Answer to last week's Quiz

Well the winning move is  1...Qg3!! It is soo nice!!
Here you can find a bio of GM Frank Marshall and the whole game as well.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Marshall_%28chess_player%29

A strong GM said that his next move was "the most elegant move he ever played"

Yesterday I have seen this most fascinating position.
Black to move. Hope you find the right move...as..the answer will follow next week ;-))

A missed opportunity AKA The importance to study the Endgame

1.g3 & 2.Nh3!?

When this game was played, the Black player was s a strong CM. Now he is a strong Fide Master.
My purpose in sharing this game is to show that White opening was a success and not the cause of the loss.
Well..White lost simply because his opponent was much stronger than him. :-(  Also, the Black player was kind to spend some time with his weaker opponent to show him where he went wrong.

IM Welling thoughts on Lasker's fighting chess

IM Gerard Welling has just sent me his thoughts on Emanuel Lasker's fighting chess by presenting the Lasker-Euwe games in a small article. FM Steve Giddins has offered his welcome help in putting it in a nice typesetting for us (BCM standard). I want to thank both of them for their work. Even nowadays Emanuel Lasker's games deserve serious study.
This is the download link http://hotfile.com/dl/110930945/48cbd92/lasker.pdf.html

Old...but not forgotten: "Rate Your Endgame" by Mednis & Crouch

 From Mednis' "Foreword":

"It was not long after its US publication in 1978 that Practical Endgame Lessons had already become recognised as the most helpful book on the endgame for the practical player. Listen to what IM Mark Dvoretsky, the most famous chess trainer in the Soviet Union, said about PEL in an interview in a 1990 issue of New In Chess magazine: "There is a very good American book by Mednis, Practical  Endgame Lessons. A very clever book I think.The good thing about Mednis' book is that he explains a lot in words...it is not about endgame theory, but about endgame technique. Paul Keres' Practical 

Endgames I do not like. I first saw it some years ago when I was at a tournament in the West. I had heard about this book. and wanted to buy it. But next to it was Mednis' book with the same title. I flicked through both books. and bought the book by Mednis. Keres contentrates on theoretical endgames and those books I already had. (...)"  This new "book consists of the best  of the original PEL, additional endgame material by me written in the style of PEL, and some particularly instructive  endgames selected and annotated by D. Crouch. It has been my pleasure to work with Colin to make an excellent Practical Endgame Lessons into an even better Rate Your Endgame".

In an interview to IM Welling contained in UON 21,  http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Chess-Unorthodox-UON/    I asked him:  "As a chess player which books have been most helpful to increase your understanding of the game?"

He answered what follows: "There is one book in particular that sticks in my mind, and that is Edmar Mednis' Practical Endgame Lessons. Many players do not give attention to the endgame. And I can assure you, you can not "escape" the endgame. Trying to sidestep that stage of the game harms the general level and the playing strength. Besides, when I understood that I
discovered a whole new world of chess beauty (...)".

This is a superb endgame book still available in used book bookstores at a moderate price. See for instance http://www.usedbooksearch.co.uk/

At Amazon's the book is not available, but there are 4 good reviews of it and a nice preview http://www.amazon.com/Rate-Your-Endgame-Edmar-Mednis/dp/1857441745/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1300554185&sr=8-1

Stoyko's Chess Training Method

Stoyko's chess training method

du Chattel's system: a draw as Black against a strong player

Deep Saros 2.4 BetaTest

Deep Saros 2.4 beta version

According to its author, Roberto Munter, this version is still very experimental. Compared to the preceding version a few positional analysis functions have been added. These additions have improved the strategical play at long time controls but they have reduced the speed of the engine. The compilation is still not optimized yet and therefore not to be recommended for blitz games.
http://digilander.libero.it/taioscacchi/programmi/saros-page.html 
http://digilander.libero.it/taioscacchi/programmi/saros-2.html

How to improve our calculation/visualisation skill

A surprising suggestion by GM Soltis, taken from page 141 of his book "Studying Chess made easy":
"Play Checkers. This is serious. Playing checkers is good visualisation practice. Because this game relies much more on calculation than chess does. This was endorsed by Kotov,who said playing checkers helped him become a good calculator "
International draughts Wikipedia's link 
Download Checkers-Draughts-Game