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I met Lubomir Ftacnik last week in the ChessBase offices. It was nice to see him, since the last time was in 1982. He hadn't changed much, and the precision and length of his annotations remains intact.
Apparently some big tournament was going on in the neighbourhood, and so what better way to start the radio show this week than with two games from the Hamburg Open. In the first game we see Ftacnik himself demonstrating his mastery on the White side of King's Indian.
Ftacnik,L (2573) - Engelbert,C (2230) [A41]
10th IHEM Hamburg GER (1), 26.05.2007
1.Nf3 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c4 d6 4.Nc3 e5 5.g3 Nc6 6.d5 Nce7 7.Bg2 h6 8.0-0
f5 9.e4 Nf6 10.Ne1 0-0 11.Nd3 g5 12.f4
Then another old friend, Klaus Berg from Denmark, gets aggressive with his German opponent
Berg,K (2434) - Wendt,J (2342) [E81]
10th IHEM Hamburg GER (4), 29.05.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3 a6 7.Qd2 Nbd7 8.0-0-0
b5 9.h4
It is nice to see Klaus playing in this caveman manner. Finally Igors Rausis sticks it to Gehringer:
Gehringer,F (2079) - Rausis,I (2537) [A09]
Stuttgarter Stadtmeisterschaft Gerlingen GER (1), 17.05.2007
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Na3 a6 4.Nxc4 b5!?
Werner Speckmann, Die Schwalbe Theme Tourney, 1st prize
White to play and mate in 11. Be afraid. Be very afraid
If you can solve the puzzle by 20:00 GMT this evening, send me the answer at andrew@andrewmartinchessacademy.com.
The puzzle will not trouble you, so we want big entry this week!
Volovik-Kozlov, USSR 1987
It's White to play and force mate
Solution: 1.Qf7+ Kh8 2.Ng6+ hxg6 3.hxg5# .
When not otherwise stated the Andrew Martin Radio ChessBase lecture begins on Wednesdays at 23:00h CET (Central European Time = server time, which translates to 22:00h London, 5:00 p.m. New York, 07:00 a.m. Sydney (on Thursday). You can use Fritz or any Fritz-compatible program (Shredder, Junior, Tiger, Hiarcs) to follow the lectures, or download a free trial client. |
The
Andrew Martin Chess Academy offers a personal game annotation service;
a regular newsletter written by AMCA staff; the best online tuition in terms
of value and quality; a series of tournaments for children aged under 14; all
aspects of chess training, including specific opening preparation; an AMCA room
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tutors – all at a time that is best for you at any time of day or night,
anywhere in the world. The motto: "Join us, Improve and enjoy your chess!"
He is not some unknown in the world of chess. Andrew Martin was the star commentator in the 2000 London match between Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik, and he gained recent international fame and popularity with his live audio commentary on Playchess.com during the FIDE world championship in San Luis.
Andrew is also a prolific chess trainer, not just live in British scholastic circles, but also in a series of training DVDs he has produced for ChessBase, taking full advantage of our Chess Media System. His lively, entertaining style, combined with a good dash of humour, makes any lesson with him a delight to follow.
Andrew Martin is 47 years old and lives in Sandhurst, England, with his wife and four children. His book King‘s Indian Battle Plans for Thinkers Press was an international best-seller.
Each week Martin will cast his eye over the contemporary chess scene, presenting a veritable pot-pourri of interesting topics. We look forward to the pleasure of your company.
