Chess Notes

By Harold Dondis and Patrick Wolff

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The Ruy Lopez tournament is held annually at Zafra, Spain. This year it was held June 13-19. The tournament honors the Spanish cleric Rodrigo Lopez de Segura (1540-1580). Lopez was born in Zafra and was bishop of Segura. He was generally thought to be the strongest player of his time.

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In this tournament Michael Adams is upset in the first round by the young (20) IM David Larino, the current Spanish champion. In the exchange variation of the Ruy Lopez, Adams suffers an early inferior position and has to surrender a pawn.

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Nevertheless, Adams sets up a defensive position with his minor pieces that appears to be impenetrable. In such situations, there are always weak spots, and Larino, in no hurry to make a premature attack, was able to find them.

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The tourney was won by Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria, a half a point ahead of Adams.

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a) This has become a fashionable way for White to fight for advantage here.
b) Also 6. . .Be6 is sometimes played.
c) Surprisingly, this move is quite infrequent, with 8.Nc2 and 8.d4 more common. I see no obvious reason why this move is not also reasonable, however.
d) 8. . .Bb7 9.Rd1 O-O-O has been tried a few times, with a sharp fight.
e) There is a nasty little trap after 9. . .Bg4 10.h3 Bh5? (10Bxf3 is necessary with an edge to White) 11.d4! cxd4 12.cxd4 exd4 13.Nxb5! axb5 14.Qxb5+ and the bishop on h5 hangs!
f) This looks too ambitious. Better is 14. . .Be7 with a tough fight.
g) Now Black is in big trouble as 19. . .Nxe5 20.Bxe5 Bxe5 21.Re1 wins the bishop.
h) Very nice! Black has no way to escape loss of material since 24. . .O-O 25.Ne7+ hangs the queen and 24Qa8 25.Bxg7 Nxg7 26.Rd8+ is catastrophic.
i) Not 28. . .Qxb2 29.Rd1 and 30.Rd8+ cannot be stopped.
j) Here and for several moves 31. . .Qxc6 loses to 32.Qxf7+ Kd8 33.Rf6.
k) A very nice victory against one of the world’s strongest players!

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Annotations by grandmaster Patrick Wolff, a two-time US champion who offers chess exercises and more at http://www.wolffchess.com/. -Boston.com

GM Teimour Radjabov

Teimour Radjabov, also spelled Teymur Rajabov born 12 March 1987 in Baku, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR), is a leading Azerbaijani chess player. On the April 2009 FIDE list, Radjabov has an Elo rating of 2756, ranking fifth in the world and first, by 37 points, in his native Azerbaijan.

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Radjabov earned the title of Grandmaster in March 2001 at the age of 14, making him the second-youngest grandmaster in history at the time. Radjabov's playing style has been described as attacking and tactically influenced.

Career

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Radjabov is the youngest player ever to make the FIDE Top 100 Players list. His rating of 2599 in January 2002 ranked 93rd in the world while he was still 14 years old.

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In 2003, Radjabov defeated Viswanathan Anand and Ruslan Ponomariov with the black pieces. He is probably the first player ever to beat three former and reigning FIDE World Chess Champions with the black pieces in one year.

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Radjabov reached the semi-finals (earning a bronze medal) at the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004.

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On 22 February 2006, Teimour defeated FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov (rated 2801) with the black pieces and subsequently won the second prize at the Super GM Tournament held in Morelia, Mexico and Linares, Spain.

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Radjabov represented his native Azerbaijan at the 37th Chess Olympiad in May and June 2006, playing board one for the Azeri team.

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In an interview given on October 2006, Radjabov said that he will challenge the winner of Topalov-Kramnik unification match to a World Championship match under the rules of FIDE.

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In November 2006, Radjabov won strong Cap d'Agde tournament, advancing from second place of round robin to the elimination phase. He then went on to win the final against Sergey Karjakin.

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On 3 December 2006, during the Creativity Festival in Florence(Tuscany, Italy), Radjabov played against Deep Junior, the chess engine that won the Turin World Computer Chess Championship. The match was won by Deep Junior.

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In January 2007, Radjabov finished in joint first place at the Category 19 Corus Chess Tournament along with Veselin Topalov and Levon Aronian.

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Radjabov was also to play the Morelia/Linares Tournament 2007, but due to a robbery of some of his belongings in Mexico, he withdrew from the tournament. His position was taken by Vassily Ivanchuk. - wikipedia

Kejohanan catur berpasukan Shah Alam

Penganjur : Akademi Insofar Chess

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Tarikh : Setiap Jumaat pada 8.30 malam, bermula dari 19 Jun 2009

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Jangkamasa : 18 minggu

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Venue : INSOFAR Chess Academy, HBM Professional Training Centre, PKNS
Kompleks, Shah Alam Selangor

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Format : Acara Berpasukan (Team Event , Double Round Robin)

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Time Control : 25 minit

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Yuran bagi setiap pasukan : RM 200.

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Minimum 4 pemain, maximum 10 pemain, pemain tambahan RM50 (setiap pemain).

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TERHAD HANYA 10 PASUKAN. FIRST COME FIRST SERVE basis. Pendaftaran sebelum 18 Jun 2009.
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Setiap pasukan wajib membawa 2 set catur dan jam sendiri. Jika tiada boleh disewa - set Jam (RM 10 semalam), set catur (RM 5 semalam). Perlukan notis 3 hari sebelum hari pertandingan.

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*** HANYA SEORANG PEMAIN FIDE RATING 1800 KE ATAS DIBENARKAN DALAM SETIAP PASUKAN! ***

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Hadiah Juara : RM 1000 + medal

2nd : RM 700 + medal

3rd : RM 650 + medal

4th : RM 600 + medal

5th : RM 550 + medal

6th : medals

7th : medals

8th : medals

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Untuk maklumat lanjut sila hubungi :

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Mat Zaki Yeop (017.528.6927) atau

Muhammad Ismail aka MAX (012.268.9156)

Five Ways to Improve Your Chess

By Edward Scimia, About.com


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Every chess player is constantly looking to improve their game, and there's plenty of debate on the best way to get better. Some players try to play as many games as possible, others solve countless tactical puzzles, and many study theory until they know their favorite openings inside and out.

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Of course, there's no one improvement method that's best for everyone. However, the five activities in this article are ones that players, coaches and trainers have found to be effective methods for most players, and they should make up the core of any training you do to improve your chess.

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1. Play More Chess
This one may seem obvious, but many players forget that experience is an important and necessary part of chess improvement. Playing is what allows you to put the knowledge gained during study into practice, and work on solving practical problems during games without the aid of the prompts given in puzzle books.

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Some games are more valuable for improving your chess than others. Long games -- games where each player has an hour or more of thinking time -- allow time for seriously analyzing positions and practicing time management. Blitz games are useful for quickly learning openings or improving your chess intuition. For training purposes, long games are best, but keep in mind that blitz games can be learning experiences too.

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2. Study Annotated Master Games
Playing over the games of masters is a great way to improve your chess. These games show how strong players use their pieces, formulate plans, and execute endgames.

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There are numerous game collections out there with annotated games you can play through. You might pick a collection of games played (and perhaps even annotated) by one of your favorite players. Alternately, there are tournament books that analyze all of the games from a given event, such as New York 1924 or St. Petersburg 1909. For beginners, something with more complete annotations, such as Irving Chernev's Logical Chess Move By Move: Every Move Explained might be best.

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3. Review Your Own Games
While learning from the games of others is helpful, nothing beats learning from your own mistakes. Reviewing your own games is a crucial step in chess improvement, as it allows you to critically examine your strengths and weaknesses and figure out where your biggest mistakes occur. Make it a habit to record the moves whenever you play so that you can review the game later.

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It is best to have a stronger player analyze your games with you. A stronger player will inevitably see things you missed, and can provide helpful feedback on where you need improvement. Computer chess programs can also analyze your games, and are great for pointing out tactical mistakes, but can't give the "human" feedback that a stronger player can.

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4. Tactics, Tactics, Tactics
Tactics decide the result of most chess games, especially for beginning and improving players. Firming up these skills will allow you to pick off inadequately defended pieces or find surprising checkmates against unsuspecting opponents -- and more importantly, learning these patterns will help you defend against tactical threats during games.

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There are many books that have collections of tactical problems. Even better, interactive software programs such as Chess Tactics Art allow you to play through problems and get instant feedback without having to set up positions on a board. One free option is the Chess Tactics Server, an online tactics trainer that can guide you towards problems of an appropriate difficulty level.

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5. Private Chess Lessons
Having your own personal chess trainer can be a rewarding experience. Someone who works with you over a period of time will get a good feel for your game, and can craft lessons tailored to your needs. To find a suitable teacher, you may want to ask other local players, particularly those who play in clubs and tournaments, if they can recommend a good teacher.

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Keep in mind that the strongest players tend to give the most expensive lessons, but you may benefit just as much from a somewhat weaker (but still strong) player without paying a premium rate. Also, online lessons are often available on chess servers for much lower rates. It's not quite the same as meeting with a teacher in person, but confers many of the same benefits.