I’ve noticed an interesting trend in the playing of the modern defense. IM Jay Bonin has lately been playing a defense with 1…c6 and 2…a6 against nearly everything, hoping to achieve a chebanenko slav or gurgenidze system through a tricky move order. Asa Hoffmann has also been playing a modified modern called the Pribyl that I’ve written about before. With the recent book “Tiger’s Modern” advocating a similar setup, I’ve seen an explosion of popularity in this whole system – both Yefim Treger and Ildar Salakhutidnov have employed it at tournaments recently and I myself am planning on using it once I get a handle on the themes.

The following game illustrates some of the ideas of this system, and Asa Hoffmann will be giving a lecture at the Marshall this month on these ideas as he presents several of his recent victories with black using this system.

This last Tuesday, IM Danny Kopec gave a lecture at the Marshall Chess Club based on his new book “Test, Evaluate and Improve Your Chess.” The lecture was long- much longer than your average chess lecture- but it was also extraordinarily well attended and Kopec seemed to have quite a few doting followers in the audience who traveled across state lines just to hear him speak.

In any case, his book is pretty good I have to admit. Many of the positions are basic tactical positions or positions where you have to find the correct pawn lever. However, some of the positions later in the book are quite complicated and well analyzed. In particular, there is a chapter on rook and pawns that I really enjoyed, and am planning on going over again. The following position was one that I think demonstrates the importance of rook activity in such a concrete way as to be memorable.

In this position, the material is equal but white’s rook is more active than black’s, which is tied to the defense of the outside pawn. This is the only feature of the position that maters and to find the right plan you must have the specific knowledge that rook activity is crucial. If black merely holds onto the pawn, then white will march his king across the board, push the rook back, and potentially win in some cases. So- in order to draw- black must give up the pawn with 1…Rb8 2.Rxa5 Rb1+ 3.Kg2 Ra1 – Tarrasch’s Rule- the rook goes behind the passer and the draw is assured now that black’s rook has more activity than white’s- which is now tied to the defense of the a-pawn.

The book is replete with such positions- particularly in the rook and pawn chapter- and I think it’s worth picking up a copy if you find one around. I was pleased to get mine for free from Danny Kopec to review here- it’s rare that I get such decent schwag but sometimes my part-time position at the Marshall pays off in that regard.

This weekend was a massive booksale at the marshall, tomorrow is the last day! I bought a big stack of books- despite the fact that I’m currently trying to sell a box of chess books on ebay at the moment- check out my auctions here, and be sure to swing by the Marshall at 23 West 10th st. tomorrow to pick up some good deals. Downstairs near the door is several boxes of magazines that i’ve been told are free and up for grabs. I noted Fred Wilson picking through the stacks as well as some other chess book hounds.

THE MARSHALL CHESS CLUB BOOK FAIR

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The following game I played this weekend at the Marshall. My opponent made a few errors in the opening that allowed me to have both a lead in development and control of the center. From that position it was easy to generate a kingside attack with my knights. What I like about this game is the role of the knights. The pattern of two knights ganging up on the same square early in a game is something that I first remember seeing in this game, though it is also a common theme I’ve noted from Harold Keilhack’s “Knight on the Left” game collection. (speaking of early knight duos, the french, and the van geet attack, this famous game by napolean bonaparte also comes to mind.)

In any case, of the 4 games I played, I won 2 and drew 2, but this one was by far the most interesting.

One of my friends sent me a link to this awesome collection of Fischer Photos in the nytimes. I felt obligated to post a link here.

“Between games during a match in Argentina, Mr. Fischer and Mr. Benson would take long walks. One of Mr. Fischer’s favorite places was an amusement park and one day he wandered through the hall of mirrors. Mr. Benson said Mr. Fischer appeared apprehensive when he emerged.”

As most of my regular readers know, I’m a fan of offbeat openings. I wrote a post earlier about playing 1.Nc3 here. While this repertoire probably doesn’t appeal to most people because it involves knowing such unpopular lines as the Veresov, Vienna, Grand Prix Attack, Trompowsky and Pseudo-Tromp, there is one part of it that may appeal to even mainstream 1.e4 players. If black tries to play the Scandinavian with 1…d5, white has the move 2.Nc3, which likely will induce most Black players to push the pawn to d4 and enter the Van Geet Attack. (A top secret piece of info is that black should take the pawn on e4, and after 3.Nxe4 Qd5, white has nothing better than to retreat the knight back with 4.Nc3 when a normal scandinavian position arises once again on move 4 instead of on move 2.)

Since I broke my knee in a bike accident, I’ve had a month and a half to study chess among other things, and play online blitz like a banshee, getting my FICS blitz rating up to 1706. From those dozens of games I have produced the following collection of games in which the Van Geet is seen in full effect. The plans are rather simple. Number one, attempt to close the center. Number Two, begin a kingside attack with your knights. Number three, watch as your opponent stumbles under the pressure. Bing, Bang, Bongo. Enjoy.

I was lucky enough to find a copy of this classic book at Fred Wilson’s bookstore a while ago for a mere $10, which is a pretty amazing deal considering what it’s selling for on amazon at the moment. In any case, it’s a collection of Bronstein’s games laid out in an interesting format. Each game takes up only a single page, with a single diagram of a position where a combination is possible. So, the book is a biographical game collection, but could also be used as a tactics book quite easily.

For instance, from one of his games against Kotov he presents us with the following diagram with white to move:

Here, white’s queen is under attack but a paradoxical shot ends the game on the spot: Bh6!

This book is full of these simple yet interesting tactical blows. I wish more biographies took this format, as it made it easier to cruise through than…for instance Euwe’s bio by New In Chess which is dense with hundreds of pages of prose. Here, the games really speak for themselves with minimal commentary interspersed into the parenthesis of continuations.

Here is the complete game Bronstein v. Kotov from the 1946 Moscow Championship:

I’m not sure how many people who read this play on FICS, but I’m hoping some of you do. For Mac users, I’m pretty sure “Raptor” is where it’s at. As far as graphics go, it is clean, simple, and the features are user friendly. It also shows you what variation you are playing as you play, which is pretty wonderful.

As a threshold issue I should add, FICS (free internet chess server) is identical to ICC in basically every way- you can even use the same clients- but you don’t have to pay for it. ’nuff said.

So, my question to you dear readers is this: what is the best client for a PC user? At the moment, I have babaschess, raptor, and jin, but I’m not thrilled with any of them. Raptor takes on a distractingly gross aesthetic in a PC environment (i guess that’s true of all things p.c. but somehow here it is even more pronounced.) Babaschess is what I have been using, but I’m not thrilled with it either. In any case, if anyone knows of another thread on a forum somewhere discussing this topic, or a list of a good clients or has any suggestions, hit me up in the comments.

I apologize for this post without any real content, but I’m desperate here.

The most entertaining tournament of the year concluded recently with Kramnik taking clear first. What makes the London Classic so fantastic? For one, the live commentary is superb, complete with a video feed and post-mortem analysis from the players. Without question, the London Classic is the most well organized tournament on the calendar, and the live coverage is simply sans pareil. While the Tal Memorial had a great live video feed and commentary in Russian as well, another benefit of the London Classic is that it is the closest tournament to New York on the major professional circuit, so the time difference isn’t as severe as Khanty-Mansisyk for those of us in nyc who want to watch the games live. In any case, while Kramnik won the tournament, Nakamura took second place and played some fantastic chess as well. Check out his games from the event- he beat Anand with black in a Kings Indian Defense, and Adams with white in a King’s Gambit! Naka wasn’t the only player to uncork a King’s Gambit at this tournament, Nigel Short did as well. In fact he has established a bit of a tradition of playing it at this tournament each year. Check out Naka’s games below.

This is so absurd I had to put it up on the blog. This week on Saturday Night Live, the digital short was titled “Seducing Women Through Chess,” in which a patzer tries desperately to impress girls by his prowess at various board games but manages to lose no matter what game he chooses- all set to a hip 1970′s tableau. Check it out.