USA's Top Daily Chess News Blog, Informative, Fun, and Positive
hosted by Chess Queen™ & 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Ladies Shine in the Dragon
Black to move
Hello everybody!
Right now I'm working on my new opening DVD series. And the first DVD in that series will be about How to play the Dragon variation of the Sicilian Defense.
During my work I found one magnificent game played by a WGM. I'm sure you will enjoy the attack by WGM Beata Kadziolka who won in brilliant style against GM Bakre Tejas:
Below you will find this game with the comments by Beata, as well as the pgn a little below that. You can find the full comments in the 91st chess informator.
From February 22-25, 2010, in South Carolina, USA a very interesting Sicilian theme match (Dragon, Scheveningen, Najdorf or Sveshnikov) is played between Judit Polgar and Gregory Kaidanov. You can find the photos of the match here. After 3 games Kaidanov is in the lead with 2 to 1. But in the second game Judit won a nice game in the Dragon. Here it is:
The FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess (WOM) will be organizing in March 2010 several goodwill lectures and simultaneous exhibitions: in San Juan – Puerto Rico; in Guayaquil – Ecuador; and in Detroit – United States to help promote chess among female chess players.
The events will be given by WGM Martha Fierro, reigning Women Continental Champion and Secretary of the WOM. The events arefree, Martha is donating her time to promote chess.
I am thankful to Martha for this beautiful initiative, if every woman chess champion would work as she does for the promotion of chess, it would be great! So if you're a woman champion, try to follow her example, at least once in awhile. And if you're a chess fan in the locations visited by Martha, go and visit her and give her your support!
Planned events:
Puerto Rico:
March 9, 2010 - Two days full training sessions with young talent CM Danitza Vasquez (10 years old)
March 11, 2010 - Simultaneous Exhibition at the Club de Ajedrez Guaynabo
Ecuador:
March 16-17, 2010 - Various visits to schools to give an impulse to girls to play chess
March 18, 2010 Lecture at the Federacion Deportiva Del Guayas
March 19, 2010 Simultaneous Exhibition at the Federacion Deportiva Del Guayas
United States:
March 23, 2010 Lecture for girls, Detroit (exact place to be confirmed)
March 24, 2010 Simultaneous Exhibition, Detroit (exact place to be confirmed)
The FIDE Commission for women’s chess thinks that these good-will events will encourage the participants to increase their interest in chess and will play an important role in promoting chess in general and women’s chess in particular in the world.
The WOM is working on organizing different good-will events around the world every year, if you think your federation or local club who are doing a lot for chess but need an additional push to make chess even more popular, might be interested in hosting a FIDE Goodwill event, let us know by sending an email to Alexandra or to Martha.
It's with pleasure that I republish the poem I wrote when I was 15 years old, with the beautiful illustration above by Mister M, whom I thank wholeheartedly!
Those were beautiful years growing up, with my family always close, chess keeping me busy and eternally learning, school in between tournaments, and the birth of love in my heart.
Speak To Me So That I Can See You
Speak to me, so that I can see you,
So that the Sun begins to shine more brightly,
So that I'm later not regretting
That time ran out before I told your story.
The story of the leaves that quietly whisper,
Of dew drops twinkling on morning grass,
Of wind that comes in Spring, and one that's strong,
Of February skies without a cloud,
Of happiness that comes at sunrise,
As those first rays of lilac turn to red.
And what is happiness? We all say "happiness" so often…
So much about it can be said.
One day, it will arrive without a warning
And change the way your eyes perceive this world.
You'll see the world in fairy tales enclosed,
You'll see it wrapped in tender, rosy Spring.
And then within that Spring, whose entrance will be sudden,
With ringing laughter, you will outpour your love,
And as around the snow your scatter cherry roses,
A burning fire will ignite in people's hearts.
Speak to me so that I can see you.
So that I always feel this thrilling passion,
This gust of freshest wind that came upon me roughly.
Week-ends normally are very quiet, I receive fewer emails and phone calls than usual and I can dedicate myself to do some fun new things.
On Saturday I had my Spanish lesson. I'm learning Spanish since in April and in May I'm planning to visit Colombia again and Peru for the first time and I want to be able to understand and speak with people there. It's great to learn a new language, in a sense it's like learning to play chess, new words and expressions are like chess moves and combinations.
My lesson was in Bayside in Miami, outside in the patio of a coffee shop. During my lesson I noticed a man sitting at a chess board, playing some moves on his own. He looked sad not to have any partner to play with.
After my lesson I went over to him and offered to play a game with him. He asked me if I knew how to play chess, and I said "Well, a little" ;-)
He agreed to play and I suppose was surprised that "a girl" was giving him trouble, at the end of the game he was very disappointed to lose. He was wondering how to tell his friends that he had lost against a girl. So I told him that I'm the women's world champion and he didn't look that sad any more after that!
A little tricky from my side, was it not? :-)
On Sunday I took part in another 5K race, this time in Miami Beach. It's such a great feeling and atmosphere to start your day with a run on Ocean Drive with several hundreds more people. This time I improved my time and finished the run in 22:01 which is in 37 seconds better than last Sunday. I'll write more about my race with photos in a future post very soon.
How fast do you run a 5K? Or you have other favorite distances or sports to do?
I am addressing this post to all of you out there who love chess, who have ever played chess, or written about chess in any way or form. Yes, that's you, reading these lines!
Nowadays the bounds and methods of journalism have grown considerably. According to Wikipedia,
Journalism is the craft of conveying news, descriptive material and opinion via a widening spectrum of media. These include newspapers, magazines, radio and television, the internet and even, more recently, the mobile phone.
I love the word "widening"! That means that any of you, who have ever written about chess in any medium, not only in the printed media, such as books, magazines, and newspapers, but also in new technologies, such as video (video podcasts, YouTube, video sharing sites), audio (songs, audio podcasts), photographs (photography sites), blogs, home pages, social sites (Twitter, Facebook) are journalists in some way, and at the very front of chess promotion! Yes, again, I'm speaking about YOU reading this post!
It's now possible from one's cell phone to update one's blog or Twitter account in seconds and that's one of the fastest way to relay or receive information. I read "tweets" every day from chess enthusiasts around the world with the freshest chess news. Today chess lovers can find out in real time how their chess heroes are playing, watch their games, and see tournament results tables. Even webcams are often installed in chess tournament halls, it makes you feel you're right there with the players, all this is journalism of the 21st century, and we are all part of it!
I thank every single one of you who has ever created any such kind of chess journalism. You are making the game cooler, younger, more alive! I want you all to join the CJA! But let me first start with the beginning.
I first become acquainted with the CJA thanks to its president, Jerry Hanken, who came to me in August of 2004 at the US Open in Fort Lauderdale and introduced me to the organization he cared so much about, the CJA. He told me all the benefits of being a member, and how I could not afford not to be a member. Jerry and I even played in that 2004 US Open Blitz tournament (Nakamura won the tournament, I came in second), and gave me a real fight in his favorite English opening. I immediately then joined the CJA, and since then have always been proud to be a member.
When Jerry invited me to become Vice-President of the CJA 2 years ago, he told me not to worry, as long as he's around, I won't have to do much. Jerry called me often to discuss new articles (read his article about me) and work went on as usual. He was very strong in his opinions, and always faithful to putting chess #1 in all his decisions. Suddenly the unthinkable happened, on October 1, 2009, I got the sad news that Jerry passed away, from complications of diabetes (read USCF post and a blog post). I had just spoken to him while he was in the hospital some days earlier and he was in good spirits, hoping to go home soon. In memory of Jerry Hanken, I will be holding high the torch for the CJA, to help it prosper and to continue to promote chess, with your help!
The CJA stands for "The Chess Journalists of America", but I don't want you to think it's limited depending on where you live, this is truly a worldwide association, and I intend to do my best to help promote it to the whole chess world.
One of the very best features of the CJA is its fantastic yearly AWARDS PROGRAM. One of the main goals I have as President of the CJA is to recognize any of you who really do something to promote chess, in any positive, original way you do so.
There are close to 20 awards categories in the Awards Program, such as (I use the 2009 categories, these may change a little for 2010):
• Chess Journalist of the Year
• Best Chess Column
• Best Achievement in Correspondence Chess
• Best Chess Art
• Best Chess Photograph
• Best Tournament Report
• Best Regular Newspaper Column
• Best Chess Web Site
• Best Historical Article
• Best Interview
• Best Editorial
• Best Review
• Best Analysis
• Best Instructive Lesson
• Best Humorous Contribution
• Special Recognition Award
I will gladly consider other categories upon request, due to new technologies, such as best Chess Podcast, best Chess YouTube Channel, best Chess Tweet, best chess poem, best chess iPhone app, best chess playing site, best live chess viewer, or any other you can think of. This will be difficult for the judges, but I will do my best to help. Feel free to add any comments to this post if you have any suggestions.
The CJA Awards are very prestigious. The winners get recognized officially with a beautiful certificate, of course also on the web, and in the most widely circulated chess magazine in the world, Chess Life (both printed and online versions). I have the honor of having won the 2009 "Chess Journalist of the Year" award, succeeding eminent chess journalists Macauley Peterson (2008), Mig Greengard (2007), Peter Tamburro (2006), Frisco del Rosario (2005), Andrew Soltis (2004), Fred Wilson (2003), Yasser Seirawan (2002), Hanon Russell (2001), Al Lawrence (2000). Don't you want to try to be the next "Journalist of the Year"?
Before becoming CJA President, I have applied for several awards, and have won "Best Chess Art" (see my chess comic on the cover of the CJA Magazine #130), "Best Chess Video or Podcast" (for my Chess Killer Tips free video podcast, "Best Deep Analysis" (for my game Huss-Kosteniuk, which I commented in a magazine and also on video), so I'm sure you can also apply for an award, and get recognized for what you do for chess.
This should be plenty to convince you to become CJA members. The good news is that the cost to become a CJA member (and also get the quartely CJA magazine) at this time is only $10 for the USA and $15 for any other place in the world! That's a very low price for all the benefits you get from being with equally minded colleagues.
To make it easier for people to sign up to the CJA or renew their memberships, there are now additional options, perfect for people outside the USA who don't find it convenient to send a check.
a) Send a check made for $10 (USA) or $15 (outside USA) made out to CJA, c/o Randy Hough, 1826 W. Garvey Ave. #5, Alhambra, CA 91803, USA
b) Pay by Paypal (Paypal does not require registration, any credit card should work) via my webshop, all monies received will be transferred to the CJA:
If you have any questions about the CJA and have any doubt about should you become a member or not, feel free to contact me by email, and I will gladly personally answer your questions. More information can also be found on the CJA web site.
Many people ask me what's the best way to improve at chess and how to prepare for chess tournaments. What should their training day look like, how much time spent on openings, middle game, etc.
I cannot stress enough how important physical preparation is before chess tournaments. Chess competition is tough, requires many hours spent at the chess board, with maximum concentration. You need all your strength and nerves to be in top form. Nothing will prepare you better than being in best physical form. All you need for that is to do some kind of sport regularly, and keep in mind that watching sports on TV, even the Olympics does not count! ;-)
I try to start every day with a 5K run. Above you can see me at the Valentine 5K run from last week, where I ran in 22:38 minutes (my record is just over 21 minutes a couple years ago).
As for chess training, I recommend solving a lot of chess middle game puzzles, to bring up to speed your tactical skills. Remember chess is a game where "pattern recognition" is key, so solving many puzzles really helps, especially to be sharp right before competition. Don't concentrate too much on the openings, as in my opinion the only goal of the opening is to enter a "playable" middle game, and all you need for that is to follow simple chess opening principles. It's in the middle game where you can show you superiority over your opponent, by outplaying him or her, by putting your pieces on better squares, by managing a nice King-side attack for example. Studying the end game is also very important, so that you will know when you can exchange pieces to reach a winning endgame, and if you reach one such "winning" endgame, to win it with certainty.
So good luck in your chess preparation, but remember to go out and do some sports, it will help your chess, I guarantee it!
I found out today from the FIDE site that Nalchik will host the Women's Grand Prix in Nalchik, from April 25 to May 8, 2010.
The final dates for the event in Nalchik are 25 April (arrival) to 8 May (departure) 2010. For further information concerning visas and air tickets, the participants should contact the local organising committee.
The preliminary list of participants for Nalchik is as follows:
Koneru, Humpy
Yifan, Hou
Cramling, Pia
Dzagnidze, Nana
Xue, Zhao
Kosintseva, Tatiana
Chen, Zhu
Danielian, Elina
Batkhuyag, Munguntuul
Yildiz, Betul
Mrktchian, Lilit
Kovanova, Baira
The following women's Grand Prix are planned as follows:
The 4th Grand Prix will take place in Jermuk, Armenia, on 23rd June – 6th July 2010
The 5th Grand Prix will take place in Ulanbaatar, Mongolia, on 29 July - 12 August 2010
The 6th Grand Prix will take place in Santiago, Chile, on 27th October – 9th November 2010
I am marking my calendar and will follow the next Grand Prix with great interest. Expect some "tweets" from me on a regular basis on my Twitter page.
As usual once a month IM Maxim Notkin from the Russian professional chess site www.chesspro.ru sent me the best 24 chess games of January (you can find a photo of Maxim and my younger sister Oxana here). I am one of the judges, and I need to vote for the best 10 among them and I'm happy to announce that I decided to include a very nice win by the lady from India WGM Swaminathan Soumya in the top 10.
Below you will find 3 positions from that beautiful game and a playable applet to replay the game. The game is a Sicilian Defense with a nice attack by white, lots of sacrifices, nice tactics and a great finish. I am sure you will enjoy it!
Every chess tournament, even the most exciting one has its end. And often only a photo finish or some kind of tie-breaks can name the winners of an event. The A1 Aeroflot chess tournament had an only winner - the vietnamese GM Le, Quang Liem, who finished in clear first place with 7 out of 9.
However, there was a tie between the best ladies players. Hou Yifan, Tatiana and Nadezhda Kosintseva all finished with 4 out of 9, which is a very respectful result in this strong tournament.
The full standings of the A1 tournament can be found here. Below is an example of the Hou Yifan win over the russian GM Stanislav Novikov. Hou Yifan is playing Black and it's her turn to move. White was doing OK until the last move where Novikov played 35. Bb2??, trying to exchange the strong dark-squared bishop on d4
Hou Yifan continued the game with 35. ... Re5! and White realised that there is no way to keep this bishop on b2 protected. The game continued for a few more moves 36.Qd3 Qd5+ 37.Kh3 Bxb2 38.Qc2 Ba3 39.f6+ Qe4 40.Qxe4+ and White resigned.
Rxe4 41.Ra1 Bb4 42.f7 Re5 0-1
In the A2 tournament Evgenia Ovod and Ekaterina Kovalevskaya finished the tournament with 5 out of 9, the results can be seen here.
In the B tournament Gulnar Mammadova shared the first place overall with 7 out of 9. The full standings can be found here.
In the C tournament, Alexandra Nikolaeva took bronze overall with 7 out of 9. The full table is here.
Melia Salome continued her nice tournament stroke. After winning the Women's Georgian Championship and sharing the first place in the Moscow open, she now won another strong women's tournament in Romania. She took 6 points out of 9 and was followed by Maria Muzychuk with 5,5 and Corina Peptan with 5 points. The full table can be found here.
In 2 weeks the European Championships 2010 for men and women will start in Rijeka, Croatia. I'm sure we will witness for exciting chess over there. So stay tuned!
I just found out from the 9Queens web site that Elizabeth Vicary will be the host of a free chess workshop in Tucson on Saturday February 20.
Here is the announcement:
Tucson chess players, coaches, parents, teachers and enthusiasts come by Lineweaver Elementary School on Saturday February 20 to meet Elizabeth Vicary- nationally renowned chess teacher from IS 318 Brooklyn and star of the upcoming documentary Chess Movie. Beginning at 12 noon Elizabeth will answer questions and provide information on how to create and sustain your own chess club, regardless of your skill level or experience. For more information email jhoffman@9queens.org.
World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk and the organizers of the Space Coast Open Chess Festival jointly announced today that Grandmaster and reigning Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk will play a 50-board simultaneous exhibition at the 17th Space Coast Open (SCO) Chess Festival (Indialantic, FL, April 23-25, 2010).
World Champion Kosteniuk’s simul begins at 8 AM on Saturday, April 24 at the Crowne Plaza Melbourne Oceanfront Resort and Spa, Indialantic, FL. The entry fee is $40. The event is free for spectators. Challengers can register on-line now for the SCO and for a board at the simul via the event website, http://sco2010.eventbrite.com.
A portion of the boards for the simul will be reserved for local students. The remaining reservations will be sold on a first come, first serve basis. GM Kosteniuk’s exhibition’s often sell out quickly, so don't wait! GM Kosteniuk will also sign her books at the event including her latest, Diary of a Chess Queen.
In announcing GM Kosteniuk’s appearance and her simultaneous exhibition at the Space Coast Open, Space Coast Chess Foundation President, Dr. Peter Koretsky said, “We are thrilled to have World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk at the Space Coast Open Chess Festival. The chess world could not ask for a more charismatic World Champion than Alexandra. She is an energetic promoter of chess and its many positive aspects, and serves as an outstanding role model for our young players. For many of our local scholastics players this will be the only time they have an opportunity to both meet and play against a reigning World Champion. We are especially honored as Alexandra will be celebrating her 26th birthday during our festival weekend. The Space Coast Chess Foundation looks forward to partnering with Alexandra and her family to create an unforgettable experience for all who participate.”
About Alexandra Kosteniuk
Alexandra Kosteniuk is the 12th Women’s World Chess Champion. She learned to play chess at the age of five after being taught by her father. She earned the Women Grandmaster title in 1998 and the men’s Grandmaster title in 2004. She became the World Champion by winning a series of matches at the Women’s World Championship held in Nalchik, Russia in 2008.
Alexandra promotes chess by traveling around the world giving simultaneous exhibitions in front of large crowds. Her goal is to show the world that “chess is cool”. Alexandra has combined her promotion of chess with fashion modeling and also played a part in a movie. She is also a prolific and popular chess journalist (books, DVDs and web) and in 2009 she was named the Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America. For more information about Alexandra, see www.kosteniuk.com and www.chessblog.com.
About the 17th Space Coast Open and the Space Coast Chess Foundation
The Space Coast Open is sponsored by the Space Coast Chess Foundation and is Brevard County’s longest running chess tournament. The 17th Space Coast Open is open to all and is offering projected prize fund of $10,000. It will be held at the Crowne Plaza Melbourne Oceanfront Resort and Spa, 2605 N. Hwy A1A, Indialantic, FL from April 23-25, 2010. The tournament schedule has been flexibly organized such that players may easily participate in both the tournament and the simultaneous exhibition. Details and entry information are available at http://sco2010.eventbrite.com.
The Space Coast Open is sponsored by the Space Coast Chess Foundation (SCCF), a community supported organization dedicated to the promotion of scholastic chess in Brevard County, FL. SCCF provides sponsorship for the Brevard County Scholastics Chess Grand Prix and provides free chess sets to Brevard County schools. SCCF also subsidizes needy scholastic chess players unable to afford Chess Festival events.
I have received a box of the most recent CHESS LIFE FOR KIDS Magazine from the United States Chess Federation (USCF) and have decided to give them away for free to chess loving kids!
The Chess Life for Kids magazine is 24-pages long, has lots of articles of interest to kids, chess puzzles, also a competition with prizes, and a list of chess tournaments of interest to kids.
So if you'd like to have one, just send me an email with your postal address and I will send it to you and to your kid absolutely for free!
UPDATE: Due to the 100's of requests I have received from all over the world in the last 12 hours, and due to high costs to mail the magazine abroad, the free magazine offer is for USA only, and for the rest of the world still free magazine but only with any order to compensate for high mailing costs. Thanks for your understanding! Offer valid while supplies last.
If you'd like to order at the same time something from my web shop I would be grateful to you, that will allow me to put it in the same envelope, but that's not at all obligatory, you can simply send me your address and I will send you the magazine absolutely free, with my autograph on the cover (yes you guessed it, it's me on the cover when I was a kid, on the left it's when I was 11 years old right right after a tournament in France, I was at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and on the right I was 7 years old, and I was playing in the Moscow youth championship. That tournament got me my first title: Moscow champion among girls Under-8 :-)
I just heard from the company that manufactures my DVD that my new DVD "Chess Blitz Fever" will be ready in less than 4 weeks. So before it comes out, I offer free shipping to anybody who orders it, regardless of where it has to be shipped, from Alaska to Tumbuktu. I will ship the DVD to you the day it comes out.
The DVD has a whole section of useful tips on how to better play blitz chess, and is followed by the dual screen presentation of my 8 best wins at the recent World Blitz championship in Moscow, against (the linked names go to YouTube samples on my channel):
There is more than 2 hours of video on the DVD, and I guarantee it is both entertaining and instructive. I am very happy about how the DVD came out, the quality is the best I have ever done, and I hope you will like it! You will become a better chess player after watching my DVD!
You may want also to buy my new book "Diary of a Chess Queen", and I will write a personal autograph for you or your loved one. This book contains not only 64 of my career best games, but also is the story of how I started to play chess 20 years ago and how it led to my becoming the 12th women's world chess champion.
Don't be shy about contacting me
to share women's chess news
or to propose collaboration
Best chess wishes to you! Alexandra Kosteniuk
12th Women's World Chess Champion
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