Saturday, 30 April 2016
Tuesday, 19 April 2016
SIMPLE STEPS TO BECOME A CHESS MASTER
5 SIMPLE STEPS TO BECOME A CHESS MASTER
Before we begin let us take a short
history class…
BRIEF HISTORY OF CHESS
What are the origins of the
royal game? I will try to create a brief overview with as accurate information
as possible.
500 – It is widely acknowledged
that chess originated from India around this time.
500-600 – Chaturanga, a
four-player war-related board game, flourishes in north-western India. This
game is the “earliest precursor” to chess because it had two features that made
it stand out from the crowd – different pieces had different abilities (as
opposed to a game like checkers) and victory was centred around what we know as
the king in modern chess.
600-640 – Historians believe
chaturanga was gradually altered into shatranj, a two-player game, which became
popular in northern India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and southern parts of Central
Asia. After the Arabs took control of Persia in the 640’s, the rules of ‘chess’
(which probably went by another name) spread across Persia and neighbouring countries.
700 – Muslims invade Spain and
introduce chess there.
750 – Chess reached China via
Silk Road traders and Buddhist pilgrims, where they likely started to label the
pieces on “inscribed disks” and placed pieces on the intersections of lines
rather than inside squares. This probably evolved into the modern game of Chinese chess or XiangQi.
750-900 – Muslims took chess to
North Africa and Sicily.
900 – The oldest recorded chess
game is written in a manuscript. The game was between a Baghdad historian and a
pupil.
900-1000 – The Vikings
established the game in England and Iceland.
1000 – Chess is introduced to
Japan and Korea. The game was also spread far throughout Europe as far north as
Scandinavia. At this time, chessboards were often made of fine wood or marble.
1300 – The pawn acquires the
ability to move two squares from its original square, although this was not
fully assimilated into Europe until 300 years later.
1400 – Chess becomes known as
the “royal game” as it was popular among nobility.
1475 – The counsellor was
replaced by the modern queen, hence increasing the value of a pawn (due to its
potential promotion to a queen). The chaturanga/shatranj piece called the
elephant was replaced by the bishop. The rules of castling and en passant are
introduced, but not widely accepted.
1620 – Gioacchino Greco, an
Italian master, wrote about contrasting approaches to chess. He emphasised
tactics and his games made a significant contribution on popularising chess.
1700 – Castling and en passant
are acknowledged.
1749 – François-André Philidor
of France, possibly the world’s best chess player for nearly 50 years, wroteL’Analyze
des échecs (Chess Analyzed), a highly influential book.
1800 – The rook is universally
acknowledged. Previously, in Russia it was a sailing ship and in other places,
a warrior inside a chariot.
1849 – What would later be
known as the Staunton chess set (a standard for international competition
today) is patented.
1850 – Many minor disputes
about the rules of chess are fixed up. An example is that it was sometimes
unacceptable to promote a pawn to a queen if one already had a queen on the board.
1886 – First official world chess championship held,
where Wilhelm Steinitz triumphed against Johann Zukertort.
1900 – Chess goes through
explosive growth as players began to play professionally, prizes were larger
and world championships were on offer. (In addition, your guide to this brief
history of chess is born in this century.)
I laced together this timeline
with information from Encyclopædia Britannica and World Book. There were minor
conflicts in some of the information, but generally, the timeline worked out
quite well.
Source:
http://chess.geniusprophecy.com
STEP 1
To learn the game of chess, you have
to get yourself a Chessboard
The game of chess is played on an 8 x 8 checkered board and
every spot on the board are marked for record purposes and learning. The
horizontal lines are marked ‘a-h’ or ‘A-H’, while the vertical lines are marked
‘1-8’. Therefore, it is not out of place to say that to learn chess one must first
get a chessboard because chess books and other study guide are full of
annotated diagrams using these board markings to describe and analyze game play
in PGN (Portable Game Notation) format. There are several different types of
chessboards and chess pieces, some are made from glass, wood, ivory, electronic
and polymer (rollup); they also come in various sizes and colors, this
determines how valuable the chessboard can be. There are many places to go to
purchase a chessboard:
a) There are several good deals online. You can purchase
a chessboard from #1,500 to #5500. To view variety of boards online CLICK
HERE for the best deals
b) The Electronic
chessboard is one of the best learning tools as it automatically outputs
PGN reports and the games can be printed as PGN for analysis.
c) For exotic chessboards and pieces (Some
are antiques and decorative) CLICK
HERE
STEP 2
Get yourself a trainer or join a
Chessclub
Joining a
chess club can be very useful. You get to interact with other players; you also
get access to the best coaches. This can provide you with the latest news of
events in chess and can also be a source of motivation. There are several clubs
and academies all over the country. Examples are Abuja Chess
Club, Team Nigeria, Ilorin
Chess Academy and a host of others. This interaction with other chess
players is sure to improve your game.
STEP 3
To advance from Amateur to Beginner,
get yourself a Smartphone
For some
people, a smartphone is a very good option compared to a chessboard; with a
smartphone, you can play chess from many apps with tactics lesson and game
analysis. There are apps for different platforms but the best is Chess.com for both Windows Android
an IOS.
Learn chess strategies! On blackberry you can download ‘LS Chess’ from the BB app store. The basic requirement for Chess app is a smartphone with 1G RAM. Smartphones are expensive, but for the best buy and affordable prizes CLICK HERE
Learn chess strategies! On blackberry you can download ‘LS Chess’ from the BB app store. The basic requirement for Chess app is a smartphone with 1G RAM. Smartphones are expensive, but for the best buy and affordable prizes CLICK HERE
STEP 4
Join online chess platforms and
practice everyday
STEP 5
Download eBooks and other resources
online and still practice everyday
Monday, 11 April 2016
THE ASIAN NATIONS CUP TOURNAMENT
WEI YI PLAYS ANOTHER KING HUNT GAME!
Last week India won the Asian Nations Cup, ahead of China. The young Chinese GM Wei Yi played another king hunt game, but dropped below 2700 in the live ratings.
The Asian Nations Cup, held for the 19th time this year, saw a record number of 22 participation chess federations. It was held 28 March-5 April at the Al Bustan Novotel in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates).
The men’s section was a 9-round Swiss with teams consisting of four boards and one reserve player. The women's section was a round-robin with ten teams. In both sections China was the defending champion, having won twice in a row (in 2012 and 2014).
The tournament saw 28 grandmasters, 10 International Masters, 19 FIDE Masters and 3 Women FMs. The highest rated participants were Bu Xiangzhi (China, 2724), Wang Yue (China, 2718), Wei Yi (China, 2714), Le Quang Liem (Vietnam, 2709) and Baskaran Adhiban (India, 2663).
Even without its strongest players (e.g. no Ding Liren, Li Chao, Yu Yangyi or Wang Hao) the Chinese team was still the favorite. In the end they finished second though, behind India and ahead of Kazakhstan. India was playing with GMs B. Adhiban, S.P. Sethuraman, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Krishnan Sasikiran and Deep Sengupta, so without Vishy Anand and Pentala Harikrishna.
The two teams met in the fifth round and it was India who won. Bu Xiangzhi won the gold medal on board one, but lost this important game as White to Baskaran Adhiban. It's hard to believe that he just blundered away his d-pawn and then his a-pawn, isn't it?
Bu, Xiangzhi (2724) vs. Adhiban, B. (2663)
Asian Nations Chess Cup | Abu Dhabi | Round 5.1 | 1 Apr 2016 | 0-1
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1. Nf3d52. d4Nf63. c4c64. Nc3dxc45. a4e66. e3c57. Bxc4Nc68. O-OBe7(8... cxd49. exd4Be710. Be3O-O11. Qe2Nb412. Ne5Bd713. Rad1Nbd514. Bc1Bc6Aronian,L (2786)-Svidler,P (2757) Moscow 2016 )9. Qe2O-O10. Rd1Bd7(10... Qc711. d5exd512. Bxd5Bg413. h3Bxf314. Qxf3Nxd515. Nxd5Qe516. Bd2Rad8Ponomariov,R (2710)-Guliyev,N (2579) Berlin 2015 )11. b3cxd412. exd4Bb413. Bb2Bxc314. Bxc3Nd515. Bd2Rc816. Rac1Nce717. Ne5Bc618. Bd3Qd619. Rc5Ng620. Rdc1Nde721. Bxg6hxg622. Bb4Rfd823. Re1Qxd424. Ba3Qd225. f3Nf526. b4Qxe227. Rxe2Bxa428. Rd2g529. Rxd8+Rxd830. Bc1f631. Ng4Rd432. Ne3Rxb433. Nxf5exf534. Rxf5b635. Rd5Rb136. Rd8+Kf737. Rc8Bd738. Rc7Ke639. Kf2Kd640. Rc2Ra141. Be3Be642. Ke2Rb143. Rd2+Bd544. Rd1Rb2+45. Rd2Rb146. Rd1Rxd147. Kxd1g448. Ke2gxf3+49. gxf3Kc650. f4a551. Bd2Kb552. Be3Bc4+53. Kd1Kc654. Bd2Kd555. Kc2Ke456. Kb2Kd357. Kc1Be658. Be1Ke259. Bc3Ke360. Bd2+Kf361. Kb2Kg262. Be3b563. Bb6a464. Bc7Bf565. Ka3Kxh266. Kb4Bd767. Bd6Kh368. Bf8g5
The winning team with L-R captain R.B. Ramesh, Krishnan Sasikiran, Deep Sengupta, S.P. Sethuraman, Baskaran Adhiban und Vidit Santosh Gujrathi. | Photo courtesy of Asian Chess.
Wang Yue leveled the score on board two with a great game. He showed that it is definitely possible to play for a win as Black in the Petroff from many positions. The knight is an absolute hero in this game. Bobby Fischer scored some famous wins on the side of the bishop in this type of endgame, but he would have preferred Black as well probably!
Sethuraman, S.P. (2658) vs. Wang, Yue (2718)
Asian Nations Chess Cup | Abu Dhabi | Round 5.2 | 1 Apr 2016 | 0-1
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1. e4e52. Nf3Nf63. Nxe5d64. Nf3Nxe45. Nc3Nxc36. dxc3Be77. Be3Nc68. Qd2Be69. O-O-OQd7(9... h610. Kb1Qd711. Bd3a612. Rhe1Bf613. Nd4O-O-O14. Nxe6fxe615. Qe2Qf7Tomashevsky,E (2728)-Mamedyarov,S (2747) Huaian 2016 )10. Kb1Bf611. h4O-O-O12. Bg5Qe713. Qf4h6(13... Ne514. Nd4c515. Nf5Bxf516. Qxf5+Qe617. Qxe6+fxe618. Bc1Ng419. Rd2h5Karjakin,S (2777)-Mamedyarov,S (2756) Bilbao 2014 )14. Bxf6Qxf615. Qxf6gxf616. Be2Rde817. Rhe1Rhg818. Bf1Ne519. Nd4Bd720. Re3Ng421. Rf3f522. Bb5(22. Nxf5Ne523. Rf4Rg4!24. Rxg4Nxg4)22... c623. Bd3Ne524. Nxf5Kc7!(24... Nxf3!?25. Nxd6+Kb826. Nxe8Rxg2)25. Nxh6Rxg226. Rf4Rh827. Nf5Bxf528. Rxf5Rxh429. a3Rgg430. Rf1Rf431. Rxf4Rxf432. Kc1d533. Kd2Kd634. Ke3Rf3+35. Ke2c536. Rd1Rf437. Ke3Rh438. Be2b639. Rg1Ng640. Bf3d4+41. cxd4cxd4+42. Ke2Ne543. Rg8Rf444. Bh1Nc445. Ra8Nxb246. Rxa7Na447. Ra8Nc3+48. Kd3Nd149. Ke2Nxf250. Bf3Nh351. Rd8+Kc752. Rg8Rf653. Bg4Nf4+54. Kf3Ng6+55. Kg3Ne556. Rc8+Kb757. Rd8Rg658. Rxd4Kc659. Kh3Kc560. Rf4Rxg461. Rxg4Nxg462. Kxg4Kd463. Kf5
However, China's rising star Wei Yi didn't have a very good day and was outplayed, as White, on board 3 vs Vidit whereas Sasikiran and Lu drew their game on board 4.
A much nicer game (which made the headline, after all) by Wei Yi was the following, from two days earlier. You'll surely remember his great win vs Lazaro Bruzon from the Danzhou tournament last summer? Well, yet again he dragged the enemy king towards him in his game with Dao Thien Hai:
Wei, Yi (2714) vs. Dao, Thien Hai (2481)
Asian Nations Chess Cup | Abu Dhabi | Round 3.3 | 30 Mar 2016 | 1-0
8
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1. e4c52. Nf3d63. d4cxd44. Nxd4Nf65. Nc3a66. Bg5e67. f4Nbd78. Qe2!?(The main line goes 8. Qf3)8... Qc79. O-O-OBe7(Wei Yi himself played the more popular 9... b5in this position last year: 10. a3Be711. g4O-O12. Bh4Rb813. g5Ne814. f5Nc515. f6Bd816. e5b417. axb4Rxb418. exd6Qa5Wei,Y (2721)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2723) Leon 2015 )10. g4h6(10... b5)11. Bh4Already here it's not so easy for Black.
11... g5(11... Nxe412. Qxe4Bxh413. Nf5)12. fxg5Nh7A standard trick, but usually Black has the tempo winning .. .Ne5 as well (with the white queen on f3).
13. Bg3!The best way to deal with the situation. The bishop has done its job on the h4-d8 diagonal.
13... hxg5Already possible. Always a bad sign!
(13... Bxg5+14. Kb1Ne515. h4Be716. g5is no fun either. )14. Nf5!exf5(14... Ne515. Nxe7Qxe716. h4)15. Nd5Qb8(As it turns out, all this had been played before already 35 years ago: 15... Qd816. exf5Nb6?!17. Nxb6Qxb618. Bxd61-0 Fedorowicz,J (2435)-Kuligowski,A (2450) Ramsgate 1981 )16. exf5Ne517. Nxe7Kxe718. Rxd6!Not so difficult this time, but still rather spectacular.
18... Qxd619. Bxe5Qd520. Bg2Qxa2And now the finishing touch:
21. Bd6+!(21. Bxh8+also wins, but the text moves leads to a forced mate. )21... Kxd622. Rd1+Kc723. Qe5+Kb624. Qd4+Ka5(24... Kb525. Bf1+)25. Qc5+b526. Qc7+
11... g5(11... Nxe412. Qxe4Bxh413. Nf5)12. fxg5Nh7A standard trick, but usually Black has the tempo winning .. .Ne5 as well (with the white queen on f3).
13. Bg3!The best way to deal with the situation. The bishop has done its job on the h4-d8 diagonal.
13... hxg5Already possible. Always a bad sign!
(13... Bxg5+14. Kb1Ne515. h4Be716. g5is no fun either. )14. Nf5!exf5(14... Ne515. Nxe7Qxe716. h4)15. Nd5Qb8(As it turns out, all this had been played before already 35 years ago: 15... Qd816. exf5Nb6?!17. Nxb6Qxb618. Bxd61-0 Fedorowicz,J (2435)-Kuligowski,A (2450) Ramsgate 1981 )16. exf5Ne517. Nxe7Kxe718. Rxd6!Not so difficult this time, but still rather spectacular.
18... Qxd619. Bxe5Qd520. Bg2Qxa2And now the finishing touch:
21. Bd6+!(21. Bxh8+also wins, but the text moves leads to a forced mate. )21... Kxd622. Rd1+Kc723. Qe5+Kb624. Qd4+Ka5(24... Kb525. Bf1+)25. Qc5+b526. Qc7+
China (in round 4) with L-R Bu Xiangzhi, Wang Yue, Wei Yi and Zhou Jianchao.
In general, Wei Yi's tournament was rather disappointing. He scored a 2543 performance rating over eight games (5.0/8) with three wins, one loss and four draws (all against lower rated players). His live rating has now dropped just below 2700.
2016 Asian Nations Cup | Final Standings
Rk. | SNo | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 |
1 | 2 | India | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 26 |
2 | 1 | China | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 27,5 |
3 | 3 | Kazakhstan | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 23 |
4 | 4 | Iran | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 23,5 |
5 | 8 | Uzbekistan | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 23 |
6 | 7 | Mongolia | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 20,5 |
7 | 6 | Bangladesh | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 20,5 |
8 | 9 | UAE 1 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 18,5 |
9 | 5 | Vietnam | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 20,5 |
10 | 11 | Kyrgyzstan | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 19,5 |
11 | 10 | Iraq | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 18,5 |
12 | 12 | Lebanon | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 17,5 |
13 | 16 | Afghanistan | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 17 |
14 | 14 | Oman | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 15,5 |
15 | 15 | Sri Lanka | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 15 |
16 | 13 | Jordan | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 13,5 |
17 | 17 | Palestine | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 16 |
18 | 19 | UAE 2 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 14 |
19 | 20 | Nepal | 9 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 11,5 |
20 | 18 | Kuwait | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 11,5 |
21 | 22 | Tajikistan | 9 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 13 |
22 | 21 | UAE 3 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 10,5 |
In the women's section the Chinese team also dropped some match points (here the match with India finished in 2-2, and they even lost to Uzbekistan) but they won gold anyway.
2016 Asian Nations Cup (Women) | Final Standings
Rg. | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Wtg1 | Wtg2 |
1 | China | 1½ | 3 | 2 | 3½ | 3½ | 3½ | 4 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 29 | |
2 | Uzbekistan | 2½ | 1 | 0 | 2½ | 3 | 2½ | 4 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 22,5 | |
3 | Kazakhstan | 1 | 3 | 2½ | 2 | 1½ | 2½ | 4 | 4 | 3½ | 13 | 24 | |
4 | India | 2 | 4 | 1½ | 1½ | 2½ | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 25,5 | |
5 | Vietnam | ½ | 1½ | 2 | 2½ | 1½ | 3 | 4 | 3½ | 4 | 11 | 22,5 | |
6 | Mongolia | ½ | 1 | 2½ | 1½ | 2½ | 1½ | 4 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 21,5 | |
7 | Iran | ½ | 1½ | 1½ | 2 | 1 | 2½ | 4 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 21 | |
8 | UAE - 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2½ | 3 | 4,5 | |
9 | Sri Lanka | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5,5 | |
10 | UAE - 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1½ | 2 | 1 | 4 |
more Chess event coverage
- Source: CHESS.com
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