An Exercise in Chess960 Positional Thinking

My third chess960 game lasted longer than the second (see Lesson in Chess960 Opening Patterns), although it was effectively over when my opponent dropped the exchange on the 21st move. The diagram shows the start position.

Start Position 002

The first few moves were instructive. After the logical 1.e4 e5, my opponent played 2.Bc4. The resulting position looks similar to the Bishop's Opening in the traditional chess setup, but in this particular chess960 setup, White's last move is a mistake. I played 2...b5.

Black's second move is possible because the b-Pawn is protected by the Queen. In addition to attacking the Bc4, the Pawn move helps to develop both the Ba8 and the Qb8. White has an awkward time defending the attacked Bishop. If the piece retreats 3.Bb3, it blocks the Pb2, which in turn blocks the Ba1. If it retreats 3.Bd3, it blocks a natural development square for the Nc1. The best move was probably 3.Be2, although that obstructs the Re1's defense of the Pe4. White chose 3.Bd3, but ended up playing Bd3-e2 a few moves later in response to another threat.

An important aspect of 2.Bc4 is that it prepares castling O-O already on the next move. It is less likely that either player will castle O-O-O, when O-O is so readily available. Also with the goal of castling O-O, I later played ...Bc5, which was much better after ...b5, when the Bc5 can retreat to b6 without interfering with the development of Black's Queenside (or a-side as chess960 terminology calls it).

Another aspect of 2...b5 is that the Ba8 is immediately developed after the b-Pawn moves. In fact, that Bishop never moved during the game, although it participated in the tactics that won the exchange almost 20 moves later.

After three games, my chess960 rating has climbed from 1200 to 1738. I might be in a position to challenge an expert player after another game or two. Here's the full game, again courtesy of SchemingMind.com:

[Event "Chess960"]
[Site "SchemingMind.com"]
[Date "2008.11.04"]
[Round "-"]
[White "FeralPawn"]
[Black "bemweeks"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "bqnnrbkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BQNNRBKR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 b5 3.Bd3 Ne6 4.Nc3 c6 5.N1e2 Bc5 6.Ng3 Nf4 7.Be2 Ne7 8.b4 Bb6 9.Qb3 Nxe2+ 10.Rxe2 O-O 11.O-O Kh8 12.Nf5 Nxf5 13.exf5 d5 14.Rfe1 Qd6 15.Qb2 f6 16.a4 a6 17.a5 Ba7 18.Qb3 c5 19.Na2 c4 20.Qh3 d4 21.Bb2 d3 22.cxd3 cxd3 23.Re3 Bxe3 24.Rxe3 Qc6 25.Rg3 Qc2 26.Qg4 Re7 27.h4 Qxb2 28.Nc3 Qxd2 29. h5 Qxc3 30.h6 Qc1+ 31.Kh2 Rd8 32.hxg7+ Kg8 33.Qh4 d2 34.Rh3 Rxg7 35.f3 d1=Q 0-1

A Gallery of Chess Positions

Adding to my initial collection of Image Galleries, I created a sample gallery of chess positions called:

• La Bourdonnais' Curious Positions

Although the underlying software doesn't handle GIFs as well as JPGs, the chess diagrams in the gallery are usable. They were originally made for a two part puzzle contest on the About.com Chess Forum: Puzzle Contest no.1 (plus A difficult puzzle), and Puzzle Contest no.2.

I also tried multipage gallery navigation for the first time. It looks somewhat clunky, but there isn't much I can do about it, except keep all the thumbnails on one page.

Next gallery: a tutorial.

The Enigma of Chigorin

In Chigorin and Schiffers, I quoted from the 1895 Hastings tournament book:

[Chigorin's] style of play is quite of 'the old school', brilliantly attacking and ever towards the King, perhaps best described by the simple word beautiful. He is probably the greatest master of the King's side attack and rarely plays dull games. His chief energy is thrown into the middle game rather than the opening, which he sometimes conducts with too much indifference. His analytical ability is of the very highest order, and blindfold play does not come amiss.

In Chigorin and His Contemporaries, I quoted from Kotov & Yudovich's Soviet School of Chess:

Tarrasch and the masters and critics who supported him claimed that they had formed a 'modern school', while Chigorin represented out-dated views, i.e. the old school. Steinitz and Tarrasch failed to understand the essence of creative thinking in chess, which they tried to subordinate to abstract and unreasonable principles. It is clear today that their views were erroneous and narrowed down the rich content of chess. [...] The Russian champion's creative imagination, his critical attitude towards the pronouncements of recognized authorities, his quest of the new, and, finally, his deep faith in the limitless creative possibilities of chess made his investigations a major contribution to theory.

The Soviet authors went on to give dozens of examples showing Chigorin's contribution to opening theory. In the 19th century, Chigorin was considered 'old school' and sometimes indifferent to the openings. In the mid-20th century, he was considered the forerunner of the Soviet School (the antithesis of 'old school') and a major contributor to opening theory. How to explain those opposing points of view?

I take it as a given that Kotov & Yudovich were right, while the end-19th century pundits were wrong. After all, chess theory progressed substantially during the ~60 years following Hastings 1895, and accelerated under the scrutiny of the Soviet grandmasters. Following is a graphical overview of Chigorin's openings at Hastings 1895. This is what his contemporaries 'saw' of his style.

The picture squares with the overview of Chigorin's theoretical contributions as laid out in Soviet School: Evans Gambit (as both White and Black), Two Knights Defense (Black), King's Gambit (White), and the unusual 2.Qe2 reaction to the French Defense (White). It doesn't show the ...Nc6 defense to the Queen's Gambit, but the notes to the Hastings 1895 games show that he was already recognized for that system.

Chess on Blip.tv

While catching up on YouTube's chess videos for yesterday's Video Friday post -- Chess Behind Bars -- I was hoping to spotlight something on the just concluded Dresden Olympiad. I saw a number of noteworthy efforts, but nothing from the king of chess news video, Chessvibes.com. What happened to the clips of Susan Polgar's press conferences? After a little effort, I found them here...

Chessvibes.blip.tv : Episodes Archive
http://chessvibes.blip.tv/posts?view=archive&nsfw=dc

...Along with displaying the clip, clicking on a thumbnail provides access to the video embed code. Here's an example.

Anand - Kramnik World Championship Match (30:30) • 'Game 11 / Press Conference'

Game 11 was the last game of the match. Both players are relaxed and articulate throughout the video. A Kramnik comment on his notion of sportsmanship and fair play caught my attention: 'My motto in life is that you're responsible for the quality of your work, but you're not responsible for the result.' (~29:00). Well said, Vladimir!

Chess Behind Bars

From NJN News.

Ivies vs Inmates (2:41) • 'The annual event, sponsored by John and Osa Marshall, brings together members of the Princeton University Chess Club, and inmates at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton NJ.'

More: PRINCETON: University chess team makes moves behind bars

More Fischer Photos

The image below shows a batch of Fischer photos, including final bid, that sold on eBay this week.

The auction that finished with the highest closing bid ('Vintage '70 Chess Bobby Fischer Spassky Prep Game Photo'), had a scan of the photo's back that read

This is roughly the way the world's championship chess match will appear, when Bobby Fischer gets around to meeting titleholder Boris Spassky. In a previous encounter in Siegen, Germany in 1970 Fischer lost to Spassky, but few expect him to lose next time. (Please credit United Press International Photo)

The photo shows Spassky thinking about his 11th or 12th move in the last game between the two players before their 1972 title match. For the full game, see...

Boris Spassky vs Robert James Fischer, Siegen ol final 1970
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044698

...on Chessgames.com.

Chess960 @ Chess Classic Mainz

You can count the number of important chess960 tournaments played annually on the thumb of one hand; take your pick which hand. In a recent post -- Chess Classic Mainz 2008 (CCM8) -- I mentioned its 2008 edition. What about previous events?

If, like me, you've never paid much attention to Chess Classic Mainz (CCM), you probably don't know the difference between the FiNet Open, the Ordix Open, and the Livingston Championship. A mixture of traditional chess and chess960, the CCM events are hard to distinguish by name and their details change from one year to the next.

Fortunately, the CCM web site carries a complete history of the event going back to CCM1 in 2001. I created the following table to identify the chess960 events that have been held each year, along with their winners. The links in the first few columns go directly to CCM pages, while the last column points to coverage by two well known and reliable news sources.

	Matches	Opens	Computers	Simuls	ChessBase & TWIC
2 0 0 8	2. FiNet Chess960 Women's Rapid World Championship; Kosteniuk (1st), Zhukova, Cmilyte, Lahno	7. FiNet Open; Nakamura 1st	4. Livingston Chess960 Computer WCC; Rybka, Shredder, Deep Sjeng, Naum		CB 2008 & TWIC 717
2 0 0 7	5. FiNet Chess960 Rapid World Championship; Aronian (1st), Anand, Bacrot, Kashimdzhanov	6. FiNet Open; Bologan 1st	3. Livingston Chess960 Computer WCC; Shredder, Rybka, Jonny, Spike		CB 2007 & TWIC 667
2 0 0 6	Clerical Medical Chess960 World Championship; Aronian - Svidler, Women, Seniors, Juniors	5. FiNet Open; Bacrot 1st	2. Livingston Chess960 Computer WCC; 21 programs	According to the navbar, Chess960 simul L. Aronian, but the page says nothing about it	CB 2006 & TWIC 615
2 0 0 5	FiNet Chess960 World Championship; Svidler - Almasi	4. FiNet Open; Aronian 1st	1. Livingston Chess960 Computer WCC; 19 Programs		CB 2005 & TWIC 562
2 0 0 4	Gerling Match; Chess960 World Championship; Svidler - Aronian	3. FiNet Open; Almasi 1st			CB 2004 & TWIC 509
2 0 0 3	The Final: Chess960 World Championship; Svidler - Leko	2. Chess960 Open; Aronian 1st		Playing Chess960 Simuls on 20 boards: Leko & Svidler	CB 2003 & TWIC 458
2 0 0 2		1. Chess960 Open; Svidler 1st			CB 2002 & TWIC 406
2 0 0 1	Fischer Random Chess; Leko - Adams				TWIC 347
***
2 0 0 0	Frankfurt Chess Classic 2000; Jussupow (Yusupov) - Fritz				TWIC 294
1 9 9 6	Fischer launches Fischerandom Chess at Buenos Aires				TWIC 088

The table should serve as a good starting point for a deeper look at the events.