*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ IECC CHESS BITS & PIECES *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Published by the International Email Chess Club Devoted solely to E-Mail Correspondence Chess *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Volume 1, Issue 15 November 1995 *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ THE FOUNDER'S CORNER By Lisa Powell Ben Jonson made an interesting observation when he wrote: "In small proportions we just beauties see, And in short measures life may perfect be." Life was of course simpler in the late decades of the 16th Century and the beginning of the 17th. And the tumult of wars and crime were far less frightening and destructive than those that make the modern world an unfixable mess -- as destructive and relentlessly incurable as cancer. These comments have nothing to do with chess or other art forms, unless we see such pleasures as delightful oases of sanity in a world that has little escape from the various forms of wholesale destruction prevalent in regions such as Europe, Africa, South America and the Middle East. Even in a tiny organization like IECC, we see some of our members cut off from the serene beauty of chess because of unemployment and other dislocations of their lives. The best that we can do is to be here for them when they come back to us. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ IECC MEMBER OF THE MONTH Each issue we introduce to our readers a different member. ******************************************************************* Robert J. Francis Age: 24 Current Residence: Bayfield, Ontario, Canada I first learned how to play chess in elementary school when I was 11. The room in which I ate lunch was also home to the school's fledgling chess club. Having caught the bug, I watched games being played, and soon determined how the pieces move. Someone explained the other rules to me and I started playing - and losing. At the end of the year I was still very green. I did not play again until high school. There I found a chess club of six people out of 800 students. I joined it and after receiving a rating of 900 in a province-wide high school tournament in Toronto, I decided to try and improve my game through study. On the advice of one of the more experienced players, I took home three chess magazines over the Christmas holidays and played through every single game. That's how I got a good start on learning opening principles, endgame strategy and tactics. Having climbed to the top of that small mountain, my perspective of chess changed. When I returned to school in January, my first game was against the school's best player, who was rated about 1750, and I won. He immediately demanded a rematch - and I won that one too! After that I was the man to beat. The following year I assumed the leadership of the club. I received money from the student's council to replace our aging equipment, and the club grew to about 20. The next year we planned to attend the high school tournament in Strathroy, Ontario, but a blizzard scuttled those plans. Meanwhile, the club grew to about 30 and we met every day in a science lab! We finally managed to get to the Strathroy tournament the next year, and we went home with the first place trophy. When I graduated, the club was about 40 strong. There was a chess club at the university I attended, but I didn't attend it very often because their meetings usually conflicted with one of my classes. Possibly a truly dedicated chess nut would have cut the class. All this time, I was also playing against my computer, with some success. I still have my first computer which is no longer much of a challenge, but the programs on my PC are certainly worthy opponents! I consider a win against the Chessmaster 4000 Turbo a personal accomplishment. Over the last couple of years, I enjoyed considerable success at correspondence chess, while I played very little OTB because the tournaments were too far away. I have since given up snailmail chess for e-mail chess. I wasn't on the Internet for a month before Lisa Powell offered me a position on her staff - and here I am! My favourite openings with white are the English and Scotch. With black I prefer the Sicilian Dragon and the Grunfeld. My other interests include card games and other strategy games, logic puzzles, tropical fish, the paranormal, insects, nature hikes, reading epic novels, and collecting original Picasso's. [Just kidding :)] *--------------------------------------------------------------* * Robert J Francis Internet: robert.francis@odyssey.on.ca * * Bayfield, ON, Canada * * Special Assistant to the CEO: International Email Chess Club * *--------------------------------------------------------------* ******************************************************************* RUY LOPEZ, EXCHANGE VARIATION by Bill Wall Michael Thayer - Chris Callow, IECC 1995 [C68] 1. e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 [The exchange variation of the Ruy Lopez] 4...dxc6 [4...bxc6 can also be played, but less common] 5.d4 [More usual is 5.O-O. If 5.Nxe5 Qd4 gains the pawn back] 5...exd4 [Less common is 5...Bg4 and 5...Nf6] 6.Qxd4 [If 6.Nxd4 c5 7.Nb3 (or 7.Nf3) 7...Qxd1+ 8.Kxd1 Be6. Also, 6.Nxd4 Be7 7.O-O Nf6 8.Re1 O-O 9.e5 Nd5 10.c4 Nb6 11.b3 Bb4 12.Bd2 Qxd4 13.Bxb4 Qxa1 14.Bxf8 Qxa2 15.Qd8 Bf5 0-1 J. Latell - B. Wall, Palo Alto 1986] 6...Qxd4 [Another idea is 6...Bg4] 7.Nxd4 Bd6 [Also playable are 7...Bd7, 7...Nf6, or 7...c5] 8.f3?! [Other moves for White are the following: A) 8.Nc3 Ne7 (8...Bd7 9.Be3 O-O-O 10.O-O-O Ne7 11.Nb3 Ng6 12.Nc5 Be8 13.Nd3 b6 = Johner-Euwe, Gothenberg 1920) 9.O-O (9.Be3 Bd7 10.O-O-O O-O-O 11.Nb3 Kb8 12.f4 f6 13.f5 b6 14.Nd2 Be5 = Karpov-Furman, Madrid 1973) 9...O-O 10.f4 Re8 11.Nb3 f6 12.f5 b6 13.Bf4 (1-0, 42) Lasker-Capablanca, St Petersburg 1914; B) 8.O-O Ne7 9.Nd2 O-O 10.Nc4 Ng6 11.Nxd6 cxd6 12.Be3 f5 (0-1, 55) Banks-Capablanca, 1916; C) 8.Nd2 Ne7 9.Nc4 O-O 10.O-O Re8 11.Re1 Ng6 12.Nxd6 cxd6 (1/2-1/2, 51) Sventskaia-Ibrahimzade, Szeged 1994; D) 8.Be3 c5 9.Ne2 f6 10.Bf4 Be6 11.Bxd6 cxd6 12.Nf4 Bf7 13.Nc3 Ne7 (0-1, 38) Mattison-Rubinstein, Carlsbad 1929] 8...Ne7 9.g4 [Too early to try a king-side attack, since White hasn't even castled yet. Better is 9.O-O O-O 10.Nc3 and 11.Be3] 9...h5 [Or 9...Be5 and 10...O-O. Black wants to bust White's king-side pawns] 10.g5 [10.hxg5 Rxh5 would lose the h-pawn for White] 10...Bh3 [Prevents White from castling K-side and allows Black to castle Q-side. Black also has the threat of 11...c5, 12...Bg2, and 13...Bxf3, winning a pawn.] 11.Kf2 [Defending the f-pawn. White could also try 11.Nd2] 11...O-O-O [Black gets his King to safety and activates his other rook] 12.Be3 c5 13.Ne2 [Another idea is 13 Nb3-Nd2] 13...Nc6 14.c3 [White wants to prevent 14...Nb4, but quicker in development is 14.Nf4 Be6 15.Nc3 and if 15...Nb4 16.Rac1] 14...Ne5 [Threatening 15...Nd3+ and 16...Nxb2] 15.Nf4 Bd7 16.Nd2 [To prevent 16...Nc4] 16...b6 [Another idea is 16...Bc6] 17.h4 [White would like to play 17.Nd5, but 17...Nd3+ is still a threat. Perhaps the White King should move to some other square first.] 17...Bc6 18.Rhg1 [Maybe the Rook is better at d1, trying to gain control of the open file] 18...c4 [Making room for 19...Bc5, and if 20.Bxc5 Rxd2+ and 21...Rxb2] 19.g6 [Better may be 19.Bd4 or 19.Rgd1] 19...f6 [An interesting combination is 19...fxg6 20.Nxg6 Bc5 21.Nxh8? Rxd2+ 22.Kg3 Bxe3 23.Rg2 Rd8, winning for Black. Also, 19...Bc5 20.gxf7? Rxd2+ 21.Ne2 (21.Kg3?? Bxe3) Nd3+ wins] 20.Ne6 [White could also play 20.Ke2, preventing any Knight fork and protecting the d-file] 20...Rd7 21.Nd4 Bb7 22.Ke2 [Preventing 22...Nd3+ and 23...Nxb2] 22...Rhd8 23.Rab1 [Another idea is 23.b3 with the idea of opening up a file for the White rook] 23...Bc5 24.Rg3 [Perhaps better is 24.b4 cxb3 25.N2xb3, or 24.Rbd1] 24...b5 25.Nf1 [White can also play 25.a4 and if 25...bxa4 26.Ra1 wins it back] 25...Re8 26.Rd1 Nd3 [The Black knight is placed well] 27.Rd2? [Better is 27.b3, trying to break Black's pawn structure. Also possible is 27.Nf5 since 27...Nxb2? 28.Rxd7 Kxd7 29.Bxc5 wins for White] 27...Bxd4 [Black can win a pawn with 27...Bd6 28.Rg2 Nc1+ and 29...Nxa2] 28.Bxd4 [White should probably try 28.cxd4 Nc1+ 29.Kf2 Nxa2 30.Rg2] 28...f5 29.Rg5 [White needs to worry about the Queen-side. Perhaps 29.b3 or 29.b4] 29...fxe4 30.f4 [Or 30.fxe4 Rxe4+ and 31...Rxh4, followed by Nf4+] 30...Rxd4! [Also winning is 30...Nxf4+ 31.Ke3 Nd5+ 32.Kf2 Re6 or 32...Rf8+] 31.cxd4 e3 [If 32.Nxe3 Nxf4+ 33.Kf2 Nh3+ and 34...Nxg5; If 32.Rd1 Nxf4+ 33.Ke1 e2 wins; If 32.Rc2 Nxf4+ 33.Ke1 e2 threatening 34...Nd3 35.Kd2 e1=Q mate] White resigns 0-1 *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ PRONOUNCE THAT CHESS WORD by Bill Wall Here is a list of chess terms and personalities and their pronunciation. Adorjan (A-door-yan), Andras - Hungarian Grandmaster Alekhine (Al-YECK-in), Alexander - former world champion Barcza (BAR-tza), Gedeon - Hungarian Grandmaster Bernstein (BERN-shtyne), Ossip - Russian Grandmaster Bisguier (BIS-gire), Arthur - American Grandmaster Bogojubow (Bo-go-LYU-bov), Efim - German Grandmaster Book (Bek), Eero - Finnish Grandmaster Botvinnik (bot-VIN-ik), Mikhail - former world champion Caro Kann (KAH-ro KAHN) - opening named after Horatio Caro and Marcus Kann Charousek (Kha-ROO-sek), Rudolf - Hungarian master Chiburdanidze (Tchee-boor-dah-NID-zay), Maya - former women's world champion Colle (KAW-lee), Edgard - Belgium champion Csom (Chom), Istvan - Hungarian Grandmaster En passant (ahn pah-SAHNT) - special method of capturing En prise (ahn preez) - piece hanging Euwe (UHR-vuh), Max - former world champion Fedorowicz (Fe-do-RO-vich), John - American Grandmaster Fianchetto (fee-an-KET-toe) - development of the bishop on b2, g2, b7, or g7 Gligoric (Glee-GO-rich), Svetozar - Yugoslav Grandmaster Grunfeld (GREWN-feld), Ernst - Austrian Grandmaster Giuoco Piano (JOKE-o Pee-AH-no) - Italian Opening J'adoube (Zha-DOOB) - I adjust Jaenisch (YAY-nish), Carl - Russian player and author Janowsky (Yan-OF-sky), Dawid - Polish master Kasparov (Kahs-SPAHR-off), Garry - PCA world champion Kavalek (kuh-VAHL-ek), Lubomir - American grandmaster Keres (KEHR-uhs), Paul - Soviet Grandmaster Kortchnoi (KORCH-noy), Viktor - Swiss Grandmaster Labourdonnais (lah-boor-do-NAY), Louis - 19th century player Lange (LAHN-guh), Max - German player and author Lein (Lane), Anatoly - American Grandmaster Ljubojevic (Luh-BOY-yuh-vitch), Ljubomir - Yugoslav Grandmaster Lucena (Lou-CHAYN-uh), Luis - 15th century chess author Maroczy (muh-ROT-see), Geza - Hungarian Grandmaster Najdorf (NIGH-dorf), Miguel - Argentine Grandmaster Petroff (PEHT-roff), Alexander - Russian master Pirc (Peerts), Vasja - Yugoslav Grandmaster Planinc (PLAN-ints), Albin - Yugoslav Grandmaster Reti (RAY-tee), Richard - Hungarian master Robatsch (RO-bahtsch), Karl - Austrian Grandmaster Ruy Lopez (Rue-y Lopeth) - 16th century Spanish priest and player Saemisch (SAME-ish), Friedrich - German Grandmaster Schevenigen (sheh-VEN-i-gen) - pairing system and Sicilian Defense variation Schliemann (SHLEE-mon), Adolf - German player and opening analyst Spassky (SPAHS-kee), Boris - former world chess champion Stean (Steen), Michael - British Grandmaster Stein (Shtayne), Leonid - Soviet Grandmaster Steinitz (Styne-itz), William - former world champion Tal (Tahl), Mikhail - former world champion Tarrasch (tuh-ROSH), Siegbert - German master Timman (TEE-mahn), Jan - Dutch Grandmaster Winawer (WIN-ah-wer), Szymon - Polish master Zugzwang (TSOOKS-vahng), position in which the move makes a worse result Zukertort (SOOK-er-tort), Johann - German master Zwischenzug (TSVEYE-shun-tsook) - in-between move *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ MORE CHESS RECORDS by Bill Wall ACTIVE, MOST - In 1988 Jesse Tuggle played 771 USCF rated games in one year, the most ever. BLINDFOLD, MOST GAMES - Janos Flesch played 52 opponents blindfold simultaneously in Budapest, 1960. CHAMPION, OLDEST - In 1968 Harlow Daly won the championship of Maine at the age if 85. CHAMPION, YOUNGEST - Arturo Pomar won the championship of the Balearic Islands at the age of 11. Niaz Murshed won the championship of Bangladesh at the age of 12, the youngest person to win a national championship. Henrique Mecking was the champion of Brazil at 13. In 1948 Kit Crittenden won the North Carolina state championship at the age of 13, becoming America's youngest state champion. GRANDMASTERS, MOST - In 1989 the Belgrade Open had 98 Grandmasters participating in its tournament, the most ever in one event. GRANDMASTER, OLDEST - Esteban Canal of Peru received an honorary Grandmaster title at the age of 81. GRANDMASTER, YOUNGEST - The youngest International Grandmaster is Peter Leko, who became a GM at the age of 14 years, 4 months, 22 days in 1994. He beat Judit Polgar (born July 25, 1976) who qualified as the world's youngest International Grandmaster on December 20, 1991, aged 15 years, 148 days. Bobby Fischer became a Grandmaster at the age of 15 years, 6 months. MARATHON - In 1983 Roger Long and Graham Croft played chess non-stop for 200 hours in Bristol, England. MASTER, LOSS - In 1993 Irina Krush, age 9, defeated a master rated 2257, the youngest person ever to defeat a master in a rated game. In 1978 Neil Carr, age 10, became the youngest player to beat a grandmaster in a simultaneous exhibition. MASTER, OLDEST - In 1991, B. Friend became a master for the first time at the age of 71. MASTER, YOUNGEST - Vinay Bhat of San Jose, California became America's youngest master in 1995 at the age of 10 years, 176 days. He beat Jordy Mont-Reynaud of Stanford, California who became the youngest master at age 10 years, 209 days in Feb, 1994. Other young masters have been Stuwart Rachels at 11 years, 10 months, Ilya Gurevich at age 12 years, 3 months, John Jarecki at age 12 years, 6 months, and Jon Litvinchuk at age 12 years, 7 months. Etienne Bacrot of France became the youngest FIDE master at age 10. MATCH, LONGEST - The longest annual match in chess is the Cambridge-Oxford match. The traditional series began in 1873. MOST MOVES - The master game with the most moves on record was one of 269 moves between Ivan Nikolic and Goran Arsovic. The game ended in a draw during a Belgrade tournament on Feb 17, 1989. The game lasted 20 hours, 15 minutes. Prior to this game, the longest tournament game was Martinovsky-Jansa, Gausdal 1987, which drew after 194 moves. The longest decisive game was 193 moves when Stepak defeated Mashian after 24 1/2 hours of play in Israel, 1980. MOST OPPONENTS - Vlastimil Hort played 663 consecutive games over 32 1/2 hours at Porz, Germany on Oct 5-6, 1984. He also played 201 games simultaneously in Iceland on Apr 23-24, 1977. Eric Knoppert of the Netherlands played 500 games of 10-minute chess in September, 1985. He played for 68 straight hours. OLDEST CHESS PIECES - The oldest pieces identified as chess pieces were found at Nashipur, dated 900 AD. The Lewis chess pieces found on the Isle of Lewis dates back to 1150. PLAYERS, MOST - The 1973 New York Chess Congress had 1,487 chess players entered. In 1985 the U.S. scholastic championships drew a record 1,572 players. RATING, HIGHEST - The highest rating attained on the officially adopted Elo or FIDE system is 2810, by Garry Kasparov in 1994 (his highest Professional Chess Association rating was 2814). The highest-rated woman player is Judit Polgar, rated 2675 and ranked 7th in the world of all chessplayers. John Penquite achieved the highest USCF postal rating of 2939 in 1992 after winning 58 straight postal games. The highest USCF rating attained is 2825, by Bobby Fischer in 1972. The highest rated chess computer is Deep Blue II, rated at 2705. Anatoly Karpov achieved the highest performance rating of 2985 at Linares 1994 after scoring 11 out of 13 against the world's best players. SIMULTANEOUS GAMES, MOST - Podzielny played 575 simultaneous games in 30 1.2 hours. At the 1966 Havana chess olympiad, several masters participated in a simultaneous exhibition of 6,480 boards. SLOWEST MOVE - The slowest move played was when Francisco Trois took 2 hours and 20 minutes for his 7th move against Luis Santos at Vigo, Spain in 1980. STREAKS - Bill Martz played 104 consecutive USCF rated games without a loss. TOURNAMENT, STRONGEST - The strongest tournament ever was the Linares 1994 tournament, with an average rating of 2685. TOURNAMENT, WINNERS - John Kalish has won the championship of Okinawa 25 consecutive times. I. Larsen won the Danish women's championship a record 17 times. Sarapu won the New Zealand championship 16 times. WORLD CHAMPION, OLDEST - Wilhelm Steinitz was 58 years, 10 days when he lost his title to Emanuel Lasker on May 26, 1894. WORLD CHAMPION, YOUNGEST - Garry Kasparov became the world's youngest world champion when he won the title on Nov 9, 1985 at age 22 years, 210 days. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ 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 mailings 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 *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ We now have five members, in addition to myself, who contribute to our games' inspection, correction and archiving. I wish to thank all of them for their assistance. I couldn't do it without their help. There are several RECENT additions and alterations of our PGN format. We are now able to return to the original "Event" and "Site" identifications which we originally practiced. There are also a few alterations of the PGN format explanations which members frequently misunderstood. [Event "M-21"] [Site "IECC"] [Date "1995.03.24"] [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: Please note the spaces to the left of the Site, Date, Round... This increases the possibility of a complete reception. Occasionally, we receive an incomplete game report as below; [Site[Event[Date[Round[White[Black[Result 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 [Event "M-21"] Game (Single rated game) = [Event "G-?"] Swiss tournament = [Event "Swiss #?"] Quad tournament = [Event "Quad #?"] Pyramid Match = [Event "Pyramid"] Class tournament = [Event "CL-?"] Thematics = [Event "TH-M.?"] Trio Match = [Event "Trio #?"] Knock Out = [Event "KO-?"] Match = [Event "M-?"] [Site "IECC"] The "Chess Assistant" program which we use WAS unable to keep record of our games' "Event" and we decided to utilize the "Site" space to insure our games' important "Event" logs. We recently received the "Fix" for the PGN2CA converter from Russia and we are now able to return to the original format. [Date "1995.03.24"] [Date "Year.Month.Day"] [Round "1"] Use the number "1" for *ALL* games except in Matches and Swiss tournaments. In those, use the proper round number to clearly identify the game. For example, The first Round in a Swiss or Class Match is documented as, "[Round "1"]. The winners of the first "Round" compete in the second "Round" of that Match. This is documented as, "[Round "2"]. [White "Fisher, Bobby"] [White "Last Name, First Name"] [Black "Last Name, First Name"] [Result "1-0"] if White wins [Result "0-1"] if Black wins [Result "1/2-1/2"] in the case of a draw. Moves We request Algebraic Notation as the below example; 1.Nf3 Nc6 2.g3 h6 3.Bg2 e5 (12.exd3 ep ) is an example of the proper way to log en passant -- but the ep can be omitted. 1. Nf3 Nc6 2. g3 h6 3. Bg2 e5 = Incorrect and a waste of space. ^ ^ ^ Please, NO space between the move numbers and the moves. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ 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. -------- Question for our readers: how would you reply to a chess player who said: "I am not reading any more chess books. After reading I am now playing worse." Here's the reply of Senior Master Chuck Schulien. "Most of us use some sort of routine to play chess. We tend to look for certain things on the board, calculate variations at a comfortable level, and react to situations based on our experience. "Reading chess books can upset that routine. New knowledge rarely integrates itself without a struggle. We have to reset priorities, and everything that we did automatically comes into question. What should I do first? What is most important to think about? "Many students of the game learn new chess theory, yet for a time their results decline. Intellectual knowledge of chess does not equal "hands on" knowledge based on experience. Plan on a period of time gaining experience with the concepts taught in a chess book. Once this knowledge becomes experiential, you will be a much better player than you were before reading a chess book!" *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* IECC ..... The Small Friendly Chess Club! *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*