I Shall Return...in about a Week

I have been quite busy of late with the increased workload of transitioning from Spring to Summer (when I typically wear two seasonal hats at once) and with renovating my basement (preparing to start up a little chess club for my son and his friends).  Busy at work and busy at home means there is just no time to post.  But I expect to return to posting in mid-June (which is pretty soon).  I was putting together a US Championship webliography, but it looks like I won't finish it for over a week, when it will not be so valuable anymore.  But I have several other projects in the works.  I have been reading The Alterman Gambit Guide (surprisingly good, by the way) and already have a review planned.  I am working on several pieces of opening analysis, including the Danish Gambit, Smith-Morra Gambit, Urusov Gambit (time for an update), Black Fianchetto System in the Open Games, and some lines in the French as both White and Black. I am working on a longer essay on chess and metaphor.  And I am likely to be refreshing my teaching materials as I prepare to teach a couple chess classes this summer.  I'll be back.... 

Anand - Topalov Webliography

Last week, Viswanathan Anand won the final game of the World Chess Championship against Veselin Topalov in Sofia, Romania, to retain his title.  The games in this championship were not error free, but they were always exciting and have rightly received a lot of commentary.  I have compiled links to annotations of all 12 games.  I will be adding more links in the coming days and welcome additions from readers.

Game One

Topalov - Anand, Gruenfeld Exchange Variation (D86), 1-0

• Pein on sofia Game One - What Went Wrong? by Malcolm Pein at ChessBase
• Campeonato Mundial, Partida 1 by Hector Leyva
• Topalov Draws First Blood at ChessBase
• Chessdom on Game 1 with Alexandra Kosteniuk and others commenting live

Game Two

Anand - Topalov, Catalan (E04), 1-0

• Sofia Game Two - More Analysis and Pictures by Malcolm Pein at ChessBase 
• World Championship, Game 2 annotated by Dennis Monokroussos
• Campeonato Mundial, Partida 2 by Wilfredo Sariego Figueredo
  
• Anand Strikes Back in Game Two by Anish Giri
• Chessdom on Game 2 with Alexandra Kosteniuk and others commenting live
• Chess Notes by Patrick Wolff in The Boston Globe

Game Three

Topalov - Anand, Slav (D17), 1/2-1/2

• Game three Drawn by Anish giri at ChessBase 
• Campeonato Mundial, Partida 3 by  Guillermo Soppe
• Chessdom on Game 3 with Alexandra Kosteniuk and others commenting live
• Title Match Remains Tied after Game Three Is Drawn by Dylan Loeb McClain

Game Four

Anand - Topalov, Catalan (E04), 1-0

• World Championship - Sleepless in Sofia? by Malcolm Pein at ChessBase 
• Anand Wins Game Four, Takes the Lead by Anish Giri at ChessBase
• World Championship, Game 4 annotated by Dennis Monokroussos 
• Anand - Topalov, World Championship Game 4, annotated by Boris Schipkov
• Campeonato Mundial, Partida 4 by Jorge Luís Fernández
• Chessdom on Game 4 with Alexandra Kosteniuk and others commenting live
• Anand on Top So Far by Ian Rogers at USCF Online

Game Five

Topalov - Anand, Slav (D17), 1/2-1/2

• World Championship G5, commentary and impressions by Malcolm Pein at ChessBase
• Campeonato Mundial, Partida 5 by Hector Leyva
  
• Chessdom on Game 5 with Alexandra Kosteniuk and others commenting live  
• Game 5 of Title Match Is Drawn; Anand Retains Lead by Dylan Loeb McClain

Game Six

Anand - Topalov, Catalan (E04), 1/2-1/2

• Sofia R6: Draw, Anand Leads at ChessBase 
• World Championship, Game 6 annotated by Dennis Monokroussos
• Campeonato Mundial, Partida 6 by Guillermo Soppe
• Chessdom on Game 6 with Alexandra Kosteniuk and others commenting live

Game Seven

Anand - Topalov, Bogo-Indian (E00), 1/2-1/2

• World Championship, Game 7 annotated by Dennis Monokroussos
• A nerve-shattering, blood-curdling draw at ChessBase 
• Campeonato Mundial, Partida 7 by Jorge Luís Fernández 
• Chessdom on Game 7 with Alexandra Kosteniuk and others commenting live

Game Eight

Topalov - Anand, Slav (D17), 1-0

• Campionato Mundial, Partida Ocho by Wilfredo Sariego Figueredo
• Another Look at Game Eight by Malcolm Pein at ChessBase
• Chessdom on Game 8 with Alexandra Kosteniuk and others commenting live 
• Topalov Strikes Back by Ian Rogers at USCF Online 
  Critical moments from games 5-8 discussed.
• Topalov Wins to Tie Championship Match by Dylan Loeb McClain

Game Nine

Anand - Topalov, Nimzo-Indian Defense (E53), 1/2-1/2

• Giri on Game Nine by Anish Giri at ChessBase
• World Championship, Game 9 by Dennis Monokroussos
• Campeonato Mundial, Partida 9 by Antonio Torrecillas
• Chessdom on Game 9 with Alexandra Kosteniuk and others commenting live  
• Anand Wins Championship by Jack Peters for the LA Times 
• Title Match Remains Tied after Champion Misses Win by Dylan Loeb McClain for The New York Times

Game Ten

Topalov - Anand, Gruenfeld (D86), 1/2-1/2

• Campeonato Mundial, Partida 10, annotated by Hector Leyva at InforChess
• Giri on Game Ten by Anish Giri at ChessBase
• Chessdom on Game 10 with Alexandra Kosteniuk and others commenting live 

Game Eleven

Anand - Topalov, English Reversed Dragon (A29), 1/2-1/2

• Campeonato Mundial, Partida 11, annotated by Hector Leyva at InforChess
• World Championship, Game 11 annotated by Dennis Monokroussos
• Giri on Game Eleven by Anish Giri at ChessBase
• Chessdom on Game 11 with Alexandra Kosteniuk and others commenting live

Game Twelve

Topalov - Anand, Queen's Gambit Declined, Lasker Defense (D56), 0-1

• Giri on Game Twelve by Anish Giri at ChessBase
• World Championship, Game 12 annotated by Dennis Monokroussos
• Sofia R12 at ChessBase 
• Chessdom on Game 12 with Alexandra Kosteniuk  and others commenting live
• Anand Keeps World Championship Title by Alexandra Kosteniuk
• Anand - Topalov World Championship Game 12 by Mark Crowther at TWIC
• Anand Wins Championship by Jack Peters for the LA Times
• Anand Beats Topalov, Retains World Title at ChessVibes with game 
• Campeonato Mundial, Partida 12 by Antonio Torrecillas
• Polgar: World Chess Champion Successfully Defends His Title by Susan Polgar at Lubbock Online. 
• With One Blunder, Challenger Lets Champion Keep Title by Dylan Loeb McClain in The New York Times
• Anand Retains World Title by Ian Rogers at USCF Online
  Includes coverage of games 9-12, focusing on the critical moments only.
• Anand Retains Title!! by The Chess Coroner

The last game was most interesting to me as it may well revive interest in my favorite Lasker's Defense to the Queen's Gambit Declined.

Other commentary can be found at the official Anand - Topalov website, Convekta, as well as on ICC and ChessLectures.com (both of which require subscription). 

US Chess Championship Starts Next Week

Jennifer Shahade appeared on ESPN2's "First Take" today with her hula hoop to help promote the 2010 U.S. Chess Championship, which has its opening ceremony on Thursday, May 13, in St. Louis.  As with last year, the organizers are just doing an incredible job, from the media kit to the documentary to the venue to the prizes, this is everything that U.S. chess fans could ask for or even dream.  Let's hope the players don't disappoint.

No Quarter: An Exhibition of Games

It's not exactly chess, but if you are into games like I am it is still interesting: "No Quarter: An Exhibition of Games" runs May 7 - June 30, 2010 at the NYU Game Center, located in the Tisch School of the Arts at 721 Broadway, 9th floor.  There is a reception May 6 at 5:00 pm.  The four commissioned games will be on display and available for play during this time. For information, visit the NYU Game Center or read more about the exhibit.

The New Address of this Blog?

I am still debating at the moment whether to stick with Blogger or jump to WordPress, and have moved the blog to both http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/ AND http://thekenilworthian.wordpress.com/.  I tried installing WordPress into the Kenilworthian folder and continuing the blog in the same location, but all of the links to individual posts  changed to WordPress format and I would have to remove the existing site to make it work.  This just did not seem such a good idea, since many of my posts link to each other or are linked to by others.  I experimented with a method of switching to WordPress and then changing all of the permalinks (over 1,000) to match the Blogger format, but it turns out that this method only works with new Blogger blogs and mine is an old one.  So I have decided to just leave the old blog here as a permanent archive and to pick up the site (and duplicate it) elsewhere.  So this looks more and more like the present and future home, with the old site at http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/kenilworthian/ serving as an archive only.