October 23, 2006

Thoughts upon a position: 4. Jussupow or Yusupov

I advise the readers of Greek chess magazine “Chess for all” to be careful when they download games for their chess database from various locations. There is always a chance that names of the players are not spelled correctly, or, as in the case of the ex-Soviet (now German) GM, their name is adopted to the language of their new citizenship.

“Training for the tournament player” is a book written by Mark Dvoretsky and Artur Yusupov, and today’s position is taken from this book. The game dates back to 1883 between Zukertort and Blackburn and the position appeared after White’s move 17.Rae1

black Rook on a8 b8 black Rook on c8 d8 e8 f8 black King on g8 h88
black Pawn on a7 black Bishop on b7 c7 d7 black Queen on e7 black Pawn on f7 black Pawn on g7 black Pawn on h77
a6 black Pawn on b6 c6 d6 black Pawn on e6 black Knight on f6 g6 h66
a5 b5 c5 black Pawn on d5 e5 f5 g5 h55
a4 b4 c4 white Pawn on d4 e4 f4 g4 h44
a3 white Pawn on b3 c3 white Bishop on d3 white Pawn on e3 white Pawn on f3 g3 h33
white Pawn on a2 white Bishop on b2 c2 white Queen on d2 e2 f2 white Pawn on g2 white Pawn on h22
a1 b1 c1 d1 white Rook on e1 white Rook on f1 white King on g1 h11
a b c d e f g h  

Yusupov spends more than a page to explain the above position and provide not just a move (that Blackburn didn’t play) but a whole plan to support his idea. I ask you to post your own thoughts. Assess the position, make a plan and take part in our discussion.

And have fun…


Important notice
This article is not available for new comments anymore, since it has been discovered by blog robots which managed to post comments with inappropriate content. Many thanks to all of you who contributed your own opinion.

Posted by Michalis Kaloumenos at 08:01 PM | Comments (5)

October 08, 2006

September 2006 - Spotlight on Class B

In this entry, I single out the Class B players and note their accomplishments. Of course, you move in and out of classes, so this is just a snapshot in time. No one is a B forever. All of these data were collected at the end of September.

Longevity

We have already noted lostpawn2000, who joined on 2000.06.30, and  mrchess, shortly after on 2000.07.10). Other current B's with long track records here are

  •  Pineywoods  (Joined 2001.02.18), 
  •  Zembla  (Joined 2001.03.05), 
  •  kali  (Joined 2001.04.05).

Anniversaries

There are no class distinctions in noting Anniversaries, so there is no additional information here for Class B. But I failed to mention on the previous post that foinaven's anniversary is not really a "one year" anniversary. Under the name peakbagger, he gave us five years of distinguished play. He was, and is, a top citizen of playChess.de.
Curious about the name, foinaven? It's a mountain in the north-west corner of Scotland. Do you think he really bagged that peak? More information here.

Games Played

These Class B players are at the top of list in games played. (Already noted in the general blog is mrchess with 2,661 games.

Tournament Wins

These players have the most tournament wins: 

Game Wins

Here are the B's who have the most game wins, excepting the already noted mrchess with his astounding 1,038 wins: 

Posted by Lon Thomas at 12:12 AM | Comments (3)

October 03, 2006

Thoughts upon a position: 3. Right you are if you think you are

No, the position pictured below has not been played by the Italian theatrical play writer Luigi Pirandello. It is used by GM Kotov (and reproduced by Aleksey Bartashnikov) as an example of middle game planning for the White side. As you can see both sides have completed the development of their pieces, and it is White’s turn to play. There are a lot of different choices for White, according to his taste and ability. All seem objectively equal. Please, post your own comments about the position. What would you play if you were White? What is the plan that you have in mind?

a8 b8 black Rook on c8 d8 e8 black Rook on f8 black King on g8 h88
black Pawn on a7 black Bishop on b7 c7 black Knight on d7 black Queen on e7 black Pawn on f7 black Pawn on g7 black Pawn on h77
a6 black Pawn on b6 black Pawn on c6 black Pawn on d6 e6 black Knight on f6 g6 h66
a5 b5 c5 d5 black Pawn on e5 f5 g5 h55
a4 b4 white Pawn on c4 white Pawn on d4 white Pawn on e4 f4 g4 h44
a3 b3 white Knight on c3 d3 e3 white Knight on f3 white Pawn on g3 h33
white Pawn on a2 white Pawn on b2 white Queen on c2 d2 e2 white Pawn on f2 white Bishop on g2 white Pawn on h22
a1 b1 c1 white Rook on d1 white Rook on e1 f1 white King on g1 h11
a b c d e f g h  

By the way... Don't scan your database for games with the above position. You are going to find a couple of games (the position is not fictional) but you are going to miss the fun of deciding your plan as if the position comes from one of your own games.

It's up to you...

Important notice
This article is not available for new comments anymore, since it has been discovered by blog robots which managed to post comments with inappropriate content. Many thanks to all of you who contributed your own opinion.

Posted by Michalis Kaloumenos at 02:22 PM | Comments (10)

October 01, 2006

September 2006

Jeroen
A re-activated Jeroen (see his wonderful visage, right) leaps to the top of the longevity roster.
Other famous people are here: arsenic completes six years, hal1958 wins game 1,100.

Enjoy the new blog version of playChess.de Community Recognition. Corrections, comments and suggestions are more than welcome.


Longevity


The following people have been on playChess.de the longest:  Jeroen (Joined 2000.06.18),  lostpawn2000 (Joined 2000.06.30),  cabe (Joined 2000.07.08),  mrchess (Joined 2000.07.10),  NOHAU (Joined 2000.08.27).

Anniversaries


These players have attained or are approaching significant anniversaries

6 Years completed recently

arsenic  joined 2000.09.07. 

Approaching 6 Years

ddddale joined 2000.10.29.  Goofy joined 2000.10.28.  Matu joined 2000.10.28. 

5 Years completed recently

golddim  joined 2001.09.15.  pawnstorm  joined 2001.09.28.  Mosselman  joined 2001.09.11.  foxcar  joined 2001.09.11. 

Approaching 5 Years

aadje joined 2001.10.16.  AidyT joined 2001.10.11.  daveboy6968 joined 2001.10.05. 

4 Years completed recently

pionier  joined 2002.09.27.  R_I_C_H  joined 2002.09.10.  StevenL  joined 2002.09.19. 

Approaching 4 Years

Andy1 joined 2002.10.14.  Abra joined 2002.10.20.  froilo joined 2002.10.31.  Jule joined 2002.10.05. 

3 Years completed recently

asskicker  joined 2003.09.16.  gonz_human  joined 2003.09.18.  GOChess  joined 2003.09.21.  Thrustnicely  joined 2003.09.12. 

Approaching 3 Years

jonaslo joined 2003.10.22.  PieceSeeker3 joined 2003.10.26.  ocluanain joined 2003.10.04. 

2 Years completed recently

ipakris  joined 2004.09.19.  terry  joined 2004.09.04.  PLAYCHESS1963  joined 2004.09.24.  tiit145  joined 2004.09.17.  Gordon  joined 2004.09.08. 

Approaching 2 Years

organic joined 2004.10.30. 

1 Year completed recently

kanturali  joined 2005.09.12.  chess50  joined 2005.09.18.  manifold  joined 2005.09.21.  Saladin  joined 2005.09.18. 

Approaching 1 Year

Pillsbury joined 2005.10.23.  vangogh joined 2005.10.21.  xmen joined 2005.10.24.  Veltliner joined 2005.10.30.  foinaven joined 2005.10.07.  maus joined 2005.10.07.  RUDI joined 2005.10.21.  Bumble joined 2005.10.19.  Kelthek joined 2005.10.14. 


Games Played


In this area, we list those who have played the most games:   mrchess (Class B, 2661 games) ,   hal1958 (Class A, 2587 games) ,   epenz (Class C, 2244 games) ,   ama49 (Class C, 1788 games) ,   Milosforman (Class C, 1569 games) .


Recently Ranked


What's special about these folks? They have just qualified for the ranking list by completing at least 10 games:   Domi (Class A, 10 games, joined 2006.02.15),   Bo (Class B, 10 games, joined 2005.12.24),   Vossie (Class C, 11 games, joined 2006.08.22),   clansman (Class C, 11 games, joined 2006.04.25),   Piano (Class A, 12 games, joined 2006.06.16).


Tournament Wins


Here are players who have the most tournament wins:  hal1958 ( 89 wins, class A),  ETC_Chess ( 75 wins, class E),  Goofy ( 74 wins, class E),  luciano59 ( 62 wins, class M),  ama49 ( 62 wins, class C).


Game Wins


Here is a list of those who have the most game wins:  hal1958 ( 1100 wins, class A),  mrchess ( 1038 wins, class B),  epenz ( 772 wins, class C),  ama49 ( 752 wins, class C),  Matu ( 664 wins, class E).



Watch for at least three more entries, it is hoped, this week: "Spotlight on Class B", "Streaks & Peaks" and the long-awaited "Indefatigable", a list of players with the most concurrent games.

Posted by Lon Thomas at 04:35 PM | Comments (2)


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