Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Chess Game Diamond in the Rough! 11_09_2010

Today's game is from the "SPICE CUP" chess tournament that GM Susan Polgar runs every year. The Grandmaster "A" group featured a number of talented young GMs... one of whom is America's youngest Grandmaster - Ray Robson.

In today's game - played on the 6th of November - Ray dusted off the venerable "EVANS GAMBIT" and surprised fellow GM Eugene Perelshteyn. A GM half surprised is sometimes half beaten!

Tartakower was a very wise fountain of chess wisdom - two of his quotes that came to my mind while playing over this game were:

"Psychologically, the choice of an appropriate opening is of the utmost importance for a player's success in a tournament."

"The blunders are all there on the board, waiting to be made."

Enjoy the game! - Chess Coach Sean Tobin.


Monday, November 8, 2010

Chess Game Diamond in the Rough! 11_08_2010

CHESS GAME DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
November 8th, 2010.

Draws can be of the boring - "Wish I hadn't seen that game." variety - you know the last round fear factor Grandmaster draw. Short and of the none game variety. Or they can be the logical result of a hard fought game - full of complexity and a full blown struggle. The game I picked for presentation today is one such game - full of fight and unheard melodies that litter the various possible variations that were not played out but remained untested or avoided. Or perhaps even dodged!

In the fourth round of the Tal Memorial I found the following game to be a very interesting struggle - one that I am still trying to figure out! It would seem - on the surface and based upon the way the game was played - that Karjakin had the advantage in the middle game and this does seem to be born out by the way the game was played between these two top notch mind warriors. Boy-o-boy were there ever some fireworks right out of the starting gate in this one folks! When you hear the name Shirov could you possibly expect anything else though?

Saturday, November 6, 2010

My pick for "GAME OF THE DAY" from the TAL MEMORIAL

I went online today in search of a game that I personally found interesting. Then I wanted to annotate this game for my students and friends. Now I have decided to share this game with all of you! Enjoy!!

The time control for this event is 40 moves in 120 minutes, 20 moves in 60 minutes and then the rest of the game in 15 minutes with an increment per move of 30 seconds. Or as listed in TWIC Chess speak!: 120m:60m:15m+30spm(61)