Endgame by Frank Brady

I began reading this book with the expectation of learning many new things about Bobby Fischer. And I DID learn many new tidbits of information about the mystery of Bobby Fischer. I was unaware of much of his younger days in chess.
Before I read the book I was in the wrongful impression that Bobby Fischer didn't participate in many tournaments or clubs or gaming sessions. I was thinking that he had coaches and had just studied the game from all those publications that he always pursued.

It is amazing how he jumped to the forefront of the competitive chess world. The book covered the transition from local chess player to known phenomenon quite well. But alot more tournament details, in my opinion, would have helped. Also, the later years after his winning the World Title seem to be somewhat empty. Locations and travel are mentioned. But what is it that led to the man spewing and fomenting his hatred? I am wondering why didn't the United States more actively back Bobby and other American chess players during the cold war?
It was interesting to see that Bobby had been doing everything he normally does to even strain his relations in Iceland. That country sure was nice to take him in.

Stoyko Exercises

Okay. Who knows about this method? Seems interesting to me. Am going to use this to train and study. This is from a blog post I found at an old blog at Begin chess:


A summary of Stoyko exercise:
1) Find a fairly complicated position
2) Get out a pen/pencil and paper
3) You have unlimited time
4) Write down every (pertinent) line for as deep as you can see, making sure to include an evaluation at the end of the line. This will likely include dozens of lines and several first ply candidate moves. Evaluations can be any type you like:
a) Computer (in pawns, like +.3)
b) MCO/Informant (=, +/=, etc.)
c) English (”White is a little better”)
5) At the end state which move you would play and it’s “best play for both sides” line becomes the PV
6) When you are done, go over each line and its evaluation with a strong player and/or a computer. Look for:
a) Lines/moves you should have analyzed but missed
b) Any errors in visualization (retained images, etc.)
c) Any lines where you stopped analyzing too soon, thus causing a big error in evaluation (quiescence errors)
d) Any large errors in evaluation of any line
e) Whether the above caused you to chose the wrong move
etc.

I hope this helps my game somehow.

First Teamleague game since 2000 or 2001

Okay. So I usually have not had enough consistent time in the past to play on a team on FICS or ICC. But  I thought I would ask around and find someone who needed an alternate every once in a while. The ArchBishops were kind enough to pick me up as a spare. Here is my first team league game in 13 to 14 years:

Event "FICS standard game"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2014.02.02"]
[Time "14:59:37 GMT"]
[Round "-"]
[White "canilla"]
[Black "BOTCHvinik"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1812"]
[BlackElo "1902"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]

1.e4 c5
2.c3
KRMCHESS(2049) whispers: 2. c3 is usually drawish
2...d6
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: yum
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: biscuit and cheese
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: peanutbutter toast
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: dunkin donuts coffee
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: mmmmm
3.d4
KRMCHESS(2049) whispers: I think white might be better. I thought only 2... Nf6 and 2... d5 were playable for black. Having said that I don't know if 3. d4 is correct way to exploit black's inaccuracy as I haven't learnt theory of that line
KRMCHESS(2049) whispers: This could even turn into a morra gambit, I guess it depends on what canilla wants to play :P
KayVee(1503) whispers: dunkin donuts - thats a close geography - you must be "close by" botch
3...cxd4 4.cxd4
donpachi(2015) whispers: 3....cxd4 didnt look right to me, 3....Nf6 would have been 'normal' i think
5.Nc3
KRMCHESS(2049) whispers: well even 3... Nf6 leaves 4. dxc5. I think it's more 2... Nf6 that black needs to play for a normal position
KRMCHESS(2049) whispers: wait, you're right, forgot e4 hangs
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: he moved a horse
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: of course
donpachi(2015) whispers: well after 3....Nf6 4.dxc5 Nxe4 is not advisable (Qa4+) but after 4...Nc6 black is ok if i remember correctly
5...g6
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: can black get into trouble with this move?
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: hmm
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: wow! look at all the perty observers!
KRMCHESS(2049) whispers: I forgot about Qa4+, I guess I really need to refresh my sicilian theory even if I don't play these lines for either side!
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: My first teamleague game in 13 er 14 years
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: woohoo!
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: when does the hathmeister game start?
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: my opponent must have gone to the loo}
6.Be2
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: conservative
6...Bg7
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: is black on the road to hurt here?
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: perhappenstance
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: DragonAce on deck with Hathmeister
7.f4
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: i wish i was a bit taller
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: i wish i was a baller
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: a real shot caller
7...O-O 8.e5 Ne8
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: :O !BCS->(gasp)
9.Be3
KRMCHESS(2049) whispers: I would have played 8. Nf3 before 8. e5 on general principle to complete development before starting an attack. White has at least 2 tempi needed to complete development although judging by 9. Be3 he may castle queenside
9...Qa5
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: that middle is like a house of cards
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: like the stock market mid century
Nitreb(1531) whispers: Looks like a waste of time - a3 preparing b4 and the Q must retreat
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: having all these peope watching makes it feel more like a tournament game OTB
10.Qb3 Nd7 11.Nf3 dxe5
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: Rumple Stiltskin in a haystack!}
12.fxe5 a6
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: hmmm
13.O-O
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: interestink
13...b5 14.Bg5 e6 15.Be7 Qb6 16.Kh1 Bb7 17.Bxf8 Bxf8 18.Rad1 Be7
KayVee(1503) whispers: if only black could get a knight on f2.... fantasy variation of course
KayVee(1503) whispers: and d4 needs to be gone - maybe a sac or something}
19.d5 Nc5 20.Qb4 Ng7 21.d6  Bd8 22.Qf4  Nf5 23.b4 Nd7  24.Nd4 Rc8 25.Nxf5 exf5
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: is it time for me to make more toast?
BOTCHvinik(1902) whispers: maybe
26.Qg3
KRMCHESS(2049) whispers: I hope canilla manages to convert the win :)
26...Qc6
KRMCHESS(2049) whispers: Nd5 works
27.Bf3 Qxc3 28.Bxb7 Qxg3 29.hxg3 Rc4 30.Rc1 Nxe5 KRMCHESS(2049) whispers: 30. Bd5 was very nice too
31.Rxc4 Nxc4 32.d7 Ne5 33.Re1 f6 34.Bxa6 Kf8 35.Bxb5 Ke7
KRMCHESS(2049) whispers: Now endgame looks fairly easy for white. I don't think black can stop queenside pawns and pawn on d7 is a terrible thorn in his side
36.Kg1 Bb6+ 37.Kf1 h5 38.a4 Bd4 39.Rd1 Bb6 40.a5 Bd8 41.a6 Bb6 42.a7 Bxa7 43.d8=Q+ {BOTCHvinik resigns} 1-0

First and Last post for 2013

Hi people! It's been a while since I have used this blog. Maybe I will post a few more things in the coming year than I did this year. I just went to my first tournament in two and a half years just at the beginning of the month. So I will continue to shake off the barnacles as best I can in the coming months.  Here is the blog of someone from FICS. Enjoy: gorgonian

Chess Pastebin

Here is a game from Chess Pastebin





Take a look at that site and see if it is useful to you. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think of it.

Chess in the movie My Cousin Vinny

I found myself one day watching the funny movie My Cousin Vinny. When the judge, actor Fred Gwynne, orders Vincent Gambini(Joe Pesci) to his chambers to discuss his license to practice law, there is a chessboard set up in the office.Here is a clip of the movie when they are in the office. My interest was piqued in what position was on the board. Here was the position I saw in the first glimpse of the board:

So I watched increduluous as the judge picks up his knight on c3 and takes the knight on d5. Now I could be mistaken about the rules of chess. But I thought that when the king was en prise, something HAD to be done about it! In the movie clip the piece that is on c1 is taller than the piece on e1. So I naturally assumed that the piece on c1 must be the king. Maybe I have that wrong and the king is on e1?
If so, the position would look like this:
If this is the case then black had just made an illegal move and white may now TAKE BLACKS KING!

So now the camera pans away and to the faces of the judge and Vinny several times and then pans back out again. This time the board look like THIS(Yes, the board position magically changed all by itself in a few seconds):

Ok what the heck is this? A black pawn on a8? White has two dark square bishops? Wow!
So the camera panned around a bit again. When the camera panned back out to the chessboard, the knight that the judge had use to capture the black knight was still intact on d5 but other parts of the board had been changed:
Wow! More radical changes! This certainly sheds some light on the magic of movies! Hahaha!

The Queen of Kings

I all but finished reading this book sometime in the spring. I had the Game Section left to read over. That section is about 143 pages long covering a total of 25 games played by Zsuzsa Polgar against other strong players of the day. The book(353 pages) was written by Zsusza Polgar and Jacob Shutzman. I don't remember alot of detail about the first half of the book because that was back at the end of spring. And it didn't really hold my attention that well. Nothing too riveting. So all I feel I can comment upon about this book is the quality of the games in the back section of the book. The games were very interesting and worth going through. If the first half of the book wasn't so boring to me I might recommend it to others. And now onto the next book.