Chessbase 12 Publishing

Just a quick test on Albert Silver's explanations for web publishing.

[Event "Schaakfestival 2010 Open A"]
[Site "Groningen"]
[Date "2010.12.28"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Bojkov, D."]
[Black "Bok, Benjamin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[Annotator "Dejan Bojkov"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2010.12.??"]
[SourceDate "2001.12.26"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 {Played for the first time in my life. But there is
always a first time.} exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qf3 bxc6 7. Nd2 d6 8. Nb3
Bb6 9. a4 a5 10. Bd2 Qxf3 11. gxf3 Ne7 12. Rg1 Ng6 {Another possible plan is:}
(12... O-O 13. Be3 Bxe3 14. fxe3 {as Anand-Aronian, Bilbao 2008 is more usual,
but as a whole this line is still in developing progress.}) 13. Be3 Bxe3 14.
fxe3 {Diagram [#]} Bd7 {The beginning of a wrong idea. The bishop is
vulnerable on d7. The simple:} (14... Ne5 {is more to the point, for example:}
15. Be2 g6 16. f4 Nd7 17. Bf3 c5 18. e5 Ra7 19. exd6 cxd6 20. Nd2 {with a
slight pool for White occured in Radjabov,T (2744)-Aronian,L (2737)/Bilbao
2008/CBM 126 (34)}) 15. f4 O-O 16. O-O-O c5 17. Nxc5 Bc6 {[%csl Rc5][%cal
Gc6a4,Gc6e4] The point behind Black's play. However, it seems that he
underestimated the follow up:} 18. Na6 Ra7 {Both:} (18... Rfc8 19. Bh3) (18...
Bxe4 19. Rd4 {cannot be recommended.}) 19. e5 {Bad is:} (19. Rd4 Rfa8 20. Rg5
Rxa6 21. Bxa6 Rxa6 $15) ({But serious attention deserved:} 19. Rg5 $5 Rfa8 20.
Rxa5 Bb7 21. Nxc7 Rxa5 22. Nxa8 Rxa8 23. b3 Bxe4 24. Rxd6 $14 {and as the
pawns become more valuable in the endgame, White has the better chances.})
19... dxe5 20. f5 Nh4 21. f6 g6 (21... Ng6 22. fxg7 Kxg7 23. Nc5 $16) 22. Nc5
Nf5 {[%csl Re3][%cal Rf5e3,Gf5d6] Diagram [#] So far the game for more or less
forced. Black needs to make one more move-Nf5-d6 to put his pieces together,
after which he will be out of danger. Therefore:} 23. Bb5 $1 {Much better than:
} (23. e4 Nd6 24. Bg2 Raa8 {and Black is only marginally worse.}) {Temporarily
sacrificing the pawn I manage to get the maximum of my pieces, while keeping
the rook on a7 in a "box".} 23... Bxb5 24. axb5 Nxe3 25. Rd7 {With the threat
b5-b6.} Nc4 26. b3 (26. Re7 a4) 26... Nb6 27. Re7 a4 {White's idea is
supported tactically:} (27... Nd5 28. Nd7 $1 Nxe7 (28... Rfa8 29. Rxe5 $16) 29.
fxe7 Rfa8 30. Nf6+ Kg7 31. e8=Q Rxe8 32. Nxe8+ Kf8 33. Nf6 $18) 28. bxa4 Nxa4
29. Nd7 {'!' I was also considering the position after:} (29. Nxa4 Rxa4 30. Rg5
Rf4 31. Rxc7 Rxf6 32. Rxe5 $14 {But then realized that the move in the text is
even stronger.}) 29... Rfa8 (29... Rd8 30. Nxe5 Nc3 31. Nc6 $18) 30. Rg5 {Not
the most accurate. Better is:} (30. Nxe5 Nb6 31. Rg4 Ra1+ 32. Kd2 Rd8+ 33. Ke2
{when White keeps all his active pieces on the board.}) 30... Nb6 {I spent
most of my time calcuating the line:} (30... Nc3 31. Rgxe5 h5 {Diagram [#]} 32.
Rxf7 $1 Kxf7 33. Re7+ Kg8 34. f7+ (34. Rg7+ $2 Kh8 35. Ne5 Ra1+ 36. Kb2 Nd1+
37. Kb3 R1a3+ 38. Kb4 R8a4+ 39. Kc5 Rc3+ 40. Kd5 Ne3+ 41. Ke6 Re4 42. Kf7 Rxe5
43. Rg8+ Kh7 44. Rg7+ Kh6 45. Rxg6+ $11) 34... Kh8 35. Re8+ $18) 31. Nxb6 (31.
Nxe5 Ra1+ 32. Kd2 Rd8+ 33. Ke2 Ra2 34. Rxc7 Nd5 35. Rd7 Rxc2+ 36. Ke1 Rc1+ 37.
Kd2 Rcc8 {is not something that you would like to enter in the coming
time-trouble.}) 31... cxb6 {Black can also keep the second rook, but his
situation is no better:} (31... Ra1+ 32. Kd2 cxb6 33. Rgxe5 Rd8+ 34. Kc3 Raa8
35. Rc7 $16) 32. Rxa7 Rxa7 33. Rxe5 {Diagram [#] The arising endgame is
technically won for White. He has more active pieces, and will soon organize a
strong distant passed pawn.} Ra8 (33... Kf8 34. Rd5 Ke8 35. Rd6 Rb7 36. Kb2 g5
37. c4 g4 38. Kc3 h5 39. Rd5 (39. Kb4 Rb8 (39... h4 40. Rd4) 40. Rd5 (40. c5
bxc5+ 41. Kxc5 Rc8+ 42. Kd5 Rc2 43. b6 Rd2+ 44. Kc6 Rc2+ 45. Kb7 h4 46. Rc6 Rd2
47. Kc7 Rd7+ 48. Kb8 Rd2 49. Rc4 Kd7 50. Rxg4 Rxh2 51. Rd4+ Ke6 52. b7 Rb2 (
52... h3) 53. Rxh4 Kxf6 54. Rh5 Ke6 55. Ra5 f5 56. Ka8 f4 57. b8=Q Rxb8+ 58.
Kxb8 $18)) 39... Ra7 40. Rxh5 $18) 34. c4 Kf8 (34... Rc8 35. Kd2 Kf8 36. Kc3
$18) 35. Kc2 Rd8 36. Kc3 $6 (36. c5 $1 bxc5 37. Kc3 {is more precise.}) 36...
Rd6 37. c5 bxc5 {In time trouble Bok did not find the best defense:} (37...
Rxf6 $1 38. Kc4 Rf4+ 39. Kd5 f6 40. Re2 Rf5+ 41. Kc6 Rxc5+ 42. Kxb6 Rc3 43. Ka6
Ra3+ 44. Kb7 $16 {compared to the game, Black will have several extra tempi.})
38. Kc4 Rxf6 39. Kxc5 Rf2 40. b6 Rb2 (40... Rxh2 41. b7 Rb2 42. Kc6 Rxb7 43.
Kxb7 $18) 41. Kc6 f6 42. Rb5 Rc2+ 43. Kd7 {Diagram [#] Now there is not even a
reason to win the rook immediately, as Black will not have any counterplay.}
Rd2+ 44. Ke6 Rd8 45. b7 Rb8 46. Kxf6 Ke8 47. Ke6 h6 (47... Kf8 48. Kd6 Kf7 49.
Kc7 Re8 50. b8=Q Rxb8 51. Kxb8 Kf6 52. Kc7 g5 53. Kd6 $18) 48. h4 Kf8 49. Kf6
g5 50. Rc5 {I believe this was my best game in Groningen.} 1-0

Learn to Play Chess App

We live in times where speed is everything. The flow of information is faster than ever before and this affects our beloved game of chess. New ideas are discovered, played and used by other chess player in days and sometimes in mere hours.
This might be extremely unpleasant for the creative part of the chess world.
On the other hand, technology widens the boundaries of the game.
More and more products help new people learn how to play chess from their homes or even vehicles while travelling back home.
The following app is one of those, it teaches
Piece and pawn moves, captures and special moves, checkmate and stalemate.




Players who have never tried the game of chess before can use it for free. People who are willing to give it a try can use the arrows on the app for changing the pages.
The creator Simon Louchart of France was kind to grant permission for anyone who wishes to learn something new and fun.

Dynamic and Positional Pawn Sacrifice

The seminar Chess 431 – Dynamic and Positional Pawn Sacrifice was concluded this Sunday on one of the best chess sites.
Among the examples that were covered was the following masterpiece by Veselin Topalov:
Topalov,Veselin (2812) - Wang Yue (2738)
Sofia MTel Masters 5th Sofia (4), 16.05.2009
[Rogozenco. D, Topalov V.]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nxc4 Nb6 8.Ne5 a5 9.f3 Nfd7 10.e4 Nxe5 11.dxe5 [11.exf5 offers prospects of a slight advantage (Huebner,R): 11...Nec4 (11...Ned7) 12.Qb3 Nd6 13.Bd3 g6 14.g4 Bg7 15.Be3 Nd7 16.0–0–0 Qb6 17.Qxb6 Nxb6= Ѕ-Ѕ Carlsen,M (2770)-Wang Yue (2738)/Leon 2009 (47)]

11...Qxd1+ 12.Kxd1 Be6 13.Kc2 f6 [13...Bc4 14.Bxc4 (14.Be3 Bxf1 15.Rhxf1 is slightly better for White.) 14...Nxc4 15.e6 fxe6 16.b3 Nd6 17.e5 Nf7 18.Re1 gave good compensation to White in Berczes,D (2232)-Carlsen,M (2250)/Heraklio 2002]

14.Rb1



14...Nd7 An over-the-board novelty according to Topalov. Previously: [14...fxe5 was played, for example- 15.b4 Nc4 16.bxa5 (16.Bxc4 Bxc4 17.bxa5 0–0–0 18.Rd1 Rxd1 19.Nxd1 e6 20.Ne3 Ba6 21.Ng4 Bd6 22.Bb2 Rd8 23.Rd1 h5 24.Nxe5 Bxe5 25.Bxe5 Rxd1 26.Kxd1 g6= Ѕ-Ѕ Vallejo Pons,F (2629)-Kasparov,G (2847)/Linares 2003 (41)) 16...Nxa5 17.Be3 Bc4 18.Bb6 Bxf1 19.Rhxf1 Nc4 20.Kd3 and White was slightly better in Berkes,F (2614)-Kiss,P (2394)/Hungary 2005]

15.b4! [15.exf6?! exf6 would be better for Black only.]

15...Nxe5 [15...axb4 16.Rxb4 0–0–0 17.Be3 Nxe5 18.a5 would give strong initiative to White.]

16.bxa5 Bc8 [16...0–0–0? 17.a6+–]

17.a6!



The positional sacrifice disconnects the black pawns and creates plenty of weaknesses in the opponent's camp which can be used by the White pieces.]

[17.Bd2 Rxa5 18.Nd5 Rc5+ (18...Rxa4 19.Nb6) 19.Nc3]

17...bxa6 18.a5 [Black's queenside is very weak, he has problems completing his development and finding any activity. Therefore White's compensation for the pawn is more than enough and secures him better prospects.]

18...Nd7 [18...Be6 19.Rb6 Bc4 20.Bf4 Bxf1 21.Rxf1 Nc4 22.Rxc6 Nxa5 23.Rc7



23...e5 24.Bd2±]

19.Na4 e5 [19...Rb8 20.Rxb8 Nxb8 21.Nb6 Bb7 22.Bc4 e5 23.Be3±]

20.Bc4 [20.Be3!?]

20...Bc5 [White's compensation is more than obvious in case of-20...Bd6 21.Be3 Ke7 22.Rhd1]

21.Rd1 [A good alternative was 21.Nxc5 Nxc5 22.Rb6]

21...Bd4 22.Ba3 c5 23.Rb3 h5



[23...Ke7 24.Rxd4! exd4 25.Nxc5 Nxc5 26.Bxc5+]

24.Rdb1 Ke7?! 25.Bd5 [25.Nc3]

25...Ra7 26.Rb6! Topalov could not stand the temptation to sacrifice further the exchange!



26...Rc7? [The decisive mistake.]

[Necessary was 26...Nxb6 27.axb6 Rd7 and White has nothing forced. After 28.Bxc5+ (28.b7 Bxb7 29.Bxb7 Rb8 30.Nxc5 Rc7!; 28.Nxc5 Rxd5! 29.exd5 Bxc5 30.Bxc5+ Kf7! Topalov) 28...Bxc5 29.Nxc5 Rxd5! 30.exd5 Bf5+ 31.Ne4 Rb8 Black retains good chances of escaping with a draw. (31...Bxe4+ 32.fxe4 Rb8! (32...Kd6 33.Kb3+–) 33.Kd3 Kd6 34.Kc4 h4 is better for White, but there is no obvious win for him (Topalov).) ]

27.Re6+ Kd8 28.Nb6+– Nxb6 [28...Ra7 29.Kd3!? (29.Rd6 Topalov) 29...Bb7 30.Kc4+–]

29.axb6 Rb7

30.Rd6+! Ke7 31.Rc6 Rd7 32.Re6+ Kf7 33.b7

1–0

I would like to thank to all the participants who took part in this event and to wish them many successful pawn sacrifices, both positional and dynamic!
Those of you who have missed the chance to take part in the seminar still have a chance to purchase it. Just go on the left side of the blog and choose the paypal button under the Chess.com seminar sign.
I will send you the link with the videos and the pgn files once that you are ready.
Best regards!

The True Value of Pieces

My new DVD was released the last week. Here is the short description by chessbase:
Queen against two rooks or three minor pieces, as well as a rook plus pawn vs two minor pieces - these are typical constellations where the material is unbalanced. In our first steps in chess we are taught about the nominal value of the pieces. The queen is equal to nine pawns; a rook to five, a minor piece is worth three pawns. This is a common sense solution aimed at teaching the beginner a system of values so that he or she does not trade a more valuable piece for a less good one. Later however, situations occur in games in which one side can trade two minor pieces (six pawns) for a rook and a pawn (also six pawns). Theoretically speaking, this should result in an equal position, but in reality one of the two sides will profit from the exchange. There are many cases of material imbalance in chess. In his new DVD GM Dejan Bojkov of Bulgaria makes an attempt to systematise the most important ones and gives valuable advice on how to handle the resulting positions. He also explains the hidden factors behind the imbalances, explanations which will guide you through the art of exchanging pieces.
And a fragment:

Chess and Poker

(Pictures Veronika Andreeva and Denitsa Kukleva)
Bulgarian team championships are always a good occasion to meet the old friends, check out how their lives go, chat, socialize, enjoy. We are also spoiled of the choice of good places for the event. These are either the mountain resorts, or, more likely- the see resorts.



Sunny Beach is one of those nice places where the championships take place and it hosted the events from 19-25 September.
For those of you who are not familiar with the system- eight teams play each other on the top A division, with the last two relegated from the group and the top two of the second B division promoted to the “masters”. The male teams consist of six players and two substitutes and the female teams have four players and one reserve.
This was my first year for the extraordinary team of “Abritus”Razgrad. It is a rare bird at the Bulgarian team competitions for many reasons. First, we have the largest fan club. In most of the cases the supporters of the team are more than the players during the event. Second and foremost, poker is supporting the team.
While Loek van Wely claims that chess sponsors his poker adventures, it is the other way up in “Abritus”. The costs for the team are equally distributes between a pharmaceutical company and three successful poker-chess players. Stelyan Georgiev (Spirit), Vladimir Velikov (Bushi) and Yanko Yankov have a lot in common. They are professional poker players but have started as chess players at first. Their trainer, the chess master Rosen Rusev is an experienced poker player as well. For a few years now they support the club not only morally, but financially too. Last year they even brought GMs P.Eljanov and K. Miton at the Bulgarian team championship.
Moreover, in order to free room for professional players Stelyan and Vladimir played in other teams, in second division. They did well there, especially the former, who scored 4/5 at his board…
At the beginning of the tournament we had a couple of problems to deal with. The first one was the team composition. Our team consists of five GMs, and two strong IMs (and one of those is the Bulgarian runner-up from the individual championship I. Enchev!) It seems as we chose wise at the end as the plan to hold on top boards and win on the back was perfectly fulfilled. Moreover, all the players finished on positive score.
The second problem was more serious. We had to decide where and when to celebrate our title…At the end of the team meeting we “voted” the wise decision to win the tournament with a spare round to have enough time to celebrate.



And since we all are very responsible people we had to stick to the plan. All the six matches were duly won and before the final round we were unreachable with 12 team points, clear four ahead of the second team…
The champion’s team was composed of GMs K.Rusev, V. Georgiev, B.Chatalbashev, M. Nikolov, D. Bojkov and IMs I. Enchev and K.Karakehajov.



The silver medals went for the last-year champions- Lokomotiv Plovdiv and the bronze- for Lokomotiv Sofia.
The female championship was more interesting as usual.



Three teams had clear chances before the final round and two of them CSKA and Shah 21 were facing each other. The third contender Lokomotiv Plovdiv won their last match with a minimal margin and had to wait to see the color of the medals. It turned out to be silver as the last game of the vent between E. Raeva (Shah 21) and A. Stojanovic (CSKA) ended in favour of the former which gave her team the victory and the gold medals.
The champion’s team was- WIM E. Raeva, WGMs M. Velcheva and S. Maksimovic and M. Stefanova.

Yuri Benderev Pernik and CSKA promoted to A group in the male section, and Etar and Krakra Pernishki to the female group.

What Rooks Want Survey

The FIDE trainer's commission site keeps on posting interesting educational articles.
The end of September saw my first survey, titled "What Rooks Want". Here is an fragment of it:

Pfleger,Michael (2270) - Tiemann,Christoph (2075)
BL2–Sued 0809 Germany (3.8), 30.11.2008
[Bojkov,Dejan]



[If in the previous example the rook went on a passive position volunateerily, in this case it was forced:]

28.a4! Rb4 [Or else- 28...Rc5 29.c3



followed by Kc1–d2–e3–d4 when all the black pawns fall.]

29.c3 Rxa4 30.Kb1! [The rook is now locked forever on a4.]

30...h6 31.Rxd5



Let's stop for a moment to analyze the situation. There are two pictures on the board. Picture one are the completely frozen pieces on the queens-flank: the black Ra4, and pawns on a5 and c4 as well as the white Kb1 and pawns on b2, c3. They are not going anywhere and we can easily neglect them and concentrate on the other side of the board, where the white R+ 3 pawns is fighting the black K and 3 pawns. The battle is uneven though and the king has no chance.]

31...Kf8 [Another possible line is- 31...Kg7 32.h4 The pawns should help the rook find targets- 32...Kf6 33.Rd6+ Ke7 34.Rb6 Kf8 35.h5! discovers the h6 pawn. 35...gxh5 36.gxh5 Kg7 37.f5 f6 38.Rb7+ Kg8 39.Rc7



and it is zugzwang- Black will have to give up one of the f6 or h6 pawns.]

32.h4 [Not the only winning plan, but a very convincing one.]

32...Ke7 33.h5 Kf6 34.Rd6+ [34.g5+ Kg7 35.hxg6 fxg6 36.Rd7+ would also win.]

34...Kg7 35.Rc6 [White is no hurry as he knows his opponent has nowhere to go. ]

[The immediate- 35.f5 would soon lead to zugzwang as well.]

35...Kh7 36.hxg6+ fxg6 37.Rc7+ Kg8 38.f5

The rook got support and the end is close.]

38...gxf5 39.gxf5 h5 40.f6 h4 41.Rg7+ [41.Rg7+ a possible end would be- 41...Kf8 (41...Kh8 42.Rg4 h3 43.f7) 42.Rh7 h3 43.Rxh3 Kf7 44.Rf3 and Black will have sooner or later to give up the rook on a4...]

1–0
You can check the complete article here.

Panamercian Youth Championships

Pocos de Caldas is small town in Brazil, situated approximately 250 km away from Sao Paolo. The place is famous for its thermal waters and is one of Brazilian beloved resorts. This year it hosted the Panamerican Individual Championships for girls and boys aged up to eighteen.



From 25-th of July to 1-st of August the best players of South and North America competed in the event. By character the tournament is equivalent to the European Championship. By scale it should be bigger than that as there are two continents involved in the competitions.
North America was represented mainly by USA, Jamaica and Mexico, while South by almost all the countries. The most impressive was the group from Peru with approximately a hundred of competitors.



It is winter on the south part of the hemisphere and during the first couple of days it was rainy and gloomy. Not the kind of weather one should expect from Brazil. It was the people that made the days fine though. No matter if they speak your language or not, with a smile on their faces Brazilians will try to help you in every aspect they can in a most patient and polite way. And once that the rains were over none could guess what the actual season was. Warm and pleasant weather, plus 25 degrees Celsius all day long- just the perfect conditions to enjoy your stay. The majority of the players were accommodated in the nice Golden Park hotel, which was equipped with swimming pool, sauna, and tennis court and situated five minutes away from the venue. Food was perfect, exuberant and tasty, and…
The kids had only six days to take advantage of these wonderful characteristics of Brazil. Throughout those days they had also to play nine games of chess. A tough program which included three double rounds, an opening round at 7 p.m and a last round at 9 a.m. On the top of that the blitz tournament took place soon after the classical tournaments were over. Indeed, chess is getting more and more competitive in any sense.
I flew to South America as a coach of three of my American students. All of them are members of NorCal House of Chess in Bay Area, California. This remarkable club is run by the Pilipino-born coach Ted Castro who cooperates with a bunch of Grandmasters and experienced coaches all over the world to provide the best education for his students. Many of the club members belong to the list of Top Kids in the country.
My students did well in Pocos de Caldes. Ashritha Eswaran ended sixth in the group under fourteen, Chenyi Zhao-fourth under ten while Aksithi Eswaran took home the trophy of the youngest girls (under eight). Aksithi owes her success not only to coach Ted, but to coaches Mathew Benson, Ronald Cusi and Ricardo de Guzman.

Two more American kids deserve special attention in this report as both Kevin Chor (under 8) and David Peng (under 10) left no chance to their opponents and won all their games!
Overall the seventeen Americans took eight medals and the cup of the second best team. First place came naturally for the Peruvians. In some categories they swept all the medals! My personal award for most supportive team went to the Chile fellows. They were most expressive during the closing ceremony! Which was a feast of colours and sounds.
Results in each group and games here.
On the way back I enjoyed the hospitality of a friend of mine. IM Herman Claudius van Riemsdijk is a living legend of the Brazilian chess. Born in Netherlands, he was raised in Brazil and won the national title three times. Many of the country records are owned by him, including the number of finals that he played-30! Herman is a walking encyclopedia who met all the world champions starting with Euwe and was one of the arbiters at the WCC in San Luis.
He showed me in a fast mode the sights of Sao Paolo, all the famous chess spots including the place where Najdorf game his famous simul.
Thank you for the hospitality, Brazil!