 Amber
Alert
 It's
that time of the year again when the cream of world chess
collectively close their eyes and move quickly, as they
meet at the grandiose Hotel Palais de la Mediterranée
on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, to pay homage
to a certain young lady called Melody Amber.
 The
Melody Amber tournament is a unique event in the chess calendar
as it combines rapid chess with blindfold chess. The tradition
started in 1992 when Dutch software billionaire Joop van
Oosterom decided to dedicate a chess tournament - organized
by his Monaco-based Association Max Euwe - to his newborn
daughter of the same name. And Oosterom is no ordinary chess
patron, because he's the world's No.1 ranked correspondence
player and former world champion!
With no ratings at stake and a hefty
€216,000 ($333,000) prize fund on offer at the Amber
tournament, we've seen some sensational sacrificial chess
from the players - many of which have appeared in our Game
of the Day selection with ICC site pros GM Joel Benjamin
& GM Larry Christiansen. ICC has also collaborated with
the Amber tournament and leading video maestros Peter Doggers
of Chessvibes,
and our very own Macauley Peterson, to provide excellent
video highlights of all the action, which can be viewed
either at the official site or here at ICC (why not view
both?).
After seven rounds of play at Amber, Magnus Carlsen and
Alexander Morozevich are in the joint lead in the blindfold
tournament, while Armenia's Levon Aronian holds a half point
leads at the top of both the rapid and combined standings
ahead of world champion Vishy Anand. So there's everything
to play for as the tournament moves into its final week,
so why not catch all the live action and video coverage
here at ICC?
ICC: finger
Amber08
Official site: www.amberchess2008.com
Click
here for Free Amber Video Reports from Macauley Peterson!
| RD |
DATE |
FREE AMBER GAME OF THE DAY |
HOST |
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1
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3/15
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GM Larry Christiansen
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3/16
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GM Joel Benjamin
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3/17
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GM Joel Benjamin
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3/18
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GM Joel Benjamin
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5
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3/20
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GM Joel Benjamin
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6
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3/21
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GM Joel Benjamin
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Ciudad
de Dos Hermanas — coming next week!
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 For
the ninth year running the XIX Internet Chess Tournament
"Ciudad de Dos Hermanas" (Spain) is being
held on the ICC
playing zone. Registration for the event is completely
free both for ICC members and non members!
This event is clearly the most
important Internet chess tournament in the world,
featuring the biggest number of participants. In the
2007 edition, nearly 2000 players from all over the
world took part. The winner, former child prodigy
and under-10 World Champion IM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun,
overcome an impressive field of 300 IM/GM’s,
including top players Shahriyar Mamedyarov,
Tigran L. Petrosian, Gata Kamsky, Hikaru
Nakamura, Kiril Georgiev and Sergey
Shipov.
This year the prize fund will
be roughly $12,000 (€7,700), with roughly $3,400
(€2,000) for the winner. In addition, there are
many class prizes and special cash prizes for amateur
players. Also, winners can achieve the opportunity
to travel to Dos Hermanas for the main Event, with
Topalov, Shirov, Polgar and Vallejo,
at the end of April.
As in previous editions,
the playing system is as follows: twelve 12- round
Swiss qualifiers using the playing rate: 3 minutes
per game. Qualifiers are held twice a day from March
28th to April 2nd, and the finals are held on April
4th and 5th. The 12 qualifier winners plus the 20
best scores qualify to the 32 KO final.
Full rules, guidelines and registrations
can be found at our special Dos
Hermanas website.
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Junior
Special
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 We
are still offering the World Champion "Junior"
chess engine at an EXCLUSIVE price for ICC-members
only. The single-processor version (Junior) is available
for $29.95 and the multi-processor version (Deep Junior)
is available for $49.95. During the month of March
only, if you sign up for a new ICC membership or renew
an existing membership for a year or more, we'll take
a further $10-20 off, bringing the price down to $19.95
for Junior and $29.95 for Deep Junior!
All you need to do is sign up or renew online before
purchasing Junior. Once you are a member, it's easy
to buy:
1) Download
ICC Dasher 1.2.2 (Windows) for free
2) Sign into the ICC using Dasher
3) Select Purchase Junior Engine from the Web
menu
After purchasing, you can download
Junior to your computer for immediate use.
Junior integrates with ICC
Dasher 1.2 , allowing you to analyze your games
or "Play vs. Computer" offline.
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GM Ronen Har-Zvi: "New Ideas
in the Slav and Semi-Slav Defences"
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In a series of new opening videos
for ICC Chess.FM, GM Ronen Har-Zvi
investigates the latest developments and trends that
will keep you up-to-date in the rock-solid Slav and
Semi-Slav Defences.
Click "Play
Video" for a free 5 minute preview of Ronen's
latest video. To listen to the full videos, sign
up for membership!
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"Chess Talk" with IM John Watson
 Tune-in
for Chess Talk with IM John Watson on ICC Chess.FM.
John's weekly 60+ minute show (members only) will feature
an interview with leading chess personalities. All shows
run on demand for members after airing.
This week (Tue., 18 March.), joining
IM John Watson on Chess Talk is Dutch IM Jeroen Bosch
of SOS fame. A prolific writer for various chess publications,
Jeroen found his niche in the chess market while working
for New in Chess. His SOS article in the magazine
continually perplexed (and pleasantly surprise) us with
the seemingly endless stream of unorthodox opening ideas
that soon spawned its own series of books.
The highly acclaimed SOS series put
the fun back into studying openings again as it provided
intermediate chess players with perfectly playable, easily
digestible opening ideas: deviations from main line opening
theory at a very early stage of the game (usually before
move six).
Find below a selection of free 5-minute
previews of the latest shows. To listen to the full shows,
sign
up for membership!
Attack with LarryC!
 New
at ICC Chess.FM - Attack With LarryC! A
weekly 30 min+ show on Wednesdays at 15:00 EDT
(and available on-demand thereafter for members), featuring
three-time U.S. Champion Larry Christiansen, one of the
most dangerous and respected attacking players of his generation.
Larry is a feared competitor and attacker
who authored two popular books that showcase his aggressive
style: Storming the Barricades and Rocking
the Ramparts. And each week on his show, Larry will
feature various attacking motifs and themes and showing
you how best to play for mate.
Click "Play
Video" for a free 5 minute preview of Larry's latest
video. By popular demand from members, we are now archiving
previous Attack
with LarryC shows. This video is just one of the many
benefits of being a full member of ICC - so, sign
up for membership!
Ask the Renaissance Man
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Tune-in for "Ask the Renaissance
Man" with National Master Dan Heisman
every Thursday at 21:00 EDT. You send in the questions
and Dan provides the answers every week on his Q&A
show. Questions on tournament rules, opening play,
chess books, chess politics, current events, and more!
Click
"Play Video" for a free 5 minute preview of Dan's
latest show. To listen to the full show, sign
up for membership!
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Boris Alterman's Gambit Guide
Israeli GM Boris Alterman
is best known as a leading chess advisor for the multi-title
winning chess software program (Deep) Junior, where he specialized
in developing its opening book.
GM Joel Benjamin "Game
of the Week"
 Three-time
U.S. Champion GM Joel Benjamin starts his
weekly show every Friday at 15:00 Server Time. Click "Play
Video" for a free 5 minute preview of Joel's latest
show. To listen to the full show, sign
up for membership!
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 are available. Enjoy!
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March
Marathon Results!
In the bullet sections, frank001
won the u1800 bullet by winning a total of 207 rounds
during the 24 hours! In the over 1800 bullet, KingDestroyer
was our champion, with a total of 136 points. EternalWarrior
scored 71 points to win the u1600 Blitz marathon.
The over 1600 Blitz went to Yarosavich with
a total of 48.5 points. Finally, the standard marathon
went to TheWhisper, who scored 28.5 during
the 24 hour marathon. Congratulations to our champions!
Many others won prizes during the event. Look for
the next Marathon in May!
CrisGrossi's
1500 Tourney Celebration
CrisGrossi's 1500 Tourney Celebration
is scheduled for Wednesday, March 26th at 17:00 server
time. The Celebration tourney will be a 25 round swiss
3 0 blitz tourney. Join the hundreds who will undoubtedly
be playing, and see where you stack up against the
competition! Prizes will be awarded to the top 5 finishers!
Congratulations Cris and thanks for running so many
tourneys!
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Nightly
Blitz Tourneys
Seven days a week at 23:00 server
time, ICC is proud to present the Nightly Blitz Events!
Tomato runs a 2 6 swiss 5 round tourney for all players
with a blitz rating below 1500. At the same time,
Cooly runs a 5 0 swiss 7 round tourney for all players
rated 1500 or above in blitz. The nightlies are among
the most popular scheduled tourneys on ICC, so come
out tonight and join up!
 Tourney
Tip of the Week:
How to leave a tourney: If
for any reason, you need to leave a tourney before
it is completed, there is a right way and a wrong
way to leave the tourney. The wrong way is to simply
disconnect and leave the manager and other players
wondering if you are coming back or not. The right
way is to type "tell <bot> leave"
and the bot will remove you from the tourney. For
example, if you're in a tomato tourney, you would
type "tell tomato leave". Either
way, you will be assessed dr-points, but you will
keep the manager and other players happy if you leave
the tourney the proper way.
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ICC Quiz #5554
White Mates in 2
To play this puzzle on
the ICC type:
tell trainingbot number 5554
Then type: play trainingbot
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ICC Quiz #5574
White mates in 3
To play this puzzle on
the ICC type:
tell trainingbot number 5574
Then type: play trainingbot
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Dangerous Weapons: 1 e4 e5
John Emms, Glenn Flear & Andrew Greet
 In
Dangerous Weapons: 1 e4 e5, renowned opening experts
John Emms, Glenn Flear and Andrew Greet take a revolutionary
look at one of the most famous and widely-played chess
openings. Instead of travelling down well-trodden
and analysed paths, the authors concentrate on fresh
or little-explored variations, selecting a wealth
of 'dangerous' options for both colours. Whether playing
White or Black, a study of this book will leave you
confident and fully-armed, and your opponents running
for cover!
Dangerous Weapons is an exciting
series of opening books which supply the reader with
an abundance of hard-hitting ideas to revitalize his
or her opening repertoire. Many of the carefully chosen
weapons are innovative, visually shocking, incredibly
tricky, or have been unfairly discarded; they are
guaranteed to throw even your most experienced opponent
off balance.
192 pages
Price $24.95
- 
Buy
now!
Chess Explained: The French -
Viacheslav Eingorn & Valentin Bogdanov
 Chess
Explained books provide an understanding of an opening
and the middlegames to which it leads, enabling you
to find the right moves and plans in your own games.
It is as if you were sitting at the board with a chess
coach answering your questions about the plans for
both sides, the ideas behind particular moves, and
what specific knowledge you need to have.
The French Defence is one of the
most important chess openings. Its qualities are such
that it appeals to a wide range of chess temperaments:
it is solid yet uncompromising, and with a variety
of chaotic variations to appeal to the most bloodthirsty
of players, but also offering more tranquil lines
to those seeking a quieter existence. While it is
hard for White to avoid at least some imbalance in
the position, he also has a wide choice. In some of
the most critical lines, he accepts major structural
weaknesses in return for piece-play and dynamic chances,
while he can also seek to establish a modest space
advantage without such heavy positional commitments.
128 pages (248 mm by 172 mm)
Price $23.95
-
Buy
now!
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Forcing Chess Moves - Charles Hertan
 This
rich book on chess tactics proposes a revolutionary
method for finding winning moves. Charles Hertan has
made an astonishing discovery: the failure to consider
key moves is often due to human bias. Your brain tends
to disregard many winning moves because they are counter-intuitive
or look unnatural.
We can no longer deny it, computers
outdo us humans when it comes to tactical vision and
brute force calculation. So why not learn from them?
Charles Hertan’s radically different approach
is: use COMPUTER EYES and always look for the most
forcing move first!
With a foreword by three-time
US chess champion Joel Benjamin, a member of the Deep
Blue Computer team that defeated world champion Garry
Kasparov in 1997.
382 pages
Price $28.95
-
Buy
now!
Chess Explained: The Nimzo Indian - Reinaldo Vera
 The
Nimzo-Indian is one of the most important of all chess
openings, and popular at all levels of play. Together
with the Queen's Indian (also covered in this series),
the Nimzo has provided the backbone of the opening
repertoire of a large portion of the world's top players
over the last 80 years. It is considered a fully reliable
defence, and provides winning chances for both sides
as it leads to structures of great strategic variety
and complexity. Key battlegrounds in the Nimzo include
the blockade, IQP positions, the handling of unbalanced
pawn-structures, and the struggle between bishop and
knight. All these topics are covered in depth in this
book, and an understanding of them will prove valuable
in a much broader context than just the Nimzo-Indian.
Reinaldo Vera comes from Cuba
and gained his grandmaster title in 1988. He has won
the Cuban Championship on two occasions and was a
member of the Cuban national team for more than two
decades. Vera has written for many chess magazines,
including New in Chess, Jaque and Peon
de Rey. He is also a FIDE Senior Trainer, and
the coach of the Cuban team.
112 pages (248 mm by 172 mm).
Price $23.95
-
Buy
now!
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Solution to
ICC Quiz #5554
1.Rxd6+ Bxd6
2.Ne5#
submitted by funky-granny
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Solution to
ICC Quiz #5574
1.Qh7+ Kxh7
2.Rxh6+ Kg8/Rh8#
submitted by lechacal2
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