Bent Larsen

Bent Larsen in Buenos Aires,January 2010

Bent Larsen, one of the greatest chess players in the world passed away on 9th September 2010. It is a big loss to the World of Chess. He suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage 14 days before and had to be rushed to the hospital. "It is especially sad that it happened in the year we had so much celebrations on his 75th Birthday.There would be another GM tournament this year but, it will probably be cancelled. Naturally we will have a memorial",said Vestergard.

Magnus Carlsen

Carlsen at the age of 13 playing against Kasparov!!

Magnus Carlsen one of the world youngest players, was born on 30 of November (now aged 19) in Tonsberg in Norway. He played his first tournament at the age of eight and was later coached by one of the greatest player in Norway, GM Simen Agdestein. He came third in the European Championship (under 12 boys). He was recognized after he won the Corus chess tournament in the year 2004 at Wijk aan Zee [ʋɛik aːn zeː] . He became a Grandmaster at the age of 13, making him the third youngest grandmaster. At the age of 19, he became the YOUNGEST player ever in history to be ranked number 1!! His highest FIDE rating is 2862.
He recently defeated Viswanathan Anand in a Rapid tournament (20min +15s) each.

Anand - Topalov game 12

This is a really good game played between Veselin Topalov from Bulgaria and Viswanathan Anand from India. This series was played in Sofia, Bulgaria. This series was played between 24th April and 13th May. This was one of the reasons why Topalov took a lot of risk to win the game because he was defeated by Kramnik on the 13th of May 2009. So, he became a bit superstitious. Before this game the points of both the players were equal (5.5). Anand was Black and Topalov was White. This was a typical QP opening wherein White started of with d4. Before this series Anand had played just 67 games against Topalov. Anand won 17 games 13 as White and 4 as Black and drew 37 games (the rest were won by Topalov). This game was the only Black victory of the series. Anand later referred to this game as the toughest of his career. I have picked up a really good video with detailed analysis.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 O-O 7.e3 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Rc1 c6 10.Be2 Nxc3 11.Rxc3 dxc4 12.Bxc4 Nd7 13.O-O b6 14.Bd3 c5 15.Be4 Rb8 16.Qc2 Nf6!? 17.dxc5 Nxe4 18.Qxe4 bxc5 19.Qc2 Bb7 20.Nd2 Rfd8 21.f3 Ba6 22.Rf2 Rd7 23.g3 Rbd8 24.Kg2 Bd3 25.Qc1 Ba6 26.Ra3 Bb7 27.Nb3 Rc7 28.Na5 Ba8 29.Nc4 e5 30.e4 f5! 31.exf5? e4! 32.fxe4?? Qxe4+ 33.Kh3 Rd4 34.Ne3 Qe8! 35.g4 h5 36.Kh4 g5+ 37.fxg6 Qxg6 38.Qf1 Rxg4+ 39.Kh3 Re7 40.Rf8+ Kg7 41.Nf5+ Kh7 42.Rg3 Rxg3+ 43.hxg3 Qg4+ 44.Kh2 Re2+ 45.Kg1 Rg2+ 46.Qxg2 Bxg2 47.Kxg2 Qe2+ 48.Kh3 c4 49.a4 a5 50.Rf6 Kg8 51.Nh6+ Kg7 52.Rb6 Qe4 53.Kh2 Kh7 54.Rd6 Qe5 55.Nf7 Qxb2+ 56.Kh3 Qg7 0–1

Anand won the game thus retaining the World Title.

The Evergreen Game

This game is another classic played by Adolf Anderssen and Dufresne. Anderrsen was playing white and Dufresne black. This called the Evan's gambit. In this opening white gives up material to gain advantage in development. The game went on like this:

White: Anderssen

Black: Durfesne

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. Bc4 Bc5

4. b4 Bxb4

In case white continued with c3 it would be called the Giuocco Piano (Italian Game) where in after...

4. c3 Nf6

5. d4 exd4

6. cxd4 Bb5 +

1)...there would be two possibilities here Nc3 which is a gambit where white sacrifices a pawn and develops his pieces. At the end of this variation the position would be unclear because black has more material but white has a solid position.

2)...the other possibility is Bd2. Here black exchanges his black bishop. At the end of this variation the position will be equal. Now, back to the game.

5. c3 Ba5

6. d4 exd4

7. O-O d3?!

8. Qb3!? Qf6

9. e5 Qg6

10. Re1! Nge7

11. Ba3 b5?!

12. Qxb5 Rb8

13. Qa4 Bb6

14. Nbd2 Bb7

15. Ne4 Qf5?

16. Bxd3 Qh5

17. Nf6+!? gxf6

18. exf6 Rg8

19. Rad1 Qxf3?

20. Rxe7+! Nxe7

21. Qxd7+! Kxd7

22. Bf5+ Ke8

23. Bd7+ Kf8

24. Bxe7# 1-0

The Immortal Game

This game was played between two great players, Adolf Anderrsen and Lionel Kieseritzky.

Anderrsen playing white chose to play the King's Gambit which was accepted by Black. Anderrsen sacrificed his two rooks, one bishop and his queen to mate Black.

1. e4 e5
2. f4 exf4
3. Bc4 Qh4+?!
4. Kf1 b5
5. Bxb5 Nf6
6. Nf3 Qh6
7. d3 Nh5
8. Nh4 Qg5
9. Nf5 c6
10. g4 Nf6
11. Rg1! cxb5?
12. h4! Qg6
13. h5 Qg5
14. Qf3 Ng8
15. Bxf4 Qf6
16. Nc3 Bc5
17. Nd5!? Qxb2
18. Bd6! Bxg1?
19. e5! Qxa1+
20. Nxg7+ Kd8
21. Qf6+! Nxf6
22. Be7#

Fischer-Spassky Game 6 - The match Of the Century

In the sixth game, for the first time in his life, Fischer opened with 1. c4, nullifying Spassky's extensive opening preparation. Yet again, Spassky played passively. After 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 b6 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. Rc1 Be6 12. Qa4 c5 13. Qa3 Rc8 14. Bb5 a6 15. dxc5 bxc5 16. O-O Ra7 17. Be2 Nd7 18. Nd4 Qf8 19. Nxe6 fxe6 20. e4 d4 21. f4 Qe7 22. e5 Rb8 23. Bc4 Kh8 24. Qh3 Nf8 25. b3 a5 26. f5, White had a crushing attack.

The game continued 26... exf5 27. Rxf5 Nh7 28. Rcf1 Qd8 29. Qg3 Re7 30. h4 Rbb7 31. e6 Rbc7 32. Qe5 Qe8 33. a4 Qd8 34. R1f2 Qe8 35. R2f3 Qd8 36. Bd3 Qe8 37. Qe4 Nf6 38. Rxf6 gxf6 39. Rxf6 Kg8 40. Bc4 Kh8 41. Qf4 1-0

After this game, Spassky joined the audience in applauding Fischer's win. Psychologically, he had already lost the match. He would later reluctantly refer to this game as the best of the match.

Anand

Viswanathan Anand was born on 11 December 1969 (1969-12-11) (age 40) in Mayiladutharai, Tamil Nadu, India. He is the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2007 till today. He defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008. With this win he became the world's first chess player to have won the World chamionship in all three formats: knockout, tournament and match. He defended his title once again against Topalov in a twelve match series in 2010. He became a grandmaster in 1988 at the age of 19. He is proud of the fact that his mother taught him chess. Anand held the FIDE World championship for two years from 2000 to 2002. He was the first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award which was awarded in 1991-92, India's highest sporting honour. He has also been awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award.

Anand wins!!

Anand won in the 12th and final round against Topalov. He played black in this round and won. This was the one and only win by black. Topalov exchanged the queen for a rook and a bishop. He resigned after Anand's 56th move Qg7. This move is winning a piece for Anand.

Algebraic Notation

In chess one can record moves using symbols. There are symbols for different things in chess.

For example : square names, pieces, analyzing symbols, etc.

Square names- The horizontal rows are called ranks and the vertical ones are called files.

The ranks are given the numbers from 1-8 and the files are given the alphabets a-h. So to note down a name of a square Note down the rank no. and file name.
For example : Rank number = 6, File name = f
Then the square name is f6. Note that the letter in the name of the square is written in lower caps. This rule must be followed.
The symbol for the pieces is written in capitals.
King-K
Queen-Q
Rook-R
Knight-N
Bishop-B
Pawn-(the square should alone be given).

Special Moves :Castling

Castling as I said before consists of rook and king. In this the rook and the king more or less swap places. The king moves 2 squares away from its initial position and the rook moves next to it (king) on the other side. However there are some requirements for this special move to be played.

Castling is permissible only if all of the following conditions hold:

1. The king has not moved (prior to castling);
2. The chosen rook has not moved (prior to castling);
3. There must be no pieces between the king and the chosen rook;
4. The king is not in check.
5. The king must not pass through a square that is under attack by enemy pieces.
6. The king must not end up in check (true of any legal move).
7. The king and the chosen rook must be on the same rank.

Special Moves :Pawn Promotion

Pawn promotion is a simple and important part in chess. As the name suggests, a player can promote the pawn into any other piece (queen, bishop, knight or rook) upon the condition that the promoting pawn reaches the last rank or the last row. A player may already have one queen but, he can have more than one queen.The same applies for all the other pieces other than the king. A pawn cannot be promoted into a king.

Special Moves : En Passant

There are three special moves. They are pawn promotion, en passant, castling.

Pawn promotion and en passant are special moves of pawns whereas castling consists of the king and the rook.

En passant : This is a capturing move. In this if a pawn moves two squares forward the hostile pawn which is just next to pawn (after it is moved) can capture it. The pawn should be kept on the square in front of the initial position. You will understand better with the picture.

Anand - Topalov

The following results are of the World Chess Championship at Sofia in Bulgaria between Anand and Topalov:

• First game : Topalov wins after a 30 moves
• Second game :Anand wins after 43 moves
• Third game : DRAW
• Fourth game : Anand wins after 32 moves
• Fifth game : DRAW
• Sixth game : DRAW
• Seventh game : DRAW
• Eighth game : Topalov wins
• Ninth game : DRAW
• Tenth game : DRAW
• Eleventh game : DRAW
• Twelfth game : Anand wins in 56 moves and retains his title as World Chess Champion

The following series can be watched live on http://anand-topalov.com/.

Check and Checkmate

Check: When a hostile piece(queen, knight, rook, bishop) or pawn attacks the king. There are 3 ways of defending the checks i.e by capturing(killing) the hostile piece, by moving the king away or by bringing a piece in between the hostile piece and the game.

Checkmate: When the king cannot escape from check in any of the ways. This is the end of the game.

Chess game

Each chess set consists of a board with 64 squares (32 white 32 black), 32 chessmen (16 white(8 Pawns, 2 Rooks, 1 King, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights, 1 Queen) 16 black(8 Pawns, 2 Rooks, 1 King, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights, 1 Queen)).

The aim of the game is to move your chessmen (white or black) across the board to checkmate the opponent king.

Introduction

Hey Guys !! We are Rohit and Ashrit and we love to play chess, here are some of our experiences. We created this blog to encourage people to play chess. We are from Bengaluru (Bangalore) ,India. Actually, chess originated in India. It is called Chaturanga in the southern parts of India and Shatranj in norhthern parts. If you people have any doubts, questions or suggestions , you are welcome to send it to us at chessfundas@gmail.com .