#124– April 18th, 2007

Tkachiev Wins 8th European Individual Championships Vladislav Tkachiev the King of Blitz Chess is the 8th European Individual Champion. The Kazakh GM now lives in Cannes and represents France won a Speed Chess Playoff 2-0 against Emil Sutovsky a former European Champion after finishing in a group of seven players who tied for first on 8/11. The early leader Andrei Volokitin lost in the last round to Dmitry Jakovenko. Thirty three Grandmasters qualified for the World Cup tournament to be held later this year. Tatiana Kosintseva won the Women's Championship with the stunning score of 10/11 and her twin sister Nadezhda shared second with former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova on 8/11. Keep up with the action at The Week In Chess at www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html and download games and analysis for free. Vishy Anand - World Number One After some more strange behaviour from FIDE Vishy Anand was declared the sixth player to hold the number one spot since the rating system was formalised. At first FIDE did not want to include Linares which was patently ridiculous but after a public outcry and an office protest from India commonsense prevailed. Anand leapfrogged Veselin Topalov after gaining points at Linares. Anand is the first Asian player to achieve this honour and is currently 2786. The top 10 is: 1 Anand IND 2786 2 Topalov BUL 2772 3 Kramnik RUS 2772 4 Morozevich RUS 2762 5 Aronian ARM 2759 6 Mamedyarov AZE 2757 7 Radjabov AZE 2747 8 Leko HUN 2738 9 Svidler RUS 2736 10 Adams ENG 2734 Next up: MTEL at Sofia, the Candidates Matches and Rapid Matches Kramnik- Aronian and Leko- Kramnik More News at The Week In Chess   * You must be connected to the internet to view the images. *   Here comes the sun.... SPECIAL OFFER: Giant Plastic Chess Sets! The fine weather is on the way, so how better to enjoy the sunshine than to play a game of chess outside. Our Giant Chess and Draughts Sets are made from durable plastic and make the perfect centre piece for gardens or parks. They have also been incredibly popular with youngsters, who get to learn the game whilst playing outside at the same time. Our special offers to Chess Express readers mean you too can work on your tan AND your chess during the summer months. Save 10% on a Giant Plastic Chess Set - NOW £315 Save 10% on Giant Plastic Draughts Set - NOW £90 Save 10% on a Giant Plastic Mat - NOW £135 OUR FULL RANGE OF OUTDOOR SETS CAN BE FOUND HERE Opening According to Anand: Volume 9 - by Alexander Khalifman In this volume of the incredibly popular Anand Opening Repertoire series, 14th world champion Alexander Khalifman continues the analysis of the Sicilian Defence. The first part covers variations arising after the moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 and especially the Kalashnikov. In answer to 2...Nc6, just like after the majority of the basic lines, he recommends the most principled answer for White, 3.d4. Parts 2 and 3 deal with systems arising after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6. In the basic tabia of the Paulsen system 5.Nc3 Qc7 Khalifman advocates the aggressive set-up, which has become nowadays an almost universal plan in numerous lines of the Sicilian Defence. It includes Be3, followed by Qd2, castling long and a kingside attack. All that is too schematic, since Black has numerous plans at his disposal, but the author believes that White can rely on obtaining the advantage thanks to several very important original novelties and principally new ideas in the main lines. UK/European Customers Order here N.American Customers Order here Kramnik's Opening Repertoire Series also available - latest volume here Chess Endgames 4 - Karsten Muller World Champion's Guide: Petroff Defence - Rustam Kasimzhanov ABC of the Modern Slav - Andrew Martin My Best Games: Nimzo-Indian Defence - Alexei Shirov My Best Games: Kings Indian Defence - Alexei Shirov Power Play 3: Pawn Storm - Daniel King Power Play 2: Attacking the King - Daniel King Botvinnik and Moscow Variation - Loek van Wely Buy any THREE Fritz Media Systems and SAVE £5. Use coupon code MEDIASYSTEM3 at the checkout America and Canada UK, Europe, and other   TWIC Puzzle - Easy White to play and win We join the game with White's move, and we can see that Black's position has become a little cramped. With all the heavy pieces lined up down the h-file and a lack of flight squares for the Black monarch, the only question is how to finish the game off. Can you find the answer? Solution below   TWIC Puzzle - Hard Black to play and win Taken from a recent high-level Open tournament, this position at first glance appears a little too insipid to hold any knockout blows. Black has some pressure on the queen side, and White's bishops are a little awkwardly placed, but otherwise the position looks playable for White. Black's next move shattered any hopes for White, and is a demonstration of how tactical awareness is essential in these types of tournament. Solution below   Secrets of Opening Surprises: Volume 6 – edited by Jeroen Bosch. The highly acclaimed SOS series provides intermediate chess players with perfectly playable, easily digestible opening ideas: deviations from main line opening theory in a very early stage of the game (usually before move six). Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of the chess opening will be able to apply these SOS-ideas in an actual game and baffle their opponents! Pirc in Black and White - by James Vigus. The Pirc is an ambitious counter-attacking response to White's most popular opening move. Black's philosophy is based around allowing White to build a large and impressive-looking pawn centre, only to plot its downfall by attacking it with pieces or timely pawn strikes. In this book James Vigus provides an up-to-date appraisal of the Pirc and its many variations. Challenging the Nimzo Indian - by David Rigorito. The Nimzo-Indian is Black's most respected answer to 1.d4 and is immensely popular at all levels, from club championship to world championship. In fact, the reputation of the Nimzo is so high that some players prefer simply to avoid it. American International master David Vigorito shows that this negative approach is unnecessary. Challenging the Nimzo-Indian provides White with a complete repertoire based on 4.Qc2. The chess is certainly at a high level, but Vigorito's logical approach and clear conclusions means that readers can easily grasp the concepts less-experienced players can play through the high-quality example games that are comprehensively explained. Beating the Open Games - by Mihail Marin. Acclaimed author and chess grandmaster Mihail Marin presents an opening repertoire for Black against the Open Games. This means providing an answer to 1.e4, but not considering the main lines of the Spanish Opening. This includes openings such as the Scotch, the Vienna, the Spanish Exchange Variation, and even the notorious King's Gambit. Marin uses his renowned writing skills to explain the ideas behind each move, so Beating the Open Games escapes the standard opening book trap of being a boring list of analysis. Marin has based the book mainly on his own repertoire and reveals many original moves and ideas. After studying this book the reader will not only have an excellent repertoire but also a deeper understanding of chess. Click here to see these and many more new books International Master John Watson writes book reviews exclusive to TWIC. Latest reviews include #78 'The End of Openings' Recent reviews: #77 - #76 - #75 Full list of his reviews can be found here.     Chess Monthly - published since 1935. April issue out now Subscribe now to Chess Monthly. All of the latest games are annotated, news from around the world as well as puzzles and tips to help you improve your game - all on your doorstep. Contributors include Boris Gelfand, Nigel Short, Sergei Tiviakov, Jacob Aagaard, Andrew Greet, Daniel King, and Chris Ward. As a subscriber, you also get a 10% discount on all orders (excluding already discounted items), which means the subscription could pay for itself! Details of how you can subscribe can be found here   Malcolm Pein writes for the Daily Telegraph (telegraph.co.uk) and you can read his chess columns along with those of Michael Adams at their Chess Club. Game commentary from IM Malcolm Pein Andrei Volokitin was the early leader at the European Individuals in Dresden, with his usual brand of attacking chess. He lost in the last round, but here he shows us - and Volkov - what he is capable of producing. A Volokitin – S Volkov 8th European Individual Dresden French Defence Advance Variation 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 (Volkov is an expert on 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 - the MacCutcheon Variation) 3...c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Bd3 cxd4 7.Nxd4 (White can take with the knight as Black has not yet played Nc6. If 7.cxd4 Black can exchange his bad bishop with 7...Bb5 8.Bxb5+ Qxb5 9.Nc3 Qa6=) 7...Bc5 8.Qg4! Ne7 (The standard French kingside giveaway 8...g6 loses a tempo and weakens the kingside) 9.Qxg7 Rg8 10.Qf6! (Holding onto e5. 10.Qxh7 Bxd4 11.cxd4 Qxd4 12.0–0 Nbc6 is unclear) 10...Rxg2 11.Bxh7 (With his king exposed White calmly whips off the h-pawn, and as often in the French turns his own h-pawn into a big asset. However the main point of this move are the new threats based on Qh8+) 11...Bxd4 12.cxd4 Qxd4 13.Nc3 (13.Qh8+?? Ng8 14.Bxg8 Qxf2+ 15.Kd1 Qe2 mate) 13...Qg4 (The critical line was when 13...Nbc6 14.Nb5 Qb4+ 15.Kf1 Qxb5+ 16.Kxg2 is good for White but 13...Nbc6 14.Nb5 Qb4+ 15.Kf1 0–0–0! 16.Kxg2 Qg4+ 17.Kf1 Qd1+ draws. After 16.Nd6+ Kb8 17.h3 Rg6! 18.Bxg6 Nxg6 Black has good compensation for the exchange. White can not develop easily and e5 is weak) 14.h4! Qh5 (14...Nbc6 15.Qh8+ Ng8 16.Bg5! is the point) 15.Kf1! Rxf2+ (15...Rg4!?) 16.Kxf2 Qxh7 17.Bg5 Nbc6 18.Rac1 0–0–0 19.b4! (White's king is in the middle but is by far the safer. The Black pieces are passive and with his queen trapped on the kingside, a few energetic moves from Volotikin decide the issue) 19...Kb8 20.b5 Ng8 21.Qf4 Nce7 22.a4 Rc8 23.Ne2 Nf5 24.Rxc8+ Bxc8 25.Rc1 Qg7 26.Qb4! (26...Qxe5 27.Bf4) 26...Ngh6 27.Qc5 Ng4+ 28.Ke1 1–0   Trivia Question #124: Vishy Anand has topped the FIDE ranking lists this April with a rating of 2786 to become only the sixth person to do so since its invention in 1970. Who were the other five? Answer in the next issue of Chess Express. Trivia Question #122: Statistically, Garry Kasparov's favourite opponent is Alexei Shirov. Who would be his least favourite? According to ChessBase's Mega Database 2007, Kasparov's bete noir was Murray Chandler, who managed two wins in his two games against Garry.   TWIC Theory is an electronic monthly magazine with high quality articles delivered in ChessBase, PGN or PDF format. You can still get the back issues. Number 27 December GM Bogdan Lalic on the resilient Double Fianchetto Hedgehog, a set up including ...b6, Bb7 g6, Bg7, ...d6.... and c5. Number 28 January IM John-Paul Wallace on 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 f3!? Number 29 February GM Nick Pert on the Geller Gambit in the Slav Defence. Number 30 March GM Mikhailevski on the Kings Indian Defence Bayonet For more information click here: http://www.chesscenter.com/twictheory Subscription to #25-36 available for just £19.95: http://www.chesscenter.com/twictheory       TWIC Puzzle Solutions Easy: 37.Qh8+! Kf7! 38.Qxg7+!! mating after 38...Kxg7 39.Rh7+ Kg8 40.Rh8+ Kg7 41.R1h7 mate. 1-0 (Krush - Ruxton, Gibraltar 2007) Hard: 31...Ne6! Forced immediate resignation. After 32.dxe6 White feels the weakness of the back rank: 32...Rxc1+ Bf1 33.Rxf1 Kxf1 34. Qh1 mate. 0-1 (Ageichenko - Andreikin, Moscow 2007)   You are currently subscribed to Chess Express as: mario_castilla2001@... 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