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GM Alireza Firouzja gained his very first classical victory vs. a world champion in round five of the Superbet Classic Romania 2023. The youngest player to break 2800 defeated GM Ding Liren in a back-and-forth duel for the initiative, scoring his second win in a row.

The 19-year-old grandmaster joins GM Richard Rapport and GM Wesley So in a tie for second place. GM Fabiano Caruana continues to lead by half a point after a comfortable draw as Black vs. GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has begun to turn around a rocky start with his first tournament win. He defeated GM Ian Nepomniachtchiby turning a challenging defensive position into a tactical delight.

After the rest day on Thursday, the first leg of the Grand Chess Tour continues with round six on Friday, May 12, starting at 5:00 a.m. Pacific/14:00 CEST.

See what happened

With just four draws between them, their first-ever decisive classical game gaveFirouzja the honor of dealing Ding his first loss as the reigning world champion.

In a d3 Ruy Lopez, Firouzja opted for an enterprising sacrifice of his e4-pawn to instigate a combative middlegame. When he followed it up inaccurately, Ding wrestled the initiative from the 19-year-old's hands by launching his passed center pawn up the board. Both players brought all hands on deck to focus on the raging battle in the center. When Ding chose to leap the wrong knight to e4, Firouzja traded into an advantageous queen vs. rook and bishop ending.

Though Ding had chances to set up a fortress, he instead chose to bring his rook to his opponent's second rank to try to create counterplay. The Chinese grandmaster's scattered forces left his kingside too weak, and Firouzja stormed his connected passers up towards promotion to seal the victory.

The 2022 Grand Chess Tour champion was elated after the game: "I feel really happy. For sure, it's an easier world champion than Magnus. Of course, Ding is really strong. I'm happy to get this victory because now I move to plus one. It's really important."

This pivotal victory is our Game of the Day, analyzed by GM Dejan Bojkov.

With this victory, Firouzja returns to number two in the world in live rankings, leapfrogging the world champion and his recent challenger, Nepomniachtchi, who also experienced a disappointing turn of events today.

Vachier-Lagrave delivered Nepomniachtchi his second loss in a row today. In a queenless middlegame arising from an Alapin Sicilian, the challenger pressed a comfortable edge with the white pieces. But in his ambitions to play for the win, Nepomniachtchi allowed the French grandmaster to create powerful counterplay with his doubled rooks on the h-file. Inspired by the fresh life in his position, Vachier-Lagrave started a tactical onslaught against Nepomniachtchi's king, leading to a decisive win of material.

The French grandmaster was relieved to be back on an even score for the tournament. Before Nepomniachtchi let him back into the game, Vachier-Lagrave's own assessment of his middlegame position was quite bleak: "My position was s*****. There's no other word."

This was another matchup with a short history: 2-1 in Caruana's favor, with just four draws. The tournament leader managed to neutralize Duda's first move advantage in the opening. With White's rook awkwardly placed on e3 and his queenside undeveloped, Caruana centralized one of his knights on c5 and then planted the other on the appealing f4 post, offering him influence on the queenside, center, and kingside.

Tactic alert: On move 23, Caruana allowed Duda to capture his center pawn on e5. What idea did he have ready to keep the balance?

This comfortable result for Caruana with the black pieces keeps his lead heading into the rest day.

Shockingly, Rapport has never defeated Giri in a classical game. Contrastingly, Giri has four victories out of their nine games. The Romanian number one had chances today, gaining a substantial edge with Black as the queens were traded. Between his hopping knights, centralized rooks, and advanced e4-pawn, Rapport had full control of the center while every single one of Giri's pieces watched from the back rank. However, Black went astray with 31...f5, allowing the elusive Dutch grandmaster to create an advanced passer on the queenside and generate enough counterplay for equality.

With pawns left on only the d- to h-files, So gained a compelling space edge, a potent knight on f5, and a target in Black's backward d6-pawn. Though the American grandmaster maneuvered with the hopes of increasing his advantage, GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac defended with vigor, bringing his rook to White's second rank, creating a pin on his opponent's eager knight, and breaking in the center with 44...f5. His energetic play gained him full equality in the arising ending.

Results - Round 5

Standings - Round 5

Round six will feature a key matchup: Coming off back-to-back wins, Firouzja will get his shot at the tournament leader, Caruana.

Pairings - Round 6

Previous Coverage:

See the article here:
Firouzja Defeats A World Champion For 1st Time - Chess.com

There are 20 possible first moves in chess: each of the eight pawns can move one or two squares forward, and each of the two knights has two squares it can go to.

But not everything that is equally legal is equally advisable as a course of action. In this article: every opening move, tiered and ranked.

Check out this great video by WGM Keti Tstsalashvili:

There's an old Far Side cartoon where a guy has parked his bike at a missile silo and is staring right down an open hatch. The caption: "Never, never do this." These first moves are the chess equivalent.

It's a good move... if you're trying to explain Fool's Mate to someone.

As perThe Princess Bride, play this and you've fallen for one of the classic blunders. In this case, the blunder is immediately trying to develop your rook.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall... what happens if I try it on the other side? Why, the same thing, of course.

Why would you play this move? Are you trying to keep a piece off of g4, even though none can get there yet?

Planning ahead is admirable but there's nothing to be afraid of here. Imagine if Paul Morphy began the most famous game with h3 instead, just to stop Black's bishop from coming to g4.

The good news here is you've developed a piece. The bad news is you've played the knight to the edge of the board where it doesn't do very much.

They call this one the Sodium Attack because the "Na" from the notation is also the chemical symbol of sodium (the Latin word was "natrium"). And, as happens with consuming sodium, your blood pressure will go up if you play this move too much.

The "Nh" in this move, on the other hand, does not have chemical significance, unless you're under the influence of chemicals when you play it.

Do you ever have the white pieces but really want to play as Black? Then there is a move for you!

It's hard to explain why this move is better than #17. So I won't. Just know that the player for whom it's named, Adolf Anderssen, beat Morphy with it once.

Playing these pawns two squares forward on move one is very common. Playing them a single square? Less so.

Type 1.c3 into Google and I'm pretty sure it will ask, "Did you mean c4?" I haven't tested this hypothesis.

I suppose it's good that the hardest opening to pronounce is an obscure one. Imagine having to regularly say the name "Van't Kruijs" in chess conversation.

Objectively not much worse than starting with g3 or Nf3, it's just less immediately obvious that you've played chess before when you start with d3.

Unless you know what you're doing, these moves are inadvisable. Even if youdo know what you're doing, do you really know what you're doing when you're doing this?

Also, definitely don't play these in a row.

Named for Henri Grob, not because the move is Grob-awful, although it is that too. The thing about this move is it can be tricky for Black to handle, but objectively, it belongs even lower on this list.

Called the Bird Opening even though it's not even a middle pawn, White can win with this opening, but Stockfish won't be happy at first.

Your opponent may be slightly confused after these moves, but unless you play them regularly and know all the ins and outs (and what-have-yous), you might also quickly get confused yourself.

Whether you call it the van Geet or the Dunst, it's fun to say. Plus it's not as bad as it looks. Still, you'll find better moves.

Another move with a fun name: the Orangutan! But you can also call it the Polish Opening if you need to appease people with last names like Wojtaszek or Stapczynski.

The Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack, named after two great Danesnot to be confused with two Great Danes. (Nimzowitsch was Latvian but lived in Denmark after the First War of the Worlds World War.)

Good for bullet because the dark-squared bishop will soon aim at the kingside. Far less good for classical because of games like this:

Now we're getting somewhere.

Immediately starting the kingside fianchetto now is perfectly good. It's a lot harder to get instantly owned with this than with the mirror b3 move.

England fancies itself sophisticated (or at least has that reputation... might we offer you spot of tea?), and few opening moves are as sophisticated as the English Opening, c4.

The English attacks d5 and plans to develop the knight behind the pawn. That may seem innocuous, but it's an excellent early-game strategy, at least for intermediate players or higher.

By far the best opening knight move, because it begins kingside development while centralizing the knight. White has all sorts of legitimate follow-ups regardless of how Black responds, making this the most flexible opening move. Flexiblethat's a word chess players like almost as much as gymnasts do.

And now we get to these famous step-siblings, although they indicate somewhat more intelligence and poise than some other step-siblings do. But which move is better?

Yep, time for a cop-out. The age-old e4-or-d4 question is truly a matter of preference. If you like games that quickly flame out into boring draws, then e4 is the opening move for you. If you like tense positional struggles that can explode into tactics at any moment, then d4 is the move to play.

Okay, you can tell which one I prefer, but really, the choice is yours. And e4 is easier for beginners to grok. But no matter your level, you truly cannot go wrong in any way by starting the game with either e4 or d4.

What is your favorite opening move? Do you have a move you like that isn't in our top five? Let us know in the comments!

See original here:
Every First Move Ranked (From Worst To Best) - Chess.com

The Week in Chess 1488

TWIC Home

My thanks to Olexandr Prohorov, Holger Lieske,Eldis Viler, Miguel E. Gomez Masjuan, Paz Avineri,David Llada, Ehud Lahav, Simon McNamara,Anders Hansen, Mohammad Fahad Rahman and everyone else who helped with this issue.

Fabiano Caruana returned to winning ways finished clear first in the Superbet Chess Classic.The elite field was closely bunched with four players finished half a point behind.World Champion Ding Liren was subdued throughout only winning his final game, thingswere even worse for Ian Nepomniachtchi, this was simply too soon for either. No doubtthey had to decide whether to play the series or not. Peter Svidler won his first tournament since2017 taking clear first place in the Sigeman and Co tournaments, he was saved a playoff by BorisGelfand who won a long grind against Abhimanyu Mishra to cost the Indian a tie for first.The Capablanca Memoria was won by Jonas Buhl Bjerre and tbe Stepan Avagyan Memorial by Sam Sevian.It's really nice to see the return some tough over the board action. Online the PRO Chess Leaguewas won by the Gotham Knights led by Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen won first fourth Titled Tuesdayevent.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

Mark

The first issue of TWIC was produced on September 17th 1994.I rely on advertising and donations to be able to keep going.If TWIC is important and useful to you please consider giving a donation.

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The Superbet Chess Classic Romania took place in Bucharest 6th to 16th May 2023. This is the first leg of the Grand Chess tour.Fabiano Caruana won the event with 5.5/9 half a point clear of Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So, Anish Giri and Richard Rapport.World Champion Ding Liren won in the final round but otherwise was subdued as was Ian Nepomniachtchi. This was really toosoon after their match for either to be playing their best.

The 28th Sigeman & Co tournament took place in Malmo, Sweden 4th to 10th May 2023, Category 17. Players: D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Vincent Keymer, Jorden Van Foreest, Peter Svidler, Boris Gelfand, Nils Grandelius and Abhimanyu Mishra. Peter Svidler won the event with a score of 4.5/7. This is his first tournament victory since his 2017 Russian Championship win.

The 56th Capablanca Memorial took place in Havana Wed 3rd May 2023Fri 12th May 2023. The Category 14 Elite event has these players: Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli, Raunak Sadhwani,Rasmus Svane, Jonas Buhl Bjerre, Alexandr Fier,Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera, Luis Ernesto Quesada Perez,Omar Almeida Quintana, Lelys Stanley Martinez Duany and Elier Miranda Mesa.Jonas Buhl Bjerre took clear first place after turning round a poor position to beat Rasmus Svane in the final round. In second place half a point behind was Alexandr Fier.

From last week games Martinez Duany vs Almeida Quintana (3.4) is still incomplete, Sadhwani-Almeida (5.5) is now complete though.

In the open Michel Alejandro Diaz Perez won on tie-break from Ermes Espinosa Veloz and Bator Sambuev after all scored 8/10.Live coverage slowed and then stopped altogether after round 5 (maybe due to the women's American Continental). I do no know if there will be further games.

The Stepan Avagyan Memorial took place in Jermuk 2nd to 12th May 2023.Sam Sevian won with 6/9.

The Baku Open returned for the first time since 2019 and took place 3rd to 13th May 2023.Leon Luke Mendonca edged out Aleksandar Indjic and Vladislav Kovalev on tie-break afterafter all scored 7/9.

The 16th American Continental takes place in Juan Dolio in the Dominican Republic 15th to 23rd May 2023.

The Icelandic Championship takes place in Hafnarfjordur 15th to 25th May 2023.

The Czech Championship takes place 9th to 17th May 2023.David Navara is heading for victory with a lead of two points with two rounds to go in the open event.The women's event is a knockout. I will no doubt get the games from the final couple of rounds butunless the organisers produce a file the first round or two are in a mess in the sources I could find.

The 56th Iranian Championship takes place 11th to 21st May 2023.

The XXX Guillermo Garcia takes place 13th to 23rd May. I don't know if there will be games.

There are two tournaments commemorating Oscar Panno's World Junior Champion title in Copenhagen 1953.

The Bodensee Open takes place 13th to 21st May 2023.

The XXIII Foment Martinenc Open takes place 22nd April to 17th June 2023.

The First Saturday May tournaments take place 6th to 16th May 2023.Most of the games have been played but a few of the final round 9 games willbe played tomorrow.

The Ramat Gan Spring Masters takes place 1st May to 26th June 2023.

The African Individual Championships took place in Gixa 6th to 13th May 2023.Adham Fawzy won the open title with 8/9. Lina Nassr won the women's title with 7.5/9.

The Asian Zonal 3.2 took place 2nd to 10th May 2023.Rahman Mohammad Fahad won with 7.5/9.

The Asian Zonal zt 3.3 took place 6th to 12th May 2023.Sumiya Bilguun won with 7/9.

The Ostravsky Konik Festival took place 6th to 14th May 2023.Krishna S Rohith, won with 7.5/9.

The Open Championship of Norht Macedonia took place 4th to 11th May 2023.Zvonko Stanojoski won in tie-break from Andrej Veljanoski and Nikola Nikolovski afterall scored 7.5/9.

The Semifinals of the Argentine Championship took place 29th April to 7th May 2023.Rafael Miranda won with 7.5/9. More games from round 8 and 9 are now available.

The 14th American Continental Femenino took place in Havana 7th to 12th May 2023.Candela Be Francisco Guecamburu won with 7/9.

The 54th Belgrade WGM took place 8th to 14th May 2023. Normally held around International Women's day I was a bit concerned for the futureof the event but it turned up this week. Anastasiya Rakhmangulova won with 6.5/9.

The Danish Rapid and Blitz took place 13th to 14th May 2023.Jesper Sondergaard Thybo won the Rapid with 6.5/7.Mads Andersen won the blitz with 11.5/13.

The Caissa Hotel Iris Group took place 7th to 12th May 2023.

The 47th Bangahbandhu Championship took place at the end of December. I missed there was a rapid tie-break for 2nd and 3rd places won byFahad Rahman Mohammad 2-0 over Ziaur Rahman.

Titled Tuesday Blitz now has two sections called early and late.The 25th April events Magnus Carlsen won the early and Alexey Sarana won the late.

The Armageddon Championship: Women's Week took place 8th to 14th May 2023.Bibisara Assaubayeva took first place beating Humpy Koneru in the semi-finals and the final between the winner of the loser section and the winner of the winner section.In between she also beat G Mammadzada in the other winners final.

The PRO Chess League final knockout stages took place 12th to 14th May 2023. The Gotham Knights were undefeated and beat the Shanghai Tigersin the final.

The Russian Team Championship took place 1st to 11th May 2023.Shakhmatnaya sbornaya Moskvy (Moskva) won the Premier League. The gamesfrom that section are complete. The women's section won by Shakhmatnaya sbornaya Moskvy (Moskva)and Higher League won by Temus Tim (Moskva) I got what I could from the live games.

The Final round of the Israeli Team Championship finished this week.Be'er Sheva Chess Club A. Eliyahu Levant won. I have the final round 11 games. Round9 and 10 games should be available for next week.

The Swiss League takes place 16th April to 15th October 2023. There were two rounds this weekend.Games should follow next week.

The Croatian Cup took place 10th to 14th May 2023.SK Liburnija Rijeka won.

Rounds 4-7 of the Rapid Chess Superleague in Poland took place on May 9th.

The MSU Interuniversity Cup is a rapid team event in Moscow 15th to 18th May 2023. I'll round up games and results next week.

Read more from the original source:
The Week in Chess 1488 - The Week in Chess

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) The game of chess is played around the world, and the oldest, continuously running chess club in the U.S. is in downtown San Francisco at the Mechanics Institute. The institute is a kind of cultural center that goes back to 1854.

Chess is one of its big draws, so the institute is now ramping up efforts to diversify the people who play, saying there are so many benefits for everybody.

This spring, some 300 children of all ages and backgrounds from all corners of the Bay Area showed up to compete in the institutes scholarship chess tournament.

Some of those same young people are part of the institutes chess school outreach. It includes 22 weekly classes in 16 private and public schools in San Francisco. In low-income communities, classes are free all aimed at sparking new interest in the age-old game.

Our school outreach programs are really important to help provide interesting and new skillsets to the kids in our classes, things like patience, understanding strategy, being able to talk and analyze your game, said Alyssa Stone, who is in charge of community engagement. And its super interesting to see them and their wheels turning about how they play.

Danny Cao is a Mechanics Institute chess instructor. He played basketball as a kid and says it took him years to beat his mothers boyfriend. Kids can be competitive in chess with adults much more quickly.

Chess is one of the ways that a child can, like language, learn something very quickly and measure themselves up to an adult very quickly, Cao said.

The hope is that one day all of the young kids in the school programs will wind up at the historic Mechanics Institute where they have weekly chess tournaments.

One of the activities they play is Blitz, or fast chess. Each player has three minutes on the clock. One game is six minutes. Classical or slow chess can last hours.

Chess is a universal game, Stone said. You dont need to speak the same language. You dont need to have come from the same places. Everybody has the same rules and knows how to play chess together.

Thats why the Mechanics Institute believes chess is an easy sell when it comes to its efforts to diversify the people who play the game. Because as you look around the room where the kids are playing, you can see there is a way to go.

Were really trying hard to make sure women and girls and people who are not often seen in the game of chess have a place here, Stone said.

There are all types of programs at the Mechanics Institute, and they are open to the public, whether you are a member or not. Every Tuesday evening, the chess tournaments are open to all. And in addition to the school chess program, there are women and girls chess classes on Sundays all in an effort to diversify.

Read the rest here:
San Francisco chess club working to diversify players - KRON4

with IM Robert Ris

We all love stories where a vastly underrated player surprises everyone by beating a much stronger player. Fortunately, we are all human.

But how do these things happen? What are the moves that lead to success? And what can we learn from these examples for the times when we face a stronger opponent?

Dutch IM Robert Ris presents us with real-life examples of such encounters from the past month. Together with his co-host Arne Kaehler, they look at the tactics and strategies that led to the upset victory.

Calculation Training for 1000-1400 players

Mastering these tactical motifs is essential to deepen your understanding of the game and become a better player. After all, you neither want to overlook the given chances by your opponent, nor blunder yourself!

Calculation Training for 1400-1600 players

Mastering these tactical motifs is essential to deepen your understanding of the game and become a better player. After all, you neither want to overlook the given chances by your opponent, nor blunder yourself!

_______________________________

Read the original here:
Chess Shocker: Elo 1493 wins vs. Elo 2584 with the London System! - ChessBase