Things I've learned from WolframAlpha

WolframAlpha is a new 'computational knowledge engine' from the same person/group that developed Mathematica. Despite comments in the IT media, it isn't a competitor to google, but is instead a a tool to find you the answer to questions, rather than finding where you can find the answer to questions.
Of course it is early days but I've already learnt new things about chess and related topics. Firstly 'chess' is also a name for Bromegrass (a type of grass). It also has a connection to Pymetrozine, although I know not what that is, or what the connection is based on.
70,095 people have the surname 'Fischer' in the United States, which makes it the 419th most common surname in that country. By comparison, typing in 'kasparov' actually gets you biographical information on the 13th World Champion.
And if you search for the meaning of the word 'Checkmate' you get quite a bit of information on its linguistic roots, as well as its usage. It even lists some broader, related terms, including the perceptive 'crush'

Australian Chess Brilliancies

"Australian Chess Brilliancies" is a new release from Kevin Casey, covering some of the most brilliant games of chess played by Australian players. The book contains 29 well annotated games, from Sztern v Purdy 1974 to Mijatovic v West, played earlier this year. The leading lights of Australian chess over the last 35 years are well represented, and in the introduction to each game, Casey provides a brief biography of the players involved.
As an added bonus, Casey provides his own thoughts on what constitutes a 'brilliancy', demonstrating examples from his own games (an authors prerogative I guess), as well as two excellent games from that (non-Australian) master tactician, Rashid Nezhmetdinov. Adding to the historical features of the book, Casey also includes a list Australian Championship title holders (including the Australian Open and Junior events).
I found the book both entertaining and informative, and would recommend it as an addition to anyone's chess library. At $19.95 (plus $3.00 postage in Australia) it is also an affordable work, either as a gift for the chess play in your family, or as a present for yourself. Australian Chess Brilliancies can be ordered directly from the publisher Kimberly Publications PO Box 6095 Upper Mount Gravatt Qld 4122 Australia

(** I was provided with a complimentary copy of the book for this review by the author **)

Here is the most recent game in the collection, a brilliancy played by Guy West in the 2009 Melbourne Club Championship. However if you wish to see the annotated version, then you need to buy the book!

Mijatovic,B v West,G
2009 Melbourne Club Championship

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nxd5 4.Bc4 Nb6 5.Bb3 Nc6 6.Nf3 a5 7.a3 a4 8.Ba2 Bf5 9.d4 e6 10.Be3 Be7 11.Qd2 0-0 12.0-0-0 Nd5 13.Bc4 Na5 14.Bb5 c6 15.Be2 b5 16.Na2 (D)
16. ... Nb3+ 17.cxb3 axb3 18.Nc3 Rxa3 19.Bd3 Ra1+ 20.Nb1 Nb4 21.Qe2 Rxb1+ 22.Kxb1 Qa5 23.Bxf5 Ra8 24.Kc1 Na2+ 25.Kb1 Nc3+ 26.bxc3 Qa1# 0-1

Reti's Birthday

Yesterday (28th May) was the 120th anniversary of the birth of Richard Reti. So to commemorate that here is a variation on a familiar Reti theme. White to play and draw.

Famous Namesakes

Today I saw a reference to a book called "1,911 Best Things Anybody Ever Said" by Robert Byrne. So this post was going to be about non-chess books written by chess authors. But before I launched into it I needed to find out whether Robert Byrne was really Robert Byrne, the Grandmaster and chess columnist.
Upon further investigation I discovered there is another Robert Byrne. The other Robert Byrne is also a famous and successful competitor, but in the sport of Pool and Billiards. He is also a columnist and teacher of this sport, and ultimately, the author of the book referred to at the top of this post.
So instead I've ended up blogging about famous namesakes instead.

Unique Castles

On my google page I have a feed from howstuffworks. Today's headline was "10 Unique Castles". Of course that brought to mind mate by castling. I've actually posted on this topic before, but I'd thought I post another game anyway.

Seuss,O - Hurme,H [B09]
WchT U26 qual-E Dresden (1.4), 01.08.1969

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.e5 Nfd7 7.h4 c5 8.h5 cxd4 9.Qxd4 dxe5 10.Qf2 Re8 11.hxg6 hxg6 12.Qh4 Nf8 13.fxe5 Nc6 14.Bh6 f6 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.Qh8+ Kf7 17.Bc4+ Be6 18.Ng5+ fxg5 19.0-0# 1-0

Help me!

Via the Guardians online chess column (by Leonard Barden), come the following problem. It is a Helpmate in 2, which means Black and White co-operate to reach a checkmate position in 2 moves. In Helpmate problems it is Black who moves first, with White mating on the final move.
It took me about 15 minutes to solve, although I handicapped myself by looking for 'sensible' replies in the different variations. If you realise that 'anything goes' then it becomes an easier problem.

The Personal Touch

A number of years ago I purchased a set of notebooks containing the games from a number of important chess tournaments. The tournaments were Interzonals, Candidate Finals, US Championships, Hasting etc from around 1930 through to the 1950's. What was interesting about these books were that the games were entered in incredibly neat handwriting, one game per page. They also included hand written cross tables, and other ancillary information.
These days you could get all the information at the press of a button, but in those days this was the closest thing to a database a player might have. And while the tournaments selected were of the highest level, the transcriber of the games occasionally strayed to a lower level even including the following gem from 1959.

Mayfield - Trinks [B00]
Omaha ch Omaha ch, 1959

1.e4 g5 2.Nc3 f5 3.Qh5# 1-0