Happy 2018

Happy to 2018 to all the readers of ChessExpress and may next year bring you success on and off the chessboard. I'm heading off to Sydney tomorrow to be an arbiter for the 2018 Australian Chess Championships as well as providing daily coverage via this blog.
So far the event is looking to be very successful, with around 200 entries for the 3 long time control events. There are 35 players in the top section with GM's Anton Smirnov, Max Illingworth and Moulthun Ly heading the field. There are also 8 IM's in the field, so it should be a very competitive 11 round event. Live broadcast of each round will be available via Chess24, while GM Ian Rogers is providing onsite coverage.

Keep threatening checkmate

The only move in chess without possible drawbacks is checkmate. So one strategy is to keep threatening checkmate in the hope that it eventually pays off. For beginners this usually relies upon the opponent missing the threat, but for strong players it is usually because they run out of moves to defend against it.
Here is an example of the second situation.


Karjakin,Sergey (2760) - Esipenko,Andrey (2564) [B11]
World Rapid 2017 Riyadh KSA (8.9), 27.12.2017

A brief (early) history of the Grand Prix

I tend to steer clear ChessChat, Australia's best known chess bulletin board, but occasionally I will wander by, to gauge the pulse of the nation, as it were. In my last look-in I noticed that the ACF Grand Prix Series was being discussed. While the discussion mainly concerned the distribution of prizes, a few posts showed me that the history of how the GP started, and what it was intended to do, seems to have been lost. So to correct that, here is how the GP came about (at least to the best of my recollections).
To start with, the Australian Chess Grand Prix was inspired by the British Grand Prix series. I had read about it in BCM and Chess Monthly, and wondered why the same couldn't be done in Australia. So in 1988 I drew up a basic outline of how such a series would operate and went to work putting it into practice. However there was one significant difference to the UK system, in that points were awarded in the style of Formula 1 racing, based on finishing places. At the time there weren't a large number of weekend chess events (maybe 20 or so across Australia), but I envisioned that the majority of organisers might be interested. I even pitched it to the Australian Chess Federation, as I thought a national competition might be of interest to the national body. It turns out they were not interested, telling me that "if you want to run it privately, go ahead".
The first edition kicked off in 1989, funded by entry fees from the tournament themselves. It had the 5 class structure that still exists today, although the scoring was slightly different. IIRC 6 or 7 tournaments took part (including the Doeberl Cup), and GM Ian Rogers was the inaugural winner. But despite the modest start in 1989, it really took off in 1990. This was down to the efforts of two people. The first was Ian Rogers, who had been looking for projects to pitch to Mercantile Mutual Insurance, following from their sponsorship of the Mercantile Mutual Masters. They were keen to support the GP series, providing a $10000 cash sponsorship for the prizes, as well as covering publicity costs and tournament materials (score sheets, posters etc). Part of the deal with Mercantile Mutual was the establishment of  the national junior development fund, funded out of the entry fees from the series.
The second important person was Larry Ermacora, who recruited around 40 weekend events for the second year. This meant the series was a truly national event with almost every significant weekend event involved. It also provided the impetus for a number of new events as both private organsiers and state associations became involved.
Interestingly, the Australian Chess Federation, who had little interest in the event in 1989, had a complete change of attitude for 1990. Of course the contribution wasn't in the area of extra financial support or manpower, but in the form of an extensive list of by-laws on how the series should be run. While my recollection of the exact regulations is a little hazy, I'm sure it did include the perennial ACF favourite "players and events must be approved by the relevant state association".
Mercantile Mutual continued their sponsorship for 3 years, and it only ended when the company was taken over (oddly enough by a Dutch firm). I ended my involvement around the same time, but I was pleased to see that the series achieved some important aims. Firstly, it provided a more competitive environment for top Australian chess players, by encouraging them to play in more events. Secondly it put more money into the game, not just for the top players, but for regular weekend players, in the shape of Under 2000, Under 1600, and state based prizes. And finally, it help create more weekend events across the county for players to take part in.

Blindfold Cycling

GM Timur Gareyev holds the world record for the largest blindfold simul, playing 48 games in 2016. He has turned his prowess at blindfold chess into a successful career, alongside his professional chess career.
His latest simul was in Bhopal India, where his is taking part in the Bhopal International. After the 7th round he took on 11 local players, beating 10 and drawing with one. The interesting thing about his blindfold simuls (apart from the fact that he cannot see the board), is that he often does them while riding an exercise bike. Apart from the exercise benefits, he believes it helps him maintain the flow and rhythm of the simul.


Vashishtha,Pranav - Gareyev,Timur [B01]
Blindfold Simul, 25.12.2017

Not really shocked

In what is a hardly surprising turn of events, Israeli registered players have failed to receive visa's to participate in the World Rapid and Blitz events in Suadi Arabia. Even FIDE themselves have thrown in the towel on this issue, producing a press release touting their success in getting Iranian and Qatari players visa's, but omitting any mention of Israel at all.
In a better world someone from FIDE might have taken responsibility for the exclusion of players from this event, but in this one FIDE is patting itself on the back, as shown by the quote from the press release "As everybody clearly understands from the above, FIDE and the Saudi organisers are always ready to welcome any participant."

I hope you get something nice from Santa Claus

Christmas is almost here, and I suggest that any gifts you need to buy should have been bought by now. I managed to avoid the worst of the Christmas rush by deciding I'm getting to old for this, and declaring anything I bought for anyone after the 1st of November as a 'Xmas gift'. This seems to have worked out well so far.
Nonetheless, I hope that under the tree tomorrow morning are gifts that you desire, or failing that, gifts that you need. This may or may not include chess sets or other related items, but if you've been extra good this year (no two handed castling, or using an upside down rook as a queen) then I'm sure Santa Claus will reward you.

Exchanging into trouble

Knowing which pieces to exchange and when is one of the deeper concepts in chess. Below a certain level, exchanges are often used to relieve pressure, to try and gain a tempo, or simply to postpone making a hard decision. Unfortunately, exchanging without assessing the resultant position can leave you in deep trouble, as a game from today's Street Chess tournament demonstrates.


White - Black [C47]
Street Chess, 23.12.2017