Mysterious Alekhine :: A genious or a war criminal?

Alekhine is one of my chess idols. I admired his chess style but mostly I admired the openings he invented. His life seems to have been very controversial though. I have read before that he might have been involved with the "bad guys" of the second world war and I always hoped that this might have been an inaccuracy. I had also read about the mysterious way he died. It is officially claimed that he choked from a piece of food or that he had a heart attack. This article in ChessBase revealed a very important claim or hypothesis. That Alexander Alekhine might have been shot by a a state group of the french government that was created to punish those who had co-operated with the enemy during the second world war. This claim was done by the doctor who apparently had been pressed by the government to write a false death certificate.

If Alekhines association with the enemy was true then it is truly dissapointing that a great chess genious could have taken part, even merely by lending his name, to war crimes. The german wikipedia article states that he might have allowed the germans faschists to use his name in hate-articles so that he can continue his chess career. The english wikipedia article states that this statement has not yet been proved despite the extented investigations. The german wikipedia article goes on to present with even more horrifying rumours I do not even wish to discuss here. Fact is that we do not know the truth. Fact is also that he had been expelled by the chess community after the end of the second world war.

If he had been a criminal then he did not seem to find solace among criminals after the war. He was depressed and lonely, sensitive in a way that a cold-blooded criminal could not have been. In his own words July 1944:

"The best part of my life has passed away between two world wars that have laid Europe waste. Both wars ruined me, with this difference: at the end of the first war I was 26 years of age, with an unbounded enthusiasm I no longer have. If, sometime, I write my memoirs – which is very possible – people will realize that chess has been a minor factor in my life. It gave me the opportunity to further an ambition and at the same time convince me of the futility of the ambition. Today, I continue to play chess because it occupies my mind and keeps me from brooding and remembering."

Regardless what the truth actually is, his chess-achievements and knowledge is what keeps me admiring him. We usually never really know the true characters of famous genious and personalities. But we can use them in the most positive and contructive way, disregarding the negative aspects, for our own personal growth.

Learning Chess Openings is a dull business

Learning openings is a dull task when it comes to reading whole books about them. I am not afraid to confess that I find this extremely boring. However, since I do like to learn openings I discovered a new and fun way of learning them. I visit chessgames.com browse through my favourite chess players and view their games. Before choosing a game to view I take into consideration the opening played and decide whether I want to learn that. Surprisingly this method does have good results. It is fun and most importantly it is quick! It takes more than the double time to set up a board, fetch a book and try to read through the chess ciphers. At least by viewing games one can concentrate upon learning and not on whether one reads the chess script in a correct way or not.

Today I discovered that the d6 of the black in the sicilian is not limited to the dragons variation. It seems that also the najdorf uses that and who know how many more? Now I am left wondering which move actually differiantates the dragon from the najdorf.... ??

In search for the perfect black opening - Dragon's Sicilian

I know I should not be studying openings, I know that they are for more advanced chess players but they really do fascinate me. I believe they do teach me ways of understanding the strategy of chess. I am not sure why but it is more difficult to find interesting opening for the black and then once you get to know them, you find that almost all openings have been written to deal with the problems of the black. The fact that black has the second move is a disadvantage and black has to fight a lot to become even. Or maybe I am just bumping into openings that are suitable only for the black.

I have had a repulsion for the sicilian, maybe because my brother used to play it a lot and I never could beat him. I tried playing it when I was younger and too inexperienced and it did not lead to success. Many years passed until I decided to play chess again and now I wanted to get to know the sicilian a bit more, at least how to face it. The first interesting sicilian variant I came across had the e6 at some point. I admired this e6! What an amazing move! I played this variant again and again. Then I got a book called Dragon's Sicilian and started to read it. To my great disappointment the first analysis did not have any e6 .. it had d6! D6??? I could not believe it, nor could I understand its philosophy. What a pity I thought, maybe I should find out what the e6 is called and get a book on it. But the more I read into this book the more I started to find d6 "not that bad'. Now I have just read a few pages and I cant understand what I was thinking when I liked the e6 :))!! Probably both openings are good, but it is going to be the dragon's sicilian for me now and I only play this at yahoo games to get to know it more!

Which leaves me again with no opening for as white... but we cannot have it all, can we?

Chess Motivation

I have 2 posts in my viruswitch blog about chess. I wrote them last january when I hadn't started this chessblog yet. In fact what I describe in them has been the seed of my chess motivation that grew into my little addiction. I feel as if there is something missing without these 2 posts from this blog, so I am going to republish them here.

Chess at the Speed of Light

Sunday, January 29, 2006 // posted by viruswitch at 01:21

Today was one those rare days that will remain unforgetable to me. It was the first time I saw a grand master of chess (national and european champion, 3rd medal worldwide) in action. Needless to say that I was taken aback with surprize, shock and admiration. I have never seen anything similar in my entire life! The chessmaster was very friendly and funny, doing jokes all the time while playing against us in a speed, comparable almost to that of light.

The clock was set at 5 minutes for the opponent and ONLY 35 seconds for the chessmaster! 35 seconds are normally not even enough to perform all the game-moves of the pieces along the board. But his fingers were moving so fast, still much slower than his mind, which foresaw the next moves and made combinations that beat all of his opponents within seconds. At the end of the evening, he analysed some games and taught us several things.

I am very happy that I had the honour of getting a great interview from him. The interview will be published in one of my sites and and in the local newspaper. Tomorrow is the official simultane game and even though I know I will loose, I am looking forward to it because I remember his words:

"What matters is the knowledge one gains out of a game and not victory or loss. That is why one should not get dissapointed but keep on playing and learning from ones experiences."

Almost a draw with a GM

The draw was right in front of me in move no 39. I saw it, I knew it, but I didnt believe in it. Thats why I lost it. The game was amazing, although I have to say that the grand master gave me 2 extra rounds to think. In the end not many people were left playing and he was returning much quicker to my board. The truth though is that I have much more to learn in chess. By no means would a draw mean that I have the level of the grand master. So maybe I shouldnt even think about it and return to the "earth". Its just frustrating because I saw it but I didnt play the correct move.

Here is the game:

Grand Master - Viruswitch

1. d4 Nf6
2. c4 e6
3. Nf3 Bb4
4. Bd2 B:d2
5. Q:d2 o-o
6. Nc3 Re8
7. e3 b6
8. Be2 Bb7
9. o-o Ne4
10. N:e4 B:e4
11. Ne1 c5
12. f3 Bf5
13. e4 Bg6
14. d5 e5
15. Nc2 d6
16. Ne3 Nd7
17. Bd1 Nb9
18. Ba4 Rf8
19. a3 a5
20. Bb5 Ra7
21. b4 Na6
22. B:a6 R:a6
23. b:c5 b:c5
24. Rb1 a4
25. Rb7 f5
26. e:f5 B:f5
27. N:f5 R:f5
28. Rb1 Ra8
29. Qb2 Rf8
30. Re1 Qh4
31. Re4 Qh6
32. h3 Rf4
33. R:f4 Q:f4
34. Rb8+ R:b8
35. Q:b8+ Qf8
36. Q:f8 K:f8
37. Kf2 g5
38. Ke3 Kg7
39. Ke4 h5 ?????????
40. Kf5 black resigns

The original postings can be found here.

Deep Fritz 8 :: A great and funny chess program

I installed Deep Fritz 8 today and I must say I am impressed! Chessmaster 9000 didn't make it for me, I got bored trying to find my way around it. Fritz on the other hand is funny! Plus it looks powerful. The settings are there in the form of small buttons just like in dreamweaver :))! And the "coach" warns each time you make a bad move.

The Coach (a funny strickt looking guy with a cigar in his mouth, a hat of the sixties on, holding huge chesspieces...) warns with subtle hints like: "Can't the million move monster simply catch your pawn." Or: "G1-e2? What nerve!" You can reply with:

-Give me a subtle hint.
-Give me a broad hint.
-I dont believe that.
-Ok I take it back.

What fun!

Ponziani Opening - English Opening

Today I learned a variation of the Ponziani Opening or the English Opening. It is a beautiful opening! I wish I knew that during the times I was playing e4. I grew to hate e4 because the position always ended in a very normal and same way. But the english opening is very nice! I am thrilled. I might consider playing it also as Black. Since I dont know the sicialian yet, and the Alekhine doesn't prove to be very powerful against strong players. I might have some chances with the english one. I will try it tonight. The variation I learned is :

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. c3 ! f5!

both moves seem almost revolutionary to me! The White's reply is even more astonishing!

4. d4! and the correct way for the Black to capture is fxe4
5. Nxe5 Qf6
6. Ng4 Qg6
7. Bf4 (threatening the pawn at c7) d6
8. Ne3 Nf6
9. Na3 Be7
10. Qb3 a6
11. Nac2 Nd8
12. Bg3 Nf7
13. Bc4 0-0 +=

I would not want to be the black in this position. All variations end in favour of the white. This means I shouldnt play it as Black. Or I ll have to look into the next variations such as 3... d5.

I think I have been reading too much on the hypermodern school of chess and I have not gotten to know the romantic school (english, scotch, three knights, four knights, italian etc.)

e4 is still a problem for me as Black.

Visualization Consequences

I am starting to think that these visualizations where not such a great idea. Whenever I close my eyes I see endgame positions. Kings moving to the center. Knights making forks. pawns capturing other pawns. Bishops threatening pawns and no solution to support them. !!!

Visualizations for Blind Chess

It is definetely too early for me to start thinking about playing blind chess but these visualizations I tried do work. I tried last night to visualize the two new subvariations I learned of the king's Indian and even if it was taking a bit long I could see all of them.

The most difficult thing is to be able to locate all positions of the pieces in every single move ie to keep the mental image of the board before my mind's eyes. I am going to keep training these visualizations because I think that they do work. They force the mind to play chess 100% and not the hands. In the end it all comes from the mind but it is easier to use the real chessboard as a starting point for further analysis and calculations.

These subvariants last about 10 moves. I wonder how it would work with 20 moves. That would make things more complicated. Maybe I should learn a game by heart or play chess with my mind! :)) LOL

Another interesting thing is to imagine a chessboard, to locate random squares and try to give them their right name like g7, f4, e2 etc. Firstly from the white's point of view and then from the black's. I think I will start that one with a real chessboard first and then blind.

Dear diary...

Today I learned two sub-variations of the King's Indian after the move of the white bishop to g5 and black pawn h6. All two are bad for the white and I learned by heart the sequence of the moves. It is not difficult to remember when one sees why these moves are played. One move invites the other one and it is quite easy to remember. I decided to learn the King's Indian and especially this variation because one of my friends plays it all the time and beats me all the time. Next time I am going to be prepared though!

Blind chess inspires much awe within me. I do not understand what kind of hardware and software these chess players have installed in their mind to play blind! Tonight I am going to try and visualize the 2 variations I learned before sleeping with closed eyes. I wonder if I will be able to "draw" them in my mind. And tomorrow I will post the results!

Experimenting with self-made chess openings

This is a game I played in Yahoo Chess today, which I analysed with my chess teacher as well. I like it very much because I think its a great example of my new experiment. The experiment I am doing is playing the opening in unorthodox ways without having in mind a specific sequence of moves. I just reply the moves of the opponent in the way that looks logical to me. It is amazing how many different ways there are for opening a game. My opponent was not good but I also thought I was seeing threats that were not actually there. I won a piece but he had the opportunity of getting it back with a brilliant exchange of his rook with my knight (he could capture back my rook in move 26)

;Title: Yahoo! Chess Game
;White: x-opponent
;Black: viruswitch
;Date: Sun Apr 02 12:29:52 GMT 2006

1. g3 Nf6

I have no idea what kind of opening this is. I have noticed that it very popular among yahoo games chess players to make fianchetos from both side sometimes. So I thought of replying like in the kings indian.

2. Bg2 d5

But the I thought why not try to get the center since he is letting me do so? So I played d5. I wonder if any such opening exists.

3. d4 g6

I did not like his d4 move so I went on with the way the kings indian would have developed.

4. c3 Bg7
5. Nf3 Nd7

Initially I thought that this was a bad move because it blocks my bishop but I did not want to let the opponent place his knight in e5. My teacher said that it is not a bad move.

6. o-o b6

b6 because I want to get rid of the white pawn at d4. It also lets my bishop breath.

7. Na3 c5

His Na3 did put me into thoughts but I thought that it posed no serious threat and went on with my plan.

8. Bf4 cxd4

Of course the bishop now comes to add to the power of the white knight at a3. If
(9. Nb5 .... 10. Nc7 strikes doubly the king and the rook.) I dont know why I thought that he doesnt have this option and went on with my plan. I often see things on the board that are not really valid. That must be due to wrong visualization and calculation of the moves ahead.

9. Nb5 o-o

Now I saw the double strike and did another mistake in my calculation: I did not see that if the knight will occupy the square at c2 the white bishop cannot reach the square at b2 which gives me a free square for the rook. Well I did not see that and thought that I will have to give the rook for the knight. So I castled in order to avoid at least the double strike.

10. Nxd4 Bb7

Well, he did not see what I was seeing and probably did the right thing to get back his pawn.

11. Nb5 Rc8

The threat which "I thought" that was were is still valid so I played my rook at c8 and he captured my pawn.


12. Nxa7 Rc5

My teacher did not like the idea of the rook out there but another mistake of the opponent gave me my pawn back:

13. b4 Rxc3
14. Nb5 Rc4

He threatens my rook. I move him away and threaten the pawn at b4 at the same time.

15. a3 Re8

Which he supports with a3. Re8 prepares the plan of pushing my pawn at e5.

16. Rc1 e5
17. Nxe5 Rxc1

It is a great mistake to capture the pawn with the knight. Because I would surely not capture it back with my knight. If I did so (17... Nxe5, 18. Rxc4 ) and I cannot capture my rook back because I will loose my queen (18 ... xc4, 19. Qxd8). So the first thing I did it to capture his rook firstly so that his queen is out of my queens range.

18. Qxc1 Nxe5

And now I win one piece. In the end, chess is nothing more than maths??

19. Bxe5 Rxe5
20. f4 Re7
21. f5 gxf5

My teacher said it was not very good to capture his pawn here. Had I let him capture mine firstly I would have a better structure of pawns.

22. Rxf5 Rxe2

This pawn could have been captured since 2 moves I think, but I just saw it.

23. Qg5 Re1+

Qg5 does not threaten anything and even if Kh8 would have been better (to unpin the bishop) I played the rook at e1 with the hope that he will play Bf1 which he did. I dreaded the return of his rook at f1 but he did not see that and I was able to go on with my plan.


24. Bf1 d4

I am going for a new queen! But I also free my bishop.

25. Qd2 Be4?

He threatens my rook and my pawn at the same, so I thought I will threaten his rook as well. If (26. Qxe1 Bxf5) and the pawn is safe. But my teacher discovered that the white had a great opportunity to get a piece back with (26. Rxf3!! Bxf3, 27. Qxe1). I did not see that and so did my opponent :)).

The rest of the game is quite self explanatory. I have plenty opportunities of making checkmate. There are actually 2 checkmates between the moves which I had not discovered but I finally checkmated him without having to promote the pawn to queen. I did something somewhat spectacular like gifting a knight but the opponent did not see it or declined the sacrifice and I checkmated easily. We analysed this sacrifice and saw that black wins. I am not sure I had calculated all that in the game but I followed my instict more.

26. Qxe1 Bxf5
27. Qc1 d3
28. Qd2 Qd5
29. Nc7 Qd4+
30. Kh1 Be4+
31. Bg2 Bxg2+
32. Kxg2 Qe4+
33. Kf1 Ng4
34. h3 Nh2+
35. Kf2 Qf3+
36. Ke1 Qf1++

Chess-club training not enough

I think I need to invent a system of training myself in chess. We have one class every sunday for one hour and that is surely not enough. Ok, some of us gather in a cafe almost daily and play a few games which is great, but I slowly feel the need of reading books on chess and learning more openings. We always play the same openings and I know the style of my usual opponents. I also want to learn more about the endgame. Since I have much spare time, I think I could dedicate one or two hours of reading daily. Of course things will get more difficult when the university starts but I will think about that later! I am going to invent a chess training system for myself now! (and god knows if I will ever follow it!)