I thought the mate after g3 fg Qh2 Kf1 Ne3 was very pretty. I don't think I've seen a similar mate before.

You have to understand Russia. Kirsan is what you would call a stooge. A lot of people in Russia have dirty money they need to launder. Kirsan is the face of the operation to launder it - maybe through FIDE, maybe through other ventures in Kalmykia. He presents a fanciful image in the West so that no one will believe he is in cahoots with criminals (which everyone in Russia knows that he is anyway, just like every other Russian politician/businessman).

Not sure if this has been posted yet but it looks like Magnus Carlsen has a YouTube channel now.

Managed a cute finish to my league game on sunday:





1....Rb4 2. Qd2 (2. Rxc6 Qb8 is strong) d4! 3. Rxc6 d3+





4. Ke1 Rxh4 0:1

On 4. Kd1, ...Qh2 wins because he needs the defense Qxd3 which now fails to Rxd3+ with check. Therefore, 4. Kf1 would have been best but after Qb8, black still has a winning attack.

Final position:



Black's rook and queen are en prise, but so many pawns will promote with mate coming soon.

i know i messed up the grid (who looks at the letters and numbers anyway?), but i still don't get it.

Well sorry.

OK got it now

Anyone ever played in the Neckar Open in April? thinking of going there this year.

http://www.neckar-open.de/index.php/en/schedule

9 rounds in 5 days, suitable for a working schedule (maybe not especially, would still be taking 4 days off work)

I've already signed up for it. Ajezz and I have played several times, it's a huge tournament. The air inside the halls can get a little thick, otherwise it's fine.

I've been there three times straight. This year I might skip it though

Anyone playing in the US Amateur Team in Parsippany, NJ this weekend?

(It's a team event, 4 players U2200 average team rating)

That sounds like a lot of fun! Too bad it's on the wrong side of the country

I have a question for the forum:

I'm a relative beginner to chess - I've actually done more reading than playing of the game - that is reasonably intelligent and successful at poker. For the last week I've read Comprehensive Chess Course Vol I and am half through II, with prior understanding of nearly all material in I. I've also went through probably 500 of the tactics on emrald and another android app at about 70% success rate.

Assuming a thorough go-through of Vol II taking 2-3 weeks, how long would you think it'd take before I can actually hammer out an actual game without feeling like a complete tard? I've got arena and stockfish, played around on arena and felt like a total clown making terrible decisions 3 moves in.

Short-term goal: work my way through books/tactics/etc to be able to play a game without blundering to a 10 move mate

Long-term goal: get decent enough to join local chess club and play some tourneys as a somewhat significant hobby (~15-20 hours/week)

Don't play against strong engines, especially not in blitz games. It's a demoralizing experience. Play against humans who are around your own skill level or slightly stronger (I'm not sure how good you are--post a sample game?).

If you play against ~equally skilled humans, under a week. Don't wait to finish the book first, either.

It is lots of fun, especially if you get on a team with good friends. I've played every year since 1992, except last year.

Yeah I'm not touching blitz for the near future. Not really interested in it>

I'll post a game when I actually play someone online - have to figure out where I'm gonna mainly play first

I feel a lot more comfortable after the first ~10 moves than the first 10. Still struggling with optimally developing pieces in the early game, especially the bishops.

grando, I began playing around last Thanksgiving. I play for free on chess.com. It's a pretty good resource for tactics training and learning about openings and whatnot. They keep trying to get me to pay money, which is annoying. But if you are at all serious about getting better, the cost is probably negligible for the service they provide. I just haven't paid yet. Mostly out of laziness.

I started a Noob log here and try to play a couple 15/10 (15 minutes with +10 seconds added per move) matches per day. I post links to the games when I'm done and write my thoughts out. Good players come in and tell me what I did right and what I did wrong. I'd say that has helped a ton.

I still suck but I've gone from like a 660 up to 1050 or something in about 1.5 months. You sound like you're already way ahead of me in study, so you may not be too bad once you start. Still, the in-game experience helps you discover your leaks. Books help but you've got to be focused and efficient during the actual game or people your skill level will beat you.

BobJoeJim gave me a good piece of advice which was to play people rated between -50 and +200 of my rating. Since doing that I think I've gotten much better.

And yeah, the 10 minute (or less) blitz games are not good to start with. I started on these but was making too many mistakes and not learning. Give yourself time to think and make the right move. You can learn a lot by making mistakes but you still need to learn to close games out when they are close-able. It's easier to get to these type of endgames when you aren't ****ing up due to the time crunch.

appreciate the reply ARC (and of course rei)

I've read through your log - just didn't wanna bust in on your thread

I'm the kind of person that reads through video game instructions and strategies before actually playing the game - it's almost more enjoyable to me

like you, I'm more about the open-source stuff just cause I'm too lazy to pay for stuff that's marginally (if that?) better than the stuff already out there

I understand the need to play people slightly better than me going forward, but I'm still finding the most optimal way to do that

This is Sergei Shipov's long review of the 2013 chess year. Good read.

I'm currently reading an interview with Peter Svidler from 2011, hosted on the same site. This answer made me laugh:

How do you maintain your fitness?

For anyone who’s seen even a single photograph of me the answer to that question should be obvious. I’ve got a cardio-trainer at home, and my list of things to do in the near future includes checking whether it’s totally broken, and if it turns out that it’s still functional, then trying to break it before the Superfinal.

Impromptu Malkovich.



1. Nh3

My favorite Curtains vid in a while.

Anyone Playing in the Boston Area?
Thoughts on the general quality of play in Harvard Sq?

I've been reading and doing tactics so often that I'm dreaming about chess now

Your playing blindfolded now in your sleep.