Birthday of TWIC founder, Mark Crowther (16-v-1966)
From Wikipedia :
The Week in Chess (TWIC) is one of the first, if not the first, Internet-based chess news services. It is based in the United Kingdom.
TWIC has been edited by Mark Crowther since its inception in 1994.[1] It began as a weekly Usenet posting, with “TWIC 1” being posted to Usenet group rec.games.chess on 17 September 1994.[2] Later it moved to Crowther’s personal web site, then to chesscenter.com in 1997,[3] and in 2012 it moved to theweekinchess.com.[4]
It contains both chess news, and all the game scores from major events.
TWIC quickly became popular with professional chess players, because it allowed them to quickly get results and game scores, where previously they had relied on print publications.[5]
TWIC still exists as a weekly newsletter, although for important events the TWIC website is updated daily. It remains a popular site for up-to-date chess news.[6]
BCN wishes GM James Clifford Howell best wishes on his birthday, this day (May 17th) in 1967.
GM James Howell
From Wikipedia :
James Clifford Howell (born May 17, 1967) is an English chess grandmaster and author. He earned his international master title in 1985 and his grandmaster title ten years later, in 1995. He reached his peak rating in July 1995, at 2525.[1] He became inactive in 1996.
James Howell as Junior British Chess Captain at Goldmark Books Chess Challenge, London England 27 May 1986, Upingham Community College, Kasparov played the BCF Junior Squad. Photo from AlamyOxford’s IM James Howell (l) shapes up against Cambridge’s FM Graham Burgess on top board in the Lloyds Bank Varsity match which Cambridge won 5.5 – 2.5. The players reeled off 19 moves of Yugoslav King’s Indian theory before Howell established a dominant B vs N which won the Lloyds Bank trophy for the best Oxford game. Photograph by Lloyds Bank.
Here is a game from the European Junior Championship in 1985. The opponent was Mark R. Burgess :
James Howell (fourth from left) in 1978 Varsity match winning Oxford Team. James was from Jesus College.James Clifford Howell (rear, fourth from left)at a Lloyds Bank eventEssential Chess Endings
Evil-Doer : Half a Century with Viktor Korchnoi : Genna Sosonko
Gennadi Borisovich Sosonko
Genna Sosonko emigrated from the USSR to the Netherlands in 1972. For the past 20 years or so he’s made a career out of writing essays and books about chess in the Soviet Union, and interviewing many of the leading players from that period.
It was Saturday 17 January 1976. The height of the English Chess Explosion. Richmond Junior Chess Club had opened its doors for the first time just a few months earlier.
As was customary at the time, the visiting Soviet GMs who had been competing at Hastings played simuls against prizewinners from the London Junior Championships, which in those days attracted most of the country’s top young players. And so it was that I was there at a London school to witness two of the all-time greats, Bronstein and Korchnoi, taking on the cream of England’s up and coming chess talents.
The contrast was noticeable. Bronstein played fast, took some risks and finished quickly (+17 =9 -4). Korchnoi played slowly, taking every game seriously, and using 7 hours to complete his 30 games (+20 =9 -1), losing only to a certain N Short. He said at the time something to the effect that he wanted his young opponents to understand what it was like to play against a strong grandmaster.
This story sums up the difference between two men who had much in common but a very different attitude towards chess.
Bronstein was born in Ukraine, the son of a Jewish family. Korchnoi’s Polish Catholic father and Jewish mother had moved from Ukraine to Leningrad a few years before he was born. Both men were obsessed with chess while neither had great social and communication skills. Both, of course, came within a whisker of becoming world champion.
I’ve recently reviewed Sosonko’s memoirs of Smyslov and Bronstein: the book in front of me now is without doubt the most successful of the trilogy. Korchnoi and Sosonko had been close friends for half a century, although at one point not on speaking terms for some time.
Korchnoi could at times be rude, argumentative and bad-tempered, but that was part of the man, and his friends, such as Sosonko, accepted and perhaps even respected him for it. On reading an article in which Nigel Short, his young conqueror all those years ago in the London Juniors simul, described him as a ‘cantankerous old git’, he confessed that, although his English was pretty good, he was only familiar with one of the three words. Growing up as he did during the Siege of Leningrad, suffering his parents’ divorce and the death of his father, poverty, hunger and ill-health, you might think, along with Sosonko, that his difficult personality was understandable. You might also ask yourself whether it was, at least in part, something he was born with.
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi
“I have problems communicating with other people”, he once said. “Therefore, I do what I like the most. Most of all I like chess, and, to be honest, I don’t know what else I could do.” (No, I don’t know when or where he said it, but that’s Sosonko for you. No sources, just lots of ‘he saids’, allegations and speculations.)
Korchnoi admitted and accepted his differences, while Bronstein, to use the current vogue word, masked his differences.
Bronstein peaked early, while Korchnoi peaked remarkably late. Bronstein seemed to play for fun, driven by fantasy and imagination, while Korchnoi was a dour and dogged defender who took every game seriously. But it was Bronstein who gradually fell out of love with chess, his obsession turning from the game itself to the perceived injustices he suffered. Korchnoi, in contrast, like Edith Piaf, regretted nothing and remained passionately devoted to chess right to the end of his life.
A long and eventful life it was, too. From wartime hardships to chess stardom, political asylum in the West, world championship matches against Karpov, and his final decades spent quietly (as if Korchnoi could ever be quiet) in Switzerland, it’s all here. Readers of Sosonko’s other books will know what to expect. There’s no chess in it at all, so, unless you’re inspired by Korchnoi’s determination, it won’t do anything to improve your rating. Nor is it an academic history: just memoir and anecdotes. I’m not convinced by the title: ‘evil-doer’ was how he was referred to by some Soviet players after his defection. It’s a title I might use about Hitler or Stalin, but Korchnoi, whatever his faults, didn’t do evil. But if you want 300+ pages about the man, written by a friend and admirer for half a century, you’ll enjoy reading this book.
Richard James, Twickenham 15th May 2020
Richard James
Book Details :
Softcover : 314 pages
Publisher: Limited Liability Company Elk and Ruby Publishing House (17 May 2018)
IM John Cooper, photograph courtesy of John Upham Photography
BCN wishes Happy Birthday to IM John Grantley Cooper (14-v-1954)
From chessgames.com :
“John Grantley Cooper was born in Cardiff, Wales. Awarded the IM title in 1984, he was Welsh champion in 1976 (jointly), 1978 (jointly), 1984, 1985, 1992 (jointly), 1993 (jointly), 1994, 1995 and 1996. He also played for Wales in ten Olympiads, from 1974 to 1992.”
His peak rating was 2395 in January 1985 at the age of 31.
IM John Cooper, photograph courtesy of John Upham Photography
The Rise and Fall of David Bronstein : Genna Sosonko
Gennadi Borisovich Sosonko
Genna Sosonko emigrated from the USSR to the Netherlands in 1972. For the past 20 years or so he’s made a career out of writing essays and books about chess in the Soviet Union, and interviewing many of the leading players from that period.
This is the position at the adjournment (remember them?) of the 23rd game of the 1951 World Championship match between Mikhail Botvinnik (White in this game) and David Bronstein, the subject of this memoir by Genna Sosonko. A position that would haunt Bronstein for the rest of his life. He was a point up with just two games to play but if the match was drawn Botvinnik would retain his title. Bronstein had been at least equal at various times during the game, but, in this complex ending, had erred a couple of moves earlier, and, if Botvinnik had sealed Bb1 (Bc2 also does the trick) he’d have had a winning advantage.
But when the envelope was opened the next day, 42. Bd6 appeared. The game continued 42… Nc6 43. Bb1, when Na7, planning b5, would have drawn, leaving Bronstein only requiring a draw with White in the 24th game to become the 7th World Champion. Instead, though, he played Kf6, and Botvinnik eventually won, although Stockfish suggests that Black might still have drawn.
I’d always assumed that Bronstein, as befits his play, was a witty and charming man, but Sosonko paints a very different picture. An annoying eccentric who would never stop talking about his obsessions, notably Botvinnik and the above game, but who frequently contradicted himself as to whether or not he really wanted to become World Champion, and as to how much pressure he was put under by the Soviet authorities, both in that match and later. A man with a never ending stream of ideas about chess, some brilliant, but others crazy. (Perhaps this is not an uncommon trait amongst chess players – I can think of several friends who are very similar.) A man who, as he aged, became sad and embittered, regretting and resenting his chess career and wishing he’d done something else with his life.
At times I thought Sosonko was turning into Bronstein himself, as he regaled me with more and more anecdotes from other players telling similar stories about Bronstein’s oddities, and more and more conversations with him in his final years, all saying very much the same thing. “Shut up, Genna! You’ve made your point. Can’t we look at some chess instead?”
No, it seems we can’t. You won’t find any chess at all in this book. Even when a game is discussed, as in the above example, we don’t get to see the moves. Yes, most readers can do what I did and look them up, but having to do that is both frustrating and unnecessary.
An air of sadness pervades much of the book. While I agree that it’s important to know something of the personalities behind the moves, Bronstein, like, for example, Alekhine and Fischer, is best remembered by his games.
And yet – there’s a lot of interest here. A lot of material, admittedly anecdotal, about chess in the Soviet Union, and, in particular, about Bronstein’s éminence grise Boris Vainshtein. Sosonko calls him the Prince of Darkness, and I was very much reminded of Dominic Cummings, himself a chess player in his youth, who plays a similar role in the life of another Boris. Descriptions of Bronstein’s chess philosophy often made me stop and think anew about the nature and purpose of chess, and about my own chess philosophy.
With a firmer editorial hand this could have been an excellent book. Cut back on the repetitive anecdotes and the descriptions of his final years. Add the positions and moves when a game is being discussed. Perhaps expand the section on Bronstein’s chess philosophy. Nevertheless, for anyone interested in post war chess Sosonko’s book is still an essential read.
I’ll close, if I may, with a couple of personal thoughts. Even though he studied geography, not psychology, Sosonko likes to psychoanalyze his subjects, tending towards theories based on nurture rather than nature. These days most of us take a different view. A child presenting with his oddities today would probably receive various diagnoses and labels. For better or for worse? You tell me.
Finally, here’s Sosonko explaining why Bronstein, at the end of his life, was popular with children.
“People rejected by the adult world are often children’s best friends. They are not quite normal to other adults, but are full of charm for children: fully-grown charming eccentrics who never become proper adults.” Guilty as charged.
Richard James, Twickenham 10th May 2020
Richard James
Book Details :
Softcover : 272 pages
Publisher: Limited Liability Company Elk and Ruby Publishing House (10 Aug. 2017)
“The Richter-Rauzer is one of the most complex and rich battlegrounds in the Open Sicilian. This book is the distillation of the authors’ decades-long experience in this variation, offering a practical approach based on understanding and knowledge of typical ideas. Do you wish to explore something double-edged and sharp, this book will leave you confident and fully armed to play for a win. For this second revised edition, Grandmasters Kozul and Jankovic teamed up to present you a way to even throw your most experienced opponent off balance!”
“Zdenko Kozul is a Croatian Grandmaster and the winner of the 2006 European Individual Championship. He has represented his country at Olympiads, European and World Championships for almost twenty five years. His peak FIDE-rating he achieved in 2004, being 2640. Zdenko combines now successfully playing individual an team competitions with working as a trainer for the Croatian Chess Federation.”
“Alojzije Jankovic is a Grandmaster and FIDE trainer from Croatia. In 2010 he shared first place in the Croatian National Championships and played for the Croatian team et the Olympiad. He won several international tournaments and completed his degree at the faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Zagreb Croatia.”
At 400 pages The Richter-Rauzer Reborn (second edition) is, indeed, a weighty, almost massive tome ! The first edition was published in September 2014 at a mere 315 pages.
If you are curious (as we were) about the naming of this variation then there is an interesting article (albeit from 2015) on chess.com.
For those unfamiliar with Sicilian Defence naming schemes, the Richter-Rauzer is one of the sharper open sicilians which starts here :
in which …d6 and …Nc6 are interchangeable to get here.
The Kozul Variation continues from the above position to reach :
MegaBase 2020 lists around 9,000 games with 8…Bd7 with 8…h6 as the runner-up alternative. If we turn on the “Top Games” option we find almost 4,000 games so clearly a popular line at the top level.
Fairly obviously this is a highly theoretical variation (which is not unusual for the open sicilians) with many transpositional possibilities mixed in with sharp and hairy lines : buyer beware !
As with every recent Thinkers Publishing publication high quality paper is used and the printing is clear. The book can easily be laid flat next to the board and does not require weights to prevent it from “self-closing” (a particular bugbear of ours !). Each diagram is clear and the instructional text is typeset in two column format, which, we find, enables the reader to maintain their place easily. Figurine algebraic notation is used throughout and the diagrams are placed adjacent to the relevant text and each diagram has a “to move” indicator.
There is no index which, unfortunately, is a standard omission of Thinkers Publishing books. Also missing is a bibliography.
The main content is divided into ten chapters :
9.f3
10th move sidelines
10.Nxc6
11th move sidelines
12.Nce2
12.Nf5
12.Nf3
13.f5
13.Qe1 & 15.–
13.Qe1 & 15.Bd3
In each of these chapters there is an immense amount of detailed analysis to work through and therefore we have 400 pages of material on a position starting at move nine ! An incredible tour de force of an opening book that will take some beating for depth and detail. Probably invaluable to the devotees of the open sicilian and certainly not for feint hearted. Almost certainly this audience for this book will consist of 2000+ Elo rated players who have the motivation to investigate the fine detail and ideas of this hyper sharp line.
Clearly we have not checked the analysis (and why we would we do that anyway?) but if you play open sicilian with either colour and you want to everything there is to know about the Richter-Rauzer then this book is for you.
Grandmaster Milos Pavlovic was born in Belgrade in 1964 and was Yugoslav Champion in 2002. He is a well known theoretician specialising in opening theory and has written many chess books and magazine articles.
GM Milos Pavlovic
This is his fifth title in the “Modernized” series from Thinkers Publishing with a fourth on the Scotch Game having being published on November 17th. We first reviewed a title in this series with The Modernized Caro-Kann from GM Daniel Fernandez and then we reviewed The Modernised Colle-Zuckertort from Pavlovic.
As with every recent Thinkers Publishing publication high quality paper is used and the printing is clear. The book can easily be laid flat next to the board and does not require weights to prevent it from “self-closing” (a particular bugbear of ours !). Each diagram is clear and the instructional text is typeset in two column format, which, we find, enables the reader to maintain their place easily. Figurine algebraic notation is used throughout and the diagrams are placed adjacent to the relevant text and each diagram has a “to move” indicator.
There is no index which, unfortunately, is a standard omission of Thinkers Publishing books. Also missing is a bibliography.
The main content is divided into eleven chapters organised into four parts :
Part I -Systems with g3 and Nh3
Chapter 1 – 5.Nh3
Part II – Systems with g3 and Nf3 (Classicial approach with …Be7
Chapter 2 – 7.Nc3
Chapter 3 – 7.b3
Chapter 4 – The Surprising 6…Ne4!?
Part III – Systems with g3 and Nf3 (Modern approach with Bd6
Chapter 5 7.Qc2
Chapter 6 7.b3
Chapter 7 7.Nbd2
Part IV – Other White setups
Chapter 8 – White plays d4, c4 and Nc3
Chapter 9 – White plays d4, Nf3 and e3
Chapter 10 – London System
Chapyter 11 – Irregular 3rd moves
The Stonewall Dutch has not hitherto had many books published about it. Popularised by Botvinnik it has found most support by club players rather than by elite Grandmasters. The well known structure for Black is typically :
arrived at by numerous move orders. In his Introduction the author emphasises the strategical nature of games played in this structure and its legendary reliability : perhaps viewed as a system to avoid losing rather than playing for a win. He goes on to layout the material covered.
The “Modernized” refers to an emphasis in which there is a more active set-up for Black :
rather than the older development on e7 :
As you can infer from the chapter titles the bulk of the book covers lines for White in which the f1 bishop is fianchettoed.
The approach of each chapter is to examine a variation move by move citing example games in sidenotes and the analysis is reinforced by an engine.
This is not a complete repertoire book on how to play the Dutch in general. The student will need to study and learn all of White’s popular second move alternatives such as
and
and, of course
to name but a few. However, there is a stand-alone chapter on
no doubt because of the London System’s huge popularity at club level in the last few years.
This book is ideal perhaps for someone who plays the Classical Dutch (or even the Lenningrad Dutch) who wishes to add the Stonewall to their repertoire. The treatment of the main lines in the Bd6 and Be7 Stonewalls is detailed and up-to-date as of 2020.
If you have never played the Dutch before (as Black) then this book forms the basis of your study with perhaps another Dutch book which covers the pesky second move alternatives. A common trick by Stonewall and Classical Dutch players (to circumvent some of these ideas) is to play 1…e6 rather than 1…f5 but, you will need to be happy playing the Black side of a French Defence after 2.e4.
Playing the Stonewall Dutch will add to your understanding of positional chess and strategy and, of course, Black has won many games with this weapon using a King side attack especially with the g pawn !
We like this book and so will you.
John Upham, Cove, Hampshire, 7th May, 2020
John Upham
Book Details :
Hardcover : 198 pages
Publisher: Thinkers Publishing; 01 edition (19 May 2020)
“The secret of its success may be its anti-positional looks. The pawn thrust g2 – g4 is often so counter-intuitive that it’s a perfect way to confuse your opponents and disrupt their position. Ever since World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik started using it to defeat the elite grandmasters of his day, it has developed, on all levels of play, into an ever more popular and attractive way to fight for the initiative.
Grandmaster Dmitry Kryakvin owes a substantial part of his successes as a chess player to the g2 – g4 attack. In this book he shows how it can be used to defeat a number of important Closed Defences: the Dutch, the Queen’s Gambit, the Anti-Nimzo Indian, the King’s Indian and the Slav.
With lots of instructive examples Kryakvin explains the ins and outs of the attack on the g-file: the typical ways to gain tempi and keep the momentum, and the manoeuvres that will maximize your opponent’s problems. After working with this book you will be fully equipped to use this modern battering ram to define the battlefield. You will have fun and win games!”
GM Dmitry Kryakvin
“Dmitry Kryakvin is an International Grandmaster from Russia and an experienced chess trainer and author.”
A first glance at the title and you might think The Grob / Borg has, as promised, returned (to assimilate everyone). Have no fear, this book suggests deploying g4 somewhat later than move one !
This interesting book has a constant theme : the use of x…g2-g4 as a “battering ram” type move by White in various positions arising from main stream Queen’s pawn openings. They range from as early as move two versus the Dutch Defence
to a number of moves later with varying degrees of surprise and effectiveness. The author’s inspiration for this theme comes, perhaps from a surprising but reliable source : the games of Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik.
The author has divided up his content into eight parts (with further sub-chapters) as follows:
Botvinnik’s heritage
The Dutch Defence
The Queen’s Gambit Declined
The Nimzo-Indian Defence
The Anti Nimzo-Indian
The Slav Defence
The King’s Indian Defence
The Grünfeld Indian Defence
Each Part has a significant and interesting introduction establishing the historical context of the opening ideas espoused. For example, Chapter 5 (Attacking with a cast-iron alibi) discusses
an idea of Gerald Abrahams and includes an appreciation of Abrahams himself.This chapter is based around four high quality games analysed in detailing employing the Abrahams idea.
Maybe the most famous early g4 idea is the familiar Shabalov-Shirov Gambit in the Semi-Slav Defence, Meran Variation :
which the author covers in great detail with ten master games.
One of the more shocking ideas is that of Murey Attack vs the Grünfeld Indian Defence. This is
and features in Part VIII.
As with every recent New in Chess publication high quality paper is used and the printing is clear. The book can easily be laid flat next to the board and does not require weights to prevent it from “self-closing” (a particular bugbear of ours !). Each diagram is clear and the instructional text is (mostly !) typeset in two column format, which, we find, enables the reader to maintain their place easily. Figurine algebraic notation is used throughout and the diagrams are placed adjacent to the relevant text.
So, what we have here is a veritable potpourri of aggressive ideas to spice your White openings. This book is aimed at the player who perhaps plays main lines most of the time and would like a sort of “something for the weekend” addition to their repertoire for those “must win” situations. You will probably win more games with these lines but you might also lose more games. At any rate fewer draws are likely. The ideas are all “sound” at the level normal humans plays and probably all sound in the hands of Magnus Carlsen.
To take a look yourself try the “Look Inside” feature on Amazon. Of course, the book may be purchased from any good chess retailer !
This book is probably not for the London, Torre, Stonewall, Colle system players who like a peaceful start to their games getting the pieces out in routine fashion.
For completeness players of the Black pieces might want to be prepared to face these aggressive lines that might become more fashionable following its publication.
We focus on the British Chess Scene Past & Present !
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