Korch Chess

My new ELO

2010-11-02T14:01:00.003+02:00

My new ELO is 2197 (+1).

Another chess legend is gone

2010-10-07T20:15:00.003+03:00

R.I.P. Janis Klovans. I remember my last game against him a few months ago. After the game, he showed himself as very friendly and knowledgable chess player, during post mortem analysis.

Another weekend tournament and another 2nd place

2010-09-28T13:09:00.006+03:00

During last months I`ve became very lazy to update my blog, as you have probably noticed. Also this blog entry was made, resisting laziness. This weekend can be summarized by a few words - another weekend tournament and another 2nd place. The tournament was not strong (I was ranked as 2nd) - all my wins (against much weaker opposition) were very easy. I could take 1st place if not my missed wins in 3rd and 7th round - I would have 6.5 (instead of 5.5)/7 then. But such a result is not so bad, taking into account that I caught a cold during the tournament.

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R.I.P. Bent Larsen

2010-09-11T20:18:00.003+03:00

Bent Larsen has passed away in Thursday September 9th. The best Danish chess player of all time he was also one of the strongest and at the same time one of the most original players of 60`s/70`s. Here is one of his best games ever - win vs Taimanov with brave play with kingside pawns (14...g5!) and one of the best defensive moves ever - 23...Bg4!!!

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Riga open championship Final FAIL

2010-08-21T08:39:00.002+03:00

In last round I was outplayed by weaker opponent. Another FAIL tournament....

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Final standings.

Riga open championship 8th round

2010-08-19T21:33:00.003+03:00

This round I played in level of 1900-2000. Still can`t explain logic of some my moves. Bye bye 1st place.

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Another missed win (Riga open championship: 7th round)

2010-08-19T10:15:00.005+03:00

After missed win in previous round I though that it`s impossible to play worse. I did mistake. In this game I missed easy win in 7th move. Take a look at this position:

BLACK TO MOVE

My opponent has played 7.Re1?? and I responded with 7...Bc5?? Both of us missed elementary 7...e4! and White should lose Knight for 2 pawns - 8.dxe4 dxe4 9.Nh4 g5 or 8.Nh4 g5. The funniest thing is that i considered 6..e4 in previous move, but did not make it as Knight could retire to e8. Weather conditions (last days there was intense heat, more than +30, in Riga) really AFFECTS our play. Now I can understand how Lasker did feel during his match vs. Capablanca in Havana, 1921.

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Riga Open Championship: 4th-6th round

2010-08-17T23:00:00.006+03:00

In 4th round my opponent outplayed himself. Before his 27th move position was equal. Then after several bad moves (27.a4?!, 28.Nxd1?, 31.Nd5+? and 32.Nb7?) his position became hopeless.

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In the 5th round I played so far my best game in this tournament, against the highest ranked opponent. After opening my position was much better and also later(despite of some mutual inaccuracies and mistakes) I increased my advantage and in 34th move my opponent had to resign.

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The 6th round was real nighmare - In opening I had 2 extra pawns and managed to hold them until engdame, which I had to win. I still can`t explain how could I miss such a easy win. Later I had to play carefully to avoid a loss.

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The rest of the game is not interesting - my opponent played for win up to 99th move.

Standings after 6 rounds.
Pairings of 7th round.

Riga Open Championship 1st - 3rd round

2010-08-16T09:36:00.004+03:00

After my FAIL in last Latvian Team Championship, I took some pause from competitive chess for about two months and now I`m back, currently playing in Riga Open Championship. The tournament takes place 14.-20.August, 9 rounds, time control - 90+30. Click here to see list of participants. The tournament is ELO rated, so I have a chance to get back my ELO points, lost in Latvian Team Championship.
The first two rounds were nothing special - easy wins against much weaker opposition.

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The 3rd round was real disappointment - I missed my chances in won endgame (I played 36.Nxe5? because I blundered 38...Nd7).

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Not too impressive for the first rounds.

My new ELO

2010-07-08T16:47:00.001+03:00

My new ELO is 2196. Dropped 10 points due to my Latvian Team Championship FAIL.

My Final FAIL in Latvian team championship

2010-06-15T12:45:00.004+03:00

To be honest - I didn`t want to post about it, like I didn`t want to play chess this weekend. But I had to as our team played final matches without both our strongest players Evgeny and Vladimir Sveshnikov, who were abroad. As result I had to play at 1st board being in poor form and without any desire to play chess. It was real EPIC FAIL for me and also for my team. I scored 0.5/3 and team lost 2 matches with 1:4 and won 2nd match with 3:2 and in final standings we took only 5th place.
My opponents were old FM, strong IM (who allowed me to escape from loss) and old GM. My play was real disaster and I was really lucky to have at least one draw against strong opponent (who scored 7/9 (+5=4) at 1st board). Here you can see the games:

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Another 6/7 and 2nd place

2010-05-24T19:41:00.005+03:00

This weekend tournament was similar to previous one - poor play in most games, good result (5 wins, 2 draws) and 2nd place. This time only I had stronger opposition and also I finished this tournament without losing. Here are the games:

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The rest of the game is not interesting - opponent (a little girl) played until she was mated in 62nd move.

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The notation is incomplete due to time trouble.

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In this hopeless position my opponent continued to play and resigned in 47th move.

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In this hopeless position my opponent continued to play and resigned in 28th move.

A short draw

2010-05-15T21:05:00.005+03:00

Today I played so far my shortest draw this year. I missed my chances to have much better endgame after 10.a3! (instead of 10.exd5?!) dxe4 11.Qzd8+ Bxd8 12.axb4 exf3 13.bxc5, also castled to the wrong side (14.0-0-0 was better) and position became deadly drawish. After my 21st move I offered draw and my opponent agreed. Our team won with 3,5:1,5.

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My "black" weekend of missed opportunities

2010-05-10T19:26:00.007+03:00

This weekend our team played 3 matches in Liepaja. The reasult was no more than average - 1 win and 2 draws against not the strongest team. The worst thing is that I can blame also myself - in all these matches I played on 2nd board with Black. Despite of that in all 3 games I did not have opening problems and even had serious advantage, but...only half of point.... :(
In the first match my opponent was decent Master Candidate. Both of us played opening very originally and after his 18th move the following position arised:

Renars Osis - Kristaps Kretainis
BLACK TO MOVE

In this position after 18...0-0-0! 19.Qe2 g4 I could win a pawn. Instead of that I missed my chance with 18...Nb6? , missed my advantage and even managed to lose.

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In next match my opponent was WGM Dana Reizniece (the winner of the Latvian Women's Championship four times and the European Girls' U18 Championship twice). This time I missed my opportunity in 23rd move:

Dana Reizniece - Kristaps Kretainis

BLACK TO MOVE

I played 23...Bxb4? and was unable to exploit my extra pawn after 24.Qxb4 Rxb4 25. Bxa6 Rxa4 26. Bb7 Bd7 27. Bxc6 Bxc6 28. Rxc6 Rxa2 29. Rb1. Instead of that I had to play 23...Re4! with decisive pressure on b4 which would secure me at least 2 pieces for Rook.

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The rest of the game is not interesting. Reizniece declined my(!) draw offer and played for the win 30 extra moves without any success - draw.

My last missed opportunity was in 24th move against strong Master Candidate:

Ivars Berzins - Kristaps Kretainis

BLACK TO MOVE

In this position i had to play 24...Nc6! with 25...Bb4 to follow which would secure me large advantage. instead of that I tried to put on c6 other Knight which took too much time and my opponent had dangerous initiative which ended in worse endgame for me and I made my decisive mistake in 41st move.

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Very disappointing result, to say nothing more. It affected also team result - when I drew, my team won (3:2), but when I lost my team drew (2,5:2,5).

My first game in Latvian Team Championship 2010

2010-05-02T11:49:00.005+03:00

Yesterday I played (and won) my first game in Latvian Team Championship 2010. Strictly speaking this may not be called the first as I took part also in first match (this was the second), but my opponent did not arrive and I earned the point for my team with making only one move - 1.e4 and White won. :D Out team won with 5:0 then.
Latvian Team Championship 2010 is round robin tournament and takes part from April up to June and all teams (this year they are 10 - here you can see the list of them) should play their matches during this time period. Scoring system has became more "team like" - 2 points for team win (independently from result - they will become important only when teams have the same number of points) and 1 point for draw. Unlike all previous team championships, this one is ELO rated with 90+30 time control.
I play at the same team as in previous year, but to compare with previous year our team seems to be weaker, as 1) we don`t have IM Vitalijs Samolins - Latvian champion 2009 and the best scorer for our team last year 2) GM Evgeny Sveshnikov are unable to play all the matches - for example he did not play yesterday. Some of our new players (like Vladlens Shulmans, who was able to hammer GMs when he was in good form, when he played chess regulary) are not so bad, but most of them are almost retired from chess and dont play too often.
Yesterday we played with not the strongest team of Rīgas Šaha Skola (Riga Chess School) and absence of Evgeny Sveshnikov affected our result- 2,5:2,5 which was really unpleasant surprise. I won my game on 2nd board and Vladimirs Pankratovs (solid player with lack of practice) wom on 4th board, Vladimir Sveshnikov (1st board) lost to another FM Kristaps Krustkalns (which did not surprise me too much, though), our team captain Boleslavs Kilgasts (3rd board) lost to Gustavs Upmanis (obviously weaker player) and the most surpsising result for me was on 5th (women) board where our WFM Viktorija Ni could not win another obviously weaker opponent Elina Otikova. I hope in next weekend (when we will play 3 matches in Liepaja) our team will perform much better.
Here you can see my yesterday`s game:

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Poor play with not so bad result

2010-04-25T20:26:00.005+03:00

In this Weekend tournament my play was real disaster. Luckily for me this tournament was much weaker than previous one - I was ranked 1st. First three rounds were similar - weaker opposition, mutual mistakes and inaccuracies and my opponents making the last mistake.

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In 4th round I played with 2nd ranked player (who took the 1st place due to better Buchholz) and it was the first game in which I did not have bad position. I got large opening advantage and my opponent did not exploit my inaccuracies to equalize, made 27.Bd4?? and resigned prematurely when he could continue resistance (though in bad position). In a few words - also he was far from his best form.

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In 5th round the game was decided after 10 moves.

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The rest part of the game is not interesting - he played 30 extra moves.

My only loss was in 6th round - piece sacrifice 24...Nf3+? (prepared by 23...h5?!) was really bad idea and also after that my game was far from perfect.

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The last round seems to be my best game in this tournament. My opponent did not solve his opening problems and also later was clearly outplayed.

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In final standings I had the same score as my opponent from 4th round, but (as I already pointed out) my Buchholz was worse - so only 2nd place. But with such a play it`s not the worst result.

A "novelty" played in 1500 games before

2010-04-10T11:13:00.013+03:00

In one of the Russian chess forums (ШПиЛ) I did read interesting story by Alexander Khalifman from current Russian Team Championship.

V.Ivanchuk - A.Grischuk
08.04.2010, (7)

WHITE TO MOVE

In this position the best well known move in top level is 16.Be3. At least Grischuk did expect it and he was surprised when Ivanchuk played 16.Kh1 - it was novelty for him. The power of novelty worked and 10 moves later Black position was hopeless. GM Sergey Zagrebelny (Chesspro online commentator) in his online comments tells that 16.Kh1 is very rare and has only 2 games in his database. The most interesting fact is that Khalifman (according to his own words) has about 1500 16.Kh1 games in his database. Can you imagine how surprised was Grischuk when he told him about it? :)
The explanation is simple - unlike many other GMs, Khalifman stores also CC and Advanced chess games in his database.

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It made me smile

2010-04-04T17:25:00.001+03:00

The chess game in Samuel Beckett`s novel Murphy.

Numbers itself are useless

2010-04-02T18:45:00.001+03:00

Despite of my absence from Redhotpawn, I`m taking a look at their forums, sometimes. Just a few minutes ago I noticed a link to interesting site where we can see attempt to compare champions of all time - who is the greatest of them? Each may have their own parameters of greatness, but for the authors of research this parameter seems to be playing strenght. First of all I think that it`s not the right parameter as modern chess players knows about chess much more than greatest players of the past, which means that they have more chances to play better. Secondly - the whole methodology how to determine it seems to be at least doubtful.

To determine champions`s strenght they used methods which would show quality of their moves according to chess engines. Without the fact that engines are still far from perfect and not always finds the best moves such approach has one very serious drawback - it does not take into account opponent`s strenght, because when you are playing against stronger opponent, he is making moves which gives you more opportunity to mistake. Especially it can be said about IM/GM level where blunders and stupid oversights are made not so often as in lower levels. I have seen IM or GM hammering amateurs with playwhich seems very impressive and later being hammered themselves by stronger players. And it`s well known that great players in the past have often made mistakes, usually made by amateurs today. Main reasons are development of chess knowledge (many things, obvious even for decent chess amateur today were not so obvious in past) and also modern chess became more professional - more preparation, more care about your physical condition etc.

So I claim - these numbers itself are useless to compare chess strenght.

Another sad news

2010-03-27T18:40:00.003+02:00

Vasily Smyslov - the 7th world champion (1957-58) and one of the greatest positional players ever, has passed away at the age of 89. RIP...

Sad news

2010-03-25T17:02:00.003+02:00

WGM Elena Tairova - one of the strongest woman chess players in Russia, has died at the age of just 18. As I understood - it was illness (further details are unknown). RIP...

A little bit of luck or how to get 100% result in Weekend tournament

2010-03-22T09:01:00.011+02:00

In this weekend my chess celibate was finished - I played in Weekend tournament. It seems to me that chess abstinence for a few weeks can be very useful, as I took clear first place with 100% result - I won all 7 games. (Compare with previous Weekend tournament which where I had weaker opposition and had only 5/7 with 3rd place.) On the other hand - it should be pointed out that my play was not too spectacular and also far from perfect. In almost all games I had some opening advantage which usually was missed due to inaccuracies in middle game which usually lead to worse (in one game my position was very suspicious, in the other one my opponent missed clearly winning move) or equal positions, but then my opponents helped me again. :)

In 1st round I got extra pawn, but later due some inaccuracies position became drawish, but then again my opponent allowed me to have winning position and finally (in lost position already)helped me with horrible blunder 43.Qxb2??.

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2nd round was easier - opening transposed into much better endgame which (after some mutual inaccuracies) was converted into win.

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In 3rd round I had large advantage after 15 moves, then started too sophisticated g6-h7-f8-g6 Knight manoeuvre after which my advantage decreased, but then my opponent mistaked with Queen`s exchange and my advantage was restored. Then again my play was far from perfect and after 42. moves it was a equal endgame in which i played ambitious 43...Kd6?? after which my opponent could win with 44.Ra5!. instead of that 44.Nd3?? was played and I won. The game notation is incomplete due to time trouble.

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In 4th round I had small advantage in opening, then after many exchanges we entered into pawn endgame which I considered to be winning for me (and won), but only in post-mortem analysis engine showed that Black could draw with 31...f5! (instead of 31...Kd6?).

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In 5th round after 24 moves I had serious advantage, which after some mutual inaccuracies was converted into win.

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In 6th round after having opening advantage, I did choose wrong move order (I had to play 26.Qd5 and only then 27.f5). After some next moves my position became very suspicious (to say nothing more) and only my opponent`s mistakes (like 31...Qxd5?, instead of 31...Qxg3+ for example) allowed me to win.

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The last round was real comedy - after first 9 moves on one of the most actual Latvian gambit line my opponent allowed me to grab 2 pieces for rook with 10.Bb3?? and I still can`t explain why I did not see elementary 10...Rxd5. But that was not the end of comedy. After making horrible 11.c4?? , seeing confusion in my face my opponent looked at the board, understood his mistake and resigned. The resignation seems really premature, but on the other hand - position after 11...Nd3+ 12.Kf1 Nf6 is really awkward for White and probably he felt doomed.

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Click here to see tournament cross table, results and some photos.

Taking a pause

2010-02-23T13:22:00.007+02:00

During last weeks my OTB playing strength has decreased, due to many stupid tactical oversights (look at my last two weekend tournaments). The same can be said about my recent blitz play. Also I noticed that during last weeks the reason why I`m still playing chess is more due to habit, than pleasure. In addition I have problems to write something in my blog, despite of having many ideas. These are indications of chess burnout. So I`ll try to take some pause - abstaining from playing any kind of chess (classics, rapid, blitz & bullet), posting in my blog or reading/commenting chess sites & forums at lest for 2-3 weeks. Let`s see if it will help.

Weekend tournament: Last two rounds

2010-02-15T11:29:00.005+02:00

I thought that I have played my worst game in this tournament in 5th round, but mistaked - in 6th round my play was real disaster. My opponent was solid Master Candidate, but it really was not obligatory to lost in 21 move, in one of my white pet lines!!! 20.Ne5?? and 21.Qf3?? were something horrible.

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In the last round I played bad, sometimes missing easy moves (no wonder, after such a shocking defeat), but my opponent played worse.

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In final standings with 5/7 I took clear 3rd place. I`m really unsatisfied with my result - against such opposition I had to take clear 1st place with at least 6/7 or 6.5/7 (after first 4.rounds I started to think about 7/7) and without losses! My play in 5th-7th round was really horrible.

Weekend tournament : 3rd-5th round

2010-02-13T19:34:00.005+02:00

In 3rd round my opponent was old FM who took 2nd place in previous Weekend tournament. I outplayed him in slow, positional manner.

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In 4th round my opponent could resign after 19 moves.

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In 5th round I played so far my worst game in this tournament. Having serious opening advantage I played 14.c5?! and 15.dxc5? (I underestimated position after 17...Nd3) which demoralized me. My position became worse and I played slower than usually. then in mutual time trouble i started to play va banque, but missed my chances to have better position (I had to play 39.Qf2 instead of 39.Qa3??) and lost.

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Weekend tournament: First two rounds

2010-02-12T22:23:00.001+02:00

Another weekend tournament, another 7 rounds, etc. First two rounds as usually - easy wins against weaker opposition.

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Quote of the Day

2010-01-20T15:36:00.001+02:00

Using the super-tournaments as the benchmark when choosing the opening is simply harmful. It is no secret that people who play in these super-tournaments are not regular chess players. Their openings had been studied to a 30 move depth in many cases. Thus, if you copy such openings, with lower level of play and preparation, you should not expect any good to come from it, neither in terms of results nor your development.

Grandmaster Georgy Pilavov.

Weekend tournament: Last two rounds

2010-01-18T15:40:00.008+02:00

Also in 6th round I played horrible and had a pawn down without any compensation, but I was saved by my opponent who did accept my draw offer.

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I the last round I had much weaker opponent (I wonder how he could get his 4 points in previous six rounds?) who did not give me a chance to play bad - horrible blunder in 15th move.

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In final standings I took 3rd place amongst 28 participants (I was ranked as 3rd).

upd. Final standings.

Weekend tournament: 3rd-5th round

2010-01-16T20:21:00.005+02:00

Also in 3rd round my opponent was not too strong - easy win.

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In 4th round my opponent was stronger than previous ones. But his opening play (6...Qa5?!?!) was at least bizzare (to say nothing more). Unfortunately also my play was far from perfect and my attempts to play for win failed - draw.

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After that tiresome game I was paired with the highest ranked player and tournament leader, who had a half a point more than I had. My play was affected by tiredness (during the game I missed several easy opponent`s replies) and I lost.

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Weekend tournament: First two rounds

2010-01-15T21:55:00.006+02:00

Today I started to play in another Weekend tournament, organized by Riga chess federation. 7 rounds. Time control - 50 min + 10 sec per move.

In 1st round my opponent lost a piece after 7th move.

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The rest is not interesting. She resigned after 32. move.

Also in 2nd round my opponent could not solve opening problems.

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So far, so good. Tomorrow I`ll have to play 3rd-5th round.

Missed chance in King's Gambit

2010-01-10T23:43:00.009+02:00

As Alexander Morozevitch once has pointed out - it`s wrong to make conslusions about some opening (or opening line), based only by result of the game. There are many games where decisive mistakes were made in middle game or endgame and also there are many games where the loser missed his chances in opening. I would like to show one of such a "missed opening chance" games played some days ago in World Team Championship where IM from Egypt - Emre Can (ELO 2442) tried King`s gambit against one of the strongest Armenian GM`s - Gabriel Sargissian (ELO 2680).

Emre Can - Gabriel Sargissian
Bursa (TUR), World Team Championship
07.01.2010

1. e4 e5 2. f4

BLACK TO MOVE

King`s gambit. One of the oldest and one of the sharpest openings. White offers a pawn to build a strong center with d2-d4. If Black wants to hold extra pawn, it may lead to serious weakening of Black king side.

2....exf4 3. Nf3 g5

Classical Variation. One of the oldest and the most principled Black defences against King`s gambit.

4. d4!?

Rosentreter gambit. Not so popular and less explored as 4.h4 and 4.Bc4, but also very ambitious, showing that White doesn`t mind to sacrifice knight for powerful initiative.

4...g4
Sargissian accepted challenge.
5. Bxf4 gxf3 6. Qxf3

BLACK TO MOVE

White sacrificed a piece. "But for what?" You may ask. Practice shows that, White has a strong center, better development and pressure on f-file. Is it enough to sacrifice a piece? Personally I have no idea. Anyway - in this game Sargissian was unable to show refutation.

6...d6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8.O-O-O h5

With idea of Bg4. In his annotation, Vasily Lebedev suggests 8...Qh4 with idea of 9.Be2? Qxf4! 10.Qxf4 Bh6 and White lacks compensation for piece. Probably White should play 9.g3 Bg4 10.Qd3.

9. Qf2

In his game against Aleksandrov, Morozevich played 9.e5!? and after 9...,Bg4 10.Qe4 Bh6 11.Bxh6 Rxh6 12.Rd2 dxe5 13.h3 Bd7 14.d5 Nce7 15.Qxe5 had a good compensation, but unfortunately missed his chances and lost.

BLACK TO MOVE

9...Bg4
According to Vasily Lebedev, Black solved all problems in one "advanced" chess game after 9...Bh6 10.Bc4 Bxf4+ 11.Qxf4 Qf6 12.Qxf6 Nxf6 13.Rhf1 Ng4 14.Bxf7+ Kd8 15.Nd5 Ne7 16.Rf4 Nxd5 17.exd5 Ne3 18.Rd2 c6 19.Re2 Nxd5 20.Bxd5 cxd5 21.Rf7 b5 22.Ree7 a5 23.Rc7 b4 24.Rc6 Rh6 (0-1 Gunner (2148) - Шут_Ник (2355)/igame.ru)

10. Rd2 Bh6 11. h3!
"Asking" Black bishop to go away from g4.
10...Bd7?!

10...Bc8!? (with idea of Bxf4 and d6-d5) seems to be better as Bishop on d7 is no more useful than on c8.

12. e5 Bf5?

Seems to be a serious mistake. After 12...Bxf4 13.Qxf4 Black is under serious pressure, but 12...Nge7!? 13.Bc4 d5 was worth of considering.

WHITE TO MOVE

13. Bc4?!

White missed a good chance to have a superb position after 13.exd6 cxd6 14.Nb5 Bg6 15.Nxd6+ Kf8 16.Bc4 Bxf4 (What else?) 17.Qxf4 Qf6 18.Rf1 Qxf4 19.Rxf4

BLACK TO MOVE AND FIGHT FOR DRAW

White would be able to take 3rd pawn for piece and would still have a strong initiative.
13...Nge7 14. exd6?

The decisive mistake after which White lost any compensation for material. As Vasily Lebedev points out - after 14.Bxh6! Rxh6 15.Re1 still has a good position - 15...dxe5?! 16.g4! hxg4 17.hxg4 Nxd4 18.Qe3!.

14...Bxf4 15. Qxf4 Qxd6

WHITE TO MOVE

The game is over
16. Qf2 a6 17. Re1 O-O-O 18. d5 Ne5 19. Rde2 f6 20. g4 hxg4 21. hxg4 Bxg4 White resigned 0-1

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2.c3 Sicilian miniature

2010-01-04T02:46:00.009+02:00

Just a few minutes ago, in Chessplanet, I had a cute 3 min blitz miniature. My opponent (according to his profile - some IM from Equador) choosed inferior defense against my 2.c3 Sicilian and did not get out of opening.

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Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T11:32:00.001+02:00

Boris Gelfand about computers and Kasparov-Kramnik match in 2000

2009-12-22T16:48:00.004+02:00

I think that Kasparov lost match to Kramnik largely because of at that time he began to trust the computer more than necessary. And when faced with "Berlin", he was unable to reorganize. And what a computer can come up with a "Berlin" endgame?

Boris Gelfand in his interview to Chesspro.

Weekend tournament

2009-12-20T19:42:00.004+02:00

This weekend I played in local tournament organized by Riga chess federation. 7 rounds. Time control - 50 min + 10 sec per move. I played not bad and with 5.5/7 result took 2nd place amongst 27 participants (I was ranked as 3rd). Here are the games:
In 1st round my opponent made serious mistake in 6th move and also later made some mistakes - he was crushed in 22.moves.

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In the 2nd round I made interesting but probably incorrect piece sacrifice, but got compensation for it. After my opponent`s blunder in 17th move the game ended very fast.

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In the 3rd round in mutual time trouble (started after 30th move) I missed my winning chances. The notation is incomplete due to time trouble.

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In 4th round I got serious advantage (bishop pair + better pawn structure) which was converted into point.

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In 5th round my venturesome opening play made me to play very accurate, which led to at least no worse endgame after 20th move. My opponent (very strong Candidate Master) tried to play for win but without success. The notation is incomplete because I did not see the point to save the rest of game (up to 55th move) as after 41st move the position was dead draw.

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In 6th round I equalised in opening and my oponent (strong FIDE Master) offered draw after his 15th move, which I accepted.

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In the last round my opponent had serious problems in opening - he could resign after my 15th move.

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Upd. Final standings.

Gelfand wins FIDE World cup 2009

2009-12-14T18:35:00.008+02:00

Just a few minutes ago Boris Gelfand defeated Ruslan Ponomariov with 3:1 result in blitz-tie break of FIDE World Cup 2009 final. Congratulations to him! It should be said that the final match was very nervous and it was obvious that both - Ponomariov and Gelfand were tired. Well done Boris! From Gelfand`s games I would like to highlight the 2nd game of his Semi Final match with Karjakin, where talented youngster after loss in 1st round played va banque and was clearly outplayed by more experienced veteran.

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From Playchess chat

2009-12-14T18:13:00.002+02:00

Meteore (Gelfand-Ponomariov): i dont understand why pono lots that game????

Littleprince (Gelfand-Ponomariov): he made mistakes

Blog anniversary

2009-12-04T15:28:00.005+02:00

On this day, this is first anniversary of my blog, which was started on 4th December 2008. 73 posts were made during this first year.

Knight sacrifice on f5 vs. Kings Fiancetto

2009-12-03T22:57:00.005+02:00

Some minutes ago I played blitz game in which I made positional Knight sacrifice on f5, typical in similar setups. The sacrifice was correct and even with the best defense my opponent would have to work hard to save his king, but even with longer time control it`s not so easy to defend such kind of positions and the game finished with opponent`s King checkmated.

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David Bronstein about today's top level chess

2009-11-28T22:04:00.001+02:00

It`s competition of counting skills and memory. And good health. And money.

1st place in KasparovChess blitz tournament

2009-11-26T23:55:00.009+02:00

Twice per week, members of KasparovChess forum are playing friendly blitz tournaments in Chessplanet.ru. Time controls are 3+1 (in Mondays) and 3+0 (in Thursdays). Usually my performance in these tournaments are not too impressive as some participants are good blitzers. But today I was in really good shape and managed to take clear 1st place 1.5 point ahead of 2nd place. Here are the final standings:

From my games I liked win against the highest rated opponent - his Chessplanet blitz rating was almost 500 points higher than mine.

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And still far from perfect....

2009-11-13T17:41:00.003+02:00

Watching games of Tal memorial 2009 in Playchess with my Rybka turned on, today, I noticed another example of engine being far from perfect. Lets take a look on the following position.

L. Aronian - V.Ivanchuk
Moscow, Tal memorial, 8th round, 13.11.2009

WHITE TO MOVE

For any qualified endgame expert this position is dead draw as White lacks real plan to exploit extra pawn. If White King goes to h-pawn then Black rook will give perpetual checks from the c-file .If White moves pawn to h7 then Black moves Rook to h6 and White has no chance to make any progress - Rook can't move from h8 with check until Black king is on b7, but White King can't help too because Black will move Rook on h1 where it will be able to give perpetual checks from the 1st horizontal. But my Rybka 3 even after 10 min evaluates this position as win for White (+2.54) despite of being unable to find plan for White. Comments in Chessgames.com shows that also other people who has Rybka reached similar result. Evaluation of Fritz 10 is not so radical (only +1.28), but also should be considered as too optimistic.
Here you can see the whole game:

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Quote of the Day

2009-10-31T13:10:00.002+02:00

"Playing in such a style, this guy has no chess future."

Petr Romanovsky about Tal after his first USSR championship final in 1956.

Cheparinov hammered in 20 moves by primitive methods!

2009-10-27T20:35:00.005+02:00

Just noticed one game from 17th European Team Championship in which well known Bulgarian GM Ivan Cheparinov was hammered in 20 moves by Luke McShane! Quoting one comment from Chessgames.com "Extraordinary how a very strong GM was blown away by such primitive methods--more like a game between 2100 players in a weekend tournament."

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The power of novelty

2009-10-19T23:47:00.007+03:00

Many chess players would like to surprise their opponents with some good novelty, leading to at least good position. Independently of opponent's strength, novelty makes some psychological discomfort (nobody likes to play positions you are not familiar with, especially when you know that opponent knows them better) and also your opponent has disadvantage in knowledge - he is not prepared (as you did) to play this position. Practice shows that a good novelty can work even in the highest levels. Let's remember 6.Nf3?!?! in the 6th game of Euwe-Alekhine World Championship Rematch 1937 and 15.Nb3!! in t he 10th game of Kasparov-Anand World Championship Match 1995 which decided the results of the matches - Euwe and Anand (both of them were leading in the match before) could not recover from crushing defeats in these games and played remaining part of the match below their strength. Today's game is not so well known as the previous ones, but it's very good illustration of how effective can be novelty (even dubious) used against not so strong opposition.

Frantisek Schubert - Carl Schlechter Vienna, 1915

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Nf6

WHITE TO MOVE

Queen's pawn game transposed into Tarrasch defence (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nf6 - usually 5...Nc6 is played the first, but it does not matters as Knight should be placed on f6 anyway). This Queen's gambit system was advocated, by Sigbert Tarrasch, who liked mobile piece play and did not afraid of isolated pawn. Tarrasch rejected other Queen's gambit variations for Black marking them with "?" in his annotations (it was he who started to call the main line with 3...Nf6 "Orthodox defence"). But most of his rivals (like most of today's chess players) have considered Tarrasch defence as at least dubious, because of isolated pawn. Despite of that Tarrasch defence was used by such a great players as Boris Spassky (employed it with good success in his 1969 World Championship Match against Tigran Petrosian) and Garry Kasparov (used in with good success in Candidates matches 1982-84, but had bad performance against Karpov in their 1984 match) and also today according to databases this system is used by some 2500-2600 rated players.
6.g3
Also today fiancetto on g2 is considered as the best method against Tarrasch defence. It's interesting that it was introduced by Schlechter himself (and later developed by Akiba Rubinstein) so in this game he had to fight against his own weapon.
6...Nc6 7.Bg2 Be6?!
Later it was found that more flexible and better is 7...Be7 - white squared Bishop can be placed on g4 with Rook on e8, making pressure on e-file.
8.0-0 Be7 9.Bg5?!
After Black has played Be6 this move is not so good as in main line. (7... Be7 8.0-0 0-0). Kasparov in his "My Great Predecessors (vol 1)" suggests 9.dxc4 Bxc5 10.Na4 (with idea of Be3 and Nd4) with small but constant plus for White.
9...0-0?!
9...Ne4! (Rubinstein - Mieses, match, 1909 or my game against Chehlov) would allow Black to equalise, but probably Schlecher (one of the best opening theoreticians of his time) wanted more.
10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Rc1 Be7 12.Nd4 h6 13.Be3

BLACK TO MOVE

Black has isolated pawn in center without active counter play. So we can conclude that White has solid plus. It's not easy to believe that White will resign after 11 moves. For example White has a plan to exchange on c6 with Na4-Bc5 to follow. Schubert already had experience in this position. His game against Dobias (Mlada Boleslav, 1913) continued 13...Qd7 14.Rfd1 (I would prefer 14.Nxc6 bxc6 15.Na4) Bh3 15.Rfd1 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Rfd8 17.Nb3 with small but constant plus for White. Vidmar played 12...Kh8? against Duras (Manheim, 1914) and after 13.Nxc6 bxc6 14.Na4 Qa5? 15.Bc5? (15.Rxc6! Bd7 16.Bd2! Qb5 17.Rc7! Bd6 18.Nc3 Qxb2 19.Bc1 Qb8 20.Rxd7 Nxd7 21.Bxd5) Bxc5 16.Rxc5 White had a comfortable advantage. Instead of that Schlechter plays dubious, but aggressive novelty making his opponent to make decisions on his own.
13...Ng4?!

In his book about Carl Schlechter Leonid Verkhovsky puts two exclamation marks on this move. From practical point of view this move deserves at least one, as it makes White to solve uneasy task. But from theoretical point of view this move is at least dubious (to say nothing more).
14.Nxe6
Also 14.Bf4 was good - Black would have nothing better than to retreat with 14...Nf6 as after 14...g5? 15.Nxe6 fxe6 16.Bd2 White has clear positional advantage due to Bishop pair and weakened Black kingside.
14...fxe6 15.Bh3?!
Anti-positional move. Better was 15.Bf4 with positional advantage as Black pawns on center are not too mobile, Knight on g4 does nothing useful and White has Bishop pair.
15...Nxe3
Pawn sacrifice, which leads to tactical complications but 15...h5!? also seems to be good as it would make opponent's previous move useless. White would be not able to exploit weakness of Black kingside and exchange of g4 would only weaken white squares.
16.Bxe6+ Kh8 17.fxe3 Bg5 18.Nxd5 Qd6?!
Black could make this move after 18...Rxf1 If White takes with Queen then White Queen will have nothing to do on f1. If 19.Kxf1 then King will be unsafe. In both lines Black would have a good compensation for material. Now White has a chance to avoid all problems.

WHITE TO MOVE

19.Bh3?!
Another dubious "Bh3" move. After 19.Rxf8 Rxf8 20.Bg4! Rd8 21.Bf3 Nb5 22.Qb3! Nxd5 23.Rd1 Bxe3+ 24.Kh1 White would keep extra pawn, but Black would have a good chances to draw due to Bishops on opposite colors.
19...Rxf1+ 20.Kxf1?!
What the hell King should do on f1 and Bishop on h3? After 20.Bxf1 white would have no problems at all - 20...Rd8 21.Bg2 Ne7 22. Qb3 Nxd5 23. Rd1 Qa6 24.Rxd5 Rxd5 25.Qxd5 Qxe2 26.h4 Bxe3+ 27.Kh2 with drawish endgame.
20...Rd8 21.Bg2 Ne7

WHITE TO MOVE

Critical position of the game. White had last chance to fight for draw with 22.e4! Bxc1 23.Qxc1 and material is equal. Only doubled e-pawns in center makes Black positions better. But White would have a good chances to draw. Instead of that....
22.h4?
White only weakened kingside without any chances to hold material.
22...Nxd5! 23.Bxd5
Losing very quickly. But also after more tenacious 23.Qxd5 Black should win - 23...Rf8+ 24.Ke1 (24.Kg1? Qxd5 with Bxe3+) Qxg3+ 25.Kd1 Rd8.
23...Bxe3
Now White can choose between giving up exchange without compensation and bad position or get checkmated...
24.Rc3 Qxg3
...but Schubert found 3rd choice and resigned. 0-1

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Instructive Modern defence, Averbakh system miniature

2009-10-18T14:26:00.003+03:00

Some minutes ago in Chessplanet I played instructive blitz (3+0) miniature in Modern defence, Averbakh system. It illustrates one of typical Black ideas in similar setups - pin of White Knight on f3, occupation of d4 and possible pawn sacrifice if White wants to reconquer d4. After 17 moves White had very bad position and blunder in 21.move allowed me to finish my opponent.

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Idiot or coward?

2009-10-17T13:30:00.007+03:00

One thing I really hate in playing fast online chess is when your opponent runs away after 1st game he won. These players always get the worst evaluation from me. Some minutes ago I had one bullet game in Playchess against one of these players with handle Judgedredd. This was the game I lost after stupid mouse slip in 42nd move in better position. After this game he refused to give rematch making cheating accusation against me because I continued to play until I got matted. It should be said that play until checkmate is normal practice in fast chess, especially in bullet, because in time trouble (especially when opponent has a few seconds left) you have some chances that your opponent will run out of time or will stalemate you. This normal practice Judgedredd called "typical cheat behavior". If you take a look on this game and it's more than obvious that it was played between two humans. Also I doubt if bullet player of his strengh (2137 rated bullet players in Playchess I usually kill without a problems) could beat any normal chess program. So it's really unclear for me - is that guy real idiot and should cure his cheating paranoia or he is blatantly dishonest coward who searched for excuse to run away from rematch? See this game and make conclusions on your own.

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French defence miniature

2009-10-08T17:00:00.010+03:00

A few days ago I started to play chess in Chessplanet.ru. It's not so good as Playchess (you can't use pre-move option, for example), but on the other hand - it's absolutely free and also there you can meet strong players (IMs and GMs) and play in a lot of tournaments. This blitz miniature was played a few minutes ago. A little bit pity that he did not play 17...gxf6 - it would be much more beautiful final then.

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Instructive Kalashnikov Sicilian game

2009-10-04T16:05:00.003+03:00

To continue my post about Sicilian with early e7-e5 I would like to annotate instructive Kalashnikov Sicilian game played by Evgeny Sveshnikov which illustrates the main ideas for Black against 6.c4. His opponent was grandmaster Semion Dvoirys.

Semion Dvoirys - Evgeny Sveshnikov
Helsinki, 17.06.1992

1.e4
According to Sveshnikov this move is the best for White...
1...c5
...and this one - the best for Black. Other moves "are losing".
2.Nf3
Sveshnikov himself plays 2.c3, but he admits that 2.Nf3 is the best and 2.c3 is played only because White don't need to know so much theory there.
3...Nc6
Also this move is only good move according to Sveshnikov.
3.d4
Sveshnikov considers this move as inaccuracy preferring 3.Bb5 as "the best".
3...cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5

The key move of Kalashnikov Sicilian. It's interesting that Sveshnikov considers this move as the best - he have come to conclusion that system named after him (4...Nf6 5.Nc3 e5) isn't good.

5.Nb5 d6 6.c4

With this move White claims that 4...e5 is't good and does not allow Black to switch on Sveshnikov Sicilian (possible after 6.N1c3 a6 7.Na3 b5 8.Nd5 Nf6).

6...Be7 7.N1c3 a6 8.Na3 Be6

WHITE TO MOVE

Tabyia of 6.c4 line. Black has backward pawn on d6 and weakness on d5 (controled by White c and e pawns). On the other side White has displaced knight on a3 and weakened d4 square. Also pawn on c4 may be attacked with b7-b5 in future. White has tried several moves like 9.Bd3, 9.Be2, 9.Nd5 and 9.Be3, but none of them (including move in the game) does not seem to guarantee opening advantage.

9.Nc2

White understands that Knight on a3 is not placed too well and moves it to c2 where this Knight will cover d4 square and maybe later will increase pressure on d5 (after Ne3).

9...Bg5

One of the main ideas in this system - exchange of black-squared Bishops which causes additional weakening of d4 square.
Alternative plan without Bishop exchange was 9...Rc8 with intention to complete development in kingside and attack queenside with b7-b5. The game Jakovenko-Bacrot, Clichy FRA, 2009 continued 10.b3 Nf6 11.Bb2 0-0 12.Bd2? (it does not seem the best square for White Bishop - better was 12.0-0, but also then after 12...b5 13.cxb5 axb5 14.Qd3 {14.Bxb5? Na7!; 14.Nxb5? Nxe4) Qd7! 15.Qxb5 Rfd8! 16.Bb2 Qa7 Govorukh E. - Yevseev D., St Petersburg RUS, 2009 Black has compensation for pawn due to pressure on queenside and possible d6-d5 strike in future) 12...Nd4?! (12...b5! 13.cxb5 axb5 14.Bxb5 d5!) 13.0-0 Nxe2+?! (it was not too late to play 13...b5) 14.Qxe2 b5 (now this move is not so effective) 15.Ne3 (15.cxb5?! d5!) Qd7 16.Rac1 Qb7 17.Ned5 with draw agreement in equal position.

WHITE TO MOVE

10.Bd2?!

This move has it's logic - if Black exchanges on d2, Queen (+ Rook on d1) will make pressure on d-file. But this game shows that Black has no problems at all if Black knows what to do. 10.Bxg5 Qxg5 11.h4 seems to be only chance if White wants to fight for opening advantage. For example 11...Qd8 12.Qd2 Nf6 13.0-0-0 Qb6!? (Emelin V. - Sveshnikov E., Sochi, 2006) with interesting complications. Taking pawn on d6 isn't good - after 14.Qxd6? Rd8 15.Qa3 Rxd1 16.Nxd1 (16.Kxd1? Qxf2 with Qf4) Nxe4 Black should be better.

10...Rc8
Black should not hurry - immediate exchange would justify opponent's last move.
11.Be2

White could avoid Bishop exchange, but it gives nothing. 11.Ne3 Nf6! with idea to complete kingside development (12...0-0) and then make pressure on center and queenside. White can't make opponent to exchange black square Bishop for Knight on e3 12.h4?! Bf4! 13.g3?! Bh6!

11...h6
Preparation for Black next move.
12.0-0 Nf6 13.b3 0-0 14.Bxg5
Bishop on d2 was not too useful anyway.
14...hxg5 15.Qd2

BLACK TO MOVE

I bet, evaluation of Dr.Tarrasch would be something like "White should win" as Black should do something with pawn on g5 and pawn on d6 is weak, while White seems to have no weaknesses at all. Also White has clear plan - to put Rook on d1 and make pressuse on d-file. But modern GM with good tactical sight would notice that White Knights on c2 and c3 are protected only by Queen. On the other side - White should not worry about it unless c-file is open. So...

15...b5!

Another typical idea in this setup - Black sacrifices a pawn to make pressure along the open c-file.
15...Qa5?! would not be so good as after 16.Rfd1 Black lacks constructive ideas again - 16...b5? fails to 17.b4! and Black will lose exchange after 17...Nxb4? 18.Nd5 Nc6 19.Qxa5 with 20.Ne7+ to follow. After 17...Qc7 18.Qxd6 Qxd6 19.Rxd6 bxc4 20.Rad1 White will occupy the d-file as Black can't allow Rook exchange after which White will take c4 pawn (after Ne3). The lesser evil would be 17...Qb6, but after 18.a4! White has powerful initiative on queensidewhile Black will lack counter play. If Black will not attack c4 then white has time to prepare b4 with 17.a3 or 17.Rab1. Also 17.Nd5 (after 16...Rfd8 for example) seems to be good option - after 17....Bxd5 (17...Qxd2 18.Nxf6+ gxf6 18.Rxd2 with clear positional advantage for White) 18.Qxa5 Nxa5 19.exd5 White has positional advantage as Black will need some time to do something with knight on a5 - 19...b5 fails to 20.Rac1 bxc4 21.b4! Nb7 22.Ne3 with clear advantage.
16.cxb5 axb5 17.Bxb5
17.Nxb5? Nxe4

BLACK TO MOVE

17...Qa5
Typical method how to make pressure along the c-file in similar positions.
18.Rac1

I can't blame Dvoirys that he did not foresee Black manoeuvre in 19.-20. move, which made him to give back his extra pawn. 18.Bc4 (suggestion of Rybka) would allow White to hold a pawn, but after 18....Bxc4 19.bxc4 Rb8 20.Rab1 Qc5 Black has positional compensation for a pawn.

18....Na7 19.b4

BLACK TO MOVE

19...Qc7!
After immediate 19...Qb6? 20.Bd3 White holds a pawn and Black lacks compensation for it.
20.Ne3 Qb6!
...but now White can't hold extra pawn.
21.Bd3
21.a4 Nxb5 22.axb5 (22.Nxb5 Nxe4) Qd4 with 23...Nxe4 to follow.
21...Qxb4 22.Rc2 Nc6
Planning Nd4
23.Nb5 Qxd2 24.Rxd2 Rfd8 25.Rfd1

BLACK TO MOVE

25...d5

Another typical idea in similar positions - playing d6-d5 after removal of c4 pawn. After this move we can conclude that Black reached equal endgame. Usually in endgames flank pawns are stronger than central ones but not in this case as Black can make pressure on a-pawn before it becomes dangerous.
26.exd5 Nxd5 27.Nf5 Nbd4 28.Nfd6?!
This too ambitious move allows Black to win a-pawn. On the other side - White has good chances to reach draw as all pawns are in one flank. Anyway - better was 28.Be4 and after 28...Bxf5 29.Bxf5 Rxd2 30.Rxd2 Rb8 31.a4 maybe Black has slightly better but definitely nothing decisive.
28...Ra8 29.Bb1 Nxa2 30.Nc7 Nc3

WHITE TO MOVE

A critical position. White could draw after 31.Nxe6 fxe6 (31...Nxd1?! 32.Nxd8 Rxd8 33.Ba2) 32.Rc1 when black extra pawn is useless due to horrible pawn structure. Instead of that....

31.Nxa8? Nxd1 32.Rxd1 Nd4!

...White allowed his opponent to activate minor pieces which in combination with extra pawn was enough for win.
33.Nc7 Rxd6 34.Bd3 e4 35.Nxe6 Nxe6 36.Bc2 Nd4 37.Kf1 f5 38.g4 g6 39.h3 Kg7 40.Ba4 Kf6 41.Rc1 Ke5 42.Kg2 Ra6 43.Rc4 Ne2 44.gxf5 gxf5 45.Rc5+ Kd4 46.Bb5 Nf4+ 47.Kh2 Ra2 48.Rxf5 Rxf2+ 49.Kh1 Nxh3 50.Rxf2 Nxf2+ 51.Kg2 Nd3 White resigned 0-1

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Riga championship: Last (9th) round

2009-09-17T22:08:00.005+03:00

In opening I equalised without serious problems and managed to get even slightly better position. Unfortunately in my attempts to win by any means (only win could give me 3rd place) I made incorrect piece sacrifice which was refuted by my opponent (talented youngster) and my attempts to exploit his time trouble failed too. So this tournament turned as real FAIL for me - 5/9 (+3-2=4) is really bad result taking into account that tournament was not strong.

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Riga championship 2009: 8th round

2009-09-16T22:12:00.000+03:00

In 8th round my opponent was average Master Candidate. In opening I had serious advantage and my opponent made obviously incorrect exchange sacrifice to get some counter play. It did not help him - despite of some inaccuracies I won.

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Riga championship 2009: 7th round

2009-09-16T13:26:00.006+03:00

I played with strong Master Candidate who is the tournament leader and probably will win. I hoped for win and in one moment my position seemed to be slightly better, but I could get nothing more and position became drawish.

In deep chess medidation :)

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Riga championship 2009: 6th round

2009-09-14T21:13:00.005+03:00

In this round my opponent was young and unexperienced. After 24. moves his position became hopeless. Only thing I really hate - in 27th move I missed easy tactic (again!!!) which would allow me to finish him faster. It seems to me that in better positions I tend to be too relaxed.

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Real EPIC FAIL or Riga championship 2009: 2nd - 5th round

2009-09-13T20:30:00.007+03:00

To be honest I would not like to post about this tournament - quality of my games is simply horrible. Haven't played SO bad for a long time. But if I have started to do it....

In 2nd round my opponent was another veteran player. In 19th move I missed easy tactics which would allow me to finish him.

WHITE TO MOVE AND WIN

Also later I missed several chances to win and the game ended in draw.

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In 3rd round my opponent was current Riga champion - Renars Osis. Unfortunately due to mistakes in my notation I could not restore the game. My opponent played a little bit boring Queen pawn opening line (1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bf4) and the whole game was not too spectacular - early queen exchange and long manoeuvres - draw.
In 4th round I got some advantage and after opponents mistake in 26th move I missed another win.

WHITE TO MOVE AND WIN

After I missed my chance the game was a draw again.

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In 5th round I had my "best" achievement in this tournament so far. I equalized in opening then slowly outplayed my opponent (it was my good friend - FIDE Master Kristaps Krustkalns), and had a large advantage which I should have to convert into win, but..... My waste of tempo in 36th and 37th move allowed my opponent to get equality and horrible hallucination in 39th move gave up pawn and also later I missed some chances to resist. Really terrible loss.

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Riga championship 2009: 1st round

2009-09-12T08:38:00.006+03:00

Riga championship 2009 takes place between 11 and 17 September. 9 rounds, time control - 75 min + 15 seconds increasement per move. 24 participants including 1 FIDE Master, 1 National Master and 16 Master Candidates. I'm ranked as 3rd.
In the 1st round I played with obviously weaker opponent (old Master Candidate) and despite of inaccuracy in 23rd move (I had to play 23...Qf6! and if 24.Bxa8 then after 24...d3 White can resign) finished him quite easily.

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Standings after 1st round and pairings for 2nd round.

Mark Dvoretsky about "simple system" books

2009-09-06T18:07:00.010+03:00

Today I did read interesting article by world-renowned chess trainer and writer Mark Dvoretsky. Like other his articles and books it's "must read" literature for every 1900+ rated chess amateur who wants to improve his play. I would like to highlight his words about "simple system" books which authors claim about finding simple and universal systems (one of the best well known examples - Berliner's "The System").

"There are some chess works extant, whose authors propagandize their ideas as “simple systems,” guaranteed to give a player the key to solving any problems over the board. To the eyes of a specialist, such attempts are sacrilegious, even though they can “hoodwink” many an unskilled reader – such is the lure of a panacea that works on every problem."

The whole article:
(in English)
(in Russian)

Continuation of the article (in Russian - could not find in English).

Epic Fail

2009-09-03T19:24:00.005+03:00

A few minutes ago I totally failed in Chess Tactics Server - during 10 minutes I dropped my CTS rating from approx. 1750 up to 1667. It's really horrible result.

Hitting 2200 mark

2009-09-01T19:36:00.002+03:00

After latest update of ELO, my new ELO rating is 2206.

If you have a problem with your internet connection - don't play bullet

2009-08-27T16:00:00.005+03:00

Some minutes ago I had 2 bullet games in Playchess with one guy which handle is "Ryan Leslie". The 1st game was decided by time (in winning endgame position). Also in 2nd game my oponent was clearly outplayed and we reached the following position:

Ryan Leslie(2258)- Korch(2310)

WHITE TO MOVE

As we can see Black has obviously winning position. Also my opponent did not have advantage in time. In this position my opponent did not make his move for more than 20 seconds (time control was 1 min). I decided that my opponent is disconnected and claimed win on dissconnect. My claim was accepted. When I played my next bullet games (with other opponent) Ryan Leslie recconected and told me that I'm added in his ignore list. To be honest I misunderstand what have I done wrong or unsportsmanlike. Or did he think that I should have wait for a minutes (in bullet!) to await for his possible reconnect? Should I be responsible for his internet connection? I don't think so. So my suggestion for him and others like him) - don't play bullet if you have a problem with your internet connection.

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My blitz/bullet weapon

2009-08-26T02:21:00.012+03:00

A few minutes ago I had two 3 min games with Danish IM Erling Mortensen (Playchess handle - Barganax). In 1st game he managed to have a good position against my 2.c3 Sicilian and even got extra pawn. But later he allowed me to create counterplay in final position it was he who should have to force draw. In 2nd game I decided to use the Latvian gambit. 9-10 years ago this opening was my main weapon against 1.e4 also in serious time control, but today in serious OTB games I use it only sometimes and against much weaker opponents as surprise weapon. But in fast time controls I use it regulary - in blitz/bullet this opening is really dangerous weapon as unprepared opponents have many chances to fall in openings traps and even if they don't fall into them they spend more time than I do (very important in fast chess) and usually I'm more familiar with typical middle game positions which arises from this opening. But let's return on our game. In opening I equalised without serious problems and got some advantage in time. Later (after some mutual inaccuracies, typical for blitz) I managed to win a pawn and finally in lost endgame my opponent did run out of time.

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Ivanchuk wins FIDE Jermuk Grand Prix Tournament

2009-08-23T22:59:00.008+03:00

Vassily Ivanchuk won the 5th FIDE Grand Prix in Jermuk today by defeating Vladimir Akopian in last round while Leko (who had equal score before the last round) lost to Boris Gelfand. Well deserved victory I would say. I truly enjoyed his games, especially this one:

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Also I liked how Boris Gelfand won Peter Leko - in final standings he shared 2nd-3rd place with Levon Aronian.

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Funny chess stuff

2009-08-23T14:32:00.002+03:00

It can happen with everyone

2009-08-22T13:46:00.018+03:00

Reading last article of Chandler Cornered I've noticed interesting quote:

Malcolm Pein, the CHESS Editor had this
to say about Wang Xue's loss v Magnus Carlsen at Leon 2009.

The background: Wang Xue stepped into a known bad variation that
Anand had lost with in 16 moves v Ivanchuk in Leon 2008.
Obviously the game was unknown to Wang Xue, which in itself is incredible...

Malcolm writes;

"...it is for me a source of great disappointment that some top-flight
grandmasters rely so heavily on theory that, at the board, they seem
unable to find the best moves when cut adrift from the book."

I'm surprised about such a disappointment as it seems to me that in imagination of Malcolm Pein top-GM's are like chess engines unable to make human mistakes. It's obvious that in unknown (or forgotten) territory chances to mistake increases for everyone. Even the greatest chess players have been caught in opening due to lack of knowledge or because they forgot theory. Due to development of chess theory modern top-GM's don't have so many opening defeats like let say 30-40 years before, but also today it's possible to make effective opening surprise for everyone.

Here I can give examples from practice of probably the greatest chess player in history - Garry Kasparov. Despite of his opening erudition he had been caught in opening.

For example in this game he could resign after Ivanchuk's 15th move.

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Here is another Kasparov's opening disaster

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And let's take another great player - Fischer. In this game (taken from his match with Spassky in 1972) after 20 moves his position was lost.

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In this well known game Fischer got much worse position after mistake in 13th move and made decisive mistake in 17th.

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And in this one you should look at position after 11 moves. It's not easy to believe that World class GM can get such a bad position so early and playing White.

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It would take too much time and space to demonstrate "out of book" opening mistakes made by all top GM's but I think it's clear enough that they are humans too.

GM Shipov about bullet and blitz skills

2009-08-04T12:22:00.003+03:00

"Bullet addicts who spend a lot of time on it and polish their skills attain the best results. I won’t be original in naming the leader – it’s GM Nakamura. As to blitz – the best chess players in the world are the best in blitz too. With the only exception of those grandmasters who don’t like blitz. There are still some classical players of that type…
I recall playing blitz against GM Andrey Sokolov about 20 years ago, and was astonished at how slow and unsuccessfully he played. Not a blitz player at all. And in classical chess he was a member of the elite. But this is a rare case. Usually blitz skills correspond to general chess skills. From the current players the most notable are Anand, Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Radjabov, Morozevich, Grischuk, etc. Of course, not to mention Kasparov."

The whole interview on Natalia Pogonina web page.

Kramnik's triumph

2009-07-12T23:03:00.007+03:00

After his loss in match against Anand, Vladimir Kramnik seemed to have serious problems - his play and results were no more than average for world class player like him. But in Dortmund 2009 (which finished today) he took clear first place, a full point ahead of his nearest rivals - Leko, Carlsen and Jakovenko. And it's not only the result - also quality of his games was high and these games were spectacular. His win against Carlsen was the game I liked the best.

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Bullet, blitz and slower chess (Blackmar-Diemer miniature 2)

2009-07-11T13:15:00.007+03:00

Also yesterday was not my day in Playchess - I could not recover my slow rating, because of playing not so good as usually sometimes making simply horrible moves. Probably I need some rest from chess. But this morning I had another Blackmar-Diemer miniature. My play was not too perfect (I missed 13.Bg6! option), but my opponent played much worse making decisive mistake in 14th move (and some very bad moves afterwards). It's interesting to point out that my opponent has 2700+ rating in blitz and bullet, while his results in slow games are much much worse - before our game it was only 1942 and it's not because he did not play slow games so much.

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Blackmar-Diemer miniature

2009-07-10T13:58:00.008+03:00

Yesterday I was in horrible form - I dropped my Playchess slow games rating for about 150 points. So I tried to get something back today.Inspired by Tom's BDG Pages I used Blackmar-Diemer gambit in some of my today's games. Here is one of them. My opponent was not obliged to blunder in 18th move, of course, but also then his position would be hopeless.

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Pictures from Mezezers

2009-07-08T15:47:00.027+03:00

Railroad station of Plavinas where I had to arrive to get on the tournament.

In translation from Latvian Mezezers means "The Forest Lake". Here it is. :)

Alexei Shirov opening the tournament.

The first 6 tables played in spatial circumstances....

...while the rest participants were closer to nature. :)

Owner of Mezezers, organizer of the tournament, president of Latvian chess federation and participant of the tournament Ilmars Krums.

WGM Inguna Erneste.

IM Vitalijs Samolins vs. Matiss Mustaps in the last round. The winner would take the 1st place and Vitalijs was close to take it, but Matiss managed to escape - draw.

Me with my 2.c3 Sicilian in the last round. :)

WIM Ilze Berzina, Alexei Shirov and Ilmars Krums in closing ceremony.

The Chief Arbiter Liga Ungure (background) and the 3rd amongst women and the 1st woman in Latvia - WGM Laura Logule.

The 2nd amongst women - WIM Deimante Daulyte from Lithuania.

The 1st amongst women - WGM Oksana Vozovic from Ukraine.

The Best Senior - GM Janis Klovans.

The 3rd place - GM Normunds Miezis.

The 2nd place (and the 1st amongst Latvians) - IM Vitalijs Samolins.

The Winner - GM Daniil Lintchevski from Russia.Most of participants of the Latvian championship 2009.

Latvian open championship 2009

2009-07-08T14:26:00.007+03:00

Last week I played in Latvian open championship 2009 which took place from 29th June up to 5th July in Mezezers - a small resort 5 km near Plavinas (a small town 123 km from Riga). The tournament was stronger than usually - 48 participants (including 10 GM's, 5 IM's, 3 WGM's, 3WIM's, 3 FM's + some strong untitled players) from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia and Ukraine. It definitely was not my best tournament - some of my games were good, but some others - simply horrible.

In the 1st round my opponent was young Russian GM who took 1st place in this tournament. In opening I got small advantage which allowed me to get very comfortable position. My opponent did not risk to play for win and after 21. move offered draw which (after some doubts) was accepted.

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It seemed to be a good start, but in the 2nd round I was clearly outplayed by talented youngster (who also played draw with GM in 1st round).

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3rd round was real nightmare for me. Playing against obviously weaker opponent (without ELO and with much lower national rating) after opening I had winning position, but then missed some best moves and position became only better. Due to my attempts to play for win by any means I got into time trouble and made lost.

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In the 4th round I had one of the weakest opponents who managed to lose very fast.

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Also in the 5th round my opponent was not too strong as after 18. moves my position was winning. Unfortunately my next 2 moves made it my worst game in this tournament - in 19th move I missed my advantage (the funniest thing was that I saw the winning move 19.Bh2!, but considered that move in the game will be better) and in 20th move I made horrible blunder. I thought that it will be "the blunder of tournament", but I mistaked - in 8th round GM Mihail Rytshagov blundered whole Rook also in winning position.

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In the 6th round my opponent was not too strong - he was surprised by my opening and after 15 moves I had extra pawn which I converted into point.

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In the 7th round I played my best game in this tournament - my opponent was clearly outplayed in "Rook + 2 Knights" endgame.

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In the 8th round I played with WIM. After opening my position was better, then I played too ambitious and my position became worse, but then i was allowed to enter into much better endgame which I could win but I overestimated my position and missed my chances - draw.

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In the last round my opponent was strong FM (who won GM Evgeny Sveshnikov in 2nd round), but the party of the last night obviously affected his play and he played under his level - I had very easy win.

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In final standings with result of 5/9 I got 23rd place and rating prize for the best result in my rating group.

My new ELO

2009-07-06T02:25:00.003+03:00

After latest update of ELO my new ELO rating is 2179. Extra 15 points for Riga chess federation open championship. Baltija cup 2009 is not calculated yet.

When engine choice leads to loss

2009-06-27T14:05:00.007+03:00

To continue previous two posts - one thing is when engine only makes wrong evaluation, but what if engine chooses bad move in at least equal position?

Mario Campos Lopez - Petrosian
San Antonio, 1972

WHITE TO MOVE

Despite of having better development and space advantage it's not easy to find a plan for White how to exploit it as position is very closed and Black lacks weaknesses. But it was not obligatory to play pseydo-active 13.a5? and lose pawn after 13...c4! 14.Bf1 b5 15.Bd2 Nc6 16.Bh3 b4 17.Ne2 Nxa5. White resigned in 33rd move.
One can say "What did you expect from weak players like Mario Campos Lopez?". But..... 13.a5? was first choice of Fritz 10 and Rybka 3 - both of them evaluates position as slightly better for White (Fritz 10 +0.38, Rybka 3 +0.31) even after 10 minutes! So don't be too harsh on Petrosian's opponent.
Here you can see the whole game:

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Nobody is perfect 2

2009-06-27T01:10:00.008+03:00

Just a half an hour ago I finished one rapid (16 min) game in Playchess which finished in the following position:

Strecher(2082) - Korch(2113)
Playchess, 27.06.2009

WHITE TO MOVE

For qualified human eye it should be obvious that Black should win due to extra pawn and clear plan how to exploit it (moving a and b pawns) as White lacks any counter play. That was the reason why my opponent resigned. But engines don't understand such a closed positions (they can' t find the winning plan!) and my Rybka 3 evaluated this position as only slightly worse for Black (-0,31 after 10 min "thinking"). Just for interest I put this position on Fritz 10 and at the beginning it evaluated this position as slightly better for White (+0.43 !) and only after some minutes Fritz changed his mind and evaluated position as "only" equal (+0.13).
Here is the whole game:

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Nobody is perfect

2009-06-26T01:53:00.010+03:00

Modern chess engines are not so stupid as old ones - they have much better positional understanding, they are not so greedy and can sacrifice material for initiative, but..... they are not perfect (yet) as there are some kind of positions which even the best engine can't evaluate. One of such kind of positions is endgames in which one side can't find a plan how to make progress despite of serious material advantage which would be decisive in normal circumstances. I just analysed 5th game from Karpov-Korchnoi World Championship Match 1978 and here is the position after Black's 70th move:

Viktor Korchnoi - Anatoli Karpov
Baguio 1978, World Chess Championship match (5)

WHITE TO MOVE

After Korchnoi missed sure win due to time trouble Karpov managed to turn into endgame which transformed into diagram position. Despite of White having extra piece for a pawn this position is drawish, as White can't win pawns without allowing Black King to get on a8 if Black plays accurate. That endgame was analysed by Averbakh in his "Chess endings" (published in 1956). But my Rybka 3 evaluates this position as +5.08 which in human language means that White should win easily! Here you can see the whole game which is very interesting also before the endgame.

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Happy Birthday Boris Gelfand!

2009-06-24T23:00:00.003+03:00

He was the oldest participant of FIDE World Championship Tournament 2007 and many predicted him to be outsider. It was surprise when he tied for second place. He won 3rd ACP World Rapid Cup and currently he is one of the leaders of Bazna Tournament. He is Boris Gelfand who turned 41 today. He is known with his good opening preparation and his strong positional awareness which is the reason why do I like his play.

Boris Gelfand

Here you can see one of his last masterpieces - win over Rustam Kasimdzhanov on 4th FIDE Grand Prix.

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Pictures from "Baltija Cup" 2009

2009-06-20T18:49:00.034+03:00

Venue of the tournament - hotel "'Zilvinas"

1st round of MasterCup

Hotel "Vyturys" where some of participants (including myself) lived during the tournament.

Organizer of the tournament Jonas Sidrabas

FM Kristaps Krustkalns (Masters Cup). He was my roommate during the tournament.

IM Aidas Labuckas (Masters Cup)

Hotel "Žilvinas" is only 80 m from the sea.

Arvydas Baltrynas (A tournament) has organized many chess tournaments in Panevezys.

The oldest participant of Masters Cup - IM Kestutis Kaunas.

GM Vidmantas Malisauskas was close to win Masters Cup. But he had bad finish - 0.5/2

Uldis Melderis took 3rd place in A tournament.

The youngest participant of Masters Cup - Tomas Laurusas.

Lithuanian duck who refused to talk with me about chess. Probably it was because I played only in A tournament. :(

Lithuanian beer - he knows answers to all chess related questions :)FM Ilja Vovk from Estonia (Masters Cup) had very bad start - 0/3. But he did not give up - in next 6 games he had 4 wins and 2 loss.

This tournament was nightmare for Latvian National Master Aivars Stasans (Master Cup) - only 1/9.

Brigita Laurusaite - the best women in A tournament.

Arturs Bernotas - the best junior in A tournament.

It's me :)

Black coffee before 6th round.

Playing 6th round.

Vytautas Vaitonis was the best senior in A tournament. His uncle Paul Vaitonis played in 1952 Stockholm Interzonal Tournament.

The winner of Masters cup - FM Tvarijonas Povilas.

After 5 rounds Kestutis Vasylius was leader of A tournament (4.5/5). He finished with result of 4.5/7.

Happy winner of all blitz tournaments and 3rd place in Masters Cup - FM Vadims Daskevics from Latvia. :)

Happy winner of A tournament. :)

The cup of A tournament.

Can someone translate it? How can I know if they did not give me wrong cup? :)

"Baltija Cup" 2009

2009-06-20T18:11:00.009+03:00

This week I played tournament which took place in Palanga (Lithuania) from 15th up to 19th June. There were 4 tournaments - Masters cup (round robin tournament with IM norm), A tournament (ELO tournament, where could play everyone), B tournament (for cadets under 15), C tournament (for children under 10) and D tournaments (4 blitz tournaments). I played in A tournament where I had the highest ELO. Despite of playing very light-weighted, I took 1st place with 6,5/8 as my opponents played obviously worse.

In the 1st round having serious opening advantage I managed to make 2 stupid moves (12th and 13th) which made me to fight for draw which I reached without serious problems.

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In the 2nd round I played very light-weighted chess which I could afford as my opponent had the lowest ELO in the tournament. He could resign after 22nd move.

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Also in 3rd round my play did not become more serious - I made interesting (but a little bit doubtful) pawn sacrifice. Until 28th move my opponent defended not so bad, but then collapsed and in hopeless position blundered mate in one!

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In 4rd round I reached decisive advantage very fast but then played very careless and had to outplay my opponent again. Unfortunately oversight on 50th move allowed my opponent to draw.

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5th round was similar to previous one - careless play after having winning position, but this time I did not miss my second chance.

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6th round seems to be my best game in this tournament - my opponent was outplayed in endgame. In one moment I disliked my position but computer analysis shows that during the game I was too pessimistic.

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In 7th round both of us played far from perfect but my opponent played much worse and could resign after 20th move.

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Before the last round I was not in my best condition. I caught cold (in previous day there were rainy weather) + I ate something bad in breakfast - when I started the game I felt very unpleasant and offered my opponent draw after 8th move. My opponent decided to play for win and... was completely outplayed. Unfortunately my physical condition did not allow me to find the best way how to finish him in Rook endgame and in position where I could try to play for win I offered draw as I felt very tired and it became clear that draw was enough for clear 1st place.

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Here you can see the final standings of:
Masters cup
A tournament
B tournament
C tournament
D tournaments:
1st
2nd
3rd
4th

Interesting Chigorin Defence game

2009-06-06T17:49:00.008+03:00

About half an hour ago I had interesting game played in team match of All Nations Chess League (ANCL) in Playchess. My opponent was Abdel Razik Khaled - a very strong FM with ELO over 2400. Taking into account that I had Black I decided to take initiative by any means. I played risky Chigorin defense and my opponent seemed not to know the theory - he played some sideline (which also I didn't know so well) and got position with small plus due to Bishop pair against my Knight and Bishop. Following to my plan I offered him pawn sacrifice (which he accepted) and after some moves I sacrificed exchange as well. As result I had initiative and my opponent found nothing better than to force draw with threefold repetition.

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Shit happens

2009-06-03T19:29:00.007+03:00

Reading Chesspro`s review about Odessa ACP World Rapid I noticed the most horrible blunder made by top GM I have ever seen before - I could play such a moves only in bullet when I have last seconds or my opponent has last seconds (when my intention would be to surprise him and make him to spend more time). Famous "mate in 1 blunder" by Kramnik moves to 2nd place.

Boris Gelfand (2733) - Vugar Gashimov (2730)BLACK TO MOVE

Both players played this game very creative and now Black could force perpetual check with 39...g5+ 40.Kg4 Qf3+ 41.Kh3 Qf1+ which would be a fair result of this interesting game. Instead of that Black played 39...Qf6+??? and resigned after 40.Rxf6. Shit happens. That's all I can say.

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Update.

As Aziridine has pointed out - there is another Top GM game decided by blunder which was just as bad.

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Another bullet episode with Queen sacrifice

2009-05-30T18:08:00.010+03:00

After my "complaint" in previous post, Mr.Bullet decided to award me with compensation for my morale damage and I had some good bullet games. And I decided to be thankful and post another bullet episode from Playchess to show that bullet is not so bad :)

Asabr33(2201) - Korch (2345)

BLACK TO MOVE

In any "longer" (even in blitz) game I would consider (and probably also would play) 15...Qc8 which is very solid move and gives very playable position. Instead of that I played move which I planned (if it's possible to plan during few seconds) when with my previous move (14... Qc7-c6) I provoked White to play 15.Nf3-h4.

15...Nxh4!?

Black sacrifices Queen for two minor pieces which should give them at least some compensation due to more active pieces and weaknesses in White king side.

16.Bxc6 Bxc6 17.gxh4

That was the move I expected for. Rybka suggests 17.Re3! Ng2 18.Qd4! giving back material but I don't see problems for Black after 18...Nxe3 19.Qxe3 Rae8.

17...Rxf4

WHITE TO MOVE

Black has obvious compensation for material. In the game White played 18.Qd6? and lost quickly (readers may find out themselves how Black had to respond on this - I did not play it , but my opponent made another mistake after which he should have to resign), but also after 18.Re3 (recommendation of Rybka) Raf8 19.Qe2 Qxh4 Black has no reason to complain as White lacks constructive ideas how to exploit their material advantage.

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One reason to dislike bullet

2009-05-29T18:57:00.006+03:00

A some time ago I posted why do I like to play bullet. It should be pointed out that sometimes bullet may upset you as well. One of these reason may be mouse slips when you make the move you did not want to make. A half an hour ago in Playchess I had one of the most unpleasant mouse slips I ever had.

Korch (2239) - Wen_Wu (2283)

WHITE TO MOVE

As you can see my position was easy to win. Also I had a few a seconds more than my opponent (so I had no reason to afraid of timeout) . I wanted to play 50.Ra5+ with 51.Kd4 to follow. Instead of that my mouse "played" 50.Ra6?? which was only (!!) move leading to stalemate.

Riga chess federation open championship: Last two (6th and 7th) rounds

2009-05-17T23:08:00.011+03:00

In 6th round my opponent was IM Ilmars Starostitis. In opening my opponent played very aggressive, but I tried to play as possible safe as I knew that Ilmars has aggressive and attacking style. That was the reason why I tried to avoid complications, rejected his pawn sacrifice, exchanged Queens and got equal endgame in which I managed to win a pawn but realisation was problematic due to opponent`s Bishop pair. I decided not to risk and forced draw, as I was close to time trouble (7 minutes left against opponent`s 1 hour). Here is the game:

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In the last round my opponent was decent Master candidate (he won GM Evgeny Sveshnikov in Latvian Team championship 2009). Both of us were interested to play for win as it would give a good chances to get in top 4 (with money prizes). That was really nervous game.... In opening my opponent won a pawn but I had some compensation due to pressure on center and king side. But after opponent`s blunder in 17th move he had to give up piece for 2 pawns so I had piece for 3 pawns. I managed to outplay my opponent and got winning position, but.... took the wrong pawn in 32nd move (I had to play 32...Nxc3) as I missed 33.a5! after which endgame became drawn. My attempts to win by any means lead to position in which I had to play precise to escape from loss. And the game ended in draw. Here is the game:

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In final standings I took 5th place and prize for the best result in my rating group. Here are final standings and pictures of top 3.

The Winner - Vitalijs Samolins (5,5/7)

2nd place - Kestutis Labeckas (5/7)

3rd place - IM Ilmars Starostits (5/7)

Riga chess federation open championship: 4th and 5th round

2009-05-16T23:25:00.003+03:00

There were two rounds played today. I won both of my games. In first one I got serious advantage from opening - queens were exchanged very fast and I had much better endgame which was not easy to defend as Black lacked real counter play. My opponent played far from perfect and in his desperate attempts to get some counter play lost a piece after which he could resign instead of making extra 19 moves.
Also in next round there was early Queen exchange and in equal endgame I managed to outplay my younger (born in 1995) opponent.
Here are the games:

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Here you can see standings after 5th round and pairings for 6th round. I will have to play with one of the leaders - IM Ilmars Starostits.

Riga chess federation open championship: 3rd round

2009-05-15T22:37:00.008+03:00

Today I played so far my worst game of this year. My opponent was 2300+ rated player from Lithuania. After first 13 moves my position was better (due to opening preparation), but then.... after 23 moves my position was hopeless. In few words - I` played horrible. Here is the game:

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Here you can see standings after 3rd round and pairings for 4th round.

Riga chess federation open championship: 2nd round

2009-05-14T23:13:00.006+03:00

In 2nd round I had to play with old FM which best days clearly were in past. But also today he is able to bite. I had good score against him and as I had White, I hoped for win. I`m too tired for going into deep details, but in few words - due to careless play (20.h4?) I had to fight for draw. Both of us played far from perfect (my defence was not perfect, but also he did not exploit a few opportunities to finish me) which ended in draw after 98(!) moves. Last 30 moves was obvious waste of time and I feel very tired. Here is the game:

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Here you can see standings after 2nd round and pairings for 3rd round.

Riga chess federation open championship: 1st round

2009-05-13T22:56:00.003+03:00

Riga chess federation is chess club in Riga, started a more than 1 year ago by three chess enthusiasts, who wanted to refresh chess life in Latvia - FM Vadims Daskevics, International Arbiter Alberts Cimins and Dmitrijs Jefremovs. Riga chess federation 1st open championship takes place between 13 and 16 May. 7 rounds, time control - 90 min + 30 seconds increasement per move. 28 participants including IM Ilmars Starostits - the winner of Latvian championship in 2001 and Vitalijs Samolins - 2400+ rated player, participant of Latvian championship finals and he have played for Latvia in last Chess olympiad (readers of my blog may remember that we played for one team in Latvian Team Championship 2009). These guys are obvious favorites.

I`m ranked as 10th and in 1st round I had to play with weak Master candidate - In 19th move he blundered a pawn but due to opposite-colored bishops I had to work hard for win. Here is the game:

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Here you can see standings after 1st round and pairings for 2nd round.

Kasparov about Anand, today`s chess players and computers

2009-05-07T12:13:00.011+03:00

Some time ago I found interesting Kasparov interview in which he states some interesting points. Some quotes:

“Vishy is a brilliant player. But it is very difficult to compete at 40. He is up against people half his age. I will be surprised if he can go on any longer. He can fight against anyone but time.”

“About 50 years ago, the average age of a chess player was about 35 years. Nowadays, 14- year- olds are becoming Grandmasters. This is due to ( the advent of) computers and sophisticated softwares.”

“Nowadays, a 13- year- old would probably know more than Bobby Fischer knew when he retired. They analyse all the moves and prepare themselves on their computers. But that doesn’t mean they are special.”

“We had a feel for the game. Whenever I saw a position, I relied on the power of evaluation and understanding as to what would be a good move. But the motto of today’s player is — show me the move. I can’t explain it to them but sometimes, it’s just your sense which says what is a good or a bad move.”

Latvian Team Championship 2009. The last day pictures

2009-05-03T18:20:00.015+03:00

2nd board of "Daugavpils LB" - GM Yuzefs Petkevichs

4th board of "Ventspils" - Janis Isakovs

Renars Osis had a good luck in playing for his team "Kuldīga" - 3,5/4

In 6th round Dana Reizniece was able to hold draw against Evgeny Sveshnikov

Andrejs Dzalbo. 1st board of "Ziemeļblāzma" and hero of the last round - he punished Evgeny Sveshnikov for playing for win by any means.

The winners having collective photo after last round (Evgeny Sveshnikov did not wait for award ceremony).

RTU - 3rd place

"Daugavpils LB" - 2nd place

The Winners - EST Chess Team (without Evgeny Sveshnikov)

Each team member was awarded with such a medal

Diplom for The Winners!

Latvian Team Championship 2009. Happy end.

2009-05-03T18:04:00.007+03:00

In 6th round our team played with "Ventspils". My opponent was decent Master candidate. In opening i got serious advantage and my opponent had to spend a lot of time as he had problems to find a good plan. unfortunately after 1-2 careless moves my opponent equalized and and then I decided to exploit his time trouble and made very dubious (to say nothing more) exchange sacrifice to make some complications. My opponent defended far from perfect and I got serious compensation, but.... also I got into time trouble and after some blitz adventures (in which both us us missed some winning chances) game ended as draw. Here is the game (notation is incomplete):

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Our team won with 3:2.
Before the last round our team had 3 points lead over nearest followers - "Daugavpils LB" and we needed only 2,5 points to secure 1st place. Our last opponents were one of the weakest teams (as we have been played with all strongest ones)- "Ziemeļblāzma". My opponent played very weak and blundered piece in 17th move.

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Our team won with 4:1 and in final standings we were 1st - 2 points more than 2nd place - "Daugavpils LB". RTU took 3rd place.