Sunraysia Chess Club

What’s the most thrilling thing that you can do in chess?   To play a former World Champion or a famous grandmaster must go close.   In Australia we are a bit isolated so these opportunities are rare.  Of course grandmaster Ian Rogers, himself once a top 100 player, has played many of the world’s better players, but what about the result of us?

I’ve played Euwe (World Champion 1935-37) in a simul in Melbourne in the early 1970′s...

Who is the leading chess person in Melbourne?   It would be hard to go past Carl Gorka, Secretary of the Melbourne Chess Club and full-time chess coach.   Carl moved to Australia from England 5 years ago and has rapidly become a vital part of the local chess scene.   He is an active chess players and organiser and, along with Grant Szuveges, has played a big part in the rejuvenation of the Melbourne Chess Club.

One of...

WHO AM I?

1. I was born before 1976.

2. I learnt chess from one of my parents.

3. I became a grandmaster before I turned 20 years of age.

4. I am the strongest player in my country and have been so for many years.

5. I have been ranked as the world no.1 for over 15 months, but am not currently the highest rated.

6. I may or may not have once complained that my opponent visited the bathroom 50 times during our game.

7. I am currently playing a chess match in Bulgaria.

8. My given name start...

Today’s puzzle is a Fischer combination from the 1960 Olympiad when he was 17 years of age.

Letelier v Fischer 1960

Black to play and win

ANSWER:

1…Rxe3! 2.Rxe3 Rxe3 3.Kxe3 Qxf4+!! 0-1   If 4.Kxf4 Bh6#

Tactics are tricky things.   They are so easy to miss.    Then, when you find one, how deeply do you analyse it to make sure that it is OK?  Does your opponent have any counter-tactics?   It’s all very hard, but this is what chess is about.  Most games are decided by tactics or blunders.  Here is a typical example.

The diagrammed position is from Pokorny v Konecny Prague 1912 where both sides are clearly trying to attack the other side’s King.   It’s White turn and he spots a tact...

Cecil Purdy’s advice to young players who wanted to improve their chess was to study master games. The method he used was to get an annotated game and cover the moves with a piece of paper then try to guess the player’s next move.   Having decided upon a move he would move the paper down to reveal the player’s move and compare it with his own.   In this way he could (in effect) have a grandmaster sitting beside him giving him a free coaching lesson (“No Cecil, I wouldn’t go t...

Today’s chess puzzle is really easy …. unless you are a grandmaster!

Picture the scene.  You are Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte (from India rating 2528) playing in the final round of the 2010 Doeberl Cup against Australian IM George Xie.  If you win you tie for second place and get lots of money.  If George Xie wins he gets a grandmaster norm, outright second place and even more money.  You are the exchange ahead for a pawn in the following position with Black to play.

(To make it a littl...

I’ve always enjoyed reading chess columns.  They are a great way to keep up with the latest news, play through a snappy game or test your mind with a chess puzzle.  When I was a junior the only way to see all the latest columns was to visit the newsagent or the local library and to buy or borrow the national and international papers which boasted a chess column (and most did).   Even such specialized papers as the “Weekly Times” ( a newspaper for country readers) had a chess colum...

Recently I’ve been following the Amberchess 2010 tournament in Monaco which boasts a prize fund of around $300,000 (US) and which finished last night.   This event attracted many of the world’s top players and has an unusual format in that players are paired against each other for one blindfold game then one rapid game.  I guess this is the way to make chess faster and more appealing to the media.

Last night I was able to follow the games “live” for the first time (the last roun...