A Microcosm of Life: Knowledge vs Intelligence by Dan Heisman Quote of the Month: Never confuse ignorance with stupidity. That was one of the many pieces of advice given to me by NM Richard Pariseau when I started working for him at the simulation lab of the Naval Air Development Center in the early 1970s. The corollary, of course, is “Never confuse knowledge with intelligence.” ...a mistake often made not only by the public in general, but chess players as well. This is a very important distinction for those trying to improve at chess. Advancing your chess knowledge is important, even crucial, but it doesn’t replace honing your skills, e.g., properly using your intel … [Read more...]
Deep Domination Duel
by Karsten Müller Heinrich Rolletschek has made an amazing discovery regarding the famous bishop ending Pinter-Alterman, Beersheba 1991, and he has kindly allowed me to publish his findings. I also want to thank Harald Grafenhofer for his help. Now to hand over the microphone to Heinrich Rolletschek. 159.01 Diagram 1 Diagram 1 shows a position from the game Pinter-Alterman, Beersheba 1991, which had previously been analyzed by the winner, Pinter, in Encyclopedia of Chess Endings, in Nunn’s Chess Endings, and in Fundamental Chess Endings by Müller and Lamprecht. All these authors conclude that Black could have drawn with correct defense. The goal of this article is to show that Dia … [Read more...]
Creating a Multimedia Database
Tutorial: Creating a Multimedia Database by Mark Donlan In the tutorial Creating a Personal Tournament Book we looked at how to create a personal ebook from the web in ChessBase 12 using the No Logo Norway 2014 tournament as an example. This month we will examine how to create a multimedia database similar to the ChessBase Media System DVDs using the 2014 Carlsen-Anand world championship match as an example. In the previous column we saw how to import web pages into a database text file. Here we will learn how to embed videos. The video file must be in the Windows .wmv format. You could also embed pictures (.bmp) and sound files (.wav) if you so wished. A database text is not a game … [Read more...]
The Number 64
The Number 64 by Jeff Coakley Welcome to another cafe smorgasbord of puzzles. Our special menu this week celebrates somebody’s sixty-fourth birthday. The types of puzzles presented in this column have appeared previously on The Puzzling Side of Chess. If you are unfamiliar with any of them, examples with more detailed explanations are available in the archives. 1. Triple Loyd #39 Place the black king on the board so that: A. Black is in checkmate. B. Black is in stalemate. C. White has mate in one. The number 64 is interesting in many ways. For example, it is the smallest number which is both a perfect square and a perfect cube. 64 = 8² = 4³ Do you know what the next hi … [Read more...]
Gambiteer II
Gambiteer II by Nigel Davies Black can hoist the pirate flag against two of White's strongest and most popular openings, the Queen's Gambit and the Ruy Lopez. He argues that neither (1 d4 d5) 2 c4 nor (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6) 3 Bb5 is optimal from a development perspective and that Black can take the initiative with the Albin Counter and Schliemann Gambits respectively. In this volume I will present a repertoire for Black in these two openings which should enable the reader to play them with confidence at any level. Ruy Lopez himself did not consider 3 Bb5 to be a very strong move, and from a development point of view it looks less relevant than, say, 3 Bc4. Is this enough justification … [Read more...]
Wading in the Baltic
by Tim Harding The Baltic Defence to the Queen's Gambit (ECO code D06) gets its name from its adoption by players from north-east Europe, specifically GM Igors Rausis and his wife, correspondence GM Olita Rausis. It arises by 1 d4 d5 2 c4 Bf5 or sometimes via 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Bf5 3 c4. Although the latter move order excludes two of White's sharpest responses, they are the lines most typical of the Baltic Defence. Sometimes the Baltic transposes into a variation of the Slav Defence; those lines will only be cursorily treated here. The "true" Baltic Defence initiates very sharp play from a very early stage and there are some gambit lines with an affinity to the Albin Counter-Gambit. It … [Read more...]
At the Crossroads
by Mark Dvoretsky In a very old classic game, after all of thirty rather boring moves, an interesting position arose, which shall become the subject of our discussion. Fine – Shainswit U.S. Championship, New York 1944 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. d4 d5 4. Nc3 dc 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Qc7 8. g3 e5 9. de Nxe5 10. Bf4 Nfd7 11. Bg2 Be7?! To cite Garry Kasparov in My Great Predecessors, Part 2: “Later on, players would prefer 11...f6 12. 0-0 Rd8, or 11...Rd8 12. Qc1 f6. 11...g5!? is the fashion these days.” 12. 0-0 Be6 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. a5 14. Qc2! Rd8 (14...Qa5 15.Nb5; 14...0-0 15. Nb5 Qb8 16. Nd4) 15. Rfd1 0-0 16. Nb5 is probably stronger, as was played in the 1st game of th … [Read more...]
ABC of the English Opening
An Alternative Tool to Learn the Opening by Davide Nastasio ABC of the English Opening, by Lorin D'Costa, ChessBase, Video running time: 7 hours As an amateur who competes in many tournaments throughout the year, I am interested in learning about openings and the ideas behind them. Unfortunately, as an adult with limited time, I cannot really read chess books in any great depth. The magnus opus of the English Opening was written by GM Marin for Quality Chess, a beautiful set of three books in the Grandmaster Repertoire series, with a total of 1,187 pages! If I only had the time to read it. So as an alternative tool for learning the openings, I find the Fritz Trainer DVDs enormously … [Read more...]
Chess Mazes #377
Chess Mazes #377 There are two types of chess mazes: checking and mating. For bishop, rook, and knight mazes the play is to check the black king. For queen, pawn, and king mazes the object is to checkmate the enemy king; here checks are not allowed. The rules in common for each type of maze are as follows: Black never moves. Only the maze piece (in the case of pawns – the maze units) may move. A maze piece may never move to a square where it can be captured by enemy forces. A maze piece may capture undefended enemy forces. Plus we look for the shortest solution. Helpers in queen and king mazes are frozen to the diagram position, unable to move or be removed. In pawn mazes p … [Read more...]
The Scotch Game [C45]
The Scotch Game [C45] by Abby Marshall The topic for this month is White's alternative to 5.Be3 in the Scotch Game after Black plays 4...Bc5. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 The Scotch Game. 4...Bc5 I always played ...Nf6 against most anything 1.e4 e5: The Italian, the Ruy Lopez, and the Four Knights. This move engages the pieces in the center right away. I preferred to maintain this tension. 5.Nxc6 This is the main focus for this month. 5.Be3 This is the main line, which we will be eschewing in favor of looking at the less popular alternatives. 5...Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Bc4 0-0 Black will relocate the c6-knight to e5-g6. Maybe we will look at this in a future … [Read more...]
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