X Chess Championship Finale

NM Justus Williams and FM Elliott Liu (ImmortalTechnique on Chess.com) were the finalists in the Extreme "X Chess" Championship tournament, which turned out to be a very interesting sporting contest right to the end.  I look forward to another edition of the show.

Irving Ellner Memorial, Round 2

Black to play.  What's the best move?

I have annotated the game O'Connor - Goeller, Irving Ellner Memorial 2012, from Round Two, which featured the Svenonius Defense to the Danish Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 Ne7!?) and illustrates the idea of exploiting an opponent's stylistic tendencies.  In the position above, things seem about equal and even drawish.  How can Black best try for more?  For more details about the tournament, see The Chess Coroner's blog.

GM Battle Manual Review

My review of The Grandmaster Battle Manual by GM Vassilios Kotronias (Quality Chess 2011) is up today at ChessCafe.  Though I appreciate the quality of the games presented in this book, I did not think it was useful for the majority of players. I have donated it to the Kenilworth Chess Club library if you want to take a look yourself (so you can see why it's not one I want to keep in my own collection).

Ding Liren Attacking Masterpiece

White to play.

I have been studying IQP attacking patterns with Isolani Strategy: Strengths and Weaknesses of the Isolated Queen's Pawn (Russian Chess House 2012).  So when I came across the game Ding Liren - Lu Shanglei, Chinese Chess Championship 2012, I was really impressed.  Here is a game that combines a number of very typical isolani motifs into a brilliant tactical display.  IM Hector Leyva has annotated the game very nicely at InforChess, albeit in Spanish.  Worth a look.

Irving Ellner Memorial Starts Thursday

The Irving Ellner Memorial tournament begins this Thursday, April 12, with registration ending at 8:15 p.m.  I am going to play as part of my plan to increase my rated games this year.  Irving Ellner (1918 - 2008) was president of the Kenilworth Chess Club during the 1980s and single-handedly kept the light from dimming during a difficult era for the club, as Mike Wojcio documents in our club history.  I met Irving a couple times back when I played as a youngster, and he always struck me as a very kind and gentle man.  I annotated a couple of his better games when I heard that he had passed.  Let's make this a great tournament to honor his memory.  Details below:


5th Annual Irving Ellner Memorial

• USCF Rated
• 6-round Swiss
• G/75 time control
• Rounds will commence at 8:20 p.m. on April 12th, 19th, 26th and May 10th, 17th, 24th. There is no game on May 3rd!
• Entry Fee: $15
• Prizes: 1st $100, 2nd $50, 3rd $25, Best under 1900 $20, U1500 $20.
• All prizes are guaranteed. They will be higher if there are more entries.
• Register with TD Geoff McAuliffe during our 3/29 and 4/5 meetings or before 8:20 p.m. on 4/12 @ Kenilworth Community Center, 575 Boulevard, Kenilworth, N.J.

Polgar Move Goes Viral

It's interesting to watch a news story go viral.  GM Susan Polgar decided to move, along with her entire chess team, to Webster University in St. Louis at the beginning of the year (I think Jim West broke the story for the blogosphere back in February), but suddenly every news organization in the country is picking up the story.  All I can say is that it sounds like a brilliant move, and St. Louis -- home of the fabulous St. Louis Chess Club and Scholastic Center and now host to all of the major U.S. chess events -- might soon become the chess capital of the world.