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Coffee Break Chess No. 1

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Coffee Break Chess No. 1, 13th of February 1999 © 1999 by GM Alexander Baburin This message is the first issue of my newsletter. I've been planning this for a while and finally decided that I need to give it a try and see whether this newsletter will be of interest to someone. Here I'd like to outline a few things about the newsletter: Why would I do it? I want to take advantage of the modern technology to share my views on the chess world, results of my work, etc. with people who might be interested it. What the newsletter will contain? Anything from my games (both recent & old) and useful chess links to the book reviews and impressions on articles, etc. How often will it come out? I hope to produce 1-2 newsletters a week, depending on my other commitments. How can a reader participate in it? You can ask me a question, which can then be posted, along with the answer. Suggestions and comments will be very welcome as well. Also, you can forward this newsletter to other people. If they will contact me, I will gladly add them to my mailing list. What if a reader does not want to receive the newsletter ever again? In this case just send me e-mail, telling this and I will immediately delete your e-mail address from my group. Why does it have such a name? I believe that chess is for enjoyment and should not be always taken too seriously. If you can print out my newsletter and enjoy reading it while having morning coffee or evening tea, I would feel that my goal is accomplished. I would like to start with showing a few endings. Since 1998 I have endgame column in 'Inside Chess' and this is an extract from my recent contribution. The full article should be out in the next few months. By the way, I rate IC (publisher - GM Yasser Seirawan, editor - NM Michael Franett) among world's best chess periodicals and would stick to this opinion, even if they would fire me tomorrow. If you have not seen their Web site yet, you can do so at http://www.insidechess.com/ While writing, I usually use Chess Base - truly excellent program, information about which can be found at http://www.chessbase.com/ The diagrams below were produced with the help of CB7. http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-1.htm

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Let us examine a few positions with equal number of pawns on the same flank, where one side has a rook and his opponent has a bishop. Such positions occur in practice very often and therefore they are of prime importance. Defender's drawing chances usually are quite high, particularly when there are not many pawns remaining on the board and when the pawns are placed properly. Usually pawns should be placed to cover the squares, which your bishop cannot control. This way they will work as a team. Here is a simple example:

White: Kg1, Bf3, pawns g3, h2. Black: Kf6, Rb2, pawns g7, h7. With White to play, he can build a fortress here by playing 1.h4!. If it's Black's move, he must prevent this by playing 1...g5!, fixing the pawn on h2. Then Black can eventually win. Yet, even when your position is solid, some caution is still required, as our next game shows: Stefan Sievers (2375) - Oliver Reeh (2410), Bundesleague 1997

White: Kf1, Bc6, pawns g3, h4. Black: Ke3, Ra2, pawns g6, h5. White to play. Here White's pawns and the bishop compliment each other and White can draw by keeping his http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-1.htm

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bishop on the long diagonal. 68.Bd5?? This careless move costs White half of point; he had to play 68.Kg1, when the attempt of 68...Ra5 69.Kg2 g5 is harmless in view of 70.hxg5 Rxg5 71.Kh3 Kf2 72.Kh4. 68...Ra5 69.Bc6 g5 70.hxg5 More stubborn would be 70.Kg2 Ra2+ 71.Kg1 gxh4 72.gxh4 Kf4 where a good technique is still required from Black. 70...Rxg5 71.Kg2 h4 72.Kh3 hxg3 73.Kg2 Kf4 74.Bb7 Rc5 75.Kg1 Kg4 76.Kg2 Rc2+ 77.Kh1 Rb2 78.Bc6 g2+ 79.Kh2 Rf2 0-1 Less experienced players often think that pawns should be placed in such a manner that the bishop will be able to protect them. However, usually this strategy is faulty, as it is more important to keep the enemy king away, than to have your own pawns overprotected. Here comes an illustration: A. Kullberg - P. Niiranen, Team Championship of Finland, 1997

White: Kf3, Bd6, pawns g3, h4. Black: Kf5, Rc4, pawns g6, h5. White to play. Here White does not have a chance, as the enemy king penetrates into his camp easily, after which the g3-pawn becomes an easy pray, despite being protected twice at the moment. 46.Ke3 Rc3+ 47.Kd4 Also 47.Kf2 Kg4 48.Be5 Rf3+ 49.Kg2 Re3 50.Bf4 Re2+ 51.Kg1 Kf3 is hopeless for White. 47...Rf3 48.Kd5 Rd3+ 49.Kc6 Kg4 50.Kd7 Rxd6+ 0-1 The position on our next diagram may look simple, but this is simplicity is very deceptive: L. Salai (2440) - L. Smejkal, Czech Team Championship, 1998

http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-1.htm

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White: Kf3, Rc6, pawn g4. Black: Kg6, Bf6, pawn g7. Black to play. Here Black needs to place his pawn on g6, as then the pawn and the bishop will co-operate really well. That could be achieved by playing 47...Kf7 48.Kf4 g6 49.g5 Bb2. Then a draw is easy, as the bishop has enough squares available on the long diagonal - Black only must avoid lines like 49...Bg7 50.Rc7+ Kg8 51.Rxg7+ Kxg7 52.Ke5, where the pawn endgame is lost for him. Failing to reckon the importance of posting his pawn on the light square, Black (not GM Smejkal!) lost quickly: 47...Kg5? 48.Rc5+ Kg6 49.Kf4 Kf7 50.Rc7+ Ke6 51.Rb7 Be7 52.Rb6+ Kf7 53.Kf5 Bf6 54.Rb7+ Be7 55.Ra7 g6+ 56.Ke5 Kf8 57.Ke6 Bc5 58.Rd7 1-0 This is it for now - more material will come soon! Please let me know what you think of this newsletter, by e-mailing me at [email protected] Should you prefer snail mail, here is my address: 3 Eagle Hill, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Hope to hear from you! Alexander Baburin, Dublin.

Copyright © 1999 by GM Alexander Baburin. All rights reserved. The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.


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Coffee Break Chess No. 2, 17th of February 1999 © 1999 by GM Alexander Baburin The first issue of CBC received quite positive response and I hope that with the help of my readers the whole project will take off nicely. Please recommend this newsletter to your friends - I will try to deal with every request. While in CBC No. 1 we looked at some endings, here I would like to show a middle game position. Now, when hundreds of grandmaster games played every month (if not every week!), it is very easy to get lost in this ocean of chess information and to overlook some beautiful games. It was somewhat different when I was a junior - I used to browse through various magazines, playing over games on my chess set and putting the most interesting games or fragments in my copybooks. A computer display has replaced that set since then, but I still look into my "treasure" copybooks once in a while. Here is an example from one of them:

Laszlo Szabo - Gudmundur Sigurjonsson Reykjavik 1968

White: Kg1, Qc2, Re1, Rf1, Bd2, Be2, Nb3, Nc3, pawns on a3, b4, e3, f2, g2, h2. Black: Kg8, Qd7, Rc8, Re8, Bb7, Bb8, Ne5, Nf6, pawns on a6, b5, c6, f7, g7, h6. Black to play. After just a brief look at this position we can get a feeling that Black must have something here, as all White's pieces are far away of their king. Yet, it's not easy to find a right way to play for Black, as he has his problems too - namely, the c5-square and the idle bishop on b7. So, how should Black continue? I hope that this position will be interesting for both club players and GMs alike. While you think of


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this puzzle, I'd like to talk about various aspects of CBC. Computer problems. Some readers of CBC-1 could not see diagrams properly, which is quite annoying, of course. This seems to be a problem with compatibility (or rather incompatibility!) of our software. I use Internet Explorer 4 and MS Outlook Express, which comes with it. Those, who have the same software, should see the diagrams and be able to print them straight from the mailbox. Not being a computer wizard, I can only say that we have to live with some of these problems. Note that sending the newsletter as an attached Word file won't help, as then diagrams in HTML get lost, unless I also send a whole bunch of gif files. But if I use True Type fonts, many won't be able to see those either, as they may not have fonts for diagrams. Format of the attachments. From now on I will attach Chess Base files in cbv format (Chess Base archive), as Chess Base Light is freely available from http://www.chessbase.com/ Will I create my Web site? Many people suggested this and probably I will have my Web site at some point. Yet I believe that a Web page and a newsletter supplement each other quite nicely, so I intend to produce the newsletter for a long time. My English. My command of English is less than perfect, but as I never claimed to be a linguist, I do not care much, as long as people can understand me. Unlike some other Russian chess emigrants, I do not pretend to think or dream in English. Russian is my first language and I am quite happy with that. I edit my newsletter myself and you might be able to see this, despite my extensive use of a spell-checker. My tournament plans. This weekend I am off to Bunratty - a nice place in the West of Ireland, near Limerick and Shannon Airport. There is a very old (12th century, I believe) castle there, which is extremely popular among American tourists. I heard a story that one of them said that it was very clever to build a castle that close to the neighbouring motorway! The latter is a highway, if you live in US or an autobahn, if you reside in Germany! In Russia we call it 'avtostrada' (it sounds Italian), even though I am not aware of many such things, existing in my motherland. Anyway, there is an annual and very nice tournament there. You can obtain some details from either from Gerry Graham or Ted Jennings, if you contact them at [email protected] If you don't play there this year, perhaps you can make it there later - I recommend this tournament. The tournament is also very strong, featuring every year several British GMs and yours truly. This year the top seeds are GMs Tiviakov, Baburin, Keen and Arkell. I will keep you posted about the results and also might have a game or two from that event in CBCs. Now let's talk a little about chess and music. I often enjoy listening to the musical 'Chess', but apart from that work, there are not many songs about chess. Thus, I was particularly pleased to receive yesterday a birthday present from a friend in US - CD called 'Deeper Blues', with no less than 12 songs on chess! They were quite interesting - nice humour. If this is of interest to you, you can check out this site: http://www.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/King_Bishop/

Now let's come back to our position - please compare your thoughts and ideas with what actually happened in the game:


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21...c5!! Splendidly played! Black brings the b7-bishop to life, not minding to sacrifice some material for it. Here Silicon Mind (Fritz 5 in this case) favours 21...Ba7 and 21...Neg4. Both moves are good, but they are hardly decisive, for example after 21...Neg4 22 Bxg4 Nxg4 23 f4 Ba7 24 Nc5 Bxc5 25 bxc5 White is holding on and may count on the opposite squared bishops. 22 Nxc5 Rxc5 23 bxc5 Nf3+! (D)

One, hardly a very welcome guest has arrived to White's kingside. 24 Bxf3 Bxf3 Yet another annoying piece has landed on f3. 25 Ne2 This is White's best try, as he needs to cover his kingside. Obviously, 25 gxf3? loses on the spot to 25...Qh3 26 f4 Ng4, but 25 h3 does not save White either - after 25...Qc7! 26 g3 Qd7! 27 Kh2 Re5! (threatening 28...Qxh3+!) 28 h4 Rh5 Black's attack succeeds. 25...Ne4!! (D)


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This is 'quiet' move make the whole idea with 21...c5!! particularly impressive, as Black had to trust that his attack would not fade away after 24 Ne2. Now White loses in all variations. 26 Ng3 This move loses prosaically. Computer suggests 26 Nd4 here, but this allows a number of sacrifices: 26...Bxh2+! 27 Kxh2 (27 Kh1 Bxg2+! 28 Kxg2 Qg4+ 29 Kh1 Qh3 isn't any better for White) 27...Bxg2! This is standard, but still quite beautiful. 28 Kxg2 Qg4+ 29 Kh1 Re5 winning. Computer also comes up with a witty reply - 26 Ba5. The point is that the bishop is no longer hanging and the c7-square is now under control. Yet, this move does not help White after 26...Ng5 (threatening nothing less but 27...Qh3!!) 27 Nf4 Qg4 and Black's attack is unstoppable - the threats of 28...Bxf4 or 28...Nh3+ cannot be met satisfactorily. 26...Nxd2 27 gxf3 Nxf3+ 28 Kg2 Qc6 29 e4 Nxe1+ 30 Rxe1 Bxg3 31 hxg3 Re5 (D)

The fire-works are over and Black is going to be rewarded with a healthy extra pawn.

32 Rd1 Rxc5 33 Rd8+ Kh7 34 Qe2 f5 35 Rd4 Rc4 36 Rxc4 Qxc4 37 Qxc4 bxc4 38 Kf3 g5 39 exf5 h5 40 Ke4 c3 (D)

As Black's pawns on the c- and h- files cannot be stopped, White resigned. 0-1 A beautiful game by Icelandic GM who, according to Chess Base's Player's Encyclopaedia, has http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-2.htm

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been inactive (what a pity!) in chess since 1988. This is it for now - stay tuned! If you have any questions or suggestions, please e-mail me at [email protected] - your comments are always welcome! With best regards, Alexander Baburin, Dublin.



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Coffee Break Chess No. 3, 25th of February 1999 © 1999 by GM Alexander Baburin

Dear Chess Friends! This is the 3rd issue of CBC and the whole project develops nicely: the list of readers grows fast and I am getting some new ideas for the future issues. Please advertise this newsletter among your chess friends - I will answer every inquiry about subscribing. Having more than 300 people on my mailing list, I now feel moral obligations to produce the newsletter on a regular base. This takes time, but I will try my best. Here I'd like to share with some chess information and also show one of my recent games.

Compatibility The newsletter is best viewed with Internet Explorer 4. I fear that there are many people, who have problems reading diagrams. This is a pity and therefore I am considering making CBC also in PDF format - for viewing it with Adobe Acrobat Reader program. But this may require buying appropriate software (Acrobat Exchange), so I can't be sure when I'll do it.

Copyright Chess analysis contained in the newsletter is my original work, unless specified otherwise. I surely don't mind if people will use for it self-improvement, coaching, etc. They can also be posted on Web pages, as long as CBCs are not used it in printed publications without my permission and people do not charge for seeing it on line. Please feel free to post the newsletter on your Web site just let me know about it and post my e-mail address there.

Chess Links Recently I came across a few links, which you might like to check. For example I saw a Web site, which introduces many Ukrainian GMs, including the youngest GM in the world Ruslan Ponomariov. Check it at http://chess-sector.odessa.ua/ Then I went to Alexander Khalifman's "GM School". Alexander is not only a very strong GM, but he is also a very enterprising person - he's been an editor for a series of chess books and has been involved in Russian chess sites. If you'd like to see, for example, Khalifman's coverage of Linares'99, you can find his site at http://underworld.fortunecity.com/jedi/859/indy.html . If you are interested in playing chess for norms, rating, etc., you may like to check http://www.elender.hu/~firstsat or to contact Laszlo Nagy at [email protected] He organises tournaments with FIDE rating and events with international norms. Laszlo will e-mail you his tournament program on request.


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Humour In Chess Most people like to laugh and I am no exception. There are many funny stories and anecdotes related to chess and I hope to make this 'humour corner' a permanent feature of CBC. Please send me your jokes and funny stories about chess - email me at [email protected] and share them with other readers of CBC. Here comes our first story by English IM Chris Baker. We met last weekend in Bunratty and after I mentioned in a conversation US chess writer IM Jeremy Silman, Chris told me the following curious story: Back in the mid-seventies I played in the London Evening Standard tournament and in the first round I had black against Jeremy, at that time he was already a strong 2300+ player while I was a spotty youth of around 2000 strength. The time control was relatively fast at 48 moves in 105 minutes followed by a 15 minute blitz finish and by move 21 we both had circa. 2-3 minutes left. As you can imagine with another 27 moves to play in the time left the "pace of the game" changed a little! We started to move at a great rate of knots, when all of a sudden a controller stepped in and took the clock stating that "You aren't allowed to play five minute chess in the tournament hall, especially with the tournament clocks!" By the time I got hold of him some 50 yards down the tournament hall and explained the situation my flag had gone - and he wanted to award my opponent a win on time! A certain amount of common sense eventually prevailed and a "higher authority" gave me "some time" and we restarted the game. To be perfectly honest by then "I'd gone" and the greater experience and composure of Jeremy came through, I seem to recall blundering a rook not long after we recommenced. Now my question goes - if controllers are there to save us from indiscretions and problems then who is there to save us from the controllers?! (Chris Baker)

Bunratty Open 1999 The tournament was won by GM Sergei Tiviakov, who now lives in Groningen, Holland. I know him since he was a little boy and meeting him in the Isle of Man last year, I told him about tournaments in Kilkenny and Bunratty, making those events even tougher. Yet, I believe that if you are afraid of competition, it's better now to play at all! Sergei was No. 1 on the starting list with his rating of 2627 and he was a bit luckier than the rest of us, scoring 5 out of 6 and pocketing IEP 500. A group of players finished on 4.5: 2-6. GMs K. Arkell (ENG) & A. Baburin (IRL), IM D. Gormally (ENG), FM M. Quinn (IRL) and Y. Rochev (RUS). The average rating of my opponents was 2376, which is not bad for a weekend tournament. I played there well enough and was quite happy with the result. The tournament attracted well over 200 people, who competed in various sections. The whole event was very enjoyable, thanks to local chess enthusiasts. Next year's tournament will take place in Bunratty on 18-20 of February; its details can be obtained from Gerry Graham at [email protected]

Winning Pawn Structures (Batsford, 1999) In Bunratty I learned from English chess journalist FM Tim Wall that my book is finally out. Tim told me that he was given a copy of the book for reviewing and that during the same day his copy was stolen in London metro. What can I say? People recognise good stuff when they see it! :-) Actually, we don't need Mr. Holmes case to catch the thief - just watch whose rating will sharply go up or drop down in the London area! I am not a well-organised person, so it took me 3 long years to write that book. Not seeing any reviews yet, I am very pleased with its quality. :-) The book (256 pages) deals with Isolated d-


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Pawn, Hanging Pawns and the Isolated Pawn Couple (e.g. c6-d5). Working on the book proved to be beneficial for my chess, as my rating went up by about 100 points. Perhaps I should have tried to work on it a bit longer, aiming to play in Linares in 2000! :-) Being a chess book dealer, I will certainly have many (autographed) copies of this book for sale. Details will follow shortly, but feel free to e-mail me now at [email protected] if you would like to order a copy later.

Annotated Game Now it's time for a game I played in Bunratty. I fear that after showing the game SzaboSigurjonsson, 1968 in CBC No. 2, my own game will look extremely dry. Yet, this is how I play chess and there is little I can do about it. It's well known that instructive games rarely occur between players of similar calibre - Kasparov may beat someone like Topalov brilliantly, but that may not be too instructive. It usually takes a gap in rating to produce games, which can be used as mini lessons. The following game may be a good example, as there reasonably strong GM (White) was playing vs. strong amateur (Black). If you will look at this game in Chess Base, if may be best to watch in 'training' mode (for notation).

Alexander Baburin (2586) - Mel O'Cinneide (2281) [E36] Bunratty Open (2), 20.02.1999 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Qc2 d5 5 a3 Bxc3+ 6 Qxc3 (D)

6...0-0 This move is too simplistic, although I found surprisingly many games in Mega99 database, where Black employed it. The problem with the text is that it allows Bg5, which minimises Black's chances for immediate counter-play. In this variation Black has to use his better development by playing 6...Ne4 7 Qc2 and then either 7.c5 or 7.Nc6, followed by 8...e5. The only worthy alternative to those plans is Short's innovation - 6...dxc4 7 Qxc4 b6!?. In the game Baburin-Short, Isle of Man 1998, after 8 Bf4 Ba6 9 Qxc7 Qxc7 10 Bxc7 Nc6 11 Nf3 Rc8 12 Be5 Nxe5 13 dxe5 Nd7 14 b4 Bb7 Black obtained equal chances. Nowadays opening novelties become available for other interested players very quickly, thanks to the Internet. Shortly after that game, it was no one less than Kasparov, who used Short's idea. After 8 Nf3 Ba6 9 Qc2 Nbd7 10 Bg5 0-0 11 e4 Bxf1 12 Rxf1 h6 13 Bxf6 Nxf6 14 0-0-0 Rc8 15 Kb1 Qe7 16 Rfe1 Black eventually won in the game Kramnik-Kasparov, Moscow 1998. Later in Vera-Davies, Saint Vincent 1999, Black deviated with 12...Qe8 13 0-0-0 c5 14 d5 exd5 15 Bxf6 dxe4 16 Bc3 exf3 and he also won (though with a bit of luck). I believe that there will be more games played in this line, though I feel that White will find a way to secure an edge soon. 7 Bg5 Nbd7 Now White has wide and pleasant choice - moves like 8 Nf3, 8 Rc1 or 8 e3 all look http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-3.htm

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good. The idea of my next move is to fix pawn formation in the centre, thus depriving Black any chance to play ...dxc4 and ...b6. 8 cxd5!? exd5 9 e3 Re8 10 Bd3 Nf8 11 Nf3 (D)

Now White threatens to play Bxf6, ruining Black's pawn formation on the kingside. Thus, Black had to play 11...c6. Here come my questions: 1. What kind of plan would be available for White then? 2. What kind of play should Black opt for? 3. How should White continue after 11...c6? Take a break here and think, while finishing your coffee - then come back to chess! :-) 11...Qd6? Here come my answers: 1. After 11...c6 White will probably go for the minority attack with b2-b4-b5. He can also play in the centre with Ne5 & f2-f4. Also the possibility of 0-0-0 and attack on the kingside should not be ruled out. 2. Black's best plan is to play ...Ng6 and ...h6, hunting the g5-bishop. 3. White should prepare to meet that plan with 12 Qc2! Ng6 13 h4!?, followed by 0-0-0. Also possible is 12 0-0 Ng6 13 Qc2, as then 13...h6?! can be met with 14 Bxh6! gxh6 (14...Ne4 15 Bf4 Nxf4 16 exf4 Qf6 17 g3 leaves White with extra pawn.) 15 Bxg6 fxg6 16 Qxg6+ Kh8 17 Ne5! Be6 18 f4 with very strong attack. However, after 13...Bg4! Black might be just OK and therefore 12 Qc2! & 13 h4 is better. 12 Bxf6! Trading one advantage (two bishops) for another (better pawn structure). 12...gxf6 13 00 Ng6 14 Rfc1 The other rook can be useful on the a-file. Besides of this, the f1-square might be needed for White's minor pieces. 14...c6 15 b4 a6 16 a4 Bg4 17 Nd2 Nh4 (D)


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Here doubled pawns on the f-file deprive Black his 'normal play with rook lift (...Re8-e6-g6). Here I decided to avoid moves like Qc5, as with the queens on the board Black will always have to think about his king's safety, for example break in the centre with e3-e4 might be possible at some stage. 18 b5 The sooner White will start playing on the queenside, the better! Otherwise Black might get some play after ...Kh8 and ...Rg8. 18...axb5 19 axb5 Rac8 20 bxc6 bxc6 21 Ra6 Bd7 22 g3 Ng6 23 Nb3 Black is lost. 23...Re7 24 Nc5 This is better than the direct attempt to with the c6-pawn with 24 Na5. This dilemma - whether to attack/win a backward pawn or to blockade it - is a very common one, particularly in positions with the isolated d-pawn. 24...Be8 25 Rca1 White's plan is simple - he wants to exchange one pair of rooks and the to invade along the 8th rank with his major pieces. It might be possible to attack the c6-pawn with Bd3-c2-a4 later. 25...h5?! This creates yet another weakness, but it's hard to sit idle... 26 Bf5 Rb8 27 h4 Kg7 28 Ra8 Nf8 Now Black wants to challenge White's glorious knight with ...Ne6, so White should stop it. 29 Bc2! (D)

By shifting the pieces on the b1-h7 diagonal, White makes sure that Black's knight stays passive on f8. 29...Qd8 30 Rxb8 Qxb8 31 Qd3 Qc8 32 Qe2 Kh6 33 Qf3 That was a funny little manoeuvre - Qc3-d3-e2-f3. 33...Kg7 34 Qxh5 Bd7 35 Nxd7 Qxd7 36 Ra8 Re8 37 Rxe8 Qxe8 38 Qg4+ Kh8 39 Qf4 Qe7 40 h5 Nh7? 41 Qh6 1-0 More chess material will come soon - stay tuned! Your comments & suggestions are very welcome - please e-mail me at [email protected] However, please avoid using 'Reply to Author' function with CBC, as that sends the newsletter back to me. Then it takes long time to download if there are many messages like this. It also makes it harder to print out your message later on. With best regards, Alexander Baburin, Dublin.


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PS Today I learned that my server does not allow sending messages to more than 25 e-mail addresses at the same time. So, it's possible that many of the people on my list did not receive CBC-1 and CBC-2. Thus, I have to send them again - sorry for any inconvenience causes. Alexander Baburin, Dublin.



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Coffee Break Chess No. 4, 6th of March 1999 © 1999 by GM Alexander Baburin

Dear Chess Friends! This is the forth issue of my newsletter and from now on I plan to release CBC once a week, most likely on Fridays. Of course, sometimes I might fail to do so, for example, when I will travel. Before I proceed with some talk, let's have a look at the following position. Can you spot the best continuation (Black to play)?

White: Kh1, Qa1, Re1, Rf2, Na4, Ba6, Bc3, pawns b4, e4, f3, h2. Black: Kg8, Qh3, Nf4, Nh5, Be7, Rb8, Rd8, pawns a7, f7, g7, h7. Black to play. Ready? Then click here to check the answer

My Mailing List IMPORTANT - please read carefully!! CBC community has grown beyond my personal E-mail capability and I am moving my mailing list to the Web. There everyone can join the list or to unsubscribe to CBC, which should allow me more time to concentrate on chess contents of the newsletter. Please note that your name can't be viewed by other readers and that only I can post to the list. Also, it's should be rather safe to give your e-mail address to that list. Here is some information on how you can join the list: Click to subscribe to AlexBaburin_on_Chess. If your E-mail reader does not support HTML and you cannot see the link above, please join the


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list by sending an empty E-mail to [email protected] You should receive a confirmation shortly. To unsubscribe from the list and stop receiving CBC just send an empty E-mail to: [email protected] Please note that after CBC-5 all the subsequent issues will be sent via that list only. This means that if you will not join in by then, you will stop receiving my newsletter. It's also possible that you will receive two (identical) copies of CBC-5, but I trust that this is a minor inconvenience. It takes only seconds to join the list, so please do it, if you wish to receive my newsletter!

Technical Support If you have any technical problems regarding CBC, please contact Igor Yagolnitser at [email protected]. I am very grateful to Igor for the help he provides to this project.

Future of CBC Will it go commercial? Here I would like to share my ideas about the CBC project, which is still in its nappies. Recently I saw an ad on the Web about chess newsletter, planned by US IM. Apparently, his newsletter will not be free and this is fair enough, as chess professionals need to make living too. I guess that there are many on-line publications like this already and that their number will grow. This is certainly good for chess, as more and more strong players will be able to share their knowledge with wider audience and to get some income from doing this. I suspect that many of my readers anticipate that very soon CBC will go commercial too. I'd like to assure you that this will not happen, at least not in the next few months! Introducing a subscription fee would cut off many people in various parts of the world and I do not want to do it. Of course, free CBC does not mean that I won Irish Lottery last week and therefore no longer need money. As working on CBC takes a lot of my time, I would be grateful if its readers will support this project by buying chess books, which I will offer in CBC from time to time. In the future I might be also interested in giving lectures and simuls in clubs, as well as in on-line lessons to individual students - if you have some ideas or suggestions, please e-mail me at [email protected] Also, please encourage your chess friends to subscribe to the newsletter.

Coffee Break Chess on the Web If you view the newsletter with Internet Explorer 4 & MS Outlook Express, you probably see everything quite well. For those who have problems seeing it from their e-mail box, now there is a simple solution, thanks to Ralph Marconi from Canada. Simply go to http://correspondencechess.com/marconi/cbc.index.htm and enjoy CBC on line! This may be the best way to view the back issues of CBC. Yet, even if you prefer to see CBC there, please do not rush to leave my mailing list, as one extra e-mail a week should not be a big problem for anyone.

Chess Links Ralph Marconi's home page might be of particular interest for those who play correspondence chess - visit it at http://correspondencechess.com/marconi/index.htm. Another useful link for CC fans is Tim Harding's Web page: http://www.chessmail.com/ Tim publishes 'Chess Mail' magazine and has written many chess books. Although I am not a big fan on CC, as I lack both patience and discipline, I contribute to his magazine from time to time. Tim was a technical editor for my book http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-4.htm

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'Winning Pawn Structures' and I suspect that sometimes I drove him crazy with my frequent changes to the text of that book. There is one site which I visit at least once a week - Mark Crowther's TWIC. It's a great site for news and downloads - you can see it at http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html.

Annotated Game Now it's time for more chess. The game Baburin-O'Cinneide, which I showed in CBC-3, got favourable reception from many readers, as they found it quite instructive. Thus, I've been asked to show more games of that kind. While I will certainly keep providing annotated games, I can't promise that all of them will be equally instructive - my selection is very subjective! :) Anyway, here is yet another game, which soon should appear in 'Kingpin' magazine and might also appear in 'Inside Chess'. Naturally, I annotated that game from different prospective for those two periodicals. For those who never heard of 'Kingpin', here is what its editor - Jonathan Manley - has to say about it: "Kingpin is a forum where anyone can write anything about chess, with an emphasis on humour and entertainment. I am always looking for contributors." For your free sample copy of the magazine e-mail Jonathan at [email protected] Here comes the game, which I would like to show. It was played in the 8th round of the strong open, which took place in Vienna in October-November 1998. At that time two leaders were on +5, while a whole pack of players with +4 tried to catch up with them. It's well know that in big opens it's necessary to score 7 out of 9 or more, if you want that the closing ceremony to coincide with a pay-day for you. Both my opponent and I were fully aware of this necessity, but how to reach this objective is another matter. Usually, the player with White pieces feels more obliged to press for a win in such circumstances, knowing that in the next game he will have Black. This gives Black chances too, as White might push just a little too hard. Yet, my preparation for the game was not very encouraging - I quickly learned that my opponent - GM Vladimir Epishin, who now resides in Germany - has a very solid repertoire. With White he follows Karpov's systems, which reflects the fact that he was one of Karpov's seconds. For me that meant that grabbing the c4-pawn on move 2 would be met with 3 e4. I quickly refreshed my (poor) memory with the help of Chess Base and went to the game, wondering whether my QGA would pass the test. Fortunately, a very pleasant surprise was awaiting me... Vladimir Epishin (2580) - Alexander Baburin (2590) [D20] Vienna Open (8), 01.11.1998 1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 e4 Nc6 4 Be3 Nf6 5 Nc3 e5 6 d5 Na5 7 Nf3 Bd6 This is Matthew Sadler's idea. White have not been particularly lucky in this line. Another possible move here is 7...a6. The following game is important for this line: 8 Nxe5 b5 9 Be2 Bb4 10 Qd4 0-0 11 0-0 Qe7 12 Nf3 c5 13 Qe5! Qxe5 14 Nxe5 Bxc3 15 bxc3 Nxe4 16 Bf3 f5?! 17 Bxe4 fxe4 18 Bxc5 Re8 19 f4 exf3 20 Nxf3 Nb7 21 Ba3±, Epishin-Lugovoi, St. Petersburg 1996. 8 Qa4+ Bd7! 9 Qxa5 a6


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This is the point of Sadler's 7...Bd6 - White has to be careful not to lose his queen. The game where the move 7...Bd6 was tested for the first time went exceptionally well for Black - 10 Nb1? Nxe4 11 Kd1? c3 and here in the game Illescas-Sadler, Linares zt 1995, White resigned, being disgusted with his position. The position arising after the further 12 b4 b6 13 Qa3 a5 looks so ugly for White, that his early resignation is understandable. Here is a more recent example of White's suffering in this line - 10 Ne2 Nxe4 11 0-0-0 c3 12 b4 b6 13 Qa3 a5 14 Qb3 axb4 15 Qc4 f5 16 Kb1 Ra4 17 Qd3 Qa8 and White resigned in Joyce-Baburin, Bunratty Masters 1999. After 10 Bxc4 b6 11 Qxa6 Rxa6 12 Bxa6 0-0 13 0-0 Ng4 14 Bd2 f5 15 exf5 Bxf5 16 h3 Nf6 White was lucky to draw in the game Karpov-Lautier, Monaco rapid 1996. Also 10 Na4 b6 11 Nxb6 cxb6 12 Bxb6 Qe7 13 a3 c3 14 bxc3 Nxe4 gave Black enough compensation for a pawn in the game Stocek-Gonzalez Garcia, Koszeg 1997. GM Lubomir Ftachnik and Fritz 5 (you can check this!) strongly advocate here the move 10 b4, claiming that after 10...b6 11 Qa3 a5 12 Qc1 axb4 13 Ne2 White is winning. What can I say... Epishin tries the move, which he invented recently: 10 Bc5? b6 11 Bxd6 bxa5 12 Ba3

It's a very creative idea to sacrifice a queen for just 2 minor pieces, but I think that this idea does not work. During my preparation I saw the game Epishin-Vaulin, Maikop 1998, which went: 12...Rb8 13 Nxe5 Rb4 14 Bxc4 0-0 15 b3 Re8 16 f4 g5! And Black eventually won. I guessed that 10 Bc5? was just a one-off idea and that it would never be repeated. Yet, I took a few minutes with my German friend (his name is Fritz) to check the position after 12 Ba3. Fritz 5 quickly came up with 12...Bb5. I saw that 13 Nxe5? Nxe4! loses for White, found that in the meantime Black wants to play ...Nd7 and ...f6, so I was happy enough. I did not think that this position would happen in our game, but this is exactly what Epishin opted for!


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12...Bb5 13 b3 This move was played instantly and it looked like Epishin was very happy with his preparation. It was time to start thinking on my own. 13...Nxe4!? This is probably the best, but 13...cxb3 14 Nxb5 Nxe4 is not bad for Black either. Another option is 13...Nh5, trying to hold on to the material. 14 Nxe4 cxb3 15 0-0-0? Better was 15 Nc3 although after 15...Rb8 White needs good advice, for example: 16 Nxe5 Qf6 17 Bxb5+ axb5 18 0-0 b4 19 Nc6 0-0 and Black wins. 15...bxa2

This is quite a spectacular position - not very often Black's d-pawn makes it to a2! For me this is yet another proof that QGA is better than, let's say, King's Indian! It's important to note that Black has managed to get what is known as the Irish Pawn Centre. This term was coined by Tony Miles in the late 70s. Though such pawns tend to be weak and don't live long, they provide some advantages too. As Eamon Keogh - Irish player, in whose games IPC happened a few times - put it: "You might get an awful lot of open files in such positions!". Here it's also true and Black might benefit from the b-file, but first he has to take care of his king. For those who like accuracy, I must say that as my a-pawns are not central, it might be more accurate to call them 'Irish Pawn Chain'. 16 Kb2 f6! After the forthcoming ...Kf7 Black will unite his rooks and make artificial castling. Black's pawns on f6 and e5 limit White's pieces greatly - once Black's king goes into a safe haven, the a3-bishop and the f3-knight will be practically useless. 17 Kxa2 Kf7 18 Rd2 Qd7 19 Bxb5 axb5

Now Black's pawns on the queenside are lined up again and ready to advance. 20 Rc1 b4 21 Bb2 Rhd8! 22 Rc6 Kg8 The rest is agony. 23 Nc5 Qg4 24 Ne6 Qxg2! This is the most energetic way to finish the game. 25 Nxd8 Rxd8 26 Ne1 Qe4 27 Rc1 a4 http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-4.htm

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28 f3 Qe3 29 Rcd1 Qb3+ 30 Ka1 a3 31 Bc1 Qc3+ 32 Kb1 Ra8 0-1 As White cannot prevent 33...b3 or 33...a2+, he resigned. After drawing my next game, I tied for 2nd with 7 out of 9 with GMs Ibragimov, Smirin and Golod. The tournament was won by GM Igor Glek, who scored 7.5 points. Austria was the first Western country, which I visited (back in 1991) and I used to play there quite often. Of course, chess players cannot see as much as 'normal' tourists, but it was nice to come back to Vienna, a truly beautiful city. There I met again my old friend Hartmuth Beck and enjoyed the company of GMs Lev Psakhis, Peter Wells and Ilya Smirin we often went together for walks and to some Chinese and Italian restaurants. I really look forward both to coming back to Vienna and seeing those guys again!

Solution. In the game Daly-Rochev, Bunratty 1999, Black played 28...Bh4 and won. However, he missed a neat checkmate: 28...Ng3+ 29 Kg1 Qg2+ 30 Rxg2 Nh3#. This reminds me of the following position I witnessed a few years ago:

White: Kh1, Qg5, Ng2, Ng3, pawns a5, h5. Black: Kh7, Nf2, Nf3, Bc6, pawns a6, f7, g7. This spectacular position occurred after 46.Nf2# in the game Cladouras - D. Gurevich, Biel open 1992. Click here to come back to the top of the issue. This is it for now - stay tuned and recommend Coffee Break Chess to your friends!


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Alexander Baburin, Dublin.



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Coffee Break Chess No. 5, 13th of March 1999 © 1999 by Alexander Baburin

Dear Chess Friends! I guess that everyone likes long coffee breaks, but not all have time to read a long newsletter, so I will try to be more laconic. In this issue I'd like to provide some information about myself and to advertise the books I wrote recently.

Who Is This Guy, Anyway?! I suspect that as my readership grows, there are more and more people who might be asking this question. Thus, I feel that it's essential to answer it. I was born in Gorky (now - Nizhniy Novgorod), Russia on 19th of February 1967. It is an old city on Volga, about 450 km east of Moscow. It's very close to Moscow - in Russian terms! :) It's a big (about 2 million people) industrial centre, with lots of military industry and therefore it was closed for foreigners until recently. The old city is very nice and I enjoy coming back to it. I started to play chess when I was 8 or so - my father taught me and shortly after that a woman came to our school and started a chess club. She remained my coach for many years, even though I quickly outgrew her as a player. Later her husband - IM Chernikov, influenced my chess development. I still stay in touch with both of them. Both my parents are workers, so I come from a proletarian family. My parents (particularly my mother) greatly (but quietly) supported my passion for chess. In Russia I travelled a lot to various chess tournaments and here is some of my early travelling experience: In practically every place where I went, there were so-called Lenin's places and all young players had to visit them (my Russian readers will understand me well). I got fed up with it after my fourth visit to that big nice house near the city of Kazan, where young Lenin greatly suffered in his exile, having only one servant. Later I decided that if I was to continue visiting Lenin's places, I should take a slightly different circle - Zurich, Paris and London! :) Fortunately, this became possible to do in the 90s. I became a Soviet Master when I was 20 and got a IM title at age of 23. Then in my first GMtournament in 1991 in Budapest I easily made a GM-norm and thought that the rest would just follow. Little did I know - GM-norms just escaped me! I became one of the highest rated IMs in the world (with a 2550-rating) and was also becoming one of the most frustrated. Things changed in 1995, when I made a performance norm (2600+ result) in Groningen. In 1996 I got another norm in Copenhagen and in the same year I was awarded the GM title in Yerevan. As I was 29 then, it hardly looks impressive nowadays, when you are expected to be a GM by the age of 12! :) Yet, as I never had ambitions (illusions?!) that I was born to be the next world champion, I take it easy. http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-5.htm

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My best tournament result (so far) was in the Isle of Man Open in 1997, when I scored 8 out of 9, showing a 2827-performance and finishing 2 points ahead of the second place. My highest rating has been 2600 (a year ago), my current rating is 2586. The most famous player I ever beat was Korchnoi (Copenhagen 1996). My style of play ranges somewhere between 'very solid' and 'extremely boring'. :) Since 1993 I've been living in Dublin. It's not easy to be a chess professional in Ireland (is it easy anywhere?!), as chess is still not well-established here. But I like the country - people are nice and the grass is always green. Though I wish it would not rain that often! I am highly adoptive and probably can live anywhere - I quite agree with Socrates, who said that he was from the Earth, rather than from any particular place. I often go to Russia, where I have many friends and where my parents live. I am married to Elena with two children - Ivan (9) and Anastasia (4). This is probably enough (too much?) information for a start. Later I will cover some aspects of my career and professional life. You can find additional information at Mark Orr's Web site: http://www.cns.ed.ac.uk/tica/home.html Mark is Ireland's first IM. His site contains a lot of information about Irish players and has some useful links. In the unlikely event that you want to see what I look like, go to http://www.cns.ed.ac.uk/tica/teams/pictures/yerevan96.html.

Will This Issue Be The LAST One YOU Receive ? It all depends on you - to receive the subsequent issues of CBC you must subscribe to it on the Web. The idea is simple - there is a Mailing List on the Web, where people can subscribe or unsubscribe themselves. I sent one message to that list and all people on the list receive it. This leaves me with more time to concentrate on the contents of the newsletter. So, please read the following instructions and subscribe to the list, if you have not done it already. It really takes only seconds! Click to subscribe to AlexBaburin_on_Chess If your E-mail reader does not support HTML and you cannot see the link above, please join the list by sending an empty E-mail to [email protected] You should receive a confirmation shortly. To unsubscribe from the list and stop receiving CBC just send an empty E-mail to: [email protected] Of course, you can find CBC on the Web, but it's better to get it in your mailbox, as this way you will not miss any! Also, those readers who can't see the diagrams properly now, soon will be able to enjoy CBC fully, as in the near future I will attach pdf files for viewing with Adobe Acrobat Reader. Please note that I will not be able to forward you any issues, which you might miss.

Weekly Digest & Some Links Recently I received No. 1 of 'New in Chess'. Two materials drew my attention there - the interview with world's youngest GM Ruslan Ponomariov by Sarah Hurst and the article about the late Efim Geller by GM Genna Sosonko. NiC is one of my favourite magazines, because there is always something entertaining in it. Here is a link to its Web page: http://www.newinchess.com/ Want to learn more about Ponomariov? Check it at http://chess-sector.odessa.ua/ Then I received 'Inside Chess' No. 4, where I found a very detailed analysis of the fantastic Kasparov-Topalov (Linares 1999) game. Also, the match Adams-Seirawan is covered there. I like the way Yasser annotates in http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-5.htm

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general, but it's particularly interesting to see his notes to his own games. Here is a link to Inside Chess on the Web: http://www.insidechess.com/ Nowadays more and more GMs create their own Web pages. English GM Jonathan Levitt did so recently - his site can be found at http://www.jlevitt.dircon.co.uk/index.htm Some readers ask me about recommended chess books. While I will try to cover this topic later, in the meantime I'd like to direct you to the page of John Elburg, who regularly reviews chess books: http://www.chessmail.com/books/index.htm

My New Book As some of you may know, my book 'Winning Pawn Structures' is just out. As I am also a book dealer, I have some copies of this book for sale. For more information please refer to the attached file called 'WPS-info'.

Annotated Game Here I would like to show one game from 'Winning Pawn Structures'. Please note that this version varies from the one in the book. I tried to present this game as a mini lesson, so if you want to take some challenge, please refer to the attached Chess Base file first or printout the game and cover the moves with a list of paper. Then try to answer the questions I pose here. Or simply look at the game and enjoy great play by GM Yusupov!

Artur Yusupov - Eric Lobron Germany Ch, Nussloch 1996 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 0-0 5 Bd3 c5 6 Nf3 d5 7 0-0 cxd4 8 exd4 dxc4 9 Bxc4 b6 10 Re1 Bb7

How should White continue here? What kind of plan would you prefer? 11 Bd3! White aims the bishop at the kingside, as he believes there is no future for the bishop in looking at the e6-pawn, while a d4-d5 break isn't possible yet. The question of the best placement of this bishop is an evergreen problem in such formations, which White successfully solves in this game. http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-5.htm

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11...Nc6 11...Nbd7 is a good alternative. 12 a3! Now this move is very logical, as after 11...Bxc3 12 bxc3 and the eventual Bg5 the pin will be quite unpleasant for Black, who has committed his knight to c6. 12...Be7 13 Bc2 Re8 14 Qd3 White has got a standard battery, which will force Black to weaken his kingside in some way. 14...g6

White's play on the b1-h7 diagonal has been blocked, how should he continue now? 15 h4!? The march of the h-pawn is a typical weapon from White's arsenal in this pawn formation. While White wants to challenge the g6-pawn, he also establishes additional control over the g5square. 15...Qd6? Black is trying to find a safe place for the queen and also bring some pressure on the d4-pawn after ...Rad8 and ...Qb8, however it does not really solve the problem. 15...Rc8 might be a better choice, meeting 16 Bg5 with the standard move 16...Nd5. 16 Bg5 Rad8 17 Rad1 Qb8

The tension is rising. What would suggest for White now? 18 Bb3! Excellent judgement - the bishop has no longer anything to do on the b1-h7 diagonal, so White redeploys it to a better location. The bishop has gone via a long route: f1-d3-c4-d3-c2-b3 and found itself on the same diagonal as before. 18...a6? Black obviously misjudged the forthcoming play, otherwise he would have tried 18...Kg7. The analysis shows that after another possible defence - 18...Na5, which looks okay at the first glance, White also gets an irresistible attack after 19 Ba2! Nd5 20 b4!. Now both 20...Bxg5 21 Nxg5 Nxc3 22 Qxc3 Nc6 23 Nxe6! fxe6 24 Rxe6 Rxe6 25 Bxe6+ Kg7 26 d5+ Qe5 27 Rd3!+- and 20...Nxc3 21 Qxc3 Nc6 22 d5 exd5 23 Bxd5 Bxg5 24 Bxf7+! Kxf7 25 Nxg5+ Kg8 26 Qc4+ Kh8 http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-5.htm

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27 Rxd8 Rxd8 28 Qf7+- are bad for Black. 19 d5! White capitalises on his advantage by well-timed break in the centre. Now 19...exd?? loses at once to 20 Rxe7 and Bxf6. After 19...Nxd5 the best move is 20 Bxd5!, as here it is more beneficial for White to have a knight on d5 rather than a bishop, in a view of the weakness of the f6-square (and the b6-pawn). After 20...Bxg5 (20...exd5 21 Nxd5 Bxg5 22 Rxe8+ Rxe8 23 Nxg5 transposes to the same position) 21 Nxg5 (not 21 hxg5? because of 21.Ne7!) 21...exd5 22 Rxe8+! Rxe8 23 Nxd5 Black can't survive, for example: 23.Qe5 24 Qf3! f5 25 Qb3+-. 19...Na5

This is the culmination of the fight in the centre. How to play now? 20 dxe6! This tactical blow highlights the fact that most of the black pieces are passive and that his king is vulnerable. 20...Nxb3 After 20...Rxd3 21 exf7+ Kg7 22 fxe8N+ Qxe8 23 Rxd3 Nxb3 24 Rde3 White gets the piece back and wins. 21 exf7+ Kxf7 22 Qc4+ Kg7 23 Ne5! Ng8?! More stubborn would be 23...Nd5!?, although after the further 24 Bh6+! Kxh6 25 Nf7+ Kg7 26 Nxd8 Na5 27 Qd4+ Nf6 28 Qxb6 Bxd8 29 Rxe8 Bxb6 30 Rxb8 Bc7 31 Rxb7 Nxb7 32 Nd5 Nxd5 33 Rxd5 the endgame is winning for White, who can create passed pawns on both flanks. 24 Qf7+ Kh8 25 Rxd8 Qxd8 26 Qxb3 Qd4 27 Re3 Rf8 28 Bxe7 1-0

Coffee Break Chess on the Web There are already several sites, where you can see CBC. Here are some of them: l l l

http://correspondencechess.com/marconi/cbc.index.htm http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/2640/cbc/index.htm http://www.ticnet.com/1001knights/

Also check what their creators have to say about chess - this might be of interest to you!

Technical Support I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For technical support regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected]


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I hope that you've enjoyed this issue of Coffee Break Chess - we'll be in touch next week! Alexander Baburin, Dublin.

© 1999 by Alexander Baburin The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.


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Tactical Puzzels 19th of March 1999 © 1999 by Alexander Baburin

Dear Chess Friends! For me it has been one of those weeks - with work piling up, deadlines approaching faster than you can imagine it and other stuff like that. That made working on CBC No. 6 very difficult, as I have many interesting topics to shown in the next issues of CBC, but all of them require work and time. As for me quality is more important than quantity, I decided to take a break till next Friday. However, I just could not let you have your morning coffee on Saturday without chess! Therefore I selected 5 positions, so you check your tactical vision! They come from my work for Chess Base Magazine. Some of you may know that there I did reviews on the middle game for a very long time. However, now I am doing reviews on tactics, which is nice for a change. In these positions there might be dual solutions - they do not imply a single 'only' continuation. In all of them it's White to play. Solutions are given in the end of this message. Enjoy! Position No. 1

White: Kd2, Rh8, pawns c2, g2, h6. Black: Kf7, Ra2, pawns e6, f5.

Position No. 2

http://www.marochess.de/cbc/tact-1.htm

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White: Kg1, Qd1, Rc1, Rf1, Bf4, Bg2, Nc3, pawns a2, b2, d4, e2, f2, g3, h2. Black: Kg8, Qd7, Ra8, Rf8, Bb7, Be7, Nh5, pawns a7, b6, c6, d5, f7, g7, h7.

Position No. 3

White: Kh1, Qh4, Re2, Bb3, Bg5, Ne5, pawns a2, b2, c3, f5, g2, h2. Black: Kg8, Qb7, Rf8, Ba8, Be7, Nf6, pawns a6, b5, f7, g7, h7.

Position No. 4

White: Kb1, Rd3, Rd4, Bd6, pawns a2, b2, c4, f2, g2, h3. Black: Ke8, Rc6, Rh8, Nd7, pawns a7, b6, e6, f6, g6, h7.

Position No. 5


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White: Kg1, Qa2, Ra1, Rf1, Ba3, Bb3, Nf3, Ng3, pawns a4, c3, d4, e4, f2, g2, h2. Black: Ke8, Qc7, Ra8, Rh8, Bb7, Bg7, Nb6, Nf6, pawns a6, b5, d6, e5, f7, g6, h5.

Ready to check your answers? Here the solutions come:

Solutions 1. Timman - Yermolinsky, Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee, 1999 39 Re8! 1-0 2. Peng - Darchia, Groningen Festival Women, 1998 13 Nxd5! This strike wins by force - Black's knight should not have left the d5-pawn under-protected. 13...cxd5 14 Rc7 Qe6 15 Rxb7 Nxf4 16 gxf4 Bd6 17 e3 Rfd8 18 Qh5 Bb8 19 Rc1 h6 20 Rc6! 1-0 3. Van der Wiel - Van den Doel, Hoogovens-B Wijk aan Zee, 1999 35 Ng6! This fork decides the game at once. 35...Re8 36 Bxf6 Bf8 37 Nxf8 Rxf8 38 Qg5 1-0 4. Hodgson - Wells, Oxford, 1998 26 Be7! This neat move wins. 26...Ne5 27 Ra3 Nxc4 28 Rxa7 e5 29 Rd8+ Kf7 30 Bb4+ 1-0 5. Marin - Nanu, Rumanian Championship, Bucharest, 1998 17 Bxd6! This blow decides matters. 17 ..Qxd6 18 Bxf7+ Kf8 19 dxe5 Qe7 20 Bxg6 Ng4 21 Nf5 1-0 That's it for now - we will be in touch next week. Meanwhile, if you like CBC, please recommend it to your friends - it's easy to subscribe and it's free (except for me - my Internet Provider will make a fortune on me this month!). Have a nice weekend! Alex Baburin.

© 1999 by Alexander Baburin The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the http://www.marochess.de/cbc/tact-1.htm

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copyright holder.


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Coffee Break Chess No. 6, 28th of March 1999 © 1999 by Alexander Baburin

Dear Chess Friends! After last few weeks, when I was very busy celebrating the arrival of my book 'Winning Pawn Structures' (champagne parties & all that pleasant stuff), life is finally coming back to normal. I spent the previous weekend in Birmingham, where my team - 'Wood Green' - did well in the 4NCL (Four Nations League), winning two important matches. Fortunately, their Irish hit man also stroke, scoring 2 points. To me that was a bit of a relief, as in November the very same hit man himself got hit in a league match there. In CBC-7 I am going to show those two games I played in Birmingham, while in this issue I want to deal with some endgame positions.

Weekly Digest & Some Links I recently received No. 1/2 of '64-Chess Review' (Russia). It's an excellent magazine and you might like to check its Web site (in Russian) at http://www.64.ru/ The editor of '64' - A. Roshal - is very keen in the 'Chess Oscar' project. So, if you want to express your view on the top 10 chess achievers in 1998, e-mail your list (marking it 'Oscar') to the following address: [email protected] If you write for any periodical, please specify this. Recently I came across Eric Schiller's Web site - perhaps this will be of interest to you too: http://www.chessworks.com/

Coffee Break Chess on the Web There are already several sites, where you can see CBC. Check some of them and look what their creators have to say about chess - this might be of interest to you: l l l

http://correspondencechess.com/marconi/cbc.index.htm http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/2640/cbc/index.htm http://www.ticnet.com/1001knights/

If your mother tongue is Spanish, now you can enjoy 'Coffee Break Chess' fully, thanks to Argentinean chess enthusiasts - check this page: http://www.geocities.com/~ajeinteg/

Technical Support I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected]

Kramnik Analyses and Annotates http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-6.htm

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The following material is taken from '64-Chess Review' No. 1/2 of 1999. Their policy allows reproduction of any material they publish, provided they its origin is mentioned. I must say that Vladimir Kramnik, with his clear style of play, is one of my favourite players. Thus, I was particularly fascinated with his article in '64' and soon you will understand why. In my translation I cut off notes before move 25. So, Kramnik annotates:

Vladimir Kramnik (2751) - Jan Timman (2649) [A35] Hoogovens, Wijk aan Zee NED (10), 28.01.1999 [Kramnik] 1 Nf3 c5 2 c4 Nf6 3 Nc3 Nc6 4 g3 d5 5 d4 cxd4 6 Nxd4 dxc4 7 Nxc6 Qxd1+ 8 Nxd1 bxc6 9 Bg2 Nd5 10 Ne3 e6 11 Nxc4 Ba6 12 Na5 Bc5 13 Bd2 0-0 14 Rc1 Bd4 15 b4 Bb5 16 Nxc6 Bb2 17 Rc5 Bxc6 18 Rxc6 Rac8 19 Rxc8 Rxc8 20 Bxd5 exd5 21 f4 Ba3 22 Rf1 Rc4 23 Rf3 Bxb4 24 Bxb4 Rxb4 25 Ra3! (D)

This is the point of White's previous play. Instead, 25 Rb3? would lead only to a draw after 25.Rxb3 26 axb3 Kf8 27 Kd2 Ke7 28 Kc3 a5!. 25.h5! It took Timman only a couple of minutes to realise that Black should sacrifice the a7-pawn at once. After 25.Rb7? 26 Ra5 Rd7 27 Kd2 Kf8 28 Kd3 Ke7 29 Kd4 Ke6 30 g4! Black's defence would be much more difficult. 26 Rxa7 Rb2 27 a4 Ra2 This is the only reasonable move. 28 f5! This very important move keeps the enemy king restricted in its movements. Now Black loses after 28...f6 29 a5 Kh7 30 a6 Kh6 31 h4 g6 32 fxg6 Kxg6 33 Ra8 Kg7 34 a7 and then as in the game. 28...Ra1+ Black tries to complicate the issue, but White is alert! 29 Kf2 It was not too late to blunder a pawn - 29 Kd2?? Rf1. 29...d4 30 a5 f6 31 Kf3! Otherwise Black would have survived: 31 a6? Ra5 or 31 h3 Kh7 32 a6 Ra5 33 g4 hxg4 34 hxg4 Kh6 35 Ra8 Kg5. 31...Kh7 32 a6 Kh6 33 h4 g6 34 fxg6 Kxg6 35 Ra8 Ra2 36 Kf4 Avoiding the last trap - 36 a7 Kf5!, where White's winning chances are questionable. After 36 Kf4! it's all over. 36...Kf7 Or 36...Ra4 37 Ke4 Ra2 38 Kd3+-. 37 a7 Kg7 38 Kf5 Now Black is in zugzwang and must let the enemy king in. 38...Ra5+ 39 Ke4 Ra4 40 Kd5 Ra1 41 Kxd4 Black resigned. 1-0 This is a very interesting endgame, where Black defended resourcefully, but White was precise from the beginning till the end. The game could have continued: 41...Ra4+ 42 Kc5 Ra2 43 e4 Ra1 44 Kb6 Rb1+ 45 Kc6 Rc1+ 46 Kd6 Rd1+ [46...Ra1 47 Rc8 Ra6+ 48 Rc6 Rxa7 49 Rc7+ Rxc7 50 Kxc7+-] 47 Ke6 Ra1 48 Rd8 Ra6+ 49 Rd6 Rxa7 50 Rd7+ Rxd7 51 Kxd7 f5 52 e5!, winning. Now I would like to disappoint those who followed my annotations to this undoubtedly very interesting and complicated, endgame - the point is that my notes were just a parody - they were bogus! I began to notice too often that annotations by some well-know players do not try to uncover chess truth at all, pursuing some other aims instead. When I think of this, I come to the http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-6.htm

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following reasons, why they do it: 1. They work for their 'image', showing that the opponent was hopeless even before the game started. 2. They suffer from the complex of a unrecognised genius - 'I don't make mistakes!'. 3. Their 'high professionalism' does not allow them to waste their precious time on such things, as quality annotations to a game. I feel that the latter reason is the most common. Alas, in our pragmatic times, searching for chess truth becomes increasingly unpopular. End of quote. Then Vladimir proceeds to the real analysis of this endgame, but before we move on, I would like to give a few key positions, which should help you to understand this ending better:

Position No. 1 Here White can't win: 1 Kb6 Rb1+ 2 Kc5 Ra1=. White needs f-pawn, instead of a pawn on the gfile. Then after f5-f6+ he wins easily. Position No. 2 This is a very important position. If Black stays idle, he loses: 1 ..Kf7 2 Kf2 Kg7 3 Ke2 Kf7 4 Kd2 Kg7 (4 ..Ke7?? 5 a7+-) 5 Kc2 Kf7 6 Kb2 Ra5 7 Kb3 Ra1 8 Kb4 Ra2 9 Kb5 Rb2+ 10 Kc6 Ra2 11 Kb7 Rb2+ 12 Ka7 Ke7 13 Rb8 Ra2 14 Kb7 Rb2+ 15 Ka8 Ra2 16 a7 Kd6 (16 ..Kd7 17 Kb7 Rb2+ 18 Ka6 Ra2+ 19 Kb6 Rb2+ 20 Kc5+-) 17 Kb7 Rb2+ 18 Kc8 Rc2+ 19 Kd8 Rh2 20 Rb6+ Kc5 21 Rc6+ Kb5 22 Rc8+-. On the account of this variation Tarrasch believed that this endgame was winning for White. However, Black can save this ending: 1 ..Ra5! 2 Kf3 Rf5+ 3 Ke4 Rf6! This idea was discovered by Vanchura. Black targets the enemy pawn from the side and as soon as White's king protects it, Black starts driving him away. 4 Kd5 Kh7 5 Kc5 Kg7 6 Kb5 Rf5+ 7 Kb4 Rf6 8 a7 Ra6=. Position No. 3 This should be a draw - when White will move his king to the queenside, Black will take one or two pawns on the opposite wing, which should allow him enough counter-play. Note that here Black's king is more active than in the endgame Kramnik-Timman. Also, in that ending there were more pawns on the board, which favours the superior side. Position No. 4 Unzicker-Lundin This endgame illustrates that often it's good to push the passed to the seventh rank, as that ties down the enemy rook. Here after 49 a7!+- Black got absolutely paralysed. The game ended: 49.Ra2+ [or 49 ..Ra6 50 Kd3 Rd6+ 51 Kc4 Rd7 52 Kb5 Re7 53 Kc6! Zugzwang. 53 ..Re6+ (53 ..Rg7 54 Kd6 Rb7 55 Rc8+-) 54 Kd7 Ra6 55 Ke7] 50 Kd3 Ra1 51 Kd4 Ra5 52 Kc4 Ra3 53 Kc5 Ra1 54 Kd6 Ra3? 55 Ke7 [better was Ra6+ 56 Rc6 Rxa7 57 Rc5#] 55 ..Ra6 56 Kf7 Ra3 57 Kg7 Ra1 58 Kh6 Ra6 59 Rb8 Rxa7 60 Rb5+ Ke6 61 Kxg6 Ra8 62 Kxh5 Rg8 63 g4 Rh8+ 64 Kg6 1-0.


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I should also mention that rook endgame with 4 pawns vs. 3 on the same flank is usually a draw. Thus, exchanging the a-pawn for Black's d-pawn would not be good for Kramnik. Yet another comment - note that not all Vlad's comments were bogus, only some. His 'old' comments are in red colour and underlined. My own comments will be in pink colour and italic. Large diagrams are for positions, which actually occurred in the game, while smaller ones are used for positions in possible variations. So, as Kramnik wrote, now "let's be serious":

26...Rb2 The attempt to exchange some pawns on the kingside was worth considering: 26...h4 27 Kf2 hxg3+ 28 hxg3 g6. Then White can continue with 29 Kf3! Kg7 30 g4 Kf6 31 Ra6+ Ke7. It's hard to say whether White can win here. But he can certainly try, for example by playing 32 Ra3!? Rb2 33 Re3+ Kd6 (too passive for Black is 33...Kf6 34 g5+ Kg7 35 a3) 34 a3. 27 a4 At first I considered this move to be a serious mistake, but I am no longer sure in this. At any rate, White should have preferred 27 f5!. Then after 27...h4! (the only move) 28 g4! (28 gxh4 Rb4 or 28 Kf2 hxg3+ 29 hxg3 f6 30 a4 Kh7 31 a5 Ra2 32 Ke3 Ra4 33 a6 Kh6 is not enough to win the game.) 28 ..Rb1+ 29 Kf2 Rh1 30 Kg2 Re1 Black has good drawing chances, for example: 31 Ra8+ Kh7 32 Re8 Kh6!? 33 Kf3 Rh1 or 31 Re7 Ra1 32 Kh3 Rxa2. Now after 33 Re8+ Kh7 34 g5 (34 Kxh4 f6 35 Kh5 d4 36 h4 Ra5 37 Re7 Rd5 drawing.) 34 ..f6 35 g6+ Kh6 36 Kxh4 Ra4+ 37 Kg3 Kg5 Black should survive. Also after 33 Kxh4 d4 (33 ..Kf8!? 34 Re3 d4 35 Re4 f6) 34 h3 though White maintains some practical chances, a draw is the most likely outcome. 27...Ra2? The only reasonable move. A serious mistake - Black had to play 27...g6 (now or never!) and after 28 a5 Ra2 29 a6 Kg7 30 Ra8 Kf6 31 a7 Kf5 Black has just enough time to survive. 32 h3 (32 e3 Kg4!) 32...h4! (otherwise White will play e2-e3, depriving Black any counter-play) 33 gxh4 Kxf4 34 Kd1 Kf5 35 Kc1 Kf6 36 Kb1 Ra5 37 Kb2 Kg7=. Perhaps, White should not force the play to much and prefer 29 Kf2 instead, but here also after 29...Kg7 or 29...Ra3!? Black should survive. 28 f5! This is a very important move, which keeps the enemy king restricted in its movements. Now Black loses after 28...f6 29 a5 Kh7 30 a6 Kh6 31 h4 g6 32 fxg6 Kxg6 33 Ra8 Kg7 34 a7 and then as in the game. 28...Ra1+ (D) Black tries to complicate the issue, but White is alert!


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29 Kf2? It was not too late to blunder a pawn - 29 Kd2?? Rf1. White would have won easily after 29 Kd2! Rf1 30 a5 Rxf5 31 Rd7! Rf6 (or 31...d4 32 a6 Ra5 33 a7 Kh7 34 Rxf7+-) 32 Rxd5 g6 33 Rd3! Ra6 34 Ra3 The strange thing is that I saw the whole variation, but decided to choose a 'safer' line. Even if 29 Kf2? does not miss the win completely, it makes it much more problematic. 29...d4 30 a5 f6 31 Kf3! Otherwise Black survives: 31 a6? Ra5 or 31 h3 Kh7 32 a6 Ra5 33 g4 hxg4 34 hxg4 Kh6 35 Ra8 Kg5. 31...Kh7 Also loses 31...Ra3+ 32 Ke4 Re3+ 33 Kxd4 Rxe2 34 a6 Rxh2 35 Rc7 Ra2 36 a7 Kh7 37 Kc5 Kh6 38 Kb6 Kg5 39 Rxg7+ Kxf5 40 Kb7 Rb2+ 41 Kc8 Ra2 42 Kb8 Rb2+ 43 Rb7 Ra2 44 Rb4!. 32 a6 Kh6 33 h4 g6 34 fxg6 Also interesting is 34 Ke4!?. 34...Kxg6 35 Ra8 Ra2 Very interesting play would occur after 35...Kf5!? (D).

Now 36 a7? Ra2 leads to a draw. This line I'd like to continue: 37 e4+ dxe3 38 Kxe3 Ra3+ 39 Kd4 Ra5 40 Kc4 Ra1 41 Kb5 Ra2 42 Kb6 Rb2+ 43 Kc6 Ra2 44 Kd6 Ra6+ 45 Kd7 Ra3 46 Ke7 Ra4 (46...Rxg3 47 Rf8 Rg7+ 48 Rf7 Rg8 49 Rxf6+ winning.) 47 Kf7 Ra6 48 Kg7 Kg4 49 Kh7! Kf3 50 Kh6 Ra5 and Black is OK. White has to play 36 Kf2! Ra2 37 Ke1 Kg4 38 a7 Kh3 39 Kd1 and it seems that White wins here: 39...f5! 40 Kc1 Kg2 41 Kb1 Ra4 42 Kb2 Kf2 43 Kb3 Ra1 44 Kc4 Ra4+ 45 Kc5 Ke1 46 Kb6 Kxe2 47 Kb5 Rxa7 48 Rxa7 d3 49 Re7+ Kf3 50 Kc4 d2 51 Rd7 Ke2 52 Kc3 d1Q 53 Rxd1 Kxd1 54 Kd3 Ke1 55 Ke3 Kf1 56 Kf4 Kf2 57 Kxf5 Kxg3 58 Kg5+-. This long variation, resulting in a winning pawn endgame, looks impressive, but here Larsen's postulate, that all long variations are wrong, works fine - after 42...Rb4+ 43 Ka3 Rb7(D)


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Black has shifted his rook to the seventh rank, where it will work as a shield for his king. This way Black generates enough counter-play: 44 Ka4 Rg7! and Black draws - 45 Kb5 Kxg3 46 Kb6 Rg6+ 47 Kc5 Rg7 48 Kxd4 Kxh4 49 Ke5 Kg5. Slightly better is 42 Kc2, but after 42...Rc4+ 43 Kb3 (or 43 Kd3 Ra4 and White is stuck. 44 Rg8 Rxa7 45 Kxd4 Re7=) 43...Rc7 Black gets similar position - 44 Kb4 Rg7 45 Kc5 Kxg3=. Thus, we may claim that 35...Kf5 would have been a better try. 36 Kf4 Avoiding the last trap - 36 a7 Kf5! where White's winning chances are questionable. After 36 Kf4! it's all over. 36...Kf7? Or 36...Ra4 37 Ke4 Ra2 38 Kd3+-. At that moment were both regarded Black's position as absolutely lost and only a few days later I discovered that after 36...Kg7! Black could put up a much tougher defence. Perhaps, 37 Ke4 is worth trying, although I am not sure that White can win after 37...Rxe2+ 38 Kxd4 Rg2! 39 a7? Ra2!. There are a few holes in this line. First, 38...Rg2? is a mistake, as after 39 Rb8! Ra2 40 Rb7+ Kg6 41 a7 Kf5 42 Rg7! White wins. Instead of that, Black must play 38...Re6! (D) and he Black holds the position easily, using Vanchura's technique:

39 Kd5 Rb6 40 Kc5 Re6 41 Kb5 Re5+ 42 Kc6 Re6+ 43 Kd5 Rb6 44 Kc5 Re6 45 a7 Ra6. Finally, I found a way to crack Black's defence after 36...Kg7, but would have I found it over the board? White should play: 37 a7 Kh7 38 Kf5 Kg7 39 Kf4 (or 39 g4 Ra5+ 40 Kf4 Ra4 with the same variations.) 39...Kh7 40 g4! (D)


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40...Ra4! (After 40...hxg4 41 Kxg4 White wins easily, bringing his pawn to h6 and then picking both Black's pawns. I'd like to extend this line: 41...Ra5 42 h5 Kg7 43 h6+ Kh7 44 Kf4 Ra2 45 Kf5 Ra6 46 Ke4 Ra4 47 Kd5 Ra2 48 Kxd4 Ra5 49 Ke4 Ra2 50 Kf5 Ra6 51 e3 and Black must give up his last pawn, after which having a passed pawn on the e-file, White wins easily.) 41 g5! (But not 41 gxh5? d3+ 42 e4 d2 43 Rd8 Rxa7 44 Rxd2 Ra1 and Black escapes.) 41...d3+ 42 e4 d2 43 Rd8 fxg5+ 44 Kxg5 (44 hxg5? Rxa7 45 Rxd2 Rf7+ 46 Ke5 Kg6) 44...Rxa7 45 Rxd2 Kg7 46 Kxh5 Re7 47 Re2 Re5+ 48 Kg4 Kf6 49 Kf4 Rh5 50 e5+ Ke6 51 Kg4 Rh8 52 h5 and White wins. Black can play a bit better - 42...fxg5+ 43 Kxg5 Ra5+! now after 44 Kf4? d2 45 Rd8 Rxa7 46 Rxd2 Rg7 47 Kf5 Rg4 Black gets enough counter-play. Alas, after 44 Kf6! Ra6+ 45 Kf5 Ra5+ 46 e5 d2 47 Rd8 Rxa7 48 Rxd2 Black is lost. 37 a7 Kg7 38 Kf5 Now Black is in zugzwang and must let the enemy king in. 38...Ra5+ 39 Ke4 Ra4 40 Kd5 Ra1 41 Kxd4 (D)

Black resigned. The game could have continued: 41...Ra4+ 42 Kc5 Ra2 43 e4 Ra1 44 Kb6 Rb1+ 45 Kc6 Rc1+ 46 Kd6 Rd1+ [46...Ra1 47 Rc8 Ra6+ 48 Rc6 Rxa7 49 Rc7+ Rxc7 50 Kxc7+-] 47 Ke6 Ra1 48 Rd8 Ra6+ 49 Rd6 Rxa7 50 Rd7+ Rxd7 51 Kxd7 f5 52 e5! 1-0 This is a very interesting endgame, in which Black defended resourcefully, but White was precise from the beginning till the end. After this analysis it becomes clear that both sides committed serious mistakes in this endgame. Yet, I got a lot of pleasure analysing this rook ending and would be happy to answer to all letters, containing corrections (or refutations) of my analysis. End of quote. Well, I also had very good time, navigating through this fascinating endgame - I guess you can clearly see it! :) By the way, I would appreciate your comments. You can contact me at [email protected] I hope this is not too much analysis for one issue. Besides, a fanny phrase which I saw recently, comes to my mind here: "Anyone has a right to write a book, everyone has a privilege not to read it!". :) I hope that you've enjoyed this issue of Coffee Break Chess. I will be in touch next week - stay tuned! I would really appreciate if you can recommend CBC to your friends - it's very easy to subscribe to it - tell your friends just to send an empty E-mail to Click to subscribe to AlexBaburin_on_Chess Shortly after that they should receive a confirmation.


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Alexander Baburin, Dublin.

© 1999 by Alexander Baburin The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.


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Coffee Break Chess No. 7, 4th of April 1999 © 1999 by GM Alexander Baburin

Dear Chess Friends! In this issue of my newsletter I would like to show one of my recent games and to share with you some links, which might be of interest to you.

New Additional Format of CBC Starting with this issue, CBC will also come out in so-called PDF format. The advantage is that everyone can now see diagrams in CBC perfectly. To do this you need to open the attached file CBC-7.pdf with Acrobat Reader, which is freely available on many CDs and can be downloaded, for example, from the following site: http://www.adobe.com/ It's free and it might be useful. However, the downloaded file is quite big - 4.7 Mb. Of course, an extra attachment makes my emails bigger, but this is the price we pay for full compatibility. From Acrobat Reader you can also print-out the newsletter.

Chess Leagues In the previous issue of CBC I mentioned that I had played two games in '4 Nations Chess League' (UK). Here I'd like to say a few words about 4 NCL and about various chess leagues in general. Team leagues exist in many countries and I believe that this is only good for chess - amateur players can meet with professionals, while professionals get an additional source of income. The strongest and most well-known league is German 'Bundesliga' (or BL), where lots of teams compete; some of them are extremely powerful. There are also strong leagues in the former Yugoslavia and in France. Of course, Russian team championship is very strong too. Though I have was not heavily engaged in team competitions, during my chess career I've played in leagues in Hungary, Germany, Switzerland (only one game though) and now I play in UK for 'Wood Green'. 4 NCL is getting stronger and stronger, with many GMs playing there. To learn more about this league and about chess in UK in general, please visit John Saunders' site: http://wkweb1.cableinet.co.uk/jsaunders/nclindex.htm

Weekly Digest & Some Links This week I came across Lev Khariton's interesting article about Kasparov and his role in modern chess - 'Is Fair Always Square?'. You can find it at http://www.internetchess.com/columns/khariton/fairsquare.shtml Russian web site 'GM School' covered the match Spassky-Korchnoi, which recently took place in St. Petersburg. There I saw some games of the match with Java-viewer and really enjoyed annotations to them, made by GM Alexander Khalifman. He is also going to cover the highlights of http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-7.htm

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the super tournament in Dos Hermanas and you can see it at www.gmchess.spb.ru That site has yet another interesting feature - they offer to answer chess-related questions for free. I guess this kind of promotion will not last forever, so hurry up to avail of it! :) If you are thinking of playing for norms or FIDE rating, you might be interested in visiting the site of Laszlo Nagy: http://www.elender.hu/~firstsat/

Annotated Game Nowadays, when the general knowledge of chess is certainly better than, let's say 10 years ago, it's not easy to beat an opponent even if he is rated 200 points lower than you are. The only recipe I can think of is to play better moves and to create problems for your opponent. Getting him into unfamiliar territory may also help - this is something I managed to achieve in the following game: Richard Bates (2373) - Alexander Baburin (2586) 4 NCL (7), 20.03.1999, Birmingham 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 g3 g6 During my brief preparation I saw that my opponent had played the Catalan and lines of the English Opening with g3, Nge2. So, I decided that he would not be too familiar with the Gruenfeld. 4 Bg2 Bg7 5 c4 0-0 6 0-0 dxc4 7 Na3 Nc6 8 Nxc4 Be6 9 b3 Apparently White had little knowledge about this line, as he spent 45 minutes on moves 9- 11, while they were known... On the other hand, as White I have been playing systems with g2-g3 that often, that nowadays I don't mind playing them even on the other side! :) 9...Bd5 10 Bb2 a5 (D)

Black wants to play ...a4 and if later White takes that pawn, then Black continues with ...Ra6 and ...Qa8. This plan is easy to follow and this is what I had in mind, when choosing the Gruenfeld Defence. 11 Nfe5 A good example of Black's strategy in this system is the following game: 11 Rc1 a4 12 bxa4 Ra6 http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-7.htm

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13 Nfe5 Bxg2 14 Kxg2 Qa8 15 Nxc6 bxc6 16 a5 c5+ 17 Kg1 Rd8 18 e3 cxd4 19 exd4 Ne4 20 Qf3 Bxd4 21 Bxd4 Rxd4 22 h4 Rf6 23 Qa3 c5 24 Rc2 g5 25 h5 g4 26 Ne5 Qc8 27 Qe3 Rfd6 28 Qf4 f5 29 Nc4 Rf6 30 Ne3 Nd2 31 Qg5+ Kh8 32 Rxd2 h6 0-1 Ivkov-Gheorghiu, Manila 1973. 11...Bxg2 12 Kxg2 Nxe5 I was not afraid that White would recapture on e5 with a pawn. Of course, tastes differ - for example, GM Dvoirys does not take on e5 here. 13 dxe5 Nd5 (D)

This position merits a discussion. Move 13 dxe5 was quite ambitious - the e5-pawn gives White certain spatial advantage. This advantage can be very important if there are many pieces still left on the board. However, as pieces come off the board, Black's pawn majority on the queenside becomes more and more important. I was quite familiar with classical game Reshevsky- Fine, AVRO 1938, where a similar pawn structure arose. This helped me to judge that 12...Nxe5 should be fine for Black - many pieces have been exchanged. Black needs to remember about his g7bishop though - eventually either the e5- pawn should be removed or the bishop should be relocated to another diagonal. 14 e4 Kicking the knight away White weakens the d3-square. 14...Nb4 15 Qg4 [15 Qe2 Qd3] 15...Qc8 Here I also considered 15...h5, but 16 Qf3 Qd3 17 Rfd1 leads Black nowhere. The move 15...b5 would have led to the same position as in the game, after 16 Rfd1 Qc8 17 Qxc8 Rfxc8. The text move is probably the most flexible. 16 Qxc8 Also possible was 16 Qe2, where Black can choose between 16...Rd8 and play with 16...b5, followed by ...Qb7. 16...Rfxc8 17 Rfd1 b5 (D)


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I spent 11 minutes on this move and came to a conclusion that the c4- knight has to be pushed away. However, this move weakens Black's pawns and therefore is double- edged. Perhaps 17...a4!? should have been preferred. 18 Ne3 Rd8 19 Rxd8+? Giving up the d-file does not look right to me. After 19 Nd5 c6 Black can still fight for an edge in the lines 20 Nxe7+ 20...Kf8 21 a3 Rxd1 22 Rxd1 Kxe7 23 axb4 axb4 24 Rc1!? Rc8 25 Bd4 Ke8 or 21 Rxd8+ Rxd8 22 a3 Kxe7 23 axb4 axb4 24 Ra7+ Ke8. But after 20 Nb6! Rab8 (20...Rxd1 21 Rxd1 Re8 22 a4) 21 Nd7 Rbc8 22 Nb6 Black may be better off to repeat the position. The latter line was missed by both players. 19...Rxd8 20 a3 Nc6 There was no point in allowing a pin after 20...Nd3 21 Rd1. 21 Rc1 Black is also better after 21 Nd5 Nxe5 22 Nxc7 (after 22 Bxe5 Bxe5 23 Rc1 Bd6 White is in trouble.) 22...Rd2 23 Bc3 Rc2 24 Nxb5 Ng4. 21...Rd2! In the post-mortem my opponent said that he had missed this move. 22 Bc3 The line 22 Ba1 Nxe5 23 Rxc7 Nd3 24 Rc8+ Bf8 was also in Black's favour, for example: 25 Ng4 h5 26 Nh6+ Kh7 27 Rxf8 Rxf2+ 28 Kg1 Kxh6 29 Bc3 Rc2 30 Bxa5 Ne5. 22...Ra2 23 Be1 Or 23 Ra1 Rxa1 24 Bxa1 Bxe5 25 Bxe5 Nxe5 26 Nd5 c5 and Black is better, as his pawn majority on the queenside counts for more than White's extra pawn on the other flank here. 23...Nxe5 24 Bxa5? (D) Black is better after 24 Rxc7 Nd3 25 Bxa5 Rxf2+, but now he has a winning blow:


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24...Rxf2+! 25 Kxf2 Nd3+ 26 Kg2 Nxc1 27 Bxc7 Nxb3 28 Nd5 e6-+ 29 Ne7+ Kf8 30 Nc8 Nd2 31 Na7 Nxe4 32 Nxb5 Ke7 33 a4 Kd7 34 a5 Nc3 35 Nxc3 0-1 Time: 1.59-1.30 Now I'd like to show that classical game, which I mentioned in my notes to move 13. In this game Black consistently exchanged pieces (somehow White did not object this) and eventually his pawn majority on the queenside decided the game. Samuel Reshevsky - Reuben Fine AVRO Amsterdam, 08.11.1938 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 g3 dxc4 5 Qa4+ Nbd7 6 Bg2 a6 7 Nc3 Be7 8 Ne5 Rb8 9 Qxc4 b5 10 Qb3 Nxe5 11 dxe5 Nd7 12 Bf4 c5 (D)

13 0- 0 Qc7 14 a4 0- 0 15 axb5 axb5 16 Ne4 Bb7 17 Ra7 Qb6 18 Rfa1 Ra8 19 Rxa8 Rxa8 20 Rxa8+ Bxa8 21 Qd3 Bc6 22 Ng5 Bxg5 23 Bxg5 Qb7 24 f3 h6 25 Be7 c4 26 Qc3 Nxe5 27 Bc5 Nd7 28 Bd4 e5 29 Bxe5 b4 30 Qd4 Nxe5 31 Qxe5 c3 32 b3 Qb6+ 33 Kf1 c2 34 Qb2 Qc5 35 Qc1 Bd5 36 f4 Bxg2+ 37 Kxg2 Qd5+ 0-1 I hope that you enjoy Coffee Break Chess and I would appreciate some feedback from you. In fact, I already have some suggestions and questions, which I plan to answer in the next issues of CBC stay tuned! Please recommend CBC to your friends - it's very easy to subscribe to it - just tell them to send an empty E-mail to Click to subscribe to AlexBaburin_on_Chess Shortly after that they should receive a confirmation.

Technical Support


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I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] Alexander Baburin, Dublin.



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Coffee Break Chess No. 8, 14th of April 1999 © 1999 by GM Alexander Baburin

Dear Chess Friends! This is a relatively small issue, as I've been very busy preparing for the trip to India, which commences today. There I will take part in Common Wealth Championship in Bikaner (about 500 km west of Delhi). I hope that the tournament will provide more material for future issues of Coffee Break Chess. I also plan to answer questions of my readers (I already have plenty of questions!) and to come back to add a few points to the analysis of Kramnik-Timman endgame (see CBC No. 6). In this issue of CBC I'd like to show yet another game I player in Birmingham recently.

Weekly Digest & Some Links Please note that Manfred Rosenboom has moved his site. Now it can be found at http://www.marochess.de/cbc/ For those readers, who understand Spanish, the following site might be of interest: http://www.seric.es/gambito/.

Annotated Game Some chess player never part with material, while some give it away whenever possible. I am closer to the first group, so when I sacrifice something, I get very unusual feelings. That was the case in my recent game against IM Nicholas Pert, which I would like to show you now: Alexander Baburin (2586) - Nicholas Pert (2443) [A98] 4 NCL, 'Barbican' - 'Wood Green', Birmingham, 21.03.1999 1 d4 e6 2 c4 f5 3 g3 Nf6 4 Bg2 Be7 5 Nf3 d6 6 0-0 0-0 7 Nc3 Qe8 8 Qc2 Qh5 9 b4 Nbd7 (D)

After 9...e5? 10 dxe5 dxe5 11 Nxe5 Bxb4 12 Nd5! Bd6 13 Nd3 c6 14 Bf4! White soon won in the http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-8.htm

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game T. Petrosian-Rantanen, Tallinn 1979: 14...Bxf4 15 Ne7+ Kh8 16 Nxf4 Qe8 17 Nxf5 Bxf5 18 Qxf5 Nd5 19 Ng6+ 1-0. 10 Bb2?! I don't like this move: it prevents ...e6-e5, but only for a while. Yet, on b2 the bishop might become passive. 10...c6 After 10...e5 White might play 11 dxe5 dxe5 12 Nb5. 11 c5 Played after 20-minute thought - I realised that my 10th move was not too good. I did not like the line 11 e4 fxe4 12 Nxe4 Nxe4 13 Qxe4, where after 13...Nb6 White might regret that his pawn advanced to b4 and not to b3. Variation 11 b5 e5 12 bxc6 bxc6 13 dxe5 dxe5 also looks fine for Black. 11...Nd5?! [11...d5!? 12 b5] 12 cxd6 Bxd6 13 b5! Nxc3 14 Qxc3 After 14 bxc6 Nd5 15 cxd7 Bxd7 Black is just fine. 14...cxb5 15 Ba3! Of course, White did not play 13 b5! to cowardly take a pawn back by playing 15 Qb3 After 15...Nb6 16 Qxb5 Bd7 Black has better prospects. 15...Bxa3 16 Qxa3 (D)

I don't sacrifice material too often, but I am aware of the psychological impact a sacrifice makes on the opponent. Besides, 15 Ba3! was also the best way for White to play. White's next few moves are easy to predict: Ra1-c1-c7, while it's much harder for Black to come up with a plan. He has yet to develop his bishop, but for this he must move his knight first and then White's knight can jump to e5. No wonder my opponent thought for 26 minutes here! 16...Nf6 17 Rac1 Bd7 After calm 17...a6 White can also play calmly - 18 e3, planning 19 Ne5. 18 Ne5 After 18 Rc7?! Bc6 19 Qe7 Qf7 20 Qxf7+ Rxf7 21 Rxf7 Kxf7 22 Ne5+ Ke7 Black would be just fine. 18...Bc6 19 Nxc6


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Perhaps 19 Bxc6 bxc6 20 e3 would have yielded White more. 19...bxc6 20 Bxc6 Rad8 21 Bf3 Played too cautiously - this move lets most of the advantage go. [For some reason I did not like 21 Qxa7 Qxe2 22 Rfe1 Qd2, but then I should have played 21 e3 Ng4 22 h4, where 22...g5 van be met with 23 Kg2. 21...Ng4 22 Bxg4 Qxg4 23 e3 f4 24 exf4 Rxf4 25 Qxa7 Rfxd4 26 Qb6 (D)

Somebody said that short moves with a queen are the most difficult to make, since it's such a longrange piece. Perhaps this is true, though I find such moves very often - maybe it's just laziness why to make a long move, when you have a short one? :-) From here the queen targets two enemy pawns and keeps an eye on the d8-rook. In this position Black's defence is not easy, as he has more pawn weaknesses and his king is more exposed, which is a very important factor in positions with only major pieces on the board. 26...Qf5? After 26...Rd2 27 Rce1! Black still has some problems, but after the best defence - 26...Qe2, which was suggested by my opponent after the game, Black's troubles would be over. 27 Rc5 Qe4 Of course, not 27...R4d5? 28 Rxb5!. Black also has serious problems after 27...Qh3 28 Re1! Rd1 29 Rce5. 28 Rxb5 R4d6 29 Qb7 Qc4 At that point lack was in a time trouble, which made things worse for him. After 29...Qxb7 30 Rxb7 Rd2 31 Rc1 the endgame is probably lost for Black even after the relatively best 31...Rd1+! 32 Rxd1 Rxd1+ 33 Kg2 Ra1. Then White can choose between 34 Ra7 and 34 Rb2, intending to bring the king to b4 and then push the a-pawn. In the latter case Black probably should fix the h2pawn by playing 34...g5!?. 34...h5 35 h4 Kh7 36 Kf3 Kg6 37 a4] 30 Rg5 Qc3 31 Qe4 Qf6 32 Re5 Rd4 33 Qe3 Rd3 34 Qc5 Rd2 35 a4 h6 36 a5 Ra2 37 Qe3 Qf7 38 h4!? This advance may prove useful later.


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38...Rd6 39 h5 Rd5 40 Rxd5 exd5 41 Rc1!+- Qxh5 42 Rc8+ Kh7 43 Qd3+ Qg6 [or 43...g6 44 Qd4] 44 Rh8+ Kxh8 45 Qxg6 Rxa5 46 Kg2 Rc5 47 Qd6 Rb5 48 Qc6 1-0 Time: 2.05 - 2.18 Here Black cannot build any fortress.

Technical Support I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] Alexander Baburin, Dublin.



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Coffee Break Chess No. 9, 3rd of May 1999 © 1999 by GM Alexander Baburin

Dear Chess Friends! After a short break, which was due to my participation in Commonwealth Championship in India, I am back on line, with this issue of CBC. Obviously, such breaks will occur from time to time when I travel, as this is a one-man publication. Tomorrow I fly to Cuba, where I will take part in Capablanca Memorial, so I hope be back on line 3 weeks later. In this issue I would like to share my experiences in India and to show one of the games I played over there.

Coffee Break Chess in French If French is your first language and you prefer to read CBC in French, you can do it now, thanks to Jonathan Faudi: http://www.multimania.com/chessop

How Do GMs Choose Tournaments? Susan Strahan (note that she moved her Web site to http://www.1001knights.com/) asked me this question recently, adding that it might be of interest to other players to learn which criteria GMs use, while making their tournament plans. I cannot speak for all GMs, but can certainly share my view on this matter. For me one of the most important criteria is location: I like to travel and try to visit new places. This is one of the things I like about chess - it gives opportunity to see different countries and helps to make friends over there. Though the list of countries, which I've visited, is still quite small, I work on expanding it. For example, in March 1997 I had a very interesting tour in USA, which my friend IM John Donaldson helped me to put together. My route was spectacular: Dublin-Los Angeles-New York-Seattle-Las Vegas-Hawaii-Alaska-Florida-Dublin. Not often one gets a chance to see such different places in just 45 days! Last year I visited Bermuda and Andorra for the first time, while this year I've added India to my list and soon will play in Cuba. Another important consideration is prize fund and financial conditions offered at the tournament. Of course, this varies from country to country and from tournament to tournament. Every player decides for himself, what is acceptable for him. In my case, I try at least not lose money while playing in tournaments. Having a family with two kids means that I cannot be too relaxed about this issue. Alas, very few players can rely on appearance fees and prize money, while the rest of us have to seek additional sources of income, such as coaching and writing. Not the least important is strength of the tournament: as I do not play too often, I try to take part in events, which are reasonably strong and which are interesting from professional point of view. The criteria, which I listed above, were certainly considered when I decided to accept the invitation to take part in Commonwealth Championship in India. As it was my old desire to visit that


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country, the conditions offered to me looked reasonable and the event promised to be interesting, I did not hesitate long. The only thing, which actually puzzled me, was the invitation itself: as far as I knew, Ireland was not a part of Commonwealth. I also new that Russia did not fare well in the Crimea war and thus started to suspect we probably did so badly then, that Russia itself was made a part of Commonwealth! :) It turned out that the organisers wanted to have more GMs and more countries participating for norm possibilities. It was clear that I could not win the title of Commonwealth Champion, but would not be disadvantaged otherwise.

The Tournament The trip was very interesting and will certainly cover it in more details in next issues of CBC, while here I want to give just a short story about the event. There were 62 players there, mostly from India. There were 4 GMs in the tournament - Miles, Baburin, Barua and P. Thipsay - and several IMs. Alas, Tony Miles had to quit the event after 7 rounds, not feeling well. There were 10 rounds in the championship. After round 5 the sole leader was IM Ramesh (2391) from India with 5 points. In round 6 I managed to defeat the leader, catching up with him. That loss affected his play so badly that he went to lose 3 more games in a row, finishing on 5.5. After round 6 my main rival was GM Barua, but in round 9 he lost to Atanu Lahiri (2345), who had a great tournament, finishing second on 8 out of 10. Fortunately for me, I managed to score even more - 8.5 points (+7-0=3). This result was achieved against 2391-opposition, which gained me 10 rating points. I was quite pleased with the quality of my play in the tournament. Several Indian players achieved IM norms, while B. Thipsay (wife of GM Praveen Thipsay) obtained her first WGM-norm.

Annotated Game Alexander Baburin (2586) - D. Sharma (2377) Commonwealth Ch, Bikaner, India (2), 17.04.1999 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 e3 Nf6 4 Bd3 e6 5 Nf3 Nbd7 6 Nbd2 c5 7 0-0 Also possible is 7 b3, aiming to play with Hanging Pawns. 7...cxd4 8 exd4 dxc4 9 Nxc4 Be7 10 Bf4! (D)

After the game I found only a couple of examples of this position, but they were poor. In both White developed his bishop to g5, which makes little sense here: with the knight on c4 it's better to play on the queenside. Russian master Nikolai Ryumin favoured this development of bishop to f4 in such positions.


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10...0-0 11 Rc1 Nd5 I expected 11...Nb6, where I was going to choose between 12 Nxb6!? Qxb6 13 Qc2 and 12 Nce5. After 11...b6 White can play 12 Ne3, preparing to invade to c7. 12 Bg3 N7f6 13 a3! It's useful to take control over the b4-square. 13...h6? My opponent failed not find a suitable plan... Both 13...Bd7 14 Qb3 b6 15 Nce5 and 13...b6 14 Nce5 Bb7 15 Qa4 leave White with serious initiative. 14 Re1 Ne8 15 Bb1 f5 16 Be5 Nef6 (D)

17 Ba2! Strictly speaking, that was the only move - otherwise some readers would have pointed to page 193 of my book Winning Pawn Structures, where I wrote: "Once the b1- h7 diagonal has been closed for your bishop, relocate it on to the neighbouring diagonal!". Should I not follow my own recommendation, some people might demand their money back! :) 17...Re8 Here White already has wide and very pleasant choice: 18 Bxf6 Bxf6 and then 19 Nce5 or 19 Ne3. The line I chose in the game is also very good - I already saw my 22nd move. 18 Ne3! Nxe3 19 Rxe3 Nd5 20 Bxd5! Qxd5 (D)

Better was 20...exd5, although after 21 Bc7!? Qd7 22 Ne5 Qe6 23 Nc6 Qf7 24 Nxe7+ Rxe7 25 Rxe7 Qxe7 26 Be5 Black's position is very bad. Now it looks like Black is going well, but I http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-9.htm

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something in mind, when exchanging Black's knights: 21 Bxg7! Kxg7 22 Ne5+Something is happening to my chess nowadays - somehow I've started looking for sharp lines! :) Seriously, I was pleased that I could see this attack when I played 18 Ne3!. 22...Bg5 23 Qh5 Even better was 23 Rc7+! Re7 (23...Kh8 24 Qh5) 24 Rxe7+ Bxe7 25 Qh5. However, I saw one winning line and did not bother to search for yet another. 23...Re7 24 Rg3 Qxd4 (D)

25 Rxg5+ hxg5 26 Qxg5+ Kf8 27 Qf6+! Kg8 28 Qxe7 Qxe5 29 Qd8+ Kf7 30 Rc7+ Bd7 31 Qxd7+ 1-0 I hope that you have enjoyed this issue of Coffee Break Chess. Next issues should be out in the end of May - stay tuned!




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Coffee Break Chess No. 10, 29th of May 1999 © 1999 by GM Alexander Baburin

Dear Chess Friends! After a few weeks of intensive travelling and crossing various time zones, I am finally back to Dublin and thus I hope to produce this newsletter on a weekly basis again. This is only handy, as there are lots of topics, which I would like to cover. In this issue and in the subsequent one I'd like to share my experience in Cuba. After that I intend to look back and show some more games, played in the Commonwealth Championship in India (April 1999). Then I plan to answer questions of my readers, as such questions have been piling up for quite some time.

Death of GM Lembit Oll A very sad news came recently from Estonia - its No. 1 chess player, GM Lembit Oll, committed suicide on 16th of May by jumping out of his apartment, which was located on the 4th floor. I did not know him well, but on those occasions, when we met, Oll made a very favourable impression on me. In 1997 in Los Angeles we made a quick draw in the last round and had a few beers afterwards and had a chart about chess. Then Lembit was also telling me about life in Estonia. There are rumours that his tragic decision was ignited by some financial difficulties, but those who knew him better doubt this very much, pointing out that was his recent divorce and separation from his two sons is more likely to be the cause. Obviously, he had some kind of crisis and made this unfortunate move... Oll was a world-class player (constantly rated well above 2600) with classical style and he will undoubtedly remain in the history of chess! Here is one example of his play: Oll - Shaked, New York Open 1997

White to play and win; see the solution in the end of this newsletter. You can read more about Oll at Inside Chess Web site at http://www.insidechess.com/oll.html


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Vladimir Nabokov's Jubilee Famous Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov was born 100 year ago. Perhaps not everyone knows that he was also a very keen chess composer. Not surprisingly, chess is featured in his books and one of his major works - 'Luzhin's Defence' (I believe, that in English the title is 'The Defence') is about a chess player. It's a very interesting novel and, alas, it has something in common with the sad news about Oll. The main character of the book - Grandmaster Luzhin - ends his life by jumping from the window. 10 years ago Russian player Georgy Ilivitsky (1921-1989) died. He was a very strong player, coming equal third in the 22nd USSR Championship in 1955 with Botvinnik, Petrosian and Spassky, just half of a point behind of the winners - Geller and Smyslov - and ahead of Keres and Taimanov. He decided to quit life, feeling that he was totally forgotten. I heard that he had read Nabokov's book and got the idea to jump out of the window, which he did... About two years ago very talented and creative Latvian player Alvis Vitolinsh jumped out of the window. And now Lembit Oll... There is something strange about the fact that all three chess players chose the same way to die, as did Luzhin! Anyway, the book ('Luzhin's Defence') is worth reading, though I prefer chess motifs in yet another Nabokov's work - 'Invitation to the Execution' (again, this is my translation of the title from Russian, the actual title may be different). In the May issue of '64' there is an article about Nabokov-composer by Ya. Vladimirov, which states that even though the writer was not a very good composer, he was certainly very interested in this field and had some achievements. I'd like to show two of his problems, featured in the article:

In both positions White checkmates in 3. The solutions are given in the end of this issue.

Starting Something New Recently I was offered to try something completely new to me - writing book reviews. I've taken the challenge and next week (I believe, on Wednesday) you can see my first review on Hanon Russell's Web site - Chess Café at http://www.chesscafe.com/. I will be reviewing only opening books there.

Disastrous Organisation of the Capablanca Memorial in Havana or 'One Mystery Solved' http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-10.htm

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Last week I came back from Cuba, where I took part in Capablanca Memorial. There were 4 allplay-all events there, with the Elite section nearly reaching category XIII (the average rating was 2550). I always wondered what attracted chess professionals to Havana, as GMs do not receive appearance money there and the prize fund is very modest (with $1200 for first in our section). My guess was that GMs regard this is a holiday (nice beaches, etc), combined with a chance to play in a closed tournament, which are somewhat scares nowadays. I decided to give it a try and accepted invitation to play in Cuba this year. That was a blunder, as the tournament was horribly organised, which made all foreign participants dream of that day when they can finally get out of Cuba! Before I get into details, let me say that having grown in Russia, I am used to harsh conditions and understand that poor countries have more difficulties, providing high standards in chess competitions. This I accept, but I cannot tolerate the attitude which chess organisers adopted in Cuba! First of all, we stayed in an awful hotel ('Vedado', remember this name!), where there was reconstruction doing: at 8-00 you wake up, because you think that some floors are being destroyed. Knocking goes on the whole day, giving you little chance to rest. One of the two lifts never worked, while the other broke down frequently, thus forcing people to use stairs, where bags with cement and other stuff was always obstructing the way. Should the fire break down in the hotel, at least broken legs would be guaranteed to everyone! Food in the hotel buffet was next to poison, with only a few things (rice, fruits) being safe - many players suffering badly. That forced us to seek escape and we often ate elsewhere. The service was appalling: in the hotel restaurant I once ordered an omelette. 20 minutes later I started to wonder of what was going on and the waiter assured me that everything was OK. 10 minutes after that he said that the chef is taking care of my omelette; 5 minutes later (that's 35 minutes waiting for such a simple thing!) I walked away, saying 'Forget it!'. I was just mad! Later my friends told me that once we waited 55 minutes for the same dish, but because there were 4 of us and we were having beer, we took it a bit easier. When I went to confirm my flight, the procedure took 1 hour and 40 minutes... I guess that one needs to be VERY patient, while in Cuba! I believe that somebody messed with my computer (left in the hotel room) while I was playing; GMs Miles and Atalik are certain that their computers were checked. One may wonder who would be interested in chess players' data, but for us the idea that most complete collections of our games (with analysis, recommendations, etc) might be available for the Cuban Chess Federation, is not a lot of fan! The organisers did absolutely nothing, when the players complained about unacceptable conditions, which clearly shows, how indifferent they are to visiting GMs. I wonder how they hope to get a category XII tournament in Havana next year - personally I will do my best to inform my colleagues that they should avoid those tournaments at any cost: you lose money and you suffer in many ways! So, you if are an IM or GM, reading this issue, please take my advice: do NOT play in Cuba! Once the organisers get you there, they believe that their mission is completed and wash out their hands! I am sure that the organisers cut a deal with the hotel 'Vedado' - for $39 a night they could have found a much better place for the players to stay, for example in some tourist place. Somebody was very interested to keep us in that hotel... Cuba itself is not an attractive place, unless you stay in a tourist spot beside some wonderful beach and never leave your hotel. Havana is not particularly interesting and in many ways it's over-priced. For example, five of us once went for a drink and found a bar, which looked OK. The admission fee was $10, but we decided to give it a try. After the first round of drinks we were immediately presented with a bill, which surprised us, as were not going to leave yet. Well, we soon changed our minds, as each drink was $7! They is how Cubans think at the moment: a bit of Coca-Cola, a bit of rum and you can charge that poor animal, called 'tourist', anything you want! Those tourists are so rich and so also stupid... Well, they would be stupid to come to Cuba again, that's for sure! In Havana you cannot walk in peace, as after every 10 metres you have so say something like this: http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-10.htm

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'No, I don't need a taxi', 'No, I do not want cigars', 'No, I am not looking for a girl' or 'No, I do not want to buy rum!'. I considered carrying a poster with a huge 'NO!' written on it... To be fair, playing conditions were adequate and some people at the tournament were nice, for example, whose who were in charge of producing tournament bulletins and the Internet coverage.

My Play in Havana I am not happy with the quality of my games in Havana, even though +1 was not too bad. On a few occasions I suffered from 'dead-brain' syndrome, which is typical for novices to that climate. It works like this: you sit and think, time seems to run a lot faster, but you don't notice it and keep thinking, yet not coming up with anything constructive. Then you are in a time-trouble and commit a mistake. This is not an excuse, but a reality. Not surprisingly, those who tend to be in timetrouble, did poorly in the tournament, e.g. GM Godena. More practical approach, adopter by Miles and Atalik, served them well. In the beginning of the tournament I cooped with this syndrome badly, while later my opponents suffered more from it, allowing me to win 4 games in a row. Here is one of them:

Here in the game Baburin-Godena (6th round) White threatens to limit the scope of the b7-bishop by e3-e4. Getting short of time, Black correctly decides to enforce the crisis: 21...Nxa4! 22 Rxa4 After 22 Bxa4 b5 23 Bd4 bxa4 (also possible is 23...Rxa4 24 Nb6 Rxd4 25 Rxa8 Rxd1+ 26 Qxd1 Qxa8 27 Nxa8 Rxa8 and probably White is not better here.) 24 Bxa7 Qxa7 Black is OK. 22...Rxa4 23 Bxa4 b5 24 Nd7! White does not risk anything, playing like this. 24...Nxd7 25 Rxd7 Rxc4 26 Rxe7 I nearly had an optical illusion here: 26 Qxc4?? bxc4 27 Rxe7 c3 28 Bc1 Kf8 29 Ba3, as I thought that I would meet 29...Qb1+ with 30 Rd1+. Fortunately, I noticed that there was something slightly illegal in the move Re7-d1. :) 26...Rxa4 27 Qd2 Rc4?? (D) Black holds after 27...Qf8 28 Rd7 Bc6 29 Rd8 (29 Bxg7 Kxg7 30 Qc3+ Kg6 31 Qxc6 is about equal.) 29...Be8 30 Rb8 f6 31 Qd8 Kf7 32 Rb7+ Kg8 33 Rb8=, but better yet is 27...Bc6!, when White has to settle for a draw in the endgame arising after 28 Qc3 Qf8 29 Rc7 Rc4 30 Rc8 Rxc3 31 Rxf8+ Kxf8 32 Bxc3.


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28 Rxf7! Rc7 Black cannot play 28...Kxf7 29 Qd7+ Kg6 30 Qxg7+ Kh5 31 g4+ Rxg4+ 32 Qxg4+ Kh6 33 Bg7#. 29 Rd7! Bd5 30 Be5 1-0 Time: 1.49 - 1.55 I will show more games from Cuba in the next issue of Coffee Break Chess - stay tuned!

Solutions L. Oll (2625) - T. Shaked, (2445), New York Open, 1997. White concluded the game with 32 Rxf6! Rxf6 33 Qd8 Qe8 34 Bg8+ Kh8 35 Bxe5! 1-0. Now 35...Rxe5 36 Qxf6 is mate, while after 35...Qxd8 36 Bxf6+ Rg7 37 Bxg7+ Kxg8 38 Bf6+ Black loses too much material, so Black resigned. 1. Nabokov, 'The Problemist', 1969 1 h3! and then: h4 2 Rh7 hxg3 3 h4# or 1...Kh4 2 Rxg6 gxh3 3 Bf6# or 1...Kh6 2 h4 g5 3 hxg5#. 2. Nabokov, 'The problemist', 1970 1 Rd8! and now: 1...Bxd8 2 Bxd7 Bc7 3 Bb5# or 1...Bc7 2 Rxd7 Bb6 3 Bxb7# or1...dxe6 2 Rxd6 exd5 3 Nxc5#.




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Coffee Break Chess No. 11, 13th of June 1999 © 1999 by GM Alexander Baburin

Dear Chess Friends! In this issue I would like to show some more games, played in Havana, and also to address the problem of defeat in chess. As usually, I mention what caught my eyes recently.

IM John Watson Needs Help International Master John Watson (48), from San Diego, USA, recently suffered a stroke. John is a fine writer and coach: his articles in Inside Chess, New in Chess and other magazines are always interesting, as well as his splendid book reviews in TWIC. His book 'Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy' (Gambit 1999) is widely regarded as one of the most powerful chess books emerged in the last decades. Among John's students are World Junior Champion GM Tal Shaked and very promising US junior Patrick Hummel. But above all, John is a very nice person! Right now he needs help - he is paralyzed on his right side, but there is hope that with physical therapy he will be able to regain the use of one or both limbs. John does not have medical coverage and his total bill will be in excess of $200,000. So, if you feel you can help John Watson, please send a check to his sister Barbara Watson at 143 River Road, Gill MA 01376, USA. Contributions should be made payable to the John Watson Medical Fund.

Interesting Reading - 'Kingpin' Last week I received the latest issue of this magazine (No. 30), which immediately caused me to stop working. I informed its editor Jon Manley that my bill for the loss of income will follow shortly! :) Indeed, there is a lot of interesting stuff in that issue: interview with Larsen, article on Karpov by Lev Khariton, 'Chess and Politics' by John Watson. And not the least important is much needed survey 'Chess and Sex' by GM Stuart Conquest! To subscribe to the magazine or to order back issues, please contact Jonathan Manley at [email protected].

My First Book Review My first review of opening books is out - you can see it on Hanon Russell's Web site - Chess Café at http://www.chesscafe.com. I must say that I am not to keen on opening books, preferring game collections and tournament books, but a good opening monograph certainly has its value too. Alas, there are many poor books in this particular field, but I hope that my column in Chess Café will help you to avoid them.

Surfing The Web Recently I came across very interesting chat with IM Jeremy Silman. I agree with many of Jeremy's


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points (i.e. that chess is an art, though to me it's also a game) and disagree with some (for example, that it's very easy to become a GM nowadays). The chat session can be found at http://chess.about.com/library/weekly/aa053199.htm. I also found a very good site for chess links Chessopolis - http://www.chessopolis.com/. That site now hosts CBC as well. Talking about my newsletter, it's now available in French, thanks to Jonathan Faydi, who posts it at http://www.multimania.com/chessop/.

Defeat In Chess Chess players do not like to lose (who does?) and I am no exception. Alas, I have plenty of experience in this field and here I'd like to share it. First of all, I feel that proper classification is much needed. I like GM Rublevsky's remark that while our victories confirm our class, our losses show how unlucky we can be sometimes. Thus, I'd like to suggest the following classification, based completely on luck - it should make every chess player more comfortable, by explaining why exactly he loses: l

First Degree Defeat - our opponent got lucky, as he/she had to face us, when we: a. were very sick (had sour throat, temperature, etc - add what you prefer); b. were disturbed by financial problems (death of our dog or cat, etc); c. forgot to check the sharpest line in the latest 'Crash Them With...' book.

Our opponent may think otherwise - e.g. that he won a nice game, outplayed us completely, found a brilliant strategic idea or splendid combination, but we know better why things went wrong - he got lucky! l

Second Degree Defeat - our opponent got very lucky: we played really well, in impressive style, but missed a fluke cheapo (blundered, got distracted by a nice blond spectator, etc). His victory was completely undeserved and he is better watch out when we meet again! By the way, if you suspect that your opponent does not understand that he was just plain lucky, tell him something like this: "I will not include this game in my best game collection!". This is what one famous Swiss GM told me that immediately after resigning, which left me somewhat puzzled: did he really think/fear that I would include that game in my best game collection?

I hope that armed with this absolutely scientific classification, we will never fail to explain what really happened in some of our games! :) But seriously speaking, defeats are very painful and for a tournament player it's important to be able to coop with them well. Personally I do this by accept that defeat is a part of the game sometimes it just happens. We can actually benefit from defeats by strengthening our character (learning how to take the pain) and improving our understanding of the game (by learning from our mistakes). Here is a recent example: Alexander Baburin (2586) - Julio Becerra (2535) Capablanca Memorial, Havana (8), 15.05.1999 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nf3 Bg7 4 g3 0-0 5 Bg2 d6 6 0-0 c6 7 Nc3 Qb6 8 b3 e5 9 e4 Bg4 10 Be3 Qa5 11 Rc1 Nbd7 12 h3 Bxf3 13 Bxf3 a6 14 d5 cxd5 15 cxd5 Rfc8 16 Qd2 Rc7 17 Nb1 Qxd2 18 Nxd2 Rac8 19 Nc4 Bf8 20 Bg2 b5 21 Na5 Rxc1 22 Rxc1 Rxc1+ 23 Bxc1 Nc5 24 f3 Nh5 (D)


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The play has not been free of mistakes, but White is clearly getting the better of it, as this ending is difficult for Black: his bishop is passive and the d6- and a6-pawns may become weak. However, I was suffering from the dead-brain syndrome (described in CBC-10), as I spent too much time on every single move. Thus, I felt that an injection of adrenaline was much needed and played: 25 Be3! This is even better than 25 Kh2, which would be also good for White. Then he should try to activate his light squared bishop by h3-h4 and Bg2-h3. 25...Nxg3 Black had to accept the sacrifice, as 25...Nd3 26 Bf1 Nb4 27 a4 bxa4 (or 27...Nxg3? 28 axb5 Nxf1 29 b6+-) 28 Bd2!? (28 bxa4 Nxg3 29 Bc4±) is bad for him. 26 Bxc5 dxc5 27 Kf2 Nh5 28 Nb7 f5? This is certainly a mistake, but Black's defensive task was not easy, for example: 28...Nf4 29 d6 c4 30 bxc4 bxc4 31 Bf1 (but not 31 d7? c3! 32 d8Q c2) 31...c3 32 Ke1 - Black's c-pawn is stopped, while White's d-passer is may cost Black a piece. 29 d6 Nf6 (D)

It looks like Black is on top, but this impression is wrong - once White's sleeper on g2 wakes up, his d-pawn can get very dangerous. Thus: 30 f4! Nd7 Or 30...exf4 31 e5 Ne4+ 32 Bxe4 fxe4 33 Nxc5+-. 31 exf5 exf4 32 Bd5+ Kg7 33 Be6 Ne5 34 d7 Be7 35 fxg6 It was possible to play 35 d8Q Bxd8 36 Nxd8, but taking on g6 is better. 35...Bh4+ 36 Kf1 c4 37 bxc4 bxc4 (D)


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Here I had 2 minutes and thus I really cannot explain why I did not play 38 d8Q Bxd8 39 Nxd8 Kxg6 40 Bd5+-, which would have brought me in the lead on +4 and sent my opponent to -2. As it happened, I finished on +1, while GM Becerra went to win 3 more games in a row and finished on +3 and came equal 2nd. Well, this is chess... 38 gxh7?? c3 39 Bf5 Nxd7 Oops! I completely forgot that the knight could take my pawn... :( 40 Ke2? Yet another mistake, which gives Black two tempi. 40...Ne5-+ 41 Na5 f3+ 42 Kf1 Bd8 43 Nb3 Bb6 44 Be4 f2 45 Kg2 a5? 46 a4 Nd7 47 Nxa5! Bxa5 48 Kxf2 Nf6 49 Bf5 Nxh7 50 Ke3 Ng5 51 h4 Kf6 52 Bc2 Nf7 53 Kd4 Ne5 (D)

With some of help from the opponent, White made a lot of progress and here I could save the game by playing 54 Kc5! Nf3 55 Bb1 Ne1 56 Kb5. Then the a-pawn would cost Black one of his pieces, for example: 56...Bc7 57 a5 c2 58 Bxc2 Nxc2 59 a6. Strangely enough, I saw that I should attack Black's bishop, but still played the absolutely pointless move 54 h5?. After this mistake the rest is easy: 54...Nf3+ 55 Kc5 Ne1 56 Be4 c2 57 Bxc2 Nxc2 58 Kb5 0-1 I guess you can imagine how I feel after this game... I know some people who in such situation would try to crash some furniture (with their heads), but I am against such extremes. I remind myself that there is life outside of chess - read a good book or have a beer with friends. Better yet to have 2 or 3 beers - this is exactly what I did in Havana and it worked. What to make of this loss? I really don't know - perhaps that I should play a bit faster and promote my pawns, when given a chance! :) But there was some comfort in the way I lost that game - I was not outplayed by my opponent and my strategy in the game was correct. After all, there is luck in chess and sometimes you do get unlucky. It's harder to deal with situations when your opponent outplays you, as it happened in my game vs. young Cuban player L. Bruzon, who fully deserved his GM-norm in Havana. Then you need to put more efforts into restoring your confidence, which is not that easy during the tournament. But enough about my losses - I'd like to show one of the games where I got lucky! :)


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Alexander Baburin (2586) - Walter Arencibia (2520) Capablanca Memorial, Havana (3), 09.05.1999 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nf3 Bg7 4 g3 0-0 5 Bg2 d6 6 0-0 c6 7 Nc3 Bf5 8 b3 Ne4 9 Bb2 Nxc3 10 Bxc3 Be4 11 e3 d5 12 Bh3 Bxf3 13 Qxf3 e6 14 Rfd1 Nd7 15 e4 Nf6 (D)

This opening line usually gives White small, but lasting edge. Black should have considered 14...f5 or 15...dxe4, but he followed his own plan. Indeed, it looks like Black is equalising comfortably, as taking on d5 is not good for White, while after 16 e5 Ne4 Black can exchange one of White's bishops. However, Black's idea has a serious drawback: 16 e5 Ne4 17 Bb4 Ng5 18 Qg2 Nxh3+ 19 Qxh3 Re8 20 Bd6! This is the point - White plants the bishop on d6 and it will be hard for Black to live with it. 20...a5! 21 a4!? I felt that White should not allow ...a5-a4 and this is probably right. 21...Qb6 22 Rab1 Bf8 23 c5 Qb4 24 Qf1 b6 25 Qe1 bxc5 26 dxc5 Qxe1+ 27 Rxe1 f6! 28 f4! fxe5 29 fxe5 (D)

White's d6-bishop dominates the board. It's interesting that in the post-mortem my opponent said that he thought that the bishop would be out of play on d6. GM Arencibia is a very original player, but I think that here his assessment is wrong - I wish I would have more pieces which would be so much 'out of play'! Of course, this bishop is powerful only as long as there are other pieces on the board. In this case Black's rooks are passive, as the b8- and f8- squares are not accessible for them. Black could try 29...Rab8 here, but after 30 Bxb8 Rxb8 31 Kg2 White is much better. 29...Bh6 30 Re2 A useful move - White stops ...Bd2 and prepares for b3-b4. 30...Ra7 31 Kf2 Rb7? Better was 31...Rea8 and Arencibia thought that after Black would be OK, but I doubt it: White plays 32 Reb2, followed by Kf2-e2-d3 and then he can choose between play with b3-b4 or the invasion on http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-11.htm

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the f-file. Also, h2-h4 and g3-g4-g5 might be possible at some point. 32 b4! axb4 33 Reb2 Ra7 34 Rxb4 Bd2? The problem with this move is that on d2 the bishop is obstructing the d-pawn and shelters White's king from attacks on the 2nd rank. Better was 34...Rea8 35 Rb8+ (35 Ra1!?) 35...Rxb8 36 Rxb8+ Kf7. Then after 37 Rb4 Bd2 White should play 38 Rb6!, which allows him to maintain his advantage after 38...Rxa4 39 Rxc6 Ba5 40 Rc8 Ra2+ 41 Kf3 Ra3+ 42 Kg2!. 35 Rb8 Rxb8 36 Rxb8+ Kg7 37 Ke2 Bc1 (D)

38 Kd1 White should have attacked the c6-pawn immediately, as after 38 Rb6 Rxa4 39 Rxc6 Black's bishop is badly placed on c1. 38...Be3 39 Ke2 Bg1 40 Rb6! Rxa4 41 Rxc6 g5 42 Rc8 Rc4 43 c6 Bb6 44 c7 Kh6 45 h3 g4 46 hxg4 1-0 That was certainly my best game in Havana! In the next issues of Coffee Break Chess I am going to show some games played in Common Wealth Ch in India (they are not available in any database yet) - stay tuned!




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'Coffee Break Chess' No. 12, 26th June 1999 © 1999 by Alexander Baburin Dear Chess Friends! In this issue of CBC I would like to tell about my tournaments plans and to talk about one of chess giants of this century - Yugoslav GM Svetozar Gligoric. My tournament schedule. Chess professionals usually get to travel a lot and my experience in the past few months confirms this - after a trip to India (April), I went to Cuba (May) and then to Russia (June), thus travelling between different time zones and experiencing different cultures. I like to travel and always look forward to see new places and meeting new people, as well as seeing old friends. More travelling is expecting me and here I'd like to provide links to information on tournaments, where I am going to participate. Copenhagen Open, July 1999. I played in Denmark a few times and always enjoyed its quiet atmosphere and friendly people. In 1996 I made my final GM-norm there, so I am looking forward to come back to Copenhagen to play in its traditional annual open. You can find information about the tournament at http://inet.uni-c.dk/~kbhsu/InvitationPol99eng.html Before that tournament I will give 2 lectures and simuls in Denmark - see details at http://www.dsu.dk British Championship, August 1999, Scarborough. For a number of years I've been eligible to play in the British Championship and this year I decided execute my rights. UK is one of the leading chess countries and I look forward to play in its championship, although most top English GMs will play in Vegas at the same time. See information about that tournament at http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/news/bcfentrants.htm Mind Sports Olympiad, August 1999, London. Although London is only one-hour flight away, I have visited that splendid city only briefly. Now I have a chance for a better look, as I will play in the 2nd Mind Sports Olympiad there. Details of the event can be found at http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/news/mso1999.htm 3rd Bavarian Chess Open, Bad Wiessee, October 1999. I have not played in Germany for a good while, so I am looking forward to this strong open, which is advertised at http://www.schach-amtegernsee.de/oib1999 8th Monarch Assurance Open, Isle of Man, November 1999. Probably I have played more opens in the Isle of Man than anyone else and this year I plan to do it again, as I enjoy that tournament and can only recommend it. This year it's going to be as strong as ever - see it for yourself at http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/news/iom99.htm Perhaps that some of this information to be useful for you - I hope to meet my readers at some tournaments! GM Svetozar Gligoric. During my recent trip to Moscow I came to 'Cosmos' hotel, where Petrosian Memorial was in progress. It was nice to see that legendary chess players (among them Smyslov and Spassky) got yet another chance to meet each other over the board. I wished best luck in the event to Yugoslav Grandmaster Gligoric (76), who has impressive tournament record. He is many times champion of Yugoslavia, participant of 8 interzonals and 3 circles of Candidate matches, as well as being a winner of many international tournaments. Gligoric is also a fine 1

chess journalist and writer and he was an arbiter at many events (e.g. Karpov-Kasparov 1984/85 match). I feel that nowadays, when there are lots of tournaments played every month, when it's hard to remember even the names of contemporary GMs, it's particularly important to pay a tribute to those, who contributed considerably to the art of chess. Thus, I'd like to feature here the interview, which Gligoric gave to '64' earlier this year and which I helped to translate into English for 'Chess Monthly'. There the interview was published in the June issue, accompanied with an article about Gligoric and 3 of his games. Here I want to show different examples - there is certainly no shortage of excellent games by Gligoric! So, have a look at 4 positions from Gligoric's games and try to find the best way to play. Please note that these positions are not about pure tactics, so there might be more than one good solution in each of them. I selected these particular examples because they illustrate Gligoric's inventive play: R. Teschner - S. Gligoric, Helsinki OL, 1952

Black to play S. Gligoric - N. Padevsky, Moscow OL, 1956

White to play V. Smyslov - S. Gligoric, Warsaw 1947

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Black to play S. Gligoric - S. Furman, Leningrad, 1957

White to play You can check your solutions in the end of this issue, while now I'd like to present an interview with Svetozar Gligoric, conducted by WGM Maria Manakova, whose questions are in bold: Svetozar Gligoric is not only a name but also a legend. What is left after the fame and glory? Nothing! I’ve been hearing the word ‘legend’ for about 30 years. My late wife and I used to have a tradition: I would come home and ask: ‘What is going to be served to the legend for dinner?’. In any other kind of sport a person who had achieved as much as you have in chess, would be well off. I was born a few decades too early, otherwise I would be a millionaire. Yugoslavia used to be the second most powerful country in chess (after the USSR). Now its representatives are not even in the top 100 in the world. Is this because your best players (D.Velimirovic, A.Matanovic, B.Ivkov, S.Marjanovic, M.Matulovic and yourself) neither created a chess school nor brought up a new generation? Some of the players whom you mention work quite actively as chess trainers. As for myself, I would not have been able to create any kind of school as I cannot imagine what I would have taught there. I still need to learn myself. To learn throughout my whole life. I tried working as an instructor but did not like it. I can be a player, writer and commentator. I heard that in your country there are plans to create a professional chess league. If the economic situation had improved, these plans might have been realised. But it is only possible to create a professional chess league in a prosperous country with rich people. 3

How has the embargo against Yugoslavia affected chess life in your country and you personally? I have always supported the idea of Great Yugoslavia and fought for its unity—political, economic, and cultural. A breakdown of a state is always a tragedy. I say to my Russian friends: «We are brothers in our misfortune!». Our sportsmen have had their average income reduced sharply: they cannot travel freely, organisers have stopped inviting them. Over the past few years we have had to confine ourselves to playing in internal tournaments. But is it possible to improve one’s rating without leaving your country? Although, in my opinion, rating is just a measure of a player’s most recent results and not his real knowledge and potential. You were on the commission, when professor Elo suggested his system ... Then I supported this idea. But I could imagine that it would create ‘casts’ within the chess community. A lot of strong players find themselves in a lower ‘cast’ and it’s very hard for them to take the place they really deserve. It’s necessary to be a chess fanatic and to have a great deal of energy in order to play in tournaments all the time. You tried your hand at being an arbiter as well. Yes, and I was soon disappointed. Do you mean the first match between Karpov and Kasparov? Exactly. I still don’t know whether Garry Kasparov was pro or contra breaking up the match, but in all the problems he somehow accused me. Then I wanted to figure out what really happened and to prove that Kasparov’s accusations were groundless. However, later on I realised that it would be better to forget it, as during any serious investigation a lot of dirt might have come out. Now FIDE is proposing a different system for the World Championship. This is, undoubtedly, a positive innovation. Perhaps, the creative side will rather suffer, but the sporting element of chess will benefit, which will help to popularise the game and make it more financially attractive for a professional. Anyway, the quality of the games is no longer a major concern whereas the income of a wide range of chess players can increase significantly, which did not seem realistic before. It’s not fair when the world champion receives millions of dollars, while players of somewhat inferior strength get nothing. All of us are creators, all colleagues. Now there is a chance to make good money and this is great. If I should be invited to such a championship, I would certainly play. Do you think that the quality of play deteriorates because of the tension which is characteristic of the knockout system? No, but when a strong grandmaster loses the first game, he has to play for a win in the next one, which reduces his chances of showing his full potential. Do you think that there should be an alternative organisation to FIDE? In some sports there are various versions of world championships. Then a ‘unification’ match with a huge prize fund is organised. Perhaps, such a scenario would be best for chess too. What qualities must a sportsmen have in order to reach the very top? He must have the spirit of a champion and nowadays also a supporting team and a computer. Computers play in the same tournaments with humans with increasing frequency. What is your attitude towards this? To me it’s like running in the same race as a car. Has the stimulation to play chess changed since your time? No, it’s the same: sporting and creative success. Of course, material rewards and lifestyle are equally important. Some people prefer travelling around playing tournaments to working in one place. For me, working in the same office all the time would be tantamount to imprisonment. In modern chess, buying and selling points is a common practice. Did it also happen in your era? 4

That did happen, but a lot less frequently than now. People were more ‘shy’ about it. I cannot even imagine myself doing anything like this—for me sport must be absolutely clean or it will be not a sport. Lately you have been playing quite a lot and rather successfully. Is it difficult for you to play a whole game without an adjournment? No, I am in good physical shape. Despite my age I play five-a-side-football and tennis. Is chess a drug for you? No, I can quit at any time. Did you ever try that? I never had the chance. What would I have done then? Music? For music nobody would have paid, whereas people paid for chess. I simply had to play chess. I cannot believe that was the main reason for you to play chess! I must admit, yes. But, apart from this, chess is good for your health—your brain works harder and therefore your body functions better. Do you think that chess will ever be exhausted? Such a fear is justified, as there is so much information on chess now and there is an intensive search for the best moves. Recently I gave a simul and one kid played a fashionable line of the Grunfeld Defence against me. Then I said ‘Chess is dead!’. Chess may need a reform, for example as Fischer has proposed. Two versions of chess—Fischer’s randomised chess and the classical form—can exist alongside each other. Then it’s up to the players themselves which one they choose. Nowadays I prefer music to chess. In chess, harmony is of no interest to anyone nowadays and it is turning more and more into a sport. Music is eternal, while chess is limited. Edgar Allen Poe wrote that concentration is the key in a struggle between two chess players. Do you agree with this? Absolutely! Fischer was a genius of concentration. He thought about chess day and night. I also experienced an interesting case of concentration. It happened while I was playing in England. I got up from my board and noticed my wife. I realised that her face was familiar and I said ‘Good afternoon!’. She ran away ... I think that in order to reach a really high level one needs maximum concentration—both during the game and in preparation. Some people, having reached the top, leave the stage. This depends on character. Those for whom it’s important to remain a ‘legend’, leave the scene. I did not play for a while —because of the illness of my wife and because of the difficult situation in my country—but my credo remains unchanged: you must always show your potential, at any age. Does chess reward well those who give it their love, energy, time and, perhaps ... life? I got a lot out of chess: I travelled around the world, learnt foreign languages, achieved material benefits—a big house, two cars, good pension ... But together with this, chess took up all my time. After the death of my wife I was left alone and realised that I had no private life and had never had it. I did not live, but couldn’t see it because I was always too busy. I only came home between tournaments. Because of that I no longer like travelling. Do you exploit your popularity? Sometimes—when a policeman stops me on the road for speeding. Should you start you life again, would you devote it to chess? Chess would have been my hobby. Solutions. R. Teschner - S. Gligoric, Helsinki OL, 1952. 23...g5! This is a sudden blow - White must take the g5-pawn (with check!) and thus Black opens the g-file, which he can utilise later. 24 Qxg5+ Kh8 25 Nc2 Or 25 Ng4 Rg8 26 Qf4 Rb2 27 Qg3 Bxg4-+. 25...Bh3! 0-1 5

S. Gligoric - N. Padevsky, Moscow OL, 1956. 22 g4! This is not a move, which immediately comes to mind! 22...Qe6 [Perhaps, better was 22...h6 23 g5 hxg5 24 Qxg5 Qe6, although after 25 b5 White maintains his advantage. 23 h3 Qc6 24 b5! Qe6 25 Bxf6! gxf6 26 Nh4+- f5 27 Nxf5 Qe5 28 Bxd5 1-0 V. Smyslov - S. Gligoric, Warsaw 1947. 21...g5! This unexpected move forced a favourable endgame. 22 Qe3 Qxe3 23 fxe3 Rc2 24 Ne4 g4! 25 Bxg4 Nxg4 26 Rxd7 Rxe2 27 Rd2 Rxd2!? 28 Nxd2 Nxe3 29 Ra3 Nc4! 30 Nxc4 bxc4 31 Rc3 Rb8 32 Rc2 h6 33 Kf2 Rb3 34 h3?! Kg7 35 Rxc4 Rxb2+ 36 Kf3 Rb3+ 37 Kf4 h5! 38 h4 f6 39 Rc6 Kf7 40 Rc7+ Kg6 41 Rc8 e5+ 42 Ke4 Rb4+ 43 Kf3 Kf5 44 Rh8 e4+ 45 Kg2 Rb2+ 46 Kh3 Kg6 47 Re8 Re2 48 Re7 f5 49 Re6+ Kg7 50 Ra6 Rf2 51 Re6 Kf7 52 Re5 Kf6 53 Re8 Rd2-+ 54 Rf8+ Ke5 55 Re8+ 0-1 S. Gligoric - S. Furman, USSR-Yugoslavia, Leningrad, 1957 18 g4! This great move starts a very dangerous attack. Obviously, Black had missed this idea of shifting the a3-rook to the h-file. 18...g6 19 Qe5 Bb6 20 d5! Bxd5 21 a5! Bc5 22 Bh6 f6 23 Qc7 Bf7 24 Bxf8 Rxf8 25 Rh3 Qc8 26 Qf4 Be6 27 Re1 Rf7 28 Bf1 g5 29 Qe4 Bd5 30 Qe8+ Qxe8 31 Rxe8+ Kg7 32 Bxc4 Bxc4 33 Rc3 Bxf2+ 34 Kxf2 Bb5 35 Rce3 f5 36 gxf5 Rxf5+ 37 Rf3 Rd5 38 Re7+ Kg6 39 Re6+ Kg7 40 Ke1 a6 41 Rf2 Rc5 42 Rd2 Kf7 43 Red6 Re5+ 44 Kf2 Kg7 45 Kf3 Bc4 46 R2d4 Be2+ 47 Kg3 Bh5 48 Rxc6 Rxa5 49 Rd7+ Bf7 50 Rcc7 Rf5 51 Kg4 Rf6 52 Kxg5 h6+ 53 Kg4 Kg6 54 Kg3 Bb3 55 Rg7+ Kf5 56 Rc5+ Ke6 57 Ra7 Rg6+ 58 Kf2 1-0 I guess that you've noticed what was in common in those 4 games - in all of them the g-pawn delivered a deadly blow. Studying Gligoric's games I noticed that he managed his pawns really well and thus I decided to show some examples of it. Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] I hope that you've enjoyed this issue and that even good summer weather (assuming that you live in the Northern Hemisphere) will not put you off chess and 'Coffee Break Chess'! :) Alexander Baburin, Dublin. The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.

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'Coffee Break Chess' No. 13, 21st July 1999 © 1999 by Alexander Baburin Dear Chess Friends! It's been a month since I sent out CBC No. 12. During that month I went to Russia for a family visit and then took part in Politiken Cup in Copenhagen. I played rather badly there, but had a lot of luck in the tournament and managed to finish equal 1st with Tiger Hillarp-Persson from Sweden on 8.5 out of 11. I guess that playing well against other GMs (2.5 out of 3) helped a lot. I wrote 2 tournament reports about that event for Chess Cafe, which you can find at http://www.chesscafe.com/world/report/denmark.htm and http://www.chesscafe.com/text/trdenmark.txt (archive). My new book review there is also out you can check it at http://chesscafe.com/baburin/baburin.htm. On FIDE's new rating list I am in 90th position with 2593, which is not too bad, I guess. If I can only keep this rate of improvement (7 points in 6 months), in mere 20 years I might overtake Kasparov! :) In this issue I would like to answer some questions, which I received from my readers since February. I've been working as a chess coach since 1993 and have lots of experience in this field, so I hope that my answers will be of some interest to you. I believe in value of serious and critical analysis of your own games and think that without it it's impossible to make a proper chess diagnosis and work on chess effectively. This belief can be seen clearly in my answers. So, I begin with a letter from Correspondence Chess Master Stephen Ham: Dear Alexander! Thank you for the latest CBC #11. Your game versus Becerra was most educational...you are a very brave man in playing 25 Be3! or was everything calculated out? That was a very deep move/concept indeed. Very impressive how you had everything under control. I guess I was a sleepy man who wanted to wake up and thus tried to be brave! :) I needed some stress. No, not everything was worked out - perhaps, if it was, I would have won that game!. The idea to sacrifice a pawn was not bad (see the diagram): Baburin - Becerra, Capablanca Memorial, Havana 1999

Here, instead of a safe move 25 Kh2, I played a more enterprising 25 Be3!?. After 25...Nxg3 26 Bxc5 dxc5 27 Kf2 Nh5 28 Nb7 f5? 29 d6 Nf6 30 f4! Nd7 31 exf5 exf4 32 Bd5+ Kg7 33 Be6 Ne5 34 d7 White got a winning position. Alas, I managed to lose that game... My question is about the Arencibia game where you discussed his 31st move. My "merely mortal mind" expected 31...d4, which plans either ...d3-d2 or ...Rf7+ and ...Be3 when Black looks fine. 1

You didn't mention these possibilities so I'm probably missing something BIG, as usual. Alexander, please tell me what I missed. Thank you. We talking about the following position: Baburin - Arencibia, Capablanca Memorial, Havana 1999

Here Black played 31...Rb7? and after 32 b4! axb4 33 Reb2 Ra7 34 Rxb4 White eventually won. Your idea to push the d-pawn is certainly very reasonable and it's strange that I did not pay much attention to it during the game. I believe that after 31...d4!? White's best strategy is to manage b3-b4, then force Black's pawn to d2 and try to win it after h2-h4 and g3-g4-g5. The continuation could be: 32 Reb2 d3 33 b4 axb4 34 Rxb4 Rf7+ 35 Ke1 Kg7 36 Rd1!? d2+ 37 Ke2 Ra8 38 h4. Perhaps, my 30th move was not as good as I thought and I should have preferred 30 Kf2! instead. I was concerned about 30...Bd2, where Black prevents the b3-b4 advance, but then White's rooks might be able to penetrate along the f-file. Thank you for spotting the move 31...d4!? - it would have been a better try for Black! Alexander, you mentioned in a previous CBC that you'd answer certain questions about the lifestyle of a Grandmaster. Some questions I'd like to know answers too might also be of interest to others as well. The questions are: How do most western GM's make a living? I've read that only the top 10 rated GM's can make a living strictly by playing chess. Besides writing/selling books, I presume the rest teach but surely there's not much money in that. Also, if you hold a "regular" job, how do you find the time to get away for tournaments? If they have a family to support, I presume they can't take too many risks with finances. Indeed, very few chess players can make living just from playing in tournaments, though it's hard to say how many GMs can live just on that. A lot depends on how much money one needs: some GMs have no family and enjoy travelling between tournaments - obviously they can live on less money than those who must support a family. I guess that only about 20-30 players in the world rely solely on their prize winnings. The rest have to do other things in chess: writing books and articles, giving lessons and lectures, etc. Most GMs complain about the current situation, when it's next to impossible to make living being a chess pro, but I know very few of them who are willing to give it up. The truth is that chess is highly addictive - it's a challenge and once you take it, you don't want to give up! It's also an interesting life style - you get to travel a lot and to meet lots of people. Being your own boss is not least important too. There is money in teaching, as there are more students than teachers, particularly GMs. I don't think that one needs to be an IM or GM to be a good teacher or that any GM would be a good coach, but it certainly helps to have high chess qualification. Rates vary a lot, starting with about 2

$30 per hour with a GM. In certain places and for certain GMs it's a lot more. Most GMs don't like teaching though. I am fully aware of certain dangers here - when you teach, you talk about general rules, while when you play you often should look for exceptions. In order to teach one needs to imagine how amateur's mind works and here a GM may get confused. Personally, I've learnt how to deal with this problem. Many GMs write books, but this can't make you rich, unless you spend little time and come up with rubbish (which does happen, as we all know!). Eventually an author may get a few thousand dollars for a solid 256-page book. It takes months to write a quality book, so this is not very profitable. Most GMs write chess books because they feel that they have something to say, money is not the prime incentive here. 2) I've read that GM's are paid a small fee just for showing up at tournaments. Is this fee the same for all GM's or can you negotiate a higher fee based upon performance or rating? How much is the usual fee? Yes, GMs (and sometimes IMs) get appearance money in tournaments. How much depends on fame, rating and lots of other things - the principle "everything is negotiable!" applies here. In USA GMs usually do not receive fees, but the prizes are higher and tournaments are shorter (take less time), which somehow compensates for this. Fees vary between a few hundred dollars (for most GMs) and many thousands dollars (for top players). 3) GM's have to fly to many tournament sites. Who pays for this since this can be quite expensive? Are the GM's room and meals also paid for at tournaments or does the GM have to pay for it themselves? Usually GMs pay their travel expenses - after all, it's up to you whether to fly first class or go by donkey! :) Sometimes organisers take care of tickets, but usually GMs pay for them from the appearance fees, etc. Everywhere except USA GMs usually also get free accommodation and food, but this again depends on the tournament, etc. 4) What/whom do GM's take with them to tournaments? Informants and other chess reference materials? Chess databases and programs on laptop computers? Do GM's still pay for seconds as they had back in the 70's or is this only for match play? Do they take family members? Most GMs carry notebook computers and perhaps a few chess books to tournaments. Whether one can afford to bring seconds or family members, depends on the depth of his pocket. Only top players can afford to have seconds and this is one reason why they are better than the rest. 5) How many hours/day does a GM study when preparing for a tourney? How many hours does a GM study when NOT preparing for a tourney? How do the two study sessions differ? I presume in the former that some time is spent preparing for certain opponents. If so, do you always know in advance who your opponents will be a tourney? Do you study alone or do you get together with other strong players when possible? It's not possible to give a simple answer here. Sometimes I work a lot: analyse, annotate, etc., but sometimes I do not touch chess at all. I guess that most GMs are like me in this regard. Special preparation for tournaments is typical for top players, the rest does not do it - our work is less structured or organised. You know your opponents when you play in an all-play-all event. Then it makes sense to study their games. Many GMs like to work with a sparring partner. Before I left Russia, I used to work with my friend IM Roman Skomorokhin. I'd like to study with another strong player, but have not been able to do so in the past few years. 6) I read a humorous story about how you ended up in Ireland. I read you planned to move to Iceland but accidentally got off the plane in Ireland and fell in love with the beer so decided to 3

stay. Is this true? Do any GM's drink alcohol while playing top level chess? English GM Stuart Conquest introduced that story in 'Kingpin'. I've already sued him for moral damages (geography is the only thing I excel in!) and you may have noticed that nowadays Stuart travels from one tournament to another like crazy - he is trying to raise money to pay me off! :) Speaking seriously, in 1993 I was offered to work in Ireland for a year and the Irish could not get rid of me ever since. I like Ireland and stay here despite my dislike for Guinness! As for drinking, I like beer and wine (prefer white), drink vodka (particularly Russian - with good food and nice company it's great!) and do not object to whisky or rum. I know that this may sound horrible, but I hate (American) political correctness and thus admit things like this freely. Besides, I control myself pretty well when it comes to drinking. Playing in tournaments is very stressful and drinking alcohol surely helps to coop with stress. Many players did or do it, but it's clear that in a long run such players lose. During my career I got drunk only 2-3 times during a tournament - when things were going really badly for me and I needed a change. It always worked fine for me (I began to win), but I am reluctant to relax this way regularly. In general, top players seem to drink less nowadays than in the past - chess is more demanding now. 7) Do GM's do/eat anything to enhance concentration at the chess board such as consume caffeine? Do many GM's have a certain routine that they follow that helps them to concentrate? Many GMs eat chocolate during the game. They may believe that it helps their play, but I suspect they simply like the taste. Anyway, this is why I eat it! I often drink coffee during the game. Routine during a chess tournament is very important - the main thing is to stick to what you do, as long as things go right for you. Once a Russian master did really well in the semi-final of USSR Ch. He drunk heavily and smoked a lot and also played cards every night and so on. Yet, he was about to qualify to the final - he needed only a draw in the last round. So, he went for a nice walk in the evening, got in bed early and later he did his morning exercises. He played the last game like a novice and lost without any chance... The moral is clear, I think. 8) When in-between rounds at tournaments, are most GM's able to mentally relax and enjoy themselves or are they so focused on chess that all notions of fun are deferred until after the event. Speaking of relaxation, I'm very nervous when playing at tournaments and easily distracted by noises. Do GM's have nervous problems or have they generally overcome these problems to be able to relax enough to focus on chess. There is life apart from chess and (most) GMs know that. Thus, chess pros pursue fun just like everyone else - meet other people, talk, walk, drink, eat out, play cards, read books, etc. If you cannot stop thinking of chess in-between the rounds, this is dangerous - you may not get relaxed and would play worse. It's hard to completely forget about your losses, fears, etc., but one should try - GMs with good nerves tend to succeed more often. I often experience stress during the game. One of the worst cases was in 1995 in Vienna, when in the last rounds I was in trouble against Sakaev. Yet, I needed to win in order to make a GMnorm and to tie for first. When I had 5 minutes left, my heart began to beat like crazy and I felt very dizzy. I though that I was about to collapse... I said to myself that I don't want to have a heart attack over a game of chess and would rather prefer to lose it. So, I relax and spent a minute or so to come back to normal. I actually began to play well and drew that game. I never regretted that pause I took - better to be an alive IM than a dead GM! :) 4

Dear GM Baburin, I enjoy your coffee breaks very much. Most of us our casual players with limited time for the game, but want to improve. What advice do you have for us? What books would you suggest as the best for the candidate masters to study? Ralph First of all I would recommend to decide on what you want to achieve in chess and how much time (and money!) you are willing to spend on it. I believe that it's important to keep in mind that chess is for joy and pleasure and should not become a source of frustration! Once you've defined your goals, it's possible to work out a program. Let's assume that you are a 'club player' and you want to get better at chess. Then I would suggest to the following: 1) Play at least some tournament games, as pure studies are not enough and friendly games won't teach you much. It is up to you how many games to play a year - I guess 20+. 2) Analyse and annotate your own games. No need to annotate every single game you play probably something like 15%-20% is optimal: games which you lost, games where you feel you could play better and simply interesting chess encounters. When analysing, try to be critical. Don't use any computer program while analysing. Always write down your analysis and don't shy to show it to others, particularly to stronger players, as their advice might be helpful. Some people discuss chess in small groups, which is a good idea, provided they are of similar strength and get on well together. Once the analysis is finished, you may check it with some chess engine for tactical errors. Don't be put off if there are many - that's the case with me too! :) 3) Do not spend too much time on opening books - study games of strong players (particularly annotated games!) in the relevant systems. It's good to pick a model player in your favourite opening and see how he handles it. For example, if you play Nimzo-Indian with 4 Qc2, check how GM Ivan Sokolov plays it. Another example - GM Sadler on the Queen's Gambit Accepted. This way you are likely to learn a lot. 4) Invest your time into studying good endgame books and game collections. Avoid 'Informant'style notes and look for explanations (words). Pay attention to endgame technique - it's a weakness of most players. Again, do not study anything in general for that is boring - take some endings you played and analyse them. Then move on to study endgames with similar themes or ideas. Remember: it should always go from your practice to your study (analysis) and then back to your practice! 5) It's essential to receive at least one good chess magazine. I can recommend 'New in Chess' (Holland), 'Chess Monthly' (UK), 'Inside Chess' (USA). Also good is 'British Chess Magazine'. 'Chess Life' (USA) is not bad, but there are too many ads there. For those who read Russian, '64-Chess Review' is a must. Among German language magazines 'Schach' (Germany) is one of the best. In general, look for magazines which feature (well) annotated games and interesting stories about chess and chess players. Plain game scores are available in thousands - look for instructive stuff and human element in chess! 6) There is no need to have a huge chess library, but make sure you have a good selection. I can recommend the following books: 'New York 1924 & 1927' by Alekhine, 'Moscow 1935' and 'Moscow 1936' (Caissa editions, USA), 'Candidate tournament. Zurich 1953' by Bronstein, 'Match-tournament Hague-Moscow 1948' by Keres, 'Match Botvinnik-Tal' by Tal. Game collections about Rubinstein, Capablanca, Keres, Botvinnik and other famous players are important. Among recent books I can recommend 'Chess the Adventurous Way' (New in Chess, 1994) by Timman, 'Fire on the Board' by Shirov, 'Vishy Anand: My Best Games of Chess' (Gambit, 1998) by Anand & Nunn. As for endgame books, 'Rook Endings' by 5

Levenfish and Smyslov is an excellent work. Averbakh's books are good; GM James Howell wrote a nice book a few years ago. There are many instructional books around: I like 'Reassess Your Chess' by IM Silman, Dvoretsky's works are fine, but should be handled with care - one can get lost or mixed up in them. US IM John Watson is also a very good chess writer. Actually, there are quite many good books around nowadays. A good collection of tactical puzzles is a nice thing to have. Also, try to solve tactical positions when you see them in magazines. Please note that I do not give exact titles in some cases, so some research may be needed. Hope this advice will help you and please don't forget to threat chess as fun - don't take it as a hard work! Hello, Mr Baburin. I've only been playing for 18 months (through my son's interest in the game, he's 13) but I am seriously hooked now. One topic that I hope you might comment on in future is blunders, this of course is because I suffer seriously from them. Cheers, Alex Clark. The only remedy I can think of is to write down your move first and then to make a check: does that hang a queen? Rook? Bishop, etc.? I think that this technique was suggested by Russian master Blumenfeld. He claimed that it helped him to cure the problem. Hi Alexander! I am currently a strong club player, but I want to improve my game and be able to compete successfully in tournaments. I want to draw up a training program for myself , but I do not know where to begin. Any help will greatly be appreciated! Gregory Ainsborough, South Africa. Again, my advice would be to start with assessing yourself as a player and making a list of problems you have in chess. Then you can work out a program. Try to separate long-term and short-term goals. For example, you may want to improve your technique in rook endgames, but also need to fix some holes in your opening repertoire. Then just before a tournament it may be better to look at your openings and study endings later, when you have more time. You may also need to deal with other problems, e.g. lack of understanding of certain positions, etc. But the first thing is to make a fair assessment of your play - a sort of diagnosis. Then you'll be both a doctor and a patient! Playing training games and selected positions with a sparring partner may be a good way of preparing yourself for tournaments. Here is message from David M. Cole, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: I'm 33. I took up tournament chess about two years ago, and have really enjoyed it. However, I have yet to find any published material that sets out a method of systematic study for the class player that will allow them to work hard and progress to the expert/master level. I can only find general comments ("study the endgame", "master tactics", "review GM games", etc.), that frankly, are quite vague and give little help. I'm playing at about the 1600 USCF level at the moment and can't seem to get beyond that, despite serious study of the game for about an hour each day, and I have several friends who have the same trouble. I'm not particularly talented, but I managed to pass two bar exams, so I am probably of decent intelligence. I would think that careful study would allow anyone of reasonable ability to reach the expert level. But it continues to be way out of my reach, and I suspect that the vast majority of players are in this boat as well (I know that several players in my club express the same frustrations). In short, could you set out a system of study that would allow myself and my club-mates to progress? There is so much training material available now, but so little advice in the way of direction that we are overwhelmed (especially in learning tactics and endgames). I think that such a column would be extremely popular if it presented a comprehensive system to build on, rather than just a number 6

of examples. Did that make any sense? :) You don't need to respond directly; please just consider writing such a piece. I suspect that about 90% of your readers are below 1800 and would find such advice to be worth at least as much as the several dozen chess books they own. I know I would! Thanks again. David M. Cole. Some of my advice given above would fit in here, but answering David I'd like to concentrate on a couple of things. First, don't start with 'I am not particularly talented...'. Of course, different people have different degree of chess talent, but it's hard to say how much talent one has. I also believe that anyone with general intelligence can reach the level of an expert, provided enough time and effort is put into it. How to tackle the problem is the question. You are right, there is a lot of stuff available on chess nowadays and one must be very selective now and know what he is doing with his time spent on chess. Surely, you cannot make progress because you make certain mistakes and most likely those mistakes are typical for your play. So, first thing would be to define what is your weakness in chess (there could be a good few!) and then try to fix it. If you miss simple tactics, it would be wrong for me to say "Study games of Lasker and watch your rating go up!". Surely, studying his games is not a bad thing to do, but you would do better with a book on chess tactics. Also, if you have bad knowledge of basic rook endgames, it would be wrong to suggest you to study Rubinstein's rook endings - you would be better off with a rook on basic rook endgames first and only then should move to more advanced stuff. So, the problem is that everyone needs his own program and it's hard to write one, which would fit everybody. Once you know your weaknesses, start working on them systematically - for example, if you don't understand a certain pawn structure, then study a few games when such pawn formation happened. Looking at just one or two examples may not do. Always prefer to study typical positions in order to develop pattern recognition. Consider working on chess in a small group with your chess buddies. One player (let's call him a 'mentor') selects a few good examples about one topic and then you discuss it. Ideally, that should be followed by playing training positions, which 'mentor' should prepare in advance. Then analyse your play in those positions.

Dear Alexander, you might like to consider putting your picture at the end of one of your ezine, with the comment that you are providing the picture in response to a request from a Member of your fan club. With every kind wish, Clarry Webber (New Zealand). This is an unusual suggestion. Yet, there is a point in posting a couple of photos - I remember cashing a cheque at my local post office: I had to show an ID, which happened to the one from Irish 'Aliens Registration Office' (what a name!). The postman, who had known me for many years, smiled at me and said: "So, you are an alien... How many legs do you have?" Here comes my proof that I did not arrive here from another planet:

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This picture was taken during a simul I gave in Burlington Chess Club in California in 1997. The following picture was taken during Capablanca Memorial in Havana in May 1999:

This issue of CBC turned out to be quite long, but I hope that you've found it both interesting and useful. If you have questions too, please e-mail me - I will try to answer them, although I cannot set any definite time for doing so. Also, I may not be able to answer questions on openings or particular positions. Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] Alexander Baburin, Dublin. The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.

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'Coffee Break Chess' No. 14, 31st July 1999 © 1999 by Alexander Baburin Dear Chess Friends! August is going to be a very busy month for chess fans with the World Championship starting in Las Vegas today. It will be also a busy time for me as I will play in the British Championship (Scarborough, 1-14 August) and in Mind Sports Olympiad (London, 21-29 August). So, in this issue I decided to take it easy and to review some of the previously covered material. But first I want to give a couple of tactical positions and provide some useful links. Sharpen your tactical vision! Consider these 2 positions - this may help you to spot tactics in the games, played in Las Vegas! :) You will find the answers in the end of this issue: S. Solovjov - V. Akhmadeev, St. Petersburg 1999

White to play.

G. Kiselev - A. Gubajdullin, St. Petersburg 1999

Black to play. Links. More sites post CBC now and one of them - by Ruben Casafus - might be particularly interesting for those whose first language is Spanish. You can find it at: http://bigfoot.com/~ruben-casafus. Chess is getting more popular in India and this reflects on the Net - to learn about chess in that country visit the following interesting site -http://www.chennaionline.com/chess/. 1

Much as I liked India and its people during my visit there in April, I am very unhappy about the way the All India Chess Federation and its Secretary (he is also a Vice-President of FIDE) Mr. Ummer Koya treated me during the Commonwealth Chess Championship. I had a written contract with the organisers, but they still managed not to pay my appearance money. Another victim was GM Miles, who has written about that at Chess Cafe, of which he recently became a columnist. See his story (all true!) at http://chesscafe.com/miles/miles.htm I am going to cover that story in chess press too, so we are not going to forget about that (considerable!) money. The Indian Chess Federation is badly damaging the image of Indian chess, which is really a shame... Recently I came across yet another curious site: http://www.freespeech.org/chessdate/ Hope these links will entertain you this weekend! :) Now let's come back to chess!

Kramnik-Timman, Wijk aan Zee 1999. After I showed Kramnik's analysis of his endgame vs. Timman and suggested a few possible improvements, I heard from Vladimir, who reviewed my suggestions (that was later published in '64' magazine). I also heard from other people, so I would like to come back to that fascinating endgame in order to share with you some new findings. First of all, I'd like to show the game and the moment when rood endgame arose. For those who did not see the analysis in CBC No. 6, I recommend to have a look at that issue first. V. Kramnik - J. Timman, Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee, 1999. 1 Nf3 c5 2 c4 Nf6 3 Nc3 Nc6 4 g3 d5 5 d4 cxd4 6 Nxd4 dxc4 7 Nxc6 Qxd1+ 8 Nxd1 bxc6 9 Bg2 Nd5 10 Ne3 e6 11 Nxc4 Ba6 12 Na5 Bc5 13 Bd2 0-0 14 Rc1 Bd4 15 b4 Bb5 16 Nxc6 Bb2 17 Rc5 Bxc6 18 Rxc6 Rac8 19 Rxc8 Rxc8 20 Bxd5 exd5 21 f4 Ba3 22 Rf1 Rc4 23 Rf3 Bxb4 24 Bxb4 Rxb4 25 Ra3! (D)

25...h5 26 Rxa7 Rb2 27 a4 Ra2 28 f5! Ra1+ 29 Kf2 d4 30 a5 f6 31 Kf3 Kh7 32 a6 Kh6 33 h4 g6 34 fxg6 Kxg6 35 Ra8 Ra2 36 Kf4 Kf7 37 a7 Kg7 38 Kf5 Ra5+ 39 Ke4 Ra4 40 Kd5 Ra1 41 Kxd4 1-0 First of all, Vladimir agreed that instead of 35...Ra2? Black could survive by playing 35...Kf5! 36 Kf2! Ra2 37 Ke1 Kg4 38 a7 Kh3 39 Kd1 f5! 40 Kc1 Kg2 41 Kb1 Ra4 42 Kb2, as my recommendation - 42...Rb4+! 43 Ka3 Rb7! - works fine and Black draws after 44 Ka4 Rg7! 45 Kb5 Kxg3 46 Kb6 Rg6+ 47 Kc5 Rg7 48 Kxd4 Kxh4 49 Ke5 Kg5. 2

Now Kramnik considers 34 fxg6 to be a serious mistake and recommends 34 Ke4!. Indeed, this move is strong and seems to win: 34...gxf5+ 35 Kxf5 (Vladimir also mentions 35 Kxd4!?, which is even more convincing). From a practical point of view here Black should try 35...Ra2!? (Kramnik's line 35...Rf1+ 36 Ke4 Rf2 37 Kxd4 Rxe2 38 Rc7 Ra2 39 a7 Kg6 40 Kc5+- does not offer Black any chance). Then the hasty 36 Kxf6 allows Black counterplay after 36...Rxe2, as now he has a passer too. After 37 Ra8 (or 37 Rd7 Ra2 38 a7 d3=) 37...Kh7! 38 Kg5 Re5+ 39 Kf4 Re6! 40 a7 Ra6 41 Ke4 Ra4 42 Kd5 Kg7 43 Kc5 Ra1 44 Kxd4 Kh7 45 Ke5 Kg7 (D) we reach the following position:

Here two extra pawns do not mean a winning advantage, as White cannot win the h5-pawn or utilise his a-pawn. This all looks sweet for Black, but after the correct 36 Ke4! Rxe2+ 37 Kxd4 White still wins, for example: 37...Re6 38 Ra8 Kg7 (D).

The same position arose in one of the lines, which I considered in CBC-6. There I wrongly claimed that Black was OK in the diagrammed position. In fact, Black loses here after 39 Kd5 Rb6 40 Kc5 Re6 41 Kb5 Re5+ 42 Kc6 Re6+ 43 Kd7 Rb6 (or 43...Re3 44 Rb8 Ra3 44 Rb6 Rxg3 45 Kc7, winning) 44 Kc7 Re6 45 a7. Now both 45...Ra6 46 Kb7 and 45...Re7+ 46 Kd6 Rb7 47 Rg8+ fail. Kramnik showed this line, but even before I heard from him, one of my students - 16years old Sam Collins from Dublin - pointed out to me the same variation. Instead of 33 h4 GM Philipp Schlosser suggested 33 Ke4!?. Indeed, this move seems to win easily (e.g. 33...Re1 34 Kd3 Rd1+ 35 Kc4 Re1 36 Re7!) and therefore it's better than 33 h4. However, 33 h4 was not really a mistake, as only 34 fxg6? was a bad slip, while the correct 34 Ke4 would still have kept White in control, as our previous analysis proved. During analytical work I often caught myself trying to convince myself that some line is the 'final truth', etc. I guess this is in human nature, as we need to have some solid ground. Yet, chess often proves to be like an ocean - variations are too numerous and often cannot be calculated 'till 3

the end'. This ending is a good example, as even after such a long analysis it's hard to claim that White had a win after 25 Ra3!. Kramnik gives 26...h4 and 27...g6 as possible improvements for Black, while I want to suggest yet another one: instead of 25...h5 Black should consider 25...g6!?, which gives him an escape square and prevents f4-f5. After 26 Rxa7 Rb2 (D) we reach the following position:

Here Black might be able to play ...h5 later on and then ...Kg8-g7-f6 - something he could not do in the game. Of course, 25...h5 looks active (and obviously that's why Kramnik gave it '!' mark), but it later forced Black to damage his pawn structure on the kingside in order to get his king out of the back rank. Note that White cannot really block the enemy king here, as 27 g4?! will be met with 27...Rb4!. On this note I'd like to finish this review of this great endgame, which showed us one more time how deep chess is! I bet computers would not play such endings well enough yet in many years to come! Well, that's my secret hope, anyway... :) Solutions. 1. Solovjov-Akhmadeev, St. Petersburg 1999, 31 Ra6! This is better than 31 Qh8+ Ke7 32 Rxb7+ Rxb7 33 Qxc8 Qb6+ 34 Kh1 Rb8 35 f6+ gxf6 36 Qh3. 31...Qxa6 32 f6!+- Ke8 33 f7+ Kd7 34 f8Q Re7 35 Qh3+ Kd6 36 Qg3+ 1-0 2. Kiselev-Gubajdullin, St. Petersburg 1999, 30...Rc1! 0-1 Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] Hope you enjoyed this issue - I will be back in mid August with CBC-15. Meanwhile enjoy the fight in Las Vegas! Alexander Baburin, Dublin. The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.

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Coffee Break Chess No. 14a

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Coffee Break Chess No. 14a, 20th of August 1999 © 1999 by GM Alexander Baburin

Dear Chess Friends! This August is very busy for me and therefore I must leave a 'proper' issue of CBC-15 till after I come back from London, where I will play in Mind Sports Olympiad (21-29 August). This is just a brief note to stay in touch with my readers, whose support I appreciate very much. I'd like to show you two rook endgames, which I played at the British Championship in Scarborough. The tournament, which was convincingly won by GM Julian Hodgson on 9 out of 11, went wrong for me. I played rather badly and deserved my poor result - 7 points. I lost two games - one in a winning position and another one in a very promising position. My wins were not convincing either. The good news is that I stopped losing with White, but the bad news is that I started to lose with Black! :) When IM (now GM-elect) Jonathan Rowson asked me in Scarborough whether chess ever depress me, my answer was quick: "Never! It's the way I play it which depresses me!". Well, it's over and, although I will come back to that tournament to look at my mistakes, I am now looking forward to the next competition.

Rook Endings So, take some time and use a chance to sharpen your endgame technique - consider the following two positions and think how you would have played them. Write down your analysis (if you have time and interest in rook endings) and compare it with my detailed analysis of these endings, which I will give in CBC-15. You can check what actually happened in those games in the end of this message. So, rook endings: M. Heidenfeld - A. Baburin, 1999

Black to play.

http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-14a.htm

30.08.1999


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White: Ke3, Ra1, pawns c2, d4, e5, g6. Black: Kc6, Ra7, pawns a3, c4, e4, e6. Black to play. Black seems to be in deep trouble, but maybe there is a way out (solution) ?

A. Baburin - N. Pert, 1999

White to play. White: Kd7, Re3, pawns d5, h3. Black: Kg6, Rg2, pawn h4. White to play. This position looks winning for White and yet some precise play is still required. How would you continue (solution) ? Remember: the actual game continuation is in the end of this message, while the analysis will be in the next issue of CBC.

Books Meanwhile I invite you to have a look at my latest book review at Chess Cafe: http://www.chesscafe.com/baburin/baburin.htm. My own book - 'Winning Pawn Structures' - got a very favourable review at that site - you can check this very detailed review at http://www.chesscafe.com/text/wps.txt. If you are interested in this book, I still have a few copies for sale. It's £16/$25 + postage. To order the book or get a quote in different currency, please email me. I also have a few other books, some of which were published in Russia. Here is a short list: 1. "Russians versus Fischer" Compilers: D. Plisetsky & S. Voronkov. Moscow, "Chess World Ltd.", 1994. 394 pages. In English. Contents: preface by Y. Averbakh and 148 games of Robert Fischer, played against Soviet grandmasters, all games are annotated in the "Informator" style. There are also various documents in the book, e. g. letters of leading Soviet GMs, concerning Fischer's play and http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-14a.htm

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style; many of those documents are published for the first time. Index of Fischer's opponents and their scores against him, opening index. Hardback £20 = DM49 = $29. I. Belov, A. Shakarov, V. Tsaturian, L. Vilensky "Anthology of Chess Beauty" Moscow, "Saturn-S", 1996. 441 pages. 2.000 copies. With a preface by Kasparov. This book is in English and in the "Informator" style. The book contains 1640 games awarded with special prizes in 1876-1995. Softback, large format. £25 = DM62 = $37. I. Linder "The Art of Chess Pieces" H.G.S. publishers. Moscow 1994. 228 pages. In English. The book contains 250 black-and-white and colour illustrations. Contents: ¡ The World of Chess and the World of Art ¡ An Excursion into History ¡ Carved pieces "with faces" ¡ The Evolution of Abstract Symbolism ¡ Notes ¡ Bibliography Hardback; with wrappers. £30 = DM74 = $45. I. Linder 'Schach. Schachfiguren im Wandel der Zeit' H.G.S. - Verlag. Moskau, 1994. 228 Seiten mit Illustrationen. The books is in German. The book contains 250 black-and-white and colour illustrations. Contents: ¡ Schachspiel und Kunst ¡ Exkurs in die Geschichte ¡ Geschnitzt "mit Larven" ¡ Evolution der abstrakten Symbolik ¡ Anmerkungen ¡ Bibliographie Hardback; with wrappers. £30 = DM74 = $45. "FIDE Album. 1980-1982" Zagreb, 1988. 431 pages. In Russian, German & English. Hardback. £20 = DM49 = $29. "Boris Spassky's 300 wins" Chess Stars series. Chess editor - GM A. Khalifman. Printed in Sofia by Semko 1998. 380 pages. ISBN 954 8782 08 1. Text is in English. All the games are annotated in the "Informator" style. There are Xtables, index of openings and index of opponents in the book. Softback. Large format. £20 = DM49 = $29.

Again, to order a book, get a quote in different currency or to check about postage, please e-mail http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-14a.htm

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me. I accept cheques and money orders, but cannot take credit cards.

GM Baburin teaches chess In CBC-15 I will give some details about my services as a trainer. I can teach by phone, on the Internet or via correspondence. For Internet lessons I am going to use both ICC and ChessNet. Rate will be $45 an hour on the Internet or on the phone. I will be relatively free in September and October, so give it a thought and let me know if you are interested. I have plenty of experience in coaching. I can also annotate 5 of your games and suggest possible improvements to you. See samples of this work in the next issue of CBC-15. The rate will be $95 for 5 games, which should be send to me in ChessBase or pgn format. If interested, start inputting them along with your thoughts and questions - we can work on chess together! One other possibility is a chess tour in UK, so if your club might be interested in a simul/lecture (or both), please contact me for details. Queries from other countries are welcome too.

Now it's time to reveal what happened in those rook endings:< /P> M. Heidenfeld - A. Baburin, British Ch, 1999, round 3 60...Kb5 61 Kxe4 Kb4 62 d5 exd5+ 63 Kxd5 Rg7 64 e6 Rxg6 65 e7 Rg8 66 Ra2! Rh8! 67 Kd6 Kc3 68 Kd7 Kd2 69 e8Q Rxe8 70 Kxe8 c3 71 Kd7 Kc1 72 Kc6 Kb1 73 Rxa3 Kxc2 74 Kb5 Kb2 75 Rxc3 Kxc3 Draw. As they wrote the tournament bulletin, comments on the final position are very welcome! A. Baburin - N. Pert, 1999, British Ch, 1999, round 8 65 Re4 Kg5 66 d6 Rg3 67 Ke6 Rxh3 68 d7 Rd3 69 Re5+ Kg4 70 Rd5 Rxd5 71 Kxd5 h3 72 d8Q h2 73 Qh8 Kg3 74 Ke4 Kg2 75 Qb2+ Kg3 76 Qc1 Kg2 77 Qd2+ Kg3 78 Qe1+ Kg2 79 Qe2+ Kg1 80 Kf3 h1Q+ 81 Kg3 Qh3+ 82 Kxh3 1-0

Have a nice weekend - I'll be back in September!


Copyright © 1999 by GM Alexander Baburin. All rights reserved. The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-14a.htm

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for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.


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'Coffee Break Chess' No. 15, 11th September 1999 © 1999 by Alexander Baburin Dear Chess Friends! After two tournaments in England, I am back to Dublin and finally I have an opportunity to produce a proper issue of CBC. My readership is growing fast and I hope that you will enjoy this issue. Here I am going to look at recent events and show one of my games.

Alexander Khalifman is the new FIDE World Champion. The championship in Las Vegas saw some surprises, as Elo-favourites were knocked out at various stages and the tournament produced an unexpected winner. Still, Khalifman has always been highly respected among chess professionals as a player of high class and big potential, who possibly did not get to many chances to show his true abilities. In Vegas he played good chess and showed a lot of psychological stubbornness, which is crucial in tournaments with a knock-out format. Khalifman's victory is well received among his colleagues. After the championship Alexander gave a very balanced interview to a Russian newspaper, which I saw it on the Net. There he said that Kasparov is the strongest player in the world at present, but the tournament in Vegas was the only real world championship. He said that in Vegas high rating did not guarantee victory even to such strong players as Kramnik and Shirov, which is only normal in any sport - otherwise prizes could be distributed according to ratings. Khalifman says that he is as devoted to his 'Grandmaster Chess School' as ever and he will continue to develop it. You can find it at http://www.gmchess.spb.ru/index.html There is also an interview with Khalifman in English - at http://www1.worldfide.com/chess/press36.html Many sites covered the Vegas championship and Kasparov followed it on his Web page http://www.clubkasparov.ru/index0e.htm. Alas, he seems to find dubious joy in insulting other players. A few years ago Kasparov coined a term 'real chess player', making most players 'unreal', while recently he came with a name 'tourists'. I guess that such attitude only damages his image. From what I heard from those, who played in Vegas, it's clear that GMs just want to have some system in the chess world, where they can show their professional abilities and also play for decent prizes. FIDE had lots of problems organising the championship in Vegas, but at least did managed it - let's hope that FIDE will get more efficient in the future. Meanwhile there are no news about the Kasparov-Anand match (at least, I have not see any).

Mind Sports Olympiad. Between 21st and 29th of August I played in this rather strong tournament (18 GMs) in London. There I played better than in the recent British Championship. Going into the final round, I was a point ahead of my rivals,. Alas, in round 9 I lost to Jon Speelman and thus failed to win the event outright. The results were as follows: 1-3. A. Baburin (IRL) (gold medal), L. Psakhis (ISR) (silver) and J. Speelman (ENG) (bronze) - 7 points out of 9. 4-7. M. Chandler (ENG), Y. Murey (ISR), I. Smirin (ISR), Y. Zilberman (ISR) 6½ out of 9. I wrote about this tournament at http://www.chesscafe.com/world/report/england.htm There I 1

annotated my game against GM Ibragimov and some other games from the event. My new book review is also out at 'Chess Cafe' - http://www.chesscafe.com/baburin/baburin.htm

You can chat with me online. I'll participate in a live chat at http://chess.about.com/mpchat.htm, conducted by David Dunbar, on Sunday the 26th of September at 16-00 Eastern US time. This is 21-00 London time or 22-00 Central European time. Everyone is welcome to the chat, so please take a note and let's meet there. You can familiarise yourself with the way such chats work by checking previous sessions: http://chess.about.com/library/weekly/aa050399.htm (chat with GM Rohde) and http://chess.about.com/library/weekly/aa053199.htm (chat with IM Silman). Prepare your questions and suggestions ready and let's discuss them!

Annotated game. Here I would like to show one of my games from London, which saw a very fashionable opening line, interesting middlegame and a very curious rook ending. V. Mikhalevski (2516) - A. Baburin, [D27], Mind Sports Olympiad (8), 28.08.1999 1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 Nf3 a6 4 e3 e6 5 Bxc4 c5 6 0-0 Nf6 7 Bb3 cxd4 8 exd4 Nc6 9 Nc3 Be7 10 Re1 0-0 11 a3 b5 Black often plays 11...Na5 12 Bc2 b5, but then White can sacrifice a pawn with 13 d5!?. 12 d5 exd5 13 Nxd5 Nxd5 (D)

14 Bxd5 After 14 Qxd5 in the game against GM Morovic in Havana this year I showed a very important novelty: 14...Na5! (14...Bb7 15 Qh5 leaves White with initiative). Ivan did not dare to take on a8 and after 15 Qxd8 Bxd8 16 Bd5 Bb7 17 Bxb7 Nxb7 18 Bf4 Bf6 19 Be5 Bxe5 20 Nxe5 the game was soon drawn. 14...Bb7 15 Ne5 After 15 Bf4 Bf6 16 Rc1 Rc8 17 b4 Qd7 18 Ng5 Bxg5 19 Bxg5 Rfe8 20 Rxe8+ Rxe8 21 Bf3 Qxd1+ 22 Rxd1 Ba8 23 Bf4 Ne7 24 Bxa8 Rxa8 25 Rd7 Ng6 Black equalised in the game Schandorff-Baburin, Copenhagen 1999, which later ended in a draw. 15...Nxe5 16 Bxb7 Ra7 17 Be4 Bf6 18 Be3 2

White also did not get any edge in the game Avrukh-Har Zvi, Tel Aviv 1999 after 18 Qb3 Rd7 19 Qh3 g6 20 Bh6 Bg7 21 Bxg7 Kxg7. 18...Rd7 19 Qc2 g6 20 Rad1 Nc4 21 Bc1 White has nothing after 21 Bc5 Re8 22 Rxd7 (22 Bc6? Rxe1+ 23 Rxe1 Rd2 24 Qe4 Bxb2 is bad for White.) 22...Qxd7 23 b3 Nd2. 21...Re8 22 Bf3? (D)

White fails to see that his back rank is weak... Better was 22 Bc6 Rxe1+ 23 Rxe1 Re7 24 Rxe7 Qxe7 25 g3=. 22...Bxb2! Also possible was 22...Rxe1+ 23 Rxe1 Bxb2 24 Bxb2 Rd2. 23 Bxb2 Nxb2 24 Rxe8+ Qxe8 25 Rf1 Nd3 26 Qc6 Qe6! I did not see anything decisive after 26...Ne5 27 Qxa6 Nxf3+ 28 gxf3 Rd5 29 Rc1. 27 Qc8+ Kg7 28 Bb7 Nc5 Here White had only two minutes left, but unfortunately I failed to make life harder for him. I saw the line 28...Nxf2! 29 Qc3+ f6 30 Qc6, but did not see that after 30...Qxc6 31 Bxc6 Rd6 32 Bxb5 I could play 32...Nh3+!, which should be winning for me after 33 gxh3 axb5 34 Rb1 Rd5 35 Rb4 f5 36 a4 bxa4 37 Rxa4 Kf6 38 Ra7 h6. 29 Qxc5 Rxb7 30 Rc1 Re7 31 h4 Qe5 32 Qb4 h5 33 g3 Re6 34 Rc8 Qe1+ 35 Kg2 Qe4+ 36 Kg1 Qxb4 37 axb4 Kf6 I doubt that Black can win after 37...Re4 38 Rc6 Rxb4 39 Rxa6 Rb2 40 Rb6 b4 41 Kg2 b3 42 Kf3 Kf8 43 Rb7. I think that I was right to keep the b4-pawn on the board. Although at present this pawn stops two of my pawns, later it can turn into a weakness itself. 38 Rc5 Rb6 39 Kf1 Ke6 40 Ke2 Kd6 41 Rc8 Rc6 42 Rf8 Ke7 43 Ra8 Ke6 44 Ra7 (D)

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44...Kd5! I think this move is better than 44...Rc4 45 Rxa6+ Kf5 46 Ra7 f6 47 Rb7 Rxb4 48 Rb6 Rb3. Now after 45 Rxf7 Kc4 46 Rf4+ Kb3 Black threatens to sacrifice yet another pawn by ...a5 and to get his b-pawn rolling, while White can't play 47 g4, because of 47...Rc4! 48 Rf6 Rxg4 49 Rxa6 Kxb4. Thus, White preferred to stop the advance of Black's king: 45 Kd3 Rf6! 46 f4 Rd6 47 Rc7 f5 I believe that Black benefits from fixing pawns on the kingside. He could not utilise the f5square anyway. Now even if Black sacrifices the g6-pawn, it will be very hard for White to create a passed pawn there. It's important that Black's rook defends both weak pawns on the same horizontal, leaving the king with some freedom to manoeuvre. 48 Rc8 Ke6+ 49 Kc3 Kd7 50 Rg8 Kc6 51 Rc8+ Kb6 52 Rb8+ Ka7 53 Rc8 Kb7 54 Rg8 Kc7 55 Ra8 Rc6+ 56 Kd4 After 56 Kb3 I would play 56...Kd6 57 Rd8+ Ke6, threatening to penetrate with the king along the d-file. For example: 58 Rd1 Rd6 59 Re1+ Kd5 60 Rd1+ Kc6 61 Rc1+ Kb6 62 Rc3 a5 or 58 Kb2 58...Rd6 59 Re8+ Kd5 60 Kc3 Re6 61 Rd8+ Ke4. 56...Kb7 57 Rg8 (D)

75...a5! It was hard to choose between this move and the line 57...Rc4+!? 58 Kd5 Rxb4 59 Rg7+ (59 Rxg6 Rb3 60 Rg5 a5 61 Rxf5 a4 62 Rxh5 a3 63 Rh7+ Kb6 64 Rh6+ Ka5 65 Rh8 Kb4 66 Ra8 Rxg3 is even worse) 59...Kb6 60 Rxg6+ Ka5. After 61 Rg5 Rb3 62 Rxh5 Rxg3 63 Rxf5 Kb4 black pawns are more dangerous than their counterparts, but 57...a5! looked even more attractive 4

to me. 58 bxa5 b4 59 Kd5? Here White missed the last chance to put up more resistance with 59 Re8! Ka6 60 Kd5 Rc3 61 Re6+ Kxa5 62 Rxg6 b3. 59...b3 60 Rg7+ Rc7 61 Rxg6 Ka7! (D)

This is what White missed - now he can't stop the b-pawn. Moving the king to the corner does not look very aesthetic, but now Black's rook can support the b-pawn from behind. For example, White immediately loses after 62 Rb6 Rb7 63 Kc4 b2. 62 Ke5 Rc5+ 63 Kd4 Rb5 64 Kc4 White is also doomed after 64 Rb6 Rxb6 65 axb6+ Kxb6 66 Kc3 Kc5 67 Kxb3 Kd4 68 Kb4 Ke3 69 Kc5 Kf3 70 Kd5 Kxg3 71 Ke5 Kg4. 64...Rb8 65 Rg7+ Ka6 66 Rg6+ Kxa5 67 Rd6 b2 68 Rd5+ Ka6 69 Rd6+ Rb6 0-1 Time: 2.57 - 2.49 In my previous issue I showed two rook endgames and promised to cover them later. I will come back to them in the next issue of 'Coffee Break Chess'. Meanwhile I would like to hear your suggestions on how to make this newsletter better. Please share with me your ideas and suggestions! I am currently working on my Web page, so I hope to implement some of your suggestions there as well. Have a nice weekend! Alexander Baburin, Dublin.

Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder. 5

'Coffee Break Chess' No. 16, 8th October 1999 © 1999 by Alexander Baburin Dear Chess Friends! With the launch of my Web site my workload increased considerably, which resulted in some delay with sending out this issue of CBC. Thus, I have some catching-up to do. Let's begin with a few puzzles (solutions are given in the end of this issue): 1. I. Boleslavsky - V. Savon, Kharkov 1963

White to play White is certainly much better here, as the dark squares around Black's king are weak. How would you play, if you would be in Boleslavsky's shoes? Now have a look at the following position: 2. Lloyd, 1886

White checkmates in 3 moves This position really puzzled my Fritz 5, as even after 20 minutes 'thinking' the program believes that this is checkmate in 5. Can you do better than Fritz? My Web page. It was launched about two weeks ago and during its first day the site had approximately 600 hits. I must now confess that almost 80% of those hits were mine! The 1

counter did not like this and broke down... Now I've calmed down a bit and go there only 50 times a day. :-) You can see my page at http://members.tripod.com/ababurin/index.htm My student Michael Dooley helped me to design the page and helps to maintain it. At the moment you can see on my page chess puzzles (3 new positions added every week), links, selection of chess books for sale, samples of my teaching, rates for my lessons, etc. The site is still evolving - recently we added 'Questions & Answers' section and a discussion forum, called 'Questbook'. The 'Calendar' section already features advertisements about some international tournaments and I welcome chess organisers to post their ads in that section. Naturally, all issues of CBC are posted on my site as well. I plan to have more interesting stuff on the site soon (time is the only restriction!), so please visit it and see for yourself! Your feedback is always appreciated, so if you have any ideas or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me. My online chat. On the 26th of September I participated in online chat, conducted by David Dunbar. The chat went very well and now you can read its transcript at http://chess.about.com/games/gamesgenl/chess/library/blababchat.htm 'Coffee Break Chess' in German and Dutch. Manfred Rosenboom has translated some issues of CBC into German, which you can see at http://www.marochess.de. He is going to translate earlier issues later on. Now CBC is also available in Dutch, thanks to Leander Laruelle. He has posted them on the Web site of Belgian chess club, which you can find at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Dungeon/6860/index.html New interesting links. There is a lot of good chess stuff on the Net now and it's hard to follow all good sites. Below are a few pages, which I certainly recommend to visit: http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Slope/4448 - this page is devoted to Anand. Also don't miss the Web site of Tim Krabbe - http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess/chess.html. Another good site is Rebel's page: http://www.rebel.nl. Recently this program beat GM R. Scherbakov. In December 1999 I will play against Rebel, so good few visits to this page are planned! My new review at Chess Cafe. Two days ago my latest book review was posted at http://www.chesscafe.com/baburin/baburin.htm - there I discussed 3 opening books: on the Yugoslav Variation of the KID by GM Soltis, on the Catalan by IM Dunnington and on the Bb5 Sicilian by IM Pedersen. Solutions. Position No. 1. In Boleslavsky-Savon White played very energetically and smashed Black's position: 21 Rxe6! fxe6 22 Rxe6 Nd5 23 Qf4! Qb8 [or 23...Nxf4? 24 Rxg6+ Kh8 25 Bg7#] 24 Qe4 Kh8 25 Bxd5 cxd5 26 Qxd5 Rd8 27 Qe4 Rdd7 28 d5 1-0 Position No. 2. Lloyd, 1886. The solution is neat: 1 Qh6! It's interesting that now Fritz 5 claims that this is mate in 6... :-) Not quite right, as we shall soon see: 2 Qc1! and White checkmates on the next move. Have a nice weekend! Alexander Baburin, Dublin. Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] 2

The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.

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'Coffee Break Chess' No. 17, 22nd October 1999 © 1999 by Alexander Baburin Dear Friends! Time really flies and another 2 weeks have gone since CBC No. 16. I am going to play in Bavaria soon and therefore I would like to share with you some latest news before I go away. My Web page. The site has been up for about 4 weeks now and it is evolving very nicely. My Webmaster Michael Dooley devotes a lot of time and effort to the site and he has done a great job! The main problem is that the site already has so much quality chess content, that it might be hard to find time to read it all! :-) If you do not believe me, see it for yourself at http://ababurin.tripod.com New chess puzzles are added every week, the 'Collector's Corner' has taken off nicely and recently we added new links, as well as 'Chess Wonders' section. 'International Chess Auctions'. I am starting a new venture with my business partner James Hayes of Kilkenny, Ireland. We will host international chess auctions on a regular base. First auction will take place in Dublin on the 16th of January 2000. We accept various lots and invite potential sellers and buyers to take part in the auction. Our aim is to provide quality service and to make selling and buying chess items more convenient for chess collectors. We will help with free advice to those, who think of starting collecting. Jim has a vast experience in this field, but he has stopped collecting himself to avoid any possible conflict of interests. You can find more relevant information on our Web site - http://chessauction.tripod.com. We will update information on that site regularly, but if you have any troubles accessing the site at any time, please contact me at [email protected] or [email protected]. You are also welcome to get in touch with me regarding your participation in our auctions - I hope to hear from you soon! New interesting links. Internet does not stop surprising me - there are many very good chess pages on it and here I would like to mention a few: http://www.forthnet.gr/chess - Manolis Stratakis has a very rich in content page, which will appeal to the fans of chess composition. http://www.msoworld.com has a lot to offer about various games (not only chess!). It also covers the latest Mind Sports Olympiad, which took place in London in August 1999. 'Chess Archaeology' - http://www.chessarch.com/arch.shtml - is another very curious site. It is run by Nick Pope and offers lots of interesting stuff for those interested in chess history. If you would like to play chess by e-mail, you perhaps should visit the site of by Andres Valverde http://www.ectool.nu. He offers a program called ECTool, as well as some other chess programs. Happy surfing on the Net - I will give more links in the next issue! Happy-end of my Indian saga. My regular readers might remember that in March 1999 I played in Commonwealth Championship in Bikaner, India. There GM Miles and I did not receive our appearance fees, which got wide publicity in chess press. Thus, it would be only fair to inform that the organisers have finally paid both Tony Miles and me. Annotated game. Two weeks ago 4NCL (British team league) started again in Birmingham. I won both my first games and one of them I would like to show now. I recorded time, spent by both players and will use some of that data here. John Richardson (2315) - Alexander Baburin, (2593) 1

4NCL, Birmingham (2), 10.10.1999 1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 Nc3 My opponent played this move instantly, but he probably did not know the line, as later he began to spend a lot of time. 6 4 e4 b5 5 a4 b4 6 Nb1? (D)

First mistake - much better is 6 Na2, attaching the b4-pawn. Then the following wild game is interesting: 6...e5 7 Bxc4 exd4 8 Qb3 Qe7 9 Nf3 c5 10 Bg5 Nf6 11 0-0 h6 12 Bd5 hxg5 13 Bxa8 g4 14 Nd2 Be6 15 Qg3 Qd8 16 e5 Nh5 17 Qd3 Qh4. Black won after 18 Nc1 Nf4 19 Qg3 Qg5 20 Re1 Nh3+ 21 gxh3 Qxd2 22 Ne2 Qxb2 23 Nf4 Qc3 24 Qg2 b3 25 Rab1 c4 26 Rec1 Qb4 27 Bd5 gxh3 28 Qf3 Nd7 29 Nxe6 fxe6 30 Bxe6 Nxe5 31 Qe4 Bd6 32 Rxc4 Nxc4 33 Bxc4+ Kd8 34 Bxb3 Re8 35 Be6 Rxe6 in Eingorn-Kharlov, Moscow 1991. Usually Black plays 6...Bb7 7 f3 e6 8 Bxc4 c5 and then, for example, 9 Ne2 Nc6 10 Be3 cxd4 11 Nxd4 Qb6 12 Nf5 Qc7 13 Ng3 Bd6 14 0-0 Nge7 15 f4 0-0 16 e5 Nxe5 17 fxe5 Bc5 18 Bxc5 Qxc5+ 19 Rf2 Qxc4 20 Qd7 Nd5 21 Qxb7 b3 22 Nc1 with a draw in Schipkov-Baburin, Gyor 1990. 6...Bb7 This position is similar to the one arising after 3 e4, except that Black has a pawn on b4 here. Thus 6...e5?! won't be good now, as after 7 Nf3! exd4 8 Bxc4 Black does not have check on b4, which he has in the 3 e4 line. This means that he would seriously falling behind in development. 7 f3? Again, this move was played very (too!) quickly... I thought that 7 e5 was necessary. 7...e5! 8 dxe5 Qxd1+ 9 Kxd1 Nc6 10 Bxc4 0-0-0+! Alas, nothing is new in chess nowadays! Annotating this game I found the following example: 10...Rd8+ 11 Nd2 Nxe5 12 Bb3 Bc5 13 Nh3 Ne7 14 f4 Ng4 15 Ke2 0-0 16 Bc4 Nf5 17 Kf3 Nf6 18 Ng5 Nd6 19 Bd3 h6 20 Nh3 Ndxe4 21 Bxe4 Nxe4 22 Nxe4 f5 23 Be3 Bxe4+ 24 Ke2 Bxe3 25 Kxe3 Bxg2 0-1 Levacic-Semkov, Cannes 1989. 11 Nd2 White could not play 11 Kc2? because of 11...Nd4+!. The same knight's jump would be also very unpleasant for White after 11 Ke1?! Nd4!. 11...Nxe5 12 Be2 (D)

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Here I thought for 9 minutes. My first intention was to play 12...f5, challenging the e4-pawn, which obstructs my b7-bishop. But White can play 13 Kc2. Then I asked myself - what White's want to play anyway? Having found the answer (he wants to play Kc2 & Nc4), I played the decisive: 12...b3! Now White cannot untie his pieces, as 13 Kc2 is no longer possible, while 13 Ke1 will be met with 13...Bb4. 13 f4 This is forced, but now the b7-bishop becomes a monster! 13...Ng6!-+ There is no need to be smart - the line 13...Nf6 14 fxe5 Nxe4 is possible, but not necessary. 14 Nh3 Nf6 15 Ng5 Nxe4 16 Ngxe4 Bxe4 17 Bxa6+ Kb8 18 Rf1 Bc5 19 g3 Rhe8 (D) 0-1

White's forces are in really bad shape... Have a nice weekend - I will be back in about 2 weeks time! Alexander Baburin, Dublin, http://ababurin.tripod.com Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder. 3

'Coffee Break Chess' No. 18, 4th December 1999 © 1999 by Alexander Baburin Dear Friends! I've been out of touch for a good while, but now I am back to producing CBC. The past two months were very busy for me and now I have a lot of interesting chess stuff to share with you. I hope to have two more issues of CBC before the New Year. My recent tournaments. In the end of October I played in Bad Wiessee - small town in Bavaria, near Munich. It was a big (about 380 players) and strong (about 30 GMs) open. I played rather well there and scored 7.5 points out of 9. That was a 2776-perfomance in 8 rated games. Yet, two players did even better - GMs Alexander Shabalov (USA) and Ildar Ibragimov (Russia). Both showed very powerful play and finished on 8 points. Shabalov won the event on tiebreak. I tied for 3rd with GMs Yakovich, Eingorn and Krasenkov. 'Bavarian Masters' is an annual event and has a Web site: http://www.schach-am-tegernsee.de/oib1999 From Germany I came back to Dublin with my friend GM Lev Psakhis, who stayed with me for a few days. We played 2 exhibition games in one of Dublin's universities (15 minutes each). The exhibition went very well (thanks to Mark Quinn and his friends from UCD!) - there were over 40 people, watching the games on a big screen and listening to Lev afterwards. There was one sad guy in the audience though - somebody who lost both games... :-( Still, I liked the format of the exhibition, as the second game was both very entertaining and good. Then Lev and I went to the Isle of Man. This year that open was particularly strong. Nigel Short had a brilliant start - 5.5 out of 6. It's curious that all those 6 games were played in the French Defence! Then Nigel lost two games (to Hebden and Shipov), allowing Emil Sutovsky (Israel) and Sergei Shipov (Russia) to overtake him. They scored 6.5. Short, Psakhis and a few others were on 6, while I finished on 5.5 points - not a very good result. Still, I played some interesting games there, one of which I'd like to show here. Later I played 2 games in 4NCL, scoring 1.5 points and beating IM Jonathan Parker in a very interesting game. In the Isle of Man he beat me (and got his second GM-norm), so it was nice to take revenge so quickly! My team - Wood Green - is doing well, having won 3 matches and drawn one. Last weekend I played in Kilkenny, which was probably the strongest weekend tournament in the world this year. Judge for yourself - among about 30 players there were GMs Adams, Timman, Hodgson, Lalic, Hebden and yours truly, plus a few IMs. Not a bad tournament! Bodgan Laic played very well, beating both Timman and Adams. He won on tiebreak with Julian Hodgson, scoring 5 out of 6. I lost to Adams, drew with Lalic and IM Turner and finished on 4 points. As always, Kilkenny Congress was very enjoyable - some players stayed in a bar till 4 in morning. Looking at my result, maybe this is what I should have done too! :-) My next tournament will be in St. Vincent (Italy) in February 2000. It's going to be a very strong open - check details at www.netvallee.it/scacchi My match against Rebel. Today, on the 4th of December at 16-00 Amsterdam time (15-00 in Dublin, 10-00 in New York) I will play against computer program Rebel. We will play on the ICC (Internet Chess Club). The time control is 40 moves in 2 hours and then 1 hour each. See the 1

following site for more details about Rebel: http://www.rebel.nl You are very welcome to watch the game. I will annotate it on my Web site later, so please feel free to send me your comments it might be interesting to compare them with my analysis. Chess auction. As you might remember, in January 2000 there will be a chess auction in Dublin, organised by Jim Hayes and me. Please visit the site at http://chessauction.tripod.com. We accept various chess items and you can already look at our preliminary list at http://chessauction.tripod.com/catalogue.htm My Web site. In less than two months my Web site got over 7,000 hits, which is very encouraging. My Webmaster Michael Dooley has done a very good job and we plan to put a lot of interesting stuff on the site http://ababurin.tripod.com before Christmas. Check it out and don't forget to visit my Book Shop - http://ababurin.tripod.com/bookshop.htm, where you might find some interesting books and a few bargains. My articles. Since CBC-17 I've written two book reviews for the Chess Cafe. You can find the November column at http://www.chesscafe.com/text/baburin06.txt, while the December issue is at http://www.chesscafe.com/baburin/baburin.htm. In the latter I reviewed King's book on the English Defence, Emm's work on rook endings and Averbakh book on basic endgames. In January 2000 issue of Chess Mail there will be my article on Kasparov vs. the World. Problems with my Hotmail account. About a month ago some jerk broke into my Hotmail account and sent a very nasty message to one of my friends. I could not use that account for about two weeks and I fear that the same sick guy might have sent more messages. So, if you received any suspicious message from [email protected], please contact me immediately. BTW, I seldom use that account for e-mailing people. Annotated game. I played a number of interesting games recently and here I would like to show one of them, played in a rather fashionable line of the Gruenfeld Defence. A. Baburin (2593) - S. Kudrin (2525) [D77] Monarch Assurance Open, Port Erin (8), 13.11.1999 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nf3 Bg7 4 g3 d5 5 Bg2 dxc4 6 Na3 I never played this line prior to this game. Before the game I looked at this variation and decided that it might give White more than 5 cxd5. 6...c3 7 bxc3 0-0 8 0-0 c5 9 e3 Nc6 10 Qe2 Bf5 11 Rd1 Be4 12 Bb2 (D)

12...Qa5 2

Also possible here is 12...Qb6. After 13 Nc4 Qa6 14 Bf1 Rfd8 15 a4 Bd5 16 Nfd2 Ne4 17 Nxe4 Bxe4 18 Ba3 cxd4 19 exd4 Bd5 20 Ne3 Qa5 21 Nxd5 Rxd5 22 Bg2 Rd7 23 d5 White seized the initiative in Huebner-Ye Jiangchuan, Elista 1998. 13 Nd2 In the game Manninen-Yrjola, Tampere 1991 White chose here 13 Bf1 Rfd8 14 Nd2 cxd4 15 exd4 Bf5 16 Nb3 Qc7 17 c4, which also looks promising. White can try 13 Nc4 Qa6 14 Bf1, transposing into the game Huebner-Ye Jiangchuan. 13...Bxg2 14 Nb3 Qd8N This is novelty, though it may not be a good one. After 14...Qb6 15 Kxg2 cxd4 16 cxd4 Na5 17 Nc5 Qc6+ 18 Qf3 b6 19 Qxc6 Nxc6 20 Na6 Nd5 21 Nb5 Rfc8 22 Ba3 White eventually won in K.Georgiev-Svidler, Las Vegas 1999. 15 Kxg2 cxd4 16 cxd4 Na5 17 e4 Rc8 18 d5 a6 19 Rac1 (D)

White's knights are not well placed, but he has more control in the centre and has developed both his rooks. I think that White stands better here: his central pawns are quite mobile, while Black cannot advance his pawns on the queenside without creating weaknesses. 19...Qb6 20 Bd4 Qb4 21 Qb2! Rxc1 22 Rxc1 Bh6 This is the point of Black's previous play - the e4-pawn may be in danger now. However, White can beat off this attack. 23 Nxa5 Qxb2 This is practically forced, as in the line 23...Qxa5 24 Rc5 Qe1 25 Bxf6 exf6 26 Qd4 Black's pieces are not well co-ordinated and he has great difficulties dealing with the passed d-pawn. 24 Bxb2 Bxc1 25 Bxc1 Nxe4 (D)

We reached a pretty unbalanced position, where White still has better chances. Here I realised that my main task was to activate the a3-knight and to keep the d5-pawn on the board for as long as possible. 26 N3c4!? Rc8 27 Ba3 Rc7 3

Maybe better was 27...Kf8 28 d6 Nxd6 29 Nxd6 exd6 30 Bxd6+ Ke8 31 Nxb7±. 28 Bb4 Nf6 29 Nb6! White should not exchange the d-pawn (29 d6?), as then he may as well be worse. 29...Kg7 30 Kf3 g5 31 h3 h5 32 Ke3 Nd7 33 Nac4 Nxb6 34 Nxb6 f5 35 h4 gxh4 36 gxh4 (D)

36...Kf6? A blunder, but Black's position was already lost: his pieces are tied down to the e7-pawn, which he cannot afford to lose. In the meantime White is ready to activate his king. 37 d6! Rc6 38 d7 1-0 Have a nice weekend - I will be back soon! Alexander Baburin, Dublin, http://ababurin.tripod.com & http://chessauction.tripod.com Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.

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Coffee Break Chess No. 19, 24th of December 1999 © 1999 by GM Alexander Baburin

Dear Friends! Holidays are approaching fast, but I hope that you will still have some time to look at chess. If so, then I'd like to share with you my latest news, as the past three weeks were very busy for me, with lots of events.

My Game Against Rebel On the 4th of December I played against computer program Rebel. We played on the ICC and the time control was 40 moves in 2 hours and then 1 hour each. The game ended in a draw after very interesting play. I am very pleased with the game, as I learnt that it's possible to play against computer even in positions, which are rich in tactics. Though in general I have no reasons to complain about my tactical vision, the prospect of playing someone who never errs and can spot your every tactical mistake, horrified me somehow. Therefore, I was quite nervous before the game and its beginning did not bring me any relief, as I found myself in a risky position. You can see that game with brief notes here, while more detailed analysis will soon follow at http://ababurin.tripod.com/bestgames.htm. If you'd like to learn more about Rebel, go to http://www.rebel.nl/.

Team Leagues Many chess pros play in team championships in various countries. It provides additional income and also opportunities to meet strong opposition. I play in UK and in Germany. In 4NCL I play for Wood Green, which is in the 2nd place after 4 rounds. You can find more details about 4NCL at http://freespace.virgin.net/nigel.chess96/4ncl/4n-m-idx.htm. In Germany I play for Delmenhorster SK and made my debut on the team on 11-12 December. In round 5 we beat Duisburg 4.5-3.5 (I drew on board 3 against GM Marciano). In round 6 we faced one of the favourites - Porz. As they have 7 GMs with rating over 2600, our prospects did not look too good. However, things went really well for us - Julian Hodgson beat Loek van Wely on board 2, I stood completely winning against FIDE World Champion Alexander Khalifman on board 3, while Stuart Conquest was winning against Jan Timman on board 4. Alas, I made a horrible slip on move 39, Timman also escaped with some brilliant defence and we missed our big chance... Fortunately, Porz returned the favour on board 7 and the match ended in a draw. Now our team shares the lead with Porz and Solingen on 11 points (5 wins and 1 draw). You can find out more about BL at http://www.schachbund.de/schachbl. German Magazine 'Schach64' (http://www.schach-magazin.de) also gives some coverage. One interesting observation - those 32 players, who met in Bremen that weekend, represent Germany, Holland, England, Russia, Denmark, Armenia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway, Hungary and France - a truly international event! This is also what makes BL so notoriously strong. http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-19.htm

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Trip To Russia Recently I spent a week in Russia, where I attended Russian Championship in the Central Chess Club in Moscow. The Russian Chess Federation seems to be in crisis and it failed to provide or attract adequate finding for the tournament, which has clearly affected its strength. The winner will get only about $1,000 and I suspect that 2 places in the next World Championship are the main attraction for the participants. The tournament is covered on the Club Kasparov site at http://www.clubkasparov.ru/index0e.htm. While in Moscow, I met with people running InterChess Club - a very interesting new server with good interface. There are many chess servers nowadays and this server needs time to establish itself, but I can recommend you to visit InterChess Club already - you will find it at http://www.interchess.com/.

Web Digest There is an awful lot of interesting chess stuff on the Net, so I'd like to share my recent findings: l

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http://www.research.digital.com/SRC/personal/Tim_Mann/chess.html Page of Tim Mann, who seems to know a lot about computers and chess. Looking for annotated games on the Web, try http://members.xoom.com/geneven/chesswatch.html. For Internet digest and links visit http://www.very-best.de/ChessWorld.htm. If you have serious interest in chess literature, then check http://www.konbib.nl/kb/vak/schaak/intro-en.html - Web site of the Royal Library in Hague. This library has one of the best chess collections in the world. Looking for some humour? Then try http://www.sovlit.com/chess.html - you won't be disappointed!

Annotated Game Here are highlights of my game against Rebel. Baburin - Rebel [D07], Internet Chess Club, 04.12.1999 1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nc6 I knew that Rebel played the Chigorin Defence before, but I did not make any special preparation. In fact, my preparation was very brief - I decided to play in my usual style and not to employ any special tactics. 3 cxd5 Qxd5 4 e3 e5 5 Nc3 Bb4 6 Bd2 Bxc3 7 Bxc3 exd4 8 Ne2 I believe that this plan, suggested by GM Suat Atalik, promises White some edge. 8...Nf6!? I hoped that computer would play 8...Nge7 9 Nxd4 Nxd4 10 Qxd4 Qxd4 11 Bxd4 f6, as in the game Lautier-Yermolinsky, Parnu 1998. Though Black drew that game comfortably, that would be a dream scenario against computer - White has two bishops in the endgame and no tactics! :-) 9 Nxd4 0-0 10 Nb5 Qg5 (D)


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I started to get nervous around here... I did not really expect that computer would sacrifice any material that easily. Thus, I realised that it must be theory, but alas I did not know it. 11 h4 Qg6 12 h5 Qg5 13 h6 Rd8!?N This appears to be a novelty. I expected 13...Bg4, which had been tested before (and which I did not know). 14 Qa4 Ng4 15 Be2 15 hxg7? loses after 15...Nxe3! 16 Qe4 Bf5-+ 17 Qxe3 Re8. 15...Nxh6 16 Nxc7 Qxg2 Again, not something I expected. 17 Rxh6 gxh6 18 Nxa8 Bh3 19 Qc4 Rxa8 20 0-0-0 Qxf2 21 Bg4 I also considered here 21 Qf4 Qxf4 22 exf4, but that would be too tame. 21...Qxe3+ 22 Kb1 Bxg4 23 Qxg4+ Qg5 24 Qd7 (D)

This is a very interesting position. I bet that any computer program believes that Black is just winning here. Yet, I thought that chances were about equal - White will get one pawn back and should have enough play, as Black's king is very exposed. 24...Rb8 25 a3! Rd8 26 Re1 Kf8 27 Qxb7 Qc5 28 Qc7 Here I was getting short of time and so the clock became my main concern. Otherwise I would have found 28 Rf1! Qc4 29 Rg1!, where White is better in my opinion. In the game I allowed Black's rook onto the 6th rank, where it's more active. 28...Qd6 29 Qb7 Qd7 30 Qb3 Qf5+ 31 Ka1 Rd6 32 Qc4 Re6 33 Rf1 Re4 34 Qa6 Qd7 35 Qb5 Rg4 36 Qc5+ Kg8 37 Re1 Rg6 38 Qf5 Qd8 39 Qd5 Qb8 Why not 39...Qc8?


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40 Qd7 Kf8 41 b4 Of course, this move seriously weakens White's king, but I spent about 20 minutes on this move and you can be sure that I considered various pros and contras here. 41...a6 42 Bb2 Qd8 43 Qf5 Qc7 44 Qc5+ Qd6 45 Qc3 Around here I began to go wrong. 45...f6 46 Rc1 Ne7 47 Qf3 Kg7 48 Rd1 Qe6 49 Qb7? Qe2 50 Qd7 Rg2 51 Qd4 Rf2 52 Rc1 (D)

52...Kf7? A human being would have played 52...h5 here and would probably win the game. The pawn makes just one step forward, but this could be crucial later in the endgame. This is what I feared, but now I felt some relief and so after 53 a4 I boldly offered a draw! 53...Qd2?! In the endgame White should not have real problems. 54 b5 Qxd4 55 Bxd4 Rf4 56 Rc4 axb5 57 axb5 Nd5 58 Kb2 Rg4 59 Kb3 Kg6 60 b6 Nxb6 61 Bxb6 Rxc4 62 Kxc4 f5 63 Kd3 Kg5 64 Ke3 Kg4 65 Kf2 f4 draw. l

Download game as PGN file

Have a nice weekend and enjoy the holiday! I hope to be back with CBC-20 in less than a week, but if I don't manage this, then Happy New Year to all of you and all the best in 2000!

Technical Support I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] Alexander Baburin, Dublin http://ababurin.tripod.com/ http://chessauction.tripod.com/



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Coffee Break Chess No. 20, 8th of January 2000 © 1999,2000 by GM Alexander Baburin

Dear Friends! I hope you all had nice holidays and that the Y2K bug went as easy on your PCs, as it did on mine! :-) Before I proceed with this issue, I'd like to tell you that I was very touched by your numerous New Year greetings - it was great to learn that people around the globe read CBC and that they like it! I'll try not to let you down and hence here is my new issue.

Chess Auction On the 16th of January I will hold a chess auction together with my business partner James Hayes. The auction will take place in my house in Dublin at 3 Eagle Hill, Blackrock. It will start at 15-00 local time. We have 62 lots at our first auction, whose catalogue can be viewed and downloaded at http://chessauction.tripod.com/catalogue.htm. There are many interesting items at the auction, for example a book published in 1787 (lot 1), signatures of Lasker, Capablanca, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Fischer and many other famous players. Some rather common books and chess pins are for sale too. You don't have to travel to Dublin to take part in the auction, as we use so-called proxy bidding. If you are interested in any lot, simply e-mail me ([email protected]) your bid, giving lot number and title. You should specify your highest bid (the maximum you are prepared to pay), but you may not need to pay the full amount. For example, somebody bids 30 euro and you bid 40 euro on the same lot. Then, you get the lot at 30 euro + the increase (4 euro in this case), provided that your bid (34 euro) has met the (hidden) reserve. Please note that the will be 12.5% buyer's commission and postage on top of that. Please specify your bids in euro, as otherwise it will be more difficult to compare the bids. At the moment 1 euro is about $1.04. For more information please visit our auction site - http://chessauction.tripod.com/. The aim of the International Chess Auctions is to make collecting chess items easier by providing a place where collectors can buy and sell chess books, memorabilia, sets and stamps. We also provide free evaluation service, so if you have some old books (or other chess items), which just sit in boxes in your attic, please feel free to contact me. And if you want to sell stuff quickly and don't want to bother with any auction, in some cases our Auction House might be able to buy it from you. People who would like to start collecting chess stuff and need a qualified advice are also very welcome!

Web Digest The Net does not stop to surprise me, as every week I find some new curious chess sites. Here are my latest discoveries: http://maskeret.com/mecca/ - a very nice site by Italian player Maurizio Mascheroni. On his site you can learn which players were born on a particular date, find their biographies, etc. The site is called 'La Mecca/Chess Encyclopaedia'. Recently I received a copy of 'Chess on the Web' (Batsford, 1999) by Sarah Hurst, which is very good, though any book would find it hard to cope with the Web. In the book are you can find http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-20.htm

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interviews with well-known Web masters like Mark Crowther (TWIC) and Hanon Russell (Chess Cafe), as well as some reviews and addresses. There I learnt about the following site http://www.tri.org.au/chess/. It's run by Dr. Colin Rose and is devoted to chess philately. This site is well worth a visit. Eric Schiller produces an online chess magazine called 'Chess City', which brings news, teaching, etc. at http://www.chesscity.com/index.html. It also features CBC. Another site, which started hosting CBC is called AJELIBRE and it's in Spanish - see http://w3.to/ajelibre/. Some of you may know that I review books. Now you can see my last book review at http://www.chesscafe.com/baburin/baburin.htm. I've enjoyed contributing to Chess Cafe, which in my opinion is one of the best chess Web sites, but I have to take a break. Book reviews are very time-consuming, as one is supposed (in theory at least!) to read the reviewed books, which I always tried to do! :-) There is another change in my journalist work - as Inside Chess (USA; http://www.insidechess.com/) now exists only online, my endgame column there is finished. Most likely it will re-emerge in a slightly different form in Chess Monthly (UK). I will also start a column in 'Australian Chess Forum'. FIDE has published new ratings list for downloading at its site (http://www.worldfide.com/). My rating is 2 points down (now 2591), which does not concern me much. I suspect that I can always move to Burma, thus bringing my rating to at least 2852! :-)

My Web Site My Web site has had a major redesign, which made it a lot faster to load. Slow loading was the only complaint we received with my Webmaster Michael Dooley. Now, thanks to Michael, this problem has been rectified. See it for yourself at http://ababurin.tripod.com/. Also don't forget to visit my BookShop at http://ababurin.tripod.com/bookshop.htm, where more books are for sale now. Another important news is that now I accept credit cards (Visa & Master), as well as cheques.

Endgame, endgame... I like endgames and here I would like to share with you some analysis: Alexander Baburin (2593) - Jonathan Parker, 4NCL, Birmingham (4), 21.11.1999 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Qc2 d5 5 cxd5 Qxd5 6 Nf3 Qf5 7 Qxf5 exf5 8 a3 Bd6 9 Bg5 Ne4N 10 Nxe4 fxe4 11 Nd2 f5 12 e3 Be6 (D)


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13 g4! h6 14 gxf5 Bxf5 15 Bh4 Kd7 16 f3 This is tempting, but may not be best - both 16 Nc4 and 16 d5 was worth considering. 16...exf3 17 e4 Re8 18 Kf2 Be6 19 Nxf3 Rf8 20 Kg2 Nc6! 21 d5 Bh3+ 22 Kf2 (22 Kxh3?! Rxf3+ 23 Kg2 Ne5 is good for Black.) 22...Bg4 (22...Bc5+!? 23 Ke2 Bxf1+ 24 Raxf1 Nd4+ 25 Nxd4 Bxd4=) 23 dxc6+ bxc6 24 Be2 g5 25 Rad1 Ke6 (We both missed that Black could actually play 25...gxh4! as after 26 e5 he has 26...Rae8 27 exd6 Rxe2+ 28 Kxe2 Bxf3+ winning.) 26 e5 Bxe5 27 Bg3 Bxf3 28 Bxf3 g4 29 Rd3 Bxg3+? (In time trouble Black misses 29...Bd6!) 30 hxg3 Rf6 31 Rc1! Rxf3+ 32 Rxf3 gxf3 33 Rxc6+ Kd5 34 Rxc7 a5 35 Kxf3 Rb8 36 Rc2 (Better was 36 Ra7!, but White was also short of time) 36...Kd4 37 Kg4 a4 38 Kh5 Rb6 39 g4 Kd3 40 Rf2 Kc4 41 Rf4+ Kb3 42 Re4 Ra6 43 Rb4+ Kc2 (D)

This is a very interesting position. After a while one would realise that this position looks like a mutual zugzwang. If it would be Black to play, he would have to move his king, thus allowing White to play b2-b3, which wins easily - when there is no b2-pawn to worry about, White can shift his rook to attack the h6-pawn. But it's White to move and he has to worsen his position. Fortunately for him, there is a win here. First of all, White brings his king to f5: 44 Rb5! (This better than 44 Kh4 Ra5! 45 Rb6 (45 Kg3? h5=) 45...Rd5) 44...Re6 45 Kh4 Re8 46 Rb4! Ra8 47 Kg3 Ra6 48 Kf3! (Maybe the line 48 Kf4 Ra5 49 Rb6 Rc5 50 Rxh6 Kxb2 51 Rh3 is winning too, but there is no need to go into it.) 48...Kd3 (or 48...Ra8 49 Ke4 Ra5 50 Kf4 Ra8 51 Ke5 Ra6 52 Kf5 Ra8 53 Kg6 Ra6+ 54 Kh5. Here we have reached the same position as after move 43, but this time with Black to play!) 49 Kf4 Kc2 50 Kf5 (D)

Zugzwang. Black must allow either Kf5-g6 or b2-b3. The rest is clear. 50...Kd3 51 b3 axb3 52 Rxb3+ Kd4 53 Rh3 Ra5+ 54 Kf4 Ra6 55 Rh5 Rf6+ 56 Kg3 Ra6 57 Kh4 Ke4 58 a4 Rxa4 59 http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-20.htm

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Rxh6 Ra1 60 Re6+ Kf4 61 Rf6+ Ke5 62 g5 Rh1+ 63 Kg4 Rh2 64 Ra6 Rg2+ 65 Kh5 Kf5 66 Rf6+ Ke5 67 Kg6 Ra2 68 Rf1 1-0 In CBC-14a I gave the following position: Alexander Baburin - Nicholas Pert, 1999

White to play. Now I'd like to analyse it here. In the game I played 65 Re4!, correctly assessing the line 65...Kg5 66 d6 Rg3 67 Ke6 Rxh3 68 d7 Rd3 69 Re5+! Kg4 70 Rd5 as winning for White. The game ended after 70...Rxd5 71 Kxd5 h3 72 d8Q h2 73 Qh8 Kg3 74 Ke4 Kg2 75 Qb2+ Kg3 76 Qc1 Kg2 77 Qd2+ Kg3 78 Qe1+ Kg2 79 Qe2+ Kg1 80 Kf3 (That was a bit cruel, I must admit, but Black could have avoided it by resigning earlier) 80...h1Q+ 81 Kg3 Qh3+ 82 Kxh3 1-0 During and after the game I believed that 65 Re4 was the only winning move, as the line 65 d6 Rg3 66 Re4 Rxh3 67 Ke7 Kg5 68 d7 Rd3 69 d8Q Rxd8 70 Kxd8 h3 is OK for Black. However, CBC reader Miguel Ballicora showed another and very instructive method. His solution is 65 d6! (Miguel actually started with 65 Re5!, which is the same) 65...Rg3 66 Re5! Rxh3 67 Ke7 Rd3 68 d7 h3 69 d8Q Rxd8 70 Kxd8 and with his king being cut off along the 5th rank Black is doomed. Well done, Miguel! I wish all of you a nice weekend - I will be back soon!

Technical Support I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] Alexander Baburin, Dublin http://ababurin.tripod.com/ http://chessauction.tripod.com/

Copyright © 1999,2000 by GM Alexander Baburin. All rights reserved. The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-20.htm

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author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.


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Coffee Break Chess No. 20a, 13th of January 2000 © 1999,2000 by GM Alexander Baburin

Dear Friends! This is just a short message with a few announcements - a new issue of CBC will be out next week.

Chess Auction Is On This Sunday! I would like to remind you that on the 16th of January the International Chess Auctions will hold a chess auction at 3 Eagle Hill, Blackrock, Co. Dublin at 3 p.m. local time. Please have a look at our auction catalogue, available for viewing and downloading at http://chessauction.tripod.com/catalogue.htm. Sometimes there are problems with downloading it (I guess it depends on traffic at the server). If you have any problem please e-mail me and I will gladly forward you the catalogue as pdf file (487K) or Word 97 (791K) file (please specify!). Just a few highlights of the auction: you can buy autographs of Lasker, Marshall, Capablanca, Keres, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Fischer, Kasparov and many other famous GMs, as well as rare books and periodicals. There are some inexpensive books on offer too, for example 100 different Trends booklets (lot No. 35), as well as lots No. 21 and 34. We also offer some very curious chess pins. You don't have to be in Dublin to take part in the auction, as you can bid via e-mail, post or phone. At the auction we will use proxy bidding, when you specify your highest bid and we bid on your behalf. Not necessarily you will have to pay your maximum amount. For example, somebody bids 20 euro and your bid is 40 euro. Then you bid wins at 20 euro + the increment (say 2 euro), not at 40 euro. This is provided that your bid has reached the (hidden) reserve. This is very similar to auctions at e-Bay. Please specify your bids in euro, as otherwise it will be more difficult to compare the bids. At the moment 1 euro is about $1.02. Please also give lots numbers and their titles. If you buy anything at our auction, you will be invoiced in euro, except if you live in the country, which adopted euro, as then you can be invoiced in your national currency. There are no minimum bids at this auction, but we would not recommend putting a bid, which is less than 60% of the estimate. We hope that our auction will serve well both sellers and buyers, becoming a popular place among people collecting chess items, whether they want to buy or sell anything. The auction has been advertised in 'Chess Life' (USA) and 'Chess Monthly' (UK), as well as on the Internet. We plan to follow this up with ads in Germany and other countries. If you would like to offer anything for sale at our second auction, please contact me. International Chess Auctions (http://chessauction.tripod.com) can also help you with free evaluation. The second auction is provisionally scheduled for May 2000, but it could be held even earlier, depending on the interest towards it. http://www.marochess.de/cbc/cbc-20a.htm

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Finally, if you would like to take part in the auction, please do not leave sending your bids until Sunday, as there could be some unexpected problems (e.g. my IP could be down, etc.) I always send a confirmation of any bid submitted. Your comments and suggestions regarding the auction are most welcome!

News From The Web First of all, I'd like to let you know that there is some new stuff at my site. Recently I added 'Endings' page (http://ababurin.tripod.com/endings.htm>), where I plan to show selected endgames from some of my articles, as well as my unpublished analysis. There is already one curious ending analysed there. I received it from a CBC reader from Japan. I also created 'News' page (http://ababurin.tripod.com/news.htm), where you can now read information about Oscar-1999. If you write about chess for a magazine, newspaper or Web site, you can take part in this poll. Information about some top players and their results in 1999 is also available there. Today I will probably add an interview with World's youngest GM Ruslan Ponomariov at that page - stay tuned! This week I will add another page to my site - 'Grandmaster Forum', where chess professionals and enthusiasts alike can share their views on modern chess. You are welcome to e-mail me with your thoughts. I must add however, that my Web-master Michael Dooley and I reserve a right to edit any material sent to us - in order to avoid much heated and often pointless discussions, which sometimes take place on newsgroups. Another new feature, which soon will be available, is 'Weekly Chat' - check the site for details.

Club Kasparov Much delayed new version of the Club Kasparov site is finally out - check it at http://www.clubkasparov.com/. The site certainly looks very fancy, with lots of graphics. It has an impressive list of contributors too, so it should be a great place to read chess news, etc. Meanwhile there is an interesting open letter from Mr. Feng-hsiung Hsu, one of the Deep Blue programmers, published at TWIC. You can find material called 'The End of the Deep Blue Saga?' at http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic270.html. OneList server will have its maintenance this Friday and Saturday, so if you wish to contact me on these days, please use [email protected]>. Have a nice weekend!

Technical Support I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] Alexander Baburin, Dublin You are welcome to visit my Web sites: http://ababurin.tripod.com/ http://chessauction.tripod.com/


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Copyright © 1999,2000 by GM Alexander Baburin. All rights reserved. The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.


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'Coffee Break Chess' No. 21, 11th February 2000 © 1999 by Alexander Baburin Dear Friends! The last month was incredibly busy for me and hence some delay with this issue. But on the bright side, there are lots of news to share with you, so I will try to catch up with them now and in CBC-22. Chess auction. The chess auction, which took place on the 16th of January in Dublin, was a huge success - most (54 out of 62) lots were sold and in many cases prices went much above the estimates. There was a lot of interest among chess collectors and many took part in bidding. Our business idea is very simple: sellers send us their stuff (books, sets, memorabilia, etc.), we describe their items properly and make sure that many potential buyers see them. Sellers receive the hammer price less 12.5% commission. Buyers pay the hammer price plus 12.5% commission (as well as postage). Our next auction will be in April 2000, so if you have anything to offer or just want an evaluation, please don't hesitate to contact me. For more information please visit the Web site of International Chess Auctions: http://chessauction.tripod.com Web digest. One of the most important developments in chess on the Web is the launch of Kasparov Chess (http://www.clubkasparov.com). This is a very ambitious project (as everything Kasparov does!) and it has great potential, taking into consideration the number of strong players, who are involved in it. However, at the moment there are various technical problems with the site, some of which I experienced too. Personally, I feel that the likes of TWIC (http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html) and the Chess Cafe (http://www.chesscafe.com), as well as many others, will remain popular, as they offer valuable content to players. But as we will all benefit from the emergence yet another great site, I wish Kasparov Chess every success and hope that they will overcome their technical problems soon. One curious finding - recently I saw an ad on newsgroups, offering a chess Web site for sale. I don't know whether it did sell, but if it's still available, it may be your lucky chance to grab some space on the Web - for mere $21,000! :-) As for me, I can't afford it and thus have to develop my own site - http://ababurin.tripod.com Among recent additions there you can find a very curious Bishop vs. Knight endgame, article about chess in Japan by Akira Watanabe and some photos. 'Coffee Break Chess' in Italian. There is good news for those CBC readers whose first language is Italian - CBC is now available in that language at http://www.messaggerie.it My recent games and future plans. In January I played 3 games in BL (2 draws and 1 win) and in 4NCL (1 win and 1 loss). In UK my team Wood Green is in the second position (http://freespace.virgin.net/nigel.chess96/4ncl/4n-m-idx.htm), while in Germany my team Delmenhorster SK is in third place, after the mighty teams of Porz and Solingen. Recently Porz beat Solingen (4.5-3.5) and now it looks likely to win the event. More information on BL can be found at http://www.schachbund.de/schachbl. Reading Chess Life recently, I was surprised to see some unusual names for tournaments: 'GM Gufeld Open', 'David Bronstein Tuesday Open' and 'John Watson Open'. The latter is a fundraiser to cover medical expenses of IM Watson, which is a good idea. But it's interesting to 1

know why other 'personalised' opens emerge. If this trend continues, be prepared to play in the 'Baburin Open' in Dublin! :-) On the serious side, I am considering to host a chess workshop in Dublin. The idea is to combine the popularity of Dublin as a fashionable tourist destination with some chess. You can study chess in the morning and afternoon and then enjoy social life of Dublin (its famous pubs, for example) in the evening. I can help by providing list of hotels and B&Bs in Dublin. Dublin is only 1 hour & £50 away from UK and probably 5-10 hours and $300 away from US. So, if you are interested in combining a trip to the Emerald Island with some chess study, please e-mail me. Such workshop might take place around Easter holiday or in May, depending on the response I'll get. Once I hear from interested people, I will work out the details. I am sure that some Irish players will be interested in the workshop too. Meanwhile, I plan to play in the USA in March. I realise that a lot of CBC readers live in the US, so if you would interested in hosting a lecture/simultaneous exhibition in your chess club, please contact me. My US chess tour might commence in early March and last till early April. I might be also available for individual and group lessons while in the USA. Today I am flying to Italy, where I will play in the St. Vincent Open. You can follow the tournament at www.netvallee.it/scacchi Alexey Vyzhmanavin (1960-2000). George Koltanowski (1903-2000). Two Grandmasters died recently. I briefly met Mr. Koltanowski in San Francisco in 1997. He was in a very good form for his age and was still involved in chess. Koltanowski became famous for his blindfold simultaneous exhibitions. He also travelled a lot with lectures and simuls and wrote a number of books. Native of Belgium, he contributed a lot to chess in the USA. I did not know Alexey Vizhmanavin well enough, but played him 3 times (lost two games and won one). At his prime he was a very strong GM with an active style of play. His best years were in the late 80s and early 90s - he won Moscow championships in 1984 and 1986 and USSR championship in 1987. He represented Russia at chess Olympiad in Manila in 1992. I believe that he had serious problems with drinking, which got worse when his marriage broke down. In last years he did not play much. Here I would like to show two of our games: Vyzhmanavin (2555) - Baburin (2415) Championship of Russia, Gorky 1989 1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 e4 Nc6 4 Be3 Nf6 5 Nc3 Ng4?! 6 Bxc4 e5?! 7 Qb3 Qd7 8 0-0-0!

At that time this was a rather popular variation. But Vyzhmanavin's novelty on move 8 forced the whole line with 5...Ng4 and 6...e5 out of practice. I came back to that game a few times, but could not find an improvement for Black. White's superior development gives him better chances 2

in all lines. 8...exd4 9 Nf3 Bc5 After 9...Na5 10 Qb5 Nxe3? White has a thematic blow - 11 Bxf7+!, winning. Perhaps Black's best chance was in 9...Nxe3!? 10 fxe3 Na5. 10 Qb5 Bd6 11 Bxd4 0-0 12 h3! Nxd4 13 Qxd7 Bxd7 14 Rxd4 Nxf2 15 Rf1 Be6 16 Bxe6 fxe6 17 Rxf2 Bc5 18 Rfd2 Bxd4 19 Nxd4 (D)

19...Rad8? White has a serious advantage here, but Black should have put up a better resistance with 19...Rfe8. Allowing White to create a passed pawn was a fatal mistake. 20 Nxe6 Rxd2 21 Kxd2 Rf2+ 22 Ke3 Rxb2 23 Nxc7 Rxg2 24 e5 Rg3+ 25 Kd4 Rxh3 26 e6 Rh4+ 27 Ke5 Rh5+ 28 Kf4 Rh4+ 29 Kg5 Rh1 30 e7 Re1 31 e8Q+ Rxe8 32 Nxe8 a6 1-0 Baburin (2520) - Vyzhmanavin (2580) Helsinki Open 1992

Without the a-pawn this position would be drawn, but the a5-pawn is an extra weakness, which makes his position lost. 61 f3! Rc1 62 e4 fxe4 63 fxe4 Ra1 64 Ke5 Kg7 65 Kd6 Kf7 66 e5 Rb1 67 e6+ Ke8 68 Rd5 Rb6+ 69 Ke5 Rb3 70 Rxa5 Rxg3 71 Ra8+ Ke7 72 Ra7+ 1-0 A good weekend to all my readers - I'll be back soon! Alexander Baburin, Dublin, http://ababurin.tripod.com & http://chessauction.tripod.com Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the 3

author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.

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'Coffee Break Chess' No. 23, 16th April 2000 © 2000 by Alexander Baburin Dear Friends! It's been more than a month since I produced CBC-22. During this period I played 2 tournaments in US and also competed in British (4NCL) and German (BL) Team Championships. There was a lot of travelling involved: New York, Chicago, Madison, Las Vegas, San Francisco & Berkley, Birmingham, Bremen and Cork – chess players certainly get to travel sometimes! :-) In this and next issues of CBC I am going to show some curious games, which I played recently, and also to share my views on some interesting developments in the chess world nowadays. Commercialisation of FIDE. Recently FIDE President Kirsan Illyumzhinov suggested a very controversial plan of commercialisation of FIDE. You can read his address at http://www.insidechess.com/pubmessage/pubmessage1.html, along with comments of Yasser Seirawan. Illyumzhinov’s plan looks scary to me, as chess players might became mere workers (slaves?) of FIDE, which would have much power over their lives. If excepted, the plan might also lead to decline of chess activity in the world, as some chess organisers may not like the to pay FIDE and might just pull out altogether. One practical implication for chess pros: if the organiser does not pay FIDE a fee (the size of which is not defined in the President’s address) for running his/her tournament, then FIDE can call all players who took part in such a tournament before its disciplinary committee. Then FIDE can ban such players from other (FIDE) events, thus seriously affecting lives of chess professionals. The other aspect of the proposed plan is that Kirsan Illyumzhinov will have much influence on chess even if/when he will be no longer a FIDE President. At The Chess Café Tony Miles shared his impressions of the Illyumzhinov’s plan in his excellent column, which you can find at http://chesscafe.com/miles/miles.htm. Basically, the drawbacks of the proposed plan are very obvious, but I fear that FIDE is such an inefficient organisation that it may actually accept the plan! :-( If this happens, chess professionals should unite to oppose certain threats, which the plan poses to their livelihood. You can learn more about FIDE at http://www.worldfide.com My Web master Michael Dooley posted a poll concerning commercialisation of chess on our site. So far most people voted against it, though I believe that the chess needs to go commercial, if it is to survive. However, I am clearly against the current plans of FIDE President. Chess Magazines and Web sites. It’s a pity that excellent magazine Inside Chess is gone in its printed form. Still, its Web site (http://insidechess.com) is worth visiting. I particularly enjoy Seirawan’s messages to general chess public. See the latest one at http://www.insidechess.com/pubmessage/pubmessage2.html. Yasser is now involved in chess.net (http://www.chess.net). Some of view may remember that I had an endgame column in Inside Chess. Now I write similar columns for Schach-64 (www.schach-magazin.de) and The Australian Chess Forum, whose editor Paul Dunn is also involved in Australian Chess Archieve (http://www.auschess.org.au/archives/archives.htm), which is similar to BritBase. Kasparov-Kramnik match. As you may already know, Anand declined the offer to play Kasparov and he has been replaced with Kramnik. Last year the match Kasparov-Anand failed to materialise and it will be interesting whether Garry will be more successful this time. There is little doubt that he is the strongest player in the world now, but to be called the world champion one needs to play for the title. Alas, Kasparov created a lot of mess in chess and now it’s hard for 1

ambitious players to have a go at the world champion title. Alexey Shirov is one obvious and sad example... The new match has already provoked some curious comments – for example see GM Gausel’s remarks at http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/Chess/wc.html. I agree with Einar that computers should not be given a chance to play in the World Championship. Cars are not invited to compete with runners, boats are not competing with swimmers, etc. Secondly, I don’t see how Braingames Network Ltd. or Kasparov can make such an important decision alone – surely the chess world must have a say on this matter, before we all have to sing ‘Long live Pentium XX, our new Chess World Champion!’. The decision to invite computers to such matches is very controversial, but there is even more controversy surrounding the match, as IM David Levy wrote an open letter to GM Ray Keen, who is involved in organising the KasparovKramnik match. Keen replied and the discussion seems to be rather heated. To learn more about this story please refer to http://www.samsloan.com/levyrere.htm. Let’s talk chess! Today I invite you for an on-line chat. You can ask me questions, make suggestions, etc. The chat will start at 18-15 Dublin time (19-15 in Berlin, 13-15 in New York, 10-15 in Los Angeles). To join the chat please go to http://ababurin.tripod.com/newchat.htm. If the chat goes well, I will make it a regular feature on my Web site, announcing the next ones well in advance. My new career. Recently Alexander Morozevich visited Ireland. He gave a very interesting lecture in Dublin, but the main result of his visit is that I will work as his manager. Morozevich is currently ranked No. 5 in the world and I hope that our co-operation will help him to concentrate on chess, while I will take care of the organising side and problems. Alexander is one of the most exiting players in chess today and soon I will create a Web site devoted to him. If you would like to suggest what you want to see there, please e-mail me at [email protected] - I will appreciate your thoughts and comments. Dr. Martinovsky died. When I came to Chicago in March, I learnt that Eugene Martinovsky had just died of cancel. He was a real gentleman and his death is a big loss for the chess scene in US. I really looked forward to meet Eugene in Chicago, which was his hometown. We played two games (Hawaii and Isle of Man) and talked on numerous occasions. He came from Macedonia, but his father was Russian. Eugene lived in UK for a while, but finally settled in the USA, where he worked as a psychiatrist. He was a strong player, dangerous for anyone, as he had a very good common sense in chess. In one of our games I was completely lost after making an unsound sacrifice in the opening. Here is the game he won against GM Summerscale in the same tournament: E. Martinovsky (2365) – A. Summerscale (2455) [A81], Port Erin, 1998 1 d4 d6 2 Nf3 f5 3 g3 Nf6 4 Bg2 g6 5 0-0 Bg7 6 b3 0-0 7 Bb2 c6 8 Nbd2 Qc7 9 a4 Ng4 10 e4 f4 11 h3 Nh6 12 g4 Nf7 13 Qe2 e5 14 dxe5 dxe5 15 Nc4 Be6 16 Rfd1 c5 17 Ba3 b6 18 Bf1 Nc6 19 c3 h5 20 gxh5 g5 21 Nh2 Bf6 22 Ng4 Be7 23 Qf3 Kg7 24 Rd5 Rh8 25 Rad1 Rxh5 26 Nge3 g4 27 Nxg4 Rah8 28 R5d3 Ng5 29 Qg2 Qc8 30 Be2 f3 31 Rxf3 Bxg4? 32 hxg4 Nh3+ 33 Kf1 Nf4 34 gxh5+! Nxg2 35 Rg3+ Kf8 36 Kxg2 Rg8 37 Bc1!± Qe6 38 h6 Rxg3+ 39 fxg3 Qg6 40 Bf3 Kg8 41 Ne3 Qxh6 42 Nf5 Qf6 43 Be2 Na5 44 Rd7 Bf8 45 Rxa7 Qd8 46 g4 Kh8 47 Nh6 Qh4 (D)

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48 Bg5! Qe1 49 Bf6+ Bg7 50 Bxg7+ Kh7 51 Bf8+ Kg6 52 Rg7+ Kf6 53 g5+ 1-0 My recent tournaments and matches. In March I had a very enjoyable US tour. I played well and finished equal first in both US Masters in Chicago and in the National Open in Las Vegas. During the tour many people told me that they enjoyed CBC and my Web site – their feedback was very encouraging! I will certainly try to keep it this way, not letting your expectations down. I will write more about the tour in my next CBC, while here I’d like to show one game from Chicago, where I shared 1-7 places with GMs Ehlvest, Wojtkiewicz, Shabalov, Blatny, de Firmian and GM-elect Ziatdinov. Alexander Baburin (2591) – Rashit Ziatdinov (2473) [D36] US Masters, Chicago (3), 10.03.2000 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 cxd5 exd5 5 Bg5 Be7 6 e3 0-0 7 Bd3 Nbd7 8 Nge2 c6 9 Qc2 Re8 10 0-0 Nf8 11 f3 Be6 12 Rad1 Qa5?! Here the queen is misplaced, although this move creates some tactical tricks, for example: 13 Bh4? Ng4!. 13 a3! Rac8?! 14 Kh1 a6 15 b4! Qc7 [15...Qxa3?? 16 Rb1+-] 16 Na4 Nh5 17 Bxe7 Rxe7 18 Nc5 Rce8 19 e4 dxe4 20 fxe4 Bc8 During that game and in the post-mortem I felt that 20...Bg4 was more testing. Yet, after 21 e5 f6 White has several ways to prove his advantage: 22 h3! Bxe2 23 Qb3+ Kh8 24 Bxe2 g6 25 Bxh5 gxh5 26 Rxf6+- and 22 Qc4+! Kh8 23 d5+-. 21 e5 (D)

Such positions are typical for the line with Nge2 and f2-f3. They usually favour White, as the h5knight is misplaced and White can often exploit the weakness of the d6-square. 21…f6 22 Bc4+ Kh8 23 Ne4! 3

Black played very quickly and by this move I had spent 1 hour 17 minutes, while my opponent spent mere 20 minutes. However, here he started to think... Too late, as he is already in deep trouble! 23...fxe5 24 dxe5 Ng6 Better was 24...Qxe5 25 Nd6 Nf6 26 Nxe8 Rxe8. 25 Ng5! This is stronger than 25 Nd6 Nxe5 26 Nxe8 Rxe8, which gives Black counter-chances. 25...Qxe5 26 Nf7+ Rxf7 27 Bxf7 1-0 Time: 1.27 - 1.22 Beware of computer warms! I recently received a few messages, which contained Pretty Park exe attachment. I am an experienced user, so I deleted them straight away. However, I feel that among my readers there are some, who might benefit from learning more about computer warms. Once you open such attachment, you probably see some stupid fireworks or maybe even nothing. However, behind the scenes a warm gets into your PC and sends out e-mails (without you knowing!) to all people in your address book. Some of them will open it and their computers will get infected too. Those guys will not be happy, as it takes time to get rid of the warm. So, first of all, never open executable attachments (exe, etc). If you really want to see what such attachments contain, e-mail the sender first and check whether he really did send the message. By the way, CBC often comes with attachments – they are usually pdf files (for Adobe Acrobat) and cbv files, which are Chess Base archives. In the next issue of CBC I will continue covering my US tour, so more games will follow - stay tuned! Alexander Baburin, Dublin, http://ababurin.tripod.com & http://chessauction.tripod.com Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.

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'Coffee Break Chess' No. 24, 14th May 2000 © 2000 by Alexander Baburin

My life seems to get busier and busier and this clearly reflects on the frequency, with which CBC o send out this issue before going to Sarajevo tomorrow. Hopefully in summer life will become quieter and CBC will come -issue inNew developments on my site. ( ): more questions were answered, more pictures posted (I have a pretty extensive GM gallery now!) and my student San Collins wrote his first book review. I afé, but found that extra deadline each month was hard for me to deal with. So, I hope review books using a more relaxed frame Another curious feature of my site is an onmuch against allowing computers into official tournaments. In a few days my Web master Michael Dooley will start posting ‘Sarajevo Reports’, where I will share my impressions about that super-tournament. BTW, my fans should not get excited – I will be only kibitzing there! :-) Upon my return to Dublin I will host yet another chat on my site (the first one went very nicely) – on the 27th of May at 18-00 Dublin time (19-00 in Paris, 13-00 in New York, 10-00 in San Francisco). So, keep an eye on my site! My 2nd Internet chess auction. It will start in about 2 weeks time, but you can already view its preliminary list at http://chessauction.tripod.com. The auction will go on for one week, in the eBay style, when bids will be posted on the site daily. There are many very interesting items offered for sale already, but soon we will add a lot more, including a complete run of Deutsche Schachzeitung, book by Lolli (1763) and notebooks of Akiba Rubinstein. I am a partner in International Chess Auctions and our goal is make collecting chess items easier and more convenient for many chess fans. I believe that our auctions have bright future. Chess training camps in Dublin. Ireland in general and Dublin in particular are very popular tourist spots nowadays, which gave me the idea to offer some tourist a special service. I am going to host chess workshops in Dublin this August and possibly September. The idea is simple: visitors can come for the weekend and combine some chess work (in the morning and afternoon) with sight-seeing and tasting Dublin’s rich social life (those famous Dublin pubs!). I will be able to help with information (list) on accommodation, etc. Training sessions will take place in a hotel and will involve lectures, training games and quizzes. It is possible to organise some blitz tournaments (for fun) as well. At this stage I am considering various formats for such chess camps – if you might like to take part in them, please share with me your thoughts, dropping me e-mmail. Your feedback is very valuable to me - please contact me at [email protected]. CBC in Swedish. Recently Coffee Break Chess started to appear in Swedish – at http://www.schacknyheter.com. This is already the 7th language of CBC - after English, Spanish, German, French, Dutch and Italian. Ironically, there is no Russian version... Anyway, CBC probably has already established some kind of a record, as I am not aware of any other chess periodical, which is translated into so many languages. Chess Portals on the Web. There are a few sites, which can claim to be chess portals and which are worth watching. At The Chess Café (http://www.chesscafe.com) Hanon Russell recently 1

wrote about how the site started 4 years ago; Alexander Khalifman’s GM-School (http://www.gmchess.com) had a major re-design recently and looks very attractive now, while ‘Kasparov Chess’ (http://kasparovchess.com) keeps adding new articles. In one of them, at http://kasparovchess.com/serve/templates/folders/show.asp?p_docID=2869&p_docLang=EN GM Levitt tells how GM Norwood and IM Hennigan hit a jackpot recently. The TWIC (http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html) is interesting as usual. Recently I tried their WebTV channel and found it very good – you will need to install Real Player (often found on free CDs) and then you can see stuff like interview with Ivanchuk, etc. The quality obviously depends on your Internet connection, but it was quite reasonable in my case. Maybe when connection to the Net becomes much faster, we will have special chess programs or even dedicated channels on the Web. GM Gipslis died. Recently Latvian Grandmaster Aivars Gipslis died in Germany. He was a strong GM with attacking style of play. I never got to play him, but I met him often - at Biel, Berlin, etc. Here is one of his games: A. Gipslis – V. Savon, D42, USSR-ch29 Baku 1961 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 c4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e6 6 Nf3 Be7 7 cxd5 Nxd5 8 Bd3 Nc6 9 0-0 0-0 10 Re1 Nf6 11 Bg5 b6 12 Qe2 Bb7 [12 ..Nxd4 13 Nxd4 Qxd4 14 Rad1+- Qc5 15 Bxf6 Bxf6 16 Qe4] 13 Rad1 Nb4 14 Bb1 Rc8 15 Ne5 Qd6 16 Qe3!? Nfd5 17 Qh3 f5 18 Bd2 Nf6 19 a3 Nbd5 20 Nb5 Qb8 (D)

21 Ba2! Once Black blocks the b1-h7 diagonal with ...f5, White should relocate his light-squared bishop to the a2-g8 diagonal. 21...a6 22 Nc3 Rce8? Better was 22...Qd6. 23 Nf3! On e5 this knight acted as a shelter for the e6-pawn, while now this pawn comes under serious pressure. 23...Bd8?! 24 Ng5 Qc8 (D)

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25 Rxe6! Rxe6 26 Nxd5 h6 27 Nxf6+ Kh8 28 Qxf5 Re1+ 29 Rxe1 Qxf5 30 Nf7+ 1-0 My recent tournaments and matches. After a very successful tour in USA in March, where I tied for 1st both at US Masters in Chicago and at the National Open in Las Vegas (http://www.64.com/natlopen), I scored 1.5 in my last BL weekend, playing against GMs Enders and Teske. My overall result in BL was quite good: +2-0=5, but could be even better, as I missed wins in 3 of the drawn games. My team – Delmenhorst – finished third in the league, but unfortunately we lost our sponsors and will not play in the top division next year. I really enjoyed the great team spirit, which our team had and will certainly miss it... I just hope that I will be equally lucky with my next club in Germany (I am looking for one!). Two weeks ago British Team League finished in Birmingham. Alas, there I had one of my worst results in the entire career, losing all three games! Something went seriously wrong... Over the weekend I saw my rating dropping from its current height of 2610+ (which I gained during the season) to the more ‘normal’ 2590+ :-( My team Wood Green finished only second due to unexpected loss in round 9. Anyway, I enjoyed playing on that team and hope that in the next season I can do much better than 6.5 out of 11. Hopefully I will have forgotten that last 4NCL weekend by then! For those who are follow BL and 4NCL, I can recommend the following site: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/John_Katrin_Sharp, which is quite informative. As for my tournaments, the next event is Politiken Cup in Copenhagen in July (www.kbhsu.dk). I like Denmark and usually do reasonably well there. In the next issue of CBC I will talk about Sarajevo and show one of the games, which I lost recently - stay tuned! Alexander Baburin, Dublin, http://ababurin.tripod.com & http://chessauction.tripod.com Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.

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'Coffee Break Chess' No. 25, 3rd July 2000 © 2000 by Alexander Baburin Dear Friends! It has been a long time since the last issue of CBC came out. Partly this is because of my busy summer schedule (I went to Sarajevo and Frankfurt), but mainly the delay is due to my recently acquired hay fever. :-( I never had it before and for a while did not even realise what it was. Yet, it affected me quite badly and still does. Therefore I would like to warn anyone who saw me in the past few weeks or might see me any time soon that I don’t have excessive drinking problems! Those red eyes and red nose are just a result of some pollen in the air... :-) Anyway, enough about protecting my image – let’s talk chess! Updates on my site. Recently I put new stuff on my site - http://ababurin.tripod.com: more questions & answers, more puzzles, my chat session, one more game, additional pictures, etc. I also started GM Forum (http://ababurin.tripod.com/gmforum.htm), where you can read Seirawan’s Open Letter to Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, correspondence between GMs Seirawan and Gulko. There is also a very interesting interview with IM Silvio Danailov (manager of Topalov) at the Forum. I will appreciate you comments and will publish most interesting messages. I invite people to contribute to the site – hopefully together we can make it better. For example, I seek help with Chess Puzzles and Chess Wonders sections. I cannot offer any monetary reward, but you will have your name on the Net. To see what we can do together, please have a look at Chess in Japan article at http://ababurin.tripod.com/news.htm. Web watch. I find that Kasparov’s chess portal offers excellent coverage of chess news. During both Sarajevo and Frankfurt I often went to its Russian division (http://www.clubkasparov.ru/index0.htm) which I think s a must for Russian speakers. Recently I saw a chat session with the World Champion Alexander Khalifman. See its transcript at http://chess.about.com/games/chess/library/weekly/aa060600a.htm Alexander is involved in GM-School Project (http://www.gmchess.com). There you can also read news, ask questions, etc. One of GM-School columnist – Valery Segal - talks about pros and contras of the knockout system in chess at http://www.gmchess.com/digest/featureart/segal3.html His views are similar to some of Danailov’s ideas. For what I know, they many chess professionals share them too. So, perhaps we should start doing something about it? On my site you can take part in the online poll on how to make chess more attractive to public and sponsors. It is interesting that so far most visitors believe that things should be left unchanged. Maybe they think that everything is fine in chess and we can all just enjoy watching GM Svidler playing GM Morozevich on the ICC forever. But I can assure you that professional chess is in a deep crisis! Internet is good for chess, but it does not offer any financial reward to players yet, so it might simply become the medium, where an accountant James Howell (GM) will play an odd blitz game against a saleman Matthew Sadler (GM). I respect their decision to quit chess, but fear that many more chess professionals will have to follow. Again, maybe there is nothing wrong with that... My 2nd Internet chess auction. The auction, which took place in early June, went very well. You can find its catalogue and results available at http://chessauction.tripod.com/catalogue.htm I believe that our auctions have a bright future and will soon become the most popular place for collectors to buy and sell chess items. If you have interest in collecting, please do not hesitate to contact me. The next chess auction will be in late August - early September. 1

Chess training sessions in Dublin in late August. If you would like to combine a holiday with chess study, I invite you to come to Ireland. I will stage two training sessions in the end of August (26th & 27th and 28 August – 1 September) in Dublin. See the city or travel to the country before or after the session, while preparing yourself for the next chess season! And check out famous Irish pubs! For more details please refer to http://ababurin.tripod.com/Baburintrain.htm If interested, please contact me at [email protected] Hope to hear from you! One curious ending. I did not play much lately, so I’d like to show one ending from the National Open in Las Vegas, particularly as some CBC readers, who were there, asked me to do so. It was the first time I got to play with a rook and bishop vs. rook. I had little idea on how to play this tricky endgame and it is interesting that just before the game I mentioned to GM Novikov (who nearly got such ending in his game in the previous round), that I had never played it - neither with the bishop nor without it. And a few hours later I was given a chance to learn something about this endgame. A. Baburin – E. Torman, National Open, Las Vegas (5), 18.03.2000

This position is a draw according to Ken Thompson database. But White can and should to play on. 68...Rf4 69 Rg6+ Kf2 70 Be6 Ke3 71 Rg3+ Kd2 72 Ke5 Rh4 73 Bd5 Kc1 74 Rg2 Kb1 75 Be4+ Ka1 76 Kd4 Rh2 77 Rg1+ Kb2 Not 77...Ka2?, because of 78 Kc3 Ka3 79 Rb1 and White wins. The following lines illustrates the winning technique: 79...Ka4 80 Bd3 Ka3 (or 80...Ka5 81 Rb5+ Ka4 82 Re5 Rh3 83 Re1 Ka5 84 Re6+-) 81 Bf1! Rf2 (81...Ka2 82 Rb5 Ka1 83 Rd5 Rb2 84 Rd4 Rb6 85 Ra4+ Kb1 86 Bd3+ Kc1 87 Ra1+ Rb1 88 Rxb1#) 82 Bc4 Rf3+ 83 Bd3 Rf2 84 Rb3+ Ka2 85 Rb5 Ka1 86 Re5 Rg2 87 Re1+ Ka2 88 Bc4+ Ka3 89 Ra1+ Ra2 90 Rxa2#. Also loses 79...Rh3+ 80 Bd3 Rh2 81 Bf1 Rf2 82 Bc4 Rf3+ 83 Bd3 Rf2 84 Rb3+ Ka2 85 Rb5 Ka1 86 Re5 Rg2 87 Re1+ Ka2 88 Bc4+ Ka3 89 Ra1+ Ra2 90 Rxa2#. Of course, this is all computer-generated analysis, while in real life both Black and White can easily go wrong. 78 Kc4 Rh8 79 Rg2+ Ka1?? (D)

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Apparently, going to the corner is wrong here. Now it's checkmate in 34 moves with best play! Black could draw both with 79...Kc1 and 79...Ka3. 80 Bd5? Letting Black off the hook... 80...Kb1 81 Be4+ Ka1?? Coming back to the trap. 82 Bd3! Rc8+ (better was 82...Rb8 83 Bc2 Rb6 84 Kc3 Rc6+ 85 Kb4 Rc8 86 Bb3 Rc7 87 Bc4 Rb7+ 88 Kc3 Rb2 89 Rg1+ Rb1 90 Rg3 Rc1+ 91 Kb3 Rb1+ 92 Ka3 Rc1 93 Re3 Rb1 94 Bd5 Rc1 95 Bc6 Rb1 96 Re5 Rb8 97 Ba4 Rb6 98 Re3 Rb7 99 Bb3 Ra7+ 100 Kb4 Rc7 101 Bc4 Kb2 102 Re2+ Kc1 103 Kc3 Rd7 104 Rf2 Rd8 105 Ra2 Rb8 106 Ba6 Rb6 107 Bd3 Rc6+ 108 Bc4 Rb6 109 Rc2+ Kb1 110 Re2 Ka1 111 Re5 Rb8 112 Ra5+ Kb1 113 Bd3+ Kc1 114 Ra1+ Rb1 115 Rxb1#) 83 Kd4 Now it's checkmate in 21 - how encouraging! :-) 83...Rc1 (more stubborn was 83...Ra8) 84 Rh2 Rg1 (better 84...Rc7) 85 Kc3 Rc1+ 86 Bc2 Rg1 87 Rh4 Rg3+ 88 Bd3 Rg2 89 Rh1+ Ka2 90 Bc4+ 1-0 My next tournament - Politiken Cup - will be in Copenhagen on 17-28 July (www.kbhsu.dk). After that I hope to produce another issue of CBC and to add more material to my site - stay tuned! Alexander Baburin, Dublin http://ababurin.tripod.com & http://chessauction.tripod.com Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.

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'Coffee Break Chess' No. 26, 10th September 2000 © 2000 by Alexander Baburin Dear Friends! It has been more than two months since the previous issue of CBC. I was very busy in the summer, and then the holiday season delayed my work on this issue. So now that I have some catching up to do, I would like to start with covering some of the summer events. Chess digest of the past summer. There were lots of interesting events this summer. Vladimir Kramnik finally lost a tournament game with a normal time control – to Mickey Adams in Dortmund. I think it was good for Vlad, as otherwise he might get obsessed with his long undefeated run. Kramnik won that super-tournament (http://www.dortmund.de/chess) and later brilliantly beat Peter Leko in their game on German TV. This must be good for his confidence before his match against Kasparov in October. I am sure it will be a very interesting event and I plan to see at least a few games live. Svidler and M. Gurevich jointly won a strong tournament in Denmark (http://home1.inet.tele.dk/tpherman/vh2000/2index.htm), then Peter dominated a category XVI tournament in Biel (http://www.schachfestival-biel.ch) and it looked like the likeable GM from St. Petersburg was coming back to the top ten in the world. But then he played poorly in the Rubinstein Memorial in Polanica Zdrojn (http://rubinstein.netgate.com.pl). The Rubinstein Memorial was a triumph for Boris Gelfand, who proved that he still can play at the highest level. Currently, Boris is doing well in the FIDE World Cup in China, battling in the semi-final against Vishy Anand. The FIDE World Cup is a new and very interesting event. Using know-out format certainly makes it more attractive for spectators like myself - almost every day I follow games live on http://www.worldchesscup.com. I think that the chess world will only win if FIDE would concentrate on organising tournaments like this, rather than on dubious ‘FIDE Commerce’ plans. By the way, FIDE’s Executive Director Emmanuel Omuku replied to GM Seirawan’s open letter. You can find his answer at http://www.fide.org/fide/html/press/press29.html. I do not think that the reply was adequate though, as in my opinion much of Yasser’s criticism was not addressed. Of course, FIDE does some work (like organising the chess Olympiad and the World Championship), but surely it could do a much better job. It can also have better accountability and more democracy within itself. Recently Seirawan posted a few messages at the Inside Chess site, where he shares his view on chess politics in USA and in the world. You can find this very interesting stuff at http://www.insidechess.com/pubmessage.html. In protest to the FIDE policies Seirawan has withdrawn from the World Ch. New stuff on my site. Recently my Web master Michael Dooley and I put a lot of new material on our site: more games for viewing in HTML and with Game Viewer, another book review, an interview with IM Danailov (both in English and Russian) and a letter from GM Hertneck. On the site (http://ababurin.tripod.com) you can also find a new endgame study by GM Karsten Mueller, more positions in the ‘Chess Wonders’ section, revised and extended links, etc. Soon I will own my own domain, so expect some new interesting developments. Coffee Break Chess is now available in Russian. Recently CBC added yet another language to its already long list. Curiously enough that language is my mother tongue! :-) GMchess from St. Petersburg (http://www.gmchess.com) translates CBC into Russian and then I edit the text in 1

Russian. You can find CBC in Russian at http://www.gmchess.com/ababurin/, while the English version is available there at http://www.gmchess.com/ababurin/eng. My Batsford saga continues. When I travel, many people come to me to say that they enjoy reading my book Winning Pawn Structures (Batsford 1999) and find it useful. I also receive loads of positive feedback via e-mail, for example like this one: “Your book is simply the best chess book I have read in all my life. Thank you for writing it.” (Luis Fernández, Spain). While I can think of better chess books myself, I am still quite proud of my work. So, many players ask me whether I will write a follow-up to that book. The answer is no, not at the moment. And if I ever do, it will not be for Batsford or its new owner Chrysalis. The manner in which Chrysalis claims to take over the intellectual rights to my work caused me a lot of distress. While I am not going to waste time and money battling against a mighty UK publisher in court, I ask the chess public to boycott Winning Pawn Structures! Simply do not buy it... This request may sound strange, but this is the only way in which I can try to protect my rights. I plan making a revised version of my work for a different publisher. Do I give lessons? People frequently ask me this question, so I want to answer it here. Yes, I do give lessons – both in person and over the phone/Internet. The rate is $50 per hour. I can also annotate games sent to me via e-mail. For more details please refer to (http://ababurin.tripod.com/coaching.htm). September and December might be a good time for lessons, as far as my schedule is concerned. I cannot have too many students (and I already have a few), so contact me early. Your level does not matter much – progress can be made at any level. Another idea is to have a workshop for a few players. I am prepared to travel and one such workshop is already planned for the end of September in Denmark. I am also keen on organising a temporary chess school in Dublin, where chess fans can come for a few days and combine studying chess with visiting Ireland. Although this idea did not work out this summer (instead of an international camp, I had a workshop for the best Irish juniors, which went very well), I hope to have such a chess camp next year. If you are interested in taking part in such a session, please contact me at [email protected] with your suggestions. My chess summer. I did not play much in the summer, taking part only in the Politiken Cup in Copenhagen and in one tournament in Dublin. The Politiken Cup (www.kbhsu.dk) was a nice tournament, though in my opinion 11 rounds with a day-off is too much nowadays – tournaments should be shorter and the rest days should be either before or after (better both!) the event. :-) I agreed to play in Copenhagen a long time ago, but clearly needed a break from chess when it was time to go to Denmark. Still, I decided to go to Denmark, as I like Copenhagen and have friends there. So, I treated the tournament as a chess holiday, which probably reflected in my rather poor result. Of course, being a professional I tried my best, but something was missing in my play... Still, I played a few curious games there, some of which I am going to show now: A. Baburin (2590) - L. McShane (2480) I must say that it was a special game for me, as I have a horrible score against Luke. Somehow this is my first draw against him. Hopefully, things will only get better! :-) 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nf3 Bg7 4 g3 0–0 5 Bg2 d6 6 0–0 Nc6 7 Nc3 Rb8 8 d5 Na5 9 Nd2 Nd7 This is a rare move, which should not give Black fully equality, but which leads to little-known positions. 10 Qc2 Ne5 11 b3 c6 12 Bb2 b5 13 cxb5 I did not like the line 13 dxc6 bxc4 14 Nd5 Naxc6 15 f4, because of 15...e6!. 13...cxb5 14 h3 2

By playing on the kingside White hopes to use the fact that the a5-knight is inactive. 14...b4N In the game Kharitonov-Mainka, Koszalin 1998, White got better chances after 14...Bf5 15 e4 Bd7 16 f4 Qb6+ 17 Kh2 Rfc8 18 fxe5 b4 19 Nf3 bxc3 20 Bxc3 Nb7 21 Qd2 Nc5 22 Bd4. Of course, it would be silly to pretend that I knew that game... 15 Nce4 e6!? 16 dxe6 Perhaps 16 f4 was better. I saw that after my move Black could play 16...f5, but did not consider it to be dangerous. 16...f5!? 17 f4 fxe4

18 Nxe4!? Played after a long thought. I realised that after 18 fxe5 d5 Black could be better, as all White's minor pieces are inactive. It's hard to say whether the piece sacrifice was correct, but in practice it's easier to play such positions with the initiative. 18...d5 19 Nc5 Nec6 20 Bxg7 Kxg7 21 Rad1 d4 22 f5 I also considered 22 e3. 22...gxf5? Better was 22...Qg5!. 23 Rxf5 Rxf5 24 Qxf5 Qf6 25 Qe4! d3?! I was going to meet 25...Qg6 with 26.Qd5! Qxg3 27.Rf1. Alas, later I forgot (!) about my idea to shift the rook to the f-file. 26 Rxd3 Rb5

Here Black, who had about 5 minutes left, offered a draw. I had almost 10 minutes, but after spending 7 of them I was not convinced that 27 Rd5 or 27 Nd7 were any good for White. So, keeping my score against McShane in mind, I took the draw. :-( Of course, I would have never done that, should I remember that just one move ago I was going to use the f-file. After 27 Rf3! Qd4+ 28 Qxd4+ Nxd4 29 Rf7+ Kg8 30 Rc7 Bxe6 31 e3! White wins.

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A. Baburin (2590) - H. El-Kher (2374)

Black has just played 48...Ne8-c7. My original intention was to play 49 Bd6?? here and I nearly made that move. But then I saw 49...b6+!. That came as a warning that in my current form I might blunder something. So, after a long though I decided that the best way not to blunder the bishop was to sacrifice it! 49 Bxg7! Ne6+ 50.Kb6 Nxg7 51.Kxb7 h4?! Played very quickly, but this move loses without any resistance. Better was 51...Ne6, although after 52.a5 Nc5+ 53.Kb6 Na4+ 54.Kb5 Nc3+ 55.Kc4 Nd1 56.Kd4 White should win. 52.a5 Nf5 53.a6 Nd6+ 54.Kb8 Nb5 55.a7 Nxa7 56.Kxa7 Kc7 57.e4 Kd6 58.Kb6 Ke5 59.Kc5 Kf4 Or 59...Kxe4 60.Kd6 Kf4 61.Ke6 Kg3 62.Kf5 Kxg2 63.Kg4+-. 60.Kd4 Kg3 61.e5 1–0 My future plans. This season I will play in the 4NCL again, where the competition got tougher with the emergence of another powerful team – IndexIT. The league starts in September and I hope that our team Wood Green will finally win it! For news on 4NCL and BL refer to http://www.thechessoracle.com Alas, my team from Delmenhorst quit BL (after finishing 3rd in 1999/2000!) and I was unable to find another team. Hopefully I will play there next season. In October I plan to play in a strong open in the Faroe Island and then play for Ireland in the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul. And I will continue working on my site and CBC, so stay tuned! Alexander Baburin, Dublin http://ababurin.tripod.com & http://chessauction.tripod.com Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected]. Also many thanks to Nidal Aker for proof-reading this issue. The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.

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'Coffee Break Chess' No. 27, 23rd September 2000 © 2000 by Alexander Baburin Dear Friends! It seems that there are so many chess events nowadays, that one can have something to write about every day. Recently, I started a weekly chess column for the Irish newspaper ‘Sunday Independent’. At first I was not sure whether I would have enough interesting topics to cover, but now I can see that it’s possible to fill in a daily column! Hence the very short pause between this issue and the previous one. Tournament news. Vishy Anand was in superb form at the first FIDE World Cup and won it very convincingly. It was a very interesting event to watch and I followed many games live at www.worldchesscup.com. I am becoming more and more in favour of the knockout system. OK, it is tough for players, but they are professionals and should be able to live with the stress. And who said that it is easier to drag on in a long and painful tournament when you are out of form? Is it psychologically easier when everyone looks at you as the only prey around? In this sense knockouts are more ‘human’ – we can actually say about them: “no gain, no pain!” :-). And, it is much more interesting for spectators! Hopefully, events like this will become much more common. Here is Anand’s decisive game in the final: V. Anand (2762) – E. Bareev (2702) 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Nce2 c5 6.c3 cxd4 7.cxd4 f6 Bareev chose a rare line - usually Black delays taking on d4. 8.Nf4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Qb6 10.Bxb4 Qxb4+ 11.Qd2 Qxd2+ 12.Kxd2 Ke7 13.exf6+ gxf6 14.Re1 Nb6 15.Nf3 Nc6? Perhaps 15...Bd7 would have been better, as now White exchanges his bishop and creates a weak spot on c5. 16.Bb5! Bd7 17.Bxc6! bxc6 18.Re2 Rae8 19.Rhe1 Kf7 20.Kc1 White has a lasting advantage, as he is ready to take control over the weak c5-square. Meanwhile Black’s bishop is passive and his pawn mass is not mobile. 20...Nc4 21.Nd2 Nxd2 22.Kxd2 c5 With this sacrifice Bareev seeks counter-play, as otherwise after Nf4-d3 Black would be very passive. 23.dxc5 e5 (D)

24.Nxd5! Anand sacrifices the exchange. This is better than holding on to the material with 24.Nd3, which would have allowed Black serious counter-play after 24...Bb5 25.f3 Rb8, followed by ...Rhc8. 24...Bb5 25.Kc3 Bxe2 26.Rxe2 Rc8 27.Kc4 Ke6 28.b4 Rhd8 29.Rd2 Rd7 30.f4! e4 1

After 30...Rcd8 White has 31.c6 Rd6 32.f5+! Kxf5 33.c7 Rc8 34.Ne7+ Ke6 35.Rxd6+ Kxe7 36.Rc6 Kd7 37.Rxf6 Rxc7+ 38.Kd5, and he should win. 31.Rd4 f5 32.g4! Rg7 33.Ne3 fxg4 34.Rd6+ Kf7 35.Nf5 e3 36.Nxg7 Re8 37.Nxe8 e2 38.Rf6+ Black resigned as the pawn ending arising after 38...Ke7 39.Rf5 e1Q 40.Re5+ Qxe5 41.fxe5 Kxe8 is hopeless for him. 1-0 Anand and Shirov will play a short match in Australia. Coverage is at http://sydney.fide.com. This match is a part of FIDE’s promotion in Sydney. However, it remains to be seen whether chess will actually benefit from joining the Olympics (if we ever join!). Sure, financial support might get better in some countries, but will chess not get lost in such a massive event as the Olympics? What also worries me is that soon we might have drug testing, while nobody has told the players what actually is a drug in chess. Is a cup of coffee too much? What about two cups? US Championships. This year US Championships were under serious threat – it was possible that the world’s richest nation, which is doing so well economically, will not find money to fund its national championships. Fortunately, GM Seirawan and one of his friends stepped in and saved the event, which will soon start in Seattle. Read Mike Franett’s story in the Chess Café at www.chesscafe.com/franett/franett.htm Another interesting event to watch is the Najdorf Memorial in Buenos Aires. You can find the news at its official site: http://www.adrian.roldan.com. At the moment Bologan and Karpov are in the lead. See coverage also at http://msoworld.com/mindzine/news/chess/najdorf2000.html. I did not go to the Mind Sports site for a long time, but now I see that they have lots of chess content. This can be said about many sites nowadays - I think chess on the Web has matured a lot in the last year or so. For example, www.chessbase.com looks very good now. By the way, Chess Base recently released a new version of its main product – Chess Base 8.0. I have been working for Chess Base for more than 5 years now and used their program even longer! Their Chess Base Magazine is pretty good, and I do its tactical review. Here is one tactical puzzle:

Black to play See the answer at the end of this article. Another site to watch is InterChess Club - http://www.interchess.com. Of course, it is hard to compete with ICC, which provides an excellent service, but the Moscow playing zone is consistently improving their site. Looking for a tournament to play in October? I can recommend two events: Monarch Assurance Open in the Isle of Man (16-22 October; http://charteris.co.uk/events.html) and the Bavarian 2

Open in Bad Wiessee (28 October - 5 November; http://www.schach-am-tegernsee.de/oib2000). As for me, in October I will play in a strong open in the Faeroe Island. Then I will travel to Istanbul with the Irish team. After that I will play in the Norkom Open in Kilkenny. Early next year I plan to take part in a few tournaments in the USA. Apart from playing, I’ll be working on the Internet, where I will have some very interesting news coming soon for you - stay tuned! BTW, drop me a note about what you would like to see in the CBC – I always appreciate your feedback! Solution of the tactical puzzle: In the game S. Sergienko – A. Rustemov, Samara 2000, Black played 39...Qh2+! and White resigned in view of 40.Nxh2 Ng3# What a pretty finish! Alexander Baburin, Dublin http://ababurin.tripod.com & http://chessauction.tripod.com Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected]. Also, many thanks to Nidal Aker for proofreading this issue. The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.

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Coffee Br eak Chess No. 28

Seit e 1 von 5

Co f f e e Br e a k Ch e ss No. 2 8 , 5 th of Nov em ber 2 0 0 0 © 2000 by GM Alexander Baburin

D e a r Fr i e n d s! Lot s of int er est ing event s and developm ent s t ook place in chess in t he past couple of m ont hs and her e I w ould like t o shar e m y opinion on som e of t hem .

K r a m n i k I s A N e w W o r l d Ch a m p i o n The m at ch bet w een Kaspar ov and Kr am nik pr oduced a big sur pr ise: not only did Kr am nik beat Kaspar ov, but he did it ver y convincingly. Kaspar ov becam e t he only Wor ld Cham pion aft er Lasker w ho lost his t it le w it hout w inning even one gam e in t he m at ch. Kr am nik m issed a w in in gam es 4 and 6, so t he scor e could be even higher . When I asked m y fellow GMs about Kr am nik's chances in t he m at ch, t hey all said t hat Kaspar ov w ould w in for sur e. Per sonally I believed t hat Kr am nik had som e chances, despit e his pr evious poor m at ch hist or y. How ever , I could not im agine t hat Kaspar ov w ould lose t he w ay he did... I w ent t o London t o see gam es 8 and 9 and it w as an enj oyable exper ience. Kaspar ov and Kr am nik played in River side St udios, a TV st udio locat ed not t oo far fr om t he cent r e of London. Ther e ar e about 300 places available in t he st udio and w hen I w as t her e t he hall w as alm ost full. Anot her 50 - 60 chess fans usually gat her ed in t he cant een, w her e t hey could follow t he gam e on TV scr een. All spect at or s could list en t o t he com m ent ar y on t heir headphones. Dur ing t hose t w o gam es GMs Shor t , Speelm an and Row son w er e t he com m ent at or s. I t r uly enj oyed list ening t o t heir conver sat ions, w hich keep t he spect at or s w ell infor m ed about w hat w as going on in t he gam e. I guess t hat a lot of people follow ed t he m at ch on t he I nt er net , w her e som e sit es gave good cover age, for exam ple Br ain Gam es plc ( w w w .br aingam es.net / ) , Kaspar ov Chess ( w w w .kaspar ovchess.com / ) and t he London Chess Cent r e ( w w w .chesscent er .com / ) . I hear d t hat I nt er net Chess Club also cover ed t he event w ell. How ever , t her e w as not any TV cover age of t he m at ch in Br it ain, w hich is a big m ist ake of t he or ganiser s of t he m at ch, w ho m issed a good chance t o popular ise chess and pr om ot e t heir com pany. I hear d t hat Br ain Gam es plc did not seek TV cover age because t hey w ant ed m or e people t o t ur n t o t heir Web sit e. To m e t his ar gum ent sounds st r ange – m or e people w ould have lear ned about Br ain Gam es plc and t heir Web sit e if t he m at ch w as on TV! I t is not ver y clear w hat im pact t he m at ch and it s r esult w ill have on chess. Som e people hope t hat t her e w ill be a r eunion bet w een t he Wor ld Cham pion and FI DE now , but t his pr obably does not quit e fit t he plans of Br ain Gam es plc. By t he w ay, t his com pany has am bit ious ideas, but it is t oo ear ly t o say how r ealist ic t hey ar e. Cer t ainly I am not convinced by it s plan t hat ever yone w ill be allow ed t o com pet e in t he next Wor ld Cham pionship over t he I nt er net . Even playing blit z on I CC som e people cheat , using t heir com put er s, so w hy w ould t hey abandon t hem given a chance t o play in t he Wor ld Cham pionship?! Per sonally, I have no int er est in playing against som ebody ’s Fr it z! Br ain Gam es or ganisat ion has it s ow n r at ing syst em . So, w e have FI DE r at ings, PCA r at ings and now w e get yet anot her r at ing syst em ! Cur iously enough, on t his r at ing list Anand is only No. 7. Sur ely t his has not hing t o do w it h his r efusal t o play t he m at ch against Kaspar ov! At t he sam e

ht t p: / / w w w .m ar ochess.de/ cbc/ cbc- 28.ht m

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t im e Shir ov t akes t he t hir d spot and I hope t hat such a high placing w ill st r engt hen his posit ion in t he legal act ion w hich he t ook against Kaspar ov in Spain. I m m ediat ely aft er gam e 15 Kaspar ov said t hat he w ant ed anot her m at ch against Kr am nik. I am not sur e t hat sponsor s w ill be easy t o find t hough. The m at ch, w hich w e j ust saw , w as less t han exit ing for a chess public, t o put it m ildly... So, per haps t he ex - cham p should use t he idea of one of m y fr iends, w ho suggest ed t hat Kaspar ov should im m ediat ely play a r evenge m at ch against ... Shir ov! That w ould solve all t he pr oblem s, w ouldn't it ?! : - ) Anot her int er est ing t hought ; w hat w ill happen if Br ain Gam e plc goes bust ? So, let 's w ait and see w hat t he next few m ont hs w ill br ing. Som et hing m ay happen at t he FI DE Congr ess, w hich is t aking place in I st anbul now . Alas, FI DE seem s t o be going ahead w it h it s m uch cr it icised com m er cialisat ion plans...

M y N e w W e b Pr o j e ct s I n t he past few m ont hs I did som e w or k on t he Net and now I w ould like t o announce t he launch of Gr a n d m a st e r Sq u a r e - w w w .gm squar e.com / . My per sonal Web sit e is t her e and I expect t hat w w w .gm squar e.com / w ill becom e a hom e for Web sit es of m any GMs. I st ar t ed w it h sit es of Alexander Mor ozevich and Lev Psakhis. Ther e is a lot of w or k t o do w it h t hese sit es st ill, but you can alr eady see annot at ed gam es in Java or dow nload gam es in pgn. Gr andm ast er s' biogr aphies, a phot o galler y and a discussion for um ar e j ust som e of t he feat ur es of t he Gr a n d m a s t e r Sq u a r e . I plan t o open a chess shop and chess auct ion t her e soon. Her e I w ould like t o t hank m y Web m ast er s - Susan St r ahan and Michael Dooley, w it hout w hom t his pr oj ect w ould be j ust im possible. At t he m om ent I publish a daily r epor t fr om t he 34 th Chess Olym piad on t he sit e. Ther e you can also see m y not es t o som e of t he gam es fr om t he Kaspar ov - Kr am nik m at ch. So, have a look at t he sit e and let m e know w hat you t hink! My ot her pr oj ect is a daily chess new spaper called Ch e ss To d a y . The idea is t o pr ovide new s, inst r uct ion and w ell- annot at ed gam es ever y single day for a m odest fee ( about $15 for 4 m ont hs) . Subscr iber s w ill r eceive an at t achm ent in PDF for m at , w hich t hey can pr int out and t hen r ead Chess Today on a t r ain or over a cup of coffee. Those w ho w ill subscr ibe befor e t he 25 th of Decem ber 2000 w ill ent er a lot t er y w it h a chance t o w in a w ooden chess set & boar d ( w or t h over $130) , a chess clock ( w or t h about $70) or a book. So, you m ight get m or e t han you paid for ! : - ) This is a r at her bold pr oj ect and I could not do it alone - I M Vladim ir Bar sky and GM Ruslan Scher bakov w ill be helping m e, as w ill Gr aham Br ow n ( t echnical edit or ) . To find out m or e about t his new spaper , please check our sit e - w w w .chesst oday.net / .

W e b D i g e st I n t he last m ont h or so I saw quit e a few cur ious sit es, som e of w hich I w ould like t o r ecom m end t o you her e. The Royal Libr ar y in Hague, w hich has a gr eat chess collect ion, has an exhibit ion about w om en in chess. I t is called Qu e e n ' s M o v e and you can lear n m or e at t he Libr ar y's Web sit e ht t p: / / w w w .konbib.nl/ kb/ vak/ schaak/ int r o- en.ht m l. Kevin O'Connell put s his ch e ss co l l e ct i o n u p f o r sa l e at t he Phillips A u ct i o n in London and live on t he Net on 7 Novem ber . Det ails can be found at ht t p: / / w w w .user s.t ot alise.co.uk/ ~ chess/ . GM Mikhail Golubev w r it es about an incr edible sit uat ion, w hich happened w it h t he z o n a l t o u r n a m e n t i n U k r a i n e . Basically, player s w er e t old befor e t he st ar t t hat 3 w inner s w ould qualify for t he Wor ld Cham pionship in I ndia. Now GM Eingor n ( w ho finished 3 rd ) is t old t hat only 2 places ar e available... You can find t his m at er ial in English: ht t p: / / w w w .kaspar ovchess.com / ser ve/ t em plat es/ dispchessdoc.asp? p_docI D= 11358&p_docLang= EN or in Russian:


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ht t p: / / w w w .clubkaspar ov.r u/ sit e/ new s/ 2000/ oct 01.ht m

M y Re ce n t To u r n a m e n t s I n Oct ober I played in t he Faer oes I slands in a sm all ( 30 player s) , but ver y st r ong t our nam ent . The Faer oes I slands ar e locat ed in t he At lant ic Ocean above Scot land and appr oxim at ely half w ay bet w een I celand and Nor w ay. The Faer oes Chess Feder at ion and it s sponsor s pr ovided at t r act ive condit ions for player s and gener ous pr izes ( t he fir st pr ize w as about $5,000) . The playing condit ions w er e gr eat : t he t op five gam es w er e dem onst r at ed live on t he I nt er net , w hile 3 gam es could be also follow ed on big scr eens. A per fect t our nam ent for spect at or s, except t hat w e did not have any! This is a pr oblem w it h chess now adays and I feel w e m ust do som et hing about it soon. I w as r easonably happy w it h m y play and r esult ( + 4 - 1= 4; clear 3 rd place) . Tw o young and ver y pr om ising GMs - Alexander Gr ischuk ( Russia) and Ruslan Ponom ar iov ( Ukr aine; see his Web sit e at ht t p: / / chess- sect or .odessa.ua/ r uslan.ht m l) - w on t he event w it h an am azing r esult : 7 ½ out of 9! Bot h of t hem had 8 GMs am ong t heir opponent s and show ed a r at ing per for m ance of about 2822. Take not e of t hese t w o nam es! Their cur r ent r at ings ar e about 2650 and bot h of t hem m ight add m or e point s at t he Chess Olym piad in I st anbul, w her e t hey ar e now playing. I am in Tur key as w ell, playing on boar d 1 for I r eland. So far it is going OK for m e: + 2 - 0= 4. Her e is one gam e fr om t he Olym piad: A l e x e y Fe d o r o v ( 2 6 4 6 ) - A l e x a n d e r B a b u r i n ( 2 5 9 0 ) 1 .e 4 N f 6 2 .e 5 N d 5 3 .d 4 d 6 4 .c 4 N b 6 5 .f 4 d x e 5 6 .f x e 5 N c 6 7 .B e 3 B f 5 8 .N c 3 e 6 9 .N f 3 I don't get t o play against t he Four paw n At t ack t oo oft en and so I decided t o t r y a r ar e line: 9 ...B g 4 1 0 .Qd 2 B b 4 ( D)

Black w ant s t o play ...Na5 and ...c5. Whit e can chase aw ay t his bishop ( as he did) , but t his w eakens t he b3 - squar e and ...Na5 becom es a r eal possibilit y. 1 1 .a 3 B e 7 1 2 .N e 4 Qd 7 1 3 .b 4 Aft er 13.Be2 0 – 0– 0 14.0– 0– 0 Bf5 15.Ng3 Bg6 16.h4 in t he gam e Huebner - Hor t , Biel 1987, Black deliver ed a nice blow - 16...Nb4. He event ually w on aft er 17.b3 Nc2 18.c5 Qc6 19.Bd3 Nxe3 20.Qxe3 Nd5 21.Qf2 Bxd3 22.Rxd3 Qa6 23.Rhd1 Qxa3+ . 1 3 ...B x f 3 1 4 .g x f 3 0 – 0 – 0 ! Appar ent ly, t his is a novelt y. Pr eviously Black played 14...Rd8 her e. I t hink t hat m y m ove is bet t er , as Black's king is quit e safe on t he queenside.


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1 5 .Rd 1 B h 4 + 1 6 .N g 3 f 6 1 7 .b 5 N e 7 1 8 .Qa 5 K b 8 1 9 .B e 2 Her e Fedor ov offer ed a dr aw , but I decided t o play, despit e being shor t of t im e. 1 9 ...N f 5 2 0 .B f 2 Qf 7 2 1 .f 4 g 5 ! ? 2 2 .N x f 5 B x f 2 + 2 3 .K x f 2 e x f 5 2 4 .d 5 f x e 5 2 5 .f x e 5 g 4 2 6 .Qc 3 h 5 2 7 .e 6 Qe 7 2 8 .h 3 ! Rh g 8 2 9 .h x g 4 h x g 4 3 0 .Qd 4 f 4 3 1 .B d 3 ( D)

The t ension is r ising. Her e bot h player s w er e shor t of t im e, w hich par t ly explains som e of t he m ist akes, w hich w e m ade. For exam ple, her e 31...g3+ w as w or t h consider ing. 3 1 ...Qg 5 3 2 .B e 4 f 3 3 3 .c 5 N c 8 3 4 .Rh 7 g 3 + 3 5 .K x f 3 g 2 3 6 .Rg 1 Rd f 8 + 3 7 .K e 2 ? Whit e had t o play 37.Rf7! . 3 7 ...Qg 4 + 3 8 .K d 3 Rf 3 + ! Aft er 38...Rf1 39.Rxg2 Rf3+ Whit e has an am azing m ove - 40.Qe3! . He is OK aft er 40...Rxe3+ 41. Kxe3 Qxe4+ 42. Kxe4 Rxg2. 3 9 .B x f 3 Qx f 3 + 4 0 .K d 2 Rg 4 ! ( D)

Now Whit e is bust ed, as his king is t oo exposed and bot h his r ooks ar e vulner able.


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4 1 .Qe 3 Qx d 5 + 4 2 .K c 1 Re 4 4 3 .Qf 2 Qc 4 + 4 4 .Qc 2 Qf 1 + ! 4 5 .Qd 1 Qf 4 + 4 6 .K b 1 Qf 5 0 – 1 Whit e r esigned, as he eit her loses his h7 - r ook or get s checkm at ed aft er 47...Rb4+ + . I n t he next issue of CBC I w ill t alk m or e about t he Olym piad in I st anbul - st ay t uned!

Te ch n i ca l Su p p o r t I am ver y gr at eful t o I gor Yagolnit ser for his help w it h t his pr oj ect . For assist ance r egar ding CBC, please cont act I gor at igor @yagolnit ser .com . Alex ander Baburin, I st anbul, Turkey You are w elcom e t o v isit m y Web sit e: ht t p: / / w w w .gm square.com /

Copyright © 2000 by GM Alexander Baburin. All right s reserved. The recipient is grant ed a lim it ed license t o re- send t his New slet t er t o anot her in elect ronic form , or post it on an elect ronic bullet in, board or World Wide Web sit e, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduct ion. Any such reproduct ion m ust cont ain t his license and acknow ledge t he aut hor's copy right . Such reproduct ion does not w aiv e any right s t o fut ure reproduct ion by t he copy right holder.


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'Coffee Break Chess' No. 29 26th December 2000 © 2000 by Alexander Baburin Dear Friends! I hope that over this holiday you will have time to look at chess and that this issue of CBC will help you in this regard. There have been many interesting evens and developments in chess since early November, when the previous CBC appeared. Here I would like to share my opinion on some of them. This issue is quite long, but then again - this is a holiday! Chess Olympiad in Istanbul I played in Turkey (on board 1 for Ireland) and can say with some authority that the Olympiad was a great success. The hosts made lots of efforts to organise the event at the highest level possible and they succeeded in most areas. Accommodation and food were pretty good, transportation was excellent and the playing hall was quite adequate (It was nice to see all teams playing in the same place). The opening and closing ceremonies were nice too. There were some technical problems with electronic boards in the beginning, but things settled quickly and those boards allowed wonderful coverage of the event on the Internet. The organising side did not make a secret of the fact that hosting Chess Olympiad was a promotional event for them, as Turkey hopes to host the Olympic Games in 2008. It is good that chess got access to some sponsorship this way. But I guess that now we should start looking for another country which is in the same position: nobody seems to be interested in chess as a sport in its own right. :-( Maybe Slovenia, where the next chess Olympiad will be staged in two years time, is different – it is a country with a long chess tradition. The Olympiad and its results are history now. Russia won in the men’s event, although at some point their prospects were shaky, as Hungary and Germany were doing really well. In Russia’s team, Khalifman seemed to be out of form, but other players backed him up. The tournament was a great success for Germany, which was not among the favourites. Yet, that proved that team spirit counts for a lot at Olympiads. Arthur Yusupov and Rustem Dautov were the main heroes on the German team. In the women’s event, China dominated the field and it seems that Georgia and Russia will have a hard time competing with the Chinese in the near future. The Irish men’s team did well, as we finished above our seeding. I scored +4-2=5 against 2532opposition, which was OK (2597 performance, while my present rating is 2590). I played horribly against Ehlvest and was rather unfortunate in the game vs. Al-Modiahki, but other than that I can’t complain, as I beat Alexey Fedorov (2648) and Zdenko Kozul (2616) with Black. The social side of the Olympiad was nice too, as I met many of my old friends. I liked Istanbul very much – it is a very dynamic city that has a lot to offer. I hope to return there as a tourist one day. If you would like to read more about the Olympiad, please have a look at my Istanbul Diary as www.gmsquare.com - there you will see my impressions of the event and some chess stuff too. In Istanbul I was very busy not least because I started my own chess newspaper, which brings us to the next topic: 1

Chess Today – the first daily chess newspaper on the Net This is my latest project and I devote a lot of time to it. The idea is very simple – instead of searching the Web for chess news for hours, why not receive them delivered to your mailbox? Chess Today comes with attachments in PDF, PGN and Chess Base formats. Thanks to PDF format (Acrobat Reader is available for free at www.adobe.com) readers can see and print chess fonts and diagrams even if they do not have them on their PCs. Chess Today provides daily news, interviews and lessons. Each issue usually has 3 pages and features news from around the world and one annotated game. Sometime it offers puzzles too. On weekends CT usually has some instructional materials. The newspaper is particularly useful for those players who want to make progress in chess. Many GMs receive CT and enjoy it, but our main readers are chess fans. And they appreciate the value of the newspaper too - as one of our readers put it: “I like CT very much - just the right size for my 25 minutes morning or evening train ride.” To read more about Chess Today, please visit our Web site - www.chesstoday.net. There you can find a FAQ section, read what our readers say about CT, view samples and see how to subscribe. You can also read a review of Chess Today by FM Richard Palliser at http://www.bcf.ndirect.co.uk/articles/chesstodayrp.htm and a review in German by GM Karsten Mueller at http://www.chessbase.de Subscription is not free – it is £14 (Irish punts) or about US$15 for 4 months, but this works out as just 4 cents per page. OK, we all know that people like free stuff on the Net, but you actually pay for everything – at least with your time. There is a lot of chess on the Web, so why not save time by subscribing to Chess Today? This is both safe (you leave your credit card details on a secure server, then it’s e-mailed to me encrypted) and easy (takes only 3-4 minutes). You register with your e-mail at www.egroups.com – a reputable host of mailing lists. Those, who subscribe before 31st of December, will automatically enter our New Year Lottery with a chance to win one of four prizes. The first prize is a wooden chess set & board (worth over $130). The second prize is a ‘Gambit’ chess clock (worth about $60) – see its picture on the left. The third prize is a chess book – there will be a choice of 3 titles, including Winning Pawn Structures. The fourth prize is a chess screensaver. To tempt you more, today I will send you one issue of Chess Today, so you can see what you’ve been missing! :-) Producing a daily chess newspaper requires a lot of work, but I don’t do it alone. GM Ruslan Scherbakov and IM Vladimir Barsky are helping me with the content, while Graham Brown edits the newspaper. As we have already produced 49 issues, it’s fair to say that we have passed the technical test. Again, you are welcome to visit our site - www.chesstoday.net. If you like what you see, please let your chess friends know about Chess Today – with more subscribers the price will go down, while we will be able to get guest writers. Famous theoretician GM Igor Zaitsev already agreed to cover developments of the opening theory and we expect his articles to appear in CT early next year.

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Kilkenny Open 2000 After I came back from Istanbul, I did not stay in Dublin for long. First I went to play in the annual Kilkenny Open. This year it was staged in the medieval Kilkenny Castle. Young GM Luke McShane won the top section with 5 out of 6. I tied for 2nd with GM Eduard Rozentalis (Lithuania), IM Mark Heidenfeld (Ireland) and IM Robert Bellin (England) on 4½ points. I was happy with my play, but the pairing was a bit tough for me – I played 2 GMs (L. McShane and E. Rozentalis, 2 IMs – John Shaw and M. Heidenfeld and a strong Russian FM Yuri Rochev). Not what one would expect from a weekender! :-) As usually, the tournament was superbly organised and well run, making it very enjoyable for the 200+ players who attended the tournament. Presence of the Honorary President of the Kilkenny Chess Club - former World Champion Boris Spassky, made it even more memorable. And shortly after the Kilkenny Open it was time for me to travel again – this time to India.

FIDE World Championship in New Delhi and Tehran I went to India as a second of Alexander Morozevich. It is not easy to explain what second’s duties really are... I thought it was sipping coffee (brandy?!), sitting by the pool, while players were fighting. :-) As usual, the reality was less glamorous – seconding was actually a lot of work. I had to look at many games of Alexander’s opponents, find weaknesses in their opening preparation and suggest a strategy for the match, which mainly involved choosing between different opening lines. And of course, I did not forget how, according to somebody (I think it was Geller), Koblents worked with Tal. His method involved repeating the phrase “Misha, you are a genius!” :-) So, I also tried to make sure that Alexander felt happy. It was interesting to work with him and I hope that he was satisfied with our work, despite his defeat in round 4. There were quite a few seconds in India: GM Ubilava (with Anand), GMs Magem and Rychagov (with Shirov), GM Huzman (with Gelfand). Obviously, they played a role in Shirov’s and Anand’s qualification to the final. Morozevich started the event from round two. His opponent was GM Milos of Brazil – a very solid player, who did very well in the FIDE World Cup in China in September. There Alexander lost to him, while later in Istanbul they drew. In India Morozevich played well in both games and beat Milos 2-0. In the second game he declined a draw in a position, which was not all that clear – thus showing a lot of confidence. In round 3 Alexander defeated GM Evgeny Vladimirov 1½-½. In game one Vladimirov (Black), who eliminated GM Almasi in round 2, reacted rather poorly to the system 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Bd3. In game two Vladimirov deviated from his usual 1.d4 and opened with 1.c4. Black got the better out of the opening and was winning at some stage, but then made a mistake and things got messy. It’s possible that White was winning at some stage, but in mutual time trouble (which almost gave the second a heart attack!) Morozevich played better and missed a clear win only on move 40. Still, a draw was good enough to advance to round 4. The first game against Tkachiev was nerve-racking. After 1.e4 Vladislav chose 1...d5 and repeated his game against Palac (2000), which he lost. Obviously he believed in Black’s position and indeed I was worried that Alexander might be crushed in the opening. Yet, Tkachiev did not 3

use all his chances and got into trouble. Alas, then Alexander missed a win. Finally the game was agreed a draw in a very sharp position, where both players were short of time. Game 2 of that match Alexander played badly, as shortly after the opening he failed to find a correct plan. He got into very passive position, which does not suit his style. Trying to break out, he sacrificed a pawn, but his compensation was never enough. So, just one game and we had to pack our bags... This is a problem with such short matches and nobody was safe in New Delhi from making one bad slip and leaving the tournament. I stayed in Delhi for a while waiting for my flight and so I could see the quarterfinals. 17-year old Alexander Grischuk of Moscow was the biggest discovery of the Championship. You can find an interview with him at www.qmsquare.com - look under ‘Interviews’. There you can also read interviews with GM Ruslan Ponomariov and WGM Victoria Cmilyte. Anand won the title very convincing, as he played well throughout the whole tournament. He was the only player undefeated in the whole tournament. It will be very interesting to see how Anand, Kramnik and Kasparov do in the Corus tournament in January. There in Wijk aan Zee nine top players (14 participants all together) will meet in a closed tournament. I hope to be there too, so I will keep you posted. The FIDE World Championship in India was well organised, despite some minor technical problems (lights went off in the hotel quite a few times, but the organisers could not control this.). Although there were not many spectators, the Championship got a lot of press in India and perhaps chess will get a boost in that country, particularly as Anand emerged the winner. From round 3 monitors were installed in the playing hall, while live Internet coverage on http://wcc2000.fide.com was also good. GM Valery Salov interviewed many players during the tournament and those interesting interviews appeared in the bulletins.

Chess Politics While FIDE must be pleased with the FIDE World championship, the future of our game remains uncertain. FIDE Commerce seems to be getting what it wants, but where is their program for promoting chess as a mainstream sport? There were talks about some big potential sponsors, but why are they hiding?! Meanwhile I was surprised to see some banners at www.fide.com. They asked whether I liked chess. My answer was swift: “Yes!”. The next question was whether I wanted to be a millionaire. My answer was ever quicker this time – “Yes!!”. Then I was invited to participate in a lottery, which will not only help chess tremendously, but would also give me a chance to win $1,000,000. I should have kept this information secret, but being such a nice guy, I will share it with you. :-) Just go to http://www.fide.com/sponsorship and you will have a chance of winning a million too! The info on the site says that the lottery will close on the 31st of December 2000 and that each lottery will have $10,000,000 distributed in prizes. That looks like a lot of dough to me! Alas, it did not say what would happen if there only 2-3 entrants, each donating $4... Maybe Santa Claus will be making up the difference? :-) Anyway, call me a cynic, but I don’t see how this can work – instead of approaching big companies, FIDE Commerce is organising a lottery among chess fans. Why doesn’t FIFA do the 4

same?! Obviously, those top guys in the International Football Federation are just plain stupid! :-) And then we have a new time control and a new system for the FIDE World championship proposed. Both should be widely discussed with chess professionals if, as FIDE says, we are one big family. But FIDE does not seem to think so... This is only confirmed in the rumours that FIDE will not rate the match in London. Incredible! Finally, that $3m, which Kirsan Ilyumzhinov (sorry that I omitted ‘His Excellence’) put into the Championship, did not make much of an impact on the image of chess in the world. It was good for 100 players or so this year, but nobody seems to ask one unpleasant question – what will happen to FIDE, if Ilyumzhinov leaves chess? Is it healthy for an international organisation to be relying on donations form just one individual? By the way, Ilyumzhinov said that staging the final in Tehran will help create business (something to do with oil) in Iran. Don’t get confused here – it’s not FIDE who has that oil business. More likely it’s one of Kirsan’s companies. So, his contribution to chess is not that altruistic after all – he has effectively privatised a big international organisation for the kind of money which could not buy anything remotely similar in any other sport. Good business! Meanwhile the company, which organised the Kasparov-Kramnik match - Brain Games plc (www.braingames.net) is rather silent on their future plans. Of course, chess fans would love to see a match between Kramnik and Anand, but even such a match won’t solve all the problems. Chess really needs a more democratic leadership and commercial sponsorship, only then will its future be secure. Web Watch

New chess sites emerge all the time and here I would like to share with you some of my recent findings. I would like to start with my own site - Grandmaster Square - www.gmsquare.com. There more games were added to Alexander Morozevich’s site. Also annotated games of Lev Psakhis have appeared. Add to that interviews with Ponomariov, Grischuk and Cmilyte, my Istanbul and Indian diaries and you will see that this site can keep you busy for while. A chess shop will open at the site very soon – in the next 3-4 days. Recently Nicholas Ravené Lanier from Porugal started his own web site called Al Shatrandj, which you can find at www.al-shatrandj.com. It is an ambitious project, as the site offers its content in Spanish, Portuguese, English, German and French. I would also like to mention a new Israeli site called ‘Chessy’ (http://www.chesslove.h1.ru/). This quite informative site is run by IM Valery Tsaturian and GM Emil Sutovsky. The site is both in Russian and English (see http://www.chesslove.h1.ru/eng/index.html). A few days ago a bought a book ‘Chess on the Web’ by Sarah Hurst, Richard Palliser and Graham Brown. It is a very useful guide to chess on the Internet and I would recommend it to everyone, particularly to chess web masters, as there is a wealth of information, practical hints and interviews with well-know chess web masters, such as Mark Crowther of the TWIC (http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html) and Hanon Russell of the Chess Café (http://www.chesscafe.com).

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Annotated Game Here I would like to show one of my games played in Turkey. It features an interesting opening, tense middle-game and a curious ending. Both my opponent and I made mistakes, but hopefully you can learn from them, while simultaneously observing how chess professionals think. Zdenko Kozul (2616) – Alexander Baburin (2590) [D27] Chess Olympiad, Istanbul (11), 08.11.2000, notes by GM Alexander Baburin !"Ε$%Ε&%'"∆$%ΕΨ∆$%*"|Γ*%Β.%$"Φ*%Φ.%&"}Ψ∆$%∆&%."1π1%|Γ.%3"}Χ*%Χ& 6 During my preparation I noticed that GM Kozul loves positions with the isolated d-pawn and thus I decided to deviate from 7...cxd4 8.exd4 |c6. But objectively 7...b5 is not good. 8.a4 b4 9.a5!

!!!!!!!!∀ #%&'()*+⊥∃ #.+.+./0/∃ #/.+./&+.∃ #1+0+.+.+∃ #+0+1+.+.∃ #.2.+13.+∃ #+1+.+141∃ #5367.89+∃ %&&&&&&&&∋ When I saw that move, I instantly disliked my position - White vacates the a4-square for his bishop and also takes control over the b6-square, which could be important after |b1–d2-c4. 9.e4! is also dangerous for Black, but this is a different story. 7"""|∆. 6 I did not want to allow |f3-e5 and }a4, but delaying the development of the kingside was very risky. Also dubious is 9###}Χ%&'(#|Φ*&|ΧΕ%&''#}Β-&{∆%&'0#Φ-&}ΨΦ-&'2#}g5, with a dangerous attack, as in the game #ets-Maly, Kharkov 2000. Perhaps, the best try was 9...}e7, for example '(#}Β-4&|ΧΕ%&''#|Φ*&{∆%. Still, I believe that White is better there. !1"|ΧΕ'%∆ΨΕ$ %!!"}Β$ Here I feared 11.|c4!, for example: 11###}Χ% 12.exd4 and White's bishop could be useful on b3, for instance after |∆--b6 and d4-d5!. !!"""}Χ3%!'"|∆$%{∆3 After 12...dxe3?! 13.}xe3 White would have terrific compensation for a pawn. 13"|b6 Perhaps White commits himself to concrete play too early. After 13.exd4 White would have had more options open. !*"""∼Ε:%!$"ΦΨΕ$%}∆&6%!&"}Φ* #ΦΥΥΦΣ&ΞΒΤ&'*#{∆09&ΒΜΥΙΠςΗΙ&ΒΓΥΦΣ&'*###}ΨΧ@&'@#ΒΨΧ@&{ΨΧ@&'%#}Φ2&Χ2&'A#}ΨΧ2&|Ε*&ΠΣ&'%#|Φ*&∼∆A 'A#}Φ2&Χ2&#ΜΒ∆Λ&ϑΤ&0,.

6

!&"""1π1%!."{∆'%}ΨΧ.%!3"ΒΨΧ.%{Ε.%!:"∼Γ∆!%|Φ3

!!!!!!!!∀ #+.+⊥+⊥).∃ #.'.+&/0/∃ #/1+(/&+.∃ #.+.+.+.+∃ #20+1+.+.∃ #.+.+63.+∃ #+17.+141∃ #5+5+.+9+∃ %&&&&&&&&∋

Now White has problems with the b6-pawn. Besides, his pieces are rather misplaced. !7"{∆3 %}ΨΓ*%'1"ΗΨΓ*%|ΓΕ&%'!"{∆&%{ΨΧ.%''"}Χ*%{Χ3%'*"}Η&%∼∆:%'$"{Β&%|Γ& 0Γ&∆ΠςΣΤΦ9&ΟΠΥ&0-###|∆@ &ΧΦ∆ΒςΤΦ&ΠΓ&0*#}ΨΕ*# '&"}ΨΕ&%ΦΨΕ&%'."∼Ψ∆:%∼Ψ∆:%'3"{ΨΒ.%{ΨΒ.%':"∼ΨΒ.

!!!!!!!!∀ #+.%.+.).∃ #.+.+./0/∃ #8.+.+.+.∃ #.+./.=6+∃ #+0+1+.+.∃ #.+.+.4.+∃ #+1+.+1+1∃ #.+.+.+9+∃ %&&&&&&&&∋

The resulting ending is winning for Black, who has a much better minor piece. The main danger to avoid was losing the b4-pawn, as then Black's knight won't be such a useful piece fighting against White's b-pawn. 28"""|xd4? I felt that there was something wrong with this move, but played it rather quickly anyway. It was a case of "Let's take a pawn now and think later!", which is a completely faulty way of thinking. Almost immediately after I took on d4 I saw that 28...h6! would be much better. From f5 the ΛΟϑΗΙΥ&∆ΒΟ&ΒΜΤΠ&ΚςΝΘ&ΥΠ&Ι-9&∆ΣΦΒΥϑΟΗ&ΤΠΝΦ&ΝΒΥϑΟΗ&ΥΙΣΦΒΥΤ#&/ΠΞ&#ΜΒ∆ΛMΤ&ΣΠΠΛ&ϑΤ&ΓΣΦΦ9&ΒΤ&#ΜΒ∆Λ& ΟΠ&ΜΠΟΗΦΣ&ΙΒΤ&ΧΒ∆ΛNΣΒΟΛ&ΘΣΠΧΜΦΝΤ#&∀ΓΥΦΣ&0P#}Ε0&∼∆0Q &RΧΠΥΙ&0P###|Ι-Q &2(#ζΓ'&∼∆0&2'#}ΨΧ-& ∼ΨΧ0&20#}∆*&|ΨΓ2&ΠΣ&&0P###∼∆-Q &ΒΣΦ&ΒΜΤΠ&ΩΦΣΖ&ΗΠΠΕ&ΓΠΣ&#ΜΒ∆ΛV&2(#}ΨΧ-&∼ΨΧ0&2'#}∆*&|Ι-&20#Ι2& |ΨΓ24&22#ζΗ0&|Η*&2-#∼Ε@&|Φ-&2*#∼ΨΕ*&∼ΨΓ04&2@#ζΗ'&∼∆0&#lack is winning. It is much easier for Black to deal with the d-pawn than with the b-pawn (as in the game). '7"ζΗ'%Ι.%*1"}Ε'%∼∆.%*!"∼Β:>%ζΙ3%*'"}ΨΧ$%∼Η.>%**"ζΓ!%|ΨΓ*%*$"}∆&%|ΨΙ'>%*&"ζΦ'%∼Φ.>% *."ζΕ*%|Η

%$!!!!!!!!∀ #8.+.+.+.∃ #.+.+./0)∃ #+.+.%.+0∃ #.+6/.+.+∃ #+.+.+.=.∃ #.+.>.+.+∃ #+1+.+1+.∃ #.+.+.+.+∃ %&&&&&&&&∋ 7

*3"∼Ε: 6 Here both players were short of time. I much more feared the immediate advance of White's passer - 37.b4!. I was going to meet it with 37...∼Φ-Q &2A#Χ*&|Φ*4&2P#ζΕ0&∼∆-. 37...h5! Psychologically it was very pleasant to play this in a time trouble - now Black's pawn is also running. *:"∼ΨΕ&%ζΗ.%*7"}Ε$%Ι$%$1"Γ*%|Γ. Being short of time it was hard to choose between the text and the line 40###|Ι0&-'#Γ-&Γ*&-0#∼d7 |Γ2&-2#∼ΨΗ%4&ζΙ*. I finally decided to hold on to my small material advantage. $!"∼Β&%Ι*%$'"∼Β!%|Ε& Better was 42...|h5!. The point is that after 43.}e3 Black has 43...h2! and 44.∼h1 fails to --###|Η2&-*#∼ΨΙ0&∼ΨΦ24&-@#ζΨΦ2&|Γ'4# $*"ζ∆$%|Φ*>%$$"ζ∆&%|Γ&%$&"∼Ι!%∼Φ:6%$."}∆*%&$."""∼Ι:% $3"}Φ&%Γ.%$:"}∆3%∼Ι&%$7"ζ∆$%|Φ*>%&1"ζΕ$%|Ε&%&!"}Ε.%ζΓ3%&'"}Η*%|Φ3%&*"ζΕ*%|∆.%&$"ζΦ*%ζΦ. &&"}Φ!%|Φ&%&."Χ*%Η&%&3"}∆*%Γ&%

!!!!!!!!∀ #+.+.+.+.∃ #.+.+.+.+∃ #+.+.).+.∃ #.+.+&/0%∃ #+.+.+.+.∃ #.46+94./∃ #+.+.+.+.∃ #.+.+.+.8∃ %&&&&&&&&∋

Despite White's stubborn defence, Black is making progress. &:"ζΓ'%Γ$%&7"}ΨΦ& Perhaps better was to try *P#∼Φ'&Ι0&@(#ζΗ0&Ι'{4&@'#∼ΨΙ'&∼ΨΙ'&@0#ζΨΙ'&|ΨΓ2&@2#Χ-&ζΕ* and although Black should win, White may have some chances. &7"""ζΨΦ&%.1"∼Ε!%

!!!!!!!!∀ #+.+.+.+.∃ #.+.+.+.+∃ #+.+.+.+.∃ #.+.+?+0%∃ #+.+.+0+.∃ #.4.+.4./∃ #+.+.+9+.∃ #.+.8.+.+∃ %&&&&&&&&∋

.1"""∼Ι. I had about 3 minutes to make the control move, but failed to find the best solution. Better was 60...h2! 61#∼h1 R@'#ζΗ0&Η-Qπ4&@0#ΓΨΗ-&Ι'{4&@2#∼ΨΙ'&Γ24V&@'###ζΕ-&@0#ζΗ0&ζΦ2 (For some ΤΥΣΒΟΗΦ&ΣΦΒΤΠΟ&∗&ΜΠΠΛΦΕ&ΠΟΜΖ&ΒΥ&@0###ζ∆2 &@2#∼ΨΙ0&∼ΨΙ04&@-#ζΨΙ0&ζΨΧ2&@*#ζΙ2\V&@2#Χ-&∼Ι-& @-#Χ*&Η-&@*#ΓΨΗ-&∼ΨΗ-4&@@#ζΙ2 ∼Η@–+. If Black did not want to make any commitments, it was better to play 60...∼ΙAQ# .!"ζΗ!%Ι'>%.'"ζΗ' White misses the last chance to put resistance: 62.ζΙ'Q#&5ΙΦΟ&@0###∼Ι2 does not work in view of @2#ζΗ0&∼Η24&RΒΓΥΦΣ&@2###Η- &@-#ΓΨΗ-&Black's rook is hanging!) 64.ζΓ0Q&Η-&@*#ΓΨΗ-&∼xb3 and 8

Black may be no longer winning. Yet, Black is winning after 62...∼h8! - the point is that now after ...g4, fxg4 and g4-g5 White's pawn will not move with a tempo. So, White must push the bpawn, which is quite slow. The game could have continued @2#Χ-&Η-&@-#ΓΨΗ-&Γ2&@*#Χ*&ζΓ-&@@.b6 ζΗ2&@%#Χ%&∼ΦA&@A#∼∆'&Γ0&@P#∼∆24&ζΨΗ-&%(#∼∆-4&ζΓ2&%'#∼∆24&ζΦ0&%0#∼∆04&ζΦ2&%2#∼∆'&ζΕ0& %-#∼Β'&∼Φ'4&%*#ζΨΙ0&Γ'{&%@#∼ΨΦ'&R%@#ΧA{&∼Φ04&%%#ζΗ2&∼Η04&%A#ζΙ2&{Γ24&%P#ζΙ-&{Η-^V& %@###{Γ-4&ΒΟΕ&#ΜΒ∆Λ&ΞϑΟΤ#&∗&ΥΙϑΟΛ&ΥΙΒΥ&∗&ΞΠςΜΕ&ΧΦ&ΒΧΜΦ&ΥΠ&ΓϑΟΕ&ΥΙΒΥ&ΜϑΟΦ&ΒΤ&#ΜΒ∆ΛMΤ&∆ΙΠϑ∆Φ&ΞΒΤ& ΣΒΥΙΦΣ&ΜϑΝϑΥΦΕ#& .'"""Η$6%

!!!!!!!!∀ #+.+.+.+.∃ #.+.+.+.+∃ #+.+.+.+⊥∃ #.+.+?+.+∃ #+.+.+0/.∃ #.4.+.4.+∃ #+.+.+.>0∃ #.+.8.+.+∃ %&&&&&&&&∋ /ΠΞ&ϑΥ&ϑΤ&ΒΜΜ&ΠΩΦΣ#& .*"ΓΨΗ$%Ι!{>%1π!& 8ΙϑΥΦ&ΣΦΤϑΗΟΦΕ&ϑΟ&ΩϑΦΞ&ΠΓ&@-#∼ΨΙ'&Γ24&@*#ζΗ'&Γ04&@@#ζΗ0&∼ΨΙ'# Another issue of C#C will appear in January - stay tuned! Alexander Baburin, Istanbul, Dublin. www.gmsquare.com & www.chesstoday.net Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected] The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.

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'Coffee Break Chess' No. 30 18th January 2001 © 2001 by Alexander Baburin Dear Friends! This is the first issue of my newsletter in the new millennium and I hope that many more will follow. While I usually I try to send out CBC on weekends, this issue comes on Thursday, as I will be away from home for the next 10 days. Yet, there are so many interesting things to talk about that I could not wait another 2 weeks. January - a busy month in Chess! Traditionally there are many events in January, but this January is exceptionally busy. After the Hastings Congress many more tournaments finished (in Stockholm, Greece, etc) and started (match in Budapest, Linares open, match in Donetsk, etc). Undoubtedly there most interesting of them all is the Corus Tournament, which started in Wijk aan Zee (Holland) last weekend. Chess fans all over the world expect this tournament to give an answer to the following question: who is the best player now - Kramnik, Kasparov or Anand? Of course, with Adams, Leko, Morozevich, Shirov, Topalov and Ivanchuk playing, some surprises are possible too. At the time of writing (after 5 rounds) Shirov is leading on 4 out of 5, with Kasparov, Kramnik and Morozevich are on 3½. I am going to attend the event from the 19th and I hope to write more about it later. In the meantime here are some useful addresses for those who want to follow the Corus tournament: the official site - http://www.corusgroup.com/coruschess/home.html; Mini site by TWIC, with reports by John Henderson - http://www.chesscenter.com/wijk2001; http://www.ruschess.com/ - comments by GMs Valery Popov and Sergei Ivanov; Internet Chess Club, with live games, some of which have comments - www.chessclub.com. Today I am also going to show a game from Wijk aan Zee. Chess Today – the first daily chess newspaper on the Net I already wrote about this project in the previous CBC. The newspaper is developing nicely and our columnists - GM Ruslan Scherbakov and IM Vladimir Barsky are doing a great job. For a small fee you get news, annotated games, puzzles, interviews and lessons every day. You don't even have to spend any time getting it - Chess Today comes straight into your mail box. Feedback from our readers is very encouraging, but I am a bit puzzled as to why more people are not taking up this service... Maybe chess fans are spoilt with free stuff on the Net, but you pay for everything - at least with your time. So, consider subscribing to Chess Today - with more readers we can have more GMs contributing to it. Our newspaper is particularly useful for those who want to make progress in chess. Many GMs receive CT and enjoy it too. Please visit our Web site - www.chesstoday.net and see for yourself why. Or read what others say about Chess Today - both at our site and in the reviews. Here are some of them: review by Richard Palliser at the BCF Web site (December 2000): http://www.bcf.ndirect.co.uk/articles/chesstodayrp.htm. Review on the German ChessBase site 1

(by Andre Schulz; in German), December 2000: http://www.chessbase.de/Nachrichten/Archiv/dezember2000.htm Review by John Watson on the TWIC site, posted Dec. 2000: http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/jwatson30.html Review at the Chess Café (January 2001): http://www.chesscafe.com/REVIEWS/books.HTM Subscription is only £14 (Irish punts) or about US$15 for 4 months. You can pay with Visa or Master cards on our secure server or by cheque. Subscribing is easy and takes only 2-3 minutes. All paid subscribers automatically enter a lottery in the end of each month with a chance to win a quality chess book, recommended by myself. In January the prize is 'Secrets of Pawn Endings' by Karsten Mueller and Frank Lamprecht. Chess Web Shop at GM Square Recently we opened a shop at GM Square (www.gmsquare.com ). There, you can already buy chess software and one type of chess clock. Soon we will add books, chess sets and boards, more clocks and chess programs. Shopping with us is both safe and easy. We accept Visa and Master cards, as well as cheques. Goods are shipped within 2-3 working days, but often sooner. Software is shipped via airmail whenever possible, so you do not have to wait long for your order. Our prices are competitive and we have our own loyalty program, which means better value for you. If you are puzzled by euros, use this currency converter. Here are our current offers: ChessBase 7.0. Well-tested, ChessBase 7.0 program is a great product. Here it is offered at a bargain price together with players’ encyclopaedia including 3,500 portraits, 300,000 games and openings classification with 50,000 key positions. 75 euros. ChessBase 8.0 Starter Package. This package includes the recently released ChessBase 8.0 program, Fritz5 engine, Crafty engine, players’ encyclopaedia with 11,000 portraits, Big Database 2000 and three issues of the popular and instructive ChessBase Magazine. 150 euros ChessBase 8.0 Mega Package. This package is designed for those who want to devote a lot of time (and a bit of cash!) to their chess study. It includes ChessBase 8.0 program, Fritz5 engine, Crafty engine, players encyclopaedia with 11,000 portraits, Mega Database2000 (1,4 million games, 37,000 annotated by top players, opening classification with 54,000 key positions), Corr Database 2000, ChessBase Magazine subscription and 4 Endgame Turbo CDs. 357 euros. Mega Database 2000. Contains over 1,4 million games from 1794 to 1999 in ChessBase standard. 99 euros. MegaBase 2001. This is the finest games collection available anywhere in the world - with 1.7 million games from 1610 to 2000 and over 40,000 annotated games, many by top GMs. The database includes historical and modern games and has ChessBase openings classification (50,000 key positions), direct access to players, tournaments, middle-game themes and endgames. Available in both old and new ChessBase formats (on the same CD). 153 euros. Big Database 2000. With 1,3 million games (without any annotations) this database is a god start in your study – it will certainly keep you busy for a while! 50 euros. 2

Opening Encyclopaedia. It contains more than 3,000 openings surveys, with a total of 470,000 games, of which 40,000 are annotated (many games are not in Mega’99). 99 euros. Fritz 6 - The talking chess program. The new 32-bit Fritz6 engine calculates faster, plays stronger and analyses deeper. Full openings tree for perfect training, handicap, friend and sparring modes for beginners. Database with 320,000 games. Ten engines: Fritz1, 3, 4, 5.16, 5.32, Fritz6, Doctor 3.0, Comet, Crafty, EXchess. Combined with a decent database, this program is an ideal tool for studying chess, if you don’t want spend more money (on ChessBase 7 or 8) just yet. 50 euros. Fritz 5.32. The 32 bit version of Fritz5. Database with 300,000 games in new CB 6.0 format. With built-in connection to DGT intelligent sensor board and ten engines. Very good value for money and is both very strong and useful! 25 euros. Powerbook 2000 This is a state-of-the-art tool for studying openings theory. - with 7,5 million positions, each with full statistics (moves played, results, performance, average Elo, transpositions). 50 euros Hiarcs 7.32. Hiarcs shows high positional understanding and a well-founded, strategic playing style. 50 euros Junior 6.0 Junior 6 displays formidable positional understanding while at the same time remaining tactically extremely dangerous. 50 euros Nimzo 7.32. This is one of the world's top programs. The special appeal is that you can adjust a number of program parameters to change its playing style dramatically. 50 euros

‘Gambit’ chess clock - attractive analog clock in a wooden case, made in Czech Republic. This solid and stable clock is ideal for both tournaments and casual play (blitz). Price: 63 euros. Warranty policy: if you have a problem with your clock, you may return it to us during the first year from the time of purchase and we will replace it with another Gambit clock. You will have to pay for postage/insurance both ways. No replacement on clocks with broken glass or other visible physical damage. Recent developments at GM Square There are many more reasons to visit GM Square than just shopping - recently we posted 4 more annotated games of Alexander Morozevich on his site and 3 more games of mine on my personal site. All these games can be viewed online. Recently we posted an interview with GM Joel Lautier, where he talks about his proposed system of the FIDE World Championship. We also have an interview with a very talented 13years old IM Teimour Radjabov, who is now playing in the Corus-B tournament. Also, read our Chess Horoscope and add lots of rating points without any hard work on your chess! This is a tested Russian method, but no legal responsibility will be accepted should it not work for you. In that case try buying a package holiday to Burma! :-) 3

Do not forget about our poll at www.gmsquare.com. We ask our visitors whom they consider to be the World Champion - Kramnik, Anand, Kasparov or somebody else. At the time of writing 51 people believe is that Anand is the real Champion (about 30%), 95 voted for Kramnik (55%), 19 for Kasparov (11%) and 8 believe that it's somebody else (Fischer?!). It is a difficult question. Personally I think that Kramnik is the World Champion in that tradition, which existed in chess for a long time. OK, there were questions how he was picked, but few would doubt that the match in London was between two worthy players. Anand won a very tough event in New Delhi and India, but this is different from long one-to-one matches. It puzzles me why people regard Kasparov as the World Champion. I think they confuse the title with his dominant position on the FIDE rating list. Here he can thank FIDE, which did not (has not?) rated the match in London. I think that this is a gross mistake by FIDE, which seriously upsets the balance on the rating list. Even though FIDE does not accept the legitimacy of that match, it had to rate it anyway, if they want the FIDE rating list to be of any significance. I hope that FIDE will rectify this mistake soon. On the FIDE rating list two 17-year olds, GMs Ruslan Ponomariov and Alexander Grischuk made huge progress - the former is No. 21 in the world now, while the latter is No. 28. You can read interviews with both of them at GM Square.

Workshops in Dublin On the 10th and 11th of February I will run chess workshops in the Academy Hotel (off O'Connell Street). Each workshop takes place from 11-00 till 16-00, with a break for lunch. The fee is £40. The workshop on the 10th is designed for players under 1600 rating, while on the 11th I will see players over 1600. For more details and to book your place (we have a limit of 20!), please e-mail me. During the workshops we will discuss positional assessment, planning and execution of a plan. Students will be offered tests, which we will later discuss. Annotated Game Here I would like to show a brilliant victory by Alexander Morozevich from the Corus tournament. L. van Wely (2700) - A. Morozevich (2745) [D16] Corus, Wijk aan Zee, 2001, Notes by Alexander Baburin 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 dxc4 5 a4 c5 (D)

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This is rare move, used by former World Champion Vassily Smyslov about 50 years ago. Reinventing such off-beat lines is a speciality of Morozevich! 6 d5 6 e4 cxd4 7 Qxd4 Qxd4 8 Nxd4 e6 9 Ndb5 Na6 10 Bxc4 Bc5 11 Bf4 Ke7 12 0–0 Bd7 13 e5 Nh5 14 Be3 Rhc8 15 Be2 g6 16 Ne4 Bxe3 17 fxe3 Rc2 18 Nbd6 Rf8 19 Bxa6 bxa6 20 g4 Ng7 21 Nf6 Bc6 22 Rfc1 1:0 Boleslavsky - Smyslov, Budapest 1950. After 6 e3 White gets a position from the QGA with the extra move a2-a4, which could be useful, but may be not. 6...Bf5 Black prevents e2-e4. 7 e3 e6 8 Bxc4 exd5 9 Nxd5 Nc6N After 9...Be4 10 Nc3 Qxd1+ 11 Kxd1 Bxf3+ 12 gxf3 Nc6 13 Ke2 White stood slightly better in Rustemov - Ilinsky, Moscow 1995. 10 Qb3 Qd7 11 Nxf6+ gxf6 (D)

Black's pawn structure is damaged, but he gets the semi-open g-file. 12 Bd2 Rg8 13 Bc3?! Too optimistic - now White's King gets stuck in the centre. Better was 13 0–0–0. 13...0–0–0! 14 Bxf7 Rxg2 15 Nh4 Ne5! This is the point! 16 Nxf5? Better was 16 Bc4. 16...Nd3+! 16...Nxf7 was safe, but Morozevich goes for more! 17 Kf1 Rxf2+ 18 Kg1 Kb8! (D)

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After this calm move it is suddenly clear that White is lost - his king is simply too awful. 19 Qe6 Everything loses now: 19 e4 c4–+ or 19 Ng3 Qc6! 20 e4 c4 and Black wins. I like the line 19 Ng3 Bh6 20 Qe6 Qxe6 21 Bxe6 Bxe3 22 Nf1 Rg8+!! 23 Bxg8 Nf4 24 Nxe3 Nh3#, but it is not compulsory, of course 19...Rxf5 20 h4 Bd6 21 Rf1 Rg8+! 0–1 Pretty finish - 22.Bxg8 Qg7#.

Web Watch New chess stuff appears on the Internet all the time. Here are some links, which you might like to look at: http://www.tar.hu/chessclinic/ - is a new site, where Hungarian IM Attila Schneider publishes material in Hungarian, German and English. There is some interesting stuff there, for example an article about the late IM Perenyi, with his annotated games. GM Alexei Dreev has a site now - at http://www.mmv.ru/p/bt/chess/dreev. The site features his photos, annotated games, interviews, etc. In English. www.correspondencechess.com recently published a very interesting interview with Ukrainian GM Mikhail Golubev, who does a lot of work on the Web himself. You can read the interview at http://ccn.correspondencechess.com/html/31/index.html#A9 At www.chesscity.com Eric Schiller covers news, publishes articles, instructional materials, reviews and excerpts from books published by Cardoza Publishing. If you are looking for some hints, check http://www.emazing.com/chess.htm, where well-known chess author and editor Tim Harding gives daily tips on chess. Many tips are accompanied with a diagram. Archives are available. http://www.chess-source.com offers chess software for saving and replaying games. Most chess fans know the famous Informator magazine (Yugoslavia). That company recently developed software called Informator Reader and now they have started a playing zone, which you can find at www.sahovski.com\fplay.htm Enjoy your surfing! Alexander Baburin, Istanbul, Dublin. www.gmsquare.com & www.chesstoday.net Technical support. I am very grateful to Igor Yagolnitser for his help with this project. For assistance regarding CBC, please contact Igor at [email protected]. I'd like to thank Graham Brown for proof-reading this issue and creating its PDF file. The recipient is granted a limited license to re-send this Newsletter to another in electronic form, or post it on an electronic bulletin, board or World Wide Web site, as long as no fee is charged for such reproduction. Any such reproduction must contain this license and acknowledge the author's copyright. Such reproduction does not waive any rights to future reproduction by the copyright holder.

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'Coffee Break Chess' No. 31 5th May 2001 © 2001 by Alexander Baburin Dear Friends! It has been a long time since I produced CBC-30. Life seems to get busier and busier and I hope that keen CBC readers will excuse my long silence. Part of the problem was that I wanted to write about so much, that in the end I never had enough time to do it! Thus, now I will try a different approach - to keep CBC smaller, but produce it more frequently. My US Tour In the end of February I went to USA, where I took part in the Linklater Memorial in San Francisco and in the National Open in Las Vegas. I shared 3rd place in both tournaments and from that point of view could be happy. However, I was very dissatisfied with my play, which was full of mistakes and even blunders. Other than that my trip was interesting and enjoyable as I met with some of my friends. The Linklater Memorial was held in the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club in San Francisco - a truly wonderful city. The Mechanics Institute is essentially a library, which also has a large chess room. Board of directors of the Institute includes such chess players as Neil Falconer, Mark Pinto and IM Vincent McCambridge, which explains why chess life is busy at the Mechanics'. The club has a decent web site at www.chessclub.org and employs GM Alex Yermolinsky and IM John Donaldson, who organise weekly tournaments and give lectures for the public. They were also in charge of our tournament, which featured 11 players and offered GM and IM norm opportunities. In the end only one seeker was successful - Michael Mulyar got an IM-norm. Top rated players dominated the event, as GMs Yuri Shulman and Alexander Wojtkiewicz tied for first with 7 points out of 10, while I shared third place with IM Greg Shahade. Both winners played very solidly and did not lose a single game (neither did Shahade). I played more entertaining chess, but two losses and a few missing opportunities did not allow me to finish better. Perhaps I could not quite adapt to the new FIDE time control, which was tried for the first time in USA at the Linklater Memorial. In a recent issue of New in Chess Joe Gallagher expressed his dissatisfaction with the new control (1h 15 minutes for 40 moves with 30 seconds increment) and I can join him in this concern. The quality of play does suffer indeed - you sink into a deep thought 2-3 times during the game and you are in time-trouble already! You can see this in the following game, which was full of rushed decisions. However, it saw some entertaining chess too! Alexander Baburin (2598) - Cyrus Lakdawala (2436) [D30] Linklater Memorial, San Francisco (4), 01.03.2001 Notes by GM Baburin, which first appeared in Chess Today (www.chesstoday.net) 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nbd2 Nbd7 6.Bd3 b6 7.0–0 Bb7 8.b3 Recently I played 8.e4, but after 8...dxe4 9.Nxe4 c5 10.d5?! exd5 11.cxd5 Nxe4 12.Bxe4 Bd6 1

13.Ng5?! Nf6 14.Qa4+ Qd7 15.Qxd7+ Nxd7 16.Bf5 Nf6 Black stood better in the game Baburin-Kelly, Bunratty 2001. Looking at that game I decided that perhaps delaying e3-e4 would be a good idea. 8...Be7 9.Bb2 0–0 10.Qe2 Qc7 11.Rac1 Rac8 (D)

White commands more space and can go for e3-e4 at the appropriate moment. Perhaps here I should have done exactly that: 12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxe4 c5 14.dxc5 and White has a small, but pleasant edge. In case of 13...Nxe4 14.Bxe4 Nf6 he can choose between 15.Bc2 and 15.c5!?. Instead I decided to keep more tension in the centre: 12.Ne5 c5 This is correct, as after 12...Nxe5?! 13.dxe5 Nd7 14.f4 White stands better as he has good chances on the kingside and in the centre. 13.f4 dxc4 14.bxc4 It was probably wrong to block the c-file - better was 14.Bxc4 or 14.Ndxc4 Be4 15.Nd2 Bxd3 16.Nxd3, with a small edge in both cases. 14...Rcd8 15.f5?? This is an awful move, which undermines the e5-knight and blocks the d3-bishop. But of course, at that time I did not see what was wrong with it, otherwise it would have not played it. 15...Bd6 16.Ndf3 (D)

After 16.fxe6 Nxe5 17.dxe5 Bxe5 18.exf7+ Rxf7 19.Bxe5 Qxe5 Black would be better, so I 2

played 16.Ndf3. But now he could have played 16...Bxf3! 17.Nxf3 e5!, obtaining a strategically winning position - all his pieces are active, while the d3-bishop looks like a bit of an idiot... We both missed that idea. 16...Rfe8? 17.fxe6 Rxe6? This is a serious mistake. After 17...fxe6 18.Nxd7 Nxd7 19.d5 Black can't play 19...exd5? because of 20.Bxh7+! Kxh7 21.Ng5+ Kg8 22.Qh5+-. However after 19...Nf8 White would have problems with his central pawns. Thus, better would be 19.Qc2 Nf6 20.h3 and White is slightly better. 18.Nxd7 Here I considered 18.Ng5, but did not like that Black would be able to sacrifice on e5: 18...Bxe5 19.dxe5 Rxe5 20.Bxe5 Nxe5 or 20...Qxe5 21.Bxh7+ Nxh7 22.Nxf7 Qe7 23.Nxd8 Qxd8. 18...Nxd7 19.d5? White launches his attack incorrectly. Of course, it is nice to shut down the enemy bishop and to open up your own one, but this move give up control over the e5-square and allows the enemy rook to leave the vulnerable position on e6. White had to play 19.Ng5!, with winning advantage. For example: 19...Bxh2+ 20.Kh1 Rh6 21.Bxh7+ Kh8 22.Nxf7+ Kxh7 23.Nxh6 Kxh6 (23...gxh6 24.Rf7+ Kg8 25.Rcf1+-) 24.e4!? cxd4 25.Bxd4 Ne5 26.Be3+ Kg6 27.Rf5+-. I considered 19.Ng5!, but I missed that Black could not play 21...Kf8 because of 22.Nxf7+-. 19...Re7 (D)

I expected mainly 19...Rh6 20.h3 Ne5 and Black is only slightly worse. Here Black offered a draw, but I was under the wrong impression that I had a chance to launch a winning attack. 20.Bxh7+? This looks tempting, but is wrong... Better was 20.Ng5 Bxh2+ 21.Kh1 g6 22.Nxf7 Rxf7 23.Rxf7 Kxf7 24.Qg4=. 20...Kxh7 21.Ng5+ Kg8 21...Kg6? loses after 22.Qd3+ Kxg5 23.Qf5+ Kh6 24.Qh3+ Kg6 25.Qg4+ Kh6 26.Qxg7+ Kh5 27.Rf5+ Kh4 28.Qg5#; 21...Kh6 is bad too - 22.Nxf7+ Rxf7 23.Rxf7 Bxh2+ 24.Kh1 Be5 25.Rcf1+-. 22.Qh5 Nf8 23.Rf3 (D)

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After making this move I had 7 and half minutes left (plus the increment), while my opponent had 42 minutes. It is harder to defend than attack, but White's attack should not succeed here, even though during the game I felt the opposite (that's why I played 20 Bxh7? in the first place!). 23...Bxh2+? Black had to use the b7-bishop in defence by playing 23...Bc8!. In general it makes sense to employ your idle pieces. Here the bishop, which had been watching the grass grow on b7, could stop White from playing Rh3. White does not have enough here, as the following lines show: 24.Rcf1 (24.g4? Qd7; 24.Bxg7?! Kxg7 25.Rcf1 f5 26.Rh3 Ng6–+) 24...f6. Now after both 25.Rxf6 gxf6 26.Bxf6 Nh7 27.Bxe7 Qxe7 28.Nxh7 Bxh2+ 29.Qxh2 Qxh7 30.Qxh7+ Kxh7 31.Rf7+ Kg6 32.Rxa7 Bf5 and 25.Bxf6 gxf6 26.Rxf6 Bxh2+ 27.Kh1 Be5 28.d6 Qxd6 29.Rxd6 Rxd6 Black should win. In the latter variation Black's pieces are much better than White's queen. If we look back at the position after 23...Bc8!, it looks only logical that Black can withstand White's attack - all his pieces are employed. OK, White has the h- and f- files, but this is not enough with Black's best defence. 24.Kh1! 24.Qxh2 is not what I sacrificed the bishop for! Objectively, this move is quite strong too, as White's attack is already strong now. 24...Rd6 This is what I considered the main line of defence too, but this was not the only move - 24...Bg3 looked equality tempting. There White already has a draw - by playing 25.Rcf1 f6 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27.Rxf6 Be5 28.Rxf8+ Rxf8 29.Qg6+ Rg7 30.Qe6+ Rgf7 31.Qg6+ Rg7 32.Qe6+=. But he can also play for more with 25.Bxg7 Kxg7 26.Rcf1 Rdd7 27.Qg4 Ng6 28.Rxg3 (28.Qh5 Nf8 29.Qg4=) 28...Rd6 29.Qh5 and White wins. Of course, it is hard to tell whether White and Black would have found these variations over the board. This also applies to the lines, which you will see later - don't get the wrong impression that I saw all or even most of them. Indeed, a man does not know his limitations until he analysed with Fritz! :-) 25.Bxg7 Kxg7 26.Rcf1 Bf4? Better was 26...f5!. The idea is that after 27.Rxf5? Bf4! already wins: 28.R5xf4 Rh6 29.Rf7+ Rxf7 30.Rxf7+ Qxf7 31.Qxh6+ Kxh6 32.Nxf7+ Kg6–+. White must play 27.Rh3 Ng6 and then 28.Rxf5 Kg8 29.Ne6 Rexe6 30.dxe6 Rxe6 31.Rg5 Qg7 32.Qg4!, when things remain unclear. 27.Rh3 Ng6 (D)

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28.Rxf4! This is better than 28.exf4. Then 28...Bc8 loses after 29.f5! Bxf5 30.Qh7+ Kf8 31.Rhf3 f6 32.Qh6+ Ke8 33.Rxf5 fxg5 34.Rf8+ Nxf8 35.Rxf8+ Kd7 36.Qh3+ Rde6 37.dxe6+, but 28...f5! looks good for Black. 28...Nxf4 After 28...Bc8 29.Qh7+ Kf8 30.Rxf7+! Rxf7 White has 31.Rf3!, winning. 29.exf4? This is a serious inaccuracy in time-trouble. Better was 29.Qh8+ Kg6 30.exf4! and Black's king is doomed. Now the king is given a chance to escape, but Black misses the opportunity. 29...Re1+ 30.Kh2 Kf8? Black had to play 30...Re8!. After 31.Qh7+ 32.Qh8+ Ke7 33.Re3+ Re6 34.Rxe6+ fxe6 35.d6+ Kxd6 36.Qxe8 Qc8 37.Nf7+ Kc7 38.Qxc8+ Bxc8 39.g4 White is better in the ending, but the fight still goes on. 31.Qh8+ Ke7 32.Qh4! Now it is over, as White picks at least a rook. 32...Re2 33.Ne6+ Kd7 34.Nxc7 Kxc7 35.Qh5 Re7 36.f5 b5 37.Qh4 Red7 38.Qf2 Kb6 39.Rb3 1–0 Time: 1.31–1.18 I will talk about the national Open in Las Vegas and show one game from there in the next issue of CBC, which should be out soon. After LV I played 2 games in 4NCL (2 draws) and shared first place with GM Bordan Lalic in a small, but enjoyable open in Belfast. Still, my play was rather poor - I tried hard, but little seemed to work. Finally I decided not to fight it and take a break from tournaments, which is exactly what I am doing now. Instead I now concentrate on my Web projects and coaching. Chess Tourism Ever since Kasparov coined the phrase 'chess tourist' during the Las Vegas FIDE World Championship in 1999, I keep thinking of myself as one of those tourists. Only I don't see anything bad with that - you coma to a different country, play chess, meet new people and move on. That's how I choose tournaments nowadays. Thus, I am a bit surprised to see that chess tourism has not taken off as much as it could. Perhaps the following initiative by the GM School from St. Petersburg will change that: the school offers to combine a trip to that wonderful city 5

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