The Real Rusbase

I contacted Alexey Popovsky, the owner of Rusbase, to ask how many games he has in his online archives. First he informed me that the site had moved to a new address...

RUSBASE 1920-1994
http://al20102007.narod.ru/index.html

...and then mentioned that it contained 'about 60.000 games'. I counted the number of events on the newer site and came up with 2456 events instead of the 2442 events mentioned in my post Rusbase, as counted on the older site. The other numbers I reported in that first post and in the follow-up post Events Covered by Rusbase are close enough for my purposes.

Rusbase is a wonderful piece of work. It's a pity that there is no equivalent USAbase.

How Much Do You Really Know About Chess?

I've long assumed that YouTube is popular not for its user generated content (*), but for its user uploads of someone else's intellectual property. The user generated clips are, more often than not, childish, uninteresting, or simply dreadful. It's always a pleasure to find an exception.

Just a Game? (9:58) • 'A student film, directed by Sassan Tyler Panah in 2004 while he was attending USC Film School'

'We've all heard of chess. We all know it's been around for a long time, but how much do you really know about it?'

***

(*): I'm talking about filmed video clips created with a camera. The chess instruction videos, recorded from chess playing software, are often very good.

Elastic Maneuvering

While reading Dvoretsky & Yusupov's 'Opening Preparation', a collection of essays by both authors as well as by others, I came across the following definition in an essay by Dolmatov titled 'Inventive Solutions to Intractable Opening Problems'.

I have become interested in a topic which no one before has investigated seriously -- the art of elastic maneuvering. Karpov practices this art excellently, as did Psakhis in his best years; whereas in Kasparov's games (for example) there are only very rare instances of it. Kasparov has always been used to executing concrete plans, whereas positional maneuvering serves no clear-cut purpose except, perhaps, one: it tests the opponent's understanding of absolutely all nuances of the position.

If neither side has any positional advantage (or if it is insufficient to bring tangible results), it is often necessary to maneuver, to move to and fro in what looks like an aimless manner, taking care not to worsen the position of your pieces. When the opponent is unable to stand up to this maneuvering and commits inaccuracies, it is possible to alter the character of the struggle abruptly by tactical means and seize the initiative. [Batsford 1994, p.73]

That particular passage had little to do with the rest of the chapter and was almost an aside. Dolmatov was Kasparov's second during the 1987 and 1990 title matches against Karpov, so he can speak with authority on the styles of both players.

I have also noticed Karpov's tendency to maneuver as Dolmatov describes, particularly against strong grandmasters who are just outside the inner circle of World Championship contenders, but I had never heard this particular term -- 'elastic maneuvering' -- nor any other term that described the technique so precisely. Petrosian was another adept at this style of play. Coming up with examples will take some additional effort, but I'll see what I can do.

For more on the series of books by Dvoretsky & Yusupov, see my previous post (appropriately) titled Dvoretsky & Yusupov.

Fischer Loot Again at Auction

The Fischer material last seen on eBay end-2005 is again up for grabs to the highest bidder: BOBBY FISCHER’S CHESS LIBRARY, INCLUDING NOTEBOOKS PREPARED FOR THE 1972 WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP.

The last time these items were on eBay, I followed the auction in the About.com forum: Flash! : Fischer items relisted on eBay. The first post in that thread points to a discussion of the original auction from a few months earlier, when the description started,

Rescued from a So. Cal Flea market about 6 years ago, here are Bobby Fischer's personal items from the infamous storage locker which was sold for lack of rent payment. It is a unique opportunity for someone in the International Chess community to perserve the legacy of who many feel is the most talented chess player of all time. I have tried many times in the last few years to reach Bobby (I did meet him when we were both younger) to return these items to him, but I feel his latest stand on America would not allow him to do this.

Earlier in 2005, Fischer had been released to Iceland from detention in Japan. Here's a photo from the original eBay auction showing the manuscripts.

The description of the latest auction -- 'Estimate: $50,000 - 80,000 ' -- is similar, but not identical, to the description of the first eBay auction.

Chess Product Reviews

Last year, in a post titled In Defense of Chess Book Reviewers,
I mentioned that I had written 'more than 40 book reviews plus a handful of product reviews', then followed up that post with The Purpose of a Book Review. Copies of my reviews can be found via index files automatically generated by About.com (links to Archive.org):-

• Books 1/3
  
• Books 2/3
  
• Books 3/3
  
• Clocks

I also maintained a graphical index of reviews: Guide Reviews for Chess Books, CDs, DVDs, Movies. I have no intention of adding this material to Links related to my About.com material.

Events Covered by Rusbase

In my first post on Rusbase, I mentioned that its five parts covered 2442 events. Here's how they break down by type of event:-

787 Championships of Republics
440 National Tournaments
419 USSR Championships
262 International Tournaments
230 Championships of Clubs
186 Matches
  59 Part 1 (World Championships, Candidates, Interzonals, ...)
  35 Team Championships
  17 Match Tournaments
    7 Zonal Tournaments

It turns out that Part 1, a mixed bag of high level events, also duplicates 23 USSR Championships that are included under the heading 'USSR Championships'. If you're curious about how there could have been 419 USSR Championships, then we're on the same page. I'll look at those in a future post.

Chess in Het Lage Land

Tags: Rotterdam, Maritime Museum © Flickr user Pascal \o/ - lagarde.info under Creative Commons.

More Tags: hall, entrance, giant, chess.