Chess Training

Here is the list of current entries to the 2007 FIDE World Cup to be held from the 23d of November to the 18th of December 2007, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia: a) From World Championship Tournament 2007: * CURRENT WORLD CHAMPION from MEXICO - 1. V. Anand (IND) - is replaced from the FIDE average rating list 7/2006 & 1/2007 2. A. Morozevich (RUS) 3. P. Leko (HUN) 4. L. Aronian (ARM) 5. P. Svidler (RUS) 6. B. Gelfand (ISR) 7. A. Grischuk (RUS) * The 8th player - V. Kramnik - is replaced from the FIDE average rating list 7/2006 & 1/2007. b) Women's World Champion 2006: 8. Xu Yuhua (CHN) c) Junior World Champion 2006: 9. Z. Andriasian (ARM) d) From FIDE Rating List, 21 players (20 qualifiers + replacement of GM Kramnik), average 7/2006 & 1/2007: 10. S. Mamedyarov (AZE) 2738,00 11. M. Adams (ENG) 2733,50 12. T. Radjabov (AZE) 2728,50 13. R. Ponomariov (UKR) 2722,00 14. D. Navara (CZE) 2719,00 15. J. Polgar (HUN) 2718,50 16. A. Shirov (ESP) 2715,50 17. V. Akopian (ARM) 2706,50 1...

And "the argument" has started already, and I will give a piece about both sides of "the argument" later, and explain why it matters not to either side. Congratulations to Vishy Anand for a tremendous tournament. Congrats also go out to Gelfand for a strong performance, and Vladimir Kramnik for some great late-tournament chess to capture second place.

Here is how the cycle will work through 2009: The Winner of the World Chess Championship 2007 in Mexico ("MEXWinner") is crowned the current champion. The winner of The World Cup 2007, November 23 to December 16 the city of Khanty-Mansyisk, Russia, ("CUP2007Winner") plays Topalov in a "Challenger's Match". We will call the winner of this match the "CMWinner". If MEXWinner is NOT Kramnik: Kramnik plays MEXWinner in World Chess Championship match in 2008, known as "WCWinner". This satisfies the rematch clause for the former champion. In 2009, WCWinner plays CMWinner for the World Chess Championship of 2009. If MEXWinner IS Kramnik: Topalov plays Kramnik in a World Chess Championship match for 2008 ("WCWinner"). In 2009, CUP2007Winner plays WCWinner for the 2009 World Chess Championship. Subsequently, the challenger for the world championship will be determined in a match between the winner of the FIDE World Cup and the new G...

"Only he, who penetrates into the depth of the game, can express his personality in it." -- Vladimir Kramnik Round 12 at the WCC2007 saw no less than 3 of 4 games decided. Vladimir Kramnik, whom apparently reads this blog and my semi-scathing remarks on his 13-mover in round 11, found his cajones for round 12 and defeated Leko in a Closed Catalan. Unfortunately for the champ, Gelfand defeated Aronian via the Semi-Slav, to maintain his 1-point lead over Kramnik for 2nd place. Morozevich defeated Grischuk with an English Four Knights, and Svidler - Anand ended in a draw out of an Anti-Marshall Closed Ruy Lopez. Mathematically, Gelfand (-1 off the lead) and Kramnik (-1.5 off the lead) are still in the hunt should Anand somehow lose both his remaining games. Today will see a defining game between Gelfand and Kramnik that will most likely decide 2nd place. Grischuk - Anand will probably be a flacid draw - Anand not willing to further risk anything for the Championship. Hopefully t...

Our Goal is to try and answer these questions: "how to acquire a firm knowledge of the basics of chess strategy: How a position's evaluation is developed and what are its components" The actual answers are simple enough: "White is better." "Position is unclear." "Black has a slight advantage." "The Position is equal." etc., etc. These are all evaluations of a chess position. Each one of these assessments carries with it both short-term and long-term components. Examples of short-term components (components you need to address each move) are the placement of pieces, of pawns, and the construction of a reasonable plan ("I want to mate my opponent" is an example of an unreasonable plan). Examples of long-term components are open/closed positional decisions, queen-trades, material, do you trade into an endgame, where to place your king, exchange sacrifices, when and where to attack your opponent, to name several. Strategic con...

After a rest day on Wednesday, September 27th, the eight contestants enter into the final leg of the World Chess Championships for 2007. The final three games are to be played Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with tiebreaks on Sunday if necessary. It would be of great surprise if Sunday is necessary to decide anything, as Vishwanathan Anand leads the tournament with a score of 7.5/11, a full 1.5 points ahead of Boris Gelfand with three rounds to play. Short of a total collapse by Anand, or 3-0 finale by Gelfand, we will be crowning a new World Chess Champion come Sunday evening. Disappointment Being a vocal Kramnik fan (I was smitten during his match against Leko for reasons still unknown to me), I can only express disappointment over his 35-minute, 13-move draw Tuesday against Alexander Grischuk. Given the circumstances of the standings Tuesday, a quick draw was the furthest thing that should have been from Kramnik's mind, even at the risk of 'insulting' a fellow count...

The Tsar’s Opponent Garry Kasparov takes aim at the power of Vladimir Putin by David Remnick On a recent summer evening, the greatest player in the history of chess, Garry Kasparov, wrapped up an exhausting series of meetings devoted to the defeat of the Kremlin regime. After days of debate, a motley pride of unlikely revolutionaries – bearded politicos, earnest academics, and multigrained environmentalists – collected their cigarettes and left Kasparov’s apartment, divided and worn out. Little had been accomplished. Crumpled drafts of fevered proclamations lay scattered on the kitchen table. Puffy-eyed and unsmiling, Kasparov grunted a curt farewell to his comrades and went off to make yet another urgent telephone call. Kasparov is forty-four. He was the world chess champion for fifteen years. Until his retirement, two years ago, his dominance was unprecedented. Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Fischer – none came close. Chess has outsized meaning in Russia, and Kasparov at home was a cr...

Black to move Here Black played 55...Rxa2?? 56.Qf8+! Kd7 57.Qf7+ Kd8 58.Bb6+ 1-0. Black could have prolonged the game with the simple 55...Qg4+ but it seems that White's bishop pair will eventually succeed.

Ubisoft Announces Chess Instruction Games Learn how to play chess, or people will laugh at you. by Ryan Geddes August 10, 2007 - Two chess instruction games are on the way from Ubisoft - a portable version for the Nintendo DS as well as a PC version. Chessmaster: The Art of Learning for the DS and Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition for the PC are scheduled for an October release. Both games feature Josh Waitzkin, International Master and eight-time National Chess Champion, who teaches the fundamentals of the game and walks players through chess courses and tutorials. The DS version will include multiplayer wireless modes and six original minigames, including the mildly disturbing-sounding "Fork My Fruit." Players will also have access to 900 of the world's most important chess games, which are analyzed to help players improve their tactics.

Today I want to throw some thoughts out on selection of your Opening Repertoire and when you might want to consider changing your selection of openings based on results and perceived style. At the end of this short discourse I have listed a few links that might be interesting to those who want to pursue this subject further. As you may know (Or no know if you are not a reader of this blog), my current repertoire consists of 1.e4 heading towards a Ruy Lopez or a Bb5(+) Sicilian or a Kings Indian Attack against 1...e6 and the various hypermodern systems out there. From the White side, this is how I roll. From the 'Dark Side', I currently employ a (safe, boring, drawish??) combination of the Caro-Kann and the Slav/Semi-Slav Defense setups that tend to have alot of common strategies between them. It is because of that fact that I made those choices, along with having a good book on this idea of an opening repertoire for Black by Andrew Soltis (a bit dated, but still generally valid...

Here is a summary of the GCTS items I have posted here at the Chess Training Blog that relate to self-training chess methods: Systematic Study: CTS Study Guide Generic Chess Training Revisited How I use GCTS Thrashing, Tweaking, Holes, Feedback Captures, Checks, Pins, Forks Theory Frequency Of Play Talk Exercises Fighting Frustration and Disappointment Opening: How to Study an Opening: An Amateur's Perspective Middlegame/Strategy/Game Studies: One way to study annotated games Middlegame Training Middlegame Training, Part 2 Common Plans Endgame: Corresponding Squares and Triangulation Tactics: Thinking Tactics Calculation Skill Exercise The Importance of Being a Good Tactician As usual, feel free to leave comments!

Putting together a training schedule for yourself sounds like an easy task. No problem! I'll just study openings on Monday, do some middlgame strategy on Tuesday, then perhaps some endgames on Wednesday, and sprinkle some online games here and there. But in reality, if you are like me, it's difficult to do because we, as chessplayers, are averse to doing anything that is not really fun. Half way through your opening sessions you find yourself suddenly emmersed in a bullet tournament on ICC or Playchess. Endings? Bah! I know Lucena's - good enough. It is a lack of discipline in our non-playing activities that keep us right were we settle in the rating scale. ANY player can steadily improve if they apply a basic schedule to their studies and become persistent in executing those studies. In fact, I would venture that outside of any extraordinary talent, any player can see improvement up to the 2100-2200 rating level using this study plan as a guide. This 4-day study plan encom...

GM Maxim Sorokin dies after traffic accident 03.07.2007 – The chief trainer of the Elista Grandmaster School, and second of Candidates finalist Sergei Rublevsky, was on his way from the Kalmykian capital to the airport in Volgograd when his car was involved in a traffic accident. Max Sorokin was taken to hospital and diagnosed as having non-life threatening injuries. But a week later, just as he seemed on the path to recovery, he suddenly passed away. See link above for complete story.

Even hard-working chess-playing bloggers get some time off! I'll be posting less frequently over the summer months. My idea is to get into a weekly update on Sundays as time allows. Meanwhile, if anyone would like to share their training experiences, ideas or thoughts, feel freel to add comments to any of the relevant posts here. Good Luck and Good Chess!

Position of the Bulgarian Chess Federation The forthcoming tournament for world championship in Mexico starting on 11th September 2007 represents the end of one cycle that extends over the period after the tournament in San Luis (Argentina). As it is well known, Veselin Topalov became World Champion there. Considering the great interest in the world he accepted to play a match with Vladimir Kramnik in Elista even though he was not obliged to do so. Moreover, Veselin Topalov agreed that the loser of that match would not be allowed to play in Mexico because, according to FIDE regulations, adopted on 10th January 2006, every former World Champion or a chess-player with a coefficient over 2700 could, under certain conditions, challenge the World Champion to a match. On the basis of this position, the Bulgarian party asked for a new match for the world title and provided the required amount of two million US dollars for the purpose. The arguments FIDE submitted against playing a match for t...

Every club player occasionally has to battle frustration and disappointment in his play and results. Part of the solution to this recurring problem is to examine your losses and discover, in a practical sense, what the biggest flaws in your game are at that moment. To simply think that you get beat by 'tactical tricks' is a cop-out. It avoids answering the tough questions about your own play - something that humans, in general, have difficulty doing. In our own selfish way, people generally overlook their own flaws. Being self-critical is an important step to improving your game and creating a realistic assessment of your chess skills. For example, I recently played a game in which I, as black, managed to get an advantageous position. Everyone knows the ideas behind the Poisoned Pawn variation of the Najdorf and the inherent risks involved in that variation. Of course, I was very much aware of it, and even though the actual opening was not the Sicilian, the same themes and idea...

I had the pleasure of playing in the Category A section of the Eastern Class Championships this past month in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. This was the perfect opportunity for me to see if my self-training methods have come with any meaningful results. Being rated at 1819 entering the tournament, I was in the slightly unfortunate position of being rated just high enough to play in this category, so I knew I was in for some tough games throughout the event. I wanted to prove that I had improved enough over the past couple months of training to belong in this group of players, and being a fairly large event for this part of the country, there were going to be some tough fights ahead - I was ranked about 20th in a field of 29 players for this section. First, let me recap how I trained the past couple of months. I focused on the two areas I felt I needed the most help - plan construction and endgames. Plan Construction In reviewing my past several tournaments over the course of the previous ...

Here is a useful training technique you can do with your chess partner as suggested by Jacob Aagaard in his great book Excelling At Chess. Using a position from a master game, talk about the position in general terms to try and find the correct plan of action. Ask questions about the pieces and the pawn structure, open files and diagonals, outposts for knights, etc. It is important to vocalize these thoughts as, in general, we listen to ourselves much more than someone else (no surprise there, eh?). A good methodology is to start with comparing the pieces. Select a piece from each army by deciding which ones will be likely traded for each other and compare them objectively. Is the bishop 'good', 'bad', or 'active'? Does the Knight have potential good outposts? Which files are likely to be opened and can any Rooks take advantage of them? Continue on to discuss plans of action, ideal squares for the pieces, which is your worst piece and how to improve it (as Aaga...

Kramnik - Aronian Rapid Match The Week In Chess reports World Champion Vladimir Kramnik plays World Cup Holder Levon Aronian in a rapid match May 4th-6th, 2007 in Yerevan, Armenia. Two games will be played each day. The time control will be 25 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 10 seconds per move. The match is organized by the Armenian Chess Federation.

See what anti-draw measures result in the tournament in the fifth Breizh masters in Guingamp (France) between at Lyceum Le Restmeur a Pabu. The women's section had a total of 7(!) draws throught 9 rounds of play, for a draw percentage of 15.55%. The men's section resulted in 16 draws for a draw percentage of 33.33%. Although the men's section was more than twice the women's draw rate, it is still far below the usual ballpark 50% draw rates we see at IM/GM tournaments. Players were required to play a minimum of 30 moves prior to a draw offer. Breizh Masters

As a 30-year life member, I love the USCF. Please help me save it. With your support, I believe we can. We face many important issues, including securing our finances, fostering chess interest in the US, and building and serving our membership. We must address these, but no Executive Board member is going to constructively change things based on our current circumstances -- we cannot make progress while our leadership is divided and divisive. We must focus on electing a Board that can collectively work to improve our organization. Lately, the Board has been distracted from the work it needs to do. Important discussions and decisions have been sidetracked by internal dissension. We can no longer afford this politics as usual -- we need a change. Change has to start with the people we elect. We must elect Board members who are honest, effective and accountable. Our Board needs to convey and demonstrate professionalism, collective competence, teamwork and good judgment. We need to get bey...

White to move and win: Execute a nice series of moves here to reach a winning endgame.

There has been a great amount of talk and pandering around the upcoming vote by membership for the USCF Executive Board. Any attempt to summarize the past 4 years on this blog would require weeks of due diligence and hard work, and would serve to only infuriate current board members of the USCF, should I be so lucky they read this. I think it is sufficient to state that the membership has reaped what it has sowed in the election of certain board members and the (perhaps not) unanticipated behavior said members have engaged in the past 4 years. A quick perusal of the usenet news groups and USCF boards paints a broad picture of the real trouble our federation is in. Recent troubles with sponsorship of the US Championship only highlight a small portion of the underlying problems the USCF has endured recently. In short, it's time for a change across the board, 'board' being taken in a literal and figurative sense here. We, as the Voting USCF membership, have a great opportunity...

BLACK TO MOVE AND WIN Highlight below to see solution:[ Levitt (2455) - Martin,A (2420), Great Britain (ch) 1...Be2!! 0-1 ]

The Association of Chess Professionals is conducting a survey about draw offers it started on the 10th of January 2007. They would like to thank everybody who has already taken part in it. As the issue is very important, the deadline for sending back the completed survey has been extended to the 5th of March 2007. Questions: 1. A draw offer should be: a) allowed at any stage of the game (current FIDE rules) b) allowed after 30 moves of the game are completed c) allowed after 40 moves of the game are completed d) allowed after 50 moves of the game are completed e) not allowed at all (Corsican rule) f) abstain 2. A draw offer, at the stage where it is allowed, should imply a time penalty in the case it is rejected: a) yes b) no c) abstain Just add your name at the bottom. ACP Members as well as all chess players having the FIDE title of International Master (IM or WIM) or International Grandmaster (GM or WGM) can send back the completed survey to the ACP Secretary Bartlomiej Macieja...

White to move and win! Highlight to see solution: [ 1.f6! gxf6 2.Kxg2! Kg5 3.a4 bxa3 4.bxa3 Kf5 5.a4 Ke5 6.d6! cxd6 7.c6! dxc6 8.a5+- ] White has the seemingly impossible task in this position of queening a pawn. Show how he can do it!

Reverting back to our original Training Article: "familiarize with about 15-25 common plans from the chess classic examples" Perusing any chess book on Chess Strategy will give you a good list of Strategic Elements (elements of a plan) one needs to be concerned with so you can develop a reasonable, effective plan. Planless play lacks consistency from move to move and tends to be like solving a series of one-move chess problems - it lacks coherency. Below is the listing of Common Strategic and Dynamic Elements from Pachman's Modern Chess Strategy: Common Strategic Elements Minority Attack Bishops and open diagonals Good vs. Bad Bishop Knights and bases of Operation Superior Bishop vs Knight Superior Knight vs Bishop Creation of Open Files Open Files in an Attack against the King Open Files in the Center and on the Queen's Wing Active Rooks in front of the Pawn Chain The Passed Pawn The Blockade The Isolated Pawn The Backward Pawn The Isolated Pawn-pair Doubled Pawns Th...

White to move and win. Black appears to have all the bases covered in this nice tactical shot.

Here at the Chess Training Blog, we like to think that we can, in some small way, help sub-2000 chess players improve their game by helping them focus on the weak areas of your game. Invariably, this leads us to Tactics. Books have been written (Rapid Chess Improvement, for one) on how to construct a training program to improve your tactical vision. Often this leads to a deficiency in other areas of your game: Opening Repertoire, Plan Construction, Endgame Play, Strategical considerations, etc. But the reality is, how important are those other aspects of play when compared to tactics, or lack thereof? I've said, and repeated here, the common phrase that 'Chess is 90% tactics'. Some famous GM originated that phrase. Who it is, I have no idea. But the truth still exists within it. One only needs to go back and look over your own games and take note how each game was won or lost by you or your opponent. Were you to write in plain english each critical error, your log would rea...

Short Draw Hi all, Let's get a discussion rolling about the current status of short draws in chess. I define short draw as a draw under 30 moves for this discussion. I want some constructive discussion here, and not a plethora of whining and crying. If you have a SUGGESTION, articulate it. If you seek to just slam GM's for short draws, save your fingers the work as I will delete any post that does not make at least one suggestion to resolve the *growing* problem of the short GM draw in chess. Also, be sure that RULE CHANGES as to how the game is played are not acceptable as we all know that is not going to happen. The Rules of Chess are firm and unwavering, including threefold repetition. For me, the short draw short-changes the viewing public in two ways. First, we are robbed of ideas and strategies that need to be pursued in even/near-equal positions from some of the finest players in the game. Second, in allowing short draws, sponsors may feel they are not getting their mone...

By Errol Tiwari, Stabroek News The debate was already raging when I joined the small group downtown, well-wishers of chess who enjoy discussing the literature of the game, and the people who play it. The question was: Who is the greatest chess player of all time? I could not answer the question then and I cannot do so now. The argument is futile. Some would say Fischer, some would say Kasparov. Before Fischer, the last supermaster was Alekhine. Preceding him, in reverse order, were Capablanca, Lasker and Steintz, all world champions who comprised a magic circle of greatness. Players like Tal and Spassky have touched the perimeters of the circle and even entered it on occasion, but were never card-carrying members. Bobby Fischer is. There is a mystique about Fischer which continues to fascinate people who are not even remotely connected to chess. No other chess player alive or dead has succeeded in capturing the imagination of people around the world like Fischer did. He did more to pop...

Hi all, It's been a while since I have been able to post due the busy holidays. I hope all of you enjoyed Christ*mas 2006 and had a great New Year! One of my all-time favorite players, Paul Keres, had his namesake memorial tournament during the first couple weeks of 2007. GM Timoshenko won the event with a score of 6/9. Paul Keres, along with David Bronstein, must be considered as the two best players ever to not win the World Championship. What other players do you think should be part of this group historically?