seri menerapkan strategi catur dalam dunia bisnis-bagian sepuluh

Kiat permainan catur: hampir setiap situasi mempunyai nilai tersembunyi bagi orang oportunis. 

Boris Spassky yang berusia dua puluh satu tahun ( lahir 1937 ) duduk persis di belakang dua baris Putih mengkilap. Mikhail Tal, yang lebih tua hanya satu tahun dari lawannya, memainkan Hitam. Waktu itu 1958, Kejuaraan Catur Uni Sovyet Rusia sedang berlangsung.

Kedua pecatur itu sangat sadar akan taruhannya. Pemenang akan mengambil langkah maju yang signifikan di dalam siklus kejuaraan dunia. Yang kalah akan disisihkan dari kompetisi itu.

Pada langkah kedua puluh empat, kedua pemain mencapai posisi yang hampir sama. Tal menawarkan remis kepada lawannya. Tetapi Spassky menolak, yakin bahwa dia akan memenangkan pertandingan itu, dan mencapai jenjang pada tangga yang menuju mahkota kejuaraan catur dunia. Tampaknya ia benar. Tiga langkah kemudian, Tal membuat kesalahan kecil. Spassky mencapai pinggir dan menekan dengan keras untuk memanfaatkannya. Ia memaksa raja-nya Tal untuk keluar ke tempat yang terbuka, di mana ia berencana menyerangnya secara berbarengan dengan menteri dan bentengnya.

Di bawah tekanan yang berat, Tal dipaksa menggerakkan rajanya yang tak terlindung ke depan. Tampaknya Hitam sedang berjuang pertempuran dalam yang akan membuatnya kalah. Raja yang dibiarkan tak terlindung dan mudah diserang di dalam tahap pembukaan dan pertengahan dari sebuah permainan rentan bagi serangan yang mengancam dari serombongan pasukan yang tidak bersahabat. Itulah sebabnya mengapa para pecatur biasanya berusaha memasukkan raja mereka secepat mungkin ke dalam kastil.

Jelaslah, raja-nya Tal yang tak terlindung tampak tidak aman. Tetapi Spassky sama sekali tidak dapat memanfaatkan kesempatan itu. Lebih buruk lagi, lawannya mulai memutar-mutar realitas catur di dalam kepalanya. Daripada menjaga rajanya, Tal melakukan yang sebaliknya. Dia menggunakan posisi raja yang terbuka itu untuk memelopori suatu penyerbuan! Hanya dalam beberapa langkah, raja-nya Tal beralih dari mangsa menjadi penyerang, dan Spassky dipaksa untuk menyerah.

Permainan catur bersifat paradoksikal. Kelemahan dapat menjadi aset di tangan dan pikiran seorang pemain yang ulet. Setiap ketidakberuntungan di atas papan catur dapat menyembunyikan suatu keuntungan potensial. Susunan bidak yang berantakan membuat raja terbuka untuk diserang? Bayangkan langkah raja itu ke pinggir, keluar dari barisan yang tak terlindung, sehingga benteng dapat menggantikannya. Lawan Anda mungkin telah berharap memanfaatkan baris itu untuk menyerang Anda. Sekarang benteng Anda dapat menggunakannya untuk menyerang lawan.

Misalnya, bidak yang lemah. Seringkali ia gagal menjalankan misi pertahanannya. Ditinggalkan sendirian dan tak berdaya, ia juga dapat menghabiskan sumber-sumber daya yang dibawa untuk menjaganya. Lalu gerak pasukan terbatas karena membelanya.

Tetapi mungkin ada suatu jalan yang lebih baik. Daripada menghabiskan waktu dan sumber daya untuk melindungi bidak, para pejuang dapat mengubah perspektif, dengan harapan membebaskan bidak dengan cara menguntungkan. Barangkali, lawan harus mengompromikan posisinya sendiri untuk dapat menangkap si bidak. Jika lawan berbuat demikian, bidak itu dan masalah-masalahnya lenyap bersama serangan balasan baru yang dilancarkan pihak yang bertahan.

Dalam permainan catur, kelemahan akan tetap menjadi kelemahan jika seorang pemain tidak dapat menemukan kekuatannya yang tersembunyi. Dengan membalikkan satu prinsip permainan catur untuk menyingkapkan prinsip lainnya, Tal memperlihatkan bahwa raja yang lemah dapat menjadi kuat, persis demikian itu.

Kembali ke masa-masa depresi besar, seorang pebisnis yang cerdas, bertindak berdasarkan ilham kreatif yang sama, dan karenanya berhasil gilang-gemilang. Pada 1938, William Benton membeli perusahaan Muzak. Ia melakukan ini karena mengetahui bahwa para musisi yang hebat memandang rendah perusahaan Muzak.

Muzak mempunyai keberanian yang besar. Karena itu, dia membuat kurangnya keunggulan artistik Muzak menjadi poin penjualan. Pemilik baru itu menemukan slogan baru yang tepat untuk perusahaan itu. “Slogan itu persis seperti yang dipesan seorang dokter- untuk kantornya. Tempat-tempat pangkas rambut, toko grosir, elevator, Anda majukan. Dua puluh tahun kemudian, Benton menjual perusahaan demi keuntungan raksasa.

Di atas enam puluh petak papan catur, perangkat yang lebih lemah atau kurang bagus sering dibuat lebih kuat, lebih baik, atau lebih cepat. Prinsip diagonal yang sama berlaku pada dunia bisnis. Mengubah kelemahan menjadi kekuatan merupakan sikap pikiran. Itu berarti menghargai apa yang Anda miliki, daripada berputus-asa karena apa yang tidak Anda miliki.

Kadang-kadang dibutuhkan persepsi istimewa agar mampu memahami kebalikan dari suatu misi. Tetapi kemenangan bukan soal berharap, tetapi juga soal bertindak. Dan bila Anda tahu bagaimana membuat hal ini menjadi hal itu, Anda dapat memenangkan tiap sisi permainan itu, dari salah satu sisi.

Beberapa langkah benar hanya karena sedikit keliru.

Elliot has been obsessed lately with having a little brother. Two little brothers, actually. DO NOT TAKE THIS TO MEAN ANYTHING. I am not pregnant, nor do I have any plan to be pregnant in the foreseeable future.
I think it’s more because all of his friends now have brothers and sisters (the last of his only-child friends has a sibling due pretty soon). That, and I’m not that into playing chess, and he wants someone to play chess with.

Tonight he was asking me why I couldn’t make him a brother (or two) now.

“I’m not married,” I told him.

“Then get married.”

“I’m sure I will someday, but not now.”

“Oh yeah, and there’s another reason, too,” he told me.

“What’s that?”

“We don’t have enough money for a baby.”

“Well, I’m not married.”

“Yeah, and we don’t have any diapers here. We would need some diapers. And we don’t have any.”

Here are some of the things that he has told me to encourage me to make his brothers:

“When I watch Attack of the Clones, I will not let those babies watch Attack of the Clones, because it’s too violent. I might be seven when those babies are born, so I’ll be able to watch it, but you know what? It’s violent. It’s way too violent for an instant.”
(It took me a while to realize that instant means “infant”)

“My brothers are really important to me. When they grow up, I want my brothers to grow up to be a nice man. Like, when I grow up to be a nice man. I want them to be the same thing. I want them to be a nice man.”

“I can share my Halloween candy with them. Because there’s enough for two kids in that bowl. Or three kids. Three kids could eat that candy.”

“I know something else. The baby brothers need a name. It can be pretty similar to my name, because I would be like a giant thing compared to the little baby. The baby would be a little instant compared to me. I’m even taller than this couch. And that baby is, like, not even as tall as my legs.”

Oh, here we go! Such excitement. Merlini’s Zeus versus Vigoss’ Tinker – imagine seeing Fischer and Kasparov go at it in some subvariation of the Najdorf.

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Tägliches Minimaltraining mit Taktikaufgaben

Malte Thodam

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Heinz Brunthaler ist sicherlich vielen Schachfreunden als Autor von Aufgabenbüchern mit Kombinationen bereits ein Begriff. Mit der jüngsten Publikation «Ihre Schachkombinationen für 2010 – Verbessern Sie Ihre Kombinationsgabe!» legt er nun einen weiteren Band vor, der sich mit dem wohl wichtigsten Handwerkszeug des Schachspielers beschäftigt: Der guten alten Taktik. Was so selbstverständlich im Spiel der Meister erscheint, nämlich das sichere Manövrieren in gefährlichen Gewässern – sprich scharfen Stellungen – ist der Traum des durchschnittlich begabten Amateurs, der doch zu gerne noch in eine einfache Springergabel oder einen Abzugsangriff hinein läuft, obwohl er diese Motive in der Regel eigentlich recht gut kennt. Fehlende Routine im Lösen von Taktikaufgaben ist oft die Ursache für solche vermeidbaren Schnitzer. Die grundlegenden Motive sind bei vielen Amateuren zwar im Kopf gespeichert, aber für sie nicht unbedingt immer schnell genug abrufbar, bzw. auf die jeweilige Stellung anwendbar. Passend dazu schreibt Brunthaler zu Beginn des Buches auch gleich: «Wer möchte nicht seine Spielstärke und sein Schachwissen verbessern, stärker werden, mehr vom Schach verstehen? Sicher so gut wie jeder echte Schachfan! Doch das ist nicht einfach, denn auf dem Weg zur Verbesserung muss man sehr, sehr vieles lernen, viel Aufwand betreiben. Und das ist das Problem, denn den meisten von uns fehlt durch die Belastung in Schule, Studium und Beruf die Zeit und vor allem die Kraft, sich intensiv mit dem Schachspiel zu befassen oder sogar ein systematisches Training zu absolvieren.» Wie wahr, wie wahr! Kommt uns das Dilemma nicht bekannt vor? Haben wir vielleicht selbst unsere letzte Partie verloren, weil wir ein taktisches Motiv übersehen haben? Hätten wir zwecks Partievorbereitung nicht doch lieber ein paar Kombinationen lösen sollen, statt noch einmal die Eröffnungsvarianten unseres Vertrauens zu studieren?

Leseprobe 1

Brunthaler setzt beim Schachtraining auf Kontinuität statt auf Quantität. Anstatt nur sporadisch eine umfangreiche Trainings-Session zu absolvieren, empfiehlt er ein tägliches Minimaltraining in Form einer Taktikaufgabe. Brunthaler hat für jeden Tag des Jahres ein Schachdiagramm mit einer kritischen Stellung in sein Buch aufgenommen. Die Aufgabenstellungen entstammen durchwegs den Partien sehr starker Spieler: Topalov, Aronian, Kamsky, Anand, Gelfand, Ivanchuk und  Karpow, aber auch die altehrwürdigen Meister wie Tarrasch, Reti und Schlechter lassen sich in dieser Sammlung wiederentdecken. Es gibt, wie auch schon bei den bisher erschienenen Übungsbüchern des Autors, keine Lösungshinweise zu den Aufgaben. Lediglich ein kleines schwarzes Quadrat weist darauf hin, wenn Schwarz das Zugrecht besitzt; fehlt dieses, befindet sich der Weiße am Zug. Somit ist ein praxisnahes Training gewährleistet, denn hier sagt einem schließlich auch niemand vor, ob man nun einen forcierten Weg zum Matt hat, oder ob es möglich ist die Dame des Gegners zu fangen. Die eigene Stellungsbeurteilung und konkrete Berechnung ist gefragt!

Großer Pluspunkt: Die Lösungen am Ende des Buches sind versetzt, so dass man nicht mehr oder minder zufällig die Lösung der nächsten Aufgabe schon aus den Augenwinkeln erhascht. Dies finde ich sehr löblich, hatte ich mich doch öfters schon beim Lesen in anderen Taktikbüchern darüber geärgert, den Gewinnzug der nachfolgenden Aufgabe zu kennen, ohne diese überhaupt erst zu Gesicht bekommen zu haben. Zudem finden sich im Lösungsteil kurze Erläuterungen zur Stellung und den zum Gewinn führenden Zugfolgen und Motiven. Zuweilen gibt es hier mehrere Mäglichkeiten, die zum Erfolg führen.

Leseprobe 2

Vom Schwierigkeitsgrad her richtet sich das Buch vornehmlich an den durchschnittlichen Vereinsspieler, es gibt leichtere und auch schwerere Aufgaben, sowohl lehrreiche Mattangriffe als auch nett anzusehende Materialgewinne. Für stärkere Amateure um 2′000 DWZ erweisen sich die Kombinationen gewiss immer noch als nützlich, um taktische Motive zu wiederholen und zu vertiefen. Das Layout des Buches ist schlicht, aber ansprechend, das Preis-Leistungsverhältnis scheint mir insgesamt absolut in Ordnung, schließlich wird einem hier genügend sinnvolles Material zur regelmäßigen Schulung der taktischen Fertigkeiten geboten. Und so eignet sich das Buch nicht zuletzt aufgrund seines handlichen Formats auch hervorragend für den Gebrauch im Alltag, sei es auf der Zugfahrt oder bei den kleinen Wartezeiten zwischendurch, die wohl jeder von uns kennt, sei es im Wartezimmer, bei lästigen Werbepausen während des abendlichen Fernsehprogramms oder auch beim Warten auf den notorisch zu spät erscheinenden Dozenten im Hörsaal. Fazit: Ein durchaus lohnendes Buch, will man seine taktischen Fertigkeiten durch wiederholtes Training schärfen – und seine Mundwinkel gen Ohren wandern spüren, wenn «Fritz» oder «Rybka» bei der Analyse einer gewonnenen Partie die Korrektheit des eigenen Gewinnweges bestätigen.

Heinz Brunthaler, Ihre Schachkombinationen für 2010 – Verbessern Sie Ihre Kombinationsgabe, Schachverlag Ullrich, 124 Seiten, ISBN 978-3940417046

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Malte Thodam

Geb. 1984 in Viersen/D,
Student der Geschichte,
Schach-Teamleiter,
lebt in Düsseldorf

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Well all the games from this match from Round 1 have finally been played. It was a rather long drawn out match with Gerry C and myself playing last Tuesday, 3 games taking place on Sunday and 1 today. In the end the A team just about squeaked through. There were a couple of shocks. Will O Keefe beat Kieran O Brien after the latter blundered a piece early in the game. Mike O Donnell lived up to his captains role and produced the shock of the season so far with an inspiring win over Tony Aherne today on the white side of a dragon. Tony and Mike played in Galway this evening due to the transport chaos resulting from the recent wet weather. I am reliably informed that we will have an annotated picture of this game for the site shortly. John Cassidy beat Ljubica Cirkovic to pull one back for the A team and on board 1 our new signing Zaidan Zulkipli beat Nick Larter with the black bits. In fact I think the A team were quite lucky to get away with the points here and the story could have been very different if Gerry Casey had taken his chances against me in our game. It was an excellent start to the season for the B team. They were comprehensively outrated on all the boards but their middle boards really did the business and it augurs well for their future matches this season.

Ennis B – Ennis A
1. Nick Larter – Zaidan Zulkipli 0-1
2. Gerry Casey- Rory Quinn 0-1
3. Mike O Donnell – Tony Aherne 1-0
4. Will O Keefe – Kieran O Brien 1-0
5. Ljubica Cirkovic- John Cassidy 0-1
Match Result 2-3

Today I got up, went downstairs, grabbed my clean dress-clothes out of the dryer, and proceeded to get ready for a funeral. It was a funeral for a lady whom I met twice, Florence Strom. She was 97(!) when she passed on. Apparently (as I learned during the service) she was an amazing woman. Hearing about her life gave some meaning to me before reading some selections at her service.

I was asked to read Psalms 23 (at the funeral home), and the Baha’i obligatory prayer for the deceased (at the graveyard). If you don’t know (as I didn’t), psalms 23 is the “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” one. All I could think of last night was:

Which was hilarious, but also made me feel like I was being extremely inappropriate. On the bright side, I’ve decided to include a clause in my will that states that my siblings have to perform a rendition of gansta’s paradise after reading this psalm….and that Nadia has to be the main rapper (as she knows the lyrics by heart, and kills it live).

Also, I discovered that even though the Baha’i obligatory prayer for the departed is the only congregational prayer, there is still no repetition by the crowd! I was under the impression that congregational meant one person reads something, and the congregation responds, but apparently not. So I read this prayer, out in the bitter cold, and it’s LONG, but it was nice. I actually felt like it was really fitting for the occasion. (Funerals kinda force you to consider mortality, especially in relation to yourself. What do you think happens after you die? And if you believe in an afterlife, what do you think it’s like?)

Then we had a traditional Norwegian smorgasboard (mostly fish and potatoes), I socialized with some peoples (and received suggestions that I explore a career in radio), and then went and played chess.

The afternoon was focused on the visit of Ted’s nephew, Darren, who came with his wife and two kids from Kelowna. I got home, changed from ultra-dressy to jeans and a T, and cleaned-up and organized till them peoples arrived. They have a daughter named Emily as well, so there are 2(!) Emily Glabushes running around the Okanagan.

Here’s what the second one looks like:

Who's that? It's Emily Glabush le deux. Also note the de-carpeted floors underneath her feet. So nice.

The night was joyous, and once again, family is jes wicked.

“I’m sure I’ll take you with pleasure!” the Queen said. “Two pence a week, and jam every other day.”
Alice couldn’t help laughing, as she said, “I don’t want you to hire ME – and I don’t care for jam.”
“It’s very good jam,” said the Queen.

“Well, I don’t want any TO-DAY, at any rate.”
“You couldn’t have it if you DID want it,” the Queen said. “The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to-day.”
“It MUST come sometimes to “jam to-day,” Alice objected.
“No, it can’t,” said the Queen. “It’s jam every OTHER day: to-day isn’t any OTHER day, you know.”
“I don’t understand you,” said Alice. “It’s dreadfully confusing!”

The following chunks of factoids on Alice, chess, and conspiracy theories all come courtesy of that there ol’ wiki: let it take you for a spin today!

Most main characters met in the story are represented by a chess piece, with Alice herself being a pawn. However, the moves described in the ‘chess problem’ cannot be carried out legally due to a move where white does not move out of check (a list of moves is included – note that a young child might make this error due to inexperience).

Although the chess problem is generally regarded as a nonsense composition because of the story’s ‘faulty link with chess’, the French researchers Christophe LeRoy and Sylvain Ravot have argued that it actually contains a ‘hidden code’ by Carroll to the reader.

The code is supposed to be related to Carroll’s relationship with Alice Liddell, and apparently contains several references to Carroll’s favorite number, 42.

The theory and its implications have been criticized for lack of solid evidence, misrepresenting historical facts about Carroll and Alice, and flirting with numerology and esotericism.

Oh, no, not esotericism. I simply cannot brook such a thing.

Previous Alice anticipation posts can be found here.

A game I won today against an 1800.  His highest rating achieved in the database was 2100, and his RD (Rating Deviation) was around 30.

Event: FICS Rated Standard Game

White: Caballos(1812)

Black: notofthisworld (1551)

TimeControls: 50 5

Result: 0-1

1.Nf3 d5 2.c4

An interesting try at decentralizing Black, which I have seen used before.  Since I didn’t know any other variations, I decided to accept his generous offer.

2. …dxc4 3.e3 b5!? 4.a4 c6 5.axb5 cxb5 6.b3 cxb3 7.Bxb5 Bd7 8.Qxb3 Bxb5 9.Qxb5 Qd7 10.Nc3 g6

Trading queens is simply not the practical thing for Black to do.  It would leave him desperately attempting to stop Nc7+ and two moves behind in development.

11.0-0 Bg7?

Overlooking a tactic for Black to win a pawn.

12.Rxa7! Qxb5 13.Nxb5 Rxa7 14.Nxa7 Nd7

A pawn down in the endgame against an opponent of nearly 300 points his superior, Black (me) desperately tries to complete development.

15.d4 e5 16.Nc6 e4

Thus begins the calamity of White’s bad bishop vs Black’s good one.

17.Nd2 f5 18.Ba3 Nf6

It seemed good to continue because White cannot do anything about the weak light squares in his center while Black can influence them well.

19.Nc4 Kf7

White was threatening 20.Nd6.

20.Ne5+ Nxe5 21.Nxe5+ Ke6 22.Rb1

With the threat of Rb6+ with a promising attack, not unlike the one that happened later.

22. …Nd5 23.Nc4 Rc8 24.Bc5 Rc7

Stopping 25.Rb7 with a huge position.

25.Ra1 Rb7 26.g3 Rc7

Letting Black step in and get another pawn, though there wasn’t much choice.  It was a miracle from God that I won this game.

27.Ra6+ Kf7 28.Nd6+ Kg8 29.Ra8+ Bf8 30.Nxe4 fxe4 31.Rxf8 Kg7 32.Re8 Nf6 33.Re7+

My opponent elects to go for a tricky minor piece ending.

33. …Rxe7 34.Bxe7 Nd5

Thus begins a tiring technical struggle which lasts the entire rest of the game.  White’s plan is to exploit his two extra pawns.  Black’s is to fight for a draw by holding back his pawns and leaving White’s bishop with no targets.  The problem with White’s plan is that his bishop is biting on the granite of his own pawns!

35.Bd6 Kf7 36.Be5

Instead of this nonsense, 36.f3 should win immediately.

36. …Ke6 37.Kf1 Kf5 38.Ke2 Kg4

This line of play seemed the right thing to do, as it is going to take White a considerably long amount of time to dislodge my knight.

39.h4 h5

See how all of Black’s pieces are on light squares where the bishop cannot affect them?

40.Bf4 Kf5 41.Kd2 Kg4 42.Kc2 Kf3 43.Kb3 Kxf2 44.Kc4 Nxe6 45.Bxe6 Kxe6

Black’s last chance to win.  Now material is equal, and it has come down to a pawn race, which White will win, but at the same time lose the game.

46.d5 Kf2 47.d6 e3 48.d7 e2 49.d8=Q e1=Q 50.Qg5 Qe4+ 51.Kc5 Qg4 White resigns

The queen trade loses because Black’s king is too close to the pawns.  White also loses if he were to try perpetual check with 52.Qf6+, as he always will run out of checks (the variations are rather long, so I will not post them).  One of my most memorable games which I give God all the glory for as always. 0-1

Hello, eta Elder Belyeu,

I’m glad to hear that you’re all doing well.

Things are going fine on the Eastern front. I don’t remember if I said that I got transferred to another area on transfers (same apartment, but a different branch). Before you ask, no the church is not just huge here, we have to ride a bus for about half an hour to get to our area. I miss my car (sigh). My new companion is Armenian, but his family moved to England when he was 8. He’s really cool, I like him. He has the most baptisms of any missionary in the mission (He served a transfer in Provo before he came out here and baptized 15 people.) and is a good missionary. The work is going well.

Interestingly enough, in our mission there are people from the US (obviously), England, Armenia, Germany, Sweden, and Russia. I have actually been in the same district with an Armenian/Brit and a Swedish elder–all people who you don’t meet in Alabama.

As a note to Joseph, my companion’s dad actually owns a MIG-22. It is functional, and they both have jet-pilot licenses. Also, his great grandfather was a chess grandmaster (See if you can find him in the chessmaster listing. Before you ask, yes I have played him, and yes, he beat me. He said I played pretty well, though, it took about an hour).

All right, I’m running out of time, so I’d better start to wrap this up.

If you don’t mind, could you tell Estevan hey, and say that I’ve been planning to write, but haven’t quite figured out the mail here. (Did I mention that everyone here speaks Russian?).

I tried to send pictures today, but for some reason, the computer didn’t let me, so I’ll have to try again next week–sorry.

Also, could you find Jimmy Newland’s Facebook mission group- think and:
(1) get me his address off of it, I lose everything, I know.
(2) Tell them hello, and
(3) copy off any interesting news to me. I’d like to see how he’s doing.

Also, as a matter of interest, I get to make a phone-call home around Christmas (I don’t exactly know when). The way that this works is, I send you my number and you call my missionary cell phone at a time arranged before hand. More on that later, I’m out of time.

Tell everyone hello, I am still not sure how to arrange individual letters to brothers and sisters. It’s hard to smuggle them out past the Iron Curtain, but I’ll figure it out. Like said before, individual emails would be easy…

Well, I’m out of time, have a good week…
Elder Belyeu
Старейшина балу

Residents of Kandahar are taking part in a chess tournament in an attempt to revive one of the city’s former pastimes…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: city state. The blog is also related to: boulder city.

Residents of Kandahar are taking part in a chess tournament in an attempt to revive one of the city’s former pastimes…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: morehead city. The blog is also related to: city center.

Last week the SF Mechanics squared off against the Miami Sharks in the Division finals, with the winner going on to meet the winner of the New York – New Jersey match (New York ended up advancing). While the final score was 2.5-1.5 in favor of the Sharks, we weren’t really in serious danger of being in the match. With draw odds and white on boards 1 and 3, we went into the match with high hopes, but as it was, history repeated itself and for the 3rd time, we lost in the playoffs with draw odds to Miami. I say we kick them out of the Western Division!

Here are the positions from our match after 15 moves (of course, we all reached this mark at different times):

Board 1: Kraai – Becerra

On board 1, Jesse was worse against Becerra’s surprise Grunfeld. Black equalized pretty quickly in the opening, but it wasn’t too bad for White. Unfortunately, Jesse found it difficult to back up the weakening f2-f4 thrust and soon shed the e3-pawn for no compensation. He was only saved when Becerra took a draw in a winning Rook and Pawn endgame to clinch the match for Miami.

Board 2: Lugo – Bhat

On my board, I was doing alright. Lugo surprised me with the Two Knights, but after some slightly non-standard maneuvers, I had played …c6. With …d5 soon to follow, I thought I had equalized. White doesn’t really have any kingside initiative, and after the pawn exchanges on d5, White has fewer pawn islands, but he can’t get at the d5-pawn so easily and his queenside pawns are a little weak.

Board 3: Pruess – Moreno Roman

On board 3, David was pretty much lost against Moreno Roman. David likes to play the King’s Gambit (even though Fischer refuted it ages ago!), and every so often, he produces a brilliancy like he did in France a month ago against GM Bogdan Lalic (take a look at the game here). Unfortunately, this time, he was on the receiving end of a miniature, as he allowed …Qh4+ in the opening and then had to defend against a furious onslaught. I’m not sure if the position was defensible to begin with, but from the above diagram, it ended in another move after 16.Qe1 Ng3.

Board 4: Rodriguez – Liou

On board 4, Yian was keeping it together against Rodriguez. With a big time advantage and a position that was about equal, I figured we’d have to rely on our two relatively equal positions to turn into wins. Sadly, after 16.Rxh8 Bxh8 17.Nd3, Yian allowed White to favorably change the structure by playing 17…Bg6. Now 18.Nxe5 dxe5 19.g4 (19.e4 looks even better) Qh7? 20.gxf5 Bxf5 21.e4 netted White a pawn, and Rodriguez cleaned up in a nice fashion. Instead of 17…Bg6, 17…Nc6 looks quite reasonable for Black.

Thanks to a little tactic, I turned my equal position into a clearly better one:

I played 20…h5! here, and Blas took a wrong turn with 21.Nh2. After 21…Bf6, Black is hitting the b2-pawn, but more importantly, he is threatening to play 22…Be5, trapping the knight on h2. White would have no choice but to give up his g-pawn then with 23.g3, but that’s a rather important pawn. Thus, Blas played 22.Qf2, but after 22…Be5 23.Nf3 Bg3, he lost the exchange. Instead of 21.Nh2, he could have played 21.Nf2, which is a little better. Still, I think Black’s position is better after 21…Bf6 22.c3 d4!. I ended up winning this game, but the finish of this game took place after the match was already put away by Miami.

So, as has been the case most years except for 2006 (when we won it all), we wait for next year. I think the team could have done better this season, but we did alright given the fact we were piecing together a lineup for pretty much every match.

From a personal standpoint, I was satisfied with my play. I lost my first two games of the year (the game against Stripunsky was a bad one, but the game against Barcenilla was pretty good and I should have won that one), but then scored 3.5/4 the rest of the way. Thanks to the 2 losses in 6 games, this was the first time in 5 years that my performance rating in the league was below 2550 FIDE. I clocked in at 2495 FIDE, marginally above my 2492 FIDE rating average for the season. Team captain John Donaldson has recapped the team’s performances in more detail at the team blog.

The finals match is scheduled for December 7th, and features Miami and New York. My guess is that New York will carry the day. With a double-GM lineup and then the underrated (for the league) Yaacov Norowitz on board 4, they seem to have the more dangerous lineup. Still, Miami has scored some big upsets themselves to get to the finals, so it won’t be an easy match.

So…. I’ve decided:

-The game of Chess is such a versatile metaphor for life!

-I should only sing songs if I mean them.

-The moon is too small.

-Life is too crazy to be anything but the real deal.

-My mom should have birthdays more often.

-Dad’s are a blessing, that people like myself often overlook, or at least under-value.

-Discipline is difficult… for everyone involved.

-I really like telling 4-year-old twins Bible stories over lunch.

-It’s nearly impossible for me to beat my computer at chess.

-I like Colossians.

-E-sword = amazing. =)

-Roadtrips are so much fun!

-Cars really shouldn’t break… so brothers can enjoy roadtrips. =(

-Balance is beautiful.

-Come Thou Fount… is one of my favorite songs… EVER! =)

And that ends my list for the night.

Have a weird week everyone! 

Live life like a thankYou!

-MAC <>< = )

P.S.

Everybody knows something… but nobody knows everything.

Tonight in Vilamoura, Portugal, a guy was 3rd in a European Poker Tour (EPT) tournament winning  € 156,170. He didn’t win, yet in the poker world this result will be noted. In his previous EPT tournament he was 10th for €30,705. He’s reached 4 final tables this year, he is  a very good player. 

Yet I find myself willing Jeff Sarwer to fail.

Jeff was a child chess prodigy with an amazing talent and easy-to-like personality,  a media star at the age of seven. When he was eight a chess grand master played him and told him he could be the greatest chess player of all time. He excelled particularly at speed chess and simultaneous chess, in a televised games the ten year old Sarwer took on forty adults with a smile on his face, and no hesitation as he picked out the moves to beat them.

In the film of his early life he seems to have it all. He’s a chess genius, he’s confident and happy, his Wikipedia entry uses the word ‘charismatic’ in the first line.  But this media attention turned sour,  Vanity Fair published an article* suggesting Jeff and his sister Julia were abused physically and psychologically by their eccentric father. They were made wards of court and taken away from their father, but they ran away and joined him, to live in hiding in Europe using false names. Jeff could no longer pursue his ambition to play competetive chess.

This was the last the world heard of Jeff Sarwer until he appeared at a poker tournament in Poland and did rather well. His first poker cash was a minor place for €7,000 but in his next few tournaments he was talked about as chip leader in the early stages, and then built on that success to achieve  final table finishes – if not that elusive win.

It’s hard not to compare this remarkable poker prowess to the scenes of his freakish prowess as an eight year old playing speed chess against all-takers in Washington Square Park. You can watch a video of his early years as a chess star on his website. There’s something not quite human about someone so young who can make decisions that good, that fast, and that right. You have to admire it as an amazing example of mental ability – the word genius is the only word to do that justice.

And I don’t want that genius in my poker world. That kind of mental athleticism can’t succeed at poker, can it?

Can Jeff Sarwer really beat every poker player in town, with his super human mind, just as he beat all who played him at chess as a whizz-kid genius?

Maybe he can…

But I don’t want him to.

Chess is a game of logic, of perfect decisions, but to me poker is an art.

We have enough  maths genius players with their law degrees, or black belts in very clever studies (I’m not bright enough to understand their education) and of course they do well at the game, they make the right decisions regularly. Well hey, they studied game theory.

I want to believe tournament poker is more than just maths, I want my perfect poker hero to be the full deal. I want the maths, I want the people skills too. So where’s the reads in chess?

When I heard Jeff Sarwer had made the EPT Vilamoura final table I was sure that he’d crash and burn. I could see that he had a talent for getting a big chip stack early in a tournament, but that to me is poker maths. You get chips, you run over the little guy. I’m bad at the stats side of things, but even I know you play percentages with frequent canny re-raises when you have chips to stay in the game if they call. When I hear about players who get a big stack early in a tournament I blame the weakness of the opposition rather than crediting the chip leader’s skills. All-in ‘ya wimps! (Qualifiers…)

So, yeah, I had this vision of some guy with some off the scale IQ playing good maths poker to reach his  final tables. I hoped that when he got there he’d be found out against the cream of the crop  players - the kind who knew good poker was more than calculated agression with a stack powerful enough to take a knock.

I thought all this, I hoped all this. I decided you couldn’t be a poker genius like you could be a chess prodigy, with a rating figure in black and white that would tell you whether you’d win or lose. If you were a chess grand master you’d be guaranteed  to beat weaker opponents, but you  couldn’t be some kind of poker grand master and automatically make two final tables in a month**.

Could you?

So then I started thinking. I started thinking about Jeff Sarwer’s unusual personal life and how that might have effected his personality, I started thinking about his smile and his wit as he charmed all around him, I started thinking of his unconventional background and his father who didn’t believe there needed to be any rules, I started thinking of the comment he made as as an eight year old as he played a grand master, “”I should never have tried E4 on you, you’re a tactical player.”

Is that a read?

Before I looked Jeff Sarwer up I had this idea of a near-autistic chess genius, someone  all brain and no soul. 

Now I wonder if he has the mind and understands the art too. I wonder if he might be the greatest poker player of all time.

I hear he might go back to chess to try for that grand master ambition finally. And now I want him to stay in my sport. Poker must be the tougher game, but he’s overcome so much, surely he can handle this harder challenge? 

I started out thinking I’d write  about my expectations for a poker hero and how this guy fell short, I finished up wondering if I might have found a new hero.

Next game’s in a week.

* Jeff and his sister Julia are reported to have sued Vanity Fair for libel.

**Jeff Sarwer was 3rd at EPT Vilamoura, 10th at EPT Warsaw so strictly speaking it’s not 2 final tables – but pretty darn close.

It’s well known that Kasparov, Karpov and Kramnik is the 3 K’s of chess. Kasparov and Karpov had their battles for more than a decade, then came Kramnik, and we could get the feel K was the letter needed to start your name to be the best player in the world. Add Keres and Kortchnoi, and you would get an unbeatable team of excellent chess players.

I was just playing with the thought, what if each and every letter of the alphabet got their team of chess players through history, at their very best, and given they would get all the tools needed to prepare with modern opening theory. We are here speaking of talent, including talent of working hard.

The rules are as in the olympiad: 4 players + 1 stand in. I do not remember enought players to fill in all the blanks, but it should do as a start. More will be added later, and of course, you can just add your suggestions in the commenary field!

A: Alechin, Anand, Aronian, Adams, Averbakh

A very strong team. Ulf Andersson from Sweden could perhaps be a better substitute than Averbakh, and I am not sure Adam qualifies for a seat in this strong team.

B: Botvinnik, Bronstein, Beligavsky, Boleslavsky, R. Byrne

The top tables are amazing, but then it gets weaker. Bareev should perhaps take the place from Byrne or Boleslavsky.

C: Carlsen, Capablanca, Chigorin, Caruna, Cheparinov,

Perhaps a bit patriotic to put Carlsen ahead of Capablanca, Carlsen has stilll something to prove. Worse is which player should join them? They could get lot’s of point on the top boards, just to lose on board 3 and 4. Chigorin is a strong  player from early Soviet time, he could collect some points. Caruna could of course be a great player, he just isn’t there yet. Chpearinov was a great talent, but seems to have stopped his progress a bit.

D: Donner, Dominguez, Dreev, Darga, Dvoretsky

Some less knwon players here. Dvoretsky is very good writing books, but his play is not as a great as his writing.

E: Mark Euwe, Eljanov, Ehlvest, Efimenko, Evans

The perhaps weakest and least acnowledged of the classical world champs, this dutch has done more to chess politics, than chess theory, perhaps. He was a very good leader of what today is FIDE, in fact perhaps the best ever to lead the chess world. So he could lead the tournament. Evans is the man of the gambit.

F: Bobby Fischer, Salo Flor, Fine, Furman, Fuchs

If only we could include Fritz in this letter. Or else Fischer can do nothing to make this letter the best, as he would insist it should be.

G:  Geller, Grischuk, Gligoric, Gelfand, Gushimov,

Some good players here, and hard to judge which one to play at which table. Boris Gulko should perhaps be included instead of Gushimov, I am just impressed by Gushimov lately.

H: Hort, Huebner, Hracek, Hodgson, Harikrisna

Hort and Huebner are players from the past, Haririsna is a temporary player from India. Soon can perhaps our Jon Ludvig Hammer come in on this team? As soon as he beats Harikrisna, he’s in.

I: Ivanchuk, Inarkiev, B. Ivkov, V. Ikonnikov, Alexej Ilusjin

Ivanchuk is a fantastic player, but he never made it to the title of wold champion. And the players to help him, won’t help much here. There are not many players starting with this letter.

J:Jussupov, Janowski, Jakovenko, Jobava, Jukhtman

It is a question which team Jussupov shall join, as his name is sometimes spelled with a “J”, sometimes with a “Y”, Yussupov. On the Fide list he is spelled with “J”, so here he is. He somewhat strengthens a team which will not fight at the top anyway.

K: Kamsky, Kalifman, Karjakin, Kazhimdzhanov, Koblents

The dream team of Kasparov, Karpov, Keres and Korchnoi with Kramnik as substitute is of course unbeatable. Arguably two of the greatest and longest ranging world champions in chess history, togheter with two of the best that never made it. A player like Kramnik don’t even qualify for the team. Kaidanov and Krasenkow also starts with this very, very strong letter.

L: Lasker, B. Larsen, Leko, Ljubojevic, Liljental

 Now this is a strong team. The psycological strong Lasker at the top table, the great Dane Larsen as second, and then a hard working hungarian in Leko. The great Ljubojevic from his hidays should also be able to get some points.

M: Morozevich, Mamedyarov, Movesian, Marshall, Murphy

I like Moro a lot, but he uses to lose playing skill against though opponents. Here he faces the thoughest opponents in chess history. Maybe he should be placed on board 4, as a tactic? Good old Murphy is included as a substitute. The great Brasilian Mecking is left out.

N: Najdorff, Nimsowich, Nunn, Nakamura, Nei

Here are the letter for the openings, and for chess books. Nakamura come in as a wild card on board 4.

O: Alexander Onischuk, F. Olafsson, Helgi Olafsson, M. Oleksienko, A. Obodchuk,

Not many great players with this letter. There should be a way to find a better player than Obodchuk, who lost badly (by taking a draw after 12 moves) against Gelfand in the world cup 2009, first round. Appart from him, the letter is made up by players from Iceland.

P: Petrosian, Portisch, Judith Polgar, Polugaevsky, Panno

The best defender in chess history joins up with the best attacker, and the all time best woman chess player. The great russian player Panov should perhaps be included in the team. The same could Ponomariov, but I think he still has something to prove.

R: Radjabov, Reshevsky, Ribli, Rubinstein, Rublevsky

Some very young and some very old, here. The set up of the team is not obvious.

S: Smyslov, Spassky, Shirov, L. Stein, Svidler

If any could do something with the amazing K’s, it would perhaps be the S’. Two of the great world champions joins with a lot of top class players, but none perhaps at the very peak. Steiniz could be another player to join here, but I think he is to early to join the list. He hasn’t the talent for hard work, needed. Sokolov could also be mentioned.

T: Tal, Topalov, Timman, Taimanov, Tarrasch

Tal is mine and many others favourite, but that is more due to excitement of play, than quality. He lead a very exciting team though, Topalov at his best was easily the top rated player in the world for month, he could beat anyone. Timman is the best dutch player of all time, and Taimanov is best remembered for having lost 6 – 0 to Fischer. He was a great player, also.

If they needed more players, they could use Torre.

U: Uhlmann, Unzicker, Ufimtzev, Mikhail Umansky 

The old german player can’t do much to save this letter. Umansky is a not very known and not very skilled (rating as of 23.11.09 2455, he is born in 1952), so he gets his place because there are not many good chess players starting with the letter “U” around. The letter is not present in Kyrillian. That explains a lot.

V: Van Wely, Vallejo-Pons, Volokitin, Vaganian, Vachier Lagrave

This letter won’t make it.

W: Wang Yue, Wang hao, Wade, Wen Yang, Waitskin

There are not many great chess players starting with w. They are saved by the chinese. Wen Yang is a less known player from China, but he is rated 2518 at the moment, and he is born in 1988. Waitskin is the american chess player best known from the Chessmaster series on PC, and also from the film “Searching for Bobby Fischer”. But seach a great player, he never was, and never became.

Y: Yusupov, Yermolinsky, Yudasin, J. Yakovich, Yu Yangui

Yusupov was a strong grand master at his best, but here he compeates with the best in chess history, and will falter. Yu Yangui introduced himself to the chess scene by beating Movesian in the first round of the world cup in Kanthy Manisk.

Z: Zaitsev, Zhong Zhang, Zhou Weiqi, Vladim Zvjaginsev

The chinese save this letter so it can come up with a team, at least. Russians and chinese make up the team.

Even though the other tournaments in this year’s internal competitions are 2 rounds away from completion, the U140 KO tournament was decided this past week! I had played my opponent once before a year ago, so I could prepare for his opening choice if I won the toss and played white – which I did.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Nb3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Be2 d6 9. O-O b6 10. Be3 Bb7 11. f4 Rc8 12. Rc1 Nd7 13. Nd4 Nc5 14. Bf3 Nxd4 15. Bxd4 Ne6 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. f5
We had both played the opening reasonably well. Along with the text move here, I considered two main alternatives. 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. exd5 Nc7 (18… Nxf4? 19. Qd4+, winning) seemed very promising for white. But Bxd5 wasn’t forced and I couldn’t see how I could push on with my attack. 17. Be2 didn’t offer me much hope either in opening up lines to his king.

17… Ng5 18. Qd4+ f6 19. Nd5
(19. Bg4 Qd7 20. Rcd1)

19… Nxf3+
19… e6 20. fxe6 Nxe6 was an option I thought he might go for, as the position is completely drawn.

20. Rxf3 Qd7 21. Nf4
If I could get my knight to e6, I would be winning. Or so I thought. Instead the position was now dead equal, and was going to remain so for the next several moves! 21. b4 Bxd5 22. exd5 gxf5 23. Qd3 or 21. Re1 were two ways to keep a (very slight) edge in the position.

21… gxf5 22. Nh5+ Kh8 23. Rxf5 Qe6 24. Ng3 Rc5 25. Rxc5 dxc5 26. Qd3 Rg8 27. Rd1 Bc6 28. b3 a6 29. Qe3 Qg4 30. Rf1 Rd8 31. e5 Qg5 32. Qxg5 fxg5 33. e6 Rd2?!
33… h5 34. Nxh5 Rd2 35. Rf2 Rd1+ 36. Rf1 Rd2 is a draw by perpetual. Now I could play for a win!

34. Rf8+ Kg7 35. Rf7+ Kg6 36. Rxe7?
This throws away the afore-mentioned win. 36. Nf5 Kh5 37. Nxe7 Bxg2 38. Ng8 Bc6 39. e7 Be8 40. Nf6+ Kg6 41. Rf8 Re2 42. Nxe8 Rxe7 43. Rf6+ Kh5 44. Re6 Rxe6 45. Ng7+ Kg4 46. Nxe6 is a line the computer spits out. I thought about 36. Nf5 but had trouble seeing the right follow-up. Instead, the text move could even be losing. But it required my opponent to see a tricky defense (and neither one of us saw it)!

36… Bxg2?
And I fully capitalize this time and bring in the full point! I was more worried about 36…Rxg2 37. Kf1 Rxh2. But this isn’t sufficient either. The really tricky move to find is 37… Rd2! 38. Rc7 Rd6 39. e7 Kf7 40. Nf5 Rf6 41. Kg1 and it is black that’s playing for a win!

37. Rd7! Rxa2 38. e7 Kf7 39. Nf5 Re2 40. Nd6+ Kg6 41. e8=Q+ Rxe8 42. Nxe8 Bh3 43. Rb7 Bf5 44. Rxb6+ Kh5 45. Rxa6 Bc2 46. Rb6 Kh4 47. Kf2 h5 48. Nf6 g4 49. b4 cxb4 50. Rxb4 Kh3 51. Nxh5 Kxh2 52. c5 Bg6 53. Ng3 Be8 54. Rxg4 1-0

In the endgame, I missed a couple of easier mating lines but the result was never really in doubt. Great to notch a tournament victory!

Yesterday at the Best of Phoenix Scholastic Chess Tournament I played a Blindfold Exhibition game against Coach Bobby “Moose” Brown.

Bobby Brown-Leopold Lacrimosa

Blindfold Exhibition

G/15 9sec delay

1.d4 d5 2. e5 Bobby likes to play the BDG 2…Nc6 I rather go into a Nimzowitsch Defense 3.Nc3 a6 4.Nxd5 e6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bc4 Qxd4! 7.Qxd4 Nxd4 8.Nge2 Nxc2+ 9.Kd1 Nxa1 10.Bd2 Nf6 11. Kc1 0-0 12.Kb1 b5 13.Bxb5? axb5 14.Ka1 Ra7 15.Kb1 Bd7 16. a3 Rfa8 17. Kc1 Bxc3 18.Nxc3 Rd8 19.h4 c5 20.h5 h6 21.f3 b4 22.Ne2 bxa3 23.bxa3 Rxa3 24.Kb2 Rda8 25.Nc3 Ra1 26.Rh2 Bc6 27.g4 Nxg4 28.fxg4 Bxe4 29.Nxe4 R8a2+ 30.Kb3 Ra3+ 31.Kb2 R1a2+ 32.Kb1 Ra1+ 33.Kb2 R1a2+ 1/2-1/2

If, during the game, it is found out that an illegal move has been made, then the position shall be reconstructed as it was immediately before the illegal move was played. The game shall then continue in accordance with the rules. If during a game, one or more pieces have been accidentally displaced and are not correctly replaced, the position shall be set up as it was immediately before the mistake and the game continued. If it proves impossible to set up the position again, the game shall be annulled and the fresh game started. If, after on adjustment to set up the position is incorrectly put up, then the position as it was on adjustment shall be set up again and the game continued.

If, during the game, it is found the initial position of the pieces was incorrect, then the game shall be annulled and a fresh game played. (F.I.D.E. Interpretation— this has been extended to apply to the case where the players have started with the wrong colors). If, during a game it is found that the position of the chessboard is incorrect, then the position reached shall be transformed to the chessboard correctly placed and the game continued.

1)      During the play, each player is required to record the game (moves of his own and his opponent’s), move by move, as clearly and legibly as possible on the score sheet provided for the contest.

2)      If , acutely pressed for time, a player is clearly unable to comply with the section 1 above, he shall nevertheless do his best to indicate on his scores sheet the number of moves made. As soon as his time trouble is over he shall immediately complete his record of the game by writing down the omitted moves.