In this age of the internet it is easy to follow events in a variety of ways. The London Olympics was covered excellently on social media sites like twitter and facebook with pictures and video uploaded, results posted regularly and promptly, and even reactions from the athletes themselves posted soon after their competitions (or sometimes before!).
The 40th chess Olympiad, to be held in Istanbul is scheduled to start on 27th August with the first round the following day. The tournament is an 11 round swiss with the last round on the 9th September. There is an open section and a women's Olympiad (as well as numerous side events), and while each of us has our favourites, I will be hoping for good performances from the Australians and English. There is also a youth Olympiad taking place at the same time in Istanbul though earlier in the day, so the young players can watch the superstars playing!
So how to follow the action online? Well, there are a host of great news sites that will cover the event. As I'm interested in the English team, my first stop will be Mark Crowther's The Week In Chess. I also expect excellent personal coverage with photos and video from Alexandra Kosteniuk's blog. And full round up's and commentary can usually be found on the chessbase news site. There are plenty more, but these are the 3 that I regularly use to keep abreast of news.
Probably the best thing about the internet is following the games live (or with a slight time delay). But where can the games be viewed? The Official site should have a live games page though I don't see one set up yet. But probably the best place to watch the games is on the playing sites ICC or Playchess. These are both premium sites which require paid registration, but a 1 week free trial for new members is available. I'm a member of ICC and will watch some games broadcast there. As well as the games, there is radio commentary from Grandmasters and discussion of the games as they are happening (though this can become a bit annoying and distracting from the games themselves). There are other live sites including TWIC and Chessdom.
A recent discovery for me has been Twitter. To be honest, I never really understood what it was about but I made a big effort to work it out and have found it to be very useful in finding new information. For instance, I follow certain posters who write about subjects that I find interesting, such as History, Photography, and of course, Chess. A lot of the top players use social network sites, and I currently follow Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura, Sergey Karjakin and Maguns Carlsen (apparently he was playing basketball in New York earlier today!) though I will start following some of the top English and Aussie players. There are also some great commentators who use Twitter, of which Mig Greengard is among the best (plenty of Kasparov news).
I think it promises to be a great event with a number of strong teams fighting for the top places. But it will be a great experience for all the players. There's likely to be about 160 countries represented with the minnows from Nepal being the latest to be announced!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Chess Fillm, 8k Radius
At the local cinema in Elsternwick, director Clayton Jacobson (director of "Kenny") has put together some excellent short films called 8K radius dealing with people who live within an 8 kilometre radius of Elsternwick. Luckily for us chess fans, one of the people he filmed was local young talent Charlotte Dilnutt. I have had the pleasure of working with Charlotte at chess, and count myself a close friend to all the family. Anyway, here's the film, which is beautifully shot. Enjoy!
Monday, August 20, 2012
Compartmentalising
About 6 months ago I split my blog in 2. This part remained dedicated to chess whereas material regarding coffee and other things in my life moved to a personal blog here. I have been able to post to both blogs, though this one stays updated more regularly, probably because chess is such a big part of my life. And I'm not the only one who splits their blogs. One of my favourite chess bloggers, Alexandra Kosteniuk has 2 sites, one of which is more personal to her, while the other deals with more general issues.
Well, I've decided to go one better (or should that be worse) and I'm splitting my blogosphere into 3! Besides this blog which will continue to deal with chess generally, and my own personal chess experiences, and my non chess blog, I am starting a blog to deal with chess in my city, Melbourne.
This third blog comes about because of a need for this thing in my area. To be honest, the state association's website is woeful. I went to look for some information about chess club's the other day, and couldn't find any. Chess Victoria is an organisation made up of a group of affiliated clubs and those clubs aren't even listed on their website! This didn't use to be the case, so I'm not sure what is happening. Chess Victoria used to link to their affiliate clubs, or at least acknowledge those clubs existed, although they never went further and mentioned non affiliated places where people could play chess, such as the State Library of Victoria.
Now if I was new to chess and wanted to play, or a chess player who was new to the area, one of the first things I'd do was visit some prominent chess sites, and there should be none more prominent than the state association's site. And from it, I would find out very little. The reason I know this information is that I know people who have done exactly that. They have visited Chess Victoria's website and come away with nothing. These same people then contact the chess shop I work at asking for information about chess in their area, although I guess many more don't bother and the chess community loses a group of possible new members.
Anyway, rant over. Just to say that much of the local chess content that this site has been covering will now cross to the Melbourne Chess News site, where I hope to compile a comprehensive list of links, a database of games, and a set of news stories about chess in Victoria and Melbourne.
Well, I've decided to go one better (or should that be worse) and I'm splitting my blogosphere into 3! Besides this blog which will continue to deal with chess generally, and my own personal chess experiences, and my non chess blog, I am starting a blog to deal with chess in my city, Melbourne.
This third blog comes about because of a need for this thing in my area. To be honest, the state association's website is woeful. I went to look for some information about chess club's the other day, and couldn't find any. Chess Victoria is an organisation made up of a group of affiliated clubs and those clubs aren't even listed on their website! This didn't use to be the case, so I'm not sure what is happening. Chess Victoria used to link to their affiliate clubs, or at least acknowledge those clubs existed, although they never went further and mentioned non affiliated places where people could play chess, such as the State Library of Victoria.
Now if I was new to chess and wanted to play, or a chess player who was new to the area, one of the first things I'd do was visit some prominent chess sites, and there should be none more prominent than the state association's site. And from it, I would find out very little. The reason I know this information is that I know people who have done exactly that. They have visited Chess Victoria's website and come away with nothing. These same people then contact the chess shop I work at asking for information about chess in their area, although I guess many more don't bother and the chess community loses a group of possible new members.
Anyway, rant over. Just to say that much of the local chess content that this site has been covering will now cross to the Melbourne Chess News site, where I hope to compile a comprehensive list of links, a database of games, and a set of news stories about chess in Victoria and Melbourne.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Best in the West - More pictures
Hobson's Bay Rogue's gallery!
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| Steve Hogan |
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| Dean Hogg |
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| Chris Mullin |
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| Tony Davis |
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| Start on round 4 Canfell-Dragicevic and Puccini-Dale (nearest) |
Last gasp post: I won't be here much longer but I can say this. Hobson's Bay Chess Club have put on a good weekender which again goes to prove how many good players there are in the Melbourne area. A number of the young kids have proved competitive, taking points and draws from higher rated players. Even some of the giant killers have been slayed by a new breed. In the final round, Jack Puccini is playing his friend Ari Dale on board 2, knowing full well that Ari plays the Caro Kann as black. I don't know if Jack prepared this, but he played the 3.f3 fantasy variation and is currently an exchange up. Greg Canfell looks to be in control against Domagoj Dragicevic as the centre is just about to explode open.
After beating Ari Dale, Jack Puccini sits on the top of the ladder with one game to go above him. The board 1 game between Canfell and Dragicevic is still going on and it looks as Greg is going good. He is one pawn ahead, with all bishops and rooks still on, though Domagoj does have more active pieces for now. Personally, I wouldn't bet against the material.
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| Another giant-killer, Max Phillips |
Best in the West Day 2
It's a bit darker in the playing room today so the photo's will have to wait until later. Round 3 saw more upsets as the new generation of young players look for scalps to take. Perhaps the biggest result in this respect in the whole tournament was Max Phillips win over Kyle Gibson. However, Haran Salasan's (661) draw with Roland Brockman (1559) was a pretty good effort too. The swiss draw has produced a few draws in the past few rounds, which has left just 4 players at the top, Canfell, Tan, Matheson and Dragicevic. With only 2 rounds to go, there is no fear of quick draws happening on the top boards, and the game Tan-Canfell is an opposite side castling English Attack in a Scheveningen Sicilian while Matheson-Dragicevic is a Spanish where white has played an early d3 and no pieces have been taken leading to a complicated strategic game. Anyway, these players know that if they don't win, the group behind are ready to take their places at the top.
I must admit, I am really enjoying sitting and watching the progress of this tournament. It is giving me the desire to play chess again, and I think I will resurface at the MCC Open and Noble Park Open. I am analysing games of kids and kibitzing with players and it's great fun. I'm having to remember all those Open Games tricks for the benefit of the kids and then look at strategic considerations in complex middlegame positions that the top players are contesting. And, I'm actually getting to see the games, and the body language of the players, something I usually miss out on when I'm playing as I stay so focussed on my own game.
The top boards are reaching crescendo point. Tan-Canfell is a classic with thrust and parry, and when it is uploaded to tornelo it will be a game not to miss. Last I looked Justin had all the play, but Greg was a pawn (at least 1) up. Justin seemed unhappy, but the position is so complicated I cn't begin to fathom who will win. On board 2 Domagoj is a pawn up, but Laurence has some compensation in better piece placement, though maybe not full compensation.
We have a clear leader now. Domagoj converted his material advantage against Laurence, and unless I'm fully off the mark, it will be an all Noble Park leaderboard, as it looks to me as if Justin Tan is beating Greg Canfell. I for one will not be wanting to play the black side of the Sicilian against Justin in the near future as this game shows just how awesome he has become....Ok, so what do I know. As great an attack as Justin built up, Canfell is up to the defence. Lesser players would have crumbled, but what makes the top players so good is how they can defend. Greg Canfell is now winning a game that most of us would have lost earlier. With both players in time trouble, Canfell held his nerve and defended all that needed defending. This is a must see game!
It's interesting talking to these 2 players after the game. Both were happy with their positions. Justin was looking at lots of breakthroughs and missed a bishop move that lost him the game. Greg, on the other hand felt that he could always defend, and was happy with Qf8 that he felt held his position together. With both players down to about 5 minutes each at that point I guess that adrenalin and time become factors in the final result as well....Greg Canfell is uploading the game now, so we should be able to see it in full in the next minute or 2!
Here it is. Enjoy!
I must admit, I am really enjoying sitting and watching the progress of this tournament. It is giving me the desire to play chess again, and I think I will resurface at the MCC Open and Noble Park Open. I am analysing games of kids and kibitzing with players and it's great fun. I'm having to remember all those Open Games tricks for the benefit of the kids and then look at strategic considerations in complex middlegame positions that the top players are contesting. And, I'm actually getting to see the games, and the body language of the players, something I usually miss out on when I'm playing as I stay so focussed on my own game.
The top boards are reaching crescendo point. Tan-Canfell is a classic with thrust and parry, and when it is uploaded to tornelo it will be a game not to miss. Last I looked Justin had all the play, but Greg was a pawn (at least 1) up. Justin seemed unhappy, but the position is so complicated I cn't begin to fathom who will win. On board 2 Domagoj is a pawn up, but Laurence has some compensation in better piece placement, though maybe not full compensation.
We have a clear leader now. Domagoj converted his material advantage against Laurence, and unless I'm fully off the mark, it will be an all Noble Park leaderboard, as it looks to me as if Justin Tan is beating Greg Canfell. I for one will not be wanting to play the black side of the Sicilian against Justin in the near future as this game shows just how awesome he has become....Ok, so what do I know. As great an attack as Justin built up, Canfell is up to the defence. Lesser players would have crumbled, but what makes the top players so good is how they can defend. Greg Canfell is now winning a game that most of us would have lost earlier. With both players in time trouble, Canfell held his nerve and defended all that needed defending. This is a must see game!
It's interesting talking to these 2 players after the game. Both were happy with their positions. Justin was looking at lots of breakthroughs and missed a bishop move that lost him the game. Greg, on the other hand felt that he could always defend, and was happy with Qf8 that he felt held his position together. With both players down to about 5 minutes each at that point I guess that adrenalin and time become factors in the final result as well....Greg Canfell is uploading the game now, so we should be able to see it in full in the next minute or 2!
Here it is. Enjoy!
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Views of Best in the West
FM Domagoj Dragicevic. Angelo Tsagarakis chats with Ari Dale in the background
Justin Penrose faces Roland Brockman. FM Dusan Stojic stands while Justin Tan sits
Visiting FM Greg Canfell
Young Talent William Maligin
Junior battle: Ryan Kam versus Amelia Mendes
Sleeping on the job? Phillip Drew
Evergreen Richard Voon
Best in the West
The Hobson's Bay Chess Club annual weekender is currently at the end of round 1 with a record entry of 49 players. This is the 30th edition of this event that started in 1982. The majority of these are young players but there are some very strong players at the top headed by the 3 FM's Canfell, Stojic and Dragicevic. The tournament is a 5 round swiss event which might make it difficult to find a clear winner. All the results and games can be found on tornelo, the tournament management software that is being used.
It's perfect weather for playing chess, cold and windy with some pretty heavy showers. The venue is near the seafront in Altona and walks in between rounds certainly blow the cobwebs away!. The only casualty of the first round was Max Chew Lee who lost to local junior Edwin Zou. Max has been a great giant killer recently, but found himself on the other side of the coin in the first round. So the second round started with Voon-Canfell on the top board, still a sizable difference in the ratings but getting closer than the 1000+ point difference from the first round.
Second round is complete and the third is now underway. Local man Steve Hogan was the hero of the round drawing with Ari Dale. Playing black, Steve chose a Benko Gambit which was declined by Ari. The resulting positions were very unbalanced which always gives the lower rated player chances. The final position is a typical hypermodern victory, with white's central pawns drawn forward to a position where they seem very vulnerable.
It's perfect weather for playing chess, cold and windy with some pretty heavy showers. The venue is near the seafront in Altona and walks in between rounds certainly blow the cobwebs away!. The only casualty of the first round was Max Chew Lee who lost to local junior Edwin Zou. Max has been a great giant killer recently, but found himself on the other side of the coin in the first round. So the second round started with Voon-Canfell on the top board, still a sizable difference in the ratings but getting closer than the 1000+ point difference from the first round.
Second round is complete and the third is now underway. Local man Steve Hogan was the hero of the round drawing with Ari Dale. Playing black, Steve chose a Benko Gambit which was declined by Ari. The resulting positions were very unbalanced which always gives the lower rated player chances. The final position is a typical hypermodern victory, with white's central pawns drawn forward to a position where they seem very vulnerable.
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