Simon Says: Brilliancies and Blindness at the Chessable Masters

by Johannes Fischer
6/22/2020 – In this "Simon Says" Simon looks at the latest games from the Chessable Masters. He takes a look at the highlights and lowlights from the first six rounds and throws a glance at a curious case of "Chess Blindness", an illness most chess players know, and for which Dr. Tarrasch even coined a Latin term. | Watch "Simon Says" for free and on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account). (Normally 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EST). | Photo: Lennart Ootes

London System with 2.Bf4 Reloaded and Tactic Toolbox London System London System with 2.Bf4 Reloaded and Tactic Toolbox London System

Simon Williams presents the London System, providing the theory you need for your games (7 h 16 min). In addition Williams also introduces into typical tactics and patterns in a seperate product. (53 games, 96 training questions and 3h 14 min)

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Chess Blindness

Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch (5 March 1862 – 17 February 1934) was one of the strongest chess players and most influential chess teachers of the late 19th and early 20th century, but throughout his life he had always been an amateur. He was born in Breslau and after studying medicine in Halle he worked as a medical practitioner in Nuremberg and Munich.

Tarrasch came up with a Latin name for an illness that is peculiar to chess players: "Chess Blindness", or, to use Tarrasch's term: Amaurosis scacchistica. In a way, chess blindness is similar to the common cold: everyone suffers from it occasionally, but nobody knows why, and how you can protect yourself against it.

There is something tragicomic about chess blindness: deep opening preparation, sophisticated maneuvers, bold sacrifices or precise and deep calculation of countless variations all lead to nothing because of the unreliability of the human mind. However, with a relaxed attitude towards perfection and a little bit of schadenfreude you might enjoy chess blindness, particularly if others suffer from it.

In round 2 of the Chessable Masters Pentala Harikrishna and Magnus Carlsen both fell victim to this inexplicable disease.

 

Magnus has just played ...Ba4 which is actually a major blunder. What should Pentala now have played?

(See the full game and the solution below)

This week's show

The show starts at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT). You can also watch it in the archive with a ChessBase Account. Don't have an account? You can register a free 90-day account to watch! 

Simon is on air most Mondays at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EST)

Previous shows on-demand

View all past shows, with a ChessBase Premium Account.


About Simon Says

In early 2015 Simon Williams launched his own show called "Simon says" after producing the first of his ChessBase video series. On a weekly basis (with breaks for tournaments and chess events) Simon entertains the chess world with attacking ideas, play strategies and witty manoeuvres on the chess board.

ChessBase Premium members have permanent access to the videos in the archive. Over 60 shows and counting have been published to date. Their lengths differ but most of them run for about 60 minutes.

Read more in Meeting Simon Williams.

Much more from Simon's shows in the archive at Videos.ChessBase.com

Recent Simon Says shows

Still more Simon

Simon's latest DVD series duo the "London System Reloaded" and the "Tactic Toolbox London System" are now available. Check them out, starting with the sample below: 

Video sample


A curious case of chess blindness

 

London System with 2.Bf4 Reloaded and Tactic Toolbox London System

Simon Williams presents the London System, providing the theory you need for your games (7 h 16 min). In addition Williams also introduces into typical tactics and patterns in a seperate product. (53 games, 96 training questions and 3h 14 min)


Links


Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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