Sidelined for the NH Open

June 11th, 2009

The NH Open is this weekend! Alas, this year the $42 entry fee for the New Hampshire Chess Championship (more if you pay at the door) hits the wallet too hard. I’m not used to this budgeting stuff! :P

The good news is I’ll be spending Sunday with my friend Scott, and we’ll be dropping in to the tournament site to catch the big match-ups during the final championship rounds.

And… he’s going to cook up some home-made vegan chili (starting with dried beans) for lunch at his place. Should be a fun day, and I think it’s supposed to finally stop raining and warm up around here. Woohoo!

I’ll see if any of the guys would be willing to send me a game or two for the blog after the event. <fingers crossed>


Capablanca in Modern Day Endgame Play

May 27th, 2009

First off, big congratulations are due our new US Champion, Hikaru Nakamura. Steady play throughout the recently completed tournament netted him clear first. And thanks to Jen Shahade and all involved in pulling off such great live coverage. A most enjoyable event from the spectator’s point of view, with lots of fighting chess.

One game from close second, Robert Hess, particularly impressed and made me happy to see the great World Chess Champion Capablanca had clearly left his mark on our youth.

And earlier this month, there was this one from Kramnik:

Any guesses as to which endgame of Capablanca’s both reminded me? This brilliant masterpiece, of course!

I first encountered this game in the excellent book Capablanca’s Best Chess Endings: 60 Complete Game by Irving Chernev, which I highly recommend. I’ve read it a couple times now, and it’s due for another.

What do these games have in common? In all three, the victor allowed his opponent to capture pawns WITH CHECK in order to advance his king into attacking position.


Facebook Fireworks

May 8th, 2009

My first game using the chess.com Facebook app (a really cool piece of software) was against my friend Keith. We created a near miniature after he veered from known theory.

The time control was three days for each move, but I’d say we averaged more like a day each.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. ;)

Note the bit of local flare in the embedded game won by the Massachusetts youth Max Enkin. I had forgotten this game and only recalled having seen it during the post-mortem.


ChessHouse Coupon Codes April 2009

April 7th, 2009

Passing along the savings here, folks. Thought you might be interested in these coupon codes for ChessHouse.com.

Click the image below to bring up their site in a new window or tab. Happy shopping! :)


Chess Oldies – Really Descriptive Notation

March 19th, 2009

You’re probably familiar with descriptive notation, the once standard manner of writing down games. With this form of recording a battle, the moves are described from the vantage point of the player on the move and in relation to their pieces starting squares. It’s also often referred to as simply old notation, ever since the advent of the current standard, algebraic form.

Many people who did not grow up on descriptive notation find it difficult to grasp. Part of this is no doubt due to the fact that each square has two names depending on whether it is a White or Black move. For example, the d4 square is either Q4 (Queen 4) from White’s point of view, or Q5 from Black’s.

Further complicating the situation is the apparent necessity of remembering from whence each piece came. This is because, when, say, two knights can both land on the same square, the piece making the move is distinguished by whether it is the KN (King’s Knight) or the QN that is to occupy that space.

You may find it interesting to learn there’s an even older, even more descriptive chess notation that was once the way games were recorded. It looked a little like the following pulled from Philidor’s classic instructional entitled Chess Analysed.


White. The King’s Pawn two Steps.
Black. The fame.

2.
W. The King’s Bifhop at his Queen’s Bishop’s fourth Square.
B. The fame.

3.
W. The Queen’s Bifhop’s Pawn one Move.
B. The King’s Knight at his Bifhop’s third Square.

4.
W. The Queen’s Pawn two Moves.
B. The Pawn takes it.

5.
W. The Pawn retakes the Pawn.
B. The King’s Bifhop at his Queen’s Knight’s third Square.

6.
W. The Queen’s Knight at his Bifhop’s third Square.
B. The King caftles.

7.
W. The King’s Knight at his King’s fecond Square.
B. The Queen’s Bifhop’s Pawn one Move.

8.
W. The King’s Bifhop at his Queen’s third Square.
B. The Queen’s Pawn two Moves.

Seriously, each move pair took up three lines(!), one for the move number, and full sentences for both the White and Black moves. Notice also the almost arbitrary capitalization throughout and the ‘f’s in Bishop and castles. These latter are, of course, the letter ’s’, but in olden times, they were more like long f’s.

Here’s that same start in our beloved algebraic notation.


1.e4 e5
2.Bc4 Bc5
3.c3 Nf6
4.d4 exd4
5.cxd4 Bb6
6.Nc3 0-0
7.Nge2 c6
8.Bd3 d5

To read the rest of this classic book, and others, painstakingly converted for you, be sure to visit ChessOldies.com