 Miami, Nice!
If you are a USCF member and not yet tried our sister-site World Chess Live, then today is the best day to do so - because you could be packing your bags and slapping on the sunscreen to head to Miami's famed South Beach by taking part in our exclusive WCL Miami Open 2008 Online Qualifier!
Just by competing this Saturday, August 16, in this FREE event, you can earn $50 off your Miami Chess Open 2008 entry fee. But there's more, much more! We have $10,000+ total worth in prizes, so sign-up now because there is nothing to lose and everything to gain. And each of the winners in the six rating classes (Open, U2100, U1900, U1700, U1500 & U1300) will win a free trip to the Miami Chess Open!
To take part you must already be a USCF member and sign-up to WCL to play in a 15-round USCF Quick-rated Swiss starting at 3pm ET on Saturday, 16 August. The time control for each round will be 3 0. Everyone will compete in one section, but at the end of the day, the top six scorers in each of the rating classes advance to the Sunday, August 17 Finals on WCL.
The official prizes on offer:
1st place: Free Miami Open Entry, Free Hotel Room, and 12 Months of WCL
2nd place: Half-Price Entry, One Free Re-entry, Half-Price Hotel Room, and 12 Months of WCL
3rd place: One-Third Off Entry, One Free Re-entry, One-Third Off Hotel Room, and 12 Months of WCL
4th, 5th, & 6th: $50 Off Entry Fee and 12 Months of WCL
WCL Miami Open 2008 Online Qualifier
Miami Chess Open 2008
Magnanimous Magnus Update
Many thanks to ALL in the chess community who rallied to Magnus Carlsen's clarion call to help raise funds for Dusan Popovic, the young Serbian grandmaster urgently in need of medical treatment.
It did indeed turn out to be "Magnanimous” Magnus as the Norwegian teen ace and the Internet Chess Club joined forces last Monday to raise near to $12,000 in the fundraising simultaneous. A big "Thank You" from Magnus Carlsen and ICC to all who donated to the cause!
There were ICC qualifiers for seats in the simul with entry for as little as 5 chekels to play; 6 fixed-price seats were sold on eBay for $500; there were 18 seats sold on eBay in a Dutch auction for $190 each; U.S. shock-jock Howard Stern and Dr. Jim Roberts, of the America's Foundation for Chess paid $1000 to play; the Chess.FM commentary team donated $800; our Spanish partners at CET donated $300; and even World Champion Vishy Anand sent a message of support along with his own personal donation of $750.
Carlsen played 25 games during the fundraiser for Popovic. He won 19, drew 5 and lost only one game - to the German correspondence GM Dr. Hans-Joachim Hofstetter, after falling into some well-known tricks in the “Dangerous Dilworth” variation of the Ruy Lopez Open. Click here for the pgn download of all 25 games.
ICC Live Coverage
Tal Memorial
Look out for our live coverage of the Tal Memorial that will take place in Moscow from August 18-27, 2008. The incredibly strong field includes Kramnik, Morozevich, Alekseev, Ivanchuk, Shirov, Kamsky, Ponomariov, Mamedyarov, Leko and Gelfand.
ICC will have live relays of all the games and the Chess.FM team of Mig and his GM sidekicks of Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen, Ronan Har-Zvi and Nick de Firmian will be on the air for commentary and GOTD. Play starts daily at 7am ET with the rest day being Sat., August 23.
Here is the official website: http://www.russiachess.org/
NH Chess Tournament
Another big event to look out for with live ICC coverage is the NH Chess Tournament, organized in co-operation with the Monaco-based Association Max Euwe. It will take place from August 20-30, 2008 at the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in the centre of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The Experience team includes: Bareev (Russia, 2655), Kortchnoi (Switzerland, 2602), Jussupow (Germany, 2587), Agdestein (Norway, 2583) and Ljubojevic (Serbia, 2555).
The Rising Stars team includes Wang Yue (China, 2704), Cheparinov (Bulgaria, 2687), Caruana (Italy, 2630), Stellwagen (The Netherlands, 2616) and Erwin l'Ami (The Netherlands, 2610).
ICC Chess.FM's Macauley Peterson (who was recently voted by the Chess Journalists of America as their Journalist of the Year!) will be on-hand in Amsterdam, bringing us his unique video spin on this intriguing match-up of Experience vs. Rising Stars.
The official website is: http://www.nhchess.com/
August Membership Special!
 The dog days of summer are with us, but this time it comes with a special membership offer here at ICC that you just can't pass up. Now is your chance to SAVE $60 while at the same time turbo-charging ICC Dasher with the innovative World Champion "Junior" chess engine. Junior FAQ: http://www.chessclub.com/help/Junior
We are offering Junior for FREE all of this month with a purchase of a three-year ICC membership, new or renewal. At just $149.95 for three years, you already save $30 compared to the to the regular one-year price, while Junior would normally cost an additional $29.95 at our exclusive members-only price, saving you a total of about $60!
All you need to do is sign up or renew online at the three-year rate during the month of August and then download Junior 10.1 (the latest version of this engine) using Purchase Junior Engine from the Dasher Web menu. If you prefer, you also have the option of purchasing Deep Junior for just $20 (the normal difference for members).
Junior integrates with ICC Dasher, allowing you to analyze your games or "Play vs. Computer" offline. This is also the only UCI-COMPATIBLE version of Junior on the market, so you can run it in your other favorite chess programs in addition to Dasher.
So what are you all waiting for -- Save $60 and get Junior now!
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GM Ronen Har-Zvi's Blunderland Series
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With Chess Talk and John Watson on vacation until September, each Tuesday through August Chess.FM will have a "summer special" with some new videos for you all to enjoy. First up is part one of Ronen's Blunderland, as our own GM Ronen Har-Zvi follows up on the success of his Winter Blunderland special from last year. This time, with the Anand-Kramnik match looming on the horizon, Ronen takes a look at blunders of the world champions. Yes, it can even happen to the best of them!
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Mondays: GM Ronen Har-Zvi "New Ideas
in the Petroff's Defense"
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The Petroff Defence (sometimes
called the Russian Defence, and named after Russia's
Alexander Petrov, 1794-1867) is considered as one
of Black's most reliable and solid methods of meeting
the king's pawn opening. It is easy to play and an
excellent choice for someone looking for an alternative
to the Scotch Opening, the Italian Game and the ‘Spanish
torture’ of the Ruy Lopez.
Until a few years ago, the Petroff was an opening that was favored by only a few top Grandmasters, including Anatoly Karpov and Artur Yusupov. However, the last few years have seen a dramatic rise in its popularity, and it now provides battlefields for many top clashes of the modern elite players, including Anand, Kramnik, Leko, Topalov, and Shirov. And in the latest of his "New Ideas in..." series, GM Ronen Har-Zvi, takes a closer look under the microscope at the solid Petroff. |
Click here for a free 5 minute preview of Ronen's latest video. To
listen to the full videos, sign
up for membership!
Tuesdays: 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., 29 July), joining IM John Watson on Chess Talk is English IM John Cox (a.k.a. octavia on ICC). A former British junior champion, John has made a name for himself as an author of four clearly-written and praised opening books for publishers Everyman Chess: Starting Out: Sicilian Sveshnikov, Starting Out: Alekhine's Defence, Starting Out: 1 d4, and Dealing with d4 Deviations
Chess Talk will be on its summer break throughout August - but John Watson will be back in early September for a new season of his show with lots of new guests!
Find below a selection of free 5-minute
previews of the latest shows. To listen to the full shows, sign
up for membership! |
Wednesdays: 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!
Thursdays: 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! |
And this week for non-members, you can listen to the full show for free by clicking here. So, all the more reason to become a member now and get to listen each week to all the shows on ICC Chess.FM!
Thursdays: 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.
Fridays: 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 not-to-be-missed weekly video
series is exclusive 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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Atomic (Wild 27) Championships!
Qualifiers will be held from Aug 15-20 in two different time controls. There will be a 1 0 Bullet section and a 3 0 Blitz section. The blitz section will have 7 round swiss qualifiers, while the bullet section will be 12 rounds of swiss. The top 3 finishers in each qualifier will move on to the final. Also the next 4 best finishers in the series will go through. Who has what it takes to dethrone last year's champions, MoltenThinker and Tipau?
Click Here for qualy times.
Weekly 15 0 Thematic!
Every Thursday at 21:00 server time, Slomato holds a 4 or 5 round Thematic tourney with 15 0 time control. A Thematic tourney is one in which the opening moves are pre-assigned. “Finger Thematic” to see the starting position for that week. Enjoy!
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ST-Tourney!
Like having time to think? ST-Tourney offers 60 0 chess for u1500 in Automato and for all ratings in Pear. Every Tuesday one round is played in this monthly tourney. 4 rounds are played each month in total, and then a new tourney begins with the new month. You can play at 2 pm, 8 pm, or 11 pm, but you may only join one of these tourneys each month. So choose your section and join up next month!
 Tourney
Tip: How Can I See Who Else is in the Tourney?
If you type “Tell players”, you'll get a list of all the players in the tourney. You'll also be able to see each player's rating, total # of games played of the tourney type (blitz, for example, in a blitz tourney), and the total # of tourneys they have competed in. So next time you join a Tomato tourney, “tell tomato players” to see who you're up against!
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American Grandmaster: Four Decades of Chess Adventures - Joel Benjamin
Joel Benjamin is one of the most prominent faces in the history of US chess. At thirteen years of age he broke Bobby Fischer's record as the youngest ever national master, and this was followed by countless tournament successes. Perhaps most famously, in 1997 he hit the headlines when he became the chess consultant for IBM's Deep Blue computer, which made history by beating World Champion Garry Kasparov in an epic encounter.
In American Grandmaster, Benjamin takes the reader on a journey through chess adventures spanning more than thirty years. Tracing through his own career, from being a prodigy in the 'Fischer boom' era thorough to an experienced Grandmaster with many titles, Benjamin is in a unique position to highlight the major changes that have occurred both in US and international chess throughout the last four decades.
This book includes:
- Instructive annotations of his favourite games
- Anecdotes and reflections from thirty years of US and worldwide chess events
- New perspectives on the legendary Kasparov-Deep Blue match
- Insights into how Grandmasters earn their living
- A deep look into the current major issues of chess
192 pages.
Price: $22.50 -  Buy now!
Greatest Ever Chess Opening Ideas, The - Christoph Scheerer
In this book, Christoph Scheerer looks though chess history and present day games to create his own list of favourites. His selection of hundreds of candidates, Scheerer examines factors such as creativity, shock value, effectiveness and endurance in order to decide which ideas are most worthy of inclusion. This book will provide you with a collection of powerful opening ideas and how you may use them in your game.
363 pages.
Price: $24.95 - Buy
now! |
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Forcing Chess Moves - Charles Hertan
Subtitled: The Key to Better Calculation
Why is it that the human brain so often refuses to consider winning chess tactics?
Every chess fan marvels at the wonderful combinations with which famous masters win games.
How do they find those fantastic moves? Do they have a special vision?
And why do computers outwit us tactically?
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!
Charles Hertan is a FIDE master from Massachusetts with several decades of experience as a chess coach. Instead of rehashing the usual classic examples he has unearthed hundreds of instructive combinations which appear here for the first time in print.
382 pages.
Price: $27.95 - Buy
now!
Secrets of Spectacular Chess: 2nd edition - Jonathan Levitt & David Friedgood
In the modern classic, Secrets of Spectacular Chess, Jonathan Levitt and David Friedgood shared their joy and appreciation of chess beauty, engulfing readers with a wealth of amazing and magnificent examples from the aesthetic side of the game. More than this, they showed how this fascinating subject could actually be analysed, and how this could help players improve the practical side of their game. Now the authors have produced a much awaited and largely expanded second edition, in which they present further thoughts, provide many new mesmerizing examples of games, studies and problems, and revisit previous material to explain how the theory has developed. This book captures the imagination; read it and become hypnotized by the power and beauty of chess!
- A new expanded edition, with 50% new material
- An enthralling guide to the artistry of chess
- Ideal for players of all levels
192 pages, soft cover.
Price: $24.95 - Buy
now! |
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