CHESS (4) A Guiness Record Attempt - Sinka, Brigitta's 13600 simul games

José Raúl Capablanca is holding a record of the most simultaneous exhibition games played. The number is 13545, although the games leading to the record are not well documented. 

                                vs

Sinka, Brigitta (87), or as her friends call her 'Bici néni' of Hungary is really close to beating this record. In April she was at 12160 games and from May on she has started a new trip in the world of simultaneous games.Beginning at the age of 6 she's been playing chess for 81 years. She was not a national champion, she did not earn the GM title, but still became a Master. Besides her good results against different chess masters she is very proud of beating in a tournament Nina Hrušková-Bělská, the then Czechoslovakian champion, although the Hungarian champion and the player who came second, have lost to her. As one of my chess friend, FM Létay, Gyula remarked, everyone wanted to play against her club, the Vörös Meteor as he still remember her stunning red hair and marvellous look. A nice win of her from the 1950s:

Despite being selected for the national team in 1957, she could not play in the first unofficial Olympiad due to a very unfortunate coincidence: she's got her passport tardily. At that time, only 2 players played for a team (they were Hönsch, Irén and Karakas, Éva) and she became a reserve member. However, in a way she was compensated as the Dutch organiser were the first to organise her a 6-board simul. After that, it is history. There is also a documentary on her life: Queen of the Board - with 10000 games to the top (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2023364/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt)

At the school where we met she played exactly 100 games with  an extraordinary result of 81 wins, 15 draws and only 4 losses. It is worth mentioning that even in the 8th hour of the simul she was not tired to refuse a draw offer without hesitation when she saw she had an advantage.  

When I was invited I was happy to take part in the world record attempt. Our game was her 12495th, an unbelievable number. Below is what we created together.

Have you ever played the Capablanca chess with the Archbishops?

CHESS (3.1.) ZEN

In this category I will post games and ideas that seems to be as easy as whirlwinds move feathers - and at the same time as gather a bag of these feathers thrown to the four winds.

The feature game will be recent one. Why not? For everyone knows at least one miraculous piece of art from die Klassikeren. 

It was played at the Gashimov Memorial 2015.

The teacher: Wesley So.

The assistant (who helped create this masterpiece): Rauf Mamedov.

You can have a computer analysis (usually only for a short time) at

http://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2015-gashmem/04-So_Wesley-Mamedov_Rauf

Anyway, wonderful play on the one hand, inexplicable behaviour on the other.

When playing at the U.S. Championship 2015 Wesley So just could not resist taking notes.  First on his score sheet, then on his cup (!). No wonder he's been forfeited. No arbiter should decide otherwise. In fact, they were way to fair with him by notifying him twice beforehand. Worth mentioning that these were only short motivating phrases, but still!

You can learn more on this here: http://www.chess.com/news/breaking-wesley-so-forfeited-in-round-9-9186

Just imagine this below would be on a scoresheet

The connection between ZEN and the rules would be an exciting topic to unfold.

In the meanwhile, FIDE Laws of Chess is really worth studying.

chess (2.1.3) simple chess - outposts 3

Here we have 2 positions to evaluate. Both of them are from the book Emms: Simple Chess.

SACRIFICE FOR AN OUTPOST

The first example is from the game Ward-Gibbs, 1999.

Q1: Which side is better?

Q2: What are the advantages of White?

Q3: How can White improve his position?

OUTPOSTS RELATIVE VALUE

The second example is from the game Conquest-Emms, 1990. Both sides managed to create an outpost. However, these outposts have relative value.

Q1: What do you think, the Bishop on c5 or the c4 Knight is better?

Q2: Why?

Q3: How can Black improve his position?

In my experience players strive to create the following outposts in certain openings.

Examples - Spanish: f5 for White. King's Indian: d4 or f4 for Black. Pirc classical: f4 for Black. Closed Sicilian: d4 for Black, d5 or f5 forWhite. Dutch: d4 for Black. Maroczy Bind and Rossolimo Sicilian d5 for White.

In this topic, last, but not least let's see a spectacular game of Ivanchuk, just for FUN. Don't forget to count the outposts he managed to create. 

Answers: In the first game White has an advantage: he has more space and the open c file and the weak b6 pawn as perspectives. He needs to consider an exchange sacrifice on c6. Thus, he will create a passer, inter alia. In the second game: when the bishop is supported by a pawn or two, then it has no effect on that diagonal leading backwards, whereas as the knight, being a ‘jumping’ piece, doesn't suffer from this problem. This means that, White’s bishop on c5 has no influence back on the c5-g1 diagonal. White is unfortunate enough to have no choice but passive defense. Black's plan is to open Kingside and enter in White's position.

chess (2.1.2) simple chess - the d5 outpost (outposts 2)

Although Mr Emms' examples are good and instructive I prefer the game below
It's played by Bobby Fischer and can be considered the quintessence of the method to occupy the d5 square in the Sicilian Defense. The game is annotated by Fischer, I modified the algebraic notation, though.

an outpost

The second game is also played by Fischer. Now, with the Black pieces. he demonstrates how to fight against creating an outpost on d5, and eventually against his own system. This game is from gm Emms' book.

Building and having outposts is also crucial in computer based strategy games, such as AOE2.

Don't forget to check the daily puzzles at the bottom of the page!

image credits nn 1

chess (2.1.1) simple chess - outposts 1

i started reading gm emms book, simple chess. let's put it simple, it is a good book. clearly written, easy-to-follow vocabulary (recommended for foreign readers). simple chess is on positional play, say, it explains us the basics of positional understanding.

ginger killer series - serial killah.

btw i like the style of uk gm lectures. for example simon williams aka gingergm is fully professional. don't forget to check out his videos and website

1-game-for-1(01)-day-notes
... and some own adding

outposts (1)

image credits nn 1

CHESS (1) Russian Basics For Chess Players and Arbiters

Everyone knows about the successes of the Soviet School, and Russia is still topping the Federations list https://ratings.fide.com/topfed.phtml

Furthermore "There are sizable Russophone communities in many neighbouring countries that were parts of the former Soviet Union, including Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Estonia and Latvia. Additionally, there are large Russophone immigrant communities in Israel and various parts of the United States, Canada and Australia." - as stated in Wikipedia. Also, slavic languages are quite similar one to another so people from these countries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Slavic_countries_and_territories) will probably understand each other and your russian.

To begin with, you can have a russian chess book and start recognizing the letters. When I was child, I learned the letters because of the book in the photo. (I found it available here: http://webchess.ru/ebook/139.html also with regard to the match you may want to read further. this article can be a starting point: http://en.chessbase.com/post/25-years-ago-termination-of-the-first-k-k-match)
 
Now, let's see some basic phrase. I (re)learnt them in last december at a chess event.

1.1. Добрый День, 1.2. Привет, 1.3. здравствуйте
2.1. Меня зовут ... .... 2.2. Как тебя зовут ?
2.3. Как дела? 2.4. Хорошо, спасибо.
2.5. От кудавы? 2.6. Я из Англии. (...)
3.1. Я судья (арбитер)
4.1. Я не говорю на русском языке. к сожалению. 
4.2. но. Я учусь.
4.3. Я говорю по-английски (...)
4.4. Подождите, пожалуйста.   
4.5. Удачи. 
5.1. Подпишите протокол. 5.2. Подпишите бланк.
6.1. Я не понимаю. 6.2. Извините. 
7.1. Пока. 7.2. До свидания. 7.3. Счастливого Пути.

i shall keep this list updated.
any question or comments on correction or improvement are most welcome.

image credits: 
http://sakkvilag.hu/index.php/component/virtuemart/antikvarium-orosz-nyelvu/kaszparov-dva-matcsa-detail?Itemid=0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_alphabet