Today is the official publication day of Parimarjan Negi’s 1.e4 vs The Sicilian II.
In our terms, that means it’s the day the new books will arrive at specialist chess shops. Some websale customers will already have received their books. If you bought on our site and haven’t received your book yet, then it’s in the post. As ever, we will be interested to know what you think of the book.
Parimarjan was in action in a mixed-format match against Hou Yifan last week. The result was 11–7 to the Chinese star, but Parimarjan had his chances, and even lost one on time in a dead drawn position, after being winning earlier. The biggest gap was in Fischer Random, which was won 3.5–0.5 by Hou Yifan.
No opening prep can help in Fischer Random, but Parimarjan did put some ideas from his book into action in the other games, including the following line against a rare but clever variation of the Accelerated Dragon. The following is a blitz game so I shall not analyse it in depth.
Parimarjan Negi – Hou Yifan
USA 12/11/15
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Bb3 Re8
Negi devotes a whole chapter to this rare move. “This rook move is incredibly subtle, which is why it has almost exclusively been played by really strong players.” You’ll need to read Negi’s explanation of the points of 8…Re8 to understand why he is so impressed by this move.
Read more…
I played a couple of games of chess last weekend in the first rounds of the 4ncl in Birmingham. This is newsworthy because, before this, my most recent competitive game was the final round of last season’s 4ncl, six months ago. My inactivity is due, in part, to being busy with work, including nearing a finish to a Playing 1.e4 book.
Through bad luck of the draw, my opponent on Saturday was IM Sam Collins of Ireland. I say bad luck, because when I make a 600-mile round trip from Glasgow to Birmingham, I would rather play someone I haven’t played before, not an old friend. I will just show the end of the game, though analysing the earlier parts of the rook ending could fill a book.
John Shaw – Sam Collins
4ncl 14.11.2015
50.Ra8
A small crowd had gathered as this was one of the last games to finish. I later learned one of the spectators thought I had put my rook en prise to the black pawn. Which way are the pawns going?
50…Rc2
A sneaky try to block the a-file using a check on c6 first.
The simple approach allows White to draw by a tempo. For example: 50…Kb3 51.h6 Kb2 52.h7 a1Q 53.Rxa1 Kxa1 54.Kg7 b5 55.g5 b4 56.g6 b3 57.h8Q Rxh8 58.Kxh8 b2 59.g7 b1Q Not a check. 60.g8Q=
51.Rxa2
This felt like an only move, and is the most practical choice, but allowing the black pawn to queen would also draw, as my tandem get close enough to prevent Black making progress.
51.g5 Rc6+ 52.Kh7 Ra6 53.Rxa6 bxa6 54.g6 a1Q 55.g7= (55.h6=) 55…Qb1+ 56.Kh6! Qc1+ 57.Kh7 Qc2+ 58.Kh6 Qd2+ 59.Kh7 Qd3+ 60.Kh6 Qe3+ 61.Kh7 Qe4+ 62.Kh6 Qf4+ 63.Kh7 Qf5+ 64.Kh6 Qf6+ 65.Kh7 A set-up to remember: Black cannot win. 65…Qf7 66.h6 (Even 66.Kh6 works. 66…Qg8 67.Kg6 Kc5 68.h6=) 66…Kc5 67.Kh8 Qf6 68.Kh7=
Or similarly: 51.h6=
51…Rxa2 52.h6 Kc5
Read more…
One of the challenges of writing about chess is avoiding tedious repetition (as I may have said before…) but there are only so many ways to say: “White has an edge due to his bishop pair.”
So this week’s poll question is: Name your least favourite chess writing cliché.
My candidates are: “The rest is a matter of technique”, “Study-like”, “The bishop is biting on granite”, “Passed pawns must be pushed”, “The threat is stronger than the execution” and “Knight on the rim is dim”.
I know “Other” will be a wide category, but that’s what the comments box is for.
Last week’s poll predicted the European Team Championships will be won by the Russians, who had over twice as many votes as their nearest rivals. They are sitting on three wins out of three so far. The clichéd phrase is: “The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.”
The 1st round of the European Team Championship starts on Friday the 13th in Reykjavík, Iceland.
Russia will be top seeds in the Open section, as usual, but the Russians have struggled in some team events in recent years. They will be challenged by the likes of Ukraine (Ivanchuk, Eljanov…), Azerbaijan (with new arrival Naiditsch), France (MVL, Fressinet…), England, Armenia (Aronian, Sargissian…) and Hungary (non-playing captain Judit Polgar).
Who do you think will win the Open Section of the 2015 European Team Championship?
I should avoid interfering with the sanctity of an internet poll, but as a loyal Brit I like the medal hopes of an England team of Adams, Short, Jones, Howell and McShane. And good luck to Scotland and Denmark, with the Danish non-playing captain Jacob Aagaard. In fact, if you check out the team list you could make a few fine teams out of the non-playing captains.
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As the finishing line of Playing 1.e4 – Caro-Kann, 1…e5 and Minor Lines is in sight, a poll question came to mind: What is your usual defence against 1.e4?
If you happen to be a World Championship Candidate, then I guess your usual choice is the Sicilian or 1…e5, with some Caros and the occasional French thrown in, but I expect there will be a range. So what’s your line? Is it Sicilian, 1…e5, French, Caro-Kann, 1…d6, 1…g6, 1…d5, 1…Nf6 or Other?
I know this will only tell us your first move, not your favourite line. A Najdorf fanatic is a different animal from a believer in the Pin variation, and allsorts play 1…d6. But, like your first move, it’s a start.
Last week’s poll gave a wide spread of answers, with several posters for the lower brackets lamenting that they couldn’t play as much as they would like.
We are continuing our special offer – if you buy three books or more and live inside the European Union (as defined by UPS) we will send you an extra book free. Recently the default option on the free book has been Grandmaster Battle Manual but we will change that now to POSITIONAL CHESS SACRIFICES by GM Mihai Suba.
But if you already have Positional Chess Sacrifices or would prefer a different free book, then send us an email with your order, asking to have it replaced with one of the following titles:
GRANDMASTER VERSUS AMATEUR
GRANDMASTER BATTLE MANUAL
REGGIO EMILIA 2007/2008
TACTIMANIA
TRUE LIES IN CHESS
CHAMPIONS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM
SAN LUIS 2005
ATTACKING THE SPANISH
CUTTING EDGE 1: THE OPEN SICILIAN
CUTTING EDGE 2: SICILIAN NAJDORF 6.Be3
I do not want to come with a big comprehensive update at this point, but just a look at where we are with the immediate projects.
Grandmaster Repertoire 1.e4 – vs. The Sicilian II by Parimarjan Negi
This will be out on 18th November.
Grandmaster Repertoire 6A – Beating the Anti-Sicilians by Vassilios Kotronias
The book is done, edited and typeset. We are in the phase called “proofreading”, which is where we reduce the number of mistakes we have made. Then it goes to printing and conversion into Forward Chess. The book will be out in the middle of December, a week earlier on FC than on paper, as usual.
Read more…
The chess season in the UK runs from roughly October-May, so now seems like another good time to ask about your own playing habits. The majority of games are played in midweek league matches or weekend congresses, and there are also 9 round international tournaments on the continent almost every week (and a growing number here too).
If you had the time and the inclination you could play all year round, but at least one elite grandmaster would advise you against that: “When you play too much chess in a short period, bad things tend to happen” tweeted Hikaru Nakamura after a below par performance at the European Club Cup, which came shortly after his rather excellent one in Las Vegas. So our question this week is how many games of chess do you play in a year? Count all your over the board matches, FIDE rated or otherwise (but leave out all these blitz games on Lichess!) 0-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-75, 76-100 or 100+
Last week’s poll showed a clear preference for Magnus Carlsen to behave like Merv Hughes over Alastair Cook.
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