Coffee Break ChessGM Alexander Baburin's online newsletter |
It seems that there are so many chess events nowadays, that one can have something to write about every day. Recently, I started a weekly chess column for the Irish newspaper Sunday Independent. At first I was not sure whether I would have enough interesting topics to cover, but now I can see that its possible to fill in a daily column! Hence the very short pause between this issue and the previous one.
Vishy Anand was in superb form at the first FIDE World Cup and won it very convincingly. It was a very interesting event to watch and I followed many games live at: www.worldchesscup.com. I am becoming more and more in favour of the knockout system. OK, it is tough for players, but they are professionals and should be able to live with the stress. And who said that it is easier to drag on in a long and painful tournament when you are out of form? Is it psychologically easier when everyone looks at you as the only prey around? In this sense knockouts are more human - we can actually say about them: - no gain, no pain! - :-). And, it is much more interesting for spectators! Hopefully, events like this will become much more common. Here is Anands decisive game in the final:
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Anand,V (2762) - Bareev,E (2702)
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Anand and Shirov will play a short match in Australia. Coverage is at sydney.fide.com. This match is a part of FIDEs promotion in Sydney. However, it remains to be seen whether chess will actually benefit from joining the Olympics (if we ever join!). Sure, financial support might get better in some countries, but will chess not get lost in such a massive event as the Olympics? What also worries me is that soon we might have drug testing, while nobody has told the players what actually is a drug in chess. Is a cup of coffee too much? What about two cups?
This year US Championships were under serious threat - it was possible that the worlds richest nation, which is doing so well economically, will not find money to fund its national championships. Fortunately, GM Seirawan and one of his friends stepped in and saved the event, which will soon start in Seattle. Read Mike Franetts story in the Chess Café at: www.chesscafe.com/franett/franett.htm.
Another interesting event to watch is the Najdorf Memorial in Buenos
Aires. You can find the news at its official site:
www.adrian.roldan.com.
At the moment Bologan and Karpov are in the lead. See coverage also at:
msoworld.com/mindzine/news/chess/najdorf2000.html.
I did not go to the Mind Sports site for a long time, but now I see that they have lots of chess content. This can be said about many sites nowadays - I think chess on the Web has matured a lot in the last year or so. For example, www.chessbase.com looks very good now. By the way, Chess Base recently released a new version of its main product - Chess Base 8.0. I have been working for Chess Base for more than 5 years now and used their program even longer! Their Chess Base Magazine is pretty good, and I do its tactical review. Here is one tactical puzzle:
Black to play and mate in two
See the answer at the end of this article.
Another site to watch, is InterChess Club - www.interchess.com. Of course, it is hard to compete with ICC, which provides an excellent service, but the Moscow playing zone is consistently improving their site.
Looking for a tournament to play in October? I can recommend two events: Monarch Assurance Open in the Isle of Man (16-22 October; charteris.co.uk/events.html) and the Bavarian Open in Bad Wiessee (28 October - 5 November; www.schach-am-tegernsee.de/oib2000). As for me, in October I will play in a strong open in the Faeroe Island. Then I will travel to Istanbul with the Irish team. After that I will play in the Norkom Open in Kilkenny. Early next year I plan to take part in a few tournaments in the USA. Apart from playing, Ill be working on the Internet, where I will have some very interesting news coming soon for you - stay tuned! BTW, drop me a note about what you would like to see in the CBC - I always appreciate your feedback!
Solution of the tactical puzzle: In the game S. Sergienko - A. Rustemov, Samara 2000, Black played 39...Qh2+! and White resigned in view of 40.Nxh2 Ng3# What a pretty finish!
Alexander Baburin, Dublin
ababurin.tripod.com
chessauction.tripod.com/
I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at: MOHCTP@ix.netcom.com.
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