Chess Training

Idaho Becomes the First to Offer a Statewide Chess Curriculum as a Strategy for Learning for All 2nd and 3rd Graders SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwire - March 25, 2008) - America's Foundation for Chess (AF4C) today announced that Idaho is the first state to approve the use of the First Move™ chess curriculum in all second and third grade classrooms statewide. "We're thrilled to have the enthusiastic support of the State of Idaho and its school officials who recognize the unique value proposition of chess as an education strategy," said Wendi Fischer, Vice President of America's Foundation for Chess. "We have over 25,000 students using the First Move curriculum across 18 states and the reaction from students, teachers and parents has been outstanding as the benefits extend far beyond the classroom." Teachers in Idaho state schools will have the opportunity to teach the First Move curriculum as part of their standard in-class program. "The reaction to the pilo...

March 3, 2008 There is nothing more exciting for U.S. chess than Gata Kamsky's run for the World Championship. Later this year, Gata will face former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in a match, while current world champion, India's Viswanathan Anand, defends his title against his predecessor, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. Victory against Topalov will mean a title match for Gata in 2009. Read Gata's own Chess Life annotations from his World Cup win in the March Chess Life Magazine. This will be Gata's third attempt to climb the Olympus of chess. In 1993, the rival organisations FIDE and PCA each held Interzonal tournaments. Kamsky qualified from both, and proceeded to wipe out one top GM after another in the two parallel world championship cycles. As FIDE attempted to establish a successor to the title vacated by the formation of the PCA by Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short, Gata decisively defeated Anand, 6-4 (on the Indian's home turf!), and two others ...

Today, FIDE has published the list of confirmed participants for the first Grand Prix series. Kramnik, Anand, Topalov and Morozevich are not playing, but still the average rating is above 2700. Svidler Peter RUS 2763 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2760 Leko Peter HUN 2753 Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2751 Aronian Levon ARM 2739 Gelfand Boris ISR 2737 Radjabov Teimour AZE 2735 Carlsen Magnus NOR 2733 Karjakin Sergey UKR 2732 Adams Michael ENG 2726 Kamsky Gata USA 2726 Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2720 Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2713 Grischuk Alexander RUS 2711 Bacrot Etienne FRA 2700 Wang Yue CHN 2698 Inarkiev Ernesto RUS 2681 Navara David CZE 2680 Gashimov Vugar AZE 2665 Pelletier Yannick SWZ 2600 Al Modiahki Mohamad QTR 2569 Average rating: 2709

Black to move and win

Can black hold or win this position? Black to move.