Chess Inspiration

Have You Seen These?

" Naturally every chess player improvises over the board in accordance with his talent and imagination. But that which is already known, must be known!" - Mikhail Tal 

Chess is one wonderful game, and it's my sincerest wish (to all chess lovers) that each movie listed will ignite your interest and lead you on to years of enjoyment. I hope you'll find the films inspiring and entertaining too. Have fun!

1. "Searching for Bobby Fischer"

2. "Knights of the South Bronx"

3. "Chess Kids: Special Edition"

4. "Brooklyn Castle"

5. "Pawn Sacrifice"

Steps To Mastery

How to Master Anything?

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." ~ Steve Jobs

Recently, i came across this interesting "list" from the internet. Well, the whole idea may not be new but something refreshing and a great deal of truth in it. At any rate to closely relate on these steps to mastery, i decided to innovate a little and made a separate "checklist" focusing on chess solely.  

Here's the chessplayer "creative list" i propose (based from the listing):

1. Discover the chess game and the thinking system to play it correctly.

2. Learn from your mistakes, every loss is an opportunity to improve.

3. You have to enjoy playing, always put a smile on your game face.

4. Be ready to replace your old and ineffective habits, for the better. Your 

    determination is the key!

5. Focus on quality not quantity. Always be active and don't lose objectivity. 

6. Keep a champion psychology.

7. The training process should closely simulate a real game situation. As 
     they say: "The more you sweat in training the less you bleed in war." 

8. Understand the base chess principles by heart. Know when to follow       
    (or break) the rules.

9. Differentiate between general and specific, know when to use strategic 
    and tactical tools.

Piece Coordination

Endgames Without Pawns

" The value of coordinated action of more pieces may exceed a lot the sum of each individual piece's value." ~ Emanuel Lasker 

When trading-off pieces and pawns in an endgame, it is critical to know whether the resulting position will be easy to win or draw. Similarly, it is important to note that most positions without pawns are a theoretical draw. So you may sacrifice your minor piece for the last opponent’s pawn and reach an easy draw.

• Rook vs Bishop: Easy draw if the defending king runs to the correct corner.

• Rook vs Knight: Easy draw. Keep the knight near your king and you'll be safe.

• Rook & Bishop vs Rook: Easy draw if you know the key defensive position (Cochrane defense & 2nd rank defense).

• Rook & Knight vs Rook: Easy draw. This ending is worth playing if the weaker king is already near a corner.

• Queen vs Two Bishops: Easy draw, but handle with care. Set the bishops and your king next to each other.       

Queen vs Two Knights

An easy draw with the right set up. The defender must place the knights adjacent to each other and the king next to them. The stronger side can have serious winning chances when the knights merely protect each other (they tie each other up) as the queen can bring the defender king to stalemate forcing a knight to move and unprotect the other. 

Draw

One rare position where collaboration of the black king (trapped in the corner) with the queen cannot be established. The white king moves on g5, g6, f7, e7, e6, e5, etc. Notice that the queen cannot destroy the coordination between the white pieces.

Queen vs Bishop & Knight

An exceptional position where the bishop and knight built a 'fortress' against the attacking king.

A permanent barrier.

There is no way for Black to bring in his king and white will simply move Kh2, Kh1, Kg1 or his bishop to h1 & g2.

Two Bishops vs Bishop

Easy draw, as the black king can safely stay in the right corner. The defender bishop patrols the long diagonal preventing any mate threats. 

Fortress

The examples shown illustrated an important criterion with regards to the quality of the pieces: the value of pieces' coordinated action.

Endgame's Material Aspect

Sense of Harmony

        “A love for simple positions, allowed me to gain a deep feeling for what each piece is capable of, to sense their peculiarities, their strength and impotence in various different situations on the board, the limits of their capabilities, what they like and what they don’t like and how they behave. Such a mutual understanding with the pieces is the innate ability of a player, which I call a sense of harmony.” - V. Smyslov

In the beginning, it is important to know the relative value of each piece. This will help you to decide when to exchange chessmen advantageously. Most players know a simple list of values (pawn as the basic unit of currency): pawn = 1p, bishop = knight = 3p, rook = 5p, queen = 9p.

Pieces and Point Value

This is almost correct, but not entirely complete.

The value of pieces is not the same during the whole chess game. We have a set of values during opening and middlegame, another set of values in an endgame. I mean, that a material ratio is different in a opening/middlegame and in an endgame.

During the endgame, the ROOK, the BISHOP and the PAWN change their values. All 3 pieces increase in power, especially a value of pawns goes up. In an endgame, the rook and bishop gets better mobility, while pawns have good chances to be promoted into a queen.

In an endgame, harmony of your pieces becomes very important. An endgame illustrates clearly all the strategic principles of a chess game.

Who Will Win?

Carlsen, Karjakin and the Crown!

" Nowadays it would be reasonable to have an annual world championship." ~ B. Spassky 

The 12 game match for the World Chess Championship will take place this November in New York City. Interestingly, both participants were born in the year 1990 and achieved special place in chess history. Carlsen reaching the highest FIDE rated player of all time (2882, May 2014) holds to date and Karjakin being the youngest player to gain grandmaster title at 12 (August, 2002) still stands.

Here's a preview of classical chess clash between the two contestants...

Magnus Carlsen - Sergey Karjakin

Tata Steel, Wijk aan Zee 2012

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.Nc3 Bb7 4.d4 e6 5.a3 d5 6.Bg5 Be7 7.e3 0–0 8.Rc1 h6 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.Bd3 c5 12.0–0 Na6 13.Ne5 cxd4 14.exd4 Bxe5 15.dxe5 Nc5 16.Re1 Re8 17.f4 d4 18.Ne4 (D)

After White's 18th move

18...Bxe4! 19.Bxe4 d3 20.Rc4 Rc8 21.Bf5 Qd5 22.Rc3 Rcd8 23.Qd2 Qd4+ 24.Kh1 a5 25.Rb1 a4 26.Rd1 Rd5 27.h4 g6 28.Bxd3 Red8 29.Qe1 Qxf4 30.e6 Nxe6 31.Bc2 b5 32.Rxd5 Rxd5 33.Re3 Nd4 34.Bd3 Kg7 35.Kg1 Qf6 36.Kh2 Rh5 37.Rh3 Ne6 38.Rf3 Rxh4+ 39.Kg1 Qd4+ 40.Qf2 Qxf2+ 41.Kxf2 b4 42.Re3 Rd4 43.Bb5 Kf6 44.Rf3+ Ke7 45.Rd3 bxa3 46.bxa3 Rf4+ 47.Ke3 f5 48.Rd7+ Kf6 49.Rd6 Re4+ 50.Kf2 Kg5 51.Be8 Nf4 52.Bb5 Re5 53.Bc4 Nh5 54.Ra6 Nf6 55.Rxa4 Ng4+ 56.Kf1 Kh4 57.Be2 Kg3 58.Bxg4 fxg4 59.Rb4 h5 60.a4 Kh2 0–1

Sergey Karjakin - Magnus Carlsen

Norway Chess, 2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Bc2 Re8 13.a4 Bf8 14.Bd3 c6 15.Qc2 Rc8 16.axb5 axb5 17.b4 Qc7 18.Bb2 Ra8 19.Rad1 Nb6 20.c4 bxc4 21.Nxc4 Nxc4 22.Bxc4 h6 23.dxe5 dxe5 24.Bc3 Ba6 25.Bb3 c5 26.Qb2 c4 27.Ba4 Re6 28.Nxe5 Bb7 29.Bc2 Rae8 30.f4 Bd6 31.Kh2 Nh5 32.g3 f6 33.Ng6 Nxf4 34.Rxd6 Nxg6 35.Rxe6 Rxe6 36.Bd4 f5 37.e5 (D)

After White's 37th move

37...Nxe5! 38.Bxe5 Qc6 39.Rg1 Qd5 40.Bxf5 Rxe5 41.Bg4 h5 42.Bd1 c3 43.Qf2 Rf5 44.Qe3 Qf7 45.g4 Re5 46.Qd4 Qc7 0–1

Chess Jewels: Part Four

Chess Sense
" Every diagram is a lesson."  - A. Soltis 

According to GM Soltis, the most basic way to improve is to stop at every diagram you came across. Concentrate in understanding the position, think critically and make a choice to find the best move.

I agree partly, but it's not fully accurate. All chess knowledge is not equal. At any rate, the chess positions presented below will definitely help you enhance two critical skills of "making a threat" and "recognizing an opponent's threat" as well.  

Find the best move!

(Each diagram is to be solved beginning with white's turn, then with black's turn.)

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

(Solutions - Apr/2016)

The Hateful Eight...

FIDE Candidates 2016

The most anticipated chess event of 2016 quarter one, came to an end. We all (chess lovers) witnessed the many "blunders", "brilliancies" and of course the "roller coaster ride" at the top. Indeed, one thrilling experience to all chess fans out there!

The Participants

1. Loser of the World Chess Championship 2014 match

    o Viswanathan Anand (2762) - #12

2. Top two finisher in the Chess World Cup 2015

    o Sergey Karjakin (2760) - #13

     o Peter Svidler (2757) - #16

3. Top two finishers in the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15

    o Fabiano Caruana (2794) - #3

     o Hikaru Nakamura (2790) - #6

4. Top 2 players w/ highest ave 2015 rating, played in World Cup or Grand Prix

    o Veselin Topalov (2780) - #8

     o Anish Giri (2793) - #4

5. Wild card nomination of Organizers, FIDE rating in July 2015 at least 2725

    o Levon Aronian (2786) - #7

Memorable Encounters

Caruana - Nakamura [Rd8, Ct 2016]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Qe2 Re8 8. Nc4 Nd7 9. Bd2 Bd6 10. O-O-O b5 11. Ne3 a5 12. Nf5 a4 13. Bg5 f6 14. Be3 Nc5 15. g4 Be6 16. Kb1 b4 17. g5 b3 18. Rhg1 bxa2+ 19. Ka1 Bxf5 20. exf5 a3 21. b3 Na6 22. c3 Bf8 23. Nd2 fxg5 24. Rxg5 Nc5 25. Rg3 e4 26. Bxc5 Bxc5 27. Nxe4 Bd6 28. Rh3 Be5 29. d4 Bf6 30. Rg1 Rb8 31. Kxa2 Bh4 32. Rg4 Qd5 33. c4  1-0

Anand - Aronian [Rd9, Ct 2016]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O d6 5. d3 Nf6 6. c3 a6 7. a4 Ba7 8. Na3 Ne7 9. Nc2 Ng6 10. Be3 O-O 11. Bxa7 Rxa7 12. Ne3 Ng4 13. Qd2 a5 14. d4 Ra8 15. dxe5 N4xe5 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. Bb3 Nd7 18. Bc2 Re8 19. f3 b6 20. Rfd1 Nc5 21. b4 Nd7 22. Bb3 Nf6 23. Qd4 Qe7 24. Nd5 Nxd5 25. Bxd5 Ra7 26. b5 Bb7 27. c4 Qe5 28. Rac1 Qxd4+ 29. Rxd4 Kf8 30. Kf2 Ke7 31. f4 f6 32. Rc3 Kd7 33. Rh3 h6 34. Rg3 Re7 35. Rg6 Bxd5 36. cxd5 Ra8 37. Kf3 Rae8 38. Kg4 Rxe4 39. Rxg7+ Kc8 40. Rd2 Kb8 41. Rc2 Rc8 42. Ra2 Rd4 43. Kf5 Rxd5+ 44. Kxf6 Rf8+ 45. Rf7 Rxf7+ 46. Kxf7 Rf5+ 47. Kg6 Rxf4 48. g3 Rc4 49. Kxh6 d5 50. Kh5 d4 51. g4 d3 52. h4 Rd4 53. Rd2 Kc8 54. g5 Kd7 55. Kg6 Rxh4 56. Rxd3+ Ke8 57. Ra3 Rc4 58. Kg7 Kd7 59. g6 c6 60. Kf6 cxb5 61. g7 Rg4 62. axb5 Rg1 63. Rd3+ Ke8 64. Re3+ Kd7 65. Re5 Rxg7 66. Rd5+ 1-0

Karjakin - Topalov [Rd12, Ct 2016]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e6 7. g4 Nfd7 8. Be3 Be7 9. g5 b5 10. a3 Bb7 11. h4 O-O 12. Qd2 Nb6 13. h5 N8d7 14. g6 Ne5 15. O-O-O Nbc4 16. Bxc4 Nxc4 17. Qe2 Rc8 18. h6 fxg6 19. Nxe6 Qd7 20. Nxf8 Bxf8 21. hxg7 Bxg7 22. Bd4 a5 23. Bxg7 Qxg7 24. Qg4 Re8 25. Qg5 Bc6 26. Qh6 Qh8 27. b3 Nxa3 28. Rh3 Bd7 29. Rg3 Qf6 30. Rh1 Re7 31. Qh4 Qg7 32. Nd5 Rf7 33. Qd8+ Qf8 34. Qxa5 Nxc2 35. Qc3 1-0

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

The Clincher

Karjakin - Caruana [Rd14, Ct 2016]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O Bd7 9. f4 h6 10. Bh4 b5 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. f5 Qb6 13. fxe6 fxe6 14. Nxc6 Qxc6 15. Bd3 h5 16. Kb1 b4 17. Ne2 Qc5 18. Rhf1 Bh6 19. Qe1 a5 20. b3 Rg8 21. g3 Ke7 22. Bc4 Be3 23. Rf3 Rg4 24. Qf1 Rf8 25. Nf4 Bxf4 26. Rxf4 a4 27. bxa4 Bxa4 28. Qd3 Bc6 29. Bb3 Rg5 30. e5 Rxe5 31. Rc4 Rd5 32. Qe2 Qb6 33. Rh4 Re5 34. Qd3 Bg2 35. Rd4 d5 36. Qd2 Re4 37. Rxd5 exd5 38. Qxd5 Qc7 39. Qf5 Rf7 40. Bxf7 Qe5 41. Rd7+ Kf8 42. Rd8+ White wins.

... after the storm, Sergey Karjakin is the new Challenger!!

    Final Standings                         Ave Elo:2777,  Cat:22

"Keep you posted regarding game comments..."