*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ IECC CHESS BITS & PIECES *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Published by the International Email Chess Club Devoted solely to E-Mail Correspondence Chess *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Volume 1, Issue 6 April 1995 Published SemiMonthly *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Editor: Sherman Klausner - klaus@interaccess.com *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ THE FOUNDER'S CORNER By Lisa Powell ********************************************************************* A friend of mine -- not a chess player -- asked me why I expend so much time and energy into promoting chess via email. "All that work for nothing," George said recently, for the umpteenth time. George's idea of nothing is working for free. In his book, that's close to sacrilege. But we're still friends -- for many reasons, not the least being that we share a love of private-eye fiction, and shared [past tense] an addiction for sailboat racing and cruising when we both lived close to Long Island Sound and were members of the same yacht club on City Island. Part of my standard explanation about chess groups is that it's fun to create something where there was once a void. Four years ago I was asked to become moderator of a BBS chess conference with zero traffic, and I discovered how satisfying it was to think up ways to make a BBS chess conference fun for chess players to belong to. I sense what many of you are thinking about this. And yes. Sure. In a world where the almighty buck is a deity, many think that's close to sacrilege. Different strokes for different folks. What's fun and a great challenge is to think of new forms of chess activities for the players. In the beginning I worked closely with a great guy in Toronto who did a fantastic job with a chess conference in NaNet -- an abbreviation for North American Network. Sad to relate, he suffered burnout from the work involved. Canadian email chess misses his contributions. The most difficult thing about running a chess-by-email group is picking the right people to help run it. Unlike a corporation where one can interview job applicants in person, one has to trust volunteers, some of whom turn out to be, well, disappointing. With our new chess organization, IECC, I've been most fortunate to make new friends who derive as much enjoyment as I do from creating a friendly environment for chess players. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ IECC MEMBER OF THE MONTH Each month we will introduce to our readers a different member. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Toshi Takeuchi Born February 1969 Graduate student studying chemistry at Caltech. Born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, but I spent most of my childhood growing up in Newark, Ohio. During high school, my main interests were playing tennis and playing the violin. I participated in varsity tennis, and I played in local youth symphony orchestras. I learned the rules to chess at a fairly young age, and because I enjoy playing strategy games, you might have expected that I would be an avid chess player. In fact, I did consider learning more about chess when I was in junior high school, but the chess club was led by my science teacher, who I considered to be my arch nemesis at the time. As a friend of mine remarked recently, the high school chess club lost as much as I did. In college, during times when I was bored, I learned more about chess by playing the computer. Of course, I lost all the time, but I learned how to move the pieces so that it would take the longest time for me to lose. This really wasn't much fun for me, but I learned enough about chess to beat my friends most of the time when they challenged me to a game in the coffee house. My chess playing was basically at a standstill until the last couple of months. My research advisor Tom Meade was a really good chess player in his youth. He tells me he was US Junior amateur chess champion in 1971 or 1972, and he was the co-champion in 1972 or 1973. [How soon we forget, eh? ] I agreed to teach him how to play tennis if he would teach me how to play chess. After one lesson, my interest in chess was sparked, and I joined IECC. I am still playing my violin in chamber music groups and in the orchestra here at Caltech. Since I've come to California, I've discovered skiing (downhill and cross-country). I also enjoy hiking in the local mountains. I like to meditate, and I would call myself a Buddhist, at least in philosophy. I am also a co-moderator of the soc.religion.eastern newsgroup. All of these activities give me just enough time to work on the development of cobalt based anti-viral drugs here at Caltech. ********************************************************************* IECC Featured Game Analysis By Major William D. Wall ********************************************************************* CONTROL THE CENTER by Bill Wall Jack Duncan - Ivan Kocmarek, IECC Pyramid 1995 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 [the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian Defense] 6.Be3 [Byrne's line to the Najdorf] 6...e5 7.Nf3 [7.Nb3 may be more popular, but not necessarily better] 7...Qc7 [7...Be7 and 8.O-O is also playable] 8.a4 [preventing Black from expanding on the Q-side with ...b5] 8...b6 [8...Be7 is more usual] 9.Bg5 [Perhaps a new move. World women's champion Xie Jun played 9.Bd3 Nbd7 10.O-O Bb7 11.Nh4 and won in 26 moves against Tajieva, Moscow 1994. Another idea is 9.Be2 Bb7 10.Nd5 Nxd5 11.exd5 Be7 12.O-O, Atlas-Mendoza, Moscow Olympiad 1994] 9...Nbd7 [9...Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.Nd5 Qd8 12.Nxf6+ Qxf6 13.Qd5 Ra7 14.Rd1 seems to give White some advantage] 10.Nd2 [Adding more protection to the e4 pawn if Black plays Bb7 and planning for Bc4. Another idea is 10.Nd5 Nxd5 11.exd5 and 12.c4] 10...h6 [or 10...Bb7] 11.Bh4 [or 11.Be3 Nc5 12.f3] 11...Bb7 12.Bc4 g5 [12...Be7 and 13...Nc5 or 13...O-O look natural] 13.Bg3 Nc5 [Interesting is 13...Nxe4 14.Ncxe4 d5 15.Bxd5 (or 15.Bd3 dxe4 16.Bxe4 Bxe4 17.Nxe4 Qc4) 15...Bxd5 and 16...Qc6] 14.Qe2 [14.f3 is also good] 14...d5? [Black just gives up a pawn for no compensation. 14...Qc6 or 14...Rc8 or 14...Be7 are all better alternatives] 15.exd5 [White now threatens 16.Bxe5] 15...Ncd7 [Perhaps 15...Bd6 is better to protect the pawn on e5] 16.O-O-O [Safer may be 16.O-O] 16...Bg7 [16...Bd6; 16...Rc8] 17.Rhe1 O-O [17...Ng8 or 17...Nh7 is better to provide more protection at e5] 18.Bxe5 Nxe5 [If 18...Qd8 19.Bd6 Re8 20.Qd3 maintains the edge] 19.Qxe5 Nxd5 [19...Qxe5 20.Rxe5 Rfd8 21.Rde1 looks good for White] 20.Qxc7 Nxc7 21.Re7 Rac8 22.Nde4 1-0 [22...Bxe4 23.Nxe4 (threatening 24.Nd6) 23...Rce8 24.Rxe8 Rxe8 (24...Nxe8 25.Bxa6) 25.Nd6 Rd8 26.c3] ********************************************************************* THE NEWBIE CORNER By Sherm Klausner ********************************************************************* Lots of mail has been received by IECC in regarding what course of study a novice player should study first and foremost. The answer could well be book-length. We will attempt to answer this during the next few issues of the IECC Newsletter. Most masters and other teachers will urge you to initially become knowledgeable about and comfortable with at least two openings and some of their main variations. Some suggest learning what are called open game openings. Others suggest a closed system like the Colle, a favorite of Zsuzsa Polgar who demolished GM Leonid Yudasin at Munich in 1991. I'll quote the game at the end of this column. There are many, many good books which teach openings and the ideas behind them. Our purpose here is to attempt to steer you to ways that can help you develop your chess skills. Those of you who play golf will quickly agree that although you have many clubs in your bag, the putter is the one that pares the most strokes from your game. Pros spend much time on the putting green because they know that developing and honing that skill improves their game quickly. The opening game in chess can be likened to using the driver on the tee. Some hit the ball farther than others, but the tee shot rarely determines who will sink his ball in the cup first. Some of us know many, many openings and variations verbatim, but alas many do not know the WHY for all of these memorized moves. In chess as in golf there is one distinct portion of the game in which your heaviest effort will pay off swiftly: tactics, tactics and more tactics. By concentrating on tactics you will come to recognize strong moves, very strong moves, weak moves, and blunders, by second nature, so to speak. By studying tactics, you will seek out back rank attacks, diversion, sacrifices, pins, forks, overloading, and discovery. Recognition of pawn structure leads you to determine the tactics necessary to your advantage! I myself, am only an average club player, but I went from novice upward only after I stopped memorizing openings, and studied tactical play in the midgame. Since we are all playing email chess, we all have some sort of opening book we use to consult in all of our games. But once out of Book," only the player versed in tactics will win. The opening book can only guide you if you truly have a plan and tactical knowledge. How do I gain this tactical knowledge, you ask. To begin with, read some good books on the subject, then work on solving chess problems. Problems, not puzzles are your best tools. Work at least ten to twenty problems a day, until you can readily scan a position and determine the plan and combination that will win! Win doesn't necessarily mean checkmate. Win means a position or material gain from which your opponent cannot recover! There are many books available that have thousands of these problems available. Don't work them on a chess board. Work them in your head. This will help you to visualize. And don't spend excessive time on a given problem before you look at the solution. Frustration is not the key to gracious learning. Further, don't allow yourself to become discouraged if you don't solve many problems correctly to begin with. Keep with the struggle until you do. It wont be easy - nothing worthwhile is. This is the foundation for our improving our game. If we build our knowledge properly and try to recognize these positions and principles as they arise in our games, we will steadily improve our chess scores!! More to come in later issues. Please keep your questions coming in! ----------- [Event "Munich tmt"] [Date "1991"] [White "Polgar, Zsuzsz"] [Black "Yudasin, Luonid"] [Result "1-0"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 c5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.0-0 d5 6.b3 Bd6 7.Bb2 0-0 8.a3 Qc7 9.c4 cxd4 10.exd4 e5 11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 Bxe5 13.Bxe5 Qxe5 14.Nd2 Bg4 15.Re1 Qd6 16.Qc2 Rac8 17.h3 Bh5 18.Bf5 Rc7 19.Qd3 Rd8 20.Qd4 b6 21.Re5 Re7 22.f4 Qc7 23.Rae1 Rxe5 24.fxe5 dxc4 25.exf6 gxf6 26.Qxf6 c3 27.Ne4 c2 28.Qh6 Bg6 29.Nf6+ Kh8 30.Ne8 1-0 *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* IECC ..... The Friendly Chess Club! *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*