 A Chinese Cracker
Russia has dominated chess since World War II. All the signs now
indicate that China, which had no chess tradition before the 1970s,
is set to become the game’s new superpower for the 21st century.
Recently, China defeated Russia in a summit match. Now, as part of
Liverpool’s celebrations of its 800th anniversary as a city in the
United Kingdom, they take on the UK in a six-round Scheveningen team
match.
The eight-player teams consist of four men, two women and two
juniors. China not only has the highest average Elo at 2571,
compared to 2551, they also have a much younger squad with an average
age of 20, compared to 29 for the UK.
The odds are therefore heavily stacked against the UK despite having
the more experienced top boards in Michael Adams and Nigel Short. And
indeed, after four rounds, they are taking something of a Mersey
beating as China, with three 5-3 victories (and one 5-3 defeat),
leads the match 18-14.
| ELO |
TIT |
CHINA (5.0) |
RES |
U.K. (3.0) |
TIT |
ELO |
| 2649 |
GM |
Zhang, Pengxiang |
1 - 0 |
Adams, Michael |
GM |
2724 |
| 2523 |
WGM |
Hou, Yifan |
½ - ½ |
Short, Nigel |
GM |
2683 |
| 2626 |
GM |
Wang, Hao |
½ - ½ |
Rowson, Jonathan |
GM |
2599 |
| 2696 |
GM |
Wang, Yue |
½ - ½ |
Pert, Nicholas |
GM |
2536 |
| 2685 |
GM |
Bu, Xiangzhi |
1 -0 |
Jones, Gawain |
GM |
2526 |
| 2681 |
GM |
Ni, Hua |
½ - ½ |
Howell, David |
GM |
2519 |
| 2439 |
WGM |
Shen, Yang |
1 - 0 |
Houska, Jovanka |
IM |
2401 |
| 2278 |
WFM |
Ding, Yixin |
0 - 1 |
Arakhamia-Grant |
IM |
2418 |
|
|
R1 |
R2 |
R3 |
R4 |
R5 |
R6 |
|
| China |
5 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
- |
- |
18 |
| United Kingdom |
3 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
- |
- |
14 |
|
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 Mexico City Countdown
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 Mexico City Countdown
 Sep 12 - Sep 30
 The biggest event of the year gets underway next week, as eight of the world’s top players do battle 12-30 September in Mexico City for the $1.3m World Chess Championship tournament.
The gladiatorial contest sees World Champion Vladimir Kramnik defending the FIDE reunification title he won last year from Veselin Topalov - but he faces a formidable challenge from world no.1 Vishy Anand, Alexander Morozevich, Peter Leko, Levon Aronian, Peter Svidler, Boris Gelfand and Alexander Grischuk.
ICC will have full coverage of all the action as it happens, when it happens! On ICC Chess.FM, US Chess Journalist of the Year, Mig Greengard, will lead our live commentary team that will include Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen, Jon Speelman, Gregory Kaidanov and John Fedorowicz. Also live from the Mexico City press room will be our reporter Macauley Peterson, who will be providing interviews, gossip and video footage throughout.
Look out for details of our extensive coverage early next week at ICC.
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| We want to introduce Especta, the Official Travel Agency of the World Chess Championship Mexico 2007. Especta is offering you various interesting
vacation packages for all of you who are planning to come to Mexico for this great
event. |
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 En Passant: Duncan R. Oxley
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 ICC was sad to hear this week of the sudden death of one of its most active volunteers, Duncan R. Oxley, after a long bout of illness. He died Sunday, September 2, aged just 45.
Duncan was known as autobot and, more recently, as dro on ICC. He was an administrator, senior tournament director and, most of all, an integral part of our ICC family. Duncan will be sorely missed by all at ICC. Photo courtesy of the USCF website.
One of his (many!) passions was the establishment of a thriving chess community at Marina Library, near his California home.
Donations can be sent to:
Friends of Marina Library
P.O. Box 493
Marina, CA 93933
U.S.A.
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GM Joel Benjamin "Game of the Week"
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Game of the Week
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Only for members. New on ICC Chess.FM! Three-time U.S. Champion GM Joel Benjamin starts his new weekly show every Friday at 15:00 Server Time. Joel is regarded
by many as one of the best commentators and analysts' we have in the game today, and each Friday he will be giving us his insight and spin with his selection of Game of the Week.
This is a not-to-be-missed 30-minute video is exclusively for ICC members only -- so if you want to get ahead of the game, get ready to tune-in! By popular demand and requests from members, ALL of Joel Benjamin's GOTW
videos will be available now 24/7 by clicking here for his library site archiving all shows. Enjoy!
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John Watson "Chess & Books" with IM Greg Shahade, Commissioner of the United States Chess League
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Only for members. John’s guest this week (4 Sept.) is IM Greg Shahade, Commissioner of the United States Chess League. He is the founder of the New York Masters and the USCL. He is also a former Executive Board member of the United States Chess Federation. Last week, the new season of the USCL got underway on ICC, and Greg will be discussing its impact on US Chess as well as politics and books. Watch John Watson "Chess & Books" with IM Greg Shahade
Next week (Sept. 11), John's guest will be FM Carsten Hansen
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IM Alex Lenderman's Smith Morra Gambit series - part 3/3
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View the Smith Morra Gambit - Part 3
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ONLY for members . New on ICC Chess.FM! presents part three of IM Alex Lenderman's three-part series on the Smith Morra Gambit. Contrary to common belief,
the Smith Morra Gambit is a sound and very dangerous weapon against the Sicilian - and fun to play! Alex Lenderman teaches you all the nuances, tricks and newly discovered secrets of the Smith Morra Gambit.
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Chess Classic Mainz 2007 - Arvind Aaron & R.B.Ramesh
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ICC Chess.FM India
Chess Classic Mainz 2007
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FREE for all. ICC Chess.FM India presents a snapshot from the recent Mainz Chess Classic 2007 Rapid Qualifiers, that saw Vishy Anand and Levon Aronian go through to contest the finals. Hosted by Arvind Aaron and in-depth analysis by GM R.B.Ramesh.
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Games annotated by GM Ronen Har-Zvi
  Former world under-16 junior champion GM Ronen Har-Zvi has a reputation of being one of the toughest simul masters on ICC. Below are some of his highlights from his August series of "Take the Ronen Challenge" prize simuls.
Indiana-Jones - Charlie Allen
Our first position from August' series of simuls was reached after white's 29th move. I have sacrificed (sorry, lost!) a pawn in the opening, but had some compensation for it that I managed to convert into an advantage for white, and won back the pawn.
White is clearly better here - but black's next move is just a very basic mistake that I wanted to demonstrate to you all: 29 ..c5?? As I wrote above - white was better, BUT voluntarily playing c6-c5 and opening up the a1-h8 diagonal is clearly a strategical blunder, the game soon ends thereafter. 30 dxc5 Rxc5? 31 Rxc5 Qxc5 32 Bxf6! gxf6 33 Qh5 Qe7 34 Qg6+ 1-0
Indiana-Jones - TheBrutal
Here, white enjoys a slightly better position, more space and well placed pieces - but nothing dramatic. It is hard to see how he can win in just a few moves.
17 ..Nh5 18 Nd5 Qg4?? When I am asked (and we will see this also in the next example ), I always say "Chess is 99% tactics. The best way to think about positions with many threats is firstly to calculate the checks, the captures and the pins etc." - for club players, this is so helpful and a guaranteed way to increase your rating. This - and the next diagram - are simple examples. Of course, 18 ..Qd8 was correct. 19 Nxe7+ Kh8 20 Qd2 Bxb2 21 Qxb2+ (Check!) 21 ..f6 22 Nd5 and white soon won.
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Indiana-Jones - Deluzion
15 ..Bg4 Black has clearly misplayed the opening, and was faced with a very bad position from early on. While white is completely winning here, it is still important (as always) to try and calculate the correct moves. 16 e5! Winning a piece - but 16 Nxd5 might have been even stronger. 16 ..Bxf3 17 exd6 Rg8 This is maybe what black was counting on - but as I suggested above, in complicated positions when there are many threats, many hanging pieces, always calculate first the captures and the checks. Because if you have, you would easily find white's next move. 18 Rfe1+! Seeing that 18 dxc7 is mate in 2, all white needs to do is find a way to move his "f1" rook. And if it comes with a check, even better - new game! Not 18 dxc7?? Rxg2+ 19 Kh1 Rg3#. 18 ..Kd7 19 Re7+ Also winning is 19 dxc7 Rxg2+ 20 Kf1 Rag8 21 c8Q+. 19 ..Kxd6 20 Qf4+ and white soon won.
Indiana-Jones - drstrangemove
First impressions can often be deceptive.
The position above looks about roughly equal, doesn't it? Material is equal and there's an almost symmetrical position - but the big difference is that white's pieces are very active and black a-pawn is a potential big target for white. This is enough to give white a big advantage here.
18 Nxd4 Nd5?! Admittedly, 18 ..Rfd8 was better.19 Nc4±It is not easy to find a defense for black against Nd6. 19 ..Rfb8! 20 Nd6 a5?!Now white's bishop get lots of play - 20 ..N7f6!? was better. 21 Bb5! Nc5 22 Nxb7? 22 Rdc1 was winning. 22... Nxb7 23 Bc6 Ne7?! Instead, 23 ..Nb4, controlling the b4 square, was better. 24 Bf3! Ra6 25 b4! a4 26 b5!? Ra5? The losing move. After 26...Ra7, black's position is very difficult but probably not immediately resignable. But after 26...Ra5, the game is over. 27 Nc6! Nxc6 28 bxc6 And with c7 and Rd8 coming after the knight moves, black resigned.
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Chess Explained: Modern Benoni -
Zenon Franco
The Modern Benoni is a perennial favourite among players looking to create winning chances with Black. In this book Franco shows how Black can seek to create the kind of mayhem that has attracted champions such as Tal, Kasparov and Topalov to the Benoni. Read
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Practical Endgame Play - Beyond the Basics - Glenn Flear
Grandmaster and endgame expert Glenn Flear has created an in-depth book of all endgames which feature either two pieces for each side, or two pieces against one - an essential area of the game that has never before been comprehensively covered in one volume. Read
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Price $29.95 - Buy
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Fighting the Anti-Sicilians - Richard Palliser
 White players prefer to avoid the Open Sicilian, preferring one of the many 'Anti-Sicilians' lines on offer. These annoying lines have become the scourge of Sicilian players, but in this book Richard Palliser, a lifelong Sicilian devotee, decides it's time for Black players to finally fight back.
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Saitek Competition Game Clock
 Saitek's new Competition Game Clock is sleek, stylish and brightly colored. Its unique Coaches Favorite feature allows you to edit and save your favorite timer mode.
Two large clear LCD screens display remaining time accurate to the second, as well as countdown and move features etc.
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True Lies in Chess - Lluis Comas Fabrego
 Comas Fabrego takes on the challenging task of separating the truth from lies in chess literature. Guided by many practical examples and clear advice, the readers will learn how to reduce the complexity of chess towards the essential features of each position, and so improve their play.
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