Cheating at the Spanish Team Championship?

10/14/2024 – The organisation of the Spanish Team Championship has been overshadowed by the disqualification of grandmaster Kirill Shevchenko, who plays for Silla. Following complaints from two players, the arbiter was convinced that Shevshenko had analysed his current games on a smartphone in the toilet. | Photo: European Chess Union

ARTE: Film on Kasparov vs Deep Blue

10/7/2024 – ARTE, the French-German film production and TV channel, has made a six-part dramatic re-enactment of the epic 1997 match between Garry Kasparov and the super-computer Deep Blue. The movie, due for broadcast on October 17, can already be viewed in full on the ARTE Internet web site. Mind you, it will take almost five hours to watch, but it is definitely worth the invested time.

60m English Anti-Bayonet

King’s Indian fans who choose the Mar del Plata attack (7...Nc6) against White’s classical system (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0) usually aim for a complex position with mutual attacks on open wings, requiring long-term strategic planning and tactical sharpness in critical moments. Computers often do not know how to handle the arising complex strategic positions, which suits players who like to think on their own instead of memorizing long variations. However, the fashionable Bayonet Attack (9.b4) interferes with Black’s ideas. After Black’s main move 9...Nh5 the positions opens, the lines get forced and computer analysis is important again. But this DVD offers an antidote against White’s Bayonet Attack, namely 9...a5! This move leads to sound positions with very few concrete lines, in which the focus is on strategy not on tactics. Objectively chances are equal but if Black knows what to do things might quickly become dangerous for White.