Cheating in Chess

Bad Luck, Bad Ethics, and Cheating in Chess In the 1561, Ruy Lopez de Segura (c. 1540- c. 1580), in his treatise on chess, advised his chess students to “place your opponent with the sun in his eyes if you play by day, and with the candle at his right side if you play at night.” In 1851, at the first international chess tournament held in London, Adolf Anderssen (1818-1879) of Germany and Jozsef Szen (1805-1857) of Hungary agreed that if either player took 1st place, he would pay 1/3 of his prize money to the other person. Anderssen easily won his game from Szen in round 2. Szen took 5th place. This may not have been considered unethical. First place was 183 British pounds and a silver cup. In January 1880, at the 5th American Chess Congress in New York, Preston Ware (1821-1890), a wealthy banker of Boston, testified to the tournament committee that his last-round opponent, James Grundy (1855-1919) of England, offered him $20 if he agreed to play for a draw in their game that had been adjourned. A draw would give Grundy, who needed the money, at least 2nd place prize money. Ware agreed, but complained that Grundy then reneged on the deal and went on to win the game in 64 moves, and tied for 1st place (with George Mackenzie). 1st place was $500 and 2nd place was $300. Grundy lost the playoff match with Mackenzie to take 2nd. When Grundy admitted his guilt, he was forbidden from ever again taking part in an American tournament. Grundy played in other tournaments, but under false names. Ware was suspended for one year from playing chess. Preston Ware didn’t need the money, but agreed to the shady deal because he wanted his friend, Captain George Mackenzie, to take first place. In 1913, at a tournament in Havana, Charles Jaffe (1879-1941) drew his game with Frank Marshall (1877-1944) in the first round, and later, lost his next game to Marshall, blundering away his queen for a rook and then promptly resigned. Jose Capablanca (1888-1942), who lost to Marshall and Jaffe, charged that Jaffe intentionally lost his game to Marshall so that Marshall would win the tournament ahead of Capablanca. It was alleged that Capablanca influenced tournament organizers in the USA and Cuba so that Jaffe would be unable to be invited or play in major tournaments after this, especially tournaments in which Capablanca was playing. Jaffe never played again in a tournament where Capablanca also participated. In 1916, Jaffe was involved in a court battle involving non-inclusion for publication of some of his chess analysis. Jaffe brought suit to recover $750 for work alleged to have been done in analyzing the Rice Gambit that was never published for a book called “Twenty Years of the Rice Gambit.” Jaffe lost the case, since the publisher never asked Jaffe to do any analytical work for him. In 1935, Ilya Rabinovich (1891-1942) was ordered to lose against Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-1995), to ensure that Botvinnik took 1st place at a Moscow tournament. Botvinnik refused to go along with the plan, saying, “…then I will myself put a piece en prise and resign.” The plan was aborted, the game was drawn, and Botvinnik shared 1st place with Salo Flohr (1908-1983) of Czechoslovakia. Rabinovich tied for 11th-14th. Earlier, Flohr had proposed to Botvinnik that they both draw their final game and share 1st place. It was Botvinnik’s first success in international chess. In 1937, Botvinnik was playing a match with Grigory Levenfish (1889-1961). In his adjourned 13th game, Botvinnik called the arbiter, Nikolai Grigoriev (1895-1938), saying that Botvinnik was going to resign his adjourned game. Grigoriev, one of the strongest endgame composers in the world, told Botvinnik not to resign and that he, Grigoriev, found some defensive moves that could lead to a draw or even a win. Grigoriev then started telling Botvinnik his analysis of the adjourned position. Botvinnik tried to cut Grigoriev off, saying an arbitrator, of all people, should not be giving analysis to a player during adjournment. Grigoriev replied that is was OK, since Levenfish was getting help from several other masters. In 1942, during the U.S. chess championship in New York, Samuel Reshevsky was playing Arnold Denker when Reshevky’s flag fell. The tournament director (Walter Stephens), who was standing behind the clock, flipped it around and, looking at Reshevsky’s side of the clock (which he mistakenly thought was Denker’s), announce “Denker forfeits!” He refused to correct his error. This erroneous ruling by the director allowed Reshevsky to tie for first with Isaac Kashdan. Reshevsky then won the playoff match against Kashdan 6 months later. After World War II, there may have been an effort by the Russians to execute Paul Keres for playing in German tournaments during the war, but Mikhail Botvinnik may have intervened to prevent this. Keres may have owed Botvinnik his life. In 1948, in the world championship match-tournament, Paul Keres (1916-1975) may have been ordered by the Soviets to throw his games to Mikhail Botvinnik for the world championship. Keres played well against his three other rivals, but lost his first four games to Botvinnik. Years later, Botvinnik gave an interview stating that Stalin had given orders for Keres and Smyslov to lose to Botvinnik so that Botvinnik would become world champion. In 1950, Samuel Reshevsky (1911-1992) was playing Fotis Mastichiadis, a minor master from Greece, at the chess Olympiad in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. Reshevsky made his 24th move too fast, then noticed that the move was a blunder and that it would lose immediately. Without hesitation, as his opponent was busy writing down the move on his score sheet, Reshevsky offered a draw. His opponent, happy to draw with Grandmaster Reshevsky, accepted the draw immediately without examining the position before accepting the draw. Of course, there is nothing unethical or illegal in offering a draw from a clearly lost position. In the 1950s, Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) played a chess game against a friend at a restaurant and lost. He then went home, phoned his friend and bet some money on a new game played over the phone. Bogart won the game, but then admitted he cheated. At the time, U.S. Champion Herman Steiner (1905-1955) was visiting Bogart at his house, who helped Bogart with the moves. Bogart himself said that he liked chess better than poker because you couldn’t cheat at chess. In 1959, the Candidates’ tournament was held in Bled. Mikhail Tal (1936-1992) tried to unnerve his opponents by staring at them while they were thinking. Some players thought he was trying to hypnotize his opponents. When he had to play Pal Benko, Benko brought a pair of dark sunglasses to wear during their game. Later, Benko explained that he wore the glasses not to ward of Tal’s “evil eye,” but as a stunt. A couple of Yugoslav reporters asked Benko to wear them to provide an eye-catching photo and a lively story for their newspapers. In 1962, Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) complained that the Russian prearranged draws against each other in order to conserve energy for play against him. Fischer’s article “The Russian Have Fixed World Chess,” appeared in Sports Illustrated. This led to the tournament system being scrapped in favor of a series of elimination matches. Years later, Viktor Korchnoi, after he defected, accused Soviet players of cheating, of ganging up on Westerners in tournaments and throwing key games when necessary. In the early 1960s, the first recorded computer chess cheating occurred at MIT. Some MIT students went to Professor John McCarthy and another professor (both chess players), stating that they had a breakthrough in chess algorithms and that they should come to the lab immediately to see their discovery. McCarthy was led into one lab room and the other professor was led into another lab room. One of the professors was placed in from in a TX-0 computer, and the other in front of a PDP-1 computer. They were then asked to enter chess moves. Unknown to them, their computers were connected to each other by a single wire and the two professors were playing each other. In 1967, Grandmaster Milan Matulovic of Yugoslavia was playing against Istvan Bilek in the 9th round at the Interzonal in Sousse, Tunisia. Matulovic moved his bishop (38.Bf3??), pressed his chess clock, and soon realized he had made a mistake. So he took back his bishop move, moved his king (38.Kg1), and only then said “J’Adoube” (“I adjust” – which is said before adjusting pieces on a square). Matulovic then wrote his move on his score sheet as if nothing happened. Bilek went to the tournament director to protest, but Matulovic replied, “But I said j’adoube!” There was an argument, but the tournament director, having only Bilek’s word against Matulovic, refused to require Matulovic to make his original move with his bishop, as the rules of chess state. Bilek protested three times to the tournament director, but was ignored. The game ended in a draw. After this incident, even the Yugoslav players shunned Matulovic. Ever since this incident, Matulovic has been referred as “J’adoubovic.” A few days after the game with Bilek, Matulovic choked on a bone and had to be taken to a doctor. From then on, the joke in the tournament was that the doctor couldn’t find a bone, but the world “j’adoube” was found stuck in Matulovic’s throat. In 1968, at a tournament in Athens, two Greek players were trying to qualify for International Master at the event. During the opening ceremony, invited players to the tournament were asked to draw or lose their games to the Greek players. In return, they would be paid a sum of money or points would be thrown in their direction by other accommodating players. Some players cooperated, others refused. The two Greek players did get their International Master title. In 1970, at the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal, Mark Taimanov was paired with Milan (J’adoubovic) Matulovic in the final round. It was alleged that Taimanov or his Soviet Federation paid Matulovic $300 to lose the game so that Taimanov would qualify for the 1971 Candidates matches. Taimanov needed a win to qualify. Matulovic showed up 20 minutes late, lingered at the board, looked at the previous day’s tournament bulletin, then finally made a move. Matulovic, normally a slow player, played at a fast pace and lost after about an hour of play. Taimanov qualified for the Candidates match and then lost to Bobby Fischer in Vancouver, with a 0-6 score. In 1971, Matulovic was sentenced to 9 months for killing a woman by dangerous driving. No evidence that he said “J’adoube” before hitting her. In 1970, Bobby Fischer was playing White against Vlatko Kovacevic at a tournament in Zagreb. On his 18th move, Fischer had a chance to win if Black made the obvious move. Petrosian and Korchnoi, who were watching the game, spotted Fischer’s deadly intention and were analyzing the position in a different room. Petrosian’s wife had followed the analysis of the Petrosian and Korchnoi, then walked across to the board and whispered the lines to Kovacevic. Kovacevic then played another, less obvious, but stronger move, and actually won the game. It was Fischer’s only loss in the 17-round tournament. In 1972, the Soviets claimed that Bobby Fischer was using an electronic “brain disruption” device in his chair that affected Boris Spassky. The device was supposedly activated when Fischer got up to walk around during Spassky’s turn to move. The Soviets ordered that Fischer’s chair be dismantled and examined, but the Soviet technician did not find any device. In 1973, the police raided a chess tournament in Cleveland, Ohio. The arrested the tournament director and confiscated the chess sets on charges of allowing gambling (cash prizes to winners) and possession of gambling devices (the chess sets). In 1974, the candidates match between Henrique Mecking and Tigran Petrosian was played in Augusta, Georgia. During the match, Mecking made a formal protest. He accused the former world champion of kicking the table, shaking the chessboard, stirring the coffee too loudly, and rolling a coin on the table. Mecking went to the arbiter twice to complain that Petrosian was breathing too loudly. Mecking kicked back at the table and made noises of his own. Petrosian responded by turning his hearing aid off. At the 1976 World Open in New York, a stronger player used the identity of a weaker friend in one of the lower sections. The stronger player was winning all his games until his identity was found out. Director Bill Goichberg had a talk with the person who disappeared before the end of the tournament. In 1978, Anatoly Karpov had a parapsychologist in the audience against his world championship match with Korchnoi in Baguio, Philippines. Korchnoi claimed the parapsychologist was distorting his brain waves. Korchnoi then hired his own psychics to counteract the negative vibrations. During the match, Korchnoi also accused Karpov of cheating by receiving different flavors of yogurt during the game. The different flavors were part of coded instructions that Karpov followed. The arbiter treated the accusation seriously and imposed a fixed time of sending yogurt to Karpov. The flavors had to be in writing from Karpov to the arbiter. In 1980, a chess computer was used for the first time to clandestinely help a human player during a game. It occurred in Hamburg, Germany. German grandmaster Helmut Pfleger was giving a simultaneous exhibition at the Hamburg chess festival. One of the players who was playing in the simul hid a radio receiver on himself while he received moves from BELLE. As soon as Pfleger mad a move, the move was immediately relayed by phone to Ken Thompson, who entered it into the computer BELLE. When Pfleger approached the board again, a move was dictated by radio transmission to the player’s earphone. The computer won in 68 moves. It was Pfleger’s only loss. The game was not strictly an example of cheating. It was an experiment in which the deception was immediately revealed. Immediately after the game, Pfleger was asked if he noticed anything unusual in the games. He had not. He was then told that one of the games was played by a machine, surprising Pfleger. He was amazed to hear that it was the game he lost. In 1981, at the Lone Pine tournament in California, Sammy Reshevsky offered a draw to John Fedorowicz. After letting his time tick down, Fedorowicz accepted. Reshevsky then denied he made the offer. There were several witnesses to Reshevsky’s offers, but the tournament director, Isaac Kashdan, eliminated all the witnesses, saying they were all Fedorowicz’s friends, and upheld Reshevsky’s fabrication. However, the game was resumed with Fedorowicz almost out of time and Reshevsky lost! In 1983, Anna Akhsharumova was playing the final round of the Soviet Women’s Chess championship against her main competitor, Nana Ioseliani. Anna won the game on time forfeit and should have won the title. But the next day, Ioseliani filed a protest alleging a malfunction in the chess clock. Ioseliani demanded a new game be played. Anna refused to play, so the result of her game with Ioseliani was reversed by the All-Union Board of Referees in Moscow (the tournament itself was being played in Tallinn), thereby forfeiting her title. Anna went from 1st place to 3rd place over this decision. In 1985, Nick Down, a former British Junior Correspondence champion, entered the British Ladies Correspondence Championship as Miss Leigh Strange and won the event (and 15 British pounds along with the Lady Herbert trophy). He then signed up to represent Britain in the Ladies Postal Olympiad. He was later caught when one of his friends mouthed off about it and Nick confessed. The whole thing had been cooked up by Nick Down and a group of undergraduates at Cambridge, where Nick was a student. Nick returned the Lady Herbert trophy and was banned from the British Correspondence Chess Association for two years. In 1986, at the New York Open, Pal Benko was playing Hungarian Grandmaster Gyula Sax in the final round. If Benko won, he would have earned $12,000. If Benko drew, he would only get $3,000. Sax offered Benko a draw at a critical position. Benko turned it down, blundered in time pressure, and lost. He got nothing. In 1988, undercover police arrested a chess player at a park in New York City after he won a marked $5 bill against a cop posing as a construction worker during a blitz game. The chess player was jailed for 3 days, his medication was confiscated, and he had a heart attack. The arrest was finally tossed out by a judge. Five years later, the city settled the wrongful arrest lawsuit out of court for $100,000. In 1989, the police raided a chess a chess tournament in Los Angeles. The L.A.P.D. vice officers raided a nightly chess tournament held at Dad’s Donuts. They cited three men for gambling after finding $1.50 on the table. The police staged the raid after an undercover detective tried unsuccessfully to join a blitz chess game. The detective then pulled out his badge and said “all of you are under arrest,” as the L.A.P.D. swooped in. In 1992, Grandmaster and former world junior champion Pablo Zarnicki of Argentina was disqualified from a Dos Hermanas Internet Chess Club tournament, accused of cheating by using a computer, which he denied. In 1993, an unrated black player named John von Neumann was playing at the World Open in Philadelphia and scored 4/5 out of 9 in the Open section, including a draw with a grandmaster (Helgi Olafsson) and a win against a 2350-rated player. He wore a large pair of headphones and seemed to have something in his pocket that buzzed at critical points of the game. When quizzed by Bill Goichberg, the tournament director, von Neumann was unable to demonstrate very much knowledge about simple chess concepts, and was disqualified and received no prize money. It appeared he was using a strong chess computer to cheat and play his games. It was alleged that he was entering moves on a communication device whose signal was being sent up to a hotel room where an accomplice was operating a chess computer. Von Neumann has never been seen or heard from since. John von Neumann is the same name as the noted mathematician and pioneer in artificial intelligence. In 1994, at Linares, Spain, Garry Kasparov made a move against Judit Polgar, momentarily letting go of the piece (in violation of the “touch move” rule), then made a move to another square once he realized his original move was a blunder. Kasparov went on to win the game. Judit Polgar waited a day before issuing her complaint instead of during the game. A videotape of the incident proved that Kasparov did let go of the piece. In 1996, Claude Bloodgood, at the age of 71, became the 9th highest ranked chess player in the United States, by playing 1,700 rated games against other inmates. He was an inmate in a Virginia prison and just strong enough to beat other inmates, but was not a strong master. He built up a high numerical rating by organizing chess tournaments and matches in prison, and consistently beat the other weaker players. His rating highlighted flaws in the U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) grading system. From 1993 to 1999, he played 3,174 rated games in prison, almost always winning. In 1997, Kasparov lost to Deep Blue. Kasparov later claimed that the team of chess players assembled by IBM had intervened in move selections that they were not computer selections because the moves were too human. In 2001, Grandmaster Alexandru Crisan was accused of faking his Elo rating of 2635 (number 33 in the world) by fixing chess matches for his own benefit and falsifying chess tournament results. In 2002, at the World Open in Philadelphia, a Russian player was caught going outside and getting advice from another player. His opponent followed the Russian player outside and caught him speaking in Russian to the same man intently watching the game. They had been discussing the last move of the game, which was heard by 30-40 onlookers. The Russian then said he would forfeit the game. In 2003, at the Lampertsheim Open, a player was caught with a handheld PC which displayed a running chess program. The player often left the tournament room for protracted periods of time to go to the bathroom. The tournament director caught him when he entered a neighboring stall, stood on the toilet bowl and looked over the dividing wall, where he observed the player using a stylus to operate the program. In 2003, former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov lost a game when his cell phone rang during the European team championship. He lost his game to Evgeny Agrest (who lost a game in 2004 when his cell phone rang) in his Ukrainian team match versus Sweden. Ponomariov was the first player penalized under this rule at a major event. In 2004, Grandmaster Arkadi Naiditsch admitted cheating by using a computer in an Internet tournament, claiming that everyone else was doing it. In 2004, top seed Christine Castellano was playing in the Philippine Women’s National Chess Championship when her cell phone rang. She was disqualified from the event.

Hikaru Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura – 2012 U.S. Chess Champion Hikaru Nakamura (Heh-CAR-uh NAH-kuh-muh-rah) won the 2012 U.S. chess championship after defeating Yasser Seirwan in 30 moves. Nakamura was born on December 9, 1987 in Osaka, Japan. His father is Japanese and his mother is American. In 1990, his family moved to California, then later to New York. His mother, Carolyn, is a classically trained musician and former public school teacher. He began playing chess in 1993, at the age of 5. He was taught by his step-father, Sunil Weeramanty, who was a FIDE master. In 1994, Hikaru went to the U.S. Open in Concord, California, but did not play in the tournament. This was the first chess tournament he was around and he played chess in the Skittles room. In the April 1995 USCF rating list, Hikaru was rated 788. In May 1995, at the age of 7 years old, Hikaru began to play chess more regularly because his school (Ridgeway Elementary School) needed a fourth player for his older brother’s chess team. He was coached by his stepfather, Sunil Weeramantry, a FIDE master, who was a master at 15. At the time, Sunil was writing a book called Best Lessons of a Chess Coach, and made a video called Winning Chess for Kids. Sunil won the New York State Chess Championship in 1975. Sunil later became the executive director of the National Scholastic Chess Foundation and taught chess at Hunter Elementary School and other schools in Westchester County. In April 1995, Hikaru played in the 1995 National Elementary Championship in Little Rock, Arkansas, and took 140th place. His brother, Asuka, tied for 2nd in the 3rd Grade Open championship. In December 1995, Asuka Nakamura took 1st place in the National Grade 4 championship, held in Syracuse, New York. Hikaru tied for 2nd in the Grade 2 championship. In May 1996, Asuka Nakamura took 1st place in the U.S. Elementary Championship, held in Tucson. Hikaru took 31st place. In October 1996, Hikaru tied for 1st place for 3rd Grade in the National K-12 Grade School Championship, held in Terra Haute, Indiana. His rating was 1195 at the beginning of the year. In the January, 1997 USCF rating list, Hikaru Nakamura, age 9, was rated 1659. His brother was rated 2048. In the 1996 USCF yearbook, published in the April 1997 issues of Chess Life, Hikaru, age 9, was the 20th highest rated player under 13, with a rating of 1846. The list was led by Vinay Bhat, age 12, rated 2232. Jordy Mont-Reynaud, age 13, was rated 2236 (the highest 13 year old). In April 1997, Hikaru’s older brother, Asuka, age 11, took 1st place for those in 6th grade and younger in the 1997 Super Nationals Scholastic Chess Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee. Hikaru, age 9, took 1st place for 3rd grade, winning the National Primary Championship. There were 4,300 chess players participating. This was the first time that any sibling pair won first place in the championship section of their respective divisions. In 1997, Hikaru won the New York 3rd grade championship. In 1997 Hikaru won the 4th Grade championship in the National K-12 Grade School Championship, held in Parsippany, New Jersey. In October 1997, Hikaru represented the Boys Under 10 USA team in the 1997 FIDE World Youth Chess Championships, held in Cannes, France. Vinay Bhat and Jordy Mont-Reynaud represented the Boys Under 14. In October 1997, he attained an expert rating of 2027 at the age of 9 years and 10 months. On December 31, 1997, at the age of 10 years and 0 months, Hikaru defeated International Master Jay Bonin at the Marshall Chess Club in 36 moves, becoming the youngest USCF player ever to beat an IM up to that time. At the end of 1997 (December 1997 USCF rating list), Hikaru’s rating was 2019. In January 1998, Hikaru tied for 1st place in a New York tournament, ahead of his father, Sunil Weeramantry (2218), ahead of his older brother Asuka (2144), and ahead of Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier (2343). Hikaru drew two masters (Stephen Stoyko, rated 2338, and Ralph Zimmer, rated 2279. He defeated another master, Mark Kernighan, rated 2264. On February 26, 1998, at the age of 10 years and 79 days, Hikaru achieved the title of chess master, becoming the youngest American ever to earn the title. He broke the record previously set by Vinay Bhat, who in 1995 was a chess master at the age of ten years and six months. In 2008, Nicholas Nip earned the chess master title at 9 years and 11 months. Nakamura was playing in a tournament at the Marshall Chess Club when he earned his title and got a rating of 2203. He defeated Ilijas Terzic (rated 2392) in the 2nd round. After becoming America’s youngest master, Hikaru appeared on the CBS news and was featured on “Live With Regis and Kathie Lee.” On April 5, 1998, Hikaru, age 10 years 117 days, beat Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier, rated 2363, in 21 moves. He was the youngest player to beat a GM until Fabiano Caruana. The youngest player ever to defeat a GM in a USCF-sanctioned tournament was Fabiano Caruana, age 10 years 61 days, when he defeated GM Aleksander Wojtkiewicz in a USCF-rated event at the Marshall Chess Club. Hikaru was on the cover of the May 1998 issue of Chess Life, with the words, “Hikaru Nakamura the Youngest Master Ever!” In October-November 1998, Hikaru represented the USA in the under 12 boys division in the 1998 World Youth Championship, held in Spain. In December, 1998, Hikaru tied for 1st in the 5th grade National All-Grades Championship in Oak Brook, Illinois. His brother, Asuka, won the 7th grade National All-Grades championship. At the end of 1998, Hikaru’s rating was 2237. In February 1999, Hikaru beat Grandmaster Alexander Stipunsky in regulation time control, at the record age of 11 years and two months. In the April 1999 USCF rating list, Hikaru was the nation’s highest rated player under 13. He was age 10 and rated 2237. In July, 1999, Hikaru played in the U.S. Cadet Championship (under 16), held in Nashville and took 5th out of 8. Jordy Mont-Reynaud won the event. Hikaru won the best game prize, won in 23 moves. In 1999, he won the K-9 Junior High School Championship. In 1999, Hikaru Nakamura won the 20th annual Laura A. Aspis prize for the highest rated player under 13. He was rated 2359. At the end of 1999, Hikaru’s rating was 2346. In March 2000, Hikaru tied for 1st place with GM Jaan Ehlvest in the National Open Blitz Championship. In May 2000, Hikaru took 1st place in the National Elementary Championship, held in Dallas. There were 2,029 players in the event. In October 2000, Hikaru tied for 3rd in the under-14 section of the World Youth Championships. At the end of 2000, Hikaru’s rating was 2391. His FIDE rating was 2261. Hikaru was awarded the FIDE master title at the age of 12. In February 2001, Hikaru earned his third IM norm from a tournament in Eger, Hungary. In 2001, Hikaru earned the International Master title at the age of 13 years and 2 months, the youngest IM ever. In March 2001, Hikaru played for the USA in a China vs. USA match in Seattle. In April 2001, Hikaru tied for 1st in the Super Nationals in Kansas City. There were 4,606 players in the event. In 2001, Hikaru earned the silver medal for the U.S. at the 2001 World Youth Championships in Oropessa, Spain. In July 2001, Hikaru Nakamura, age 13, won the U.S. Junior Championship, held in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There were 10 players. Hikaru was the youngest person to win the U.S. Junior championship since Bobby Fischer. Hikaru appeared on the October 2001 issue of Chess Life for being America’s youngest International Master. At the end of 2001, Hikaru’s rating was 2476. In January 2002, Hikaru earned his first GM norm in Bermuda with a tie for 1st place. He beat four grandmasters. In June 2002, Hikaru played in the Pan American Junior Championship, held in Bolivia, and tied for 1st place. In August 2002, Hikaru won the 32nd Continental Open in Massachusetts. His performance rating was 2766 after beating three grandmasters. In September 2002, Hikaru played in the Imre Konig Memorial in San Francisco, beating grandmasters Nick de Firmian, John Fedorowicz, and Walter Browne. He missed a GM norm by ½ point. In 2002, Hikaru earned his second GM norm at the Copa Nazir Atallah Open in the Dominican Republic. At the end of 2002, Hikaru’s rating was 2614. His FIDE rating was 2520. In January 2003, he played in the U.S. Championship, held in Seattle, and took 9th-17th place. He missed a grandmaster norm by ½ point. On February 5, 2003, Hikaru Nakamura earned his third and final Grandmaster norm at 15 years and 79 days, breaking the record of Bobby Fischer, who earned the GM title at 15 years and 185 days on September 10, 1958. Nakamura earned his final GM norm at the Bermuda International Chess Festival where he took 2nd place. He also won the Bermuda blitz championship. His USCF rating was 2619. In June 2003, Hikaru tied for 1st place at the National Open in Las Vegas. In 2003, Hikaru won the Western States Open championship, held in Reno. His peak rating for 2003 was 2656. Hikaru qualified for the 2004 world chess championship in Tripoli, Libya. He lost to Michael Adams in the 4th round after defeating Sergey Volkov, Aleksey Aleksandrov, and Alexander Lastin. In 2004, Hikaru won the New York State championship. In 2004, Hikaru won the Western States Open championship in Reno, defeating grandmasters Wojtkiewicz, Kudrin, and Yermolinsky, in succession. In November-December, 2004, Hikaru won the 2005 U.S. Chess Championship at the age of 16 with a score of 7 out of 9, played in San Diego. He tied with Alex Stripunsky, but beat him in the playoff games. He is the second youngest player to become U.S. Chess Champion (behind Robert Fischer, who won it at age 14). Nakamura earned $25,000 for winning the US Championship. His rating at the end of 2004 was 2698. In 2005, Hikaru won the Foxwoods Open championship. In 2005, Hikaru won the North American Open. On June 20, 2005, Hikaru Nakamura was selected as the 19th Frank Samford Chess Fellow, receiving a grant of $32,000 to further his chess education. In November and December 2005, Hikaru entered the FIDE World Chess Cup, but lost to Surya Ganguly in the first round. At the end of 2005, Hikaru’s rating was 2762. In 2006, Hikaru played on the USA team in the 37th Chess Olympiad, held in Turin, Italy. The team won the bronze medal. Nakamura played board three, behind Gata Kamsky and Alexander Onischuk. In 2006, Hikaru won the North American Open chess championship. Hikaru’s peak rating for 2006 was 2774. In 2007, Hikaru won the National Open championship in Las Vegas. In 2007, Hikaru won the North American Open championship. In October 2007, Hikaru won an international tournament in Barcelona. At the end of 2007, Hikaru’s rating was 2740. In 2008, Hikaru won the Chicago Open championship. In 2008, Hikaru played for the USA team in the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden. The USA team won the bronze medal. In 2008, Hikaru won the Gibraltar Masters Open. At the end of 2008, Hikaru’s rating was 2760. His FIDE rating was 2704. In May 2009, Hikaru won the U.S. Chess Championship held in St. Louis, Missouri. He scored 7 out of 9. 2nd place went to GM-elect Robert Hess. Nakamura won $40,000 for his efforts. His pre-rating was 2751. His post rating was 2773. Nakamura was the 3rd highest rated player in the event, behind Gata Kamsky (2797) and Alexander Onischuk (2756). His FIDE rating was 2701, ranked #30 in the world. In August 2009, he became the Fischer Random 960 World Chess Champion. In 2010, he won the gold medal for board 1 at the World Team Chess Championship, held in Turkey. The USA team took the silver medal. In January 2011, he was ranked #10 in the world with an Elo rating of 2751. In 2011, he won the Tata Steel Grandmaster A tournament in Wijk aan Zee. He finished ahead of the four top-rated players in the world. In May 2012, his FIDE rating was 2775 and ranked #7 in the world. –Bill Wall Be Sociable, Share! inShare 3 Comments

The Night Before Christmas

Twas the Night Before Christmas Twas the night before Christmas, when all through ChessManic.com, Not a gambit was playing, not even a From. The pieces were hung by the patzers who created In hopes that some master would get mated. The players were nestled all around their chess game, While visions of checkmate would give them fame. And my opponent in his PJs, and I in my socks, Had just settled our brains for a long game with chess clocks. When out on the Internet there was such a chatter, I turned chat on to see what was the matter. Away to my Windows I downloaded my Flash, To open the file and hoped Windows wouldn’t crash. The text was a chess game written in PGN, it included a diagram showing all the chessmen. When, what to my wondering eyes should I see, But a miniature chess problem, with mate in three. With such a chess ending, so lively and quick, It had to be solved with some sort of trick. Perhaps White promotes to a knight or a rook, Whatever the solution, it’s not in the book. Now Sherzer! now Serper! now Polgar and Aronian! Oh Kramnik! Oh Gelfand! Oh Svidler and Carlsen! To the top of the FIDE list, to the top of the rating. Grandmasters all! You should all be mating. I returned to the Internet to play some more blitz, I got beaten, perhaps it was by Fritz. How is it that they play faster than Wall? Even in bullet chess, I usually beat them all! Perhaps I am playing some famous Grandmaster, Who knows how to play much, much faster. His moves are strong and I haven’t a clue, I feel like I am playing IBM’s Deep Blue. And then in a twinkling, I get checkmated, I lost another chess game that was rated. I offered a draw, but it was turned down, No perpetual check was ever found. I challenged him again, then fell into a trap, I have had enough of this chess crap. But as I was resigning and was leaving the site, My opponent emailed me “Happy Christmas to Wall, and to Wall a good-knight.” – Bill Wall

Fisher's Wife

Widow of Chess Champion Bobby Fischer to inherit his estimated $2 million estate. Fischer spent the last years of his life as a fugitive from U.S. authorities because he defied international sanctions against the former Yugoslavia, spending time in the Philippines and Japan before moving to Iceland, where he was offered citizenship in the mid-2000s. Miyoko Watai of Japan had claimed before the court she was Fischer’s wife and heir while two of the chess master’s nephews had questioned the legitimacy of the marriage. In 2009 Iceland’s Supreme Court overturned a municipal court decision that Watai was the rightful heir, saying definite proof of the marriage had not been made available. On Wednesday Reykjavik’s municipal court judge Ingridur Eiriksdottir ruled the marriage was legal and declared that Fischer’s nephews must pay Watai 6.65 million Iceland crowns ($57,520) in costs. Fresh documentation was provided for the latest judgment. Fischer, a child prodigy became the United States’ only world chess champion by defeating Soviet masters, but refused to defend his title and relinquished it to the Soviet champion Anatoly Karpov in 1975. He died in Reykjavik at the age of 64. The nephews’ lawyer told Icelandic state radio they would appeal the court ruling. Be Sociable, Share!

Svetozar Gligoric

Chess Player, GM Svetozar Gligoric, at 88 turns to Music GM Svetozar Gligoric According to the Huffington Post “he was one of the world’s leading chess players in the 1950s and 1960s and the Yugoslav player of the 20th century. After nearly seven decades playing chess, the legendary grandmaster Svetozar Gligoric turned to music. Last month, shortly after his 88th birthday, Gligoric presented his first music album in Belgrade. How I survived the 20th century is a collection of 12 compositions, mostly jazz, blues and rap. Gliga or Gligo, as his friends call him, wrote the music and texts and invited some known Serbian musicians to perform with him. The central theme of his work is expressed in the song Life is all we have. Gligoric pointed out the similarity between music and chess: “Each note is like a chess move and from these elements you create your own architecture within known rules.”” Svetozar Gligorić (Serbian Cyrillic: Светозар Глигорић) (born February 2, 1923) is a Serbian chess grandmaster. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is considered the best player ever from Serbia. in 1958 he was declared for the best athlete of Yugoslavia. During the 1950s and 1960s, he was one of the top ten players in the world, also among the world’s most popular, owing to his globe-trotting tournament schedule and a particularly engaging personality that is reflected in the title of his autobiography, I Play Against Pieces (i.e., with no hostility to the opponent, or playing differently for “psychological” reasons against different players; playing the board not the man). Life Svetozar Gligorić was born in Belgrade to a poor family. According to his recollections, his first exposure to chess was as a small child watching patrons play in a neighborhood bar. He began to play at the age of eleven, when taught by a boarder taken in by his mother (his father had died by this time). Lacking a chess set, he made one for himself by carving pieces from corks from wine bottles — a story paralleling the formative years of his great contemporary, the Estonian grandmaster Paul Keres.Gligorić was a good student during his youth, with both academic and athletic successes that famously led to him being invited to represent his school at a birthday celebration for Prince Peter, later to become King Peter II of Yugoslavia. He later recounted (to International Master David Levy, who chronicled his chess career in The Chess of Gligoric), his distress at attending this gala event wearing poor clothing resulting from his family’s impoverished condition. His first tournament success came in 1938 when he won the championship of the Belgrade Chess Club; however, World War II interrupted his chess progress for a time. During the war, Gligorić was a member of a partisan unit. A chance encounter with a chess-playing partisan officer led to his removal from combat.Following the World War II, Gligorić worked several years as a journalist and organizer of chess tournaments. He continued to progress as a chessplayer and was awarded the chess International Master (IM) title in 1950 and the Grandmaster (GM) title in 1951, eventually making the transition to full-time chess professional, continuing active tournament play well into his sixties. Gligorić was one of the most successful tournament players of the middle of the century, with a number of tournament titles to his credit, but was less successful in competing for the World Chess Championship. He was Yugoslav champion in 1947 (joint), 1948 (joint), 1949, 1950, 1956, 1957, 1958 (joint), 1959, 1960, 1962, 1965 and 1971.He represented his country (Yugoslavia) with great success in fifteen Chess Olympiads from 1950 to 1982 (thirteen times on first board), playing 223 games (+88 =109 -26). In the first post-war Olympiad, on home soil at Dubrovnik 1950, Gligoric played on first board and led Yugoslavia to a historic result, the team gold medal. The Yugoslav team was usually second or third in the world during the 1950s.His list of first-place finishes in international chess competitions is one of the longest and includes such events as Mar del Plata 1950, Stockholm 1954, Belgrade 1964, Manila 1968, Lone Pine 1972 and 1979, etc. He was a regular competitor in the series of great tournaments held at Hastings, with wins (or ties for first) in 1951–2, 1956–7, 1959–60, 1960–61, and 1962–3.His record in world-championship qualifying events was mixed. He was a regular competitor in Zonal and Interzonal competitions with several successes, e.g. zonal wins in 1951, 1960 (joint), 1963, 1966, and 1969 (joint) and finishes at the Interzonals of 1952, 1958, and 1967 high enough to qualify him for the final “Candidates” events the following year. However, he was not as successful in any of the Candidates events, with mediocre results in the 1953 and 1959 Candidates Tournaments and a match loss to Mikhail Tal in the 1968 Candidates match series.

Youngest US Chess Master

Samuel Sevian Becomes Youngest US Chess ‘Master’ A 9-year-old California boy has become the youngest-ever chess “master” in the United States. Samuel Sevian, of Santa Clara, earned the title after a match in San Francisco. Born on December 26, 2000 he is an American chess player and was the youngest chess player to attain the United States Chess Federation classification of an expert, accomplishing the feat in February 2009, at the age of 8 years and 64 days. On December 11, 2010, he became the youngest National Master in USCF history with a rating of 2201 at the age of 9 years, 11 months and 15 days. Sevian started his chess career in on August 12, 2006. His first major success occurred when he became the youngest expert in US history, an achievement that was featured in an article of the ‘Los Angeles Times” by International Master Jack Peters. He wrote that Sevian learned to play chess at age five and earned a modest Elo rating system|rating of 315 from his first chess tournament, when he was living in Florida. By the time his family moved to California in 2007 (when he was seven years old) his rating had risen to 1614, higher than most adults. In February 2009 he was named the Bay Area Chess Player of the Month. Sevian earned a spot on both the 2009 and 2010 All-America Chess Team. In 2009, at the age of eight, Sevian defeated his first National Master in tournament play. In January 2010 with a of 2119, FIDE Rating Progress Chart for Sevian, Samuel(USA) he became the highest rated chess player in the world for his age. He also qualified for the 2010 World Youth Chess Championship, and has reached the norms for the USCF Candidate Master title. On December 11, 2010, his rating rose from 2187 to 2201, making him at 9 years, 11 months and 15 days, the youngest-ever American master and breaking the record previously held by Nicholas Nip. Be Sociable, Share!

The Act of Preparation in the game of Chess

The Act of Preparation in the game of chess The inexperienced (and not only) players often ask themselves what is the most appropriate way to prepare for a game. Should it be a general opening preparation, or a psychologically orientated work against a concrete player? I believe that both should be recommended and applied. The first thing that we do is to build an opening repertoire, a stable home-made weapon that will keep us away from great surprises. We need to have reliable lines against each of the opponents’ principled possibilities. These lines have not only to be memorized well, but to be well understood. If a line ends up with the verdict +/=, minimal advantage for white, and we are that side, we will definitely be satisfied with the opening part. However, we should not forget that after this stage, there comes the middlegame, and this advantage should be increased, and finally converted. That means that we need to know what to do after achieving the advantage, to have a general plan. Do we play on the king’s flank, in the center, or on the queen’s wing? These questions should be answered at home. Every quality opening preparation should end up with a good plan. The assessment is not that important, even an equal position can be in our favour, if we like the character of the arising positions, have the general idea what to do, and like what we are about to do. Here comes also the concrete approach. Let’s say that tomorrow we shall play against an opponent who enjoys positional maneuvering, plays well and loves endgames, but calculates poorly lines and does not feel comfortable in complications. Let’s imagine that we have the black pieces, and he plays 1.e4- open games. Let’s also imagine that we play both 1…e5, and 1…c5. Which move shall we choose against him? The answer comes in accordance with his style; the natural decision is to go for the sharp Sicilian, where the chances for mistakes from him are more significant. Our style will also guide us in building the repertoire. If we are aggressive players, with strong memories, we should opt for active lines straight from the opening. Quiet lines as the Exchanged Ruy Lopez are not our cup of tea! After we know ourselves, we go to the next stage- collecting the chess material. We choose a line to play, and then try to find as many annotated games by experts (masters and grandmasters) to understand the arising positions. Those men have worked on these lines, there is nothing wrong to use their know-how. Have a look at the recently published analyses by IM K. Karakehajov here: online-chess.eu, you might find something interesting to build up your foundation. After this process, we are already quite sufficiently armed. We can make a couple of things in addition: analyze alone, or with a friend of ours some more games in the line, and play some friendly games in the chosen opening. This will help us memorize the lines, and avoid some typical mistakes. We are now sufficiently armed, and have no fear of anyone. P.S. This will not end the process of the preparation, as the lines are nowadays developing with enormous speed. Whenever we have time, we can have a look at the fresh games and analyses of our openings and upgrade them. Good luck! GM Dejan Bojkov - www.dejanbojkov.blogspot.com Be Sociable, Share! O