ICC Newsletter - Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Vol I Issue XI - March 08, 2006

U.S. Championship
Walter Browne vs Gata Kamsky

U.S. Championship Has Begun

The 2006 U.S. Chess Championship began on March 2nd at the beautiful NTC Promenade in San Diego, California hosted by America's Foundation for Chess. Sixty-four of America's top players have gathered for the event which holds a new tournament format. The players have been placed into two separate groups, Group A and Group B, 32 players in each group. The players will only play opponents in their same group. The overall winner in each group will then face off in a final championship match of two games on March 12th. The winner in this final match-up will be the new U.S. Champion and the winner of the overall first place prize of 25,000 USD.

Prizes for this year's event have made the U.S. Championship a desired tournament to participate in. There is a total prize fund of $253,600 with prizes being paid out to the overall winner, overall second place finisher and sectional prizes as well going to players placed in each group.

On top of this whopping figure there are also two other prize funds available to the players. The Roberts Family Bent Larsen Prize which rewards the most combative player whose performance stands out for eschewing early draws and for fighting hard throughout the event. There is also the $1,000 Joyce Jillson Brilliancy Prize for women. This prize fund was created in memory of the late Joyce Jillson, an actress, singer, writer, philosopher, feminist, public speaker, and chess enthusiast. Joyce Jillson was an active player on the ICC. This prize fund was created to reward women to always strive for that which is "unattainable" - to blaze new trails and show that artistic and intellectual endeavors are not just the domain of men.

At the boards, the tournament has been full of great chess action. After six rounds of action GM Alexander Onischuk and GM Dmitry Gurevich are leading Group A with 4.0/5. In Group B GM Yury Shulman is the sole leader with 4.5/5 followed closely by GM Alexander Shabalov, GM Igor Novikov, GM Larry Christiansen, and WIM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs with 3.5/5. You can view all the standings at the U.S. Championship official web site.

Download all of the games played through round three.

White to mate in two

Problem #645 **
submitted by Franz4913

To play this puzzle on the ICC type:
tell trainingbot number 645

Then type:
play trainingbot

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Chess for Tigers $21.95 - by Simon Webb
	Do you want to win more games? Then become a Tiger. Chess for Tigers tells you how to make the most of your playing strength, how to play upon your opponents weaknesses, how to steer the game into a position which suits you and not your opponent, how to get results against strong opposition and how to avoid silly mistakes. Full of common-sense advice, straight talking and humour, and enlivened by a set of witty illustrations, this book is an acknowledged chess classic.

Exploiting Small Advantages $22.50 - by Eduard Gufeld
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50 Essential Chess Lessons $23.95 - by Steve Giddins
	Steve Giddins has chosen 50 supremely instructive games - some old, some new, and including many that few readers will have seen before. He has annotated these games in detail from a modern perspective, explaining the useful lessons that can be learnt from them, while avoiding the harmful dogma that characterized many older works of this type. Topics include: Attacking the King, Defence, Piece Power, and Endgame Themes. Each game is followed by a recap of the main lessons to be learned.

Team 45 45 League Sign-ups For Tournament 30 Team entries are now open for tournament #30. Get in on the serious action and the team camaraderie. Team entries run through March 14. Round 1 begins on March 21, and play continues through approximately May 30 if your team makes it to the playoffs. The League provides team format competitive play for ICC members of all levels, with sections for team averages of Under 2200, Under 2000, Under 1800, Under 1600, and even for Under 1300! The League provides great competition, in a team atmosphere, for the high rated and for the beginner alike! View more details on the signups. Visit the official Team 45 45 League web site.

Dos Hermanas VII on ICC, Free Entry, Cash Prizes!

For the seventh consecutive year, ICC is hosting the annual Internet Chess Tournament "Ciudad de Dos Hermanas" 2006. The cash prize fund amounts to EUR 6,100 (about 7,250 USD), plus ICC membership prizes.

Entry is completely FREE. You don't even need to be a paying member of ICC to play.

Starting March 17th, there will be 12 Swiss-system qualifying tourneys, that will begin at 2pm and 7pm server time on every day. You can take part in all of them. Qualifier winners along with the 20 best-scoring players will advance to the knockout finals, which will be played on the 24th and 25th of March. The time control is now shorter, at 4/1 for all rounds.

Ciudad de Dos Hermanas

Last years statistics were really good: 61 GMs, 110 IMs took part in a field of 1,303 players from 79 countries. Overall winner was GM Daniel Fridman (2559) and other top players that qualified for the final were GMs Sakaev (2649), Sasikiran (2670), Harikrisna (2650) and Nakamura (2644).

Even if you are not aiming to win a prize, this tournament gives you a chance to meet world class players! We hope that Dos Hermanas will become the internet chess tourney of the year once more.

If you wish to participate, the rules, entry forms and the full schedule are at www.doshermanas.net. Make sure to register early; your registration is valid for all qualifiers, but you do not need to play all.


New ICC members get a free issue of New in Chess! That's right! Sign-up as a new member of the ICC and you will receive a free issue of New In Chess magazine. New In Chess is one of most popular chess magazines with excellent analysis and commentary from some of the top grandmaster's in the world. Join ICC. Read more about New In Chess magazine.

FIDE Champ Rising from Ashes? In our last newsletter the current FIDE Champion, GM Veselin Topalov was finding troubles in Linares. Now it appears the FIDE Champion has risen from the ashes after the weak start of three losses and two draws. GM Topalov had the onlookers concerned early on when one of his losses came at the hands of the second lowest rated master in the field, GM Teimour Radjabov, who is a full 101 points lower rated than the FIDE Champion. However, in round five, GM Topalov gave his chess fans a quick thrill by defeating GM Ivanchuk in 48 moves with black pieces playing the Slav defense. This was not enough to break GM Topalov's weak streak. In round six he lost to the lowest rated player in the field GM Vallejo Pons who is a full 151 points lower rated than GM Topalov!! This was a shocker as the future for GM Topalov at Linares was looking very grim. The champion refused to take this abuse. Holding a draw in round seven against current leader GM Leko, defeating GM Svidler in round eight, defeating GM Bacrot in round nine, defeating current second place holder GM Aronian in round 10, holding a draw to GM Radjabov in round 11, and holding a draw to GM Ivanchuk in round 12. This comeback shows GM Topalov's strength as a champion, but can he come all the way back to win the tournament? After 12 rounds of action GM Topalov is only one point out of first place currently held by GM Peter Leko. If he does win the tournament, this could mark one of the great comebacks in the super-GM history. Standings After Round 12: 7.5 GM Peter Leko (Hungary 2740) 7.0 GM Levon Aronian (Armenia 2752) 6.5 GM Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan 2700) 6.5 GM Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria 2801) 6.0 GM Peter Svidler (Russia 2765) 5.0 GM Etienne Bacrot (France 2717) 5.0 GM Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine 2729) 4.5 GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (Spain 2650) Visit the ICC Linares tournament home page.

USCF College Chess League The USCF's College Chess Committee (CCC) is very pleased to announce the formation of a new College Chess League (CCL) soon to begin play on the ICC. The teams are located across the USA with players of every rating level. For more information on this exciting league visit the CCL home page.

Game commentary from IM Malcolm Pein IM Malcolm Pein writes for the Daily Telegraph.
Topalov,V (2801) - Radjabov,T (2700) [E70] XXIII SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (4), 22.02.2006 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Bd3 0-0 6.Nge2 c5 From a King's Indian the game becomes a Benoni 7.d5 e6 8.h3 exd5 9.exd5 Nfd7 Black intends to attack on the kingside with f7-f5 and bring his knight to the fine square e5. White prevents this. The other Black knight may go to c7 via a6 to protect e6 or advance to b4 10.f4 f5 11.0-0 Na6 12.Be3 Nc7 13.Qd2 Re8 14.Bf2 Nf6 15.a3 a5 16.Bh4 Bd7 17.Kh1 [17.Rae1!?] 17...Qe7 18.Rae1 Qf7 19.a4 By closing the queenside White shows his hand on the other wing 19...Na6 20.g4 Typical Topalov, no hanging around 20...Nb4 21.Bb1 fxg4 22.f5! Bxf5 23.Bxf5 gxf5 24.Rxf5 Qg6 25.Ref1 Rf8 26.Ng3? Missing a trick [Increasing the pressure on f6 was better and more consistent 26.Qf4 Nd7 27.Qxg4 Qxg4 28.hxg4 Ne5 29.b3 Nxg4 30.Ne4] 26...Nh5! 27.Nce4 [27.Nxh5 Rxf5 28.Rxf5 Qxf5; 27.Rxh5 Rxf1+ 28.Nxf1 Qxh5] 27...Nxg3+ 28.Nxg3 gxh3 29.b3 [29.Kh2] 29...Rae8 30.Kh2 Rxf5 31.Rxf5 Re5 [31...h6 was another way to prevent Rg5 32.Kxh3 Re4!] 32.Qg5 Qxg5 33.Bxg5 Nc2 White can still attack the black pawns fixed on dark squares so he has drawing chances. 34.Bd8? Better is...[34.Bf4 Nd4 35.Bxe5 Nxf5 36.Bxg7 Nxg3 37.Bc3 Nf1+ 38.Kxh3 b6 39.Bf6 Nd2 40.Be7 Nxb3 41.Bxd6 Nd2 42.Bc7 Nxc4 43.d6 Ne5 44.Bxb6] with a probable draw 34...Nd4 35.Rf4 [35.Rxe5 Bxe5 when the threat of Ne2 gives Black time to take a second pawn on b3] 35...Re3 36.Rg4 Kf7 37.Re4 Rxb3 White is three pawns down, and 38.Kxh3 walks into 38...Be5 39.Rg4 Nf5 40.Bh4 h6 when White must lose more material. 0-1

Basic Chess Endings by Reuben Fine – An invaluable reference on the endgame. GM Pal Benko has revised this classic with the latest innovations in the endgame and adapted the book to algebraic notation.
Depth and Beauty by Arthur Mandler – Arthur Mandler (1891-1971) was one of the giants of 20th-century chess endgame study composition; he had a mastery of the natural endgame study which has perhaps been equaled only by his friend, Richard Reti and the famous Russian composer Nikolei Grigoriev.
Improve Your Endgame Play by Flear – An ideal book for players wishing to improve their endgame play Grandmaster Flear clearly explain the principles which must be mastered.
Secrets of Rook Endings by Nunn – The first edition of the book ushered in a new era in chess publishing. It was the first book based on computer generated position databases that are guaranteed to provide a definitve result.

See these and many more new books

IM John Watson's book reviews at TWIC, updated regularly.

ICC Puzzle Solution

1.Nf4 Kh7 2.Rh1#