My Chess Year

Chess Cake celebrating the year in chess!

Year ends are a good time to reflect on how things have been going and where you'd like things to go. S here's a quick reflection on my chess year in 2015, and some of the goals for 2016.

The lounge of a hotel I stayed at in Orleans, France. Chess seems to follow me around!

From a playing point of view I've had a pretty good year. I started 2015 with a FIDE rating of 2085 and an ACF rating of 2113. I have finished the year with a FIDE rating of 2166 (+79) and an ACF of 2202 (+89). The highlight of the year was winning the City of Melbourne Open at the MCC, but there were also good performances at the MCC ch (4th) and the Glen Eira CC ch (=2nd).

My recent performance in the Australasian Masters was ok, but nothing special. The big problem here I think was lack of practice. In the first half of the year I was playing regularly, at least once a week, which kept me sharp. I then played little chess during September, October, November and felt a bit rusty going into the Masters.

Another chess cake, seeing how I'm celebrating.

So overall I'm pretty happy with my play this year, and hope to keep it up next year. I intend to play regularly through the year at the MCC, and possibly at a couple of weekenders. I plan to work on a stronger opening repertoire, better calculation, and more strategic thinking. (I'll probably end up working on some crazy endgames, a bunch of nineteenth century miniatures, and a few games I see on websites as they happen!) I'd like to establish myself as a 2200+ player, though I know this isn't easy. Actually, I'd really like to get to 2300, but that might be beyond me now. I'd also like to write a book about chess. I've never even tried to do this before, as I've never felt qualified to write about anything. I think I might have a subject now, so I'll see how far this project goes.

Hopefully I'll be able to study some modern theory in 2016!

Does this mean this blog will suffer? Possibly, at times, if I'm busy. But I enjoy writing here, so I intend to continue. I'll be keeping the content personal to me, specifically things about Melbourne, Australia, England, and some of the people I've come across, and things I find interesting.

I am also a chess coach, though the majority of my students are young children at a beginner level. I'm always looking for materials to show which are both educative and entertaining, and hopefully I'll see some students breaking through this year.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year

Is this enough? I think so. I hope you all had a great Christmas, or whatever you celebrate, and have a great New Year and that 2016 is a good one for you. I'll be starting this blog up again in January when I'll be playing in the 2016 Australian Chess Championship.

Chess Tactics (cont)

The joy of writing a blog by oneself is that you have complete control over what you do, what you say, the direction and content. The downside is that when you suddenly become busy with life and work, the blog becomes redundant. That's what happened over the weekend. I mean, I can't complain, it's good to have a full life. It's just when I say that the answer will be posted "tomorrow", and on that day I don't even see my computer, it is a bit frustrating!

Anyway, continuing with things tactical, I posted this position:

I solved this puzzle on Chess Tempo the other day, and thought it was trickier than it looks. The problem has a rating of about 2040, so you can gauge your tactical strength based on that. It's white to play and win, but that is the only clue that you get. It took me just over 3 minutes to solve it, but my thinking was skewed at a couple of points.

I instantly saw the pin 1.Be4 and was tempted to play it straight off, but my time on Chess Tempo has taught me to search deeper, to look for your opponent's ideas, and to look for other opportunities. This is a thought process that can help maximise results if used properly. "When you see a good move, look for a better one", as the great world champion Emanuel Lasker famously said.

So I started to think about the f7 square, I noticed my rook on f1 is attacked, I considered taking on g6, and even 1.h5. This is what I like about Chess Tempo, the fact that you are in a game situation. You are still trying to find best moves, but have no idea in which way they are best, and often, the obvious try is not right, or the first move is right, but the following moves aren't as your opponent finds defences that you hadn't taken into account.

Eventually, I found the forcing line:

1.Be4 Rxe4 [pretty much forced or white is just taking on g6 with check] 2.Qxe4 Bxf1 [Again, virtually forced as black is already an exchange down, and white threatens Qxg6+, the main theme of the puzzle]

So this was the position that you had to envisage at the start of the problem, and calculate. Once I saw the idea 3.Qxg6+! I knew I'd solved the puzzle, but you had to see it before making the first move. 3..fxg6 4.Rxf8 leaving white an exchange ahead.

So, use Chess Tempo to:

- extend your vision
- develop tactical awareness
- practice your calculation skills

Internet Abuse

The internet is a strange world. As a repository for information it is amazing, and some of the things that can be done and shared online are wonderful. As a chess player, I know that I can now play at any time, day and night where before the internet, I'd have to make the effort to travel to a chess club, possibly once a week. And chess is certainly not the only thing that has benefited from online development. But there are negative sides to the internet too, and I'm not just talking about flagrant criminal activity.

As a minor user of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, I see people abusing the sites in bizarre ways. Cyber bullying or "trolling" is rife throughout these social media sites, illegal downloading of media is also rife, and internet addiction is becoming more widespread and recognised as a social disorder.

From a blogging perspective, I try to keep this blog positive, I write it for myself because I enjoy writing, and hope that some others enjoy reading it. I don't seek to make anything out of it, I don't make a big effort to publicise it outside of my close network of friends and acquaintances, and I try my best to link to, or credit, as much as possible so each blog post of mine will hopefully lead some readers to a new site.

Yesterday I was scrolling through some internet sites, linked to one, and saw a photograph that I knew Caroline had taken. I didn't recognise the site, and didn't see a credit to Caroline's name, so I asked her whether the site owner had asked permission to use the image. Caroline had not given permission, whereas I have just asked permission and it has been granted :)

"Alone in a Crowd" by Caroline Gorka (redbubble)

When I search for this image using the google image search function, it comes up with about 70 pages that use this image. Caroline has uploaded this picture to certain sites, such as Redbubble and Artists Lane which act as onlne galleries and sell materials on behalf of the contributors. But well over half the sites using this picture have not asked permission to do so, and are not attributing the creator of the images they are using.

This brings me to the dodgy subject of copyright and fair use of materials. Apparently, the photo above is subject to copyright once it has been taken and for someone like me to use it, I would need to gain the permission of the creator of the image before posting it. An exception to the rule is called "fair use" and this applies to use of an image that doesn't interfere with the owner's rights. A good example of this has been used on this blog before, where I talk about a book I've read and download a photo from a site such as Goodreads, or Amazon of the book cover. From an etiquette point of view, I would still link to the site where I took the image from and attribute the site in a caption, or footnote. However, this still would not be anything to do with copyright of material. I found a pretty good site which explains these issues in layman's terms.

All the sites I have been to about these issues give the same advice:

"when in doubt, assume it’s subject to copyright and don’t use it without the appropriate permission."

Endgames

The last couple of weeks I've had some interesting endgames including holding an opposite coloured bishop endgame against IM James Morris, and a winning knight endgame that I managed to draw against an excellent defence by Malcolm Pyke. I suppose I can count the draw against James as a half point gained, while the draw versus Malcolm a fair result, so all told I'm doing ok. The endgame has always been the bane of most players any player who puts some effort into studying the endgame will reap the benefits.

One problem about studying the endgame is how to do it.It is possible to study from a book, but that can be a bit dry. Most text books have all the information needed, but present it in a way that is not easy to apply, starting from the most basic of endgames and working towards harder types of positions. However, most of us want to learn general endgame principals, and then look at more specific theoretical endgames after. Finding books that combine these 2 ideas, as well as presenting it to players of all levels is not easy. Some books pitch too high, while some are obviously aimed at those with a very good understanding of endgame principals.

I think for most club players, dabbling in endgames is the best way to start. To be honest, learning a lot of endgame theory that has little practical application in our games is about as useful as learning 30 moves of theory in an opening that will probably not show up in one's games. By dabbling, I mean that I don't see that the average club player needs to study endgames in a scientific way, but rather needs to build up knowledge at a rate that is appropriate to them. Learning a mass of rook and pawn endgame theory is not a bad thing to do, but forgetting it before you can put it into practice is not good.

The MCC runs an endgame group. I used to run this group, and now FM Bill Jordan is in charge. The idea is to look at some endgame each week, and perhaps to get positions that can be practised from. The practical part of the group is as important as the theoretical, and it was great to see players becoming aware of ideas, principals and techniques. I always really enjoyed the pawnless endgames, as the technique is usually fairly simple while the practice can be tough. For example, holding on in a position with a rook and king versus rook, bishop and king can be difficult.

Here's a couple of positions that the MCC Endgame Group might want to look at.

 1. This is the position that perhaps I should have won against Malcolm. Perhaps you can find a winning plan for black, or see if you can hold the position like Malcolm did.

2. Another knight endgame that ended in a draw. This one from one my favourite players, Alexander Beliavsky. Beliavsky as black held this position against English GM Jonathan Speelman at the 1989 Amsterdam OHRA tournament. I was lucky enough to be playing in a lower section of this tournament, so could see these great players in action, as well as Victor Korchnoi, and young versions of Judit Polgar and Boris Gelfand!

So, could you hold this position with the black pieces?

3. This position happened at the recently finished Ballarat Weekender, in the game Fasakin-Milojevic from round 6. It is white to move and mate in 57! Good luck :D

And while I'm on Ballarat, congratulation to IM Kanan Izzat on his 7/7 victory in this strong Victorian Weekender!

A Day Out In The Country

I haven't written for a while for a number of reasons which I won't bore you with, but I'm back to blogging. I've a lot to write about, both concerning chess and non chess so there'll be bits of both. For now I want to talk about my day today. It's days like today that I realised why I moved to Australia.

Kookaburra looking at St Andrew's Market

I took a drive out to the countryside with my lovely wife, Caroline. I have always been amazed at just how lush this part of Australia is. I can remember back to my preconceptions of Australia. Those basically consisted of it's hot, there's loads of beaches, deserts and dangerous animals, and it's bloody hot! However, after living here for nearly 10 years, I've found the reality different. Winters in Victoria can be quite cool and the countryside is diverse and really beautiful. Today we travelled to one such area, the Yarra Ranges. We started with a trip to St Andrew's Market. Besides having some great stuff, the market is set in the beautiful eucalypt forest of St Andrew's. Unfortunately, there had been a power outage today, but it didn't stop the market. It shut down some cafe's and slowed things down a bit at the food and drink stalls, but that didn't dampen spirits of the market goers. In fact, even the weather didn't keep people away. It never really rose above 10 C and there were showers, but everyone seemed to still be having a great time.

The Honey Stall at St Andrew's Market set among the Eucalypt's

We then took a short drive through the Yarra hills to Healesville where we went for a walk at Badger Creek. I'd been to the nearby Healesville Sanctuary before which is great to walk around, but Badger Creek was really magical. After a lot of recent rain the creek was flowing well, and the ferns and flora were splendid.

Full flowing Badger Creek 

Badger Creek is an excellent place to spot the elusive Lyrebird. I had never seen a lyrebird before today, which included a walk through a lyrebird enclosure at a wildlife sanctuary! Today that changed and I saw a young male lyrebird. We were able to get quite close to him, though I couldn't get a good photo. Caroline thought he was young as his plumage didn't seem full yet he still seemed magnificent to me. In fact the whole area was magical, with great light catching the moisture on the ferns while sunshine lit up the gullies.

Sunlight on the ferns at Badger Creek

Today was a reminder to me to not take my new country for granted. Just a stone's throw from my city home is some absolutely amazing countryside which is so different to that which I was used to in England. As I get more settled into Melbourne life, it is all too easy to forget just how alien this part of the world seemed to me in the not too distant past. They say that familiarity breeds contempt, but that hasn't applied to my view of Victoria.

To keep things fresh, it is good to check out the views of other people who are new to Australia, or thinking about emigrating or visiting here. It makes me smile when I compare people's thoughts about Australia to my own. So I'll be following this blog about an Australian roadtrip that is being undertaken by the brother of a friend from my school days, John Fowler. John and I were junior chess rivals who both ended up emigrating and while I didn't know his brother David that well, I'll still be interested to see how he feels about his trip. Hopefully David will see some amazing things and not too many scary Australian animals. I still haven't seen a snake in the wild but we did see a scorpion in Badger Creek today.

A wood scorpion (I think).

Following Chess Online

Every once in a while I post about some chess sites that I've seen and really like, so it's time for another one of these. First, the sites that I regularly go to and think are great haven't changed. I take a daily look at Chess.com and TWIC, regularly keep tabs on chessbase, chesscafe, and chess24 as well as following a number of Australian sites and blogs. But that doesn't mean that I don't check out new stuff.

The first thing that has me seeing new things is my Twitter feed. I can't praise it too much as a chess portal. I remember that there used to be chess websites that just had loads of links to other chess sites, and seem to remember one called chessopolis...actually, I wonder if that still exists? Apparently, chessopolis does! Ok, back to the plot. On Twitter I follow a number of chess players, chess journalists, chess writers, and chess sites and they link to other amazing sites. So here we go...

There are a number of Grandmasters who write online, and their material is excellent. I've followed Kevin Spraggett's blog for quite a while now and I'll be following some other GM's as well. Tiger Hillarp Persson's blog is amazing. He doesn't write often, but when he does, the material is unbelievable with deep analysis. Also, I like the name, Chess at the Bag of Cats. Another fantastic GM blog is that of English number 1 Michael Adams. I might be a bit biased here, as I am from England originally. I'm going to be trying more GM blogs in the future as the quality of material is excellent, and the personal comments about their chess experiences is great for a chess fan. I haven't really looked at World Champion, Magnus Carlsen's site yet, though it is an obvious one to consider. (on another patriotic note, Australian Grandmaster, David Smerdon's blog is an entertaining read).

But chess is not just about the top players. There are a lot of people writing about chess who aren't titles at all (I've decided to not claim my CM title!). The best site I've recently found is called old in chess. This site looks at news from 100 years ago and as this is 2014, 100 years ago saw one of the greatest tournaments in history, St Petersburg with Lasker winning ahead of a star studded field including Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch, Marshall etc. The tournament was played in the first half of 1914, so go check out the site and read about a piece of chess history. This is now a big favourite of mine! Much more so than the new playing site FIDE online arena which I'll advise people to go check out for themselves as I don't like much negativity in my blog. I didn't like the site, though it is still being developed so it may become better so check it out as a playing site.

Finally, the absolute stars of online blogging are women, with Grandmasters Susan Polgar and Alexandra Kosteniuk leading the way. I personally have been enjoying the site of another top woman player, Natalia Pogonina. It has regular updates (daily mainly) with great photo's, analysis and stories

Hope you enjoy some of these sites, check out the ones in my links, and if you can recommend any others please do as I'm always on the lookout for new material.

A Day of Rest

Currently my only day off is a Sunday, and I'm even doing an early morning lesson on a Sunday, so my weekend starts about 10 am Sunday morning and lasts till I go to bed. No matter, this state of affairs will right itself at some stage, and I can't really complain about the work. However, it means that Sundays will be chess free days until I have another day off (ok, I know that's a bit ambitious, so I'll aim for a half day).

So what do I do on a chess free day, beside twiddling my thumbs, or sweating and hyperventilating because there is something missing from my life? I couldn't really get on with too much today as the weather was abysmal, so there was no day trip into the country. However, sitting around the house isn't an option, so Caroline and I went out for lunch and then found ourselves at the South Melbourne Market. I'm going to reminisce for a bit here, so if that irritates you, then skip to the next paragraph. I first went to the South Melbourne Market about 8 years ago, and thought it was shabby and uninteresting. There was a lack of selection, and the quality of the produce I felt was pretty poor. I can't really remember what time of year I went, as that may have contributed to the bad impression I got. However, I was lucky enough to try the South Melbourne Market again a few years later, and in that time there had been a transformation, with many new stalls with interesting produce, and even the food stuffs seemed to be more varied and of a better quality than I'd thought when I first went there. Now I enjoy wandering around the market, with my favourite stalls probably being the hemp clothing stall, and the specialist potato stall.

I have thought about this quite a bit today, I mean the fact that we get comfortable with our way of life and then don't like to push the boundaries, or leave our comfort zone. But life, to me, is all about trying new things and complacency is something to be avoided. I'm not saying routine is bad, but life would be very dull if one didn't try new things, or retrying things to see how they've changed. I suppose as an expat I've experienced a huge change to my life, but one thing I have not experienced is being a parent. Don't get me wrong, I have no regrets on that score, but my brother's, wife's daughter had a baby yesterday back in the UK and I wish Sam, and her family much happiness.

Because of this, I've spent a fair bit of time checking and rechecking my Facebook account today, to keep up to date with events back in the UK. It really is amazing how technology has allowed me to keep in touch with my family, seeing their pictures and reading their daily trials and triumphs from across the globe. The internet has certainly made the World a smaller place in terms of communication. I must admit, that I do have a regret this year, and it's not being able to get back to the UK to see my niece's wedding which will be happening in August. But by the power of webcam, I've been invited to the wedding, and I will most definitely be attending. (I just have to convince Vanya to rearrange her wedding for 4 am GMT which is a better time for us in Australia!)

Did you ever have a book that you intended to read but never quite got round to it? Or an author perhaps? For me it was Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I once even had a book out of the library, 100 Years of Solitude, but for one reason or another, didn't even open the book before returning it. It is a shame that it took his recent death to remind me that here was an author who I'd wanted to read for many years, but never had. Today I bought 'Love in the Time of Cholera' which I will start soon after I finish this blog post. (Here's a nice tribute about him on the Huffington Post) I also bought Dan Brown's 'Inferno' which takes me back to when I first came to Australia, a bit over 9 years ago. I took a Cathay Pacific flight from Heathrow to Melbourne via Hong Kong, and on that flight I read 'The Da Vinci Code', or at least most of it!


So I guess I'm saying in this post that 'new' is good, but so is 'familiar'. Finding the right balance for each of us, is the key to happiness. I'll be writing more non chess posts on Sundays, and hopefully giving my opinion about some coffee which I haven't written about for a while. That reminds me, it's a while since I've been to some really good cafe's that I must try again, and then there are plenty out there that I haven't tried, though my regular haunts are pretty good.

Australian Chess Championships

The 2014 Australian Chess Championships have had great coverage so far. The website is excellent, there is coverage on TWIC and besides this blog, 2 others are writing about tournament: IM Alex Wohl is writing as well as playing, and Chief Arbiter Kerry Stead is also writing about the event as well as working tirelessly arbitering, entering games, and anything else that needs to be done. So an official view, an international chess news view, a competitor's view, an arbiter's view and a spectator's view. What more could you want?

Top seed, Russian GM Vasily Papin

The tournament has begun to take shape, with visiting Russian GM Papin the man to beat. On 3/3 today he was paired with one of Australia's great hopes for the future, IM Bobby Cheng. The game ended in a draw by perpetual after 30 moves, and I guess both players will be satisfied with that result.

IM Bobby Cheng focussed against GM Papin

The draw between the 2 leaders gave others a chance, and it was IM Moulthun Ly who took full advantage with a win against IM Max Illingworth. Behind the 3 leaders there is a group of 6 players just half a point behind, GM's Tu and Johansen, WGM Sukander, IM's Solomon and Bjelobrk and FM Anton Smirnov. Tomorrow should be a big sorting out with another double round, and it will start with some great pairings as Aussie young guns IM's Ly-Cheng face off on board 1, while visiting GM's Papin-Tu play on board 2. This is definitely a round to follow live!

GM Johansen (with his back to us) moves into equal second with a win against IM James Morris

IM Moulthun Ly (right) making an early move in his victory against IM Max Illingworth

Indonesian WGM Irine Kharisma Sukander  also in the group just half a point behind the leaders.

This position made it onto the daily newspaper Chess Today as one of the puzzles of the day! It comes from the first round game between  Jason Tang and Anton Smirnov. Anton as black has an amazing protected passed pawn on b2 but how to take advantage of this? Anton played the fantastic 36..Rb3!! based on the fact that the rook can't be taken and threatening to play Rc3-c1. Jason prevented the rook coming to c3 with 37.Kd4, but Anton then just started taking pawns 37..Kxd6 and the h-pawn will soon fall also.

Future Australian Champion (?) Anton Smirnov

I'm not going to say much about the Reserves and Challengers tournaments until the rest day on Monday. However, it is great to see admininstrators doing well over the board, so congrats to Mark Stokes on leading the Challengers, while it is also good to see a not too frequent player doing well in the Reserves; congrats to Derek Yu who is the only player on 4/4.

The final thought for the day. The hardest thing in chess must be to play a good friend. I've always found it difficult, though thankfully haven't had to play really close friends that often. Imagine what it must be like to play a sibling, or close family relative?

Stojic Brothers Svetozar (left) and FM Dusan in round 4. They are also both on the organising committee for the tournament

Return To Play

I've slowly come to realise that part of my lethargy since coming back from holiday has been due to a lack of playing chess. Yes, I admit that I'm missing playing chess tournaments and over the past few days I've come to a decision. In 2014 I will be listed on the FIDE list, and will be playing events again. Have I been inspired by the World Championship match? Probably not, though I have been following it. I'm personally not sure that a match is the best medium for selling the World Championship to a wider non playing audience (if this is even possible), and I'm not sure whether it is the best way to decide on a champion, though of course there will always be problems with any system. Certainly the most exciting World Championship events in recent times (probably since Seville 1987) have been the tournaments in 2005 and 2007 played under the double round robin system and maybe the fact that there are more than 1 game played each day allows for more excitement per round.

Anyway, getting back to my return to chess, I have made a further decision. It seems to me that if I can be bothered to pay out to play chess, then I should make the best of it, and try to improve my game and return to the 2200+ level, and maybe even to the 2300 level. Is it possible to do this in my late 40's? Have I got it in me to up my game a level? I guess only time will tell, but I feel that I need to try. So my return to chess comes with an aim to regain my best chess, and that means working on the game. That is good news for this blog, which will begin to see more chess content again.

Another issue is how I'm going to relist on FIDE. I have to choose between a) paying a membership to the English Chess Federation (something I didn't want to do); b) paying FIDE to transfer my federation to Australia: c) playing under no flag and paying a fee per tournament I play. Of these, I'm leaning towards the first which might prove to be the most expensive in the long run, but will mean me giving my money to a national federation (the ECF) rather than FIDE. It means I will have to play under the English flag, but that is better than not playing at all in my opinion. I would much rather transfer to Australia, but I really have an issue with the transfer fee imposed (250 Euro's) which basically covers changing my fed from ENG to AUS on the FIDE site and is a blatant money grab by an organisation which is a blatant money grabber. Funnily enough, this is a one off payment and the Australian Chess Federation do not charge their members directly, whereas the ECF do, so over the years I would probably pay more for being a member of the ECF. I know, I'm irrational, but the year off chess had made me think about how I want to participate and who I want to support in the world of chess, and FIDE are not an organisation near the top of my sympathy list. However, it's difficult to play much quality chess in Australia outside the FIDE rating system, so I feel I have to join if I want to play the tournaments that I enjoy. Ok, rant over.

And while I'm not happy with chess politics (like the European Chess Union threatening chess servers with legal action if they broadcast live games from the European Teams Championship without their permission), and while I was hoping for more action in the World Championship (the games have been fascinating, however) the game itself is still fantastic. Have a guess what 2543 rated Cuban IM Yuri Gonzalez played after the moves 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nc6 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nd7 6.Bd3 f6 in a game at the Panama Open last week.

What is worse, the move he chose has been played well over 50 times before. Chess really is a great game, and I'll confirm your suspicions of what white played next time.

Superstition

It amazes me how caught up we are with superstition and belief in the weird and supernatural. Of course, I'm an atheist, a rationalist, a republican. I hold no truck with superstitions or the supernatural. Saying that, I love to read novels with a tinge of fantasy, with a hint of the supernatural. Besides genuine fantasy literature, many of the novels I've read this year have had a twist of the unreal in them. I've read ghost stories (though I don't believe in ghosts), stories with characters with supernatural powers, or witches (though I prefer to think that incidences of these powers come from other people's slander rather than innate ability), and novels where fate or predetermination plays a role in the plot (though I believe we determine our own fate).

Zuni Badger fetish (New Mexico)

A lot of people have lucky objects with them: charms, stones, toys, mascots, books, pens, coins...in fact almost any object can be perceived to bring a measure of good fortune into a person's life. I'll tell you an interesting story (though, of course, I don't believe it had anything to do with fate or luck). In 2003 Caroline and I traveled to the USA and drove through New England in the fall. We landed in New York City and drove along the coast to Boston. We then drove through the White Mountains up to Canada and spent a very wet time in Montreal. We drove back down to New York City through New York State which truly was beautiful when we were there. Funnily enough, rather than Woodstock or Sleepy Hollow we really liked an industrial town on the Hudson called Nyack. Don't know why, but we did. We had a pleasant lunch, and went into a typical tourist type shop which had a lot of native American items for sale. Caroline decided to buy a Zuni Fetish. In fact, she usually loves Native American silver jewelry, but she was drawn almost straight to the small stone carvings. One in particular caught her eye, a badger which we ended up buying and taking away back to England. Almost from that point in time, it was our desired goal to emigrate from the UK. Initially we wanted to go to Italy, but the language barrier would probably have been too hard to overcome, so we looked at the English speaking world and settled on Australia. Within 2 years of arriving back from our New England road trip we were in Australia with permanent residency. The badger fetish in Zuni culture represents "perseverance and the ability to reach a desired goal". Within 2 years our goal had been reached. However, as soon as we left the shores of England, the fetish disappeared, almost as if it were no longer needed by us, and had done its job.

Spooky? Lucky I don't believe in that sort of thing. In fact, luck has nothing to do with it, as I don't believe in that either! Ok, I admit I carry a jade turtle around with me, but that is more to do with OCD rather than superstition. It has absolutely nothing to do with the symbolism of longevity and strength that the turtle represents in Chinese culture. That's the same as the pen that I have to use to write the moves down in my games of chess. It's nothing to do with luck, I just like using my fountain pen to write the moves down. And of course if I don't have my pen with me, I have to use a pencil rather than a different pen. Superstition? Bah humbug, I'm just a bit quirky!

My chess pen, and jade turtle

Virtually everyone has these little quirks, and some things that they feel are special to them in some way. It isn't necessarily a superstition, though habits can become so strong that they feel like a superstition, like breaking the habit will lead to catastrophic results. Anyone who has tried to give up smoking will know what I'm talking about, though there are things we do every day that can be habitual turned superstitious. The order we put our clothes on, where we park, what we eat, (or the way we eat it), where we go, and how we get there to name just a few. Habits are hard to break, but that's what they are. Just habits, and there is nothing fateful which will happen if we don't do these things. Nothing bad will happen if we don't have enough milk for our Corn Flakes on a Thursday morning at 6.54 am.

I have decided to take a break from blogging about chess today as it is good practice for my upcoming roadtrip to the USA with Caroline next week, when chess will be totally on hold. I hold very firm rational views and treat superstition with the scepticism it deserves. I'll be back to writing about chess on Saturday. Tomorrow is Friday 13th so I won't tempt the gremlins to enter this blog.

Good and Bad in Chess

I must be getting into the modern era of connected worlds, as I set up a Google alert for the term 'coffee house chess'. I've picked up some interesting emails over time but the latest is one worth sharing. Apparently, in Ohio, USA there is a Coffee House Chess League, and some great individuals doing some amazing work at grass roots level. Check out the article, it's uplifting. Of course, the success of chess in any area is largely down to the strengths of the local volunteer force. It takes dedicated individuals to run clubs, leagues, associations, and even tournaments. I've found out over the years that if you want something done, the best thing is to get up and try to do it yourself. Get a few interested, ask for a little help which will generally be given, and before you know it, a club, or league or tournament will be organised.

I guess because of this voluntary nature to much of chess officialdom (and because we're human!) most players like to see a good giant slaying game, where the higher rated player gets taken down a peg, or ten. In a few days time, the World Cup will be starting in Tromso Norway. The format is a 128 player knockout of mini matches over 2 games, with rapid/blitz tie breaks if needed. It is an exciting format, though just how well it works out a champion is up for debate which was used in the early 1990's in the famous Tilburg tournaments, causing some disdain at the time if I remember rightly. Funnily enough, that first Tilburg event in 1992 was won by the recent Dortmund Champion, Michael Adams, defeating last year's World Championship candidate Boris Gelfand in the final match. Gelfand has won a big knockout event as well, the World Cup in 2009. The number 1 seed for this event in current world number 2 Levon Aronian who has also won a previous version of this event, in 2005. Australian fans will be hoping for a miracle as Igor Bjelobrk faces number 4 seed Alexander Grischuk. And English fans will be hoping that the Gawain Jones won't be too tired after playing lots of summer chess, including the British Championships which finishes the day before the World Cup starts! Adams is also playing and will have had nearly a fortnight's break since his Dortmund win. I'm not going to be sticking my neck out with predictions, but the match of the first round that particularly interests me is Shirov-Yifan Hou. Shirov is a remarkable player, but can play fairly averagely at times, while the ex Women's World Champion is capable of almost anything on her day.

Meanwhile at the British Championship David Howell overcame Simon Williams to maintain his half point lead in the tournament from Mark Hebden. Hebden is also half point clear of the chasing pack which includes Gawain Jones, but the two top seeds are not drawn together in this round. Howell plays another Grand Master, Gormally, while Jones plays Ameet Ghasi. In between these 2, Hebden has to play 'Mr Rock Solid' Bogdan Lalic. There are only 3 rounds left and 1.5 points between first a fifteenth. It will be a nail biting finish!

Looking at what I've written so far, there's a lot that's good in the chess world. But let's make no mistake that there's some bad as well. I'm not a big fan of FIDE, but I was encouraged to see they are trying to develop an online playing server that has built in strict anti cheating detection software. After the cheating cases in Bulgaria, Dortmund and Russia, anti cheating measures are high up in the priorities of organisers int he chess world. But will the new FIDE site really be able to provide a better online service than the established commercial sites such as ICC, Playchess and Chess.com? Well we won't know for a while, as the site is currently running as a beta test version, no doubt working out whether FIDE will be able to deliver on their promises. So I registered, and joined the site, and have 30 days free membership to check it out. I downloaded the client software and apparently, all will be up and running from October and then full memberships will be offered. So I played a game, the interface was ok but generally speaking it seems no better than playchess, ICC or chess.com. We will have to wait for the full product to see what features it will have that are new (if any) and the full playability of the site, including the number of regular members.

Finally, I'd like to say thank you to Michael Yip for mentioning my blog on a Canadian chess forum, and welcome to any new Canadian readers. And we've reached the 40 milestone! That's how many days before I'm out of here and on the holiday roadtrip of a lifetime.

Summer Chess Action

That might seem a funny thing to say for someone who is in mid winter, but up in the Northern Hemisphere, it is summer holiday time and there is an absolute abundance of chess across Europe. Australian GM David Smerdon is currently on 3.5/4 in the Politiken Cup in Denmark, half a point off the 9 leaders, in this 10 round swiss. Things didn't look too clever for David yesterday, but he came up with a great save.

As white Smerdon had lost a pawn, then sacrificed a piece to gain nowhere near enough compensation in the form of activity. Here, he played 25.Rxf6!? Bxf6 26.Bxf6 Rf8, and white should probably take on h8 and try to grovel through a really bad ending a pawn down. Smerdon tried a different tack!

27.Ng4, and got away with it! Black should really now take the bishop on f6, but possibly thought of more. 27..h5?

Ok, so it's white to play and draw! Answer tomorrow :)

(It's tomorrow!!) David played 28.Re7! [threatening 29.Rg7# so black has to move a rook. He can't move the f-rook as there would follow (eg) 28..Ra8 29.Rg7+ Kf8 30.Ne5 and black will have to give up a lot of material to avoid mate. So he has to play] 28..Rh7 29.Nh6!+ Rxh6 30.Rg7+ Kh8 31.Rf7+ Kg8 32.Rg7+ with a perpetual draw, and an excellent save!
Smerdon is on the same points as legends Jan Timman and Lajos Portisch, and I'm currently watch Portisch holding his own as black in a Scotch game against Parimarjan Negi. Meanwhile across the Channel, the British Championships opened yesterday with no acceleration. The 11 round Championship will truly come around in week 2 when the placings are sorted out, but it's still quite interesting to see seeds fall, and some classy GM moves against amateur opposition. My favourite move of the first round (of the games I've seen so far) was GM Tony Kosten's winning move.

Kosten playing white has an amazing position, and just needs to find a coup de grace! There might be a number of winning moves here, but none are as stylish as 27.Rc6! 1-0

Grandmaster Glenn Flear had to concede a draw, but perhaps the biggest upset was William Foo beating IM Richard Bates. I know nothing about William Foo other than he is 16 years old (if you believe chessbase) but his play was mightily impressive against Bates. Bates took one risk too many, and Foo was able to win a pawn, which he converted remarkably easily.


I have to say that the website is excellent (especially so after the disappointment of the World Youth Olympiad website) with lots of info. Apparently, Keith Arkell won the Bullet challenge against Gary Lane on Sunday. You can see pictures and read about it on the Championship blog.

Blink and you can miss it

It seems that the past month has flown past for me, and I can barely credit what has happened with chess. From a personal point of view, the chess club that I helped to start has been a great success, but more of that in a future post. I have nearly finished my term's worth of coaching, and am preparing for an endgame camp that we are running in the holiday period. This is very exciting for me, as the challenge of teaching endgames has always been appealing to me, and seeing how weak young players usually are in this department of their game, we are hoping that the camp will pay big dividends in the rising strength of our group of young players. Personally, I haven't played any tournament chess, but I am hoping to get to a few tournaments in the second half of the year.

Nevertheless, chess has been happening and Melbourne is as active as ever. The Victorian Championship has just finished with a convincing victory for teenager, Bobby Cheng. There is still a round to go, but Bobby cannot be caught with a score of 9/10. Next come 2 more young guns, Ari Dale and Justin Tan who are on 6.5 which shows that the new generation have found their place among the elite of Victorian chess. There is also a Reserves event taking place and this is being headed, not surprisingly, by Pano Skiotis. Pano's rating makes him eligible for the Championship so I'm not sure why is playing in the Reserves event. He is currently 1 point clear of young MCC player Jack Puccini, and I'm not sure what will happen if Pano wins the event as the winner qualifies to play in the 2014 Championship, though Pano shouldn't really be playing in the Reserves, so perhaps that part of the prize will go to the next player?

While I now am dedicated to making the new club in Glen Eira a success, I still like to follow the events at the Melbourne Chess Club. Currently, the City of Melbourne Open is reaching the business end of the tournament Mirko Rujevic has the tournament wrapped up with a round to spare. Malcolm Pyke and Bosko Mijatovic are his closest rivals on an otherwise excellent score of 6/8, but this is still too far behind Mirko's 7.5/8. I'm sure that there are a number of happy players with their performances, but the name that stands out for me is Daniel Dobos who has scored 4.5/8 despite being the second lowest rated player in the tournament.

The MCC also had an unsavoury moment with the banning of ex-President, David Beaumont. I am not sure about all the details of this incident, but I have seen David who is very unhappy about the whole episode and who feels he has been unfairly treated. Of course, the banning of anyone from a small organisation such as the Melbourne Chess Club is not to be taken lightly. The MCC committee followed a rigorous procedure, and the eventual decision was held at an EGM. I'm still unsure of what David did to warrant the ban, or what he was officially banned for but it would appear that he will not be playing at the MCC again.

This weekend sees the start of the Victorian Junior Championship, held at Canterbury Chess Club. As a coach I have urged my students to play, and hope to see them achieve their potential.

First Post in a Month

Well, it's been over a month since I last posted anything, and the only excuse I have is that I've been incredibly busy, working up to 70 hour weeks, and have felt too tired in my spare time to blog, or have had other priorities. To be honest, when I read that sentence, I feel it's pretty lame. A wise man once told me that to best utilise my time, I should break it down into small segments and try to achieve something within each segment. So, if you say to yourself you are going to do A, then B, and finally C, in a day, the chances are that with some other commitments, some prevarication and some natural human laziness, C will be pushed aside to be completed the next day. However, the next day comes with it's own set of tasks, so C may be pushed back to D on the next day and so on, until it is a forgotten to do task that simply slips away. Now, if instead of trying to do 3 things in a day, 3 hours are chosen during the day to achieve something, then it is probable that all 3 things will get done (assuming they are no more than an hour's worth of work each), and it is even possible that the necessary tasks are achieved within the first 2 hours, leaving the third on to do something else. Even better, is to split the time further into 30 minute or 15 minute segments. This would mean that quick tasks, such as writing an email,don't take a whole hour. So I have decided that during my busy schedule I need to prioritise my time in a more effective way, splitting it into 15 partitions where I can attribute time to getting this blog back on track.

Cool, that was one 15 minute segment successfully utilised!

Of course a lot has happened in the past month in the chess world and while I've tried to follow the exploits of the top players, I've found it difficult in the current work climate. The thing that really got me excited was that this blog has had a heap of viewers recently, and as I haven't been writing I wasn't sure why. Well, it seems that this blog comes up near the top of the google search engine for "chess blog" which surprised me, and then I found that top blogger, GM Kevin Spraggett, had linked to me on his excellent blog (note this has recently changed from blogger to wordpress. I hope Kevin gets along well with wordpress as I had trouble finding a chess viewer that worked well with wordpress which is why I changed to blogger). So I suppose I have to start producing some new content to keep these new readers happy.

I will ask my chess readers to be tolerant with me for the next couple of months, as I will then be going on holiday to the USA with my wife, and if I spend some time on this blog sharing my excitement of the upcoming roadtrip then please just go with it, and indulge me. I've also joined Goodreads which is great for finding ideas for spending some relaxing 15 minute sessions losing oneself in a good book. I'm currently about two thirds of the way through "Oscar and Lucinda" by Peter Carey, and I would have to recommend it to all my Australian friends (and all readers as it is a beautifully crafted novel) as it addresses some fundamental issues endemic to Australian society.

Wow, another 15 minutes well spent :)

I guess I should sign off now, and spend the next 15 minutes that I have spare improving my time management skills, so that I can fit more into the day.

It's been a while...

I've found it difficult to keep posting on this blog for a number of reasons. Firstly, this is the busiest time of the year for me with work, and I've had a particularly heavy couple of weeks. Secondly, I've not been particularly inspired by anything to write. The Oceanic zonal produced some great results, but it is rather disappointing to see no live games in this day and age. Even without live games, there could have been some games published  after each round. My congratulations go to the winners, Igor Bjelobrk (now an IM) and Irina Berezina, and of course to all who competed. Young Victorian Ari Dale came away with IM title while other youngsters, Justin Tan and Anton Smirnov took FM titles. I have defended these titles in the past from people who claim they are soft by saying that when young players win them, they will eventually grow into them, and we have evidence of this with James Morris now reaching the 2400 level and Bobby Cheng quickly surpassing the 2300 level for the FM title he won.

I liked the finish to this game from 12 year old Anton Smirnov from Sydney. I'm always telling my students that they have to be aware of pawn pushes in the centre, and Anton opened the position to his advantage with 13.d5! Bxd5 [Actually, the really nice variation comes after 13..exd5 when white has 14.Nxg6!! clearing the way for the dark squared bishop to come to g5 and win black's pinned bishop on e7 14..hxg6 15.Bg5+-] 14.Nxd5 which wins a piece as black can't take back 14..Qxd5 15.Be4, and 14..exd5 15.Bg5

Meanwhile at the Melbourne Chess Club, the City of Melbourne tournament rolls on with a small field. It is all quite tightly packed as no one has managed to make it to 3/3 and so 11 out of the 23 players are within half a point of the lead. Unless someone starts to make a run, this could be a very close event. Hopefully someone will take charge as the event nears the half way mark. The MCC has also been hosting the Victorian Championship which started this week. I haven't played the Vic Champs for a few years now, and it is actually a tournament I miss. It is a bizarre event spread over a number of venues with sometimes 3 games a week. This year is a pretty good field (it is always a pretty good field!) and we can only assume the strength of the fields will get better in years to come as a new crop of talented youngsters join the ranks of established top players. Youth is represented by Cheng, Dale, Tan, Zelesco and Zuhao Li, while Dusan Stojic is only in his mid 20's and Domagoj Dragicevic about 30. There were no draws in the first round with wins for Ari Dale against FM Eddy Levi, IM Rujevic against FM Dragicevic, FM Cheng against Tan, Zelesco against Sirota, FM Stojic against FM Hacche and Li against Beaumont. But as they say, there is a long way to go yet!

Amazing Move

Yesterday I posted this position:

It is an analysis position from a game I was looking at. It is black to move who has both knights currently attacked. Amazingly, he can throw one even further into danger by 1..Nc3!! The resulting positions are difficult to follow and would be a nightmare to work out over the board in a game. Here's some analysis which I would love people to add to, improve upon, or disagree with :)

Chess Position of the Day

I was looking at some games and in the analysis of one I came across the following position.

It's black to move. Black is a pawn up, but both of his knights are attacked and the white knight on c4 is waiting to launch itself somewhere discovering an attack from f1 on the black queen. However, white's position is hardly a bed of roses, underdeveloped, with a central king and a miserable looking queen on b1.

I'll post my analysis of this position tomorrow when I finish work. It's well worth having a look at and trying to find some moves.

Lethargy

I have had a strange week. I have felt lethargic which has no doubt been somewhat to do with the horrific car accident that involved friends of mine. This is probably why I haven't posted for a week. I just haven't felt like saying anything. Thankfully for the survivors of the crash it appears that they are all on the mend. It will probably be a long, and at times painful, process to full recovery but that process seems to have begun with some success.

This week saw the penultimate round of the Melbourne Chess Club Championship. Guy West was leading the event and he won his game this week against Domagoj Dragicevic. This puts Guy a point clear of his nearest rival, Laurent Michaille who had a good win against Chris Wallis. The game between Justin Tan and Ari Dale has been postponed probably because both players were in the Sydney International Open. The result of this game will be crucial for the final results. If Justin wins, then he will join Laurent a point behind Guy, while if Ari wins, he will be just a half point behind Guy. This group of players will form the top places of the event.

However, in my opinion the "oomph" seems to have been knocked out of the event by the tragic events of last week. The MCC may be attempting to get back to normal, but it may take a while before things are truly functioning as they should. Besides the Tan-Dale game, there were 3 other postponements, there were 2 games won on forfeit, and 3 players who took 0 point byes. I can't say I blame any of these players for not wanting to play, whatever their reasons. I certainly haven't felt like doing very much the past week.

I would like to say well done to Anthony Hain for playing this week. Anthony was involved in the car accident last week and still managed to play his game in the club championship. This fighting spirit is typical of the young men who survived the accident which reinforces my belief that they will eventually come through this. The final round of the tournament will take place next Monday when we will see if anyone can stop Guy West winning another title (is this going to be his 12th?).

While I haven't felt like doing much, I've had to start work this week running a holiday program. We give lessons at these programs and the theme has been about sacrificial attacks. So I've shown a few queen sac's, a few crazy gambits, and the Evergreen Game between Anderssen and Dufresne, one of my favourites. If you have never seen it, then you really should, the final attack against the king in the centre is fantastic, especially seeing white is facing mate in one himself.


I notice that the MCC is offering a brilliancy prize for a game played in an MCC event in 2013. I wonder how brilliant it will be compared to this classic!

Chess again...

After the shock of the past few days, I'm bringing this blog back to it's chess and coffee content. I'm still a little dazed as I'm sure most of the Melbourne chess community are, and so this blog might not move too fast for a while yet. Hopefully you'll understand and be patient with me.

I did leave some tactics and endgames on Monday and never got back with the answers. Well, the endgames are going to be serialized here, but I can look at the tactics now.

It was white to play and win here. Ukrainian GM Gennadi Kuzmin played 22.Nxd6! pinning his own knight and after 22..Ne8 he unpinned with the amazing 23.Nxf7!! leaving the following position

The point is that 23..Rxd4 loses to the double check 24.Nh6+ Kh8 25.Rxf8# Ftacnik tried to close the f-file with 23..Bf6 but resigned after 24.Ne5+!! when the bishop on f6 becomes pinned so after 24..Kh8 white can take the exchange 25.Nxd7 as 25..Bxd4 loses immediately to 26.Rxf8#

The other position led to a classic tactical shot.

Kuzmin-Sveshnikov USSR ch 1973 it is white to play and win. Kuzmin came out with the double bishop sacrifice 17.Bxh7+!! Kxh7 18.Qh5+ Kg8 19.Bxg7!! [threatening 20.Qh8#] 19..Kxg7

White has sacrificed both bishops to destroy black's king cover. After 20.Qg4+ Kh7 21.Rf3 black resigned as he will have to give up his queen to avoid immediate mate.

This is, of course, an excellent tactic to bring off in a tournament game, but Kuzmin would have been fully aware of the double bishop sacrifice, as should all chess players. The famous Lasker-Bauer game is the classic early version of this great attack:

Here's the famous position after black's 14th move, and it is probably easy to spot what the second World Champion did as white in this position now that you already know the theme. Here's the game:

Lots of chess action, but none live!

Unfortunately with the time zone differences between the UK and Australia I am not able to follow the Candidates tournament live. I'm still ardently following the event, just after the fact. And that loses some of it's immediacy and tension. I love watching live games, seeing the action unfold, and trying to guess the moves and ideas that the players are coming up with. Then perhaps comparing how my ideas and moves match up to their own. It's actually a good way of improving your thinking, as when you propose a move that isn't played, you try to justify it and then if you finally admit your move was worse than the played move, it teaches you how you should be thinking and playing.

It is doubly unfortunate for me and Aussies who can't follow the action live, because there has been plenty of action and drama. I'm sure there is still some action and drama to come, especially as the field is relatively close still. The top 5 players are separated by 1.5 points and with 5 rounds still to go, any of them could still finish first. Of course, Magnus Carlsen must now be the favourite to take outright first, though he is only half a point ahead of Aronian and a point clear of Kramnik. Boris Gelfand has surprised everyone by coming out of the first half of the tournament in poor form, to score 2 wins in excellent fashion at the start of the second half. It is probably too much to ask for Gelfand to maintain that momentum, but he will be fully pumped for his next game against Carlsen who has been hanging on rather than moving forward for the past couple of rounds. While he's out of contention, I was happy to see Ivanchuk win a game. I don't like to see any player without a win in a tournament, and I've been in that position myself a few times pretty deep into events so I know how it feels.

What was triply unfortunate for me was that the live action that I was looking forward to at the Melbourne Chess Club was switched off last night. So I'll have to wait to see those games as well! And to make matters worse, it looked a fascinating round (a lot of byes, but I guess the Jewish Pesach required that quite a few players couldn't attend). I would have eagerly followed FM Wallis-IM West on board 1. Neither of these players give any quarter and both would have been out for a win. The game ended in a draw which leaves Guy still first. Ari Dale could have caught him with a win, but he could also only draw with FM Dragicevic. Justin Tan won his game to move within a point of West. The top places are:

6. West
5.5 Dale
5. Wallis, Dragicevic, Tan
4.5. Pyke, Beaumont, Hacche

The winner will come from this group of players, though Guy West controls his own destiny. The postponed games Drew (3.5)-Stojic (4) and Dizdarevic (3.5)-Michaille (4) will also place players into these groups.

So no live action from London or the MCC. So I'll have to regurgitate what I've been telling my advanced kids today. While it's a good idea to play to your own strengths, I think you should vary your style depending on the strength of your opponent. It makes sense, if your playing someone who you believe to be weaker than yourself, to play a safe game and to take no risks. The chances are that the longer the game goes, the more likely it is that the weaker player will blunder, so a stronger player wants those games to go a long time. Conversely, if you're playing someone you believe to be much stronger than you, it makes more sense to try something risky, and bring the game into a tactical mess where your stronger opponent is as likely to blunder as you. Remember, the longer the game the more chance you will blunder, so keep the game short and try to blast your opponent away. If it fails, then at least you will have some tactical ideas to look at, and you will have saved yourself the horror of being slowly ground down over a long time.

To make this point I found a game played in the recent Rejkyavik Open where a 1900 player smashes a 2473 rated IM with the Muzio Gambit. I found this game with some pretty extensive motes from Michael Yip's excellent Budapest Chess News. Just the game is good, but if you want the notes, you can go to the site and download the files for free. Check it out, and watch the fun :)