Chess Bits The Journal of the International E-mail Chess Club December 2001 IECC Website:http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Midfield/1264 From The Editor's Desk by Steve Ryan I don't have a lot to say this time around which perhaps means I have a touch of writer's block. It happens to the best of us from time to time. For the moment I intend to keep the journal coming every three months, but if the publishing schedule lengthens to every four months or even twice a year, I ask for your understanding. Personally speaking, I would much rather publish a higher quality journal less frequently than a lower quality one more often. Overall, I am attempting to make "Chess Bits" a "general interest" or more "informal" chess journal rather than one full of cross tables, pairings, pages of dry annotations and the like. Such things certainly have their place but you can find out "who won what" in our club elsewhere. I will include annotated games, done to PGN standard, as one of the "core" elements of the journal, but not to the exclusion of all else. I could use one or more annotators to examine and submit games for publication as their time permits, but simply do not have the time to examine many games in great depth myself and don't have a high enough rating in any case. One particular item of interest concerns the Ryan - Taylor game you will see in the "Games & Theory" section. In this game, played at odds of pawn and move, Dave Taylor, 7th US CC champion, gives up his "h" pawn and allows me to move first. Despite starting out with a theoretically "lost" position, Dave managed to even the position and eventually win. He has also kindly provided some post-game commentary to shed some light on how the position gradually swung over to his favour. --------------------------- Welcome to New Members by Bobby Cohoon The IECC welcomes the following 162 new members who have joined over the period 2001 August 16 - September 15: Farieda Amatullah, Netherlands Allen Ang, Australia Calum Auld, Scotland Steve Baldwin, England Tim Barchak, USA Andres Bartsch, Germany Rick Bazin, USA Eric Bennett, Ireland Vincent Berry, France Stephen Black, Ireland Fernando Blanco, Catalunya Robert Bowers, USA Alan Briliant, USA Norvell Bryant, USA Kevin Bull, Australia Nils Carlsson, Sweden Travis Chua, Philippines Francis Clark, England Charlie Compton, USA Gel Cpi, Oman Remo Crefcoeur, Netherlands Stuart Croft, USA Eudo Cruz, Brazil Bart de Schepper, Belgium William Denayer, Belgium Otavio Dias, Brazil Vitaly Docenko, Ukraine March Doolittle, USA Mihail Drobitko, Russia Ewen Dunn, New Zealand Owen Dwyer, UK Alexander Dyakov, Russia Rick Elings, Netherlands Michael Engles, USA Antonio Esposito, Italy Guglielmo Ferraro, Italy Horacio Filueira, Argentina Kevin Flaherty, England Arbis Fortis, Greece Joseph Gadway, USA Paul Gaffney, USA Dirk Garez, Belgium Andrea Gatti, Italy Bill Glaser, USA Carlos Gonzales, Peru Gary Graham, USA Jahnke Gregg, USA Johannes Grib, RSA Philip Hagen, England Grant Hammond, England Richard Harding, England Niaill Hency, Australia Rune Hermansen, Sweden Charlton Heston, USA Chris Hill, USA Sake Holkema, Netherlands David Hoover, USA Pascal Hoyer, France Keith Hunt, Canada Yassen Jotev, Bulgaria Ozqur Kalyoncuoglu, Turkey Archie Keiper, USA Josef Kerekes, Yugoslavia Timothy Kiddel, England Martin Koch, Germany Miha Korsec, Slovenia Roman Krmpotic, Croatia Alex Krupitky, Israel Wolfgang Kund, Austria Kevin Lacey, USA Jenner Lam, USA Cesar Lanchipa, Peru Riccardo Larghi, Italy Erhard Leimeister, Germany Jason Lepack, Canada Ingo Lindam, Germany Domenico Lorenti, Italy Winston Low, Singapore Baxter MacPhawl, USA Tomasz Makowski, Poland William Manahan, USA Pierre-Damien Manisse, France Iuri Matias, Portugal Sylvester McLeod, Canada Baxter McPhaul, USA Alejandro Medina, Panama Abbis Mehrabian, Iran Vinesh Mehta, India Andres Merila, Estonia David Meyer, USA John Milgore Jr., USA Michael Miller, USA Phil Miner, USA Favio Monill, Argentina Lionello Morganti, Italy Jeremiah Neese, USA Regimantas Murauskas, Lithuania Jacek Murawski, Poland; Sergey Nefedov, Russia Robert Neild, England Vladislav Novak, Slovak Rep. Murat Ozguc, Turkey Joseph Pacholek, USA Giorgio Papa, Italy Witold Parwicz, Poland Lauri Pautola, Finland Pro Peeters, Netherlands Ingo Perings, Germany Ireneusz Peschke, Poland Vladimir Plotnikov, Canada Levent Polatel, Turkey Bertrand Polus, France Basil Portune, Petr Punteleyev, Russia Miroslav Rakovoic, Yugoslavia Jurgen Reincke, Germany Jakub Rezek, Czech Rep. Elliot Rooselet, USA Agnieszka Rutkowska, Poland Piotr Rutkowski, Poland Zbigniew Rutowski, Poland Stefano Sala, Italy Alexandre Sanchez, Chile Steffen Schubert, Germany Jose Sanchez-Fernadez, Dom. Rep. Tillman Scholbach, Germany Artem Selivestrov, Russia Zachhary Seymour, USA Wu Sheng, China Ian Smith, England Janusz Solipiwo, Poland Zsolt Somora, Hungary Arcangelo Sorrenti, Italy Sergio Spina, Italy Chris Spol, USA Benoit St. Jean, Canada Vlad Stamate, Russia Bob Stanley, USA Zachery Sterling, USA Walter Stevenson, Canada January Svensson, Sweden Kallie Swanepoel, S. Africa Craig Swann, USA Ed Thompson, Canada Jeremy Tree, England Mario Vaz Jr., Brazil Michael Verlinden, Germany Stefano Vettor, Italy Nathan Vigrass, USA Ol Vorobjev, Russia Daniel Walker, USA Michael Walker, USA John Warren, USA Rich Willis, USA Charles Windheim, USA Todd Witters, USA Alexander Wolf, Germany Rustu Yucel Lefkosa-TRNC David Zakarias, Hungary Sammy Zamora, Colombia May each of you establish and enjoy a congenial relationship with all members of the IECC. May all of you strive to complete your games in time and without defaults. May you also always accord to, and receive from, your opponents the highest degree of courtesy, consideration and good fellowship. --------------------- Miscellaneous Topics by Steve Ryan 1. Rolando Pasimo (address below) would like to establish a chess club in his local district of the Philippines and seeks donations of any spare chess instruction books, opening compendia, end game studies or chess literature of any kind. MR.ROLANDO PASIMIO AGAPE DRIVE,TIBASAK CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY,PHILLIPPINES 9000 2. Member Biography - Andrea Gatti My name is Andrea Gatti, I'm 31 years old, married, and I live in Milan, Italy. My current occupation is Support Services Manager in a US company near Milan. I learnt how to play chess when I was six, and I learnt it from my father. I played just for fun up to the age of around 15, and only recently started to play again, but in a serious manner, this time. So, I started last writing a chess playing program, "pentagon" for Win32 machines, that you can get from http://Pentagon.vze.com, and only afterwards, joined a chess club in the Milan area, and joined the Italian Chess Federation. I do not own an official ELO rating yet, but the aim is to get one during this year, if all possible. I regularly play on the FICS internet chess server, under the "ChessPlus" handle. -------------------- Some Membership Statistics by Steve Ryan Those of you interested in such trivia may have already noted the following (as published in this journal "Welcome to New Members" section). Period New Members 2000 Oct. 16 - 2001 Jan. 15 171 2001 Jan. 16 - 2001 April 15 133 2001 April 16 - 2001 August 15 234 2001 Aug. 16 - 2001 Sept. 15 162 The total new members over the period 2000 Oct. 16 - 2001 Sept. 15 (333 days) comes to 700, which equals 767 members over 1 year. I don't know if we have enough information here to do any valid statistical calculations, but I am intrigued by the 2001 April 16 - August 15 interval. It looks like more people join during the relatively mild spring/summer periods rather than during the winter months, exactly the opposite of what I expected. I think the New Member Program guides will vouch for the fact that if everyone who applied for a NMP actually completed one, we would have well over 1000 new members per year. ------------------ Chess Trivia Challenge by Steve Ryan See how many of the following questions you can answer correctly. I have rated each question with a letter indicating the degree of difficulty. You will find the answers as the last item in this issue of the journal. As a hint for # 4 "think small". Question Ratings: E = Easy, M = Moderate D = Difficult 1.According to Barrister Edwyn Anthony, how many ways exist of playing the FIRST 10 MOVES of any chess game? (D) 2.What job did Edwyn Anthony do for the "Hereford Times" at the turn of the century? (M) 3.How many ways exist to play a 40 MOVE GAME according to a 1999 estimate published in "Reader's Digest"? (D) 4.How many of 1 or 3 does the editor of Chess Bits know by heart past 4 moves? (E) ------------------ Games & Theory As mentioned in the "Editor's Desk" section, the following game occurred between myself (S.Ryan) and the 7th US CC champ Dave Taylor. Please remember to remove Black's "h" pawn before playing through this rather odd "odds" encounter. Dave and I also included a number of "chess quotations" during the game which I have included for your interest/amusement/scorn. The quotes and banter turned serious after my 16th move. You will see the reason why. Please also see some brief annotations Dave contributed at the end of the game. You can find "The Campbell Report" by following the links at www.correspondencechess.com. [Event "Private Match"] [Site "The Campbell Report"] {Date "2001.09.01"] [White "Ryan,Steve"] [Black "Taylor,Dave"] [Result "0-1"] [Odds "Pawn & Move"] 1.d4 {"Chess - a nice and abstruse game in which two sets of puppets are moved in opposition to each other". [Samuel Johnson's Dictionary]} 1...Nf6 {In Pawn and move odds games in the past it has been traditional for Black to remove the f7 Pawn. Possibly that is because in those days White often started with 1. e4 and this allows Black to respond 1...e5 and later 0-0 with an open file? A problem with removing the f7 Pawn is that White does not need to [and probably should not] start with 1.e4. The major problem with starting without the f Pawn is that immediately Black's Pawn structure is broken up into two Pawn "islands"--it is better to have the least number of pawn chains possible. The advantages of starting without the h Pawn is that you have already semi developed a piece and you are more likely to get Black out of book openings. One disadvantage of no h7 Pawn is that it can make Black's King side somewhat weaker. At this point I have no idea what to play against 1.d4. I chose my first move as it is flexible... Here's to a fun game :) Dave PS One other POSSIBLE disadvantage of Black not starting with the f7 Pawn: The game might go: 1.e4 g5?? 2.Qh5 check mate!!!!} 2.Nf3 d5 3.h3 {Perhaps loses a tempo but I am paranoid about that "loose" rook.} {"When I play white I win because I have the first move. When I play Black I win because I am Bogoryanov". Efim Bogoryanov} 3...c5 4.e3 Nc6 {"Chess is life." Bobby Fischer "Chess is like life." Boris Spassky} 5.c3 {"In my opinion, the process of chess is based essentially on interlinking exchanges. The objective of these interlink- ing exchanges is a relative gain ... of material or of positional value". Mikhail Botvinik - "An Algorithm of Chess"} 5...e6 {The word "checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead".} 6.b3 {Why not 4...cxd4? Any particular reason?} {"Naturally, the arrangement of pieces in the opening will have a decisive influence on the plans of the players in the middle game". Gennady Nesis "Tactical Chess Exchanges"} 6...Bd7 {You asked "why not 4...cxd4?" If I made that Pawn exchange it would have freed your Bishop to move to f4 or g5. Also, since I am a Pawn down, it would generally not be in my interest to trade pieces or pawns.} 7.Nbd2 {"The dynamics of chess consists of a gradual change in the situation on the chess board, even after an apparently unimportant series of moves". Gennady Nesis "Tactical Chess Exchanges"} 7...cxd4 {"Chess is ruthless: you've got to be prepared to kill people." Nigel Short} 8.exd4 {"Pawns symbolize children, particularly little boys. They can grow up (promote) but it is again significant that they may not become King". Ruben Fine} 8...Bd6 {"Chess is so inspiring that I do not believe a good player is capable of having an evil thought during the game." Wilhelm Steinitz, interview with J. Moquette, 1896} 9.Bd3 {"Lost Game: Something your opponent had before he won". Chess Catechism} 9...Qc7 {"Chess and theatre often lead to madness." Arrabal, 'Sur Fischer', 1974} 10.Qc2 {"When you are lonely, when you feel yourself an alien in the world, play chess". Attributed to Aristotle speaking to Alexander the Great} 10...Rc8 {"Beware the move of a knight. :) Dave Taylor} 11.a3 e5 {"If your opponent offers you a draw, try to work out why he thinks he's worse off." Nigel Short} 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Bb2 Nxd3+ 14.Qxd3 Kf8 {"Where all men think alike, no one thinks very much." Walter Lippmann} 15.O-O-O {"Analysis - Irrefutable proof that you could have won a game lost". Chess Catechism} 15...Qa5 16.Nc4 {Hi Dave: I hope you didn't have any friends or family involved in that attack in New York & Washington and will understand if you wish to postpone or cancel the game.} {Will be taking a 2 day suspension on this game starting with this very sad day.} 16...Bf4+ {"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Martin Luther King Jr.} 17.Ne3 {"It was the best of times , it was the worst of times" Charles Dickens - "A Tale of Two Cities"} 17...Ne4 18.Qxd5 Qxd5 19.Rxd5 Nxf2 {"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself". Franklin D. Roosevelt} 20.Re1 Bc6 21.Rd4 {"Seize today, trust as little as possible to the future". Horace - 1st Ode} 21...Bxf3 {"Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, these ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." Robert F Kennedy} 22.gxf3 {"Oh - go and play your silly game". Cheryl Ryan} 22...Re8 {"The pin is mightier than the sword." Reinfeld} 23.Kd2 g5 0-1 Dave Taylor contributed the following notes after the game. 1.d4! This is the very best move vs the Black formation missing the h7 pawn. 1.e4?! would be incorrect as that often leads to King side castling which is something White needs to avoid. 2.Nf3! again the best move. 3.h3?! Not a good move. Loses the initiative which is quite important in the opening. Steve mentioned he was paranoid about the "loose" Rook. But, really Black cannot and should not move his Rook any time soon as it would be subject of attack by White's Knights and Bishops. Also, please note the Pawn on h2 is very well protected. Black was not going after that Pawn in any event as it would take too much time. Also, please note that once a Pawn is moved it cannot move backwards. Movement too early of the "a" or "b" or "g" or "h" Pawns can lead to weaknesses. I would suggest 3.c4 or 3.Bf4 or 3.Bg5 here. 3...c5 Now Black takes over the initiative. Black is still theoretically losing but has improved chances. 4.e3 Here, a suggestion would be 4.c3 to be followed by 5.Bf4 [get that Bishop out and into play]. 5.c3 Notice the Bishop on c1 is hemmed in by the Pawns on e3, d5, c6. 5...e6 I would have liked to play 5...Bf5 but did not wish to have to trade Bishops after the reply 6.Bd3 6.b3 Here I thought Steve's idea was to follow up with 7.Ba3 [a reasonable idea]. 7.Nbd2?! This is a mistake. Gives up the possibility of trading off the "bad" Bishop on c1. A "bad" Bishop is one hemmed in by its own Pawns. 8.exd4 8.cxd4 would have left Black open to attack on his Queen side after 8...Rc8. However, the problem with the move played is the Pawn on c3 is weak and may become a target. 10.Qc2 This move violates the principle of not moving the Queen too early in the opening. Also, it is not a good idea to place the Queen on the c file as Black may soon reply Rc8. 11.a3 Black was threatening 11...Nb4. White's problem now is having too many Pawn moves on his Queen side. Where will his King be safe? 11...e5 Black has a lead in development. Time to open up the position..... 14...Kf8 Now Black must 0-0-0. He cannot 0-0 because of the open "h" file. 15...Qa5 Trying to force 16.b4, which would further weaken the pawn protection for the White King. 16.Nc4 This move would be okay if Black would have to reply 16...Qc7. However, Black has a little combo which wins... 17...Ne5 Notice the attack on the c3 square.... 18.Qxd5 18.b4 or 18.Qd4 would be a little better [but still losing]. 19...Nxf2 I think, maybe, Steve overlooked the power of this move? 20...Re1 Forced as 20.Rxd7 Bxe3ch and 21...Nxa1 is winning... 22.gxf3 Not 21.Rxf4?! Ne3+ 23.Kd2 Again, 22.Rxf4 runs into 22... Ne3+ 24.Re4 I think he just overlooked my Knight? However, there is not any saving move as Black is about to take the "h" Pawn and the pins and forks are too much... [Event "WSV Open Group 8"] [Site "WSV"] [Date "2001.07.10"] [Round "?"] [White "Woudenberg, Hans Van"] [Black "Mishnaevsky, Gideon"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00l"] [Annotator "Mishnaevsky, Gideon"] 1.Nc3 {What a surprise!} 1...e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nge7 {a nice, though clumsy try...} 5.Bf4 d6 6.e4 Bd7 7.Ndb5 {with sacrificial threats on d6 square.} 7.Ng8 8.Nd5 Rc8 {what else?} 9.f3 a6 10.Nbxc7+ Rxc7 11.Nxc7+ Qxc7 12.Qd2 Ne5 13.O-O-O Be6 14.Kb1 Nf6 15.Bg5 Nfd7 16.Be2 f6 17.Bf4 Be7 18.g4 O-O 19.h4 Nb6 20.Qd4 Rc8 {step by step, slowly, but surely, Black had acquired kind of modest, though prospective initiative.} 21.c3 Nbc4 22.b3 Nc6! 23.Qg1 {envisaging an onslaught along the g file...} 23...Na3+ 24.Kb2 Nc2!! {out of the blue...25. Kxc2 Nb4+ with a devastating assault.} 25.Bd2 Qa5 26.a4 b5 27.c4 N2b4 28.cxb5 axb5 29.Bxb5 {adopting accurate defensive strategy White has thus succeeded in reestablishing material balance, however...} 29...Na7 30.Qd4 d5 31.Bf1 Bc5 32.Qc3 Bd6 33.Qe3 d4 34.Qf2 Rc2+ 35.Kb1 Bxb3 36.Bxb4 Qxa4 0-1 A note of thanks goes to Kayvan Sylvan for assistance in editing the above game! ------------------ Answers to Trivia Quiz 1. 169,518,829,100,544,000,000,000,000,000 (169,518,829,100,544 Quadrillion) 2. Chess Correspondent 3. 25x10 to the 115 power 4. Zero END