Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg

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  • Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg

    Round Six

    Sunday, April 28, 2013

    The matches today are Fressinet-Vitiugov, Aronian-Adams, Vachier-Lagrave-Gelfand, Ding Liren-Svidler and Kramnik-Anand.

    With the time difference, the games are starting at 6 a.m. Toronto/Montreal time. The commentators are Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam and Judit Polgar. She became a grandmaster at the age of 15 in 1991.

    (Dirk Jan) I saw you this morning at breakfast and first there was just you and your mother at a table for three and then more people came and then you had to go to a bigger table because so many people wanted to see you. You were the center of attention. They are surprised to see you in your role as commentator.

    (Judit) We had a nice breakfast with Aronian. The players are very tense right now. (Dirk Jan) You look very relaxed. You are relieved that you don’t have to play. (Judit) Yes, this is a different story. At a tournament, I usually rush from breakfast to my room to check all my notes to be focused for my game. Now I get to watch my colleagues.

    (Dirk Jan) We are the Mikhailovsky Palace, part of the Russian Museum. It is one of the biggest museums in the world with 400,000 artifacts with wonderful paintings and many more things. It is a complex of buildings and the Mihailovsky Palace is one of them. The chess tournament takes place here. We had a tour yesterday. If you take a wrong turn, you may suddenly find yourself among the paintings and there are ladies there who will direct you the right way.
    +++++++

    (Judit) For a professional, this is the tensest part of the game, the opening. Lagrave appears to have prepared something for his game against Gelfand. Surprise has a great value against a higher rated player. All the preparation that Gelfand made before the game is gone.

    Yesterday was a free day and most players took it as a rest day but also everyone spent a couple of hours to work on expected lines for today.

    (Dirk Jan) There were two starting times for the excursions at 12 or at 3 and Boris went at 12 to have enough time to do some work later on in the day.
    (Judit) Boris is a professional, a serious worker, spending many hours a day working and preparing for games because it is his life.
    (Dirk Jan) And while he was walking around in that museum, he must have had some variations in his head.
    (Judit) That happens with chess players. An idea can come to you at the most unusual times. The most popular sport of chess players is walking. Usually before the game I walk, coming with my mom or my husband, walking to the tournament. And also to have a walk before sleep, it is relaxing.
    ++++++++

    (Judit) Of my two other sisters, Susan was the most solid, the most classical. Her style is like that and her teachers and coaches were solid. Sofia was very artistic and liked the beauty of chess but not so focused on the preparation part. She is a very tactical player, like me, not like Susan. I like fireworks and to sacrifice as many pieces as possible and then to look around to see the effect.

    (Dirk Jan) So you must have been following Laurent Fressinet’s attack on Vladimir Kramnik with a lot of pleasure?
    (Judit) Well, that was amazing. When I met Laurent the other day I complimented him and told him that I envied that he played this game. I enjoyed every move of it and can I suggest to the audience to go back and replay that game. You don’t see many like that where Kramnik is beaten that way.
    (Dirk Jan) You have beaten almost everyone in classical chess except Kramnik?
    (Judit) Yes, I have beaten him in a blitz game.
    +++++++

    (Judit) You have to be very careful in an endgame. Strong players don’t pay enough attention to endgames. I always suggest to amateurs to spend time on endgames. It is part of the game when you are very tired, you are in time trouble and your knowledge can be very useful to you.
    Now we don’t have adjourned games any more but it is still important to know the theoretical endgames and it helps build your understanding of the game.
    (Dirk Jan) Was there one coach who helped you with endgames?
    (Judit) When I was nine, Sophia and I had training sessions. We worked on endgames from a very old book, Levenfish and Smyslov. Those times were very important. We found mistakes in the book but it was very important for our understanding of rook endgames. We learned the basic rules. Pal Benko came over when I was ten and he made me love endgame studies. It is incredible how beautiful he can make studies.
    ++++++++

    (Dirk Jan) Anand and Kramnik played each other for the first times in the late 80s – 1989 at the GMA Open in Moscow. They had a draw. Kramnik was a 14- year old boy. It reminded me of a story from Boris Gelfand. He said one of his biggest achievements was at a GMA tournament at Palma de Mallorca. He played a young Russian boy, Kramnik, in a blitz match. Boris had three minutes and Vladimir five and managed to keep the balance. It was one of the biggest achievements of his life.

    (They talk about Magnus Carlsen’s early days.)

    (Dirk Jan) What do you think of Maxime Lagrave leading the tourney?
    (Judit) He is a very talented young man who is very much focused on chess. He works on chess seriously and likes these tense situations. It is important that you are not only good in theory but also for what you can show at the board at the right moment. He is very fit to play here. For guys like Kramnik and Svidler it is just a tournament but it is an inspiration for Maxime to play in such a tournament. Laurent said that also. For the candidates it is just another tournament but for us it is THE tournament.

    (Dirk Jan) Yesterday we had a guided tour of the Russian Museum. Surikov is known for his big historical paintings. His major pieces are among the best-known paintings in Russia. Surikov was born in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Anyway, this has to do with the French doing well in this tournament and the Russians not doing well.
    The guide explained one of Surikov’s comic paintings. On the last day of Carnival, in Krasnoyarsk, they would have a simulated fight. They would build a small castle out of ice and then one party would defend the castle and its stock of wine bottles and the other party had to attack. In the painting, a man on the horse is breaking through the ice wall and he is going to be the winner.
    And then the guide said, “Do you know what the prize is going to be?” And I thought, “Probably ten litres of vodka..”. And then she said, “He is going to be beaten up by the others.” I said, “That is rather an odd thing for winning” and she said, “No, there is some philosophy behind it. Today you are a winner and tomorrow you will wake up with broken ribs and bruises and you will remember that life continues.”
    So maybe we have a very different prize in this tournament and only the Russians know!
    ++++++++

    (Dirk Jan) We are very grateful to the sponsors. It’s a beautiful room in one of the many buildings that belong to the Russian Museum. At the opening ceremony there was a string ensemble playing classical music. Andrei Filatov is a big art collector, who wants to combine art and chess. His even richer friend, Gennady Timchenko, co-sponsors this event.

    The chessplayers must feel like stars. In general, I wouldn’t talk about our trip. You just get on a plane and you fly here. As it turned out, the top seeds of the tourney, joined Andrei Filatov in his private jet. Other people like myself were feeling envious but when we went to the airport we found out that we also had a private jet, a Boeing 737, which didn’t have just normal seating but luxury seats so that you were not cramped but could walk around and the players could sleep. Then you arrive in Petersburg and end up in a venue like the Mikhailovsky Palace.
    ++++++++

    (Dirk Jan) We are going to give the answer to the two dates important in the life of Alekhine.

    The art was the cinema, In September 1919, Alekhine started his studies in the State School of Cinematography and in May of 1929, he went to Hollywood and was invited to play a role in a film called “Black Officer’s Crime”. This is new to me.

    Today’s question:

    A Spanish newspaper wrote in 1922 that Alekhine was stopped at the border because of his Soviet passport. It read: “You should not deny the fact that Alekhine follows the Bolshevik’s appeal..” – what are these words about?
    Send answers to quiz@chesstv.com

    I am not sure I quite understand the question?
    ++++++++

    (I have had to leave out much about the games because of space considerations.)

    All games were drawn today.

  • #2
    Re: Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg

    It struck me that some may want to see the painting “The Taking of a Snow Fortress” 1891 by Vasily Surikov.

    It is at:

    http://www.nationalmuseum.se/sv/Engl...-stormas-1891/

    Click on High resolution JPEG image.

    It shows the villagers ready to beat the hell out of the horseman with their switches. Is this what Fressinet or Vachier-Lagrave will get if they win the tournament from the Russians?

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg

      Round Seven

      Monday, April 29, 2013

      Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam and Judit Polgar are the commentators again.

      We have three pairings today where the players have not played each other before. These are Anand-Fressinet, Gelfand-Ding Liren and Vitiugov-Aronian.

      Svidler is playing Kramnik, whom he beat twice in 2011 – at the Tal Memorial and the Russian Super Final. Adams is playing Vachier-Lagrave.

      Yesterday Adams, as black against Aronian, picked one move from many possible winning moves 37….fxg4? and then could not win.

      Kramnik-Fressinet is the game of the tournament so far.
      ++++++++++++

      (Dirk Jan) Adams and Vachier-Lagrave have a funny history. They played against each other at the two most recent Olympiads – at Istanbul and Khanty-Mansiysk. Both games were drawn. There was an earlier game, when Maxime was ten years old. Adams was giving a simul in Paris and he beat Maxime. That was some time ago. That simul is an annual tradition and this year Maxime is giving it! That’s how it goes, youngsters grow up and they start to give simuls. (Judit) I gave my first one when I was seven years old together with my sisters in a small city in Hungary.
      +++++++

      (Dirk Jan) Boris Gelfand has moved away from the King’s Indian in recent years to the Grunfeld and something else. Is that quite understandable? Is that something you do at a certain point, just to refresh your view on the game? Or is that something or perhaps there are too many systems about which I have my doubts. (Judit) Well, Gelfand has been playing chess for more than 30 years. I think it is very important for professional players to renew themselves. Boris was able to do that and change his opening repertoire as black against d4 and e4. Due to that improvement he was able to become a challenger.

      Kramnik is one of those amazing persons who can change his style. It has been interesting in the last few years to see this. I know how deeply and professionally he is working and he is using the technology and analyzing engines and different seconds to get the initiative. At the board he is making brave and creative decisions. It really impresses me. At one point he was not playing so successfully. In London though he played extremely well.

      I now see players now, same faces but completely different in their playing from ten years ago. If you want to stay at your level, you must criticize and analyzing yourself. Practically, we are improving our knowledge and preparation. No matter how good I am, I have to look for new openings. Kasparov has done that.

      (Dirk Jan) The discussion is always “Who was the greatest chess player of all time – Fischer or Kasparov?” and I have chosen Kasparov because he was able to reinvent himself so often and to adapt to new circumstances with the computer. Later he went through his repertoire and altered it. Of course, Fischer had a brief career and didn’t do this.

      (Judit) I don’t like to compare former champions. Fischer was a fantastic player and gave a lot of positive things to chess but Kasparov had the opportunity to do this research into his opponents and focused on matches. Karpov did a bit of this too. (ironic) Anybody can buy a computer and different engines now so why not use them and play like Anand?

      It is very important for strong players now to use engines to check their work, and to decide which lines you should check with the computer. It is an interesting new pairing - the professional chess player should have these engines to check his work but in the end he has to play the game.
      +++++++++

      (Dirk Jan) Was Alekhine one of your childhood heroes? (Judit) he was too far away from me in time. When I was ten-years-old, playing through his 300 best games, I considered some of them too easy for him. His opposition was not strong enough. I was attached to modern players – Kasparov, when I was 12 or 13 and then later, Karpov. I preferred games with strong opposition. There are some positions that don’t appear today. Today people don’t allow their opponent to have the good knight against a bishop and be tortured for 40 moves. Defence now has become much stronger and a much higher quality than in those times. Not taking anything away from Alekhine, but today there is much more resistance.
      +++++++

      (Dirk Jan) When you met Bobby Fischer and you talked chess with him, how much of the great player was still there? (Judit) It was in 1993-94 and at that time he was busy thinking about other things like prearranged games and I paid little attention to that. I felt he didn’t have much respect for others at that time. He was focused on negative things. Maybe it was like Karpov said, that he was afraid to lose his title. It can’t get any better, it can only get worse. He preferred to pull himself out of the business. (Dirk Jan) Kasparov always went for every challenge and played everyone. Bring them on! He was a great champion.

      Fischer was not an easy person from the start. To be in the top ten, you need support from friends and family or partner to reach the highest level. It might have been one of Fischer’s problems that he was so alone and he had no one to depend upon.
      +++++++++

      The Alekhine quiz question. Yesterday’s was confusing and consequently no one sent in a correct answer, so we are saying that it didn’t exist! The new one:

      Which famous chess player exclaimed, “He treats us like we are yellow-beaked nestlings!” after he lost against Alekhine. Where was it?
      +++++++

      Judith’s first volume of games, Judit Polgar Teaches Chess 1 (How I Beat Fischer’s Record) came out last year. It got good reviews and two I read said that they would include it as one of their “desert island” books if compelled to choose. Another person said, “the paper and binding of this 392-pager are superb. Handled carefully, the book will last an lifetime, which is important because the book is of enduring value.”

      (Judit) I am working on the second volume of my trilogy; I am working on the manuscript now and it should appear in September/October. I hope it will be on time. It was rather enjoyable to write the first book, going back to my first games and reliving those early moments. My games, which I thought were very good, well, I have a different assessment of those games now. Like from 1994, the Sicilian tournament in Buenos Aires – my game against Shirov. It is an interesting process making such a book. I kept a diary and many times what I wrote there included chess notes, situations before the game, what I felt, comments of my opponent after the game, what he was preparing... This is why it is a more complete work. I look at the times on the score sheets to see how much time I spent, if there was home preparation and so forth. I want to do it the best possible way.

      The first book was with Mikhail Marin (Romanian grandmaster and chess author). He was at our place in the early 90s and then he became my second. When I decided to make a complete collection of my games I asked him how to structure it and to help me. It is important for me that I am working with someone who is a friend. He comes over to Budapest to discuss it. He is a busy traveller.

      I have a daughter, who will be 7 in July and a son, who will be 9, in August. Travelling is the best way to learn. It is completely natural for them to go overseas. Especially for my son, who loves big planes. When I was a child, it was not usual for Hungarians to travel out of overseas. Our first trip was to the USA in 1986, New York Open. A year earlier the whole family was not allowed to go together because the authorities thought we would defect. It is difficult to explain to your children what communism was like. I haven’t even tried yet.

      The iPhone didn’t exist when I was their age. A laptop weighed 8 or 9 kilos, when I was 15-years-old. They look at me and try to understand but don’t. Now you can check the weather on your telephone. They grew up in this environment and have not known anything different. We didn’t have those things then and now the whole world is open.
      +++++++

      Gelfand-Ding Liren goes on, with Gelfand finally winning. Previously, Anand had beaten Fressinet, and the other three games, Adams-Lagrave, Vitiugov-Aronian and Svidler-Kramnik, were drawn.
      +++++++

      Note: There is a great conference with Judit at:

      http://www.crestbook.com/node/1668/

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg

        Round Eight

        Tuesday, April 30, 2013

        All the players are in suits and ties. Gelfand has taken his tie off and put it aside, which is a sign that it is going to be a long game against Kramnik.

        The Regulations state that the Participants have to follow the dress code of the tournament, which Dirk Jan explains is “elegant casual” for example “suit and tie”.
        Anand does not like to wear a tie.

        The Regs also say that:

        The Participants are not allowed to offer a draw up to and including move 40
        The participants are required to comment on their games in the press centre after each round unless they have lost
        In case of a tie, the following auxiliary scorings are used for players’ places identification:

        - Maximum number of games played with black pieces;

        - Maximum number of wins;

        - Direct encounter result;

        - Koja coefficient;

        - Sonneborn-Berger score.

        The Prize Fund is 100,000 euros with the distribution being:

        First 30,000 euros
        Second 20,000 euros
        Third 15,000 euros

        And so on, until 1,500 euros for 10th place. These are the prizes after taxation.
        At the rate of exchange today – first prize is worth $39,650 Canadian.
        +++++++

        This morning three special prizes were announced.

        The first was for the best game played in the style of Alexander Alekhine. The second, for the best technique and third, for the best result in Petersburg.
        These are to inspire the players to keep on playing hard until the end. The actual prizes were not mentioned but Dirk Jan saw Mr. Timchenko going into a jewelry store yesterday!
        ++++++++

        What is the Koja coefficient?

        And doesn’t 1500 euro for tenth place seem like quite small compensation for two weeks’ hard work? I understand that it is tax-free and you are also getting free meals and accommodation and jet travel, but still…
        Last edited by Wayne Komer; Tuesday, 30th April, 2013, 10:34 AM. Reason: Added last sentence

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg

          Round Eight (continued)

          Judit and Dirk Jan are moderators again.

          Levon has many opening ideas that he prepared and didn’t get to show in London. Sometimes players prepare for a match and the opening doesn’t turn up. After all, their adversary wants to avoid the opening preparation. One of the most extreme examples of this was in the match Leko-Kramnik (2004) for the World Championship, when both players must have spent months on the Sveshnikov Sicilian, because they both played it and not one game opened that way!

          (Judit) In Kasparov-Kramnik WCC (2000), Kramnik prepared the Berlin Defence and Kasparov could not cope with it throughout the match.
          +++++++

          (Dirk Jan) Aronian and Fressinet don’t play each other very often – only five times so far. They actually met for the first time in the Under-14 European Championship way back in 1995. Laurent won the game.
          +++++

          (Dirk Jan) There is an American newspaper with a chess column that consists only of a diagram and the question “Mate in One”. It is very popular. The exercise is good for children. Judit, a journalist visited your house when you were a kid and wrote that you would wake up and there would be chess positions on the wall that you had to solve. Is that true?

          (Judit) Yes, I even have a picture in my book of this. Imagine a wooden deck on the wall; there were thirty miniature magnetic chess sets on it and so thirty exercises to be solved. We wrote down the solutions when we had spare time. Sofia and I would sit there looking at the wall. We had it for years. Sometimes only studies, sometimes exercises from different books, mates in two, etc. Different trainers put out different exercises. Sometimes someone knocked away a piece from a board with their shoulder and we could not solve these and yet worked out what had happened. In the main we liked these exercises very much.

          (Dirk Jan) There was a big book published by your father with more than 5000 puzzles. (Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games by Laszlo Polgar (1995))..

          (Judit) My father collected these and they were intended for amateur players. It was published more than 20 years ago and I still bump into copies whereever I go. Coaches and players like to use it. It is a languageless book.

          (Dirk Jan) Do your children play chess?

          (Judit) Yes, they are playing tomorrow at a tournament in Hungary. They are not so strong yet. My kids watched me training at home. Sometimes we played chess and they have classes at school. I am happy that they play and I hope they can reach a level where they can appreciate some of my good games.

          About two months ago, my son Oliver had a judo class and he was chatting with a boy from another class. The other said that he had been playing for three years and he asked my son if he played chess and Oliver said, “Yes, I do, and my mom is the best woman player in the world.” And the other boy said, “Well, I am sure that Judit Polgar would beat her!” And Oliver said, “Judit Polgar is my mom.” And the other boy said, “Sure!”

          (Dirk Jan) It is a great thing that you are thoroughly enjoying your chess career. You are also doing things with a social significance, promoting chess in schools. It is not just a game.

          (Judit) I have been involved in chess in education and wrote a small book on this with Sophia. Also, I have worked with Garry Kasparov to have chess in school with the European Union. The next step is to have it implemented in their curriculum. Hungary was the first country to do this. The program is not just teaching chess but teaching with chess – coordinating it with math and other subjects. It is optional. Schools can choose to implement it or not. There is a big interest and a positive feedback from parents.

          (Dirk Jan) In your younger years, your parents were fighting the school system and now the schools are embracing chess for youths. There is an irony in this - Polgar wants chess in schools and she didn’t even go to school herself!
          ++++++++

          Aronian draws. Judit loves his move 21….Kf7 in the endgame. (Dirk Jan) There is a book called Draw! (1982) by Heidenfeld with a new edition by Nunn. It consists of games that ended in a draw but were spectacular in one way or another (there was a set of rules for their selection). A great book. Even with a draw there can be a winner and a loser. Just the other day when Aronian drew against Adams, Aronian was the “winner” and Adams the “loser”.
          +++++++++

          The answer to the quiz question of yesterday as to who uttered that quote about Alekhine treating them like “yellow-beaked fledglings” – was Aron Nimzowitsch at Bled 1931. Alekhine had defeated him and ran away with the tournament with 20 ½ points, ahead of Bogoljubov and Nimzowitsch, with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
          For more on the quote see Note 6684 at Chess Notes

          http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/w...l_v_Capablanca

          Today’s question is

          Mark Taimanov once compared world chess champions with great composers. He saw something of Beethoven in Lasker’s games and he looked upon Capablanca as chess Mozart. Whom did he compare Alekhine to?
          +++++++++

          Judit talks about how many times you have to win a game because there are difficult positions, each which has to be won. Kasparov had to win his game three times against her at Dos Hermanas in 1997. This will be written up in the second volume of her games, which she is now working on.

          (Dirk Jan) Kamsky and Kasparov were at the poolside in the big hotel at Dos Hermanas in that year. It was very hot and Kamsky wanted to swim the entire length of the pool underwater. Garry was watching and someone there said, “It looks like he is hoping that Kamsky never resurfaces.” At that point their relations were not good. In a speech later, at some official reception where Kamsky’s father compared Garry to all the dictators in the world. There were a lot of intense rivalries in those years that are best forgotten. Dos Hermanas is a village 12 kilometres from Seville. Chess takes place during the yearly festival with the revelers in costume. The tourneys were in the second half of April and it was one of the hottest places in Spain.

          (I have tried to find what year Kamsky and Kasparov were at Dos Hermanas together and cannot verify 1997. Too bad, it is a great story - WK)
          +++++++

          Vitiugov beat Lagrave and draws in Anand-Svidler, Ding Liren-Adams and Fressinet-Aronian. Kramnik-Gelfand goes on.

          (Judit) I can see from Gelfand’s face that this game with Kramnik will go on for several more hours. He was walking up and down when I saw him in the break. It eases the tension. I can remember at Linares there was a huge corridor on the side where the players could walk up and down and it was very busy.

          (Dirk Jan) If Kramnik can win this, he surely will win the special technique prize.
          We are supposed to start one hour earlier tomorrow. This is so there will be time for the prize-giving unless there is a long game like this one.

          It is an endgame of two white rooks against black knight and rook – each with two pawns.
          ++++++++

          After a very long and difficult game, we have a draw. It lasted almost seven hours. Gelfand saved his skin and enters the last round with half a point lead over four other players. Boris plays Anand tomorrow, 1 p.m. Petersburg time. Who is going to win the Alekhine Memorial?

          The players are analyzing at the board. The editor of 64 chess magazine, Mark Glukhovsky, has joined them and so has Alexander Huzman, the second of Boris Gelfand. (I believe that Huzman has helped GM Mark Bluvshtein as well).
          Last edited by Wayne Komer; Tuesday, 30th April, 2013, 04:33 PM. Reason: missing comma

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg

            Good question...and interesting comparisions between chess players and classical composers. Did he compared Alekhin with Bach? It would at least keep the proportions of greatness.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg

              Possibly Bach or Brahms – could he be a Romantic like Tchaikovsky?

              There is a first-class interview with Taimanov at:

              http://www.chessintranslation.com/20...aimanov-at-85/

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg # answer !

                Originally posted by Laurentiu Grigorescu View Post
                Good question...and interesting comparisions between chess players and classical composers. Did he compared Alekhin with Bach? It would at least keep the proportions of greatness.
                In an interview with Lev Khariton he compared certain Grandmasters with great composers:

                "Well, for me the resemblance between Capablanca and Mozart is absolutely evident. I would compare Lasker with Beethoven, and Steinitz with Bach. Alekhine with his wealth of ideas and sense of harmony is akin to Rachmaninoff. Smyslov's harmony is closer to that of Chaikovsky's. Fischer is as monumental as Liszt. Tal reminds me of Paganini - the same self-abandon and fatalism. Botvinnik is associated for me with Wagner. Karpov's chess is as simple and as complicated as Prokofiev's music. Kasparov with his dynamic play brings to mind Shostakovich and his symphonies..."

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg # answer !

                  Comprehensively amazing!

                  Quiz: Today’s question:

                  How is the song “Chizhyk-Pyzhik, where have you been? I drank vodka on the Fontanka” related to Alekhine?

                  (Dirk Jan) Any answer is good. If you don’t know the answer, make something creative up. We’ll enjoy those and pick a winner. Send to quiz@chesstv.com

                  This is the last quiz.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg # answer !

                    Originally posted by Wayne Komer View Post
                    Comprehensively amazing!

                    Quiz: Today’s question:

                    How is the song “Chizhyk-Pyzhik, where have you been? I drank vodka on the Fontanka” related to Alekhine?

                    (Dirk Jan) Any answer is good. If you don’t know the answer, make something creative up. We’ll enjoy those and pick a winner. Send to quiz@chesstv.com

                    This is the last quiz.
                    I found the answer !! If you want to know, please contact me to gignac_guy@hotmail.com

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg # answer !

                      Round Nine

                      Wednesday, May 1, 2013

                      Judith Polgar and Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam

                      Today is Labour Day in Russia, a holiday.

                      Boris Gelfand is leading just a half-point ahead of the pack. Aronian-Lagrave is a regular Grunfeld. There are tons of theory on that. In Karpov-Kasparov 1987, there were non-stop Grunfelds.
                      (Dirk Jan) - Alexander Khalifman was a big expert. At a certain time, around 2000, Khalifman found an old notebook where he had made all his notes about this variation. And he had another look and used it with great effect in one of his games.
                      He wrote an article on it for NIC entitled “The Old Notebook Story”. He was simply amazed by the depth and accuracy of his analysis, made in the pre-computer age. He used it with great effect in one of the more important games in his career.

                      I took this problem seriously and wanted to start my studies by checking some old books. In the usual chaos (I’ve got plenty of old books but unfortunately I haven’t used them much since the dawning of the ChessBase era) I found a rather old notebook. For the younger or ‘technically advanced’ readers: I do not mean a portable computer, but a number of sheets of paper bound together. In pre-history (about 10 years ago) people used things like this to collect useful data. So I found some opening lines there that I had analysed by myself or with some friends of mine during 1984-1989. I’m not sure I have the right to name those who were doing this titanic work together with me in full, but thanks a lot anyway, Boris, Alexey, Vladimir – it was a great time! There was a strange nostalgic feeling when I saw the myriads of lines written down in this notebook.

                      See: http://www.newinchess.com/Yearbook/pdf/YB55_165.pdf
                      ++++++

                      (Judit) For years Vishy beat me and I had a terrible score against him. They were Sicilians with lots of fireworks. Then one day, I said I am going to make a draw. He played the Dragon, we exchanged queens and made a draw on move 16. He was really annoyed at the draw but his string of victories was stopped. In 2003 I had a rapid match with him in Mainz.
                      (Dirk Jan) They are still cleaning the blood off the walls from that one.
                      (Judit) There were eight games and no draws. We were hitting each other like there was no tomorrow.
                      ++++++++++

                      (Analyzing Svidler-Fressinet) (Dirk Jan) - The Breyer line, named after Gyula Breyer, a Hungarian, and underestimated by chess history. Someone is working on a book about Breyer, which I hope will appear at the end of this year, Jimmy Adams, the well-known chess historian and writer from England. He has access to original Hungarian sources.
                      +++++++++

                      (Dirk Jan) - The quiz question from yesterday concerned comparisons between world champions and composers by Mark Taimanov. He has been visiting the tournament here. He compared Capablanca to Mozart. To which composer did he compare Alexander Alekhine? – The answer is Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninoff – (reads) Taimanov used to say, “Alekhine is a Russian romantic. His games are powered by fantasy, full of his own pure character. He creates bright images and stories full of emotion. That looks very much like Rachmaninoff, his compatriot whose music is full of romantic content and White Russian melodies.”

                      An interesting view. You must all know his famous 2nd Piano Concerto. I also advise you to listen to his Second Symphony. Wonderful - lots of Russian romanticism there. The prize was won by an Argentinian.

                      They have a wonderful chess club in Buenos Aires. You’ll remember they had a Sicilian theme tournament in 1994. Miguel Najdorf lived there. One of the most special days in my chess career as a journalist was when I accompanied Najdorf for a day.. We spent a day together. I have written about this in “The Day Kasparov Quit”. It was the day that Judit Polgar was made an honorary citizen of Buenos Aires at City Hall. Najdorf made a speech there. At the start of the tournament, there was a small stage. He was so used to be among the players that he walked into the space and he said in a very loud voice, “Can I watch?” It was very normal for him to be among the chess players and then get engrossed in one of the games and sit down on a player’s chair. Kamsky disturbed him with “May I take my seat?” He was quite a character. He came to the Dos Hermanas tourney. The players tired, had all gone to bed and he would still be playing blitz. He was a fantastic chess lover.
                      +++++++

                      (Dirk Jan) – It was suggested to the players at the London Candidates that they might tweet something during the games. They were thinking of having a booth somewhere to which they might go during play and tweet how things are going and what they had been thinking of during their move.
                      (Judit) (shocked) – There is a limit with what you can do in communicating with the public. Can you see Boris sitting on the stage and someone coming over and tapping him on the shoulder and asking him to go backstage and tweet. I would like to see a photograph of his face if that happened!
                      ++++++++

                      (Judit) I work with different analyzing engines. It is clear that if you want to learn the game, you must not use the engines all the time. You can get a little help from the computer – maybe 20 to 30 per cent. The brain gets lazy otherwise. You have to have the strength not to push the button right away. Analyze with your friends and then check with the computer after.
                      +++++++

                      Draws in Vitiugov-Ding Liren, Svidler-Fressinet and Gelfand-Anand. Aronian beat Vachier-Lagrave and has likely won the tournament. Adams is trying to survive in his game against Kramnik. Kramnik and Adams have had long games. Kramnik always feels he can press the opponent and win the game. He is very unhappy at the moment. He shouldn’t have taken the pawn on a4 and he is showing his opponent that he is unhappy.
                      ++++++++++

                      (Dirk Jan) The gentleman in front of the hall is Boris Postovsky, the Chief Arbiter. He is trying to keep people quiet. He is an esteemed trainer and has been the coach of the Russian national team and the American national team. He is living these days in Boston. He wants the players to have every consideration. He lives for the cult of Caissa.
                      +++++++

                      Adams thinks that there has been a three-fold repetition of position. The players go behind the scene where they check if this is true. There is a break of a few minutes while they reconstruct the game. There was no repetition and Kramnik has two minutes added to his. It was an unfortunate claim but Adams is clearly very tired.
                      Mickey Adams resigns. The game has gone almost seven hours.
                      +++++++++++

                      At the ceremony afterwards, the prizes are given in reverse order of merit. The order based on tie-break is: 10. Svidler; 9. Ding Liren; 8. Vachier-Lagrave; 7. Kramnik; 6. Fressinet; 5. Vitiugov; 4. Adams; 3. Anand; 2. Gelfand and 1. Aronian.

                      Aronian receives what looks like a large white china samovar with Alekhine’s picture on it. He acknowledges Boris Gelfand as co-winner during his acceptance speech.

                      The special prizes:

                      For the best game in the style of Alekhine, Fressinet for his game against Kramnik.
                      For the best combination, Ding Liren for his game against Aronian in the first round
                      For the best technique, Gelfand for his game against Adams.
                      The prize for the best score in the St. Petersburg leg of the tourney to Vitiugov.
                      ++++++++

                      A couple of things are not cleared up by the end of the transmission – no answer was given to the Alekhine question about the song “Chizhyk-Pyzhik, where have you been? I drank vodka on the Fontanka”

                      That last sentence about the Fontanka will be going through my head for the next week.
                      Perhaps Guy can favour us with the answer after a suitable period for our reflection.

                      No one said what the tie-breaker Koja coefficient is. Can this just be how the K-coefficient is referred to in Russia?

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                      • #12
                        Re: Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg

                        It’s been pointed out on the ECForum that the Koya/Koja System is detailed in the FIDE Handbook under 2. A. Explanations of Tie-Break Systems.

                        http://www.fide.com/component/handbo...=article&id=20

                        (d) Koya System for Round-Robin Tournaments
                        This is the number of points achieved against all opponents who have achieved 50% or more.

                        (d1) The Koya System Extended
                        The Koya system may be extended, step by step, to include score groups with less than 50%, or reduced, step by step, to exclude players who scored 50% and then higher scores.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg

                          “Chizhyk-Pyzhik, where have you been? I drank vodka on the Fontanka” is a Russian nursery rhyme. It refers to students of the Imperial School of Jurisprudence, who frequented a pub on the Fontanka Quay in St. Petersburg.

                          Alekhine was a graduate of the Imperial School of Jurisprudence.


                          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chizhik-Pyzhik

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