Winning Chess Games in the Opening by Rafael Leitao ... and more

Smith-Morra Gambit with GM Ronen Har-Zvi



Smith-Morra Gambit with GM Ronen Har-Zvi
Posted on October 07,2013 By William in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, Beginner's Corner. The Sicilian Defense is one of the most extensive chess openings and the amount of theory is downright incredible. The best study routine for beginner and intermediate chess players does NOT focus exclusively on studying openings, rather it should include a comprehensive regimen targeted at improving all phases of your game. In the below chess video excerpt from the Empire Chess DVD ¨Smashing the Sicilian Defense with the Smith-Morra Gambit¨ Gran[...]

Beginner Chess Opening Traps by GM Susan Polgar
Posted on October 03,2013 By William in All Articles w/ Videos, Beginner's Corner. Many beginner chess players feel lost in the opening and can easily fall into typical traps. In the following chess video, 5-time Olympic Chess Champion GM Susan Polgar reviews one of the most common traps seen at the beginner chess level - Scholar's Mate! The Scholar's Mate set-up with an early e4, Bc4, Qh5, and Qxf7# is not a good opening at all if black is paying attention and responds logically to white's threats. However if you have never se[...]

Winning Chess Games in the Opening by Rafael Leitao
Posted on September 30,2013 By William in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos. The opening is the most important phase of the game in chess. When good players get a slight edge in the opening, they are able to squeeze the most of this advantage and put their opponent under consistent pressure for the rest of the game. If you are playing the opening aggressively, placing a strong emphasis on active development, and striving to control the center - you are frequently going to be getting good positions early in the game. Howev[...]

Mastering Control of the Center by GM Damian Lemos
Posted on September 27,2013 By William in Strategy & Game Review, Chess Openings, All Articles w/ Videos, Classic Games (Pre 2010). Aside from focusing on rapid development and creating threats against your opponent, you should also be actively trying to control the center from the early opening in chess. Achieving strong control of the center will result in your opponent´s pieces feeling cramped and unable to achieve good outposts and squares, while you will always maintain the possibility of creating mobile pawns to push back your opponent´s pieces and create threats. Contr[...]

OnlineChessLessons.net is a producer of thousands of free chess articles and free chess videos by FIDE chess masters. They recently released the renowned Empire Chess series that has been taking the chess world by storm. Please consider checking out their chess blog and chess shop with tons of free updated previews.

Indonesian Open round 2 top board pairings

2013-2014 Webster University Chess Team


http://www.webster.edu/spice

A new year of College Chess has begun and Webster University is once again the #1 ranked Division I team in United States (both USCF and FIDE ratings). There are 9 grandmasters from 9 different countries on this year's roster.

Here are top 10 rated players of Webster University:

Title - Name - FIDE - USCF

GM Le Quang Liem
- Vietnam - 2712 / 2803 (World Blitz Champion - Olympian - Former #1 under 21 in the world)

GM Wesley So - Philippines - 2706 / 2743 (World University Champion - National Open Champion - Olympian - #2 under 21 in the world)

GM Ray Robson - USA - 2628 / 2708 (Olympian - US Junior Champ - Final Four Champion)

GM Georg Meier - Germany - 2623 / 2698 (Olympian - European Team Champion - 2 time Final Four Champion)

GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez - Cuba - 2645 (Olympian - Final Four Champion - Philadelphia Open Champion)


GM Manuel Leon Hoyos
- Mexico - 2552 / 2612 (Olympian - US Open Triple Crown Champion & National Open Champion)

GM Anatoly Bykhovsky - Israel - 2521 / 2621 (3-time Final Four Champion)

GM Denes Boros
- Hungary - 2493 / 2552 (Final Four Champion)

GM Andre Diamant - Brazil - 2461 / 2522 (Final Four Champion)

IM Vitaly Neimer - Isarel - 2378 / 2445 (Final Four Champion)
 

FM Jake Banawa (Philippines)
WIM Inna Agrest (Sweden)
Mara Kamphorst (Brazil)
Paul M. Truong (USA)

The future of inequality?


Why the future will be unfair

By Sophie McBain
Published 10 October 2013 14:57

An economist argues that the US needs to start looking at inequality (as, indeed, do other developed economies) in a more dispassionate and analytical way.

Of all the many changes to American society since the 1960s, one of the most unexpected is also one of the most overlooked. Between 1969 and 2009 the median income for men in the US fell somewhere between 9 and 28 per cent, depending who you talk to. This is the departure point for Tyler Cowen’s new book, Average Is Over.

Having chronicled the US’s economic vulnerability in The Great Stagnation, Cowen, an economist at George Mason University in Virginia, says we have entered the age of “hypermeritocracy”, in which the top 10 to 15 per cent of Americans are “extremely wealthy” and lead “fantastically comfortable lives” and the rest work in “stupid and frustrating” jobs for falling or stagnant wages.

These trends are clearly evident in the US today. He writes that 60 per cent of the jobs lost during the recession were mid-wage jobs, while 73 per cent of the jobs created were for workers on $13.52 (£8.36) an hour or less. In the longer term, intelligent computers will further dampen demand for mid-wage jobs and only those with the ability to work with intelligent machines, or whose skills are irreplaceable, will benefit.

Free online education – something that Cowen is already pioneering with his online economics courses at the Marginal Revolution University – will offer opportunities to those from deprived backgrounds to join the new elite, and so the future will be both “more meritocratic and more unfair”.

Cowen says that many will struggle to reconcile this tension between meritocracy and fairness. “This juxtaposition is a kind of deliberate confusion,” he says to me when we speak over the telephone. “The point is that this world will be confusing and it will be disorientating . . . The final picture is one with both utopian and dystopian elements.”

He says he doesn’t want to tell his readers what to think, but argues that the US needs to start looking at inequality (as, indeed, do other developed economies) in a more dispassionate and analytical way. “There are many books on inequality but quite quickly they tend to run on the left to preaching some message; and on the right, maybe a kind of denialism or moralising about people who aren’t doing as well,” he says. “I tried to avoid both directions to see if we can get our understanding a bit further.”

Cowen was New Jersey’s youngest-ever chess champion, aged 15 when he won in 1977, and he devotes a whole chapter to the intrigues and wider implications of freestyle chess, in which players are allowed to use computer programs to improve their game. In the future, the “wisest” of us will entrust computers to make decisions for us, not only on chess moves but for affairs of the heart, he believes.

More here: http://www.newstatesman.com

CE Monte Carlo eying fifth European title


The European Chess Club Cup is set to take place on 19-27th October at the Rodos Palace Hotel on Rhodes, Greece.

Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo will be the top seeded team in Women’s section, attempting to win their 5th European club trophy after being successful in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012.

CE Monte Carlo will be represented by the reigning World Champion GM Hou Yifan 2609 CHN, former World Championship challenger GM Koneru Humpy 2607 IND, GM Muzychuk Anna 2585 SLO, GM Cramling Pia 2515 SWE and IM Skripchenko Almira 2441 FRA.

The average elo of the players is 2579!

Full lineups on the official website

RIP GM Matulovic


Famous Serbian Grandmaster Milan Matulovic passed away after a long illness.

Matulovic was born on 10th June 1935. The popular “Doctor” was one of the leading Yugoslav Grandmasters in 1960s and 1970s, national champion in 1965 and 1967 and winner of many international tournaments.

He became International Master in 1961 and Grandmaster in 1965.

He took part in five Chess Olympiads (1964-1972), winning 2 silver and 2 bronze team medals, one gold and 2 silver individual medals.

He also played in four European Team Championships (1961-1973), winning three silver medals.

The high point of his career was participation in the match between Soviet Union and Rest of the World in 1970, when he played against Mikhail Botvinnik.

2013 World University Games Information

The nomination deadline for the 2013 World University Games has been extended to August 8th, 2013. Below are the trip details as well as nomination and selection procedures.

The 2013 World University Games will be held this December in Trentino, Italy.  Below is information from Richard Rokos, who has been instrumental in spearheading the effort to ensure the US can field a team at a reasonable cost, and attached is the selection criteria.  Please email him any athlete nominations you have at: Richard.Rokos@colorado.edu
All general information are published on:  www.universiadetrentino.org
 
The dates are 12/11-21/2013 leaving on 12/10/2013 meeting on 12/11/2013 at Munich, Innsbruck, Venice or Verona at 1400. The destination depends on the cost of airfare/car rental.  
 
US Team will compete in SG, GS and SL only. All applicants would compete in all three events.
 
The cost is:          $ 1,650.00 to BTI which includes 75 EU/day for room/board/lift/entry, uniform, and all fees associated             with processing and accreditation.                                                                                                                           
                                $ 1,000.00-1,300.00 Airfare depending on with whom and where we will fly from.
                                $ 200.00+ the Global Rescue (it was $180.00 for Turkey two years ago)
                                $ 200.00 share of car rental for the trip.
 
In Total:                $ 3,000.00 – 3,500.00

The selection procedure can be found here.