Sweden is now a regulated market, which means that as a player you can only play at casinos with a license. See all regulated casinos in Sweden by Mr casinova.
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Holidays are coming!
Back in USSR
GM Yuri Dokhoian, the new captain of the Russian men's chess team
Chess-News: If Dokhoian won't make it, then no one will - Vladimir Kramnik
Happy birthday!
World Mind Sports Games are over
Hi, I'm Joe, and I'm a chessoholic
I'll take you to the candy shop (C)
Judith was just one point shy of tying for first at European Blitz Championship
Any offers?
Who will become the next apprentice?
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Old Mother Pip had a wooden box of apples partitioned into a 4×4 grid of compartments. Shown is the number of apples in each section. Rearrange the digits in the grid so that when completed, each row and column totals the same number, and no row nor column has a repeated digit. Only one row and one column is shown completely correct, and only one other number is shown correctly positioned. Can you find the correct arrangement?
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Don't try this at home!
Kramnik the bookmaker?
Tell that to Grischuk and Ivanchuk
Chess legend remembered
Happy birthday, Hikaru Nakamura!
You know what to do, right?
Isn't being #1 among 1355 other contenders cool?
Ever felt that way?
Shocking news
Chess players's creativity unleashed
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Venue: Madrin, Turkey
Schedule: December 17-28
Format: 10 teams; round robin; 4 main players + 1 reserve
Initially the following federations were entitled to send their teams:
Continental Champions: Algeria, Peru, Ukraine, Vietnam
5 Qualifiers from Olympiad: Russia, China, Georgia, Cuba, United States of America
The team representing the hosting Federation: Turkey
However, some of them had to be replaced for different reasons, so the final list looks like this:
China. Average rating of top-4 players: 2527
Hou Yifan, 2578
Ju Wenjun, 2543
Zhao Xue, 2541
Tan Zhongyi, 2448
Zhang Xiaowen, 2346
Russia. Average rating of top-4 players: 2509
Nadezhda Kosintseva, 2546
Tatiana Kosintseva, 2526
Valentina Gunina, 2514 Natalia Pogonina, 2451
Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2439
Ukraine. Average rating of top-4 players: 2446
Anna Ushenina, 2463
Mariya Muzychuk, 2460
Inna Gaponenko, 2435
Natalia Zhukova, 2427
Tetiana Vasylevych, 2412
India. Average rating of top-4 players: 2421
Dronavalli Harika, 2512
Sachdev Tania, 2428
Rout Padmini, 2392
Mary Anna Gomez, 2354
Armenia. Average rating of top-4 players: 2416
Eliana Danielian, 2516
Lilit Mkrtchian, 2469
Lilit Galoian, 2383
Maria Kursova, 2315
Nelly Aginian, 2263
Vietnam. Average rating of top-4 players: 2306
Pham Le Thao Nguyen, 2341
Hoang Thi Bao Tram, 2341
Nguyen Thi Thanh An, 2300
Nguen Thi Mai Hung, 2244
Hoang Thi Nhu Y, 2218
A positional sacrifice implies giving away material for long-term positional advantages. Such exchange operations dont lead to a straightforward win of the game or material. While any piece can be positionally sacrificed, the most common victims are pawns and exchanges (i.e. rooks). There are all sorts of advantages one can gain by performing a positional sacrifice: control over key squares/files/ranks, rapid development, spoiling the placement of the opponents pieces and his pawn structure and so on.
As you might be guessing, positional sacrifices are risky. If the advantages gained dont compensate for the invested material, your plan will fail. Therefore, before sacrificing you have to:
1. Carefully evaluate the position, including: decide whether the sacrifice is a must-play one, or you have other options; how significant are the benefits? ; what is your plan after the sacrifice?; calculate variations. The more experience and positional understanding you have, the quicker this procedure can be performed. Some sacrifices can be made with your hand, i.e. in blitz mode. Nonetheless, dont be in a rush to play such a flashy move.
2. Check your psychological state. Any positional sacrifice involves taking risks, and you must make sure you are not afraid of that. If you dont feel confident enough, it is better to avoid sacrificing. Otherwise even a correct sacrifice may lead you to a loss.
Also, you must be prepared for the possible changes in the course of the game. For example, if previously the position was quiet, after the sacrifice things can become complicated, and you will have to play very precisely and consistently, without making a single mistake. However, in some positions the pattern of the game remains the same even though a sacrifice has been made.
Today I will share with you one more game from the European Team Chess Championship11. Two positional sacrifices took place there. In the first place a pawn was offered for a few positional pluses: space advantage, bad bishop on c8, blocked pawn on d7 and some weak dark squares. Then an exchange was given up for the opportunity of placing the knight on d6, thus cutting Blacks position into two virtually unconnected parts. In both cases the sacrifices were justified, as the advantages gained were substantial enough.
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Meaow!
More important than chess victories
Crushed in 22 moves, but smiling
The irreplaceable Short
Sweet dreams
Alexandra Kosteniuk: My dream came true - I had a nice sleep! :) 14 hours - that is so great! :)))
Quote of the week
Alexei Ipatov: Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it. - Henry Ford
Girl power
Baby, one more time
The perfect age to become a WGM
Ilya Levitov: Russian Chess Federation's official Galina Strutinskaya became the World Women's Veteran Chess Champion. :) Kudos to Galina Nikolaevna!
The ABC of preparing for a chess tournament
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