Sunday, February 28, 2010

Hamilton Swiss Clear First Place Winner

Hamilton Chess Club Quads turn out was light on Saturday , February 27, 2010 about 25players showed up. Because of this , the under 1500 USCF rated players were group under a Swiss. Top seeed was Atomic Patzer, USCF 1498 Class C player, but his two wins from this three round swiss was not enough to bring home the bacon.

Instead a young New Jersey upstart, who walked away with three wins in very convincing fashion and made an impression with those who played in that Swiss, and a few of the regulars in that under 1500 Swiss swear that his playing strength was around 1700.

I think it was more that our playing style was around 900 due to our blunders and leaving pieces en prise and wide open back rank mates opportunities for the Victor in this Swiss.

I did speak with this young man to post his wins on my chess blog , but he declined stating that if his games need to be out there someone will make that decision other than himself. Maybe he was embarrassed that clear first was handed to him on a silver platter from his opponents.

He also told me he plays exclusively at Westfield quads and there was some mention that he is a student of Deans' Academy of Chess.

I do have all three of this games to be posted here. The first game shown is the battle for first place, both players had two points and this was the money game.

The other games posted were the first and second round games. Unfortunately Atomic Patzer never played this young man in this Swiss, but I'm sure he wanted to.















Monday, February 22, 2010

Chess By Message



"Click On Graphic Image On Left To Enlarge Detail"


Here is an interesting Free email chess server that I recently discovered on the Net.

The name of the web page is www.chessbymessage.com.

Email chess through your web browser, entirely free!


Some of the key features of this web page are that you can drag and drop your move on a graphical chess board and your game can be exported in PGN format to any chess program that reads PGN. The web server also saves your history and provides you with a rating.

Below are some of the most Frequently Asked Questions.


Frequently Asked Questions
•What is Chess by Message?
•My opponent won't make a move. What can I do?
•Why aren't I receiving email notifications when my opponent makes a move?
•How do player ratings work?

What is Chess by Message?

Chess by Message is a free email chess website. Players view the game board and make moves through their web browser. When a player makes a move, an email is automatically generated to notify their opponent.Players have a limited amount of time to make their moves. If this time limit is exceeded, the offending player's opponent is declared the winner.


My opponent won't make a move. What can I do?

Your opponent has a limited amount of time allowed (normally 30 days). If he/she doesn't move within this time limit, you will be awarded the win.

Your opponent is automatically notified when it becomes his/her turn. He/she is notified again every seven days until he/she makes a move or the time limit expires. So, please be patient.


Why aren't I receiving email notifications when my opponent has moved?


If you're not receiving our notification emails, it is almost certainly because the email is being blocked somewhere along its path.

By its very nature, Chess by Message sends a lot of emails. Some mail servers can interpret this as spam, and will send our emails to your "spam" folder, or block them entirely. The administrators of your mail server might be able to help you more.

If you've tried everything and still can't solve the problem, you could try a new email account, on a different mail server. Other users have found this to be the best solution.

How do player ratings work?

Chess by Message uses the Elo rating system. It's a statistical algorithm that rates a player based on the player's wins and losses and the ability (or rating) of the player's opponents.

If a player has played less than 20 games, his/her rating is considered to be "provisional". In this case, a simplified algorithm is used in an attempt to quickly estimate the player's rating. This simplified algorithm is calculated from the player's historical win/loss ratio and the average rating of the player's opponents.

While a player's rating is provisional, it's possible that some seemingly odd things happen. For example, if a player rated 2000 beats a player rated 500 then his/her rating may decrease despite winning the game. This is because, while his win/loss ratio will improve, his average opponent level may be greatly reduced. Similarly, a provisionally rated player who loses to a higly rated player may in fact see their rating increase. After the player's twentieth game, his/her rating becomes "established" and the true Elo algorithm is used.

Unfortunately, when a player has only played one or two games, the algorithm has very little information on which to calculate that player's rating. Hence you will see very eratic changes in a player's rating until that player has played a few games.

Chess by Message ratings are also highly dependent on a player's choice of opponents. A player who only plays against highly rated opponents (eg. around 2000) and LOSES every game will initially be rated at around 1600, but a player who plays opponents rated around 1000 and WINS every game will be rated at only 1400.

So a player's rating alone cannot be relied upon heavily, at least until the player has played over 10 games with some wins AND some losses. You can see more detailed player statistics on the "Start Game" page.

Round 8 : Linares Grischuk beats Gashimov, Topalov misses a win


GM Levon Aronian Armenia



Linares report courtesy of Chessbase.com



GM VeselinTopalov Bulgaria











21.02.2010 – "Two exciting games – and one Petroff," writes our commentator GM Anish Giri. Gelfand used the latter in a colorless draw against Vallejo. The other two games were more entartaining. Topalov had a clear win against Aronian but missed the killer move; and Grischuk profited from a non-obvious error in Gashimov's Benoni to narrow the gap to the leading Topalov. Big illustrated report with commentary.



giri08.pgn







(1) V. Topalov - L. Aronian [D43]
XXVII Linares Linares/Spain (8), 21.02.2010
[Giri,Anish]






A. Grischuk - V. Gashimov [A62]
XXVII Linares/Spain (8), 21.02.2010 [Giri, Anish]

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Robert James Fischer vs Julio Bolbochan Stockholm Interzonal 1962







Fischer won the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal by 2½ points, scoring an undefeated 17½/22. He was the first non-Soviet player to win an Interzonal since FIDE instituted the tournament in 1948. Fischer's decisive victory made him one of the favorites for the Candidates Tournament in Curaçao, which began soon afterwards. He finished fourth out of eight with 14/27, the best result by a non-Soviet player but well behind Tigran Petrosian (17½/27), Efim Geller, and Paul Keres (both 17/27). Tal fell very ill during the tournament, and had to withdraw before completion. Fischer, a friend of Tal, was the only player who visited him in the hospital.


****************************************************************
Crosstable Of 1962 Stockholm Interzonal courtesy of Queensac.Com
http://www.queensac.com/archive/tournaments/ct17.htm
*************************************************************ref="http://www.queensac.com/archive/tournaments/stockholm1962.htm">Game Collection of Stockholm Interzonal 1962 by Queen/a>


Complete round by round game collection of 1962 Stockholm Interzonal
can be found here at: http://www.pgnmentor.com/events/Interzonal1962/





julio_bolbochan_fischer_1962.pgn



Time Magazine Photos of Bobby Fischer


Bobby Fischer Bio At Wikipedia

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A return to 2001 Space Odyssey: Hal 9000 vs. Dr. Frank Poole



In 1968, Stanley Kubrick (a strong chess player himself) directed 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is probably the most famous man vs. computer chess games in film. The movie features an astronaut, Dr. Frank Poole (played by Gary Lockwood), playing a chess game with the white pieces against the HAL-9000 computer (voice by Douglas Rain). The game in the movie is from an actual game, Roesch vs. Schlage, Hamburg 1910.


This You Tube video is part of Kingcrusher's collection at You Tube.













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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Kasparov vs. Karpov 2009 - Game 1








Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov have played a 12 games match from 21 to 24 September, 2009, in Valencia. It consisted of 4 rapid (or semi rapid) and 8 blitz games and will take place exactly 25 years after the mythical encounter between the two players.

The match between Kasparov and Karpov is in honor of the Queen as a chess piece, which emerged from the region of Valencia in the XV century, thus putting the beginning of the modern chess rules.

The organizer of the match is Don Basilio Lopez, who has received the full support of the Chess Federation of Valencia.












kasparov_karpov_2009.pgn

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Alisa Melekhina Simul At Pitman , New Jersey USA




Alisa Melekhina just recently held a Simul at "All The Kings Men" on February 9, 2010 at Pitman, New Jersey. Below is info by Stephen Dick, organizer and a link to more pictures of the Simul.....diamondback




Below is text of Email, that I received from Stephen.


I just published a music video (slideshow) of the Alisa Melekhina simul to the web site.
Those of you who played in the simul should find this particularily amusing. And for those who did not play in the simul, well, I think you’ll like it too.
Please check out the video by clicking here. Or cut & paste this URL http://www.atkmchesssets.com/clubphotos into your browser.

If you’d like a DVD of the video let me know. The cost is just $5. You can pick one up at the shop.Even if you don’t intend to purchase a DVD, please give me your feedback.

Yours for Chess,
Stephen Arnold Dick
All the King's Men Chess Center
President/CEO/Chess Instructor
Certified USCF Tournament Director
Member NJSCF Board of Trustees
Main Office: 856-582-8222