GM Mesgen Amanov at the North American Open

This game just finished:

Fischer birth certificate

I've been meaning to contact the Department of Vital Records in Springfield.  If  you'd like to beat me to it, this might be useful.

 If you do, I'd appreciate a copy!

rest in peace, Ralph Elliot

I would like to keep the tone light on this blog.  Senseless murders on Christmas Eve have a way of catching one's eye, however.  (While the murder was in Bronzeville, Mr. Elliot was a Hyde Park resident.)

In retirement, [Mr. Elliot] was an avid chess player. "If he couldn't find a chess partner, he'd play advanced chess with the computer," she said. He liked to fish off Hilton Head, S.C., one of his favorite vacation spots. He was also a bowler.

I used to play at Harper Court in the 1970s, and even at a little chess & backgammon club not too far from Mr. Elliot's home on 55th St.    Perhaps some readers of this blog played Mr. Elliot more recently at the Hyde Park Borders?

Deepest condolences to Mr. Elliot's family and friends.

a note from the WWE (formerly WWF)

I've gotten some strange junk mail in my online life, but I'm particularly amused by this sender (who always changes his handle and never seems to hit my spam filter). The following is typical of emails I've received in the past year or so:

"Rugged" Ronnie Garvin (2475) vs. "The Conquistador" (2075)

[Wrestler: "Ronnie Garvin" 2475]

[Wrestler: "Conquistador" 2075]

[Date: "12.??.1989"]

[Location: "Fort Wayne, IN"]

[Site: "???"]

[Event: "???"]

[Result: "*"]

 

(links to spam video removed)

Questions: So how do professional wrestlers get ELO ratings? Whose idea was it to use PGN headers for wrestling matches? Was the toilet controversy in Kramnik-Topalov real or kayfabe? And doesn't Topalov's manager Silvio Danailov remind you of Vince McMahon?

a note from Prof. Elkies

A commenter on [...] chicagochess.blogspot.com may have found a blockade draw after all: 1.Nd7+! Kf5 2.d4 [...]

Yes, this was noted by several people on chessbase too, see the last paragraph of http://www.chessbase.com/puzzle/christmas2009/chr09-03.htm. I've seen at least one case before where a study contains both a refutation of the intended solution and a dual solution, so formally they cancel each other out and the study is sound, but rarely of nearly as much interest as the intention. Here the new fortress of some interest (in that the g-file comes into play as well), but we lose the spectacular self-stalemating point 4 Rh1! ... 7 Kg1!, and the move order in the introductory play is still not unique (2 Nf7 works too).

Perhaps Nunn should have found this, since he was tasked with vetting soundness and so might have looked for alternative solutions once he agreed that the intended solution works. For myself I might claim the excuse that I recognized the intended solution and, having found that it seemed unsound, stopped analyzing for further flaws...

Happy 2010,
--Noam D. Elkies

On the third day of Christmas, I retracted second thoughts....

Reader "Jo" may have found an nice "cook to the cook" of the Rodriguez study.  (I'd found the same idea back on December 25th, but I wrongly assumed that it wasn't good enough because Black had an h-pawn to push.)

The Ne5 is the best piece on the board, and the Black bishop is useless, so a draw wouldn't be that surprising. I had trouble believing that Black couldn't exploit the open g-file to hit h2 or f2. Jo doesn't see a way, and I don't, either.

On the second day of Christmas, I had to return the present

Yesterday's ChessBase puzzle was not just solved, but "cooked" (that's composer-speak for "refuted") by two Ph.D.'s in mathematics.  Most of you know of GM John Nunn from his many great books; Noam Elkies is no slouch.

Here's an easier problem with a similar idea.  See ChessBase for discussion and hints.

W.E. Rudolph

La Stratégie 1912

White to play and draw

Discussion here

This might be the perfect example of a position that humans (even near-beginners) can understand easily, but today's computers are not yet able to understand.

TIME interview with Magnus Carlsen

Check it out.

Merry Christmas!

(Festivus, too.) The first of the 2009 ChessBase Christmas puzzles is up.

Manuel Rodriguez, 2009

White to play and draw

Hints are here

I think I see the first move, but the idea of ...Qa6 & penetration on the a6-f1 diagonal is bugging me.

ChessBase Christmas puzzles (1999 through 2008)

The 2009 puzzles haven't arrived yet, but you can find links to earlier Christmas puzzles on this page.  They started out very simple in 1999, but grew more and more complex.  Warning: a high rating may not be of much help in solving these puzzles: imagination, patience, and egg nog may help.

How do computers play chess?

Here's a cool introduction to the subject, accessible to children and bright adults. And you get to test your tic-tac-toe skills. (Via Iron Rooks.)

Iron Rooks Chess Collective

It's fun to read about a new group of local folks (they've been around for three years, but they're new to me) getting kids involved with chess.  Here's coverage in Time Out Chicago and the Chicago Tribune.  Dirty little secret (let's not talk about this too much!): while chess is an end in itself, it's much more valuable as a tool to teach children (and adults) certain abstract thinking techniques that are valuable in the Real World.  (Not to mention more general and even more valuable life lessons.)

Iron Rooks hosts a Saturday morning chess club for kids at 9am at New York Deli (2921 N Clark St) in Lakeview that’s open to all skill levels.

Hat tip to Jerry Neugarten.

I suppose I should have given the answer for the trébuchet problem...

As usual, you can find the answer in Wikipedia. (Slightly different position, but the idea is exactly the same.)

And to make sure we all understand, here's yet another a slightly different position that you won't find at the Wikipedia link.  What is White's best move?

White to play and win

Dick Cavett remembers Bobby Fischer

Hard to believe that Fischer has been gone for almost two years. Don't miss the video embedded in Cavett's blog entry.

And here's Cavett's followup (no video in this one).

Grigoriev's amazing pawn endings (answer to 1)

World Chess Live p.s.

I went on World Chess Live myself this weekend. One thing I didn't know: the first six months are free for USCF members! It's not as full-featured as its older sibling, the Internet Chess Club. But it is a nice alternative for casual play!

the famous Korchnoi commercial

Grigoriev's amazing pawn endings (1)

I did not know until I peeked in Wikipedia that Nikolai Grigoriev won the Moscow championship four times.  He's best remembered today as a composer of endgame studies: pawn endings were his specialty.

(After my last tournament outing, I feel that I need a refresher course in pawn endings: maybe you can help me!)

Grigoriev

Shakmatny listok, 1931

White to play and draw

Every pawn ending starts as something other than a pawn ending: it's fairly obvious that White is going to have to give up the rook for Black's b-pawn.  But how?  And how does White draw the pawn ending?

Our new friend the trébuchet may make an appearance in one of the variations.

Solutions in a few hours!

12/27: Mayor Daley's Holiday Chess Championship

At McCormick Place!  With rated and unrated scholastic sections: please note that the top rated section is open to adults!

Kasparov vs. the machine: the rematch