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| Posted by tag1153 austinfilmfestival.org 6/01/2008 01:23:21 Play online chess |  Subject: Controversy in U.S. Women's ChampionshipMessage:  main.uschess.org
Be sure to view the Armageddon game in question. Irina has a point (although I agree she should have said something right then and there....) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted by kansaspatzer austinfilmfestival.org 6/01/2008 04:01:08 Play online chess | Message: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted by heinzkat austinfilmfestival.org 6/01/2008 05:21:51 Play online chess | Happy times behind the chess board Message: www.youtube.com ——— Chess: Ulf Andersson, positional master — Andersson rarely makes a direct attack: he wins by subtle improvements in position. DK: I've been wanting to tackle positional play in this column for some time, but couldn't think of a good way into a topic that is just too vast – until inspiration came with the arrival of Grandmaster Chess Strategy, by Jurgen Kaufeld and Guido Kern (New In Chess, £19.95). The title is bland, but the strapline reveals the content: "What amateurs can learn from Ulf Andersson's positional masterpieces". Andersson is, for me, an enigmatic chess player: he rarely makes a direct attack on his opponent's king, preferring to exchange pieces and gently improve his position – and against strong chess players this frequently leads to ... Posted by ganstaman | austinfilmfestival.org 6/01/2008 09:55:05 Play online chess Message: The only part I don't like is when she 'explains' her own throwing of the chess piece at the end of the game. She basically says "It's not as bad as what Anna did, so you shouldn't care about it." Saying sorry with one sentence to explain that she was more fustrated than normal would have been ten times better. ——— Bobby Fischer Against the World (movie review) — A riveting documentary about the troubled US chess champion and his battle with Boris Spassky. Liz Garbus's gripping documentary about the life and times of the troubled American chess genius Bobby Fischer asks a number of questions. Did Bobby's missing dad create an emotional void which was neurotically filled with chess? Is there something in the game that encourages immersive obsession and ultimate madness? Would Fischer have gone the same way if he had been a plumber or a welder? And why is it that antisemitism is the bigotry of choice for mentally ill people? Non-chessers like me are already basically aware of the second and third acts of this American life. The middle act was ... Posted by heinzkat | austinfilmfestival.org 6/01/2008 10:49:51 Play online chess That was just an alternative wayMessage: ——— On Chess: Game wading into waves of change — Like so much in contemporary life, chess - like an onrushing river - is characterized by constant change. Bobby Fischer had the equivalent of a dozen or more doctorates in chess. He studied and assimilated - like no one else before him - what seemed at the time to be a massive classical chess heritage. Grandmasters today have access to a minimum database of more than 4 million games, far eclipsing the chess legacy that Fischer inherited - and that database is increasing at an accelerating rate. Setting up the pieces, playing through a game or games and reviewing relevant positions are painfully time-consuming. Fortunately, chess software and the computer screen speed ... Posted by tim_b | austinfilmfestival.org 6/01/2008 11:00:55 Play online chess Message: ——— After Decades in Top Ranks, a Shot at the Title, Finally — Chess players usually reach their peak in their 20s, so how is it that the grandmaster Boris Gelfand is getting his first crack at becoming world chess champion when he is 43? Gelfand, whose Candidates Matches victory in May earned him the right to play Viswanathan Anand for the title next year, said he was encouraged by the example of Viktor Korchnoi. When he was in his late 40s, Korchnoi, now 80, played for the chess championship twice. “Korchnoi is kind of inspiration for me and for all of us,” Gelfand said in a recent telephone interview, quoting Korchnoi’s advice that “if you want to improve, you have to learn new things all the time.” Gelfand said he changed his opening repertory before ... Posted by chessnovice | austinfilmfestival.org 6/01/2008 12:11:49 Play online chess ...Message: ——— Chennai make bid to host 2012 world title match — Chennai, India, has made a bid, backed by the Tamil Nadu state government, to host the 2012 Vishy Anand (India) verses Boris Gelfand (Israel) world title match. The world chess governing body Fide will now decide between Chennai and an earlier bid from Moscow. Magnus Carlsen, world No1 at 20, and Sergey Karjakin, No4 at 21, are exceptional for their age, yet they now face a challenge from two still younger chess grandmasters who are advancing fast up the rankings. Italy's Fabiano Caruana, 18, took first prize at New Delhi last month and is ranked in the top 20 GMs, while Anish Giri, 17, won the Dutch chess championship by a two-point margin. Giri is reaching his rating targets at a younger age than ... Posted by scarper | austinfilmfestival.org 6/01/2008 14:03:59 Play online chess Message: Posted by ionadowman | austinfilmfestival.org 6/01/2008 16:16:34 Play online chess Fascinating...Message: Consider: you are sitting at the board, the enemy makes a move and forgets to punch his clock. Are you entiotled to make your move? Well, according to the USCF Official rules of 35 years ago, one would have to infer yes. The rules actually talk about whether the arbiter, noticing the omission ought to warn the player. The Rules come down against the arbiter doing any such thing. Which suggests to me that the opponent doesn't have to wait until the enemy punches the clock in order to make a move. The Rules do state that (14.4) "When determining whether the prescribed number of moves has been made in the given time, the last move is not considered as completed until after the player has stopped his clock." Given the time control in the "Armageddon Match" this doesn't apply. From that perspective, I incline to the view that Irina Krush doesn't really have a case. But I do sympathise. Look where the clocks are placed: as is standard, to the right of the Black pieces. Playing right-handed, Black's hand has less distance to travel to the clock; White has to reach right across her body to reach the clock. Simply: the physical placing of the clocks confers an advantage to a right-handed player of Black, or a left-handed player of White. We might decide this is unfair, but look at the time control: 6 minutes for White; 4 and a half for Black, who gets the margin of draw. I think the extra 90 seconds ought to subsume any slight disadvantage to White owing to the physical placing of the clocks. The problem I have with this whole affair is the problem I have with a good many sports events: this stupid insistence that there has to be a sole winner. I quite fail to understand what is so bad about joint winners of a sporting event; why a draw/tie/dead heat is to be avoided at all cost. This insane stampede for determining the winner of a competition leads to some peculiar results: The UEFA Champions' League being determined by a penalty shootout; the "Golden Point" in Rugby League; even the toss of a coin on one or two occasions I've seen. The "Golden Point", or sudden death in some sporting events makes a certain degree of sense, but even then it might be a matter of luck who begins the period of sudden death with possession of the initiative (i.e. the ball, in ball games, say). But others strike me as entirely arbitrary, including the method used in US Chess Championship. The two protagonists ought to have shared the title. If there had to be a winner, the process by which it is determined has to be entirely symmetrical: keep playing pairs of games under whatever time control you choose until one side is a clear point ahead after an even number of games. That final game was asymmetrical, and therefore biased. I'm not saying it's biased against White, be it noted: for all I know it may be biased against Black (however, it became pretty clear that the advantage of one minute was't enough to offset Black's margin of draw!).The fact that the bias exists is in my view sufficient to disqualify it as a fair means of determining a winner. It would have been fairer to have played a second game under the same time control having swapped colours. But doesn't this game strike you as arbitrary anyway? Where is the quality of chess? The whole concept of blitz emphasises one skill over others - the ability to play fairly well quickly over accuracy of analysis, endgame skill, strategic planning, tactical vision... Well, when all's said and done, I can't see the USCF overturning the decision, and, on balance, it probably ought not. But, if there absolutely must be a single Champion or the world will explode, then do it by fair and symmetrical means. Cheers, Ion Posted by cascadejames | austinfilmfestival.org 6/01/2008 18:17:25 Play online chess Avoiding blitzMessage: own. Posted by ionadowman | austinfilmfestival.org 6/02/2008 04:24:30 Play online chess Before anyone comments on it...Message: Don't make the process a fair one, though... Cheers, Ion Posted by pgroenborg | austinfilmfestival.org 6/02/2008 06:53:25 Play online chess holding down the clockMessage: Do you see the same thing? I love blitz and am perhaps too familiar with the thing. I'm with Irena. Posted by bucklehead | austinfilmfestival.org 6/02/2008 11:23:38 Play online chess It's a tough call. Message: Posted by tag1153 | austinfilmfestival.org 6/02/2008 14:23:28 Play online chess response to I.K.'s letterMessage: main.uschess.org Posted by ionadowman | austinfilmfestival.org 6/02/2008 15:18:00 Play online chess response to I.K.'s letter... Message: It does indicate that not a lot has changed since the publication of my own copy of the USCF/FIDE Official Rule Book of 1974. Neither player played strictly illegally in the time scramble (give or take I.K.'s failure to restore the rook she knocked over - had she done so she would have lost the sooner). It is sad, I think, to see an important event like this settled in such a fashion, not only by a means that can be described justly as arbitrary; but also end in such ... well, not acrimony exactly, but not a particularly savoury taste in one's mouth. I go back to my earlier idea. If you can't settle the contest in satisfactory manner, then accept the notion of a joint winner. Cheers, Ion |