Archive for September 12th, 2016

An Exposed King

Posted in Life beyond the chess board on September 12, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Gawain Jones is having a great Olympiad in Baku. In Round 9 he saved England from certain defeat against a lower rated Iran. The ending is both interesting and instructional. With white Gawain shows great piece coordination in the endgame in his attempt to expose and capture his opponent’s king, saving the day for his teammates.

kjh

The position after 43. …Kf7. It’s often a sign of a great player when they are able to exchange one advantage for another. White plays 44. Bb4, allowing black to capture his passed pawn but after 44. …Rxa6 45 Rf8+ black now has the difficult decision of finding shelter for his monarch. The king wanders to b3 before being caught in the center and prompting black’s resignation.

Enjoy the silence game, it can be found here.

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/42nd-chess-olympiad-baku-2016-open/9/3/4

Another exposed king

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He’s rather eccentric, apparently!

Posted in Life beyond the chess board on September 12, 2016| Leave a Comment »

The often described ‘eccentric’ GM Vasilly Ivanchuk, who the entire chess once world took note of when he began playing losing chess after a mid-game meltdown has chosen not to represent his country at the current Olympiad, he’s snuck off to Poland to play in some draughts tournament instead! What a strange fellow! More details can be found in the following link https://en.chessbase.com/post/where-is-vassily-ivanchuk 

Of course how could we forget his missed mate in one? Go to 7.40 for the missed mate in one.

For a quality interview with Ivanchuk, the following link makes a good read.

http://www.chessintranslation.com/2011/04/vassily-ivanchuk-2-flawed-games-are-the-most-beautiful/

An oddity.

https://en.chessbase.com/post/kiing-the-queen-ivanchuk-s-new-che-game

marion-franklin-tinsley-ph-d

Dr. Marion Tinsley, the greatest draughts player the world has ever seen. A person who my friend Nick McBride had the pleasure of meeting when he came to England.

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That is entertainment, isn’t it?

Posted in Life beyond the chess board on September 12, 2016| Leave a Comment »

In round 9 of the current Olympiad Hungary met Georgia. This meant that the world’s two most creative and original super Grandmasters clashed with one another. Rapport had the white pieces, Jobava played with the black. It was, perhaps, inevitable that the game would depart from theory quickly and that it did. With only 4 moves on the board, Rapport’s fondness for classical attacking chess which suits his tactical acumen showed once more as he steered the game towards a King’s Gambit type position but with Jobava in fine form he capitalized on some minor inaccuracies in the middle game and won with the black pieces after some clever endgame maneuvers. The game was quite entertaining and played curiously by black in places. It’s worth taking a look at if you have time. Highlights of it appear in Jan’s entertaining show at about the 4.30 minute mark.

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/42nd-chess-olympiad-baku-2016-open/9/7/1

 

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