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Garry Kasparov was recently Jan Gustafsson and Peter Heine Nielsen's pick as the Greatest Chess Player of All Time, though their no. 2, Magnus Carlsen, may have something to say about that before he's done! For Part 2 of Sean Marsh's Great Moments in Chess series, he looks at November 9th 1985, when 22-year-old Garry finally snatched the World Championship crown from Anatoly Karpov, three years after his odyssey to the title had begun.

As Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov battle it out in theNew in Chess Classic, we continue our celebratation of theNew in Chess Magazinethat the tournament is named after.

There's anew sale of New in Chess coursesfrom our friends at Chessable, while this is now the second part of our series on Great Moments in Chess, which began with Carlsen Crowned.

Garry Kasparov was World Champion for 15 years. Much to his chagrin, this isn't the record tenure, as bothEmanuel Lasker (27 years) and Alexander Alekhine (17 years) stand above him.

It is difficult to think of Kasparov having to go through the qualifying stages of the World Chess Championship. Back then, the system was very different. First, a player had to qualify for one of the three very competitive Interzonal tournaments.

Kasparov won the 1982 Moscow Interzonal, ahead of a star-studded cast, including Alexander Beliavsky, former champion Mikhail Tal, Ulf Anderssen and Efim Geller. Interzonals were very serious tournaments. This one lasted 13 rounds and Kasparov scored an impressive 10/13 to finish one and a half points ahead of Beliavsky.

Next, there came the first of three rounds of the Candidates Matches. Kasparov was paired with Beliavsky in the first round and even though the match was close for some time, a final burst of two straight wins allowed Kasparov to progress with a 6-3 victory.

The Candidates Semi-Final brought a massive clash with Viktor Korchnoi, who had pushed Anatoly Karpov hard in the very close matches of 1974 and 1978, before ultimately being outgunned by the World Champion in the 1981 title match. Nevertheless, Korchnoi, with more match experience than any other player, was in control for the first half of the match. Kasparov again finished strongly, with four wins from the last six games, to record a significant 7-4 victory.

Standing between Kasparov and a title match with Karpov was, incredibly, Vasily Smyslov - who had been World Champion from 1957 to 1958. Kasparov was the clear favourite in this battle of age against youth and, even though Smyslov gave a good account of himself, Kasparov powered through to another victory, by a score of 8.5-4.5.

This match was played in the Spring of 1984, meaning Kasparov had already spent two years battling his way through to play Karpov.

Anatoly Karpov had been champion of the world for 10 years, but at 33, he was still very much in his prime. Kasparov, 21, was aiming to become the youngest champion in history. Both players were in excellent form as they sat down to play the first game of the match on 10 September 1984, in Moscow.

The rules back then required a player to win six games to take the title. Draws did not count. Opinion was divided at the time. Traditionalists were in Karpov's favour; younger chess fans saw Kasparov as a change to a much more dynamic style of chess.

The dreams of the young challenger started to become nightmares when Karpov raced to a 4-0 lead after just nine games. Various weaknesses in Kasparov's game were ruthlessly exploited. Karpov then made a mistake in his match strategy, electing to play numerous short draws instead of pushing for victory. However, after 17 consecutive draws, he then won a fifth game, to lead 5-0 after 21 games.

How would a young player react to losing such a match 6-0? Would he have the maturity to recover and the strength to battle his way through the next series of Candidates Matches? It looked like we were going to find out, but Karpov became cautious once more, which backfired badly.

Kasparov finally won a game. This victory, in game 32, was his first-ever win against Karpov. 14 more draws followed. With hindsight, Karpov should have changed his match strategy, played longer games and mixed things up a lot more - but he was also getting very tired.

Unbelievably, Kasparov won games 47 and 48, to pull the score back to 5-3. Karpov was clearly struggling; he was unrecognisable in the brace of defeats. Would Kasparov be able to keep the wins coming?

Unfortunately, we shall never know - because the match was aborted by FIDE in extremely controversial circumstances. This is all a story for another day - but the upshot of the decision is that the players had to start a new match in 1985, with the slate wiped clean. After an extraordinary battle lasting 48 games and five months, the score was suddenly back to 0-0.

Seven months later and the players started their battle all over again. The rules had changed; this time it was a match of 24 games. Karpov would keep his title at 12-12.

It was a tight start. Kasparov won the first game, but Karpov hit back strongly, winning games four and five. Kasparov equalised in game 11 and then there were four consecutive draws. Karpov, of course, could afford to keep on drawing, but Kasparov had to try for more.

Kasparov won two excellent games (16 and 19) to leave Karpov in big trouble. Both players must have been feeling the pressure at this point. There were mistakes in the next few games and Karpov pulled one point back by winning game 22. One more draw followed in game 23, setting up a very tense final game.

Kasparov's Sicilian Defense was extremely difficult to breach. On the other hand, Karpov was generally very impressive on the white side of 1.e4 c5.

9 November, 1985. It is quite clear what each player needs. Karpov, the defending champion, needs to win the last game of the match to retain his title. Kasparov, the challenger, needs to avoid defeat to become the youngest wchampion.

This was not the moment to play a solid Petroff Defense or to try something unexpected. Both players were very much ready for a sharp struggle and the opening moves were no surprise:1.e4 c5.

The Sicilian Defense

A few moves down the line, Karpov shows he wants to stick with his trademark6.Be2against the Najdorf Variation and Kasparov transposes to his great favourite, the Scheveningen Variation, with6...e6.

Nobody ever liked to play the standard 6...e5 against Karpov. He specialised in obtaining a small edge and gradually crushing the opponent.

The battle lines were drawn very quickly. Karpov was clearly intent on an all-out assault, while Kasparov was hoping the hedgehog spines of theScheveningen would keep White's attack at bay.

Fast forward a few more moves and, suddenly, Kasparov has broken out with25...f5.

The position has exploded and history is about to be made. This is definitely more of a Kasparov position than something Karpov will feel entirely comfortable playing.

Indeed, once Kasparov played34...Nxc2, the writing was definitely on the wall.

Karpov's queenside collapses completely and the game is only heading for one result.

Black to Play

Despite the apparent activity of Karpov's pieces, he is losing. Not only is he a piece down, but Kasparov now has the choice between a number of winning moves.

Kasparov chose24...Nd4+, winning more material with a discovered check.

Kasparov Seizes the Crown

Thus, Kasparov, at 22, became the youngest world champion of chess and ended Karpov's 10-year reign. The final score was 13-11 to Kasparov.

1. e4 c5 2. f3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. xd4 f6 5. c3 a6 6. e2 e6 7. O-O e7 8. f4 O-O 9. h1 c7 10. a4 c6 11. e3 e8 12. f3 b8 13. d2 d7 14. b3 b6 15. g4 c8 16. g5 d7 17. f2 f8 18. g2 b7 19. ad1 g6 20. c1 bc8 21. d3 b4 22. h3 g7 23. e3 e7 24. g1 ce8 25. d1 f5 26. gxf6 xf6 27. g3 f7 28. xb6 b8 29. e3 h5 30. g4 f6 31. h4 g5 32. fxg5 g4 33. d2 xe3 34. xe3 xc2 35. b6 a8 36. xd6 b7 37. xa6 xb3 38. xe6 xb2 39. c4 h8 40. e5 a7+ 41. h1 xg2+ 42. xg2 d4+0-1

This was by no means the end of the classic rivalry between Karpov and Kasparov. They would go on to contest three more very close title matches and would be almost permanent rivals at top tournaments.

Such was the impact of the result that books are still being written about the great rivalry. These two were both contenders for the annualEnglish Chess Federation Book of the Year Award.

There will be another instalment ofGreat Moments in Chess soon.Meanwhile, theNew in Chess Classicis now in the Knockout phase.This exciting tournament can be followedlive here on chess24.

Originally posted here:
Great Moments in Chess: Kasparov Seizes the Crown - chess24

Under the headline 'Making all the right moves', The Mail reviewed the opening night of Barrow Amateurs' production of the Tim Rice musical Chess at Forum 28 in May 1994.

It was the northern premiere of the musical and Barrow Amateur did the town proud.

Because the show is nearly all sung, and there are very few spoken words, the actors had to put all their emotions across in song, stated the review.

Kenny Smyth as the American world chess champion Frederick Trumper did this brilliantly.

He had a strong rock voice and performed his songs really well, and his added dramatic dimension made him a force to be reckoned with, said the review.

Sarah Flanaghan as Florence Vassey, Trumper's chess second and lover, gave a moving performance as the woman who kept putting love for the men in her life before her own interests.

Her signing was excellent and in a moment at the end of the show when her microphone went off and she had to close the show with her song, she just lifted her voice and belted it out over the orchestra.

Steve Carrick played the well-meaning Russian chess champion Anatoly Sergievsky and his tenderness for Florence after her bitter break-up with Trumper was a joy.

Helena Troughton, as his wife Svetlana Sergievskaya, gave another beautifully- sung, delightfully-acted performance.

Her famous duet I Know Him So Well with Sarah was well worth the ticket price on its own, stated the review.

There was also praise for Phil McIntosh as The Arbiter and Nicholas Carson as the Russian second Alexander Molokov.

"The whole company has risen to the occasion and there is an obvious commitment to the show from everyone, which is a pleasure to see," said the reviewer.

The orchestra, playing music by former Abba stars Benny and Bjorn, under Peter Dyer, deserved a special mention.

The costumes were cleverly colour-coded and there was also praise for choreographer Melissa Thompson.

Read the original post:
Barrow Amateurs have al the right moves to make musical a success - NW Evening Mail

Jonathan D. Tisdall (born August 26, 1958 in Buffalo, New York) is a chess grandmaster (title awarded 1993) and works as a freelance journalist. An American citizen by origin, he became Irish and later Norwegian. He was Norwegian Chess Champion in 1987, 1991 and 1995. Jon also acted as a team captain for the Norwegian team and witnessed the rise and development of his compratiot, chess world champion Magnus Carlsen. His book "Improve your chess now" from 1997 is a modern classic.

Jonathan Tisdall (left) and Eric van Reem (right) during the podcast | Photo: Eric van Reem

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Be sure to follow GM Jonathan Tisdall on Twitter

There is a book about the first part of the Candidates, written by Vladimir Tukmakov and published by Thinkers Publishing. Click here to buy the book.

If you want to support the LTAC podcast with a small donation, you can buy Eric a coffee (or two) on Ko-fi. No subscribtion necessary, but a token of your appreciation is welcome. Thank you!

Feedback can be sent to: talkingchess@gmail.com or send me a tweet.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Host : Eric van ReemGuest : GM Jonathan Tisdall (USA)Editor : Dennis van ReemArtwork : Frnk StiefelMusic : Chess Pieces-Silent Partner

Feedback: talkingchess@gmail.com or tweet @ChessClassic

To the podcast...

Original post:
Let's talk about the Candidates... with Eric van Reem and Jonathan Tisdall - Chessbase News

We're excited to announce the winners of the Chess.com Immortal Game Contest. With more than 2,500 fantastic games submitted, we added 130 to Chess.com's official Immortal Games Collection in our Library. You can enjoy those games by clicking the button below:

Over 50 games made it to the final voting stage of the contest. The community and the Chess.com expert panel chose their favorites and voted to immortalize the best game in each category: Chess.com Immortal Game, Immortal Queen Sacrifice, Immortal Swindle, Immortal Bullet Game, and Immortal Daily Game.

The first spot goes to the blitz masterpiece by Brazilian grandmaster Luis Paulo Supi against none other than the world champion Magnus Carlsen. After sacrificing a knight to open up the a-file to attack Carlsen's king, Supi found the "dirty" and "really awesome" (according to Carlsen himself) 18.Qc6!! to force checkmate. With this game, Supi won the $1,000 prize and carved his name into Chess.com history.

Immortal Game Podium:

We love queen sacrifices, and so does GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. With an astounding queen sac in one of his blitz games against GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez, Mamedyarov snagged first place for Immortal Queen Sacrifice. After playing the surprising 11.Qxd5!! in the opening, the Azerbaijani super grandmaster opened up the enemy king to win the game and the $250 prize.

Immortal Queen Sacrifice Podium:

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave rose from the ashes to win blitz a game against IM Mohammad Shaikh after blundering a bishop. Vachier-Lagrave sacrificed a bishop and the queen to checkmate in the middle of the board and produce the Immortal Swindle. MVL will receive the $250 prize for his cunning play.

Immortal Swindle Podium:

The Immortal Bullet award and $250 prize goes to bullet extraordinaire GM Alireza Firouzja for his game against GM Daniel Naroditsky. After exchanging a queen for two minors and a rook, the 2021 Bullet Chess champion fended off Naroditsky's attack and successfully checkmated White.

Immortal Bullet Podium:

The Immortal Daily Game goes to user @Phrscoll for his eye-catching sacrifices against @sebastian_plebington. Phrscoll offered his queen twice to play the forcing combination that culminated in a beautiful checkmate. With this game, Phrscoll takes home the $250 prize.

Immortal Daily Game Podium:

Prizes are not only for the people who played the gamesthe following Chess.com members will win a one-year membership for being the first to submit the award-winning games:

Even though the contest is over, we know that our users will continue to play amazing games. If you know of any game that deserve a spot in our official Immortal Games Collection, submit it to us through this form. We'll keep updating the collection with jaw-dropping games for your enjoyment!

View post:
Announcing The Chess.com Immortal Game - Chess.com

Ian Nepomniachtchi is in sight of the result of his life, as the 30-year-old Russian champion leads the Candidates in Ekaterinburg, half a point ahead of his nearest rival and with a superior tie-break, with just three of the 14 rounds still to go. The jackpot for the winner is a 14-game, 2m (1.7m) challenge match for Magnus Carlsens world crown at Dubai in November.

After 11 of the 14 rounds, Nepomniachtchi leads with 7/11, followed by Anish Giri (Netherlands) 6.5, and Fabiano Caruana (US) 6. The other players look out of it: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) and Alexander Grischuk (Russia) 5.5, Wang Hao (China) 5, Kirill Alekseenko (Russia) 4.5 and Ding Liren (China) 4.

The leader still has the favourable white pieces to come against the out of form Vachier-Lagrave, but the sting could be the final round, traditionally a nervous occasion for front-running candidates, when the Russian has Black against Ding, who has just lost his longstanding spot as world No 3 and in successive days dropped to fifth behind Nepomniachtchi and Giri.

Chinas No 1 was considered a likely challenger to Carlsen before the pandemic, and will want to end a disastrous event for him on a positive note.

Nepomniachtchi, a distinctive character at the board with his man-bun, has a unique training routine for an elite grandmaster, often playing the 5v5 team video game Dota 2. He is the only top GM with a classical plus score against Carlsen, dating back to junior championships 20 years ago, and defeated the champion online this year in the Magnus Carlsen Invitational.

Carlsen provided some insight into his potential challenger this week during his perceptive and articulate Candidates commentaries, assessing him as a quick and imaginative tactician, whose weakness is high day-to-day form variance. Until recently, this gap between his ceiling and floor performances stopped Nepomniachtchi achieving the very top levels.

Three games at Ekaterinburg stood out as significant. Caruana waited for many months to spring a mega-novelty against Vachier-Lagrave in the Poisoned Pawn Sicilian early on the US world No 2 was a bishop and three pawns down but still moving instantaneously, while at the end Black lost only because his knight was not on the right square (g7) to make his endgame fortress viable for a draw.

This result deposed Vachier-Lagrave from the tournament lead and led to criticism of his narrow black repertoire, Grunfeld against 1 d4 and Najdorf against 1 e4. Former world champion Vlad Kramnik even blamed the Frenchman for not working hard enough during lockdown. Yet Vachier-Lagrave lost again in round 11 and dropped out of contention.

Nepomniachtchis easy 10th round win against his compatriot Alekseenko has led to an outbreak of conspiracy theory, harking back to Paul Keres and Mikhail Botvinnik in 1948 and to Bobby Fischers accusations in 1962. Both those had some factual basis and precedents, whereas in the Candidates games of the 21st century Russian players have several times defeated their well-placed compatriots. Alekseenko is weaker with Black, was unfamiliar with Whites surprise opening, and got trapped by an unusual move order into a standard poor position.

Conspiracy theories, though, are popular and can persist for a long time. Everyone who was an adult in 1963 remembers the grassy knoll at Dallas, so even if Nepomniachtchi wins the Candidates and beats Carlsen convincingly for the world crown, this game will continue to be quoted against him for years to come.

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The third significant game was in yesterdays Fridays round 11 when Giri defeated Ding in impressive style to advance within half a point of Nepomniachtchi, although the Russian has the better tie-break (direct encounter) dating right back to March 2020 when he defeated Giri in the very first round before the Candidates was halted for a year by the pandemic.

For many chess fans Giri is a figure of fun, best known for his Twitter banter with Carlsen, his excessive draws, and for his few wins in super-tournaments.

In 2021, the 26-year-old whose father is Nepalese, his mother Russian, was born in St Petersburg and learnt his early chess skills in Japan has shown his real strength. His unlucky second place over the board at Tata Wijk behind his Dutch compatriot Jorden van Foreest was followed by an online victory in the Carlsen Invitational, where he defeated Nepomniachtchi in the final.

His new world ranking is his best yet, and for Dutch fans there are potential echoes of 86 years ago when Max Euwe jumped from 3-6 down against Alexander Alekhine to win the world title.

Online, the New in Chess Classic, the fifth event in the Meltwater Champions Tour, starts thison Saturday evening (6pm BST) on Chess24.com with a playing schedule designed to start after the Candidates finishes for that day. Carlsen, still seeking his first tournament win of the Tour, will face a field led by his US rivals Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura. It also includes the Indian prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, 15, and Englands Gawain Jones, who this week won over-the-board at the Bob Wade Memorial in New Zealand, held to celebrate the birth centenary of the legendary player and teacher.

3720 1Qe2! and White resigned. If 2 Rxe2 Rf1 mate or 2 Rxf4 Qg2 mate or 2 Qd2 Qf1+! 3 Rxf1 Rxf1 mate. 1...Qg5+ 2 Kh1 Rf5! also wins quickly.

Link:
Nepomniachtchi nears Candidates title and tilt at Carlsens world chess crown - The Guardian