Some important events

There are a couple of important events beginning shortly, one domestic and one international.
The international event is the 2017 London Chess Classic which begins tomorrow evening, Canberra time. Once again it has attracted most of the worlds leading players including World Champion Magnus Carlsen, along with Aronian, MVL, and So. It is also the final event of this years Grand Chess Tour, with Magnus Carlsen holding a 3 point lead over Maxime Vachier Lagrave. Alongside the Super GM event is the LCC Fide Open which has attracted a very strong field, with plenty of GM's taking part. Also playing this year is WIM Emma Guo, and there are a few other Australian players in the supporting events.
The Lidums Australian Young Masters is starting on Saturday, and for the first time will see a GM section. French GM Adrien Demuth is the top seed, while there will be significant interest in the performance of Indian IM R. Praggnanandhaa who just scored a GM norm at the World Junior. alongside the GM event will be an IM norm event, as well as a FIDE rated open and an under 1200 event. Rounds will normally start at 3pm (Canberra Time) but there are a couple of double round days that also see a 10am start.

It takes more than a month

Compulsive learner Max Deutsch spent the last year trying to master 12 new skills, spending a month learning each of them. Topics covered included music, art and languages. For his final task he spent a month learning chess, and then played an exhibition game against World Champion Magnus Carlsen.
Initially he was going to play the 'Play chess with Magnus' app, but this turned into a game against the real Magnus, after word of the challenge had spread.
Unfortunately for Max, a month is not nearly enough time to reach the skill level to beat Magnus, and in fact it wasn't even enough time to reach a level to worry Magnus. Deutsch played a few moves that might best be described as 'loose' and then popped a piece on move 14. After that the outcome was never in doubt, with Carlsen mating on move  39.


Max Deutsch - Magnus Carlsen [C60]
Exhibition Game Hamburg GER, 09.11.2017

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 4. O-O g6 5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Nc3 d6 9. Nd5 Nxd5 10. exd5 Ne5 11. Re1 Ng4 12. Qf3 Qh4 13. h3 Nxe3 14. Qxe3 Bxd4 15. Qd2 Bxb2 16. Rab1 Be5 17. Rb4 Qf6 18. Bd3 Bc3 19. Qf4 Qxf4 20. Rxf4 Bxe1 21. c4 Bb4 22. g4 Bd7 23. Kg2 Rfe8 24. h4 Bd2 25. Rd4 c5 26. Re4 Rxe4 27. Bxe4 Bxg4 28. Kg3 Be2 29. f3 Bxc4 30. Kg4 f5+ 31. Bxf5 h5+ 32. Kg3 gxf5 33. Kf2 Bf4 34. Ke1 Re8+ 35. Kf2 Re2+ 36. Kf1 Rxa2+ 37. Ke1 Be3 38. Kd1 Bd3 39. Ke1 Ra1# 0-1

Getting around to it

About 3 years ago I had some free time on my hands, and decided to draw up a list of projects to do. One of those projects was to clean up my study/library/office, which had become a bit of a death trap. I'm proud to say that  I actually began working on that task today!
While sorting through the various boxes of stuff, I cam across some of my old chess computers. The most ancient one was a Scisys computer, which was featured in a blog post over 10 years ago. Also in this lot were a Novag, an Excalibur, a Tandy, and a slightly more modern Scisys.
One of the things I liked about old Scisys was that it wasn't very good (at least at the old levels). I've already described how I used it to improve my chess when starting out, and even today I still use some of the games I played against it in my coaching lessons.
My favourite game (as White) was 1.e4 e5 2.d4 ed 3.c3 dc 4.Bc4 cb 5.Qf3??!!   On the easiest level it fell into my trap and played 5. ... bxa1(Q) allowing 5.Qxf7# However the next level up saw it instead find the best move, which was 5. ... bxc1(Q)+ refuting my less than cunning play.

2018 O2C Doeberl Cup - Registrations now open

Registrations for the 2018 O2C Doeberl Cup are now being taken. Once again the event will be split over 4 divisions (Premier, Major, Minor and Under 1200), but there are some other changes that are worth noting.
The tournament has a new venue, although in a familiar neighbourhood. The Canberra Southern Cross Club in Woden is the host for the 2018 tournament.It is in the same precinct as the Hellenic Club and the Tradesman's Club, venues that have been used recently. The new venue is one of the largest licenced clubs in Canberra, so the amenities will be top notch. The venue will also be able to host all the events inside the one large room, which I always found a nice feature of the tournaments time at the Hellenic Club.
Time controls for the Premier have also reverted back to 90m+30s (no additional time added after move 40). The tournament had shifted to a longer time control in the Premier in anticipation of FIDE's changes to title regulations, but these were never implemented. With the tournament having double round days throughout, it was decided that the shorter time control was more sensible, both for consistent scheduling, and to provide players in the Premier a less onerous playing session.
As usual there is a limit on the number of players in each event, so early registration is sensible. Also, if you are above the rating cutoff for a particular tournament, then registering now protects you from missing out due to an unexpected rating drop.

(NB I am a paid official for this event)

Greedy Santa

With Christmas approaching, there will be a lot of work parties and opportunities for gift giving. I've already had one such get together, and at this I was introduced to "White Elephant Secret Santa", which is an alternative to the basic 'Secret Santa' that most people know about.
This got me thinking about a 'Game Theory' version of the game, and what the 'best' strategies are.
Firstly some rules:

1. There are N players
2. Each players pays N/2 dollars to take part
3. N envelopes are filled with an amount of money starting with $0, then $1 up to $N-1
4. Each player takes a number at random, lowest number choosing and opening the first envelope, revealing the money inside.
5. Subsequent players (starting at 2) can either steal money from another player, or chose to open a sealed envelope.
6. If a player has money stolen from them, they then get the same option (steal or open). Once a player opens an envelope, this turn ends and a new one starts with the next player
7. An amount can only be stolen once per turn, and there is a limit on the number of times an amount can be stolen overall (usually the third owner keeps it for good).

The addition of Rule 7 adds an extra level of strategy, as trying to steal the largest amount runs the risk of having it 'frozen' by another player. On the other hand, the last player may have the most power, as they have the greatest choice of what to take (and essentially a retaliation proof grab).
I don't know if anyone has done the maths on this, but it looks as though it may be an interesting programming exercise, both to simulate the game, and to try and generate the best strategy.

2017 World Junior

Two notable stories are coming out of the 2017 World Junior, which is currently being held in Italy. Firstly R Praggnanandhaa is on track to become a GM at the age of 12, although he does need to finish 1st to gain it automatically. After 9 rounds he is in third place, half a point of the lead, and has already earned a GM norm (with a 2700+ TPR).
Secondly, Australian representative Kevin Willathgamuwa is performing well over his pre tournament rating (1996), with a 2300 TPR. He was on 50% after 7 rounds, and although he has fallen back a bit, he is still gaining over 100 rating points, having played 8 IM's in his first 9 games. His brother Rowan is also playing in the tournament and is also picking up points, reaching 3/9.
There are 2 rounds left to play in this tournament, and the results (plus some games) can be found at chess-results.com

Slim pickings

Unlike round robins, swisses are normally a feast of good and bad chess, where every game is important (except maybe the last round), and players bounce up and down the standings with great regularity. Unless of course it is an elite swiss, in which case, every treads warily, keeping a close eye on all the games to make sure no one is getting too far ahead.
The Mallorca Grand Prix is providing slim pickings for anyone who likes the score table to contain lots of 1's an 0's. Not to disparage a good hard fought draw, but with over 60% of the games ending that way, not every draw is a result of players battling till exhaustion.
Of the decisive games, there have been a few that have jumped out at me. The one I've chosen for this post was Svidler's win over Hammer. Apart from the rarity of seeing 'actual mate on the physical chessboard', the fact the White king gets hacked on the kingside in a sicilian also adds to its attractiveness.


Hammer,Jon Ludvig (2629) - Svidler,Peter (2763) [B51]
Palma De Mallorca GP 2017 Palma de Mallorca ESP (3.5), 18.11.2017

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bxd7+ Bxd7 7. Nc3 e5 8. Qd3 Rc8 9. Nd2 Be6 10. Nf1 Be7 11. Ne3 Nf6 12. O-O Qc7 13. a4 Qc5 14. Rd1 O-O 15. Bd2 Bd8 16. Nf5 Bxf5 17. exf5 d5 18. Rac1 Bb6 19. Qe2 h6 20. a5 Ba7 21. Na4 Qc6 22. b3 Rfe8 23. Kh1 Qd7 24. g4 d4 25. Qf3 e4 26. Qg2 Qc6 27. g5 hxg5 28. Bxg5 e3 29. f3 Re5 30. Qh3 e2 31. Rg1 d3 32. Nb6 Bxb6 33. axb6 Rce8 34. Bh6 Ng4 35. Rxg4 e1Q+ 36. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 37. Kg2 R8e2+ 38. Kg3 Rg1+ 39. Kh4 Qxh6# 0-1

Happy Birthday Capa

Toady is the 129th anniversary of the birth of Jose Raul Capablanca. Generally considered one of the "Top 5" World Champions (along with Alekhine, Fischer, Karpov and Kasparov) he started as a child prodigy, before  become a full time player at the age of 20. He won the World Championship in 1921 and then lost it to Alekhine in 1927. He never had another chance to play for the title, and died at the relatively young age of 53.
Capablanca was considered a positional player, focusing on piece placement, and improving his position through 'petite combinations'. This enable him to outplay his contemporaries, although he met his match against Alexander Alekhine. His style influenced the next generation of chess players, especially Bobby Fischer and Anatoly Karpov.
Even at the end of his career he was still able to target a weakness and build an entire game around it. In the game below (his final tournament game), he isolates Black's c pawn on move 9 and then builds up pressure on it. Black is forced to make positional concessions to defend it, and eventually ends up in a lost position.


Capablanca,Jose Raul - Trompowsky,Octavio [E01]
Buenos Aires ol (Men) fin-A Buenos Aires (15), 18.09.1939

1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. d4 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. O-O cxd4 8. Nxd4 Be7 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Qa4 Bb7 11. Rd1 O-O 12. Na3 Qb6 13. e4 Nf6 14. Nc4 Qb5 15. Qc2 Rfd8 16. Bf4 Rac8 17. Bd6 Ba6 18. Bxe7 Rxd1+ 19. Rxd1 Qxc4 20. Qxc4 Bxc4 21. b3 Bb5 22. a4 Ba6 23. Bc5 h6 24. Bxa7 Kf8 25. f3 Ke7 26. Bc5+ Ke8 27. Kf2 Nd7 28. Bd6 c5 29. e5 Bb7 30. Rc1 Bd5 31. f4 Bxg2 32. Kxg2 c4 33. a5 c3 34. Kf3 c2 35. Ke2 Nb8 36. Kd2 1-0

Chess and Beer

Due to a number of other activities I haven't been running Street Chess recently. Today was my first time back since the start of October, and on my return, I received a pleasant reward.
One of the event sponsors, King O'Malley's Bar, was running a 'design your own beer label' promotion, in conjunction with Adobe. This was too good an opportunity to pass up, so I created a very limited run of "Street Chess Beer". So limited that only 4 bottles were made. Three were given away as prizes(although not to the tournament winner Sankeertan Badrinarayan as he isn't quite 18), and one I kept myself (although I only have the bottle, as my 19 year old son consumed the contents).
A couple of people wondered If i had brewed the beer myself (No), but maybe this is something worth looking at in the future.
"Drink & play responsibly"

FIDE Grand Prix resumes

The final event of the 2017 FIDE Grand Prix series begins today in Mallorca, Spain. While the GP series tends to get lost among the other big events on the calendar (GCT, World Cup plus big opens in Iceland, UK and Isle of Man), it still helps determine the qualifiers for next years Candidates Tournament. The top two finishers (who did not qualify through the World Cup) qualify for the Candidates, and at this stage there are 4 players still in with a chance. 
Mamedyarov and Grischuk currently hold down the top two places, but have already played there 3 events (each player plays 3 of the 4 GP tournaments). As a result, there is still a chance they can be overtaken by Vachier-Lagrave and Radjabov. Ding Liren is also in the leading group but has already qualified (via the World Cup).
The official site for the tournament is https://worldchess.com/gp2017/ I'm pretty sure there is no free coverage from this site (it is a pay for view event), and I'm not seeing any of the other major websites with links to coverage (although I may have missed them). Whether this is due to legal reasons or indifference (or indifference caused by legal reasons) I do not know.

The injustice of it all

While wearing my ICCF Tournament Directors hat, I discovered something I had not previously been aware of. There are some Queen endings where two connected passed pawns aren't enough to win. This was drawn to my attention when a game in an event I was directing was drawn after one of the players made a tablebase claim (In Correspondence Chess a player can claim a draw or win if the position is assessed as such in a 6 piece or less tablebase). While the claim was perfectly valid I did feel a little sorry for the other player involved.
Even without the advantage of modern technology, the game may well have been drawn anyway, as it turns out there have been some precedents.  In 1985 Boris Spassky was defending exactly the same position against Zoltan Ribli and successfully held. Here is the game in question, with Black having a completely drawn potion by move 82.


Ribli,Zoltan (2605) - Spassky,Boris V (2590) [A30]
Candidates Tournament Montpellier (4), 1985

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. g3 Bb7 4. Bg2 c5 5. Nc3 g6 6. O-O Bg7 7. d4 cxd4 8. Qxd4 Nc6 9. Qf4 Rc8 10. Rd1 d6 11. Bd2 O-O 12. Rac1 h6 13. b3 Qd7 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. cxd5 Ne5 16. Nxe5 dxe5 17. Qh4 g5 18. Qh5 Bxd5 19. Bc3 e4 20. Bxe4 e6 21. Bxg7 Rxc1 22. Rxc1 Kxg7 23. Rd1 Qe7 24. Bxd5 Rd8 25. e4 exd5 26. Rxd5 Rxd5 27. exd5 Qe5 28. Qd1 Kf8 29. Qd3 Ke7 30. Qc4 Kd6 31. Qc6+ Ke7 32. Kf1 Qa1+ 33. Kg2 Qe5 34. h3 Qe4+ 35. Kh2 Qd4 36. Kg1 Qd1+ 37. Kg2 h5 38. a4 g4 39. Qc7+ Kf6 40. Qf4+ Kg6 41. Qe4+ Kg7 42. h4 a5 43. Qe5+ f6 44. Qf5 Qd4 45. Kh2 Qd2 46. Kg2 Qd4 47. Qe6 Qd3 48. d6 Qf3+ 49. Kg1 Qd1+ 50. Kh2 Qf3 51. Qe1 Qd5 52. Qe7+ Kg6 53. d7 Qd4 54. Qe8+ Kg7 55. Qe3 Qxd7 56. Qxb6 Qd2 57. Qe3 Qc2 58. Kg2 Qc6+ 59. Kg1 Qd5 60. b4 axb4 61. Qe7+ Kg6 62. Qxb4 Qd1+ 63. Kh2 Qc2 64. Qd4 Qc7 65. Qe4+ Kg7 66. Qa8 f5 67. Qd5 Qa7 68. Qxf5 Qxa4 69. Qxh5 Qe4 70. Qg5+ Kh7 71. h5 Qf3 72. Qg6+ Kh8 73. Qh6+ Kg8 74. Qf4 Qd1 75. Qg5+ Kh7 76. Qf5+ Kg7 77. Qe4 Kh8 78. Kg2 Kg7 79. f4 gxf3+ 80. Qxf3 Qc2+ 81. Kh3 Qd2 82. Qg4+ Kh8 83. h6 Qb2 84. Kh4 Qh2+ 85. Kg5 Qxh6+ 86. Kxh6 1/2-1/2

Ooooopsss!

I've just caught wind of an unfortunate occurrence at the 2017 World Seniors. In the game between GM Rogelio Antonio and IM Alexander Reprintsev, the following miniature occurred. 1.e4 d5 2.exd Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qb5?? 1-0
In moving the queen to a5, Reprintsev placed it on b5 instead (or at least enough of it to matter), at which point it was able to be captured by bishop or knight (One report indeed had 4.Bxb5+ as being played, although this didn't appear in the online version I saw).
There is some argument that Antonio should have let the queen go to a5 as intended, and if I was White in these circumstances, I would have done so. On the other hand, if I was Black, I would have let the move stand, accepting the responsibility for my mistake. And finally, if I was an arbiter, I would almost certainly let the players sort it out among themselves (ie if neither player claimed a breach of the rules, I wouldn't go jumping in)

2017 Vikings Weekender - GM Anton Smirnov wins

GM Anton Smirnov has won the 2017 Vikings Weekender with a perfect 6/6. He had to face IM Andrew Brown in the first round of the day, and then 3rd seed Fred Litchfield. Winning both those games he then been Tim Pearce in the final round to finish the event on 100%.
IM Andrew Brown recovered from his loss to Smirnov to win his two remaining games to finish second on 5/6. However he was once again fortunate to survive some difficult positions, being in a lost position against Donato Mallari with seconds left on his clock, only to see Mallari overstep the time limit. Mallari at least had the consolation of finishing in equal third, along with Dillon Hathiramani and Angelito Camer.
Amol Kiran finished first in the Minor event on 5.5/6. Kiran (who finished equal first last year) drew with Athena Hatirmani in the final round to finish a point clear of Hathiramani and Lachlan Ho.
Despite the numbers being down 25% this year (65 last year, 48 this time), the organisers were able to pay out more than $3000 in prizes, due to the generous sponsorship of Tuggeranong Vikings Rugby Union Club, Street Chess and Jim Flood. The ACT Chess Association also provided financial and material support for the tournament, as did the Tuggeranong Chess Club, who hosted the event.
Full results as well as games from the top 4 boards of the open (for each round) can be found at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/vikings2017/ 

2017 Vikings Weekender - Day 1

The 2017 Vikings Weekender attracted a strong field for the Open section, with new Australian GM Anton Smirnov the top seed. At the end of the first day Smirnov leads with 3/3, along with second seed IM Andrew Brown. The two players had differing paths to the top, with Smirnov scoring decisive victories in his games, while Brown was forced to work hard, escaping from difficult positions (and time trouble) in rounds 2&3.
Due to venue issues (due to the final of the National Rugby Championship), the tournament lost an afternoon round, reducing it to a 6 round event. With Smirnov and Brown meeting in the first round tomorrow, the winner of this game is likely to win the tournament. However a number of dangerous players are still in the field, including Fred Litchfield (2017 ANU Open winner),.
The Minor also sees two players sharing the lead, with Amol Kiran (who finished equal first last year) and Jack Rojahn on 3/3. Unlike the Open, the field in this event is a little more bunched, making an eventual winner harder to pick. The Kiran Rojahn match tomorrow will help decide this, but as with a lot of rating restricted events, accidents over the last few rounds do happen.
Results for the tournament can be found at http://tournaments.streetchess.net/vikings2017/ There is also a link to the top games from the open as well as the live coverage link. The 4th round starts at 10:30am Canberra time, with more rounds at 1:30 and 3:45pm.

Learn a new thing every day

How much better do you think you would be at chess if you learnt a new thing everyday? A lot, a little, or would you not be able to keep up the pace?
The question popped into my head after picking up a new book by Andrew Soltis called "365 Chess Master Lessons". To be fair, what appealed to me about the book wasn't the promise of daily chess improvement (I'm a bit old for that), but that each lesson featured a couple of interesting miniatures to illustrate the point. I've long been a fan of quick games of chess, so grabbing another collection  of said games was to tempting to pass up.
The book contains a wide selection of games, drawn from a number of different era's. I was quite pleased to find a quick win by Rashid Nezhmetdinov in one of the early chapters, but oddly I couldn't find the game in my reasonably large database. However I did find a few identical games (at least 4) which isn't that surprising, as the game is essentially a continuation of a trap in the Levenfish variation of the Dragon. So while the game below was played in 2002, it was also played in 1946 between Nezhmetdinov and Ermolin.


Torres Samper,Rafael - Molina Vinas,Marcos (2140) [B71]
Asturias-ch Preferente Gijon (3.7), 03.03.2002

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. f4 Bg7 7. e5 dxe5 8. fxe5 Nd5 9. Bb5+ Kf8 10. O-O Bxe5 11. Bh6+ Kg8 12. Nxd5 Qxd5 13. Nf5 Qc5+ 14. Be3 Qc7 15. Nh6+ 1-0

2017 World Seniors

The 2017 World Senior Championship is up and running in Acqui Terme, Italy. Alan Goldmsith is the only Australian representative at the event (playing in the 65+ section), alongside 3 New Zealand players (Hilton Bennett 50+, Bob Gibbons 65+ and Helen Milligan W50+).
 Alan got off to quite a good start in his tournament, winning his first 2 games. This meant he faced GM Evgeny Sveshnikov on the top board in round 3 and went down after sacrificing most of his pawns for an ultimately unsuccessful attack.
Results from each of the events can be found at chess-results.com, along with a small selection of games from each of the tournaments. (Links to all the events can be found at the top of the page)

I think my brain is full

Last night saw another epic Ian Hosking v Shaun Press match up, in a rivalry that goes back 30 years. I thought I was better out of the opening but the game ended in a draw.
It turns out I was better in the opening as Ian had misplayed it as early as move 4, but I played it too safe on move 6, missing a chance to get a bigger advantage. Checking my database after the game I realised I should have followed theory from Ian Hosking v Shaun Press that was played in 1994. So not only did I fail to calculate the best line over the board, I also failed to remember playing the line against the same opponent previously.
So here is the original game, where I played the correct 6. ... Nxf2, rather than the insipid 6. ... dxc4 I played last night.


Hosking,Ian M - Press,Shaun [C55]
Ginninderra Cup Ginninderra (6), 1994

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 d5 6. d3 Nxf2 7. Kxf2 dxc4 8. d4 Bg4 9. d5 Bc5+ 10. Be3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Nd4 12. Qe4 Qf6+ 13. Kg1 Qe7 14. d6 cxd6 15. Qd5 Nxc2 16. Bxc5 Nxe1 17. Bxd6 Qd7 18. Qxe5+ Kd8 19. Qxg7 Re8 20. Qg5+ Kc8 21. Qc5+ Qc6 22. Nd2 Qxc5+ 23. Bxc5 b5 24. a4 Nd3 25. Bd4 Re2 26. Nf3 b4 27. Kf1 Re4 28. a5 a6 29. Bf6 Kb7 30. h4 Rae8 31. Kg1 R8e6 32. Ng5 Re1+ 33. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 34. Kh2 Rf1 35. Nxh7 Nf4 36. Be5 Ng6 37. Bf6 Rxf6 38. Nxf6 0-1

Surprise, surprise

Proving that you can play almost anything in the opening today, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov caught Alexander Grischuk with a bizarre opening idea in the Ruy Lopez. I don't think I've ever seen g5 played so early by Black in this opening, although the actual move was first played in 1968 (by Portisch against Korchnoi).
There does not seem to be too much subtlety to the move btw, as Mamedyarov used the g pawn to push the knight of f3 before running his h pawn up the board as well. The whole game had a kind of 'coffee house hack' vibe to it, but I am sure I'm doing both players a disservice by describing it like that.

Grischuk,Alexander (2785) - Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar (2791) [C72]
21st European Teams Hersonissos GRE (8.1), 05.11.2017

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O Bd7 6. Re1 g5 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. d4 g4 9. Nfd2 exd4 10. Nb3 Ne7 11. Nxd4 Bg7 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Bg5 f6 14. Be3 Qe8 15. Qd3 Qf7 16. Qd2 Qg6 17. Bf4 h5 18. b4 h4 19. a4 Qh5 20. Be3 h3 21. Nce2 hxg2 22. Nf4 Qh7 23. Nfe6 Bxe6 24. Nxe6 Ng6 25. Nxf8 Rxf8 26. Bf4 f5 27. exf5 Nh4 28. Ra3 Qxf5 29. Bg5 Nf3+ 30. Rxf3 gxf3 31. Bh6 Qd5 32. Qc1 Bc3 33. Re3 Bd4 34. Rd3 Re8 35. c3 Bxf2+ 36. Kxf2 Re2+ 0-1

A losing ending

Suicide (or Losing) Chess still continues to be one of the most popular chess variants, especially among junior players. Whether it is a search for variety or a retreat to a simpler form of the game is not clear to me, but the free play portion of a lot of my coaching classes sees more than few Losing chess games.
The diagrammed position is a problem that comes from a Suicide game. It is White to move an win (by forcing black to capture the white king). In suicide chess, capturing is compulsory, so all White has to do is to put his king in 'check'
Have at it.

2017 Vikings Weekender - a week to go

Canberra's "Biggest Little Weekender" is less than a week away. The 2017 Vikings Weekender is on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th November, at the Tuggeranong Vikings Rugby Union Club, Ricardo St Erindale. Last years event attracted a sizeable field of 65 players, and hopefully this year will do at least as well.
The Open section for this year is already quite strong, with GM Anton Smirnov the top seed. IM Andrew Brown and WIM Biljana Dekic have also entered, and there is a solid group of 2000+ rated players in the field as well.
Details of the tournament can be found at http://vesus.org/festivals/2017-vikings-weekender/ There is a downloadable brochure with all the tournament details, and you can register online (no pre-payment required). I'm in the process of setting up the tournament website and live coverage links, and they will be available in the next day or two
(NB I am a paid official for this event)

Son, don't take the b pawn

There is an old chess tale about a father leaving hos fortune to his only son, on the condition that he never captures the b2 pawn with his queen in the opening. While the story is almost certainly invented, the advice is usually pretty sound. The one possible exception is the Sicilian Poisoned Pawn variation, but event then, opinion on this is still divided.
A very recent example of the danger that the queen can find itself in is from the current European Teams Championship. Black was only a little behind up until move 20, but after grabbing the b pawn, he only lasted another 3 moves. Maybe he missed 21.Ra1! but knowledge of a bit of ancient chess humour would have helped immensely.


Naiditsch,Arkadij (2702) - Morozov,Nichita (2467) [C77]
21st European Teams Hersonissos GRE (4.3), 31.10.2017

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bc5 6. O-O O-O 7. d3 Re8 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 Be7 10. Bxc6 dxc6 11. Qe1 Nd7 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. d4 exd4 14. Nxd4 Nf6 15. f3 c5 16. Nde2 b5 17. Nf4 Bb7 18. Qe3 c4 19. Rad1 Qb4 20. a3 Qxb2 21. Ra1 g5 22. Ra2 gxf4 23. Qe1 1-0