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.
This position has more to do with positional evaluation and calculation. Does White have enough compensation for Black's two extra pawns? Who is winning? How should White proceed?
As many of you know already, from time to time Natalia Pogonina likes playing Chess Elite on her iPod. Today we would like to offer you a great opportunity to face the top female player in online chess. Here's the step-by-step guide:
1. Make sure you own an iPhone or iPod Touch
2. Download Chess Elite (in case you haven't done so before) - either the free ad-supported version or for a symbolical price
3. Challenge grandmaster Natalia Pogonina (handle: Pogonina)
4. In a week (on October, 9th) Natalia will accept 5 random challenges from the list. Please note that the selection will be done randomly (e.g. it makes no sense to try to get a more favorable rating). Everyone has a chance, and a very decent one!
5. The handles of the lucky winners will get published in this post at Pogonina.com for everyone to see
Good luck & have fun playing Chess Elite!
UPDATE: the lucky winners are Mous, Fouad, Andbra, Hustleman, Superbuddha. Congratulations!
We don't know the exact count (different media gives 95-55, 96-65 and other scores), but one things is certain: Kirsan Ilyumzhinov won the FIDE elections and will be President for another 4 years. It is remarkable to note that his team has predicted the number of pro-Ilyumzhinov countries quite correctly, while Karpov has been successful at bringing way more countries to his side than officially declared (with only 20+ flags at his campaign website).
Time is an essential component of each serious (e.g. tournament) chess game. Just like the moves, it can affect the course of the match substantially. Being able to control your time, avoid time trouble, and take advantage of your opponents slow play is extremely valuable and guarantees a lot of extra points.
In one of my previous articles we have discussed time management in general. Today we will, in particular, talk about playing in time trouble or capitalizing on the opponents lack of time.
What to do against slow opponents
1) If you know in advance that your opponent likes to take his/her time, you can benefit from this due to proper preparation. You may want to choose a calm unforced variation aimed at complicated maneuvers and long-lasting struggle as opposed to simplifications or extensive theory.
2) Dont follow his/her shortcoming try to maintain a permanent 10 or 15 min distance between you (in your favor, of course).
3) When he/she gets into time trouble, try to keep the position tense, full of variations. Avoid simplifications and forced continuations (unless you absolutely have to, i.e. you see a forced win).
4) Complications are welcome, but dont mix them up with playing for cheap traps. A lot of won positions have been lost due to a careless and hasty hes worse and has just a minute on his clock, so hell not see this attitude.
5) Play the board, not the clock. Some people get so nervous that they start making random moves and paying more attention to the opponents clock than to the actual game. This also often leads to painful defeats.
6) If you have enough time, come up with a nice plan. This will allow you to make the next few moves quickly, while your opponent wont have the luxury to get what you are trying to do due to being short on time.
7) Watch your opponents moves carefully. Each of them can be a decisive blunder.
8) Try to find the right balance between trying to win on time and on the board. Its better to have a considerable time advantage AND a won position, but sometimes lifes not that easy.
Playing in your own time trouble
While some players (including very top guys like Grischuk or Ivanchuk) are used to playing in severe time trouble nearly each game, its very energy-consuming and risky. Therefore, its better to prevent such emergencies and make sure you always have enough time on your clock. But what should one do if time trouble is already there for some reason?
1) Use your opponents time wisely. Try to scan the position, find his/her candidate moves and prepare your responses.
2) Simplify the position. There is a good old saying the more pieces you exchange, the less you will blunder. If you are playing with increments, forced variations (unless they spoil your position) are welcome, so are repetitions. You might have seen a master repeat the position two times not because he/she wants a draw, but just to gain another minute on the clock before proceeding. This is a classical Soviet-school trick.
3) Try to avoid complications and make solid moves that dont hang anything.
4) Find a plan in order to save time on making moves. Of course, in sharp positions that can be tough to do, but sometimes (e.g. in endgames) all you need is to find which piece to relocate, etc., and there are your next few moves.
5) Stay extremely focused: dont leave the board or stand up to see other games.
Naturally, its preferable to be ahead on time, but sometimes its easier said than done. Nonetheless, if you consistently start trying to avoid time trouble, your results will eventually improve.
Let's see how I used my time advantage to win one of the games in the Russia-China match in August:
After move 20-something my opponent got into time trouble. Taking that into account, I opted for an attack on her king on move 29. Being deprived of the opportunity to think carefully about the position, Huang Qian made a few mistakes and lost.
P.S. Have a great time following the Chess Olympiad! That is a magnificent event with nearly all the top players in the world playing - don't miss it!
