US Chess League

I can remember sitting at the dining room table with my dad and listening to our area hockey team battle it out over the ice on the radio. An even bigger thrill was when we got to go see them play live!

Who would have ever guessed that in the U.S. we'd actually see the day when top grandmasters would play in a chess league and that you could actually follow the play live via the internet? Well, tomorrow is that day for me! I've discovered the U.S. Chess League. Unfortunately I've discovered this too late to see a nearbly Nashville team play as they have left the league this year. But I will get a chance tomorrow night to follow the debut performance of the St. Louis Archbishops, a new team this year that plays out of the St. Louis Chess Club, a great place that I visited in June.

Playing for the team will be GM Yury Shulman 2715, GM Ben Finegold 2589, IM Michael Brooks 2411, and Spencer Finegold 1974. I've met Ben and Spencer Finegold, so following their games will be a priority. And of course, Yury Shulman is a great player who went to the wire at the 2010 U.S. Championship, so I'll have my eye on him too. GM Hikaru Nakamura, who recently moved to St. Louis, is also on the roster along with NM Charles Lawton, FM Doug Eckert, NM Jim Voelker, Tony Rich, and Margaret Hua, but they won't be playing tomorrow.

Besides the St. Louis players, also playing will be GM Dmitry Gurevich 2481 who I saw play in Chicago many years ago. But the other matchup that really caught my eye will be GM Alex Lenderman 2608 playing against GM Larry Christiansen 2665. Could this yield material for a new book about attacking chess?

So, how do you follow the action too? Just strut on over to the ICC and join up!

Knight Time

An interesting concept came up in chess study yesterday: the idea that a knight cannot lose a tempo. This is an important concept in the study of endgames. But this characteristic of the knight is really derived from a simpler characteristic: the knight always alternates the color of its square on every move.

Consider the position in the diagram. Play the position with White to move with the goal of checking the king as soon as possible. But wait! There's a restriction. You are only allowed to move the bishop! No fair if you try to move your queen, king, or knight.

Do you see a solution? There are many, but the idea to take away is that the bishop simply needs to waste time (lose a tempo) to let Black move his king to the h8 square, and then White can deliver the check on the next move. So play might go 1.Bd2 Kh8 2.Bc3+.

Now try the same position a different way. The new restriction is that you may only move the knight.

When you are tired of trying, look below the fold for the answer.

Maybe They Should Call It Recess

Endgame study just sounds so dry. Maybe endgame recess would be a better marketing idea. These gems are valuable in so many ways. Firstly, they are simply another way to enjoy the game of chess, like solving chess problems or following the world championship games. Too often it seems we fall into the trap of thinking that playing a rated over-the-board tournament game is the only "real" way to enjoy chess. Secondly, endgame studies usually have a lot to teach us about endgame principles, and often other aspects such as tactical themes. Though they are usually composed, these positions do contain ideas that can be used in your own games. And thirdly, endgame studies can be used as a tool for building visualization skills. This is an idea that I hadn't previously thought of that I found in my new Soltis book: Studying Chess Made Easy. Since the endgame usually involves fewer pieces, the positions are ideal for practicing calculation. As Soltis mentions, even looking at the solution to find the correct first move and then going back to the position to practice visualizing is a great help.

Here's a study (White to Move and Win) which can be found in Fred Reinfeld's last effort: 200 Brilliant Endgames. He credits it to Birnov in 1970. I like this one a lot because it is very simple (just 2 kings and 2 pawns on the board!), and yet you are almost sure to jump for the wrong solution at first glance! And finding or seeing the correct solution leads you to more than one valuable lesson.

Want to try more? You could buy a book, but you can get a quicker start online. For example, Chess Cafe has a regular Endgame Study feature and also a monthly column by Karsten Mueller called Endgame Corner which also usually features them. You can also find a weekly selection at Chess Vibes, visit a club for the smitten at ARVES, or read back issues of EG, the magazine for enthusiasts.

Still looking for the solution to the Birnov study? Check it out below the fold:

Do You Have That Pattern in a Size 6?

Wow! Where has all the time gone? We'll I've had family visits and other such things to occupy me. But I can also report that I've been working on my chess too regularly to have had time to write about it lately!

But today I got what promises to be a great new book in the mail: Studying Chess Made Easy by Andrew Soltis. I read so many of his openings books for club players 20 years ago and appreciated his attention to the mindset of a patzer, so I decided to give this book a go. I haven't been able to put it down since it arrived!

Among all of the study and training ideas that I've read so far, here's a real gem he presented while selling the idea of learning patterns to develop your intuition. It comes from the game Anand-Leko, Nice 2009. Forget about Fritz' opinion about what move yields the biggest edge and let yourself find the jolting game continuation that removes the heavy hitters from the board while giving a winning advantage.

Look below the fold for the solution.

Did I Mention the Grandmasters?

I had another great day at the St. Louis Chess Club before leaving for home tomorrow. As usual, I played lots of games. In this picture you can see that I'm not the only one that gets a headache from playing A-players like Alex Vergilesov.

And just to prove that I really did meet the player who signed my board in Indianapolis, here's GM Hikaru Nakamura and I posing under the club logo. Hikaru came in for a little 5 minute tourrnament action tonight and was kind enough to pose with me.

I caught GM Ben Finegold knocking out a few speed games with the guys (that's his daughter peering around another player). Later I listened to a great lecture he gave, reviewing all 6 of his games from the recent Nationals in Las Vegas. Amazingly, I actually understood some of the moves. At least .... I think I did.

A Day at the Chess Club

Well yeah. Of course they look familiar. It's the Emberton family from Elizabethtown! Imagine going to St. Louis to see the chess club, sittitng down for a game, and then thinking "gee, those boys sure look a lot like the ones from the Hardin County Kids Chess Club". Then I saw the rest of the familly and realized "they really are the boys from the Hardin County Kids Chess Club!"

Then I look up from my board and see a very familiar chess face, Jennifer Shahade! How gracious she was to have her photo taken with me just to prove to everyone at the club back home that I actually saw her. She was busy today teaching other women how to play chess.

The club building has three levels. The lower level houses the library along with a lecture room. Hmmm, maybe we need a real library room like this one!

The top floor was a spacious and quite attractive playing area. Imagine playing under the watchful eyes of Capablanca!

Everywhere I Go ..... There I Am

I have arrived! After a pleasant drive I've arrived at the door to the St. Louis Chess Club. Err ..... except the club isn't open on Monday's, so I'll have to come back tomorrow. No matter! I'm here! I'm good with that.

Kamsky Makes His Return

Like a comet, Gata Kamsky repeated his win of the U.S. Chess Championship of 1991! Having remained America's top rated player through many of those years, after multiple tries for the world title, and after several years absent from international chess before playing in public again in 2004, Kamsky bid 25 minutes against 60 for the black pieces with draw odds in a tiebreak playoff against Yuri Shulman, the 2008 champion. The bet paid off when Kamsky took a draw with a winning position, but only seconds left on each player's clock. Yuri himself achieved the playoff with a brilliant win against Hikaru Nakamura, the 2009 champion, in the next-to-last regular round of play. Kamsky delivered a shocker in the same round when Alexander Onischuk, the 2006 champion, refused a draw offer and then lost the game to the eventual champion. Then Kamsky stunned Shulman with a draw with the black pieces while using virtually no time on his clock for most of the game in the final regular round, setting up today's tiebreak victory! For complete game scores from the tournament, go to the official tournament site or TWIC.

Where's My Coffee?

Because of the holiday weekend and the Kentucky Open, there may not be any chess players at Panera on Saturday, May 29 or June 5. Expect regular meetups again beginning with Saturday, June 12. Wednesday night play at 8pm EDT on FICS is another way to get a game in the meantime.

Only the Best for Free

Are you missing out on the 2010 U.S. Championship? Did you know that you can watch daily coverage by Jennifer Shahade and Maurice Ashley direct from the tournament site in St. Louis for free? Go here to watch or to download the games.