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We have quite a few reviews to get through this week and I hope they continue to be useful to you. In order:
Turning to chess we have two games from Dresden, the first of which shows a novelty from Nisipeanu:
Nisipeanu,LD (2693) - Williams,Si1 (2487) [C15]
8th ch-Euro Dresden GER (1), 03.04.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nge2 Nc6 5.a3 Ba5 6.Qd3 dxe4 7.Qg3!?
The second game is a brutal crush from the eventual winner, Vlad Tkachiev. In fact it's an object lesson in how to realise an advantage in development.
Tkachiev,V (2652) - Brkic,A (2567) [A31]
8th ch-Euro Dresden GER (5), 07.04.2007
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.g3 Qb6 6.Nb3 e6 7.Bg2 Ne5
8.Qc2 Qc7 9.c5 d5 10.Bf4 Nh5 11.Bxe5 Qxe5 12.Nc3 Bd7 13.0-0-0 Nf6 14.e4!
After 14.e4! Black never catches up.
Unperturbed by the recent onslaught from Borat, the chess championship of Kazakhstan has concluded in proud fashion. Our third and final game celebrates chess in Kazakhstan and of course they have some exceptional players, one of whom is Sadvakasov.
Stativkin,D (2214) - Sadvakasov,D (2615) [B90]
ch-KAZ Astana KAZ (11), 30.03.2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3
Nbd7 9.Qd2 Be7 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.g4 Qc7 12.g5 Nh5 13.Kb1 b5 14.Nd5.
See the cool way Sadvakasov deals with White's last move.
Black to play and win
Entries to andrew@andrewmartinchessacademy by 2000 hrs GMT on 18th April please.
Max Euwe 1940, Deutsche Schachzeitung
White to play and win.
Solution: A position from one of Karsten Müller's endgame books. White wins, thanks to the outside passed pawn, but he must display care and accuracy. 1.h4 Kf5. 1...f5 2.Kf3; 1...f6 2.Kf3 Kf5 3.Kg3 Ke4 4.h5 Kf5 5.Kh4 Ke6 6.h6 Kf7 7.Kh5+–. 2.Kf3 Ke5 3.Kg4 Ke4 4.h5 f5+ 5.Kh3!! Only this will do! 5.Kg5? f4 6.h6 f3 7.h7 f2 8.h8Q f1Q 9.Qe8+ Kd4 10.Qd8+ Ke4 (10...Ke5?? 11.Qd5#) 11.Qd5+ Ke3 12.Qe6+ Kd4 13.Qxb6 Qf8 14.Qc7 (14.Qf6+?? Qxf6+ 15.Kxf6 Kc3 16.Ke5 Kxb3 17.Kd5 Kb4) 14...Ke4=; 5.Kh4 f4 6.h6 f3 7.Kg3 Ke3 8.h7 f2 9.h8Q f1Q 10.Qh6+ Ke4 11.Qe6+ Kd4 12.Qxb6 Qd3+ 13.Kg4 Qe4+ 14.Kg5 Qe5+ 15.Kg6 Qe8+ 16.Kf6 Qf8+ 17.Kg5 Qg7+=; 5.Kg3 Ke3! 6.h6 f4+ 7.Kg4 f3 8.h7 f2 9.h8Q f1Q 10.Qh6+ Kd4 11.Qxb6 Qe2+=. As you can see, White has problems suppressing Black's counterplay. 5...Ke5 6.Kg3 Ke6 7.Kf4 Kf6 8.h6 Kg6 9.h7 Kxh7 10.Kxf5+–. [Click to replay].
Congratulations ot Bill Plants of Campbell, California for winning last week's competition.
Please also note the show begins at 20:00h GMT / 21:00 CEST this Wednesday. Looking forward to your company then.
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. |
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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.
