Game from Biel Grandmaster Tournament

There is a strong Grandmaster Tournament going on currently in Biel, Switzerland. The tournament includes the world's highest ranked player, Magnus Carlsen, and current U.S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura.

As of slightly over the halfway mark of the tournament, the tournament is led by Wang Hao from China. He has won all of his games except for one (see below). You can see the current standings and live games on the tournament site:

www.bielchessfestival.ch

Besides the Grandmaster Tournament, there is also a Masters Tournament going on along side it. Grandmaster Sam Shankland, originally from Orinda, is playing in it and after 6 rounds is on 4.5 points, a half point behind the leaders.

The below video is a game from the Grandmaster tournament. It is between the world's highest rated player Magnus Carlsen and the tournament leader Wang Hao. It is a unique opportunity to see the analysis and thinking of the world's top player. Enjoy!

UPDATE: The Grandmaster Tournament was ultimately won by Want Hao from China, just barely edging out Magnus Carlsen by one point.  Carlsen did manage to beat Hao in both the games they played against each other.

In the Master Tournament, which included 30 Grandmasters in a field of 111 participants, Sam Shankland ended with 7.5/11, a half point behind the winners group (tying for 4th-12th).  The winner was Igor Kurnosov from Russia.

Kevin K. does well at People's Tournament

Congratulations to Kevin K. for his great result at the recent People's Tournament playing in Pleasanton. Kevin scored three points out of five rounds which put him in a tie for 6th to 8th place in the overall tournament. For his efforts, Kevin picked up 13 rating points moving his rating to 2119!

Great job Kevin!

King's Gambit Game

Hi all,

One of our members, Dave W. that runs the Pink Elephant Chess Podcast, won a battle against the Internet Chess Club's 3000+ rated computer. He made a chess video of the game with his notes.

Here is the link to watch the chess video of the game. Just click on the image to watch it.

http://pechesscast.blogspot.com/2010/02/chess-terminators.html

Robert H. wins recent Berkeley Chess School Friday Night Marathon

Congratulations to Robert H., who won the most recently concluded Friday Night Marathon at the Berkeley Chess School. For those that are not familiar with it, the Berkeley Chess School (located a few blocks north of UC Berkeley) runs a rated event with one round each Friday night. A full tournament is 6 rounds. Robert scored 5.5 out of 6 to win the event by a full point. His only draw was against Master Robin Cunningham.

Robert regularly shows up at both the Clayton and Walnut Creek clubs and usually trounces all comers. Here is what he felt was one of his best games from the Berkeley event with some notes he provided.

Game from Philadelphia International

At the club this last Thursday, a few of us went over a game from the recently concluded Philadelphia International. This tournament runs just prior to the World Open and give some of America's up and coming players a chance to try for norms towards the International Master and Grandmaster titles.

This game is the final round game by the tournament winner, GM Abhijeet Gupta from India. In it his opponent, IM Dean Ippolito from New Jersey has a tough time in the main line Queens Gambit. One of the main challenges for Black in the Queens Gambit is solving the problem of his queens bishop. It typically, as in this game, gets trapped behind its own pawns and hampers development of the queen rook as well. If your opponent gets all his pieces into play, it is almost like playing a piece or two down.

Enjoy the game!

Contra Costa Members do well at Berkeley Open

It was a good weekend for a few of our members that played in the Berkeley Open over the weekend. The tournament was held at the Berkeley Chess School a few blocks north of the US Berkeley campus. It was 4 rounds over Saturday and Sunday with about 70 players competing in 3 sections.

Scott M. went 4-0 to win the A-B player section and win $240. This pushed his rating over the 2000 mark! (see one of his games below)

Pete K. went 3-1 in the A-B section and tied with one other person for the top under 1800 prize. He won $147.50 and picked up 64 rating points!

Robert H. played in the Open section and scored 50%. It should be noted that he played at the Bay Area Chess Summer Open in Milpitas a few weeks back and took clear 2nd in that tournament!

Great job guys!

Here is one of Scott's games from the event:

Chess Video: Game John H - Nelson

Game Info:
White: Harris, J - 1596 USCF Rating
Black: Neslon, C - 1544 USCF Rating
Casual game played on 3/11/10 at the Mechanics Institute with a time control of 30/90, SD/30.
Opening: C45 - Scotch Game, Mieses Variation
Result: 1-0

This was a solid performance by White with a Bishop Sacrifice on f7 for good compensation. Black walked into a quick mate and resigned on move 14. Enjoy!

If you have any games you would like analyzed or posted, please send them in! (e-mail address is in the "Contact Us" tab)

Exciting Game from Tal Memorial 2012

Below is an exciting game where GM Luke McShane from England won a great game playing Black against GM Levon Aronian, the currently number 2 ranked player in the world. In the final position, Black is forcing mate in a few more moves.


For other games from the event, you can see the final standings and replay the games at chessgames.com

UPDATE: With two rounds to go, there were 5 players tied for first. In the penultimate round, Fabiano Caruana from Italy pulled into sole lead with a win over former World Champion Vladmir Kramnik only to lose in the final round to world number two ranked Levon Aronian. This allowed Magnus Carlsen to win the tournament outright with a win in his final game. Magnus was the only player to go undefeated throughout the tournament.

CHESS CLUB's Sad News: Rudy Passed Away

Hi Everyone . . .

Last Thursday, during our regular club session, we received the terribly sad news that our dear friend and chess enthusiast Rudy Thorwirth passed away.

Rudy had a lot of energy and was quite active, with several interests that included chess, tennis, dancing, piano playing, stocks and bonds, the internet, long walks . . . and probably lots more that we don't realize . . . . . not bad for an 82-year old who died doing perhaps one of his favorite things, walking around the Lafayette Reservoir (on May 21, 2012). I understand Rudy was alone and had a heart attack during his walk, and that he never regained consciousness.

Rudy will be remembered by many in the chess club for his enthusiasm for the game, and for his friendship that he extended immediately with such good humor and gentleness with everyone he would meet. Along with John S., Stewart, and Hossam, Rudy helped establish the Contra Costa Chess Club as a going concern when it was still quite new as a USCF affiliate club at its Starbucks venue. He will be dearly missed, that is for certain.

Thank you to John S. for providing the picture of Rudy.

-- Mike T.

Exciting game from recent US Championship

Last night at the club we looked at the following game from the recent US Championship. The championship was won by GM Hikaru Nakamura, however this game features a win by GM Robert Hess playing black against GM Gregory Kaidanov. It is an exciting tactical battle where Hess sacrificed his queen on move 20 for three pieces. He co-ordinates his pieces very well and in the end is forcing the win of at least an exchange. Enjoy!

Chess Video: Game Mason-McCann

Game Info:
White: Mason, S - 1980 USCF Rating
Black: McCann, J - 2033 USCF Rating
Casual game played on 5/21/12 with no clock
Opening: A88 - Dutch Defense
Result: 0-1

This was a wild tactical battle with both sides getting in some good moves. It concludes with a queen sacrifice for mate. Enjoy!

If you have any games you would like analyzed or posted, please send them in!

Chess Video: Mason, S-Holmes, G

Here is my first attempt at a chess video! Please comment and let me know if you would like more of this type of content.

Game Info:
White: Mason, S - 1980 USCF Rating
Black: Holmes, G - 1886 USCF Rating
Tournament: Columbia, SC G/20 Quick Chess Quad played on 5/17/12
Opening: B36 - Accerated Dragon Maroczy Bind
Result: 1-0

Recently I was traveling for work and had a free evening so I found a quick chess tournament about 60 miles away. I tied for first in the quad and won a net sum of $3 for my efforts (and lost 10 rating points). Enjoy the game!

Anand-Gelfand, World Championship Game 8

Perhaps we should put some chess on the chess site too! By request, for those that have not seen it yet, Game 8 of the World Chess Championship that is currently going on in Moscow between World Champion Vishy Anand and challenger Boris Gelfand. Gelfand made a miscalculation getting his queen trapped and ended up resigning on move 17! It is one of the shortest decisive games in World Chess Championship history.

UPDATE: As of this morning (5-30-12), the match was won by Anand, retaining the title of World Champion. The first 12 games ended with a tie score of 6-6 (one win each and 10 draws). The match was then decided by a 4 game playoff match of quick time control chess (approximately G/30). Anand won the second game of the quick chess match when Gelfand made a mistake in a drawn ending under time pressure. Anand drew the other three games to win the playoff 2.5 pts-1.5 pts.

Chess Books For Sale

If you are looking for some great deals on chess books, one of our members that runs the Pink Elephant Chess Podcast has many on his site for sale. Here is a partial list:

Kasparov My Great Predecessors: Prices are 50% 0ff this series
Pt 1 $35
Pt 2 $35
Pt 3 $30
Pt 4 $35

Dvoretsky Series
School of Chess Excellence #1(Paperback) PE's Price $12.00 List Price $26.60
School of Chess Excellence #2: Tactical Play (Paperback) PE's Price $12.00 List Price $26.60-$35
School of Chess Excellence #3(Paperback)PE's Price $12.00 List Price $26.60 School of Chess Excellence #4: Opening Developments PE's Price $12.00 Amazon $23.10/List Price $35
List Price for all 4 vol. $103
Buy all 4 volumes for a bigger savings $42.00

More Dvoretsky Books
Opening Preparation (Paperback) PE's Price $15.00 List Price $25.39
Attack & Defense (Paperback) PE's Price $15.00 List Price $40.00

C.J.S. Purdy
#1 Search for Chess Perfection $45.00 PE's Price $20.00 + Shipping Condition NEW
#2 Extreme Chess" World Championships 1935, 1937, 1972 $49.00/ $75.00 PE's Price $20.00
#3 Guide to Good Chess $33.00 PE's $18.00
#4 How Purty Won $10.00 New HB Ed Discriptive $10.00
#5 Action Chess: Purdy's 24 Hours Opening Repertoire $37.00 PE's Price $20.00
#6 How Fischer Won

BIO's
Spassky: 100 Best Games (Bernard Cafferty) Hard Bound: Descriptive Notation [Condition Good]
Best Games of Boris Spassky (Andrew Soltis) Hard Bound: Descriptive Notation [Condition like new]
Chess Star's Series Tal: 4 Vols (complete) $60.00

Tournament Books
Bronstein's 1953 Zurich Hardcover w/Jacket 1st Edition

Openings
Ideas behind the Chess Openings GM Fine
The Opening Game in Chess - GM Ludek Pachman
How to Open a Chess Game
Mastering the Chess Openings Vol 1 & 2
Modern Chess Opening Theory - GM Suetin
Plan like a Grandmaster - GM Suetin
(X) Lastly Mastering the Endgame Volume 1 & 2 IM Shereshevsky (Types of Endgames that lead from given openings)

Strategy and Tactics
Chess Fundamentals - Wch. GM Capablanca
A Primer of Chess - Wch. GM Capablanca
Laskers Manual
The Middlegame in Chess - GM Pachman
Point Count Chess
The Middle Game in Chess - GM Fine
Chess Strategy For the Tournament Player -GM Alburt
Complete Chess Strategy - GM Pachman
How to Play the Middlegame in Chess Littlewood
The Middle game in Chess - Znosko Borovsky
The Art of the Middle Game -GM's Keres and Kotov
New Ideas in Chess - GM Evans
Positional Chess Handbook - Gelfer
Art of chess Combination - Znosko Borovsky
The Art of Checkmate - Renaud and Khan
Combinations in the Middlegame - Bondarevsky
Chess Tactics - GM Kotov
Combination Challenge - Hays and Hall
The Inner Game of Chess - GM Soltis
The Art of Combination - Blokh
Chess Middle Game Combinations
Attack With Tal
Modern Chess Tactics
Attack and Defense in Chess Tactics
The Art of Attack - Vukovic
The Chess Sacrifice - Vukovic
Think Like a Grandmaster - GM Kotov
Play Like a Grandmaster - GM Kotov
Train Like a Grandmaster - GM Kotov
Pawns in Action - Sokolsky
Pawn Power In Chess - Kmoch
Pawn Structure Chess - GM Soltis
Understanding Pawn Play in Chess - Marovic
Chess Middlegame Planning - Romanovsky
Judgement and Planning - Wch. Dr. Max Euwe
Planning in Chess - GM Flesch
How to Choose a Chess Move - GM Soltis
Three Steps to Chess Mastery - GM Suetin
A Contemporary Approach to The Middle Game - GM Suetin
Secrets of Positional Chess - Marovic
The MiddleGame Book 1 & 2 - Wch. Dr. Max Euwe
Art of the Sacrifice Spielman
Middlegames - Laszlo Polgar RARE!

Endgame
Chess Endings for the Practical Player - Pachman
The Endings in Modern Theory and Practice
Endgame Strategy - Shereshevsky
Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual
Pal Benko's Endgame Laboratory

To purchase any of these books, please go to the Pink Elephant Chess Podcast Store

Article About Walnut Creek Chess Club

Here is a link to a great article written in the Walnut Creek Patch about the group that meets at Cafe La Scala on Monday Nights:

Poisoned Pawns & Fianchettoes on North Main