Combinationa and Sacrifices provide one with the win in Chess. If one wants to be on the plus score in any chess tournements, you must have a basic understanding of the sacrifice in chess.
An excellent chess book that I am skimming thru is "The Art of Sacrifice in Chess " by Rudolf Spielman. A must for any amateur chess player under the USCF rating of 1800.
In this book Spielman has the book divided into three chapters titled: Sham Sacrifices, Real sacrifices, Exchange sacrifices.
In his introduction: "Various Types of Sacrifices " Spielman divides sacrifices into three groups: Positional Sacrifices, Sacrifices for Gain, Mating Sacrifices.
Here is a google link that previews the book. I am also including a few games from the book in Chess Flash format.
King Hunt Sacrifice Theme from the book "The Art of Sacrifice in Chess "
To Be Continued with Part Two to include excerpts from the book and more Chess Flash games with some annotations from the book "The Art of Sacrifice in Chess" in a later post..........diamondback April 28, 2009
Having just read the book review by Jeremy Silman on the "Seven Deadly Chess Sins" , I immediately placed my order for this book on Amazon. This book was orignaly published on December 2000.
Here is the link to the Publisher, where you can get more info on the book. Gambit
Upon my completion on reading this book, I will future post on this blog what I got out of the book and how I will apply this new chess knowledge to my future tournements and Club play ....... diamondback
Here is a repost of the book review by Jeremy Silman on the book by Jonathan Rowson " Seven Deadly Chess Sins" in this link: Book Review by Jeremy Silman
I am posting seven Caro Kann Exchange games played by Jim West in Chess Flash format on this post for clarity purposes. In my previous post on the Caro Kann , a few of Jim West games featuring the Caro Kann Exchange had some errata such as dates and location played.
Please note complete score sheets and graphical chess diagrams can be found on Jim West chess blog dated : February 23. 2007. Notes and Games are from Jim West
In the past two years*, I have played many games as White using the exchange variation versus the Caro-Kann Defense. After the opening moves 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3, there are three subvariations for Black: (a) 4...Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Bf4 Bg4 7.Qb3 Qc8 (or 7...Qd7); (b) 4...Nc6 5.c3 Qc7; (c) lines featuring ...g6
Also on my recent post on the Caro Kann, I tried to go Global in covering the main variations of the Caro Kann , along with some You Tube video which may overwhelmed the average chess blog reader, so in this post , I'm streamlining on just the Caro Kann Exchange.
In this chess blog post , I am providing two links to Chess Corner that show a total of 100 games in java chess replay diagrams of the World's Greatest Chess Games. Each link is label Part One and Part Two and is provided by Chess Corner web site.
This is the link for Part One containing fifty games. Part Two contains the remaining fifty games.
The games that have selected for easy Java chess replay are not annotated , so each of us, including myself should purchase the book where the games are annotated.
The link below is the name of the book, which will direct you to Amazon. Com
Studying the games within the book along with replaying the games in Java format on the links provided above will accelerate your learing process . Again the link below where you can purchase the book.
First of all, Math provides the building blocks and foundation that children will need throughout their lives. If you think that the basics are adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing - think again! Today, we live in an information age where it's reported that information is doubling at a rate less than every two years. The basic skills need to function in the workplace today are decision making, problem solving, critical thinking and deductive and inductive reasoning along with the ability to make judgements and good estimates. We haven't loved math but we've certainly loved our games. That's when Chess comes into the picture.
Chess is a game that requires problem solving. Math requires problem solving, it makes good sense then to become a good problem solver means you'll do better in math. Chess (and other games) require a mental workout, thinking ahead, planning, being systematic, and determining the outcomes of certain moves. Chess moves can't be memorized, weakness in math often stems from an over emphasis on memory skills instead of thinking skills. Research studies have indicated that students playing chess have improved problem solving skills over the group that have not been involved in the playing of chess. Ollie LaFreniere, the Washington Chess Federation's statewide Coordinator for Scholastic Chess, said in a Seattle Post-Intelligencer interview on May 31, "Chess is the single most powerful educational tool we have at the moment, and many school administrators are realizing that." There are also studies that indicate that many students' social habits improved when playing chess.
Here is the link to Google Books where you can read excerpts from Chess and Mathematics
Jennifer Shahade From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search
Jennifer Shahade at the 2002 U.S. Chess Championships in Seattle, WashingtonJennifer Shahade (born December 31, 1980 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American chess player and writer. She is a two-time American women's chess champion and, as of October 2007, has a FIDE rating of 2322. She has the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster. Jennifer is the author of the book Chess Bitch. She also writes for the magazine Chess Life and is the daughter of FIDE Master Mike Shahade and Drexel University chemistry professor and author Sally Solomon, and the sister of International Master Greg Shahade.
In 1998, she became the first (and so far only) female to win the U.S. Junior Open. In 2002, she won the U.S. Women's Chess Championship in Seattle, Washington. The following year, although she did not repeat as U.S. Women's Champion, she did well enough to earn her second of three required International Master norms. In 2004, she returned to the top spot among U.S. women chess players by winning the U.S. Women's Championship that year in a seven-player invitational Round-robin tournament.
Shahade lives in Philadelphia and has earned a degree in Comparative Literature at New York University. Her writing has appeared in the LA Times, The New York Times, Chess Life, New In Chess, and chessninja.com. Her first book, Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport (Siles Press, ISBN 1-890085-09-X) was published in October 2005.
In 2006 Shahade was hired by the United States Chess Federation to be the web editor in chief of its site www.uschess.org . In 2007 Shahade co-founded a chess non-profit called 9 Queens.
Shahade has also displayed her poker prowess by finishing 17th out of 1286 in the 2007 Ladies World Series of Poker, and 33rd out of 1190 in the same event in 2008.[1]
Here is the Caro Kann defense, my favorite defense as I use when playing Black. I favor this Black defense rather than the Sicilian because it is not as complex and does not have super sharp variations like the Yugo Slave variation of the Sicilian defense. The fist two You Tube videos deal with the advance variation of the opening and some annotation from an actual game , the third You Tube Video deals with a common trap in the Caro Kann.
Unfortunately, I am only familar with the Classical variation and the Exchange variations and not all the variations of the Caro Kann. By posting most of the variations of the Caro Kann on my blog , this will jump start renewed interest in this opening for myself as well as followes of my chess blog.
I will add in a future date some famous Caro Kann games in Chess Flash format as well as some recent Caro Kann games from the 2009 USATE Amateur East Championship, which I will post below the You Tube Video.
Also National Master Jim West of New Jersey has employed the Exchange variation of the Caro Kann opening and I will add a few of his games on this blog post.
Update: April 25, 2009***** On my blog post Redux: Caro Kann Exchange Revisited, posted on April 23, 2009, I have listed in Chess Flash format seven Caro Kann Exchange games played by Jim West during the mid 1990's circa 1995.
At the bottom on this post there three of the seven games by Jim West in the Caro Kann Exchange.
The Caro-Kann Defence is a common chess opening characterized by the moves:
1.e4 c6. The usual continuation is
2.d4 d5 followed by 3.Nc3 (the Classical Variation), 3.Nd2 (the Classical Variation), 3.exd5 (the Exchange Variation), or 3.e5 (the Advance Variation). 2.Nc3 is the modern variation which has gained much popularity. The Caro-Kann, like the Sicilian Defence and French Defence, is classified as a "Semi-Open Game", but it is thought to be more solid and less dynamic than either of those openings. It often leads to good endgames for Black, who has the better pawn structure.
The opening is named after the English player Horatio Caro and the Austrian Marcus Kann who analyzed the opening in 1886. It is believed to be good against computers especially when it leads to a closed position. It is, hence, one of the more common openings played in computer-human matches.
In keeping with the theme of this chess blog " Chess From The Amateur" here are four games featuring the Caro Kann which were played at the recent 2009 USATE Team East.....diamondback
Notes are from Jim West from his chess blog Caro Kann Exchange orignally posted on February 23, 2007. The games in Chess Flash format are Variation A only.
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3, there are three subvariations for Black: (a) 4...Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Bf4 Bg4 7.Qb3 Qc8 (or 7...Qd7
Correct Score Sheet Jim West vs Noah Siegel circa 1995 Caro Kann Exchange Updated on April 27, 2009 in Chess Flash format. Note: Location and Date of game are now correct......diamondback
Here is a You Tube on the Scandinavian Defense. I am considering adopting this opening as one my defenses as Black.
I will add later (within 24 hours) , some Chess Flash games posted below the Chess Video.
My future two of three chess blogs will be on openings that I trying to adopt and learn. Ny next post will be on the Caro Kann defense for black.......... diamondback
The Tarrasch Variation is named after Siegbert Tarrasch. This move was particularly popular during the late 1970s and early 1980s when Anatoly Karpov used it to great effect. It is still played today by players seeking a small, safe advantage.
The move differs from 3.Nc3 in several respects: it doesn't block the path of White's c pawn, which means he can play c3 at some stage to support the d4 pawn; and it avoids the Winawer Variation because 3...Bb4 can be met with 4.c3 when Black has wasted a move (he has to retreat his bishop).
3...c5 4.exd5 exd5, a staple of many old Karpov-Korchnoi battles, usually leads to Black having an isolated queen's pawn (see Isolated pawn). The main line continues 5.Ngf3 Nc6 6.Bb5 Bd6 7.0-0 Nge7 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.Nb3 Bb6 with a position where if White can neutralize the activity of Black's pieces in the middlegame, he will have a slight endgame advantage. Another possibility for White is 5.Bb5+ Bd7 (5...Nc6 is also possible) 6.Qe2+ Be7 7.dxc5 to trade off the bishops and make it more difficult for Black to regain the pawn.
3...c5 4.exd5 Qxd5!? is an important alternative for Black. The idea is to trade his c- and d-pawns for White's d- and e-pawns, leaving Black with an extra centre pawn. This constitutes a slight structural advantage, but in return White gains time for development by harassing Black's queen. This interplay of static and dynamic advantages is the reason why this line has become popular in the last decade. Play usually continues 5.Ngf3 cxd4 6.Bc4 Qd6 7.0-0 Nf6 (preventing 8.Ne4) 8.Nb3 Nc6 9.Nbxd4 Nxd4, and here White may stay in the middlegame with 10.Nxd4 or offer the trade of queens with 10.Qxd4.
While the objective of 3...c5 was to break open the centre, 3...Nf6 aims to close it. After 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 (6...b6 intends ...Ba6 next to get rid of Black's "bad" light-squared bishop, a recurrent idea in the French) 7.Ne2 (leaving f3 open for the queen's knight) 7...cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.Nf3 Bd6 Black has freed his pieces at the cost of having a backward pawn on e6. White may also choose to preserve his pawn on e5 by playing 4.e5 Nfd7 5.c3 c5 6.f4 Nc6 7.Ndf3, but his development is slowed as a result.
3.Nd2 Nc6 is known as the Guimard Variation: after 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nd7 Black will exchange off White's cramping e-pawn next move by ...f6. However, Black does not exert any pressure on d4 because he cannot play ...c5, so White should maintain a slight advantage.
A fashionable line among top GMs in recent years is 3...Be7!?, an odd-looking move which aims to prove that every White move now has its drawbacks, e.g. after 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nfd7 White cannot now play f4, whereas 4.Bd3 c5 5.dxc5 Nf6 and 4.e5 c5 5.Qg4 Kf8!? lead to obscure complications. Amazingly, 3... h6?!, with a similar rationale, has also gained some adventurous followers in recent years, including GM Alexander Morozevich. Another rare line is 3...a6, the idea being to deny White's light-square bishop use of b5 before playing ...c5.
Black has two main approaches to choose between: in the Open Catalan he plays ...dxc4 and can either try to hold onto the pawn with ...b5 or give it back for extra time to free his game. In the Closed Catalan, Black does not capture on c4; his game can be somewhat cramped for a while, but is quite solid
Here are a few games provided in Chess Flash format.
In keeping with the theme of my chess blog "Chess From The Amateur" I am reposting a Catalan Opeing game between two Class C players. This game took place in November 1987 and appeared in Atlantic Chess News in 1988 by Chess Master Jim West of New Jersey.
Jim West also posted this game on his chess blog in May 2, 2007. The name of Jim West blog is naturally " Jim West On Chess ".......diamondback.
I will post this same game in Chess Flash format with game annotations from Jim West and the winner of this contest later on April 16, 2009.
Please Take Note: This Blog Post Has Been Updated at 12:35 PM EST on April 13, 2009 to reflect corrected Black's 32nd move .... Kb8 . The Complete and Correct scoresheet is shown in the second Chess Flash Game.....diamondback
The first game of three posted by Michael Goeller titled " Near Upsets" . All three games can be found by clicking on the Re-Posted link above, which takes you to the orignal post by Michael Goeller at "The Kenilworthian"
This first game is in Chess Flash Vertical format along with annotations by Michael Goeller orignally published with incorrect move 32...Kc6 (Second Chess Flash Game posted below has correct 32nd move by Black with complete scoresheet and moves ) on his blog The Kenilworthian.....diamondback
BTW, I must have told fellow chess blogger Atomic Patzer, a dozen times or more that I love "The Kenilworthian" chess blog site.
Note: the second Chess Flash game posted below has the correct score sheet from D. Higgins, Please click on "show chess board " to replay game.....diamondback
Below are comments made by the chess expert Derrick Higgins to Michael Goeller Chess Blogger to correct the game score for Black's 32nd Move ...Kb8 as well as the correct game score sheet....diamondback
Darika said...
Hi, Michael-
Thanks for devoting so much attention to my game. It was a fun one, even if I succumbed to a blunder at the end. As I have been telling people ever since, "it's hard to play a rook down vs. a GM without trying to get some material back!"
I have to correct the score, though. Instead of 32. ...Kc6, de Firmian played 32. ...Kb8, after which I thought I could snag the pawn on d6 after 33. Qf8+ (not 33. Qe7). It's annoying that I fell for that knight fork, since I had looked at it in other variations where it did not work, because Black would have a rook hanging on a1 at the end. (Here, though, I'm losing another piece on e6.)
Anyhow, after 32. ...Kb8, de Firmian and I analyzed 33. Rd4! (covering c4, with multiple threats) as much better for white. I'll get him next time, though. :)
Mon Mar 23, 10:19:00 AM EDT
Darika said...
Here's the complete game score, just for clarity's sake, and for the entertainment of any readers wishing to know just how long I struggled on before resigning.
