Bobby Fischer is a ferocious winner   Angry voices rattled the door to Bobby Fischer's hotel room as I raised my hand to knock. "Goddammit, I'm sick of it!" I heard Bobby shouting. "I'm sick of seeing people! I got to work, I got to rest! Why didn't you ask me before you set up all those appointments? To hell with them!" Then I heard the mild and dignified executive director of the U.S. Chess Federation addressing the man who may well be the greatest chess player in world history in a tone just slightly lower than a yell: "Bobby, ever since we came to Buenos Aires I've done nothing but take care of you, day and night. You ungrateful ---!" It was 3 p.m., a bit early for Fischer to be up. Ten minutes later, finding the hall silent, I risked a knock and Fischer cracked the door. "Oh yeah, the guy from LIFE. Come on in." His smile was broad and boyish but his eyes were wary. Tall, wide and flat, with a head too small for his big body, he put me in mind of a pale transhuman sculpture by Henry Moore. I had seen him twice before but never so tired. Just inside the door I stopped short. The room looked like a terminal moraine of bachelorhood. Bedclothes in tortured piles on the floor. Socks, underwear, bags, newspapers, magazines jumbled on the spare bed. Boxes stacked all over the couch, and on the floor between the beds a single graceful banana peel. The only clean place in the room was a small table by the window, where a set of handsome wooden-chessmen had been set up for play. Serenely an altar in the debris of battle. A battlefield is what Fischer's life has been for the last 11 months. In May, coming off a winning streak of seven games in international tournament play, the 28-year-old Brooklyn prodigy entered the challenge rounds for the world's chess championship. In the first of three elimination matches he destroyed Russia's Mark Taimanov, 6-0, the first shutout ever achieved in grandmaster play. In the second match he finished off Denmark's Bent Larsen by the same score. In his contest with Russia's Tigran Petrosian, completed two days before I arrived in Buenos Aires, Fischer pushed his winning streak to 20, then caught a bad cold and lost a game. But with the match tied at 2.5 - 2.5, Fischer changed his hotel, got a good night's sleep and ran the last four games against the former world's champion in a brutal display of power. Sometime next spring, at a place still to be decided, Fischer will meet Russia's Boris Spassky in a best-of-24-games battle for the world title Spassky now holds. Spassky is a formidable chess master, but even some top Soviet experts now expect Fischer to end Russia's 35-year domination of the game and become the first American ever to hold the title. "Congratulations on your victory," I tried to say. "Yeah, yeah." Fischer mumbled shyly and turned away to grab a coat and tie. "Got to eat. Starved. Talk later." And he hurried off to breakfast with about twenty Russian chess magazines tucked under his arm. In the lobby people rushed up to Fischer from all directions. He looked startled and irritated. Argentina is chess-crazy (there are 60 chess clubs in Buenos Aires alone) and for more than a month he had been stalked day and night by Latin adoration. A white-haired man collared him now and spoke earnestly. A young girl grabbed his arm and said something intense that made him pull back and then stride away. A U.S. TV sports team puffed along at his elbow, but he wasn't having any. "Later!" he flung at them and, tilting forward, lurched off with a powerful wambling stride that made him look like Captain Ahab making headway in a high wind.  At the London Grill, a transplanted English pub of pleasantly peeling charm, Fischer made for a back table and ordered two 12-ounce glasses of fresh orange juice, the largest steak in the house, a mixed green salad and a pint bottle of carbonated mineral water. Five minutes later he ordered another glass of orange juice, and by the time he was ready for a huge dish of bananas and superrich Chantilly cream he had finished his fourth pint of mineral water. He ate with the oral drive of a barracuda and talked incessantly about how wonderful the food was. "Look at that juice! Fresh, not frozen! And where else can you get a glass that big for less than ten cents? Look at that steak! It's almost two inches thick. And YOU can really taste it! Not like that lousy American meat, all full of chemicals. This is natural meat! I tell you, Argentine food is the finest in the world! They really go in for quality here. Like clothes. You can get a tailor-made suit here for less than $100, and they last! Shoes too. They got the best shoes in the world here. Look at this pair I got on. Here, look at them!" Quickly untying an enormous brown shoe, he took it off and handed it across the table. "Look at that sole! It's composition and I'm telling you it's strong! I go through an ordinary pair of shoes in days. Days! But I've had this pair for a year and it's still great. I mean I love America and I'd never be anything else but an American, but things are failing apart up there. Everybody doing his own thing just won't work. We need organization! We need to get back to basic values!" Shaking his head sadly, he ordered another dish of bananas and Chantilly. At sundown, as he does at sundown every Friday of his life, Fischer disappeared into his room for 24 hours of solitary meditation. He is a member of the Church of God, a fundamentalist California-based religious sect, and he takes his religion seriously. He won't talk about it, though. He won't talk to the press about any aspect of his private life. But a good deal is known. Child of a broken marriage, Bobby grew up in Brooklyn with a dominant mother and an absent father. He seemed lonely and a little withdrawn, in no way a remarkable child, until one day when he was 6 his older sister happened to bring home a chess set. From that day, bobby's destiny possessed him. Father, mother, friends: all the people he needed he found, in a set of chess figures, all the world he wanted was there in a square foot of space.  At 13, Bobby won the U.S junior championship. At 14, Bobby ripped through eleven matches, three with grandmasters, to become U.S. champion; the youngest ever. But his mother felt strongly that he was too little appreciated. She went to Washington and picketed in Bobby's behalf. One day she actually chained herself to the White House gate. Acutely embarrassed, Bobby gradually pushed her out of his life. At 17, he quit school ("Teachers," he said, "are jerks") and lived alone in a warren of chess literature. At 18, Fischer played with such demonic brilliance that chess masters were sure he would become come World's champion the next year. But after a tournament in Curacao, he accused the Russians of playing to let their own best players win and fighting like tigers to make Fischer lose. In fury of humiliation, he refused to meet the Russians again until the rules were rewritten. The press jeered him as a bum loser, but at great cost to his career he held out. The world organization system in world championship play and substituted the series of individual matches Fischer wanted. Mano a mano, he reasoned, talent would tell. Talent and erudition. Fischer is the profoundest student of chess who ever lived. He reads incessantly, forgets nothing, turns knowledge into action with monstrous precision and ferocity. "No other master," a German expert told me, "has such a terrific will to win. At the board he radiates danger, and even the strongest opponents tend to freeze, like rabbits when they smell a panther. Even his weaknesses are dangerous. As white, his opening game is predictable-you can make plans against it-but so strong that your plans almost never work. In middle game his precision and invention are fabulous, and in the end game you simply cannot beat him." At sundown on Saturday Fischer burst out of an elevator into the lobby of his hotel. An even bigger crowd was there. Dead-white with hunger after a day without food, he put his head down and headed for the street. He had promised an American TV network an interview that evening, but he pushed the cameraman aside impatiently. "Later, later!" Shutters clicked on all sides as he hit the sunlight. A husky Argentinian paparazzo gave pursuit, snapping shots every few feet. Suddenly Fischer swerved at him, grabbed for his camera but missed, then gave him two quick kicks in the right leg. Before the photographer could regain balance, Fischer turned the corner and was gone. Looking shaken, the photographer sat for some time on the fender of a nearby cab. "Bobby es loco," he muttered, shaking his head.  An uncanny thing happened that night in Fischer's room. Like a turtle he shrank into himself and gathered his world about him. First he switched on a Sony shortwave radio and fiddled till he picked up some soft rock from London. Then out came the Russian chess magazines. (Fischer seldom ventures beyond "chess Russian" but he reads and speaks Spanish fluently.) Eyes smoked with introspection, he played through 10, 15, 25 games at frenzied speed, slamming the pieces at the board like darts and muttering savage or mocking or fascinated comments under his breath. It was genius in full rage and it went on for almost an hour before he glanced up and remembered I was there. "I shouldn't have kicked him," he said. "You can't go around kicking people." Then his eyes smoked again and he raced through a dozen more games. This is it, I thought. This is Bobby's life. Sleep all day. Grab some food. Hole up with a shortwave radio or a tape recorder or a TV set and play chess with himself all night. No people in his life if he can help it. Just a small circle of undemanding electronic acquaintances. A man alone in a monomania. "He's not a bad guy, I guess," Fischer went on, apparently unaware that 20 minutes had elapsed between sentences. "It's his job that's bad." He turned the radio up. "That's Victor Sylvester!" he said excitedly. "Listen to that sound! Rich, huh?" I gulped, then nodded interestedly. Victor Sylvester is the British Lawrence Welk. "I despise the media," Fischer went on, looking straight at me and scowling. "'Goodbye, media man. Spreading your paranoia across the land. Creating situations that you don't understand.' They're destroying reality, turning everything into media," he said, turning the volume higher still. The phone rang. It was Svetozar Gligoric, the Yugoslav grandmaster, calling from Venice. Fischer glowed. Gligoric is one of his warmest admirers. "Gligo! Thank you. What? ... I was a little bit worried after the second game, yeah. ... Well, in the fifth he had a good position but he didn't try to win. ... That's right, these matches are somehow easy for me.... But I feel I've been in my best moment for many years. ... Spassky? He's a very solid player but-well, you know. ... Congratulations from Spassky? No, nothing .... Bye, Gligo." He put the phone down, grinning. "I haven't had any congratulations from Spassky yet. I think I'll send him a telegram. CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING THE RIGHT TO MEET ME FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP."  About one a.m. we went out for lunch. No photographers in the lobby, but Fischer wasn't taking any chances. We slipped down the back stairs and out a side door and then hugged the wall till we were two blocks from the hotel. "I guess we shook those jerks," Fischer said. Then be walked for about 20 blocks through the night city at a pace that made me feel like Dopey the Dwarf scrambling to keep up with the big folks. The streets were full of couples strolling entwined and kissing. Fischer looked over their heads and hurried by. I wondered if he noticed them until he darted a glance at a parked car where a man in his 40s or 50s was necking with a young girl. "Did you see that?" Fischer exploded. "Disgusting!" We ate at a Chinese restaurant. Fischer ordered two main dishes, one made with duck and the other with pork, as I remember, and then swizzled them around with his fork till he had a sort of soupy slush. "Terrific food here!" he mumbled, eyes shining. After lunch we hiked at high speed until five a.m., covering at least eight miles. Fischer talked with a boisterous boyish eagerness about all his favorite subjects: chess, money, the Russians, electronic gadgets, chess, clothes, food, the Russians, chess, science, ecology, urban problems, noise. For a man widely assumed to have tunnel intelligence, he showed a remarkable spread of interests. But the more he talked the clearer it became that all his information was factual, not emotional. It came from books, magazines, newspapers, television-the media he despises. Not long before dawn he was telling me how terrible cities are for people, how much he loves nature and the open countryside. I told him about a big estancia (ranch) I knew of and suggested that we fly out in a small plane and spend the next day there. He was at first delighted at the thought but then he stared at me, the color draining from his cheeks and his jaw dropping a little, as though he had just been jabbed in the gut. "I don't know about the plane," he said slowly. "Suppose the Russians-like, did something to the motor or something. I mean, people don't realize how important chess is to their image. They'd really like to get rid of me now." Flat and green, the springtime pampas looked like ironed Ireland. Less than an hour out from Buenos Aires the plane landed on a shaved strip of pasture- oops! wrong estancia. Three minutes later we saw "Santa Elena" painted on a tin roof and swooped down to a waiting pickup truck. Hotel-bound for almost a year, Fischer stared at the grass the way a prisoner stares at sunlight. "Wow!" was all he could say at first, "Wow!" The manor house was a comfortable old steep roofed bungalow set in a park of tropical pine and towering sycamores. A fat, friendly collie came waddling across the lawn. Ruby was her name and for Fischer it was love at first sight. For two hours they romped and cuddled and hiked all over the estate. At one point Ruby attacked an armadillo but Fischer dragged her off and for a good ten minutes he looked shaken. It made me wonder if be had seen something of himself in the small terrified creature. Back at the house the vivacious housekeeper served us a tasty Argentine pot roast slathered with vegetables. In a rush of euphoria Fischer tossed off two glasses of red wine, the first drinks anybody I know had ever seen him take.  After dinner, with Ruby trotting loyally alongide, Fischer went riding. He jumped in the saddle, put the reins around his own neck and said giddy up! He was scared and he took a terrible bouncing but he was dead game. Afterward he fell asleep in a hard porch chair with Ruby sleeping on the floor at his feet. "People are really nice out here," he murmured in wonder as we left. "You can trust them, you know?" At Santa Elena, Fischer was more open than at any time during the days I spent with him. On the way home in the plane, while night closed around us like a big rose and he sat hunched over his chess wallet playing furious solitaire, I made notes on what he had said. "Americans like a winner. If you lose, you're nothing. ... I'm going to win, though. ... it's good for the match that Spassky has a plus score against me. We've met five times. He's won three times and we've drawn twice. But I'm a stronger player and a long match favors me ..." When I told him I had heard that Spassky gives up all private life for at least six months before a championship match, lifts weights, does road work and sees a psychoanalyst every day, Fischer smiled mysteriously and said: "No kidding." When I asked how he intended to train, he shrugged and said: "I don't know. Go along as usual, I guess. Study. Play some tennis, maybe. Walk. I like to walk, you know." When he wins the championships? "I'll play a lot, stake matches. Not like the Russians. They win the championship and then hide for three years. Every few months, anyway twice a year, I'd like to get up a purse and meet a challenger. It's good for the game, keeps up interest in chess, and it's good for the bank account. I want to get some money together. Like take professional football. All these athletes making hundreds of thousands of dollars. Contracts, endorsements. If there's room for all of them, there ought to be room for one of me. I mean, after all, I'm a great goodwill ambassador for the United States! Besides, I want money so I can tell some people I don't like to go ... yeah." My last night in Buenos Aires, the paparazzi ambushed Fischer. Returning to his hotel after a three-hour walk, he was set upon by a gang of about 15 photographers and "reporters," most of them working for a local scandal sheet that had promised to "persecute" Fischer until he gave an interview. The "reporters" crowded around him, digging their shoulders into his ribs and hissing insults into his face while the photographers recorded his discomfort. Pale with anger, Fischer thrust through the mob to the elevator. But in his room he began to grin, then laughed so hard he almost fell off the couch. "It's like chess!" he explained in high glee. "I knocked off one of their pieces, so they went after the king. But I got away, I got away! Wow, am I hungry! Soon as they're gone, let's sneak out and get something to eat!" by Brad Darrach LIFE - November 12, 1971

---

Back to Bobby Fischer Articles

The Staunton Chessmen

The Staunton Chessmen

The Staunton chessmen is the standard pattern for chess pieces used in all world chess federation and United States Chess Federation events.

Before 1849, there was no standard chess set or design. Original army designs representing play on a field of battle became chess pieces played in a royal court. The original chessmen of shah, counselor, infantry, cavalry, elephant, and chariot evolved into king, queen, pawn, knight, bishop, and rook.

As chess clubs and tournaments began to appear all over the world in the 18th and 19th century, it became necessary to use a standardized set (and rules) that would enable players from different cultures and countries to play chess without getting confused on what chess piece it was.

On March 1, 1849 the “Staunton” pattern was first registered by printer and editor Nathaniel Cooke. Prior to that, the pieces most commonly used were called the St. George design, followed by the English Barleycorn, the Northern Upright or Edinburgh (designed by Lord John Hay in the 1840s), the Regency, the Calvert, Lund and Merrifield designs.

Cooke registered his wooden chess pattern at the United Kingdom Patent Office (patent No. 58607) under the Ornamental Designs Act of 1842. The title of the registration was “Ornamental Design for a set of Chess-Men.” The registration was limited to Class II, which were articles mostly made from wood. The registration was good for only three years, and not renewable.

Cooke looked at a variety of popular chess sets (the Northern Upright is the closest in appearance to the Staunton design) and kept in mind their common traits. As an architect, he also looked the Victorian London’s neoclassical architecture and noticed there was a renewed interest in the ruins of ancient Greece and Rome after the rediscovery of Pompeii in the 18th century.

The design of the knight came from the head of a Greek horse of the Eglin Marbles in the British Museum (brought to the museum in 1806). The head of a horse of Selene, the Moon Goddess, came from the east pediment of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The Parthenon had a sculpture of horses drawing the chariot of Selene. That sculpture was controversially removed by Thomas Bruce (1766-1841), the 7th earl of Eglin, when he was ambassador to the Ottoman empire between 1799 and 1803. In 1816, he donated these “Eglin Marbles” to the British Museum.

In September 1849 the manufacturing rights were bought by John Jaques of London, workers of ivory and fine woods. His company also invented table tennis (originally called Ping-Pong), croquet, Snakes & Ladders, and Tiddly Winks.

Nathaniel Cooke was quite involved in the business of Jaques of London. Cooke’s daughter would marry John Jaques II in the 1850s. The sets were originally made in boxwood and ebony. The Full Size set was weighted for better stability. Later sets were available in ivory, first available in April, 1850, and unweighted. The unweighted king was 3.5 inches in size for the standard size. The weighted king was 4.4 inches in size for the Full Size. Jaques removed much of the decorative features that topped earlier chess patterns, and was able to manufacture the new design at less cost. The king was represented by a crown and the queen was represented by a coronet.

Some other features of the original Jaques set included a removable king’s cross and the knight made up of two pieces, the head and the base, which were screwed together. Every Jacques set had an imprinted “Jaques London” on the rim of the white king.

On September 8, 1849 the first wooden chess sets from Jaques was available. The first sets actually had a different pattern to the King’s Rook and King’s Knight that distinguished it from the Queen’s Rook and the Queen’s Knight. A crown emblem was stamped onto a rook and knight of each side to identify the positioning on to the king’s side of the board. That design failed to stick and was later removed.

Howard Staunton (1810-1874) saw Cooke’s chess set design and appreciated its simplicity. On the same day that the Jaques chess sets were available in London, Howard Staunton recommended and endorsed the sets in the September 8, 1949 issue of Illustrated London News. Staunton had a chess column in the Illustrated London News from 1845 until 1874, Nathaniel Cooke was Staunton’s editor at the Illustrated London News. The ad that appeared in the newspaper called it Mr. STAUNTON’s pattern. It said:

“A set of Chessmen, of a pattern combining elegance and solidity to a degree hitherto unknown, has recently appeared under the auspices of the celebrated player Mr. Staunton….The pieces generally are fashioned with convenience to the hand; and it is to be remarked, that while there is so great an accession to elegance of form, it is not attained at the expense of practical utility. Mr. Staunton’s pattern adopts but elevates the conventional form; and the base of the Pieces being of a large diameter, they are more steady than ordinary sets.”

Later, Staunton began endorsing the set and had his signature on the box of Staunton chess pieces. One of Staunton’s chess books was given free with every box of Staunton chess set. Staunton aggressively promoted the Staunton chess set. This may have been the first time that a celebrated name was used to promote a commercial product.

There is some speculation that Nathaniel Cooke was not the actual designer of the “Staunton” chess set. Cooke was also editor of the Illustrated London News, the world’s first illustrated newspaper. One of its major contributors was Staunton, who had a chess column.

Cooke may only have been an agent acting on behalf of the real designer, Jaques, his brother-in-law. And Jaques was looking for a way to increase his profits by creating a cheaper, more efficient design that appealed to the majority of chess players. So he got Staunton, the most famous chess player in England, to endorse the design.

The design was a huge success, and the Jaques company made a profit on the chess set. The simple, unadorned forms of the Staunton set made it cheap and easy to produce.

On August 11, 1852, Nathaniel Cooke entered into an arrangement with Howard Staunton to use Staunton’s name and facsimile signature on the labels that came with each set.

The original Staunton design has gone through different versions over the years. Some of the distinguishing characteristics that define a Staunton design include the following: the king is topped with a Formee cross and is the tallest piece; the queen is topped by a crown and ball; the bishop has a split top; the knight is a horse head; the rook is a squat castle turret. The shape of the pawn may have derived from the balconies of London Victorian buildings.

Later designs of the Jaques Staunton chessmen included slightly taller queens and pawns. Also, the weight of the chessmen was increased.

By the 1920s, the Staunton design was required as the only authorized design by worldwide chess organizations, and endorsed by FIDE, the world chess federation, in 1924

In 1935 the Jaques company no longer made ivory Staunton sets.

During World War II Jacques was asked by the British government to mass produce chess sets for the troops. The factory was later bombed by the Germans and destroyed.

At the start of the 1978 World Championship match in Baguio, Philippines there wasn’t a Staunton chess set in the city. Someone had to drive to Manila to find a Staunton chess set, which arrived just 15 minutes before the start of the scheduled match.

GM Jacob Aagaard

Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard

Jacob Aagard was born in Denmark on July 31, 1973 and later moved to Glasgow, Scotland.

In 1985, at the age of 12, Jacob learned how to play chess.

At age 16, he was the champion of his local chess club in Denmark.

In March 1997, he was awarded the International Master title.

He studied languages at the University of Copenhagen and Cognitive Semiotics at the University of Aarhus in Denmark.

In 2004, he co-founded Quality Chess publishing.

In 2004, he took 2nd place in the 111th Scottish Chess Championship.

In 2005, he took 1st place in the 112th Scottish Chess Champion, but the title went to Craig Pritchett since Aagaard was not yet a British citizen.

In 2006, he was in a blitz play-off for the Danish Championship, but lost his game to Steffen Pedersen and went from 1st place to 6th place.

In 2006, he represented Scotland as Board 4 in the Chess Olympiad.

In 2007, he won the 94th British Chess Championship. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster in 2005.

In 2008, he represented Scotland as Board 2 in the Chess Olympiad.

In 2010, he reached his highest Elo rating: 2538.

In 2011, he was awarded the title of FIDE Senior Trainer. He also won the FIDE trainer’s Isaac Boleslavsky prize for best author.

In 2011, Aagaard no longer represented Scotland and played under the Danish flag.

In 2012, he won the Scottish Championship on tiebreaks with 7 points out of 9. The event was held at the Trades Hall in Glasgow. Aagaard was eligible for the title by virtue of residency in Scotland. In the final round for the Scottish title, he defeated GM Mark Hebden with the Scotch Opening.

Aagaard is one of the best chess trainers in the world. Here is some of his chess advice:

Spend 20 minutes a day on solving chess problems. Try to do that 4 to 6 times a week.

Write down your solutions of a chess position or problem before you check them out. Distrust what you first see. Do not write long essays, but write the move you want to play and the one or two key points (tactical, better position, threat, etc). Write down what you think reasonable quickly.

There is no “best” material or book. Take any chess book off your shelf. You do not have to buy a new book (except buying any of Aagaard’s books wouldn’t hurt).

Do not get burned out. Don’t tackle more than you can do. Don’t try to start out with 2 hours of study every day. It is all about setting moderately challenging targets for long term change.

Ask yourself three questions after every move. Where are the weaknesses? Which are the worst-placed pieces? What is your opponent’s idea?

Good chess comes from calculation, opening preparation and good intuition.

To make chess practical, make it simple. Ask yourself, what am I looking for in this position?

Write down the chess mistakes you make, and when you repeat them, write it down as well.

99% of all positions contain a multitude of ideas, but look for the one that you should take most seriously.

At the end of the day, chess is about solving one problem only: What should I play on the next move?

Nothing will bring you greater success than analyzing the position.

Throw away your nine-step thinking algorithms and forget about the tree of analysis.

Study traps. They are entertaining as well as instructive. When everything else has failed, try to read your opponent’s mind and see how you can get him to make a mistake. It will not work every time, but it can be a really useful skill to turn to.

Calculation is only a tool to aid in the decision-making process. The most important aspects of calculation are concentration and determination.

At the chess board, it is not important what we see, only what we play.

Making better decisions is what improving in chess is all about.

Improvement starts at the end of your comfort zone.

All successful training systems are based on incremental improvement, which take some time and effort.

No chess teacher can promise you the grandmaster title; you need a crooked organizer for that.

It is very rare that new combinations are played. Almost all combinations are based on well-known patterns. You need to spend a significant amount of time solving combinations.

The ability to focus on your opponent’s intentions, offensive or defensive, is essential for success in chess.

At times, it is essential to look for what is wrong with a move to a greater extent than what is good about it.

Ask yourself, what am I trying to achieve in the chess position? If you do not have a clear answer to this question, then this is the first thing to sort out. Make sure you have clearly defined your aim.

Calculate forcing moves first. You will learn more about the position this way, as well as satisfy the natural curiosity we all possess. Also, these lines tend to be easier to calculate than lines involving quiet moves.

Chess is about effective decision-making. Effective means quick. Only analyze necessary variations. Calculate slower. It saves time. It is quality over quantity. Make sure that you are calculating the right variations.

Don’t think about decisions that you need to make in the future.

Calculate only what you have to. Always consider whether or not it is necessary to calculate a variation deeply before doing so.

Calculate only until you can make a definite conclusion. It is bonkers to spend your precious time going deeper.

Calculate half a move longer. Make it a habit to look for candidates for a brief moment to avoid nasty surprises.

“New ideas at the start of a variation are a good deal more important than refinements at the end of it.” – Mark Dvoretsky

Don’t let your thoughts skip from one line to another and back several times over.

When you have made up your mind, execute your move. This prevents time trouble later on and later choosing moves inferior to your first decision.

Seek clear simple solutions in winning positions, and look for the opposite in lost positions.

Exposure to a great variety of chess positions is useful, but only if there is some sort of high quality interpretation as well.

People who analyze with computer tools without ever doubting them have a tendency to decline in playing strength and become frustrated.

Most tournament games are not won by superior calculation or imaginary power, but rather due to superior understanding of the very basics of the game.

Most games are decided on a superiority in the understanding of positional play.

In the endgame, the king can play actively play as a piece and only seldom will it be threatened with mate.

The main difference between the middlegame and the endgame is the absence of queens and the absence of consistent mating threats.

Keep your strongest piece active.

The rook should always be active as the governing principle of the rook endgame.

Pieces should be activated in descending order. This means queen before rook, rook before king, and king before minor pieces.

Good endgame technique requires the ability to think schematically. This means being able to search for specific positions or placements of the pieces in a given position, and then try to reach them by means of calculation.

An advantage does not have to be decisive in order to win.

The choice of moves should not be made on an exact verdict of the final position, but on whether or not your position has improved or worsened.

As an author, he has written or co-written:

Easy Guide to the Panov-Botvinnik Attack (1998)

Easy Guide to the Sveshnikov Sicilian (2000)

Easy Guide to the Sicilian Kalashnikov (2000)

Excelling at Chess (2001) (winner of the 2002 ChessCafe book of the year)

Dutch Stonewall (2002)

Queen’s Indian Defence (2002)

Meeting 1.d4 (2002)

Excelling at Positional Chess (2003)

Chess Software Users Guide (2003)

Excelling at Chess Calculation (2004)

Excelling at Combinational Play (2004)

Excelling at Technical Chess (2004)

Starting Out: The Gruenfeld Defence (2004)

Learn to Identify and Exploit Tactical Chances (2004)

Experts vs. the Sicilian (2004 and 2006)

Inside the Chess Mind (2004)

Practical Chess Defence (2006)

The Attacking Manual: Basic Principles (2008)

The Attacking Manual 2: Technique and Praxis (2008)

The Attacking Manual I and II (2010) (winner of the English Chess Federation (ECF) and Guardian Book of the Year awards)

Experts on the Anti-Sicilian (2011)

The Tarrasch Defence (2011)

Grandmaster vs. Amateur (2011)

Grandmaster Preparation – Calculation (2012)

Grandmaster Preparation – Positional Play (2012)

Grandmaster Preparation – Strategic Play (2013)

– Bill Wall

Results of Candidates

Candidates R14 – leaders lose, Carlsen qualifies

1.4.2013 - Magnus Carlsen overpressed a messy position against Peter Svidler and was swiftly punished. However Kramnik gambled all of his chips, and Ivanchuk simply took them all! Carlsen’s luck has not abandoned him and he is now the official challenger against Anand for the World Chess Championship, edging out the Russian’s great performance by virtue of his better tiebreak. Full report with GM analysis.

 

f

From March 14 to April 1, 2013, FIDE and AGON – the World Chess Federation’s commercial partner – are staging the 2013 Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2013. It will be the strongest tournament of its kind in history. The venue is The IET, 2 Savoy Place, London. The Prize Fund to be shared by the players totals €510,000. The winner of the Candidates will become the Challenger to Viswanathan Anand who has reigned as World Champion since 2007. The main sponsor for the Candidates is State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic SOCAR, which has sponsored elite events chess in the past.

Round fourteen report

By GM Alejandro Ramirez

The most spectacular tournament of recent years has come to an end. The drama of the last few rounds has been unprecedented in recent memory. The excitement brought spectators flocking to every chess site, even to the point of overloading some of them! The fans were eager to know who would challenge Anand, and here is how it all unfolded.

Round 14 April 1 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen	0-1	Peter Svidler
Vassily Ivanchuk	1-0	Vladimir Kramnik
Boris Gelfand	½-½	Alexander Grischuk
Levon Aronian	1-0	Teimour Radjabov
Playchess commentary: GM Maurice Ashley

Gelfand-Grischuk ½-½

Grischuk’s Gruenfeld was more than sufficient to neutralize any attempts for a lastround victory by the Israeli, and the game ended in a draw after White’s king was too exposed and had to allow a perpetual.

Aronian-Radjabov 1-0

Aronian, who after the first half seemed to be the only one with chances to stop Carlsen from playing Anand, suffered some serious setbacks in the second half and tried to have a strong finish. Radjabov, who probably wants to forget this tournament as soon as possible and losing over thirty (!?) rating points in the process, was looking to at least not lose the last round. Unfortunately the Armenian’s will was stronger and a complicated game led to an interesting endgame in which White had two rooks for Black’s queen. Although theoretically equal, the endgame was more pleasant to play with White, and after Radjabov made just one slip Aronian’s brutal attack on the king was enough to win the game.

Carlsen-Svidler 0-1

Everyone knew the tournament situation. Carlsen would look for a win, and try to clinch first place regardless of Kramnik’s result. A typical Spanish gave White a very minimal edge, and both sides tried to attack the enemy king using their knights and long range bishops. On move 31, disaster strikes. Svidler’s simple mate threat on g2 can be parried in two ways: one is a simple tactic that uses Black’s king on f8 to not only trade off the dangerous light squared bishop, but it also won a pawn. The other simply gave Black a strong attack. Carlsen, maybe exhausted from his efforts, chose the latter and almost paid dearly. The advantage was too strong; the pair of bishops and extra pawn were too much even for the Norwegian magician. Svidler defeated Carlsen.

Learn more about this opening!

Games - CBM 150

Available in the Shop

Carlsen, Magnus2872–Svidler, Peter2747C77FIDE Candidates 20131401.04.2013Ramirez,Alejandro

1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.b5 a6 4.a4 f6 5.0-0 e7 6.d3 The increasingly popular quick d3 system, yet again seen in London. Carlsen crushed Svidler with the black side of this system, surely he can also outplay him with white. b5 7.b3 d6 8.a3 0-0 9.c3 b710.d2 d7 11.a4 d8!? Very solid play, though there were viable alternatives for sure. The idea of moving the knight from c6 is nothing new in the Spanish. It is now being rerouted to f4. 12.axb5 axb513.xa8 xa8 14.e2 e6 15.g3 c5 16.f5 d8 17.c4 bxc418.xc4 White has a maybe microscopically more pleasant position. His bishop on c4 is well placed, the knight on f4 is relatively uncomfortable, but Black still has many resources. c7 19.e1 e820.c1 h520...d4 already blunders the game. 21.3xd4 cxd4 22.xg7+-21.g321.b4! cxb4 22.xb4 Would've given him a pleasant edge, but the symmetrical position gives Black good chances for a draw. 21...g6 22.h6+ g7 23.g5 xg5 24.xg5 d5 25.exd5 xd526.g4 f3 Svidler thought this idea was very strong, and that Carlsen underestimated it. However, it is possible both missed White's resource on move 31. 27.f6+ g8 28.h6+ f8 29.e329.xf7 xf6 30.h6+ e7? Suggested by Svidler.30...g8‼ is just a draw, according to the engines, as there are no good discoveries. Notice how in no variation can White take on e5 as the opening of the e-file will be lethal to him because of his weakened back rank. 31.xe5+? d5 32.xd7 xe1# 31.g5! Was missed by both players. 29...b7 30.h4 h3 31.f3? The start of Carlsen's demise.31.d5! This strong resource would've simply left White a pawn ahead. White's knight on h6 can be left en prise! xd5 32.xc5+g7 33.xd5 xh6 34.xf7 a534...c8? Svidler admitted he had no idea what was going on, and this was his suggestion. However this loses to the very strong...35.e7! and Black is closed to getting mated. 35.xe8 xe1 36.xe5 White's three pawns are stronger than the piece, and it is in Black's best interest to give it back immediately.xf2+ 37.xf2 xh2+ 38.e1 With only chances for White. 31...f4 32.gxf4 xh4 33.xf7 xf3 34.f2 g4+ 35.g3exf4 Now Black's advantage is clear and decisive. The pair of bishops is too strong. 36.xe8+ xe8 37.xg4 xg4 38.g5 h6 39.f7h5 40.h6 d1 41.f2 f3 42.h3 f4 43.f7 g5 44.e1 g4Simple calculation, White cannot stop the pawns. 45.hxg4 hxg446.xd1 g3 47.e1 g2 48.f2 h2 Carlsen loses, but his lucky stars had not yet abandoned him.

Download PGN

Ivanchuk-Kramnik 1-0

“If someone had told Volodia (Kramnik) that Carlsen would lose today, I’m afraid he wouldn’t have gone with the Pirc…” is the translation of Vallejo Pons earlier Facebook status. Truer words could not have been spoken! Knowing that the odds of Carlsen losing with White twice in one tournament were astronomical, Kramnik went for the all-out kill against Ivanchuk. However the Ukrainian is not someone to be trifled with.. He punished Kramnik’s excessive opening aggression, and quickly took over the initiative. A strong positional sacrifice left him with the pair of bishops and pressure all over the board, especially against the queenside pawns. Black’s position became increasingly worse with every move, until White’s passed b-pawn was too strong. It was all over. Ivanchuk equally slayed Kramnik and Carlsen, and the Norwegian edges out on tiebreak.

Learn more about this opening!

The ABC of Chess Openings - 2nd Edition

by Andrew Martin

Available in the Shop

Ivanchuk, Vassily2757–Kramnik, Vladimir2810B08FIDE Candidates 20131401.04.2013Ramirez,Alejandro

1.d4 d6 2.e4 The Pirc. An obscure opening in the realm of elite players. Kramnik wasn't satisfied with neutralizing Ivanchuk, he was risking everything for the win. f6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e2 0-06.0-0 a6 7.h3 A classical and sedate approach. Strong both because of its positional value, but also because it steers the game away from the sharp complications Kramnik is so desperately looking for. c68.g5 b5 9.a3 h6 10.e3 e5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.c1 h7?Already a mistake, however the 'correct' move was far from human.12...d4 13.xh6 b7 14.xg7 xg7 15.d1 c5 16.e3e7 And Black has some compensation, but no more. 13.c5 e8 14.d1 d7 15.b4 c8 16.e3 White has more space, better coordinated pieces and actual prospects of invading d5, unlike Black who cannot move to d4. Also White is the one that can break the queenside. A very uncomfortable situation for Black. d817.a4 bxa4 18.xa4 e6 19.c4 h5 20.c3 hf4 21.d5b5 22.b3 c6 23.a5 b7 24.g3! A valiant sacrifice. With the h-pawn gone, White can occupy the h-file, putting pressure on every side of the board. Further, Black is left without a plan and without the strong knight on f4. xh3+ 25.g2 hg5 26.h1 g8 27.xg5xg5 28.f3 xd5 29.xd5 c6 30.c4 c8 31.b3 h5 32.e3e6 33.ha1 h4 Giving back the pawn does not alleviate Black's problems - he doesn't even get access to the f4 square. However it was hard to suggest much of anything, let alone a way to win this game.34.gxh4 d8 35.xa6 c8 36.h1 c7 37.xe6 xe6 38.b5!White's now up a pawn, and Black has the horrible choice between exposing his king to a strong attack or allowing a strong passed pawn on b6. b738...cxb5 39.xe6 fxe6 40.xe6+ f7 41.xg6+- 39.b6 c5 40.b1 f8 41.d5 b8 42.ba1 d6 43.a8 xd544.xb8 xb8 45.exd5 d6 The b-pawn is too strong, White has only to march his king forward. 46.a6 b7 47.f1 The King goes to a6, the game is over, Kramnik resigns and Magnus wins the tournament!

Download PGN

Pictures by Ray Morris-Hill

GM Daniel King shows the highlights of the last round

Current standings

The table displays Kramnik ahead on traditional tiebreak points, but the Candidates Tournament rules counts the number of wins – Carlsen five, Kramnik four – to break the tie, after the first tiebreaker, score against each other, was even.

Replay all games of the round

Aronian, L-Radjabov, TCarlsen, M-Svidler, PIvanchuk, V-Kramnik, VGelfand, B-Grischuk, A

Learn more about this opening!

The King’s Indian

by Viktor Bologan

Available in the Shop

Aronian, L2809–Radjabov, T27931–0E71FIDE Candidates1401.04.2013

1.d4 f6 2.c4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 0-0 6.g5 a67.f3 c5 8.dxc5 a5 9.d3 dxc5 10.0-0 c6 11.d5 e612.b3 b5 13.ac1 bxc4 14.xc4 xe4 15.b7 ac8 16.xe7xd5 17.xf8 b8 18.xb8 xb8 19.xd5 xf8 20.xe4 d721.b3 xa2 22.cd1 e5 23.d8+ e7 24.b8 xf3+ 25.xf3d4 26.g3 a5 27.e1+ f6 28.e2 b1+ 29.g2 a4 30.b7a3 31.d5 a2 32.xf7+ g5 33.h4+ h6 34.ee7 g5 35.e41–0

Download PGN

Select games from the dropdown menu above the board

Schedule and results

Round 1 March 15 at 14:00 Levon Aronian ½-½ Magnus Carlsen Boris Gelfand ½-½ Teimour Radjabov Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Alexander Grischuk Peter Svidler ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik Playchess commentary: GM Daniel King	Round 2 March 16 at 14:00 Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik Alexander Grischuk ½-½ Peter Svidler Teimour Radjabov 1-0 Vassily Ivanchuk Levon Aronian 1-0 Boris Gelfand Playchess commentary: GM Chris Ward
Round 3 March 17 at 14:00 Boris Gelfand 0-1 Magnus Carlsen Vassily Ivanchuk 0-1 Levon Aronian Peter Svidler 1-0 Teimour Radjabov Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Alexander Grischuk Playchess commentary: GM Yasser Seirawan	Round 4 March 19 at 14:00 Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Alexander Grischuk Teimour Radjabov ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik Levon Aronian  ½-½ Peter Svidler Boris Gelfand ½-½ Vassily Ivanchuk Playchess commentary: GM Daniel King
Round 5 March 20 at 14:00 Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Magnus Carlsen Peter Svidler ½-½ Boris Gelfand Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Levon Aronian Alexander Grischuk ½-½ Teimour Radjabov Playchess commentary: GM Yasser Seirawan	Round 6 March 21 at 14:00 Peter Svidler 0-1 Magnus Carlsen Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Vassily Ivanchuk Alexander Grischuk ½-½ Boris Gelfand Teimour Radjabov 0-1 Levon Aronian Playchess commentary: GM Chris Ward
Round 7 March 23 at 14:00 Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Teimour Radjabov Levon Aronian ½-½ Alexander Grischuk Boris Gelfand ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Peter Svidler Playchess commentary: GM Alejandro Ramirez	Round 8 March 24 at 14:00 Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Levon Aronian Teimour Radjabov 0-1 Boris Gelfand Alexander Grischuk 1-0 Vassily Ivanchuk Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 Peter Svidler Playchess commentary: GM Alejandro Ramirez
Round 9 March 25 at 14:00 Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Magnus Carlsen Peter Svidler ½-½ Alexander Grischuk Vassily Ivanchuk 1-0 Teimour Radjabov Boris Gelfand 1-0 Levon Aronian Playchess commentary: GM Maurice Ashley	Round 10 March 27 at 14:00 Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Boris Gelfand Levon Aronian 1-0 Vassily Ivanchuk Teimour Radjabov ½-½ Peter Svidler Alexander Grischuk 0-1 Vladimir Kramnik Playchess commentary: GM Yasser Seirawan
Round 11 March 28 at 14:00 Alexander Grischuk ½-½ Magnus Carlsen Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 Teimour Radjabov Peter Svidler 1-0 Levon Aronian Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Boris Gelfand Playchess commentary: GM Chris Ward	Round 12 March 29 at 14:00 Magnus Carlsen 0-1 Vassily Ivanchuk Boris Gelfand ½-½ Peter Svidler Levon Aronian 0-1 Vladimir Kramnik Teimour Radjabov ½-½ Alexander Grischuk Playchess commentary: GM Daniel King
Round 13 March 31 at 14:00 Teimour Radjabov 0-1 Magnus Carlsen Alexander Grischuk ½-½ Levon Aronian Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Boris Gelfand Peter Svidler 1-0 Vassily Ivanchuk Playchess commentary: GM Daniel King	Round 14 April 1 at 14:00 Magnus Carlsen 0-1 Peter Svidler Vassily Ivanchuk 1-0 Vladimir Kramnik Boris Gelfand ½-½ Alexander Grischuk Levon Aronian 1-0 Teimour Radjabov Playchess commentary: GM Maurice Ashley

The games start at 14:00h = 2 p.m. London time = 15:00h European time, 17:00h Moscow, 8 a.m. New York. You can find your regional starting time here. Note that Britain and Europe switch to Summer time on March 31, so that the last two rounds will start an hour earlier for places that do not swich or have already done so (e.g. USA). The commentary on Playchess begins one hour after the start of the games and is free for premium members.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.