Chess makes you smart

Or do smart people play chess?
I tend to gravitate towards the former claim, as I have met plenty of smart people who can't play chess, but far fewer chess players who weren't that smart.
And anyone who has tried to get a foot in the door of the "Chess-in-Schools" coaching would also agree, as this is the sort of argument that carries a lot of weight with school principals.
Here is an article from Lawrence Journal (Kansas, USA) which lays out some of the benefits for the local school kids. Probably the most important point in the article isn't the intellectual benefit that chess gives, but the social benefit. So not only does chess make you smart, it also makes you friends!

Chess in the Olympics

This story has been around for a week or two, although it is nothing more than the usual "I would like to see ..." chess/olympics story. However the new twist in this case is that it is being pushed by a national Olympic Committee (or its President), and a pretty big one at that. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, clearly has enough clout to at least bring the proposal to the IOC table (in his role as President of the Russian National Olympic Committee), but as usual, it is doubtful it would get much further than that. Apart from the usual "Is chess a sport?" debate, there is the "too many sports in the Olympics" arguments as well. And while this proposal at least avoids the baggage of "hanger-ons" like Bridge, Scrabble or Ballroom Dancing, I'm sure that any indication that Chess may get in would quickly see cries of "What about us?" from these activities. It is this scenario, more than anything else, that would probably be the biggest obstacle to chess becoming a participation sport.

Fairs Fair

Having shown a game last week where I was cleaned up at Street Chess, it is only fair (at least to me) where I managed to win a 'one-off' game this week.
Borrowing liberally from Bobby Fischer, I chose 6.Bc4 against the Najdorf. Of course his usual recipe was to preserve this Bishop, play f4-f5 and then mate black. I was not able to do this, but only because I had a more 'positional' plan. As the pieces came off, the control of d5, and the pressure on the backward d pawn became more pronounced. And as Fischer said in My 60 Memorable Games, "tactics flow from a positionally superior game". My only regret was not getting to play Qf3 on move 29 (as I realised it is refuted by 29. ... Qc5+) and then not realising I could safely play it on move 31.

Press,Shaun - Palma,Mario [B90]
Street Chess, 29.05.2010

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e5 7.Nf3 Be7 8.Bb3 0-0 9.Bg5 Nc6 10.0-0 Be6 11.Qd2 Qc7 12.Rad1 Rad8 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.Nd5 Bxd5 15.Bxd5 Ne7 16.Bb3 Ng6 17.Ne1 Nf4 18.Nd3 Bg5 19.Nxf4 Bxf4 20.Qe2 Kh8 21.Rd5 f5 22.Rfd1 fxe4 23.Qxe4 Rf6 24.c3 Rdf8 25.Bc2 Rh6 (D)
26.Rxd6 Rxh2 27.g3 Bxg3 28.fxg3 Rh5 29.Kg2 Qc5 30.R1d2 Qb5 31.Qd3 1-0

The "quiet" d3

d3 in the Italian Game is one move I really don't like seeing, for two reasons. Firstly, as a Traxler player, 4.d3 (after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6) looks like a cop-out by White, and secondly, after 4.d3 I've had a couple of games where I've just been ground down.
However it is considered quite a strong system for White, so there are good reasons to play it. And despite the tag "Quiet Italian" White can whip up quite a strong attack, as Movsesian demonstrates in the current ACP Rapid Knock Out event.

Movsesian,Sergei - Naiditsch,Arkadij [C50]
ACP Rapid KO, 27.05.2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.Bb3 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.h3 Nb6 9.Re1 a5 10.a4 Bd6 11.Nc3 Bf5 12.Nb5 Bg6 13.Bg5 Qd7 14.Nh4 Nd4 15.Nxd4 exd4 16.Qf3 c6 17.Nxg6 hxg6 18.Re4 Bb4 19.h4 Rae8 20.h5 Rxe4 21.dxe4 gxh5 22.Qxh5 c5 (D)
23.Bf6 Qc6 24.e5 Nd7 25.Be7 c4 26.Bxf8 Nxf8 27.Ba2 Ne6 28.Rd1 d3 29.cxd3 Nf4 30.Qg4 Qxa4 31.Bxc4 Qc2 32.Rf1 Ne2+ 33.Kh2 Qd2 34.f4 1-0

Posting Up

I recently bought Artur Yusupov's "Build up your Chess" series, both as a resource for when I coach, and as training material for myself. One chapter (from volume 1) is titled "Centralizing the Pieces" and covers the importance of having strongly posted pieces in the middle of the board.
The example game he gives in the chapter is Pillsbury v Marco 1900, which I have seen in a couple of other books as an illustration of a strong knight on e5. Pillsbury's treatment of the Queens Gambit often saw him play Nf3-e5 and support it with f4. If Black exchanged the knight the White would have both a cramping pawn on e5 and an open f file to work with. Yusupov refers to this as 'posting up'.
It is still a plan that can be used with great success even today, as this game played in the KL Open last month shows.

Dimakiling,Oliver (2441) - Fatianova,Tatiana (2303) [A15]
3rd KL Open Kuala Lumpur MAS (4), 08.04.2010

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 Be7 5.Qc2 Nbd7 6.d4 a6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 0-0 9.0-0 Re8 10.Ne5 Bd6 11.f4 c5 12.Nxd5 Bxe5 13.fxe5 Nxd5 (D) 14.Bxh7+ Kh8 15.Be4 Nf8 16.Rxf7 b6 17.Qe2 Be6? 18.Rxf8+ Rxf8 19.Qh5+ 1-0

Pushing Pawns

An interesting game from round 5 of the current ANU Autumn Swiss Tournament. Played between two 11 year old club members, it turned into a battle of the pawns. Black played the standard plan of advancing pawns on the kingside, while White expanded on the queenside. By move 20 White looked to have the upper hand, but a fear of disaster on the kingside resulted in some timid play. In fact it turned into a self fulfilling prophecy as Black was able to use a couple of spare tempi to build up that attack on the king, with a neat Queen sac deciding the issue.

White - Black [E92]
ANU Autumn Swiss, 26.05.2010

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.d4 d6 5.e4 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.d5 Na6 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.0-0 Qd8 11.Nd2 f5 12.f3 f4 13.Rc1 g5 14.a3 h5 15.b4 Rf6 16.Nb3 Rg6 17.c5 dxc5 18.b5 Nb8 19.Nxc5 g4 20.Ne6 Qh4 21.Qe1 g3 22.h3 Nd7 23.Na4 Nf8 24.Bc4 c6 25.Rc2 cxb5 26.Bxb5 Nxe6 27.Rxc8+ Rxc8 28.dxe6 Bf8 29.Qa1 Rg5 30.Qa2 Be7 31.Rd1 a6 32.Be2 b5 33.Rd7 Rg7 34.Nb2 Rc2 35.Kf1 (D)
35. ... Qxh3 36.gxh3 g2+ 37.Ke1 g1Q+ 0-1

A devastating Purdy win

With the passing of Lloyd Fell there has been some discussion about who is now the "Elder Statesman" of Australian Chess (My vote is for Phil Viner btw). For the sake of gender equality, there has also been discussion about who is the "Elder Stateswomen". Evelyn Koshnitsky is the obvious choice, and one that very few would disagree with.
However another name that was mentioned was Anne Purdy, widow of CJS Purdy, and still with us at 95 years of age. It has been noted that she was the daughter of one Australian Champion (Spencer Crakanthorp), the wife of another (CJS Purdy) and the mother of a third (John Purdy). And while it seems her contribution to chess is defined by the achievements of others, she was a handy player in her own right.

Baxter,JN - Purdy,Anne [B37]

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.Nf3 Nf6 7.Nc3 0-0 8.g3 d6 9.Bg2 Be6 10.Qe2 Rc8 11.Nd2 Nd4 12.Qd3 Ng4 (D)
13.f4 Qb6 14.Na4 Nc2+ 15.Kd1 Nce3+ 16.Ke2 Qa5 17.Kf3 Qxa4 18.h3 Nxc4 19.hxg4 Nxb2 20.Bxb2 Bxb2 21.Qe2 Bxa1 22.Rxa1 Rc3+ 23.Kf2 Rfc8 24.f5 Qd4+ 25.Kf1 Rc1+ 0-1