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Monday, June 27, 2011

Winners of the New in Chess/Huffington Post Chess Contest announced

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011


Hello everyone,


Winners of the New in Chess/Huffington Post Chess Contest have just been announced. They are:

1. Roberto Alvares, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2. Jan Kalendovsky, Brno, The Czech Republic
3. Michal Holes, The Czech Republic

They will receive one year subscription to the New In Chess magazine. How cool. Congratulations to them.

The solutions are shown below.
_______________________________________________________________________________

The contest was done in cooperation with New In Chess. It consisted of three parts: a trivia question, a chess study and a chess problem.
These were the tasks:



TRIVIA

He predicted the opponent and the outcome with these words: "It will by Short and it will be short." He also likes the movies Casablanca, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Godfather. Who is this grandmaster?

ANSWER: Garry Kasparov

One of Kasparov's favorite movies, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, was screened on June 20 at New York's Bryant Park in front of 10,500 moviegoers. The film director Milos Forman opened the evening.


STUDY



White plays and wins

SOLUTION:

The position is from the game Healy,John - Kaas,E.,
Simultaneous display, Simpson's, 2009

1.Ne5! The only way to win! The white knight doesn't allow the black king the pick up the h-pawn. Black is in zugzwang: any king's move allows 2.h7 and white queens.

Other moves don't win, for example: 1.Nf4 Kf7 2.Kb2 Kg8 followed by 3...Kh7, draws;
1.Kb2 Kg6 draws as well.

The puzzle is from John Healy's book Coffeehouse Chess Tactics. The author of the powerful autobiography The Grass Arena pays a tribute to chess, a game that changed his life.


PROBLEM




White plays and mates in three moves

SOLUTION:

Karl Behting's splendid three-mover was published in the Deutsche Schachzeitung in 1893.
The Latvian chess composer was a strong master who participated in the first chess olympiad in Paris in 1924. He also devoted lot of time analyzing the Latvian gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5). The composition begins with a remarkable bishop sacrifice, a quiet introduction to beautiful mates.

1.Bg4!! fxg4 2.Rh2 Kf3 [2...f3 3.Qc7#] 3.Qd3 mate.

Or 1...f3 2.Qh2+ Kxg4 3.Qh4 mate;
or 1...Kxg4 2.Rh3 f3 (2...Kg5 3.Qg7 mate) 3.Qh4 mate;
or 1...Kf2 2.Qa7+ Kg3 3.Qg1 mate.

BONUS PUZZLE



White plays and can force a win. Can you find how?

SOLUTION:
1.Rc7! Rxc7 2.Bxc7 Kxh6 (2...Bg6 3.Kg7 followed by 4.h7, wins.) 3.Bf4+ Kg6 4.Bc1 f4 5.Bxf4Zugzwang. White wins the black bishop and the game. The puzzle is from Mihai Suba's masterpieceDynamic Chess Strategy.


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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The New in Chess-Huffington Post Chess Puzzle Contest


Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hi everyone,

Lubomir Kavalek, International Chess Grandmaster, has featured the following contest in his blog at The Huffington Post this week. Give it a go!

The contest is done in cooperation with New In Chess. It consists of three parts: a trivia question, a chess study and a chess problem. Try to solve all three puzzles and you may win one-year subscription to the excellent New In Chess magazine.



There is also a bonus puzzle that may improve your chances of being among the three winners. You will have until June 21 to e-mail your solution to: nic.huffpost@newinchess.com

They will publish the correct solutions and the winners after June 25.

TRIVIA

He predicted the opponent and the outcome with these words: "It will by Short and it will be short." He also likes the movies Casablanca, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Godfather. Who is this grandmaster?


STUDY



White plays and wins

PROBLEM



White plays and mates in three moves

BONUS PUZZLE



White plays and can force a win. Can you find how?



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Saturday, February 5, 2011

World Chess Champion Vishy Anand wins Yearbook Novelty award of 2010

Chess blog for latest news and trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011




Hi everyone,


World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand has won the Yearbook Novelty of the Year 2010 award, put up by New In Chess. Last week editor Genna Sosonko presented the World Champion with his prize of 350 euros in Wijk aan Zee. Of exactly 600 voters (not counting illegal double votes), 176 favoured Anand’s 10.Na3! in the Catalan against Veselin Topalov in their World Championship match.


In his report, which you can read in full on www.chessvibes.com, Peter Boel writes:


‘Novelty? Which novelty?’, was Anand’s first reaction when Sosonko told him he was the winner of the award at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. Yes, Anand has played so many… The Yearbook readers had judged that his 10.Na3! was the novelty with the greatest impact of 2010, as it brought Anand his first second victory in the fourth match game with Topalov.




Anand’s game was analysed in Yearbook 95 by Anish Giri, in an appendix to Evgeny Vladimirov’s Survey on page 160. During the 11th round of the Tata Steel Tournament Anand’s novelty was leading by such a great margin that the prize could safely be given to him already, before he left the Netherlands.


Between the Anand-voters a one-year subscription to the Yearbook has been raffled. The winner is Mrs Claire Blaha from Switzerland.
Candidate novelties had to meet the following conditions:
  • they had to be played in 2010
  • they had to be published in New In Chess Yearbooks 94, 95, 96 or 97
Here is the nice game that was played by Anand against Topalov in the World Chess Championship 2010.



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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Vote for the YB Novelty of the Year 2010 and win a one-year subscription

Chess blog for news and trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hi Everybody,

New In Chess asks its readers what they think was the best opening novelty of 2010. The inventor of the novelty will receive a prize of 350 euros. Among those who have voted for the winning novelty, a one-year subscription to the Yearbook will be raffled.

Last year’s New in Chess Yearbook Novelty of the Year which was Daniel Stellwagen’s 24…Qf3 in the King’s Indian against Loek van Wely at the NH Chess Tournament in Amsterdam in August 2009.


Daniel Stellwagen receives his prize from 
NIC Yearbook editor GM Genna Sosonko.


The voting for 2010 Novelty of the Year has now started. Candidate novelties must meet the following conditions:
  • they must have been played in 2010
  • they must have been published in New In Chess Yearbooks 94, 95, 96 or 97
The shortlist of six candidate novelties can be found here on the New in Chess website. There, visitors can cast their final vote until January 31, 2011.


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