30 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Hi Everyone,
Remember the two old combinations you always learn when studying endgames? Regular mating patterns? Here are two such patterns used for a mate-in-three but in the middlegame. Gives you an idea how you need to fit endgame patterns to the middlegame.
But the problem is, we won’t tell you the names of the patterns. That would be a hint. So, go on, White to play and mate in three in both the puzzles. It’s all forced but can you see it?
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
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30 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c0 Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
We love chess
Hello Everyone,
No matter what anyone says but chess is now an integral part of the collective consciousness of the human species!
Does that sound a bit weird? It just means we love chess and every day, someone finds something new to write about chess and their life.
There are hundreds of blog posts, news reports and articles that go on to the Internet every single day. But we found this special paragraph that surely needs to be shared.
A food technologist who holds a Bachelor of Law degree and is currently teaching conversational English at Sisa English Language School in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, wrote this at www.koreatimes.c0.kr:
“The three L’s that continually control, shape and hone my life, I attribute to chess: law, life and love. Law, like chess, is spirited by rules and regulations for the benefit of both the citizens and the State. Life, like chess, requires planning and should failure impede, one should overcome or at least try again. Successful people have more or less failed in one form or another. Love, like chess, requires certain sacrifices in order to succeed. Love, is after all, work; a residue of duty and commitment.”
Now, that’s a new one!
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
30 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Feeling dull and bored because suddenly no high-profile tournament is happening? The Russian Superfinal has ended and the Women’s World Chess Championship is still a days hours away… No worries!
Here’s another of those funny chess videos to cheer you up. If you’ve got one of your own, don’t forget to share it with us. Meanwhile, we’re sure you’ll watch this a couple of times. Enjoy!
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
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29 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
The playing hall is prepared for the tournament.
Hi Everybody,
Imagine if your opponents in a chess tournament were named Spike, Rookie 3.0, Scaramanga, Nightmare 7.0 and so on! Well if it were so then you wouldn’t be reading this post. Simply because you would be a computer yourself and competing in the 30th Leiden Computer Chess Tournament in The Netherlands.
We found this very nice news report on the chess site www.chessbase.com with all details of this high-powered chess tournament.
The event also had no less than three supercomputers playing. There was Jonny, a German program running on a massive cluster of 800 Intel i7 cores. The programmer, Johannes Zwangzer, was running it remotely on his university’s hardware; the University of Beyreuth has 2000. Next is Deep Sjeng by Gian-Carlo Pascutto, residing in Belgium, whose engine ran on a cluster of 32 x 8 AMD Opterons (256 total) running at 2.4 GHz, and then there was the reigning champion, Rybka, running on a cluster owned privately by Lukas Cimiotti, containing 248 Intel i7 cores at 2.93 GHz, later increased to 260.
Of course, Mr. Rybka won. Go on read the full news. Here is the official website.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
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29 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Time for two puzzles to brighten up your evening. You can run the solution in our flashplayer below. Also check out various puzzle podcasts at www.chesskillertips.com. Enjoy.
In both the puzzles below. White to play and Mate in 3.
In both the puzzles below. White to play and Mate in 3.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
29 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Hi Everyone,
It’s time for a few cool videos again today. It is so nice to see chess lovers do creative things with videos they make.
Here is username1 with a video of chess quotes, choicest photos and classy music. The score is ‘Dark Night of the Soul‘ by Philip Wesley. Enjoy.
And, another crazy chess video by HomeSliceProduct. How do people come up with this stuff?
And, what do you think of this one?
Have a great chess-y week ahead.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
28 November 2010
Hello everyone!
Chesspics is running a photo contest for the recently ended Russian women’s chess superfinal, which was won by Alisa Galliamova. The photos are by and © Pufichek.
You can vote for your favorite player or photo by cliking on this link.
http://www.chesspics.com/rating.php?r=4
Posted on Chess Queen™
Women’s World Chess Champion
Alexandra Kosteniuk’s Chess Blog
28 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Hello Everyone,
Double sundae for you. Two mate-in-3 puzzles for you. Enjoy!
You can run the solution in the flashplayer below after a thinking time of at least 5 minutes per puzzle. That is if you don’t hit upon the solution before that. And, people, don’t cheat. We have means to find out if you run the solution without thinking first! (Serious!)
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
28 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Vlastimil Hort and Wolfgang Ulhmann
Hi Everybody,
Hope you’ve been enjoying the traditional Czech Coal Chess Match in Marianske Lazne this year between ‘Snowdrops’ (Humpy Koneru, Viktorija Cmilyte, Arianne Caoili and Tereza Olsarova) defeated the ‘Old Hands’ (Vlastimil Hort, Lajos Portisch, Wolfgang Uhlmann and Dragoljub Velimirovic) with a score of 18-14.
The traditional Czech Coal Chess Match is a double-round Scheveningen match between chess legends (”Old Hands”) and young female talents (”Snowdrops”). It was held from November 20-27 at the Villa Butterfly Hotel in Marianske Lazne (the former Marienbad), Czech Republic.
The rate of play was 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes and 30 seconds increment to finish the game. The tournament was organized by the Prague Chess Society.
The Snow Drops beat the Old Hands 18-14. As expected, Humpy Koneru scored the maximum of 6 out of 8. She only lost 1.5-0.5 to Vlastimil Hort who scored the maximum among the Old Hands with 5 out of 8.
Find some great photos and reports at the official website here and www.chessvibes.com.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
28 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Hi Everyone,
It’s another of those gender things.
We found this very interesting paper on the Internet at the Gearybehaviourcenter. It says when men play chess against an attractive woman, they tend to adopt riskier strategies. However, women are not influenced by the looks of their male opponents while playing chess!
An abstract of the paper titled “Beauty Queens and Battling Knights: Risk Taking and Attractiveness in Chess” states: We explore the relationship between attractiveness and risk taking in chess. We use a large international panel dataset on chess competitions which includes a control for the players’ skill in chess. This data is combined with results from a survey on an online labor market where participants were asked to rate the photos of 626 expert chess players according to attractiveness. Our results suggest that male chess players choose significantly riskier strategies when playing against an attractive female opponent, even though this does not improve their performance. Women’s strategies are not affected by the attractiveness of the opponent.”
In chess, the term aggressive play is used when indicating a strategy that reduces the
drawing probability while the term solid play is used to indicate a strategy that reduces the
winning/losing probabilities.
You can read the full paper here. The credit for the research goes to Anna Dreber, Christer Gerdes and Patrik Gränsmark. It’s kind of technical but you will enjoy it.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
28 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Kasparov in Googleplex
Hello Everyone,
When chess legend Gary Kasparov speaks who doesn’t listen? www.chessbase.com has presented a super video of the former world champion in Googleplex studios. Here are these choicest quotes:
- When asked about the interrupted match in 1984.
He explains, quite poignantly, that in this match Karpov turned into one of his most important teachers, who showed him how one should never give up, that there is hope in any situation, and basically molded him into the chess player and person he is today.
- In references to Carlsen
- On chess lessons for life
Kasparov also spoke on business management and how decision makers can learn from the experience of chess players – since every decision contains components of material, time and quality. Bet you already know about Kasparov’s book ‘How Life Imitates Chess’.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
27 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Call me the Russian National Champion again: GM Alisa Galliamova
You can find great photos of the champion at www.chesspics.com
Hello Everyone,
Grandmaster Alisa Galliamova has become the Russian women’s national chess champion for the second time after beating Natalija Pogonina in the speed chess tie-break in Moscow on Saturday.
Galliamova drew the first blitz game as White but won the second one with Black as her e pawn took her home to the championship title all the way to the seventh rank!
The last two rounds at the Russian Women’s Superfinal lived up to the excitement that we witnessed throughout the tournament. In the penultimate round, Tatiana Kosintseva and Nazi Paikidze drew level with defending champion Alisa Galliamova to notch up a total score of 6.5 points each.
This happened because Tatiana beat Olga, Paikidze drew with Nadezhda and Galliamova lost to Gunina in the ninth round.
But the last round witnessed further ups and down like every round has. The eleventh and the last round ended with three players tied at 7 points. This happened because Galliamova and Tatiana drew their match while Paikidze lost to Nebolsina. On the other hand, Shadrina lost to Pogonina.
The three-way tie witnessed a blitz tie-break between Galliamova and Pogonina to decide the champion. Tatiana took the third place.
Final standings after Round 11
1-2. Pogonina, Galliamova 7
3. Kosintseva, Tatiana 7
4. Paikidze, Nazi 6.5
5. Kosteniuk, Alexandra 5.5
6-10. Gunina, Nadezhda, Shadrina, Nebolsina, Anastasia 5
11. Girya, Olga 4.5
12. Matveeva, Svetlana 3.5
You can find all the great games, photos and other details at the official website of www.russiachess.org.
Congratulations to Alisa Galliamova for a fine victory. Congratulations to all the lovely women who participated in this tournament, who gave us such exciting chess and who make Russia such a strong chess nation.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
27 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Hello Everyone,
Here are some ‘funny’ chess videos. Yes they feature chess and we won’t say a word more. But if after watching them you want to come over and kill us in frustration we would simply like to direct you to the uploaders of these videos on YouTube. (Try to enjoy.) Come on, you need to improve your sense of humour!
Painful?
Okay we’ll be back with some cool videos next time.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
27 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Hello Everyone,
We are always all ears for absolutely any news about chess legend Gary Kasparov. For fans in St Louis, USA, here are details of a nice event.
Grandmaster Garry Kasparov will give a special lecture and talk at the St Louis Chess Club on Monday, November 29, just one day after the conclusion of the Thanksgiving Open tourney featuring renowned GM Nigel Short and an $11,000 prize fund.
Nigel Short will play a simul and also conduct a special lecture.
Several other titled players you can meet at the Club include Resident GM Ben Finegold, GM Yury Shulman, GM Alex Onischuk, GM Ray Robson, GM Gregory Kaidanov, GM Dmitry Gurevich, GM Timur Gareev, GM Mesgen Amanov, IM Michael Brooks, IM Istvan Sipos, IM Angelo Young, IM Raja Panjwani, WGM Sabina Foisor, WIM Alisa Melekhina.
There are several sections in the Thanksgiving Open so absolutely everyone of any playing strength can participate.
You can find more details at the official website here.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
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26 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Hello Everyone,
As most people expected, China has won both the men’s and women’s team events in the 16th Asian Games being held in Guangzhou, China.
The Chinese men’s team beat Philippines 3.5-1.5 to pick the gold while India beat Iran with same score to take the Bronze medal.
In the final match of the women’s tournament the Chinese women beat Uzbekistan 2.5-1.5 to win the gold while India lost to Vietnam after a drawn match to give the latter the Bronze medal after a rapid tie-break.
You can find more details at the www.fide.com website and www.asia-chess.com.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
26 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Hi Everyone,
Former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov will take on Miroslav Miljkovic in a rapid chess match on December 3 and 4 in Niš, Serbia. The City of Niš is sponsoring the match that will include four games with a time control of 25 min+10 sec per player and two blitz games with a time control of 5 min+2 sec per player. The games will be broadcast on the internet and TV Bell Amie will cover the match live, according to the www.chessdom.com news site.
Meanwhile, here is a nice video of Niš. Been there?
Meanwhile, the 12th World Chess Champion will also be the guest of honour at the an international chess tournament being held in memory of Grandmaster Vladas Mikenasa – 2010 being the birth centenary was celebrated this year.
The competition will be tough with players like Maxim Matlakov (2619), Sergei Azarov (2601) and Andrew Zhigalko (2570). You can read more about it at the chess news site www.chess-news.ru.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
26 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Chess in the snow: Mariánské Lázne
Hello Everyone,
The Snowdrops are doing a nice chess job in the beautiful city of Mariánské Lázne where it is snowing nicely. They are ahead of the veterans (Oldhands) by 14-10 after six rounds.
The Snowdrops vs Oldhands Czech Coal Match 2010 is being held from November 20-27. The (rising generation girls) of Snowdrops are Indian grandmaster Humpy Koneru, currently the world second highest rated female player, the Lithuanian grandmaster Viktorija Cmilyte, the Philippine born Australian WIM Arianne Caoili and the Czech WIM Tereza Olsarova. The 20th century chess legends are Lájoš Portisch, Vlastimil Hort, Dragoljub Velimirovic and Wolfgang Uhlmann.
The games start each day at 3 p.m. in the Villa Butterfly Hotel in Marienbad. The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves, 30 minutes for the rest, with an increament of 30 seconds per move.
Team results
| R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 |
| Snowdrops | 3 | 1 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| Oldhands | 1 | 3 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| Total Snowdrops | 3 | 4 | 7.5 | 10 | 12 | 14 | ||
| Total Oldhands | 1 | 4 | 4.5 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
Individual results
O1 | O2 | O3 | O4 | O1 | O2 | O3 | O4 | Total | ||
| S1 | Humpy Koneru | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 4.5 | ||
| S2 | Arianne Caoili | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.5 | ||
| S3 | Tereza Olsarova | 1 | 1/2 | 0 | 1/2 | 1 | 0 | 3.0 | ||
| S4 | Viktorija Cmilyte | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | 0 | 4.0 | ||
S1 | S2 | S3 | S4 | S1 | S2 | S3 | OS4 | |||
| O1 | Wolfgang Uhlmann | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | ||
| O2 | Vlastimil Hort | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 4.0 | ||
| O3 | Lajos Portisch | 1 | 0 | 1/2 | 0 | 1/2 | 0 | 2.0 | ||
| O4 | Dragoljub Velimirovic | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.0 |
Find great photos and reports at the official website here and at www.chessbase.com.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
26 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Complete Focus: Defending champion Alisa Galliamova
Photo: www.russiachess.org
Find great portraits of the world’s best chess players at www.chesspics.com
Hi Everyone,
The Russian Superfinal has witnessed some of the most exciting games of chess this whole year. Fortunes swung back and forth as the leaderboard changed with virtually every round. After 9 rounds, with two to go, defending champion Alisa Galliamova is leading with a nice 6.5 points. But only half a point behind is Nazi Paikidze.
Standings after 9 rounds
1. Galliamova – 6.5
2. Paikidze – 6
3-4. Pogonina, Kosintseva T. – 5.5
5-6. Kosintseva N. Shadrina – 4.5
7-9. Nebolsina, Kosteniuk, Bodnaruk – 4
10. Olga – 3.5
11-12. Gunina, Matveeva – 3
Here are some nice games from the ninth round. You can check out some great photos, news updates and all the games at the official website of www.russiachess.org.
For now, run the moves in our pgnplayer or watch in flash below.
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 d6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4 c6 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O d5 8. e5 Ne8 9. Qd2 Bg4 10. Ng5 Bxe2 11. Nxe2 h6 12. Nf3 Kh7 13. h4 Nc7 14. h5 Ne6 15. Be3 Nd7 16. Nh2 Qe8 17. hxg6+ fxg6 18. f4 h5 19. Rf3 Rf5 20. Ng3 Qf7 21. Nxf5 Qxf5 22. Nf1 Rf8 23. Ng3 Qg4 24. f5 h4 25. fxe6 hxg3 26. exd7 Qh4 27. Rxf8 1-0
PGN: 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Nf3 g6 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Bg7 7. Be3 Nf6 8. Be2 O-O 9. Nb3 e5 10. O-O exf4 11. Bxf4 Re8 12. Qxd6 Qb6+ 13. Kh1 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 Rxe4 15. Bf3 Re6 16. Qd2 Re8 17. c3 Bf5 18. Rad1 Rad8 19. Qc1 Ne5 20. Be3 Qc7 21. Rxd8 Rxd8 22. Nd4 Nxf3 23. Nxf3 Be4 24. Qe1 Bd3 25. Rf2 Bc4 26. a3 Re8 27. Qd2 a6 28. Bd4 Bxd4 29. cxd4 Bd5 30. Ne5 Rc8 31. h3 Qc1+ 32. Kh2 Kg7 33. Nd3 Qxd2 34. Rxd2 f5 35. Kg3 g5 36. Nc5 Kf6 37. Kf2 Rc7 38. b4 h5 39. g3 h4 40. a4 hxg3+ 41. Kxg3 f4+ 42. Kf2 Rh7 43. Re2 b6 44. Re5 bxc5 45. Rxd5 cxb4 46. Rd6+ Kf5 47. Rxa6 Rxh3 48. Rb6 Rh2+ 49. Kg1 Ra2 50. Rb5+ Kg4 51. a5 b3 52. Rxb3 Rxa5 53. Rd3 Kf5 54. Rd1 Ke4 55. Kf2 g4 56. Rd2 Rd5 57. Re2+ Kxd4 58. Re8 Ra5 59. Rd8+ Ke4 60. Re8+ Re5 61. Ra8 g3+ 62. Kg2 Kf5 63. Rf8+ Kg4 64. Rg8+ Rg5 65. Rf8 Rg7 66. Rf6 Ra7 67. Rg6+ Kf5 68. Rb6 Ra2+ 69. Kg1 Kg4 70. Rb4 Kh3 71. Rxf4 Ra1+ 72. Rf1 Rxf1+ 73. Kxf1 Kh2 0-1
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
25 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Former world champion Boris Spassky recovering in France.
We wish him speedy recovery. (The chessboard waits.)
Hello Everyone,
During the Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk everyone was disturbed by the news that the tenth World Champion Boris Spassky had suffered a stroke. We found this happy news at www.chess-news.ru.
It is nice to know that he is doing well now in Paris at a rehabilitation hospital in Saint-Jean Rishat system. He will be staying there until mid-January.
Spassky told journalists that healing after a stroke takes time “so no worries about my health. After arriving in Paris, I passed all the medical test and now I continue a rehabilitation program under the supervision of French physicians, to whom I am very grateful. In addition, I would like to thank the doctors from the Moscow 13th Municipal Hospital and the Burdenko Institute, primarily Natalia V. Kurdyumov who gave me timely and qualified medical assistance to save my life.”
Boris Spassky is taking daily therapy sessions and also spends time listening to his favourite music of recordings of Peter Leshchenko, Alexander Vertinsky, Enrico Caruso – the great music of the 1930s and 40.
You will love this Leshchenko recording.
And, this one…Alexander Vertinsky. Enjoy! And, send good thoughts to Boris Spassky.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
25 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
How about a nice Chess-y winter in Moscow?
Hello Everyone,
The Aeroflot Open Chess Festival – with sections for the unrated to top grandmasters – is going to be held for the tenth year from February 7-11, 2011 in the great chess city of Moscow.
The total prize fund is 160,000 Euros, and it includes qualification places for the Super Tournament in Dortmund and the World Blitz Championship 2011.
As before, the festival is sponsored by the Russian Airlines Aeroflot. For the sixth year running the festival will take place in the major tourist complex ‘Izmailovo’ – hotel ‘Gamma – Delta’, where the participants of the previous festivals loved to play and stay.
Three Open Tournaments (A, B and C) are made up according to the rating of the participants. Naturally, the greatest interest is aroused by A tournament, requiring from a participant a rating above 2550 and usually boasting a number of extra class players.
Find all the details and entry form at this excellent report in English at www.chessbase.com.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
