Waste of time?

During a game do you waste a lot of time? pacing? watching other games? thinking about other things to clear your mind... you do this natural during the course of your day whether you notice it or not. How often do you find yourself in a slightly worse position though and just completely lose concentration? You think "it is over" or "there is next game." These are signs of lack of concentration. How to build concentration? But more important do you stare at your rating or your results and say "I've made no progress." Sure you do. We all do. Whether our ego is too big to admit it or not. We have all done that. The way around it is by believing in yourself. There is no "stall." There is simply psychological barriers we have created within our own mind. There is no super secret: practice makes perfect. You get around these confidence and concentration issues by coming back to fight again. There is next game, next tournament and next study session. Anyone can attain their goals if they put forth enough time and effort!

Support the Chicago Blaze!!

The Chicago Blaze, Illinois’s very own chess team, is about to begin its second season in the U.S. Chess League. Our first game of 2009 takes place tonight, and I would like to invite all chess fans in Chicago and Illinois to follow the team, root for it, enjoy it, and support it.

Chess at the Ballpark
Also part of the season opening will be a scholastic tournament to raise funds for the team on Saturday, September 12, at U.S. Cellular Field. Here is a flyer with the details that you can tack up on the fridge. Please help spread the word about this tournament to kids and the parents of kids in grades K-12 who play chess. We need a good turnout, and it should be a lot of fun. Every kid who plays in the rated tournament will get a spiffy, new Chicago Blaze t-shirt.

Here’s how you can follow the Blaze.

* First, go to our main Web site to find out more about the team. In particular, take a look at the season schedule. The regular season runs through early November, and since we hope to make the playoffs this year, we expect to be playing beyond that. (Please bear with us if portions of the site aren’t entirely up to date; the Blaze is a volunteer effort, and we’re doing our best.)
* Come back regularly to this blog as we post news.
* Follow us on Twitter. We’ll be posting news about the team and the league, and if we can manage it we’ll be doing some live tweeting during the matches.
* Become a fan of the Blaze on Facebook.
* Attend the matches at the Holiday Inn Skokie, 5300 West Touhy. Fans are welcome to attend the games at no charge.
* If you can’t make it to the games, follow them live on the Internet Chess Club.

IM Ray Robson scores second GM norm!

http://www.nachess.org/:

"orm Updates

Well the week is finally drawing to a close and the following hunters either have their trophies or will be fighting for the last point.

IM Ray Robson has clinched his 2nd GM norm by having a monstrous first 8 rounds and going 6.5/8. He plays IM Mulyar in the morning and regardless of win, lose, or draw, Ray will have his second GM norm. He is going to be at the SPICE Cup next month going for his final GM norm. His rating will already be over the 2500 mark!

Mac Molner of NY has also had a great event. He has 4.5/8 and is paired with IM Shankland. Win, lose, or draw Mac has secured his IM norm.

Finally we have another young New Yorker, Michael Thaler, who needs to win his final round for his first IM norm. Michael is paired against FM Kleiman and must fight to the bitter end for his norm.

The final round starts at 10am Chicago time.

Good Chess to All,

Sevan A. Muradian
FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer
North American Chess Association"


I'll add some photos I took of the event later but for now... enjoy the few uscf articles!
http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9662/544/
and
http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9661/544

Mate in 32!

White to move!

A US Open Pictoral Photos Report!

Congrats to the 6 winners (GM Alex Lenderman, GM Alex Yermolinsky, IM Jacek Stopa, GM Jesse Kraai, GM Sergey Kudrin, GM Dimitry Gurevich) who all tied for first and additional congratulations to the 5 who will be at the 2010 US Championship in St. Louis. While the politicians were playing their dirty game during the day, 453 players came to play chess during the night! A fantastic event even if the host city was quite barren of things to do. A bit of irony, Lenderman might have set a record by winning a tournament 7.5/9 and STILL losing rating points. Usually those two things do not go hand in hand!

And now it is time for the 110th US Open Photo Report:

In the game 15 side event, GM Alex Lenderman won 4.5/5.

In rd3, WIM Alisa Melekhina- GM Alex Lenderman



Lenderman is already slightly better, play continued with: 1... Rxh3 2. Rxf7 Rh2+ 3. Ke3 Na5 4. Kd3 b6 where Alisa blunders with 5. Rb1?? and Lenderman tactically finishes the game Nc4 6. a3 e5 7. Rf6+ Ke7 8. Rxf5 e4+ 9. fxe4 dxe4+ 10. Kxe4 Nd6+ 11. Kf4 Rf2+ resigns 0-1

In rd4, GM Alex Lenderman vs GM Kaufman:


It can be seen that Kaufman has 7 seconds left, the following moves are played
1. Bd3 Qc2 2. Qd5 d2 which creates the following position:



Play continued 3. b5 Bc5 and Lenderman blunders with 4. Qc6?? (and the amazing 4. Be2 keeps equality!) and ... d1=Q 5. Bxd1 Qxf2+ 6. Kh3 Qf1+ 7. Qg2 Qxd1 8. Qa8+ Bf8 9. b6 Qh5+ and Kaufman manages to draw by perpetual check with 2 seconds on his clock!

Co Winners GM Sergey Kudrin and GM Alex Lenderman battling out their 9th round draw:


GM Alexander Shabalov





2009 US Champion, San Sebastion 2009 Winner, GM Hikaru Nakamura at the beginning of his 25 person simul (which he won 25-0).






Local Hero Fide Master Jim Dean vs Official winner GM Dimitry Gurevich:






A trendmendous event for the young Eric Rosen who finished on 6.5/9 by defeating GM John Fedorwicz in the final round (and drawing Co-winner GM Jesse Kraii in rd3!) to become Illinois' newest National Master. Congratulations to Eric Rosen! Here is a photo of Eric and two of his games:

[Event "US Open"]
[Site "Indianapolis"]
[Date "2009.08.09"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Fedorowicz, John P"]
[Black "Rosen, Eric"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2531"]
[BlackElo "2184"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2009.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3 Bf5 7. g4 Be6 8. h3
Nbd7 9. f4 Nb6 10. Bd3 Be7 11. Nf3

Pictured left to right are IM Emory Tate, GM Mesgen Amanov, NM! Eric Rosen making his 11th move.



... Qd6 12. f5 Qg3+ 13. Kd2 Ne4+ 14. Nxe4 dxe4
15. Bxe4 Qf2+ 16. Kc3 Bb4+ {resigns in light of} 17. Kxb4 Qxb2+ 18. Qb3 (18. Kc5 Qa3#) (18.
Ka5 Qc3#) 18... c5+ 19. Kxc5 Bxb3 0-1

[Event "US Open"]
[Site "Indianapolis"]
[Date "2009.08.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kraai, Jesse"]
[Black "Rosen, Eric"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteELO "2584"]
[BlackELO "2184"]
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4 Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bf4 Nd5 11. Nc3 Nxf4 12. gxf4 Bd6 13. e3 Nd7 14. Kh1 Nf6 15. Rg1 Ne4 16. Nxe4 Bxe4 17. Ng5 Bxg2 18. Rxg2 Be7 19. Rag1 Bxg5 20. Rxg5 g6 21. Rc1 c6 22. a5 Qe7 23. Qc5 Qxc5 24. Rgxc5 Rfd8 25. Kg2 Rd5 26. b4 Rad8 27. h4 h5 28. Kf3 Kg7 29. Ke4 Kf6 30. Kd3 Ke7 31. Kc4 Ke8 32. Rg1 Ke7 33. Rb1 Ke8 34. Rxd5 Rxd5 35. e4 Rb5 36. Rg1 Kd7 37. Rg5 Kd6 38. f3 b6 39. axb6 Rxb6 40. Ra5 Kd7 41. f5 exf5 42. exf5 Rb5 43. fxg6 fxg6 44. Rxa6 Rf5 45. Ra7 Kd6 46. Rg7 Rf6 47. Rg8 Kc7 48. Kc5 Rf5 49. Kc4 Rf6 50. b5 cxb5 51. Kxb5 Rxf3 52. Rxg6 Rf4 53. Kc5 Rxh4 54. Rg7 Kd8 55. Rh7 Rg4 56. Rxh5 Rg6 57. Rh8 Kc7 58. Rh7 Kd8 59. Ra7 Rh6 60. Rb7 Rg6 61. Rh7 Rf6 62. d5 Rg6 63. Rh5 Rf6 64. d6 Rf1 65. Kc6 Rc1 66. Rc5 Rxc5 67. Kxc5 Kd7 68. Kd5 Kd8 69. Kc6 Kc8 70. d7 Kd8 71. Kd6

1/2-1/2

A picture of the playing hall:

US Open Starts!

Blogging has been light because I've been out of town alot but in two days I shall join the fun at the US OPEN which is already under way! Check back later for stories, updates and PHOTOS!!!

Crazy chess stories!

I have related my one of my own crazy chess stories/bad experiences (see Cheating in the World Open?

But i've heard many more! I would like to start collecting some of these stories/bad experiences. I encourage my readership to send in their own experiences! It is important for us all to know the quality of the product we consume!

Dream Organization?

Everyone complains about FIDE and USCF for breaking just common sense laws and contracts. (World Championship cycle anyone?) But what do you really desire most out of your organization?

I feel as though membership dues are collected that then head to a blackhole never to be seen again (in USCF's case: lawyers and Goichberg's pockets).

I feel as the consuming membership we need to gather our voice and demands together if we ever want to be heard.

I feel the core duties of the organization are to... ORGANIZE.
1)We shouldn't have 3 adult tournaments conflicting in the same day when the other three weekends of the month are vacant!
2) We should be supporting our GMs and IMs with better conditions and true NON swiss competitions in this country.
3) We should support our life members instead of acting as though their membership was meaningless or solely for the purpose of entering tournaments.
4) It should not just be about the kids and scholastics... after all when the kids grow up where do you expect them to play? The adults matter too!

This list is just a beginning! Send in your additions!

Rules

I would like to ask what little readership I have what they would do in the scenario I had at the World Open.

When your opponent cheats and the TD knowingly allows it... what do you do? Do you quit chess? Boycott that TD and tournament organizer?

For 5 years I ran TD/organized for a prominent gaming website in which any cheating infraction resulted in a YEAR ban from all hosted games. I fielded regular complaints every month that this year ban punishment was too light. I constantly heard people repeat "A cheating infraction should result in being banned forever." I always retorted that many of the cheaters are young people who do not know better. In a few years, they will come to regret what they did to the people and integrity of the game those people love.

However, now I am on the other side of the coin. I am calling a 2 minute addition to the clock too light. Most would say 2 minutes can be a lot of time... but lets put it into percentage format for perspective's sake. A 6 hour game is 360 minutes so 2min/360min is only a .5% time advantage in a game where your opponent tried to win by BREAKING the agreed rules. Is this truly a fair penalty? I would say no. I would hope most would agree with me. If you cheat in the real world, you usually face massive fines, jail time and certainly bans of certain types. In school... you get a 0 for the assignment and the class. In chess? 2 minutes? I should think the person would be forfeited, removed from the tournament and membership from USCF revoked for at least a year (as was done in my website!). What kind of punishment is two minutes? It in fact encourages people to try cheating! If they fail... so what?

My biggest worry is once cheating becomes rampant... what is to stop it from happening again and again? I mean my thing is I love this game cause we all play by the same rules and start with the same position. If this changes and there aren't any rules what is the point of this game at all?

GM Joel Benjamin scoffs at FMs

Fellow blogger TCG has already mentioend this on his blog over at
TCG
But still his point needs to be reenforced.
A junior player announced his goal to be FM and asked for advice on how to obtain it from prestigous GM Joel Benjamin. Not only did he have no advice to offer... he had this to say of FMs "I have to say, I have never heard a developing player define FIDE Master as a career goal. Master yes, grandmaster and international master of course, but an ill-respected title invented by FIDE to squeeze more money from title applications? Well, to each his own."
USCF


I know several experts and masters whose sole goal is to make FM. So I find his claim not only unbelievable but quite rude to those who are FMs. While ratings flucuate, for one to claim one title has no meaning is to indicate all titles have no meaning. While this claim has certain logic to it (and appeals to such prestigous figures' opinions like that of Nigel Short)... it is an opinion best epoused as a polite opinion not stated as "ill-respected title." Respecting a person's talent not their title is a commendable statement and a more appropiate prompt than the 'ill' chosen words of GM JB.

World Open Photos

Some photos I am posting late from the World Open (better late than never no?)





How many of these masters can you identify?


A view of one of the three playing halls.

Cheating in the World Open?

As I mentioned in my last post, I heard of all the famous cheating stories on the way up to the World Open. I heard all about their famous anti-sandbagging and cheating measures... so I was led to believe that they took cheating occurrences very seriously these days. The last thing I expected was to be cheated against in this very tournament! Not only, did my opponent cheat - the td helped him do it by bad ruling! Further, my incident was far from the only poor td assisted cheating incident during this tournament!

In round 6 with a 3/5 score, I played a guy the following game (which is only important to relate the error of td judgement):
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Bg5 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Nc3 Qa5 7. Nd2 dxc4 8. Bxf6 Nxf6 9. Bxc4 Be7 10. 0-0 0-0 11. e4 e5 12. d5 b5 13. Be2 Bb7 14. d6 Bxd6 15. Nc4? bxc4 16. Qxd6 Rfd8 17. Qa3 Qxa3 18. bxa3 Rd4 19. f3 Nd7 20. Na4 Kf8 21. Rab1 Ba6 22. Rfc1 Ke7 23. Rb4 c5 24. Rb2 Kd6 25. Rc2 Nb6 26. Nc3 Rab8 27. a4 Nd7 28. Nd5 Nb6 29. Nc3 Nd7 30. Nd5 Nb6 31. Nc3 three repetition draw claim. At this point my opponent decides to refuse the claim and not write down 30... Nb6 31. Nc3 the position on the board. There were two spectators watching the whole thing from 27. a4 to 31. Nc3 that could verify it. The first was my friend watching the end of my game and the second was the guy who had just lost on the board next to me. My opponent was most likely repeating moves because he had only 9 minutes left to make timecontrol but still he was losing his cpawn and back into an equal position. While I go to get the TD, my opponent destroys the position on the board! And while he is creating a new position I come back with the TD who sees my opponent messing with the board! The td plays through my scoresheet to see I have a correct 3 rep draw. Then he decides since my opponent doesn't have the same score sheet and my opponent destroyed the position on the board... he can't give a draw to me! He wanted me to agree to play the game from an earlier point in the scoresheet. He refused to look at the clock move counter or ask any of the spectators. I was being forced to play a new position entirely in which I was losing! In disgust I said I withdraw from the tournament. I went to Goichberg to appeal with the witnesses. The witnesses were told they had no involvement in the dispute! I was essentially told to go away! Rule 21F1 Page 90 of the USCF Rule book states "a delayed claim may still be in order if it is based on evidence not previously available, such as the testimony of a witness" yet the witnesses were told not to speak!

I am proud to say I will not vote for Goichberg!

World Open 2009

Congratulations to Hikaru Nakamura and Najer for being the lucky lottery winners of 2009. During my 1st (and consequently only) trip to the World Open, I was discussing with my friends whether the probability of being A) Hit by Lightning, B) Winning the World Open or C) Winning the Lottery was more a likely proposition. I think option A wins out but I would love to hear others opinions.

As I rode along in the passage seat on the great American highway... I heard all the stories of the world opens past. From near success stories, to cheating attempts, to dreamers of big money. Unfortunately, the World Open is never going to be a profit making prospect for your average chess player so why does the big money draw have the big crowd draw?

My own personal experience at the world open was awful. I had to withdraw after a TD witnessed my opponent cheat and refused to do anything about it. Still, Philadelphia's cheesesteaks and the all day bughouse extravaganza combined with watching a last round swindle over IM Angelo Young over IM Timothy Taylor... almost made the trip worth while! Until you consider it cost me $350 entry fee, $250 hotel fee and that doesn't even cover: Gas, tolls and food! It was a good experience though that I shall never repeat.

A special congratulations to IM Alex Lenderman who scored his 3rd and final GM norm!!

Short run vs Long Run Goals

It is often hard to break down one's own motives into a temporal schemata that gives priority to your decision (both real world decisions and those made over the boards). One is often left at the chessboard searching first for ANY plan and then only secondarily evaluating if the plan is performable. It is a vexing question to try to apply such techniques at the chess board but even harder when tries to apply them broadly to their own life. It is important to keep your goals spread out over time... in chess as in life.

I find it easier to break this argument into three parts. 1) Defining and clarifying your own short term goals. 2) Defining and clarifying your own long term goals. 3) Find the cohesive that runs them together.

Your short run goals should always include things like happiness, fun, enjoyment and satisfaction cause you never know if you will live to see your long run goals completed. I see all too often players that join a tournament, lose their first game and withdraw. If their only goal was to go undefeated then both their short run and long run goals have been lost with this victory. Otherwise, this withdrawal makes no sense. If you long run goal is improvement and your short run goal enjoyment... first the tournament, enjoy the games and study the loses! This method is the only one to achieve your aims.

But your long run goals should contain a more oriented, rhythmic logic such as concrete ways you achieve your short run goals. If you derive satisfaction from wins then you must learn how to improve your practical winning chances. Some are just happy to show up and play the game.

What I am talking about here is chess terms can be clarified in the short term as more wins, more rating points, more money but in the long run... overall improvement. The difference between the chessboard and your life is your might translate rating, wins to simply money and fame. Job Title, promotion, something to hold over a highschool classmate, a family member a friend. As Ayn Rand stated succinctly in the Fountainhead, it is okay to desire such things if they are the means leading towards an end. It is natural to want money if it leads to certain luxuries... it is not natural to want money just because other think it desirable. I feel in this ground most of us become lost. It is the same in studying chess openings where one will endless copy and memorize GM moves and games without understanding their plan and their short run goals. You copy because you know their long run goal is to win the game. But if their short run goal was just not to lose? You can never know the circumstances under which the artist creates so it is better to understand the lesson then to follow blindly. Goals are something that should be achievable, identifiable and desirable.

Dream team?

I was recently pondering for fun what the most interesting exciting supertournament participant list might be of active players.

I came to the conclusion (not because these are my favorite players) that it would be 1. Magnus Carlsen 2. Vassily Ivanchuk 3. Alexander Morozevich 4. Alexei Shirov 5. Hikaru Nakamura 6. Nigel Short because of the innovative and sharp way they all play the opening. It would seem to me these players versatile repertoire makes them almost impossible to prepare for (all super GMs admit as much about Ivanchuk). I thought it was a fun albeit pointless topic to think about though.

However, in MTEL 09 we see 3 of these 6 together! Although Ivanchuk is clearly out of form in this tournament for whatever reason!

Congrats to the Champion!

Congratulations to the 2009 US Champion: Hikaru Nakamura!

He had a beautiful win over GM Joshua Friedel in the Two Knights. It was strange to see the two knights played so poorly by a GM! In the after interview, Nakamura mentioned of the mainline 8. Bd3 "Morozevich plays it so it must be good!" It was strange to see Friedel respond with the dubious 8... Be7 instead of engaging the mainline!

Still a great tourney with some great chess! Minus the horrible on site spectating conditions and a few hiccups with online relays... the St. Louis Chess Club delivered a fantastic performance in prize fund, player conditions, good chess and enthusiasm! A thank you to all the players and volunteers that made it possible.... and congratulations again to Nakamura!

Nakamura also said one other thing after his round9 victory... his intentions are to shoot for a world championship match! Talk about work! Good luck to him in that endeavor!

Prediction: US Champion 2009 Hikaru Nakamura

1. IM Robert Hess (6) 2545 - GM Varuzhan Akobian (5½) 2664
2. GM Hikaru Nakamura (6) 2757 - GM Joshua Friedel (5) 2568
3. GM Alexander Onischuk (5½) 2736 - IM Ray Robson (4½) 2542
4. GM Jaan Ehlvest (4) 2649 - GM Gata Kamsky (5½) 2798
5. GM Yury Shulman (4½) 2697 - GM Gregory Kaidanov (4) 2662
6. IM Enrico Sevillano (4) 2549 - GM Larry Christiansen (4) 2681
7. GM Joel Benjamin (4) 2650 - GM Alexander Shabalov (4) 2620
8. GM Ildar Ibragimov (4) 2628 - IM Michael Brooks (4) 2419
9. IM Samuel Shankland (3) 2464 - GM Boris Gulko (3½) 2631
10. GM Julio Becerra (3½) 2672 - GM Melikset Khachiyan (2½) 2632
11. Tyler Hughes (3) 2293 - FM Doug Eckert (2) 2278
12. IM Irina Krush (3) 2496 - Charles Lawton (½) 2350

these are the pairings and my prediction is in... Nakamura eats the enchilada (the same prediction I made at round 1 outset). Whether its by blitz' playoffs or outright he will be our titled champion.

US Championship (with round2 photos) Trip

590 miles traveled on the great American interstate all with one thought in mind: viewing great chess games from the 2009 US Championship.

It turned out there was only one problem with that thought... "viewing." The very enthusiastic organizers of the St. Louis chess club must be applauded for their heart and effort... but condemned on their results. They created the most non friendly spectator environment I could ever have imagined. I could complain all day on the errors of these first time organizers... but I will chalk it all up to as a learning experience. I will say though that I finally understand the sentiment of just spectating from home. Nothing prevents the organizers from creating these non-spectator friendly environments. I will never again wonder about why chess is not a spectator friendly sport for I will always remember the setup of the 2009 US Championships. My friend and I decided to leave late on Saturday night after round 2 instead of staying for round 3 as originally planned as a result of the poor spectating conditions.


Even though the club staff did their best to prevent photos by taking away your camera and cellphone at the door... and constantly wanding you and patting you down like an airport security checkin point. I did manage to steal some illegal photos!

I hope that at least some people will enjoy my photos as I went to great lengths to dupe the stupid security guards. I would have videos as well but it seemed too risky.




A young future GM plays skittles prior to round2's start outside the club with a prestigious on looker: IM Michael Brooks!


Wall of photos of the 24 participants taken by Betsy Dynako.


GM Alexander Onischuk in deep thought against NM Tyler Hughes.



GM Melikset Khachiyan ponders his position in the winawer french against defending 2008 US Champion GM Yury Shulman of Chicago, IL!


Local NM Charles Lawton in deep thought against IM Enrico Sevillano.


The most interesting game of the round to participants... GM Joshua Friedel vs GM Gregory Kaidanov with GM Robert Hess, GM Alexander Onischuk and GM Alexander Shabalov spectating.



My favorite photo: IM Anna Zatonskih ponders her position in a very cat like posture... as the picture of IM Michael Brooks from the wall of photos stares on with her.

I have learned my lesson. No need to spectate live unless its your home town or a side event for you to play in.... because the last thing organizers think about is spectators.

US Championship round 1!

I will be driving down to St. Louis to watch round1&2&3. Round 1 pairings are posted here

Pairings
Round 1, Friday, May 8, 2:00 pm

Bd White Black
1. GM Ibragimov, Ildar (0.0) 2628 - GM Kamsky, Gata (0.0) 2798
2. GM Nakamura, Hikaru (0.0) 2757 - GM Shabalov, Alexander (0.0) 2620
3. GM Friedel, Joshua (0.0) 2568 - GM Onischuk, Alexander (0.0) 2736
4. GM Shulman, Yury (0.0) 2697 - IM Sevillano, Enrico (0.0) 2549
5. IM Hess, Robert (0.0) 2545 - GM Christiansen, Larry (0.0) 2681
6. GM Becerra, Julio (0.0) 2672 - IM Robson, Ray (0.0) 2542
7. IM Zatonskih, Anna (0.0) 2503 - GM Akobian, Varuzhan (0.0) 2664
8. GM Kaidanov, Gregory (0.0) 2662 - IM Krush, Irina (0.0) 2496
9. IM Shankland, Samuel (0.0) 2464 - GM Benjamin, Joel (0.0) 2650
10. GM Ehlvest, Jaan (0.0) 2649 - IM Brooks, Michael (0.0) 2419
11. Lawton, Charles (0.0) 2350 - GM Khachiyan, Melikset (0.0) 2632
12. GM Gulko, Boris (0.0) 2631 - Hughes, Tyler (0.0) 2293

I have bolded the round 1 matches I consider extremely interesting (as in results not totally predictable and obvious!). I am rooting for Shulman and Christiansen but I predict Nakamura will eat the whole enchilada. I don't doubt strong guns like Onsichuk and Kamsky... but my true desire would be to see Robson score his first GM norm!

This field is the strongest US championship ever with 8 former US Champions participating!

Check back later for pictures!

Chess Improvement

At a tournament this weekend, I received many compliments on my own personal chess improvement. I'm used to this by now due to the rapid increase of my rating. However, someone actually suggested I write a book! I don't think there is a publisher that really would take me on :)

However, I will relate a few tips. My chess training program is designed for the busy person (I go to work full time, school full time AND still play chess and hangout with friends though I have no family... one could presumably substitute either school or job for this kind of commitment).

My goal is to start and end the day with chess! If you are going to expect to improve at something you must give it some of your free time (I would hope this is not a ground shattering idea). I do this by starting the day with 15-30minutes of correspondence chess and ending the day with 15-30minutes of Endgames (and I usually fit in 15-30 minutes of tactics either during or after my workouts).

The result is I spend 45minutes to an hour and half on chess a day. This is not a huge amount of time. Especially if you consider all the time you waste during the course of a day. If you need to pick your kids up from school just throw a chess tactic book in the car. While you wait for the kids to come out just do 5-10 minutes of the book. Whatever you get done, great! This time adds up over a long period. 45minutes is basically what you should be doing to workout (stay in shape!) cook dinner (if you do cook) or probably a fraction of the tv you watch in a given day.

I understand "rapid chess improvement" advocated 8hours of chess a day. My program is designed for a busy person but still to touch on all the key components of chess: Tactics, endgames and well playing full games! However, the twist is the correspondence. It forces you to spend sometimes 30 minutes several days in a row on ONE position. It will teach you patience and FORCE you to learn your openings. It is the real deal. I play about 12-100 games of correspondence at once (right now 50 and trying to cut back to 24). But you know as you get real busy in life you just ignore the games for a week or two. When you have alot of free time instead of 15 minutes spend 2 hours. It is the beauty of correspondence how easily it can be fit into your personal schedule. I recommend for starters to get no more than 6 games going to see how long you will personally need on the games. I use http://www.ficgs.com/index_affiliate.php?ref=265966 to play. However, there is a whole slew of correspondence sites on my links to the left. You only need one site! The key differences will be web layout, pay site, strength of opponents and different options of play (time control/variants).

Believe me 45minutes a day can add up to major improvement over a couple of months!

Solution

This mate in 11! solution began with the incredible Queen sacrifice to keep the initiative (else black trades Queens ie hxg6 Qxe3+).m

Qh6+! Kxh6 hxg6+ Kg5 Rh5+! Kxh5 f4+ Nxe2 Nf6+ Kh6 Rh1+ Kg7 Ne8+! Rxe8 Rxh7+ with mate next move:



This concludes the Royal sacrifice of Q+R+B+N

Sacrifices

In chess sacrifice goals seem simple. You sacrifice material (usually) now for either mate or a huge material surplus in a few moves. It always feels wonderful to see sacrifices pay off but they can often be hard to calculate and visualize correctly. However, chess sacrifices seem simple compared with sacrifices in your daily life! In day to day affairs, one can not even be entirely sure what the end goal of a sacrifice is. Do you give up time for family or friends? Do you give up a hobby for another hobby? Do you go back to school now at a highcost for a good return in better job offers later? And so... it can become even more complex as you are not reasonably sure your compensation will ever materialize... therefore, it seems prudent to appreciate sacrifices in chess even more because their result can never be questioned.

With that, I bring a position directly from Vukovic's Art of Attack (p158).



answer to be posted later!

Who said Chess players can't Dance! Well Hula

Apparently WIM Arianne Caolli isn't the only chess player that can Dance (that is if you consider Hula dancing). WGM Jennifer Shahade might have even one uped her by hulaing while simuling! Enjoy the following clip:


Untitled from jennifer shahade on Vimeo.

Raises a good question about multitasking now doesn't it? I guess while calculating all those variations on all those boards it would be nice to have a stress relieving hula going on! Probably creates a very nice fun environment not normally seen in chess playing halls!

Millions of Ideas

I often ponder vexing questions of life like "What is the meaning of life?" "What am I going to do with myself?" "Is there a career for me" or simply "What is the next step?" All sorts of questions like this are no doubt familiar to your average college graduate wondering truly what his purpose is... or maybe its just your philosophy major. In any event, I have discovered that it takes is one good idea.

This notion is perhaps harder to achieve than it sounds though. Most people are no doubt familiar with the age old adage: It takes a million ideas before you get one good one.

But perhaps this far-fetched cliche is not as hard to achieve as it seems. When I sit at the chessboard for a game, I often go through about a million silly ideas over the course of 6 hours. Perhaps none of them are any good but they still occur to me! Can I sac this knight what about a pawn sac, maybe I should go for the endgame now with these slight advantages. If you look at the game of chess as a chance to live a mini world several times over. You will see what ideas work and what won't. More or less what you can get away with in a given position. Each time though you will become stronger as your experience in positions grows. This mini-universe as we shall now refer to it reflects nicely on life. You don't need to find that multimillion dollar idea right off the bat out of college or find your true calling in life. It is enough to have a lot of bad ideas and understand why they are bad. Eventually it should all culminate in the big calling in your life down the road. With that I hope some of the anxiety is relieved from other people in similar positions to my own. No need to be in a rush to head to grad school or whatever you've decided must be the ONLY next step. Relax and think awhile... it will come to you like saccing the exchange on f6 (oblivious remark to having listen to GM Jonathan Rowson commenting on Magnus Carlsen's victory over Linares 2009 tournament leader Alexander Grischuk): http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1536452

I believe the fitting proverb here is that you must always have a plan in chess an idea. Preferrably your moves should be flexible enough to have multiple ideas or plans behind them. Why not the same desire for your life? Keep your options open!

The 2700 Spectator...

Okay by now this topic has probably been beaten to death by other blogs but it still seems there is a relevant twist left to take from it. The 2700 spectator by which I mean your club player rated 50-2200 staring at Rybka as he watches Supertournaments like Corus, Linares and soforth comment about how clearly this player is dumb or that player is dumb cause they missed a winning line! Or my favorite is they will shout a single half move that WINS ON THE SPOT!!! Without any analysis to back it up because they do not understand the move themselves.

My twist on this topic might have more to do with the fact these players are only fooling themselves for anyone can look at the computer and see the same lines to why spam them to all in the kibitz window when most people have the same program running next to them? My take is more that humans are Falliable creatures but these spectators prove we're sheep to be led by anything that claims to have the answers. Over the years, wacky conspiracy theories and dictators have sold their spiel because they've been able to convince the masses they knew all. Computers don't know all i'm afraid. They never will even if they manage to solve chess as they once did checkers. You will still have to think for yourself. So the answer is to start thinking for yourself now. The computer should be a tool towards improving your thinking not a method for replacing your thinking entirely. Mistakes are part of improving so if you watch these top GMs play and go huh I don't get it.... good you shouldn't get it 100% of the time or you'd be a top GM too! You will learn as your wheels grind trying to figure out the idea. the plan. the continuation. Only have the wheels have turned a little bit should you feel free to look at the computer analysis now having hypothesized for yourself what is already going on. And please... even then keep the spam Rybka lines to yourself.

The art of patience

A topic that could be expanded endlessly is the art of patience in chess and war. In life, especially in American it feels as though our culture is built around NOW NOW NOW. You will be there by 6pm so you can take your predinner nap dinner is at 7pm and round is at 8pm! STAT STAT. But seriously... we speed on our highways not because it gets us there faster but because we always feel we are in a rush. It is especially American culture to feel like you are always late to a very important date.

This translate I believe in a high portion to chess games as it does throughout all aspects of our life. Every person I encounter is quick to make blunders, heave his shoulders and sigh at a sound and solid opening or just resign a drawn or won endgame because of overeagerness to deliver the final knockout blow. I believe when watching highlevel chess I always hear groans mostly from my American compatriots about the "grind." Players like Leko, Kramnik and even other major GMs are often demurred with draw phrases on their name or other insults that barrage their opening prep to their will to win a slight plus endgame. This type of behavior from the commentators should be condemned. It should be welcomed in spades from the players that have the will to grind. The will to grind is a big part of chess as is the patience that goes with playing many a position. The ultimate question is how do we overcome culture to attain a high degree of patience? Or is it one should just unlearn impatience? The truth about players like Kramnik and Leko is they are willing to play as long as it takes. For example our recent Linares grind by the World Champion Anand vs Radjabov: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1535799

Flexibility

I believe there are many important life lessons that be gleamed from a game of chess.
Often it is too hard to focus on one thing in your life trying to make success in just that one sector (family, work, school or whatever is on your plate). However, this same mistake can be found at the chess board as well. Imagine you are playing a sharp KID where white attacks on the queenside and black on the kingside... you might forget you can hedge your bet in certain scenarios to play both sides! It is easy to become focus on what is yours and concede that you can't have their territory too.

A good example of what I am referring to in chess can be found in this game from chesscafe: http://chesscafe.com/skittles/skittles.htm

So how should you deal with this focus problem in your life and in your chess game? In your chess game, I recommend expanding your opening reportoire. This does not mean adding whole new systems but branching out and experimenting with other lines of the same system you like. This versatility will serve you well in that you will learn more about your opening and be a harder target in preparation for your opponents. In your life... this is a bit more tricky but I recommend always keeping your options open. This means trying anything new to see where it goes... keeping an uptodate resume and applying to jobs even when you have one (afterall times are tough better to be prepared!). Pay attention to all the details you can.

Chaos welcomes you!

This blog is dedicated to understanding chess and learning from it. It will not discuss any positions in any significant detail since there are already many better sites available for this pursuit. Instead, I will explore in more extract concepts ideas that positions can teach us about the game as a whole and our everyday life. More straightforwardly, Kasparov's analogy reversed how we can use chess to learn about life:






Chess is a truly hard exploit because you have to constantly and honestly self evaluate your own thinking process and look for thematic patterns among your errors. These errors can be technical or character traits such as things you might desire from a position. It is an exploration of finding yourself and your unconscious desire over the board so much as learning from the endless sea of knowledge. It takes hard motivation and true discipline to be able to learn from this process in a way that will improve your chess and your life as well. This learning process is the true gem and benefit of playing chess but also the hardest practice to master.
Transferring lessons of a single chess game into a lesson that will benefit the rest of your activities and endeavor is an arduous task.


I hope readers will utilize this blog as a way to share wisdom. Perhaps even intellectuals who do not play chess will be able to come here and learn, to paraphrase Josh Waitzkin, about thematic patterns between disciplines. The following video is worth every second so I strongly encourage you to watch it!


I will use all my experiences and activities throughout life to cross-pollinate different ideas to help progress my character and my goals in this world and chess. Perhaps a more existential philosophy blog than your typical chess blog - this however is an even harder goal! Remember there is still logic amid mass chaos!

"One must have chaos within oneself, to give birth to a dancing star" - Friedrich Nietzsche
"Create chaos on the chess board and my strength lay in finding hidden harmonies. I always cultivated being at peace in chaos. Manifest your unique character on the chess board." - Josh Waitzkin
"You try finding out why you're you and not somebody else. And who in the blazes are you anyhow?" - Ezra Pound

This last quote really summarizes what this blog is all about. I take each individual chess game I play as a chance to find out more about me. Rarely are we able to lock ourselves away in a vacuum and analyze our decisions in the same manner that the royal game provides. It is a truly rare chance to find out why you react the way you do in certain scenarios. Do not be fooled into believing these scenarios only occur in chess! They occur in your everyday life as well. It would behoove you to learn your lesson during a gentleman's game where you have no real repercussions (unlike other scenarios such as making a bad tactical or strategical choice with your job, family, friends or future).

I hope readers will contribute comments that will help me build this blog in a positive way! Blogging is a new experience for me.