Chess

White to move. How should white proceed?Source: ChessToday.netChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Logjam Atop Leaderboard at U.S. Junior ClosedBy Brian JerauldSAINT LOUIS (June 19, 2013) -- Still, no one can find distance in the standings at the 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship.Today marks the players? rest day after Tuesday?s round 5 pushed the nine-game round-robin tournament past its halfway point. But despite a finish line that now looms, seven of ten players still sit within a point of each other, now with three tied atop the standings at 3.5/5 points.California IM Daniel Naroditsky, the field?s highest-rated player, was the sole leader entering Tuesday and has yet to lose a game this week at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. But his fifth-round draw against FM Sam Sevian slowed the pace, and wins from both FM Luke Harmon-Vellotti and FM Robert Perez brought them both up to speed. Harmon-Vellotti?s come-from-behind shocker over IM Victor Shen made it two wins and a draw against the field?s three top-seeded IMs; and Perez has shrugged off a slow start to the tournament to notch three straight victories, including Tuesday?s turnaround matchup versus FM Yian Liou.After an outstanding opening that found Shen up two pawns, including one passed on the sixth rank, he did everything he could to let his solid position slip away against Harmon-Vellotti ? and he eventually got his wish. The game transposed to a Queen?s Indian, with Shen grabbing a solid foothold in the center and prepping his bishops for dominance. But Harmon-Vellotti?s 12. ? Qf6 was very suspicious, begging for Shen?s 13. Bc3 response. The move showed Shen?s position clearly winning, with an advantage in development, a better dominance of space and several tactical opportunities brewing. He quickly converted it to a material advantage.But after wrecking the black queenside, Shen found trouble re-coordinating his pieces and was never able to find traction behind his three passed pawns, including two connected. Meanwhile, Harmon-Vellotti slowly pieced together a harmonious defense and let Shen sink into time pressure.?That was going into a winning endgame [for Shen], so I just tried to make it as complicated as possible,? Harmon-Vellotti said. ?And then he blundered in time trouble.?Indeed, with under five minutes on his clock and eight more moves until time control, Shen offered up 32. Rxb5 with tactical eyes. But Harmon-Vellotti defied the play with 32. ? Rbxb6, ultimately releasing nearly all of white?s pressure and gathering the d6 passer. Even still with winning chances, Shen struggled to find any continuance, and Harmon-Vellotti wreaked havoc on the white king with his remaining knight and rook. The move 57. ? h5 kicked off a race to queen ? one that Shen actually won, but left him positionally inferior.?[Shen] was winning all the way down to [53.]Kg1,? Harmon-Vellotti said. ?I think if he had gone Ke1, he would have won.?Perez performed his own climb out of a dark position thanks to an outstanding endgame and some fantastic work with his king. The game progressed through an unusual line of the Sicilian, but one Liou was up to the task of pressing. For more than 20 moves, he kept Perez on the defensive and looked primed to push solid queenside space into an advantage.But his 23. Ncd5 ignited a massive swap-out of material, ultimately leaving Perez with a bad bishop and Liou in control of the outpost ? though limited in attacking ideas. ?He was still better, but compared to what the position was before, I was able to get rid of a lot of pieces and centralize my king,? Perez said. ?Yeah, my d6 was weak, but bad bishops defend good pawns.?That d6 pawn was more than ?good? ? it was the winner ? as it was able to work its way over to the e-file and eventually down to its queening square. And it would not have been possible without the major play of Perez?s king, who helped open up some lanes against Liou?s kingside pawns and then escorted his passer to safety.After 37. Rdxe5 dxe5 38. Bxf8 won white a pivotal pawn advantage, 42. c5 allowed

Chess playing kids learn all the right moves By Georgia Sparling | Jun 19, 2013 Mattapoisett — Leaning in, brows furrowed in concentration, mental wheels spinning, the kids of the Mattapoisett chess club are a strategic bunch. Composed primarily of third and fourth graders, the group started a few months ago at the Mattapoisett library. Lee Estes, 17 and his brother Adam, 15, help facilitate the group. “You don’t have to be a certain personality type to be good at chess,” said Lee, a junior at Bishop Stang High School. “You do have to be relatively disciplined, but you also just need to know the game.” Every Wednesday night, one of the Estes brothers sets up a row of chessboards and waits for the kids to filter in. On this particular evening, kids fill up every space at the table. Without much preamble (but with a little bit of trash talk), the kids begin carefully moving pieces around the board. Carissa Bailey, a third grader at Center School, is new to the game, and said a friend originally invited her to the group. “I like how there are a lot of different techniques you can use to win the game,” she said. Strategy is something that Lee focuses on when helping the kids learn the game, which he and his brother started playing as children. “I just sit in and make sure people know the basic rudiments of the game, and help them understand the strategies they can do,” said Lee. “I really do let them play their own games.” The group is a safe place for kids to learn the art of chess, and new players are always welcome. To help the kids develop more nuanced strategies, they switch partners after every game. Each pairing gives the opponents something new to learn. “It’s interesting because it’s not just a game of strategy,” said Lee. “It’s a game of people.” Nine-year-old Michaen Scully, of Fairhaven, has been playing the game for more than two years. “I just think it’s fun,” said Michaen. The chess players meet in the children’s wing of the Mattapoisett Library every Wednesday, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Call the library at 508-758-4171 for more information.Source: http://sippican.villagesoup.com Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Official website: http://dilijan2013.fide.comChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Round 6 resultsAnand, Viswanathan - Nakamura, Hikaru 0-1 Gelfand, Boris - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ Andreikin, Dmitry - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar ½-½ Caruana, Fabiano - Kramnik, Vladimir ½-½ Morozevich, Alexander - Karjakin, Sergey ½-½ http://russiachess.orgChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

http://dilijan2013.fide.comChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

12th Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Latest Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013Hi everyone, We have here a nice letter from Ludovic Hubler, Head of Programmes and Field Operations, Peace and Sport, L'Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport.Peace and Sport and FIDE were together in Palestine this week to follow up on the “Chess for leadership and creativity” common project launched in November 2011, part of the common worldwide program “Chess for Peace”. “Chess for leadership and creativity” is the third common project after Haiti and Colombia. This project mainly focuses on Palestinian women empowerment using chess as a tool. During this trip, FIDE was represented by IM Damir Levacic, President of the Mediterranean Chess Union. Peace and Sport was represented by Ludovic Hubler Head of Programmes and Field Operations. During this four-day trip, the team visited each of the 5 beneficiary centers: Qatanna (near Ramallah), Shiraa (Bethlehem), Al Mahawer (near Hebron), Kfar Akeb and Las Khamis (near Jerusalem) and of course met with the Palestinian Chess Federation. Ludovic Hubler writes, "I have to say that Damir and myself were quite impressed to see the progresses made by each of the beneficiary centers. Their level has increased a lot over the past year and a half, to the point that one of these centers (Qatanna) is now considered the best in Palestine for women. Some of the beneficiary girls have even participated in International competitions (Russia, Qatar and Turkey) and one of them managed to meet 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, Peace and Sport Champion for Peace and “godmother” of the project." "I’d like to, through this email, acknowledge the work done by FIDE expert Damir Levacic who gave all his energy to teach some new techniques for the beneficiary people and to play with some of them. Everybody there enjoyed his visit as well as Melissa visit last year. Everybody seems to have kept a great memory of her stay there. We are in touch for the next steps in our cooperation."Also Read:Chess Queen Kosteniuk’s Peace Message: Play Chess, No Wars!From Alexandra Kosteniuk'swww.chessblog.comAlso see her personal blog atwww.chessqueen.comDon't miss Chess Queen™YouTube Channel

Gwaze for Angola tourneyJune 19, 2013 in Other Sport, Sport ZIMBABWE chess star Robert Gwaze is among the five foreign international masters who have confirmed their presence at the International Chess Tournament dubbed “Uíge City Cup”, set for Angola.Sports ReporterAccording to a source in Luanda, the international masters Luis Galego (Portugal), Cicero Braga (Brazil), Gwaze (Zimbabwe), Jere Daniel (Zambia) and Daniel Caludery (South Africa) have confirmed their presence in the event.The competition also counts on the participation of five Angolan players, namely Adérito Pedro,MI Erikson Soares, Amorim Agnêlo and the specialists Luciano Oliveira and Sérgio Rodrigues.The competition, organised by the government of the northern Uíge Province, aims at encouraging the playing of chess in this region, as well as celebrating the anniversary of the city, to be marked on July 7. Source: http://www.newsday.co.zwChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Programmer Competency Matrix « Sijin Joseph – Blog Note that the knowledge for each level is cumulative; being at level n implies that you also know everything from the levels lower than n.…

On Friday, the spring 2013 session ended at Hilldale Elementary School, in the after school enrichment program on chess, conducted by Enrich and Grow Academy and coached by me.With 3 points, Sunny Yu won the tournament. A half point behind, Aneesha Bhattacharjee took second honors. Edward Lai and Prithu Dhawan tied for third and fourth, with 2 points each. The nine students in the class received copies of Chess Life for Kids magazine.