Chess

Kasparov's Greatest Hits by GM Damian LemosKasparov's Greatest Hits by GM Damian LemosPosted on June 17,2013 By William in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos, Classic Games (Pre 2010). The King's Indian Defense is one of the most popular and dangerous chess openings of all time. Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov employed the King's Indian Defense at the highest levels of chess, achieving remarkable success with the black pieces by using this aggressive opening system against 1. d4. In this chess video excerpt from the 3+ hour chess DVD ¨Kasparov's Greatest Hits¨, Grandmaster Damian Lemos analyzes one of Kasparov's most[...]A Chess Clinic with IM Andrew MartinPosted on June 14,2013 By OnlineChessLessons.NET Contributor in Strategy & Game Review, All Articles w/ Videos, Beginner's Corner. IM Andrew Martin is a world-renown chess trainer that focuses on improvement for beginner and intermediate players. In the below chess video excerpt from the chess DVD A Chess Clinic IM Andrew Martin is analyzing an interesting encounter between one of his students (a club level player) and an opponent rated over 400 points higher. It is fascinating to hear IM Martin's advice on facing higher-rated players and how he advises his students to not o[...]Black Shockers - The French Fort Knox by IM Andrew MartinPosted on June 12,2013 By OnlineChessLessons.NET Contributor in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos. The Fort Knox Variation of the French Defense is an extremely solid sideline that has remained under-appreciated until recent years. In the below chess video excerpt from the chess DVD ¨Black Shockers Vol. 2 - French Fort Knox - Old Benoni¨ IM Andrew Martin explains that the Fort Knox Variation of the French Defense is a very sturdy response against 1. e4 and that black will almost certainly be able to achieve a playable equality from the opening[...]Kramnik Crushes Kasparov - Insane King's Indian DefensePosted on June 10,2013 By William in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos, Classic Games (Pre 2010). Vladimir Kramnik is one of the only chess players that has consistently achieved good results against Garry Kasparov. In this classic chess video footage from the 1994 Moscow Intel Grand Prix, Kramnik puts an absolute beating on Kasparov in one of the craziest chess games ever. Kasparov responds to Kramnik's 1. d4 with his favorite opening weapon with black - the King's Indian Defense! The opening is complicated and it appears that Kasparov has o[...]OnlineChessLessons.net is a producer of thousands of free chess articles and free chess videos by FIDE chess masters. They recently released the renowned Empire Chess series that has been taking the chess world by storm. Please consider checking out their chess blog and chess shop with tons of free updated previews.Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Black to move. How should Black proceed? Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

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

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

Four rounds have passed at the Red October building in Moscow. Hikaru Nakamura is the first sole leader of the event. He got his third straight victory today over Fabiano Caruana to consolidate his position at the top of the standings. The rest of the games in the fourth round finished in draws. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Boris Gelfand share second place half a point behind the American. The Russian representatives are not having a very good run at this event.Live games with analysis / Full list of participantsThe only decisive game of the round saw Nakamura use the black pieces to put down Fabiano Caruana in 39 moves. Precisely these two young players have been showing steady progress in the last couple of years. The Italian is now fourth on the live ratings list, while Nakamura is right behind him on the fifth spot. Coincidentally, both of them played in the last two legs of the Grand Prix, drawing in both occasions.The game was a Najdorf where white’s play did not give him any advantage out of the opening. In a dynamically balanced position, Caruana started to look for some edge on the kingside, however, his knight remained out of play on a5. Nakamura concentrated his forces on the side that had more action going and ended up creating enough mating threats with his heavy pieces to push the Italian towards resignation.Both players have been showing great fighting spirit; both had four decisive results until now. Let us not forget that Caruana defeated favorite Magnus Carlsen in the third round.Another interesting Sicilian was seen in the game that faced veterans Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand. The players must have taken a lot of time reviewing their preparation for their World Championship match, and the Israeli proved yet again that he had a very reliable repertoire to neutralize his rival with black.A very positional struggle took place over the board. Gelfand was not afraid to put his light squared bishop on the not-very-attractive e8 square in order to equalize the position. The world champion tried to create some pressure in a very slightly superior rook endgame, but soon enough it was clear that there were not enough resources to create something threatening. The players signed the peace treaty right after passing the time control.Shakhriyar Mamedyarov showed very deep preparation with black in his game against Sergey Karjakin. He used the rarely seen Pirc Defense and sacrificed two pawns for activity. At some point, it seemed like the young Russian was going to get enough chances to look for a win in a rook endgame with a far away passed pawn, but the Azerbaijani defended stubbornly and got his half point on move 42.Russians Alexander Morozevich and Vladimir Kramnik played very creatively in a Berlin Defense. The ex-world champion got an inferior position but managed to get enough counterplay to save the draw. Dmitry Andreikin and Magnus Carlsen also split the point after closing the position completely in 34 moves.The leader Nakamura will play with white against Andreikin tomorrow, while the very expected duel between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand takes place in the next board.Photos by Eteri KublashviliStandings after 4 rounds:1 Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2784 32 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE 2753 2½3 Gelfand, Boris ISR 2755 2½4 Caruana, Fabiano ITA 2774 25 Andreikin, Dmitry RUS 2713 26 Anand, Viswanathan IND 2786 27 Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2864 28 Karjakin, Sergey RUS 2782 1½9 Morozevich, Alexander RUS 2760 1½10 Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2803 1Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

FIDE Zone 3.4 Championships 2013 were held from 7th to 16th June in the city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan. A total of 35 players from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan competed in Open and Women’s section.Grandmaster Anton Filippov from Uzbekistan won the Open section with 7,0/9 points. Local player Mikhail Markov finished second with 6,5 points and earned an IM norm. Filippov and Markov are qualified for the World Chess Cup which will take place in August in Tromso, Norway.WGM Guliskhan Nakhbayeva from Kazakhstan convincingly won the Women’s section with 8,5/9 points to qualify for the next Women’s World Chess Championship. Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Slovakian IM Stefan Mazur convincingly won the 2013 Pula Open after finishing the competition with 8,0/9 points in the field of 244 players.Norwegian IM Frode Urkedal and Serbian GM Sinisa Drazic shared the second place half a point behind the winner.The 27th International Open Tournament Pula was organized by the Chess Club Pula on 8-15th June, 2013, at the Park Plaza Histria in Pula, Croatia.The 9-round Swiss open offered 11,000 EUR in prizes. Top prizes were EUR 1400, 1000, 700, 600, 500 etc.Final standings:1. IM Mazur Stefan SVK 2387 – 8 2. IM Urkedal Frode NOR 2470 – 7.5 3. GM Drazic Sinisa SRB 2463 – 7.5 4. GM Okhotnik Vladimir FRA 2399 – 7 5. GM Bosiocic Marin CRO 2556 – 7 6. FM Aabling-Thomsen Jakob DEN 2343 – 7 7. IM Zufic Miroslav CRO 2441 – 7 8. GM Yrjola Jouni FIN 2366 – 7 9. Pezelj Sinisa SRB 2172 – 6.5 10. FM De Filomeno Simone ITA 2365 – 6.5 11. GM Sulava Nenad CRO 2484 – 6.5 12. IM Jelen Igor SLO 2376 – 6.5 13. IM Lizak Peter HUN 2420 – 6.5 14. GM Zelcic Robert CRO 2537 – 6.5 15. FM Schnider Gert AUT 2360 – 6.5 16. IM Ledger Andrew J ENG 2389 – 6.5 17. GM Jovanic Ognjen CRO 2532 – 6.5 18. GM Romero Holmes Alfonso ESP 2522 – 6.5 19. Nelson Jonathan P ENG 2227 – 6.5 20. IM Molnar Bela HUN 2320 – 6.5 21. GM Tratar Marko SLO 2508 – 6 22. FM Medak Bojan CRO 2399 – 6 23. FM Karner Christoph AUT 2321 – 6 24. Kahleys Kevin GER 2191 – 6 25. Sevo Igor CRO 2206 – 6 26. FM Zvan Ziga SLO 2288 – 6 27. FM Plenca Julijan CRO 2351 – 6 28. GM Fercec Nenad CRO 2499 – 6 29. Blagojevic Marijan CRO 2133 – 6Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

For more information, please contact:Mike WilmeringCommunications SpecialistChess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint LouisFor pictures, visit www.uschesschamps.com/galleries On a day where separation was on the order, just the opposite was on the plate. Report by Brian Jerauld.“This tournament hasn’t even started yet,” said IM Daniel Naroditsky after the third round of the 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship. “Everyone is at the same place.”Now everybody is throwing punches at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. Round 3 featured defeats of IM Victor Shen and FM Atulya Shetty, who had been the early frontrunners of the tournament heading into Sunday, and points on the board for both FM Jeffrey Xiong and WFM Sarah Chiang. Three draws on the day tightened the rankings instead of providing distance, as now seven players of the field of ten all sit within a point of each other.FM Luke Harmon-Vellotti now stands alone on top with 2.5 points, after a win that has been two months in the making. Payback rang in the Idaho FIDE master’s mind as he took the chair across from FM Atulya Shetty for the second time, the first coming in the final round of the record-breaking 2013 K-12 Super Nationals last April. There, Shetty served Harmon-Vellotti a loss that not only disrupted the 14-year-old’s perfect 6-0 record, it also bounced him from the top spot to put Shetty in clear first. An instant rivalry.“I really wanted revenge,” said Harmon-Vellotti, who will begin classes at UCLA in the fall after acing the math portion of his SATs. “I think having rivals is good for competition. They push you, give you something to focus on. Generally speaking, they help to spur better things.”Shetty rolled out with an English attack and the game moved quickly through the first 14 moves, until Harmon-Vellotti knocked him from his prep with 14. … Nd8. The move looked to ready c6 and kick Shetty’s knight from the powerful d5, but Shetty retreated the knight willingly with 15. Ndc3 and Harmon-Vellotti’s response of 15. … c5 invited him right back in.It brought a muddled and closed center where knights became the highlight, and Harmon-Vellotti found one to reign supreme. His 22. … Qb5 produced a fork for material advantage, but it brought much more. Shetty’s response of 23. b4 surrendered the pawn on d5, but also allowed Harmon-Vellotti’s knight a path toward a nasty outpost on e3. The position proved more valuable than the exchange, as the knight stayed put despite attacking Shetty’s rook for four moves. When it finally did move, 31. … Nd5, it produced a lethal discovery that left three of Shetty’s pieces attacked at once. Surrender came four moves later.The tournament’s other leader IM Victor Shen, who had a perfect two points through two rounds, also stumbled with the white pieces in a marathon match versus Robert Perez. Shen’s e4 was met with a particularly sharp Najdorf line of the Sicilian, one Shen admitted that a lack of familiarity with helped aid his defeat.Of particular focus was 12. Nxe7, a voluntary move from Chen that swung the pendulum heavily into Perez’ favor. While it did disrupt castling, the response of 12. … Ke7 put Perez’ monarch into perhaps an even cozier safe spot, as it never felt a whiff of danger for the rest of the game. It also made a streamline of mobility for Perez’ major pieces, which had a battery set just three moves later on the half-open c-file, beating down on Shen’s king.“I don’t know what to say, I thought (12. Nxe7) was a good move, that I was getting two bishops,” Shen said. “But clearly, as the game showed, he gets a free attack out of it, and I get nothing. I traded my best piece for his worst piece. That’s not ideal.”It pushed Shen’s forces into an extremely packed a1 corner and, with both a- and b-pawns charging, Perez looked to blow open the meager defenses. But Shen took advantage of some inaccuracies and played well with his back against the wall, ultimately wiggling free from the tight corner wi

Can you name the city in this picture?Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Former WC Ruslan Ponomariov is leading the 2013 Ukrainian Championship with a perfect score after 2 rounds. Round 2 results:Ponomariov - Eljanov 1-0Volokitin - Moiseenko 1-0Korobov - Efimenko ½-½Kryvoruchko - Kravtsiv 1-0Bogdanovich - Areshchenko 0-1Baryshpolets - Neverov ½-½Official website: http://ukrchess.org.uaChess Daily News from Susan Polgar