Monday, April 26, 2010

Fischerandom Kaos

On Sunday, April 25, 2010, International Master Vangjel Buli performed in a chess960 (Fischerandom chess) simultaneous exhibition against ten opponents (eight of whom were very young and two... just a little less young) at Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” in Florence, Italy, as a highlight of the 2nd anniversary of “Fischerandom Kaos”.
The event exceeded all our expectations with a great success of audience and participation, despite the “national-popular” concomitance of a... football match, to which almost all the classes of the neighbouring elementary and middle schools had been “invited” to attend it! The set initial array was the starting position number 70:

♘♘♗♖♔♗♕♖

Don’t be fooled by the vague resemblance to the so-called classical position (#518): the differences are substantial! In the standard position, in fact, there is no first move that — by force and right now — loses material for White, while at Fischerandom chess everything is possible from the very start! If in his prime Bobby Fischer recommended to “refute” the starting array of classical chess with 1. e4! — “Best by test” — who would believe that at Fischerandom 1. e4 may instead be “worst by rest”? The “theory” of position #70 already says it:

Rafael Artemovich Vaganian – Levon Grigori Aronian
2nd FiNet Chess960 Open; time control: 20 minutes plus 5 seconds per move; Mainz, August, 2003
nnbrkbqr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNBRKBQR w HDhd - 0 1

Position #70

1. e4? f5! OMG! Now Black gains a Pawn by force, since after 3. exf5?? Qxa2 White would lose none other than a Knight! Hence Vaganian resigned himself to 2. Nc3 fxe4, after which Aronian somehow managed to capitalise on his extra Pawn. Buli graciously allowed two young simultaneists to take advantage of the “Knight motif”, only to show them that a piece itself is not guarantee of victry after all: within a few moves, the Queen of both youngsters got first marginalised and then trapped on a1! Two parents also took part in the “heterodox” challenge, and your scribe is especially happy that all participants (and all of them spontaneously) opted for the “Fischer mode”. Eight victories and two draws... of encouragement (Emilio and Daniele the lucky ones) was the score of Buli, who, as always, enchanted the audience with his competence, modesty and generosity. Per aspera sic itur ad astra...
For a pictorial report of the day take a look at the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” web site.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

诙谐曲 (Scherzo)

诸宸 (Zhū Chén) – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2009–2011; 3rd stage; Nalchik, April 29, 2010
Nimzo-Indian Defence E32

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 0-0 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 Qe8!? An invention by Grandmaster Raymond Keene. 7. b4 d6 8. Bb2 b6. 8. ... Nbd7 9. e3 a5 10. Bd3 Nb6 11. Qc2 Qa4 also gave Black a very comfortable equality in Arlandi – Tatai, 49th Italian Chess Championship, Chianciano Terme 1989. 9. Qf3 d5 10. Rc1 c6 11. e3 a5 12. bxa5 bxa5 13. Qd1 Ba6 14. Nf3 Nbd7 15. Bd3 Nb6 16. Nd2 Rb8 17. Bc3 Qe7 18. Ra1 Nxc4 19. Nxc4 dxc4 20. Be2 Nd5 21. Bxa5 Rb3 22. 0-0 Rxa3 23. Qc2 Ra8


24. e4?? A dramatic blunder that loses at once. 24. Qb2 was called for with a view to regaining the Pawn. 24. ... Nf4 25. Bf3 Rxf3! The Rook is obviously taboo because of ... Qe7-g5+ followed by mate. 26. Bd2 0 : 1.

A symbolic handover: from Qatar to China. Photo: Ilya Akhobekov, Eldar Mukhametov.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Down to Earth

Gawain Christopher B. Jones – 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)
800th Anniversary Summit Chess Match UK–China; Liverpool, September 5, 2007
French Defence C03

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Be7 4. Ngf3 Nf6 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bd3 c5 7. c3 b6 8. Qe2 a5 9. 0-0 Ba6 10. c4 Nc6 11. cxd5 Bxd3 12. Qxd3 Nb4. If 12. ... exd5 then 13. Re1 0–0 14. Qf5 cxd4 15. Nb3 Nc5 16. Nbxd4⩲ Jones – Grigoryan, 46th World Junior Chess Championship, Yerevan 2007 — “[...] White is slightly better although I overpressed and went on to lose”, Jones wrote on New Zealand Chess Magazine, Volume 36, No. 1, January 2009, p. 9. 13. Qe4 exd5 14. Qg4 0-0 15. Rd1 Kh8 16. Nf1 Nc2 17. Rb1 Nxd4 18. Nxd4 cxd4 19. Qxd4 Bc5 20. Qxd5 Nxe5 21. Be3 Qxd5 22. Rxd5 Bxe3 23. Nxe3


23. ... f6 (23. ... Rfe8!? 24. Rd6 b5 25. Rc1⩲) 24. f4. “[...] and I was left in a very favourable ending due to more active pieces and the weakness of Black’s Queenside Pawns”, Jones writes (ibidem). 24. ... Ng6 25. g3 Rab8 26. Rc1 Kg8 27. Rc7 Rfc8 28. Rdd7 Rxc7 29. Rxc7 Rd8 30. Rb7 Rd3 31. Nc4 Rd4 32. b3


32. ... Rd1+ 33. Kg2 Rc1 34. a4 Rc2+ 35. Kg1 Rc1+ 36. Kf2 Rc2+ 37. Kf3 Rc3+ 38. Ke4 Rxb3 39. Rxb6 Rc3 40. Kd4 Rc1 41. Nxa5 Rc2 42. Nc4 Rxh2 43. Rb2 Rh1 44. Ra2 Ne7 45. a5 Nc6+ 46. Kc5 Nxa5 47. Rxa5 h5 48. Ne3 h4 49. gxh4 Rxh4 50. Nd5 Kf7 51. Kd6 Rh1 52. Ra7+ Kg6 53. Ne7+ Kh5 54. f5 Re1 55. Ra2 Re5 56. Rh2+ Kg5 57. Rh7 1 : 0.