Archive for March, 2009:
Eight-year-old crowned king of chess
Tran Minh Thang’s win at the World Youth Champs last year put capital chess back in the spotlight after nearly a decade of drought.
After nearly a decade of silence, Ha Noi chess returned to its place in the spotlight when eight-year-old Tran Minh Thang became the youngest world champion in the history of Ha Noi and Viet Nam chess.
At the 2008 World Youth Chess Championships, Thang beat out 94 other competitors in the U-8 category to win the gold. Viet Nam, which hosted the event, hoped to win at least one gold, but the young master’s victory was a surprise, which earned him a place as one of Viet Nam’s best athletes of 2008.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Ha Noi was the country’s leading chess centre, boasting champions like Luu Duc Hai, Dang Tat Thang, Dang Vu Dung, Bui Vinh and Hoang Thanh Trang, one of the world’s top 20 women’s chess players.
Ha Noi chess began to decline when the city poured funds and focus into sports played at the Southeast Asian Games, where chess wasn’t an event until recent years.
As a result, coaches and managers moved to other cities and Ha Noi chess fell into a state of decline. In the decade preceding Thang’s victory, the capital hadn’t earned a single significant achievement, often not even sending competitors to national tournaments. Read full article here
The Basics of Chess Openings
Chess openings are strategies involved in the first moves of a first games. Grandmasters devote a considerable amount of time to studying the opening and trying to come up with the best possible chess strategies. Here is a brief overview of this important phase of the chess game.
The First Move of the Chess Opening
The first two moves of the chess game largely define the possibilities of the chess opening. White always goes first, and the two most common moves are moving the pawn in front of the King two spaces forwards (known in algebraic notation as 1.e4) and moving the pawn in front of the King two spaces forwards (known in algebraic notation as 1.d4). There are other possible first moves for White, but they are far less common. By choosing one of these two moves (or a third move), White is defining the possibilities of the opening for Black. Black can only play certain opening strategies to respond to certain moves by White because each opening depends on a certain sequence of moves.
Read full article here
Strategies for Improving Online Chess Play
Playing chess on the computer has much in common with ‘over the board’ play with a ‘live’ opponent. In the latter situation, the parameters of play are set down and these are followed by mutual agreement.
Internet chess has more in common with correspondence chess. Here players are usually given an extensive amount of time to consider a position and make a move. Internet sites often allow players to agree to 3, 7 or 10 days in which to make a move. In addition players are often at liberty to consult opening books as well as texts on game theory and strategy.
Amateur vs Scientific Chess
Before stating a game with an unknown opponent, it is probably a good idea to study his or her previous games to gain an understanding of their level of play and the extent to which they are playing amateur or scientific chess. The former type of player is often referred to as a “wood pusher.” This is due to their lack of understanding of the “big picture” of the game. In his book titled “New Ideas in Chess,” GM Larry Evans points out that there are four factors at play in a chess game. Read full article here
Chess playing Astronaut visits Marshall Space Flight Center
Expedition 17 Space Station Astronaut Greg Chamitoff to Visit NASA’s Marshall Center April 1
What & Who: International Space Station astronaut Greg Chamitoff, who completed a six-month stay in space last year, will visit NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., April 1. Chamitoff returned to Earth on Nov. 30, 2008, with the STS-126 mission space shuttle crew. He arrived at the International Space Station in June 2008, and lived and worked on the station as a flight engineer and science officer with the Expedition 17 and 18 crews.
During his stay, Chamitoff helped to activate the Kibo Laboratory, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s research module. He also initiated the first public chess match from space. Chamitoff competed in a game against a kindergarten through third grade U.S. Chess Championship Team from Stevenson Elementary School in Bellevue, Wash.
When & Where: Wednesday, April 1
1:15 p.m. CDT – Astronaut Greg Chamitoff will provide highlights of his six-month stay on the International Space Station in the Marshall Center’s Huntsville Operations Support Center, Building 4663, conference room A-164.
2:25 p.m. – Chamitoff will be available for a brief question-and-answer session with news media in the Building 4663 Payload Operations Center Viewing Room. Read full article here
Chess game to be replayed because of a short draw
Wesley So clearly dominated the Phoenix Petroleum – Dapitan City Battle of GMs strong round robin competition collecting 5,0/5 in the first rounds and defeating his strongest competitors for first place – GM Torre and GM Gomez. After such a strong performance the result from round 6 Antonio Jr – Wesley So 1/2 – 1/2 came as a slight surprise.
The game itself was not the shortest that could be seen at round robin events, but it was a non fighting draw. Wesley So surprised Antonio Jr in the opening, and the players agreed to the draw in an equal position, but with a lot of material on the board after 22 moves played. Clearly this is a product of the intensive schedule and the multiple double rounds at the event and the current standings, but that did not seem to concern the organizers. The National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its President Prospero Pichay decided the results should not stand and the game has to be replayed.
The NCFP president justified the decision in front of local journalists, stating that this is not the first time the NCFP is ruling to replay a game due to non fighting draw, as the general rule followed is that a game has to have 30 moves.
Read full article here
Chessplayers with Big Balls
It’s a slow news time, the dreaded Spring Lull, shorter than usual this year because of the April Grand Slam event starting in a few weeks. Meanwhile, ChessBase has put up an entertaining photo gallery of top players at the 2007 candidates matches in Elista at the local bowling alley. Obligatory Obama reference included. Note the chessboard pattern on the walls. Maybe Ilyumzhinov will soon make this chess set mandatory.
I actually bowled in a friendly league with some college buddies one year. Not much on style, but I broke 200 a couple of times relying on the “big guy, heavy ball” approach. (My average was far below that.) I had to buy my own shoes because the one or two pairs of 13s they had were often out. My memory on the details is understandably hazy, but I’m pretty sure my roommate and I took our girlfriends bowling on New Year’s Eve one year, probably 1990. My practically blind, if functional and with a driver’s license, roommate Jimi performed the immortal feat of throwing his ball into the adjacent lane on two bounces only to get a strike in that lane. Of course we counted it. Hey, Pinole Valley Lanes is still there. If I’ve bowled in the last 15 years I don’t recall it. Read full article here
Stann Creek District chess tournament
Twelve year old Kris Sanchez, a Std VI student at Holy Angels Primary School in the Pomona Valley, Stann Creek district, won all five of his matches to place first in that district Youth Chess Tournament hosted by the Stann Creek Chess Association (S.C.C.A.) at the Stann Creek Ecumenical College on Sunday, March 22.
Gilbert Parham, a 13-year-old Std VI student also of Holy Angels won four matches lost a fourth round but won his fifth to rank second in the tournament.
Eleven year old Tony Sho, a Std VI student at Red Bank Christian School, lost his third round match, but won his fourth and fifth matches to finish at third place in the standings.
Thirteen other finalists will join Kris, Gilbert and Tony will be representing the Stann Creek district at the 2nd National Chess Olympiad to be held in Belize City on April 25.
In the 13 and older division, Gilbert will be joined by Luis Tut and Fitzroy Chan. Edwardo Chen joins Kris and Tony in the 11-12 year old division, while Lloyd Augustine, Herman Bull and Ivan Pixabaj will represent in the 9-10 division and Kenrick Francisco, Jovel Chiac and Damian Andrews will compete in the eight- and- under division.
Read full article here
