HOW TO SPOIL A POSITION

I have just spoiled a good solid position by playing well i don't know what to call it.
Chess blindness or just not paying attention.
You decide.
I am white in this position.




Black plays 1..........Bc3 attacking my b4 knight. So instead of moving the knight to c2,i play 2.Ke2!!!!!!!! goodbye knight.

Was this position drawish before my bad move?

WHAT MOVE NOT TO PLAY

I have played some bad moves in my time,but i think this is the worst.



I am black in this game,doing nicely,a piece up for 2 pawns.
King in the open,but i have to protect my queen side pawns.

I am not sure what happened but i played Re8!!!
White can take the rook as my knight is pinned.

Is this chess blindness or very careless play,or both?

ANOTHER GAME USING KIA

I played another game as white trying the kings indian attack.
The time control was 20 minutes each for the whole game.
I think i was lucky in this game.


(show chess board)(hide chess board)

I still am not sure about this opening.

A KIA GAME PLAYED YESTERDAY

I played this game as white yesterday, the time control was 20 minutes each for the whole game.
In this game i tried out the kings indian attack as white.
It seems this opening can be played as white almost against anything black plays,well with in reason.

In the end it came down to a game of chicken with the clock.
When the draw was agreed, we both had only seconds left on the clock.

Not sure if i like this opening, i might slip back to my old safe ways with this,but well see.

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

AN ONLINE GAME

This is an online game i played at gameknot.com.
I am white in this game and swopped a rook for 2 bishops.
This is me not playing safe moves all the time,also not playing very well,but not playing safe.

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

Once 24.Ne7+ was played it was goodbye rooks for black.

BOOK REVIEW 4

I have just finished struggling through Grandmaster Kotov's book "Think like a grandmaster" published by Batsford in the early 1970's.
Kotov covers all the standard things the centre open and closed,planning,positional judgement,pawn structures and many other topics.
This is the book that wants you to think your next set of moves using the tree analysis method.
With branches for sub variations branching out from the main trunk of moves.
The book has some typos but i found the book wanting,it did not infuse me as Stean's book did(see book review 2).

This book for me does not go into enough depth in some chapters and to much in others.
On the chapter about endings, we pick up a game from move 22 it shows how one side gets an advantage, then on move 54 it stops with "and white forced a win on move 86".
But does not show you how this happened.
The chapter on opening study is very general only 6 pages long.

On the other hand in the chapter "The tree of analysis" to many variations are given making it at times difficult to follow.Muddying what could be clearer waters.

The examples used are taken mainly from either Soviet championships or the Candidates 1953 tournament in Zurich.
In fact so great is the number of positions and part games used by Kotov from the 1953 Candidates, i bought the Dover book written by Bronstein on the 1953 Zurich tournament.

Perhaps this book is above me,i dont know, but i could follow the instructions in the book.
The test is if i can remember to use what is in this book when i play.

This book is classed as a classic by many people but it did not do it for me.

PLAYED AT THE WEEKEND

This game was a friendly game not a tournament or match game.
I played the French as Black against a player called Dave.
The time control was 10 minutes each for the whole game.

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

I ran the game through fritz and got pages of anaylsis,no way would i have found, let alone thought of most of the the fritz stuff.

But hey, comments please.

BOOK REVIEW 3

I have just read Chess Bitch by Jennifer Shahade published by Siles press.

This is a story of women in chess from Vera Menchik pre ww2 to the mid 2000's.

This book shows how the barriers are slowly coming down in this male dominanted sport.
Women are trying to gain equal terms,while being side stepped into seperate womens tournaments and championships.

Shahade argues the pros and cons of seperate World championships for men and women by using interviews with top women players.
She investigates the women’s chess dynasties in Georgia and China and interviews the famous Polgar sisters, who refused to play in separate women’s tournaments.(execpt susan who did become women world champion)
Thier is also an interview with transgendered Texan Angela Alston.

While touring around the world playing in tournaments Shahade gives an insight into chess not seen before.
Shahade paints a colorful world that most chess fans never knew existed,showing that girls certainly chess girls do like to have fun.

The book gives both sides of the arguement of how women are seen in chess.
The feminist side who are chess players that happen to be women,and not so feminist the glamorous grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk the current womens world champion.Who openly uses her sexuality to promote her self.
Just look at some pictures on her website.

This book gives the reader much material and many questions to work on,like why are women under represented in big numbers in chess?
Questions like why are womens international and grandmaster titles lower rated and easier to gain than a mans title?

Judit Polgar is the first women to play and beat the top male players at chess on a regular basis. Where are the rest?
Why should men be dominant in chess,where no physical strength or speed are needed,yet men rule in the world of chess.

I enjoyed this book very much,it can also be a good read to non chess playing readers.

For my own 50cents worth i see children feed into chess at a young age,through my school chess club and junior tournaments.For every 3 boys their is 1 girl entering chess,then as they go up through the age tournaments their are less and less girls.

I think it comes down first to a numbers game,like in the old days the more Russian grandmasters in the top 20 the more likly a Russian world champion.
First Susan Polgar then Judit Polgar drew more women into chess through there fame(as Paula Radcliff did in marathon running),and some of them become very strong players,as the next generation of women chess players will also need to draw more women into the sport.So the numbers grow.But this takes time.

Secondly i think girls dont see spending hour upon hour on chess as important.
But good roll models would help to change that.

BOOK REVIEW 2

I have just finished a really good book no make that an excellent book.
Simple chess by GM Michael Stean.
The copy i have is published by Faber & Faber about 1982is,using descriptive notation so back to the days of P-QB4.

The only fault i have with the book is the title "Simple chess" it can be misleading,the book is in fact about chess strategy.
A subject that GM Stean makes very readable and easy to follow.

The book's 6 chapters cover the main points of strategy outposts,weak pawns,open files,half open files the minority attack,black squares and white squares and finally space.

Each of the chapters uses good examples and is clearly written.
In the chapter on half open files their is a discussion on the pawn structure of the sicilian defence.

The Ruy lopez main line is discussed in the chapter on space.

What makes this a great book to me is not only the clear writing combined with excellent games and positions,but Steans own touches throughout the book.

On page 47
"black is left with hanging pieces,an undesirable alternative to hanging pawns"

on page 71 my favourite
"all the white pieces are amusingly trapped,like a bicycle wheel in a tramline,only able to go backwards and forwards"

on page 77
many people reason "if i put my pawns on the same coloured squares as my bishop i can defend them there". If you commit hara-kiri instead,you won't have to defend them at all. The two solutions are roughly equivalent,give or take the problem of cleaning the blood off the board.

This is an excellent book for players who want a no-nonsense clear introduction to chess strategy i recommend this enjoyable book.

I end this review with a line from the book that perhaps sums up chess "simple chess always requires flexibility of thought".

KILLER MOVES PART 3

Killer move part 3 is from Judit Polgar the princess of chess.
The game was played during the 1988 womens Olympiad in Thessaloniki aginst
P.Angelova in some books it is Chilingirova.
Judit was 12 at the time and during the same tournament she beat Xie Jun
who 3 years later went on to win the world Championship.

The killer move is 17.Qxf8+

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17......Kxf8 18.Bh6+ Kg8 19.Re8# wonderfull and only 12.