Knight Times March 2009

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Message from the Guru,I am very excited this month to announce the release of the Chess Kids rating system. This has taken two years of planning, countless hours and multiple failed attempts. Finally we've found a solution to all the challenges of managing 12,500+ players and the data from every tournament game that gets played. (Thanks to our resident IT genius, Tobias)!

Every player should check out his/her rating online - browse through tournaments, check out your own performances and compare ratings with your friends. Check out the Top 10 Lists to see if your school ranks. You can improve your rating by playing (well) in more tournaments.

If there are additional features or statistics you'd like to see - either about your own rating, your school or a particular tournament - please let us know!!

We need YOUR help to update your details online and include your date-of-birth on our system. This will mean you can be ranked in your Age-Group and become eligible for; Top Lists, Selection

to State, National or World Championship events, as well as add to the reliability of the Statistics page. Players without a valid date-of-birth will be removed from the ratings system after 12 months of inactivity.

If you haven't got your email address registered on our site and updated your Date Of Birth, please do so now! Go to www.chesskids.com.au/subscribe.php to start the process.

David Cordover,Managing Director, Chess Group of Companies

Knight TimesChess World Australia Pty. Ltd. ABN 41 118 087 862

Chess Kids Contacts:www.chesskids.com.au

Coaching: dennis@chesskids.com.auRetail: duncan@chesskids.com.auInterschool: interschool@chesskids.com.auNewsletter: rj@chesskids.com.au

1300-424-377

Erasmus Darwin playing chess with his son ...

RJ Shield Tournament

Mind Sports Centre Ormond,22nd February 2009

The first RJ Shield tournament for 2009 was held on 22nd February and was won by Jack Saunders from Wesley College.

Full Scores:6.5 Jack Saunders6 Baris Girgin5.5 Tristan Boelsen-Robinson5 Ege Girgin4 Jonathan Tissa, Nathan Chan, Niamh

Ollquist, Nidhi Wadhwa, Rue Millsom3.5 Dan Schlossberg3 Henry Bayliss, Aaron Gil, Luke Meo, Liron

Nowesenitz, Bobby Zhang2.5 Tyler Southwick2 Serina Ueda, Adam Padder, Chris Fu,0 Marina Ueda

The next RJ Shield event for 2009 will be held on 14th March at Caulfield Grammar School, Wheelers Hill. There will be prizes for the best results over the year so be sure not to miss it.

Knight Times March 2009

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Coming Up ...RJ Shield

Chess Tournament

Saturday 14th MarchCaulfield Grammar, Wheelers Hill72-84 Jells Rd, Wheelers Hill11.00 am to 3.00 pm$25 per player.Enrol at www.chesskids.com.au

Chess Quotes:“When you see a good move,

look for a better one

(Emanuel Lasker)

The Beauty of Chess

In the following game white sacrifices his queen for a beautiful mate in 8 moves.

One of the prettiest combinations of all-time.

London 1912Edward Lasker Sir George ThomasA83 - Dutch/Staunton Gambit

1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 f5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Bxf6 Bxf6 6.e4 fxe4 7.Nxe4 b6 8.Ne5 O-O 9.Bd3 Bb7 10.Qh5 Qe7

11.Qxh7+!! Kxh7 12.Nxf6+ Kh6 13.Neg4+ Kg5 14.h4+ Kf4 15.g3+ Kf3 16.Be2+ Kg2 17.Rh2+ Kg1 18.Kd2#.

I would have played 18.0-0-0 checkmate!

Chess Quotes:“Castle early and often

(Rob Sillars)

Chess and Evolution

By IM Robert Jamieson

2009 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, the renown naturalist and inventor of the Theory of Evolution.

Charles Darwin rates very highly on any list of the most influential people of all time as a result of his “theory of evolution” as espoused in his famous book “Origin of the Species” so it is fitting that we remember his achievements and ponder if chess may have played a role in his life.

We know that chess skill involves pattern recognition, logical thinking and the ability to handle visual spacial relationships well. Darwin must have drawn on similar abilities when he examined the four species of mockingbirds that he had caught on the Galapagos Islands and noted that their beaks varied slightly in length or curvature between species. These variations he concluded must be the result of the birds evolving from a single species based on their unique habitats at Galapagos. If, for example, on one island a curved beak was an evolutionary advantage unique to that island then over time birds would have developed a curved beak.

So far as we know Darwin was not a chess-player, although Robert FitzRoy, the Captain of the Beagle (the ship on which Darwin travelled around the world), had advertised for a companion for the journey to converse with and to play chess with. Darwin got the job even though he did not play chess, but he was not the first choice. FitzRoy incidentally has a Melbourne suburb named after him.

Erasmus Darwin (1731 - 1802), Charles Darwin’s grandfather was most definitely a chess-player and is pictured on the front cover playing against one of his sons (also named Erasmus). He trained as a physician and wrote extensively on medicine and botany, as well as poetry.

His most important scientific work was his “Zoonomia” which contains a system of pathology, and a treatise on generation which may have been a significant influence on his grandson Charles and encouraged him to undertake the voyage around the world on the “Beagle”.

Erasmus was obviously a highly intelligent man and George III invited him to be the Royal Physician, but he declined. We can speculate therefore whether chess played a role in building Erasmus Darwin’s “mental muscles” which he then passed on to his son Robert Darwin and then to his grandson Charles.

Darwin had to have been a logical thinker having pondered such questions as why God would have planted sea shells 3000 meters above sea level in the Andes mountains in South America and came up with the answer that the mountains must have at some stage long ago been below sea level. God, it seemed, had nothing to do with it.

It may be a long bow, but I’d like to think that a family background in chess may have helped shape the mind of one of our most revered scientists.

Knight Times March 2009

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Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles Darwin.

Let me take you back nearly 100 years to 1911. Dr. Emanual Lasker is the world champion and his nearest rival is probably the Polish Grandmaster Akiba Rubinstein. The big tournament of the year was Carlsbad 1911 where Rubinstein finished second in a field of 26 players.

In his game against Gersz Salwe (Poland) he pulled off a fabulous combination. (See diagram below). Before reading further, see what you would play as Black.

Salwe - RubinsteinBlack to play and win.

The finish was 1...Qe1+!! 2.Rxe1 f2+ 3. Qxe4 fxe1=Q+ 4.Kg2 Qxd2+ 0-1.

Rubinstein obviously had a keen eye for tactics ... or did he? In another game in the tournament he was a pawn down and losing to Boris Kostic (Serbia). (See diagram). White is threatening Rxd5 and Ra7+ but Rubinstein came up with a one move blunder which drops a piece to a N fork!

Kostic - RubinsteinBlack to Play

Play continued 1...Ke6? 2.Nd4+ Kxe5 3.Nxc2. White is now a piece down and could be expected to resign but there is a trick which saves the game. 3...Rb2 4.Rc5 Kd6! 5.Rc8 Kd7 6.Rc5 Kd6 and a draw was agreed as in reply to 7.Rc3 black plays d4 and if 8.Rc4 d3 wins the N.

What are we to make of this? It seems incredible that the second best player in the world would miss a one move fork, so perhaps Rubinstein saw the drawing resource and played 1...Ke6 as his best practical chance. There is one small problem remaining. Cecil Purdy told us to “Examine all checks and captures” as a means of avoiding blunders. If he were alive today I’m sure he would point out that Rubinstein should have taken his advice as 3.Nc6+! instead of 3.Nxc2 wins the rook and the game immediately!

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Did Rubinstein

Blunder?By IM Robert Jamieson

Akiba Rubinstein

The chess champion Akiba Rubinstein, famed for his shyness, was once asked, "Who is your opponent tonight?" "Tonight," he replied, "I am playing against the black pieces."

Australia’s Top Player

by IM Robert Jamieson

A few years ago I was minding my own business spectating at an Australian Junior Championship when this Chinese kid with a big smile came up and challenged me to some lightning games. Don’t know why he picked on me but I think he was one of the top seeds and so wanted to add my scalp to his belt. We played 4 games. The score was 4-0 to me! “Let’s play some more” he suggested but I declined. “One day” I said, “You might become a famous grandmaster and I like to say I have a 4-0 score against you.”

The cheeky kid was Zong-Yuan Zhao who went on to win the tournament and now, at 21-years of age the Sydney pharmacy student has become Australia’s third chess grandmaster. He's also done it in record time and at a record age.

Zhao performed strongly in late 2007 and early 2008, winning three GM norms in the space of seven weeks. This included winning the Saturday GM Tournament in Budapest in December 2007 and the 7th International Festival - GEMA CERRADO GM - in Pontevedra in Spain which was staged after Christmas 2007. He completed his third GM norm at Gibraltar 2008. He defeated eventual tournament winner Hikaru Nakumura in their individual encounter (see diagram). His FIDE rating for the October 2008 list was 2567, moving his world ranking to 327, up 17 since July 2008.

Zhao completed the requirements to become a grandmaster in two months, a process that normally takes several years.

Zhao first broke into the international chess scene when he became Australia's youngest International Master at 14. Australia's two other grandmasters, Ian Rogers, 47, and Darryl Johansen, 48, both achieved that status at the respective ages of 24 and 35.

Zhao has come along at just the right time following the retirement of GM Ian Rogers in July 2007 and acquitted himself well on first board for the Australian Olympic Chess team at Dresden in 2008. If you’d like to see a video of Zong & Rogers just after Zhong achieved the GM title then go to http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/zong-yuan-zhao-gm/

Gibraltar 2008Zong-Yuan Zhao (2487)Hikaru Nakamura (2670)

45.Nxd6 Ng6 46.Nxb7 Rb8 47.c5 Rxb7 48.Bc4 Rb2 49.Ke4 Ke7 50.Kd4+ Kd8 51.c6 Nf4 52.d6 Rd2+ 53.Kc5 Ncd3+ 54.Kb6 Rc2 55.Bxf7 1-0.

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Zong & Ian Rogers

Coach ProfileAndrew LeRoy

My initial interest in chess was when I was six years old. My dad had a small wooden chess set and a book on how to play written by the British Chess Federation. Within a very short time I had no-one to play me.

My brothers and sister weren’t that interested as I always won and after I beat dad for the first time that was pretty much it for games against him! What started to happen is that dad would take me to play his friends and take great delight in my beating them. In particular there was a Russian immigrant called Elijah who dad could never beat and I still remember the day we went over to East St. Kilda and played on Elijah’s nice ceramic set and I won.

He didn’t take it well and dad loved it because Elijah had bragged endlessly to dad about how good Russia was at chess.

Living in the western suburbs of Melbourne in the late 70’s and early 80’s there wasn’t much chess. There was one pretty amazing exception. I had a friend at primary school called Peter Rice. One afternoon after school I went over to Peter’s house. In the living room I was introduced to Peter’s older sister and her boyfriend Ian. “Ian is pretty good at chess” Peter informed me. Well yes, Ian Rogers is pretty good at chess.

Despite this brush with greatness I never got any chess coaching until the age of 36. It is a great regret in my life that I didn’t ever really have a clue as a child how to train effectively or have many strong players to learn from. I had a ferocious determination to win back then and with the right help I could have been very strong.

At the age of 11 I joined the ANBYC-Chess Club. This was a chess club in Altona North organized by Bob Grieves. They created a tournament called the Best in the West and this was my introduction to strong players. In that tournament at age 11 I had a performance rating higher than my current chess rating and won the brilliancy prize for a double rook sacrifice attack. I won a prize “Tal’s

Best Games of Chess” by Clarke and it is still one of my most prized possessions.

By the time I was 16 chess had gone by the boards in my life. I had studies to worry about and between the ages of 8 and 14 I had trained 4 hours a day as a swimmer competing at a National level, so my chess had not really improved during that period.

In my 20s I played Lacrosse and hung up my boots at the age of 36 after representing

Victoria on two occasions and having been captain coach of the Melbourne University team. I still had competitive drive and so I returned to chess. I took some lessons from Chris Depasquale and discovered that- wow- I had some really fundamental flaws

in my game. I worked on my game and won three tournaments at Hobsons Bay Chess Club (formally ANBYC-CC). I also became vice president of the club and sat (briefly) on the Chess Victoria committee. Soon after this I moved to Croydon. At that time I started to do coaching with Chess Kids. I also helped to (re)start Croydon Chess club as vice president and placed equal first in the first tournament there.

Coaching chess has been fantastic. I was amazed by just how popular chess is with kids in primary schools. I loved the game when I was a kid so I guess it makes sense, it just wasn’t part of the culture when I was growing up. Now it is! The great thing is that with Chess Kids any child can fulfill his chess potential.

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“I never got any chess coaching until the age

of 36. It is a great regret in my life...”

I love being able to speed up that process and I get a real kick out of seeing kids improving and the sense of achievement they get from that. The educational side benefits of chess are well documented and so I feel that being a chess coach improves the future of every student I teach and as such I am proud to be a chess coach.

My advice to players wanting to improve is threefold.

1. Play against strong players and record the games for review with a coach.

2. Do lots and lots of tactical puzzles.3. Study master games with good notes

especially those with endgames.

Here is one of Andrew’s better games.

Dandenong Club ChampionshipsAndrew LeRoy (1476) Sam Biondo (1597) B01 - Centre Counter/Marshall Gambit

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.d4 e6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.O-O O-O 8...c5 was the freeing move and must be played before white gets in Bf4. 9.Bf4 c6 10.Qc2 b6 11.Rad1 Bb7 12.Ne5 Re8 13.Ne4 Nf8 This is a mistake. Ne5 is now all powerful.

14.Ng5! All the pieces explode into action. 14...Qc8 15.Ngxf7 N8d7 An even bigger mistake. This knight served an important defensive function at h7 and now black is toast. 16.Bxh7+ Nxh7 If 16. ... Kf8 17.Qg617.Nh6+ gxh6 18.Qg6+ Central control and active pieces v passive play.

Notes by Andrew LeRoy.

Knight Times March 2009

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The Beauty of Chess

We may not all be chess champions, yet we can all hope to one day play a beautiful game or a great combination. I’ve never heard of Houghteling before, but in the following game he plays one of the most beautiful finishes of all time. Note the symmetry at the end.

Chicago 1904DodgeHoughtelingD08 - Queen's Gambit/Albin's Counter Gambit

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.e3 exd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Qd1 Bf5 7.f3 Nb4 8.Qa4+ Qd7 9.Qxd7+ Kxd7 10.e4 dxe4 11.fxe4 Nxe4 12.Rb1 Nc2+ 13.Kd1 Nf2+ 14.Ke2 Bc5 15.Nf3 Bd3+ 16.Kd2 Be3#

Book Review

Chess Tactics for Kids by Murray Chandler $32.90Grandmaster Teichmann once said “Chess is 99% tactics” and most strong players would agree that chess games are won or lost through tactics. How do we develop our tactical skill? Easy! Just get a book with a lot of tactical positions (hopefully arranged by themes such as forks, pins, etc.) and play through each position until you develop an eye for tactics. I used to do this all the time, especially when I was on a long plane flight or train trip for example and had plenty of time to kill.

Murray Chandler is a well known British Grandmaster who has presented us with book of 50 types of “Tricky Tactics” each with half a

dozen diagrams on which to test your understanding of the theme.

The blurb for this book states; “Chess enthusiasts of all ages and levels will find this book an instructive delight. In a simple, easy-to-understand format it explains how to bamboozle your chess opponents using commonly occurring tactical motifs. The illustrative positions, all taken from real games, show the 50 Tricky Tactics that experienced chess masters use to win their games. Recognising frequently-occurring tactical ideas is vital to success in chess. One of the fastest and most enjoyable ways to improve at chess is by learning these thematic manoeuvres. Beginners will benefit from the clear explanation of basic concepts, such as how to utilise a fork, pin, or skewer.”

Here is a sample position from the book.

White to Move.

Answer: Here white uses a trap to win the d-pawn with 1.Nxd5! since on 1...Qxd5? would come 2.Bh7+ Kxh7 3.Qxd5.

Knight Times March 2009

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By Andrew LeRoyHere is an instructive short game which demonstrates the danger of bringing out your queen too early in the game.

Barnett - Eastwood C21 - Centre Game1.e4 e5 2.d4 Nf3 is a better move. It attacks e5 and develops a back row piece. 2...exd4 3.Qxd4 Qf6? Better was 3...Nc6 This move develops a piece AND forces the queen to move again. Black would then get ahead in developing his pieces on the next move.4.Qe3 Nh6? This a bad square for the knight. We are trying to control the centre. On the edge the knight has no control of the centre and only 4 choices instead of 8. There is a saying in chess "A knight on the rim is dim." Better was 4...Bb4+ 5.c3 Ba5 when Black has the option of Bb6 attacking the queen and f2 so gaining more "time" as White wastes a move repositioning the queen to safety.5.Nc3 Following the Golden Rules the knight develops toward the centre guarding the e4 pawn and attacking the d5 square. 5...Ng4?

It is too early for this attack. You need all your forces developed and your King safe BEFORE you attack. Most of the Black army are sitting at home and the King is not yet safe. 6.Nd5! Qc6 If 6...Nxe3 7.Nxf6+ gxf6 8.Bxe3 and White has the better pawn structure. This is a large advantage with no queens around to checkmate suddenly.7.Qf4 d6?

8.Bb5!! 1-0A deadly pin ends the game. The king is unsafe and this causes the defeat. After 8...Qxb5 9.Nxc7+ wins the Q. Both these players loved to use their Q ignoring the rule of the opening not to bring the Q out too early.

This game shows why-your opponent gets an advantage by attacking the Q with weaker pieces and may even capture it! A centralised (powerful) knight gives the winning blow.

Knight Times March 2009

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Novices Corner

Knight Times March 2009

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Roger FedererTennis ChampionStarted playing tennis aged 6 years.Swiss National Champion aged 14 years.World Junior Tennis Champion aged 17 years.

Rafael NadalTennis ChampionStarted playing tennis aged 3 years.Won European Age Group Title aged 12 years.Ranked in world’s top 50 players by age of 16 years.

Tiger WoodsGolf ChampionStarted playing golf aged 2 years.Won Junior World Golf Championship 6 times.Won US Junior Amateur Title aged 15 years.

Bobby FischerChess ChampionStarted playing chess aged 6 years.Won US Junior Championship aged 13 years.Won US Championship aged 14 years.

Jose CapablancaChess ChampionStarted playing chess aged 4 years.Beat Cuban Champion in a match aged 13 years.Beats US Champion 8 to 1 in a match aged 20 years.

If You Want to be a Sports Champion ...

Then start early!

Chess Puzzles

Test yourself on these two puzzles (intermediate standard)

White to move and win.

White to move and win.

Knight Times March 2009

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Answers:1. 1.c8=N# 1-0.2. 1.Rxd6# 1-0.

Since 2002 the National Interschool Chess Championships has provided opportunities for kids all over Australia to compete in a non-threatening, social environment. The event is run over three stages: Regional, State Finals and National Finals. Last year over 9200 students participated from 581 schools at a Regional event.

March sees the first Regional events starting - with the bulk of events being played in the months from May through September. If you haven't started your coaching program at school yet there is still time before the games are on you - get practicing!

With nearly 300 Regional Events planned for the 2009 season you are bound to find a tournament near you. Remember you can play in any zone and as many times as you like during the year. Check out the map at www.interschool.com.au to find your closest event.

Good and bad news about this year's National Finals (Nov 30/Dec 1, 2009). The bad news is that we have not been able to secure the same level of funding as last year (due to the tough economic climate) - the good news is that the event will still be hosted by Monash University and is likely to incorporate an Asia-Pacific Interschool Championships. Applications for participation in the National Finals are NOW OPEN to allow schools more time to fundraise and prepare for the trip. Application forms available from www.interschool.com.au.

For all schools who want to run a tournament in-school as a way of selecting your team, as a house-championships or just for extra practice... you can now use Swiss (the tournament management software which runs all the regional events) free of charge from www.swisstournament.com

InterschoolComing Soon....

MARCH Specialsat Chess World

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451 North Rd, Ormond www.chessworld.com.au

Interschool Competition starts soon ...

Prepare your team with books/software/clocks from Chess World

Practise recording your games.Each book holds 100 games.

Chess Clocks from $59

Edu-Chess Tube $30 - with free video lessons

Chess Scorebook $6.50

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