The Niche Publication

In amongst my collection of chess magazines, I have a July 1995 copy of Blackmar-Diemer Gambit World. Just from the title you can correctly surmise that it is a specialist publication, dealing with the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (although it does lead off with an odd joke about OJ Simpson!). It must have been a popular magazine, as the issue I have was numbered No. 69, although I have no idea if it is still in production.
It has the usual collection of brilliant wins for the BDG, and analysis of some of the more topical variations. I've grabbed a game from the issue to show, but rather than the usual BDG I've picked one that contains an idea that can be used as a weapon against the Caro-Kann.

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.f3 exf3 6.Nxf3 Bf5 7.0-0 Nbd7? (D)
8.Bxf7+ At least one game ended in resignation at this point 8. ... Kxf7 9.Ng5+ Kg6 [ 9...Kg8 10.Rxf5] 10.Rxf5! h6 [ 10...e6 11.Nxe6 Qe7 12.Qd3;
10...Kxf5 11.Qd3+ Ne4 12.Qxe4+ Kf6 13.Qe6#] 11.Qd3 hxg5 12.Rxf6+ Kxf6 13.Ne4+ Kg6 [ 13...Ke6 14.Qb3+ Kf5 15.Qf7+ Nf6 16.Ng3+ Kg4 17.Qe6+ Kh4 18.Qh3#] 14.Nd6+ Kh5 15.Qh3+ Kg6 16.Qf5+ 1-0

Our cup overfloweth

At the Australian National University Chess Club we have the somewhat enviable problem of running short of space. The latest tournament kicked off tonight with 31 players, although only 14 games were actually played (1 bye and 2 players entering next week). Previously we had imposed entry limits on our tournaments to deal with the problem, but current thinking is that if people want to play at the club, we'll make the effort to accommodate them.
The other interesting feature of this new tournament was that 75% of the PNG Olympiad team were in attendance, although I was there as non-playing DOP. Stuart Fancy (PNG Board 1), was the top seed for the event and befitting a top seed, looked like he was going to be the first game finished. However after losing a piece in the opening his opponent hung on for a quite a while, before eventually succumbing to the material disadvantage.

Fancy,S - Yoon,S [C85]
ANU Autumn Swiss, 29.04.2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Bxc6 bxc6 7.Nxe5 Nxe4 8.Qe2 Ng5 9.f4 Ne6 10.f5 Nd4 11.Qc4 winning a piece, and eventually the game.

Aus Champs 1974

Over at the ClosetGrandmaster Blog, TCG, makes mention of the 1974 Australian Championships. There were a number of interesting features to this event, including the fact that it was held in Cooma, NSW. In part this was due to the organisational efforts of Gus Korda, who is still a regular fixture at Street Chess, in Canberra.
120 player took part in the event, with 32 in the Championship, 8 in the Women's Championship, and 80 in the reserves.
While flicking through the tournament book, I came across the following game from the reserves event. The winner was Joe Rush, who played for PNG in a number of chess olympiads, while the loser is the current Australian Chess Federation President.

Wastell,G - Rush,J [D02]
Australian Championship Reserves, 1974

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.d4 Bg4 5.Ne5 e6 6.c4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Nxe5 8.dxe5 Nd7 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Qxd5 0-0 11.Qxb7 Rb8 12.Qe4 Nxe5 (D)
13.Qxe5 Re8 14.Qd5 Bxc3+ 15.bxc3 Rxe2+ 16.Kf1 Qf6 17.f3 Rbe8 18.Bd2 Qa6 19.c4 Qb6 20.Be1 Qe3 21.Qd1 Bxf3 22.Rg1 Rxe1+ 23.Qxe1 Be2+ 0-1

(*Edit: Corrected spelling of Wastell *)

When should you resign? - part 3

Last year I looked at when it was appropriate to resign (When should you Resign?). The flip side of this is what to do when your opponent refuses to resign. While I simply try and force a win as quickly as possible, some players have a different strategy. In an even earlier post on this topic, also called When should you Resign? , I highlighted the 'underpromotion' technique. I've probably also mentioned the "Force your opponent to wait" technique, which involves reaching a position where you have mate in 1, and then waiting until you've almost run out of time to execute it.
Added to this is the following game, which demonstrates the "Get as many queens as possible" strategy. This can be a double edged sword as one careless move can result in stalemate, and I know of a couple of inter-school competitions that banned multiple queening, to prevent this from happening. However white played the ending quite deftly to avoid this problem. Of course Black should have considered resigning around move 17, but clearly he wasn't of a mind to do so. White had numerous forced mates in the latter stages of the game, but I guess that was no longer the point of the exercise.

The virtues of Allegro Chess

Over at Chesschat there has been a small debate about Allegro chess (G/15m) being held at the Melbourne Chess Club, while their Anzac Weekender was running. The President of the MCC, Grant Szuveges, gave a pretty spirited defence of the MCC Allegro events, and it is a defence I agree with.
In Canberra, Street Chess has been run as a weekly Allegro event for around 20 years and has not only been successful as a chess event, but also a success in getting new players involved in chess. This is because the format is probably the right one for social players to make the step up into organised chess. The time limit of 15 minutes a game is around the time a home player is probably already used to, and the tournament length of 4 hours is not to demanding of someone's leisure time. The other advantage of a 7 round allegro event is that there is often time between rounds for players to socialise, something that doesn't happen so much at either long time control events (where everyone is super serious) or blitz events, where the next round is often under way within a minute of last game being finished. And of course Allegro chess is a little like 20/20 cricket, in that it is fun to play and watch, but no one remembers the results an hour after its finished. So by not attaching a seriousness to the event, you reduce the likelihood that new players are driven away by a result focussed activity.

(*Disclaimer: I operate Street Chess as a commercial venture *)

Becoming a 'chess' word

There are a number of people who have become 'chess words'. Some of them are famous as players, while others are only known through their creations. For example Philidor was both a famous player, a well known opening, and a couple of different endgame positions. On the other hand Saavedra is mainly famous because of a chess study from 1895.
Another famous study, known by the name of its creator is the Joseph Study. First published in 1922, it is often shown in its abbreviated form (ie after both pawns have promoted). Here is the full study, with a beginning just as interesting as the finish. It is of course White to play and win.

Nalchik Grand Prix

Although the FIDE Grand Prix has run in to its fair share of troubles, when the events are actually held, they've been good to watch. Both the size and make up of the fields have contributed to this, as having 14 player events allows players from outside the 'elite' to take part, resulting in more varied chess.
For Australian fans, the start times have been quite helpful as well. With daylight savings finishing earlier this month, Europe is an hour closer, and the games from Nalchik begin at a reasonable 9pm AEST. This allows a substantial amount of the game to be viewed before sleep catches up with us. If you wish to watch the games online the tournament website is http://www.nalchik2009.fide.com/

Bacrot,E (2728) - Aronian,L (2754) [C89]
4th FIDE GP Nalchik RUS (7), 22.04.2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d4 Bd6 13.Re1 Qh4 14.g3 Qh3 15.Be3 Bg4 16.Qd3 Rae8 17.Nd2 Qh5 18.Qf1 Re7 19.a4 Rfe8 20.axb5 axb5 21.Bxd5 Qxd5 22.Qg2 Qxg2+ 23.Kxg2 h5 24.Ra5 h4 25.Rea1 hxg3 26.hxg3 Be6 27.Ra8 Bd5+ 28.Kf1 Bxg3 29.Bg5 f6 30.Bxf6 Re1+ 31.Rxe1 Rxa8 32.fxg3 gxf6 33.Ne4 Kf7 34.Nd6+ Kg6 35.Re8 Ra1+ 36.Re1 Ra8 37.Re8 Ra1+ 38.Re1 ½-½