New Book Arriving Soon

I have heard a lot of great things about Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner To Master, so I ordered it a few days ago. Should be arriving today. I will post my thoughts on it after a few weeks of use.

The votes are in!

Results from last week's poll asking what is the best thing to focus on when training children are:

Middle Game Strategy (14%)
Tactics(21%)
End Game Study (42%)
Play Frequently (21%)

Make sure to cast your vote on this week's poll!

A Canadian Thanksgiving!

It was our Thanksgiving weekend up here in the North, so that's why the posts were few and far between. Back now with a full stomach, so hope everyone enjoyed their weekends, and if you had a long one I hope you enjoyed that much more!

Tactics Practice!

White to move, mate in two. Can you see the line?

The Sicilian Defense: an Introduction

Book review and study: How to Play the Sicilian Defense by David Levy and Kevin O'Connell

Part I: Introduction

The Sicilian Defense is perhaps the most popular and dynamic response to the opening move e4. "The Sicilian Defense offers enormous scope to players of every style, since there are many quiet, positional lines in addition to the more notorious wild, attacking variations" (pg 2).

This is the very opening position of the Sicilian Defense and "with his very first move Black creates and unbalanced position and announces his intention of defending by means of counter-attack" (pg 2).

This simple position is a microcosm of the battle plans of both sides. White controls d5 and Black controls d4, two crucially important squares. White wants to occupy d4 with a piece (typically a Knight) and keep the d5 square under "careful observation, and if necessary restraint".

White's plan is to build up pressure on the King-side (as c5 makes Black's idea of "castling long" typically undesirable) and hold on to control of the center. Black's plan is that of counter-attack on the Queen-side and to slowly undermine White' central control, ultimately allowing for d5 after which "Black will normally be assured of at least equality" (pg 2).


After 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 we have a typical position (Najdorf variation of the Sicilian). The purpose of Black's second move (d6) is now clear: to prevent white from playing e5 to attack Black's Knight on f6.

In this position white would like to play c4 (the Maroczy Bind) because we know a substantial objective of Black is to play the freeing move d5 at some point. With pawns at c4 and e4, this objective is made much more difficult. However, since Black has now attacked the e4 pawn, White is drawn into playing Nc3, defending the pawn but also blocking the his c pawn. Some players may want to defend the pawn with the bishop (Bd3) but this relegates the bishop to a defensive position and after c4, it is blocked in by pawns.


Play along these lines (White attacking on the King-side and Black attacking on the Queen-side, both eyeing the center) may lead to a position like this. Black has placed his Bishop to attack the e4 pawn, which White has defended with f3, making e5 or f4 difficult. If White had not played f3, the e-pawn could be won easily. Moves like b4 could pester the c3 Knight from its defense. White will likely continue with h4 and g5 at the right moment and Black will likely put his rook on the c-file (with a potential exchange sacrifice on c3).

There are some excellent youTube videos discussing some of Kasparov's games played in the Sicilian:
Canstein:
Movsesian v Kasparov
Judith Polgar v Kasparov
Kingscrusher:
Kasparov v Shirov

Review:
WHITE:
- Maintain control of d5 (which ensures space advantage)
- Attack on the King-side
- Set up a piece on d4
BLACK:
- Look for/play towards opportunities to play d5
- Expand and attack on Queen-side
- Undermine White's center by attacking e4 pawn
- If c-file opens (as in the Najdorf), put rook on the half-open c-file

"It is much more important to understand an opening than to know it (in the sense of rote learning of moves)" (preface). How to Play the Sicilian Defense is a guide with examples and ideas, and I am in no way exhausting the book's ideas and insights. In Part II the Maroczy Bind will be further discussed.

Meet the REAL Vincent from the Movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer"

Laurence Fishburne's character in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer" was based on a real life individual - and here he is:

Part 1.



And part 2 ...



Quite an interesting individual. Sadly, Vinnie died just before the movie was released from AIDS in 1993.

New Video: Chess Tricks #1: Updates and Corrections.

Had some great things pointed out in my last chess trick video, so this one corrects some mistakes made. Special thanks to Ecspade and Pestlett for pointing out the areas in need of correction! The corrections video is located here or by accessing my YouTube channel.

New Video: Chess Trick #1 - Quickly Calculating King vs. Pawn movements

In this video I talk about a little trick that I came across from Josh Waitzkin's segments on Chessmaster 10. I had previously calculated every move in my head for king vs. pawn end-games, and this will save a fair amount of time. Hope you find it usefull as well if you haven't come across it yet. You can access the video here or by visiting my YouTube channel page.

My first chess video

My first youTube video. Hopefully it is interesting enough. I am working on the Sicilian defense, and although this is a somewhat unorthodox game in the Sicilian, I think it demonstrated some important themes that I will be discussing more in depth later.

Thanks for watching!

The votes are in!

This week's question was if time was limited, what tactics training should trump the rest, and here is the spread:

Mate in One (7%)
Mate in Two (15%)
Mate in Three (15%)
Pin Tactics (0%)
Fork Tactics (23%)
Skewer Tactics (0%)
All Equally! (38%)

Pretty clear results there - all tactics should be practiced equally even if time is limited.

This week's poll is: "For teaching young children chess, the most important thing to focus on is ..." Looking forward to your opinions on this one!

New Video: Exploring Fischer's Openings #4: King's Indian Defence vs. Queen's Pawn Game

Posted a new video today continuing my exploration of Fischer's opening strategies. This video takes a look at Fischer's match against Mark Taimanov in 1971, played in Vancouver. Fischer won the match using a King's Indian Defence against Taimanov's Queen's Pawn Game. Fischer has a lot of matches that show consistent use of the King's Indian Defence along with Benoni systems as black against Queen Pawn openings. You can access the video here or by visiting my YouTube channel.

Susan Polgar Documentary: "My Brilliant Brain"

If you haven't seen this documentary yet, I highly recommend it. You can access the videos from the following links:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Enjoy your weekend!

Tactics Practice!

Mate in two - white to move. Can you find the win?

Evaluate the Position

A large part of playing chess is being able to evaluate a position. Usually it is not the person who can calculate the deepest that has the advantage, it is the person who can better evaluate the positions that will arise from the calculation. In this position, from a game I recently played, the material is even, but both players have certain advantages.

Which side would you rather be, black or white? Why? What advantages and disadvantages does each side have? I will list them below, but try to think of them before looking.

White:

Advantages

1. Has the potential for controlling a partially open A or B-file.

2. Bishops on neighbor diagonals.

Disadvantages

1. Pawn Structure a little weakened (disadvantage for the end game).

2. Advanced pawns in castle position weaken king.

3. White-squared bishop and Queen blocked in.

Black:

Advantages

1. Controls open E file.

2. Unobstructed bishops on long neighbor diagonals.

3. Invasive pawn structure with no exploitable weakness.

4. Safe king position.

Disadvantages

1. White F pawn potentially may disrupt king position.

If I have missed anything or have wrongly evaluated the position please let me know. With this knowledge, we can come up with reasonable plans for White and Black.

White should seek to exchange pieces to alleviate the cramped position. He may also, if he can secure a safe king, play for counter-attack on the queen side.

Black should seek to exploit White's weakened king and try to transform his spacial and quality advantages into material advantages for a winning end-game.

It is Black's move. Do you see a tactic that will accomplish this goal?

Chessmaster 10 Arrived

Took a number of weeks, but finally got it in. I will post a review in a week or so. Got it primarily for my son, so I will let him determine the overall quality, although there are a number of features that I am sure will help anyone, including myself. Can't argue much for $9.99 regardless.

The Votes Speak Volumes: Tactics Prevail!

The weekly poll ended early this morning with the following voter percentage:

Openings! (6%)
Middle Game! (6%)
End Game! (17%)
Tactics! (58%)
Play lots of matches! (10%)

This week's poll focuses on what tactics should be a priority if time is limited. Looking forward to the results!

Some Different Fischer Video Clips

Found this clip on Manju's blog and it has some video clips of Fischer I had not seen before. Sharing it with you this morning.

Susan Polgar in Mexico

Susan Polgar has been doing an amazing job at covering the championships in Mexico on her blog. She has travelled down to the event, and is covering things from a different angle than other online chess publications. Rich with pictures, thoughts, and analysis, Susan's blog has become the place to go to check out happenings in Mexico.

You can access her blog here, and participate in her new chess forums here.

Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition Announced

Chessmaster fans (I am still waiting on mine to arrive by mail!) will be excited about this news and the tons of new features.

Link for info is http://www.ubi.com/US/Games/Info.aspx?pId=5893

Bring on the weekend!

Chess Club Night!

Was a great night for the chess club. Some great games were played. My son won 4 games and lost 1 to one of the stronger club players, and I won 1, had 1 draw against the player that beat my son (I think now we are 3-1-1 over the last 4 weeks, so he came close to making that 3-2 tonight) and as per usual I had a good trouncing from the club organizer, making my record 1-4 against him. But that's the way you learn, and it is super helpful to have an organizer that instructs while you play which is awesome.

Next week we have to start writing down our matches in preparation for our first over the board tournament, so I will most likely start a chess club video series to add to the ones I am already doing on the YouTube channel. Should be fun!

I will be registered with the chess federation along with my son here in Canada within the next couple weeks. I will keep you all up-to-date on our efforts in that front. Take care and enjoy the last day of the week before the weekend!