The Stonewall Attack

As the previous post on The Stonewall Attack is the most read post, but those dealing with the chess engines, I really hope that a strong player will start working on a new book about this opening.
For the time being, to my knowledge, IM Martin's DVD is the most recent work dealing with this exciting opening.

Droidfish chess GUI & engine for Android

An amazing app to play with the Stockfish engine on a tablet working with Android. 
And it is FREE!! 
I love the option to reduce the engine's strength starting from 1% up to 99%
Highly Recommended. Simply the best.
http://web.comhem.se/petero2home/droidfish/
Droidfish review written more than one year ago
Link to download Droidfish

Napoli - Maiorov, Memorial Crespi 2012

This game has been played on Dec. 2nd 29012 and it is one of the shortest I have ever seen.

Kampman - Bosboom, Dutch League, Tilburg 23-11-2012

 http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2011/07/im-bosbooms-creative-chess.html http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2011/07/im-bosbooms-original-chess-part-2.html http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2012/07/bosboom-punt-from-spachess-open-2012.html

If you play against IM Bosboom...you never know what is going to happen..
In this recent game, he plays h5, h4 and h3 as early as possible and he goes for complications all out…..Enjoy!
 

Basmania in the Dutch League!

Recently the strong FM Jasper Broekmeulen (fide rated 2412) won a Macho Grob game against the current Dutch ladies champion IM and WGM Tea Lanchava

[Event "BSG I- HMC Calder I"]
 [Site ""]
 [Date "2012.11.03"]
 [Round ""]
 [White "Lanchava, Tea"]
 [Black "Broekmeulen, Jasper"]
 [Result "0-1"]
 [ECO "A00"]
 [WhiteElo "2312"]
 [BlackElo "2419"]
 [PlyCount "64"]
 [EventDate "2012.11.03"]
1. c4 d6 2. g3 g5 3. h4 g4 4. h5 Nc6 5. Bg2 e5 6. d3 f5 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. e4 fxe4 9. Nxe4 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 Qf6 11. Ne2 Bh6 12. O-O Bd7 13. Nc3 O-O-O 14. Nd5 Qg7 15. b4 Rdf8 16. Qa4 Bxc1 17. Raxc1 Kb8 18. b5 Nd4 19. Nb4 Qf7 20. Nc6+ Bxc6 21. bxc6 Qxh5 22. Rc2 Qh3 23. Rb1 Nf3+ 24. Bxf3 gxf3 25. Rxb7+ Kc8 26. Rb8+ Kxb8 27. Qb5+ Kc8 28. Qb7+ Kd8 29. Qb8+ Ke7 30. Qxc7+ Ke8 31. Qb8+ Kf7 32. Qc7+ Kg8 0-1

But would you believe me if I told you that FM Broekmeulen won another Macho Grob game against a fide rated 2.300+ opponent in Oct. 2012 as well? Here's the game:

[Event "NL tt, De Stukkenjagers I-HMC Calder I"]
 [Site "Tilburg"]
 [Date "2012.10.06"]
 [Round "3.4"]
 [White "Van Dongen, Cor"]
 [Black "Broekmeulen, Jasper"]
 [Result "0-1"]
 [ECO "A10"]
 [WhiteElo "2357"]
 [BlackElo "2410"]
 [PlyCount "82"]
1. c4 d6 2. g3 g5 3. d4 Bg7 4. Nc3 h6 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. d5 Ne5 7. f4 gxf4 8. gxf4 Ng6 9. Nf3 e5 10. dxe6 fxe6 11. O-O N8e7 12. e4 O-O 13. Ne2 Rb8 14. a4 a6 15. Ra3 b5 16. axb5 axb5 17. cxb5 Rxb5 18. Nfd4 Rb4 19. Rg3 Kh7 20. Nc2 Rb6 21. b4 Qe8 22. Be3 Rb8 23. Rh3 d5 24. e5 Nf5 25. Bc5 Rf7 26. Qd3 Bf8 27. Ncd4 Bxc5 28. bxc5 Qa4 29. Qd2 Qb4 30. Rc3 Bd7 31. Bh3 Nxd4 32. Nxd4 Rg8 33. Kh1 Rxf4 34. Rxf4 Nxf4 35. Bf1 Be8 36. Qe3 Bg6 37. Rb3 Qxc5 38. Rc3 Qb6 39. h3 Be4+ 40. Kh2 Qb2+ 41. Ne2 Qxe2+ 0-1 
******************************************************************

The Macho Grob Tape

The Grob meets its Match 

The Grob cassettes are available as CDs as well 

Enrico Faraoni's 1.g4 & 1...g5 games

Enrico Faraoni is an italian Candidate Master who is fond of 1.g4 & 1...g5
At this link https://hotfile.com/dl/179031423/e3ad30d/Faraoni.zip.html
you can download 33 of his Grob and Macho Grob games against opponents rated from Class A to I.M.
IMO this is his best Grob game against IM Dragojlovic:

du Chattel Blitz Games (n° 1 to 314)

http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2012/05/gift-for-philip-du-chattels-fans.html
Here is a link to the download of the first 314 games in zipped pgn format. This means that 33 new games have been added to the former file. 
https://hotfile.com/dl/177793196/e75bcb1/du_Chattel_Blitz_1_314.zip.html
This is what we can say of the new games:

•  quite a few games where du Chattel plays white against chess engines;
• 1.e4 Nh6 2.d4 g6 3.f3!? and 3.Bd3
• 1.e4 Nh6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 c6 4.Bc4
• 1.e4 Nh6 2.Nf3 f6 no fianchetto!
• 1.Nf3 Nh6 2.b3 g6 3.Bb2 f6
• 1.e4 Nh6 2.d4 g6 3.Bc4 c6 4.Qf3 f6 5.h4 Nf7
• 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Nh6 3.Nc3 d6 4.g3 f5

 Enjoy!

du Chattel Blitz Games n° 1 to 281

http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2012/05/gift-for-philip-du-chattels-fans.html
Here is a link to the download of the first 281 games in zipped pgn format. This means that 34 new games have been added to the former file. 
https://hotfile.com/dl/176936066/71f7b4a/du_Chattel_Blitz_1_281.zip.html
This is what we can say of the new games:

• some of them begin with the wild line 1.e4 Nh6 2.d4 g6 3.h4!?
• 1.Nf3 Nh6 2.b3 f6 3.e4 e6 and 1.g3 Nh6 2.Nc3 g6 3.e4 Bg7
• 1.Nf3 Nh6 2.b3 g6 3.Bb2 f6
• 1.d4 g6 2.g3 Nh6

 Enjoy!

Bilbao Masters Final: Carlsen vs. Caruana - an endgame virtuoso at work

Carlsen plays the endgame in Capablanca's style!

Deep Saros ver. 3.1a free download

http://deepsaros.jimdo.com/
Deep Saros ver. 3.1a
- New experimental Evaluation functions
- New Time Manager
- Correct some bugs
- Some code optimizations

The “Steps method”

 http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2012/10/the-steps-method.html
The “Steps method” is a relatively young method worked out by the former Dutch Federation coach and IM Cor van Wijgerden and Rob Brunia, chessplayer and specialist in pedagogics.

The essence of this method is that you learn certain themes, first in their easiest appearance but with each step some complexity is added.
There is a strong emphasis on tactics.

The “Steps method” contributed to give a good chess education to a whole generation of young dutch chessplayers.

What I like the most is that within the method chess knowledge and skills are  nicely structured. This means that the method’s serious student rarely fails in endgames with a few pieces, and rarely misses a combination too.

Step 6 http://www.chess-steps.com/step6.html  may really be the real step for a 1^st class player to become a good candidate master.

The authors explain that it is required to integrate a serious study of the “Steps method” with:

• Playing serious games;
• Analysis of the games played.

Concerning Step 4 http://www.chess-steps.com/step4.html I have studied the first 4 lessons of the manual and I have gone through the same number of exercises in the workbook, with a success rate of about 85% So I can say that the indication that Step 4 is for players up to a USCF rating up to 1750 is quite ok.

It should be noted that Steps 1 to 5 are contained in the Tasc Chess CD 2    http://www.stappenmethode.nl/en/tasc-chess-cd-2.php

Additional material to the standard Steps  is available as well:

http://www.chess-steps.com/workbookplus.html

http://www.chess-steps.com/workbookextra.html

At last we want to highlight that International Master Cor van Wijgerden helped Chessity to develop an exciting new training concept:

http://www.chessity.com/

To conclude, I can say that the material is well organized and challenging. Highly recommended.

PS my thanks to IM Gerard Welling for being a constant source of chess inspiration.

du Chattel Blitz Games n° 1 to 247

http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2012/05/gift-for-philip-du-chattels-fans.html
Here is a link to the download of the first 247 games in zipped pgn format. This means that 59 new games have been added to the former file. 
https://hotfile.com/dl/175197868/af7ac07/du_Chattel_1_247.zip.html
This is what we can say of the new games:

• they contain some annotations
• in many cases du Chattel plays White;
• some of them begin with the wild line 1.e4 Nh6 2.d4 g6 3.h4!?
• 1.b3 Nh6 and 1.g3 Nh6 
• a game starts with 1.e4 Nh6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 c6 4.f3 Qb6

 Enjoy!

The Steps Method

Too much time without publishing a post... so now I will simply introduce my next post, apart from the du Chattel's Blitz games. It will deal with an amazing method to learn chess. Here are the explanatory links:
http://www.chess-steps.com/index.html
http://www.stappenmethode.nl/en/index.php
A brief review of:

• the Fouth Step 
•  Step 4

to follow soon. Soooo...Stay tuned

du Chattel Blitz Games n° 1 to 188

http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2012/05/gift-for-philip-du-chattels-fans.html
Here's a link to the download of the first 188 games in zipped pgn format. This means that 23 new games have been added to the former file. 
https://hotfile.com/dl/173022251/5e73aaf/du_Chattel_Blitz_1_188.zip.html
 Please note that the next time, annotated games will be published.
Enjoy!

du Chattel Blitz Games n° 1 to 165

 http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2012/05/gift-for-philip-du-chattels-fans.html
Here's a link to the download of the first 165 games in zipped pgn format. This means that 50 new games have been added to the former file. 
https://hotfile.com/dl/172362689/d4c465f/du_Chattel_Blitz_1_165.zip.html 
A few comments on the  new games:

• Two new engine opponent have entered the battlefield:  Strelka 1.8 Strelka 1.0beta 
• There some games with the challenging line where an early h4 is played;
• One game goes 1.b3 Nh6 and another one starts with 1Nf3 Nh6 2.b3 g6

Enjoy!

An exciting game: 1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 Bg4 3.e4 Nc6

In the recent Bratto International Tournament,
http://www.scacchisticamilanese.com/bratto2012/risultati_classifiche/torneoMagistrale/standing.html
I din't play but I spent a few days watching at the masters' games.
In the second round, I witnessed the following wild game in the Nimzowitch Defense by transposition.
White was GM David and Black CM Alberton. The first moves were:
1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 Bg4 3.e4 Nc6 4.d5 Ne5!? 5.Nxe5 Bxd1
At pages 4&5 of this link, you can find GM David's annotated game in italian language but algebrical notaion:
http://www.scacchisticamilanese.com/sites/default/files/bolletino_1-2.pdf
If you ever want to spend a chess holiday in the italian mountains in the second part of August of the year 2013, I strongly recommend this tournaments (There  is a section for masters, for A Class, B/C Class etc..) To have an idea of it, here's a link to the 2012 edition of the Flyer and rules.
http://www.scacchisticamilanese.com/sites/default/files/FLYER_BRATTO2012.pdf

du Chattel Blitz Games n°1 to 115

 http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2012/05/gift-for-philip-du-chattels-fans.html
After the summer holidays, we proceed with du Chattel's blitz games. Here's a link to the download of the first 115 games in zipped pgn format. This means that 30 new games have been added to the former file. 
https://hotfile.com/dl/170211719/9161689/du_Chattel_Blitz_1_115.zip.html While I was checking the games, I was fascinated by this short but exciting draw:

The importance of chess tactics

Yesterday it has finished the Bratto International Tournament and these are the final standings.
On Aug. 22nd IM Janev played against GM Prasad. This is what happened:

and here Black played 10.Nb6!! with a winning advantage already on move ten...(see diagram)

  

Bratto 2012; Montani - David 1-0

I have always been a fan of the italian Chess Master Francesco Montani. Today it has started the Bratto International Chess Tournament and Montani has won a nice game against GM David. Here it is for your pleasure, I have added a few computer generated analysis:

"Practical Chess Exercizes" by Ray Cheng

The day before yesterday I purchased the Amazon's Kindle version of the book "Practical Chess Exercizes" by Ray Cheng.
A few seconds after I sent my order & payment, the e-book was available on my Kindle. Amazing! 

This work is the demonstration that one doesn't need to be a strong player in order to publish a useful and well written chess book. Also I love this Kindle edition. For instance see problem n° 4 as shown on my electronic device. White's winning move and a detailed explanation starting from 1.Kb2 is shown on the next Kindle page. As you can see the diagram is large and I can see it comfortably. Furthermore, the book deals with tactics, endgames, strategy and much more and nowhere you are told in advance the kind of problem you are facing, just like it happens in tournaments.
After I read 10 problems, I guess that the book is suitable for  players ranging from Fide rating 1500 to Fide rating 2.000.
A good book at an affordable price. I hope Mr. Cheng is writing a sequel now :-)
Here you can see some reviews of this book:
www.chesscafe.com/text/review595.pdf

http://www.chessville.com/reviews/PracticalChessExercises.htm
http://chessconfessions.blogspot.it/2007/09/review-practical-chess-exercises.html
Amazon's customers book review BTW here you can read a preview as well

ProDeo 1.8 free download

This month  it has been released ProDeo 1.8 
I am a great fan of this engine also, but not only, because it was  one of du Chattel's favourite engines while he tested his Nh6 opening system (see previous post).
http://www.top-5000.nl/index.htm

du Chattel Blitz games (n° 1 to n° 86)

 http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2012/05/gift-for-philip-du-chattels-fans.html
I know that a lot of chessfriends like this new format, so I am keeping it by now. Here's a link to the download of the first 86 games in zipped pgn format. This means that 25 new games have been added to the former file.
https://hotfile.com/dl/164574830/d07f5e0/du_Chattel_Blitz_1_86.zip.html
You will see that in three of these new games, du Chattel started facingWhite's broad pawn center based on e4, d4, c4. Just download the games and see what happened...  :-)

Chess Miracles

http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/search/label/Chess%20Miracles

Recemtly a strong International Chess Tournament has been played in Italy:
http://www.scacchibergamo.altervista.org/index.html
http://www.scacchibergamo.altervista.org/partite.html 

Here you can see how the italian CM Marco Cattaneo (Fide Rating 2032) has won against IM Daskevics Vadims (Fide Rating 2457) - with a rating difference of 425 fide rating points:

Bosboom - Punt, from the SPAchess Open 2012

In the past we have already talked about I.M. Bosboom's chess:
http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.se/2011/07/im-bosbooms-creative-chess.html
http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.se/2011/07/im-bosbooms-original-chess-part-2.html
On July 14th this creative Dutch player played the first round of the Amsterdam open in his uncompromising style, including a piece, a queen and a rook sacrifice..... here it is with some notes by a chess engine:

du Chattel Blitz Games (n° 1 to 61)

 http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2012/05/gift-for-philip-du-chattels-fans.html
This week I have changed a little as I am short of time. There is just a link to the download of to the first 61 games in zipped pgn format: 
https://hotfile.com/dl/162928789/bbb994e/du_Chattel_Blitz_Games_1_61.zip.html
It is quite interesting to see the last game, where du Chattel played White against ProDeo 1.2

du Chattel Blitz Games (n° 36 to 45)

 http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2012/05/gift-for-philip-du-chattels-fans.html
Download link to the first 45 games in zipped pgn format: 
https://hotfile.com/dl/161861368/60e78b6/du_Chattel_Blitz_games_1_45.zip.html
Note: the game of Oct. 30th 2006, seems to have been played at tournament time control.
Here you can see games 36 to 45:

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du Chattel Blitz Games (n° 26 to 35)

 http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2012/05/gift-for-philip-du-chattels-fans.html
Download link to the first 35 games in zipped pgn format: 
https://hotfile.com/dl/160206860/af78e95/du_Chattel_Blitz_games_1_35.zip.html
 This week 10 new games have been uploaded as next week I won't be able to upload 5 new games. 
So see you again in two weeks.
 Here you can see games 26 to 35: 

du Chattel Blitz Games (n° 21 to 25)

 http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2012/05/gift-for-philip-du-chattels-fans.html
Download link to the first 25 games in zipped pgn format: 
https://hotfile.com/dl/159340404/15b1dfb/du_Chattel_Blitz_Games_1_25.zip.html
 Here you can see games 21 to 25:

du Chattel Blitz Games (n° 16 to 20)

http://theamazingchessworld.blogspot.it/2012/05/gift-for-philip-du-chattels-fans.html

Download link to  the first 20 games in zipped pgn format:  
https://hotfile.com/dl/158232950/567c473/du_Chattel_Blitz_1_20.zip.html
 Here you can see games 16 to 20:

du Chattel Blitz games (n° 11 to 15)

Download link to  the first 15 games in zipped pgn format:  
https://hotfile.com/dl/156968871/5aba5ca/du_Chattel_blitz_1-15.zip.html
 Here you can see games 11 to 15:

du Chattel's blitz games (n° 6-10)

 Link to the download of the first 10 games in zipped pgn format.

https://hotfile.com/dl/156330301/191d60f/du_Chattel_blitz_1-10.zip.html
Here you can see games 6 to 10: