Wednesday, August 30, 2006

ChessVille Free Playing Zone (and an update on what's happening)

While visiting ChessVille a couple of days ago, it came to my attention that the site offers it's own place to play (live) chess. It seems they had it up in the past and closed it down for whatever reason (atleast that is what i understand from what i've read). And now they've brought it back (i don't know the exact date when, but it was news to me)! The server makes use of Flash, so there are no downloads required. Here's a screenshot.

You're free to try as a guest. And in my opinion, it's a much better place to play then Yahoo! Chess (i still don't understand why it's so popular) who offers a similar kind of playing experience (as in "Flash"). Ofcourse, Yahoo! offers great services. But chess is just not one of them. Anyway, if you want to try it out, click on the link.

Chessville Free Playing Zone

As for me, i am having a difficult time finding time to sit down in front of the computer and continue working on PCT. If i do find the time, i find myself being either too tired (to the point where all i want to do is just lie down and fall asleep), having a serious headache, or trying to manage all of the turn-based correspondence type games i've got going across the web (let's hope practice compensates somewhat for not actually studying). But i hope i soon get the chance to get back to active studuty :-)

So don't take me of your sidebars just yet ;-) Start worrying when i still haven't posted after half a year or so.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Some books i am thinking about purchasing

- Chess Exam And Training Guide, Igor Khmelnitsky
- Chess for Fun and Chess for Blood, Edward Lasker
- Creative Chess Strategy, Alfonso Romero
- Chess Mazes, Bruce Albertson
- Chess for Zebras, Jonathan Rowson
- Chess Self-improvement, Zenon Franco
- Chess Praxis, A. Nimzowitsch
- My System 21st Century Edition, A. Nimzowitsch
- Judgment and Planning in Chess, Max Euwe
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Bronstein & Furstenberg
- The art of planning, Neil McDonald
- How to Reassess Your Chess: The Complete Chess Mastery Course (Exp. 3rd Edition), Jeremy Silman
- The Reassess Your Chess Workbook, Jeremy Silman
- The Art of Logical Thinking, Neil McDonald
- Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953, David Bronstein
- Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played, Irving Chernev
- Understanding Chess Move by Move, John Nunn
- 50 Essential Chess Lessons, Steve Giddins
- Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces, Igor Stohl
- Alexander Alekhine's Best Games: Algebraic Edition, A. Alekhine
- Pal Benko: My Life, Games and Compositions, Pal Benko, Jeremy Silman
- Super Nezh, Rashid Nezhmetdinov, Alex Pishkin
- The Middlegame - Book One: Static Features, Max Euwe, H. Kramer, Lou Hays
- The Middlegame - Book Two: Dynamic & Subjective Features, Max Euwe, H. Kramer, Lou Hays
- Art of Attack in Chess, Vladimir Vukovic
- Pawn Structure Chess, Andrew Soltis
- Simple Chess, Michael Stean
- The Amateur's Mind, Jeremy Silman
- Winning Chess Brilliancies, Yasser Seirawan
- Winning Chess Endings, Yasser Seirawan


These are some books that i am thinking about purchasing. Are any of my readers familiar with any of these books? Are they good? Are they bad? Are they the "must have" one's? Or if you have any other suggestions (i am allready familiar with the basics), do not hesitate to let me know, because i want to start a small (personal) chess book library. And hopefully even read them someday ;-)

P.S. I am also very interested in books that can be read without a board.

(Note! This post is subject to editing)

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Grandmaster vs Amateur (another game left unfinished)

[White "Dembo, Yelena"]
[Black "E"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2464"]
[BlackElo "----"
[EventType "game (corr)"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Bc4 c6 6. exd6 Qxd6 7. O-O Bg7 8. h3
O-O 9. Re1 Re8 10. Nbd2 Nd7 11. Bb3 N7f6 12. Nc4 Qc7 13. Nce5 Nd7


(final position with an advantage for White)