The Hawk v Rest of the World

Full moves to date:

1 d4 Nf6

2 c4 e6

3 Nc3 Bb4

4 Qc2 d5

5 cxd5 exd5

6 Bg5

Over to you, The Rest of the World! Please vote for Black's next move by leaving a comment here or by emailing me at: chesslinksproject@hotmail.co.uk

Deadline: 6.00 p.m. 28th December 2007.

Socks!?

Well it’s that time of year again and I’d like to wish all….no, hold on, you can go to virtually any other website and get the blog-standard, generic ‘peace to all’ message.

Frankly speaking, when it comes to people, it’s true to say that some people weren’t in my life as much as I wanted them to be this year and some weren’t in it at all. Some were in it too much for comfort; others retained a healthy balance and some fell over. For some, it will have to be an accident if we ever meet again (and we're not talking serendipity). Next year, hopefully, I will readjust the balance again.

Meanwhile, the time for shopping is just about over (until the sales start) and this brings many things on which to reflect. How many half-price chocolate oranges has one been offered? How many pushchairs can be reasonably fitted down the aisles of Boots before it becomes impossible for anyone to move in any direction? Is it really useful to offer ‘3 for 2’ on Dalek Sec masks? Can it be right that cards now cost more than presents? Why do drunks catch the bus when it would be safer (for us) if they drove home, and why do so many of them pretend to be Scottish and hurl unlikely accusations, such as ‘You strangled my parrot, didn’t ye?’ which nobody else in the bus queue can (apparently) hear?

Of course, choosing the right presents isn’t any easier now than it was when the whole thing started. Rewind a couple of thousand years and this could well have happened…

Scenario: ‘JC’ and a ‘Friend’. 18 years after being left three gifts, JC is now old enough to understand what they are. His friend, official custodian of the Magi’s offerings, opens the trunk and reveals all.

JC: (Excited) Right! Time to find out what my first ever presents were.

F: This is the first one. Apparently it’s Myrrh.

JC: Eh? What’s that for?

F: I think it’s some sap-based substance, often used in the lubrication of incense.

JC: Crikey! You’d better put that back in the trunk straight away. What’s next?

F: Frankincense!

JC: Sounds monstrous. Any idea what it’s for?

F: Dunno - it’s a sort of aftershave I think. I’ll just pull out the stopper and have a - Christ, it stinks!

JC: Oh, does it? Not much point in using that then. To make sure of it I’ll give up shaving. (And he did) So what was the third gift? I don’t suppose they left anything useful, like gold?

F: (Looking at the ground.) Err, no chief, we didn’t see any gold. The third gift was…err...a pair of socks.

JC: Socks!? Socks…with sandals?? I don’t think that will work. You keep them.

…or maybe it didn’t happen like that at all. Who knows? One thing is certain: no man is ever so confident in his ability to buy presents that he ever destroys the receipts. He would never know where to find them, but that’s not the point.

Because it’s the festive season, just as in your favourite TV cop show, when they always have a special Christmas crime to solve, so Marsh Towers offers you a bit of fun with some unusual chess problems to tackle.

For this one, Black doesn’t move at all. Your task is to find out how many different ways you can give a check to the Black King in three moves.



White’s first move is 1 e4. Can you construct a game is which the final move is a Knight taking a Rook and delivering checkmate?
Just to balance things up for 1 d4 players…

Black is obliged to copy your moves. Under those circumstances, how soon can you force a checkmate?

The answers will follow sometime in 2008!

Meanwhile, to all those reading this at home…what are you doing in my house!?

Chess Reviews: 34

The Samisch King’s Indian Uncovered
By GM Alexander Cherniaev and FM Eduard Prokuronov
Everyman Chess


The Samisch Variation of the King’s Indian Defence arises after White’s fifth move, namely 5 f3


There are now two main ways for White to proceed. He can use the f3 pawn as a springboard for a Kingside attack (g4, h4 etc) or he can attempt a sort of blockade against Black’s standard attempts to break free from the shackles before deciding to push forward on the Queenside (a4, b4) or centre (f4, e5).

This new book starts with a short introduction followed by eight chapters, starting with 6 Be3 e5 (‘The Classical Samisch’) and moving through coverage of the Panno (6...Nc6), The Samisch Gambit (6...c5) and various other systems of play against 6 Be3 before concluding with lines leading from White’s trendy 6 Nge2 and 6 Bg5. 50 main illustrative games are used to demonstrate the various lines. However, only three are from the last two years and the bibliography is remarkably slight; only five books are listed and there is no mention of Chris Ward’s ‘The Controversial Saemisch’ (although a number of GM Ward’s games are quoted in this book).

The introduction takes a bit of a liberty by naming eight World Champions - Alekhine, Botvinnik, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Karpov, Kasparov and Kramnik - for whom the Saemisch ‘…has been a favourite’.

It’s certainly extremely optimistic to include Alekhine (who definitely favoured 3 g3) as one of the eight and Kasparov usually preferred other lines against The King’s Indian too. The back cover blurb does make an effort to amend the claim by putting into a more accurate context, omitting Alekhine’s name altogether and saying that the other seven ‘…have all utilized the Samisch at one time or another…’

Perhaps this could be seen as an over-critical comment but it is compounded by naming the Alekhine - Euwe game, the first illustrative snippet in the book, as match game number two from their 1926 match, when it fact it was game number three.
There are several highly controversial positions in the Samisch. One of the most famous features an extraordinary Queen sacrifice (?)

This extraordinary position arises after the moves: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0–0 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 Nh5 8.Qd2 Qh4+ 9.g3 Nxg3 10.Qf2 Nxf1 11.Qxh4 Nxe3

The featured game in the book focuses on 12 Ke2 but a note acknowledges that 12 Qf2 - freeing h4 for the advance of the White h-pawn - is probably stronger. Perhaps it would have been better to use a game with 12 Qf2 as the feature game and games with the technically weaker 12 Ke2 should have formed the basis of the branched notes.

It seems to me that this book falls somewhere in the gap between the ‘Starting Out’ series and something more detailed. As such, it will probably fall between two different target audiences too. It’s not that the material given is bad by any means; it just feels a little bland and uninspiring.

The Complete Chess Workout
By IM Richard Palliser
Everyman Chess

Train your brain with 1200 puzzles!

In the introduction, IM Palliser explains his desire to produce a book of chess puzzles for the ‘less experienced or even average club players’.

In some ways, it’s a difficult book to review; every time I started I got caught up trying to solve the puzzles! That’s exactly the effect such a book should have on the reader.

‘Spending as little as 10-15 minutes a day on one’s tactical ability really can reap dividends’ is an excellent point and this book should keep you going for quite a few days, if not weeks.

The 1200 puzzles are split across a number of chapters, namely:

1. Warming Up
2. Attack!
3. Opening Tricks and Traps
4. Skill in the Endgame
5. Loose Pieces and Overloading
6. Fiendish Calculation
7. Test Yourself
8. Solutions

Chapter seven is split into ten tests (indeed, the title of the chapter changes to ‘Ten Tests’ from that listed on the ‘contents’ page) with points awarded for successful calculation by the reader.
Readers from North East England will be happy to spot the names and games of several local yokels. For example…

R. Donner v F.N. Stephenson
Gisborough* 2001
Black to play

D. Wise v J Blackburn
British League 2005
White to play

I always like to see examples of play from ‘real life people’ (if you know what I mean) and there’s a great freshness about this book’s selection of material.
Naturally, there are still plenty of positions from top-level Grandmasters and World Champions but not all end the way form would suggest…

A. Huzman - G. Kasparov
Rethymnon 2003
White to play

You don’t need the solutions to these samples - go ahead and try them yourself. Then go and buy the book for the other 1,197 puzzles.

This is 318 pages of pure fun.

For further details of Everyman chess books, please visit: http://www.everymanchess.com/

* Got to knock a point off here though; ‘Guisborough’ is the correct for the town and chess club (although Lord and Lady G. retain the older spelling)

The Hawk v Rest of the World

Latest moves.....

1 d4 Nf6

2 c4 e6

3 Nc3 Bb4

4 Qc2 d5

5 cxd5

The Voting Statistics

4...d5 16

4...b6 7

4...0-0 6

4...Bxc3+ 6

4...Nc6 3

4...c5 2

4....Qe7 2

4....d6 1

4...Ng4 1

4...Nh5 1

Black's choices seem a little narrower now. Which move would you like to play? Vote by leaving a comment here or by emailing me at: cheslinksproject@hotmail.co.uk

The Hawk v Rest of the World: More Moves!

The current position of our remarkable game, in which Jonathan Hawkins (the top rated player in North East England) is taking on the whole of the Rest of the World, is:

One of the main lines of the Nimzo-Indian Defence! Which variation will The Rest of the World now adopt?

Stay tuned for further details. Meanwhile join the fun by voting for the next move. See here: http://www.chesslinksproject.btik.com/home.ikml

Entertainment! Part 3

Dimensions 2007

10th & 11th November

Holiday Inn, Washington

(Photos by Gary Marsh)

What do you mean…you’ve never been to a Doctor Who Convention? You don't know what you are missing...

Dimensions 2007, the latest in the highly successful series of North East Doctor Who conventions, saw a change of venue for the first time since 2002. This time it was held in Washington (Durham) and approximately 350 people came along to join the fun.

The two basic activities at conventions are:

1) The guest talks/interviews

2) The guest signings

This was the sixth such Dimensions convention I’ve attended; every single one has maintained a very high standard and there’s been an incredible number of different guests over the years including Doctors 5-8 (and more than once each!).

This year’s Doctor was none other than Colin Baker, the sixth incarnation of our favourite Timelord. Although his era on TV isn’t always seen as one of the greatest successes - in fact, it was a very troubled time - Colin has always maintained a very positive stance with the show and is a thoroughly nice chap.

His performances for the Big Finish series of audios are extremely highly regarded and to many, at least in the world of CD adventures, he is the Doctor.

Elisabeth Sladen was a popular guest too; she is famous all over again - especially with young people - thanks to her spin-off show, The Sarah Jane Adventures.


Links with the classic years of Dr Who went back all the way to the 1960s. Anneke Wills (Polly) was a welcome addition to this year's guests.



It often happens that a guest has to cancel their attendance fairly late on due to work commitments. The organisers pulled off a major coup when they announced that one of their late replacements was none other Honor Blackman!




Although better known as Cathy Gale in the early days of The Avengers and then as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, she did indeed appear in four episodes of Dr. Who in the 1980s. Her presence was clearly one of the highlights of the weekend.

It’s the first time I’ve seen John Levene (UNIT’s Sergeant Benton). He comes across as a complex character. He was there the whole weekend and seemed in good humour on the Saturday, when he shared a panel with Katy Manning (Jo Grant).

However, he was rather melancholy the following day. His solo panel contained many quite morose moments and was not really in keeping with the general trend of the weekend which was, after all, a celebratory affair.


It’s always good to hear from guests with a different perspective on the show. Graham Cole - best known as PC Stamp in The Bill - was the man inside monsters such as the Cybermen, Melkur and the Marshmen.


He had lots to say about trials and tribulations regarding such difficult work. An extraordinary amount of patience is required to spend seemingly endless hours encased in rubber and plastic.

Timelash, as story form 1985 and recently released on DVD, was written by Glen McCoy and he was on hand to talk about his experiences from script to screen. He gave an interesting insight into the somewhat haphazard procedures of the time. (The picture shows Glen with Nicola Brynat, who played Peri.)



The guest talks can take several different forms. Sometimes it’s a straight forward one-to-one with an interviewer, sometimes it’s a panel of several people. Occasionally one guest will take an hour all on their own. There is always the opportunity for the audience to ask questions towards the end of each session; these range from the bog-standard ‘What was your favourite story’ to the much more obscure, occasionally attempting to plumb extraordinary depth from something quite banal.

Queuing for autographs can take up time and sometimes it means missing a panel. However, it is usually worth the effort to spend a minute or two chatting with the stars. The general rule at Dimensions is: two free autographs per person, although this sometimes drops down to one per person if schedules are tight. The queues seemed to go down faster than at the Swallow Hotel. Part of the problem with the latter venue was that long lines of people tended to stretch across the busy bar area and things could get a little disjointed.

There’s always a sinister collection of monsters walking around, including the Ood, a scarecrow and Clockwork men, not to mention a number of the audience dressed up as various Doctors and companions.



Organisers 1oth Planet (http://www.tenthplanet.co.uk/) have already announced that Dimensions 2008 will be back in North East England on 15th & 16th of next November. Put that date in your diary now!

Lucinda Williams
The Plug, Sheffield
21.11.2007

(Photos by Peter Chick)

Lucinda Williams is one of the music world’s best-kept secrets. With her songs crossing the boundaries of rock, country and folk and dealing with subjects such as love, loss and longing, there’s little wonder that the throw away, ‘famous for five minutes’ (if that) scene has failed to detect her magnificence.

The current ‘West’ tour offered only three dates in England; two were in London but I went for the more Northern option of Sheffield.

It was ‘standing only’ at The Plug. The doors opened at seven but there was no support act and Lucinda and her band didn’t come on until 9.00 p.m. so it was quite a long standing wait. However, once they did take to the stage, the wait was quickly forgotten. I had a great view, with only about eight rows of people in front of me. Thus the show had a very intimate feel to it.

The intimacy was enhanced further by the opening selection of songs; hearfelt ballads including Lake Charles and Mama You Sweet although the tempo was raised soon enough. My favourites were Righteously, Those Three Days and Joy. The guitar work on the latter track just had to be seen - and heard - to be believed.

Lucinda kept changing her original set list when she sensed the mood of the audience and often started a song shouted out by a fan, following a quick, whispered word with each band member. I lost count of the number of different guitars Doug Pettibone used throughout the show but one thing is clear - he is a superb musician and deserves to be much better known.

New songs (to me, at least) were Honey Bee and Jailhouse Tears (a duet with Doug). Both should appear on the next album.

After a break of a couple of minutes they were back on stage for a fabulous encore of no less than five songs: Side Of The Road (a beautiful surprise) Essence, Come On, Unsuffer Me and, of course, West. Then the concert finally drew to a close at 11.30 p.m. It had been a fabulous, memorable night and it had more than lived up to expectations.

The only unfortunate thing about the evening was that it clashed with the critical England v Croatia football match I got back to the hotel (just five minutes’ walk from the venue - well planned!) and the first thing I did was check the CEEFAX for the England score. My brain struggled to take it all in…clearly there had been lots of goals but quite a few seemed to be against us! The horrible truth suddenly struck home. What a catastrophe - England beaten and out! And three long years till the next World Cup.

Looks like I definitely chose the right entertainment on that night!

Chess Reviews: 33

Chess Success: Planning After The Opening
By GM Neil McDonald
Batsford

‘There are plenty of chess books that cover openings, but not so many that tell you what to do next. Every player had encountered problems once the opening phase of the game has ended, and this book provides solutions. Renowned chess author Neil McDonald guides you through a selection of over 40 recent instructive and entertaining Grandmaster games, all of which illustrate how sound planning and a clear head can help you through that critical post-opening phase.’

This interesting middle game manual examines various methods of play arising from different pawn structures. Over the course of the 270 pages, each of the eight chapters provides examples based on a specific set up.

1. The smiting style
‘Smites’, or ‘…moves that attempt to land a combinative blow on the opponent‘, are rife in the first, very entertaining chapter.

Consider the following position.

Ahn v Ruck
Belgium 2007
Black lit the blue touch paper with 9...Nxe4!! And by move 16 White’s King had been kicked all the way to e6 and his journey is not yet over!

2.Delaying the moment of tactical truth

Chapter 2 takes a look at positions with blocked centres, particularly those stemming from The Ruy Lopez and King’s Indian Defence.

3. Super symmetry

Symmetrical centres with the battle for control of an open line. The final position of Karpov - Polgar (Las Palmas 1994) is an excellent demonstration of an ideal scenario:



4. The support point centre

For example…

…in which the support point at d4 may be successfully used by White pieces (especially Knights). The definition includes the prerequisite that the opponent isn’t able to attack the critical square with a pawn.

5. A prickly customer: The Hedgehog

Hedgehog structures provide a lot of flexibility for the defender. The key game of this chapter is a titanic struggle between GM McDonald and chess legend GM Bronstein.

6. Dr Jekyll and Mr Steinitz

The Jekyll and Hyde character of the Isolated Queen’s Pawn. Sometimes it’s a great strength, providing supported outposts in the opponent’s camp but sometimes, inherently stripped of support, it dies a horrible death. The key game of the chapter sees Steinitz badly misplaying an IQP position in a World Championship match against Lasker.

7. The dilemma of d5

Black’s dilemma in structures arising from the Queen’s Gambit (and other openings ) is the subject of this chapter. Should Black release the tension or attempt to hold fast in the centre? Spin-off sections include a discussion of the Minority Attack.

8. Roaring lion and crouching tiger

This chapter takes a look at certain Indian defence structures which enable White to expand dynamically with an unfettered pawn centre. This the lion might roar forwards but there are often dangers from crouching tigers along the way.

Each chapter starts off with a pertinent quote or two to set the scene but these are not always by chess players; chapter seven begins with the lyrics ‘Should I stay or should I go’ by The Clash.

As usual with a book from the pen of GM McDonald, the material is bang up to date. For example, the crushing Catalan victory by Kramnik over Carlsen (Dortmund 2007) receives over six pages of instructive annotation. Indeed, the former World Champion is well represented here with five of his games on display.

This is an instructive book by a thoughtful writer. Club players who would like to improve their play and are tired of stuffing endless opening lines into their heads will find much of interest here.

For further details of all Batsfird chess books please visit: http://www.anovabooks.com/