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Chess life january 2013

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CESAR A. RUIZ C

THE WORLD’S MOST WIDELY READ CHESS MAGAZINE. MAGNUS CARLSEN WITH 2861 ELO

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JANUARY 2013 GM ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ IS A PICTURE IN PURPLE | 2008 ELECTRONIC KNIGHTS RECAP | BENKO PUZZLES www.uschess.orgTHE WORLD’S MOST WIDELY READ CHESS MAGAZINE JANUARY FineLine Technologies JN Index 80% 1.5 BWR PU 7 925274 64631 01 A USCF Publication $5.95 2861! Magnus Carlsen wins his second Grand Slam Final then later breaks Kasparov’s record for highest rating.
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2 January 2013 | Chess Life Chess Life EDITORIAL STAFF Chess Life Editor and Daniel Lucas dlucas@uschess.org Director of Publications Chess Life Online Editor Jennifer Shahade jshahade@uschess.org Chess Life for Kids Editor Glenn Petersen gpetersen@uschess.org Senior Art Director Frankie Butler fbutler@uschess.org Editorial Assistant/Copy Editor Alan Kantor akantor@uschess.org Editorial Assistant Jo Anne Fatherly jfatherly@uschess.org Editorial Assistant Jennifer Pearson jenpearson@uschess.org Technical Editor Ron Burnett TLA/Advertising Joan DuBois tla@uschess.org Main office: Crossville, TN (931) 787-1234 Advertising inquiries: (931) 787-1234, ext. 123 TLAs: All TLAs should be e-mailed to tla@uschess.org or sent to P.O. Box 3967, Crossville, TN 38557-3967 Letters to the editor: Please submit to letters@uschess.org Receiving Chess Life: To receive Chess Life as a Premium Member, join the USCF or enter a USCF tournament, go to uschess.org or call 1-800-903-USCF (8723) Change of address: Please send to addresschange@uschess.org Other inquiries: feedback@uschess.org, (931) 787-1234, fax (931) 787-1200 Saint Louis, Missouri www.WorldChessHOF.org World Chess Hall of Fame @WorldChessHOF SCREWED MOVES an interactive, imaginative, super-sized, spontaneous mixed-media arts experience inspired by the game of chess Photo: Juan Montana — Edited By: Jenn Carter SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 – FEBRUARY 10, 2013 USCF EXECUTIVE BOARD President, Ruth Haring PO Box 1993, Chico, CA 95927 ruth@ruthharing.com Vice President, Gary Walters Walters & Wasylyna LLC gary@wwiplaw.com Shaker Finance, PO Box 20554 Cleveland, OH 44120 VP Finance, Allen Priest 220 West Main Street, Suite 2200 tyron316@hotmail.com Louisville, KY 40202 Secretary, Mike Nietman 2 Boca Grande Way, Madison, WI 53719 mike.nietman@charter.net Member at Large, Michael Atkins PO Box 4894, Baltimore, MD 21211 Atkins@region3chess.com Member at Large, Jim Berry PO Box 351, Stillwater, OK 74076 jaberrycg@aol.com Member at Large, Bill Goichberg PO Box 249, Salisbury Mills, NY 12577 chessoffice@aol.com USCF STAFF Executive Director Bill Hall ext. 189 bhall@uschess.org Chief Operations Officer Patricia K. Smith ext. 133 patsmith@uschess.org Assistant Executive Director Director of National Events National Events Assistant Ashley Knight ext. 138 aknight@uschess.org Director of Titles and Certification Jerry Nash ext. 137 jnash@uschess.org FIDE Titles TD Certification International Youth Events IT Director & Webmaster Phillip R. Smith ext. 134 philsmith@uschess.org Director of Quality Control Judy Misner ext. 126 jmisner@uschess.org Director of Affiliate Relations Joan DuBois ext. 123 jdubois@uschess.org Director of Marketing Robert McLellan ext. 126 rmclellan@uschess.org Chief Accountant Peggy Eberhart ext. 131 peberhart@uschess.org OTB and FIDE Ratings Walter Brown ext. 142 wbrown@uschess.org Scholastic Associate Susan Houston ext. 136 shouston@uschess.org Computer Consultant Mike Nolan ext. 188 mnolan@uschess.org Membership Services Supervisor Cheryle Bruce ext. 147 cbruce@uschess.org Mailing Lists/Membership Assoc. Traci Lee ext. 143 tlee@uschess.org Membership Associate Abel Howard ext. 146 ahoward@uschess.org Membership Associate Jay Sabine ext. 127 jsabine@uschess.org Correspondence Chess Alex Dunne cchess@uschess.org Financial Consultant Joe Nanna jnanna@uschess.org LETTER OF INTENT A Promise For Tomorrow In future support of the work of the U.S. Chess Trust, I want to provide for future generations and to ensure the continuity of services by the U.S. Chess Trust. Therefore, o I have made provision o I will make provision to support the U.S. Chess Trust by: o making a bequest or endowment provision in my Will o creating a charitable remainder or lead trust naming the U.S. Chess Trust as a beneficiary. o establishing an endowment or special fund at the U.S. Chess Trust. o directing the trustees or directors of my foundation to continue beyond my lifetime making an annual gift to the U.S. Chess Trust. o Making an outright gift to the U.S. Chess Trust during my lifetime in the sum of $_____________. This Letter of Intent represents my commitment to the work of the U.S. Chess Trust. It does not represent a legal obligation and may be changed by me at any time. Whatever the amount of your gift, when you leave a legacy for the future of the U.S. Chess Trust, you are an important part of the Promise for Tomorrow. Please send with your name, address, phone, and email contact information and email Barbara DeMaro at bduscf@aol.com (845-527-1167) *Please note that there is a required amount in order to be listed as a Future Legacy Donor. Write or send an email to Barbara DeMaro, bduscf@aol.com for this amount. Donations to the U.S. Chess Trust are tax-deductible. A 501(c)(3) organization. BD:08/03 CL_01-2013_masthead_JP_r5_chess life 12/7/2012 11:46 AM Page 2
January Preview / This month in Chess Life and CLO Editor’s Letter No, Jeff Foxworthy did not write our cover story this month, “Are you smarter than a SUPER GM?” Our roving international reporter GM Ian Rogers stands in as host as he presents some of the key moments in games from the Bilbao Grand Slam Final (see page 20) and asks you to see if you can come up with a better plan than did the world’s best. This includes world-number-one and our cover boy, GM Magnus Carlsen. Of course, you get to make your decision in the comfort of your own home, without the clock ticking and without the whole chess world watching your decision in real time over the Internet. Carlsen seems immune to these distractions though, for as we were finalizing this issue, we learned that he had reached an unofficial rating of 2864, breaking Kasparov’s record by 13 points. Suddenly Kasparov’s earlier prediction that Carlsen could reach 2900 doesn’t look as unlikely as when he first made this (outlandish?) prediction. With storylines such as these, this should be an exciting year in the chess world, so here’s to your chess life, and happy new year! -Daniel Lucas, Editor CHESS LIFE ONLINE PREVIEW: JANUARY Americans Abroad In January, many of our top players go abroad, occasionally to escape frigid weather but more often to participate in elite chess competitions. Reigning U.S. Chess Champion Hikaru Nakamura will be playing in Tata Steel in Wijk aan Zee (January 11-27, 2013), along with World #1 Magnus Carlsen and Italian-American GM Fabiano Caruana. GM Gata Kamsky and our top two female players, Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush, will be at the 2013 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival (January 22- 31). Reigning U.S. Women’s Champion Krush will be taking on a new role as commentator in Gibraltar along with GM Simon Williams. Look for coverage of both events on CLO. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Chess: Look for U.S. Chess Scoop coverage of the Liberty Bell Open over the long January 18-21 weekend and subscribe to USChessFederation at YouTube to be the first to catch all the new videos. Also find coverage of the Golden State Open, held the same weekend in northern California Greg on Chess: Find new exclusive editorials by U.S. Chess League founder IM Greg Shahade, including a piece on the improvement of our latest generation of young rising chess masters, such as World Youth Champions Sam Sevian and Kayden Troff. Both gold medalists are part of the Young Stars program in partnership with Kasparov Chess Foundation and the Saint Louis Chess Club. CLO Countdown: Because of the hurried pace of the chess news cycle, it’s easy to miss some of the most interesting articles on Chess Life Online—last year’s Best of CLO winner was “Choosing to Break 2200” by Matan Prilleltensky. Count down the top ten articles from 2012 and let us know if you agree. CONTRIBUTORS Howard Goldowsky Our interviewer of IM Jonathan Hawkins is the author of Engaging Pieces: Interviews and Prose for the Chess Fan and the editor of Masters of Technique: The Mongoose Anthology of Chess Fiction. His next book, part memoir, will be about the challenges of improving at chess as an adult, as well as the relationship chess has with, among other things, science, psychology, Zen, and sport. GM Ian Rogers Our Bilbao reporter is our regular contributor to both Chess Life and Chess Life Online of international events. Betsy Carina Dynako GM Alejandro Ramirez is profiled by Dynako, a Chicago based event and portrait photographer with credits in chess publications world wide as well as the Wall Street Journal and Sports Illustrated. Al Lawrence “Faces Across the Board” is compiled monthly by Lawrence, the former executive director of both USCF and the World Chess Hall of Fame. He is currently director of the Texas Tech University chess program. His latest book, with GM Lev Alburt, is Chess for the Gifted and Busy. www.uschess.org 3 GM Gata Kamsky and our top two female players, Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush, will be hanging out with the Barbary monkeys at the Rock of Gibraltar for the 2013 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival (January 22- 31). Photo by Cathy Rogers Follow Chess Life and Chess Life Online on Facebook! Get regular updates as part of your newsfeed, post comments, and easily commu- nicate directly with the editorial staff. CL_01-2013_CLO_AKF_r7.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 4:25 PM Page 3
4 January 2013 | Chess Life Below: Sao Paulo, Brazil, hosted the first leg of the 2012 Grand Slam Final. Chess Life JANUARY 10 16 18 42 44 3 6 8 9 14 46 50 70 71 72 COLUMNS LOOKS AT BOOKS / AMATEUR TO IM Making the Leap By Howard Goldowsky CHESS TO ENJOY / ENTERTAINMENT A Heart As Big As A Pea By GM Andy Soltis SOLITAIRE CHESS / INSTRUCTION Getting There Firstest With The Mostest By Bruce Pandolfini BACK TO BASICS / READER ANNOTATIONS The Pin Is The Answer By GM Lev Alburt ENDGAME LAB / INSTRUCTION Basic Blunders By GM Pal Benko DEPARTMENTS JANUARY PREVIEW / THIS MONTH IN CHESS LIFE AND CLO COUNTERPLAY / READERS RESPOND FIRST MOVES / CHESS NEWS FROM AROUND THE U.S. FACES ACROSS THE BOARD / BY AL LAWRENCE USCF AFFAIRS / NEWS FOR OUR MEMBERS KNIGHT’S TOUR / TOURNAMENT TRAVEL TOURNAMENT LIFE / JANUARY CLASSIFIEDS / JANUARY SOLUTIONS / JANUARY MY BEST MOVE / PERSONALITIES Cover Story / 2012 Grand Slam Final Are you smarter than a SUPER GM? By GM Ian Rogers Carlsen adds a jewel to his crown; our reporter offers Chess Life readers a chance to equal or better the world’s best players. Personalities / GM Alejandro Ramirez Stoked! Text and Photos By Betsy Carina Dynako Alejandro Ramirez, the first grandmaster from Central America, is adding color to the U.S. chess scene. Correspondence Chess / 2008 Electronic Knights Championship The Staff of Life By FM Alex Dunne The 2008 Electronic Knights Championship Problems / Benko Saluting Benko By Stephen B. Dowd Problemists offer a tribute to Pal Benko and 45 Years of Bafflers 20 28 34 38 PHOTO:CATHYROGERS ON THE COVER Late in our press cycle we found out that GM Magnus Carlsen had broken Garry Kasparov’s record for highest rating by reaching 2864 at the London Chess Classic (before settling at 2861 by the end of the event). All this after just having won his second Grand Slam Final, which GM Ian Rogers covers for us beginning on page 20. Photo by Ray Morris Hill taken at the London Chess Classic CL_01-2013_TOC_DLF_r7.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 10:12 PM Page 4
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WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT Interviewed by Macauley Peterson in the November 2012 Chess Life, GM Maurice Ashley calls for experimentation at the organi- zational level of major chess events. The aim would be to attract more sponsorship and generate favorable publicity. Tournaments do this better than matches, the GM aver, as do I. The prestigious match tournament events of St. Petersburg 1896 and World Championship 1948 did exactly that. So, in this inventive spirit, what can, what should, be done about future world championships? The advantages of a world championship final of three players instead of two are worth enumerating. A single game played each day of a six-day week. A week comprising a full round with each player playing each opponent twice, once with white and once with black. Each player has two free days. The venue has activity every day—with an option of Sunday for adjourned games—and the arbiter will be fully employed, so sponsors get guaranteed value. Journalists and commentators have a field day for gossip and vari- ety of technical content. With a final of three players instead of two the elimination preliminaries will be less protracted. Drawbacks? If players object to the preparation load, this will be the same for each and should encourage emphasis on live over- the-board skill at the expense of labor-intensive searching for theoretical novelties and over-reliance on memory: energies must be conserved. The players will soon come around when they see publicity and sponsorship soar. John Roycroft London, United Kingdom CHESS LIFE’S NEW LOOK Praise! Kudos! WOW! As a reader of Chess Life for about 50 years, I love your stellar improvements! “The Sicilian Defense” fiction piece by Darin Kennedy was outstanding (October, 2012). The Chess Journalists of America should have this on their radar for an award already. It is this fiction addition that forced me to write this letter. I am thrilled that Chess Life took the leap to chess-related fiction! Fiction is art and the chess covered in Chess Life magazine some- times reaches further than logic and is also art. The games shown are so often martial arts of the mind or mathematics in motion, but then there are the games that are inspired, somehow moved by some deeper aspect of the human character that touches our sense of won- der—and they are art! For the last several months, I have been looking forward to each new issue as never before. Full color makes your copy the equal of every other magazine being printed today. The technical and technique of magazine publishing now matches anything else out there in monthly printed journalism. The content changes have been spectacular. The “Faces Across the Board” is brilliant and helps bind the entire U.S. Chess com- munity together. The “My Best Move” column comes across as a “last word” or a “Now for the Rest of the Story” at the end of the magazine and is fresh, personal, fun, funny and revealing. Revitalized—absolutely. Fresh, clear and bold—I’ve never been hap- pier to be a life member! Please keep it up and a sincere, “Thank You!” to the dedicated USCF Publications Department. Peter Spizzirri Cary, Illinois Counterplay / Readers Respond Send your letters to letters@uschess.org or post on the Chess Life Facebook group page. If Chess Life publishes your letter, you will be sent a copy of Test, Evaluate and Improve Your Chess (see ad below). 6 January 2013 | Chess Life CORRECTIONS In the November issue, we listed GM Maurice Ashley as becoming the first black master in 1993. Unfortunately, we left out the word “International.” As Daaim Shabbaz, webmaster of thechessdrum.net wrote us: “Maurice was preceded by many players as national master, but he was the first black international master (1993) in the U.S. Walter Harris was the first [black master] and he got the title sometime in 1963. He was in the 1959 U.S. Junior Open and 1959 U.S. Open and was a Fischer contemporary.” We had some missing photo credits in the November issue: The photo of Bill Hall and Chouchanik Airapetian on page 4 was taken by Al Lawrence. The photo of GM Viswanathan Anand on page 9 was taken by Chris Roberts. Chess Life regrets the errors. CL_01-2013_Counterplay_AKF_r6.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 12:58 PM Page 6
2013 Membership Options Choose Between Premium and Regular USCF Memberships PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP PRINTED COPY of Chess Life (monthly) or Chess Life for Kids (bimonthly) plus all other benefits of regular membership. REGULAR MEMBERSHIP Online-only access to Chess Life or Chess Life for Kids; TLA Newsletter will be mailed to you (Adults: bimonthly; Scholastic: 3 per year) WHAT YOU GET AS A REGULAR USCF MEMBER: The right to play in USCF-sanctioned tournaments and be assigned an official rating Access to member-only content on uschess.org, including our USCF forum discussion group. (9) Online access to Chess Life & Chess Life for Kids. WHAT YOU GET AS A PREMIUM USCF MEMBER: All of the above plus a printed copy of Chess Life or Chess Life for Kids! PREMIUM USCF MEMBERSHIP RATES CATEGORY 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR ADULT $46 $84 $122 SCHOLASTIC (1) (6 ISSUES CL4K) $24 $43 $61 YOUTH (2) (6 ISSUES CL) $28 $51 $73 YOUNG ADULT (3) $33 $61 $88 REGULAR USCF MEMBERSHIP RATES CATEGORY 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR ADULT $40 $72 $104 SCHOLASTIC (1) $17 $30 $42 YOUTH (2) $22 $40 $57 YOUNG ADULT (3) $26 $47 $67 OTHER USCF MEMBERSHIP RATES CATEGORY 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR 4 YEAR SUSTAINING (4, 8) $95 $190 $285 $380 (started prior to 2003) SUSTAINING (4, 8) $120 $240 $360 $480 (started after 2002) SENIOR (5) $40 $72 $104 N/A FAMILY PLAN 1 (6) $75 N/A N/A N/A FAMILY PLAN 2 (7) $47 N/A N/A N/A SENIOR LIFE (5, 8) $750 ONE TIME CHARGE LIFE (8) $1,500 ONE TIME CHARGE BENEFACTOR (8, 10) $3,000 ONE TIME CHARGE BENEFACTOR, EXISTING LIFE MEMBER (8, 10) $1,500 ONE TIME CHARGE A $3 affiliate commission will apply to all memberships submitted by affiliates. OR 08-2012_membership_ad 12/7/2012 7:03 PM Page 1
First Moves / Chess news from around the U.S. n June of 2012, Corbin Seavers of The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club contacted me regarding the club’s upcoming benefit dinner (which was held on November 9, 2012) and its website, www.pottershousechess.com. From web surfing, I learned that Corbin was active in the anti-apartheid solidarity movement. Now he is the co-founder and director of The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club. I interviewed Corbin via e-mail to find out how his past influenced his decision to become involved in chess organizing. What inspired you to start The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club? During the summer of 2010, I taught 13 young people chess at The Potter’s House summer camp. The summer camp is spon- sored by Cable Missionary Baptist Church and has been running for over seven years. The response to my chess classes was such that Dr. Anthony Middleton, senior pastor at Cable Missionary Baptist Church, strongly urged me to turn The Potter’s House Scholas- tic Chess Club into a full-time scholastic chess program. That is exactly what I did in September 2010 (our official founding month and year). The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club was a dream come true. Before that time, I taught chess in other places around Louisville, Kentucky. I often hoped for the resources necessary to build a full-time scholastic chess program. My role model was Chess-in-the- Schools, located in Manhattan, New York. All I needed to get started was a base of oper- ations and that is exactly what Dr. Middleton offered me. It easily can be said Dr. Middle- ton inspired and motivated me to start The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club. My other inspiration was my daughter, Sarah, my first and only child. At 7-years- old, Sarah started competing in rated tour- naments, including weekly open (cash prize) tournaments organized by local chess icon, Steve Dillard. At local scholastic chess tournaments I noticed far too few black students, partic- ularly too few black females, competing. Out of 150 players, you could count on one hand with two broken fingers the num- ber of black students participating and more often than not there would be no Reaching Fighting Capacity From anti-apartheid activist to chess organizer By DR. ALEXEY ROOT, WIM 8 January 2013 | Chess Life I Participants in the Louisville Metro Police Department Chess Classic, held on July 7, 2012 at the downtown Louisville police gym. This match was between the LMPD and the Chess Ambassadors; other teams also competed. This tournament was sponsored by L&N Federal Credit Union, the LMPD Credit Union, The Fraternal Order of Police, and The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club. PHOTO:COURTESYOFCORBINSEAVERS CL_01-2013_FirstMoves_AKF_r6.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 12:51 PM Page 8
First Moves / Chess news from around the U.S. www.uschess.org 9 >>> Put your favorite Face Across the Board in Chess Life! Send the name, reasons, and your contact info. to faces@uschess.org. FACES ACROSS THE BOARD By AL LAWRENCE BILL CHEN PENNSYLVANIA $1,000,000 in poker winnings Chen,ananalystfortrading firm SIG, is also a world- famous poker player and co-author of The Mathematics of Poker. But when I phoned him, he was competing in the North Amer- ican Bridge Championship. “It’s one of my things,” he said. Chess is now another. Studying with poker star and former U.S. Women’s Chess Champ Jen Shahade, he’s taking our game seriously for the first time. “It’s much like poker. You can be dynamic and creative for a long period. Then, one mistake, and you lose all your chips.” STEVE DILLARD KENTUCKY Directed 3,000 tournaments NTD Dillard teaches six chess-for-creditclassesaday, involving more than 100 Kammerer MS students. He directsweeklylocaltournamentsandisindemandat national events. At the National High School Cham- pionship in Lexington, he was Kasparov’s designated greeter. Running late, the two of them rushed into a standingovationfromthecrowdofmorethan1,000. “Garry turned to me and said, ‘Mr. Dillard, I didn’t realize you were so famous!’” ED SCIMIA CONNECTICUT Curler and Freelance Author Intrigued by its strategies after watching curling in the Winter Olympics, Ed is a regular on the ice. “I know of no doping scandals in the sport,” he laughed. Professionally, he provides all the chess content for About.com, writing 10 articles a month. A graduate of Syracuse University journal- ism school, he fills up his work schedule writing about a wide range of topics. Another of his interests, laughably bad movies, inspired Scimia’s new book, So Bad, It’s Good, now available at Amazon. black females other than Sarah. What is your chess background? My chess background is rather modest. My late father taught me chess when I was 12 years old. I played on the high school chess team for a year. My record was one win, one draw and one loss. During college I stopped playing. I was more interested in pursuing other inter- ests, namely girls and campus politics. I never even thought about chess much until my daughter, Sarah, came into my life. I taught Sarah chess when she was 6-years-old. She participated in her first rated tournament at the age of 7. She continues playing to this day. My father really got caught up in the whole Bobby Fischer era. He bought a fancy set with Roman figures and sev- eral chess books. At the time Fischer meant nothing to me. My sports heroes were Muhammad Ali, Pete Rose, and Joe Morgan. I only cared about chess because my father cared about chess. I only learned the game because my father taught it to me. That is why today I tell fathers chess is one way you can build a common interest and hobby with your child. It brought my father and me closer together, and I can say that it has definitely helped me in building a closer relationship with my daughter. I saw how chess helped Sarah. It made her more confident and, according to Sarah, helped with her math too. This past year Sarah got straight A’s in math! The year before Sarah scored above the state average on a math competency test. Just as chess helped my daughter, I believe that chess can help other low income and minority youth. The mission of The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club is to reach those youth. How many children has the program reached? Since September 2010 we have easily reached over 150 youth (during the school year). We have taught 20 youth in our chess camps. My goal is to reach over 180 youth during the 2012-2013 school year and 75-100 youth during the 2013 sum- mer months. One particular youth, “Mike,” stands out in my memory. At an annual Martin Luther King, Jr. tournament, a group of my students said, “Coach, Mike needs you.” When I found Mike he was crying. He was upset over having lost his first three games. Mike insisted on my taking him home! He had no interest whatsoever in playing the last two rounds of the tournament. I spoke with Mike, encouraged him, coached him, and said, I simply could not leave the tournament at this time. He would either have to sit out the last two games or play the last two games. Mike decided to play the last two games. I was very proud of him! Here are some excerpts from a letter Mike recently sent me: “I’ve won so many trophies. Listening to your advice in chess. I know what I’m capable of when playing chess. You have con- tributed to me a lot.” Success is not always about winning or losing. It often is just hanging in there and never giving up. That day Mike was a champion in my eyes because he decided not to give up. Today Mike has several trophies in his bedroom because of that decision he made that fateful day not to quit. What is your background in the anti- apartheid solidarity movement? I am one of six founding members of the Berea College Students United Against Apartheid. As I remember it, we started that solidarity campus organization in September 1979 in commemoration of Steven Bantu Biko’s assassination while in South African police custody. I later was a co-founder of The Bishop Tutu Refugee Fund based in Hartford, Connecticut in June 1985. The other co- founder was Nontombi Tutu, a stalwart Pan Africanist who amongst other anti- apartheid heroes personally introduced me to Winnie Mandela, Johnson Mlambo, and Zwelakhe Sisulu. I also self-published a small book, Apartheid: The untold story, back in 1992. Sometimes you can find copies of it at www.alibris.com. My long-time, deep, and intimate involvement in the anti- apartheid solidarity movement taught me several things. One was the impor- tance of offering struggling peoples the skills and the education they require to increase their fighting capacity to change their lives, and the lives of their loved ones, for the better. What I am doing through The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club is very sim- ilar in that objective. It is more than about the sport of chess, it is about offer- ing young people the skills and the tools they will need to successfully compete in a globalized 21st century economy. At The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club we also use the sport of chess as a con- duit to teach character development and the value of higher education. PHOTO:COURTESYOFCORBINSEAVERS CL_01-2013_FirstMoves_AKF_r6_chess life 12/11/12 12:51 PM Page 9
Looks at Books / Amateur to IM 10 January 2013 | Chess Life BRITISH IM JONATHAN HAWKINS HAS lived the chess player’s dream. Ten years ago, as an 18-year-old 1700-player, he decided to get good—and then he did. He got very good. He recently broke the 2500-rating barrier required to earn the grandmaster (GM) title, and now, with two recent GM norms under his belt, this self-taught once fledgling player is one norm, one nice performance, away from a miraculous achievement. “I am often asked by people to give advice …” wrote Hawkins in his query letter to Mongoose Press, “… so I began to reconstruct the path I took [to international master].” This path was laid out in instructive detail for his new book, Amateur to IM: Proven Ideas and Training Methods (Mongoose Press, $29.95). Jam-packed with discussion about the endgame, one could argue that its subtitle misleads. Yet Hawkins writes ostensibly about the final phase of the game. The endgame positions merely serve as a means for a more general discussion about thought process and systematic training methods. The strength of Hawkins’ writing lies in how he systemat- ically builds up the reader’s under- standing of chess from simple ideas to complex ones. Through this approach he draws important connections between the endgame, middlegame, and opening. Hawkins leads the reader along the same path he himself took. Hours of deliberate practice along this path produced for Hawkins a unified perspective of chess not often seen in players who train isolated skills independently. Isolated work on openings and tactics were necessary for his growth, he says, but certainly not sufficient. He firmly believes that his unified approach to chess training, with the endgame at its core, places every aspect of his chess ability on a rock-solid foundation. Amateur to IM includes three main parts. Part 1, “Thinking Techniques,” includes a sample of “basic” positions that Hawkins breaks down using fundamental thinking techniques (“calculating with a goal in mind,” “planning,” “building-block positions,” and more). Part 2, “Principles and Essential Theory,” builds upon Part 1, using a slightly more technical approach. (For example, Hawkins explains how subtle variations in the Lucena and Philidor positions relate to building blocks and focused calculation.) Part 3, “Endgame Explorations,” covers advanced topics that became interesting to Hawkins as he got stronger. One such topic is how the Carlsbad pawn structure can evolve into an endgame, and for Queen’s Gambit Declined players this chapter alone is worth the price of the book. In October, I took the opportunity to interview Hawkins by e-mail. I wanted to learn more about his ideas, especially those regarding the interdependence between the three phases of a chess game. To my delight, Hawkins agreed to supplement his answers with a lengthy and illustrative excerpt from his new book. The interview and excerpt follow, below. Howard Goldowsky: Why do you feel that the endgame is important for an aspiring player's development? JONATHAN HAWKINS: In general, players are well prepared in the openings, tactically quite proficient, know the standard middlegame themes, but have a gap in their endgame knowledge. Those first things I listed aren’t so difficult to study, but the endgame is. If your endgame is below the standard of the other facets of your game, you will be turning wins into draws and draws into loses. [The endgame] also improves your understanding as a whole. For instance, [by studying the endgame] you will start to see the long-term consequences of your decisions in the opening and in the middlegame. How should a class-player divide his training time between work on the opening, middlegame, endgame, tactics, and other areas? Obviously it’s different for everyone. Just because two players have the same IM Jonathan Hawkins photographed at the 2012 London Chess Classic by Ray Morris-Hill. Making the Leap IM Jonathan Hawkins shows how to study efficiently using the endgame as your foundation. By HOWARD GOLDOWSKY Amateur to IM: Proven Ideas and Training Methods by Jonathan Hawkins 372 pages (Mongoose Press, 2012) Available from USCF Sales (catalog number B0089EU), $29.95 CL_01-2013_books_AKF_r9_chess life 12/11/12 12:08 PM Page 10
Looks at Books / Amateur to IM rating doesn’t mean their ability is composed the same way. It’s a cliché, but a true one, that in general players spend way too much time on openings. Don’t fall into the trap of convincing yourself that once you organize your openings completely, then you will move onto other areas of study. That day will never come. At least it still hasn’t for me. In terms of memorizing variations, especially [for players rated] below about 2000, I would tone [opening study] way down, maybe 10% of your study time or less. Tactical puzzles/analytical training is quite important. I would give 20% of time to this. The remaining 70% is the part players find difficult. You need to study a combination of master games, your own games, and be a student of the endgame. How is the endgame linked to the opening and middlegame? Can you give an example from Amateur to IM where you explain how endgame knowledge helps evaluate an opening or middlegame position? Decisions taken in the opening (for instance, creating a certain structure, creating a certain material imbalance) create consequences often not felt until the endgame. I will show you a nice example from my book, which comes to mind. It’s actually quite a good positional lesson too. We start with a challenge for the reader. The rules of the challenge are the following: Place a black bishop on any (unoccupied) square on the board. Once the bishop is placed it will be White to play. You can put the bishop on any square, d4, f4, c6, h1, wherever you like. The challenge is to find a square for the bishop which creates a drawn position. The obvious answer is Bd4: The unit of e5+Bd4 looks very solid, but there is a problem. The bishop is condemned to a purely defensive role. Moreover, Black has no counterplay and no hope of fighting for the light squares. He must sit and wait. Black’s defensive plan will be simple (keep the bishop and pawn connected and move the king) but not necessarily successful. In fact, the position is a relatively easy win for White. For example, with White to move the game may proceed: 1. Kc4 Kd6 2. Rh3 Ke6 3. Rh6+ Ke7 4. Kd5 The light squares are extremely weak, and White has no problem advancing into the Black position. 4. ... Bc3 5. Rh5 Threatening Rxe5(+), after which the result of the exchanges would be a lost king and pawn endgame. 5. ... Kf8 6. Kd6 Ke8 The most stubborn, after 6. ... Bd4 7. Kd7 Bc3 8. Rf5+ Kg7 9. Ke6 White will capture the e-pawn next move, and reach the key square on d6. 7. Ke6 Kd8 8. Rh7 Bd4 9. Rg7! White waits until the bishop moves to an unprotected square. The reason for this is given in the next note. 9. ... Bc3 10. Rd7+! The point is that after 10. ... Ke8 11. Rc7! wins the bishop, so Black’s king is forced into a fatal cut. 10. ... Kc8 11. Rd5 Followed by 12. Rxe5 and the white king will reach the key square on f6. White wins. What about placing the bishop on a light square such as d7? (see diagram top of next column) This time the bishop can attack the e4- pawn and cover light squares when the white king attempts to approach. This is much more important than the apparent weakness of the e5-pawn. Of course, if White can attack e5 with both king and rook the pawn will fall, but as we will see this cannot be favorably achieved. 1. Rb6+ Ke7 2. Kc4 Be6+ 3. Kc5 Bf7 Already it is apparent White is experi- encing much greater difficulties this time. The bishop, pawn, and king work together to cover both light and dark squares. 4. Rb7+ Kf6 5. Kd6 Initially it seems White is doing very well, but the weakness of his e4-pawn prevents him from any further progress. 5. ... Bg6! 6. Rb4 Bh7 7. Kd5 Bg8+ 8. Kc5 Bf7 In fact, the position is a draw. By combining counterattack against the e4-pawn with restricting the white king, Black is able to hold the position. Note how the active bishop combines with the pawn to work as a unit, controlling squares of both colors. Keeping all of that in mind, let’s jump into this position: This is a game Krishnan Sasikiran- Magnus Carlsen, Bosna Sarajevo, 2006 after White’s 36th move. Black is down a clean Exchange (in material), but clearly has some compensation. The black pieces are actively placed, apart from the bishop on f7. The bishop on f7 does not combine well with the black kingside pawns. White is tied to the defense of the d4-pawn and his bishop does not have an effective post. Both kings are exposed, but White’s more so. If the black bishop could effectively route to c6 then White could have some problems. Weighing all of this up, it seems Black has reasonable play; however, I still think Black is happy to draw this position. White’s material could easily tell once the black pieces are evicted from their posts. The logical attempt to improve the bishop with 36. ... Be8 shows how quickly the www.uschess.org 11 CL_01-2013_books_AKF_r9_chess life 12/11/12 10:37 PM Page 11
Looks at Books / Amateur to IM 12 January 2013 | Chess Life black pieces can be driven back [analysis]: 37. f3! Re6 38. Re1 Suddenly Black must give up the e-file or allow exchanges. 38. ... Bc6 39. Rxe6 Qxe6 40. Rc3 Bd5 41. Bf4 White’s pieces begin to find good squares and Black has no threats. Black retains some chances as White’s king will always be weakened, but clearly the black position has gone downhill. Let us follow the game: 36. ... f4! An excellent move. Black realizes his bishop must stay on the kingside, so he begins building a strong structure in which the bishop will thrive. He will continue this work with ... h7-h6 and ... g6-g5, constructing a bishop and pawn unit similar to what we have already seen. 37. Qg2 h6 Preparing ... g6-g5. 38. f3 To make progress White has to play this advance sooner or later. 38. ... Re3 Showing another point to 36. ... f4, preparing to exploit the weakness that may appear on e3. Black embarks on favorable exchanges starting with this temporary sacrifice. 39. Bxe3 It was also possible to decline the sacrifice with a neutral move such as 39. h4. After this Black had prepared the tactical response 39. ... Rxd3 40. Rxd3 Ne5! After which either the d4- or f3-pawn will fall. 39. ... Nxe3 This is the type of position Black was aiming for with 36. ... f4. 40. Qf2 Nxd1 41. Rxd1 g5 The plan beginning with 36. ... f4 has been a complete success. Black’s pawn structure maximizes his pieces. Notice how Black insisted on this structure, preparing himself for the endgame. His bishop and pawn unit gives rise to two important trumps in his quest to draw: • If only the f3 and f4 pawns remain on the board, the rook versus bishop endgame is a draw. Compare with the correct solution to the ‘riddle’ earlier in this chapter. • Black has constructed the makings of one of the ‘fortress’ positions with the pawns on g5 and h6. In a rook versus bishop endgame with, for example, f3, h3 versus g5, h6, Black should be able to hold the position. 42. Qe2 Be6 43. Kh2 Qf5 Encouraging White to exchange queens. 44. Qxe5+ Qxe5 45. dxe5 Kg6 46. Rd8 Attempting to hold the e5-pawn will lead to a position such as 46. Ra1 Kf5 47. Ra5 Bd7 48. Kg2 Bc6 where White will be tied forever to the weak pawns on f3 and e5. 46. ... Kf5 47. Rh8 Kxe5 48. Rxh6 Bf5 49. Kg2 Be6 50. Kf2 Bf5 51. h4 Attempting to improve the king with 51. Ke2 Be6 52. Kd2 Bf5 53. Kc3 Be6 54. Kb4 is also fruitless. After 54. ... Bd5 White cannot hold the f3-pawn. 51. ... gxh4 52. Rxh4 Be6 53. Rh5+ Kf6 54. Rc5 Bb3 55. Ke2 Ke6 56. Kd3 Bd5 The bishop finds a strong diagonal. With f3 under attack White cannot make any further progress. Although some accuracy is still required, the position is drawn. How do you pick specific training positions like these? How do you incorporate and work with an engine? What are the engine's strengths and weaknesses? Well, you don’t need to memorize that many specific theoretical positions. Some are important. I detail what I consider to be vital in the book. Mainly it’s about amassing knowledge of patterns and principles. But let us say I have a specific position (or class of position, such as a specific material balance) that I want to master. My usual method is to play the position several times against a playing partner or an engine, without studying the position at all. In this way you see the problems in the position really clearly. Afterwards I would study the analysis of the position and then play it several more times. It’s tempting to say engines are weak in the endgame, but in reality the best engines are just very strong at chess, period. They will evaluate the vast majority of positions very well. Of course they have a weakness in positions where the static evaluation is less important than whether or not one side can make progress. For instance, in an opposite- colored bishop endgame the computer may tell you the side with an extra pawn is +1.50, which means very little. Similarly it may struggle with a very technical position when it cannot calculate to the end. What kinds of metrics do you use to evaluate your training progress? Certainly there are no endgame-specific ratings. True, but you can see fairly easily whether or not you are misplaying endgames and whether or not you are converting winning positions and saving drawing positions. Also you will know yourself if you understood what you were doing or not during the game. The goal is to become a better player in general, anyway, so we want our overall rating to improve, thanks to our increased chess knowledge and confidence. Besides your book, what training tools or reference works would you recommend to a class-player interested in endgame training? Endgame theory is fairly static, and there are plenty of good reference books out there which will give you the theoretical positions. Personally I enjoy the old works like Averbakh’s Comprehensive Chess Endings, and Rook Endings by Smyslov and Levenfish, but there are modern books which will give the same information. I wouldn’t recommend using these to try to memorize a lot of theoretical positions all at once, though. One position at a time and in sufficient depth to be able to use it in a practical game. Otherwise it’s not very useful. Most of your time should be spent increasing your ‘feel’ for positions. I found Shereshevsky and Slutsky’s Mastering the Endgame series very useful. For those stronger players who are willing to work hard, Lutz’s Endgame Secrets is a wonderful book. Where do you see your future as a chess player? I’m pretty close to the GM title, so that’s my goal for the moment. Beyond that, I don’t really think too much about it. I would certainly like to write again. I have a lot more to say on all kinds of chess topics. What motivated you to write Amateur to IM? A lot of the book is based on positions and ideas that I’ve studied myself over the years, so in a way the project has been in production for a long time. Compiling the book itself was a natural progression. I thought I had interesting things to say. I thought I was filling something of a void in chess literature, and I thought I could help guide players to improvement. What were your most and least favorite parts of the writing process? Sometimes what you want to write is crystal clear in your mind and you can’t type it fast enough. Those are the enjoyable parts. Several times I got really bogged down in analysis because you have to get the assessment correct, and the computer is no help. You can spend two days analyzing a position, then on the third day you find a refutation which ruins everything. It’s tough because all this time you have something completely different in your mind that you really want to write about, bursting to get out. CL_01-2013_books_AKF_r9_chess life 12/11/12 12:08 PM Page 12
www.uschess.org 13 Now you can donate online through a secure website at www.uschesstrust.org DONATE TO U.S. TRUST ONLINE! Simply click on Donate and then on the Make a Donation button! BECOME A BENEFACTOR BE A USCF BENEFACTOR! Help promote American chess by becoming a USCF Benefactor Member. Benefactor Membership includes Life Membership, a special membership card, and recognition on a benefactor page of our website and periodically in Chess Life. The cost is $3,000, or $1,500 to existing Life Members. Half the funds collected will go to the USCF Life Member Assets Fund and half to assist USCF operations. Become a Benefactor at uschess.org, by phone at 1-800-903-8723, or by mail to USCF, PO Box 3967, Crossville TN 38557. THANKS TO OUR BENEFACTORS! USCF BENEFACTOR MEMBERS AS OF DECEMBER 7, 2012: JIM BEDENBAUGH (OK) JOSEPH BOYLE (TX) JEFFREY DAVIDSON (CA) MARTIN DEAN (VA) BILL GOICHBERG (NY) IN MEMORY OF: DAVID KAPLAN DAVID KOCHMAN (NH) CHRISTOPHER LEWIS (VA) PARKER MONTGOMERY (VT) PHILLIP SMITH (TN) HAROLD TORRANCE (PA) CHARLES UNRUH (OK) EDWARD WYCOFF (CA) PROMOTE AMERICAN CHESS adpage1_composite1_Layout 1 12/7/2012 7:32 PM Page 13
USCF Affairs / News for Our Members 14 January 2013 | Chess Life SPECIAL REFEREES: THE FORGOTTEN RULE By Tim Just A quick and easy way for tournament directors to deal with a player appeal, while still at the tournament site, is to use a Special Referee. Special Referees are one phone call away and can be used in place of an on-site Appeals Committee. A contact list of those expe- rienced national tournament directors, volunteering their time and expertise, is a buried treasure hiding in plain site on the USCF web page. Phil Smith, USCF IT Director and Webmaster, suggests two really good ways to access that list: www.uschess.org/content/view/11939/668/ or alternatively, click on Clubs & Tournaments > Tournament Directors > Special Referees. I suggest downloading and printing this list to keep with your other tournament supplies, like in your rulebook. If you have computer-adverse tournament director friends, do them a favor and print them a copy for their records. By the way, Special Referees on that list also make pretty good consultants even when a player appeal is not on deck. Special Referees—rule 21J—were invented in the latter half of the last century as an alter- native to the cumbersome on-site Appeals Committee process. In the pre-digital age that list of volunteers appeared in the printed Ratings Supplement. When the supplements ceased publication, and morphed into the downloadable monthly files we have today, we displaced a lot of extras including that list of Special Referee volunteers. 2012-2013 USCF COMMITTEE CHAIRS See executive board liaisons, office liaisons and members of these committees here: main.uschess.org/docs/gov/reports/CommitteeList Audit Bill Brock billbrock1958@gmail.com Awards John Donaldson imwjd@aol.com Barber K-8 Jon Haskel, co-chair Tournament of jon@bocachess.com State Champions Stephen Shutt, co-chair stephenshutt@yahoo.com Bylaws Harold J. Winston, co-chair HJWinston@aol.com Guy Hoffman, co-chair schachfuhrer@hotmail.com Chess in Education F. Leon Wilson FLeonW@chesslearn.com Clubs Bob Rasmussen bob.ras101@yahoo.com College Chess Russell S. Harwood russell.harwood@utb.edu Correspondence Brad Rogers Chess bradleyrogers22@msn.com Cramer Awards Frank Brady bradyf@stjohns.edu Denker Invitational Dewain Barber, co-chair AmChessEq@aol.com Jon Haskel, co-chair jon@bocachess.com Elections Ken Ballou ballou@crab.mv.com Ethics Richard (Buck) Buchanan buckpeace@pcisys.net Finance Randy Bauer randybauer2300@yahoo.com Hall of Fame Harold J. Winston HJWinston@aol.com Hall of Records Steve Immitt chesscntr@aol.com International Affairs Michael Khodarkovsky mkhodarkovsky@yahoo.com LMA Dr. Tim Redman redmanink@yahoo.com Vice-chair Dr. Leroy Dubeck lwdubeck@aol.com Military Chess Mike Hoffpauir mhoffpauir@aol.com Outreach Myron Lieberman azchess@cox.net PPHB John Donaldson imjwd@aol.com Publications Ramon Hernandez rahernan@optonline.net Ratings Mark Glickman glicko@gmail.com Rules David Kuhns e4e5@hughes.net Scholastic Council/ Jay Stallings, co-chair Committee coachjay@cycl.org Sunil Weeramantry, co-chair pawntunes@gmail.com Senior Charles Hatherill Kingsgambit50@earthlink.net States Guy Hoffman schachfuhrer@hotmail.com Top Players no chair named TDCC Tim Just Mrjust@yahoo.com Vice-chair Jeff Wiewel jwiewel@ntnusa.com U.S. Open Hal Terrie III halterrie@comcast.net Women’s Chess Isabelle Minoofar bhchessclub@hotmail.com COMMITTEE / CHAIRPERSON COMING IN 2013!THE PAUL MORPHY GRAND PRIX! LOOK FOR DETAILS COMING SOON, AND CHECK www.uschess.org/ratings/ MorphyGP/ FOR CURRENT INFORMATION. CL_01-2013_USCFAffairs_AKF_r7_chess life 12/11/12 10:42 PM Page 14
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Chess to Enjoy / Entertainment EONS AGO, WHEN GIANT NEWSPAPER editors trod the earth, they would send reporters to train stations, steamship docks and airports when word leaked out that a celebrity, even a minor “celeb,” was due to arrive. That’s how I ended up at Kennedy Airport one afternoon waiting to interview a passenger named Thomas Austin Preston Jr. Preston was a folk hero, at least among poker folk, who knew him by his handle, Amarillo Slim. He was renowned for, among other things, this advice to ama- teurs who choose to risk their own cash money: “Look around the table,” Slim said. “If you don’t see a sucker, get up—because you’re the sucker.” Slim was happy when my photographer offered him a ride with us into Manhattan. But as we cruised along the Van Wyck Expressway and I peppered him with ques- tions, he refused to give me anything newsworthy. “I’m here to see Santy Claus,” he said. So, I decided to use this unique oppor- tunity to seek professional advice. I explained that I was always getting bluffed when there was a big pot. Slim narrowed his eyes as he looked at me and said, “Well, then your heart isn’t as big as a pea.” That’s how I confirmed my official sta- tus in the world of games: I’m a wimp. In poker, I get bluffed. In chess, I offer draws. A draw? GM Andy Soltis GM Roman Dzindzichashvili Boston 1988 (see diagram top of next column) But I didn’t dare offer a draw in this position. I was dead lost: Two pawns down and with three minutes (compared with Black’s half hour) to reach move 50. The game headed to its natural result with 35 ... Qc2 36. Qf3 f5 37. Qd5+ Kg7 38. Ne3. But instead of 38. ... Qxb2! and 39. ... Ra2, which would have sealed the deal, he played 38. ... Qc6? 39. Qe6 d5? 40. Qxd5 Qxd5 41. Nxd5. Suddenly Black’s edge has evaporated. He wouldn’t have anything after 41. ... Ra7 42. Nxb4, for example. Instead, he played 41. ... Re6??. I replied 42. Bxb4—along with a draw offer. He accepted and it wasn’t until the post- mortem that I understood why: Black is lost, e.g. 42. ... Rc6 43. Ne7! followed by 44. Nxc6 or 44. Rxd7. Okay. I can find excuses for that one. After all, I might not have seen that 42. ... B-moves 43. Nc7! with the seconds I had left. But what about the games like this, I asked myself? Modern Defense (B06) GM Jon Arnason GM Andy Soltis Lone Pine 1981 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. f4 c6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be3 Qb6 7. Qd2 Nd7 8. 0-0-0 Qa5 9. Kb1 b5 10. e5 d5 11. Bd3 b4 12. Ne2 e6 13. Nh4 c5 14. dxc5 Nxc5 15. Bxc5 Qxc5 16. h3 Bxe2 17. Qxe2 Ne7 18. g4 Nc6 19. Nf3 0-0 20. h4 a5 21. h5 Rfe8 22. hxg6 hxg6 23. Ng5 Nd4 24. Qf2 I was only probably lost this time and I had a luxurious 10 minutes to reach move 40. It was time to get desperate—24. ... b3! 25. cxb3 Nxb3 26. Qe1? Nd4 27. Qf2 Rab8 28. Rh7 Rb7 29. Bxg6 Reb8! 30. Bxf7+ Kf8 31. Qxd4. Next came 31. ... Rxb2+ 32. Qxb2 Rxb2+ 33. Kxb2 Qb4+ 34. Kc2 Qc4+ 35. Kd2? Qxf4+ 35. Kc2 Qxg5 37. Bxe6 Qxe5. Black threatens to mate (38. ... Qc3+ and ... Qb2 mate) or win the bishop (38. ... Qxe6) or a rook (38. ... Qe4+). White might be able to fight on after something like 38. Rf1+ and 39. Rxg7 but Black has all the winning chances. But I offered a draw. Wimpiness reveals itself at much stronger levels than I played in. Super- grandmasters are so afraid of the Marshall Gambit in the Ruy Lopez these days that they avoid it with scaredy-cat moves like h3, a3 and d3. Some do the same in the Sicilian Defense. After Peter Leko played passively as White in a 2000 game, Garry Kasparov sneered, “As long as Leko plays a3, h3 in the Sicilian Defense I cannot leave big- time chess!” Boris Spassky said to excel in chess you needed a quality he called “spine.” In a July 20, 2001 interview with Izvestia he named Alexei Shirov as the most creative and talented young player of the day. “But Shirov has insufficient spine,” he added. Some would argue that wimp-out draw offers are the result of psychological inflex- ibility. It’s the inability to reset yourself emotionally when a lost or bad position changes dramatically. World Champion Vishy Anand told Chess magazine in 2010 that there are players like Anatoly Karpov who have plenty of resetting ability: “He could have a really bad position for the first 30 moves and then his opponent would make one mistake and Karpov will start playing for a win immediately.” A Heart As Big As A Pea It’s not as bad as losing a drawn position but ... By GM ANDY SOLTIS 16 January 2013 | Chess Life CL_01-2013_soltis_JP_r7_chess life 12/7/2012 12:47 PM Page 16
On the other hand, Anand added, “There are other people that are so relieved at having escaped that they cannot play for a win anymore.” This is probably a form of the phenom- enon called Loss Aversion that I wrote about some time ago. When you survive a near-death experience you can become so elated by the prospect of a draw that it never occurs to you that you can play for more. For example: King’s Indian Defense, Classical Variation (E95) GM Helgi Gretarsson GM Andy Soltis Bermuda International 1999 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. e4 e5 5. Nf3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. 0-0 0-0 8. Re1 c6 9. Bf1 a6 10. h3 exd4 11. Nxd4 Re8 12. Bf4 Ne5 13. Rc1 Nh5 14. Be3 c5! 15. Nc2 Be6 16. Na3 Nc6 17. Rc2 Be5 18. Rd2 Qf6 19. Rxd6! Bxd6 20. Qxd6 Ne5 21. Qd2 Qd8 22. Nd5 Rc8? 23. Bg5 Qd7 24. Be2 Bxd5 25. cxd5 f6 26. f4! fxg5 27. fxe5 Qd8 28. Bg4 Rb8 29. e6 Nf4 Amarillo Slim used to say he didn’t play cards, he played people. At this point we were both in time pressure and we weren’t playing chess, we were playing clock. 30. Nc4 h5 31. g3? b5? 32. Ne5 Nxe6? 33. Nc6! Qc7 34. Bxe6+ Rxe6 35. Nxb8 Qxg3+ 36. Kh1 Rf6 37. Rg1 Qh4 Now instead of 38. Qe3! g4 39. Rg3, the game went 38. Rg2?? Rf3! 39. Nc6? Rxh3+ 40. Rh2 Qxe4+ 41. Qg2. The strange thing is I knew I had reached 40 moves, the time control. I could have taken 40 or 50 minutes to look for more than the perpetual check staring me in the face. So, instead of 41. ... Rf3!, winning, I played 41. ... Qe1+? 42. Qg1 Qe4+ ... and offered a draw. But there was one example that was worse. It was played back in the days of adjournments, so I could have sealed my move and ... U.S. versus USSR Vitaly Tseshkovsky Andy Soltis World Student Team Championship, Dresden 1969 It was in a U.S.-USSR match, always a big deal during the Cold War. I had been daring my opponent to find a mate in our mutual time pressure. He could have drawn by perpetual checks at various points. But he never lacked spine and played 34. Qe3+? g5 35. Qf2 Qe4 36. Rf6+ Rg6 37. Rf8. His attack was over and I was three pawns up. I could have given a few checks and sealed my 40th move. I’d have at least 24 hours to find the win. But by now you know what happened. I made the checks, 37. ... Qh1+ 38. Kd2 Qd5+ 39. Ke1 Qh1+ 40. Kd2 and offered a draw. Why? The only explanation I can think of is ... Well, I already had one, from Amar- illo Slim. Archival Chess Life PDFs and .pgn files are available on uschess.org, Chess Life Magazine, Downloadable Files. www.uschess.org 17 Draw? Now it’s your turn to win drawn positions. In each of these six positions the player whose turn it was to move accepted a draw—or offered one that was immediately accepted. Your task is to find what they missed. In each case there is a move that leads to a forced win of a decisive amount of material—or, in one case, a mate. For solutions see page 71. Problem I Achim Longwitz Hans Peter Lohsse BLACK TO PLAY Problem IV GM Istvan Bilek IM Teodor Ghitescu WHITE TO PLAY Problem II IM Victor Ciocaltea IM Wolfgang Pietzsch WHITE TO PLAY Problem V IM Ricardo Calvo IM Svend Hamann BLACK TO PLAY Problem III GM Sam Reshevsky Fotis Mastichiadis BLACK TO PLAY Problem VI GM Garry Kasparov GM Zoltan Ribli WHITE TO PLAY Chess to Enjoy / Entertainment CL_01-2013_soltis_JP_r7_chess life 12/7/2012 5:40 PM Page 17
Solitaire Chess / Instruction ONE ADVANTAGE OF CASTLING ON opposite sides of the board is that the players are freer to move the pawns on the side lodging the enemy king, since that doesn’t necessarily expose the player’s own king to attack. In such cases, winning is often a matter of beating the other player to the punch. That is, by getting there first, one stops the defender in his or her tracks, and the counterattack never gets going. An example of that kind of one- sided battering is the game George Alan Thomas versus Mario Monticelli (Black) from the encounter between England and Italy in the 1933 Folkestone Olympiad. Once Thomas began his assault, it was as if Black’s play stopped completely. The game began: Ruy Lopez, Deferred Steinitz (C73) George Alan Thomas (ENG) Mario Monticelli (ITA) Folkestone Olympiad 1933 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. d4 f6 7. Be3 Ne7 Now make sure you have the above posi- tion set up on your chessboard. As you play through the remaining moves in this game, use a piece of paper to cover the arti- cle, exposing White’s next move only after trying to guess it. If you guess correctly, give yourself the par score. Sometimes points are also rewarded for second-best moves, and there may be bonus points— or deductions—for other moves and vari- ations. Note that ** means that the note to Black’s move is over and White’s move is on the next line.** 8. Qd2 Par Score 5 White could also play 8. Nc3. Either way, White is getting ready to castle queen- side. 8. … Ng6 The move, 8. ... Rb8, seizing the half open b-file, could be answered by 9. Nc3 Rxb2 10. dxe5 fxe5 11. Nxe5, since 11. ... dxe5 runs into 12. Qxd8+ Kxd8 13. 0-0- 0+, gaining the Exchange. Accept 2 bonus points if you saw it.** 9. Nc3 Par Score 5 White develops, still with the possibility of queenside castling. 9. … Be7 10. h4 Par Score 5 In anticipation of Black castling king- side, White commences kingside operations. Of course he could have castled himself, on the queenside, which gets full credit. 10. … 0-0 Monticelli castles kingside, allowing his knight to be driven to the corner, inas- much as he sees how he can bring it back into play. All the same, he might have tried to hold his ground with 10. ... h5.** 11. h5 Par Score 5 11. … Nh8 12. 0-0-0 Par Score 5 There we have it. Both sides have cas- tled on opposite wings of the chessboard. Let’s see who musters a stronger attack first. 12. … Nf7 13. Rdg1 Par Score 5 White wastes no time. He repositions his queen-rook to support a g-file advance, fig- uring to follow with a subsequent g2-g4 and then perhaps to g4-g5. 13. … Bd7 On 13. ... Bg4, White plays 14. Ne1, followed by f2-f3 and g3-g4 (1 bonus point).** 14. g4 Par Score 5 14. … exd4 Black looks to meet White’s flank aggres- sion with counterplay in the center, just as recommended in the books. That policy doesn’t always work. Here Black gets the e5-square but it proves temporary.** 15. Nxd4 Par Score 4 15. … Ne5 Black doubly attacks g4.** 16. Qe2 Par Score 5 And not 16. f3? (Deduct 2 points) because of 16. ... c5 17. N-moves Nxf3. 16. … Qc8 17. Nf5 Par Score 5 White threatens a big knight fork on e7. 17. … Re8 Black avoids 17. ... Bxf5 18. gxf5, hand- ing White the open g-file.** 18. f4 Par Score 5 This drives back the enemy knight while opening the second rank for the queen to reach h2. 18. … Nf7 19. h6 Par Score 5 One way or another, this last move brings about a breach in Black’s castled position. Notice that Black hasn’t exactly mustered an attack of his own on the queenside. Getting There “Firstest” With The “Mostest” Did your opponent just castle on the opposite side of the board? It’s on! By BRUCE PANDOLFINI 18 January 2013 | Chess Life CL_01-2013_pando_JP_r7_chess life 12/7/2012 12:11 PM Page 18
Solitaire Chess / Instruction 19. … Nxh6 On 19. ... Bxf5, there could follow 20. gxf5 Nxh6 21. Rxh6 (1 bonus point). On 19. ... g6, White has 20. Nxe7+ Rxe7 21. Bd4, winning the f-pawn (1 bonus point). The same goes for 19. ... gxh6, when White fol- lows with 20. Nxe7+ Rxe7 21. Bd4 Kg7 22. g5 hxg5 23. fxg5 (1 bonus point).** 20. Nxg7! Par Score 6 Accept only 5 points part credit for 20. Nxh6+ gxh6 21. Rxh6. Black’s position is pretty shaky, but he can still offer a defense by ... Be7-f8 and ... Bf8-g7. After the knight sacrifice, Black is hard pressed to ward off mate. 20. … Kxg7 If 20. ... Bxg4, then 21. Nf5 and White is winning. For example, if 21. ... Nxf5, then 22. Qxg4+ Kh8 23. exf5 Rg8 24. Rxh7+ Kxh7 25. Qh5 mate (1 bonus point). Or if 21. ... Kh8, then White has such delightful possibilities as 22. Nxh6 Bxe2 23. Nf7 mate (1 bonus point); or 22. Rxg4 Nxg4 23. Qxg4 Rg8 24. Rxh7+ Kxh7 25. Qh5 mate (1 bonus point). But White shouldn’t continue 22. Rxh6 because of 22. ... Bxe2 23. Rg7 Qxf5!. Incidentally, 21. ... Kf8 could be met by 22. Nxh6 Bxe2 23. Rg8 mate (1 bonus point).** 21. Qh2 Par Score 5 21. … Nf7 Possibly, this is Black’s best. Alternatives might have been 21. ... Nxg4 22. Qxh7+ Kf8 23. Qg6 (among others) 23. ... Bd8 24. Rh7 and mate coming up (1 bonus point); or 21. ... Ng8 22. Qxh7+ Kf8 23. f5, fol- lowed by Bh6+; or 21. ... Rh8 22. Qxh6+ Kg8 (on 22. ... Kf7 23. g5 follows) 23. g5 fxg5 (23. ... f5 24. g6) 24. Bd4 Qf8 25. Rxg5+ Bxg5 26. Qxg5+ Kf7 27. Qf6+ and Qxh8 (1 bonus point).** 22. Qxh7+ Par Score 5 22. … Kf8 23. f5! Par Score 5 White threatens 24. Bh6+ Nxh6 25. Qxh6+ Kf7 26. Qg6+ and mate next move (1 bonus point). 23. … Bd8 Black vacates e7 for the king.** 24. Qg6 Par Score 5 This is a good practical choice, threat- ening 25. Rh7 and, if 25. ... Re7, then 26. Qg7+ Ke8 27. Qg8 mate (1 bonus point). You may take full credit for 24. g5, with lots of good contingencies available. You may also take full credit for 24. Bh6+. But accept no credit for 24. Qxf7+ Kxf7 25. Rh7+ Kg8 26. Rgh1 Rf8 27. Rh8+ Kf7 28. R1h7+ Ke8, and the black king escapes. 24. … Ke7 If 24. ... Re7, then 25. Rh8+ Nxh8 26. Bh6+ Rg7 27. Qxg7+ Ke8 28. Qf8 mate (2 bonus points).** 25. Rh7 Par Score 5 The noose is tightening. 25. … Rf8 26. Bh6 Par Score 5 White threatens to take first the rook and then the knight. 26. … Be8 27. Qg7 Par Score 5 The rook is indefensible at f8. If it goes to g8 or h8, White just removes it. And on 27. ... Kd7, there follows 28. Qxf8 Be7 29. Rxf7 Bxf7 30. Qxf7, leaving White a piece ahead. So ... 27. … Black resigned. www.uschess.org 19 ABCs of Chess These problems are all related to key positions in this month’s game. In each case, Black is to move. The answers can be found in Solutions on page 71. January Exercise: Set up whatever pawn configuration you’re interested in. Placing the kings in neutral posts, analyze or play out against a partner or software the position until you get a sense for it. Then begin adding pieces, minor pieces first, making sure to try out all possibilities (knight versus knight or knight versus bishop, and varying with light or dark square bishops). After working minor pieces, move to situations of rook versus rook and queen versus queen. Try to avoid initial setups where immediate tactics decide. Study enough of these arrangements and you should begin to grasp some of the positional essentials of particular pawn structures. Problem I Double Attack Problem IV Mating net Problem II Fork Problem V Mating net Problem III Pin Problem VI Mating net TOTAL YOUR SCORE TO DETERMINE YOUR APPROXIMATE RATING BELOW: Total Score Approx. Rating 95+ 2400+ 81-94 2200-2399 66-80 2000-2199 51-65 1800-1999 36-50 1600-1799 21-35 1400-1599 06-20 1200-1399 0-05 under 1200 CL_01-2013_pando_JP_r7_chess life 12/7/2012 12:12 PM Page 19
20 January 2013 | Chess Life ORWAY’S BRILLIANT 21-YEAR- OLD Magnus Carlsen continued his stunning run of tournament success, defeating U.S.-born Ital- ian Fabiano Caruana, 20, in a blitz playoff match in Bilbao, Spain, to take his second Grand Slam Final title. The 2012 Grand Slam Final featured the winners of the most elite tournaments of 2012: Carlsen (Tal Memorial winner), Levon Aronian (winner of Wijk aan Zee), plus Caruana and Sergei Karjakin, joint winners of Dortmund 2012. Add the win- ner of the 2012 World Championship match, Viswanathan Anand, and the Grand Slam Final became a serious end- of-season event. The only big name missing was Vladimir Kramnik (winner of the London Classic in December 2011), because the former world champion refuses to play in tourna- ments split between continents. (In 2012 the organizers gave a 10-day break between the first half in São Paulo and the N GM MAGNUS CARLSEN Text by GM IAN ROGERS | Photos by CATHY ROGERS Are you smarter tCarlsen adds a jewel to his crown; our reporter offers Chess Life r CL_01-2013_Bilbao_AKF_r10.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 3:02 PM Page 20
www.uschess.org 21 second half in Bilbao to overcome any jet- lag, but still this was not enough to overcome Kramnik's objections.) Despite the rarefied field, Carlsen and Caruana dominated the 2012 Grand Slam Final with no other player finishing above a 50% score—Aronian and Anand won only one game between them! Carlsen’s title was a new jewel in an already glittering crown. Since 2009 Carlsen has won 10 super-tournaments, winning every tiebreaker in which he has been involved during that period. Carlsen also moved his rating to within four points of Kasparov’s long-standing 2851 record—though rating inflation makes rating comparisons over time mis- leading, with even Kasparov admitting that his 2851 may not have been superior to Bobby Fischer’s 1972 figure of 2785. In Bilbao, Carlsen managed to overhaul the big lead Caruana had established dur- ing the first half of the tournament in São Paulo, avenging his first round loss to GM FABIANO CARUANA t han a SUPER GM?readers a chance to equal or better the world’s best players. CL_01-2013_Bilbao_AKF_r10.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 3:02 PM Page 21
Cover Story / 2012 Grand Slam Final 22 January 2013 | Chess Life Caruana and also beating World Champion Anand in a key penultimate round game. “I felt I played really well,” was Carlsen’s summary—rare self-praise from the Nor- wegian who is always one of the biggest critics of his own play. Despite eventually losing the Grand Slam title to Carlsen, Caruana also walked away from the tournament with great honor. Over the 10 rounds Caruana scored victories over the top two players in the world, Carlsen and Aronian; the latter vic- tory in round nine enabling Caruana to keep pace with Carlsen. Going into the last round Caruana and Carlsen were level on points but Carlsen faced the formidable Aronian while Caruana was paired against tailender Paco Vallejo. Yet, to the astonishment of the specta- tors, after 25 minutes of play in the final round Caruana had allowed Vallejo, 30, to force a draw leaving the way clear for Carlsen to draw his own game and then win the playoff. Only later it emerged that the previous night Vallejo—depressed by his poor form —had announced his retirement and was planning to go back to his home island of Mallorca and reassess his life. Though Caruana did not say it openly, all indications are that the chivalrous Ital- ian did not want to beat Vallejo in what might be his final game and, at the possi- ble cost of the Grand Slam title, gave Vallejo a chance to end the tournament with an honorable draw. Some criticized Caruana’s lack of killer instinct, but many more offered praise, for the Italian’ performance off and on the board. Canadian GM Kevin Spraggett even dared to suggest that 20-year-old Caruana might be the man to take Viswanathan Anand’s world title—though Caruana will have to wait at least three years since he is not placed in the 2013 Candidates tour- nament. Certainly after a great result in the Tal Memorial, a win in Dortmund and now success in the Grand Slam Final, Caruana has established his place among the world elite; now ranked as number five in the world yet almost two years younger than Carlsen. •••••••••••••• Are You Smarter than a Super-Grandmaster? From the very first round, the armchair critics, with computer programs such as Houdini running by their side, were scathing about the number of errors made by the competitors in the Grand Slam Final. Certainly the world’s best players make mistakes—they have blood, not silicon, in their veins—but many of the so-called blunders were far from obvious to non- computers. Test yourself on the following positions —can you find the correct move and do better than the world’s best? São Paulo Grand Slam Final Round 1 GM Fabiano Caruana (FIDE 2773, ITA) GM Magnus Carlsen (FIDE 2843, NOR) Carlsen, pushing hard for a win with Black over the past 40 moves, has allowed Caruana to complicate matters with an Exchange sacrifice—just at the point when Carlsen had only two minutes left on his clock (plus 10 second increments) to fin- ish the game. Indeed, Carlsen tumbled to defeat from here—can you do better? SOLUTION: 81. ... Rb2? Carlsen misses one last chance to hold the game, with the unlikely 81. ... Rb3+!! 82. Kxe4 (82. cxb3? cxb3 actually wins for Black.) 82. ... Rc3! when Black can take the c-pawn and survive. 82. d5! Rxc2 83. d6! Now Black’s rook cannot get behind the passed d-pawn quickly enough. 83. ... c3 84. d7 Rd2 85. d8=Q Rxd8 86. Bxd8 h4! “The only chance,” said Caruana, who used most of his remaining time to make sure of a clear path to victory. 87. gxh4! 87. Bxh4? c2 88. Kd2 e3+ 89. Kxc2 e2 would be an unfortunate accident. 87. ... g3 88. f6! c2 89. Kd2 e3+ 90. Kxc2 e2 91. Ba5!, Black resigned. After 91. ... Kh3—the king cannot step on to the f-file without allowing White to queen with check—92. Kd2! g2 93. Bb6—White has succeeded in covering all the black pawns and his f-pawn will be the winner. That was tricky, I agree. How about something easier? (see diagram top of next column) São Paulo Grand Slam Final Round 5 GM Levon Aronian (FIDE 2816, ARM) GM Fabiano Caruana (FIDE 2773, ITA) Aronian (White) is two pawns up, with 15 minutes left and “completely winning” as the Armenian grandmaster said. So how should White finish the job? SOLUTION: 55. h6+? “I had too many ways to win,” was Aronian's explanation for this failed combination. 55. Rf5 would hold the extra pawns with a slow but sure win. 55. ... Kxh6 56. Rf5 A humble admission of error. Aronian had intended 56. Nxc6!? but realized too late that after 56. ... Kg5! 57. Rg4+ Kf5 58. Nd4+ Ke5 his pieces are so tangled up that he must lose one of his extra pawns. 56. ... Kg7 57. f4 Rb1+ 58. Kc3 Rb3+ 59. Kd4 Rb4+ 60. Ke3 Rb3+ 61. Kf2 Rc3 Now White can make no progress and Aron- ian gave up trying a dozen moves later. 62. Nd7 Kg6 63. Rf8 Ra3 64. Nb6 Be4 65. Ke2 Bf5 66. Rd8 Be4 67. Nc4 Rc3 68. Rd4 Bd5 69. Ne5+ Kf5 70. Nd7 Be6 71. Kd2 Rf3 72. Nb8 Bd5 73. Na6 Rxf4, Draw agreed. OK—that one wasn’t fair. Who wants puzzles where the boring move is correct and the combination is wrong? So here’s something completely different: Bilbao Grand Slam Final Round 9 GM Magnus Carlsen (FIDE 2843, NOR) GM Viswanathan Anand (FIDE 2780, IND) continued on page 26 CL_01-2013_Bilbao_AKF_r10.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 3:03 PM Page 22
www.uschess.org 23 AS THE WORLD CHAMPION DREW game after game at the Grand Slam Final in Sao Paulo and Bilbao, chess fans started wondering whether they were watching a form slump by GM Viswanathan Anand or something worse. The bare statistics of Anand’s recent results are worrying enough. The Indian has not won a classical tournament for four and a half years and had only won two classical games since the 2011 Grand Slam Final twelve months ago— a period which included his successful world title defense against GM Boris Gelfand. Statistics can be misleading—Anand, 42, also only lost three games in the period—but his percentage of draws has reached worrying proportions, especially in an era with anti-draw regulations. Last November Anand completed the Tal Memorial tournament in Moscow with nine consecutive draws and his run of draws from the end of the world title match through to Sao Paulo and Bilbao has been even longer, capped off in round nine by a loss to GM Magnus Carlsen. The chess world has not seen such poor tournament results from a world champion since GM Tigran Petrosian in the 1960s. Anand dismisses some of the routine explanations for his mediocre results, such as being distracted by having a young child. Yet Anand does admit, reluctantly, that age may be becoming a factor, though not in the sense that he can no longer calcu- late with clarity and depth. Rather, Anand has struggled to find a way to use the initiative which is sup- posed to come with the white pieces and the first move in an era of computer enhanced preparation. When asked at a Sao Paulo press con- ference immediately after a lackluster draw against GM Levon Aronian when was the last time he had broken down Aronian’s opening choice, the Berlin Wall, Anand was forced to admit, sheepishly, “2003.” (“The Berlin Wall is really killing 1. e4,” Anand said later. “Can you believe that ... Be6-c8 is the latest fashion and White can't seem to do anything?”) Indeed Anand has expressed his admi- ration for the way Aronian, alone of the top players when playing White, con- tinually comes up with new ideas to create problems for his opponents. (Cer- tainly Anand’s remarkable statement that he felt he would learn a lot from a world title match against Aronian or Carlsen shows just how far ahead he feels his two most likely challengers are in playing 21st century chess.) The following game extract, from the first leg of the Grand Slam Final in Sao Paulo, shows one of Anand’s current problems—an uncharacteristic impetu- ousness when passively placed. Sao Paulo Grand Slam Final Round 3 GM Fabiano Caruana (FIDE 2773, ITA) GM Viswanathan Anand (FIDE 2780, IND) Caruana, with White, has just played 17. Rc1, with the obvious threat of 18. Nd5. After long thought, Anand decided to call Caruana’s bluff: 17. ... Re8?! 18. Nd5! exd5 18. ... Qd8 was safer. 19. cxd5 Qb6 20. Bf2! Qxb2 21. dxc6 bxc6 22. Rxc6 Anand had calculated this far and wanted to play 22. ... d5 23. Bd4 Qb7 but upon reaching the position noticed 24. Qc2 “when I have to resign” said Anand. (An exaggeration, but 24. ... Nh5 25. Rb1 Qa8 26. e5! is indeed ugly.) Instead Anand was forced to try the humble ... 22. ... Rdd8 ... but after ... 23. Rxa6 ... found himself a pawn down for nothing, after which the World Champion needed all his defensive skills to hang onto a draw, and ultimately finish in fifth place of the six players. What’s eating Viswanathan Anand? Cover Story / 2012 Grand Slam Final CL_01-2013_Bilbao_AKF_r10.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 3:03 PM Page 23
Carlsen French Defense GM Magnus Carlsen (FIDE 2843, NOR) GM Fabiano Caruana (FIDE 2773, ITA) Sao Paulo Grand Slam Final (6), 10.08.2012 Prior to this game, the first to be played in Bilbao after the Sao Paulo leg of the Grand Slam Final, Carlsen was trailing Caruana by a point and a half, and only a win would do for the Norwegian. 1. e4 e6 2. d3 “I was a bit surprised by his choice of the French and so avoided main lines,” said Carlsen. “Sometimes in order to cre- ate a fight you need to choose lines that aren’t necessarily the most thoroughly analyzed.” 2. ... d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. c3 5. g3 would allow Black to equalize immediately with 5. ... dxe4 6. dxe4 Bc5 7. Bg2 0-0 8. 0-0 e5. 5. ... Bd6 6. Be2 0-0 7. 0-0 a5 8. Re1 e5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nc4 Re8 11. Bf1 Bg4 12. h3 Bh5 13. g3 Nb6 14. Nxb6 cxb6 15. Bg2 b5 Criticized by Carlsen, who was more worried about 15. ... a4, though Caruana wondered how he was supposed to fol- low up after 16. a3. 16. a4! b4?! Now Caruana drifts into a difficult position. Black should have tried 16. ... bxa4 17. Qxa4 Bc5, or perhaps better 15. ... Bc5 a move earlier, since then Be3 would enable Black to exchange a piece which causes him trouble later in the game. 17. Be3 Bc7 18. Qb3 h6 19. Qc4 bxc3 20. bxc3 e4 Carlsen thought that this mini-combi- nation was almost forced, but felt that the resulting endgame would be tricky for Black. 21. dxe4 Bxf3 22. Bxf3 Ne5 23. Qe2 Nxf3+ 24. Qxf3 Qd3 25. Kg2 Qxe4 26. Bd4 Qxf3+ 27. Kxf3 b6 28. Rab1 Rac8 “I thought I should be able to hold the endgame,” said Caruana. “It doesn’t seem like a losing position.” 29. Re4 g6?! A few moves later Caruana realized that he should not have allowed White to push h4-h5 but the moment to nip White’s kingside expansion in the bud was now, via 29. ... h5! since an attempt to win the h-pawn with 30. Rh4 g6 31. g4 fails to 31. ... Bd8. 30. g4! Kf8 31. h4 Rxe4 32. Kxe4 Re8+ 33. Kd3 Re6 34. Be3 Kg7 35. Rb5 Bd8 36. h5! (see diagram top of next column) “Now Black is tied down to the defense of his h- and b-pawns and the win is a matter of technique,” said Carlsen. 36. ... Rd6+ 37. Kc4 Rc6+ 38. Kd5 Re6 39. Bd4+ Kf8 40. f4! Bc7 41. f5 Rd6+ 42. Ke4 Rc6 43. Rb1 Ke8 “43. ... g5 loses to 44. Kd5 Rd6+ 45. Kc4 Ke7 46. Re1+ Kd7 47. Bg7,” explained Carlsen. 44. hxg6 fxg6 45. Rh1 Kf7 46. Kd5 Rd6+ 47. Kc4 gxf5 Now Carlsen finishes the game with a forcing sequence but after 47. ... g5 48. Re1! the white king will walk to b7 and end any resistance. 48. gxf5 Bd8 49. f6! Bxf6 Hoping for solace in a bishop ending, but in any case 49. ... Kg6 50. Rg1+ leads to an invasion on g7. 50. Rxh6 Be7 51. Rxd6 Bxd6 52. Kb5 Ke6 53. Bxb6 Kd7 54. c4 Kc8 55. Bxa5 (see diagram top of next page) This endgame has been known to be winning for White since a famous Fis- cher-Keres game from Zurich 1959. White’s only task is to avoid Black giv- ing up his bishop for the c-pawn. 55. ... Kb7 56. Bb4 Bf4 57. c5 Ka7 58. c6 Kb8 59. a5 Ka7 60. a6 Ka8 61. Bc5 Bb8 62. Kc4 24 January 2013 | Chess Life Cover Story / 2012 Grand Slam Final The titans meet for their São Paulo game. CL_01-2013_Bilbao_AKF_r10.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 3:03 PM Page 24
www.uschess.org 25 Cover Story / 2012 Grand Slam Final Bc7 63. Kd5 Bd8 64. Ke6 Bc7 65. Kd7 Ba5 66. Be7!, Black resigned. (see final diagram top of next column) Caruana Ruy Lopez, Archangelsk Defenses GM Sergey Karjakin (FIDE 2778, RUS) GM Fabiano Caruana (FIDE 2773, ITA) Sao Paulo Grand Slam Final (2), 09.25.2012 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d4 Bb6 9. Be3 “I had not played this line for a while, and I predicted that he would play the 9. Be3 system, since it is quite fashion- able,” said Caruana, who had come well prepared. 9. ... 0-0 10. Nbd2 Bb7 11. Re1 exd4!? 12. cxd4 Nb4 13. Qe2 “The critical move,” said Caruana. “After 13. Qb1 (the main line) 13. ... c5 14. a3 Nc6 15. d5 Ne7, the queen is not so well placed on b1 because I have the plan ... h7-h6, ... Nh7 and ... f7-f5.” 13. ... c5 14. a3 Nc6 15. d5 Ne7 16. h3 Re8 17. Bc2 Ng6 18. b3?! “White should play on the queenside with 18. a4,” explained Caruana, “when I was going to play 18. ... c4, threaten- ing to take on e3 and d5. Then White should play 19. Qd1, intending Nf1-g3 and later making use of the d4-square. Maybe Black is slightly worse but it is not very clear.” 18. ... Ba5 19. Rab1 Karjakin later regretted allowing the bishop to come to c3, saying “I should have played something like 19. Qd3.” 19. ... Bc3 20. Rec1 b4 Caruana’s first serious think of the game—until this move he had used only 11 minutes to 45 for Karjakin. “I will have to play ... b5-b4 sooner or later after 21. Bd3,” explained Caruana. 21. a4 Both players agreed that White should have tried 21. axb4 after which Caruana was intending 21. ... Bxb4 22. Bd3 a5 “and if 23. Qd1 I again have 23. ... Ba6,” explained Caruana. 21. ... a5 22. Bd3 h6 23. Qd1? “A horrible move,” said Karjakin. “I completely forgot about 23. ... Ba6, when my position is terrible. “Caruana was sur- prisingly optimistic for White, saying “After 23. Qf1 I thought that it should be objec- tively equal, although I like my position—it is very comfortable. However I didn’t see any clear plan for Black—maybe ... Ra7 followed by ... Bc8 and ... Rae7. Basically White can’t move; the only question is if Black has an active plan.” 23. ... Ba6! 24. Bc2 A humble retreat, after which Black’s a6-bishop dominates the board and to add to his woes Karjakin had only 18 minutes remaining. However 24. Bxa6 Rxa6 25. Qc2 Ra7 followed by 26. ... Rae7, leaves the e4-pawn doomed. 24. ... Ra7! 25. Kh2 Rae7 (see diagram top of next column) 26. g4 “A mistake,” said Caruana, “though his suggestion 26. Kg1 was hardly inspir- ing.” 26. ... Nxe4! 26. ... Qd7 was also strong but “I wanted something more forcing,” said Caruana, who used only seven of his 48 remaining minutes deciding on this Exchange sacrifice. 27. Nxe4 Rxe4 28. Bxe4 Rxe4 29. Qc2 “29. Rxc3!? bxc3 30. Qc2 was kind of interesting,” said Caruana, but I think then 30. ... Ne5!! is winning, e.g. 31. Qxe4 Bd3 32. Qf4 Ng6 33. Qg3 Bxb1 while if 31. Nxe5 I just play 31. ... Rxe5 32. Qxc3 Rxd5 and his king is very weak.” 29. ... Qe7 30. Rg1 In growing time trouble, Karjakin CL_01-2013_Bilbao_AKF_r10.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 3:03 PM Page 25
Cover Story / 2012 Grand Slam Final 26 January 2013 | Chess Life BILBAO MASTERS FINAL 2012: SAO PAULO, BRAZIL—SEPTEMBER 24-29, OCTOBER 8-13 PLAYERS RATING COUNTRY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 POINTS GM Fabiano Caruana 2773 ITA 3 3 1 3 1 0 1 1 3 1 17 GM Magnus Carlsen 2843 NOR 0 3 1 1 1 3 3 1 3 1 17 GM Levon Aronian 2816 ARM 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 11 GM Sergey Karjakin 2778 RUS 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 10 GM Viswanathan Anand 2780 IND 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 9 GM Francisco Vallejo-Pons 2697 ESP 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 6 Bilbao Rule: Win 3 points, Draw 1 point, Loss 0 points. Carlsen has just played the very effective positional move 24. g4!, cutting the black knight out of the game. However 24. g4 also created a threat—if you work out what it is and stop it, you will be doing better than the World Champion. SOLUTION: 24. ... Rc6? 25. Nh3!! Not the world’s most obvious attacking move, but once you see the threat of 26. Qh6 followed by 27. Ng5, the power is obvious—in fact both Carlsen and Anand agreed that Black is now doomed. It was small consolation to Anand that even without 24. ... Rc6 Black was probably already close to lost since against better defensive moves (such as 24. ... Rf8 or 24. ... Qd6) White can double on the e-file, play Nd3, Kg2 and slowly advance on the kingside, while Black’s only conceivable active plan ... a7-a5-a4 is likely to be too little, too late. 25. ... Ne8 26. Qh6 Nf6 27. Ng5 d3 Black can avoid mate with 27. ... Qa6 28. Re5 Qc8 but after 29. Rfe1 Qf8 30. Qxf8+ Kxf8 31. Nxe6+ White wins two pawns and the game. 28. Re5! Kh8 Otherwise 29. Nxh7! would win. 29. Rd1 Qa6 30. a4, Black resigned. Despite the playing session being little more than two hours old, Anand saw no reason to continue as he cannot prevent Rxd3, Rde3 and Nxe6. “That was really fun!” said Carlsen to the Norwegian media soon after the game; “A big disappoint- ment,” said Anand, who was losing a classical game to Carlsen for only the sec- ond time. “Sometimes you feel like a scientist, sometimes you feel like an artist and sometimes you feel like an imbecile!” It's true—attacks starting with a back- wards knight move are not exactly easy to see. Can’t one of these guys miss some- thing simple—like a forced checkmate? Now that you mention it ... Bilbao Grand Slam Final Round 9 GM Sergey Karjakin (FIDE 2778, RUS) GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (FIDE 2697, ESP) (see diagram top of next column) In this crazily complicated position, Vallejo (Black) had only seconds left on his clock for four moves. He could try the fancy 37. ... Qxc5!? 38. dxc5 Re7, or the direct counter-attack 37. ... Qb2. Which should he choose? rushes to his doom by allowing a sec- ond Exchange sacrifice. “He should play 30. Re1 but it looks pretty awful,” said Caruana. “I can play 30. ... Bxe1 31. Rxe1 Qe8! (avoiding 32. Bg5!) and later ... c5-c4.” 30. ... Rxe3! 31. fxe3 Qxe3 A remarkable position where Black’s bishops dominate White’s rooks. 32. Rbf1 Be2! 33. Qf5 33. Qc1 Qxc1 34. Rxc1 Bxf3 is hope- less for White. 33. ... Bd3 “Now his queen is cut off,” said Caru- ana. 33. ... Nh4 34. Nxh4 Be5+ was also very strong. 34. Qd7 Be5+! 35. Kh1 On 35. Nxe5 Qxe5+ 36. Kh1 Be4+ 37. Rg2 Nf4! cuts out all counterplay. 35. ... Be4! 36. Qe8+ Nf8, White resigned. continued from page 22 CL_01-2013_Bilbao_AKF_r10.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 3:03 PM Page 26
www.uschess.org 27 Cover Story / 2012 Grand Slam Final SOLUTION: Vallejo played ... 37. ... Qb2?? ... and was mated after ... 38. Qc8+, Black resigned. No doubt you were able to do better, but such was his shame at missing such an obvious mate that he announced his retirement that evening on Facebook. Admittedly Vallejo was already despondent about his performance in São Paulo and Bilbao, having missed another mate in the following game ... São Paulo Grand Slam Final Round 3 GM Levon Aronian (FIDE 2816, ARM) GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (FIDE 2697, ESP) The question is simple: Should Vallejo (Black) take a draw by checking with his rook on a1 and a2 or can he try for more with 30. ... Qxh2!? SOLUTION: Vallejo, running short of time, took the repetition of moves with ... 30. ... Ra1+ 31. Kg2 Ra2+ 32. Kf1 Ra1+ 33. Kg2 Ra2+ ... and the game was drawn. Vallejo admitted that he had also been tempted to play 30. ... Qxh2, which he believed would oblige Aronian to force a draw with 31. Rg7+ Kxg7 32. Qe7+ when Black cannot escape the checks. At the post-game press conference, Brazilian GM Gilberto Milos pointed out that 30. ... Qxh2 would actually have allowed 31. Ne5+!! fxe5 32. Rc7+, with mate to follow. Vallejo looked shocked that he had almost walked into this, but Aronian was equally surprised, since he had intended 31. Rg7+ and was not at all sure that he would have noticed the forced mate. “I saw that I was making a draw,” said Aronian, “but maybe I would see the mate.” “Actually, I was very lucky,” admitted Vallejo, “since I was not sure whether to force a draw or let him do so with 30. ... Qxh2 31. Rg7+.” (He was even luckier that the online spectators never realized that he came so close to blundering.) Apart from Caruana’s upset win in round one, the biggest howls of disapproval by the online chess fans came when the two top players in the world were going head to head ... São Paulo Grand Slam Final Round 4 GM Magnus Carlsen (FIDE 2843, NOR) GM Levon Aronian (FIDE 2816, ARM) Carlsen (White) was well ahead on the clock—40 minutes to 13—and he spent 11 minutes on the clock before playing the surprising ... 27. Bf4!!? ... answered quickly by Aronian with the equally remarkable ... 27. ... Bc3!!? Your question—what were they thinking, and can you find any improvements? SOLUTION: Carlsen’s move had the idea 27. ... exf4? 28. Qxf3 but, as the world number one realized as soon as he had made his move, something was terribly wrong. Aronian briefly looked at 27. ... R8xf4!? 28. gxf4 Nxf4 and saw that it was refuted by 29. Ra8+ Kh7 30. Ng5+. So, somewhat short of time, Aronian quickly replied ... 27. ... Bc3!? ... with the aim of making the previous variation playable by decoying the knight away from control of g5. However by now every chess computer was screaming out that 27. ... R8xf4! ... would have won, since after 28. gxf4 Nxf4 29. Ra8+ Black has 30. ... Bf8! and mate will be forced after 31. Rg1 Qxh2+!! 32. Kxh2 Rh3. Carlsen admitted that after his mistake he was shaking for the rest of the game, which concluded ... 28. Qxf3 Bxa1 29. Qg2 Qf5 30. Bd2 Bd4 31. h3 Bc5 32. Bc3 Be7 33. Re1 b5 34. Kg1 b4 35. Bb2 Bd6 36. h4 Be7 37. Kh2 Ra8 38. Ra1 Rxa1 39. Bxa1 Nc5 40. Nd2 Bf6 41. Bb2 b3 42. Nxb3 Nxb3 43. cxb3 Qxd3 44. Qxc6 Qc2 45. Qe8+ Kh7 46. Qxh5+ Kg8 47. Qe8+ Kh7 48. Qh5+, Draw agreed. The scorn on chess comment boards was palpable—“Blunder of the month,” “Shocking,” “Embarrassing,” etc., etc., though one or two people defended the elite grandmasters on the grounds that they were fallible humans. Yet there was two places where the play- ers were fully appreciated—at Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo as well as the Alhóndiga in Bilbao. Without the tyranny of the computer assessments, the players’ ideas were admired and appreciated by the commentators and the hundreds of fans who watched the games live every round (including during an unsea- sonal cold spell in São Paulo). The players did their part; exposing their flaws at post-game press conferences win or lose, while also posing for multiple photos with fans—no doubt soon to be displayed as a modern form of autograph on Facebook. At the conclusion of each half primary commentators Gilberto Milos (in Brazil) and Leontxo Olasagasti Garcia (in Spain) made a point of thanking each of the play- ers for competing hard and fearlessly. The thanks were amplified by the audience with rousing rounds of applause. The armchair critics may not have been impressed, but you can see from these six examples that, without computer help, it is not so easy to prove yourself smarter than a super-grandmaster? Read more about the final at: www.bilbaomasters final.com/en/home/ and more from GM Ian Rogers on Chess Life Online, uschess.org, September and October archives. CL_01-2013_Bilbao_DLF_r11.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 10:38 PM Page 27
28 January 2013 | Chess Life GM Alejandro Ramirez with Moira Kamgar and Elliott Liu When Ramirez was asked what he was wearing, he gave his suit lapel a proud tug and announced it was his “pimp suit.” CL_01-2013_Ramirez_AKF_r8_chess life 12/11/12 4:06 PM Page 28
Personalities / GM Alejandro Ramirez he purple-appareled grandmaster knows how to make an entrance. Ale- jandro Tadeo Ramirez Alvarez, known in short as Alejandro Ramirez, entered dinner fashionably late with fellow player Elliott Liu. While Liu had suited up and donned sun glasses, GM Ramirez took things to a whole other level. He dressed in a purple hat and purple snakeskin-style shoes, tipped in gold, which sandwiched a matching purple suit, shiny pale silk tie and dress shirt. Punc- tuated by his confident peacock-like walk, there was no missing his arrival. The dinner was hosted by Ankit Gupta at one of the top three restaurants in Los Angeles, Providence Los Angeles, as a wel- come for the VIPs to the First Metropolitan Chess International. When Ramirez was asked what he was wearing, he gave his suit lapel a proud tug and announced it was his “pimp suit.” Los Angeles is a long way from Ramirez’s Costa Rican roots, but he has no trouble adapting to life in America. He is a fun lov- ing, outgoing young man enjoying his twenties. As GM Robert Hess describes Ramirez, “He is a pretty cool guy and fits in with many different crowds.” Ramirez is enjoying the scene while taking a year off post-college for chess. He is currently call- ing Dallas home. So far, he is succeeding in the chess goals he has set for himself for the year, but he is most interested in “just [being] a happy person.” And so he often is seen smiling and taking time for friends. Even during tourna- ment play, it is hard to tell from looking at him whether his game is still in progress, unless he is actually sitting at the board. His easy-going, relaxed style comes not only from his upbringing but also from the con- fidence he has in his game. Ramirez learned the game as a child from his father on an old wooden set when he was four years old. He recalled with a smile the first lessons he had with his father, “He taught me the en passant rule wrong.” Ramirez’s father may not have had all of the rules of chess down, but without him Ramirez would not be the player or person he is today. Ramirez said, “My dad was instrumen- tal in my development as a person and as a chess player. Despite the fact that he can’t really see tactics or see more than a few moves ahead, he has a deep under- standing of psychology and can sense positions quite well. If I explain a game to him, he can infer things I can’t see, such as the mood of the player, the causes for blunders and many others. We worked together close to two hours a day every day for two years.” After working so closely together, Ramirez has many memories of his training ses- sions with his father. One lesson comes to mind from when he was 14 years old. “I remember showing [my father] a game from a long time ago between Naiditsch and Nakamura. I didn’t think too much about the game, but when I analyzed it with him, he was able to see many things I couldn’t. It’s probably a session I won’t forget, as it opened up my mind to new ideas beyond the board. We came up with so many systems of play and psychological processes that I’ve lost track. It’s honestly hard to explain to an outsider.” Ramirez and his father no longer work together but, “Of course, our sessions that we had so many years ago still have their stamp on me today.” Ramirez reflected, “I've loved chess since I started playing in tournaments, more or less when I was around seven years old. I didn’t take it seriously until I was at www.uschess.org 29 Stoked!Alejandro Ramirez, the first grandmaster from Central America, is adding color to the U.S. chess scene. Text and Photos By BETSY CARINA DYNAKO T CL_01-2013_Ramirez_AKF_r8_chess life 12/11/12 4:06 PM Page 29
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Chess life january 2013

  • 1. JANUARY 2013 GM ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ IS A PICTURE IN PURPLE | 2008 ELECTRONIC KNIGHTS RECAP | BENKO PUZZLES www.uschess.orgTHE WORLD’S MOST WIDELY READ CHESS MAGAZINE JANUARY FineLine Technologies JN Index 80% 1.5 BWR PU 7 925274 64631 01 A USCF Publication $5.95 2861! Magnus Carlsen wins his second Grand Slam Final then later breaks Kasparov’s record for highest rating.
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Geetet too kn ww d-wd-wwidwidide ’’ orlrldld ’s wt oree we wo noo wh o kk m wm wh t tt amam GG ggra dd e pro dd. Garr se pr ww thhee chess database prchess database prchess database prhehesessss ds ddadatatatababbabasasess tth grrooprr age age ageackemium PrP ackega PM acker PttarS $229.96 $349.95 $479.95IN0277CB IN0016CB IN0015CB USSCCFCF Saalealesless ooffoffefferffersrs Fs FRFREFREREE gEE g oououE grgrrF SSSSSUUUUSUSUS uunundnd sd shd shiphipphippppingpinging og onon on ordederders overer $9er $99$9999vvrs ooorr IFC_Layout 1 12/7/2012 2:34 PM Page 1
  • 3. Awards USCFUNITED STATES CHESS FEDERATION Show Off. Show It Off. adpage2_trophies plus_Layout 1 12/7/2012 2:11 PM Page 1
  • 4. 2 January 2013 | Chess Life Chess Life EDITORIAL STAFF Chess Life Editor and Daniel Lucas dlucas@uschess.org Director of Publications Chess Life Online Editor Jennifer Shahade jshahade@uschess.org Chess Life for Kids Editor Glenn Petersen gpetersen@uschess.org Senior Art Director Frankie Butler fbutler@uschess.org Editorial Assistant/Copy Editor Alan Kantor akantor@uschess.org Editorial Assistant Jo Anne Fatherly jfatherly@uschess.org Editorial Assistant Jennifer Pearson jenpearson@uschess.org Technical Editor Ron Burnett TLA/Advertising Joan DuBois tla@uschess.org Main office: Crossville, TN (931) 787-1234 Advertising inquiries: (931) 787-1234, ext. 123 TLAs: All TLAs should be e-mailed to tla@uschess.org or sent to P.O. Box 3967, Crossville, TN 38557-3967 Letters to the editor: Please submit to letters@uschess.org Receiving Chess Life: To receive Chess Life as a Premium Member, join the USCF or enter a USCF tournament, go to uschess.org or call 1-800-903-USCF (8723) Change of address: Please send to addresschange@uschess.org Other inquiries: feedback@uschess.org, (931) 787-1234, fax (931) 787-1200 Saint Louis, Missouri www.WorldChessHOF.org World Chess Hall of Fame @WorldChessHOF SCREWED MOVES an interactive, imaginative, super-sized, spontaneous mixed-media arts experience inspired by the game of chess Photo: Juan Montana — Edited By: Jenn Carter SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 – FEBRUARY 10, 2013 USCF EXECUTIVE BOARD President, Ruth Haring PO Box 1993, Chico, CA 95927 ruth@ruthharing.com Vice President, Gary Walters Walters & Wasylyna LLC gary@wwiplaw.com Shaker Finance, PO Box 20554 Cleveland, OH 44120 VP Finance, Allen Priest 220 West Main Street, Suite 2200 tyron316@hotmail.com Louisville, KY 40202 Secretary, Mike Nietman 2 Boca Grande Way, Madison, WI 53719 mike.nietman@charter.net Member at Large, Michael Atkins PO Box 4894, Baltimore, MD 21211 Atkins@region3chess.com Member at Large, Jim Berry PO Box 351, Stillwater, OK 74076 jaberrycg@aol.com Member at Large, Bill Goichberg PO Box 249, Salisbury Mills, NY 12577 chessoffice@aol.com USCF STAFF Executive Director Bill Hall ext. 189 bhall@uschess.org Chief Operations Officer Patricia K. Smith ext. 133 patsmith@uschess.org Assistant Executive Director Director of National Events National Events Assistant Ashley Knight ext. 138 aknight@uschess.org Director of Titles and Certification Jerry Nash ext. 137 jnash@uschess.org FIDE Titles TD Certification International Youth Events IT Director & Webmaster Phillip R. Smith ext. 134 philsmith@uschess.org Director of Quality Control Judy Misner ext. 126 jmisner@uschess.org Director of Affiliate Relations Joan DuBois ext. 123 jdubois@uschess.org Director of Marketing Robert McLellan ext. 126 rmclellan@uschess.org Chief Accountant Peggy Eberhart ext. 131 peberhart@uschess.org OTB and FIDE Ratings Walter Brown ext. 142 wbrown@uschess.org Scholastic Associate Susan Houston ext. 136 shouston@uschess.org Computer Consultant Mike Nolan ext. 188 mnolan@uschess.org Membership Services Supervisor Cheryle Bruce ext. 147 cbruce@uschess.org Mailing Lists/Membership Assoc. Traci Lee ext. 143 tlee@uschess.org Membership Associate Abel Howard ext. 146 ahoward@uschess.org Membership Associate Jay Sabine ext. 127 jsabine@uschess.org Correspondence Chess Alex Dunne cchess@uschess.org Financial Consultant Joe Nanna jnanna@uschess.org LETTER OF INTENT A Promise For Tomorrow In future support of the work of the U.S. Chess Trust, I want to provide for future generations and to ensure the continuity of services by the U.S. Chess Trust. Therefore, o I have made provision o I will make provision to support the U.S. Chess Trust by: o making a bequest or endowment provision in my Will o creating a charitable remainder or lead trust naming the U.S. Chess Trust as a beneficiary. o establishing an endowment or special fund at the U.S. Chess Trust. o directing the trustees or directors of my foundation to continue beyond my lifetime making an annual gift to the U.S. Chess Trust. o Making an outright gift to the U.S. Chess Trust during my lifetime in the sum of $_____________. This Letter of Intent represents my commitment to the work of the U.S. Chess Trust. It does not represent a legal obligation and may be changed by me at any time. Whatever the amount of your gift, when you leave a legacy for the future of the U.S. Chess Trust, you are an important part of the Promise for Tomorrow. Please send with your name, address, phone, and email contact information and email Barbara DeMaro at bduscf@aol.com (845-527-1167) *Please note that there is a required amount in order to be listed as a Future Legacy Donor. Write or send an email to Barbara DeMaro, bduscf@aol.com for this amount. Donations to the U.S. Chess Trust are tax-deductible. A 501(c)(3) organization. BD:08/03 CL_01-2013_masthead_JP_r5_chess life 12/7/2012 11:46 AM Page 2
  • 5. January Preview / This month in Chess Life and CLO Editor’s Letter No, Jeff Foxworthy did not write our cover story this month, “Are you smarter than a SUPER GM?” Our roving international reporter GM Ian Rogers stands in as host as he presents some of the key moments in games from the Bilbao Grand Slam Final (see page 20) and asks you to see if you can come up with a better plan than did the world’s best. This includes world-number-one and our cover boy, GM Magnus Carlsen. Of course, you get to make your decision in the comfort of your own home, without the clock ticking and without the whole chess world watching your decision in real time over the Internet. Carlsen seems immune to these distractions though, for as we were finalizing this issue, we learned that he had reached an unofficial rating of 2864, breaking Kasparov’s record by 13 points. Suddenly Kasparov’s earlier prediction that Carlsen could reach 2900 doesn’t look as unlikely as when he first made this (outlandish?) prediction. With storylines such as these, this should be an exciting year in the chess world, so here’s to your chess life, and happy new year! -Daniel Lucas, Editor CHESS LIFE ONLINE PREVIEW: JANUARY Americans Abroad In January, many of our top players go abroad, occasionally to escape frigid weather but more often to participate in elite chess competitions. Reigning U.S. Chess Champion Hikaru Nakamura will be playing in Tata Steel in Wijk aan Zee (January 11-27, 2013), along with World #1 Magnus Carlsen and Italian-American GM Fabiano Caruana. GM Gata Kamsky and our top two female players, Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush, will be at the 2013 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival (January 22- 31). Reigning U.S. Women’s Champion Krush will be taking on a new role as commentator in Gibraltar along with GM Simon Williams. Look for coverage of both events on CLO. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Chess: Look for U.S. Chess Scoop coverage of the Liberty Bell Open over the long January 18-21 weekend and subscribe to USChessFederation at YouTube to be the first to catch all the new videos. Also find coverage of the Golden State Open, held the same weekend in northern California Greg on Chess: Find new exclusive editorials by U.S. Chess League founder IM Greg Shahade, including a piece on the improvement of our latest generation of young rising chess masters, such as World Youth Champions Sam Sevian and Kayden Troff. Both gold medalists are part of the Young Stars program in partnership with Kasparov Chess Foundation and the Saint Louis Chess Club. CLO Countdown: Because of the hurried pace of the chess news cycle, it’s easy to miss some of the most interesting articles on Chess Life Online—last year’s Best of CLO winner was “Choosing to Break 2200” by Matan Prilleltensky. Count down the top ten articles from 2012 and let us know if you agree. CONTRIBUTORS Howard Goldowsky Our interviewer of IM Jonathan Hawkins is the author of Engaging Pieces: Interviews and Prose for the Chess Fan and the editor of Masters of Technique: The Mongoose Anthology of Chess Fiction. His next book, part memoir, will be about the challenges of improving at chess as an adult, as well as the relationship chess has with, among other things, science, psychology, Zen, and sport. GM Ian Rogers Our Bilbao reporter is our regular contributor to both Chess Life and Chess Life Online of international events. Betsy Carina Dynako GM Alejandro Ramirez is profiled by Dynako, a Chicago based event and portrait photographer with credits in chess publications world wide as well as the Wall Street Journal and Sports Illustrated. Al Lawrence “Faces Across the Board” is compiled monthly by Lawrence, the former executive director of both USCF and the World Chess Hall of Fame. He is currently director of the Texas Tech University chess program. His latest book, with GM Lev Alburt, is Chess for the Gifted and Busy. www.uschess.org 3 GM Gata Kamsky and our top two female players, Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush, will be hanging out with the Barbary monkeys at the Rock of Gibraltar for the 2013 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival (January 22- 31). Photo by Cathy Rogers Follow Chess Life and Chess Life Online on Facebook! Get regular updates as part of your newsfeed, post comments, and easily commu- nicate directly with the editorial staff. CL_01-2013_CLO_AKF_r7.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 4:25 PM Page 3
  • 6. 4 January 2013 | Chess Life Below: Sao Paulo, Brazil, hosted the first leg of the 2012 Grand Slam Final. Chess Life JANUARY 10 16 18 42 44 3 6 8 9 14 46 50 70 71 72 COLUMNS LOOKS AT BOOKS / AMATEUR TO IM Making the Leap By Howard Goldowsky CHESS TO ENJOY / ENTERTAINMENT A Heart As Big As A Pea By GM Andy Soltis SOLITAIRE CHESS / INSTRUCTION Getting There Firstest With The Mostest By Bruce Pandolfini BACK TO BASICS / READER ANNOTATIONS The Pin Is The Answer By GM Lev Alburt ENDGAME LAB / INSTRUCTION Basic Blunders By GM Pal Benko DEPARTMENTS JANUARY PREVIEW / THIS MONTH IN CHESS LIFE AND CLO COUNTERPLAY / READERS RESPOND FIRST MOVES / CHESS NEWS FROM AROUND THE U.S. FACES ACROSS THE BOARD / BY AL LAWRENCE USCF AFFAIRS / NEWS FOR OUR MEMBERS KNIGHT’S TOUR / TOURNAMENT TRAVEL TOURNAMENT LIFE / JANUARY CLASSIFIEDS / JANUARY SOLUTIONS / JANUARY MY BEST MOVE / PERSONALITIES Cover Story / 2012 Grand Slam Final Are you smarter than a SUPER GM? By GM Ian Rogers Carlsen adds a jewel to his crown; our reporter offers Chess Life readers a chance to equal or better the world’s best players. Personalities / GM Alejandro Ramirez Stoked! Text and Photos By Betsy Carina Dynako Alejandro Ramirez, the first grandmaster from Central America, is adding color to the U.S. chess scene. Correspondence Chess / 2008 Electronic Knights Championship The Staff of Life By FM Alex Dunne The 2008 Electronic Knights Championship Problems / Benko Saluting Benko By Stephen B. Dowd Problemists offer a tribute to Pal Benko and 45 Years of Bafflers 20 28 34 38 PHOTO:CATHYROGERS ON THE COVER Late in our press cycle we found out that GM Magnus Carlsen had broken Garry Kasparov’s record for highest rating by reaching 2864 at the London Chess Classic (before settling at 2861 by the end of the event). All this after just having won his second Grand Slam Final, which GM Ian Rogers covers for us beginning on page 20. Photo by Ray Morris Hill taken at the London Chess Classic CL_01-2013_TOC_DLF_r7.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 10:12 PM Page 4
  • 7. www.USCFSales.com (888) 512-4377 (CHESS) Free Ground Shipping applies only to Domestic Orders in the 48 contiguous states and excludes Shipping/Taxes. USCFwww comalesFS (888) 512 43 CHESS)77 (.USCFwww .comalesFS (888) 512-43 CHESS)77 ( 01-2013_USCFSales_inside1_Layout 1 12/7/2012 2:40 PM Page 1
  • 8. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT Interviewed by Macauley Peterson in the November 2012 Chess Life, GM Maurice Ashley calls for experimentation at the organi- zational level of major chess events. The aim would be to attract more sponsorship and generate favorable publicity. Tournaments do this better than matches, the GM aver, as do I. The prestigious match tournament events of St. Petersburg 1896 and World Championship 1948 did exactly that. So, in this inventive spirit, what can, what should, be done about future world championships? The advantages of a world championship final of three players instead of two are worth enumerating. A single game played each day of a six-day week. A week comprising a full round with each player playing each opponent twice, once with white and once with black. Each player has two free days. The venue has activity every day—with an option of Sunday for adjourned games—and the arbiter will be fully employed, so sponsors get guaranteed value. Journalists and commentators have a field day for gossip and vari- ety of technical content. With a final of three players instead of two the elimination preliminaries will be less protracted. Drawbacks? If players object to the preparation load, this will be the same for each and should encourage emphasis on live over- the-board skill at the expense of labor-intensive searching for theoretical novelties and over-reliance on memory: energies must be conserved. The players will soon come around when they see publicity and sponsorship soar. John Roycroft London, United Kingdom CHESS LIFE’S NEW LOOK Praise! Kudos! WOW! As a reader of Chess Life for about 50 years, I love your stellar improvements! “The Sicilian Defense” fiction piece by Darin Kennedy was outstanding (October, 2012). The Chess Journalists of America should have this on their radar for an award already. It is this fiction addition that forced me to write this letter. I am thrilled that Chess Life took the leap to chess-related fiction! Fiction is art and the chess covered in Chess Life magazine some- times reaches further than logic and is also art. The games shown are so often martial arts of the mind or mathematics in motion, but then there are the games that are inspired, somehow moved by some deeper aspect of the human character that touches our sense of won- der—and they are art! For the last several months, I have been looking forward to each new issue as never before. Full color makes your copy the equal of every other magazine being printed today. The technical and technique of magazine publishing now matches anything else out there in monthly printed journalism. The content changes have been spectacular. The “Faces Across the Board” is brilliant and helps bind the entire U.S. Chess com- munity together. The “My Best Move” column comes across as a “last word” or a “Now for the Rest of the Story” at the end of the magazine and is fresh, personal, fun, funny and revealing. Revitalized—absolutely. Fresh, clear and bold—I’ve never been hap- pier to be a life member! Please keep it up and a sincere, “Thank You!” to the dedicated USCF Publications Department. Peter Spizzirri Cary, Illinois Counterplay / Readers Respond Send your letters to letters@uschess.org or post on the Chess Life Facebook group page. If Chess Life publishes your letter, you will be sent a copy of Test, Evaluate and Improve Your Chess (see ad below). 6 January 2013 | Chess Life CORRECTIONS In the November issue, we listed GM Maurice Ashley as becoming the first black master in 1993. Unfortunately, we left out the word “International.” As Daaim Shabbaz, webmaster of thechessdrum.net wrote us: “Maurice was preceded by many players as national master, but he was the first black international master (1993) in the U.S. Walter Harris was the first [black master] and he got the title sometime in 1963. He was in the 1959 U.S. Junior Open and 1959 U.S. Open and was a Fischer contemporary.” We had some missing photo credits in the November issue: The photo of Bill Hall and Chouchanik Airapetian on page 4 was taken by Al Lawrence. The photo of GM Viswanathan Anand on page 9 was taken by Chris Roberts. Chess Life regrets the errors. CL_01-2013_Counterplay_AKF_r6.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 12:58 PM Page 6
  • 9. 2013 Membership Options Choose Between Premium and Regular USCF Memberships PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP PRINTED COPY of Chess Life (monthly) or Chess Life for Kids (bimonthly) plus all other benefits of regular membership. REGULAR MEMBERSHIP Online-only access to Chess Life or Chess Life for Kids; TLA Newsletter will be mailed to you (Adults: bimonthly; Scholastic: 3 per year) WHAT YOU GET AS A REGULAR USCF MEMBER: The right to play in USCF-sanctioned tournaments and be assigned an official rating Access to member-only content on uschess.org, including our USCF forum discussion group. (9) Online access to Chess Life & Chess Life for Kids. WHAT YOU GET AS A PREMIUM USCF MEMBER: All of the above plus a printed copy of Chess Life or Chess Life for Kids! PREMIUM USCF MEMBERSHIP RATES CATEGORY 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR ADULT $46 $84 $122 SCHOLASTIC (1) (6 ISSUES CL4K) $24 $43 $61 YOUTH (2) (6 ISSUES CL) $28 $51 $73 YOUNG ADULT (3) $33 $61 $88 REGULAR USCF MEMBERSHIP RATES CATEGORY 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR ADULT $40 $72 $104 SCHOLASTIC (1) $17 $30 $42 YOUTH (2) $22 $40 $57 YOUNG ADULT (3) $26 $47 $67 OTHER USCF MEMBERSHIP RATES CATEGORY 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR 4 YEAR SUSTAINING (4, 8) $95 $190 $285 $380 (started prior to 2003) SUSTAINING (4, 8) $120 $240 $360 $480 (started after 2002) SENIOR (5) $40 $72 $104 N/A FAMILY PLAN 1 (6) $75 N/A N/A N/A FAMILY PLAN 2 (7) $47 N/A N/A N/A SENIOR LIFE (5, 8) $750 ONE TIME CHARGE LIFE (8) $1,500 ONE TIME CHARGE BENEFACTOR (8, 10) $3,000 ONE TIME CHARGE BENEFACTOR, EXISTING LIFE MEMBER (8, 10) $1,500 ONE TIME CHARGE A $3 affiliate commission will apply to all memberships submitted by affiliates. OR 08-2012_membership_ad 12/7/2012 7:03 PM Page 1
  • 10. First Moves / Chess news from around the U.S. n June of 2012, Corbin Seavers of The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club contacted me regarding the club’s upcoming benefit dinner (which was held on November 9, 2012) and its website, www.pottershousechess.com. From web surfing, I learned that Corbin was active in the anti-apartheid solidarity movement. Now he is the co-founder and director of The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club. I interviewed Corbin via e-mail to find out how his past influenced his decision to become involved in chess organizing. What inspired you to start The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club? During the summer of 2010, I taught 13 young people chess at The Potter’s House summer camp. The summer camp is spon- sored by Cable Missionary Baptist Church and has been running for over seven years. The response to my chess classes was such that Dr. Anthony Middleton, senior pastor at Cable Missionary Baptist Church, strongly urged me to turn The Potter’s House Scholas- tic Chess Club into a full-time scholastic chess program. That is exactly what I did in September 2010 (our official founding month and year). The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club was a dream come true. Before that time, I taught chess in other places around Louisville, Kentucky. I often hoped for the resources necessary to build a full-time scholastic chess program. My role model was Chess-in-the- Schools, located in Manhattan, New York. All I needed to get started was a base of oper- ations and that is exactly what Dr. Middleton offered me. It easily can be said Dr. Middle- ton inspired and motivated me to start The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club. My other inspiration was my daughter, Sarah, my first and only child. At 7-years- old, Sarah started competing in rated tour- naments, including weekly open (cash prize) tournaments organized by local chess icon, Steve Dillard. At local scholastic chess tournaments I noticed far too few black students, partic- ularly too few black females, competing. Out of 150 players, you could count on one hand with two broken fingers the num- ber of black students participating and more often than not there would be no Reaching Fighting Capacity From anti-apartheid activist to chess organizer By DR. ALEXEY ROOT, WIM 8 January 2013 | Chess Life I Participants in the Louisville Metro Police Department Chess Classic, held on July 7, 2012 at the downtown Louisville police gym. This match was between the LMPD and the Chess Ambassadors; other teams also competed. This tournament was sponsored by L&N Federal Credit Union, the LMPD Credit Union, The Fraternal Order of Police, and The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club. PHOTO:COURTESYOFCORBINSEAVERS CL_01-2013_FirstMoves_AKF_r6.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 12:51 PM Page 8
  • 11. First Moves / Chess news from around the U.S. www.uschess.org 9 >>> Put your favorite Face Across the Board in Chess Life! Send the name, reasons, and your contact info. to faces@uschess.org. FACES ACROSS THE BOARD By AL LAWRENCE BILL CHEN PENNSYLVANIA $1,000,000 in poker winnings Chen,ananalystfortrading firm SIG, is also a world- famous poker player and co-author of The Mathematics of Poker. But when I phoned him, he was competing in the North Amer- ican Bridge Championship. “It’s one of my things,” he said. Chess is now another. Studying with poker star and former U.S. Women’s Chess Champ Jen Shahade, he’s taking our game seriously for the first time. “It’s much like poker. You can be dynamic and creative for a long period. Then, one mistake, and you lose all your chips.” STEVE DILLARD KENTUCKY Directed 3,000 tournaments NTD Dillard teaches six chess-for-creditclassesaday, involving more than 100 Kammerer MS students. He directsweeklylocaltournamentsandisindemandat national events. At the National High School Cham- pionship in Lexington, he was Kasparov’s designated greeter. Running late, the two of them rushed into a standingovationfromthecrowdofmorethan1,000. “Garry turned to me and said, ‘Mr. Dillard, I didn’t realize you were so famous!’” ED SCIMIA CONNECTICUT Curler and Freelance Author Intrigued by its strategies after watching curling in the Winter Olympics, Ed is a regular on the ice. “I know of no doping scandals in the sport,” he laughed. Professionally, he provides all the chess content for About.com, writing 10 articles a month. A graduate of Syracuse University journal- ism school, he fills up his work schedule writing about a wide range of topics. Another of his interests, laughably bad movies, inspired Scimia’s new book, So Bad, It’s Good, now available at Amazon. black females other than Sarah. What is your chess background? My chess background is rather modest. My late father taught me chess when I was 12 years old. I played on the high school chess team for a year. My record was one win, one draw and one loss. During college I stopped playing. I was more interested in pursuing other inter- ests, namely girls and campus politics. I never even thought about chess much until my daughter, Sarah, came into my life. I taught Sarah chess when she was 6-years-old. She participated in her first rated tournament at the age of 7. She continues playing to this day. My father really got caught up in the whole Bobby Fischer era. He bought a fancy set with Roman figures and sev- eral chess books. At the time Fischer meant nothing to me. My sports heroes were Muhammad Ali, Pete Rose, and Joe Morgan. I only cared about chess because my father cared about chess. I only learned the game because my father taught it to me. That is why today I tell fathers chess is one way you can build a common interest and hobby with your child. It brought my father and me closer together, and I can say that it has definitely helped me in building a closer relationship with my daughter. I saw how chess helped Sarah. It made her more confident and, according to Sarah, helped with her math too. This past year Sarah got straight A’s in math! The year before Sarah scored above the state average on a math competency test. Just as chess helped my daughter, I believe that chess can help other low income and minority youth. The mission of The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club is to reach those youth. How many children has the program reached? Since September 2010 we have easily reached over 150 youth (during the school year). We have taught 20 youth in our chess camps. My goal is to reach over 180 youth during the 2012-2013 school year and 75-100 youth during the 2013 sum- mer months. One particular youth, “Mike,” stands out in my memory. At an annual Martin Luther King, Jr. tournament, a group of my students said, “Coach, Mike needs you.” When I found Mike he was crying. He was upset over having lost his first three games. Mike insisted on my taking him home! He had no interest whatsoever in playing the last two rounds of the tournament. I spoke with Mike, encouraged him, coached him, and said, I simply could not leave the tournament at this time. He would either have to sit out the last two games or play the last two games. Mike decided to play the last two games. I was very proud of him! Here are some excerpts from a letter Mike recently sent me: “I’ve won so many trophies. Listening to your advice in chess. I know what I’m capable of when playing chess. You have con- tributed to me a lot.” Success is not always about winning or losing. It often is just hanging in there and never giving up. That day Mike was a champion in my eyes because he decided not to give up. Today Mike has several trophies in his bedroom because of that decision he made that fateful day not to quit. What is your background in the anti- apartheid solidarity movement? I am one of six founding members of the Berea College Students United Against Apartheid. As I remember it, we started that solidarity campus organization in September 1979 in commemoration of Steven Bantu Biko’s assassination while in South African police custody. I later was a co-founder of The Bishop Tutu Refugee Fund based in Hartford, Connecticut in June 1985. The other co- founder was Nontombi Tutu, a stalwart Pan Africanist who amongst other anti- apartheid heroes personally introduced me to Winnie Mandela, Johnson Mlambo, and Zwelakhe Sisulu. I also self-published a small book, Apartheid: The untold story, back in 1992. Sometimes you can find copies of it at www.alibris.com. My long-time, deep, and intimate involvement in the anti- apartheid solidarity movement taught me several things. One was the impor- tance of offering struggling peoples the skills and the education they require to increase their fighting capacity to change their lives, and the lives of their loved ones, for the better. What I am doing through The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club is very sim- ilar in that objective. It is more than about the sport of chess, it is about offer- ing young people the skills and the tools they will need to successfully compete in a globalized 21st century economy. At The Potter’s House Scholastic Chess Club we also use the sport of chess as a con- duit to teach character development and the value of higher education. PHOTO:COURTESYOFCORBINSEAVERS CL_01-2013_FirstMoves_AKF_r6_chess life 12/11/12 12:51 PM Page 9
  • 12. Looks at Books / Amateur to IM 10 January 2013 | Chess Life BRITISH IM JONATHAN HAWKINS HAS lived the chess player’s dream. Ten years ago, as an 18-year-old 1700-player, he decided to get good—and then he did. He got very good. He recently broke the 2500-rating barrier required to earn the grandmaster (GM) title, and now, with two recent GM norms under his belt, this self-taught once fledgling player is one norm, one nice performance, away from a miraculous achievement. “I am often asked by people to give advice …” wrote Hawkins in his query letter to Mongoose Press, “… so I began to reconstruct the path I took [to international master].” This path was laid out in instructive detail for his new book, Amateur to IM: Proven Ideas and Training Methods (Mongoose Press, $29.95). Jam-packed with discussion about the endgame, one could argue that its subtitle misleads. Yet Hawkins writes ostensibly about the final phase of the game. The endgame positions merely serve as a means for a more general discussion about thought process and systematic training methods. The strength of Hawkins’ writing lies in how he systemat- ically builds up the reader’s under- standing of chess from simple ideas to complex ones. Through this approach he draws important connections between the endgame, middlegame, and opening. Hawkins leads the reader along the same path he himself took. Hours of deliberate practice along this path produced for Hawkins a unified perspective of chess not often seen in players who train isolated skills independently. Isolated work on openings and tactics were necessary for his growth, he says, but certainly not sufficient. He firmly believes that his unified approach to chess training, with the endgame at its core, places every aspect of his chess ability on a rock-solid foundation. Amateur to IM includes three main parts. Part 1, “Thinking Techniques,” includes a sample of “basic” positions that Hawkins breaks down using fundamental thinking techniques (“calculating with a goal in mind,” “planning,” “building-block positions,” and more). Part 2, “Principles and Essential Theory,” builds upon Part 1, using a slightly more technical approach. (For example, Hawkins explains how subtle variations in the Lucena and Philidor positions relate to building blocks and focused calculation.) Part 3, “Endgame Explorations,” covers advanced topics that became interesting to Hawkins as he got stronger. One such topic is how the Carlsbad pawn structure can evolve into an endgame, and for Queen’s Gambit Declined players this chapter alone is worth the price of the book. In October, I took the opportunity to interview Hawkins by e-mail. I wanted to learn more about his ideas, especially those regarding the interdependence between the three phases of a chess game. To my delight, Hawkins agreed to supplement his answers with a lengthy and illustrative excerpt from his new book. The interview and excerpt follow, below. Howard Goldowsky: Why do you feel that the endgame is important for an aspiring player's development? JONATHAN HAWKINS: In general, players are well prepared in the openings, tactically quite proficient, know the standard middlegame themes, but have a gap in their endgame knowledge. Those first things I listed aren’t so difficult to study, but the endgame is. If your endgame is below the standard of the other facets of your game, you will be turning wins into draws and draws into loses. [The endgame] also improves your understanding as a whole. For instance, [by studying the endgame] you will start to see the long-term consequences of your decisions in the opening and in the middlegame. How should a class-player divide his training time between work on the opening, middlegame, endgame, tactics, and other areas? Obviously it’s different for everyone. Just because two players have the same IM Jonathan Hawkins photographed at the 2012 London Chess Classic by Ray Morris-Hill. Making the Leap IM Jonathan Hawkins shows how to study efficiently using the endgame as your foundation. By HOWARD GOLDOWSKY Amateur to IM: Proven Ideas and Training Methods by Jonathan Hawkins 372 pages (Mongoose Press, 2012) Available from USCF Sales (catalog number B0089EU), $29.95 CL_01-2013_books_AKF_r9_chess life 12/11/12 12:08 PM Page 10
  • 13. Looks at Books / Amateur to IM rating doesn’t mean their ability is composed the same way. It’s a cliché, but a true one, that in general players spend way too much time on openings. Don’t fall into the trap of convincing yourself that once you organize your openings completely, then you will move onto other areas of study. That day will never come. At least it still hasn’t for me. In terms of memorizing variations, especially [for players rated] below about 2000, I would tone [opening study] way down, maybe 10% of your study time or less. Tactical puzzles/analytical training is quite important. I would give 20% of time to this. The remaining 70% is the part players find difficult. You need to study a combination of master games, your own games, and be a student of the endgame. How is the endgame linked to the opening and middlegame? Can you give an example from Amateur to IM where you explain how endgame knowledge helps evaluate an opening or middlegame position? Decisions taken in the opening (for instance, creating a certain structure, creating a certain material imbalance) create consequences often not felt until the endgame. I will show you a nice example from my book, which comes to mind. It’s actually quite a good positional lesson too. We start with a challenge for the reader. The rules of the challenge are the following: Place a black bishop on any (unoccupied) square on the board. Once the bishop is placed it will be White to play. You can put the bishop on any square, d4, f4, c6, h1, wherever you like. The challenge is to find a square for the bishop which creates a drawn position. The obvious answer is Bd4: The unit of e5+Bd4 looks very solid, but there is a problem. The bishop is condemned to a purely defensive role. Moreover, Black has no counterplay and no hope of fighting for the light squares. He must sit and wait. Black’s defensive plan will be simple (keep the bishop and pawn connected and move the king) but not necessarily successful. In fact, the position is a relatively easy win for White. For example, with White to move the game may proceed: 1. Kc4 Kd6 2. Rh3 Ke6 3. Rh6+ Ke7 4. Kd5 The light squares are extremely weak, and White has no problem advancing into the Black position. 4. ... Bc3 5. Rh5 Threatening Rxe5(+), after which the result of the exchanges would be a lost king and pawn endgame. 5. ... Kf8 6. Kd6 Ke8 The most stubborn, after 6. ... Bd4 7. Kd7 Bc3 8. Rf5+ Kg7 9. Ke6 White will capture the e-pawn next move, and reach the key square on d6. 7. Ke6 Kd8 8. Rh7 Bd4 9. Rg7! White waits until the bishop moves to an unprotected square. The reason for this is given in the next note. 9. ... Bc3 10. Rd7+! The point is that after 10. ... Ke8 11. Rc7! wins the bishop, so Black’s king is forced into a fatal cut. 10. ... Kc8 11. Rd5 Followed by 12. Rxe5 and the white king will reach the key square on f6. White wins. What about placing the bishop on a light square such as d7? (see diagram top of next column) This time the bishop can attack the e4- pawn and cover light squares when the white king attempts to approach. This is much more important than the apparent weakness of the e5-pawn. Of course, if White can attack e5 with both king and rook the pawn will fall, but as we will see this cannot be favorably achieved. 1. Rb6+ Ke7 2. Kc4 Be6+ 3. Kc5 Bf7 Already it is apparent White is experi- encing much greater difficulties this time. The bishop, pawn, and king work together to cover both light and dark squares. 4. Rb7+ Kf6 5. Kd6 Initially it seems White is doing very well, but the weakness of his e4-pawn prevents him from any further progress. 5. ... Bg6! 6. Rb4 Bh7 7. Kd5 Bg8+ 8. Kc5 Bf7 In fact, the position is a draw. By combining counterattack against the e4-pawn with restricting the white king, Black is able to hold the position. Note how the active bishop combines with the pawn to work as a unit, controlling squares of both colors. Keeping all of that in mind, let’s jump into this position: This is a game Krishnan Sasikiran- Magnus Carlsen, Bosna Sarajevo, 2006 after White’s 36th move. Black is down a clean Exchange (in material), but clearly has some compensation. The black pieces are actively placed, apart from the bishop on f7. The bishop on f7 does not combine well with the black kingside pawns. White is tied to the defense of the d4-pawn and his bishop does not have an effective post. Both kings are exposed, but White’s more so. If the black bishop could effectively route to c6 then White could have some problems. Weighing all of this up, it seems Black has reasonable play; however, I still think Black is happy to draw this position. White’s material could easily tell once the black pieces are evicted from their posts. The logical attempt to improve the bishop with 36. ... Be8 shows how quickly the www.uschess.org 11 CL_01-2013_books_AKF_r9_chess life 12/11/12 10:37 PM Page 11
  • 14. Looks at Books / Amateur to IM 12 January 2013 | Chess Life black pieces can be driven back [analysis]: 37. f3! Re6 38. Re1 Suddenly Black must give up the e-file or allow exchanges. 38. ... Bc6 39. Rxe6 Qxe6 40. Rc3 Bd5 41. Bf4 White’s pieces begin to find good squares and Black has no threats. Black retains some chances as White’s king will always be weakened, but clearly the black position has gone downhill. Let us follow the game: 36. ... f4! An excellent move. Black realizes his bishop must stay on the kingside, so he begins building a strong structure in which the bishop will thrive. He will continue this work with ... h7-h6 and ... g6-g5, constructing a bishop and pawn unit similar to what we have already seen. 37. Qg2 h6 Preparing ... g6-g5. 38. f3 To make progress White has to play this advance sooner or later. 38. ... Re3 Showing another point to 36. ... f4, preparing to exploit the weakness that may appear on e3. Black embarks on favorable exchanges starting with this temporary sacrifice. 39. Bxe3 It was also possible to decline the sacrifice with a neutral move such as 39. h4. After this Black had prepared the tactical response 39. ... Rxd3 40. Rxd3 Ne5! After which either the d4- or f3-pawn will fall. 39. ... Nxe3 This is the type of position Black was aiming for with 36. ... f4. 40. Qf2 Nxd1 41. Rxd1 g5 The plan beginning with 36. ... f4 has been a complete success. Black’s pawn structure maximizes his pieces. Notice how Black insisted on this structure, preparing himself for the endgame. His bishop and pawn unit gives rise to two important trumps in his quest to draw: • If only the f3 and f4 pawns remain on the board, the rook versus bishop endgame is a draw. Compare with the correct solution to the ‘riddle’ earlier in this chapter. • Black has constructed the makings of one of the ‘fortress’ positions with the pawns on g5 and h6. In a rook versus bishop endgame with, for example, f3, h3 versus g5, h6, Black should be able to hold the position. 42. Qe2 Be6 43. Kh2 Qf5 Encouraging White to exchange queens. 44. Qxe5+ Qxe5 45. dxe5 Kg6 46. Rd8 Attempting to hold the e5-pawn will lead to a position such as 46. Ra1 Kf5 47. Ra5 Bd7 48. Kg2 Bc6 where White will be tied forever to the weak pawns on f3 and e5. 46. ... Kf5 47. Rh8 Kxe5 48. Rxh6 Bf5 49. Kg2 Be6 50. Kf2 Bf5 51. h4 Attempting to improve the king with 51. Ke2 Be6 52. Kd2 Bf5 53. Kc3 Be6 54. Kb4 is also fruitless. After 54. ... Bd5 White cannot hold the f3-pawn. 51. ... gxh4 52. Rxh4 Be6 53. Rh5+ Kf6 54. Rc5 Bb3 55. Ke2 Ke6 56. Kd3 Bd5 The bishop finds a strong diagonal. With f3 under attack White cannot make any further progress. Although some accuracy is still required, the position is drawn. How do you pick specific training positions like these? How do you incorporate and work with an engine? What are the engine's strengths and weaknesses? Well, you don’t need to memorize that many specific theoretical positions. Some are important. I detail what I consider to be vital in the book. Mainly it’s about amassing knowledge of patterns and principles. But let us say I have a specific position (or class of position, such as a specific material balance) that I want to master. My usual method is to play the position several times against a playing partner or an engine, without studying the position at all. In this way you see the problems in the position really clearly. Afterwards I would study the analysis of the position and then play it several more times. It’s tempting to say engines are weak in the endgame, but in reality the best engines are just very strong at chess, period. They will evaluate the vast majority of positions very well. Of course they have a weakness in positions where the static evaluation is less important than whether or not one side can make progress. For instance, in an opposite- colored bishop endgame the computer may tell you the side with an extra pawn is +1.50, which means very little. Similarly it may struggle with a very technical position when it cannot calculate to the end. What kinds of metrics do you use to evaluate your training progress? Certainly there are no endgame-specific ratings. True, but you can see fairly easily whether or not you are misplaying endgames and whether or not you are converting winning positions and saving drawing positions. Also you will know yourself if you understood what you were doing or not during the game. The goal is to become a better player in general, anyway, so we want our overall rating to improve, thanks to our increased chess knowledge and confidence. Besides your book, what training tools or reference works would you recommend to a class-player interested in endgame training? Endgame theory is fairly static, and there are plenty of good reference books out there which will give you the theoretical positions. Personally I enjoy the old works like Averbakh’s Comprehensive Chess Endings, and Rook Endings by Smyslov and Levenfish, but there are modern books which will give the same information. I wouldn’t recommend using these to try to memorize a lot of theoretical positions all at once, though. One position at a time and in sufficient depth to be able to use it in a practical game. Otherwise it’s not very useful. Most of your time should be spent increasing your ‘feel’ for positions. I found Shereshevsky and Slutsky’s Mastering the Endgame series very useful. For those stronger players who are willing to work hard, Lutz’s Endgame Secrets is a wonderful book. Where do you see your future as a chess player? I’m pretty close to the GM title, so that’s my goal for the moment. Beyond that, I don’t really think too much about it. I would certainly like to write again. I have a lot more to say on all kinds of chess topics. What motivated you to write Amateur to IM? A lot of the book is based on positions and ideas that I’ve studied myself over the years, so in a way the project has been in production for a long time. Compiling the book itself was a natural progression. I thought I had interesting things to say. I thought I was filling something of a void in chess literature, and I thought I could help guide players to improvement. What were your most and least favorite parts of the writing process? Sometimes what you want to write is crystal clear in your mind and you can’t type it fast enough. Those are the enjoyable parts. Several times I got really bogged down in analysis because you have to get the assessment correct, and the computer is no help. You can spend two days analyzing a position, then on the third day you find a refutation which ruins everything. It’s tough because all this time you have something completely different in your mind that you really want to write about, bursting to get out. CL_01-2013_books_AKF_r9_chess life 12/11/12 12:08 PM Page 12
  • 15. www.uschess.org 13 Now you can donate online through a secure website at www.uschesstrust.org DONATE TO U.S. TRUST ONLINE! Simply click on Donate and then on the Make a Donation button! BECOME A BENEFACTOR BE A USCF BENEFACTOR! Help promote American chess by becoming a USCF Benefactor Member. Benefactor Membership includes Life Membership, a special membership card, and recognition on a benefactor page of our website and periodically in Chess Life. The cost is $3,000, or $1,500 to existing Life Members. Half the funds collected will go to the USCF Life Member Assets Fund and half to assist USCF operations. Become a Benefactor at uschess.org, by phone at 1-800-903-8723, or by mail to USCF, PO Box 3967, Crossville TN 38557. THANKS TO OUR BENEFACTORS! USCF BENEFACTOR MEMBERS AS OF DECEMBER 7, 2012: JIM BEDENBAUGH (OK) JOSEPH BOYLE (TX) JEFFREY DAVIDSON (CA) MARTIN DEAN (VA) BILL GOICHBERG (NY) IN MEMORY OF: DAVID KAPLAN DAVID KOCHMAN (NH) CHRISTOPHER LEWIS (VA) PARKER MONTGOMERY (VT) PHILLIP SMITH (TN) HAROLD TORRANCE (PA) CHARLES UNRUH (OK) EDWARD WYCOFF (CA) PROMOTE AMERICAN CHESS adpage1_composite1_Layout 1 12/7/2012 7:32 PM Page 13
  • 16. USCF Affairs / News for Our Members 14 January 2013 | Chess Life SPECIAL REFEREES: THE FORGOTTEN RULE By Tim Just A quick and easy way for tournament directors to deal with a player appeal, while still at the tournament site, is to use a Special Referee. Special Referees are one phone call away and can be used in place of an on-site Appeals Committee. A contact list of those expe- rienced national tournament directors, volunteering their time and expertise, is a buried treasure hiding in plain site on the USCF web page. Phil Smith, USCF IT Director and Webmaster, suggests two really good ways to access that list: www.uschess.org/content/view/11939/668/ or alternatively, click on Clubs & Tournaments > Tournament Directors > Special Referees. I suggest downloading and printing this list to keep with your other tournament supplies, like in your rulebook. If you have computer-adverse tournament director friends, do them a favor and print them a copy for their records. By the way, Special Referees on that list also make pretty good consultants even when a player appeal is not on deck. Special Referees—rule 21J—were invented in the latter half of the last century as an alter- native to the cumbersome on-site Appeals Committee process. In the pre-digital age that list of volunteers appeared in the printed Ratings Supplement. When the supplements ceased publication, and morphed into the downloadable monthly files we have today, we displaced a lot of extras including that list of Special Referee volunteers. 2012-2013 USCF COMMITTEE CHAIRS See executive board liaisons, office liaisons and members of these committees here: main.uschess.org/docs/gov/reports/CommitteeList Audit Bill Brock billbrock1958@gmail.com Awards John Donaldson imwjd@aol.com Barber K-8 Jon Haskel, co-chair Tournament of jon@bocachess.com State Champions Stephen Shutt, co-chair stephenshutt@yahoo.com Bylaws Harold J. Winston, co-chair HJWinston@aol.com Guy Hoffman, co-chair schachfuhrer@hotmail.com Chess in Education F. Leon Wilson FLeonW@chesslearn.com Clubs Bob Rasmussen bob.ras101@yahoo.com College Chess Russell S. Harwood russell.harwood@utb.edu Correspondence Brad Rogers Chess bradleyrogers22@msn.com Cramer Awards Frank Brady bradyf@stjohns.edu Denker Invitational Dewain Barber, co-chair AmChessEq@aol.com Jon Haskel, co-chair jon@bocachess.com Elections Ken Ballou ballou@crab.mv.com Ethics Richard (Buck) Buchanan buckpeace@pcisys.net Finance Randy Bauer randybauer2300@yahoo.com Hall of Fame Harold J. Winston HJWinston@aol.com Hall of Records Steve Immitt chesscntr@aol.com International Affairs Michael Khodarkovsky mkhodarkovsky@yahoo.com LMA Dr. Tim Redman redmanink@yahoo.com Vice-chair Dr. Leroy Dubeck lwdubeck@aol.com Military Chess Mike Hoffpauir mhoffpauir@aol.com Outreach Myron Lieberman azchess@cox.net PPHB John Donaldson imjwd@aol.com Publications Ramon Hernandez rahernan@optonline.net Ratings Mark Glickman glicko@gmail.com Rules David Kuhns e4e5@hughes.net Scholastic Council/ Jay Stallings, co-chair Committee coachjay@cycl.org Sunil Weeramantry, co-chair pawntunes@gmail.com Senior Charles Hatherill Kingsgambit50@earthlink.net States Guy Hoffman schachfuhrer@hotmail.com Top Players no chair named TDCC Tim Just Mrjust@yahoo.com Vice-chair Jeff Wiewel jwiewel@ntnusa.com U.S. Open Hal Terrie III halterrie@comcast.net Women’s Chess Isabelle Minoofar bhchessclub@hotmail.com COMMITTEE / CHAIRPERSON COMING IN 2013!THE PAUL MORPHY GRAND PRIX! LOOK FOR DETAILS COMING SOON, AND CHECK www.uschess.org/ratings/ MorphyGP/ FOR CURRENT INFORMATION. CL_01-2013_USCFAffairs_AKF_r7_chess life 12/11/12 10:42 PM Page 14
  • 17. It’s Coming. April 5-7 2013 Nashville TN See TLA on page 53 SuperNationalsV supernationals_teaser_supernationals_teaser_ad 12/11/12 4:12 PM Page 1
  • 18. Chess to Enjoy / Entertainment EONS AGO, WHEN GIANT NEWSPAPER editors trod the earth, they would send reporters to train stations, steamship docks and airports when word leaked out that a celebrity, even a minor “celeb,” was due to arrive. That’s how I ended up at Kennedy Airport one afternoon waiting to interview a passenger named Thomas Austin Preston Jr. Preston was a folk hero, at least among poker folk, who knew him by his handle, Amarillo Slim. He was renowned for, among other things, this advice to ama- teurs who choose to risk their own cash money: “Look around the table,” Slim said. “If you don’t see a sucker, get up—because you’re the sucker.” Slim was happy when my photographer offered him a ride with us into Manhattan. But as we cruised along the Van Wyck Expressway and I peppered him with ques- tions, he refused to give me anything newsworthy. “I’m here to see Santy Claus,” he said. So, I decided to use this unique oppor- tunity to seek professional advice. I explained that I was always getting bluffed when there was a big pot. Slim narrowed his eyes as he looked at me and said, “Well, then your heart isn’t as big as a pea.” That’s how I confirmed my official sta- tus in the world of games: I’m a wimp. In poker, I get bluffed. In chess, I offer draws. A draw? GM Andy Soltis GM Roman Dzindzichashvili Boston 1988 (see diagram top of next column) But I didn’t dare offer a draw in this position. I was dead lost: Two pawns down and with three minutes (compared with Black’s half hour) to reach move 50. The game headed to its natural result with 35 ... Qc2 36. Qf3 f5 37. Qd5+ Kg7 38. Ne3. But instead of 38. ... Qxb2! and 39. ... Ra2, which would have sealed the deal, he played 38. ... Qc6? 39. Qe6 d5? 40. Qxd5 Qxd5 41. Nxd5. Suddenly Black’s edge has evaporated. He wouldn’t have anything after 41. ... Ra7 42. Nxb4, for example. Instead, he played 41. ... Re6??. I replied 42. Bxb4—along with a draw offer. He accepted and it wasn’t until the post- mortem that I understood why: Black is lost, e.g. 42. ... Rc6 43. Ne7! followed by 44. Nxc6 or 44. Rxd7. Okay. I can find excuses for that one. After all, I might not have seen that 42. ... B-moves 43. Nc7! with the seconds I had left. But what about the games like this, I asked myself? Modern Defense (B06) GM Jon Arnason GM Andy Soltis Lone Pine 1981 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. f4 c6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be3 Qb6 7. Qd2 Nd7 8. 0-0-0 Qa5 9. Kb1 b5 10. e5 d5 11. Bd3 b4 12. Ne2 e6 13. Nh4 c5 14. dxc5 Nxc5 15. Bxc5 Qxc5 16. h3 Bxe2 17. Qxe2 Ne7 18. g4 Nc6 19. Nf3 0-0 20. h4 a5 21. h5 Rfe8 22. hxg6 hxg6 23. Ng5 Nd4 24. Qf2 I was only probably lost this time and I had a luxurious 10 minutes to reach move 40. It was time to get desperate—24. ... b3! 25. cxb3 Nxb3 26. Qe1? Nd4 27. Qf2 Rab8 28. Rh7 Rb7 29. Bxg6 Reb8! 30. Bxf7+ Kf8 31. Qxd4. Next came 31. ... Rxb2+ 32. Qxb2 Rxb2+ 33. Kxb2 Qb4+ 34. Kc2 Qc4+ 35. Kd2? Qxf4+ 35. Kc2 Qxg5 37. Bxe6 Qxe5. Black threatens to mate (38. ... Qc3+ and ... Qb2 mate) or win the bishop (38. ... Qxe6) or a rook (38. ... Qe4+). White might be able to fight on after something like 38. Rf1+ and 39. Rxg7 but Black has all the winning chances. But I offered a draw. Wimpiness reveals itself at much stronger levels than I played in. Super- grandmasters are so afraid of the Marshall Gambit in the Ruy Lopez these days that they avoid it with scaredy-cat moves like h3, a3 and d3. Some do the same in the Sicilian Defense. After Peter Leko played passively as White in a 2000 game, Garry Kasparov sneered, “As long as Leko plays a3, h3 in the Sicilian Defense I cannot leave big- time chess!” Boris Spassky said to excel in chess you needed a quality he called “spine.” In a July 20, 2001 interview with Izvestia he named Alexei Shirov as the most creative and talented young player of the day. “But Shirov has insufficient spine,” he added. Some would argue that wimp-out draw offers are the result of psychological inflex- ibility. It’s the inability to reset yourself emotionally when a lost or bad position changes dramatically. World Champion Vishy Anand told Chess magazine in 2010 that there are players like Anatoly Karpov who have plenty of resetting ability: “He could have a really bad position for the first 30 moves and then his opponent would make one mistake and Karpov will start playing for a win immediately.” A Heart As Big As A Pea It’s not as bad as losing a drawn position but ... By GM ANDY SOLTIS 16 January 2013 | Chess Life CL_01-2013_soltis_JP_r7_chess life 12/7/2012 12:47 PM Page 16
  • 19. On the other hand, Anand added, “There are other people that are so relieved at having escaped that they cannot play for a win anymore.” This is probably a form of the phenom- enon called Loss Aversion that I wrote about some time ago. When you survive a near-death experience you can become so elated by the prospect of a draw that it never occurs to you that you can play for more. For example: King’s Indian Defense, Classical Variation (E95) GM Helgi Gretarsson GM Andy Soltis Bermuda International 1999 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. e4 e5 5. Nf3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. 0-0 0-0 8. Re1 c6 9. Bf1 a6 10. h3 exd4 11. Nxd4 Re8 12. Bf4 Ne5 13. Rc1 Nh5 14. Be3 c5! 15. Nc2 Be6 16. Na3 Nc6 17. Rc2 Be5 18. Rd2 Qf6 19. Rxd6! Bxd6 20. Qxd6 Ne5 21. Qd2 Qd8 22. Nd5 Rc8? 23. Bg5 Qd7 24. Be2 Bxd5 25. cxd5 f6 26. f4! fxg5 27. fxe5 Qd8 28. Bg4 Rb8 29. e6 Nf4 Amarillo Slim used to say he didn’t play cards, he played people. At this point we were both in time pressure and we weren’t playing chess, we were playing clock. 30. Nc4 h5 31. g3? b5? 32. Ne5 Nxe6? 33. Nc6! Qc7 34. Bxe6+ Rxe6 35. Nxb8 Qxg3+ 36. Kh1 Rf6 37. Rg1 Qh4 Now instead of 38. Qe3! g4 39. Rg3, the game went 38. Rg2?? Rf3! 39. Nc6? Rxh3+ 40. Rh2 Qxe4+ 41. Qg2. The strange thing is I knew I had reached 40 moves, the time control. I could have taken 40 or 50 minutes to look for more than the perpetual check staring me in the face. So, instead of 41. ... Rf3!, winning, I played 41. ... Qe1+? 42. Qg1 Qe4+ ... and offered a draw. But there was one example that was worse. It was played back in the days of adjournments, so I could have sealed my move and ... U.S. versus USSR Vitaly Tseshkovsky Andy Soltis World Student Team Championship, Dresden 1969 It was in a U.S.-USSR match, always a big deal during the Cold War. I had been daring my opponent to find a mate in our mutual time pressure. He could have drawn by perpetual checks at various points. But he never lacked spine and played 34. Qe3+? g5 35. Qf2 Qe4 36. Rf6+ Rg6 37. Rf8. His attack was over and I was three pawns up. I could have given a few checks and sealed my 40th move. I’d have at least 24 hours to find the win. But by now you know what happened. I made the checks, 37. ... Qh1+ 38. Kd2 Qd5+ 39. Ke1 Qh1+ 40. Kd2 and offered a draw. Why? The only explanation I can think of is ... Well, I already had one, from Amar- illo Slim. Archival Chess Life PDFs and .pgn files are available on uschess.org, Chess Life Magazine, Downloadable Files. www.uschess.org 17 Draw? Now it’s your turn to win drawn positions. In each of these six positions the player whose turn it was to move accepted a draw—or offered one that was immediately accepted. Your task is to find what they missed. In each case there is a move that leads to a forced win of a decisive amount of material—or, in one case, a mate. For solutions see page 71. Problem I Achim Longwitz Hans Peter Lohsse BLACK TO PLAY Problem IV GM Istvan Bilek IM Teodor Ghitescu WHITE TO PLAY Problem II IM Victor Ciocaltea IM Wolfgang Pietzsch WHITE TO PLAY Problem V IM Ricardo Calvo IM Svend Hamann BLACK TO PLAY Problem III GM Sam Reshevsky Fotis Mastichiadis BLACK TO PLAY Problem VI GM Garry Kasparov GM Zoltan Ribli WHITE TO PLAY Chess to Enjoy / Entertainment CL_01-2013_soltis_JP_r7_chess life 12/7/2012 5:40 PM Page 17
  • 20. Solitaire Chess / Instruction ONE ADVANTAGE OF CASTLING ON opposite sides of the board is that the players are freer to move the pawns on the side lodging the enemy king, since that doesn’t necessarily expose the player’s own king to attack. In such cases, winning is often a matter of beating the other player to the punch. That is, by getting there first, one stops the defender in his or her tracks, and the counterattack never gets going. An example of that kind of one- sided battering is the game George Alan Thomas versus Mario Monticelli (Black) from the encounter between England and Italy in the 1933 Folkestone Olympiad. Once Thomas began his assault, it was as if Black’s play stopped completely. The game began: Ruy Lopez, Deferred Steinitz (C73) George Alan Thomas (ENG) Mario Monticelli (ITA) Folkestone Olympiad 1933 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. d4 f6 7. Be3 Ne7 Now make sure you have the above posi- tion set up on your chessboard. As you play through the remaining moves in this game, use a piece of paper to cover the arti- cle, exposing White’s next move only after trying to guess it. If you guess correctly, give yourself the par score. Sometimes points are also rewarded for second-best moves, and there may be bonus points— or deductions—for other moves and vari- ations. Note that ** means that the note to Black’s move is over and White’s move is on the next line.** 8. Qd2 Par Score 5 White could also play 8. Nc3. Either way, White is getting ready to castle queen- side. 8. … Ng6 The move, 8. ... Rb8, seizing the half open b-file, could be answered by 9. Nc3 Rxb2 10. dxe5 fxe5 11. Nxe5, since 11. ... dxe5 runs into 12. Qxd8+ Kxd8 13. 0-0- 0+, gaining the Exchange. Accept 2 bonus points if you saw it.** 9. Nc3 Par Score 5 White develops, still with the possibility of queenside castling. 9. … Be7 10. h4 Par Score 5 In anticipation of Black castling king- side, White commences kingside operations. Of course he could have castled himself, on the queenside, which gets full credit. 10. … 0-0 Monticelli castles kingside, allowing his knight to be driven to the corner, inas- much as he sees how he can bring it back into play. All the same, he might have tried to hold his ground with 10. ... h5.** 11. h5 Par Score 5 11. … Nh8 12. 0-0-0 Par Score 5 There we have it. Both sides have cas- tled on opposite wings of the chessboard. Let’s see who musters a stronger attack first. 12. … Nf7 13. Rdg1 Par Score 5 White wastes no time. He repositions his queen-rook to support a g-file advance, fig- uring to follow with a subsequent g2-g4 and then perhaps to g4-g5. 13. … Bd7 On 13. ... Bg4, White plays 14. Ne1, followed by f2-f3 and g3-g4 (1 bonus point).** 14. g4 Par Score 5 14. … exd4 Black looks to meet White’s flank aggres- sion with counterplay in the center, just as recommended in the books. That policy doesn’t always work. Here Black gets the e5-square but it proves temporary.** 15. Nxd4 Par Score 4 15. … Ne5 Black doubly attacks g4.** 16. Qe2 Par Score 5 And not 16. f3? (Deduct 2 points) because of 16. ... c5 17. N-moves Nxf3. 16. … Qc8 17. Nf5 Par Score 5 White threatens a big knight fork on e7. 17. … Re8 Black avoids 17. ... Bxf5 18. gxf5, hand- ing White the open g-file.** 18. f4 Par Score 5 This drives back the enemy knight while opening the second rank for the queen to reach h2. 18. … Nf7 19. h6 Par Score 5 One way or another, this last move brings about a breach in Black’s castled position. Notice that Black hasn’t exactly mustered an attack of his own on the queenside. Getting There “Firstest” With The “Mostest” Did your opponent just castle on the opposite side of the board? It’s on! By BRUCE PANDOLFINI 18 January 2013 | Chess Life CL_01-2013_pando_JP_r7_chess life 12/7/2012 12:11 PM Page 18
  • 21. Solitaire Chess / Instruction 19. … Nxh6 On 19. ... Bxf5, there could follow 20. gxf5 Nxh6 21. Rxh6 (1 bonus point). On 19. ... g6, White has 20. Nxe7+ Rxe7 21. Bd4, winning the f-pawn (1 bonus point). The same goes for 19. ... gxh6, when White fol- lows with 20. Nxe7+ Rxe7 21. Bd4 Kg7 22. g5 hxg5 23. fxg5 (1 bonus point).** 20. Nxg7! Par Score 6 Accept only 5 points part credit for 20. Nxh6+ gxh6 21. Rxh6. Black’s position is pretty shaky, but he can still offer a defense by ... Be7-f8 and ... Bf8-g7. After the knight sacrifice, Black is hard pressed to ward off mate. 20. … Kxg7 If 20. ... Bxg4, then 21. Nf5 and White is winning. For example, if 21. ... Nxf5, then 22. Qxg4+ Kh8 23. exf5 Rg8 24. Rxh7+ Kxh7 25. Qh5 mate (1 bonus point). Or if 21. ... Kh8, then White has such delightful possibilities as 22. Nxh6 Bxe2 23. Nf7 mate (1 bonus point); or 22. Rxg4 Nxg4 23. Qxg4 Rg8 24. Rxh7+ Kxh7 25. Qh5 mate (1 bonus point). But White shouldn’t continue 22. Rxh6 because of 22. ... Bxe2 23. Rg7 Qxf5!. Incidentally, 21. ... Kf8 could be met by 22. Nxh6 Bxe2 23. Rg8 mate (1 bonus point).** 21. Qh2 Par Score 5 21. … Nf7 Possibly, this is Black’s best. Alternatives might have been 21. ... Nxg4 22. Qxh7+ Kf8 23. Qg6 (among others) 23. ... Bd8 24. Rh7 and mate coming up (1 bonus point); or 21. ... Ng8 22. Qxh7+ Kf8 23. f5, fol- lowed by Bh6+; or 21. ... Rh8 22. Qxh6+ Kg8 (on 22. ... Kf7 23. g5 follows) 23. g5 fxg5 (23. ... f5 24. g6) 24. Bd4 Qf8 25. Rxg5+ Bxg5 26. Qxg5+ Kf7 27. Qf6+ and Qxh8 (1 bonus point).** 22. Qxh7+ Par Score 5 22. … Kf8 23. f5! Par Score 5 White threatens 24. Bh6+ Nxh6 25. Qxh6+ Kf7 26. Qg6+ and mate next move (1 bonus point). 23. … Bd8 Black vacates e7 for the king.** 24. Qg6 Par Score 5 This is a good practical choice, threat- ening 25. Rh7 and, if 25. ... Re7, then 26. Qg7+ Ke8 27. Qg8 mate (1 bonus point). You may take full credit for 24. g5, with lots of good contingencies available. You may also take full credit for 24. Bh6+. But accept no credit for 24. Qxf7+ Kxf7 25. Rh7+ Kg8 26. Rgh1 Rf8 27. Rh8+ Kf7 28. R1h7+ Ke8, and the black king escapes. 24. … Ke7 If 24. ... Re7, then 25. Rh8+ Nxh8 26. Bh6+ Rg7 27. Qxg7+ Ke8 28. Qf8 mate (2 bonus points).** 25. Rh7 Par Score 5 The noose is tightening. 25. … Rf8 26. Bh6 Par Score 5 White threatens to take first the rook and then the knight. 26. … Be8 27. Qg7 Par Score 5 The rook is indefensible at f8. If it goes to g8 or h8, White just removes it. And on 27. ... Kd7, there follows 28. Qxf8 Be7 29. Rxf7 Bxf7 30. Qxf7, leaving White a piece ahead. So ... 27. … Black resigned. www.uschess.org 19 ABCs of Chess These problems are all related to key positions in this month’s game. In each case, Black is to move. The answers can be found in Solutions on page 71. January Exercise: Set up whatever pawn configuration you’re interested in. Placing the kings in neutral posts, analyze or play out against a partner or software the position until you get a sense for it. Then begin adding pieces, minor pieces first, making sure to try out all possibilities (knight versus knight or knight versus bishop, and varying with light or dark square bishops). After working minor pieces, move to situations of rook versus rook and queen versus queen. Try to avoid initial setups where immediate tactics decide. Study enough of these arrangements and you should begin to grasp some of the positional essentials of particular pawn structures. Problem I Double Attack Problem IV Mating net Problem II Fork Problem V Mating net Problem III Pin Problem VI Mating net TOTAL YOUR SCORE TO DETERMINE YOUR APPROXIMATE RATING BELOW: Total Score Approx. Rating 95+ 2400+ 81-94 2200-2399 66-80 2000-2199 51-65 1800-1999 36-50 1600-1799 21-35 1400-1599 06-20 1200-1399 0-05 under 1200 CL_01-2013_pando_JP_r7_chess life 12/7/2012 12:12 PM Page 19
  • 22. 20 January 2013 | Chess Life ORWAY’S BRILLIANT 21-YEAR- OLD Magnus Carlsen continued his stunning run of tournament success, defeating U.S.-born Ital- ian Fabiano Caruana, 20, in a blitz playoff match in Bilbao, Spain, to take his second Grand Slam Final title. The 2012 Grand Slam Final featured the winners of the most elite tournaments of 2012: Carlsen (Tal Memorial winner), Levon Aronian (winner of Wijk aan Zee), plus Caruana and Sergei Karjakin, joint winners of Dortmund 2012. Add the win- ner of the 2012 World Championship match, Viswanathan Anand, and the Grand Slam Final became a serious end- of-season event. The only big name missing was Vladimir Kramnik (winner of the London Classic in December 2011), because the former world champion refuses to play in tourna- ments split between continents. (In 2012 the organizers gave a 10-day break between the first half in São Paulo and the N GM MAGNUS CARLSEN Text by GM IAN ROGERS | Photos by CATHY ROGERS Are you smarter tCarlsen adds a jewel to his crown; our reporter offers Chess Life r CL_01-2013_Bilbao_AKF_r10.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 3:02 PM Page 20
  • 23. www.uschess.org 21 second half in Bilbao to overcome any jet- lag, but still this was not enough to overcome Kramnik's objections.) Despite the rarefied field, Carlsen and Caruana dominated the 2012 Grand Slam Final with no other player finishing above a 50% score—Aronian and Anand won only one game between them! Carlsen’s title was a new jewel in an already glittering crown. Since 2009 Carlsen has won 10 super-tournaments, winning every tiebreaker in which he has been involved during that period. Carlsen also moved his rating to within four points of Kasparov’s long-standing 2851 record—though rating inflation makes rating comparisons over time mis- leading, with even Kasparov admitting that his 2851 may not have been superior to Bobby Fischer’s 1972 figure of 2785. In Bilbao, Carlsen managed to overhaul the big lead Caruana had established dur- ing the first half of the tournament in São Paulo, avenging his first round loss to GM FABIANO CARUANA t han a SUPER GM?readers a chance to equal or better the world’s best players. CL_01-2013_Bilbao_AKF_r10.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 3:02 PM Page 21
  • 24. Cover Story / 2012 Grand Slam Final 22 January 2013 | Chess Life Caruana and also beating World Champion Anand in a key penultimate round game. “I felt I played really well,” was Carlsen’s summary—rare self-praise from the Nor- wegian who is always one of the biggest critics of his own play. Despite eventually losing the Grand Slam title to Carlsen, Caruana also walked away from the tournament with great honor. Over the 10 rounds Caruana scored victories over the top two players in the world, Carlsen and Aronian; the latter vic- tory in round nine enabling Caruana to keep pace with Carlsen. Going into the last round Caruana and Carlsen were level on points but Carlsen faced the formidable Aronian while Caruana was paired against tailender Paco Vallejo. Yet, to the astonishment of the specta- tors, after 25 minutes of play in the final round Caruana had allowed Vallejo, 30, to force a draw leaving the way clear for Carlsen to draw his own game and then win the playoff. Only later it emerged that the previous night Vallejo—depressed by his poor form —had announced his retirement and was planning to go back to his home island of Mallorca and reassess his life. Though Caruana did not say it openly, all indications are that the chivalrous Ital- ian did not want to beat Vallejo in what might be his final game and, at the possi- ble cost of the Grand Slam title, gave Vallejo a chance to end the tournament with an honorable draw. Some criticized Caruana’s lack of killer instinct, but many more offered praise, for the Italian’ performance off and on the board. Canadian GM Kevin Spraggett even dared to suggest that 20-year-old Caruana might be the man to take Viswanathan Anand’s world title—though Caruana will have to wait at least three years since he is not placed in the 2013 Candidates tour- nament. Certainly after a great result in the Tal Memorial, a win in Dortmund and now success in the Grand Slam Final, Caruana has established his place among the world elite; now ranked as number five in the world yet almost two years younger than Carlsen. •••••••••••••• Are You Smarter than a Super-Grandmaster? From the very first round, the armchair critics, with computer programs such as Houdini running by their side, were scathing about the number of errors made by the competitors in the Grand Slam Final. Certainly the world’s best players make mistakes—they have blood, not silicon, in their veins—but many of the so-called blunders were far from obvious to non- computers. Test yourself on the following positions —can you find the correct move and do better than the world’s best? São Paulo Grand Slam Final Round 1 GM Fabiano Caruana (FIDE 2773, ITA) GM Magnus Carlsen (FIDE 2843, NOR) Carlsen, pushing hard for a win with Black over the past 40 moves, has allowed Caruana to complicate matters with an Exchange sacrifice—just at the point when Carlsen had only two minutes left on his clock (plus 10 second increments) to fin- ish the game. Indeed, Carlsen tumbled to defeat from here—can you do better? SOLUTION: 81. ... Rb2? Carlsen misses one last chance to hold the game, with the unlikely 81. ... Rb3+!! 82. Kxe4 (82. cxb3? cxb3 actually wins for Black.) 82. ... Rc3! when Black can take the c-pawn and survive. 82. d5! Rxc2 83. d6! Now Black’s rook cannot get behind the passed d-pawn quickly enough. 83. ... c3 84. d7 Rd2 85. d8=Q Rxd8 86. Bxd8 h4! “The only chance,” said Caruana, who used most of his remaining time to make sure of a clear path to victory. 87. gxh4! 87. Bxh4? c2 88. Kd2 e3+ 89. Kxc2 e2 would be an unfortunate accident. 87. ... g3 88. f6! c2 89. Kd2 e3+ 90. Kxc2 e2 91. Ba5!, Black resigned. After 91. ... Kh3—the king cannot step on to the f-file without allowing White to queen with check—92. Kd2! g2 93. Bb6—White has succeeded in covering all the black pawns and his f-pawn will be the winner. That was tricky, I agree. How about something easier? (see diagram top of next column) São Paulo Grand Slam Final Round 5 GM Levon Aronian (FIDE 2816, ARM) GM Fabiano Caruana (FIDE 2773, ITA) Aronian (White) is two pawns up, with 15 minutes left and “completely winning” as the Armenian grandmaster said. So how should White finish the job? SOLUTION: 55. h6+? “I had too many ways to win,” was Aronian's explanation for this failed combination. 55. Rf5 would hold the extra pawns with a slow but sure win. 55. ... Kxh6 56. Rf5 A humble admission of error. Aronian had intended 56. Nxc6!? but realized too late that after 56. ... Kg5! 57. Rg4+ Kf5 58. Nd4+ Ke5 his pieces are so tangled up that he must lose one of his extra pawns. 56. ... Kg7 57. f4 Rb1+ 58. Kc3 Rb3+ 59. Kd4 Rb4+ 60. Ke3 Rb3+ 61. Kf2 Rc3 Now White can make no progress and Aron- ian gave up trying a dozen moves later. 62. Nd7 Kg6 63. Rf8 Ra3 64. Nb6 Be4 65. Ke2 Bf5 66. Rd8 Be4 67. Nc4 Rc3 68. Rd4 Bd5 69. Ne5+ Kf5 70. Nd7 Be6 71. Kd2 Rf3 72. Nb8 Bd5 73. Na6 Rxf4, Draw agreed. OK—that one wasn’t fair. Who wants puzzles where the boring move is correct and the combination is wrong? So here’s something completely different: Bilbao Grand Slam Final Round 9 GM Magnus Carlsen (FIDE 2843, NOR) GM Viswanathan Anand (FIDE 2780, IND) continued on page 26 CL_01-2013_Bilbao_AKF_r10.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 3:03 PM Page 22
  • 25. www.uschess.org 23 AS THE WORLD CHAMPION DREW game after game at the Grand Slam Final in Sao Paulo and Bilbao, chess fans started wondering whether they were watching a form slump by GM Viswanathan Anand or something worse. The bare statistics of Anand’s recent results are worrying enough. The Indian has not won a classical tournament for four and a half years and had only won two classical games since the 2011 Grand Slam Final twelve months ago— a period which included his successful world title defense against GM Boris Gelfand. Statistics can be misleading—Anand, 42, also only lost three games in the period—but his percentage of draws has reached worrying proportions, especially in an era with anti-draw regulations. Last November Anand completed the Tal Memorial tournament in Moscow with nine consecutive draws and his run of draws from the end of the world title match through to Sao Paulo and Bilbao has been even longer, capped off in round nine by a loss to GM Magnus Carlsen. The chess world has not seen such poor tournament results from a world champion since GM Tigran Petrosian in the 1960s. Anand dismisses some of the routine explanations for his mediocre results, such as being distracted by having a young child. Yet Anand does admit, reluctantly, that age may be becoming a factor, though not in the sense that he can no longer calcu- late with clarity and depth. Rather, Anand has struggled to find a way to use the initiative which is sup- posed to come with the white pieces and the first move in an era of computer enhanced preparation. When asked at a Sao Paulo press con- ference immediately after a lackluster draw against GM Levon Aronian when was the last time he had broken down Aronian’s opening choice, the Berlin Wall, Anand was forced to admit, sheepishly, “2003.” (“The Berlin Wall is really killing 1. e4,” Anand said later. “Can you believe that ... Be6-c8 is the latest fashion and White can't seem to do anything?”) Indeed Anand has expressed his admi- ration for the way Aronian, alone of the top players when playing White, con- tinually comes up with new ideas to create problems for his opponents. (Cer- tainly Anand’s remarkable statement that he felt he would learn a lot from a world title match against Aronian or Carlsen shows just how far ahead he feels his two most likely challengers are in playing 21st century chess.) The following game extract, from the first leg of the Grand Slam Final in Sao Paulo, shows one of Anand’s current problems—an uncharacteristic impetu- ousness when passively placed. Sao Paulo Grand Slam Final Round 3 GM Fabiano Caruana (FIDE 2773, ITA) GM Viswanathan Anand (FIDE 2780, IND) Caruana, with White, has just played 17. Rc1, with the obvious threat of 18. Nd5. After long thought, Anand decided to call Caruana’s bluff: 17. ... Re8?! 18. Nd5! exd5 18. ... Qd8 was safer. 19. cxd5 Qb6 20. Bf2! Qxb2 21. dxc6 bxc6 22. Rxc6 Anand had calculated this far and wanted to play 22. ... d5 23. Bd4 Qb7 but upon reaching the position noticed 24. Qc2 “when I have to resign” said Anand. (An exaggeration, but 24. ... Nh5 25. Rb1 Qa8 26. e5! is indeed ugly.) Instead Anand was forced to try the humble ... 22. ... Rdd8 ... but after ... 23. Rxa6 ... found himself a pawn down for nothing, after which the World Champion needed all his defensive skills to hang onto a draw, and ultimately finish in fifth place of the six players. What’s eating Viswanathan Anand? Cover Story / 2012 Grand Slam Final CL_01-2013_Bilbao_AKF_r10.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 3:03 PM Page 23
  • 26. Carlsen French Defense GM Magnus Carlsen (FIDE 2843, NOR) GM Fabiano Caruana (FIDE 2773, ITA) Sao Paulo Grand Slam Final (6), 10.08.2012 Prior to this game, the first to be played in Bilbao after the Sao Paulo leg of the Grand Slam Final, Carlsen was trailing Caruana by a point and a half, and only a win would do for the Norwegian. 1. e4 e6 2. d3 “I was a bit surprised by his choice of the French and so avoided main lines,” said Carlsen. “Sometimes in order to cre- ate a fight you need to choose lines that aren’t necessarily the most thoroughly analyzed.” 2. ... d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. c3 5. g3 would allow Black to equalize immediately with 5. ... dxe4 6. dxe4 Bc5 7. Bg2 0-0 8. 0-0 e5. 5. ... Bd6 6. Be2 0-0 7. 0-0 a5 8. Re1 e5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nc4 Re8 11. Bf1 Bg4 12. h3 Bh5 13. g3 Nb6 14. Nxb6 cxb6 15. Bg2 b5 Criticized by Carlsen, who was more worried about 15. ... a4, though Caruana wondered how he was supposed to fol- low up after 16. a3. 16. a4! b4?! Now Caruana drifts into a difficult position. Black should have tried 16. ... bxa4 17. Qxa4 Bc5, or perhaps better 15. ... Bc5 a move earlier, since then Be3 would enable Black to exchange a piece which causes him trouble later in the game. 17. Be3 Bc7 18. Qb3 h6 19. Qc4 bxc3 20. bxc3 e4 Carlsen thought that this mini-combi- nation was almost forced, but felt that the resulting endgame would be tricky for Black. 21. dxe4 Bxf3 22. Bxf3 Ne5 23. Qe2 Nxf3+ 24. Qxf3 Qd3 25. Kg2 Qxe4 26. Bd4 Qxf3+ 27. Kxf3 b6 28. Rab1 Rac8 “I thought I should be able to hold the endgame,” said Caruana. “It doesn’t seem like a losing position.” 29. Re4 g6?! A few moves later Caruana realized that he should not have allowed White to push h4-h5 but the moment to nip White’s kingside expansion in the bud was now, via 29. ... h5! since an attempt to win the h-pawn with 30. Rh4 g6 31. g4 fails to 31. ... Bd8. 30. g4! Kf8 31. h4 Rxe4 32. Kxe4 Re8+ 33. Kd3 Re6 34. Be3 Kg7 35. Rb5 Bd8 36. h5! (see diagram top of next column) “Now Black is tied down to the defense of his h- and b-pawns and the win is a matter of technique,” said Carlsen. 36. ... Rd6+ 37. Kc4 Rc6+ 38. Kd5 Re6 39. Bd4+ Kf8 40. f4! Bc7 41. f5 Rd6+ 42. Ke4 Rc6 43. Rb1 Ke8 “43. ... g5 loses to 44. Kd5 Rd6+ 45. Kc4 Ke7 46. Re1+ Kd7 47. Bg7,” explained Carlsen. 44. hxg6 fxg6 45. Rh1 Kf7 46. Kd5 Rd6+ 47. Kc4 gxf5 Now Carlsen finishes the game with a forcing sequence but after 47. ... g5 48. Re1! the white king will walk to b7 and end any resistance. 48. gxf5 Bd8 49. f6! Bxf6 Hoping for solace in a bishop ending, but in any case 49. ... Kg6 50. Rg1+ leads to an invasion on g7. 50. Rxh6 Be7 51. Rxd6 Bxd6 52. Kb5 Ke6 53. Bxb6 Kd7 54. c4 Kc8 55. Bxa5 (see diagram top of next page) This endgame has been known to be winning for White since a famous Fis- cher-Keres game from Zurich 1959. White’s only task is to avoid Black giv- ing up his bishop for the c-pawn. 55. ... Kb7 56. Bb4 Bf4 57. c5 Ka7 58. c6 Kb8 59. a5 Ka7 60. a6 Ka8 61. Bc5 Bb8 62. Kc4 24 January 2013 | Chess Life Cover Story / 2012 Grand Slam Final The titans meet for their São Paulo game. CL_01-2013_Bilbao_AKF_r10.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 3:03 PM Page 24
  • 27. www.uschess.org 25 Cover Story / 2012 Grand Slam Final Bc7 63. Kd5 Bd8 64. Ke6 Bc7 65. Kd7 Ba5 66. Be7!, Black resigned. (see final diagram top of next column) Caruana Ruy Lopez, Archangelsk Defenses GM Sergey Karjakin (FIDE 2778, RUS) GM Fabiano Caruana (FIDE 2773, ITA) Sao Paulo Grand Slam Final (2), 09.25.2012 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d4 Bb6 9. Be3 “I had not played this line for a while, and I predicted that he would play the 9. Be3 system, since it is quite fashion- able,” said Caruana, who had come well prepared. 9. ... 0-0 10. Nbd2 Bb7 11. Re1 exd4!? 12. cxd4 Nb4 13. Qe2 “The critical move,” said Caruana. “After 13. Qb1 (the main line) 13. ... c5 14. a3 Nc6 15. d5 Ne7, the queen is not so well placed on b1 because I have the plan ... h7-h6, ... Nh7 and ... f7-f5.” 13. ... c5 14. a3 Nc6 15. d5 Ne7 16. h3 Re8 17. Bc2 Ng6 18. b3?! “White should play on the queenside with 18. a4,” explained Caruana, “when I was going to play 18. ... c4, threaten- ing to take on e3 and d5. Then White should play 19. Qd1, intending Nf1-g3 and later making use of the d4-square. Maybe Black is slightly worse but it is not very clear.” 18. ... Ba5 19. Rab1 Karjakin later regretted allowing the bishop to come to c3, saying “I should have played something like 19. Qd3.” 19. ... Bc3 20. Rec1 b4 Caruana’s first serious think of the game—until this move he had used only 11 minutes to 45 for Karjakin. “I will have to play ... b5-b4 sooner or later after 21. Bd3,” explained Caruana. 21. a4 Both players agreed that White should have tried 21. axb4 after which Caruana was intending 21. ... Bxb4 22. Bd3 a5 “and if 23. Qd1 I again have 23. ... Ba6,” explained Caruana. 21. ... a5 22. Bd3 h6 23. Qd1? “A horrible move,” said Karjakin. “I completely forgot about 23. ... Ba6, when my position is terrible. “Caruana was sur- prisingly optimistic for White, saying “After 23. Qf1 I thought that it should be objec- tively equal, although I like my position—it is very comfortable. However I didn’t see any clear plan for Black—maybe ... Ra7 followed by ... Bc8 and ... Rae7. Basically White can’t move; the only question is if Black has an active plan.” 23. ... Ba6! 24. Bc2 A humble retreat, after which Black’s a6-bishop dominates the board and to add to his woes Karjakin had only 18 minutes remaining. However 24. Bxa6 Rxa6 25. Qc2 Ra7 followed by 26. ... Rae7, leaves the e4-pawn doomed. 24. ... Ra7! 25. Kh2 Rae7 (see diagram top of next column) 26. g4 “A mistake,” said Caruana, “though his suggestion 26. Kg1 was hardly inspir- ing.” 26. ... Nxe4! 26. ... Qd7 was also strong but “I wanted something more forcing,” said Caruana, who used only seven of his 48 remaining minutes deciding on this Exchange sacrifice. 27. Nxe4 Rxe4 28. Bxe4 Rxe4 29. Qc2 “29. Rxc3!? bxc3 30. Qc2 was kind of interesting,” said Caruana, but I think then 30. ... Ne5!! is winning, e.g. 31. Qxe4 Bd3 32. Qf4 Ng6 33. Qg3 Bxb1 while if 31. Nxe5 I just play 31. ... Rxe5 32. Qxc3 Rxd5 and his king is very weak.” 29. ... Qe7 30. Rg1 In growing time trouble, Karjakin CL_01-2013_Bilbao_AKF_r10.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 3:03 PM Page 25
  • 28. Cover Story / 2012 Grand Slam Final 26 January 2013 | Chess Life BILBAO MASTERS FINAL 2012: SAO PAULO, BRAZIL—SEPTEMBER 24-29, OCTOBER 8-13 PLAYERS RATING COUNTRY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 POINTS GM Fabiano Caruana 2773 ITA 3 3 1 3 1 0 1 1 3 1 17 GM Magnus Carlsen 2843 NOR 0 3 1 1 1 3 3 1 3 1 17 GM Levon Aronian 2816 ARM 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 11 GM Sergey Karjakin 2778 RUS 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 10 GM Viswanathan Anand 2780 IND 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 9 GM Francisco Vallejo-Pons 2697 ESP 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 6 Bilbao Rule: Win 3 points, Draw 1 point, Loss 0 points. Carlsen has just played the very effective positional move 24. g4!, cutting the black knight out of the game. However 24. g4 also created a threat—if you work out what it is and stop it, you will be doing better than the World Champion. SOLUTION: 24. ... Rc6? 25. Nh3!! Not the world’s most obvious attacking move, but once you see the threat of 26. Qh6 followed by 27. Ng5, the power is obvious—in fact both Carlsen and Anand agreed that Black is now doomed. It was small consolation to Anand that even without 24. ... Rc6 Black was probably already close to lost since against better defensive moves (such as 24. ... Rf8 or 24. ... Qd6) White can double on the e-file, play Nd3, Kg2 and slowly advance on the kingside, while Black’s only conceivable active plan ... a7-a5-a4 is likely to be too little, too late. 25. ... Ne8 26. Qh6 Nf6 27. Ng5 d3 Black can avoid mate with 27. ... Qa6 28. Re5 Qc8 but after 29. Rfe1 Qf8 30. Qxf8+ Kxf8 31. Nxe6+ White wins two pawns and the game. 28. Re5! Kh8 Otherwise 29. Nxh7! would win. 29. Rd1 Qa6 30. a4, Black resigned. Despite the playing session being little more than two hours old, Anand saw no reason to continue as he cannot prevent Rxd3, Rde3 and Nxe6. “That was really fun!” said Carlsen to the Norwegian media soon after the game; “A big disappoint- ment,” said Anand, who was losing a classical game to Carlsen for only the sec- ond time. “Sometimes you feel like a scientist, sometimes you feel like an artist and sometimes you feel like an imbecile!” It's true—attacks starting with a back- wards knight move are not exactly easy to see. Can’t one of these guys miss some- thing simple—like a forced checkmate? Now that you mention it ... Bilbao Grand Slam Final Round 9 GM Sergey Karjakin (FIDE 2778, RUS) GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (FIDE 2697, ESP) (see diagram top of next column) In this crazily complicated position, Vallejo (Black) had only seconds left on his clock for four moves. He could try the fancy 37. ... Qxc5!? 38. dxc5 Re7, or the direct counter-attack 37. ... Qb2. Which should he choose? rushes to his doom by allowing a sec- ond Exchange sacrifice. “He should play 30. Re1 but it looks pretty awful,” said Caruana. “I can play 30. ... Bxe1 31. Rxe1 Qe8! (avoiding 32. Bg5!) and later ... c5-c4.” 30. ... Rxe3! 31. fxe3 Qxe3 A remarkable position where Black’s bishops dominate White’s rooks. 32. Rbf1 Be2! 33. Qf5 33. Qc1 Qxc1 34. Rxc1 Bxf3 is hope- less for White. 33. ... Bd3 “Now his queen is cut off,” said Caru- ana. 33. ... Nh4 34. Nxh4 Be5+ was also very strong. 34. Qd7 Be5+! 35. Kh1 On 35. Nxe5 Qxe5+ 36. Kh1 Be4+ 37. Rg2 Nf4! cuts out all counterplay. 35. ... Be4! 36. Qe8+ Nf8, White resigned. continued from page 22 CL_01-2013_Bilbao_AKF_r10.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 3:03 PM Page 26
  • 29. www.uschess.org 27 Cover Story / 2012 Grand Slam Final SOLUTION: Vallejo played ... 37. ... Qb2?? ... and was mated after ... 38. Qc8+, Black resigned. No doubt you were able to do better, but such was his shame at missing such an obvious mate that he announced his retirement that evening on Facebook. Admittedly Vallejo was already despondent about his performance in São Paulo and Bilbao, having missed another mate in the following game ... São Paulo Grand Slam Final Round 3 GM Levon Aronian (FIDE 2816, ARM) GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (FIDE 2697, ESP) The question is simple: Should Vallejo (Black) take a draw by checking with his rook on a1 and a2 or can he try for more with 30. ... Qxh2!? SOLUTION: Vallejo, running short of time, took the repetition of moves with ... 30. ... Ra1+ 31. Kg2 Ra2+ 32. Kf1 Ra1+ 33. Kg2 Ra2+ ... and the game was drawn. Vallejo admitted that he had also been tempted to play 30. ... Qxh2, which he believed would oblige Aronian to force a draw with 31. Rg7+ Kxg7 32. Qe7+ when Black cannot escape the checks. At the post-game press conference, Brazilian GM Gilberto Milos pointed out that 30. ... Qxh2 would actually have allowed 31. Ne5+!! fxe5 32. Rc7+, with mate to follow. Vallejo looked shocked that he had almost walked into this, but Aronian was equally surprised, since he had intended 31. Rg7+ and was not at all sure that he would have noticed the forced mate. “I saw that I was making a draw,” said Aronian, “but maybe I would see the mate.” “Actually, I was very lucky,” admitted Vallejo, “since I was not sure whether to force a draw or let him do so with 30. ... Qxh2 31. Rg7+.” (He was even luckier that the online spectators never realized that he came so close to blundering.) Apart from Caruana’s upset win in round one, the biggest howls of disapproval by the online chess fans came when the two top players in the world were going head to head ... São Paulo Grand Slam Final Round 4 GM Magnus Carlsen (FIDE 2843, NOR) GM Levon Aronian (FIDE 2816, ARM) Carlsen (White) was well ahead on the clock—40 minutes to 13—and he spent 11 minutes on the clock before playing the surprising ... 27. Bf4!!? ... answered quickly by Aronian with the equally remarkable ... 27. ... Bc3!!? Your question—what were they thinking, and can you find any improvements? SOLUTION: Carlsen’s move had the idea 27. ... exf4? 28. Qxf3 but, as the world number one realized as soon as he had made his move, something was terribly wrong. Aronian briefly looked at 27. ... R8xf4!? 28. gxf4 Nxf4 and saw that it was refuted by 29. Ra8+ Kh7 30. Ng5+. So, somewhat short of time, Aronian quickly replied ... 27. ... Bc3!? ... with the aim of making the previous variation playable by decoying the knight away from control of g5. However by now every chess computer was screaming out that 27. ... R8xf4! ... would have won, since after 28. gxf4 Nxf4 29. Ra8+ Black has 30. ... Bf8! and mate will be forced after 31. Rg1 Qxh2+!! 32. Kxh2 Rh3. Carlsen admitted that after his mistake he was shaking for the rest of the game, which concluded ... 28. Qxf3 Bxa1 29. Qg2 Qf5 30. Bd2 Bd4 31. h3 Bc5 32. Bc3 Be7 33. Re1 b5 34. Kg1 b4 35. Bb2 Bd6 36. h4 Be7 37. Kh2 Ra8 38. Ra1 Rxa1 39. Bxa1 Nc5 40. Nd2 Bf6 41. Bb2 b3 42. Nxb3 Nxb3 43. cxb3 Qxd3 44. Qxc6 Qc2 45. Qe8+ Kh7 46. Qxh5+ Kg8 47. Qe8+ Kh7 48. Qh5+, Draw agreed. The scorn on chess comment boards was palpable—“Blunder of the month,” “Shocking,” “Embarrassing,” etc., etc., though one or two people defended the elite grandmasters on the grounds that they were fallible humans. Yet there was two places where the play- ers were fully appreciated—at Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo as well as the Alhóndiga in Bilbao. Without the tyranny of the computer assessments, the players’ ideas were admired and appreciated by the commentators and the hundreds of fans who watched the games live every round (including during an unsea- sonal cold spell in São Paulo). The players did their part; exposing their flaws at post-game press conferences win or lose, while also posing for multiple photos with fans—no doubt soon to be displayed as a modern form of autograph on Facebook. At the conclusion of each half primary commentators Gilberto Milos (in Brazil) and Leontxo Olasagasti Garcia (in Spain) made a point of thanking each of the play- ers for competing hard and fearlessly. The thanks were amplified by the audience with rousing rounds of applause. The armchair critics may not have been impressed, but you can see from these six examples that, without computer help, it is not so easy to prove yourself smarter than a super-grandmaster? Read more about the final at: www.bilbaomasters final.com/en/home/ and more from GM Ian Rogers on Chess Life Online, uschess.org, September and October archives. CL_01-2013_Bilbao_DLF_r11.qxp_chess life 12/11/12 10:38 PM Page 27
  • 30. 28 January 2013 | Chess Life GM Alejandro Ramirez with Moira Kamgar and Elliott Liu When Ramirez was asked what he was wearing, he gave his suit lapel a proud tug and announced it was his “pimp suit.” CL_01-2013_Ramirez_AKF_r8_chess life 12/11/12 4:06 PM Page 28
  • 31. Personalities / GM Alejandro Ramirez he purple-appareled grandmaster knows how to make an entrance. Ale- jandro Tadeo Ramirez Alvarez, known in short as Alejandro Ramirez, entered dinner fashionably late with fellow player Elliott Liu. While Liu had suited up and donned sun glasses, GM Ramirez took things to a whole other level. He dressed in a purple hat and purple snakeskin-style shoes, tipped in gold, which sandwiched a matching purple suit, shiny pale silk tie and dress shirt. Punc- tuated by his confident peacock-like walk, there was no missing his arrival. The dinner was hosted by Ankit Gupta at one of the top three restaurants in Los Angeles, Providence Los Angeles, as a wel- come for the VIPs to the First Metropolitan Chess International. When Ramirez was asked what he was wearing, he gave his suit lapel a proud tug and announced it was his “pimp suit.” Los Angeles is a long way from Ramirez’s Costa Rican roots, but he has no trouble adapting to life in America. He is a fun lov- ing, outgoing young man enjoying his twenties. As GM Robert Hess describes Ramirez, “He is a pretty cool guy and fits in with many different crowds.” Ramirez is enjoying the scene while taking a year off post-college for chess. He is currently call- ing Dallas home. So far, he is succeeding in the chess goals he has set for himself for the year, but he is most interested in “just [being] a happy person.” And so he often is seen smiling and taking time for friends. Even during tourna- ment play, it is hard to tell from looking at him whether his game is still in progress, unless he is actually sitting at the board. His easy-going, relaxed style comes not only from his upbringing but also from the con- fidence he has in his game. Ramirez learned the game as a child from his father on an old wooden set when he was four years old. He recalled with a smile the first lessons he had with his father, “He taught me the en passant rule wrong.” Ramirez’s father may not have had all of the rules of chess down, but without him Ramirez would not be the player or person he is today. Ramirez said, “My dad was instrumen- tal in my development as a person and as a chess player. Despite the fact that he can’t really see tactics or see more than a few moves ahead, he has a deep under- standing of psychology and can sense positions quite well. If I explain a game to him, he can infer things I can’t see, such as the mood of the player, the causes for blunders and many others. We worked together close to two hours a day every day for two years.” After working so closely together, Ramirez has many memories of his training ses- sions with his father. One lesson comes to mind from when he was 14 years old. “I remember showing [my father] a game from a long time ago between Naiditsch and Nakamura. I didn’t think too much about the game, but when I analyzed it with him, he was able to see many things I couldn’t. It’s probably a session I won’t forget, as it opened up my mind to new ideas beyond the board. We came up with so many systems of play and psychological processes that I’ve lost track. It’s honestly hard to explain to an outsider.” Ramirez and his father no longer work together but, “Of course, our sessions that we had so many years ago still have their stamp on me today.” Ramirez reflected, “I've loved chess since I started playing in tournaments, more or less when I was around seven years old. I didn’t take it seriously until I was at www.uschess.org 29 Stoked!Alejandro Ramirez, the first grandmaster from Central America, is adding color to the U.S. chess scene. Text and Photos By BETSY CARINA DYNAKO T CL_01-2013_Ramirez_AKF_r8_chess life 12/11/12 4:06 PM Page 29