Posted in Games, Jamaica, Sweden on Apr 11th, 2009 No Comments »
Position after Elliott’s 14.Nf5!? Jamaica’s Warren Elliott sent in a nice miniature against fellow FM Bengt Hammar of Sweden. The game came out of a Najdorf where Hammar played the suspect 6…Nbd7. Generally black plays 6…e6 and 7…Qc7 keeping a watchful eye on the e6-square that often becomes the target of sacrifices (with knights, bishops [...]
Posted in Drum Majors, Games, USA on Feb 25th, 2009 7 Comments »
FM Morris Giles with Erik Karklins at far end. As we close out Black History Month, I stumbled over a link to Robert Byrne’s analysis of FM Morris Giles’ win over GM Walter Browne. Giles was a Chicago legend who was a solid master in the 70s. He retired for a number of years and [...]
Posted in Europe, Netherlands, Opinion/Editorials, Tournaments on Jan 18th, 2009 14 Comments »
The 2009 edition of Corus is underway as three high-powered sections have assembled in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. Group “A” is headlined by world’s #3 Vassily Ivanchuk of the Ukraine. China’s Wang Yue and Cuba’s Lenier Dominguez are two newer faces in the elite. Dominguez is making his first appearance in Corus “A”. Corus, [...]
Posted in Tactics Lab on Jan 16th, 2009 No Comments »
February is “Black History Month” and while the celebration typically focuses on the same figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman and Jesse Owens, there are some forgotten heroes in our history. While there are many figures in sport who have made contributions, chess has often be overlooked in the Black community [...]
Posted in Tactics Lab on Dec 6th, 2008 5 Comments »
More crackers to snack on! This month’s Olympiad edition brings fireworks. Botswana’s national champion Phemelo Khetho made quite an impression with his win over an IM from Indonesia, Sadikin Irwanto. He plays a slow and stodgy KIA, but builds up a lethal attack with a number of killer moves! Very difficult problem. FM Phemelo Khetho [...]
Posted in Tactics Lab on Sep 19th, 2008 1 Comment »
More crackers to snack on! This month’s edition bring more excitement on the 64 squares. IM Emory Tate makes his usual contribution with a nice shot. Pontus Carlsson unfurls his fire-breathing Dragon to bring fire on the board. Cameo appearances by Jimmy Canty and Glenn Umstead round out the collection. IM Emory Tate – IM [...]
Posted in Games, Switzerland on Jul 31st, 2008 2 Comments »
Magnus Carlsen (Norway) vs. Lenier Dominguez (Cuba) Photo © http://www.bielchessfestival.ch/ Cuban GM Lenier Dominguez recently eclipsed the 2700-barrier and is now on the verge of winning the Biel GM tournament. His 9th round game with Magnus Carlsen was a contribution to theory as the two gladiators faced off in a “Fire on Board” game. The [...]
Posted in Games, Nigeria, USA, Videos on Jul 20th, 2008 4 Comments »
NM Glenn Bady analyzing Adu-Kaufman with IM Oladapo Adu. FM Norman ‘Pete’ Rogers chats with Adu. Photo by Michael Williams. The Chess Drum presents another gamecast lecture with Nigeria’s IM Oladapo Adu giving commentary on his game with FM Raymond Kaufman. Some of you know that Ray is the son of IM Larry Kaufman, America’s [...]
Posted in Tactics Lab on Jul 18th, 2008 No Comments »
Interesting set up puzzles this time. They are at various stages and different types of positions (closed and open). This tells us that it is always important to stay alert. The usual suspects (IM Emory Tate and GM Pontus Carlsson) are featured, but Uganda’s NM Grace Nsubuga and South Africa’s IM Watu Kobese made contributions. [...]
Posted in Africa, Asia, Games, India, Nigeria, Videos on Jul 14th, 2008 2 Comments »
Nigeria’s IM Oladapo Adu is featured on gamecast video analyzing his game with India WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy. The game comes out of a classic battle in the Sicilian where black is able to play instructively on the dark squares. Watch gamecast!
Posted in Tactics Lab on May 8th, 2008 No Comments »
If you haven’t been paying attention to coverage here at The Chess Drum, you may have missed these gems. OK… two of the solutions are from the usual suspects, IM Emory Tate and GM Pontus Carlsson. However, two of them are from two teenage girls who showed some creativity at the chess board, Jasmine Fermin [...]
Posted in Games on Apr 15th, 2008 No Comments »
I found two games from the Second Ruy López International Chess Festival won by Michael Adams with +4. China’s Zhang Pengxiang came in second on 5-2. I saw a couple of interesting games, one of which was won by Fabiano Caruana against the rising Hou Yifan of China. Both involved the hedgehog setup. It is [...]
Posted in Tactics Lab on Mar 13th, 2008 3 Comments »
Here is an interesting position from an interesting Internet Chess Club (ICC) game. The 3-minute blitz game was between Zambian IM Amon Simutowe (Solomons) against Canadian IM Thomas Roussel-Roozman (Psychik) late last year. Solomons – Psychik ICC 3-minute blitz White to move and win! Here are the other Chess Crackers!
Posted in Games on Jan 15th, 2008 9 Comments »
Fire on Board features a game from Dr. Kimani Stancil in a theoretical battle against Murray Newcomb. Dr. Stancil has been in the Bay area working as a professional researcher in nanoscience… a hot topic. You’ll have to ask him what nanoscience is about. I asked him about his dissertation a while back and he [...]
Posted in Tactics Lab on Jan 12th, 2008 No Comments »
A new version of “Chess Crackers” is up. In the bimonthly features, four positions are presented. In the future, I will present some selections from non-Master games. Although the puzzles from Masters emanate from better games, the tactical positions arising from any game can be instructive. I did include one this month of FM (now IM) [...]
Posted in Tactics Lab on Oct 22nd, 2007 1 Comment »
Those of you following chess have no doubt seen Hikaru Nakamura’s queen sacrifice against Poland’s Michel Krasenkow. It was a thing of beauty and show the power of minor pieces on attack. This should put to rest questions about Nakamura’s strength. Below is the position after 21.Bxf6. Nakamura responded with 21…Qxf2+!! Yikes! The white king [...]
Posted in Drum Majors, Games on Aug 2nd, 2007 3 Comments »
Some time ago, I found these two videos of the 1995 WCC match between Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand. GM Maurice Ashley (USA) and GM Daniel King (United Kingdom) did the commentary. What was nice about these two videos was not only the intensity of the game, but the exciting commentary by Ashley and King. Ashley [...]
Posted in Games, USA, World Open on Jul 9th, 2007 5 Comments »
Emory Tate (right) showing me his game against Salvijus Bercys, a 27-move gem. * * * Emory Tate approached me and asked, “Is The Chess Drum open for business?” He then demonstrated the game with his usual flair and spell-binding analysis. There was a small crowd, but I hear he did the game earlier to [...]
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