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We start this week by delving into the swashbuckling King's Gambit. An old correspondence game offers considerable food for thought, as White goes about trying to refute the King's Gambit declined with the help of 4 b4!?
Kapataniak - Welling [C30]
Corres, 1980
1.e4 e5 2.f4 Bc5 3.Nf3 d6 4.b4!?
Some very interesting analysis follows.
The blind leads the blind in Topalov-Polgar – but one could not have guessed it from the quality of play. We check out the simply excellent Game One from their recent match.
Topalov,V (2813) - Polgar,Ju (2710) [B81]
Blindfold Rapid Bilbao ESP (1), 07.12.2006
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be3 Be7 7.g4 h5 8.gxh5
Rxh5 9.h4 Nc6 10.Be2 Re5 11.Nf3 Ra5!?
Rublevsky-Alekseev from the Russain superfinal is another humdinger
Rublevsky,S (2688) - Alekseev,Evgeny (2639) [B30]
ch-RUS Superfinal Moscow RUS (3), 05.12.2006
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Qc7 5.0-0 Nd4 6.d3 a6 7.Ba4 b5 8.Bb3
Nxb3 9.axb3 Bb7 10.Bg5 e6 11.Re1 d6 12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.d4 cxd4 14.Nxd4 Qc5 15.Qd3
Be7 16.b4!
We finish with Appel-Glek from the Bundesliga , where Black shows a good way of meeting the insidious London System.
Appel,R (2507) - Glek,I (2538) [A48]
Bundesliga 2006-7 Solingen GER (6), 10.12.2006
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bf4 d6 4.c4 c5!
This week's competition should appeal to all budding detectives. Here are the first six moves of a perfectly ordinary tournament game: 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.Ne5 e6 6.e3 Nbd7
And then the final move: 22.Nf7+. The remaining moves are jumbled: Ba3, Re8, fxe6, Bxe6, Rxf8, 0-0, Nxc3, Bxe6, Qb3, Qxe6, Qc8, f4, Bb4, Rxb7, 0-0, Bxf8, Rxf8,Nd5, f5, Bxc3, bxc3, Nf6, Rb1, Nxf7, Nh6+, Bxc4, Kh8, Ne4, Nxe3,Rf8+. Try to deduce the correct score of the game. Entries to andrew@andrewmartinchessacademy.com by 20:00h GMT / 21:00h CET on Wednesday.
En Passent congratulations to Marco Rower from France, last week's winner. We look forward to the pleasure of your company at 20:00h GMT / 21:00h CET this Wednesday. See you on the server!
The Andrew Martin Radio ChessBase lecture begins on Wednesdays at 21:00h CET (European Central time = server time, which translates to 20:00h London, 3:00 p.m. New York, 05:00 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 opens today, March 1st 2006. The site
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
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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.
