Weaker players can often surprise!

Weaker players in chess pose more problems than most people might imagine. For one weaker players play unexpected moves getting us out of theory very quickly and putting our thinking caps much earlier than expected. The other problem is that sometimes when you believe someone to be a weaker player you can let your guard down and take unnecessary chances, play inferior moves and then sadly lose the game.

It would appear that weaker players sometimes trouble even strong grandmasters. Hikaru Nakamura one the top Grandmasters in the world and rated 2701 lost to A Samsonkin, a player rated more than 300 points below him. The game was a tactical adventure, full of sacrifices with Nakamura on the black side. After the initial sacrifice of a Knight on e6, Samsonkin played brilliantly for the remainder of the game. Check out the game below.

[Event "PWC Open"]
[Site "Toronto CAN"]
[Date "2009.04.19"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Samsonkin, A."]
[Black "Nakamura, Hi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2379"]
[BlackElo "2701"]
[ECO "B43"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2009.04.17"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "CAN"]
[Source "Mark Crowther"]
[SourceDate "2009.04.20"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 a6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qc7 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O Nf6
8. a4 b6 9. Qe2 d6 10. f4 Bb7 11. Bd2 Nbd7 12. Rae1 Nc5 13. b4 Nxd3 14.
cxd3 Nd7 15. Rc1 (After this move I think white has an advantage) Qd8 16. f5 e5 17. Ne6 (This for me is the bolt from the blue. This move threatens the black Queen, prevents castling and threatens  a pawn on g7.  Black has no choice but to capture and hope that white messes up things later on. )  fxe6 18. Qh5+ g6 19. fxg6 Nf6 20.
g7+ Kd7 21. Qf7 Qe8 22. gxh8=N Qxh8 23. Ne2 b5 24. Bg5 Qg8 25. Rxf6 Qxg5
26. Qxe6+ Kd8 27. Rc7 Qe3+ 28. Kf1 Kxc7 29. Qxe7+ Kb6 30. Qxd6+ Ka7 31. Qc7
1-0

For the reason that sometimes weaker players can trouble top GMs,  lower rated players can make tournaments much more interesting. Sometimes the tendency among GMs is to have quick, boring draws but the lower rated players it’s a different situation. The stronger GM want to prove a point and sometimes lose a point in the process.

Blindfold chess

Hello, I haven’t posted in a while and there have been many developments in the chess world. I will only focus on blindfold chess in this blog posting. Blindfold chess is simply playing chess  with no physical board and pieces.

Levon Aronian won the Melody Amber Tournament some time back. That is one tournament I always look forward to as Blindfold chess is something that has always intrigued me a great deal. I also love rapid chess. I recall the awe  I felt several years ago reading about the exploits of  Paul Morphy, Hillary Pillsbury and Najdorf in Blindfold chess.  How could someone play more than 10 people blindfold and at the same time as well?   Contrary to most opinions, one does not have to be an expert in chess to play blindfold chess. However, a lot of practice is needed to master it.

Around 2003 I bumped into an old chess friend in the streets of Harare. I was about to do some banking but found some time to play a blindfold game which I was fortunate enough to win, one of the few games I managed to win against Farai. The whole game was played in about 10 minutes I believe with me playing white.

During the course of an ordinary game of chess, with real pieces, a certain  amount of concentration is needed. A player will need to do long term and short term planning and need to visualize what future positions may arise. However, this can be just a few moves ahead, no rocket scientist stuff. Some people imagine that in chess, one must always be doing complex calculations. This is certainly not the case. In blindfold chess a lot of concentration is needed though, which can come with practice. It’s very easy to forget where pieces are. Even the great players do this sometimes. Currrent world chess champion Vishy Anand lost a whole queen in his game against Alex Morozevich at the Melody Amber blindfold.  He captured with queen on the d5 square and lost the queen in one, playing on the white side and resigned soon afterwards. Vishy transposed or swapped move sequences. He should have simply captured with another piece and had a better position. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5315

Interestingly there are also a few players famous for not playing blindfold chess. The great Mikhail Botvinnik never played it and was not convinced of its benefits. Neither have I come  across blindfold games by Bobby Fischer or Garry Kasparov. Given that these players are among the very best in the history of the game, it would have been very interesting to see what kind of blindfold chess they would play.

While I myself am not fully convinced of the benefits of blindfold chess it’s certainly fun to see people having a go at it. Besides,   it’s not a bad idea to give the memory some exercise every now and then.

Losing in autopilot!

Sometimes chess players play their opening moves in their games very fast because of their excellent preparation beforehand and familiarity with the position.  They do this in “autopilot” with very little thinking. Occasionally this can lead to disaster especially  if they touch the wrong piece or an unexpected move is played by the opponent. (Generally a touch is a move in chess. If you touch a piece you have to move it.) Many famous players have lost games this way. Playing very fast can also have a possible psychological effect, giving the impression of confidence.

Sometimes we  say or do things without thinking at all causing great damage in the process. Once we have acted to said something, we can’t take it back. We can only proceed from that point onwards. Better to keep quiet or do nothing than say or do something out of turn.

Fireworks at the Amber Blindfold and Rapid!

Round 10 at the 18th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament was very unusual for the number of blunders committed in the games.

World Chess Champion Vishy Anand lost a whole queen against the unpredictable Alexander Morozevich and resigned shortly afterwards. Former prodigy Gata Kamsky lost an elementary check mate, with his king pinned in the corner against the Bulgarian Veselin Topalov. Peter Leko lost in an endgame against Sergey Karjakin after missing a nice trick. Probably the most spectacular win of the day was Kramnik’s victory against Magnus the magnificient which was over in 20 moves. I think it might take Magnus a while to recover from this defeat. However, with one round to go he needs to bounce back very quickly for any chance for the top prize.

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5315

Move or lose!

Sooner or later you have to move, or you lose the game! 

( There are going to be situations where you have to do something. And you will have the consequences to deal with or live with.)

The best move! But you’re not playing!

It’s much easier to see the best move, when you are not playing the game! 

(In the heat of the situation, it’s difficult to think clearly and do the best thing. 
A decision is generally easier when it’s not your situation)

BTM

Wait a minute!

You cannot make two moves before your opponent has played. Though his move may not be a certainty always be prepared. 

(Sometimes you are just going to have to sit and wait for the results of your actions before you can proceed. In the meantime prepare for possible outcomes.)

BTM

Current position

Your current position at any stage in the game is a direct result of the previous moves.

(Your present situation in life is linked to the events, thoughts, actions in your life thus far.)

BTM

Bad move? Play on!

Making a bad move is not the end of the game. So play on!

(Every now and then you are going to make mistakes in life. Learn from these and make the most of life.)

BTM

Better be a good move

If you are going to make a move, don’t just make any move, make a good move!

(Do things in life that are carefully considered. Your choices and decisions will affect not just yourself but others as well. Do things that you will look back on with pride and joy.)