Looking forward to Sveins 6. Memorial tournament

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Off again to face the hoard of Norwegian talent. If you have ever played chess in Norway you know what I am talking about. In this case I am going to Oslo to participate in Sveins 6. Memorial tournament. My hopes are to improve on my start from last year, when “I came, I saw” and then lost in the first round:

There was some friendly fire on move 18 and 25, but still, it is a very uncommon occurrence that I lose a game like that without ever being better. The good thing about losing that game was that I was completely focused when, later in the tournament, I came up against one of the most promising juniors in Norway:

After this game Aryan has continued to improve and, earlier this year, he managed to score his first Grand Master Norm. That about that. This year I know what I am up against and hope to add “and conquered” to the coming and seeing.

Tal Memorial, round 1

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On monday it is time for the fourth game of the 68th Honinbo Titel Match between Iyama Yuta and Takao Shinji. I can very much recommend you to follow it on the Go Server “Panda Net” where a strong field of kibitzers are lead by the formidable “Cornel”. If you do not play Go, then… too bad. In the chess world, however, there are lots of fun going on too. Yesterday first round of the Tal Memorial featured a game that was very strange in that Black won a game where all he had to do was to react to White’s moves. It illustrates well the concept of “forcing your opponent’s hand”; playing in such a way that you do not really give your opponent a choice but to play the best move:

A Stonewall post gone astray…

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Hunting for the next game, of my not-yet-deserving-the-title-of-“series” on Gleizerov and the Stonewall, I came upon a game that that was such good fun, that I just could not help myself; I had to publish it. If I explain why I will have to give you a few “spoilers”, so I will not.

For players who want to improve their middle game skills: I recommend you to play through the game slowly, try to guess the moves and possibly find an improvement of your own.

Learning The Kings Indian part 1

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So, how do you learn to play an opening well? Read a book, or go through a DVD on the subject? Good idea. Play it in some blitz games (and then analyze them!!)?  That’s another good idea. Try to find thematic exercises and solve them? Right on spot. Those are the basics, but where do you go from there? I would recommend two things:

1. Find a position in that opening and study it until you know it better than anyone (that you can imagine). Try to find something New, something that is your own idea.

2. Select someone who plays that opening well and go through that player’s games until his/her style becomes your second nature. You do not have to choose a world class player. Rather, choose someone that is principled and who plays a lot of lower rated opponents! In this way you will learn how to recognize and play against mistaken concepts. You will evolve.

I often get questions concerning the Kings Indian. Is it still playable? Can you avoid it if you play the Modern? How do you deal with the fianchetto variation? And it goes on. I do believe it to be playable. One reason is that Radjabov still plays it and another reason is that Smirin still plays it. Yes, Smirin; there you have your principled guy and one who does not only play against world class players. He is the kind of guy I would pick if I tried to learn the Kings Indian: