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Is the Gap between Women and Men in Chess Closing?
Written by Administrator
Friday, 17 June 2011
Let's take a look at the average rating of top-10 men and top-10 women for the last ten years.
Date
Average rating of top-10 (Men)
Average rating of top-10 (Women)
Gap
Jan. 2001
2751.2
2533.6
217.6
Jan. 2002
2749.9
2530.9
219
Jan. 2003
2752
2520.7
231.3
Jan. 2004
2749.6
2525.6
224
Jan. 2005
2749.5
2511.6
237.9
Jan. 2006
2757.8
2525.1
232.7
Jan. 2007
2753.4
2537.2
216.2
Jan. 2008
2766.4
2554.2
212.2
Jan. 2009
2769.5
2560.9
208.6
Jan. 2010
2773.6
2557.1
216.5
Jan. 2011
2782.4
2568.8
213.6
A few quick conclusions:
The average rating of top-10 men has increased by 31.2 points during the last 10 years
The average rating of top-10 women has increased by 35.2 points during the last 10 years
The data doesn't prove that the gap is closing fast enough. It is still over 200 points (the difference in title rating requirements for women as compared to men), and has decreased by only 4 points during 2001-2011
Interview with World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand
Written by Administrator
Thursday, 16 June 2011
A nice interview with Viswanathan Anand by ChessVIbes. Some of the topics include the recent match against Shirov, birth of a son, the Candidates Matches, cheating in chess, opening preparation, upcoming match with Gelfand, chess engines, etc.
Gaining a material advantage is a classic way of winning in chess. In some situations an extra pawn is sufficient for a victory, in others even being up a queen doesnt guarantee anything. After all, the main goal of chess is to checkmate the opponents king, not to capture all the pieces (pawngrabbers take notice!). Positional factors often outweigh the material balance. Frequently we have to make a decision whether to win material or not. It occurs in the following situations: 1) Your opponent offers you a sacrifice 2) You have a positional advantage, which can be converted into a material advantage 3) Your opponent blundered.
Lets consider the cases one at a time.
Your opponent is offering a sacrifice
First you have to determine whether it is a sound sacrifice. If it is incorrect and there are no better moves, you can accept the sacrifice. If the sacrifice is sound, things are more tricky. Sometimes it is better to accept it, sometimes not. The hardest case is when it is not possible to calculate the consequences of a sacrifice (e.g. your opponent gives up a knight for a long-lasting initiative against your king) and there is a choice whether to accept the sacrifice or to decline. Here you will have to consider lots of factors: what can the sacrifice lead to (e.g. are you risking losing, or does your opponent have a perpetual at best?), which side has the easier play after it, how much time both of you have, etc.
You have a positional advantage, which can be converted into a material advantage
As you probably know, gradually increasing your positional advantage often forces the opponent to give up some material. Your task is to evaluate where you have higher chances: with the material advantage or without it. In some positions it makes sense to continue the attack or keep on building up pressure instead of, lets say, grabbing a pawn or an exchange and having a hard time converting it. Of course, each case is unique. Most pros prefer an easy technical win (even if it takes a lot of moves to play out) to computer-like variations where a single misstep may cost you the game. However, a proper balance is required between trying to play perfectly and relying exclusively on technique.
Your opponent blundered
Unless you have an even more tempting option, you should capitalize on your opponents blunders. Watch out for traps though!
At the beginning of the game Black turned down Whites offers of the c4 pawn. Then White chose a dubious plan and made a few mistakes, but I failed to make the most out of them (15Bd4 instead of Bb2). In the middlegame the position was about equal, but White was always on the defensive, and spent a lot of time and energy. Then I had to choose at what point to win the a-pawn. To crown it all off, my opponent made a few inaccurate moves in time trouble and lost.
Below you can find 10 statements about Russian chess. Half of them (5) are true, half of them are false. Do you know chess well enough to tell which ones are which? Don't hesitate to post your answers and guesses!
1)The coach of the Russian junior team is also a reigning European Chess Champion
2)The regional code for cars in Saratov (where Natalia Pogonina lives) is 64
3)Russia has the highest number of GMs per capita in the world
4)87% of Russians know how to play chess
5)Russia (and USSR) have had more World Chess Champions than all the other countries combined
6)Russia's president Dmitry Medvedev is a chess master
7)Chess is an obligatory subject in the Russian school curriculum
8)There is not a single woman in the Russian top-50
9)In his junior years FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was the champion of USSR in chess
10) The average rating of top-20 Russian players is over 2700. It is a unique case
