Tie Breaks

Chess Tiebreaks So far, the world championship match between Anand and Gelfand is tied with one win each and nine draws. The final game is on May 28. Anand has white. If the game is drawn, the players go into a series of tiebreaks consisting of rapids, blitz, and an Armageddon game. The first tiebreak system is a series of four rapid chess games. Colors will be drawn to see who has White first. The time control is 25 minutes for the whole game plus 10 seconds per move. If the score is still tied, colors will be drawn and two blitz games will be played at 5 minutes each, with 10 seconds increment per move. This will be the first blitz match. If the score is still tied, two more blitz games will be played. This will be the second blitz match. If the score it still tied, two more blitz games will be played again. This will be the third blitz match. If the score it still tied, two more blitz games will be played again. This will be the fourth blitz match. If the score it still tied, two more blitz games will be played again. This will be the fifth and final blitz match. If the match is still tied after 12 regular games, 1 rapids match of four games, and 5 blitz matches of 10 games total, then they will play a single sudden-death “Armageddon game” to determine the world chess championship. The players will draw to see who gets to choose the color to play. The player with the White pieces will be given 5 minutes and the player with the Black pieces will be given 4 minutes. Beginning with move 61, a three-second increment will be added following each move. White must win. If the game is drawn, then the player with the Black pieces will be declared world chess champion. In 1983, a roulette ball dropping into a red slot of the wheel gave Vasily Smyslov of the Soviet Union his victory in his quarterfinal world championship candidates match with Robert Huebner of West Germany. This match took place in the casino at Velden, Austria. The ball landed on zero at the first spin, but at the second turn dropped into the color Smyslov had called. Thus, Huebner was out and Smyslov advanced to the semifinal round. In Swiss tournaments, there are a variety of tiebreak methods. In the Cumulative (Progress) tiebreak system, you sum up the running score for each round. A win is one point, a draw is ½ point, and a loss is 0 points. So a win, loss, win, win, and draw will have a round-by-round score of 1, 1, 2, 3, 3.5. The sum of these numbers is 10.5. A player with the same score, but with a loss, draw, win, win, win has a round-by-round score of 0, 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5. The sum is 8. The system places more weight on games won in the early rounds rather than the later rounds. The rationale for this system is that a player who scored well early in the tournament has most likely faced tougher opponents in later rounds and should therefore be favored over a player who scored poorly in the start before subsequently scoring points against weaker opponents. Another tiebreak method, the cumulative opponent’s score, sums the cumulative scores of the player’s opponents. In the Kashdan system, the player is awarded four points for a win, two points for a draw, one point for a loss, and none for an unplayed game. As a result, if players with no unplayed games tie, the one with fewer draws finishes higher on the tie-break (i.e., a win and a loss is better than two draws) In the Median system (also known as Harkness system), for each player, you sum the number of points earned by the player’s opponents, but discard the highest and lowest. For nine or more rounds, the top two and bottom two scores are discarded. An unplayed game by the opponent is counted as ½ point. An unplayed game by the player is counted as 0 points. A Modified Median system discards the lowest-scoring opponent’s score for players with more than 50% score. Players with exactly 50% score are handled as in the regular Median system. Players with less than 50% score discards the highest-scoring opponent’s core. In the Solkoff (Buchholz) system, for each player, you sum the number of points earned by the player’s opponents. It is like the Median system, but no scores are discarded. In the Sonneborn-Berger system (also known as the Neustadtl system), add the scores of every opponent the player defeated and half of the score of every opponent the player drew. No scores are added if the player lost. This system is the most popular in round-robin tournaments where everybody plays everybody. In some tiebreak methods, if the tied players played each other, if one of them won, then he/she finished higher on the tie-break. In some tiebreak methods, the player with the most black pieces finishes higher on the tie-breaks. In some tiebreak methods, the average performance rating of the players’ opponents are used. In some tiebreak methods, the average rating of the player’s opponents are used. The United States Chess Federation prefers the Modified Median tiebreak, followed by the Solkoff system, then the Cumulative system, then the Cumulative opponent’s score system. –Bill Wall Be Sociable, Share! inShare 1

Psychology of chess

The Psychology of Chess Dr. Fernand Gobet is a professor of Cognitive Psychology and an International Master. He is a former Swiss Junior Champion and Swiss Champion, and was co-editor of the Swiss Chess Review from 1981 to 1989. In 1992, he wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the memories of a chess player. He has written many books and articles about chess and psychology. He has been studying many aspects of chess psychology such as mental imagery, pattern recognition, and study and playing patterns of chess players. After studying hundreds of chess players, Gobet has found a strong correlation between the number of hours chess players have dedicated to chess (deliberate practice) and their current rating. In one study of 104 players (101 males and 3 females), including 39 untitled players without any rating, 39 untitled players with ratings, 13 FIDE masters (FM), 10 International Masters (IM), and 3 GMs, he found that the unrated players reported and average of 8,303 hours of dedication to chess; the rated, but untitled players reported 11,715 hours; the FMs reported 19,618 hours and the IMs reported 27,929 hours (no information on GMs). It took an average of 11,000 hours to reach 2200. One player needed around 3,000 hours to reach 2200, while another player spent more than 23,000 hours to achieve the same level. The average master (rated 2257) had 7.0 years of serious practice. The average expert (2174) had 1.03 years of serious practice. The masters increased their rating an average of 7 Elo (FIDE) points per year of serious practice, whereas the experts only increased their rating an average of 1 Elo point per year of serious practice. Experts increased their chess-playing skill level very little with time, whereas masters kept increasing theirs. In Gobet’s survey, 83% of the players reported playing blitz, 80% had a coach at some point, 67% used databases (game databases, but not playing programs), 66% played against chess programs; 56% followed chess games without using a chessboard, 23% played blindfold games. Stronger players were more likely to have a coach, use databases, and played blitz. Stronger players also tended to own more chess books (and read them) than weaker players. As an individual activity, reading chess books were the most important predictor of chess skill. For group activity, coaching and speed games were the most significant predictors of chess skill, but less a predictor with age. Dr. Gobet also found that group practice (including tournament games) was a better predictor of high-level performance than individual practice. It has been shown that non-professional players who started playing chess at a young age, show interest and commitment to chess until the late teens. This is when the amount of time devoted to chess peaks (about age 18). After this, players start work or attend university and/or get married, which reduces the time spent playing chess. By the mid-30s, when family and work issues are more stable, non-professional chess players return to the game and play more frequently. Gobet showed that there was a clear indication that the first three years of serious chess practice at early ages are much more advantageous than the first three years of serious practice at later ages. Most masters became serious about chess between 10 and 12. Most experts became serious about chess around 14. One important role in chess skill is pattern recognition (vs. the ability to search through the problem space). Through years of practice and study, masters have learned several hundred thousands of perceptual chess patterns (called chunking). When one of these patterns is recognized in a particular position, the master then has rapid access to information such as potential moves or move sequences, tactics, and strategies. This explains automatic and intuitive discovery of good moves by a master, as well as extraordinary memory for game-like chess positions. Search functions at a chess board, including the number of candidate moves visited and the depth of search, may not differ between masters and amateurs, according to Adrian de Groot (1914-2006), a Dutch chess master and psychologist. His findings were that Grandmasters do not search reliable deeper than amateurs. However, other studies (Holding 1989) show that strong players really do search deeper than weaker players. Holding argued that de Groot’s experiment wasn’t good enough to detect existing differences between Grandmasters and amateurs. In a classic study of chess visualization by de Groot at the University of Amsterdam, findings show that, on average, chess masters calculated no deeper than weaker players, and often examined fewer chess variations. However, the master almost always selected superior moves. De Groot found that there were four stages in the task of choosing a move. The first stage was the orientation phase, in which the player assessed the chess situation and determined a very general idea of what to do next. The second stage was the exploration phase, in which the player examined in his head some branches of the game tree. The third phase was the investigation phase, in which the player chose a probable best move. The fourth phase was the proof phase, in which the player confirmed that the results of his investigation of the best move were valid. In 1990, Pertti Saariluoma studied the search function of top players and suggested the International Masters and Grandmasters sometimes search less than master chess players. In tactical positions, he found that masters with a 2200 Elo rating looked at 52 nodes and at the largest depth of 5.1 moves. By comparison, the IM and GM searched, on average, 23 nodes with an average depth of 3.6 moves. Saarilouma showed that attention is an important notion in chess because chess players must be able to detect various kinds of possibilities and threats. Inattention over one move could destroy hours of good work in a chess game. This means that understanding a chess player’s information processing attention is a central topic in the psychology of chess. Masters are superior than average players in picking up information from a board position. They perceive faster all kinds of chess-specific perceptual cues such as whether one of the kings is checked or not, or if there is a mate in one move. Data from speed chess and simultaneous chess, show that limitations in thinking time do not impair chess master performance. Chess masters seem to be more highly selective of their moves and direct their attention rapidly to good moves. Grandmasters do not look at a lot of continuations of the game before choosing a move. It seems that chunking, recognition of known chess patterns, plays a key role in a master’s ability to play fast and accurate. So do strong players rely more on analyzing various alternatives, or do they rely on recognizing familiar chess patterns in the situation? Do chess players put most of their emphasis on their analytic skills or on building up a huge knowledge base in their heads? Perhaps it is a combination of search skills and pattern recognition. In 1986, Gobet tried to replicate de Groot’s 1946 experiment of Grandmaster vs. amateur examination of chess positions. Gobet was able to test four IMs, eight masters, and a total of 48 Swiss chess players on a series of chess quizzes in which the goal was to find the best move for White, without moving the pieces, with thinking time limited to 30 minutes. Both pattern recognition and search models predict that strong players choose better moves, that they select moves faster, and that they generate more nodes in one minute. Gobet showed that the first prediction was met, but the second and third were supported only weakly. Search models predict that strong players search more nodes and search deeper. The first prediction was not met, but the second was in that the difference lies in the average depth of search, not in the maximal depth of search. Finally, pattern recognition models predict that strong players mention fewer base moves, reinvestigate more often the same move, and jump less often between different moves. All these predictions were met. Gobet showed that another possible predictor of chess skill might be the starting age. The average age at which players of each group started playing seriously was the following: non-rated players – 18.6 years; rated players – 14.2 years; FMs – 11.6 years; IMs – 10.3 years; GMs (small sample) – 11.3 years. Almost all the players with titles started playing seriously no later than age 12. Becoming a master requires training activities that go beyond the type of repetitive and feedback-informed activities typically emphasized in earlier days. Chess theory and computer technology has changed the ways chess players prepare for their games. Masters try to memorize opening variations with the aid of chess databases, they investigate opening positions to find novelties to surprise their opponents, and they play tournament or training games against other players, or on the Internet, or against strong chess computer programs. Dr. Gobet has also looked into the personalities of chess players. Studies have found that adult chess players are more introverted and intuitive than the general population. However, it is the more energetic and extroverted children that are more likely to play chess. These children are, in general, more likely to try out activities such as chess than their less extroverted peers. Children players who were stronger in chess than their peers were more curious, had broader intellectual and cultural interests, and were more accomplished in school than children who were weaker chess players. In addition, stronger players also tend to me more intuitive than weaker ones. Chess players also scored higher than non-players on the measures of orderliness and unconventional thinking. Another consideration in chess thinking is the effect of aging among chess players. Studies have shown that in memory tasks where positions are briefly presented, for the same skill level, younger players recalled chess positions better than older players. In spite of producing worse performance than younger players of the same skill level in memory tasks, older players performed equally well in problem solving tasks where they had to choose the best move, and that they were also faster at choosing their move. In 1894, Alfred Binet (1857-1911), a French psychologist, carried out the first study on the mental abilities of chess masters. In 1903, he was the first psychologist to develop an intelligence test. He devised the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests, where the intelligence score was the quotient of mental age to physical age. Binet had done a number of experiments to see how well chess players played without looking at the chess board (known as blindfold chess). He found that only some of the master chess players could play from memory, and a few could play many games simultaneously without looking at the chess boards. To remember the positions of the pieces on the boards, some chess players envisioned exact replicas of specific chess sets. Other players envisioned an abstract schema of the game. In 1927, three Russian psychologists (Djakow, Petrowski and Rudik) studied eight of the best grandmasters of the time. The players included Emanuel Lasker, Richard Reti, Savielly Tartakower, Carlos Torre, Peter Romanovsky, Ernst Gurenfeld, and Rudolf Spielmann. They did not find any differences with a control sample on general intelligence or visuo-spatial memory, with the exception of memory tasks where the material to be recalled was closely related to chess. After a century of investigation, not a single study with adult chess players has managed to establish a link between chess skill and intelligence. Intellect had little predictive power among strong chess players. Another hypothesis states that people who become strong chess players have exceptional intelligence and/or memory. However, there is little evidence to support this viewpoint. Most researchers have found minimal correlations between measures of IQ and official chess ratings. What researchers have found out is that many top grandmasters have a very good memory when it comes to chess. They can recall a large number of games, move-b-move, and they can reproduce practical chess positions with very few mistakes on a new board and set. However, if the position is random, with chess pieces just dropped on a chess board, the master cannot reproduce the position any better than an amateur. General intelligence and memory by themselves do not appear to distinguish strong chess players from ordinary ones. Does all this matter? Well, to the best players in the world, perhaps not. It was Bobby Fischer who said, “I don’t believe in psychology. I believe in good moves.” –Bill Wall Be Sociable, Share! inShare 1

Chess prodigies

Chess Prodigies and Young Masters Chess prodigies are children who play chess so well that they are able to beat experienced adult players. They are usually master strength at an early age. Most prodigies and chess masters become masters by learning the game of chess at an early age. Seldom does a player become a master after learning the game later in life. There are a few exceptions. However, most strong masters began at a very early age. Hou Yifan (born Feb 27, 1994) learned chess at the age of three. She started taking chess lessons at the age of five. At age 9, she became a Woman FIDE master. At age 11, she qualified for the World Women’s Chess Championship. At age 13, she became China’s youngest ever women’s national champion. She became a GM at the age of 14 years, 6 months, the youngest ever. Former world champion Jose Capablanca (1888-1942) began to play chess at the age of four. He wrote that he learned chess by watching his father play when he had just passed his fourth birthday. He even beat his father in his first game at age four. At 13, he beat the Cuban chess champion in a match. At 18, he was recognized as the strongest chess player at the Manhattan Chess Club. He left Columbia University after one semester to devote himself to chess full time. Samuel Reshevsky (1911-1992) learned how to play chess at age four. In a few years, he was acclaimed as a chess prodigy. At age six he was giving simultaneous exhibitions throughout Europe. The family moved to the United States where Reshesvsky continued to give simuls around the United States. At age 10, he played in the New York Masters tournament, the youngest player to have competed in a strong, master tournament. He gave up competitive chess for 7 years to finish his education. He graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in accounting. Etienne Bacrot (born Jan 22, 1983) started playing chess at the age of four. At age 10, he won the Junior-Under 18 championship of France. Bacrot was also the youngest FIDE master at age 10. He became a GM at the age of 14 years, 2 months. Former world champion Anatoly Karpov (born May 23, 1951) was taught the moves of chess when he was four years old. By age 15 he was a master and later won the World Junior Championship. He became the world’s youngest grandmaster in 1970 at the age of 19. The Polgar (Susan, Sofia, and Judit) sisters began playing chess at age four. Judit Polgar was playing blindfold chess at the age of five. She was playing in chess tournament at the age of 6. At age 9, she was rated 2080. She beat her first International Master at age 10. She beat her first Grandmaster at age 11. She became a GM at age 15. She is by far the strongest female chess player in history. She was once ranked #8 in the world and has been #1 ranked woman in the world for the past 20 years. Former world champion Boris Spassky (born Jan 30, 1937) learned the game in the Urals at the age of five during World War II. After the war he joined the Pioneer Palace in Leningrad and spent five hours a day every day on chess. In college he took up journalism to give him the most time for chess. By age 18 he had won the World Junior Championship, took 3rd place in the USSR Championship, and qualified as a Candidate for the World championship. Former world woman champion Nona Gaprindashvili (born May 3, 1941) learned at age five after watching her five chess-playing brothers. She won the world’s women chess championship when she was 21. She was the first female Grandmaster. Alexanda Kosteniuk (born April 23, 1984) learned to play chess at five after being taught be her father. She became a women’s grandmaster (WGM) at age 14. She was an International Master at 16. She was the Challenger in the World Women’s Championship when she was 17. At 20, she was awarded the GM title. At 21, she was the Russian Women’s Champion. At 22, she was the Chess960 Women’s World Champion. At 24, she was women’s world champion. Koneru Humpy (born March 31, 1987) started playing chess at the age of five. She has won four World Championships, including the World Girls Under-10, Under-12, Under-14, and the World Girls Junior championships. She became a GM at the age of 15 years, 1 month, the youngest female to become a GM up to that time. Former world champion Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) began playing at the age of six, taught by his older sister and reading the rules that came with the game. He played in his first chess tournament at the age of 12. He became a master at age 13, US champion at 14, world’s youngest candidate for the world championship at 15, and world’s youngest grandmaster at 16. Former world champion Vasily Smyslov (1921-2010) learned the game at six by studying chess books in his father’s library. He started playing competitive chess at age 14. At 17, he won the USSR Junior Championship. Bent Larsen (1935-2010) learned the moves at age six. He started playing chess seriously at the age of 17. He gave up his civil engineering studies in school to become a full-time chess professional. He became an International Master at the age of 19. He became a GM at age 21. Wesley So (born Oct 9, 1993) learned chess from his father at the age of six. He was playing competitive chess at the age of 9. He won the under-9 Philippine championship. At the age of 12, he was the youngest player in the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy. Also at the age of 12, he won the Philippine championship, the youngest ever. At age 13, he won the gold medal on board one at the 2007 World Under 16 Team Championship, with nine wins and one draw. He became a GM at the age of 14 years, 1 month, and 28 days. Paul Morphy (1837-1884) seemed to have learned chess around age seven while watching others play. He was able to read and write at the age of four. By age 8 or 9, he was one of the best chess players in New Orleans and had already played hundreds of chess games. He was playing blindfold chess at the age of 12. When he was 12, he was able to beat Hungarian master Johann Jacob Lowenthal in a match. By the time he was 13, he was the best player in New Orleans and one of the best players in America. He entered college at 13 and graduated with a Bachelor Arts degree at the age of 17. He then entered law school at the University of Louisiana and earned his law degree at age 20. At age 20, he won the first American Chess Congress and was considered the strongest chess player in America. By age 21, he was considered the best chess player in the world. Former world champion Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946) learned chess at age seven by his mother, an heiress of an industrial fortune. He became addicted to the game and played the game in his head and by the light of a candle when in bed. By age 18 he was grandmaster strength. Magnus Carlsen (born Nov 30, 1990) learned chess at age seven and played in his first chess tournament at age eight. At age 13, he earned his first Grandmaster norm and achieved a performance rating of 2702. He became the 3rd youngest grandmaster in the world at the age of 13 years, 4 months, 27 days. Carlsen, at age 13, was the youngest player ever to participate in the World Chess Championship. At age 15, his rating was 2625, the youngest person to break the 2600 barrier at that time (record later beaten by Wesley So). At the age of 16, his rating was 2710, which made Carlsen the youngest person to break the 2700 barrier. At age 19, his rating was 2813, the second highest rating ever (behind Kasparov). By age 20, he was ranked #1 in the world. His current rating is 2835 and ranked #1 in the world. Former world champion Tigran Petrosian (1929-1984) learned the moves at age eight. When his parents died when he was 16, he found consolation in chess and soon began to win tournaments. He was playing grandmaster strength by age 20. Former world champion Mikhail Tal (1936-1992) became interested in chess at age eight after watching the game played by patients in the waiting room of his father, a doctor specializing in internal disorders. At age 10 he joined the Riga Palace of Young Pioneers. He won the Latvian championship at age 17. Former world champion Max Euwe (1901-1981) learned at age nine and was taught by his parents. He remained an amateur chessplayer, with his real profession being a professor of mathematics and mechanics. He won his first Dutch championship at age 20. He won the Dutch championship a record 12 times. Former world champion Emanuel Lasker (1868-1841) began to play at the age of 11. His older brother taught him the moves of chess. Emanael became a German master at the age of 21. Former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-1995) learned the game at age 12 from a school friend. At 14, he beat Capablanca in a simultaneous exhibiton. At 15, he became a candidate-master (equivalent to master in the U.S.). At 16, he qualified for the USSR championship, the youngest player to qualify at that time. Former world champion Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900) learned how to play chess at age 12 from school friends. He did not start playing seriously until his early 20s and he became quite good at blindfold chess. At age 22, he was a chess hustler in the cafes of Vienna. By age 25, he was champion of Vienna. Six-time U.S. champion Walter Browne (born Jan 10, 1949) learned the game at 13 after joining the Manhattan Chess Club. At 17, he was US Junior champion. By age 20, he had the Grandmaster title. Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841-1924), the leading English player of the late 19th century, didn’t learn the chess moves until he was 18. He learned the game from a two-pence chess book. Two years later he was giving blindfold simultaneous exhibitions. At age 26, he was British champion. Howard Staunton (1810-1874), the world’s leading player in the 1840s, took up chess at age 19 and didn’t become a serious player until age 26. Mir Sultan Khan didn’t learn the international game of chess (he knew Indian chess) until age 21. Two years later he was the All-India champion. A year later he won the British championship. He was illiterate, unable to read or write, and never studied any book on the game. Jordy Mont-Reynaud and Vinay Bhat starting playing chess, joined a chess club (the Palo Alto Chess Club run and coached by Bill Wall), and played in rated tournaments at age 7. By the time they were 10, they both became America’s youngest masters. Vinay Bhat became America’s youngest master in 1995 at the age of 10 years, 176 days. Jordy was a master in 1994 at the age of 10 years, 209 days. Other young masters include Stewart Rachels at 11 years, 10 months; Ilya Gurevich at 12 years, 3 months; John Jarecki at 12 years, 6 months; Jon Litvinchuk at 12 years, 7 months. In 1998 Hikaru Nakamura (born Dec 9, 1987) became America’s youngest master at that time at 10 years, 79 days. In 2001 he became America’s youngest International Master at age 13. In 2003, he became America’s youngest-ever grandmaster (15 years, 2 months). In 2004, he won the US Championship, the youngest since Fischer. In 2008, Nicholas Nip (born March 10, 1998) from the Bay Area became the youngest USCF Master at the age of nine years, 11 months and 26 days. In 2010, Damuel Sevian (born Dec 26, 2000), became the youngest USCF master at the age of 9 years, 11 months and 23 days. In January 2010, at the age of 9, he had a FIDE rating od 2119, the highest rated chess player in the world for his age. Sevian currently holds the record of America’s youngest master. The first list of grandmasters appeared in 1950, published by FIDE. There were 27 chess players nominated as the first grandmasters. The youngest GM on the list was David Bronstein, age 26. In 1955 Boris Spassky became the youngest GM in the world at age 18. In 1958, Bobby Fischer became the youngest GM in the world at age 15 years, 6 months, 1 day. In 1991, Judit Polgar became a GM at 15 years, 4 months, and 28 days. In 1994, Peter Leko became a GM at the age of 14 years, 4 months, 22 days. In 1997, Etienne Bacrot and Ruslan Ponomariov became GMS at 14. Bacrot was the youngest FIDE master at age 10. Bacrot was 14 years, 2 months when he earned the GM title. Ponomariov was 14 years, 17 days when he earned the GM title. Teimour Radjabov became a GM at 14 years, 14 days. In 1999, Bu Xiangzhi became a GM at 13 years, 10 months and 13 days. In 2006, Parimarjan Negi (born February 9, 1993) became a GM at 13 years, 4 months, and 22 days. In 2002, Sergey Karjakin (born Jan 12, 1990) became a GM at 12 years and 7 months. Also in 2002, Koneru Humpy became a GM at the age of 15 years, 1 month, and 27 days, making her the youngest female ever to become a Grandmaster up to that time. In 2008, Hou Yifan became a GM at the age of 14 years, 6 months, the youngest ever for a female. In 1999 David Howell, age 8, defeated Grandmaster John Nunn at the Mind Sports Chess Olympiad in London, becoming the youngest person to beat a Grandmaster at chess. In 2002 Fabiano Caruana, age 10, defeated GM Wojtkiewicz at the Marshall Chess Club in New York, becoming the youngest player to defeat a GM in the United States. He became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months. –Bill Wall Be Sociable, Share! inShare 2 Comments

Chess prodigies

Chess Prodigies and Young Masters Chess prodigies are children who play chess so well that they are able to beat experienced adult players. They are usually master strength at an early age. Most prodigies and chess masters become masters by learning the game of chess at an early age. Seldom does a player become a master after learning the game later in life. There are a few exceptions. However, most strong masters began at a very early age. Hou Yifan (born Feb 27, 1994) learned chess at the age of three. She started taking chess lessons at the age of five. At age 9, she became a Woman FIDE master. At age 11, she qualified for the World Women’s Chess Championship. At age 13, she became China’s youngest ever women’s national champion. She became a GM at the age of 14 years, 6 months, the youngest ever. Former world champion Jose Capablanca (1888-1942) began to play chess at the age of four. He wrote that he learned chess by watching his father play when he had just passed his fourth birthday. He even beat his father in his first game at age four. At 13, he beat the Cuban chess champion in a match. At 18, he was recognized as the strongest chess player at the Manhattan Chess Club. He left Columbia University after one semester to devote himself to chess full time. Samuel Reshevsky (1911-1992) learned how to play chess at age four. In a few years, he was acclaimed as a chess prodigy. At age six he was giving simultaneous exhibitions throughout Europe. The family moved to the United States where Reshesvsky continued to give simuls around the United States. At age 10, he played in the New York Masters tournament, the youngest player to have competed in a strong, master tournament. He gave up competitive chess for 7 years to finish his education. He graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in accounting. Etienne Bacrot (born Jan 22, 1983) started playing chess at the age of four. At age 10, he won the Junior-Under 18 championship of France. Bacrot was also the youngest FIDE master at age 10. He became a GM at the age of 14 years, 2 months. Former world champion Anatoly Karpov (born May 23, 1951) was taught the moves of chess when he was four years old. By age 15 he was a master and later won the World Junior Championship. He became the world’s youngest grandmaster in 1970 at the age of 19. The Polgar (Susan, Sofia, and Judit) sisters began playing chess at age four. Judit Polgar was playing blindfold chess at the age of five. She was playing in chess tournament at the age of 6. At age 9, she was rated 2080. She beat her first International Master at age 10. She beat her first Grandmaster at age 11. She became a GM at age 15. She is by far the strongest female chess player in history. She was once ranked #8 in the world and has been #1 ranked woman in the world for the past 20 years. Former world champion Boris Spassky (born Jan 30, 1937) learned the game in the Urals at the age of five during World War II. After the war he joined the Pioneer Palace in Leningrad and spent five hours a day every day on chess. In college he took up journalism to give him the most time for chess. By age 18 he had won the World Junior Championship, took 3rd place in the USSR Championship, and qualified as a Candidate for the World championship. Former world woman champion Nona Gaprindashvili (born May 3, 1941) learned at age five after watching her five chess-playing brothers. She won the world’s women chess championship when she was 21. She was the first female Grandmaster. Alexanda Kosteniuk (born April 23, 1984) learned to play chess at five after being taught be her father. She became a women’s grandmaster (WGM) at age 14. She was an International Master at 16. She was the Challenger in the World Women’s Championship when she was 17. At 20, she was awarded the GM title. At 21, she was the Russian Women’s Champion. At 22, she was the Chess960 Women’s World Champion. At 24, she was women’s world champion. Koneru Humpy (born March 31, 1987) started playing chess at the age of five. She has won four World Championships, including the World Girls Under-10, Under-12, Under-14, and the World Girls Junior championships. She became a GM at the age of 15 years, 1 month, the youngest female to become a GM up to that time. Former world champion Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) began playing at the age of six, taught by his older sister and reading the rules that came with the game. He played in his first chess tournament at the age of 12. He became a master at age 13, US champion at 14, world’s youngest candidate for the world championship at 15, and world’s youngest grandmaster at 16. Former world champion Vasily Smyslov (1921-2010) learned the game at six by studying chess books in his father’s library. He started playing competitive chess at age 14. At 17, he won the USSR Junior Championship. Bent Larsen (1935-2010) learned the moves at age six. He started playing chess seriously at the age of 17. He gave up his civil engineering studies in school to become a full-time chess professional. He became an International Master at the age of 19. He became a GM at age 21. Wesley So (born Oct 9, 1993) learned chess from his father at the age of six. He was playing competitive chess at the age of 9. He won the under-9 Philippine championship. At the age of 12, he was the youngest player in the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy. Also at the age of 12, he won the Philippine championship, the youngest ever. At age 13, he won the gold medal on board one at the 2007 World Under 16 Team Championship, with nine wins and one draw. He became a GM at the age of 14 years, 1 month, and 28 days. Paul Morphy (1837-1884) seemed to have learned chess around age seven while watching others play. He was able to read and write at the age of four. By age 8 or 9, he was one of the best chess players in New Orleans and had already played hundreds of chess games. He was playing blindfold chess at the age of 12. When he was 12, he was able to beat Hungarian master Johann Jacob Lowenthal in a match. By the time he was 13, he was the best player in New Orleans and one of the best players in America. He entered college at 13 and graduated with a Bachelor Arts degree at the age of 17. He then entered law school at the University of Louisiana and earned his law degree at age 20. At age 20, he won the first American Chess Congress and was considered the strongest chess player in America. By age 21, he was considered the best chess player in the world. Former world champion Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946) learned chess at age seven by his mother, an heiress of an industrial fortune. He became addicted to the game and played the game in his head and by the light of a candle when in bed. By age 18 he was grandmaster strength. Magnus Carlsen (born Nov 30, 1990) learned chess at age seven and played in his first chess tournament at age eight. At age 13, he earned his first Grandmaster norm and achieved a performance rating of 2702. He became the 3rd youngest grandmaster in the world at the age of 13 years, 4 months, 27 days. Carlsen, at age 13, was the youngest player ever to participate in the World Chess Championship. At age 15, his rating was 2625, the youngest person to break the 2600 barrier at that time (record later beaten by Wesley So). At the age of 16, his rating was 2710, which made Carlsen the youngest person to break the 2700 barrier. At age 19, his rating was 2813, the second highest rating ever (behind Kasparov). By age 20, he was ranked #1 in the world. His current rating is 2835 and ranked #1 in the world. Former world champion Tigran Petrosian (1929-1984) learned the moves at age eight. When his parents died when he was 16, he found consolation in chess and soon began to win tournaments. He was playing grandmaster strength by age 20. Former world champion Mikhail Tal (1936-1992) became interested in chess at age eight after watching the game played by patients in the waiting room of his father, a doctor specializing in internal disorders. At age 10 he joined the Riga Palace of Young Pioneers. He won the Latvian championship at age 17. Former world champion Max Euwe (1901-1981) learned at age nine and was taught by his parents. He remained an amateur chessplayer, with his real profession being a professor of mathematics and mechanics. He won his first Dutch championship at age 20. He won the Dutch championship a record 12 times. Former world champion Emanuel Lasker (1868-1841) began to play at the age of 11. His older brother taught him the moves of chess. Emanael became a German master at the age of 21. Former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-1995) learned the game at age 12 from a school friend. At 14, he beat Capablanca in a simultaneous exhibiton. At 15, he became a candidate-master (equivalent to master in the U.S.). At 16, he qualified for the USSR championship, the youngest player to qualify at that time. Former world champion Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900) learned how to play chess at age 12 from school friends. He did not start playing seriously until his early 20s and he became quite good at blindfold chess. At age 22, he was a chess hustler in the cafes of Vienna. By age 25, he was champion of Vienna. Six-time U.S. champion Walter Browne (born Jan 10, 1949) learned the game at 13 after joining the Manhattan Chess Club. At 17, he was US Junior champion. By age 20, he had the Grandmaster title. Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841-1924), the leading English player of the late 19th century, didn’t learn the chess moves until he was 18. He learned the game from a two-pence chess book. Two years later he was giving blindfold simultaneous exhibitions. At age 26, he was British champion. Howard Staunton (1810-1874), the world’s leading player in the 1840s, took up chess at age 19 and didn’t become a serious player until age 26. Mir Sultan Khan didn’t learn the international game of chess (he knew Indian chess) until age 21. Two years later he was the All-India champion. A year later he won the British championship. He was illiterate, unable to read or write, and never studied any book on the game. Jordy Mont-Reynaud and Vinay Bhat starting playing chess, joined a chess club (the Palo Alto Chess Club run and coached by Bill Wall), and played in rated tournaments at age 7. By the time they were 10, they both became America’s youngest masters. Vinay Bhat became America’s youngest master in 1995 at the age of 10 years, 176 days. Jordy was a master in 1994 at the age of 10 years, 209 days. Other young masters include Stewart Rachels at 11 years, 10 months; Ilya Gurevich at 12 years, 3 months; John Jarecki at 12 years, 6 months; Jon Litvinchuk at 12 years, 7 months. In 1998 Hikaru Nakamura (born Dec 9, 1987) became America’s youngest master at that time at 10 years, 79 days. In 2001 he became America’s youngest International Master at age 13. In 2003, he became America’s youngest-ever grandmaster (15 years, 2 months). In 2004, he won the US Championship, the youngest since Fischer. In 2008, Nicholas Nip (born March 10, 1998) from the Bay Area became the youngest USCF Master at the age of nine years, 11 months and 26 days. In 2010, Damuel Sevian (born Dec 26, 2000), became the youngest USCF master at the age of 9 years, 11 months and 23 days. In January 2010, at the age of 9, he had a FIDE rating od 2119, the highest rated chess player in the world for his age. Sevian currently holds the record of America’s youngest master. The first list of grandmasters appeared in 1950, published by FIDE. There were 27 chess players nominated as the first grandmasters. The youngest GM on the list was David Bronstein, age 26. In 1955 Boris Spassky became the youngest GM in the world at age 18. In 1958, Bobby Fischer became the youngest GM in the world at age 15 years, 6 months, 1 day. In 1991, Judit Polgar became a GM at 15 years, 4 months, and 28 days. In 1994, Peter Leko became a GM at the age of 14 years, 4 months, 22 days. In 1997, Etienne Bacrot and Ruslan Ponomariov became GMS at 14. Bacrot was the youngest FIDE master at age 10. Bacrot was 14 years, 2 months when he earned the GM title. Ponomariov was 14 years, 17 days when he earned the GM title. Teimour Radjabov became a GM at 14 years, 14 days. In 1999, Bu Xiangzhi became a GM at 13 years, 10 months and 13 days. In 2006, Parimarjan Negi (born February 9, 1993) became a GM at 13 years, 4 months, and 22 days. In 2002, Sergey Karjakin (born Jan 12, 1990) became a GM at 12 years and 7 months. Also in 2002, Koneru Humpy became a GM at the age of 15 years, 1 month, and 27 days, making her the youngest female ever to become a Grandmaster up to that time. In 2008, Hou Yifan became a GM at the age of 14 years, 6 months, the youngest ever for a female. In 1999 David Howell, age 8, defeated Grandmaster John Nunn at the Mind Sports Chess Olympiad in London, becoming the youngest person to beat a Grandmaster at chess. In 2002 Fabiano Caruana, age 10, defeated GM Wojtkiewicz at the Marshall Chess Club in New York, becoming the youngest player to defeat a GM in the United States. He became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months. –Bill Wall Be Sociable, Share! inShare 2 Comments

History of US Chess Championship

In December 1845, Charles Henry Stanley (1819-1901) beat Eugene Rousseau (1810-1870) in a match in what was considered the first unofficial U.S. chess championship. It was played at the Sazerac Coffee House in New Orleans. The match was played for a stake of $1,000, winner-take-all. That would be worth over $23,000 in today’s currency. The winner would be the first to win 15 games, draws not counting. There was no time limit. The chess match was the first organized chess event in the country. Stanley won with 15 wins, 8 losses, and 8 draws. 8-year-old Paul Morphy was a spectator at the event. In February 1850, Stanley defended his title and defeated John H. Turner in a match in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. championship. At the time, it was called the “Great Match.” The match was played for a stake of $1,000 to the first who won 11 games. Stanley won 11 games, lost 5, and drew 1. The whole match of 17 games was played in four days. In 1857, Paul Morphy (1837-1884) won the first American Chess Congress and was considered the U.S. champion. No one challenged Morphy in his lifetime. Some consider him the U.S. champion from 1857 to his death in 1884. In 1866, George Mackenzie (1837-1891) defeated Gustavus Reichhelm in a match, held in Philadelphia. The British Chess Magazine wrote that the match was for the U.S. title. In December 1871, George Mackenzie won the 2nd American Chess Congress, held at the Kennard Hotel in Cleveland and was considered the U.S. champion. He won $100 (equivalent to $1,700 in today’s currency) for 1st prize. Mackenzie finished two points ahead of his next rival. In 1874, Mackenzie won the 3rd American Chess Congress in Chicago and retained his U.S. champion title. He won 8 games, drew 1, and lost 1. Time control was 15 moves an hour. In 1876, the 4th American Chess Congress was held in Philadelphia. James Mason won the event, but he was not a U.S. citizen. The tournament was designed to attract foreign players and was never intended to be for any U.S. championship title. Mackenzie did not play in this event. In 1880, Mackenzie won the 5th American Chess Congress in New York after winning a two-game playoff against James Grundy, who also tied for 1st place. In 1881, Mackenzie defeated Max Judd in Saint Louis in a match for the U.S. championship. He won 7, lost 5, and drew 1. In 1886, Mackenzie beat Samuel (Solomon) Lipschuetz in a match for the U.S. championship, played in New York. In 1887, Max Judd defeated Albert Hodges in a match and claimed the U.S. chess champion title. In 1889, Samuel Lipschuetz (1863-1905) was the top scoring American (6th place, with 5 foreigners ahead of him) at the 6th American Chess Congress (New York International) in New York and was regarded as the de facto U.S. champion. Mackenzie did not play, was ill, and may have retired from chess. In 1890, Jackson Whipps Showalter (1860-1935) defeated Lipschuetz in a match in Louisville. Showalter claimed the U.S. championship title. In 1890, Max Judd (1851-1906) defeated Jackson Showalter in a match in Saint Louis (+7 -2 =2), but did not claim the US championship title. In 1891-92, Showalter defeated Max Judd in a match. In 1892, Lipschuetz defeated Showalter in a match. Lipshuetz then retired from chess and moved to California, The U.S. title reverted back to Showalter. In 1893-94, Showalter defended his title against Jacob Halpern (1845-1924) in a match in New York. In 1894, Showalter defeated Albert Hodges (1861-1944) in a match, scoring 8-6. Hodges demanded a rematch, then beat Showalter in a return match, and then retired. He said that his ambitions in chess had been fulfilled, and that he was retiring to pursue a career in business. The title reverted back to Showalter. In early 1895, Lipschuetz returned from California and claimed he never relinquished the title. In 1895, Showalter defeated Lipschuetz in a match, with a 7-4 score. In 1896, Showalter defeated Emil Kemeny (1860-1925) in a match held in Philadelphia. The match was clearly defined as a match for the U.S. title. In 1896, Showalter beat John Finan Barry (1873-1940) in a U.S. championship match. In 1897, Harry Pillsbury (1872-1906) beat Showalter in a match. The stakes were for $1,000. Pillsbury won with 10 wins, 8 losses, and 3 draws. In February 1898, Pillsbury defended his title and defeated Showalter. Pillsbury won with 7 wins, 3 losses, and 2 draws. In 1904, Frank Marshall won the 7th American Chess Congress in St. Louis. The tournament announcements said that the top American finisher in the event would be U.S. champion. But by the time of the tournament, the organizers just said that this event was only the “American Chess Tourney Championship.” Marshall acknowledged that Pillsbury was still the U.S. chess champion. On June 17, 1906, Pillsbury died and the title revered to Showalter, who was now a 5-time U.S. champion. In early 1909, Capablanca defeated Marshall in a match, 8-1. The organizers called said it was for the U.S. championship title. After Marshall lost, he complained that it was not for the U.S. championship because Capablanca was not a U.S. citizen. However, at the time, Cuba was a U.S. territory. Furthermore, Capablanca had been living in the USA for the past three years and planned to take out citizenship papers as soon as he turned 21 in a few months. In November 1909, Frank Marshall (1877-1944) defeated Showalter in a match, held in Lexington, Kentucky. The prize was $500 a side. Marshall was now officially the U.S. chess champion. In 1923, Marshall defended his title against Edward Lasker (1885-1981) and won. The match was played in 9 different cities over two months. Marshal won 9.5 to 8.5. In 1936, Frank Marshall gave up his title and declined to play in the U.S. invitational tournament. He was U.S. champion for a record 27 years, but only defended his title once. In 1936, Samuel Reshevsky (1911-1992) became U.S. champion after winning the first U.S. championship tournament, held in New York. The first women’s U.S. chess championship was held in 1937. In 1938, Reshevsky won the U.S. championship. In 1940, Reshevsky won the U.S. championship. In 1941, Reshevsky defeated I.A. Horowitz in a U.S. championship match. In 1942, Reshevsky and Isaac Kashdan tied for 1st in the U.S. championship. Reshevsky later won the playoff match. Reshevsky was awarded a win by tournament director Walter Stephens who forfeited Denker on time. The game should have been a draw, but Stephens flipped over the chess clock and called the wrong player for the time forefeit. In 1944, Arnold Denker (1914-2005) won the U.S. championship. In 1946, Denker defeated Herman Steiner (1905-1955) in a U.S. championship match. In 1946, Reshevsky won the U.S. championship. In 1948, Herman Steiner won the U.S. championship. In 1951, Larry Evans (1932-2010), age 19, won the U.S. championship. In 1952, Evans defeated Herman Steiner in a U.S. championship match. In 1954, Arthur Bisguier (1929- ), age 23, won the U.S. championship. In 1957, Reshevsky beat Bisguier in a match. In 1957/58, Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) won the U.S. championship at the age of 14, the youngest ever. In 1958/59, Fischer won the U.S. championship. In 1959/60, Fischer won the U.S. championship. His 1st place prize was $1,000. In 1960/61, Fischer won the U.S. championship. In 1961/62, Evans won the U.S. championship. Fischer did not play. In 1962/63, Fischer won the US. championship. In 1963/64, Fischer won the U.S. championship with a perfect 11-0 score. He was 3.5 points ahead of his nearest rival. He made 415 moves total. In 1965/66, Fischer won the U.S. championship. In 1966/67, Fischer won his 8th U.S. chess championship. In 1968, Larry Evans won the U.S. championship. In 1969, Reshevsky won the U.S. championship. In 1972, Robert Byrne (1928- ) won the U.S. championship after a playoff with Reshevsky and Lubomir Kavalek. It was Reshevsky’s 8th U.S. championship first or tied for first place. Reshevsky competed in a record 21 U.S. championships. He was among the top 3 in 15 U.S. championships, played the most games in U.S. championships (269) and won the most games (127). In 1973, Kavalek and John Grefe tied for 1st in the U.S. championship, held in El Paso. In 1974, Walter Browne won the U.S. championship, held in Chicago. In 1975, Walter Browne won the U.S. championship, held at Oberlin College in Ohio. In 1977, Walter Browne won the U.S. championship, held in Mentor, Ohio. In 1978, Kavalek won the U.S. championship, held in Pasadena, California. Tournament favorite Walter Browne withdrew from the event. In 1980, Browne, Evans, and Larry Christiansen tied for 1st in the U.S. championship, held in Greenville, Pennsylvania. In 1981, Browne and Yasser Seirawan tied for 1st in the U.S. championship, held in South Bend, Indiana. In 1983, Browne, Christiansen, and Roman Dzindzichashvili tied for 1st in the U.S. championship, held in Greenville, Pennsylvania. In 1984, Lev Alburt won the U.S. championship, held in Berkeley. In 1985, Lev Alburt won the U.S. championship, held in Estes Park, Colorado. In 1986, Seirwan won the U.S. championship, held in Estes Park. In 1987, Joel Benjamin and Nick de Firmian won the U.S. championship, held in Estes Park. In 1988, Michael Wilder won the U.S. championship, held in Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania. In 1989, Dzindzichashvile, Seirawan, and Stuart Rachels tied for 1st in the U.S. championship, held in Long Beach, California. In 1990, Lev Alburt won the U.S. championship knockout tournament, held in Jacksonville, Florida. In 1991, Gata Kamsky won the U.S. championship knockout tournament, held in Los Angeles. In 1992, Patrick Wolff won the U.S. championship, held in Durango, Colorado. In 1993, Alexander Shabalov and Alex Yermolinsky tied for 1st in the U.S. championship, held in Long Beach. In 1994, former Soviet champion Boris Gulko won the U.S. championship, held in Key West, Florida. In 1995, de Firmian, Wolff, and Alexander Ivanov won the U.S. championship, held in Modesto, California. In 1995, Irina Krush, age 11, played in the U.S. Women’s championship, the youngest ever. In 1996, Yermollinsky won the U.S. championship, held in Parsippany, New Jersey. In 1997, Joel Benjamin won the U.S. championship, held in Chandler, Arizona. In 1998, Nick de Firmian won the U.S. championship, held in Denver, Colorado. In 1999, Gulko won the U.S. championship, held in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2000, Benjamin, Seirawan, and Shabalov tied for 1st in the U.S. championship, held in Seattle. In 2002, Larry Christiansen won the U.S. championship. He would be the last person born in the United States to win the U.S. championship, held in Seattle. In 2003, Alexander Shabalov won the U.S. championship, held in Seattle. In 2004, Hikaru Nakamura, age 16, won the 2005 U.S. championship, held in San Diego. He is the youngest player since Fischer to win the U.S. championship. In 2006, Alexander Onischuk won the U.S. championship, held in San Diego. In 2007, Shabalov won the U.S. championship, held in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2008, Yury Shulman won the U.S. championship, held in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2009, Gata Kamsky won the U.S. championship after an Armageddon tie-break against Shulman. The event was held in Saint Louis. In 2010, Gata Kamsky won the U.S. championship, held in Saint Louis. In 2011, Gata Kamsky won the U.S. championship, held in Saint Louis. In 2012, Hikaru Nakamura won the U.S. championship. For the fourth consecutive year, the tournament was held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL). The prize fund was $160,000. The average USCF rating was 2714, making it the strongest U.S. championship ever. Irina Krush won two playoff games against Anna Zatonskih to win the 2012 U.S. women’s championship. Fischer won the US championship a record 8 times in 8 appearances. Gisela Gresser (1906-2000) won the women’s U.S. championship a record 9 times. –Bill Wall Be Sociable, Share! inShare 1 Comments

Arpad Elo

Arpad Elo (1903-1992) Arpad Emrick Elo was born in Egyhazaskeszo, Austro-Hungarian Empire, on August 25, 1903. In 1913, his family moved to the United States. He learned chess in his teens while attending high school in Cleveland, Ohio. He saw a set of chessmen in a department store and learned the rules of the game from the Encyclopedia Britannica. By the 1930s, he was the strongest chess player in Milwaukee. He won the Wisconsin State Chess Championship 8 times from 1935 (at age 32) to 1961 (at the age of 58). He played in 37 consecutive state championships in Wisconsin from 1933 to 1969. He won over 40 tournaments during his playing days. In 1935, he was president of the American Chess Federation, which later merged with the National Chess Federation and became part of the USCF in 1939. Elo was among the first to organize Swiss-system chess tournaments in the United States on a regular basis. He earned his BS and MS degrees, in Physics, from the University of Chicago. He never earned a PhD. Elo was a professor of physics and astronomy at Marquette University in Milwaukee from 1926 to 1972. He also taught at the University of Wisconsin. In the 1950s, Elo developed his own formula for a chess rating system base on the normal distribution curve, or function (Bell curve). The new rating system was used by the USCF in 1960, replacing the old Harkness system that had been used since 1950. One of the flaws with the Harkness system was that you could lose rating points even if you won every game and had a perfect score. Elo’s rating system was adopted by FIDE in 1970. Elo was the Chairman of the USCF Rating Committee from 1959 to 1976. From 1970 to 1980, Elo did all the rating calculations for FIDE using paper and pencil until he was able to buy a Hewlett-Packard calculator with enough memory to do the calculations. In 1978, he published The Rating of Chessplayers: Past & Present. His list of top players were Fischer (2780), Karpov (2775), Capablanca (2725), Botvinnik (2720), Lasker (2720), Tal (2700), Alekhine (2690), Morphy (2690), Smyslov (2690), Petrosian (2680), Reshevsky (2680), Spassky (2680), Bronstein (2670), Keres (2670), Korchnoi (2665), Fine (2660), Geller (2655), Boleslavsky (2650), Euwe (2650), Steinitz (2650), Rubinstein (2640), Najdorf (2635), Pillsbury (2630), Portisch (2630), Timman (2630), Flohr (2620), Gligoric (2620), Kholmov (2620), Kotov (2620), Larsen (2620), Maroczy (2620), Stein (2620), Averbakh (2615), Nimzovich (2615), Ulf Andersson (2610), Bogoljubow (2610), Furman (2610), Ljubojevic (2610), Szabo (2610), Tarrasch (2610), Mecking (2608), Polugaevsky (2605), Adolph Anderssen (2600), Chigorin (2600), Schlechter (2600), Taimanov (2600), Vidmar (2600), von der Lasa (2600),and Zukertort (2600). This was all before Carlsen, Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik, and Topalov. In 1988, Elo was inducted in the US Chess Hall of Fame. Other than chess (he gave it up in his later years because he said it was too much hard work), his hobbies were bridge, beekeeping, wine-making, gardening, classical music, and grinding his own telescope lenses for stargazing. He died of a heart attack in Brookfield, Wisconsin on November 5, 1992 at the age of 89. – Bill Wall Be Sociable, Share!

Chess files

http://hotfile.com/dl/185269531/6d3a09d/How_to_Play_Openings_Better.mp4.html How to Avoid Positional Mistakes http://hotfile.com/dl/185269475/8c97ecb/How_to_Avoid_Positional_Mistakes.mp4.html How to Attack on the Right Side http://hotfile.com/dl/185269473/832a2a5/How_to_Attack_on_Right_Side.mp4.html How to Defend More Successfully http://hotfile.com/dl/185269509/c13e481/How_to_Defend_More_Successfully.mp4.htm