturday the 13th, I'll be playing blitz risers during the the pre-show dinner against two much younger and stronger players.  (When three people are playing blitz, the loser, or "riser," gets up.)  My wife will be there, too, so my goal is modest: not to get wiped out.

Warren Scholars seminar

Andi Rosen reports at the ICA homepage.

Evanston Game/45 event on Saturday the 13th!

Levy Senior Center
300 Dodge Ave
Evanston, IL 60202

Evanston Chess Presents:
Mar 13, 2010
9:00am-5:30pm
Tri-Level
4SS G/45
Three Sections
USCF Dual Rated
Section Gold: 1700 and over
Section Silver: 1200 - 1699
Section Bronze: Under 1200 and Unrated

1600 - 1699 may play up to Gold.
1100 - 1199 may play up to Silver.
Published USCF Regular Rating determins eligibility.
Unrated players may be placed up at TD discretion.

From time to time Evanston Chess pays one or more titled players to play in our events. We usually do not pair them against each other. Even if they should lose (it does happen) we may pair them with the highest score groups.

Four rounds. Digital clocks are required and will be set to G/40 plus 5 seconds delay. Accelerated or decelerated pairings at TD discretion. Sections may be combined at TD discretion.

Registration from 9:00 to 9:30 AM. Players must check in by 9:30 am; players who arrive late will receive a half-point bye for the first round. First Round 9:45 am, last round over roughly 5:30 pm.

You may take one half-point bye in any round but the last.

Entry fee is $5, please pay cash (no checks) at the door. Masters and Experts play free.

Send name, USCF number, and telephone number to enter@evanstonchess.org.
 
Junior players (under fourteen years) rated 900+ are welcome. Sorry, but we do not accept junior players rated under 900. Must be accompanied by a parent throughout the event.

Bring clocks. -- Wheelchair accessible. No Smoking.

Coming Events:
--Mar 13, 2010, 4SS G/45 Tri-Level 9:00am-5:30pm
--Apr 24, 2010, 5SS G/29 Rapid 9:00am-4:30pm
--May 30, 2010, 0SS G/0 No May Tnmt
--Jun 12, 2010, 3SS G/70 Swiss Groups 9:00am-5:00pm

See http://evanstonchess.org/ for details.

Happy 75th!

 Bent Larsen

Best birthday wishes to the player who taught us all to push rook pawns and who never let us forget that Nimzowitsch was Danish, too.  

ChessBase

ChessVibes

FIDE

Skakbladet (in Danish, but lots of great photos)

And here's Flohr-Larsen, Copenhagen 1966.

P.S.  If you know Weiss from Schwartz, you might enjoy Larsen's collection of his games through 1973.

all in a day's work

I have a 9 a.m. business meeting with one of my clients. We finish by 10, and to my surprise he pulls up this position from his computer:

Larsen-Miles, Bled/Portoroz 1979

White to play and win 

I solve the puzzle in thirty seconds (go to Black's 59th move in this link: must remember to analyze forcing moves first!), think to myself how cute the postion is, then wonder how the heck my client got ahold of such an elegant problem.

Then he hits me with this one, and I start laughing:

Shirov-Dominguez, Corus 2010

Now I know that my client is not reading this blog, as I've previously posted on this combination, though admittedly I never got around to discussing this amazing position.  

Oh, what the heck!  Find White's only drawing move (which even gives White winning chances if Black blunders!):

I even show my client why 29.Qh5 would have lost (essential to closing any business deal!).

Now I really begin to wonder where my friend (an enthusiastic amateur whose initial rating would probably be below 1200) is getting this cool stuff. So he shows me the following app:


Aha! Very cool! We can all learn from our clients....

At 10:30 I give my client a ride from Oprah-ville to City Hall & tell him the story of the aborted Shirov-Kasparov match and how Kramnik became world champion. Somehow this is harder to explain than the combinations....

an oldie but goodie

We all make mistakes!

Post-Linares interview with Topalov

From ChessVibes!

The Chess Pavilion

Tobey Maguire?

After seeing The Aviator, I'd argued for DiCaprio.  But I could see Tobey Maguire.

Topalov-Gelfand annotated

On ChessBase.

Topalov wins Linares

Veselin Topalov wins clear first at Linares for the first time.  (He tied for first with Kasparov in 2005 in the latter's final event of his active career.)

His win against Gelfand is worth looking at! Amazing creativity in a "dead drawn" ending.

Greater Chicago Scholastic Championships this weekend!

It's the Greater Chicago Scholastic Championships (co-organized by Renaissance Knights and the Kasparov Chess Foundation) in Northbrook this weekend, February 27th and 28th!

Adamson on IM Norm #2 at the North American Masters

 Sevan Muradian & Robby Adamson

At Chess Life Online.

Topalov back on top

Veselin Topalov is +3 at Linares, and he may go to +4 shortly (he has Aronian on the ropes in a game going on right now).

Here are the top five according to the live ratings:

01     Topalov    2814,7
02     Carlsen     2812,9
03     Kramnik   2789,9
04     Anand       2788,7
05     Aronian     2779,8

Hmm, GM Sergey Zagrebelny at the Russian site ChessPro is saying that Topalov just blundered.

P.S.  Game drawn.

Pinoy Pride

Alex Betaneli recaps the victory of Pinoy from Chicago (IM Angelo Young, NM Camilo Pangan, Florentino Inumerable, Rene Ancheta and Virgilio Forro) in Chess Life Online.

Camilo Pangan is an incredibly creative player: it's great to see he's in action again!

Interested in becoming a part-time chess instructor?

I do not vouch for this Craigslist entry, but it came up in my Google alert, and it appears interesting and legitimate on its face.

Learn to play chess at Kelly Library, 6151 S. Normal, Chicago

Every Tuesday and Thursday (at least through the end of April) at 1 to 3 p.m., at Chicago Public Library's Kelly Library, 6151 S. Normal, in Chicago.

The library is convenient for folks in Washington Park / West Engelwood: more info here.


View Larger Map

Fields set for Illinois Chess Association Denker Qualifier & Girls' Invitational

On the ICA website!

Linares midpoint

Topalov is +2 after beating Grischuk today; nobody else is above breakeven.  Details at TWIC.

Anish Giri annotates the epic Topalov-Grischuk battle on ChessBase.

North Shore Chess Club

From the listing in Wilmette Life:

The North Shore Chess Club meets from 7 to 9 p.m., Wednesdays, at Starbucks, 347 Park Ave., Glencoe. The club has a relaxed, drop-in atmosphere and is open to players, adults and teenagers, at all skill levels. The club doesn't offer any formal classes but advanced players are always willing to help those who are less experienced. There are no tournaments and no fee. Members need only bring their own chess sets. E-mail: guntherrice@gmail.com.

Hunkering down....

"Trio Wins Bid for November 2010 All-Grade Tournament at Whitney Young"

Garrett Scott reports:

The ICA Bid Committee recently went through its initial trial, reviewing two bids for the 2010 Illinois All Grade Championship. Six committee members had input on the bid and participated in a thorough and lively email discussion of the options before us. The committee ultimately recommended to the Executive Board that it approve the bid submitted by Paul Kash (Whitney Young), Zack Fishman (Chess Education Partners) and Michael Cardinale (Youth Chess Foundation of Chicago). The Executive Board unanimously approved our recommendation at its February 11th meeting.

The tournament will be held on Saturday, November 13, 2010. The site will be the Whitney Young Magnet High School in the West Loop area of Chicago. Entry fees will be waived for anyone enrolled in a school’s free or reduced fee lunch program.

The second bid was submitted by Glenn Panner and Tim Just of Bubbacat Chess. We were pleased that each bid was well thought through and of very good quality. All committee members felt both bids were more than acceptable and would have created a good tournament well worthy of being an ICA state title event [...]

Read all about it at the Illinois Chess Association website.

I had a chance to assist in this process.  It was a pleasure to be able to choose between two such attractive bids, and to work with such a cordial committee chaired by the cordial Garrett Scott.

One question about the Auger-Rosen game....

You'll find the players' annotations at Chess Life Online. I do have one question:

White to play: can Black still draw?

Matthew Wilber - Eric Rosen, round 3 of IHSA Championships

I've had the pleasure of playing against both these talented young gentlemen.  They'll be facing off again at the Illinois Denker Qualifier, the ICA's invitational championship for high school players.

the eternal duel of bishop vs. knight

I think it was Dmitry Gurevich who compared bishops to dogs and knights to cats....

White to play

Anyway, Chicago's Jeff Caveney and GM Karsten Müller analyze an interesting ending at Chess Cafe. (This link will expire in a month or so, but you should be able to find it in the archives.)

Chicago Blaze shines at US Amateur Teams

Daniel Parmet reports on the Chicago Blaze blog.

IHSA coverage in Chess Life Online

 
Great article by my neighbor Betsy Dynako.

P.S.  Betsy's photo of Palatine HS first board Shiny Kaur is now on the USCF home page.

Pioneer Press coverage of IHSA championships

The Niles North Vikings chess team dominated the competition during the weekend's state chess tournament, coasting to a well-deserved championship. 

 Article continues here.

Good players are lucky

Eric Rosen (Niles North) - Nic Nogulich (Glenbard West)

Black to play

This time, White has two pawns for the Exchange: that's rough material equality.

What's Black's best move?

P.S.  As in the previous game, the horsie was triumphant.  Niles North beat Glenbard West 41.5 to 26.5.  This first board game was worth 12 points.  Hmm.

Light notes to the game are here.

Losing the Exchange

Matthew Wilber (Buffalo Grove) - Eric Rosen (Niles North)

White to play

So bishops and knights are worth 3 pawns or so and rooks are worth 5 pawns or so.  So if you lose a rook for a knight plus a pawn, you've lost one point, right?

Losing a rook for a knight or bishop is called "losing the Exchange".   In the above position, Black is down the Exchange for a pawn.  (We capitalize "the Exchange" to distinguish it from plain old exchanges of pieces, I suppose.)

If you've lost the Exchange for a pawn, don't fret!  Your extra pawn can hope to become a queen, but your opponent's rook is trapped in its body!  Knights are more fun than rooks!  And you now have one more piece than your opponent!

Check out the above position.  Black's knights are getting frisky, the center pawns look scary, and the White rooks don't have enough room to come out and play.  What's White's best move?

P.S.  If you haven't figured out the answer already, enjoy the full game.

catching up on Linares

The big news: Carlsen, who's taking a breather this year, will play in 2011! (Somehow, Carlsen is beginning to make a Fischeresque imprint on the game: he's the biggest presence even when he's not playing.)

The Ciudad de Linares tournament has been the unofficial tournament championship for over two decades. This year's event is shorter and somewhat weaker, but any event with Aronian, Topalov, Gashimov, Grischuk, Gelfand, and Vallejo is still incredibly strong. Topalov and Grischuk lead with +1 after 3 rounds. Let's catch up via ChessBase:

Round 3
Round 2
Round 1

Magness - Yermolinsky, US Amateur Team North

Please send me your games, even if they're not quite as good as this one!

Auger - Rosen from the IHSA Championships

Scotch Gambit? Mr. Auger is advised not to try such weak (ahem) stuff against yours truly.

But seriously...this is a fun game to watch. The advantage changes hands a couple times until Black loses the thread in time pressure. (Is the piece-down ending salvageable?)

Trevor Magness earns Master title

Congratulations to Illinois's newest master and to his family.  Mom's (Cheryl's) blog entry is here.

Trevor beat GM Alex Yermolinsky this weekend at the US Amateur Team Championships in Milwaukee. (That's Trevor in the upper left, playing White.)

Chicago Public League perspective on states

Lane Tech was the top finisher among Chicago public schools, at 7th.

 Read all about it on the Chicago Public League Sports Blog.

Niles North wins IHSA State Championship

Niles North High School

2010 State Chess Champions

(swiped from Eric Rosen's Facebook album)

Led by coach Harry Kyriazes, Skokie's Niles North High School won the 2010 state title in impressive style.  Their perfect match score of 7-0 included three 68-0 shutouts.  Stevenson HS of Lincolnshire and Hinsdale Central HS took second and third.

Michael Auger of Whitney Young and Zachary Kasiurak of Barrington were two of the four (!) perfect scores on Board 1.  Gauri Manoj of Glenbrook South and Curtis VanPetten of St. Charles North also scored 7-0.

Final results are here!

Niles North, Glenbard West in lead at IHSA team championships

This is the last day of competition at the Peoria Civic Center.  Standings are here.  Two rounds remain: Whitney Young, Stevenson, and New Trier are among the schools still in contention for first.  But the winner of the round 6 Niles North-Glenbard West match (going on right now!?) would have to be the favorite. 

I get crushed by Gopal Menon....

Here's the opening of the game I mentioned earlier:

javascript:void(0)

Andrew Karklins miniature

Here's a beautiful miniature by Andrew Karklins from one of Helen Warren's Midwest Masters tournaments.  His victim, Kurt Stein, is another Chicagoland master.

White's 12th move allows Black to force mate in the finest Romantic fashion.

Renaissance Knights hosts 50th Knights Quest

Again, look for the coverage on Chess Life Online!

And plan for the Greater Chicago Scholastic Championships (co-organized by Renaissance Knights and the Kasparov Chess Foundation) on March  February 27th and 28th

Robby Adamson wins (and earns IM norm) at 24th North American Masters

Read all about it on Chess Life Online. 

Congratulations to Jon Burgess for a strong second place!

Menon, Stamnov win Illinois Bltiz Championship

Results are here.

I really should have known better than to get into a theoretical "discussion" with Gopal Menon in the main line of the Be3, Rc1 Grünfeld.

benefit tournaments Saturday day and Saturday night!

During the day Saturday, February 6, 2010, the Illinois Chess Association is holding benefit tournaments (open and scholastic) to benefit the Chicago Blaze and the ICA Warren Junior Program.

Fundraiser details here! Registration ends at 9 a.m.: please arrive a half-hour early!

Saturday night, it's the 2010 Illinois Blitz Championship!! Registration ends at 6 p.m.: please arrive a half-hour early! Both events are at the Student Union of Northeastern Illinois University, close to both the Edens and the Kennedy. You'll find detailed directions here.


View Larger Map
 
And here's a campus map.

Parking is free if you park on the 3rd or 4th floor of the campus parking garage only. If you can't make it on Saturday (as I write, that's tomorrow!) please consider making donations to both these worthy causes. You can donate to the Chicago Blaze on their homepage. Glenn Panner tells you why you should.

To donate to the Warren Junior Program, make checks payable to: Illinois Chess Association, Inc. and mail them to:

ICA Warren Junior Program 

Carl Dolson, ICA Treasurer 

6021 N Wickwood Rd 

Peoria, IL 61614

Do you prefer credit cards?  I'll put up a link to the ICA's PayPal address shortly.

Donations to the Warren Junior Program may be tax-deductible; donations to the Chicago Blaze won't be deductible in the general case.  As always, ask your tax advisor.

This tax advisor will make a donation in lieu of attending the daytime fundraiser.  But you'll see me there tomorrow night, pushing pawns at the blitz!

Karsten Müller annotates Shirov-Kramnik

Shirov-Kramnik, Corus 2010

White to play

You can read and play through GM Müller's explanations at ChessBase.  Shirov may only have taken second place, but he played the most spectacular chess at Wijk aan Zee.  Don't try to understand all the moves: just enjoy the fireworks!

Oh yes, this is supposedly a Chicago chess blog....

What Your Body's Thinking About

 From ChessVibes.

Cool podcast - St. Louis Chess Club

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis recently started regular iTunes podcasts, available here. The January 26th podcast is an interview with IM John Donaldson, captain of the silver medalist US team at the World Team Championships.

Spassky at Gibraltar

This video is a whopping five hours long! To go directly to the spot where former World Champion Boris Spassky begins analyzing with GM Stuart Conquest, skip directly to 3:35 (that's 3 hours and 35 minutes remaining). Hat tip to ChessBase.

Watch live streaming video from gibraltarchess at livestream.com

Fire on Board

If you're rated at least 1600 and haven't already read Fire On Board: Shirov's Best Games, please do yourself a favor and buy a copy. Even though Shirov has reached the ripe old age of 37, he hasn't lost his touch. His last round game against Dominguez (agreed drawn in a crazy time scramble) was pure genius.

Shirov-Dominguez, Corus 2010

After 21...h6; White to move

Black has the two bishops, the small pawn center (e6 and d6) that Sicilian players love, and a natural plan of attacking White's king.  White has a monster pawn on g6 and the semi-open h-file, and it's his move: every move is vital in these opposite-side castling positions.

White's problem is that a direct sacrifice like 22.Rxh6?! gxh6 23.Qxh6 (threatening mate on h7) fails to 23...Bc8).  

White can simply grab the d-pawn, but Rybka tells me that Black gets good activity for the pawn after 22.Qxd6 Qxd6 23.Rxd6 b4.  It's possible that this is objectively the best line:--as of today, who knows?

So what move did Shirov find?

And if you can't stand the suspense, the full game is here.

tactics from Corus: So-Giri

15-year-old Anish Giri's mother is Russian, his father is from Nepal, so naturally he plays for the Dutch federation.  He'll be playing in the A section of Corus next year!

Anish Giri: winner of the Corus B section

Here's the crucial position from Giri's game against another prodigy, Wesley So of the Phillipines:

So-Giri, Corus 2010

White to play: what's the best move?

A) 36.Ne2  B) 36.Qxd1 C.) 36.Qxd4 D) 36.Ra2

White is up two bishops (!) for a bunch of pawns.  But getting mated would be bad.  

Hint: one move probably wins, one move probably draws, one move definitely draws, and one move definitely loses.

Carlsen wins Corus

Carlsen takes a stroll

Here's the report from the organizers' fabulous website.  And US Chess Online has a nice report up, too.

Carlsen overextended against fellow teenager Fabiano Caruana (who plays for Italy, but is also a US citizen).  He bailed out and drew a very ugly knight ending with accurate defense.  Caruana's -2 is an excellent début in a tournament of this caliber.  We now expect Magnus to win every event.

Alexei Shirov played another amazing attacking game against Lenier Dominguez of Cuba.  With two seconds left for each player, Dominguez offered a draw in a position where he was a piece up, yet losing by force by a combination neither player had time to see.  So with another minute on the clock, Shirov would have been the co-winner.  Great tournament for Shirov!

Vladimir Kramnik got nowhere against Karjakin: he too had a great event.

Vishy Anand (who seemed to be playing in Petrosianesque safety-first mode for much of the event) has to be somewhat disappointed with his undefeated +2 score.  But if you're Veselin Topalov looking for a weakness in Anand's game, you've got to be worried about facing Anand in match play.

Hikaru Nakamura beat Sergey Tiviakov demonstrated the power of the two bishops in a beautiful textbook ending (two bishops vs. bishop and knight): his +2 shows he has the potential to crack the top ten very soon.  (Once today's games are rated, Nakamura should move to #18 on the live rating list.)

Genius Vishy

Anand has been playing a brilliant game against Kramnik, going on right now.

UPDATE:  Anand won in style.

Post-mortem comments by the modest genius

GM Rogers - live analysis

I have to miss the end of Shirov-Kramnik.  You don't. 

Lucky Vishy

Anand analyzes his win against Shirov.

P.S.  GM Ian Rogers explains on Chess Life Online.  

What's the best move?

Anand-Shirov, Corus 2010

White to play

Kramnik as standup comedian

Oh yes, Corus. (I do have to work for a living.)

“At the start of the game Magnus just sat there with his eyes closed to the point where I wondered whether he’d fallen asleep and I should wake him up,” Kramnik told reporters afterwards. “But, seriously, my guess is that Gary (Kasparov) called him beforehand and told him he should try 1. e4. In the end he came up with 1. d4, which was the wrong choice, I think. He should have avoided the Catalan, a line I have a great score with, no matter whether I play white or black.”

Too bad there isn't a live ratings list for trash-talking.   But Kramnik backing up his words: he's now clear #3 in the world, only one win away from (re-)breaking the 2800 barrier.  Here's his win with Black against Carlsen.

Would Kramnik-Carlsen be a more interesting match than Topalov-Anand?

not-so-artificial intelligence

More on the Kasparov NYRB piece here at the Daily Dirt.  (Corrected link.)

P.S.   There was a feature on NPR this morning based on this WSJ article (subscription required?).  For "emotional" (re chocolate cake), substitute "intuitive" (re chess intuition).

Corus round 8

Not a good day for Nakamura. But it takes courage to play the Leningrad Dutch when your opponent (Kramnik) is expecting the Leningrad: here's Kramnik's analysis.

Tournament leader Shirov (+4) has five very tough games to play, and Nakamura (+2) is only half a point behind Kramnik and Carlsen (+3).  It's quite possible that +4 will be enough to win: Nakamura can realistically still get there.  +5 would be quite a tall order for Nakamura, but given his recent form and his remaining games, it's achievable. 

Round 8 report.

how we decide in chess

From a neuroscience blog!

Can working with computers improve our intuition? Interesting reading (especially in conjunction with Kasparov's NYRB piece); interesting comments. (via Andrew Sullivan)

Parenthetically, note that Carlsen's career is generating considerable attention from non-chessplayers.

P.S.  The blogger, Jonah Lehrer, was on Terry Gross's Fresh Air last Friday.  His new book is How We Decide.  And if you haven't read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success, you really should: at least one chapter is of particular interest to chess players.

Boris Spassky - 2008 interview

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