It is Saturday and it is time for Saturday Open Forum. What would you like to discuss? The forum is yours!
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Susan, is there a way to make this blog of yours less heavy, please? It takes ages to load on slow connections! :'(
Thank you
Nakamura is now the highest rated US player, yet he isn’t even in the top 50 world wide. What does that mean? Is American chess really that far behind the rest of the world?
Yes, USAchess is far behind…
Just compare the level to the russians and you’ll get an idea…
Or compare the rating to fide elo. USCF rating is about 150 points too high compared to official Elo.
Does Nakamura have the talent to catch up to Carlsen? If so what does he have to do?
study endgame?
Does anyone know the address of the site that I’m looking for? It is a list of a whole bunch of grandmasters, and who should study them (for example, 1400-1700 tactical players). Susan’s on there, among all the world champions, Seirawan, Short, etc. If someone could find it, it would be a great help to me, and to hopefully a lot of other readers of this blog.
Is adult OTB chess dying? What is your take?
Susan,
I observed a series of blitz games of a Secret GM M_Secret on Kasparovchess.com back in 2001. It will play odd opening like moving all his pawns to the 3rd rank to obliterate or draw many GMs. I give a sample game against GM Shipov.
Have you ever ran into this secret GM online or can you guess who he is?
White “SergeiShipov”]
[Black “M_Secret”]
[WhiteRating ” (2487)”]
[BlackRating ” (2563)”]
1. d4 h6 2. e4 g6 3. c4 f6 4. Nc3 e6
5. Qg4 Ne7 6. Bd3 d6 7. Qg3 c6 8. h4 b6 9. Nge2 a6
10. Nf4 Rg8 11. Be3 e5 12. Nfe2 Nd7 13. O-O-O b5 14. f4 b4
15. Na4 Qa5 16. Bc2 exd4 17. Nxd4 Nc5 18. Nxc5 dxc5 19. Nb3 Qxa2
20. Bxc5 a5 21. Nd4 Qxc4 22. Bd6 Rg7 23. Kb1 a4 24. Bd3 Qxd4
25. e5 f5 26. Bc2 Qb6 27. Rhe1 Nd5 28. h5 Nc3+ 29. Ka1 Nxd1
30. Rxd1 b3 31. Bd3 a3 32. hxg6 Qd4 0-1
Jack,
Is there any evidence that adult OTB chess is dying?
Although I personally plan a hiatus from Chess until the Kids grow up, I do not see the evidence yet.
I recently participated in US Amateur Team East which was a huge success.
@jack le moine:
i’m an adult and i’m coming home just now from an OTB king’s gambit game of chess (rated) against an other adult player – (incidentally i’ve lost the game playing the so called fischer variation 3…d6 – my standard variation on kings gambit, but my opponent surprised me with an early knight sacrifice on h4 – a very wild game!).
OTB adult chess (on an amateur level) is not “dead” at all, but it is not in the media – that’s all – and in modern times something, which is not discussed over and over again in the main media sources (e.g. chess blogs by prominent professionals)seems to be not existent – but it is! believe me!
greetings
Hi Susan,
On this site and in biographical information that you have posted in other places, it says you were “four times” World Chess Champion. I see from the FIDE site that you were the Women’s World Champion from 1996 to 1999. What were the other three times?
Susan, I have a suggestion for you. I see that you are asked the same questions over and over. I wonder if you could have a FAQ (frequently asked questions) page on one of your sites? Then you could just refer people to that.
Jack
jacklemoine.blogspot.com
Has anybody seen Kasparov’s new book, “How Life Imitates Chess”. I gather it is an autobiography.
I hear that the American edition will be different from the European editions because the American publisher did not think that Americans would be so interested in the chess. So much of the chess stuff got cut. Shame.
Jack
jacklemoine.blogspot.com
How come you didnt answer any questions in last Saturdays forum?
I don’t think Susan will be answering any questions today either. She is playing a simul at Princeton University.
How come you didnt answer any questions in last Saturdays forum?
That could be one of the FAQ’s, Jack Le Moine is suggesting 🙂
I wish Judit Polgar had a blog…
Why is Topalov not playing in Amber tournament?
Because Topalov isn’t invited…
Why is Topalov not invited? Well….. because he’s a troublemaker perhaps?
Hi All: What’s the most tactical opening for white in your opinion. I mean in which opening are the most traps involved in the first, say 20 moves?
Thx
Susan won the FIDE Women’s World Rapid and FIDE Women’s World Blitz Championship ahead of Judit, Sofia, Chiburdanidze, Galliamova and many other top women players in the world.
She also won the FIDE World Under 16 for Girls when she was 12. She is incidentally the only World Champion to win all 3: World Classical, Blitz and Rapid Championship.
I don’t think Judit cares so much about a blog. Most Grandmasters will not waste their time for something they do not get paid for.
I have a blogspot too and not much you can do. You need faster internet connection 🙂
Susan, this is the USCF election season. How do you deal with the most vicious chess politicians like Beatriz Marinello, Sam Sloan, Hal Bogner or their supporters like Brian Lafferty or David Quinn?
While 99% of chess players support and appreciate what you do, you have a few people who will do everything to derail your efforts and politicize everything. How can you stop them?
Don’t forget Don Schultz. Marinello and Schultz will do everything to allow Sam Sloan to attack and destroy their opponents. They need someone who’s willing to do the dirty works. Marinello used to have Stan Booz doing that. Now it’s Sam Sloan. You can’t stop. You’ll never stop them. They don’t care about anyone but themselves and their inflated ego. Forget about them is my advice.
I agree with the last poster. You can’t change these people. You just have to ignore their wackiness and move on to do good stuff for chess. You can’t fight dirt. We as members can throw them out. Show them the one way door.
Dear Susan..Your name came up for my Gr M Susan Homa….Im looking for relatives in Hungary…sofar prob from Bodrogalaszi. Can you help? Truman Vasko MD trumanvasko2300@earthlink.net
Regarding the USCF politics posts above: How many people besides myself have been distributing Susan’s flyers? It would be nice if we checked in every so often.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Jack
jacklemoine.blogspot.com
Brian Lafferty is a bully. What has he done for chess recently other than threaten to invite local, state and National authorities to look at USCF books and records? Oh, yes, I forgot. He is an 1194 rated player who purportedly teaches scholastic chess somewhere in Massachusetts in addition to being an attorney.
Can we discuss something more pleasant?
Susan: what do you think about young Mamedyarov Shahriyar From Azerbaijan? I think he is only 22 yet is now #4 in the world!
I think he might be world champ someday.
–Duncan
Susan,
My brother-in-law graduated from Princeton. I hope you whipped those weenies butts!
Anonymous said…
Hi All: What’s the most tactical opening for white in your opinion. I mean in which opening are the most traps involved in the first, say 20 moves?
Thx
If I had to guess, I’d pick the Budapest.
Answer to Jerry Macdonald:
Jerry,imagine you have 600 masters. Stadistically they are 450 FMs,120 IMs,29 GMs and just 1 Super GM(2700+).
Well in America there are only 465 masters(you can check the fide website to verify all my words) and I think you are very lucky having a Super GM as Kamsky with your poor numbers.
You are a country with 300 millions residents and you have less of the half of masters than Germany with just 85 millions residents.Spain,my country, has 321 masters and we are only 43 millions!Hungary has 329 and they are just 11 millions!Do you understand what I am saying?
That is the reality.
And Onischuk is american citizen now and he is about 2650 too.Ok,Nakamura is the only american born player in the top 50,but America used to be a nation that welcomed emigration…why are you speaking just about Nakamura?
Answer to Susan about Paul interview:
What can I say?It is amazing!I was reading each point and was most terrible that the previus one.Well,he is a lucky man…but you need to help the things happen in cases like that.Wow!
Re: >
IMO a strong argument could be made for the Sicilian. The Sicilian is perhaps the most popular opening. It is obviously very tactical. Of course, it is perhaps wrong to be too dogmatic about such a question. The Marshall Gambit of the Closed Ruy Lopez would be another interesting choice.
Most tactical opening is probably the Guicco Piano along with the Two Knights Defense. Traps everywhere.
e4 e5
Nf3 Nc6
Bc4
then black responds with either
…..Bc5
or
…..Nf6
Now for the black side of the Kings Gambit the most difficult is
e4 e5
f4 exf4
Nf3 g4
this is the strongest and most difficult for white to face. But it becomes very tactical and very sharp. I love to play this position as black. White very often sacs the knight. wild games. Makes my blood pump hard and I know I am alive in this game.
Yes! It was amazing his story. Swimming with sharks! He survived and he and Susan will survive the USCF sharks too! I also am talking to my fellow chessplayers and passing out flyers to advertise the candidates to vote for!
About tactical openings:
Of course,the most complex tactical and positionally is the Sicilian opening.
Actually GMs do not play the Italian game because the Two Knights defence is dangerous and anycase it gives less practical chances than Spanish Opening(Ruy Lopez).
Friends, do not play for traps!If you do that then you can arrive to be only the kings of the cheap players(Knowed as coffee players) and you have not real chances for improving.
Play good openings!Openings tested by many masters actually:they are a lot and you can choose well
And I know a lot of traps,really a lot in my openings…tomorrow I will play against a opponent rated 2190 and I was checking all the usual traps and main lines in our possible openings…in anyway a good player plays just good openings,good positionally and tactically…and if they give you some traps,they are welcomed(you can crush the weaker rivals with them),but it is absolutely wrong to play for traps
And Italian and two Knights openings are not a good option because Ruy Lopez gives you more.
And it is a waste of time to learn King´s gambit old lines if black can play 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5(Falkbeer counter gambit) and attack you at move two or if he/she wants stop each problem with the simple move 2…Bc5
Traps are not all bad!
I like to play for traps myself. Do all the work at home and then crush your opponent over the board is not a bad way to go. Playing for traps also allows you to save thinking time on the clock and if you are lucky enough you won’t have to think for more than a few minutes in a game. It is amazing to watch your opponent squirm with time trouble while you are up both in material and way ahead in time. My dream would be to crush someone in under a minute in a regulation time game – unfortunately having to win the game after springing a trap takes time. Plus you will be surprised at how many better players will fall into a prepared trap.
Tactical openings are great fun. I have had huge success with Tartakower’s Orangutan as white and the Elephant Gambit as Black. Much higher rated players have blundered big time against both of these especially the Orangutan.
i remember visiting russia back in 1990 around the time communism was just ending i remember the russian gaurds with there straight faces and there intent to kill.they still had a curfew for people back then. i was visiting for hockey as part of a tournament. i visited st petersburg and moscow. i wonder what russia is like now although its been 17 years since ive visited that place. the one thing i remember is how much those russians valued the jeans we were wearing. they just loved american clothes. im sure its changed since then but it would cool to visit again.
wolverine