Arctic Securities Chess Stars 2010_Day 2

I forgot to mention that Magnus Carlsen is presently the World No 1 playeras well as the top player and junior player in Norway. At the press conference, when asked about Jon Ludvig Hammer, Magnus quipped that it has been 10 years since Jon Ludvig defeated him. Well, the second puzzle in yesterday's blog was from Hammer-Carlsen game in the position, Carlsen blundered with 39 Rd2(??). However, Jon Ludvig did not see it (in the video, he explained he was down to a minute and he had prepared taking on the d2-square and played 39...Rhxd2 on auto, not realising there is big differnece between 39 bd2 and 39 Rd2) and missed playing 39...Rc1 when he would have won a rook and a bishop. Can you see how? In any event, Mark Crowther (TWIC) gives "39. Rxe8+ Kf7 40. Rd2 Rcxd2 41. Bxd2 Kxe8 42. Bc3 is drawish".

But seemingly trying to prove that Christmas does come round twice in two days, in Day 2, Magnus Carlsen again blundered in his game with Jon. Is he trying to lose so as to relieve the pressure of maintaining the 10-year undefeated record?

Magnus played 45...Qd4??. How do you punish his blunder?



You can read Day 2 report and replay the games from TWIC and Chessbase. It seems Hammer-Anand game is riddled with missed opportunities. Have a look also at Anand-Polgar which Vishy said afterwards (in the video, see below) he copied the opening from Magnus' game with Judit but Vishy deviated on move 8. It is a Sicilian Defence Classical Variation.

Here are the videos from Day 2 courtesy of Europe-Echecs:

Arctic Securities Chess Stars 2010

This is a really great idea especially when you have a willing sponsor: the best Norwegian juniors in a rapid match against the World Champion and the world' best woman player. Put that together with the sponsor, Arctic Securities, and you have the all new Arctic Securities Chess Stars 2010.

The Arctic Securities Chess Stars tournament takes place in Kristiansund, Norway from the 28th-30th August 2010. Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Judit Polgar and Jon Ludvig Hammer play in a two stage event. Double Round Robin between the four players followed by finals and 3rd-4th placed playoff on the Monday. 20 minutes + 10 seconds a move.

Three rounds on Saturday and three on Sunday in the Preliminary all-play-all stages.

Here is the video of the opening ceremony courtesy of Europe-Echecs:



On Day 1, both Anand and Magnus defeated both Jon Ludvig and Judit and drew each other. They are now tied on 2.5 points each. Read TWIC's report and replay the games here.

But first test yourself with these puzzles (and guess whose games they are taken from (you will be surprised!)):



White just played 50 Kb7. What should you as Black to draw?



Black just made the move 38...Rh2 creating a mate-in-one threat. Do you see it? How would you defend?

Here is a video after Day 1 (courtesy of Europe-Echecs):

Miskolc 2010: Peter Leko vs Boris Gelfand in Miskolc, Hungary

From Chessbase:

This Rapid Chess event is taking place in the National Theater, 1 Déryné str, Miskolc from August 25–29, 2010. The number one Hungarian grandmaster, Peter Leko takes up a duel of eight games against the top Israeli GM and World Cup winner Boris Gelfand. The games are being played at a rate of 25 minutes for all moves plus an increment of ten seconds per moves.

Peter Leko has been doing this every year since 2005 when he played English GM Michael Adams. Then it was GM Anatoly Karpov, GM Vladimir Kramnik, GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Viswanathan Anand from 2006-2009.

Peter is a former child chess prodigy becoming a grandmaster in 1994 at the age of 14 years (a world record at the time). Ten years later, in 2004, he challenged GM Vladimir Kramnik for the World Championship Title and tied 7-7. Peter had gone into the last round leading 7-6. He only needed to draw but he "choked". Kramnik won the game (see here) and drew the match. Due to existing rules, Kramnik retained his title.

His best world ranking was number 4, first achieved in April 2003 even though his style of play is not very exciting, being well-known for his draws than wins. In the last two years, Peter has begun to struggle against the top Elo 2700+ players

Here are the first 4 games with GM annotations courtesy of GM Berkes and GM Meszaros:

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

Spanish Chess League CECLUB Honor Division

From Chessbase:

The Spanish Chess League CECLUB Honor Division is underway in Sestao, Vizcaya, 23rd-28th August 2010. It is a 6-round event with 10 teams. The first 4 rounds are a Swiss, with the final two rounds to decide the final places.

There are nine players rated 2700 or higher (Shirov, Ponomariov, Navara, Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave, Bacrot, Gashimov, Almasi, and Jobava), as well as 30 more rated at least 2600, such as Kasimdzhanov, Caruana, Vallejo Pons, Short, Rublevsky, and Le Quang to name a few.

There are some other juniors playing including Indian junior Parimajan Negi (Elo 2615) who has a 3/4 score (a 2829 performance rating). Here is a game he played (annotations courtesy of Chessbase):

NH Chess Tournament

The Howellian Pawn Centre? What is that? Well, that is what ICC Chess.FM commentator Macauley Peterson is calling it even though there were 15 previous games with such a pawn centre (Chessvibes' Peter Doggers counted 30 games).

Well, what is that pawn centre? This is it after 25 fxe4, 4 white pawns on d5, e5, d4, e4:



Here is the video of GM David Howell's win over GM Peter Heine Nielsen where David explains his win. Also note his lucky charm which David claims he has started the trend.

GM Dariusz Swiercz Speaks ......

From Chess in Translation, here is a translation of an interview with GM Dariusz Swiercz during the recent World Juniors Chess Championship in Poland where Dariusz managed to get the bronze.

I’m really pleased with the medal. I wasn’t a favourite, but I provided a big surprise for everyone. They say that even the walls help the hosts, and there’s something in that. I felt really good playing here, as I defeated a lot of higher rated chess players.

Did you expect such a good result and to make it onto the podium?

I always aim high, meaning for first place. I play to win. It wasn’t an easy task, though. In terms of ratings I was no. 26 and such a place would have reflected my position among my rivals. However, I battled and gave everything I could, which bore fruit in the bronze medal.

Did you have a chance of placing even higher?

Yes, I did. In two of the games instead of winning, which was a slight chance at certain points, I only managed to draw, and it was just that one point that was lacking for a perfect outcome. Despite the undeniable success, I was left a little unsatisfied.

When did you start playing chess?

Very early on. When I was 3 my grandfather taught me to play chess, for which I’ll always be grateful to him. Two years later I began to play in a club, and at 6 I played in a tournament for the first time.

Is chess part of your daily life?

I train more than six hours a day at home, in Tarnowskie Góry. I’m a grandmaster and currently play in the colours of the Polonia Wrocław Chess Club. Besides that, like every teenager I go to school. I’ve finished the gymnasium and in September I’m going to the lyceum, specializing in mathematics and physics. If I manage to find a moment of free time then I like to play football or swim.

What are your impressions from your stay in Subcarpathia?

It’s very pretty here. There’s a lot of greenery and it’s quiet and calm, not like where I live in Silesia. It’s a great place for organising chess tournaments like this championship, as it really was a big event in the chess world. It’s just a shame that the national media didn’t take much interest in it.

What are you planning to do in the future?

I want to play chess to the end of my life, because it’s a beautiful, majestic game. You haven’t heard the last of me and I hope that at some point I’ll play for the highest stakes, like my idols Fischer and Kasparov. Finally I’d like to thank everyone who supported me and had faith in me, particularly my parents and friends, and also my sponsor, Microsoft.

There are also interviews with the World Junior Champion and the World Junior Girl Champion. Check it out.

2010 French Championships and French Junior to the Fore ......

Sometimes, there are juniors who slipped under the radar. For example, how many of you would have heard of 19-year old GM Romain Edouard (Elo 2620) from France? No one? Well, he is presently playing in the French Championships and doing quite well, equal first going to the last round (Rd 11) with GM Laurent Fressinet, both on 7.5/10.

Update: Romain Edouard and Laurent Fressinet both drew their last round games.
Update: Romain Edouard and Laurent Fressinet played rapid tiebreaks and they drew the first game but Laurent won the second game and so became the 2010 French Chess Champion.

PS. I just remembered that GM Laurent Fressinet is married to IM Almira Skripchenko who is the 2010 French Women Champion. Two champions in the family! Almira is also a very good poker player and won quite a lot of money last year in the EuroPOker Tour.

Here is GM Kevin Spraggett on Romain's Rd 10 encounter with GM Vladislav Tkachiev:

You are going to like this game! Lots of blood and gore, just what the spectators live for! The [position after 8 d4] is a theoretical position after 8 moves from a lesser played line in the Spanish Opening. Great players like Alekhine and Keres have played it. It seems that Tkachiev did not know it that well...instead of playing the logical 8...NxB followed by 9...Nd7 (defending the e5 pawn), Black played the seemingly innocent 8...Nd7 first. This turned out to be a serious mistake that was not forgiven by his youthful opponent.

Just 2 moves later Edouard uncorked the refutation 10. Bg5! White left the Black Knight on b3 and proceeded to rip open the Black King position with sacrifice after sacrifice. Enjoy!

NH Chess Tournament

From the NH Chess Tournament here is a surprising easy win for US GM Hikaru Nakamura and there is a twist to the whole story. I will let GM Ian Rogers (courtesy of Chess Life Online) explain:

Nakamura,Hi (2729) - Van Wely,L (2677)
4th NH Chess Tournament Amsterdam NED (7), 2010.08.19
Opening: Sicilian Najdorf

Losing a game in 17 moves is bad enough, but worse was to come for van Wely when the editor of New in Chess, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, showed van Wely a copy of his article in the as yet unpublished issue of New in Chess.

In it van Wely states "Not 12...Nd7 because of 13.Nd5! Qc5 14.Nb3! Qc6 15.Na5 Qc5 16.Nxb7 and Black loses." Never would a player have received less satisfaction from having their analysis proved correct.

After the game, which lasted less than one and a half hours, both players appeared somewhat shell-shocked. They stood outside the press room discussing how such an error could be possible and whether the line was playable at all.

"My memory started to go when I was 25," admitted van Wely, perhaps giving Nakamura pause to think that he might only have a few more years left to get to the top.

In GM Rogers' notes there is the reference to the earlier game between Smith,Bryan (2468) and Laznicka,Viktor (2636). Brian Smith turned up at Chess

Life Online and posted this comment:

Can we chess players please make a pact to let my poor game with Laznicka go to rest? You know, like a wounded horse - maybe it is better to just shoot it, that might be more merciful, right?

Please, couldn't someone point out that I was just up a rook in a completely won position that Laznicka would have simply resigned if there were even a somewhat normal amount of time on the clock. As it were, each of us had 15 seconds or so for five moves, which should have been perfectly sufficient as well, but I guess nerves (and a gigantic crowd around the board) interferred. Not to mention the fact that my final blunder was made on move 41 (!) after the time control was reached and I was winning again, because i wanted to make one more move "to make sure". Ironically, I did not even make that move fast enough! Instead, the correct move would have forced resignation...So please stop revisiting my pain.

I have no idea why this silly game was picked up by all commentators - after all, Laznicka played many good games in the World open, surely this was his worst. It is also one of the most silly games I have ever played. Besides that the opening is simply aweful, white can win in multiple ways which various commentators have pointed out and even I saw during the game (although was unable to come to a good decision because of extreme tiredness due to playing another tournament just before the world open). So why Van Wely repeated it is actually baffling. Thanks!

Bryan Smith

For readers enjoyment (and education) here is the Smith-Laznicka game annotated by GM Lubomir Kavalek (courtesy of the Huffington Post):

NH Chess Tournament_Videos

Here are the Game of the Day from ICC Chess:

Caruana-Van Wely (commentator: GM Joel Benjamin)


Van Wely-Nakamura (commentator: GM Joel Benjamin)


Giri-Ljubojevic (commentator: GM Alex Yermolinski)

NH Chess Tournament_Videos

If you want to know what Young Rising Stars (chess juniors that is) look like, here is the video. And if you dream of being amongst them, tip: get a suit and tie! Also, just occurred to me that the juniors here are all non-Russians or former USSR satellites (except for GM Anish Giri who is part-russian). And, interestingly the juniors all skipped the World Juniors to participate in this event.

The Opening


The Flash(y)!


The Flash(y)! Again


The Self-Taught Pinoy!


The One That Got Away From the USA!


The English (Malaysian! wonder if he likes Laksa?)


The Dutch (Russian-Nepalese) Crown Prince!


The Dutch (Russian-Nepalese) Crown Prince! Again


The One That Got Away From the USA! Again

IM Malcolm Pein annotates Junior Games from NH Chess Tournament in Amsterdam

For a previous blog on the NH Chess Tournament in Amsterdam see here. Here are some games annotated by IM Malcolm Pein (courtesy of here, here and here):

The end of David Howell's loss against Boris Gelfand at the NH Rising Stars v Veterans tournament at Amsterdam was quite instructive. It is often fatal to allow the opponent the move in a position where he holds two queens, as they have enormous attacking potential.

Fast forward to the position after 54...Kb3.

Howell,D (2616) - Gelfand,B (2739)
4th NH Chess Tournament Amsterdam NED (1), 2010.08.12

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

[In the following game] A well played Sicilian, Black's counterplay is just in time, his bishop on d5 is a fine piece.

Caruana,F (2697) - Van Wely,L (2677)
4th NH Chess Tournament Amsterdam NED (1), 2010.08.12
Sicilian Scheveningen

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

After an unfortunate defeat in the first round which we examined yesterday, David Howell hit back with two wins. In round two Howell overcame Ljubomir Ljubojevic who is running desperately short of time in his games and in round three he defeated Loek Van Wely in a well played game.

Ljubojevic,L (2572) - Howell,D (2616)
4th NH Chess Tournament Amsterdam NED (2), 2010.08.13
Sicilian Najdorf

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

[In the next game] Black plays quite optimistically here, denuding his king, putting his queen offside and sending his knights on a time consuming errand. 'Ljubo' finishes with little fuss and traps the queen.

Ljubojevic,L (2572) - So,W (2674)
4th NH Chess Tournament Amsterdam NED (4), 2010.08.15
Gruenfeld Defence g3

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

[In Rd 5] Howell's game was very hard to comprehend, not just for the spectators but also for the players. In a well known opening position Peter Svidler 'blundered' a knight with a move, unsurprisingly, never played before at GM level. Howell had actually examined the move, fleetingly, with his trainer Stephen Gordon in their morning preparation but naturally they dismissed it.

Howell sank into thought for an hour, had his opponent blundered? Or, was this a stunning novelty? Neither really, Svidler had simply forgotten his opening theory. Unluckily for Howell, after he took the knight matters were far from clear and Svidler offered a draw in a position where Howell had a bind on the position but was the exchange down. A quick look at the clock convinced Howell to extend his hand.

Howell,D (2616) - Svidler,P (2734)
4th NH Chess Tournament Amsterdam NED (5), 2010.08.16
Scotch Game

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

[In the last game] GM Peter Svidler played an excellent novelty here [against US junior GM Hikaru Nakamura].

Svidler,P (2734) - Nakamura,Hi (2729)
4th NH Chess Tournament Amsterdam NED (4), 2010.08.15
Caro Kann Advance

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

IM Malcolm Pein annotates the new 2010 World Junior Chess Champion Games and other

The annotations are courtesy of IM Malcolm Pein and TWIC (see here):

I played through the games of the new world champion Dmitry Andreikin of Russia and he has a positional style, adept at exploiting the opponent's pawn weaknesses. In this game it is the isolated pawn on d5 and then a7 which fall.

D Andreikin (2650) - P Negi (2615)
49th World Junior Chotowa (9)
Queen's Gambit

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

Only in one game did Andreikin have to exert himself tactically.

D Andreikin (2650) - K Stupak (2504)
49th World Junior Chotowa (11)
Bogo Indian

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

The World Junior Championships for players under twenty are underway in Chotowa, Poland. David Howell chose, rightly, to play in the prestigious NH tournament instead. After Howell there are few British medal prospects in any age group until one comes to U-12, U-11 and U-10 where there is a decent pool of talent.

England's representative is Yang Fan Zhou who has several more years in this competition to come, although for the moment he is outclassed, being 300 rating points lower than the favourites. Yan Fan has played one superb game, a sacrificial effort truly in the spirit of the King's Indian Defence. The early stages are a game of cat and mouse until Black gives up a pawn, the exchange, and a knight for the attack.

S Sethuraman (2513) - Y Zhou (2348)
49th WJun Chotowa (3)
King's Indian Defence

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

IM Malcolm Pein complains ...... about the ECF not the ACF

In a report on the recently concluded World Juniors in Poland, IM Malcolm Pein wrote about England's sole representative, Zhou YangFan who came 89th with 50% score. He consoled YangFan with this: "He should not be too down-hearted, he did play one lovely game we saw last week and he will be able to play this event for many years to come. " He goes on to note (and complain):

Yang Fan's talent is deserving of more support from the English Chess Federation but the hundreds of thousands of pounds in the John Robinson Fund, designated for junior chess, are not being released to Yang Fan and the few other talented players we have. This is because of the way the fund was setup at the outset and is something the ECF needs to address as well as its junior chess provision in general.

Your correspondent has been wandering the junior chess circuit intermittently now for two or three years with his son and remains bewildered at the absence of any training sessions at these events and the almost blanket absence of strong players to go through games with players afterwards. It is disgraceful to see how things have regressed from the 1970s when I benefited from particpation in junior events run by Leonard Barden.

Upon arrival one would find lists divided by age group with the latest rating all calculated by Barden, without a computer of course. There were simuls arranged with visiting GMs playing at Hastings and regular coaching. Until improvements are made, we can get used to our representatives finishing 89th in world championships.

2010 World Juniors in Chotowa, Czarna, Poland

It has finished and we have a new World Junior Chess Champion (on tiebreaks), GM Dmitry Andreikin from Russia who was also the top seed. GM Sanan Sjugirov came equal first but lost out on tiebreaks. Honorary Australian Polish junior GM Dariusz Swiercz came third on tiebreaks ahead of 3 other GMs on equal points. What about my pre-tournament predictions? My tip was on Sanan and he came through. My tip as dark horse, IM Sethuraman Panayappan Sethuraman, did not perform as well, finishing on 37th placing (ranked 17th) with 7.5/13. Neither did the cute factor worked as IM Illya Nyzhnyk only finished 16th (ranked 11th).

Lone Australian junior representative, Sherab Guo-Yuthok ended his final Junior Championships with 4.5/13, placed 111 (ranked 116th) and rating performance of 1976 (Elo 1975).

On to the Girls and the clear winner (and leader for almost every round) is IM Anna Muzychuk. Interestingly there is also a clear second place (WGM Olga Girya) and a clear third placing (WGM Padmini Rout and my tip as dark horse). My tip of last year's second place-getter, WGM Deysi Cori, ended up at 12th place while WIM Alisa Melekhina finished in 9th place (ranked 12th).

What our Australian ACT junior and Women Olympiad Rep, WFM Emma Guo? She finished on 58th place (ranked 62nd) with 5.5/13 and a performance rating of 1935 (Elo 1965). Meanwhile, our other ACT junior, Tamzin Oliver finished her campaign with 4.5/13, placed 76th (ranked 75th) and PR of 1761 (Elo 1731).

Coming up next ...... Don't go away! ...... the 2010 World Youth in Halkidiki, Greece.

GM Khalifman Speaks ......

From Chess in Translation (great blog!!!) which translates some of the more interesting articles and chess interviews in Russian and other East European language into English, comes this interview with former World Champion GM Alexander Khalifman:

While on his way to winning the Minsk Open, former World Champion Alexander Khalifman gave a long and thoughtful interview to Elena Klimetz for the openchess.by website.

Excerpts on Chess and Children:

As far as I know you’ve got a daughter. Did she ever try playing chess? Would you want her to?

No, she didn’t, I think, ever have that desire. Of course, she knows the names of the pieces and how they move, but nothing more. My daughter is more like her mother and the so-called “competitive spirit” is almost absent in her. And to convince her, to force her to do something… I’ve never been a fan of that approach. And my wife isn’t either. A child is also a person, so let her do what she wants to do. All the more so as I see a mass of examples at my school, and it’s not only unrestrained joy. Particularly when you come across cases when they’re trying to make a child into something he doesn’t want to be and will never become. Which is a sad spectacle. It’s one thing not to allow your child to be idle, but quite another to force them to do something they don’t want. Deciding what you like, and what you want to do, should after all be a matter for the young person.

So you consider that if a child is very talented – visible even to the untrained eye – but he doesn’t want to play chess, it’s not worth forcing him?

It’s a complex question! To be honest, in practice I’ve never come across a situation where a child is very talented but doesn’t like playing chess. After all if he’s talented he’s winning, and everyone likes to win. It’s only possible in cases where there are some additional factors causing chess to be rejected. As, for example, with the strict father of Gata Kamsky, who forced him to study 14 hours a day. It’s no surprise that Gata lost all desire to continue that regime. However, normally (as far as I can tell from my experience) if a child is capable he finds chess interesting. In my time I’ve asked a lot of people who have already become chess players about their chess childhood, and I haven’t met anyone who ever had to be forced to study chess. If a child’s talented then he beats his peers, he likes it, and he’ll continue to find chess interesting.

Food for thought!

On Openings ......

Just now you touched upon an interesting question, which worries many young chess players. What’s best, to have one basic opening, where you know all the ins and outs and continually improve it, or to have a superficial knowledge of a great number of openings and to change them depending on your opponent, taking into account psychological factors and the tournament situation?

It’s an interesting question but the answer isn’t so simple. You described two extremes and the truth is somewhere in between. It’s good not only to have a basic opening for white and black, in which you’re absolutely confident, you could play it in your sleep with no problems anywhere, but it’s also good to have a wider knowledge of other openings so that you have the chance when required to surprise an opponent. Of course, it’s very complex and demands serious work. But chess in general demands a lot of work. Even if you have great talent, you still need to work a lot.

And what do think of half-correct ideas “for one game”? Is it worth using them?

I think that’s going a bit too far. Personally I rarely resorted to such means and I don’t think they can be justified at the classical time controls. It’s worth getting the hang of such ideas more if you’re specialising in short time controls as there it could be useful. While at the classical time control you can try it once, well, or even twice if it’s very beautiful. But having a selection of half-correct opening lines and using them continually – for me, that’s the wrong approach.

And it’s no longer so easy as all the games end up in the database…

Exactly! Everything ends up in the database, computers are more and more powerful… It was before, in the days of my golden youth, that such an approach worked. You’d use an idea and then two rounds later you could use it again. There were no computers and deep analysis required a lot of time – your opponent might lose his way. But now that’s all gone. If you’ve played something incorrect you can’t get away with repeating it – he’ll push a button and work it out, even if he’s never played the line before. The computer will help him.

Lastly, his thoughts on the Anand vs Topalov Match ......

And how would you characterise the match?

For me, it turned out to be a good match. The chess was very good, and in sporting terms it was always a heated struggle with no short draws. While the result was fair. Despite the fact that Topalov had prepared superbly it has to be admitted that in terms of talent he’s still inferior to Anand. And even the age difference didn’t tell. Anand’s a genius. He emanates light. {my emphasis]

Even that?

Exactly that. I know as I’ve played him.

2010 World Juniors in Chotowa, Czarna, Poland

Came across this photo in Chessbase (here courtesy of Marek Skrzypczak):



Is this Sherab Guo-Yuthok?

2010 World Juniors in Chotowa, Czarna, Poland

Just a quick note to say it is an exciting finish to the World Juniors with the last round in both the Open and the Girls events. See Chessbase report here.

And here is a pic of the Aussie team (courtesy of Chessbase and Diana Mihajlova):



Live games here and here, at TWIC and at ChessBomb.

Wistful eyes, wishful thinking?

This follows on from the just posted blog on the NH Chess Tournament in Amsterdam, Netherlands, between the so-called Experienced team and the Rising Stars team. Blogging about the event makes me wonder whether we will ever have a similar event in Australia.

Here I wish to share my "dream" (hence the reference to wishful thinking), seeing as it is the Chess Olympiad year as well. I am thinking of an event where the Olympiad team, Men and Women, plays a match against the World Youth U16 Olympiad team (boys and girls). It can also be organised as a fundraiser for the senior Olympiad team. Is this only a pipe dream, never to eventuate?

I think, no, in fact, I am pretty sure the key to this event, should it ever eventuate, is sponsorship. The question then becomes: How do we chase down those sponsorship money. Over the weekend, I was interested to read of the experience of the Arts community in Australia learning how to get those corporate and individual philanthropic donations/sponsorships to run their programmes. I am pretty sure we can replicate something similar in the chess arena.

From reading that article in The SMH's Spectrum, I have identified two things as what need to be actioned immediately in order to have any success.
1) We need a tax status for the chess entity which will allow potential donors to claim tax deductions; and
2) We need professional expertise, someone/s who is experienced in PR, Fund Raising.

For 1), I guess we will need either a tax lawyer or a tax accountant. So, is there anyone out there who can contribute pro bono? Here I wish to be blunt and not beat around the bush. We need someones who will actually know what to do. Someone who can start getting something concrete done. We don't need someone who talks the talk. Look, I am a lawyer too but tax is not my area of expertise.

2) Similarly, we need someone who can actually do something concrete about PR and fund raising; someone who can plan the strategy and the actual campaign. Again, not anyone who only can talk the talk but cannot walk the walk!

So, to all my readers, spread the word ...... it is time to do something! Calling a Tax Lawyer/Accountant and a Fund Raiser.

NH Chess Tournament

The annual NH Chess Tournament held at the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky, Amsterdam has started. It is an annual team event which pits a team of "experienced" chess players against a second team of "rising" stars in the chess firmament. It is run as a Scheveningen tournament, meaning each member of a team plays every member of the opposing team twice, once with the white pieces and second time with black. In addition, the best performing player of the "Rising Stars" team gets an invite to the annual Amber Rapid and Blindfold event (see rules here). There has been editions of this event in the past where the playing strength has been lopsided resulting eg in 2008 where the Rising Stars defeated the Experience 33½-16½ (see here).

This year's teams are (taken from the website here):

The ‘Experience’ team consists of (next to their country their current Elo rating is given):

1 Boris Gelfand (Israel)
2 Peter Svidler (Russia)
3 Peter Heine Nielsen (Denmark)
4 Loek van Wely (The Netherlands)
5 Ljubomir Ljubojevic (Serbia)

And these are the ‘Rising Stars’:

1 Hikaru Nakamura (United States)
2 Fabiano Caruana (Italy)
3 Wesley So (The Philippines)
4 Anish Giri (The Netherlands)
5 David Howell (England)

The players of the ‘Rising Stars’ team can invite a trainer to help them during the tournament. Family members are excluded. The seconds of the ‘Rising Stars’ are (in the same order):

1 Kris Littlejohn (United States)
2 Boris Avrukh (Israel)
3 Richard Bitoon (The Philippines)
4 Vladimir Chuchelov (Belgium)
5 Stephen Gordon (England)

The tournament report for Rd 1 is here. Hikaru Nakamura defeated Ljubomir Ljubojevic while Boris Gelfand defeated David Howell. Everyone else drew. Wesley So vs Peter Heine Nielsen is interesting as it follows the games from the recent Anand vs Topalov World Championship Match where Anand adopted Kramnik's Black Slav opening.

Dennis Monokroussos has annotated lightly the games here.

IM Sam Shankland after 2010 US Junior Closed Championships

Following from my previous blog on IM Sam Shankland's announcement of his retirement from chess (see here) prior to the recent 2010 US Junior Closed Championships from which Sam emerged as the 2010 US Junior Champion despite a -2 after the first two rounds and surviving a rapid playoff with Parker Zhao and then with GM Ray Robson. In an interview with ChessCafe columnist, Steve Goldberg, he says:

I started playing chess because I believed it was a game where my fate was completely in my own hands, but this view has changed. I'm seeing other players my level and weaker getting more invitations and paid much better for the same work, based on the fact that they are grandmasters (which clearly is something I only have a limited control over) or because they are female (which I have no control over at all). Of course, money isn't everything and in the grand scheme of things doesn't mean much to me, but it does represent a certain lack of respect to be paid less based on these grounds and it does change my lifestyle (I have to teach more, rather than study and I can't afford a coach, which makes it much harder to improve, plus the lack of invitations).

"There are many other reasons, but the GM one is the biggest. I already miss chess despite having only taken a few weeks off from serious work so far, but the other factors are too much for me to deal with at the moment. I hope that someday my love for the game will overpower the frustration and anger toward the surrounding politics, but for now I have no intention of playing anything other than the pending agreements I made before deciding to quit. I'll be reassessing my decision when the U.S. Championship rolls around, but that's still almost a year away."

When asked by Steve on how he coped with -2 after Rd 2, he said:

"I decided to stop playing what I felt was best and just to try to have fun," he explained. "Up till that moment I was exclusively a Sicilian player and I had good results with it, but I was sick of getting attacked and the games being decided by who knew more opening theory, so I played the Caro-Kann for the rest of the tournament, a line which I found to be more enjoyable, even though I wasn't nearly as well prepared there as I would have liked to be."

He offered the following advice to players going through a similar tough stretch. "You just have to remember that there's always another game, and it has nothing to do with any of the previous ones. I've lost plenty of games in my life so I've gotten good at bouncing back and putting the previous game behind me, but not nearly as good as I'd like to be. It often helps to relax or find some kind of distraction like working out, watching bad TV, etc."

Interestingly, it wasn't until the end of the ninth and final regulation round, when Zhao and Bryant drew, that Shankland allowed himself to seriously think about winning the championship. "I don't judge my chances when they are out of my control - even just after round five, it was clear I would need people I had already played to lose in order to have any chance," he said, "and I would have to rely on others to do that, making it out of my control. Once I tied for first, I was ninety percent sure that I would win the tiebreak because momentum was on my side and I'm a strong rapid player."

Here are 4 of IM Sam Shankland's games from the Championships. Annotations by Sam (courtesy of Chesscafe).

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

(show chess board)(hide chess board)

(show chess board)(hide chess board)