The Invisible Stalemate
My old friend, the Israeli chess writer and composer Amatzia Avni reacts on our recent item regarding the liberation day tournament. Watching my Rook ending against GM Alexandre Dgebuadze in Karel van Delft’s video he noticed a missed opportunity:
The game continued: 1…h5+ 2.Kf4 Rh3 3.Rb6+ Kg7 4.Rb7+?? Kh6 5.Rb6 Rxh4+ and Black soon won.
“Instead of 4. Rb7+?” wonders Amatzia “couldn’t white save the game by the familiar 4.Rb4! with the idea 4…Rxh4+ 5. Kg5! Rxb4 stalemate?” He could of course but this possibility even did not occur to him and in the heat of the game and the time pressure I also could not spot it despite a vague feeling of déjà vu.
This “trick” had been actually employed in tournament practice more than once. Van Perlo’s monumental “Endgame Tactics” quotes the following example played in 1963 in the Soviet Union:
My opponent may be excused for this oversight in the final stage of a rapid game. Nevertheless we quite often witness stalemate opportunities overlooked notably by grandmasters be it due to fatigue or the belief that such rarities are just fantasy fiction creatures to be found mainly in Endgame studies…
Posted: May 10 - 2013
A new issue of EG
We have received the April issue of the quarterly EG with a variety of instructive articles. The fourth Tata Steel Chess and Studies day is reported by the general editor Harold van der Heijden; Emil Vlasak tells us about the dramatic development s in the research of 7 men tablebase; Alain Pallier looks back to a big tourney of the past- La Strategie. Yours truly introduces two recent masterpieces employing mutual neat queen sacrifices; A wealth of recent awards and other regular columns: Spotlight –the analytical column of Jarl Ulrichsen, originals by Ed van Gevel and book reviews by John Roycroft.
One of this issue’s specialties is the award in the EG 2010-2011 tourney. Jarl Ulrichsen ‘s extensive and thorough judgment awards 16 of the 50 entries. I was fortunate to get all my 3 entries to the award:
Winning a Rook ending in the 4th round vs.GM David Dgebuadze. (photo René Olthof)
Chess and Freedom
Every year on May 5th The Dutch nation celebrates its liberation day (bevrijdingsdag). On this very day in 1945, the capitulation of the German army in the Netherlands took place in hotel De Wereld in the city center of Wageningen. For more than six decades ever since, a strong and popular rapid tournament has been organized by the local chess club (in which I have been an active member for the last 13 years) and sponsored by the advocates bureau Van Lotringen and Goedings. This year the event was dominated by GM Ivan Sokolov who scored 6.5 points out of 7. The tournament report, the final standings and photos may be seen here: www.svwageningen.nl
A special video film (where I am also starring), was taken by our devoted webmaster Karel van Delft and may be watched here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcatD0anSxM&feature=youtu.be.
Losing the crucial 6th round game vs the eventual winner GM Ivan Sokolov. (photo René Olthof)
Posted: May 7 -2013
Book Schaakideeën
The new Dutch written book 'Schaakideeën' contains 100 thematic chess positions with a story.
Youth chess players, but also trainers and other chess enthusiasts may find here a lot of inspiring ideas.
The texts give a lot of chess training technical and psychological advises.
Part of the positions are classical, partly they are derived from experiences of author Karel van Delft as youth trainer, organizer, Apeldoorn team captain, journalist and sport psychologist.
A lot of practical training advices are given for example by GM Artur Yusupov, IM Mark Dvoretsky, GM David Bronstein, GM Jan Timman, GM Sipke Ernst, GM Daniel Stellwagen and GM Loek van Wely.
And much more. See the preview for the table of contents and a dozen texts.
Regards from Spain
I could find some comfort in the following lovely article published recently by my friend prof. Jesus Seaone from Madrid in the attractive website of IM Fernando Braga:
www.ajedrezconmaestros.com/yochanan-afek-el-ajedrez-en-todas-sus-facetas
Even if your command of the Spanish language needs some polishing I hope you can still enjoy the selection of my games and studies attached to the article.
Jesus, a great enthusiast of the game and a collector of chess literature, has published two other interesting articles dedicated to the great Russian study composers Leonid Kubbel and Oleg Pervakov :
www.ajedrezconmaestros.com/la-maravillosa-obra-de-leonid-kubbel
www.ajedrezconmaestros.com/oleg-pervakov-mago-en-moscu-y-en-el-resto-del-mundo
To your enjoyment!
Posted: April 26 - 2013
