Thursday, August 22, 2013

UON 32


Another great UON has been published!

You can download it for free following this link
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Chess-Unorthodox-UON/

Monday, August 19, 2013

The importance to study chess endgames

In these days I am following the Bratto International Chess Tournament. Yesterday I saw this endgame played between two Class A players (Fide rating between 1800 & 2000). White to move. 

White played 1.h4?? [1.h3 draws h4 2.Kd4 Kd6 =] Black replied1...gxh4??= [Black would have won with 1...Kf6!!+-] 2.Kxf4 draws

Another reminder of the importance to study chess endgames!

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Mike Basman in action!!

 Sept. 01st 2013 update:
Mike Basman Returns: Atkins, round 1
Basman Returns! round 2
Basman Returns! round 3
Basman Returns! round 4
Basman Returns! round 5 
********************************
http://www.britishchessmagazine.co.uk/elsewhere-in-the-riviera-centre-torquay/
Recently Mike Basman played and won a weekend tournament, the "Atkins", in Torquay.
Of course he played his openings (!!) such as : 1.g4, 1.e4 h6 2.d4 a6 and 1.c4 g5
[Event "Atkins"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.08.02"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Bartlett, Simon"]
[Black "Basman, Michael"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B00"]
[WhiteElo "1947"]
[BlackElo "2329"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[SourceDate "2013.08.04"]

1. e4 h6 2. d4 a6 3. Bd3 e6 4. f4 b5 5. Nf3 c5 6. c3 Bb7 7. O-O Nf6 8.
Nbd2 Nc6 9. Qe2 Qb6 10. Kh1 cxd4 11. cxd4 Nxd4 12. Nxd4 Qxd4 13. Nf3 Qb6
14. f5 Bc5 15. fxe6 dxe6 16. Ne5 Rd8 17. Nxf7 Kxf7 18. e5 Qc6 19. Bc2 Ke7
20. exf6+ gxf6 21. Bf4 Rhg8 22. Bg3 Qxg2+ 23. Qxg2 Bxg2+ 24. Kxg2 Rd2+ 0-1

[Event "Atkins"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.08.03"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Basman, Michael"]
[Black "Pleasants, Allan J"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2329"]
[BlackElo "2038"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[SourceDate "2013.08.04"]

1. g4 d5 2. h3 h5 3. g5 e5 4. d4 exd4 5. Qxd4 Nc6 6. Qa4 Nge7 7. Nf3 Bd7
8. Nc3 Ne5 9. Qb3 Nxf3+ 10. exf3 Bc8 11. Be3 c6 12. O-O-O Qc7 13. Bd3 Be6
14. Qa4 g6 15. Bf4 Qb6 16. Be5 Rg8 17. Rhe1 Bg7 18. Bf6 Qc5 19. Qf4 Rd8
20. Na4 Qd6 21. Qd4 Kf8 22. Nc5 Bc8 23. Rxe7 1-0

[Event "Atkins"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.08.03"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Carleton, John J"]
[Black "Basman, Michael"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B00"]
[WhiteElo "2254"]
[BlackElo "2329"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[SourceDate "2013.08.04"]

1. d4 h6 2. e4 a6 3. c4 c5 4. dxc5 e6 5. Be3 Qc7 6. Nc3 Bxc5 7. Bxc5 Qxc5
8.Nf3 Nc6 9. Be2 Nf6 10. O-O g5 11. a3 g4 12. b4 Qh5 13. Ne1 Qe5 14. Qd3
b6 15. f4 Qd4+ 16. Qxd4 Nxd4 17. Bd3 a5 18. Nc2 Nxc2 19. Bxc2 d6 20. Rad1
Ke7 21. Nb5 axb4 22. axb4 Ra2 23. Bb1 Rb2 24. Nxd6 Nd7 25. e5 f5 26. exf6+
Nxf6 27. Rfe1 Bd7 28. Nf5+ Kf7 29. Nd4 Rc8 30. f5 e5 31. Rxe5 Rxc4 32. Ne6
Ba4 33. Bd3 Rc3 34. Ree1 Bxd1 35. Rxd1 Nd5 36. Bb5 Ne3 37. Be8+ Kg8 38. Re1 Rxg2+ 39. Kh1 Rd2 0-1

[Event "Atkins"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.08.04"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Basman, Michael"]
[Black "Fletcher, John T"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2329"]
[BlackElo "2037"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[SourceDate "2013.08.04"]

1. g4 d5 2. h3 e5 3. Bg2 Bc5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d4 6. Ne4 Nxe4 7. Bxe4 O-O
8. d3 c6 9. Nf3 f5 10. gxf5 Bxf5 11. Ng5 Bb4+ 12. Kf1 Be7 13. h4 Bxe4 14.
Nxe4 Bxh4 15. Qb3 Nd7 16. f3 Qe7 17. Qxb7 Rfc8 18. Qa6 Bf6 19. b4 Qxb4 20.
Ba3 Qb6 21. Qa4 Rab8 22. Nd6 Rd8 23. c5 1-0

[Event "Atkins"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.08.04"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Farrand, Tom"]
[Black "Basman, Michael"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2146"]
[BlackElo "2329"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[SourceDate "2013.08.04"]

1. c4 g5 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. g3 h5 4. d4 g4 5. h4 c5 6. e3 Nc6 7. Nge2 Nh6 8. Bg2 Nf5 9. dxc5 Qa5 10. O-O Qxc5 11. Nb5 Kf8 12. e4 Nh6 13. Nf4 Ng8 14. Qe2 a6 15. Be3 Qb4 16. Nc7 Rb8 17. Rab1 e6 18. Nd3 Qa5 19. Bc5+ Nge7 20. Nd5 b5 21. b4 Qd8 22.Nxe7 Nxe7 23. Bd6 Rb7 24. f3 bxc4 25. Nc5 Rb6 26. e5 Rxd6 27. exd6 Nf5 28. fxg4 Nxg3 29. Rxf7+ Kxf7 30. Qf3+ Kg8 31. Qxg3 hxg4 32. Qxg4 Qxh4 33. Qxh4 Rxh4 34. Rd1 c3 35. a3 Bh6 0-1

Saturday, August 3, 2013

The Steps Method - Workbook 6 Extra

Good news for the 1st category player who wants to work in his/her chess in order to become Candidate Master.
At http://www.stappenmethode.nl/en/step6.php we read:

Workbook Step 6 extra

Read more about the Extra books in info.
In the extra workbook there are 111 pages with exercises, which means as many as 111x12=1332-36 (drawings)= 1296 puzzles.There have been three changes in comparison with the other extra workbooks. This one is the first extra workbook with a co-author, Erwin l'Ami (the Dutch grandmaster). The book has 112 pages (like the basic workbook of Step 6) and the book is 4 languages. That will not really bother because there is almost no text and multilingualism is limited more or less to the headings of the exercises.
The themes of the exercises are those from Step 6. It is important for chess players of all levels to repeat the material. It is tempting to learn new things again and again but if these are repeated then the practical effect in the long term is negligible. For this reason alone the extra workbooks are an indispensable supplement.
The level of difficulty is higher than in the basic workbook of Step 6. That certainly applies to the tactical exercises. Meanwhile, there are so many players who have gone through all workbooks of all the steps that tougher exercises are just welcome. Are the puzzles too difficult? Returning to Step 4 or 5 is no shame (and no one else has to know!).
The last 26 pages contain tests.
***************************************
As I have stated elsewhere on this blog, "The Steps Method" is an excellent tool to learn chess!