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Pogonina.com offers you a selection of some of the best tweets from last week:
Internet poll to determine one of the Tal Memorial participants
Ilya Levitov: Quang Liem's candidacy was removed from the poll. 15,000 bots can be mistaken :)
There are about 30 possible moves in a typical chess position...
And just 2693 FIDE-rated!
Congrats, Judit!
An unexpected confession
The Russian presidential elections are on March 4th
Another exciting way to play chess
Girl power & a tad of boasting
Too young to purchase alcohol!
Reviewing the March FIDE rating list
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Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of LDPR party, who is one of the five candidates running for President of Russia, launched a new commercial where he dwells on the nature of the game and applies it to politics:
White is considered to be Good, but the White pieces are the ones that strike first and break out a war. Black is the opposition. They are forced into defending. The main thing is not to attack mindlessly, capturing pieces, but precisely calculate the activities of the opponent a few moves in advance. You should never resign! Even when you are outnumbered. When your opponent is relaxed, feeling his own superiority, invincibility, a single right move is called for. By changing the situation in a historic way, you can achieve victory.
Make your choice. Zhirinovsky. Life will be better.
Could it have been inspired by the meeting with FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov dedicated to promoting the "Chess in schools" program?
Event: European Women's Chess Championship-2012 Venue: Gazantiep, Turkey Format: Swiss, 11 rounds Schedule: March 2-7, rest day on March 8, March 9-13. Rapid: March 15-16. Blitz: March 17-18 Prize fund: 100,000 (20,500 for 1st)
The best 14 players will qualify for the Women's World Chess Championship-2012 (unless they have already qualified for it in the 2011 European Championship)*.
Top seeds:
Anna Muzychuk (2583), Nana Dzagnidze (2553), Kateryna Lahno (2546), Nadezhda Kosintseva (2535), Antoaneta Stefanova (2531), Tatiana Kosintseva (2513), Marie Sebag (2512), Valentina Gunina (2511), Viktoria Cmilyte (2497), Muzychuk Mariya (2490), Bela Khotenashvili (2490), Elina Danielian (2478), Almira Skripchenko (2468), Lilit Mkrtchian (2458), Anna Ushenina (2458), Natalia Pogonina (2449), Lela Javakhishvili (2448), Alexandra Kosteniuk (2448).
*Natalia Pogonina is one of the players who have already obtained a spot in the next WWC.
Life is about defining priorities and making choices. Sometimes we tend to overestimate or underestimate certain factors. Chess is not an exception.
First of all, sometimes we misevaluate whats happening on the board itself. Secondly, quite often we incorrectly assess our own and our opponents options.
Positional evaluation is a key element of the game. It helps us choose the correct plan. If you misevaluate the position, you are likely to lose quickly, while a deep assessment can help outwit the opponent. Overestimating ones position is a common sin among chess players that leads to excessively aggressive plans, reckless attacks and other uncalled-for activities. Underestimating ones position can lead to passive play, failing to find the right defensive resources and even resigning prematurely. Misevaluations occur due to lack of mastery, psychological factors, or specifics of the course of the game. For example, lets say a player has lost the initiative after an unobvious mistake. Instead of switching to playing for a draw, he keeps pushing, while the position objectively doesnt encourage it. Or, after having been defending for quite a while, a chess player gets a chance to sway the balance in his favor. Instead, he is happy to offer a draw asap and go home. Great chess players like Karpov or Carlsen have been known for being able to play the board, i.e. treat any position objectively, without falling for such logical fallacies (I was close to lost, so if I make a draw, Ill be happy).
By gaining more chess knowledge and becoming stronger a chess player starts making fewer mistakes when evaluating the position.
Another common situation is overestimating or underestimating a player, or just not being comfortable facing him over the board. A lot has been said about this in the Customers and Nemesis article. Sometimes the results are very hard to explain. For example, recently Ive heard that Nigel Short hasnt won a single game against Alexei Shirov (the score is about 8 wins, 10 draws for Shirov). Both are very strong tactical players, so how can that happen? Or, likewise, how could Kasparov score +17 =15 against Shirov?
Nonetheless, one shouldnt be religious about attributing his losses to the nemesis theory. After all, it spawns future losses, as you are self-hypnotizing yourself. Therefore, it makes sense to find the objective reasons for the failure. Were you not prepared enough psychologically? Does he choose an opening structure that you dont understand? Is his style unpleasant for you (e.g., you are an attacker, and he prefers to keep the game closed and dull)? By coming up with the right diagnosis you increase the chances of getting rid of that nemesis complex.
In the computer age the average level of play has risen significantly. A lot of players are quite well-versed in their openings: they know the right move order, the plans, and even the typical endgames that occur in those lines. Therefore, quite often we see top players lose to amateurs rated like 2000, 2100, 2200. It is also often connected with underestimating the opponent and math expectancy (one is supposed to take a lot of risks, especially with Black, to sustain ones rating by beating lower-rated players). However, objectively speaking, we should pay more attention to the position than to the rating number on the opponents badge. This will save us from taking too many risks.
Another widespread phenomenon is quite typical of open tournaments. Lets say you have lost/drawn a player rated 200-300 points above you. Then you get paired with someone rated about the same as you. Your thoughts may be something like this: Ok, now Ive got a patzer! Lets dispatch him and get back to playing the really tough guys!. Meanwhile, you are forgetting that the opponents strength is objectively about the same as yours, and he is by no means a loyal customer willing to donate some rating points to you. Hence, if you persist with your snobbish approach, you are likely to lose.
The ability to cool down and make a rational and objective decision is valuable not only in chess, but in life in general. This is one of the most important skills a person can develop in himself.
I made a bad opening choice and had to struggle for equality most of the game. When a draw was within reach, I blundered and played 31Ra1. The nature of this mistake lies in overestimating ones position. I decided: Ok, I have a draw, but why not try to outplay my opponent?. Being bored of having to defend passively, I was excited about the opportunity of playing actively, and talked myself into a dubious continuation. The punishment was severe and swift.
A prisoner requests a transfer to a cell with the maximum possible volume but unfortunately it is also the cell with the smallest window. The window is x+1 square and the cell has dimensions 3x, 1x, and 2x. What is the volume that no cell can exceed?
Pogonina.com offers you a list of some of the best tweets from last week:
We do remember that sacrifice
On chess literature
Blitz match in May between the Women's World and European Champions
Quote of the week
Poll on openings
Confessions of a chessoholic
Remember
New chess sponsor from Russia
FIDE Vice-President's criticism
Ilya Levitov: Another "pleasant surprise" from the FIDE Calendar. The Grand Prix stage in Jermuk will end on July 29th, just three days before the Russian Superfinal!!!! Once again, a smart and quiet decision...What if no one notices?...But we are monitoring the calendar on a daily basis for such surprises!
Guess who had more wins?
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Miss Flogginum, the mathematics teacher, was humiliating three of her pupils in front of the class. From left to right, Droopy, Dimwit and Dibdib stood with their back to the class and each had a digit from 0-9 pinned to his rear end, no digit being repeated. No pupil could see his own digit but was able to peep at the other two. The idea was that each had to make a statement about the two-digit number that would remain if he were not present. "It's the square of a whole number", said Droopy. "It's a prime number", reported Dimwit. Dibdib was bolder and surprised the class with a delightful observation. "The difference between the number and that formed by reversing the digits is three times the sum of the two digits."
