Chess for Free, Chess for Fun

Next on the list for Been There, Done That is Chess for Free, which I added to my page on Chess for Fun. The references are somewhat dated, but the ideas aren't, and it would be a good candidate for a complete rewrite.

1824 Edinburgh - London

4-year chess © Flickr user piglicker under Creative Commons.

Won by the
Edinburgh Chess Club
from the
London Chess Club
in the
Match at Chess
Begun 23 April 1824,
Ended 31 July 1828.

For an account of the match by the Edinburgh Chess Club, see Edinburgh - London Correspondence Chess Match. To play through the games, see 1824 Edinburgh Chess Club vs London Chess Club on Chessgames.com.

Ask Kasparov

A couple of months ago, the Internet Chess Club (ICC) invited chess fans to ask Kasparov questions via its Facebook page.

Ask Kasparov - the verdict is in! We asked for questions for us to put to Garry Kasparov, and ICC was overwhelmed by your response! There was many interesting questions to be asked of the former world champion - so many that we decided we would extend the winners to 9 instead of 5. Later in the week, we will publish Kasparov's answers, but for now, find below a list of the winner's and their question.

You can find the questions on another ICC Facebook page, Album: Wall Photos. The interview took place just after a blitz match between Kasparov and Short during the 2011 edition of Your Next Move in Belgium. I don't think the interview was ever transcribed to print, but a video recording is available on the ICC at 25:30 into ICC ChessFM presents GM Alexei Yermolinsky's Game Of the Day - Kasparov - Short Match. The recording is at times hard to follow because of background noise, but it is classic Kasparov. Here are some of the highlights, abridged and paraphrased.

Q: Any plans to come out of retirement? A: No. • Q: Current goals? A: Introducing chess in educational systems around the world.

Q: Best game you played and lost? A: Game 18, 1986 London/Leningrad match with Karpov, spoiled by three blunders just before time control. • Q: Best game played very well? A: Games 24 & 16 in 1985 match with Karpov; 1999 game with Topalov; 1983 game with Portisch; mentions new book 'Garry Kasparov's Chess Career'. • Q: Most memorable tournament? A: Linares 1992 & 1993, Wijk aan Zee 1999.

Q: How to improve the image of chess? A: Just tell the facts: played all over the world, used as an educational tool, used for advertising purposes, used in movies. Don't do it like FIDE leadership, e.g. through association with aliens.

Q: Impact of chess software? A: Players have more and more of a geometrical mentality; look at positions the way computers do. People rely too much on engines; 'most players are following computer lines'. Vast amount of information available now.

Q: Will new time format for the championships or chess960 or advanced chess concepts help to promote the image of chess? A: 'I think we could definitely experiment within the same rules. The devastating thing is just trying to change the basic rules, like changing the moves or trying to change the game outcome, like eliminating draws.'

Q: How will Internet affect clubs? A: 'Physical contact is still very important.' Comes back to the teaching aspect.

Q: What is the right method of teaching chess to 4-6 years old children? A: 'I'm a chess player, not a professional teacher.' Talks about linking chess to the cultural icons that attract young children.

Q: Still active in Russian politics? A: Yes.

I'll cover Kasparov's comments on chess960 on my blog for that subject (see the sidebar).

A Brief History of Endgame Theory

Continuing with Averbakh's Convekta, Averbakh's 'Preface to the First Edition' on the DVD presents a short history of endgame theory.

Out of the vast amount of literature on chess, the number of works devoted to the endgame is relatively small. The point is that the development of endgame theory has taken a rather different path to that of the opening and the middlegame. The reason for this is rooted in the very history of modern chess.

The origin of chess theory dates from the 16th and 17th centuries,' when the predominant style was that of the Italian School, typified by sharp gambit openings and swift attacks on the king. Often a game then would simply not reach the endgame, but would conclude in the middlegame, or even the opening, when the enemy king, under a hail of spectacular blows, normally involving sacrifices, would be mated. The endgame was regarded as a tedious, uninteresting phase of the game, so that the playing of it was marked by a lack of inspiration, and elementary mistakes and oversights were committed.

The deeper understanding of chess gradually led to the development of the technique of positional play and defence. It became more difficult to conclude the game in the good old style, and more and more often a game would extend into the endgame. An advantage of one 'worthless' pawn in the endgame often proved decisive, since this pawn would inexorably advance and triumphantly promote to a queen. "Pawns are the soul of chess" -- this saying of the celebrated French player of the 18th century Andre Philidor shows in the best way possible the growing role of the pawn. And it is no accident that Philidor, who was the first to formulate the principles of positional play, analyzed a number of endings which have not lost their importance right up to the present time.

The number of theoretical researches on the endgame grew, but it was a long time before any generalizing works, encompassing all types of endings, were to appear. This state of affairs was furthered by another factor. There are different tasks facing researchers into the opening and the endgame. While it will sometimes be impossible (and also unnecessary) to give an exhaustive analysis of some opening system or variation, things are different with regard to the endgame. Here what is often required is a mathematically exact analysis, taking account of all possibilities, without exception, and leading to strictly defined conclusions. While in a game even between two top-class players, who have made a deep study of opening theory and have a mastery of middlegame techniques, the practical or creative element nevertheless predominates, in many endgame positions exact knowledge is of paramount importance.

A generalizing work, devoted entirely to endings, was Berger's book Theorie und Praxis der Endspiele. The first edition appeared in 1890, and the second, which was considerably enlarged, in 1922. This edition is regarded as a classic. A significant role in the creation of endgame theory has also been played by the works of Cheron, Euwe, Fine, Gawlikowski and other analysts.

The first endgame guide in Russian appeared during the Soviet era. This was I. Rabinovich's work Endshpil (first edition 1927, second edition 1938). In 1956 Lisitsin's book Zaklyuchitelnaya chast shakhmatnoy partii ('The concluding part of the chess game') was published. In our country a study of the endgame has been made by a number of top-class players. In the first instance we must give the names of Botvinnik, Smyslov, Keres, Bondarevsky, Kholmov, Krogius, Rauzer, Grigoriev, Kasparian, Kopayev, Chekhover, I. Rabinovich, Sozin, Lisitsin, Khenkin and Dvoryetsky. Each of these has made his contribution to the development of endgame theory.

The history continues in Kotov and Yudovich's Soviet School of Chess, in a section of the chapter titled 'Main Features of the Soviet School'.

THE END-GAME: This was once the Achilles' heel of Soviet masters -- even as late as 1939, when, in a training tournament, Grandmaster Flohr won many encounters from them thanks to his excellent endgame technique. Our players tackled this problem with characteristic Soviet determination and energy. Their studies, which included the entire backlog of endgame analyses, assumed broad scope and revealed subtleties which theoreticians had never noticed before.

An outstanding endgame analyst was N.D.Grigoriev, whose work in this field may weel be called classical. Valuable contributions have been made by Averbakh, Chekhover, Kasparyan, Keres, Khachaturov, Kopayev, Levenfush, Maizelis, Rabinovich, Romanovsky, and Zek.

The authors go on to mention specific endgame themes: R+fh vs. R; R+2P vs. R+P; B+a vs. a; 2N vs. Ps; Q+P vs. Q; 'the so-called nine squares problem in Rook endgames and the opposition on neighboring files' [MW:?]; B vs. BOC; B vs. N; and R+Ps vs. N+Ps.

A group of endgame theoreticians headed by Averbakh have prepared a sort of encyclopedia of endings which sums up the experience of major tournaments and matches of recent years and presents many original analyses. The endgame investigations by Soviet analysts disclose the essence of positions taken from tournament games or such as are of practical importance. This approach differs fundamentally from that of analyses dealing with variations whose correlation of forces is hardly to be met in practice.

In a subsequent post I'll map Kotov and Yudovich's summaries onto Averbakh's 'encyclopedia of endings'.

Been There, Done That with Gambits

Moving right along with Been There, Done That, I added Guide to Chess Gambits Part 1 and Part 2 to the Advanced Beginner section of Learn to Play Chess. At the time I wrote the articles, I experimented with gambits on the servers and had nearly a 100% success rate, although my opponents weren't particularly strong players.

Computer Chess History

Various web pages date this clip, titled 'Endgame: Challenging the Masters', to no later than 2005, but I hadn't seen it before. The end credit is for the Computer History Museum.

Deep Blue beats G. Kasparov 1997 (6:07) • 'Kasparov was the World Chess Champion, the best there was. In 1997, he made history facing IBM's Deep Blue in a chess contest, where the computer won.'

For the full story, see Computer History Museum - Chess Exhibit: 'This on-line exhibition contains documents, images, artifacts, oral histories, moving images and software related to computer chess from 1945 to 1997.' The video, one of three on the subject, is filed under 'Defeating the World Chess Champion : Moving Images'.

DVDs as Cheap as Dirt

In the past I've remarked that as we approach the Christmas season, the number of Top eBay Chess Items by Price increases dramatically, then tapers off as the holiday season comes to an end. It's strange then, that three weeks before Christmas, I would have so few items to choose from. I could only find two auctions -- for items other than chess sets -- that closed during the past fortnight. One was a Capablanca letter that sold 'Best Offer' for US $1500:-

Original signed handwritten letter by World Chess Champion Jose Capablanca. Written March 21st, 1927, on letterhead of the Manhattan Square Hotel, during the New York 1927 Tournament, which was being held there, and while he was World Champion. Capablanca won the tournament comfortably with 14 points, ahead of Alekhine who had 11 1/2.

The other had a title that said, '215 CHESSBASE FRITZ TRAINER DVD CHESS COLLECTION LOT'. It sold 'Best Offer' for US $499.99. In fact, on the previous day the same item also sold 'Best Offer' for US $450.00. It's currently listed again for US $499.99. The description said,

This 215 DVD series is the entire collection of Fritz Trainers that includes openings, middle games, endgames, player careers, topical surveys, strategies, tactics, psychology, all related to the game of chess. This is the ultimate collection that is a must for any die hard serious tournament player. The DVDs require some format of a Chessbase reader such as Chessbase, Fritz, or Rybka. If you don't have any of these there's a free version of Chessbase Light that you can download off the internet that will play these DVDs with full function. This includes a few French and German titles as well. Total there are 202 English titles and 13 French and German titles.

The complete collection comes you onto a brand new Seagate 500GB 2.5" Expansion Portable External Hard Drive with a 1 year warranty included.

So what's going on here? My guess is that digital copies of the DVDs have been downloaded from the web, collected onto the Seagate 500GB HD, and offered to anyone willing to put up $500 for pirate copies of Chessbase software. This is another example of the ubiquitous phenomenon I first noticed a few years ago in Chess Torrents.

Given that the Seagate HD currently sells for about $70, the seller is making an easy $400 per auction. I have no idea how much Chessbase pays the GMs featured on the DVDs, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's in that ballpark. You can get more info about the various Fritz Trainer DVD titles on the Training page at Chessbase-shop.com.