*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ IECC CHESS BITS & PIECES *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Published by the International Email Chess Club Devoted solely to E-Mail Correspondence Chess *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Volume 1, Issue 13 October 1995 *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ THE FOUNDER'S CORNER By Lisa Powell ********************************************************************* We are pleased to see that most -- if not all -- of the contributors to rec.games.chess.misc rec.games.chess.play-by-email rec.games.chess.analysis rec.games.chess.computer rec.games.chess.politics seem to have recovered from the initial shock of the split, as though rgc were a huge diamond carved up into fragments. Throughout the months since March 1995 when IECC was launched, many chess players belonging to both IECC and IECG have found that there are definite benefits of dual membership. To me, witnessing the large number of chess enthusiasts who have appeared in rec.games.chess.play-by-email, it is a joy that the prediction of Mats Larsson proved to be so accurate. It's a friendlier newsgroup for those large numbers of chess enthusiasts who did not appear in the original rec.games.chess. On another note, since the Split, many new members of IECC are joining our free Chess Academy. The process of learning how to improve their game is, they tell us, adding to their enjoyment of chess. While it is true that chess players thrive on the struggle that takes place on the 64 squares -- either to win by brute force or to create the semblance of a minor masterpiece, there is for some a greater reward that was well expressed by Goethe: "A teacher who can arouse a feeling for one single good action, for one single good poem, accomplishes more than he who fills our memory with rows on rows of natural objects, classified with name and form." Mark Dvoretsky expressed this in different words. "Many chess players have become totally `bogged down' in the study of openings, occupying themselves only with processing information and acquiring new opening knowledge. I am sure this is not the best way to develop a chess player's potential -- at any rate where young players are concerned. It is much more important to set in motion a training programme to improve one's game." [Training For The Tournament Player] *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ IECC MEMBER OF THE MONTH Each issue we introduce to our readers a different member. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ John Galvin Age: 55 IECC Titles: VP Programs and VP Negotiator Residence: Matamoras, PA I enjoy playing by mail or e-mail because I can work on my games whenever I want to. If I run into a difficult position I can sleep on it and try again the next day. I can also fit a lot of games in my schedule. On the first of every month I have 2 meetings on Monday night and a Council Meeting on Tuesday night but I can send my moves on Wednesday and still make the time control. Also the friendships I have made in postal and now in e-chess are ongoing and are very satisfying. I am basically self-taught in Chess. There is an excellent player in the area I am able to play once in awhile and I learn a lot from him. When you lose 95 percent of the time you learn. I play the English Opening as white, and the Caro-Kann and the Slav as black. I am now going to try and expand my openings and this will be very interesting. I am also a volunteer in the Newbie program and have helped a few newcomers into the wonderful world of e-chess. IECC is the only group I know of that has an organized program to welcome new players through the Academy and the Newbie program. I am glad to be of help of starting new players down the road that has given me so much enjoyment. What else? Well, I was born July 7, 1940 in Port Jervis, NY. I now live in Matamoras, PA right across the Delaware River from Port Jervis, NY. If you look on a map of the USA, Matamoras is where PA, NY & NJ join in the heart of the beautiful Pocono Mts. I have two sons, one daughter, one grandson and one granddaughter and a wonderful wife Ann (Anyone who can put up with me for 30 years has to be wonderful. If anyone is interested I can write pages on how wonderful my grandchildren are. I am a Borough Councilman in Matamoras, up for re-election this year, so if I make a stupid move I can blame it on the election. I'm also Commander of The Matamoras American Legion, Secretary of the Recreation Commission and a few other activities. I played some chess in high school but never really took any interest. I started to play correspondence chess with the USCF in 1975 and became quite active. I dropped out in the late 1970s because of personal problems. I started playing again in 1982 with a vengeance. I belong to APCT, CCLA, NOST, USCF, ICCF, IECC & IECG. I have played over 600 games of correspondence chess. I have tried to play OTB but I have never been able to because of my schedule. I am now phasing out most of my postal games in favor of e-chess because of the problems with snail mail. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Information Resources By Mike Power VP Communications You can get the latest IECC activities and news updates from: 1- news group rec.games.chess.play-by-email 2- ftp site at 'ftp.pitt.edu' in the area 'group/chess/NEWS' 3- World Wide Web page at: 'http://kerouac.pharm.uky.edu/rgbIECC/IECC.html' 4- email access to ftp site or WWW site (see Newsletter Vol.1, No. 11 & 12 or contact me for more details (however there have been problems with the mail server site) 5- direct maillings from me if you can't get the any of the above to work 6- vapor-ware for the future would be a listserver to handle #5 for me and I'd appreciate any suggestions people might have on this. All the best & let me know if you have problems, Mike Power IECC VP Communications ************************************************************************** Notes on IECC Archives By Ken Boys *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Inspecting, correcting and archiving IECC's completed games is now more than a full-time job for one person. We need more help for this important function. We now have three people, in addition to myself, who are contributing to our efforts and we are in need of several more. Because a certain percentage of game scores arrive with errors in them, they must be checked before they are fed into a database. This will be fully explained when you apply to help. Send me a note if you are interested in contributing to our club's Archives. To reduce the percentage of reported games which need correction or format alteration, please report your completed games in the below format. Note the few alterations which are necessary for the PGN file. [Site "M-21"] [Date "1995.1.28"] [Round "1"] [White "Fisher, Bobby"] [Black "Botvinnik, Mikhail"] [Result "1-0"] 1.Nf3 Nc6 2.g3 h6 3.Bg2 e5 4.d3 Bc5 5.e4 Nge7 6.Be3 b6 7.d4 exd4 8.Nxd4 0-0 9.c3 Bb7 10.0-0 Ng6 11.Nxc6 Bxc6 12.Bxc5 bxc5 13.f4 f6 14.Qh5 Qe7 15.Qxg6 1-0 Notes: [Site "M-21"] Swiss tournament = [Site "Swiss #?"] Quad tournament = [Site "Quad #?"] Pyramid Match = [Site "Pyramid"] Trio Match = [Site "Trio #?"] Class tournament = [Site "CL-?"] Knock Out = [Site "KO-?"] Match = [Site "M-?"] [Round "1"] Use the number "1" for all games except in Matches, Swiss tournaments and Knockout tournaments. In those, please identify the proper round number. [Date "1995.3.3"] [Date "Year.Month.Day"] [White "Fisher, Bobby"] [White or Black "Last and First Names "] [Result "1-0"] if White wins [Result "0-1"] if Black wins [Result "1/2"] in the case of a draw. 1.Nf3 Nc6 2.g3 h6 3.Bg2 e5 Previous descriptions of this report indicated an unnecessary space between the move numbers and the moves. Example; 1. Nf3 Nc6 2. g3 h6 3. Bg2 e5 = Incorrect ^ ^ ^ 1.Nf3 Nc6 2.g3 h6 3.Bg2 e5 = Correct *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ IECC GAME OF THE MONTH Bill Wall Bob Warren - Howard Hanson, IECC Match, 1995 (B08) 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bd3 [Not a usual move here. More common is 5.Be2 or 5.Bc4. White's bishop is hemmed in for awhile.] 5...O-O 6.O-O [6.h3 Nc6 7.a3 e5 8.d5 Ne7 9.Be3 c6 was played in the game Lipniniks-Sousa, Moscow Olympiad 1994] 6...Nc6 [6...c6 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 Qc7 9.Bg3 Nh5 10.Ne2 e5 was tried in Janekovic-Werner, Szeged 1994] 7.a3 [Not wanting the black knight to play Nb4.] 7...e5 [Perhaps better is 7...Bg4, pinning the knight. White can't play 8.h3, since 8...Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Nxd4 wins a pawn.] 8.d5 [Better than 8.dxe5 Nxe5 and Black has a strong center.] 8...Ne7 9.Bg5 Nh5 [Black can try 9...c6 or 9...h6 rather than limit the scope of his knight on the edge (a knight on the rim is dim).] 10.Qd2 f5 [Perhaps 10...c6, but since Black committed his knight to h5, he plans to follow up with a king-side expansion.] 11.exf5 [White doesn't want 11...f4 and now he can exchange his hemmed-in bishop on d3.] 11...Bxf5 12.Bxf5 Rxf5 13.Ne4 [White posts his knight in the center to cover more squares.] 13...Rf7 [Better may be 13...Qd7 to break the pin and try to play his other rook on a8 to f8, doubling on the file.] 14.Bh4 [White wants to occupy the g5 square with a knight. 14.Be3 is also playable. 14...Qd7 [Black could take this opportunity to play 14...Nf4, placing his knight on a better square than h5.] 15.Neg5 Bh6 [Probably too risky. Black may be better off with 15...Rf5 even though White may play 16.Ne6 and have a strong knight placed firmly in the center.] 16.Qd3 [Or 16.Qb4 to break the pin.] 16...Bxg5 [If Black doesn't want to exchange the bishop for the knight, then 16...Rf4 and 17...Raf8 or 17...Rg4 may be better. Black is leaving a hole with his bishop coming off the board and not providing the best protection for his king.] 17.Bxg5 [If 17.Nxg5 Rf4 and Black may have counterplay with a possible sacrifice of his rook for bishop if 18.g3 is played. After 18.g3 Rxh4 19.gxh4 Black can play 19...Nf4 or 19...Qg4.] 17...Nf4 18.Bxf4 Rxf4 [Threatening 19...e4, but 20.Qd2 threatens the rook.] 19.Ng5 [Another idea may be 19.Qb3 with the threat of 20.Nxe5 dxe5 21.d6+] 19...Rd4 20.Qb3 b6 [If 20...Nxd5? 21.Nf3 wins the exchange. If 20...Rxd5 21.Qxb7 Qc8 is a possibility. White could play 21.c4 first, then 22.Qxb7. Black could also play 20...Rb8 or 20...b5.] 21.Rad1 [21.Ne6? Rxd5 22.Qf3 Re8 favors Black.] 21...Rxd1 22.Rxd1 Qg4 [Attacking the White rook and knight.] 23.Nf3 Nf5 [Black is threatening 24...Nh4. If 23...e4, 24.Rd4 or 24.h3. Also playable is 23...Rf8.] 24.c4 [White could also play 24.h3 and Black has to be careful where he puts his queen.] 24...Rf8 25.h3 Qf4 [Threatening 26...Nd4.] 26.Qc2 [Guarding the f2 pawn in case 26...Nd4 is played.] 26...Nh4 [Drawish may be 26...Nd4 27.Nxd4 exd4.] 27.Nxh4 Qxh4 28.b3 [White could also play 28.Re1 or 28.f3.] 28...a5 29.Rd3 Qe4 [Threatening 30...Qe1+ 31.Kh2 Rxf2.] 30.Qd2 Qf5 31.Kf1 [Looks drawish so far. Not 31.f3? e4 32.fxe4?? Qf1+ 33.Kh2 Rf2 34.Qg5 Qxd3 and Black wins.] 31...e4 [Black could also try 31...a4 32.bxa4 Ra8 or 32...Qe4. Now the question is can Black get any counterplay or does his advanced e pawn become weak and eventually get picked off.] 32.Re3 Qe5 [Trying to penetrate with 33...Qa1+ or 33...Qh2.] 33.Re1 Kg7 [Or 33...Qg3 (threatening 34...Qxb3) 34.Qe3. Another idea for Black is 33...Re8, freeing the queen to move.] 34.f3 Rf4 [Not 34...Qg3? 35.Qc3+ (35.Rxe4 Rxf3+ 36.gxf3 Qxf3+ and 37...Qxe4) and 36.Rxe4. Black is safer with 34...Rf7 or 34...Kg8] 35.Qc2 Qf6 [If 35...Qd4 36.Rxe4 Rxe4 37.Qxe4 Qa1+ 38.Kf2 Qxa3? 39.Qe7+ and Qxc7 with advantage to White. If 35...e3? 36.Qc1 and 37.Rxe3. Black could try 35...Rf7 but must watch out. 35...Rf7 36.Rxe4 Qa1+ 37.Kf2 Qxa3 38.Qc3+ Kg8 39.Re8+ Rf8 40.Rxf8+ Kxf8 41.Qh8+ and 42.Qxh7+, winning.] 36.Rxe4 Rxe4 [Perhaps 36...Qa1+ first.] 37.Qxe4 Qa1+ [Or 37...Kf8 38.a4 Qc3] 38.Kf2 Qxa3? [This gives White too much. Black should protect his King and play a pawn down after 38...Qf6 or 38...Qb2+ and 39...Qf6.] 39.Qe7+ Kg8 [Not 39...Kh6?? 40.Qf8+ Kg5 41.f4+ Qh5 42.g4+ Kh4 43.Qh6 mate.] 40.Qd8+ Kg7 41.Qxc7+ Kh6 42.Qxb6 Qb2+ 43.Kg3 1-0 [After 43...Qe5+ 44.f4 Qc3+ 45.Kh2 Qf6 46.Qe3, White is two pawns up with no pawn weaknesses.] *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ CHESS BOOK AND MAGAZINE REVIEWS by Bill Wall THE ITALIAN GAME (C53-54) by s1Editrice (Bologna, Italy) 1994. This 103 page opening monograph concentrates on games and analysis arising from the Italian Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3). The book is broken up into 13 chapters or lines after 4.c3. There are diagrams after critical positions, followed by variations and analysis that could arise from such positions. The book uses the Informant code system to evaluate positions as to who stands better. The book seems very thorough, getting most of its games and materials from large ChessBase data files, but analysis from the masters and grandmasters who played the variations. There seem to be about 250 complete games in this volume. The text is figurine algebraic notation with over 100 sharp diagrams. HOW TO PLAY THE DILWORTH ATTACK by Eric Schiller (Chess Enterprises) 1995. Here are 98 pages of theory and games of the Ruy Lopez, Dilworth Attack (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4). National Master Eric Schiller covers early deviations, approaching main lines, and main lines that lead to a variety of typical endgames. The typical endgames are then covered in two more chapters - Bishop and Knight versus Rook, and two Bishops versus Rook. Much of the material is from Black's point of view, thanks to the success of Artur Yusupov, Eugene Torre, and Lev Polugavevsky who all play it as Black. Victor Korchnoi is also a Dilworth Attack kind of guy. Schiller establishes the first game featuring the Dilworth attack from a postal game between Schrump and Mehrien versus Alphonse Goetz in 1887. Vernon Dilworth popularized the opening in the early 1940's in England, and now these lines bear his name. Schiller annotates 60 games arising from this line. Every page has a diagram or two at critical points. BLACKMAR-DIEMER GAMBIT: BOGOLJUBOW VARIATION by Eric Schiller and John Crayton (Chess Enterprises) 1995. This 92 page book covers the BDG, Bogoljubow Variation (1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 g6), one of the more popular lines of the Blackmar-Diemer gambit. Over 250 complete games are presented with analysis provided by Dr. Schiller. There are 17 chapters or variations covered in the opening. Schiller concludes that the fianchetto approach for Black is much better than the literature indicates. There are over 80 diagrams of critical positions to help the reader. TENNISON GAMBIT (1.Nf3 d5 2.e4) by John Lutes (Chess Enterprises) 1995 This 113 page book is full of games, analysis, and evaluations of games starting with 1.Nf3 d5 2.e4. There is a good biographical sketch of Captain Otto Tennison (1834-1909). He was a Lt. Colonel under General Grant in the Union Army during the Civil War, but decided he couldn't support the Union cause. As he was being led to his court-martial, he escaped to a Confederate camp and tried to join the Confederate Army. The Confederates thought he was a Union spy and put him in prison for 16 months. He was sentenced to hang by a court-martial in the Confederate Army, but his sentence was reprieved. He was eventually sent to Shreveport, Louisiana where he became a Confederate Captain and drill officer throughout the rest of the war. He settled in New Orleans after the war and was a charter member of the New Orleans chess, checkers, and whist club. He published games and analysis of the Tennison Gambit in a New Orleans newspaper in 1891. Lutes has done a fine job of researching this opening with over 200 bibliographic sources CHESS HORIZONS, Jul-Aug 95 This is the publication of the Massachusetts Chess Association, edited by Joe Sparks. Articles include spotlight on Botvinnik, the practical endgame by GM Mednis, Slav Defense by GM Ribli, correspondence chess, and coverage of local tournaments and news. Lots of annotated games. CHESS IN INDIANA, May-Jun 1995 This is the official publication of the Indiana State Chess Association, edited by John Crane. Articles include analysis of the French Defense, scholastic chess, and postal chess in Indiana. Lots of games. FLORIDA CHESS, August 1995 This is the publication of the Florida Chess Association. There is a good article on the pros and cons of CHESS LIFE magazine by Jim Eade and Gerry Dullea. GM Arnold Denker writes on memories of Fischer and other greats. There is grandmaster analysis by Christiansen and Denker and a wost move contest by the readers. ILLINOIS CHESS BULLETIN, Sep-Oct 1995 Articles include the U.S Blind championship, European chess vacation by Senior Master Eugene Martinovsky, annotated games from the Chicago Open and National Open, rules of chess and appeals, and a column by GM Dimtry Gurevich. Lots of games and diagrams. KING'S KORNER, May-June 1995 This is the official publication of the All Service Postal Chess Club (ASPCC). edited by Jerry Hopfer. The ASPCC was established in 1957 for military members. Dues and the bi-monthly magazine is $12 a year. There's an article called, "Searching for Beaver Cleaver!" which is an interview with Jerry Mathers, a chess enthusiast. Another article is on Paul Keres. Lots of games in this issue. OHIO CHESS BULLETIN, Mar-Aug 1995 The is the official publication of the Ohio Chess Association, edited by Bill Wright. Lots of games, crosstables, and tournament results from around the state. PALMETTO CHESS, July 1995 This is the publication of the South Carolina Chess Association and the last issued edited by Lee Hyder. There is a report on the 1995 South Carolina Open, won by Randy Ferguson. Lee has an article on the 1995 SC Correspondence Championship and there is some news from around the state. USCF 1995 ANNUAL REPORT The USCF has over 82,000 members. The U.S. Chess Federation annual report has the highlights of 1994-1995, the President's Report (Denis Barry), Executive Director's Report (Al Lawrence), Treasurer's Report (Frank Camaratta), minutes from policy board meetings, committe reports, and bylaws of the USCF. VIRGINIA CHESS, Issue #4, 1995 This is the bimonthly publication of the Virginia Chess Federation, edited by Macon Shibut. There are articles on scholastic chess in Virginia, District of Columbia League, a book review on The Games of Wilhelm Steinitz, and lots of tournament reports. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ COMPUTER CHESS TRIVIA by Bill Wall In 1947, Alan Turing specified the first chess program for chess. In 1948 the UNIVAC computer was advertised as the strongest computer in the world. So strong, that it could play chess and gin rummy so perfectly that no human opponent could beat it. In 1949 Claude Shannon described how to program a computer and a Ferranti digital machine was programmed to solve mates in two moves. By 1956 experiments on a MANIAC I computer (11,000 operations a second) at Los Alamos, using a 6x6 chessboard, was playing chess. This was the first documented account of a running chess program. In 1957 a chess program was written by Bernstein for an IBM 704. This was the first full-fledged game of chess by a computer. The first chess computer to play in a tournament was MacHack VI (PDP-6) written at MIT by Greenblatt. The computer entered the 1966 Massachussets Amateur championship, scoring 1 draw and 4 losses for a USCF rating of 1243. In 1966 a USSR chess program defeated a Stanford IBM 7090 program. In 1967 MacHACK VI became the first program to beat a human (rate 1510), at the Massachussets State Championship. In 1968 International Master David Levy made a $3,000 bet that no chess computer would beat him in 10 years. He won his bet. In 1970 the first all-computer championship was held in New York and won by CHESS 3.0, a program written by Atkin and Gorlen at Northwestern University. Six programs had entered. In 1971 the Institute of Control Science, Moscow, created KAISSA using a British computer to play chess. In 1974 World Correspondence Champion Hans Berliner wrote his PhD dissertation on "Chess Computers as Problem Solving." In 1974 KAISSA won the world computer chess championship held in Stockholm with a perfect 4-0 score. In 1975 Grandmaster David Bronstein used the endgame database in KAISSA to win an adjourned game in a tournament in Vilnius. In 1976 CHESS 4.5 won the Class B section of the Paul Masson tournament in Northern California. The performance rating was 1950. In 1976 a computer program was used to make the chess pairings at the chess olympiad in Haifa. In 1977 the first microcomputer chess playing machine, CHESS CHALLENGER, was created. The International Computer Chess Association (ICCA) was formed. In 1977 CHESS 4.5 won the Minnesota Open winning 5 games and losing one. It had a performance rating of 2271. Stenberg (1969) became the first Class A player to lose to a computer. In 1977 SNEAKY PETE was the first chess computer to play in a U.S. Open, held in Columbus, Ohio. In 1977 Michael Stean became the first grandmaster to lose to a computer; it was a blitz game. In 1978 SARGON won the first tournament for microcomputers, held in San Jose. David Levy collected his 10 year bet by defeating CHESS 4.7 in Toronto. One of the games was a draw. This was the first time a computer drew an international master. In 1980 CHAMPION SENSORY CHALLENGER won the first world microcomputer championship, held in London. In 1981 CRAY BLITZ won the Mississipi State Championship with a perfect 5-0 score and a performance rating of 2258. In 1982 BELLE was confiscated by the State Department as it was heading to the Soviet Union to participate in a computer chess tournament. The State Department claimed it was a violation of a technology transfer law to ship a high technology computer to a foreign country. BELLE later played in the U.S. Oen speed championship and took 2nd place. By 1982 computer chess companies were topping $100 million in sales. In 1983 Belle became the first computer to beat a master in tournament play and the first computer to gain a master rating (2263). In 1983 the first microcomputer beat a master in tournament play. In 1984 a microcomputer won a tournament for the first time against mainframes, held in Canada. In 1985 HITECH achieved a performace rating of 2530. In 1987 the U.S. Amateur Championship became the first national championship to be directed by a computer program. In 1988 DEEP THOUGHT and Grandmaster Tony Miles shared first place in the U.S. Open championship. DEEP THOUGHT had a 2745 performance rating. In 1988 HITECH won the Pennsylvania State Chess Championship after defeating International Master Ed Formanek (2485). HITECH defeated Grandmaster Arnold Denker in a match. In 1988 Grandmaster Bent Larsen became the first GM to lose to a computer in a major tournament - the American Open. In 1989 DEEP THOUGHT won the world computer championship in Canada, with a rating of 2600. DEEP THOUGHT defeated Grandmaster Robert Byrne in a match game. DEEP THOUGHT can analyze 2 million positions a second. In 1990 World Champion Anatoly Karpov lost to MEPHISTO in a simultaneous exhibition in Munich. MEPHISTO also beat grandmasters Robert Huebner and David Bronstein. MEPHISTO won the German blitz championship and earned an International Master norm by scoring 7-4 in the Dortmund Open. In 1994 WCHESS became the first computer to outperform grandmasters at the Harvard Cup in Boston. In 1994 Kasparov lost to FRITZ3 in Munich in a blitz tournament. The program also defeated Anad, Short, Gelfand, and Kramnik. Grandmaster Robert Huebner refused to play it and lost on forfeit, the first time a GM has forfeited to a computer. The highest rated computer in the world is DEEP BLUE, rated 2705. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ DEATH OF CHESSPLAYERS, by Bill Wall How did some of the more famous chessplayers die? Here are a few examples and oddities. Georgy Agzamov, Russian grandmaster, was accidently killed when he tried to take a short cut to go swimming and fell down between two rocks in 1986. He was 32. Alexander Alekhine, world champion, choked on a piece of meat in a Portugal hotel in 1946 and died at the age of 54. Johann Allgaier, German master, died of dropsy in 1823 at the age of 60. Curt von Bardeleben, German master, committed suicide by jumping out of a window at his boarding house in Berlin in 1924. He died at the age of 63. Thomas Barnes, American master, died after going on a diet and lost 130 pounds in 10 months, causing his death in 1874. He was 49. Samuel Boden, English master, died of typhoid fever in 1882 in London at the age of 56. Efim Bogoljubow, challenger to the world championship twice, suffered a heart attack after a simultaneous exhibition in Triberg, Germany in 1952. He was 63. Paolo Boi, Italian master, was supposed to have been poisoned by rival chess players and died in 1598 at the age of 70 in Naples. Henry Buckle, English master, died of typhoid fever in Damascus in 1862. He was 41. Jose Capablance died while watching chess at the Manhattan Chess Club in 1942 at the age of 54. Rudolf Charousek, Hungarian master, died of tuberculosis in 1900 at the age of 27. Mikhail Chigorin, Russian master, died of diabetes in 1908 at the age of 58. Edward Colle, Belgium champion, died after an operation for an ulcer in 1932 at the age of 35. Cecil De Vere, British champion, died of tuberculosis in 1875 at the age of 29. Ed Edmundson, former USCF President, died of a heart attack while playing chess on a beach in Waikiki, Hawaii in 1982. He was 62. Janos Flesh, blindfold master, died in a car wreck in 1983 at the age of 50. Jan Foltys, Czech master, died of leukemia after qualifying for the Interzonal in 1952. He was 44. Guillermo Garcia-Gonzales, Cuban grandmaster, died in a car wreck in Havana in 1990 at the age of 36. Nikolai Grigoriev, Russian master, died from appendicitis in 1938 at the age of 43. Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky, died when he was hit by a German shell while on a barge leaving Leningrad in 1941 at the age of 47. He was the only one killed on that barge during the siege of Leningrad. David Janowski, Polish and French master, died of TB in France, just before the start of a major French tournament he had entered in 1927. He was 58. Klaus Junge, German master, was killed in action while serving as a German army officer in 1945 at the age of 21. Paul Keres died of a heart attack while returning home from Canada to Estonia after winning a major Canandian tournament in 1975 at the age of 59. Over 100,000 people turned out for his funeral. The Estonian 5 crown note has a portrait of Paul Keres. Nikolai Krylenko, chairman of all chess activities in the Soviet Union, was executed by Stalin's orders in 1938 at the age of 53. Karl Kubbel, Soviet chess composer, died during the siege of Leningrad at the age of 50. Salo Landau, Dutch master and Polish Jew, died in a concentration camp in Auschwitz in 1943 at the age of 40. Paul Leonhardt, German chess journalist, died of a heart attack while playing chess in a German chess club in 1934 at the age of 47. Samuel Lipschutz, former US champion, died of lung disease in 1905 at the age of 42. George Mackenzie, Scottish master, killed himself with an overdose of morphine in a New York hotel room 1n 1891 when he discovered he had tuberculosis. He was 54. Frank Marshall, former US champion, died of a heart attack after leaving a chess tournament in Jersey City in 1944 at the age of 67. Alexander McDonnell, English master, died of Bright's disease in 1835 at the age of 37. Vera Menchik, women's world champion, and her sister Olga, female world challenger, were killed by a German V-1 rocket when it hit London in 1944. Vera was 38 and Olga was 36. Johannes Minckwitz, German chess writer, threw himself in front of an electric train which cut off both his arms. He died five days later in 1901 at the age of 44. Paul Morphy died of apolexy (stroke) while taking a cold bath in 1884 at the age of 47. James Mortimer, chess journalist, caught pneumonia at a chess tournament in Spain and died in 1911 at the age of 78. Aaron Nimzovich died of pneumonia in 1935 at the age of 49 in Copenhagen. Louis Paulsen, American master, died of diabetes in 1891 at the age of 58. Julius Perlis, Viennese master, died mountain climbing in the Alps in 1913 at the age of 33. Vladimir Petrov, Latvian master, died in a prison camp in Russia in 1943 at the age of 35. Harry Pillsbury, American master, died of syphillis in 1906 at the age of 34. David Przepiorka, Polish master, died in a concentration camp in 1940 at the age of 60. Cecil Purdy, Australian master, died of a heart attack while playing a game of chess in 1979 at the age of 73. His last words were, "I have a win, but it will take some time." Juan Quesada, Cuban champion, died of a heart attack during a game at the 1952 international tournament in Havana at the age of 50. Ilya Rabinovich, Russian master, died of starvation in the siege of Leningrad in 1942 at the age of 51. Richard Reti, Hungarian champion, died of scarlet fever in 1929 at the age of 40. He was hit by a street car in Prague and taken to a hospital to heal. While in the hospital he contracted scarlet fever which later killed him. Nicolas Rossolimo, American grandmaster, fell down a flight of stairs at his chess club in New York and died of head injuries in 1975 at the age of 65. William Russ, American chess composer, shot his girl friend four times, then shot himself. She survived, he did not in 1866. He was 33. Pierre Saint-Amant, French master, died after falling from his carriage in 1872 at the age of 72. Carl Schlecter, world champion candidate, died of starvation in 1918 at the age of 44. Vladimir Simagin, Russian grandmaster, died of a heart attack while playing in a chess tournament in 1968 at the age of 49. Gideon Stahlberg, Swedish grandmaster, died between rounds of the 1967 Leningrad International tournament, in which he was playing, at the age of 59. Howard Staunton, English master, died of a heart attack while writing a chess book in 1874 at the age of 64. Herman Steiner, American master, died after he completed one of his games in the California State championship in 1955 at the age of 50. George Sturgis, first president of the USCF, died on his honeymoon in 1944 at the age of 53. Alexei Troitzky, Russian chess composer, died of starvation during the siege of Leningrad in 1942 at the age of 76. Abe Turner, American master, was stabbed nine times in the back by a fellow employee at CHESS REVIEW in New York in 1962. The assailant had been released from an insane asylum and claimed Turner was a Communist spy and had to be killed on orders from the Secret Service. Abe was 38. Frederick Yates, English master, died in his sleep from a leak in a faulty gas pipe connection in 1932 at the age of 48. He had just finished a 16 game simultaneous exhibition in London. Alexander Zaitsev, Soviet grandmaster, died of thrombosis as a consequence of an operation to lengthen his leg in 1971 at the age of 36. Johann Zukertort, Polish master, died of a cerebral hemorrhage after playing chess in a London coffee-house in 1888 at the age of 46. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ CORRESPONDENCE CHESS TRIVIA by Bill Wall It is said that the first documented correspondence chess game occurred between King Henry I of England and Louis VI of France in 1119. The first authenticated correspondence match was between The Hague and Breda in 1804. The Scotch opening got its name from a correspondence match between Edinburgh, Scotland and London, England in 1824. It was the team from London that played the Scotch opening. The first correspondence game in America occurred between chess clubs in New York and Norfolk, Virginia in 1840. The first correspondence chess club, the Caissa Correspondence Chess Club, was founded in England in 1870. In 1883 the Bedlam insane asylum challenged Cambridge University in a correspondence match and won. The first national correspondence association, the British Correspondence Chess Association, was formed in 1906. In 1909 the U.S. organized the Correspondence Chess League of America (CCLA). It is the oldest postal chess organization in America and the second oldest in the world. The CCLA publishes the largest correspondence chess magazine in the world, THE CHESS CORRESPONDENT, the oldest national magazine in the U.S. The CCLA was the first organization to have a numerical rating of chess players, in 1933. The International Correspondence Chess Association (ICCA) was founded by FIDE in 1927. It was replaced by the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) in 1946. The first international correspondence tournament was held in 1932 and won by Janos Balogh. The first correspondence chess olympiad was held in 1935. There were 17 countries participating. Hungary won. In 1935 the U.S. started a 1,002 board correspondence match with England. It was stopped in 1941 when the British government's Board of Censors thought that the chess notation was some kind of code for secret messages during World War II. When the match was halted, the U.S. had won 223 games, lost 203, drew 100, with 476 games unfinished. The first British correspondence championship began in 1942. It was won by R. Bonham, a blind player. The 1946 Golden Knights Correspondence Championship had 1,456 entries. The first World Correspondence Chess Championship began in 1947 with 78 players. It was won by Cecil Purdy of Australia after 6 years of play. The first Soviet correspondence championship began in 1949 and was won by Alexander Konstantinopolsky. The first title of Grandmaster of Correspondence Chess was awarded by FIDE in 1953. The first world blind correspondence championship began in 1955, won by R. Bonham of England. In 1962 Alberic O'Kelly de Galway became the first grandmaster of over-the-board play and correspondence. He was the winner of the third World Correspondence Championship (1959-1962). The first women's world correspondence championship began in 1965. In 1962 the first Grandmaster of Correspondence of the Blind was awarded to R. Bonham. The first British postal grandmaster was Keith Richardson, who became a Grandmaster of Correspondence Chess in 1975. In 1968 Hans Berliner won the 5th World Correspondence Championship. His 3 point margin of victory was the greatest margin of victory ever achieved in the World Correspondene Championship, and his winning percentage was also the greatest of any Correspondence World Champion. In 1982 Duncan Suttles became Canada's first Correspondence GM. In 1985 Nick Down, a former British Junior Correspondence Champion, entered the British Ladies Correspondence Chess Championship as Miss Leigh Strange. He was later caught and admitted his deception and banned from all British correspondence events. The record for the most correspondence games played at one time is held by Stan Vaughan who played 1,124 games at once in 1988. Prior to this, Robert Wyller held the record of 1,001 correspondence games at once in 1948. In 1990 Dr. Christine Rosenfeld became the first U.S. Correspondence International Woman Master. The record for The highest rated correspondence player in America goes to John Penquite, rated at 2939 in 1993 with 58 straight wins, no losses, no draws. Volf Bergaser (1904-1986) became a Grandmaster of Correspondence at the age of 77. The U.S. only has three Grandmasters of Correspondence Chess - Hans Berliner, Victor Palciauskas, and Alik Zilberberg. +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* IECC CHESS ACADEMY +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Toshi Takeuchi, Senior VP IECC Chess Academy, is taking a leave of absence to attend to his graduation, complete experiments and to write his thesis. He will be relocating to San Francisco in January, at which time he will most likely be free to plunge once again into chess. Meanwhile, Bill Wall, Joe Bulko and Lisa Powell are working individually with students. Most -- but not all -- of the students are graduated Newbies. The program right now is advertised in rec.games.chess.play-by-email: Information about the IECC Chess Academy The basic idea of IECC is to make competitive correspondence chess via email enjoyable for all members -- especially lower-rated members who feel they need help in improving their chess skills. 1. How to open a chess game. Many players encounter problems with games before they reach the middle game. This Academy course -- where the student plays two games with the instructor, one with White, one with Black -- explores the ideas of an opening, and what one must do to enter the middle game with good chances. 2. Developing an opening repertoire. This is an extension of course #1. It is our contention that too many players with lower ratings use the smorgasbord approach: a little bit of this opening, a little bit of that opening. We think that concentration on the fewest possible openings pays more dividends. 3. How to analyze a game -- or a critical position in a game -- that you have played. This course is the heavy stuff. Strategy and Tactics. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* IECC ..... The Friendly Chess Club! *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*