ChessBase.com - Chess News - Linares R9: Carlsen and Ivanchuk win, Leko down in the dumps

ChessBase.com - Chess News - Linares R9: Carlsen and Ivanchuk win, Leko down in the dumps

One of the Best of 2008 Grandmaster games played in February 2008 at Linares 2008.

Carlsen-Shirov.pgn

Best Of Diamondback Chess For Year 2008

As the year 2008 is drawing to a close, I would like to post my favorite blog posts that I have written in the year 2008.

Since this blog was just recently started late in the year 2008 with the theme " Chess From The Amateur" I have compiled in this last post for the year 2008 only posts that deal with the Amateur Chess Player.



Take The Pawn , Please Posted on August 26, 2008


No Place To Hide Posted on August 29, 2008


Speed Chess With A Bang ! Posted on September 15, 2008



Frank Turns The Tables Posted on September 27, 2008


It's All About Winning ! Posted September 28 , 2008


Josh's Dangerous Passed Pawn Posted on October 11, 2008


Humphrey Bogart Amateur Chess Player Posted October 12,
2008

Knight Moves At Hamilton Quad October 18, 2008 Posted on October 19, 2009

Bishop Pair Over Loaded at Hamilton Chess Quads Posted November 15, 2008

Four Queens at Christmas 2008 Posted December 21, 2008




Diamondback said...
Hi
This is Diamondback, I'm just checking the posting system on Google/Blogger.

If you are having problems posting your comments just email your comments to my email and I will post for you,

My email is diamondback1529@yahoo.com.

I will be on hiatus from my blog but I will have others guest blog for me . Thanks Diamondback

January 3, 2009 10:25 AM

The Endgame Tactician: Bishop and Pawn vs Bishop - Chess.com

The Endgame Tactician: Bishop and Pawn vs Bishop - Chess.com

The theme of this post is to provide info by other chess bloggers as well as myself on Bishop and Pawn endgame instruction from You Tube chess videos and from chess games of Jose Capablanca uploaded by myself that feature many different type of Bishop endgame scenarios taken from Irving Chernev's book "Capablanca Best Chess Endings"

Also on the Jose Capablanca Chess Flash games posted towards the end of this blog, I will be providing endgame analysis taken from Irving Chernev's book "Capablanca Best Chess Endgames". So the first Chess Flash game diagram will be the complete game and the second Chess Flash game next to it will contain endgame analysis for the last fifteen or so moves of that game.


The first game is courtesy of fellow blogger Endgame Tactian which he placed on wwww.chess.com with Bishhop and Pawn endgame technique.

Bishop and Pawn vs Bishop (Same Color Bishops)

Also here is a You Tube Video by GreenCastleBlock showing same colors Bishop and Pawn endgame techniques. diamondback





The games below are complete game moves from Jose Capablanca which I uploaded from www.chessgames.com that cover Bishops of same color endgame technique.

Also here is link to Capablanca's Best Games Collection compiled by Notyetagm at Chessgames.com for the Capablanca fan.


Complete game score of JR Capablanca vs D Janowsky 1916 in New York
Bishops of Same Color

capablanca_janowski_1916.pgn


Endgame Analysis at Move 49 for white for JR Capablanca vs D. Janowski 1916 in NY.
Bishops of Same Color

JRCapa-DJanowsky.pgn


Years later a draw was shown and proven by Cheron and Averback by this line
83.... Kf4 84.Bd4 Kf3 85. b5 Ke2 etc after move 83, which is when Janowsky resigned.
Complete line is this below:

83...Kf4 84.Bd4 Kf3 85.b5 Ke2 86.Kc6 Kd3 87.Bb6 Bg5 88.Kb7 Kc4 89.Ka6 Kb3 90.Bf2 Bd8 91.Be1 Ka4

Complete game below for Menchik vs Capablanca Hastings 1931
Bishops of Same Color

Menchik-Capablanca.pgn


Endgame for Menchik vs Capablanca Hastings 1931 starting with Move 23 for White shown below:
Bishop of Same Color

Mnchk-Capablanca.pgn


Opposite Color Bishops endgames with complete game score sheets played by Jose Capablanca are listed below:

Capalanca-Thomas.pgn


Endgame analysis for Capablanca vs Thomas at Hastings in 1929 Bishops of Opposite Colors at Move 26 for white.

JRCapa-GAThomas.pgn


Complete scoresheet for Capablanca vs Yates in 1919
Bishops of Opposite Colors

Capablanca-Yates.pgn


Endgame Analysis for Capablanca vs Yate 1919 at move 34 for white
Bishops of Opposite Color

JRCapa-FDYates.pgn

Topalov Wins Super Tournament in China - Gambit Blog - NYTimes.com

Topalov Wins Super Tournament in China - Gambit Blog - NYTimes.com

Although Topalov is already the No. 1 player in the world, according to unofficial live rankings, the latest victory propels him well above the 2800 rating level that has only been breached by three other players: Garry Kasparov of Russia, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Viswanathan Anand of India, the current world champion.

P_Svidler-V_Topalov.pgn


Pearl Spring Tournament Web Page

Games of the Pearl Spring Tournament

More Games From Hamilton Christmas Quad 2008

Hamilton Chess Quads Directions





The first game listed is played by me which was previously posted in my blog post "Four Queens For Christmas 2008 " on December 20, 2008. (diamondback)

Much better is move 29. Nf6+ for white which totally crushes Black and completely avoids the Four Queens scenario of white queening multiple pawns..diamondback Just click on that variation and it highlights in red and play it out on the board.

AndySssJimTtt.pgn



The three games listed below were played by Scott A. December 20, 2008 Saturday quad. In this lower quad Scott played a youngster named Charles and also played against two veterans Sal and Dion.

Dion has played in many chess quads throughout South Jersey and Central Jersey he has told me on occassion that Hamilton Chess Quads in Groveville, New Jersey are very well organized and priced right.

I believe Sal has particpated in many Hamilton Chess Quads this year and last month finished clear first in his quad section, someday I have to ask him to cotribute to my chess blog by submitting one of his games.

Scott has just played in three or four Hamilton Quads and has finished clear first in several.
Scott-Charles.pgn


href="http://diamondbackchess.blogspot.com/">
Scott_-Dion_.pgn


Sal-Scott.pgn

George's Diamond In The Rough

This game was played by George aka " ChessPig " on ICC during the November 2008 Hamilton Quad in Round One. His opponent playing white is John B. who is the past has turned the tables on many class A players in his past tournement play.

George certainly had the upper hand in this game by virtue of having played four hundred more rated games than his opponent. John B has only played about 67 rated games and is a sporadic tournement player. John's USCF rating is 1466 and George's USCF rating is 1562.

George had a lot of help in this game from his opponent when White on move 23. moved his Knight to d2 blocking his defense of the d3 square by white's queen. Nd2 which resulted in Black knight's occupying a hole on d3. The second positional blunder followed by White moving his rook to c2 on move 24. which resulted in blsck deflecting the rook away from the defense of his knight on c3. With doubled rooks on the C file, Black snatched up the knight on c3. From that point on White was on the defensive.

At the 2008 National Chess Congress at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,George had GM Arthur Bisguier analysed his game from opening to endgame, after which GM Bisguier commented by saying " George you pick your opponents well "


John_B-George_R.pgn


Below is listed George's USCF chess record using the MSA program that extracts one's chess tournament statistics for www.uschess.org web page

A more detailed explanation on how to use the MSA Chess Statistics Program can be found here at the MSA Download Webpage
and on my previous post dated October 14, 2008 which redirects to a more complete use of MSA by fellow blogger Castling Queenside "MSA Chess Statistics Intro"


Listed below is George's Chess Statistics dating from 1991 to 2008

This is data from 01-01-1991 to 11-25-2008
Current Official rating is 1512 Current UnOfficial rating is 1558
Best Unofficial rating = 1584 Best Official rating = 1584 Lowest rating on record = 1223
304 Opponents Total Rated Games = 459 ---> 187 Wins 88 Draws 184 Losses

Best Upset = 572 points -- SHAILESH G PATEL -- 1894 WORLD OPEN AMATEUR 07-01-1993

Four Queens At Chirstmas 2008

This year the turnout at the December 20, 2008 Hamilton Chess Quad appeared to be less than last year's, perhaps because the date was so closed to Christmas and everyone was using the last Saturday before Christmas for some last minute shopping.

In m first round quad at the December 20, 2008 Hamilton Quad in Groville, New Jersey I violated a basic opening principle by bring out my queen early by snaching up pawns. Fortunaely for me I was not punished for this by my opponent , just the contrary I managed in the endgame to queen three passed pawns to give white a total of four queens counting the orignal queen that I started the game with. This game is placed at the end of this post, just click on "Show Chess Board"
Unfortunately, in my last round game I played poorly by dropping a minor piece by placing the knight en prise. I only needed a draw in the last round to bring home the Christmas money but left instead with just two wins and one lost and placed second in my quad.

Much better is move 29. Nf6+ for white which totally crushes Black and completely avoids the Four Queens scenario of white queening multiple pawns..diamondback Just click on that variation and it highlights in red and play it out on the board.

AndySssJimTtt.pgn



A highlight at the Hamilton Quad was to see Jim West get into his book signing mode for his book The Dynamic Philador Counter Gambit.

This link shows how Jim West plays the Philador Counter Gambit.
Jim West Plays the Philador Counter Gambit.

Jim West lastest PCG game December 28, 2008 against Anna Matlin at the Viking Quads at Somerset , New Jersey

WstMatlin.pgn


This is a complete review on Jim West's PCG Monograph by Macon Shibut.


Atomic Patzer snapped some pics of the book signing and he may post in the future.

Jim West On Chess: Falkbeer Counter Gambit

Jim West On Chess: Falkbeer Counter Gambit

Here are five games played by Jim West as Black using the Falkbeer Counter Gambit.
All of the games posted below were played in the early 1990's by Jim West.
For most complete analysis of the games, please use the link above which directs you to the post at Jim West On Chess.

Please note the content of this chess post and chess games were orignally published in the January/February 1996 edition of Atlantic Chess News.
Also this chess material was written by Jim West, National Master , New Jersey, USA


Falkbeer Counter Gambit, King's Gambit Declined Game Collection
This is a link to www.chessgames.com game database.


Again, here is the link to Jim West On Chess Falkbeer Counter Gambit which has all the analysis of the games shown below.
http://jimwestonchess.blogspot.com/2007/02/falkbeer-counter-gambit.html


Eric_Smith-Jim_West.pgn





Fitzko-West.pgn




F_Gaspar-Jim_West_.pgn



This Game Below was Drawn



Fritz_Gaspard-Jim_West.pgn




Eric_Smith-Jim_West.pgn
chess.blogspot.com/">

King's Gambit Accepted Fischer Defence as Black

King's Gambit Accepted Game Collection

Part One of Two

Chess Video Courtesy of http://erichess.blogspot.com/


Part Two of Two

Bryan Smith Sole First Place Winner at National Chess Congress 2008

International Master Bryan Smith of Pennsylvania (a former resident of Alaska) scored clear first in the National Chess Congress at Philadelphia, PA during the Thanksgiving weekend.

His final score was 5.5 points out of six rounds which consisted of five wins and one draw. Here are some of those games from NCC 2008. Also a link is provided for a collection of his games that he has played through out the years.

National Chess Congress Premier Section Stangings

Chess Game Collection Of Bryan Smith



Bryan Smith's World Open 2001 Games

Listed below are four games from his complete victory at the 2008 National Chess Congress

Erenburg-Smith.pgn




Smith-Kacheishvili.pgn



Smith-Kritz.pgn



Smith-Melekhina.pgn

Self Publishing Chess Books on Lulu

Lulu.com lets you publish and sell print-on-demand books and e-books, online music and images, custom calendars and books. Free self-publishing.
www.Lulu.com

The power to publish your own book. Print & sell your writing now!

This Chess Book web page was pointed out to me Atomic Patzer several months ago. At this web page, one can download to your computer many orignial chess books to your computer with several price ranges or have the hard copy delivered to your doorstep.

One can even upload their original book manuscript to www.Lulu.com for electronic publishing on their site. Then your book is available for all to purchase if they like your style of writting. Your books can be either sold as an electronic version for download or a hard copy shipped to your readers.

Listed below is a basic explanation taken from the Lulu web page on how this Self Publshing web page works.

Lulu eliminates traditional entry barriers to publishing, and enables content creators and owners – authors and educators, videographers and musicians, businesses and nonprofits, professionals and amateurs – to bring their work directly to their audience. First, they use Lulu’s tools to format their digital content. Then they take advantage of Lulu’s dedicated marketplace, custom storefronts and advanced listing and distribution services to make their books, videos, CDs, DVDs, calendars, reports and more available to as many, or as few, people around the world as they like, earning 80% of all creator revenue, of which millions of dollars has already Here is a link to some of the chess books availabel on Lulu.

Browse Chess Books on Lulu

Lulu Site Highlights | Lulu Blog

ChessBase.com - Chess News - 'Chess Bitch' – an eye-opener by Jennifer Shahade

The Chess Games of Jennifer Shahade




ChessBase.com - Chess News - 'Chess Bitch' – an eye-opener by Jennifer Shahade







A Conversation with Jennifer Shahade,
Author of Chess Bitch: Women in the
Ultimate Intellectual Sport
by Howard Goldowsky
at www.chess.cafe in "Skittles Room"
October 2005 Skittles Room Archive interview by Howard Goldowsky
under title "Conversation with Jennifer Shahade" n.b. all titles
in archives listed alphabetically....Diamondback

Two-time U.S. women’s chess champion, Jennifer Shahade, the author of
the new book, Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport (Siles
Press, 2005), believes that neither men nor women come into this world with
any innate chess-playing advantage. According to her book, only 3% of
adult tournament chess players in the United States and only 6% of FIDE
rated players are female. She thinks that people too often confuse this low
rate of female participation in chess with proof of low levels of performance.
Shahade argues, instead, that ostensible biological obstacles, such as
menstruation or tendencies to lack killer instinct, turn out to be self-fulfilling
prophecies.

Chess GM Alexandra Kosteniuk is the Top World Chess Promoter

Alexandra Kosteniuk Women World Chess Championship

Chess Games of Alexandra Kosteniuk


Chess GM Alexandra Kosteniuk is the Top World Chess Promoter


Sasha, Queen of Chess

ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK
(born Apr-23-1984) Russia 
Women's World Champion

Alexandra Kosteniuk was born on April 23rd, 1984, in Perm, Russia. She was taught the game at the age of five by her father, Konstantin Vladimirovich Kosteniuk. Her younger sister, Oxana Kosteniuk is a WFM
.
A WGM since age 14, an IM at 16, and a GM at 20, Kosteniuk has featured prominently in various regional and world age title competitions, including winning the Girls U10 European Championship in Herculane in 1994, the Girls Under 12 European Championship in Rimavaska Sobota in 1996, and the Girls Under 12 World Championship in Minorca in 1996. In 2001, at the age of 17, she was runner up to Zhu Chen for the Women’s World Championship.

In September 2008, she scaled the summit of women’s chess when she became the 14th Women's World Chess Champion after winning the final of the Women's World Championship (2008) against Yifan Hou by 2.5 - 1.5.
In 2000 and 2004, Kosteniuk was second in the Russian Women’s Championships but went one better in 2005 when she won that Championship with a score of 9/11 and a 2691 performance rating. Other prominent tournament successes include winning the First European Women’s Championship that was held in Dresden in 2004, and equal second behind Koneru Humpy in the 2005 North Urals Cup.

Kosteniuk became the inaugural Chess960 Women’s World Champion in 2006, and successfully defended her title in 2008 against Kateryna Lahno.

Based on FIDE’s October 2008 ratings list, Kosteniuk is ranked number 592 in the world (http://www.benoni.de/schach/elo/res...), eighth amongst women, and is the top rated Russian woman. Under the US rating system, she is the second ranked female player in the USA after Zsuzsa Polgar.

She has also captured the public's eye by appearing in a Russian film, doing many product promotions, fashion modeling, and appearing in fashion

ChessBase.com - Chess News - Searching for the best woman chess player

ChessBase.com - Chess News - Searching for the best woman chess player

Who Said Chess Is'nt Sexy ? I Like To Know !

Bishop Pair Over Loaded at Hamilton Chess Quads on November 15, 2008

Hamilton Chess Club Quad Directions



Saturday's Hamitlon Chess Quads on November 15, 2008 at Ray Dwier Rec Center was standing room only. TD Ed do a fantastic job with crowd control with a total of 42 paticipants. There were Nine Quads and One Swiss. There was a dispute in Quad 6 by one of the players that spilled over in the kitchen of Rec Center but TD Ed put out the fire quickly.

Ed provided enough tables , chairs and boards for all players. There is one more room that is under lock and key that is not used for Chess Quads but maybe Ed S. should ask for the key for that spare room because the Year End Chess Quad on December 2008 (I will Post the date later ) usually draws close to Fifty players.

Enough said about Hamilton Chess, a chess venue for the amateur chess player, now about my game with Scott A my Bishop pair was not enough to hold a draw over my opponent Scott A. who played White. With white's two rooks and extra pawns this was just a matter of trading down.But Scott's excellent play against me was not enough to win our Quad section. That honor goes to Sal Geraci, who scored a win against all three of his opponents.

In the first chess playing diagram is the postion before I used a sham piece exchange with one of the bishop pair which was more of a desparado tactic that my opponent did not fall into.

The second chess playing diagram shows how Chess Master 10th Edition usings White's two rooks to trade down Blacks' bihsop pair for a won endgame postion.


Finally the last game posted below is a dead drawn postion, which I offer my opponent a draw in the second time control but he said it was too eary in the game, this is after we have played about 75 moves. After playing for five hours I blundered away the postional draw. I knew instinctedly that my white pawn on H5 and my bishop would hold black's h, g, and f pawns at bay especially if black moved the g pawn I would take en passant. So I am posting this endgame that was analysed by Chess Master 10th Edition which confirmed my analysis for a draw.


SctNv8A333.pgn



BshPair.PGN


Draw1.pgn

Viswanathan Anand retains world title | ChessVibes#more-3701#more-3701

Viswanathan Anand retains world title | ChessVibes#more-3701#more-3701


Anand-Kramnik_0.pgn

Chess Tactics: S. Levitsky - Frank Marshall (Breslau, 1912)

Interesting chess game presented by Serguei Vorojtsov

Chess Tactics: Edward Lasker - G. Thomas (London, 1912)

Interesting chess game presented by Serguei Vorojtsov

Chess Tactics: Evans - Reshevsky (USA, 1963), Part 2/2

Interesting chess game presented by Serguei Vorojtsov

Chess Tactics: Evans - Reshevsky (USA, 1963), Part 1/2

Interesting chess game presented by Serguei Vorojtsov

World Chess Championship Game Six Interview

WCC R06 Anand Wins Again ! Score: 4.5 - 1.5

ChessBase.com - Chess News - WCC R06: Anand wins again, score now 4.5:1.5

ChessBase.com - Chess News - WCC R06: Anand wins again, score now 4.5:1.5

ChessBase.com - Chess News - WCC R05: Anand wins with black in 35 moves

ChessBase.com - Chess News - WCC R05: Anand wins with black in 35 moves

Knight Moves at Hamilton Quads October 18, 2008

Here is a game , I just played at Hamilton Chess Club Quads on October 18, 2008 in round three with Robert C. current USCF rating for him is 1397 and climbing. I have played him three times before and only won once.

In this game, instead of looking for resources and counter play after a he moved his bishop setting up a fork between my Knight and Queen, I panic like a deer staring into headlights of an onmoving car.

Lesson learn today , look for counter play and resources even when under tacital attack. I used Fritz 8 that was given to me by Atomic Patzer to analyse some possible counterplay ,which is in this Chess Flash playing diagram.

I am not stating that Black can win or even draw this game , but there was definitely counterplay as shown by Fritz 8. Diamondback

Just click on the move variations after the chess board is opened, and the move variations will highlight in red, continue to click on the variations to play the analysis.

http://diamondbackchess.blogspot.com/CmnDmdBck.pgn


Also posted below are two more quad games that were played by Jim L. and Dion C. against Scott A. in Quad rated at 1400 USCF.

Game comments are by Scott A. who played both opponents.

AndrLxtch.pgn


CllgnAndr.pgn

Standings - US Chess League

Standings - US Chess League

With just four weeks left in the regular season of the USCF, two teams have clear first place within their divsions. Those teams are the New York Queens Pioneers in the East and the San Francisco Mechanic in the West. update by Diamondback.


Queens Pioneers Team Roster USCF Eastern Division First Place

San Francisco Team Roster USCF Western Division First Place

World Chess Championship: Anand wins third game with Black | ChessVibes

Courtesy ChessVibes chess blog







World Chess Championship: Anand wins third game with Black | ChessVibes

Kramnik-Anand_0.pgn

Shredder Computer Chess Download - Chess Puzzle of the Day

Shredder Computer Chess Download - Chess Puzzle of the Day

Click on Chess Puzzle of the Day to solve Shredder's Daily Chess puzzle.

Or solve the GameKnot chess puzzle below my clicking on the highlighted center bar
that says "White to Move " or "Black to Move"..... Diamondback

Play chess online!

Courtesy Of Susan Polgar's Chess Blog (Woman's World Chess Champion) Black to play and win
Houidini Escape posted by Susan Polgar
(Former Woman's Chess Champion)

Black's to move and win by Susan Polgar

MSA Chess Statistics Program Introduction

Here is Re Post from Castling Queenside blog about MSA, the chess utility progrm orignally posted by her on September 10, 2007.

In all the games of Amateur Chess Players I post in my blog, I mention the MSA program, which extracts chess statistics from your chess history on www.uschess.org web.

In her post September 10, 2007, Polly gives a more detail explanation on exactly what MSA can do and how she uses it.

A key point in her blog about MSA is that one can run this program using anyone's USCF ID Number to extract their chess tourament history to include wins/losses best upset, hightest rating , etc.


Castling Queen Side: Fun With Ratings History

Humphrey Bogart Amateur Chess Player

On the June/July 1945 edition of Chess Review image posted to the left, on the cover.
Under caption "Movie Stars sponsor Pan American Congress" on Chess Reviews it reads as follows: Lauren Bacall gives chessmaster Herman Steiner "the look" while Charles Boyer (left) and Humphrey Bogart (both keen chessplayers) finished a game between takes on "The Confidential Agent" which Charles Boyer stars in . The scene is in Boyer's dressing room at Warner Brothes Studio. These and other movie stars will take an acitve part in promoting and sponsoring the forthcoming Pan American Chess Congress at Los Angeles.(see chess briefs)......... Circa June 1945.....Diamondback




Chess games of Bogart

bacall_bogart_1951.pgn


You will see that one of the games returned was played in 1951.(Bogart, Humphrey - Bacall, Lauren, 1-0, 1951). We all know Humphrey Bogart for his legendary portrayal of Rick Blaine, a world-weary ex-freedom fighter who runs a nightclub in Casablanca during the height of World War II in the movie Casablanca, 1942. It became one of the most beloved films in the Hollywood canon, garnering Bogart his first Academy Award nomination as well as an Oscar win in the "Best Picture" category.

It turns out that Bogart was a very accomplished chess player as well. (Bogart's rating would probably be equivalent to modern 2100.) His 1951 chess game that you located in the ChessLab's database was played against the actress who played leading roles opposite Bogart in several movies and who also became his wife.

Josh's Dangerous Passed Pawn

As promised in my September 27, 2008 post, I am posting Joshua's game that was played in June 2008 Hamilton Chess Quads in Groveville, NJ. His opponent was Tim McKeen, who is rated above 1900 USCF.

I like this game by Josh because he ties up Black's pieces, takes good squares away from Black, and he uses force to drive home the pawn.


Joshua David H. USCF Rating 1942


JoshGame.pgn



Here is the same game with classic black and white chess board.


JoshGame.pgn


Some chess statistics of Joshua David H. from MSA, the chess statistic program that extracts wns and loss records from
US Chess Life web page.

Highest Rated Opponent Win = DRAGAN MILOVANOVIC -- 2248 HAMILTON GAME/30 CHAMPIONSHIP 01-17-2007
Highest Rated Opponent Draw = DENNIS RYLANDER -- 2346 2004 US TEAM-EAST 02-14-2004

Lasker's Famous Sacrifice

Another version of same sacrifice but from You Tube


















The games posted below is between Lasker and Bauer in 1889 where Lasker sacrifices two bishops for his opponents King.

The chess game between Emanuel Lasker and Johann Bauer played in Amsterdam in 1889 is one of the most famous of all time on account of Lasker's sacrifice of both bishops to blow away the pawn cover around his opponent's king and win material.

Emanuel Lasker was the longest-reigning world champion (1894-1921)

IM Malcolm Pein (London Chess Center) tells us that this sacrifice is credited to Emmanuel Lasker. "It begins with the 'Greek Bishop' sac on h7, then the follow up queen check on h5, followed by taking on g7 with the second dark squared bishop. This totally shreds the kingside and with the queen already in attendance it usually only requires the addition of one more piece, commonly a rook to force mate."



bauer_lasker_1889.pgn


Please take note: I have emailed a request to Waldemar Moes asking for his permission and courtesy to insert a link in my chess blog for Lasker's Sacrifice Chess Video. Waldemar Moes web page is listed below.

Also here is a link to a chess video with complete analsysis by chess trainer Waldemar Moes on Lasker's Sacrifice. Waldemar Moes is a chess trainer from the Netherlands and his web page Chessdelic Com. is where his chess video of Lasker's Sacrifice can be viewed.

It's All About Winning !

Here is an upset played by Atomic Patzer over a higher rated opponent. The game is in Chess Flash Format.

Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.
Vince Lombardi



Thomas S. USCF Rating 1526
aka: Atomic Patzer Chess Blogger


This game posted below shows Tom that has the will to win and set the tone for his opponent. His rating at the time of this OTB game was 1480 USCF and his opponent's rating was very close to 1800 USCF.



Click on Show Chessboard to open game and Click on any variation move which plays that variation out .

Click on Frtz2Stns to download the game as a PGN file, playable on Fritz.

The analysis is by Fritz 8. The latest version Fritz is Fritz 11.
Fritz 11


FrtzStns1.pgn



In the analysis in the game above Fritz 8 shows that Black is trying to equalize by playing F5 instead of taking white's bishop but white's position plays itself out by ChessMaster 10th playback. So the question is was this a true sacrifice by White or did White just completely exploit Black's weak positional play.

The game below is without any annotations and is the exact scoresheet of the game played on May 26, 2008.

Thomas_S-William_H_B.pgn



Just recently Tom tied for first place in the Under 1600 section at the New Jersey Open during Labor Day 2008. It would have been nice if he would have played Jim West's student Ziping Liu in the same section, but Ziping may have better off not playing him. In August 2007 at the US Chess Open at Cherry Hill , New Jersey, He also tied for first in the Class D sectiion.

US Chess Open 2007 Results for Class D section
Class D: Michael R. Dean B , and Tom S , All tied with 4.5 points

Results of 2007 US Chess Open

At this present date of September 29, 2008, the highest rated player that Tom has upset was rated USCF 1972 points, which was at the 2007 US Chess Open, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The opponent's name is Ben Bailey.

Some chess statistics of Tom S. courtesy of MSA Chess Statistics Program. MSA is a utility program that extracts chess statistics from USCF Tournement records.


Best Upset = 577 points -- BEN B. -- 1972 2007 US OPEN 08-05-2007
Best Draw = 540 points -- RANDALL D-T -- 1935 2007 US OPEN 08-05-2007

Frank Turns The Tables

This game was played in round two of Mastermind's Chess Club Quads in August 10, 2008. At that time Frank's USCF rating was 1726. His opponent's USCF rating was 1904. Preston never considered that the final outcome would result in an upset and a complete lost when Frank played him that day since he was rated almost 200 points higher than Frank.


Click on Show Chessboard to open game and Click on any variation move which plays that variation out .

Frank-Preston.pgn





At the present date of September 27, 2008, this is Frank's highest rated opponent that he has beaten.

The statistic is courtesy of MSA Chess Statistics Program. MSA is a utility program that extracts chess statistics from USCF Tournement records.

Highest Rated Opponent Win = PRESTON -- 1904 MASTERMINDS CC 08/10/08 08-10-2008

Frank is a strong over the board player and I will try to post one more of his better rated USCF games to my blog. I have a strong amateur chess game from Joshua from the June 2008 Hamilton Chess Quads that I will post next, because the theme of this chess blog is all about " Chess From the Amateur"

Chess 5 Personal Online Chess Database

Chess 5 is a web page where you can input your chess games for online storage. You can make your online game collection public or private. If you make your chess games public those playing over your games can provide you with some analysis by leaving comments.
Here is a public game on that Frank Dixon (Canadian Player) posted,which is a minature King's Gambit with some comments left by him.

Profile of Frank Dixon Canadian ChessPlayer

Canadian IM Bryon Nickoloff

Canadian Chess Page

KngsGmbit.pgn




Here are Frank Dixon Comments on the game left at web page Chess 5.

Friday, September 19, 2008
Frank Dixon: This sub-miniature shows the perils of the King's Gambit very clearly. The main line in the Kieseritsky variation with 3...g5 is 5...d6, but the text 5...d5is also playable. Black is in serious trouble after 9...Qe7, and he errs on his next as well, bringing the White Queen to a powerful position at g4, where she menaces the c8 and g7 squares. Black almost gets out of it, but misses the strength of White's clincher 15.Nf6+, winning the Queen since the N/g8 is pinned. I don't play the King's Gambit that often, but a game like this is always worth a big smile afterwards!

Sacrifice On H7 At Hamilton Quads September 20, 2008

Hamilton CC NJ Directions



Below is a rated game played in the under 1300 section of Hamilton Quad in Quad Six between Dion and Diamondback. The tactic here in this game is the Classical H7 Sac !

In this game Dion, who played white presented Diamondback with a Greek gift, sacing his bishop on my h7 to take advantage of my unprotected backrank.


Dion-Diamondback.pgn


Here is a link to Greek gift games by famous player at

Famous Greek Gift Games this link is part of Chessgames Database


This second game posted below is between Scott A. and Dion C. in the first round.
Congrats ! to Scott A. who took first place in our quad with a score of 3-0. The second game posted is a win by Scott A. (white) against Dion in quick fashion.

ScottDion.pgn



Hamilton Chess Club Directions

Speed Chess With A Bang !

Here is link to a You Tube that shows that Speed Chess can be played for high stakes. The video is from the British Sci Fi show Blake's Seven that ran in Britain from 1978 to early 1980's.

Blake's Seven Speed Chess You Tube Video






Infomation about this British spin off of Star Trek can be found at Wikipedia.

Blake's 7 Image Library

Wikipedia Blakes Seven

Blake's Seven Synopsis at MSN

The highly regarded British science fiction series Blakes 7 was created by Terry Nation, one of the prime movers of Dr. Who. Gareth Thomas stars as Blake, an extraterrestrial do-gooder. With a seven-person crew comprised of criminals and insurgents, Blake wages an unending battle against "The Federation," the totalitarian regime which controls the Earth and hundreds of other populated planets. Set in a post-apocalyptic future, Blakes 7 has attained cult status in the U.S.; it was somewhat difficult to see until it fell into the hands of local PBS stations and such cable outlets as the Sci-Fi Channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Coffee House Chess At Hamilton Chess Quads

The Italian Stallion




Hello to All:

This chess blog is for all amateur chess players under the USCF rating of 2200.
and this is my first chess blog. In the future I will add chess diagrams and some light annotations to my chess games I post here.
*** Please note this content of this post was first published on August 24, 2008 Sunday *** the date of my first ever blog post here on Google Blogger E Blogger.

Hamilton Chess Club Directions

Hamilton Chess Club Home Page

Here's a chess scoresheet for a chess tournement that was just played recently by myself at Hamilton Chess Quads at Groveville , New Jersey. I played White. The game was played on
August 23, 2008.


Click on Show Chessboard to open game and Click on any variation move which plays that variation out .

SalvAndi.pgn






The real names of the players have been changed to protect their privacy.

USCF Rating (1381) - USCF Rating (1441) [A09]Hamlton Quads Aug2008 23.08.2008
Diamondback vs The Italian Stallion Groville , August 23, 2008 1-0

The game was played rather fast by opponent even though the time control was 40/80 minutes and 15 moves every 30 minutes for the second time control.

After move twenty -five the game was in the bag for White. In fact after move 25, Black stopped writting down the moves on his scoresheet, something the TD should keep and eye out for, but I did not cry foul because Black's postion was lost.

Also during the last ten moves of the game, my opponent was talking trash as to why I was'nt moving as fast as he did. At that point the TD stepped in and told him to stop running his mouth.

The Chinese Dragon

At www.chesscafe.com is an article in Gary Lane's column title " Opening Lanes". The name of the chess column is " Enter the Dragon"

The reader asks " What's up with this Chinese Dragon.
I quote from the his column the reasons behind this variation.

"This theme of attack in the Chinese Dragon is the perfect way to create danger at the earliest opportunity" and " Rb8 , this move signifies the Chinese Dragon; basically the idea is to play ...b5 in the right circumstances.

Sounds like my kind of opening for a quick kill over the board.

The link to Gary Lane's chess column " Enter the Dragon " is http://www.chesscafe.com/lane/lane.htm
The first chess playing diagram is the Chinese Dragan.

And the Second chess playing diagram shows Black 10th move Rook to C8
instead of the black's 10th move R B8 which indicates the Chinese Dragan.

Mackenzie Molner Winner 2008 New Jersey Chess Championship

Please Note: Annotations and Games posted here are courtesy of Michael Goellner from his chess blog The Kenilworthian from his post Best Games from NJ Open 9-09-2008.

Scoring five points out of Six rounds of hard fought chess Mackenzie Molner is the new chess champion of the 62nd New Jersey Open. Below is one of his wins over chess master Jim West.


MACKENZIE S MOLNER

CrossTables of 2008 NJ Chess Open

Humbling Experience at NJ Championship

Here is a game that I played in Round 2 of the 2008 New Jersey Championship in the under 1600 section with Carlo. I played Carlo before in the 2008 Memorial Day NJ Individual Amateur East championship in the under 1400 section and he resigned with a strong postion so I knew he can play well when he turns it on.

An interesting side note this kid starts sixth grade in a few days and I know he will be a strong player in a two or three years.

Perhaps when I traded my strong central knight for a passive bishop was the beginning of the end, I will let you be the judge on where I started to self destruct in the middle game.

Atomic Patzer is always telling me " study tactics as much as you can "

Atomic Patzer

I think I will start opening my ears to this advice after this game.