Blog Data-Pageviews/Day 2013-04

Pageviews/Day Summary
April was a strong month for the blogs with popularity being helped by regular publicity from GM Spraggett's blog.

April	BCN	CCN	d4CN	e4CN	REOCN	Total
1	195	296	41	61	45	638
2	146	221	34	43	25	469
3	182	139	19	57	9	406
4	131	124	29	39	42	365
5	143	215	16	23	27	424
6	184	168	30	34	42	458
7	132	104	31	33	17	317
8	147	86	16	34	8	291
9	161	108	35	37	6	347
10	267	144	39	46	37	533
11	189	109	43	43	32	416
12	144	99	19	47	18	327
13	214	120	78	64	159	635
14	187	137	16	44	54	438
15	158	169	18	94	51	490
16	151	98	103	46	28	426
17	173	121	27	54	30	405
18	155	144	18	37	20	374
19	150	141	15	31	35	372
20	188	130	12	45	23	398
21	160	205	79	117	66	627
22	159	134	107	89	38	527
23	131	127	53	55	34	400
24	179	96	29	45	64	413
25	161	84	30	36	19	330
26	126	102	44	24	57	353
27	595	90	21	84	38	828
28	131	51	91	91	51	415
29	126	72	11	105	35	349
30	121	131	33	28	10	323

English 1… c5 Botvinnik System-TWIC 963

TWIC 963
Veteran GM Ehlvest tried a bit too hard to make something happen on the kingside and met some tough resistance. Eventually black faltered, allowing Ehlvest to escape with a win.

Ehlvest,J (2611) - Salem,AR (2530)
English 1… c5 Botvinnik System[A36]
15th Dubai Open 2013 Dubai UAE (4.6), 10.04.2013

Position 1
Black has weathered the storm on the kingside with a strong defensive wall. What do you recommend for black now?

Black to Play

27.Rh1

OKOBOJI Open 2013, Iowa

See Story-Daily Globe
By: Alyson Buschena, Worthington Daily Globe  
OKOBOJI, Iowa — The seventh annual Okoboji Open, the largest chess tournament in the tri-state area, took place Friday through Sunday at the Arrowwood Resort.

The event drew a record 62 players - many of them with high rankings - including Awonder Liang, a Wisconsin native and, at 9 years old, the youngest chess master in U.S. history. Tournament director Hank Anzis said Liang’s participation in the event boosted attendance and interest.

Also at the competition was international master and professional chess player and coach John Bartholomew. On Friday night, Bartholomew hosted an exhibition in which he simultaneously played 12 games of chess against 12 competitors. In an hour and a half, he defeated 11 and tied with the 12th, Sam Smith, Anzis said.

The tournament had no age limits and competitors ranged from 9 to 75 years old.

“If you're breathing, you can play,” Anzis said with a laugh.
Anzis explained that each of the timed games last about four hours. The tournament was arranged according to skill level, based on each player’s ranking.

 One benefit of the Okoboji Open, Anzis added, is that the venue is large enough to allow for lots of room between games.

“So if they guy next to them didn’t take a bath, it doesn’t matter because they are 10 feet away,” Anzis said with a laugh.

Awonder Liang, 10, of Madison, Wis., ponders his next move.

(Brian Korthals/Daily Globe)

On Sunday afternoon, Bartholomew defeated Andrew Tang in the final round to win the first prize.

“He won his first three games, but couldn’t beat Prasantha Amarasinghe and had to surrender a draw," Anzis said. "Going into the last round, he managed to win."

This was the third consecutive Okoboji Open win for Bartholomew.

Four competitors - Gokul Thangavel, Buck Finn, Louis Leonard and Dave Wangle - all tied for the reserve.

After beating a national master Saturday night, Liang lost two games on Sunday and didn’t come away with any prizes. However, “he did really good, he’s still the youngest and his future is bright,” Anzis said.(more)

Nunn's Chess Endings Vol 2 Rook Endings-Common Error: Rook Behind Passed Pawn(8.4.3)

Common Error: Rook Behind Passed Pawn(8.4.3)

Here is one of the examples with the main analysis line promoted to make it easier to follow. The game is annotated from the beginning with additional explanation so I could follow what was going on.

Michalek,Miroslav - Sonnabend,Gerhard
Sicilian Classical 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0–0–0 Bd7 9.f3 [B67]
MN/028(Analysis) corr ICCF, 20.09.1996

Position 1

What do you recommend for white?

• 45.Rh6 (to restrain the h-pawn and keep black's king cut off laterally)
• 45.Ka6(to support the b-pawn)
• Something else

White to Play

44...Rh1

Sparta Chess Club-Super Nationals 2013

Sparta Chess Club Shines in Nationals
Story and photo by the Sparta Independant

The Sparta Team

SPARTA — The Sparta Chess Club returned from the National Scholastic Chess Championships with a total of eight team awards, and ten players receiving individual recognition. The tournament, held in Nashville, Tennessee drew over 5200 players representing 1500 plus teams from 47 states and the military.

Leading the way was the K-5 team that placed third. The team lead their division after the second and third rounds, and finished with a perfect final round, and a record of 21-7.

The team of Lucas Rendina, Timothy and Jonathan Lee, Sam Esposito, Glen McNamara, Brian Smith and Vaiden Pollard also placed ninth in the Blitz event, where players have a total of five minutes to make all of their moves.
 

Rendina won six of seven games in the main event, and the Lee brothers won five each. Sparta played more difficult opposition than the winning team from NYC during the event. A team from St Paul, Minnesota was second.
 

The two Middle School teams placed 12th and 14th paced by the play of Lizzy Wolfe, and Tyler Struble. The Middle Schoolers also placed ninth in the Blitz event. Anthony Esposito, Keith Johnson, and Ryan Ryersen also added to the effort.

 

The Varsity High school Team placed 16th led by Adam Banatt.

Adam had only one loss, and the team improved four notches over last year. Florida Divine Savior, IS318 from NYC, and Christian Brothers Academy from Lincroft took the top three places.
 

Adam was aided by Eryk Banatt, and Ian Clark

Outstanding play from AJ Thomas and Colin Casey vaulted the JV Team to eighth place in their section.

Teams from Missouri took the first four places. The team members were Thomas, Kyra Schluter, Dylan Richards and Casey.
 

The combined teams placed 23rd in the High School Blitz event.

The team is continually looking for sponsors and donations to maintain this quality program. Contact Tom Murray at 973-726-9405  if interested.

Nunn's Chess Endings Vol 2 Rook Endings-The Rook Switch(8.4.2)

The Rook Switch(8.4.2)
The rook does not always belong behind and enemy passed. The rook switch involves switching the rook's position from behind an enemy passed pawn to the side position where it keeps an eye on the pawn but is available for other duties.

Nunn Accepts Book of the Year Award
Nunn's Chess Endings Vols 1+2 get book of the year award presented by Aronian.

Here is a key example that Nunn uses in Nunn's Chess Endings Vol 2 to illustrate this method. I took a close look at this game and here are my findings.

Kravtsiv,Martyn (2379) - Kononenko,Dmitry1 (2472)
Sicilian Scheveningen[B82]
UKR-ch sf Alushta (4), 16.05.2006

Position 1
Material is even but black's pieces are more active. What do you recommend for black?

Black to Play

64.Kf1

Ramle Chess Club-Israel

Ramle Kids Club Israel

Nunn's Chess Endings Vol 2-Rook Endings-The 5th Rank Cut-Off

Nunn's Chess Endings Vol 2-Rook Endings
The 5th Rank Cut-Off

Sadly, I have owned this fine book for a couple of years and not dared to open it.

Nunn's Chess Endings Vol2

Here is one of the games (Jussupow,Artur-Tseshkovsky,Vitaly Moscow 1981)  Nunn used to illustrate the 5th rank cut-off technique. I looked at the whole game to get a better idea of what happened and improve my endgame knowledge. 

Here is more on Jussupow



Here are my findings.

Jussupow,Artur (2575) - Tseshkovsky,Vitaly (2530) 
English Opening 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 c5 3.Nf3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nb4 [A34]
Moscow-4teams Moscow (4.2), 26.02.1981

Position 1

Black has an active king+rook and is pushing the c-pawn for the win. What do you recommend for black now?

Black to Play

43.g3

Verifying Attack Manual 1(Quality Chess 2008)-Position 12

Verifying Attack Manual 1(Quality Chess 1st ed 2008)
I have been checking games usually but recently have been neglecting tactical work. Now I'm going through this book which has some exercises in ch9.

GM Nunn won a fabulous game against GM Sokolov in the Dubai Olympiad 1986 by attacking the king.

More on GM Nunn



Here is the feature game and my notes to solution.

Nunn,J (2590) - Sokolov,And (2620)

Sicilian [B54]

Dubai (ol), 1986

Position 1
Black lags in development and is uncastled which is the general signal to look for an attacking continuation. What do you recommend for white now?

White to Play

14...fe

14...fe

English 1..e5 Karpov Variation

The Karpov Variation-1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bc5 

Good Knight vs Bishop; Centralization and Attack

13...h6

GM Karpov played for the center and then the attack in this classic game with the Karpov variation.

More on Gelfand

Here is the feature game.

Gelfand,Boris (2700) - Karpov,Anatoly (2765)
English 1..e5 Karpov Variation[A29]
Candidates FIDE f1 Sanghi Nagar (9), 1995

Position 1

Both kings are exposed but black has the move. What do you recommend for black?

Black to Play

34.Qxf6