Archive for Columns
Thursday, April 08, 2010 21:22
Australia has a surface of 7,617,930 km², (2,941,299 square miles), making it the 6th biggest country in the world. However, currently there are only three Australian grandmasters on the FIDE rating list (the 4th retired not long ago). How is this possible?
I think I have found the solution to one of the greates enigmas in the world of chess: why...
Monday, April 05, 2010 16:45
Last week, in an important team match, my opponent played an innocent sideline against my pet-opening. I had prepared quite well for this encounter, but had not looked at this particular variation since it is so rarely played. Over the board, I knew I had once looked at this line in detail, and had also found a nice way of dealing with it - but to...
Anonymous
Tuesday, March 30, 2010 15:50
Have you ever had the situation where your opponent broke the rules, you considered calling an arbiter, but you thought it might not be worth it because of the bother and distraction it causes? At the European Championship in Rijeka I had two such cases, which I like to share with you.
Photo & text GM Dimitri Reinderman
If your opponent...
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 14:15
Perhaps it was because I'm currently reading The Age of Empathy - Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society, Frans de Waal's latest book on how and why humans (and other primates) are capable of showing empathy and solving moral problems - that I found myself shocked by the recent Europe Echecs interview with Topalov's manager Silvio Danailov. Topalov...
Friday, March 05, 2010 17:13
Chess players love wooden chess sets for their massive, easy-playing pieces, their obvious superiority over cheap plastic stuff and their distinguished classical look. But what about their sustainability?
I got interested in this question after seeing an advertisement for a truly magnificent chess set called the 'Endangered Parrots of the World...
Wednesday, March 03, 2010 20:46
He watched Max Euwe become World Champion. He chatted with Emanuel Lasker, and saved dozens of Jewish babies during the Second World War. Last night I had the privilege to play a club game against 99-year-old Professor Dr Johan van Hulst. I couldn't beat him.
Photo: Fred Lucas
Professor Dr Johan Wilhelm van Hulst was born in Amsterdam on January...
Thursday, February 04, 2010 17:00
There’s a picture of Mikhail Tal that has always seemed to me the ultimate chess player’s pose: Tal's looking at the board, chin on his thumb, his other arm folded under his fist, utter determination in his eyes. But what was Tal actually thinking at the time the picture was taken?
When I was just starting out as a chess player, I noticed my...
Sunday, January 31, 2010 20:12
Chess players, perhaps insisting on their world-wide status as 'smart people', have always seemed to me more formalistic and pedantic than your average customer at the grocery's. But sometimes being 'wrong' is much more fun.
How do you spell 'Korchnoi'? The questions rears its ugly head from time to time on chess forums and blogs. At first, it...
Friday, January 15, 2010 18:15
How would you fare as a chessplayer being transported back in time? Would your contemporary theoretical opening knowledge pay off? Would your understanding of modern ideas in chess strategy trump older concepts about chess?
These questions came into my head as I read a recent article on the Aardvarchaeology Scienceblog called The Fear of Time...
Tuesday, January 05, 2010 17:48
Every chess player, no matter how weak, has a high point in his career. Mine occurred in May 2007, during the last round of the Dutch Team Chess Championship. I was playing in the Master League, the highest level in Dutch chess, and I was surrounded by all the top players of The Netherlands. Moreover, I had prepared a spectacular line which was...
