Exclam! online

I have a new BC chess blog!

2008-11-22T10:37:00.000-08:00

Dear chess friends:

I have a new BC chess blog. It is called "Wood Sense" after the Celtic chess-like game "gwyddbwyll". Just click on the Title for this post.

So long, for now, to Manitoba

2008-10-12T01:42:00.000-07:00

This blog, having served its purpose of getting me blogging about Manitoba chess, is coming to an end. I have moved to British Columbia and I don't feel that I ought to, in good conscience, use a Manitoba name for what would be a BC chess blog.

Best wishes to my Manitoba chess friends and check here if you are interested in a further chess blog that I might be working on. Until we meet again!

Nigel Hanrahan

Women's World Chess Championship

2008-08-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

Now here's an unexpected decision from an Appeals Committee. In the "Armaggedon" game between Pole Monica Socko and Romanian Sabina Foisor in the Women's World Chess Championship underway in Nalchik, the following position (or something very much like it) was arrived at ...

With White to move, and Black having just flagged, the Appeals Committee awarded the win ... to White!

Not enough mating material you say? Look again ...

Apparently, the rule for Armaggedon games is that if a mating position can be constructed (with worst possible play, in this case) against a player whose flag has fallen, then that player loses.

A king and knight versus a lone king would have been a draw. And in the circumstances of the match, a draw would mean that Black would have gone on to the next round.

Weird, eh?

Notable July chess activities in Canada

2008-07-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

The Canadian Youth Chess Championships were just completed in Québec.

The Canadian Open Chess Championship is being hosted in Montréal from July 19 to July 27. The weblink at the FQE can be found over here. The only Manitoban I could find listed was Weixi Liu, in the under 2000 Section, although perhaps it is worth noting that former Manitoban Jack Yoos is playing in the Open Section against the big boys. The ChessTalk Discussion Board is reporting the results and pairings on a regular basis over here and here in English, and over here in French. MonRoi is also posting live games, results, and so on ... although I cannot vouch for a good connection and timely updates. Viewers need to set up an account, and some people have been having problems, but I think it should work fine. Here is a link to Monroi.

At the same time, the Chess Federation of Canada is having its Annual General Meeting from July 21 to July 22 (today and tomorrow) . Given recent events, tournament chess players in this country would be wise to follow the results of this meeting carefully. There will be, no doubt, sharp discussion on the respective boards. Here is a link to the CFC website.

NEWS FLASH: Larry Bevand of Chess and Math has noted the following for today's part of the meeting:

About 20 people present (which is a good turnout for this kind of thing). People present included former CFC President Maurice Smith (who chaired the meeting), Ken MacDonald who was the secretary for the occasion, Former CFC President Les Bunning and the Prez to be David Lavin.

The grass routes motion presented by Bob Armstrong and gang was declared out of order by the chair...it is expected to resurface tomorrow. There was heated discussion about the team captain for the women's team.

The FQSE is no longer the Quebec affiliate for the CFC.

Otherwise, the reports were read and the whole thing came to an end early (around noonish) which is a first! The incoming board meets tomorrow beginning at 9 am.

Bevand noted that "I was not there so what I am giving you is based on what I was told."

Exclam! will be preserved in the Manitoba Legislative Library

2008-07-18T17:56:00.000-07:00

J. Ken MacDonald, with some help from a few friendly Manitobans, has done the work to bring together a complete collection of Exclam! (and its previous incarnation). The latest news has Ken arranging to preserve the entire collection in the publicly accessible Manitoba Legislative Library.

The Library website is over here.

Here's what Ken wrote in ChessTalk:

My thanks to our friends in Winnipeg who helped me complete my run of this fine publication.

I have found someone who wants to accept/preserve the complete run of this publication. Matthew Handscombe has told me they will become a part of the Manitoba Legislative Library. They will rest among the largest collection of Manitoba newspapers in the world.

They have just been sent to him, but eventually will be found at:

http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/leg-lib/index.html

If anyone could help me determine where Quebec or British Columbia chess newsletters might or might not be maintained, I would try them next.

Well done, Ken!

Video report from 97 Cdn Open in Winnipeg

2008-06-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

MCA Secretary Cecil Rosner has recently posted a video report on the 1997 Canadian Open. The Open was held in Winnipeg and included 11 GM's, some of whom are (briefly) interviewed in the video.

And here it is:

Manitoba Chess Champions

2008-05-26T13:22:00.000-07:00

Some recent discussion in the MCA Board led me to do a little investigating. It turns out that David Cohen has done much of the work in documenting and recording past, and present, chess champions in Canada. There is also considerable data relating to Manitoba. Just click on the link in the title of this blog entry.

I've updated David Cohen's entries, and added a few, and I've come up with the following... Up to 1999, there were separate Manitoba Open and Manitoba Closed tournaments. During this time the winner of the Manitoba Closed tournament was considered the Manitoba Champion.

By the way, there was also a Manitoba Reserves tournament; this tournament enabled the top player among those who were not able to qualify for "the Closed", by virtue of rating, to qualify in another manner for the Closed.

In any case, here is a listing for recent winners of the Closed:

Manitoba Closed winners:

1999 Kevin Gentes
1998 Kevin Gentes
1997 John (Jack) Yoos
1996 Fletcher Baragar
1995 John (Jack) Yoos
1994 Fletcher Baragar
1993 Kevin Gentes, Frank Kollar
1992 Kevin Gentes
1991 Kevin Gentes, Aron Kaptsan, Arthur Prystenski
1990 Kevin Gentes
[missing a few here!!]
1934 David Creemer

After 1999, or thereabouts, the Manitoba Closed was no longer held. To make a long story short, Manitoba players were able to qualify for the Canadian Closed directly. This made a Manitoba qualifying tournament redundant. However, there was still a need for a Manitoba Champion. The winner of the Manitoba Open was, thereafter, the Manitoba Champion.

So, here are some results from the Manitoba Open. Please note that the results go back BEFORE 1999, i.e., before the time when the winner of the Manitoba Closed was considered the Manitoba Champion. Are you confused yet?

Manitoba Open winners

2002 Waldemar Schulz
2001 Danny Federkevic
2000 Kevin Gentes
1999 Irwin Lipnowski
1998 Kevin Gentes
1997 Aron Kaptsan
1996 Fletcher Baragar, George Vlaovic
1995 Aron Kaptsan, Les Mundwiler, Waldemar Schulz
1994 Fletcher Baragar
1993 Arthur Prystenski
1992 Aron Kaptsan
1991 Sasho Kalajdzievski
1990 Kevin Gentes, Arthur Prystenski

Since 2002, the name of the tournament traditionally called the Manitoba Open has been changed to the Albert Boxer Classic, the winner of which was eventually considered as the Manitoba Champion. There may, therefore, be a year or two in which there was no official Manitoba Champion. In any case, here are the recent

winners of the Albert Boxer Classic:

2008 Trevor Vincent
2007 Kevin Gentes
2006 Samuel Lipnowski
2005 Samuel Lipnowski, Joseph Van Wyk.
2004 Samuel Lipnowski*, Sam Cleto, Kevin Gentes.
2003 Samuel Lipnowski, Harley Greenberg

---------------------------------------------------------

I've also found some data regarding the Manitoba Junior chess champions.

Manitoba Junior Chess Champions

2007 Trevor Vincent
2005 Daniel Oberton
2003 Samuel Lipnowski
2001 Samuel Lipnowski
2000 Joshua Henson, Trevor Vincent
1999 Justin Gushuliak
1998 Justin Gushuliak, Joshua Henson
1997 Joshua Henson
1996 Joshua Henson
1995 Joshua Henson, Samuel Lipnowski
1994 Alexander Kniazhevskyi
1993 Danny Federkovic
1992 Danny Federkovic
1991 Blaine Bray, Danny Federkovic
1990 Blaine Bray
______________________________________

Corrections, additions, etc., are welcome, of course. Please provide a reference or a source when making such proposed corrections or additions, if you are able.

The Albert Boxer Tournament and Der Alter Goniff

2008-05-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

Der Alter Goniff is a Yiddish expression meaning "the old swindler". I read about it in Ed Gaillard's blog by the same name. "Hmm," I thought to myself, remembering Albert's habit of handling the captured chess pieces in his free hand like a magician rolls coins during a trick,"that would have been a cool nickname for Albert." I lost a few games against Albert, watching those pieces in one hand while he pillaged the board with his other hand. Those who remember playing Albert in the former home of the MCA in the Cornish Library will remember his running banter that went along with his magician's tricks. It used to drive me nuts but he was powerless to resist. You had to play him.

Anyway, I have been behind in my posting here for the Albert Boxer Tournament but I shall, over the course of this weekend, post a couple of previously unpublished photographs of Albert, and try to provide a few updates on the event. By the way, the event has been called the Albert Boxer Classic, ever since it was held on one of the same weekends in August/September that the Winnipeg-Regina CFL football rivalry takes place. I think the event should be called the Albert Boxer Memorial - but then again, I can be pretty old-fashioned sometimes.

Maybe we could establish a chess award - in a particular tournament or over the course of a longer period of time - in honour of Albert Boxer, and call it Der Alter Goniff award for the best chess swindle.

Albert would have liked that, methinks.

© Andrew Gillies & Nigel Hanrahan

Active Team Chess Tournament

2008-05-24T00:50:00.000-07:00

An Active Team Chess tournament will be held on June 22 at the University of Winnipeg. Here are some tentative details: in general, the event will be much the same as last year.

Each team must consist of 4 players (Master or expert, A, B and C or D) with total points (as of June 1st) not to exceed 7100. This rule might be varied by having the ratings published for all to see. Entry is $10 per player, which would probably be best organized as $40 to be paid by team captains. 5 rounds if 6 teams. Time control of 30 minutes. There is a suggested entry deadline of June 17.

Attention prospective players and captains! Feel free to post here on Exclam! online to indicate your desire to play, name a team, and so on. I will make sure the information is passed on.

Please note that these details are tentative.

Location: University of Winnipeg

Contact: MCA. TD will be Alex Nikouline.

April Weekend Tournament

2008-04-16T13:00:00.000-07:00

The April Sectional Tournament is fast approaching. The original deadline for registration was Tuesday, April the 15^th but it's not too late to give Lorne a call and register!!

NEWS FLASH: TD Lorne Gibbons is seriously considering changing the event to an Active tournament. He suggested 2 rounds on Friday and 3 on Saturday. If you are interested in such a tournament, then show up this evening and register.

Prospective players can contact Lorne Gibbons during the TNT evenings at the University of Winnipeg or at 222-0855. They can also e mail me at the following address: niginator AT shaw DOT ca. (Replace AT with @ and DOT with . ) I will be posting the updated list of players on this blog as they are added. The parings will be posted on the MCA website as well, and that will probably be done by Alex Nikouline once registration is over.

The event is a 5 round Round Robin tournament broken into sections of 6 players. Typically, there is also a final "open" section of the players with the lowest ratings that cannot be fit into a section of 6 players. The tournament will be played in room 5L24 at the U of W.

Time controls for the event are as follows: Fri all moves/120 minutes; Sat & Sun 30/90, then all/60.

A sectional tournament is an opportunity for players to have a series of games against players with ratings similar to their own. The opponents, and colours, are known in advance. The only caution is that byes are pretty well impossible to get so players should expect to play all 5 rounds.

Let us know of your intention to play. I will add the names as they come in.

Name	Rating
Khedkar, Jay S.	1883
Kong, Dezheng	1862
Iomdina, Bella	1775
Gannon, Keith	1685
Green, Aaron	1667
Green, Jim	1662
Lipic, Stephen	1599
Goodman, Clifford	1595
Letain, Cory	1430
Green, Leah	1163

-------

Chess Federation of Canada makes plans for HUGE changes ...

2008-04-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

Chess fans and members of the Chess Federation of Canada may be very interested to know that huge changes are planned for the CFC. These changes, as outlined by the CFC Executive, are as follows:

1. Outsource our daily operations.
2. Broker our merchandise business
3. Sell the CFC Office
4. Replace the printed magazine with an online version.
5. Strategic alliances with CMA (and the FQE, see move 6.)
6. Comprehensive review of our membership structure and revenue split with the provinces, including Quebec.
7. Better support for organizers and arbiters in pursuit of better tournaments.

The most recent Governor's Letter can be downloaded online and includes much more details about the plan of action.

The 2007/08 GL7 can be downloaded here.

It should be noted that there are some complaints about the lack of consultation with the Governors themselves. However, it is only fair to point out that the Executive views the current situation of the CFC as an emergency. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Please feel free to post remarks on this blog or elsewhere, such as on ChessTalk.

Gwyddbwyll, or wood sense, has a new beginning at Exclam! online.

2008-04-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

Long ago the ancient Celts played board games not dissimilar to the game that preceded modern chess. There is some scant evidence for what these games were like. Literature and oral tales taken down had interesting references as well: gwyddbwyll and fidchell are mentioned.

Roughly translated, gwyddbwyll, or fidchell (pronounced fickle) in Irish, means "wood wisdom" or "wood sense".

The graphic above is author Nigel Suckling's imaginative version of what a fidchell board might have looked like ... His essay on the origins of fidchell can be read over here. Suckling also outlines some rules by which fidchell can be played using this board.

In one of the few remaining texts for insular Celtic prose mythology, The Mabinogion provides us with a Star Wars like image of gwyddbwyll pieces that come to life and move by themselves like the holograms in the Millennium Falcon. We also have this piece ...

Peredur came to the castle, and the castle gate was open. And when he reached the hall the door was open, and when he went inside he saw a gaming board in the hall, and either of the two sets of pieces was playing against the other, and the one to which he gave his help began to lose the game. And the other side gave a shout, just as if they had been men. Then he grew angry and took the set of pieces on his lap and threw the board in the lake.

The quote comes from 'The Magic Gaming Board' whose 12th century Welsh author is unknown. Bad sportsmanship, it seems, is timeless.

There are also fascinating models of boards in which all the pieces other than the king move like modern rooks. Here is one such board ...

However, there is no certain version of a fidchell or gwyddbwyll board in existence. In 1932, the Ballinderry Game Board was found, near Ballinderry, West Meath in Ireland, and it is surmised that this is a fidchell board. (See below for a photograph of this board.)

With the coming of Christianity to the British Isles, all things associated with Druids and Druidism were suppressed, especially cultural practices like fidchell or gwyddbwyll. For what we would today describe as a board game, even a game as great as chess, the Celts viewed as divination, or perhaps a portal to another world, or as prophesy of what was yet to be.

Although the Celtic Christian Church was fairly tolerant in many aspects regarding traditional pagan practices. It was firmly opposed to Druidism, and all things affiliated with it. This association of Fidchell and Gwyddbwyll with magic and Druids may thus explain why these games were abandoned.

Abandoned, or stamped out? More information about the origins of gwyddbwyll can be found over here.

Modern day Welsh chess players use the ancient term of gwyddbwyll to describe chess as it is played today. Many websites attest to the popularity of this terminology: here at blogwyddbwyll, or here at gwyddbwyll ar y we.

So, why all this discussion of games lost in the mists of time? Well, I needed to explain why this column will be called gwyddbwyll. Chess players are intensely jealous of their game and somewhat conservative to boot. But I hope that a little "wood sense" will be welcome anyway. Perhaps I can even popularize the term somewhat, and thereby rescue a little bit, even if only a word or two, of what our modern game has vanquished.

Iechyd Da!

_____________

A blog reader has provided the following links with information about the related game of Hnefetafl. Thank you, Martin!

Hnefetafl: a Norse game

Hnefetafl: Viking Chess

Active Chess in Manitoba - Interested?

2008-03-12T01:55:00.000-07:00

Some interest has been expressed in an Active chess tournament in Winnipeg. Time controls would be 30 minutes a side (or something like that).

Add your name as a comment on this blog entry, or contact me through the MCA website, or call me over the phone if you want to see this happen.

Nigel Hanrahan

Exclam! cover shots

2008-03-09T23:05:00.000-07:00

I hope this is the first of many. I'm just experimenting with the scanner right now. The quality leaves a great deal to be desired - but then again, I'm using a .gif file of less than 1 MB. A full bitmap image is over 10 MBs - which is about 2 MB over the limit for blogger photos. So I've got to play around with it a bit.

My plan, of course, is to provide a library of EXCLAM! cover shots. Maybe .pdf file versions of all the old issues of EXCLAM! would be a good idea as well.

What's up in Manitoba Chess?

2008-03-02T11:54:00.003-08:00

What's happening in Manitoba chess, you ask? Well, lots, actually.

We're now 2 weeks into the Thursday afternoon Blitz events at Portage Place. Check the Manitoba Chess Association website for particulars on the Wednesday before the tournament. The location has changed from Edmonton Street Court to Kennedy Street Court so checking the MCA site will be useful. These Portage Place Blitz events will go on for nine weeks in total, with the week of March 20th off, and there is no entry fee. In week one, Winnipeger Jordan Kwiatek took top honours. There was a bit of a mix-up in week two and no tournament took place. Week three should be fine.

Plans are still afoot for a Saturday event at a Casino in Winnipeg in March or later. (probably McPhillips Street Station Casino) This will be a 5 Round Swiss, 20 minutes a side or 20/game, with an entry fee of $20 and a $500 Prize Fund. Since the event is at a Casino, all players will have to be 18 years of age or older.

Samuel Lipnowski won the February TNT, making that the 3rd event he's won in 2008 in Manitoba, in addition to winning the Kent Oliver Memorial and the January TNT. Can anyone stop Sammy "the steamroller"? We'll see. The March TNT begins on Tuesday the 4th.

With 20 players for the January TNT and 24 players for the February TNT, these events seem to be the most popular competitive chess format in Manitoba right now. The time control is game/120 min. at the University of Winnipeg venue. (ETA: Thanks for the correction, Tony!) By the way, and this is advice for every tournament, players are encouraged to bring their digital chess clocks to ensure that every board has such a clock.

The Manitoba High School Championship was held on February 22nd, with Kelvin HS taking first prize. Plans have been made to schedule the event on a more suitable day to generate a better turnout than this year's modest turnout of 6 teams.

The Chess Manitoba blog now has the chess problem from Cecil Rosner's column in the Winnipeg Free Press. The plan is to give players an opportunity to find a solution to the problem, when they're stumped, without having to wait two weeks for the solution in the next column. There should soon be a link from the MCA website to the CM blog on this new initiative. That's quick work from Tony Boron!

I've put my name forward for the position of Tournament Coordinator and the MCA Board has accepted my offer. Most of the duties are already being ably carried out by Lorne Gibbons (our prolific TD for most MCA events) and Alex Nikouline but I will be making sure that the MCA website schedule is up-to-date and the events publicized.

Please feel free to post comments about any of these matters mentioned, or any other matter relating to Manitoba chess, on this thread.

Nigel Hanrahan

Yet another Manitoba chess blog!

2008-02-08T10:43:00.000-08:00

Jim Green has made a few entries in the new Manitoba junior chess blog. I've provided a permanent link to the blog among the "Related Chess Links" in the column on the right hand side of this blog. Hooray Jim!

Come to think of it, there are other chess blogs by Manitobans. At my last count, Jason Repa was up to 10 blogs ... although not all of them are strictly related to chess. While some of the material is controversial, I would be remiss if I did not add that Jason also administers a yahoo chess discussion group. Please feel free to let Exclam! online readers know about any other chess blogs by/about Manitobans.

Chess blogs can be a great source of information and discussion. They typically allow the reader to respond, make remarks, and sometimes get feedback from the author. Some of my favourite chess blogs are The Daily Dirt, a kind of chess gossip blog from journalist Mig Greengard, ChessVibes, with great short videos, and Susan Polgar's chess blog. The Kenilworth (NJ) chess club has a listing of interesting chess blogs. There are many, many other blogs as well. Do you have a favourite that you would like to share ? Please do. Add a comment here or e mail me at Exclam DOT online AT gmail DOT com (Replace DOT with a . and replace AT with a @ .) and I can add the link to this blog if it's of general interest.

Corus 2008 comes to an end.

2008-01-27T23:34:00.000-08:00

The annual Super Tournament in Wijk aan Zee has come to an end. This year was very exciting with some novelties, especially by Veselin Topalov in his winning game against Vladimir Kramnik, and outstanding results from 17 year old Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen and Armenian Levon Aronian led the tournament with 8/13 in the "A" group. Also noteworthy was the clear first in the "C" group by Italian/American Fabiano Caruana.

There is plenty of information available on the tournament at the official website. Games scores and annotations can be found at The Week in Chess (TWIC), Mig Greengard's Daily Dirt, the Internet Chess Club and other sites on the web. ChessVibes is also worth checking out for some great interviews and commentary by the players on their own games.

The professional and amateur chess events were only part of the story, however. The official site notes that:

Yochanan Afek: Amongst the special events celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Corus Chess Tournament, stands out the International composing tourney for endgame studies. A turnout of 151 entries submitted by 90 composers from 29 countries, makes it one of the biggest composing events ever. Especially successful was Yuri Bazlov from Vladivostok who shared the top honours and won the third prize too.

Here is the winning endgame composition:

White to play and win.
Yuri Bazlov

A 19 page .pdf file listing all the winning entries, with the solutions, can be found at the official site and at TWIC. There is also a .pgn file of all the winning compositions at TWIC.

Robert James Fischer (1943-2008)

2008-01-18T08:31:00.000-08:00

Robert James Fischer, 11th World Chess Champion in the modern era, has died. For many players, Fischer was the greatest of them all. Fischer transformed many aspects of chess and inspired millions to take up the game competitively. However, as former World Champion Garry Kasparov remarked, his ugly anti-Semitic tirades and extravagant life after his retirement from serious play did not contribute to the popularity of chess.

In an ironic twist, Fischer was 64 when he died. There are, of course, 64 squares on a chessboard.

Last Friday I watched as part of a church film group the Bergman film, The Seventh Seal, in which a Christian knight plays chess with death. Death won, but the knight managed to save a few lives in the course of his struggle with the Grim Reaper. Millions of people were influenced by Fischer - including me when I took up competitive chess back in 1992 as others did - to play the great game of chess.

There will be Fischer Memorial tournaments around the world. And, paradoxically perhaps, I expect the Russian chess public to honour Fischer as much or more than his own country will. The Cold War battle that the 1972 Championship became did not stop them from having an attitude of admiration towards Fischer. And I expect that no U.S. government will be able to forgive Fischer for his remark that a real cause of 9-11 was the U.S. foreign policy that preceded the horrific events in New York City. Blowback is now an acknowledged fact to many observers but it was not so in 2001. It would probably be useful to recall an Icelandic response to the choleric attack on that country by the U.S. newspaper The Washington Post following Bobby Fischer's arrival in Iceland. In an Editorial dated 29 March 2005 the Morgunbladid in Reykjavik, Iceland noted:

Bobby Fischer has not come to Iceland because of his opinions. They are his, and he is responsible for his words just as any other Icelander is.

When Mr. Fischer became World Champion, Americans were eager to cloak themselves in this eccentric chess genius’ victory over the Soviet chess dynasty, but since 1992 their intransigence toward him has been unalloyed.

Early this winter, Mr. Fischer wrote to the authorities in this country and requested asylum in Iceland. Minister of Foreign Affairs Davíd Oddsson demonstrated both valor and philanthropy when he decided to honor that request. Icelanders have formed a group of Bobby Fischer supporters who have worked tirelessly to get him released, and it is thanks to this group and the Minister for Foreign Affairs that Mr. Fischer is here. The original intent was not to grant Mr. Fischer Icelandic citizenship, but when it became clear that the Japanese would not release him, the decision was made to take this step. Althingi (the Icelandic Parliament) did not bring Iceland to shame with this decision; instead, it saved the United States the shame of having imprisoned Robert James Fischer for the sole crime of not having behaved in harmony with American foreign policy.

Fischer was a warrior on and off the chessboard. It is a pity that his great fighting spirit was not put to better use after his retirement from serious play. What he lacked for that was a knight's humility; however, it is also true that Fischer was once quoted as saying that humility would be hypocritical of him since he viewed himself as the greatest chess player ever.

One minute of silence was observed prior to the start of Round 6 at the Corus Tournament in Wijk aan Zee to remember Bobby Fischer.

I cannot say enough good things about the new chess video site, ChessVibes. Their speedy coverage is simply amazing and a real treat. Have a look at ChessVibes There is the actual recording of the moment of silence in honour of Fischer at Wijk aan Zee. Reactions are available, so far, from GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic, GM Nigel Short, GM Michael Adams, GM Teimur Rajabov, GM Jan Timman, and GM Veselin Topalov. I particulary like what Topalov said: "He really loved chess and his ideas ... still live."

He never fixed a game, never played for a draw, and gave us a legacy of total devotion to an art. He was, simply, for his brief shining moment, the best that ever was.

from Brenan Nierman over at Mig Greengard's, The Daily Dirt

Here is that minute of silence. What else need be said?

Hmm. Apparently, Kasparov found something to say. One great champion gives his best to another.

Fischer's beautiful chess and his immortal games will stand forever as a central pillar in the history of our game.... It is with justice that he spent his final days in Iceland, the site of his greatest triumph. There he has always been loved and seen in the best possible way: as a chessplayer.

The Kent Oliver Memorial tournament and the AGM

2008-01-11T11:41:00.000-08:00

Although he was before my time in Manitoba chess, I heard enough about Kent Oliver to know that he was a player and past officer/president of the Manitoba Chess Association. For many years now, a supplement has been added in memory of Kent Oliver to enrich the prize fund of this important annual event. Those with a longer memory are welcome to add more details about Kent Oliver and/or the tournament named in his memory.

This weekend is also the occasion for the Annual General Meeting of the Manitoba Chess Association. The AGM will be held between the 4th and 5th rounds of the event ... and it looks like the 4th round will be starting an hour early (at 9 am rather than 10 am) to create time for the meeting. While the free pizza tradition has, I think, been abandoned, this is still an important meeting for Manitoba chess. Heheh. As it is between rounds of the KOM I expect it not to last too long. Plan to attend if you are able and interested in Manitoba chess in 2008.

Nigel Hanrahan

Problem 3: hdp 5.5

2008-01-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

It's time for another heterodox chess problem. Our problemist, Zoltan Bodnar, has worked on the previous composition and come up with some improvements. The problem is, once again, a thematic one dedicated to this new blog. The layout of the pieces begins in the form of an exclamation mark or "exclam".

The start position has White pawns on b5, b6, and b7. The pawn on b7 is a royal pawn; it has the same properties as other pawns with the additional property that it can be checked. In this problem, the only Black piece that can "check" this pawn is the Black king. The royal pawn is indicated by an upside-down pawn. In addition, White has a double move rook hopper on b4. It is indicated by an upside-down rook. This piece is called a clam and it can be compared to a checker piece that must make two jumps and two jumps only. Such a piece could, for example, jump over an adjacent piece, or pawn, and jump right back to its original square, provided it wasn't temporarily blocking a check, etc. It is indicated with a "C". White has no king on the board.

Black has a king on b2.

The problem is a help double stalemate. The final position will have both players stalemated. By convention, Black moves first in this problem.

So, we have ....

White: pawns on b5, b6. royal pawn on b7. clam on b4.
Black: king on b2.

hdp 5.5
ZKBodnar
condition: black must not "check"

Given the lack of response to these heterodox problems so far, the solution will be provided in the comments section. Good luck!

Thoughts at the end of 2007

2007-12-24T12:13:00.000-08:00

2007 saw the beginning of a Chess Manitoba blog and then, in November, the beginning of this blog. I hope we can continue with this success. So far, I think it's fair to say that Jordan and I are having fun with this blog.

For myself, I played in 3 tournaments and gained 80 rating points in 2007. That's better than the 1 tournament I played in 2006. Given my break of almost 4 years from competitive chess between 2002 and 2006, I have to be happy with the results. Perhaps other observers or competitors in Manitoba chess circles would share some of their observations of Manitoba chess this year. Do you have a favourite game? What did 2007 mean for your chess? What was good? What was not so good?

Early in 2008, at the same time as the Kent Oliver Memorial tournament, the Manitoba Chess Association will hold its Annual General Meeting. At the AGM, a new Executive is elected and CFC Governors are chosen. I urge everyone to attend this important meeting if they are able.

Season's Greetings from Jordan and I and have a Happy New Year.

Nigel Hanrahan

Jordan's Attacking Game Of The Week Holiday Edition

2007-12-19T19:34:00.000-08:00

Ho Ho Ho and Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukuh, Festive Qwanzaa, and for the rest Joyous New Year!!!
This is my Christmas Edition of the segment and boy do I have a treat for all you guys!
I decided that I would include 3 of my personal favorite attacking games as it is the holidays and I am in a giving mood.
Firstly one of my all time favorite Tal games:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044107
Vintage Tal.
Next my favorite Radjabov attacking gem against no less than World Champion Vishy Anand in my favorite Sicilian crowned with a QUEEN SAC MATING ATTACK!!!(I love those 4 words!)
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1266078
And finally,
A more recent game of the talented young American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, who recently won the very strong Casino de Barcelona tourny, in Spain Oct 18-26 2007. Hikaru was obviously in a "giving" mood as he unloaded a beautiful combination that the great Polish GM Krasenkow must have never seen coming!
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1477101

Enjoy all and have a safe and happy, and FUN holiday, ssee you in the new year when I will be feelin' GREAT in 2008!!!
Jordan Kwiatek

Jordan's Attacking Game Of The Week

2007-12-13T17:42:00.000-08:00

Hello Manitoba Chess and welcome to another great installment of my favorite attacking game of the week. In light of what The Nige posted earlier regarding the great David Ionovich Bronstein of Bila Tserkva, U.S.S.R (now Central Ukraine), I have decided that this week's game will be a sweet Bronstein attacking gem. David Bronstein is one of my top five favorite players of all time because of his genius and his creativity.

He was certainly strong enough to become World Champion, but never did; link to Botvinnik vs Bronstein Moscow 1951~~~> (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=54195) where he drew the match 12-12, but FIDE rules kept the title with the current Champion in case of the drawn result.

David Bronstein did however win many great tournaments abroad and at home in the F.S.U. including 2 U.S.S.R Championships as well as the unforgettable Zurich 1953. *FLASHBACK* 1973 Petropolis, Brazil (as far as I can tell), our hero is playing White against none other than the also very brilliant Ljubomir Ljubojevic in a game that has become a classic for chess connoisseurs world wide. The guys come at each other full speed, both playng sharply for the win, and also very creatively. What results is a rich tacical/strategical opus with a powerful attack on Ljubo's king that is in my eyes strongly supported by the other front Bronstein was working on, the central pawn advance, supported in full- out middlegame by White's King!
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1034661

From Jonathan Speelman's "Best Chess Games 1970-80":
Y Gruenfeld vs Ljubojevic, 1979
~Apart from its theoretical interest and the sheer joy of the tactics, this game has historical interest in that following it Ljubojevic dropped right out of the running and ended half way down the tournament. If he had beaten Bronstein, or at least drawn with him, then Ljubojevic might well have stayed in serious contention for one of the qualifying places to the Candidates Tournament~

A highly interesting and entertaining game. Enjoy.

I had the pleasure of hanging out with the president of the famous Reykjavik chessclub "Hrokurinn" Hravn Jokkulson for a few days last year, and being an author and journalist he actually had the opportunity of interviewing David Bronstein in Iceland once. I asked many interesting questions about Dave, but what stands out in my mind was when Hravn recalled:

"I soon realized that I was talking to one of the world's great geniuses. He was a kind gentleman with a razor sharp wit and an equally sharp memory. He had an incredible mind."

By the way Lorne Gibbons has announced some sort of last kick at '07 tourney with weird prizes scheduled for this coming Tuesday (Dec.18th) with regestration being at 6:30. A Christmas tournament, how totally cool. Wish I could be there but am too busy, so good luck guys hope to see all that holiday cheer translated into attacking fury and good camaraderie. And Merry Christmas. :)

Jordan

Some changes to this blog

2007-12-12T21:14:00.000-08:00

A few changes have been made to this blog.

1. To make things easier, anonymous posting has been allowed. I've done this to assist blog readers that may not be very internet savvy but whose remarks would nevertheless be interesting. If this becomes a problem, then I will switch settings back to requiring a google account to post on this blog.

2. Posts can now be emailed to a friend if blog readers wish to take advantage of this feature. Just click on the envelope with the small arrow on it at the bottom of the post you wish to e mail to a friend. You will need to provide your friend's e mail address, your own e mail address, and your name. Google/blogspot will do the rest.

3. If you scroll to the very end of this page then you will find a very interesting quote by the late David Bronstein. Bronstein was a one-time challenger for the World Championship and was one of the greatest players NOT to be world champion (along with the likes of Paul Keres and others). He edited one of the greatest tournament books in the history of chess; I mean the book Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953. I may add other quotes to this one or replace it by other famous quotes from the history of chess. Enjoy!

4. I am planning to make use of Nikolai Pilafov's Chess Viewer Deluxe on this blog if it is possible. This will take some time, however. In the meantime, "Game Replayer" from ChessVideos.tv works well enough, although a game viewer with annotations as well would be even better.

The Mike Shpan Memorial TNT wraps up for another year.

2007-12-12T01:01:00.000-08:00

Here's my game against Daniel Oberton (1978) in the final round of the Shpan Memorial TNT. I lost the game but the news wasn't all bad. (See my comments.)

1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Rb8 6. a3 a6 7. Rb1 b5 8. cxb5
axb5 9. b4 c4 10. Nd5?

In hindsight, I should have just played 10. a4 immediately.

10... e6 11. Nc3 d5

Black has just gained two tempi for FREE. D'oh!

12. a4 bxa4 13. Qxa4 Bd7 14. b5 Ra8

15. bxc6 ?! I was very unhappy with my play to this point and decided to give up the queen for two minors and the exchange. I figured, without full calculation, that I would have much more activity than Black and be able to get a pawn or two back ... or maybe even a whole piece.

However, better is 15. Qc2 (as Daniel pointed out after the game). White may even have a slight plus.

15... Rxa4 16. cxd7+ Qxd7 17. Rb8+ Ke7 18. Nxa4 Qxa4 19. Rb7+ Kd6 20. Ng5

Better may be 20. Rxf7 Nh6 21. Rb7 and Black has the upper hand but isn't outright winning.

20... Nh6 Now that he is getting his king side pieces into play, Black has a decisive advantage.

21. Nxf7+ Nxf7 22. Rxf7 c3 23. O-O

My engine prefers 23. d3 although Black still has the upper hand. However, during the game, I didn't like the idea of leaving the passed pawn alone.

23... cxd2 24. Bxd2 Be5 25. Rc1 Rb8 26. Rfc7

Better is 26. Bg5 ! Re8 27. Rxh7 Bb2 28. Re1 and Black stands only slightly better.

26... Rb1 27. Rxb1 Kxc7 28. Rc1+ Kd7 29. Bh6 Qa2 30. Bf3 Bf6 31. h4 Qb2 32. Rd1 Ke7 33. Bc1 Qc3 34. Be3 d4 35. Rc1 Qa3 36. Bh6 and Black still has the upper hand.

36... g5 ? 37. Rc7+ Kd8 38. Rxh7

Better is 38. Rf7 ! Be7 39. hxg5 The position is level and White should be able to draw in this line. However, I was already in serious time trouble.

38... gxh4 39. gxh4 Bxh4 40. Rh8+ Kd7 41. Rh7+ Ke8

42. Bc6+ I missed what looked like my last chance for a draw with 42. Rh8+ Kf7

The Black king has to come forward to avoid the draw by repetition. Running the other way faces the possibility of a check from the h6 bishop along the h2-b8 diagonal and a discovered attack on Black's h4 bishop - which would be winning for White. The Queen cannot win against the 2 bishops and a rook.

If ever Black plays 42... Ke7 ?? then it is instant death with 43. Bf8+ and White dines on the free queen. Black also had to avoid playing the king to d6 while the possibility of Bf8+ was available as this would lose the bishop
at least.

If Black tries 42... Kd7 then we have 43. Rh7+ and with 43... Be7 there follows 44. Bg5 and a win for White. In this line, 44. Bf8 also wins with 44... Qc1+ 45. Kg2 Qg5+ 46. Kf1 Qg8 47. Rxe7+ Kd8 48. Ra7 and Black cannot capture the bishop with 48... Qxf8 ?? since 49. Ra8+ follows, winning for White again.

Following the drawing line with 42... Kf7 we have 43. Rh7+ Kg8

43... Kf6 ?? 44. Bg7+ Kg6 45. Be4+ Kg5 46. Bxd4 loses for Black. At the very least White gets the draw quite easily.

43... Kg6 ?? 44. Be4+ Kf6 45. Bg7+ Kg5 46. Bxd4 also loses for Black.

So, now we have 44. Rg7+ Kh8 45. Be4 ... with the threat of the perpetual (or winning the Black queen). 45... Bf6 46. Rf7 Be7 and White has a forced draw. 47. Rh7+ Kg8 48. Rg7+ Kh8 [48... Kf8 ?? 49. Rg3+ just wins outright for White.] 49. Rh7+ and so on.

So I missed the draw. Those aren't easy against a 1978 rated player.

42... Kd8 43. Rd7+

43. Bf4 exposes the Black bishop to attack and is probably a better move.

43... Kc8 44. Rh7 Qb4

Much better for Black is 44... Qa1+ 45. Kg2 Qe1 46. Rf7 Qxe2 which looks winning.

45. Kg2 Qb1 46. Bb7+ Kd8 47. Rh8+ Ke7 48. Bf8+ Kf7 49. Bf3 Be7 50. Bh5+ Kf6
51. Bxe7+

51. Rh6+ Kg5 52. Bg7 keeps all 3 pieces on the board and so is probably a better line.

51... Kxe7 52. Re8+ Kd7 53. Rh8 Qe4+ 54. Bf3 Qg6+ 55. Kf1 e5 56. Bh5 Qg7 57. Ra8 Qh6 58. Bf3 Qf4 59. Ra7+ Kd6 60. Ra6+ Kc5 61. Ra5+

White flags. I had zero seconds showing on the clock for the last few moves so I made the move ... and resigned.

Even though I gave up the queen, the exchange gave me some play. A more careful examination of the position after 41 moves would have given me the half point. The success of James Atem in my rating group, however, bumped him up to a tie for first overall and netted me a few unexpected dollars in prize money despite the loss. 0-1

The origin and history of Exclam!

2007-12-09T12:10:00.000-08:00

J. Ken MacDonald has put together a complete collection of back issues of Exclam! (the Manitoba chess publication that inspired the title of this weblog) and made the following remarks over at ChessTalk:

EXCLAM! started as "Manitoba Chess Association Newsletter" in December/1987 with volume 1, # 1. January/1988 began again with volume 1, # 1. This format seems to have been an "offset type printing" of 3-10 pages per issue. It ran this format (I think, as these earliest issues are photocopies) until volume 2, # 2, February/1989. (15 issues had been published up to that point.) Then, I have originals which begin with volume 2, issue # 1 again, dated April/1989. The format at this point is a large size thin magazine with a paper cover and approximately 20pp. Thereafter, it ran approximately 6 issues per year with varying dates during the year. Less and less issues were published as the magazine matured. Volume 7 (1994) had two issues. 1995 had had a single small format issue. 1996 had two and then a final issue in 1999.

Ken's remarks can be found over at ChessTalk until they scroll off into oblivion:

J. Ken MacDonald

Please feel free to share any remarks you may have about Ken's comments or this publication in general. It's as simple as getting a google account.

"H" is for Harry Houdini

2007-12-05T12:09:00.000-08:00

Here's my game against Nathan Wood from Round 5 of the Shpan Memorial last night.

Wood, Nathan (1603) - Hanrahan, Nigel (1723)
[ECO = B19] Caro-Kann: Classical/Capablanca Variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3

7.h5 Nathan noted after the game that this move might have been a great help later on.

7...Nd7 8.Bd3 Bxd3 9.Qxd3 Ngf6 10.Bd2 e6 11.0-0-0 Bd6 12.Ne2 Qc7 13.c4 b6 14.Nc3

14...0-0 Alternately, 14...Bf4 15.Bxf4 Qxf4+ 16.Qe3 Qxe3+ 17.fxe3 a6 The position is equal here.

15.g3 Rfb8 16.Kb1 Qb7 17.Rde1 Ng4 18.Ne4 Bc7 19.Qe2 b5 20.c5 b4 21.Nfg5 Ngf6 22.Nxf6+ Nxf6 23.Nxf7 Kxf7 24.Qxe6+

24...Kg6 This is a "box" or only move. (The term comes from a ChessBase symbol.) White simply missed this possibility. If you play the Caro-Kann then you'll sometimes need a mobile and intelligent king who can remain calm while under heavy attack.

Much worse for Black is 24...Kf8 25.Bxh6 Bd8 26.Bf4 ... which looks winning for White.

25.g4 (Edited to add: Tony Boron points out in the comments that 25. h5+ is very good for White.) Qc8 26.h5+

Much better for White is 26.Qxc6 A change of strategy from a mating net to the creation of a couple of united passed pawns would have given White the upper hand and created further problems for Black.

26...Kh7 27.Qf7 Ba5 28.Re7

Good for White is 28.Bxh6 Qf8 29.Qg6+ Kg8 30.Re6 The c6 pawn should drop and White has the upper hand.

28...Qf8 I found another box move. If 28...Qg8 then 29. Qxf6, White gets his piece back, and the attack continues. 29.Qg6+

29...Kh8?? An awful move made in time trouble.

29...Kg8 is another box move for Black here. White cannot take with 30. Bxh6 since the e7 rook is floating. I just plain missed this ... and so did my opponent who followed my blunder with one of his own. It's a remarkable thing how often this happens in chess. After 29...Kg8 30.Re6 Qf7 and Black can hold.

30.Bxh6?? Seeing this move, I thought that Caissa, goddess of Chess, was smiling upon me.

Much better, and winning for White, is 30.Rf7! Qxf7 ( 30...Qg8?? 31.Bxh6 wins as well) 31.Qxf7 Rf8.

30...Qxe7 31.Bxg7+? The bishop yells "Banzai!" in a final Kamikaze attack. 31...Qxg7 32.Qxg7+ Kxg7 0-1

"Another Hanrahan swindle," I said to Jim Green, following the game. Actually, it was more of an escape than an act of thievery. "H" is for Harry Houdini. It must have been a double disappointment for Nathan who mustered a fine attack against me and just failed to close despite having plenty of time to find the win (with an hour on the clock to my few minutes).

I think I've got a game viewer working at last. Thanks to ChessVideos.tv I still want to use Nikolai Pilafov's viewer but that will take a little longer. Here is the game:

The One That Got Away.

2007-11-27T23:48:00.000-08:00

Chess players, like fishers, sometimes like to talk about the beautiful game that never happened. They like to talk about the one that got away. Here is one such example.

22. Ng6!! White offers the knight. 22...Rd8. Black declines with thanks. If 22...hxg6 then there follows 23. fxg6 and White has either a mating net or wins the Black queen.

The game continued 23. Re7 Rf8 This is the only way to stop 24. Qxf7+ followed by 25. Qxg7 mate. 24. Nxf8 Rb1+ 25. Kg2 Qxf8 Again, to stop mate after 26. Qxf7+ etc. 26. Re8 That's gotta hurt! Rb6 27. Rxf8+ and Black resigned. However, a most beautiful ending that never happened was as follows...

23. Qxf7+!! Sacking the queen while the knight is still hanging! 23...Kxf7 24. Re7+ Kg8 25. Re8+! White sacs the house: a queen, a rook, and leaves a knight hanging. Rxe8 26. Bd5+ It is over. Black only has a rook to throw away before the inevitable mate. 26. ... Re6 27. Bxe6 mate. The ending is a rare minor piece mating net. A thing of beauty ... that never happened. It's the one that got away.

26. Bd5+ Mating at once! The actual game (ending with 27. Rxf8+) was played in the 4th round of the Mike Shpan Memorial TNT between Jordan Kwiatek and Dezheng Kong. Chess in Manitoba should have the game up in the next day or so. In the meantime, if you are really keen to see the whole game, have a look at Susan Polgar's Chess Discussion Forum. Thanks to Nikolai Pilafov!

Tell us about the beauty that never happened and we'll be happy to publish it. Show us the one that got away.

Jordan's Favorite Attacking Gem of the Week

2007-11-25T11:21:00.000-08:00

I WILL figure out how to get an online java PGN player for Exclaim! online, so you can replay games automatically on the site, but Nige and I have so far been unsuccessful. Should have it figured out in a few days. For now here is a well played game in the Chigorin Ruy Lopez, with a startling novelty on move 10 from black, a blistering attack on the white Kingside, and to crown it all off, you bet, a Queen sac! Overall a wonderful game I would be proud of. Enjoy!

Here is the game with annotations by GM Tony Kosten.

Scoresheets from hell...

2007-11-23T08:32:00.000-08:00

ChessBase has a recent article about the World Youth Chess Championship, taking place from the 17th to 29th of this month. There's a brief history of the WYCC and a good photo essay that includes some snaps of the "cuddly 11-year-old uber-prodigy" Ilya Nyzhnyk. Here's a link if you are interested in reading the story:

World Youth Chess Championship

Anyway, what I wanted to draw attention to was the unusual problems that organizers sometimes have when trying to document the moves of the games.

The following quotation refers to WFM Emine Yanik who used to play in the German League.

"Emine, who speaks German like a native, showed us how time-consuming, laborious and frustrating it can sometimes be to try to decipher moves written down in different languages by very young children. Often it takes Sherlockian skills to deduce the intention of a notation. And sometimes, in the games of the smallest of the small, the moves may not be completely legal. In one game we followed the players moving in and out of checkmate. Here the wits of the bulletin editor, and of the ChessBase program they are using, were at an end."

"...[M]oving in and out of checkmate" goes beyond the ability of the ChessBase program to handle. Now that would make you want to pull your hair out. Argg. And orthodox chess players tell me that fairy chess, and the software used to handle such heterodox versions of chess, are of no practical use. au contraire!

There is a rich variety of high level events in the world of chess right now. The Tal Memorial was just completed. The World Blitz Championship, having perhaps the strongest field in the history of such an event, was recently won by Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk over the likes of Anand, Kramnik, Leko, Morozevich and over a dozen other GMs and Super-GMs. Starting this weekend is the World Chess Cup 2007 in Khanty-Mansiysk in which 128 top players will compete in a knock-out event. In the first round, Canadian Igor Zugic will be up against Michael Adams, the strongest player in the history of chess in the British Isles. Good luck Igor! The other thing of note in the world of chess is the easily accessible videos available to anyone with an ordinary computer and an internet connection. The video of Ivanchuk's win against Anand in the World Blitz Championship is already available. Amazing. The internet has transformed and changed many aspects of chess forever ... and that includes the accessibility of chess journalism of the highest calibre. Do we live in a golden age of chess today?

Mike Shpan Memorial TNT - Round 3

2007-11-21T09:43:00.000-08:00

I'm very reluctant to step on the toes or duplicate the efforts of Alex, Tony and others who do such a fine job with the MCA webpage and the Chess in Manitoba blog. However, a few remarks about last night's results for those who weren't there might be interesting and useful.

Jordan and I both won our games. Mine was an English (as usual) that transposed into a kind of Slav Defence line with both e-pawns removed. I wound up with an isolated queen pawn (IQP) and a timely 16. d5! bust up Gary Crawford's position. However, I very nearly got into extreme time trouble later on as Gary fought like a tiger to defend his position even though he was down a rook. Eventually, I was able to bring the win home by forcing a trade of Gary's last rook and he tipped his king over as I was down to my last 15 minutes on the clock.

I have yet to figure out how to make a game viewer work on this blog but I am trying. In the meantime, all I can do is post remarks and static positions from various games. Here is the position from my game as noted above:

White played 16. d5! and Black is in trouble. There then followed 16...c5 17. Nb5 Qb8 and then 18. Bf4 is just a red hot poker in the eye. As I noted above, Gary fought like a tiger in the endgame and make me work hard for the victory.

Jordan played a Kalashnikov Variation in the Sicilian against Daniel Oberton who grabbed an h-pawn with his king bishop and found himself facing a ferocious king-side attack. Jordan played 29...fxg3 (e.p.) and White resigned as the attack on the bishop and on h2 is too much to defend against. It looked like an uncommon finish for a Sicilian Defence with a king-side attack for Black. However, it is difficult to see where White went wrong. Jordan will have some analysis to follow.

Black played 29... fxg3 (e.p.) and White resigns.

In other games, newcomer Simon Fromme held Waldemar Schulz to a draw in an exciting battle. Dezheng "King" Kong flagged against Les Mundwiler. Les is now leading the MSM tournament with 3 points in 3 rounds followed by Simon, Waldemar and Harley Greenberg, who drew with Jim Green, at 2.5 points. Myron Kernetsky chalked up his first win in competitive chess after a 17 year absence by defeating John Wierda. Congratulations, Myron!

Myron Kernetsky was the host, for 13 years, of a public access TV show called The World of Chess. Myron tells us that as far as he knows the shows have not been preserved. Here is a question for readers of Exclam! online; are there any surviving copies of Myron's show out there? Contributions on this matter are welcome.

The results of all the games from the Shpan Memorial are now up on the MCA website. The games should be posted in the next day or so. I am in the habit of e mailing my games to Alex Nikouline to make the task of volunteers like Alex and Tony Boron easier. Other players do this as well and all this activity of recording and preserving the results and games enriches the loamy soil of Manitoba chess and keeps alive the spirit of that magazine whose first editor was Manfred Schulz.

The furious queen

2007-11-12T09:58:00.000-08:00

Many players are familiar with the furious rook. To review:

Furious Rook: A maneuver designed to force a draw. If a player has no moves other than the moves of his rook, then if that rook can repeatedly check the opponents king, the game will often be a draw; either by stalemate if the king captures the rook, or by repetition caused by continuous checks.

We have a number of examples of the furious rook in Manitoba chess. But this is the first instance of the furious queen that I'm aware of.

Lipic, Stephen - Khedkar, Jay S. , September TNT 2007

54...d1Q? Now the White king is stalemated. If he can just get rid of those pawns ...

55. g7+ Kxg7 56. h8Q+ Kg6 Black sees the stalemate. Can it be prevented?

57. Qg7+ Kf5 58. Qg6+ Kf4 59. Qg3+ (59. Qg4+ ?? Qxg4 -+) Ke4 60. Qf4+ Kd5 61. Qe4+ Kc5 62. Qc6+

And now Black is forced to capture the queen, since 62. ...Kd4?? loses to 63. Qd7+ and White wins Black's queen and the game. The furious queen prevails!

62...Kxc6. stalemate. 1/2:1/2. Of course, 54...d1R or 54...d1B or even 54...Na5 wins for Black.

hdp 6.0 solution for Problem 2

2007-11-11T22:36:00.000-08:00

The above is the final position to the solution. Note that the final position (as well as the initial position!) is in the shape of an exclamation mark. Thanks for the creative and interesting problem Zoltan!

Let RH indicate a rookhopper. By convention, Black goes first in such problems. Here is the solution:

1... Kxb3 2. RHb4 Kxb4 3.b8=RH Kc5 4. b7 Kd6 5. RHb6 Kc7 6. RHb4 Kb8 7. b6

Problem 2: help double stalemate with rookhoppers!

2007-11-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

The following is a "fairy chess" problem. The term was coined by T.R. Dawson around the time of World War One. It describes a chess problem with one or more unorthodox features. Such features might include unusual pieces or an unusual board. As Michael McDowell of the British Chess Problem Society puts it, "Fairy chess is very popular with composers because of the unlimited scope offered for achieving originality."

Our problem composer, Zoltan Bodnar, has specialized over the years in a number of unorthodox chess problems. One such speciality is the help double stalemate, identified in German as hdp, in which the two sides cooperate to reach a final position in which both are stalemated. Black typically moves first in such problems.

The unorthodox features of this particular problem do not end there, however. White has no king and so it is the remaining White pieces and pawns which must be stalemated in the final position. Finally, there is also an unusual piece called a rookhopper (RH), indicated on the board by an ordinary rook rotated 90 degrees clockwise. The rookhopper moves like an ordinary rook but it is a hopper and, therefore, can only move by hopping over another piece to land on the adjacent square. The adjacent square can be empty or occupied by an opposing piece or pawn.

By identifying the problem as "hdp 6.0", the composer indicates that the problem has a unique solution with 6 moves by both sides (starting with Black by default) and it is a help double stalemate.

There is another creative aspect to this problem. What does the start position of the pieces remind you of? Zoltan has produced a most creative and interesting problem to honour this weblog that Jordan and I have begun.

Can you solve the problem?

White: 3 pawns on b5, b6, & b7. 2 rookhoppers on b1 & b3.
Black: king on b4.

hdp 6.0
ZKBodnar

My thanks to Otto Janko of The Retrograde Analysis Corner for assistance with generating the unusual diagram. His kind service is available to all at The Chess Diagrammer

Tal Memorial coverage: get it while it's hot!

2007-11-11T11:04:00.001-08:00

The second annual Tal Memorial Tournament is being held in Moscow from November 9th to 23rd. It is an immensely strong Category 20 tourney with an average player rating of 2742 and is a double round robin format. The World Blitz Championship will also be taking place along side an exhibition "advanced chess" match between Vishy Anand and Vlad Kramnik. So promising is this tournament that I decided to post a link for all to watch the games live.

The link to a database of tournament games is http://www.russiachess.org/online2/

The link to Live games is http://www.russiachess.org/online/

Good luck to all in the Shpan btw. Lets see a great fighting finish to a fun year of chess!

Jordan

Our first problem

2007-11-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

White to play and mate in 2.
ZKBodnar

Hanrahan - Fromme

2007-11-07T09:40:00.000-08:00

Here's my game against Simon Fromme in the first round of the Mike Shpan Memorial TNT. Simon is from the eastern part of Germany and is here in Winnipeg to do his volunteer service. Germans can do such service as an alternative to military service which is, I think, otherwise compulsory.

Hanrahan, Nigel (1723 CAN) - Fromme, Simon (1891 GER)

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nc3

This knight would have been fine on d2 once I'd made some space for it. However, I blitzed through the opening half a dozen moves or so to see if my "unrated" opponent could keep up. "That was your first mistake," said Joseph Van Wyk after the game. I still managed to get into time trouble anyway. D'oh!

5. Nf3 Nc6 6. O-O Nb6 (6... Be7 7. d4) 7. d3 Be7 8. Nbd2 !? Tony Kosten.

5... Nb6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. b3 O-O 9. Bb2 Be6 10. h3 Qd7 11. Kh2 f5 12. d3 Rad8 13. Rc1 a6 14. Nb1 ?! Bf6 15. Nfd2 Nd5 16. Nc3 ...proving the pointlessness of 14. Nb1. 16... e4 17. Na4

17. dxe4 ?? Nxc3 18. Bxc3 Bxc3 19. Rxc3 Qxd2 -+

17... Bxb2 18. Nxb2 Ndb4

Interesting, but perhaps not as strong is 18... e3 19. Bxd5 Bxd5 20. fxe3

19. Ndc4... giving up the pawn. 19... Nxa2 20. Ra1 Nc3 21. Qd2 Qd4 22. e3 Qf6 23. d4 Nb5 24. Na4 ??

A terrible blunder. The two knights never found good homes and now they're done for. This is what happens when you don't have a plan, boys and girls.

24... Nbxd4 Black is simply winning now.

25. exd4 b5 26. Nc5 bxc4 27. Nxe6 27. Rxa6 I looked at this and decided against it.

27... Qxe6 28. bxc4 (28. Rxa6 could have been played here, however.) 28... Rxd4 29. Qa2 Nb4 30. Qb3 Qxc4 31. Qxc4+ Rxc4 32. Ra4 c5 33. Rd1 Rc2 34. Kg1 Nd3 35. Rxa6 Nxf2

36. Rd7 If I can get "pigs on the 7th" and somehow get the bishop in play, then I may manage a swindle yet. Certainly, the old swindler himself, Albert Boxer, would have approved of such an effort.

36... Kh8 37. Raa7 Rg8 38. h4 My last hope. 38... Ng4 39. Bh3 Ne3 40. h5 h6 41. Rf7 Rd8 42. Rad7 Rxd7 43. Rxd7 c4 44. Rd8+ Better to have checked and lost than never to have checked at all. Ha ha. 44... Kh7 45. g4 $4 fxg4 46. Bxg4 Rg2+ 47. Kh1 Why am I playing on? Shpan would, that's why.

47... Rxg4 48. Rd4 ?? My last mistake and now there is no hope for a furious rook to force a draw. 48... c3 49. Kh2 c2 0-1

Nigel Hanrahan

Competitive chess in November

2007-11-06T08:14:00.000-08:00

Competitive chess players take note! The Grand Prix begins today, Tuesday November the 6th, and is a double round-robin event. Each player plays every other player in their group twice - once as White and once as Black. Did you know that there is a TNT at the same time?

In the past this TNT, which will be a 6 week event this year, had been called the Mike Shpan Memorial in honour of the late MCA member who hosted the Wednesday Night Chess at the Cornish Library for many years. Last year's winners in the 20-player field were Jeff Clark and T. Romeo Silva with 5/6. Waldemar Schulz won in 2005 with a perfect 6/6 score.

By the way: in order for you, who may be reading these words, to post comments here, it is necessary to get a google account. This is not difficult, however, and comments are welcome.

The opening position

2007-11-05T21:48:00.000-08:00

Jordan's first post ... THE FIRE

2007-11-05T14:12:00.001-08:00

Greetings all , your friendly neighbourhood Jordan here. I wanted to take this opportunity to inform the Winnipeg chess community that I recently have had a large fire @ my parents house amounting up to $300,000 in damages. I have been away from chess for a while and if anyone was wondering where I was this is what has dominated my life of late. Everyone in my family is safe and okay. We are insured. These are the positives. The fire happened as a result of me having a halogen desk lamp on my floor, reading into the early hours, I decided to go upstairs for a bite to eat. I may have only been upstairs cooking for 15-20 minutes, but that was unfortunately enough time to allow a fire to cumbust from the halogen lamp on top of my books. My 300+ book library also helped fuel the fire and in 10-15 minutes, my family lost most of our possessions. I have been staying at CanadInns Club Regent for over 2 weeks now, and the experience is becoming overwhelming . I feel of sound mind nonetheless, but it is a big struggle for me. Tragic events happen in everyones lives, and getting past them makes one a stronger person. I would appreciate talking to all my friends and buddies in Manitoba chess, I'd be happy to clairify any rumours you may have heard. Also I would appreciate the dialogue in this crazy time for me.

My email is ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

fast_chess AT hotmail DOT com.

honestly,
Jordan Kwiatek

First post for Exclam! online

2007-11-05T13:46:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Exclam! online. The name comes from the past magazine of the Manitoba Chess Association. The idea came from a discussion between Jordan Kwiatek and onetime Exclam! editor Nigel Hanrahan as the first snow began to fly in Winnipeg in November 2007. The purpose of this blog is to provide Manitoba chess players with a friendly place to discuss chess in Manitoba, to post annotated games, to provide analysis, and to allow for the important cultural aspects of a chess community to be properly represented online.

Well, that's a start anyway. We're open to suggestions, of course, and welcome contributions.

Nigel Hanrahan
Jordan Kwiatek