Alter Ego (1972)

"Alter Ego" is a freaky episode of the television series Ghost Story, which modeled itself after The Twilight Zone, with Sebastian Cabot in the Rod Serling role of host and a focus on  the supernatural.  Broadcast in 1972, this sixth episode clearly intends to capitalize on Fischer's recent triumph in Reykjavik.  The title character is named "Bobby" and naturally plays chess.  Who does he play with?  Himself, of course -- or an evil version of himself who becomes hell bent on taking over his life.  The story-line involving his social studies teacher, Miss Gilden (played by the incomparable Helen Hayes), is every educator's worst nightmare. Dated but mildly diverting, in three 15-minute installments.

West Orange CC Fall Swiss Starts November 8

The West Orange Chess Club's Late Fall Swiss tournament starts next week.  Here is the information:

Nov. 8, 15, 22, 29, Dec. 13, 20   West Orange CC Late Fall Swiss   GPP: 6   New Jersey 6 rds., G/100, Reg. 7-7:30 P.M., rds. start at 8:00. EF: $30.00, members $25. Prizes: 1st $150, 2nd $100, 3rd $75 guaranteed; Best under 1900, $60, 1700, $50, 1500, $35 guaranteed. Details: http://westorangechessclub.blogspot.com/ and buickchess@gmail.com. Byes: Two 1/2 pt. byes available in any rd; must know by the end of rd. 4. Address: Toby Katz Community Center, 650 Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ 07052. Chess Magnet School JGP.

Fluxus Chess Game

I went to the Fluxus Art Show at the Zimmerli Art Museum today to play some chess.  It was a fun experience and an interesting challenge to play a game using fruits and vegetables in place of pieces.  I played an interesting game against Lev Zilbermintz, which I have reconstructed and annotated.  Though not a lot of chess players showed up, it was a fun event and definitely representative of the Fluxus art philosophy, which often incorporates audience members into a spontaneous performance of art made up of found objects.  It was a very relaxed atmosphere and one of the most fun games I have played in a long time.  Though my opponent got confused by the crazy board and dropped a piece early in the game, he battled as best he could until I was able to put together a deadly mating net (see diagram below).

Black to play and win most quickly.

The Zimmerli Art Museum at 71 Hamilton Street in New Brunswick, NJ (right next door to my office) is hosting a "fruits and vegetables themed chess tournament in [the] style of the Fluxus art movement" on Wednesday, November 2, 2011 from 4:00 - 7:00 pm. According to their Facebook page, "The tournament starts at 4:00 pm and games will be played first until 6:00 pm, when a free play period will begin, and then resumes at 8:00 pm when finalists play their last games and a winner is declared. This tournament is in knockout format. Come to play, to watch, and enjoy the art! Rutgers students get in free, $6 for non-students. This event is run in conjunction with the Rutgers chess team, and we appreciate your support in attending this event. If you have any interest in chess, recreationally, competitively, or aesthetically, please join our Facebook group Rutgers Chess Club and join us for meetings at the times and places specified on that page."  Due to a prior commitment, I will not be able to attend myself but might catch the end of it.

Endings with Bishops of the Same Color

FM Steve Stoyko gave a wonderful lecture on Bishop Endings at the Kenilworth Chess Club on Thursday, September 22nd, which I have finally written up based on my notes (with additional analysis).  His focus was bishops of the same color, where the superior side often has winning chances.  Though Steve would have liked to have given dozens of other examples, I think the ones he focused on went very far in laying out the principles. I have chosen to focus on only about half of the examples Steve presented, organizing them according to several critical themes: exploiting the short diagonal, needing "two weaknesses" to win, using the more active king, fixing targets on both sides of the board, deflection, and zugzwang.  For those who want even more examples, I have compiled a bibliography of sources, including multiple videos.

Though Steve discussed several pure B v B+P endings, I have chosen to focus only on the classic position analyzed by Nimzovich since all of these endings have been well covered in several YouTube videos (see above).  Pure B v B+P endings are fascinating, but they are nowhere near as stunning as the themes Steve covered in Bishop endings with multiple pawns where one side has a positional advantage.  Here the theme of "two weaknesses" (typically two pawns on the same color as the Bishops, which can become targets) is very much worth remembering as it occurs frequently in practical play.  In all of the positions, an untrained player could easily agree to a draw without recognizing the winning advantage that one side holds.  Meanwhile, a player who knows how to fix his opponent's pawns on the right color square can steer the game toward a winning Bishop ending.

I look forward to Steve's next lecture, when he promises to do something on Rook endings.

Same-Colored Bishop Endings Webliography

Mark Dvoretsky, The Process of Elimination, Part Two (ChessCafe, September 2011)
Dvoretsky's article begins with discussion of a wonderful Bishop ending composition that is practically a tour de force of every Bishop ending theme.

Karsten Müller, The Overgrown Pawn (ChessBase, October 2011)
Examines a position where the defender's Bishop is trapped behind its pawns on the same color.

_______.  The Eternal Hunt (Chess Cafe, June 2011)
Uses several practical examples to illustrate the problem-like theme of the "Bishop hunt," where a Bishop trying to stop a pawn along a short diagonal can be "hunted" by the King to force a draw.

_______.  Capablanca's Concept (Chess Cafe, October 2010)
Discusses Capablanca's principle that you should try to keep your pawns on the opposite color of your Bishop, especially in Bishop endings of the same color.

_______.  Small Advantages in Bishop Endings (Chess Cafe, October 2009)

_______.  Same-colored Bishops (Chess Cafe, May 2009)

_______.  Bishops and Overgrown Pawns (Chess Cafe, September 2004)

_______.  Bishops at Work, Part Three (Chess Cafe, September 2002)

_______.  Bishops at Work, Part Two (Chess Cafe, August 2002)

_______.  Bishops at Work, Part One (Chess Cafe, July 2002)
Sets forth some useful principles of Bishop endings, which the series goes on to illustrate.

_______.  Ponomariov's Tecnnique, Part One (Chess Cafe, March 2002)
Examines an interesting Bishop ending where Ponomariov used his king position to achieve a draw.

_______.  Brains in Bahrain Game 3 and Brains in Bahrain Game 1 (ChessBase 2002)
Two Bishop endings from the Deep Fritz - Kramnik match.

George Orlov.  Bishop Endings II (Jeremy Silman website)
A very useful overview of Bishop ending themes and principles.

_______.  Bishop Endings I (Jeremy Silman website)

Brooklyn 64.  Bishops of same color endings: Bishop v Bishop+pawn.
A useful quick overview of Bishop ending themes.