OT: Chess

[Harbour Dog]

@Harbour Dog Scored my first Brilliant move on Chess.com with Nxh7 here.

Nice! I'm not sure what they use as criteria for brilliant moves, but they are damn hard to get!

 

[aufheben]

Nice! I'm not sure what they use as criteria for brilliant moves, but they are damn hard to get!

Yeah, that’s 1 out of like...30,000 moves for me. I think it’s simply a Best Move that the computer didn’t find for whatever reason.

Of course I still managed to lose in this position lol

 

[Ben Grimm]

"Gligoric vs Fischer at the Interzonal in 1958 in Portoroz

The Sicilian Vespers
​

Svetozar Gligoric – Robert Fischer [B98]
Portoroz Interzonal Portoroz (21), 1958

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 h6 9.Bh4 g5!?

It is the final round of the Portoroz Interzonal in 1958, in which the six finalists for the Candidates tournament to find a challenger to Mikhail Botvinnik's World Championship title will be chosen. The youngest participant is just fifteen years old and is playing against one of the tournament leaders. Robert James Fischer has black against Svetozar Gligoric, twenty years his senior and an experienced world-class GM. Gligoric stares at the lad in amazement. Bobby Fischer has just played a daring idea of Herman Pilnik in the Sicilian Najdorf. It is not just a surprise to his opponent, it has the entire playing hall stunned. Fischer has gone for the notorious "Sicilian Vespers." The boy is covering his eyes with his long, bony fingers. He is calm, his gaze is steady, the eyes occasionally dart across the chessboard. Even at this early age Fischer is considered a great expert in the Sicilian Defence. His Yugoslav opponent is baffled: is the lad trying to trick him with some new analysis, or is he simply desperate?"

For Bobby Fischer's 77th birthday

 

[Ben Grimm]

"USSR vs "The Rest of the World", Belgrade 1970: An interview with Vlastimil Hort.

4/7/2020 – The match between the USSR and the "Rest of the World" in Belgrade 1970 – the "Match of the Century" – was a fantastic event. Vlastimil Hort played in Belgrade for the "World" and in an interview with ChessBase he shares his memories and talks about Fischer and Keres and rumours that the Soviets cheated in the final round.

André Schulz: You are one of the players from the "Match of the Century", USSR vs The Rest of the World who is still alive. Who else played in Belgrade 1970 and is still alive?

Vlastimil Hort: Boris Spassky, but he is very ill, Lajos Portisch, Wolfgang Uhlmann, Boris Ivkov, Fridrik Olafsson and Klaus Darga.

Was the enthusiasm really as great as reported?

Yes, it was fantastic. Incredible." USSR vs "The Rest of the World", Belgrade 1970: An interview with Vlastimil Hort
​

 

[Ben Grimm]

"An "interview" with Wilhelm Steinitz​

4/7/2020 – The first official World Chess Champion William Steinitz (1836 - 1900) is regarded as a pioneer of modern chess strategy. His theories pushed back the gambit style that had prevailed until then and led to a much more cautious approach. How did Steinitz get his insights and what principles did he teach? Read an imagined interview with the legendary chess thinker, drawn from his own writings.

Discovering the "Modern School"

As I pointed out in my article Romantic Steinitz, Steinitz became the No. 1 in chess, although (or because?) he practiced the romantic playing style; he was extremely successfully with gambits, king attacks and spectacular sacrifices. When he moved to London in 1862, he met many position players there who were probably strongly influenced by Howard Staunton (1810 - 1874). This English grandmaster was a very cautious player. He usually sacrificed a piece only when he could clearly predict the outcome. His books The Chess Player's Handbook, The Chess Player's Companion and Chess Praxis were widespread in England at that time. His booklet The Chess Player's Textbook was even given free of charge to anyone who bought a set of Staunton chess pieces. World Champion Dr. Emanuel Lasker described in his Lehrbuch des Schachspiels what happened in England at that time: " An "interview" with Wilhelm Steinitz​

 

[ecemleafs]

played a guy on chess.com couple days ago that absolutely pummeled me. his accuracy rating for the game was 99.2. are there bots on that site or is that guy like a chess master?

 

[Ben Grimm]

played a guy on chess.com couple days ago that absolutely pummeled me. his accuracy rating for the game was 99.2. are there bots on that site or is that guy like a chess master?

He probably cheated with AI.

 

[Chimpradamus]

played a guy on chess.com couple days ago that absolutely pummeled me. his accuracy rating for the game was 99.2. are there bots on that site or is that guy like a chess master?

They usually get caught pretty quickly. I can't speak for chess.com, but on lichess it's pretty much automatic, by a script looking at a variable called "centipawn loss" (how many fractions of a pawn you lose at each move).

Sometimes, you get in such an easy position that even knobheads like us can play it out with perfect moves, but 95% of the time it doesn't happen. You usually see if it's a crappy cheater by their moving pattern as well. As if they always take 3 seconds to make a move, all the time, in any position. Like a systematic timer. Those are the easiest cheaters to spot.

 

[ecemleafs]

He probably cheated with AI.

lol. i didnt notice the accuracy rating at first and was just amazed by how good the guy was. like every move seemed perfect lol.

 

[Ben Grimm]

"Herceg Novi 1970 and the Fischer Papers

4/8/2020 – 50 years ago today, on April 8, 1970, Herceg Novi in Yugoslavia hosted a blitz tournament that might well be the best blitz tournament of all time. Twelve of the world's best players competed in a double round-robin. Bobby Fischer won with 19 out of 22.

Fischer dominates

24 of the world's best players had come to Belgrade to take part in the "Match of the Century" (USSR vs Rest of the World) in 1970. Some stayed in Yugoslavia after the match was over and accepted an invitation to a blitz tournament in Herceg Novi.
The first official FIDE Blitz World Championship of FIDE was not held until 2006. Before that there had been a strong blitz tournament with world championship character in 1988 in St. John which was won by Mikhail Tal. But due to the strength of the field the blitz tournament in Herceg Novi in 1970 also went down in history as a kind of unofficial early Blitz World Championship.
Each player had five minutes for the whole game, the usual time-limit for blitz before the introduction of electronic clocks.
In the absence of World Champion Boris Spassky, many experts considered Tigran Petrosian, Spassky's predecessor as favourite. Tal and Viktor Kortchnoi also enjoyed a reputation as powerful blitz-players. Bobby Fischer, at that time the number one in the world, was not known as a particularly strong blitz player – until then.
But Fischer won the tournament in impressive fashion. He scored 19/22, distancing runner-up Tal by 4.5 points. Fischer lost only one game, against Korchnoi, and quickly established a big time advantage in all of his games. According to contemporary reports, Fischer never used more than 2.5 minutes of his time in any game and outclassed the five Soviet grandmasters with 8.5-1.5. Fischer defeated Smyslov, Tal and Petrosian 2-0 each. For this dominating performance Fischer 400 USD as prize-money.
Hundreds of spectators had followed the tournament. In a room next door a football match between Yugoslavia and Austria was shown on television but attracted only ten spectators."

Herceg Novi 1970 and the Fischer Papers​

 

[Ben Grimm]

"Magnus Carlsen's amazing unbeaten streak
Undefeated

4/9/2020 – Fans, professionals and anybody who follows the world of professional chess agree on the fact that Magnus Carlsen is on a class of his own. Besides reigning as World Champion in all three formats (classical, rapid and blitz), the Norwegian has managed not to lose a single classical game in over twenty months. Let us recap Carlsen's astounding — and ongoing — streak! The eternal controversy regarding who is the best chess player of all time will probably never come to an end. People give valid arguments to support their choices — Fischer, Kasparov and Carlsen seem to be the favourites. While Fischer dominated his rivals and contributed greatly to the game and Kasparov held the world title for an incredible amount of time, Carlsen's reign so far has been undoubtedly impressive. Perhaps, one of his biggest achievements has been to go undefeated — for the moment — for 121 classical games. It has been 618 days since the time the Norwegian resigned his encounter with the black pieces against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in Biel. As Tarjei J. Svensen tweeted on January 26th, Carlsen only lost one other game in 2018. Since this tweet was published, the world champion has won one more classical game, so his current record is +54 =113 -2."

Magnus Carlsen's amazing unbeaten streak

This is a good, long article.​

 

[Ben Grimm]

"Firouzja and Carlsen battle it out in bullet marathon

4/10/2020 – Alireza Firouzja is 16 years old and with a rating of 2728 currently number 20 on the FIDE World Ranking List. Many people believe that he will soon challenge Magnus Carlsen for the world title. But for now, at the beginning of April, the two first met for an online blitz marathon match in which they played 194 bullet (1+0) games. And the winner was...What do chess players like best? Playing chess, of course! And in the times of the coronavirus they play online. Thus, Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja met for an extended online bullet match and played almost 200 games with a time limit of 1 minute for the whole game – no increment. Magnus Carlsen is World Champion in classical chess, in rapid and in blitz. But Alireza Firouzja is also a ferociously strong blitz player and in the past he has successfully challenged Carlsen in a couple of bullet tournaments. The 16-year-old also hold his own in their direct encounter. After 194 games Firouzja won the match 103½-90½. Both sides impressed with the speed and resourcefulness. Moreover, despite the short time limit the quality of the games was also quite high."

Firouzja and Carlsen battle it out in bullet marathon​

 

[Ben Grimm]

I may take a break to concentrate on playing chess, but I hope you have enjoyed these.

​

Throwback Thursday: 19-year-old Leko wins Dortmund

4/10/2020 – Back in 1999, Peter Leko confirmed his status as a serious contender for the World Championship title by winning the 27th edition of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund, ahead of 'Mr. Dortmund' himself, Vladimir Kramnik. Leko was only 19, and three years later would qualify to face Kramnik in a match for the world crown. The event was also important for the Hungarian's personal life, as he met his future wife Sofia during the tournament. | Pictured: Leko in 2009 Throwback Thursday: 19-year-old Leko wins Dortmund

 

[Harbour Dog]

"Firouzja and Carlsen battle it out in bullet marathon
Firouzja and Carlsen battle it out in bullet marathon​

Not surprised that Firouzja bested him. Bullet is a bit more of a specialty.

Obviously Carlsen is Carlsen, and he is going to be one of the very top at any variation, but Firouzja and Nakamura both have an edge on him in bullet. Whether they process a little faster, or just have that much more practice; I don't know.

Caruana is a very polarized example of that, in my opinion. He works his ass off over the board and calculates relentlessly, but as the time control gets shorter, his peers tend to close ground and pass him off.

 

[Harbour Dog]

@aufheben I'll probably be online on and off over the weekend. Had a crazy work week, and never got any chance to play for a while.

 

[aufheben]

@aufheben I'll probably be online on and off over the weekend. Had a crazy work week, and never got any chance to play for a while.

Sounds good man, I wasn’t on much either.

 

[aufheben]

@aufheben I'll probably be online on and off over the weekend. Had a crazy work week, and never got any chance to play for a while.

Sounds good man, I wasn’t on much either.

 

[aufheben]

Daily Puzzle:

Daily Puzzle: 4/11/2020 - Laser Dance

 

[aufheben]

Is there a way to embed chess puzzles on here?

 

[Harbour Dog]

I'm not sure if there is.

That first puzzle is a doozy. I might find that 1/10 times in a game, and only if I have enough time on the clock to study it.

The second puzzle, I think I see the solution as Qxc3+ bxc3 Rb1+ Kc2 Bxf5+, and whichever piece white blocks with, Black plays R8b2#.

That's one that I'd calculate pretty quickly and do in a game, but that I would occasionally blunder and miss that the king has an escape route.

 

[aufheben]

Watching these guys play 10-second Bullet games.

Madness.

 

[Harbour Dog]

Watching these guys play 10-second Bullet games.

Madness.

I use more than 10 seconds sometimes with my first move as Black.

 

[BBKers]

I won a chess tournament once. In the penitentiary. Beat that

 

[aufheben]

I'm watching Hikaru...he plays the same exact opening as both white and black: move e-pawn one rank forward, fianchetto the dark bishop, then move the a/h-pawn one rank forward.

1. e3/e6
2. b3/g6
3. Bb2/Bg2
4. h3/a6

It's the Modern Defense as black, and he completely mirrors it as white, which I guess it's a variation of the Nimzowitsch-Larssen Opening. Seems like everyone on Chess.com loves these modern openings, fianchetto'ing the bishops.

I feel like fianchetto openings are quite advanced. Not sure why.

 

[Harbour Dog]

I'm watching Hikaru...he plays the same exact opening as both white and black: move e-pawn one rank forward, fianchetto the dark bishop, then move the a/h-pawn one rank forward.

1. e3/e6
2. b3/g6
3. Bb2/Bg2
4. h3/a6

It's the Modern Defense as black, and he completely mirrors it as white, which I guess it's a variation of the Nimzowitsch-Larssen Opening. Seems like everyone on Chess.com loves these modern openings, fianchetto'ing the bishops.

I feel like fianchetto openings are quite advanced. Not sure why.

I'm not sure that I think of it as advanced, but it definitely requires more forethought than developing the bishop toward the centre of the board. Especially if it is your castling side that you intend to fianchetto.

I actually don't use it a bunch in my own games, so I have more experience with attacking or neutralizing those bishops than utilizing them. A surprising amount of players will quickly fianchetto on the queenside as black without bothering to calculate that I am able to permanently close that diagonal. And seeing a black kingside fianchetto gives me a target to focus on; try to force a bishop trade then attack the weakened pawn structure.

There are definitely things that you need to consider and to be aware of when you fianchetto, but that bishop can be very powerful, very early if you work it right. You also have to assume that your opponent is going to gobble up a little extra centre or pick up a tempo on you, and be prepared to deal with that.