My Chess Blog

" The experienced player will learn to distinguish which weaknesses to avoid and which to endure " - William Lombardy ......yet, we find even top players get into committing some serious weakness, time and again! When Tenjiku was asked about the incident of Tanka burning the statue, he replied, " When it is cold we gather around the hearth by the fire" " Was he wrong or not ?" persisted the monk. " When it is hot we sit in a bamboo forest in the valley ," said Tenjiku Chess ideally should be played like this, your opponent should not understand what you play! And for this to happen, you should also have no or less clarity on what is happening! The act of creation should be consigned to tacit integration. Mikhael Polanyi wrote, "Since particulars are more tangible, their knowledge offers a true conception of things is fundamentally mistaken".  In chess, moves or more precisely sequence of moves calculated in advance gives an illusion o...

 "A position can never be so bad as not to offer prospects of defence, and therein lies the great truth"  - Lasker/Kere s The Art of Defence in Chess is underplayed, chiefly for two reasons: 1) It is presumed to be dull and devoid of sparks that an attack produces 2) Simply it is very difficult to understand Defence is very difficult to understand because, the choices made cannot be substantiated by objective truth, it is tedious to annotate a defensive game. A game of chess is won because a side commits or overextends the logic inherent in the position or the resources that a position offers and plays inappropriate moves, disturbing the equilibrium badly. Art of successful defence is also about disturbing the equilibrium so as to confuse the side with upper hand or at least put the player with upper hand in discomfort by taking him or her from the path of least resistance! Fischer rightly said, " Chess is a fine art of knowing when to duck and how to punch "! Gary...

  Gens Una Sumus - FIDE motto The world needs to realise what the above means in spirit and action .... the fights on account of religion, land, power has divided the world enough! Time has come to unite and eradicate hatred in all forms .......else we will perish soon . Let the fightings and killings stop! What best, other than the sport, which is the greatest unitor and leveler! There is no winner or loser in true sport, no place for hegmony, discrimination and differences, hatred..... A tamil poet by name Pulamai Pithan wrote..... காற்றும் நீரும் வானும் நெருப்பும் பொதுவில் இருக்குது மனிதன் காலில் பட்ட பூமி மட்டும் பிரிந்து கிடக்குது பிரித்து வைத்து பார்ப்பதெல்லாம் மனிதன் இதயமே உலகில் பிரிவு மாறி ஒருமை வந்தால் அமைதி நிலவுமே The air, water, sky and fire lies common for everyone but the land on which humans have tread, is fractured .....under the garb of nation, religious fanatisicm ..... the greed for power and money ....... Only human beings discriminate things and the day when...

  "It seems to be a rule of wisdom, never to rely on your memory alone.... to bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present, but to live ever in a new day" - Ralp Waldo Emerson Yuri Levovich Averbakh, the great Russian endgame master, wrote: " Blumenfeld drew my attention to the psychological aspect of chess. He emphasised that Chess was played by people, each with their own character and cast of mind, with different virtues and defects. In the struggle at the Chessboard, one must learn to exploit all this, one must be able to create those situations in which your skills and talent display themselves to a greater degree than the skill and talent of the opponent ." He further observed, " I should mention that the protracted work on the endgame that I did, had an adverse affect on my further chess successes ."  Chess over the past two decades, got a overdose of everything. Players indulge in overworking positions, by habit (especially off the bo...

I sat facing you for hours but you didn't speak; Then I finally understood the unspoken meaning. Removed from their covers, books lay scattered about; Outside the bamboo screen, rain beats against the plum tree. - Ryokan Chess moves.....games.....are like the Zen poem by the great Zen Poet and saint Ryokan! The moves do not announce their intentions in advance and at times even after they are played! One has to go beyond the facade ....the outward appearance of the position and the pieces that lay scattered on the board. The implications may appear as relevant or irrelevant as rain beating against the plum tree.....but!       The above pictures describe the game better than any comments and analysis! Nepomniatchi - Carlsen, WC 2021: Game-3 1. e4 e5  2. Nf3 Nc6  3. Bb5 a6  4. Ba4 Nf6  5. O-O Be7  6. Re1 b5  7. Bb3 O-O  8. a4 Bb7  9. d3 d6  10. Nbd2 Re8  11. Nf1 h6  12. Bd2 Bf8  13. Ne3 Ne7  14. c4 bxc4...

/  Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.                                                                                                             - Robert Frost ....all these attempts at watching the game live and analy...