Ruy Lopez - Berlin Defense

Here are two You Tube chess videos on the Ruy Lopez - Berlin Defense.

The first chess video is about the opening itself. And the second chess video concerns some traps in the Ruy Lopez - Berlin Defense opening.


The Berlin Defense is reached if Black plays Nf6 on his third move. It gained a great deal of popularity after Vladimir Kramnik used it in his victory over Garry Kasparov in their match for the World Championship. Known for being very solid, the Berlin Defense is often used as a weapon for drawing as Black by strong players who are familiar with the key lines.


At the bottom of the second you tube video are two unannotated Chess Flash games featuring Kasparov and Leko playing the variation of the Ruy Lopez.

Finally at the end of this blog post are several recent year 2009 games showcasing the Berlin Defense ECO C67......diamondback


















kramnik_leko_2001.pgn






kasparov_kramnik_2001.pgn




Year 2009 ECO C67 games


Hao vs Friedel C65 Year 2009


wang_hao_friedel_2009.pgn




gashimov_ivanchuk_2009.pgn
/a>



abrahams_barron_2009.pgn

GM Elect Alex Lenderman declared 2009 National Chess Congress Champion

Pictured are the winners, ( left to right) GM Elect Alex Lenderman, IM Irina Krush, IM Bryan Smith and GM Alex Stripunsky (inset).


GM Elect Alex Lenderman was declared the National Chess Congress 2009 Champion by virtue of the best tie-breaks among the winners

2009 National Chess Congress Premier Standings


Chess Playing diagrams courtesy of MonRoi

New Jersey Knockouts reach Final Four By Way Of Baltimore

New Jersey Knockouts Beats Baltimore Kingfish to qualify for the final four.

The New Jersey Knockouts having draw odds left little hope for the Baltimore Kingfish to enter the final four. But Baltimore played to win in every game but lost in the match in the end.

Here is a Board One game link below, from that USCL match courtesy The Kenilworthian chess java chess game archive.

New Jersey Beats Baltimore Kingfish annotated by Michael Goeller Chess Blogmaster supreme.




PGN game file courtesy of The Kenilworthian.

Game Format: ChessFlash courtesy of Glenn Wilson



uscl09-11.pgn

All The King's Men Chess Lecture November 23, 2009

Philadelphia chess icon and International Master Bryan Smith will be appearing at All the King's Men
(3) hours on Monday, November 23rd from 7 PM to 10 PM.

Bryan will lecture for one hour on "What to do after the opening". Basically, it will be about planning and finding
your way through the middle game after you have developed your pieces/played some book moves and are
now on your own.

During the second and third hours Bryan will play a remote chess match against ATKM's Chess Club Ladder
Leader and 'A' Class Player Anthony Norris. The match will be played from separate rooms, Bryan in the front
room with the lecture attendees and Tony in the back room. A runner will courier moves from front to back
while Bryan analyzes the game, out loud, move by move. This unique arrangement will give those in
attendance a rare chance to peer inside the mind of one of the nation's top fifty chess players during the
course of a live game.

Those planning to attend who register online, or at the shop, by November 21st will be eligible to win one of
three hardcover chess notation books (a $9.00 value).

Since we will be digitally recording the event, any attendee who brings a blank DVD or 2G thumb drive will
receive a FREE copy of the event which you can view again and again on your home computer.
All the King's Men Chess Club Logo
62 S. Broadway Pitman, NJ 08071 856-582-8222
Directions by Google Maps

Week 9 US Chess League

Below are some links that cap off the final week of play in the United States Chess League.

The first link is from the USCF web page titled Week 9 US Chess League Recap.


The second link is from "The Kennilworthian" USCL Regular Season Ends Wednesday.

I'm not just kissing ass here, I sincerely believe The Kenilworthian chess blog one of the premier chess blogs out there. I take my hat off to Mike Goeller, chess blogger elite.


Finally , an excellent link at the chess blog page " The New Jersey Knockouts " titled Knockouts Forced Queens Abdication penned by Joesph Criscuolo.

Here is an excerpt from that blog post by Joesph Criscuolo:

The Knockouts will have a change of scenery for this match as they will be playing at the Dean of Chess Academy in Branchburg, New Jersey which is owned by the Knockouts' own Dean Ippolito. The Knockouts' regular site, Chapel Hill Academy, is closed this week. Because of the location change, the match begins at 8:00 PM Eastern on Wednesday November. The time control has changed as well, with the game being in 75 minutes with 30 second increments. For the season finale Joel Benjamin, Mackenzie Molner, Andrew Ng, and Arthur Shen face off against Alex Stipunsky, Lev Milman, Elizabeth Vicary, and Fritz Gaspard

GM Elect Alex Lenderman Will Play For The Philadelphia Inventors In 2009 USCL Season

Alex Lenderman

Biograprhy Of Alex Lenderman at Wikipedia

Philadelphia Inventors
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In one of the most surprising moves of the offseason, the 2008 MVP, IM Alex Lenderman, will be hoping to continue his impressive play in Philadelphia. Alex dominated in 2008 with a 7.5/8 record, and showed afterwards that it wasn't a fluke, by going out and getting 3 GM norms in 2 months. Alex hopes to help Philly rebound from a dissapointing 2008.


Chessgames of GM Alex Lederman

Notable Games Of GM Alex Lederman

lenderman_dougherty_2008.pgn



cottrell_lenderman_2006.pgn



GM-elect Alex Lenderman

Stats as of Aug 09

Rating
2528

Date of Birth 1989

Awards/Records

2008 MVP USCL

2008 1st Team All Star, Board 3

2008 Rookie of the Year

Won Game of the Week, Week 7, 2008

Won Game of the Week, Week 6, 2008

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008 Interview by WFM Elizabeth Vicary

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008 Games (7.5/8) - Played for the Queens Pioneers

Week 1: IM Alex Lenderman (QNS) vs IM Richard Costigan (PHI) 1-0
Week 2: NM Evan Ju (NJ) vs IM Alex Lenderman (QNS) 0-1
Week 3: IM Mark Ginsburg (ARZ) vs IM Alex Lenderman (QNS) 0-1
Week 4: IM Alex Lenderman (QNS) vs FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat (BAL) 1-0
Week 6: IM Alex Lenderman (QNS) vs FM Oleg Zaikov (CAR) 1-0 (Game of the Week!) article
Week 7: IM Alex Lenderman (QNS) vs IM Dean Ippolito (NJ) 1-0 (Game of the Week!) article
Week 8: IM Alex Lenderman (QNS) vs IM Emory Tate (CHC) 1-0
Week 10: SM Marc Esserman (BOS) vs IM Alex Lenderman (QNS) 1/2-1/2
2008 MVP Points: 22.5
2008 Performance Rating: 2726

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here to go back to the Philadelphia Inventors Roster

Click here to go back to the US Chess League homepage

Amateur Versus Amateur Pirc Defense

Ziping Liu Amateur Chessplayer



Here is a hard fought game, which was lost by Atomic Patzer in the Amateur East, in Parsippany, New Jersey, Round five in June 2007.


The winner of this game is Ziping Liu a young upstart on the New Jersey chess scene and also a student of NM Jim West Chess Teacher of New Jersey also. A disclaimer here is that on his chess blog Jim West On Chess, his student Ziping is showcased many times either in a win, place or show in the local New Jersey Chess Quads.


The opening is the Pirc , played by Black.


More info for the Pirc on Wikipedia.













In the game below in Chess Flash format , to open up the variations play on the chessboard, just click on the variation and those moves will highlight in red and play through them.

Analysis by Fritz 8


atmptzr_0.pgn



All the analsysis is by Fritz 8, which by the way was given gratis to me by Atomic Patzer. Any player who utilizes the Pirc Defense is welcome to post a comment about how the first part of this game is played.


Notable Grandmaster Games Using The Pirc Defense

anand_svidler_1998.pgn



shirov_hulak_1992.pgn



fischer_domnitz_1968.pgn





Ziping Liu Chess Tournaments Statistics from MSA Chess Data from US Chess Life

MSA Chess Program, An IntroductionThis is data from 01-01-1991 to 08-23-2009

Current Official rating is 1694 Current UnOfficial rating is 1731
Best Unofficial rating = 1737 Best Official rating = 1737 Lowest rating on record = 631
200 Opponents Total Rated Games = 267 ---> 121 Wins 53 Draws 93 Losses

Best Upset = 517 points -- SCOTT VANDER VEEN -- 1221 SCHOLASTIC 08-06-2006
Best Draw = 463 points -- JAMES R WEST -- 2200 ICA EARLY WINTER OPEN CHAMPION 12-07-2008
Worst Loss = -441 points -- KELVIN E YAO -- 1021 US AMATEUR EAST U1400 05-28-2007

Highest Rated Opponent Win = ALICE DONG -- 1786 WESTFIELD QUAD 160 06-28-2009
Highest Rated Opponent Draw = JAMES R WEST -- 2200 ICA EARLY WINTER OPEN CHAMPION 12-07-2008
Lowest Rated Opponent Loss to = CHRISTOPHER M CALDERON -- 668 WESTFIELDQUADS20 08-27-2006

Most Recent Wins in a row = 7 ending on 11-10-2007 at UNION CTY CHAMP
Most Recent Draws in a row = 4 ending on 05-17-2008 at 1ST EVERBRIGHT KOPEC CUP OPEN
Most Recent Losses in a row = 7 ending on 06-16-2007 at 6TH NEW YORKER JUNE GAME/50!

Results against 129 higher rated players: Wins = 35 Draws = 27 Losses = 67
Results against 1 equally rated players: Wins = 0 Draws = 1 Losses = 0
Results against 137 lower rated players: Wins = 86 Draws = 25 Losses = 26

Results against 78 players rated + 100 : Wins = 19 Draws = 8 Losses = 51
Results against 90 players rated +/-100: Wins = 37 Draws = 29 Losses = 24
Results against 97 players rated - 100 : Wins = 65 Draws = 15 Losses = 17

Results Of 2nd Annual Greater Pitman Open, Pitman, New Jersey

I just opened an email from Stephen , which contained all the class winners of the second annual Greater Pitman Open held at Pitman Manor on August 15, 2009 in Pitman, New Jersey.

First place was tied by NM Leroy Dubek and IM Bryan Smith with four points each.

The turnout was 65 players. The event was sponsored by All the King's Men, 62 S. Broadway, Pitman, NJ 08071, 856-582-8222. INFO: Stephen Dick, cs@atkmchesssets.com

Crosstable 2nd Annual Greater Pitman Open

Listed below are all the Class winners with their overall scores.

Name Total Points Place Class

IM Bryan Smith 4.0 1st
Leroy Dubeck 4.0 1st
IM Alex Lenderman 3.5 2nd
FM Thomas Bartell 3.5 2nd
Satyajit Malugu 3.5 2nd
GM Michael Rohde 3.0 3rd

Sam Barsky 3.5 2nd Top Expert

Michael Katz 3.0 3rd
Gregory Nolan 3.0 3rd
Kavinayan Sivakumar 3.0 3rd
Rahul Swaminathan 3.0 3rd

Steven Leverich 3.0 3rd Top A
Jeremiah Williams 3.0 3rd Top A
Larry Saxby 3.0 3rd Top A
Ernest Cronin 3.0 3rd Top A
Vlad Anderson 3.0 3rd Top A

Xiaoming Tim Wang 3.0 3rd Top B
James Sherman Flint 3.0 3rd Top B

Tim Baldwin 2.0 Top C
Dwayne Generette 2.0 Top C
Timothy Priestley 2.0 Top C

Andrew John Saxon 2.0 Top D
David Eckhart 2.0 Top D
Eric Cephas 2.0 Top D
Pranav Marupudi 2.0 Top D

Rui Zhang 2.0 Top E/Below

Second Annual Greater Pitman Chess Tournament

Tournament Class Prize Info

Pitman Manor

Class D Game from 2nd Annual Greater Pitman Open


"ClassD.pgn
>

Part Two : More Photos From The 2nd Annual Greater Pitman Open , New Jersey USA

Here are additional pictures that I took today at the Greater Pitman Open Chess Championship. The turnout was 65 players. The event was sponsored by All the King's Men, 62 S. Broadway, Pitman, NJ 08071, 856-582-8222. INFO: Stephen Dick, cs@atkmchesssets.com

2nd Annual Greater Pitman Open Chess Championship Photos

Some of the big name chessplayers that played today, Saturday , August 15, 2009 at the 2nd Annual Greater Pitman Open in Pitman , New Jersey.
Left side of Photo front GM Alex Lenderman, Rear GM Michael Rhode, Right side of phot front IM Thomas Bartel, rear NM Leroy Dubeck, Round Four (fianl round)

Top Finishers were IM Bryan Smith and NM Leroy Dubchek, with 4 points each tied for first place also GM Alex Lederman scored 3.5 points out of four.




The TD Steve did an outstanding job making sure all the pre-registed players were checked in smoothly. Refreshments and Patries were availabel in the skittles room prior to the first round.

Steve Dick TD 2nd Annual Greater Pitman Open





Here are some pictures that I took today at the Greater Pitman Open Chess Championship. The turnout was 65 players. The event was sponsored by All the King's Men, 62 S. Broadway, Pitman, NJ 08071, 856-582-8222. INFO: Stephen Dick, cs@atkmchesssets.com


Second Annual Greater Pitman Chess Tournement

Crosstable 2nd Annual Greater Pitman Open

Artic Chess Challege Round Nine

Robson has said he wants to become a professional chess player, and his parents hoped for him to gain a chess scholarship to college.[2] In April 2005, at the "Super Nationals" (the world's largest scholastic chess tournament) in Nashville, he won every match he played and emerged as the national champion in the elementary age (K-6) division. By winning this title he won a four-year scholarship covering full tuition and fees, along with a housing stipend, to the University of Texas at Dallas. The scholarship has a cash value of about $48,000 to non-Texas residents. The only stipulation is that the winner must meet the university's entrance requirements at matriculation, which for Robson won't be for several years.[3] Source Wikipedia

Photo of Ray Robson courtesy of Chessbase.com.


With this draw, Robson completed a GM Norm.



brgrob.pgn







Berg vs Robson





Chessgames of Ray Robson



Chess Career of Ray Robson



Robson has won seven national scholastic titles (including regulation events and blitz events). In addition, he has represented the United States in international scholastic events since 2004. Robson finished in the top ten at the World Youth Chess Championship from 2004 to 2007, and he tied for first place in the 2005 and 2006 (U12 Boys, Silver on tiebreak) Pan American Youth Chess Championships.

Robson also plays in many of the major open tournaments in the United States. He finished in the top ten both at the 2006 National Chess Congress in Philadelphia and at the 2006 North American Open in Las Vegas.[4] Robson's performance at the former event qualified him for the 2007 U.S. Chess Championship, making him the youngest player in the history of the event to participate.

In 2004, at the age of nine, Robson defeated his first National Master in tournament play. In 2005 he defeated his first International Master (IM), and in 2006 he defeated his first Grandmaster (GM). He studied with GM Gregory Kaidanov for almost two years (2005-07), where the two mainly communicated over the phone and Internet. He is currently studying with GM Alexander Onischuk.[5]

Robson was awarded the FIDE Master (FM) title in June 2005 after tying for first place at the Pan American Youth Chess Championship in Brazil. He earned the USCF National Master (NM) title in January 2006 by raising his chess rating above 2200 (the minimum required for the title of National Master). Robson earned the three norms needed for the IM title in only six weeks: the first at the 6th North American FIDE Invitational on November 3, 2007, in Chicago, Illinois; the second 24 days later at the World Youth Chess Championship in Antalya, Turkey; and the third 13 days later (December 10) at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) GM Invitational in Dallas, Texas, making him the youngest IM-elect in the United States.[6]

Robson tied for first place in the 2008 Florida championship.[7] On July 16, 2009 he won the U.S. Junior Chess Championship, becoming one of the youngest such champions ever.[8] In August of 2009, Robson tied for first at the Arctic Chess Challenge in Tromso, Norway, garnering his first GM norm in the process.[9]

The United States Chess Federation - The Final Five in Indiana

The United States Chess Federation - The Final Five in Indiana

The United States Chess Federation - Six Tie in U.S. Open; Gurevich Wins Official Title

The United States Chess Federation - Six Tie in U.S. Open; Gurevich Wins Official Title

GM David Howell British Champion 2009

English grandmaster David Howell, 19 years old, is the 2009 British Champion. He was clear first with nine points from 11 games.


Note: Courtesy permission from Brit09 web site to repost photo and slide show photos.
some content from Closet Grandmaster. Special thanks to both web pages..diamondback


Two games posted below in Chess Flash format courtesy of Glenn Wison.

GM David Howell Grandmaster


Chess games of GM David Howell





Conquest-Howell.pgn



Howell-Palliser.pgn

The United States Chess Federation - Roaming the Halls in Indiana

Alex Shabalov at US Open


The United States Chess Federation - Roaming the Halls in Indiana

This Sunday morning I searching throug various chess blogs for coverage of the 110th US Chess Open and it looks like slim pickings. Most likely towards the end of the Open, blog postings will be pick.

There are some photos posted by Mon Roi's web page along with some games.
Phot Gallery By Mon Roi on Picassa at Google

I am seeing some excellent posts on the US Open from F Pawn and Castling Queenside, no doubt both of these professional chess bloggers will post more on that event.

I went to Chessbase.com and did not see any coverage at all , but I'm sure there will be at later date.

ChessBase.com - Chess News - Chess Classic: Nakamura wins 960 World Championship

ChessBase.com - Chess News - Chess Classic: Nakamura wins 960 World Championship





Mains FiNet960 Games

Upset By Kevin C At 1st DOCA Transnet FIDE Invitational

Photo Left: Kevin Chen in Black Hat






Here is an upset by Kevin E Chen over National Master Arthur Feuerstein at the 1st DOCA Transnet FIDE event in New Jersey, USA.

KvnVsFeustn.pgn



The notes in this game are provided by Kevin C. Just a small disclaimer, I emailed Kevin asking for this game so as to post on my chess blog. The reason for this is to promote the theme of my chess blog " Chess From The Amateur".

This game is from Round One on July 11, 2009 at the First DOCA Transnet Fide Tournament in Branchburg, New Jersey, USA.

The game is presented in Chess Flash format. Just click on any move to advance the game in the diagram and any variations in the game, one can click on and the variations which highlight in red to play on the board.....diamondback


Please click on link Final Results below, which will redirect you to Jim West On Chess blog for final standings......diamondback

Final Results of the 1st DOCA Transnet FIDE Tournament

USCF Crosstable 1st DOCA Transnet FIDE Invitational

USCF Report On The 1st DOCA Transnet FIDE by Dean Ippolito

1st DOCA Transnet FIDE Invitatiional Photos

Why Blitz Is Not Good For Chess Training

Black to move, and stop white's mating attack


Here is a game that I played Sunday evening July 26, 2009 with a time control of 2 12rated blitz on the Internet Chess Club. This endgame resulted in a helpmate from my opponent, who could have stopped the mating attack and turn white's attack around and force a win against me.


Both players were completely blind to black's resources in preventing the mating attack. A disclaimer from myself, I did not try a swindle tactic here, hoping that Black would not see that he did have resources in preventing this mate.


Click on any move in game score and the postion will show up on the chess diagram, also by clicking on the variation in the parentheais, that variation will highlight in red and you can play out that variation......diamondback

ICCBLTZ.pgn





This is why blitz is bad for chess training purposes, because Blitz does offer enough time to see completely all the vaiations in your attack. Sure , Blitz is fun , especially if you win, but to use it as a chess training tool, it is very limited in learning chess openings and some tactital training.


[Event "ICC 2 12"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.07.26"]
[Round "-"]
[White "diamondback"]
[Black "gericho9"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black checkmated"]
[WhiteElo "1011"]
[BlackElo "1135"]
[Opening "Scandinavian (center counter) defense"]
[ECO "B01"]
[NIC "SD.02"]
[Time "19:53:37"]
[TimeControl "120+12"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd8 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bc4 Nf6 6. O-O Be7 7. d4 O-O
8. a3 b6 9. Bf4 Bb7 10. Nb5 Na6 11. Ne5 Bd5 12. Qe2 Bxc4 13. Qxc4 Nd5 14.
Nc6 Qe8 15. Bg3 Bd8 16. Nbxa7 Ne7 17. Nxd8 Rxa7 18. Nxe6 fxe6 19. Qxe6+ Kh8
20. Bh4 Ng6 21. Qh3 Nxh4 22. Qxh4 Qb5 23. Qe7 Qf5 24. Rae1 Raa8 25. Re5 Qxc2
26. Rfe1 h6 27. Qe6 Rxf2 28. Qg4 Qxb2 29. Re8+ Rxe8 30. Rxe8+ Kh7 31. Qe4+
g6 32. Qe7+ Rf7 33. Qxf7# {Black checkmated} 1-0

Brilliancy Prize Zurich International 1953

Zurich International Chess Tournament

turn to game# 28 page number 42 on google books link above


Amazon Books Link to Zurich International 1953


This is game number 28 from David Bronstein's book Zurich International Chess Torunament 1953. David Bronsteins's introduction to this game is as follows: " Let the reader be forewarnded: this is one of the tournament's most intersting games, and the recipient of the brillancy prize. Both phrases , Opening and Middlegame were conducted by Najdorf with such a high degree of erudition and mastery, that the need of a third phrase (endgame) never arose.

Taimanov - Najdorf (King's Indian)

Zurch53b.pgn

Round 8 1st DOCA Transnet FIDE Photos By Kevin Chen

Please click on link Final Results below, which will redirect you to Jim West On Chess blog for final standings......diamondback

Photo Left: Kevin Chen in Black Hat



Final Results of the 1st DOCA Transnet FIDE Tournament

USCF Crosstable 1st DOCA Transnet FIDE Invitational

USCF Report On The 1st DOCA Transnet FIDE by Dean Ippolito


The location of this Chess event is at the Dean of Chess Academy 1161 US Highway 202. Branchburg, New Jersey , USA 08876 908-595-0066. Headed by New Jersey Chess Teacher of the Year International Master Dean Ippolito.








Mike Somers plays Black against Dean Ippolito


NM James R West plays white against Atlantic Chess News Editor Steve Ferrero

NM James R West plays white against Atlantic Chess News Editor Steve Ferrero
Dup Photo
Expert soon to be Master Rahul Swaminathan on move
Christopher White plays white against Arthur Feuerstein
Standings after Seven Rounds

Round Seven 1st Transnet FIDE Photos by Kevin E Chen

Left Photo: Kevin Chen wearing black hat







The location of this Chess event is at the Dean of Chess Academy 1161 US Highway 202. Branchburg, New Jersey , USA 08876 908-595-0066. Headed by New Jersey Chess Teacher of the Year International Master Dean Ippolito.




USCF Crosstable 1st DOCA Transnet FIDE Invitational








David Grasso plays White agains Dean Ippolito

Expert Rahul Swaminathan playes white against NM James R West

Tim Hall on move as white

NM Arthur Feuerstein plays blacks agains Mike Somers