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| Posted by bucklehead ability-tw.com 1/19/2005 13:36:01 Play online chess |  Subject: Garry backs out!Message: According to a statement published on ChessBase, Garry Kasparov has decided to no longer participate in the FIDE's interminable "unification" process. Of all his pronouncements through this process, this statement of Garry's is the only one where I feel complete sympathy for the man. Whether or not he is entitled to a seat at the reunification table, you have to agree that the FIDE has jerked him around enough. It is interesting the degree to which this de-legitimizes Kasimzhdanov, whose high standing in my view is due only to the *prospective* match with Kasparov (though winning the Libya tourney was no small feat). Perhaps all this means that Garry will get back to doing what he does best--play chess (though his Wall Street Journal editorials are always well composed)--and approach Kramnik by a more conventional route. I think this must also open the door somewhat for Anand, who is at least no longer definitively locked out of the championship process; but it is hard to see where the process will go from here, unless we go back to the days of rival organizations. The ChessBase article: www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2145 Interestingly (unsurprisingly?), there is as yet no statement on FIDE's site | ||||||||
| Posted by ketchuplover ability-tw.com 1/19/2005 14:11:36 Play online chess | Message: testing 123 | ||||||||
| Posted by honololou ability-tw.com 1/19/2005 15:43:20 Play online chess | IMO… Message: they should hold a world championship match once every three years, regardless of how much or how little prize money is available. Invite the reigning champion and develop some system (like golf's world ranking points system) to determine the challenger. If either or both of these players decline the invitation (for whatever reason) invite the next two on the list, etc, but hold the event and crown a champion—come hell or high water. It seems to me that the prestige associated with this title would be well worth the three–four months time commitment (including preparation) once every three years, regardless of the prize offered. Sure, people will argue that GM so-and-so is not truly deserving because GM whats-his- name refused to participate. But I think it would still be better and more respectable than the current state of affairs, which is so bad that it makes boxing's system look good. ——— The Scotch Opening, part 1: an introduction — The Scotch Opening is still played at the highest level. But how does use it to gain control of the centre? Carlsen-Leko, Nanjing 2009. White to play. Over the next few weeks we're going to take a look at the Scotch Opening, which arises after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4. The Scotch is hardly new: it got its name after it was used by chess players from the Edinburgh Chess Club in a correspondence match against London (1824-28). But unlike some of its contemporaries from the romantic era – the King's Gambit, for example – the Scotch remains a solid and respected chess opening. Kasparov was responsible for its modern revival after ... Posted by jstack | ability-tw.com 1/19/2005 18:30:11 Play online chess Prestige with the title...Message: I'm not sure how much prestige there is with the title when the best player will not be participating in the championship. If Kasparov was retiring, then it would be easier to forget about him. But, he will continue to compete. And because Kasparov is number 1 in the world Kasparov, he will continue to get headlines. Maybe (or maybe not) someday FIDE will declare a champion. And at that point we will have not made much progress as we have today. Well...not unless Gary drops in the ranking list. ——— Viktor Korchnoi versus Boris Spassky — The waning chess year 2009 showed its diminishing strength by giving top billing to a match between two ancient chess warriors - Viktor Korchnoi and Boris Spassky. The duo played an eight-game match in Elista, Republic of Kalmykia, advertised as the Battle of the Giants. Chess fans could watch the play live, provided that they could read Cyrillic. This match featured two silver-haired gentlemen in unusually friendly combat, as no chess championships were involved. Spassky was his usual amiable self and Korchnoi was unusually amiable, even mellow. Spassky and Korchnoi were once bitter opponents contending for the world title. Spassky, 71, has been in virtual retirement for ... Posted by ccmcacollister | ability-tw.com 1/19/2005 19:37:35 Play online chess Sounds Great ... !Message: honolulu , I like your idea for the Championship a lot! Not that anyone will ever ask Me :-) It would be nice for the host organization to guarantee at least some minimum prizefund for the event .... plus whatever else demand can produce. But if it is going to be FIDE I'd think it simple enough that some portion of EF to all FIDE tournaments be put toward that purpose. Just as a for-instance, I wonder what a dollar or two per player, per event would add up to over 3 years ?! (Or a Euro or two ?!) ——— Varuzhan Akobian is lucky in Las Vegas — The North American Open, one of the Continental Chess Association's largest annual tournaments, attracted 613 chess players to Las Vegas Dec. 26 to 29. The 99-player Open section, featuring nine grandmasters, ended in a five-way tie at 5 1/2 -1 1/2 among GMs Varuzhan Akobian (Glendale), Josh Friedel (Richmond, Calif.), Victor Mikhalevski (Israel), Alexander Shabalov (Pennsylvania) and Alex Yermolinsky (South Dakota). On tiebreak, Akobian, who drew three of his rivals, received the first prize of $3,990. Southern California master David Zimbeck tied for sixth place at 5-2 despite facing higher-rated opponents in his final five games. Zimbeck drew against three grandmasters. Alexander Grischuk, ... Posted by peppe_l | ability-tw.com 1/20/2005 09:14:37 Play online chess Now we haveMessage: Two champs (Kram & Kazim) and one legitimate challenger (Leko). Find second legitimate challenger by organizing a tournament between top players left out from first tournament. Kasparov is free to participate if he wants to. No more "I don´t have to play because everyone knows I´m the best anyway" :-) ——— Chess: The worst of all your possible moves — Oscar Wilde quipped that when a pessimist is given a choice between two evils, the pessimist chooses both. In this week’s chess position black’s king is in check and must move. The king has only one bad choice. All other choices lead toward a draw. Please play the chess pessimist and try to find black’s worst move. White has a small space advantage. This should not be enough to win, however. With the rooks on the board and an equal number of pawns the game should be drawn. If black king retreats to b7 or d7, black maintains the balance. The one choice that loses is moving the king to d5. This allows the white rook to slide over to d3, checking black. After ... Posted by bucklehead | ability-tw.com 1/20/2005 12:21:51 Play online chess Too thorny a problemMessage: I read something not long ago, probably after the Libya match, which sturck me--a rough paraphase is "The Steinitz bloodline is getting pretty thin." There is a fairly direct connection between Kramnik and Steinitz, after all, with the only hiccup being the aborted 1975 Fischer-Karpov match. But if we assume (as I think is sensible) that RJF is no longer the WC, then you have to admit that Kramnik won his title fair and square (and that Garry was an idiot for omitting a mandatory rematch clause from the Braingames contract), that Leko's qualifying win at Dortmund 2002 made him a legitimate WC challenger (and remember that Kasparov and Anand were invited, but refused), and that the recent Kramnik-Leko was a rousing championship defense. While his Libya performance was impressive, I don't think Kasimzhdanov can be considered as a genuine WC challenger. Let him, and Garry, and Anand, come to another Dortmund and grind it out the old-fashioned way. I don't see FIDE involvement in that matter as important or even necessary: there is a "bloodline" here, and a fairly obvious one; but this has apparently been obscured by politics and the need to coddle a chess "superstar" (though I'd wager that there are at least a billion people out there cheering for Vishy). Kudos to Garry for recognizing that the FIDE stringing him along (duh), but I don't want to hear any more of this "but my rating is bigger than yours!" nonsense. Play. Just play. ——— The game enjoys a calmer decade — After the turbulent 1990s, the world of chess needed a calmer period. Here are my reflections on the past decade and a few guesses about the future: Bobby Fischer, probably the most famous chess player ever, died in 2008. Fischer had not played publicly since 1992, but he grabbed attention with vile anti-American statements and a long battle to avoid extradition from Japan. He eventually won the battle, sparing chess fans and the U.S. government more embarrassment, and spent his final years in exile in Iceland. His "improved" version of the game, Fischer random chess, has attracted few adherents. Garry Kasparov, another colossal chess figure, retired in 2005. He quickly ... |