Chess and math: a happy couple?

Chess and math have always slept side by side. But are they a happy couple? I think every chess player has had the experience of someone asking you, in high school, if your math grades were as good as your chess results. Sadly, for me the answer was often ‘no’. full story »

Beauty in chess (II)

Today the second and last part of Jonathan Rowson’s lecture on beauty in chess, plus a small update on the tournament in Sardinia. full story »

Short draws - I love ‘em!

Are draws, or even quick draws, a problem? You might think so if you read the endless strain of articles on ChessBase (creating their own hype, they’ve decided to call it ‘The Great Draw Debate‘) and elsewhere about the so-called ‘problem of short draws’. It sometimes feels like a real crusade. full story »

Beauty in Chess (I)

As promised, we present you the lecture by IGM Jonathan Rowson which he gave on Monday night, here in the Porto Mannu Residence in Capo d’Orso, Sardinia. The subject: beauty. full story »

What you shouldn’t do against a 2660

Something that doesn’t quite happen every day: being paired against someone with 2660 behind his name. Yesterday, in the third round of the Hogeschool Zeeland Tournament in Vlissingen, The Netherlands, I had to play against the famous Polish GM Michael Krasenkow, the world’s no. 48 and winner of the C group of this year’s Corus Chess Tournament. Such a special game deserves to be annotated and published on ChessVibes, doesn’t it? full story »

Underprivileged Peruvian children like chess too

The city of Cusco in Peru is mainly known as a backpacker resort, very close to the Inca town Machu Picchu. Like many cities in South-America, Cusco (about 300.000 inhabitants) has many slums where mostly immigrants live, coming from the surrounding countryside. In the Cusco slums thousands of children live and work on the streets without any form of protection by adults. They try their luck as vendors in the streets, but they are more likely to find themselves in trouble. Child labour, abuse, violence, malnourishment and for some also drug abuse (glue snorting) are the daily facts of their life. The Inti Huahuacuna Foundation ensure daytime-shelter for these underprivileged children, e.g. by organizing chess training sessions. full story »

Winning a won position…

… is known as one of the most difficult things in chess. Which is kind of a paradox, because when a position is already winning, the winning method shouldn’t be the problem anymore? But so often we think that such a position wins by itself, and suddenly we see that the opponent found some nasty counterplay. One thing I learnt is that, in a winning position, you shouldn’t stop calculating! Try to find the quickest way to win by just calculating accurately. All this is very relevant to the fantastic manoeuvre David Eggleston and I found in his fifth round game of the current First Saturday IM tournament in Budapest. full story »

Losing against Lajos Portisch – interview + lecture GM Mihail Marin

Today the third and last interview from Porto Mannu, this time with GM Mihail Marin. This time a bit less interview and a bit more lecture. The lecure had the surprising subject of three losses against the same player, the legendary Lajos Portisch who just like Spassky turned 70 this year. Marin’s story is the perfect example of how you can learn from your own games. Have fun! full story »

Chess improvement according to GM Jonathan Rowson

Today I present the second interview I did on Saturday, May 26th which was with GM Jonathan Rowson. He had finished his last round game against Hedinn Steimgrimsson about an hour before but despite his draw which probably should have been a win, I caught him in a good mood. The interview is about which of his three books he liked writing most, about future plans in writing, about chess improvement in general, about the secret behind his own successes (three times British champion), about practicing decision making, and about his last book Chess for Zebras. At the end you see a few small fragments of his lecture he did in Porto Mannu. Enjoy! full story »

Comparing lines and desperados – an interview with IM Jacob Aagaard

As already announced, I’m pleased to present you the first of three interviews I did in Porto Mannu last week. This one is with IM Jacob Aagaard, about him living in Scotland (and why not in Denmark), about his chess career (and why he isn’t a GM yet), about his publishing company (and why it wasn’t called Viking Chess), about doing lectures (while being a writer), about being a trainer (which seems to be his second nature) and about what Mikhail Tal is doing on the cover of the Italian version of his latest book… full story »

Beach boy Smerdon wins Bangkok Open and scores his second GM-norm

The Australian IM David Smerdon, who appeared on this site a couple of times before (e.g. here and here), started playing many tournaments as from January with the aim to score another GM result (he already had one). In Gibraltar, Moscow and Cappelle la Grande he didn’t succeed but last week he was very succesful at the Bangkok Chess Club Open. He finished clear first and grabbed his second GM norm with a half point to spare. For ChessVibes David analysed his crucial game against Philippine GM Antonio and reveals the secret of his success. full story »

Review: ‘Secrets of Practical Chess’ (new edition)

During the last Corus tournament I received good news: a new edition of John Nunn’s classic Secrets of Practical Chess (1998) was forthcoming. In those days (1998) I was working for Chess and Goshop Het Paard in Amsterdam, and I often had to advise chess players which books to buy. I have often recommended Nunn’s book to chess players of my own level (at the time I had a national rating of around 2100) and slightly below. full story »

Fritz, Rybka, or think for yourself after all?

In the glorious past grandmaster games still had something invincible, something you would look at with respect and would not dare giving your opinion about. Grandmaster games were something very complicated, something you should not show to beginners, since it would only confuse them. Since the rise of the computer, databases and engines, that is all gone. You can check in the database up to which point it was still theory and from that point on you can judge the players’ performance with any engine. The audience at home knows exactly what is happening from move to move and top players are complaining about the decline of respect. full story »

Analysis Shirov-Radjabov by IM Notkin

One of the most beautiful games so far, at the Corus Chess Tournament, was Shirov-Radjabov. We already brought you Radjabov’s ideas about it and IM Maxim Notkin agreed to let us publish his extensive analysis on this rest day, which appeared earlier at the website Chesspro.ru. The translation is by Paul Janse. full story »

Profundity at the MEC during Corus

Soon it will start again, the greatest chess tournament in the world. Wonderful to participate in and an excellent opportunity to meet old chess friends again. Nowhere else you’ll find so many (top) chess players together as in Wijk aan Zee. For those who like to have some explanation about the games, there’s even a special commentary tent where professional commentary is given. full story »

Choices and doubts (part I)

The cool thing about analysing your own games is that you can never tell beforehand how long you will be analysing. A serious tournament game against a strong opponent might be forgotten only hours after the game, while a relatively unimportant club game can haunt you for weeks. Recently, I played such a game on the competition of chessclub Max Euwe Amsterdam. full story »

In the kitchen of three young Dutch grandmasters

Yesterday night, after the second round of the Essent Tournament, the grandmasters Erwin l’Ami and Jan Smeets were having dinner in the canteen of the tournament hall, and I asked them if I could have an interview with them sometime during the tournament. “Now seems a perfect moment,�? Erwin said. Jan agreed. Later GM Jan Werle joined us. full story »

Andersson’s Rubinstein

Een belangrijke stap in mijn ontwikkeling als schaker was toen ik mij realiseerde dat er geen ’saaie openingen’ bestaan. Zwakke schakers hebben vaak de onbedwingbare neiging bepaalde openingen of varianten ’slaapverwekkend’ te noemen. Vaak zijn dit damepionspelen met snel e3 en/of Lf4, of Réti-achtige opstellingen. De toon waarop dit verkondigd wordt, is dikwijls zelfs enigszins verbitterd, ja: vijandig.

An important step in my development as a chess player was when I realised that there was no such thing as a ‘boring opening’. Weak players seem to have the urge to call certain openings or variations ‘tedious’. These are often Queen’s Pawn lines with a quick e3 and/or Bf4, or Réti-like setups. Often these words are uttered with a certain bitterness, or even hostility.

full story »

Healthier than ICC?

Bekend zijn de verhalen van de schaakverslaving die de Internet Chess Club (ICC) teweegbrengt. Spelers die uren en uren achter de pc doorbrengen in een poging hun virtuele rating hoger te krijgen dan die van het moment waarop begonnen werd. Het meest tot de verbeelding spreekt het getal achter het percentage of life online: het systeem van ICC houdt bij hoeveel van het waardevolle leven wordt verspild aan het zielloze geschuif met de muis… Een veel gezondere manier om online te schaken is de website Chess Tactics Server. Hoewel… gezond!?
Well known are the stories about how addictive the Internet Chess Club (ICC) can be. People who spend hours and hours behind their pc in an attempt to bring their virtual rating to a higher point - higher than they started that day! What always struck me the most is the ‘percentage of life online’: ICC’s system keeps track of how much of that valuable life is being squandered by shoving that mouse of yours… A much healthier way to play chess online can be found at the website Chess Tactics Server. More healthy? Well… full story »

Olympiadeflitsen

Het is niet bij te houden, zo’n Olympiade. Er worden zo ontzettend veel partijen gespeeld dat je er tureluurs van wordt. Waar te beginnen, zo vraagt de serieuze schaakstudent zich af. Een lawine van namen, partijen en zetten ontwijkend, beperkt menig schaakspeler zich tot het naspelen van de potjes van zijn landgenoten, om vervolgens weer over te gaan tot de orde van de dag. Maar er gebeurt natuurlijk nog veel meer. Een selectie. full story »

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