The Skittles Room

In Houdini's Footsteps, Part One Mark Dvoretsky, August 2014 A ChessCafe.com Reprint The famous illusionist of the past Harry Houdini was known for his impressive tricks in which he escaped from apparently impossible situations. His "namesake," the computer program that is popular at the moment, sometimes comes out with similar "tricks" when analysing positions that at first glance look hopeless or very difficult, which have arisen in practical games of the past or present. Getting to know these kinds of examples broadens our conception of the boundaries of the possible in chess and teaches us never to despair, but to stubbornly keep looking for hidden resources in any situation. I … [Read more...]

Caruana: Move by Move, Cyrus Lakdawala, Everyman Chess, Paperback, ISBN 9781781944790, 368pp., $26.95; Ebook $21.95 Cyrus Lakdawala is an international master, a former National Open and American Open Champion, and a six-time State Champion. He has been teaching chess for more than thirty years, and coaches some of the top junior players in the United States. Here is how Caruana: Move by Move is described on the back cover: “Italian-American grandmaster Fabiano Caruana is the perfect role model for any aspiring player. Already a very strong grandmaster, he announced his presence as a leading contender for the world title in 2014 when he scored an incredible 8½/10 (including seven … [Read more...]

Dear chess friends, A new issue of the ChessProblems.ca Bulletin (Issue 14, July 2018) has been posted online at http://Bulletin.ChessProblems.ca. Contents 1 Originals 2018 Informal Tourney p.667 Hors Concours p.673 2 ChessProblems.ca Bulletin TT6 Award p.674 3 Articles Arno Tungler: Series-mover Artists: Manfred Rittirsch p.678 Andreas Thoma: Proca variations with wKe1 and bKe3 p.681 Jeff Coakley & Andrey Frolkin: Four Rebuses For The Bulletin p.684 Arno Tungler: Record Breakers VI p.693 Adrian Storisteanu: Lab Notes p.695 4 Last Page Pauly’s Comet p.699 … [Read more...]

The latest version of the ChessEdu.org White Belt curriculum is currently in use teaching hundreds of thousands of students around the globe! This freely available 241-page resource is designed to use chess as a tool for teaching problem-solving, creative thinking, and abstract reasoning in a classroom setting, be it in a public or private school, home school or other institution, or for personal use. Chess offers the means of teaching mental abilities used throughout life: concentration, critical thinking, abstract reasoning, strategic planning, problem solving, visualization skills, creativity, and patience to name just a few. To help capture the imagination of the student, we have … [Read more...]

We alert readers to a special offer from Tim Harding's Chess Mail website: For just a few more days, to celebrate Tim Harding's 70th birthday this weekend, the Ultracorr2018 correspondence game database is on offer at ChessMail for just 35 Euro. The offer ends on 8 May. After that the database will be completely withdrawn from sale so that Tim can concentrate on writing his next book. We do not intend to offer a new version until 2019, if ever. With over 1,830,000 games, UltraCorr-2018 is the largest and most accurate correspondence chess game database ever published. Up to 8 May you can still buy it for €35. There are many more games and considerable data improvements compared with … [Read more...]

The Hedgehog, Sergey Kasparov, Everyman Chess, Paperback, ISBN 9781781943588, 336pp., $29.95 Sergey Kasparov became a student in the Palace of Pioneers in the city of Baku at the age of seven, he acquired the grandmaster title in 2007, and has captured first place in many international tournaments. He has written several chess books and is a leading online chess coach. The Hedgehog is also available from Everyman Chess in CBV and PGN format for $19.95. The book is described as follows: “An understanding of Hedgehog structures is an essential component in any chessplayer’s knowledge. These structures arise when the black c-pawn is exchanged early on for the white d-pawn (as in the … [Read more...]

We are happy to bring your attention to the following notice: Dear chess friends, A new issue of the ChessProblems.ca Bulletin (Issue 13, December 2017) has been posted online at http://Bulletin.ChessProblems.ca. Contents 1 Originals 2017 Informal Tourney p.584 Hors Concours p.588 2 ChessProblems.ca Bulletin 2016 Award p.591 3 CPB Tourneys: Announcements p.597 4 Articles Arno Tungler: Series-mover Artists: Gyorgy Bakcsi p.598 Nicolas Dupont: Ordered classification of twelve series genres p.601 Klaus Wenda & Andreas Thoma: Welcome to KLAN p.610 Arno Tungler: Record Breakers V p.613 Cornel Pacurar: Series-Movers Visualizations II p.615 Adrian Storisteanu: … [Read more...]

We would like to thank those who have supported ChessCafe with a purchase of product and subsequent membership. However, subscriptions have fallen just shy of what is needed to maintain our stable of great columnists. Therefore, we are taking a three-month hiatus from posting new content. If you have an outstanding order pending in our shop, we will be issuing shop credit towards in-stock items, ebooks, or downloads. Along with a free gift valued at $89.95. We apologize for any inconvenience. … [Read more...]

Baron Munchausen Meets Mr. Bad Loser By Amatzia Avni The other day I was playing chess on the Internet. I have noticed that frequently, upon gaining victory in a fair contest, my opponent sent me a short message, stating that I was just lucky and in fact do not possess the slightest understanding of chess. To be honest, blaming my own losses on external factors, such as luck or destiny, also crossed my mind, whenever I have failed. I wondered whether my friend, the great Baron Munchausen, had encountered similar phenomena. "Of course I have" – he said – "and whenever I am blamed with being 'just lucky', I make a special effort to teach my rival a lesson". He quickly arranged the … [Read more...]

Fair Use or Infringement By Mark Donlan Our Video Spotlight feature on Nicolas Rossolimo prompted a reaction from Edward Winter, who protested that the videos, originating on YouTube, contained material that was taken from his Chess Notes website without permission. The videos were first posted at ChessCafe in May 2011 and have been available in our archives since then; we only recently reprised them because of the new format. As we do not wish to condone misappropriation of material, we have removed the links, though the videos remain available on YouTube. In an English Chess Forum post, brought to our attention by Mr. Winter, the videographer, Jessica Fischer, confirms some material … [Read more...]