FISCHER BOOK REVIEW PLUS HAPPY NEW YEAR

First a happy new year to all chess bloggers.



I have just finished reading a very good chess history book.
The unknown Bobby Fischer by IM's John Donaldsona and Eric Tangborn.
This book covers the early years of Fischer with snipits of information
from players/people who where Fischer friends at that time.
The book moves on to his 1964 Transcontinental tour giving reports and games from his displays.
The book is littered with photos of Bobby and other chess players.
Fischers displays in europe during the 1970's are covered included his last recorded game against
WIM Kathy Forbes who was covering the Fischer V Spassky 1992 return match for CHESS magazine.
The book finishes with some letters he wrote and a story about him in an Argentina chess book store.
Plus a list of books about Bobby and a list of works by Bobby himself.
Reading this book i felt it added to what i think i already know about Bobby Fischer,
it gives a side of a great player not normally seen.

The book is full of quicky games,but i give just 1 from a display in Columbus Ohio
may 18th.His results for this display were +48,=2.-0.

Fischer. v W.Kaufer + 2 consultants.

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PHOTOS OF ME AT THE LONDON CHESS CLASSIC

First i would like to wish every one a Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Recently i spent 2 days at the London chess classic tournament,watching the superstars and catching up with a few chess friends as well.
I was their for the first days play,and what a game Luke Mcshane had in beating Magnus Carlsen.
I was lucky to get a few words with Luke after the game,he was very down to earth, which is amazing as he just beat the highest rated player he had ever played.
I also got to talk to Micky Adams and Vladimir Kramnik(i have the photos to prove it).
Micky is a very nice person,and is willing to spend a bit of time talking chess to lower type players.

I also met Viktor Korchnoi who is a legend in chess but very grumpy when he is finished talking to you.





I had a great time watching the GM's and also some of the games in other tournaments.
Link to the London chess classic website click here

Cant wait for next year.

ONE MOVE CHANGED THE GAME

In chess 1 quickly played move can change the whole game.
In this game i am white and the time contol is 20 minutes each.
During the game i did not play well at all,i could not get my thinking
head going.
Then 1 very quickly played move by my opponent Mike changed the game.
His quickly played move was 31....Nf5,when he played this move he still had about 12 minutes on his clock,so being short of time was not the reason.
After the game Mike said he was thinking i would play 31.Qe2 then double my rooks on the h file.
So when i played 31.Qb1+ it sort of took him by surprise a little,and he just moved without thinking. Then it was an up hill struggle as he only has a pawn for the knight.
His passed pawn is not a threat at all.

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DUMBEST MOVE YOU EVER PLAYED?

I am asking my fellow bloggers to post their dumbest move.
This has been prompted by the dumbest move i have ever played.
It was only a 5 minute game,but when i played it we both just could not take our eyes off the board in amazement.

I am playing white in this game with just less than a minute on the clock.
I reached out and picked up the pawn and moved it to f8 and swopped it for a queen!!!
Then it hit me,what a dumb move.



Yes i know it's stalemate,it is awful i was so shocked i did not press my clock button and my flag feel.

If you have a "your dumbest move" please post it.

WOULD I HAVE WON ON THE BOARD part 2

The game in the prevous post was won by me on time,but i was not sure if it could have been won on the board.
This is the position i saw in my minds eye as being the final drawn position.
White's bishop never leaving the a2-g8 diagonal.




Most of you agreed it would have been a draw,but Tommyg came up with some good moves that would have given me a win.
This is Tommyg's position where his moves leaves me with 2 pawns.

52... a3 53. Ba2 Na4 54. c4 Nc5 55. Ke3 Nxe4565. c5 Nxc5 57. Kd2 g5 58. Kc2 Kd4
59. Kd2 g4 60. Bf7 Ke5 61. Ke2 Ne6 62. Be8 a2 and now White can't stop both pawns...



I must be honest i would never have made these moves,but Tommyg has shown what potential is in almost any position,even drawish looking ones.

WOULD I HAVE WON ON THE BOARD

I played this game a few days ago and won on time.
It was a quick game 30 minutes each to a finish.
I had black and i think i played ok to a point.
But when it got down to my knight against his (i thought more active) bishop i did not think i could queen my a pawn.
But his time ran out,after the game Ronnie was certain i had a win,but i am not sure.

Could i have won on the board if we had more time?

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My plan if the game went on was to get his c and e pawns and get a draw.
Yes i know it's scaredy cat play but i could not think of much else.

RUSSIANS V FISCHER BOOK REVIEW

I have just finished the book Russians versus Fischer,it has taken me a while to finish due to non chess reasons.
The book is published by Everyman chess in hardback,it is 462 pages long and has many photos.
The authors are D. Plisetsky and S. Voronkov.
The book gives all Fischers games against Russian players, some in detail spanning several pages, others just the game with minimal notes.
Throughout the book interviews are added from leading Russian players and Russian chess federation people about how to stop Fischer.
In one of these writen in 1975 by I. Bondarevsky a former trainer to the ill Boris Spassky (get well soon Boris),It says "The American often wins material without fully evaluating the consequences. He is not properly aware of his kings safety."
What is all that about,Fischer not aware of his king safety,my eyes nearly poped out when i read that.
The one thing that stands out for me in the book,is the Russians lack of understanding that Fischer was a fantastic player.Who was totaly dedicated to chess,first and last.
No other interests just chess,chess and more chess.
Playing over the games ,which are set out by tournament and or match,is a pleasure.
It has once again connected me to the great Fischer play.
I like this book not only for the great games,but for the lack of understanding the Russians had about Fischer for years,until it was to late.
Also this book only cost £10 from the London chess and bridge centre.

BACK FROM VALENCIA

Hi chess friends just got back from Valencia,what a beautiful city.
It has old sections that have Roman and Moors influences,almost side by side with bang up-to-date buildings.
I saw the site where Kasparov and Karpov played their 25th anniversary of their first World Championship,match last year.Thats the photo above.
I also stood in what is the pits for the Valencian F1 Grand Prix,it is an old dock building now only used for the race.
Chess colums are in every newspaper outtheir,chess is an accepted game/sport in Valencia,as it is in Spain generally.
Chess is wide spread for children in after school clubs.
I was on the metro reading a chess book,and the person sitting next to me leaned in and started to read the book pointed the the diagram and suggusted a move.
Here in England people would look at this and think nerd,but in Spain chess is held in a higher regard than most places i guess.

GOING ON HOLIDAY TO VALENCIA

Hi chess friends i know i have only just come back to bloggland,but i am going on holiday to Valencia Spain for a week,to catch some sun.
We have not had much sun in England this summer,so i feel the need to bronze up a little.
Spain hosts many fine tournaments,perhaps the European home of chess at the moment?
Will post some photos when i come back.

HI BLOGGERS

Hi bloggers just a post to let you all know i have not disappeared into non blog world.!!!!
My work life has been mega-hectic over the last 12 weeks or so,so i have not had much(or any really) time to post on this blog or my friends.
But it looks like i should be back to normal come early september.
I hope you are all keeping well and enjoying your chess, i am looking forward to catching up with all your news.
Post soon,very soon.

A DRAWN GAME

I have just finished playing this game,and i am not sure if i am lucky to draw or un lucky to draw the game.
I am playing black and the time control is 20 minutes each.

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This game for me and my opponent changed with one bad move.
The knight fork for me against him,and the bad rook move by me against,well me.

It ended with a draw by repetition.
Was i lucky to have drawn after such a bad move, or unlucky to have drawn after going a queen for knight up.or

1 MOVE CHANGES THE GAME

I am black in this game the time limit was 20 minutes each.
It took me 20 moves to get out of my half of the board.
One move changes the game,24...Qd4+ wins a piece.

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Once i was a piece up my plan all-be-it a simple plan,was to swop queens and rooks,then let my extra piece be a pain on either side of the board.
Then queen a pawn,i said it was simple!!!!!

Also i have been away on holiday to north Norfolk,and with the couple of weeks before being hectic at work i have not been active in blogland.

A DRAWN GAME

This is a game only played yesterday,i am playing the black side of a queens gambit.
The time control was the normal 20 minutes each for the game.
I think a draw was a fair result,but you guys will tell me otherwise.

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The queens gambit and the frence defence both have black playing d5 and e6,as i now play both i should feel comfortable with this shared pawn formation.
But time will tell!!!!

ANOTHER GAME FROM MY CHESS DEN

This is a game i played a few days ago in my chess den.
I am white and play a kind of king's indian attack formation.
The game was heading for a stand still when i broke through on the king's side.
I had a big advantage in space as my pawns where far up the board,not sure if that's a good thing or not to try in many games.
Even without his queen loss my passed pawns should have been enough to decide the game.

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Black had a cramped position and his pieces had trouble finding good squares, during the game i kept thinking thats how i normally play.

My dark squared bishop moves to e3 then back to c1 and stays their,just watching!!!

RECENT GAME FROM THE CHESS DEN

This is one of my recent games i played in my chess den.
I am white in this game,my opponenet played very quickly,he only used about 3 or 4 of the 20 minutes we each had.

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Bxh7+ was just calling out to me,for a couple of minutes i played like Tal!!!!

MY CHESS DEN

I have very nearly finished decorating a room that has become my chess den.
In this chess den i can store all my chess books,and have a table set up just to play chess on.
No need to keep putting things away and then getting it all out again.
My little bit of chess heaven.

VASILY SMYSLOV RIP

Vasily Smyslov the 7th World Chess Champion died on Saturday of heart failure at the age of 89.
I was very lucky to met Smyslov at the Fox Trot tournament in London during 1996.
The tournament was held at the Hilton hotel.
In the tournament Smyslov,Spassky,Hort,Portisch and Taimanov,played against top women players.
Cramling,Ioseliani,Arakhamia,Xie and Sofia Polgar.
On the day i attended the tournament Portisch was to play Polgar,their was a lighting fault and play was suspended for an hour or 2.
Young miss polgar went shopping,moments later the lighting fault was fixed so play started.
Sofia Polgar was traced and play went on as normal.
I got Smyslov to autograph my Dover book of his games, he was very patient with the spectators who wanted photos and autographs.
With his passing chess has lost a true chess great and a gentleman on and off the board.

I give one of his in my opinion best games.
It is often use to show the importance of a knight outpost,but i find this delightfull little game great.

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BEST CHESS TRAINING SOFTWARE

In my School chess club i use CT-art 3.0 and Chess tactics for beginners,both from Convekta now chess ok.
The students work through the puzzles in the programs and are graded/rated at the end.
I find these old programs very good for children to use.
CT-art has now gone to version 4,using the Peshka interface.
As an added bonus to these i also use Fritz 11 to go over some of the childrens games,to get some top level notes.
I am thinking of adding more software from the Convekta/chess ok family,i think they are good value software.
Some may say basic and with faults,but good value.
These programs are installed on computers in the School,and the children can use them when they want to.
The familiarity across the range of these older softwae titles is good for the children.
They are not having to learn new systems for each program.

CAN YOU GUESS THE PLAYER WITH THE WHITE PIECES ?

I came across this game and could not believe the player who has the white pieces.

It is an opening totally out of his norm.

White for a while only moves pieces within the first 3 ranks no attack,once again unlike this player.

Play over the game and see if you can name this famous player.

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MY MOST ATTACKING GAME

I have just finished playing my most attacking game for a long while.
I am playing the black side of a french defence.
During this game i felt very aggressive and i played moves i would normally look at but not play.

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SOME FRANK MARSHALL SITES

Some of you may know that i like Frank Marshall.
His games are interesting to play over,if not bang up to date opening wise.
His go for the throat method of play did not always bring him the results he wanted,but he played good chess.
While looking through the internet i came across these Marshall sites.

The first site
http://www.angelfire.com/games4/lifemasteraj/_Marshall/marshall-list.html
Gives a bio of Marshall with his best games.

The second site
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~goeller/marshall/bibliography/index.html
Gives his tournament record and every known Marshall game in a pgn file.

The third site

http://www.chessforums.org/chess-software-recommended-websites/5004-frank-j-marshall.html
Gives more information on Marshall,with some games.

Marshall would be a player that many people would say was a strong player,even for his day.
But according to Sonas(First site), his peak rating was 2706 at the end of 1917, making him # 4 in the world!! Not too bad.
Sonas says Marshall's FIVE-YEAR PEAK was 2685.

A GAME BY PETROSIAN THE MASTER OF MANOEUVRING

I am going through the games in the Batsford book Petrosian Vs the Elite.
I came across this delightful game played in 1970.
Petrosian is black in a French defence Winawer.

In this game Petrosian seemed to be in control all the time,he made 13 knight moves out of the games 48 moves.
The knights controled the game until his pawns become to strong.

I really enjoy playing over Petrosian's games,they are not boring as many players think.But full of control and precise play.


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THIS IS MORE LIKE ME

This game is more like the way i play,safe, boring,dull.
I was white in this KIA game,and never really took the battle to my opponent.
It almost seemed i played this game like Petrosian,waiting for my opponent to make a mistake.
I played around and within my pawn wall,never breaking the chain till i had to.
My passed pawns would have been impossible to stop,as he was going to be a rook down.

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ANOTHER SCANDINAVIAN ICELANDIC GAMBIT

I played another game with the Scandinavian icelandic gambit,but on the white side in a 20 minutes a side game.

This opening was discussed by me and my opponent after the last game.

Although the result was good for me i still dont feel happy about being this adventurous.I will go back to my French defence as black and kia as white.
Safe in dullness.

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Perhaps this is a new me!!!!

IF I HAD MORE TIME

I played this game a few days ago, i played as black with an opening i would not normally play.
It was 20 minutes each, when we got down to the final position i had just over a minute on my clock,my opponent had over 6 minutes.

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I was thinking of playing 25...Bxa2 26 Ra1 Bc4+ 27 K move a5 and start the pawn rush.
But with so little time i played 25...Kf8 and offered a draw which he took it.
I think i should have won with more time.

The opening was a Scandiavian Icelandic gambit i saw in another game.
I thought that is so not me,my opponent would never think i would play this.
But it back fired on me i spent to much time working out what to do, i did not have the time to try to win!!!!!