Rybka wins World Computer Chess Championship

The US program Rybka won the 16th World Computer Chess Championship that was held in Beijing, China, a full point ahead of its nearest rival, the British program Hiarcs. Third, a point behind, was the Israeli program Junior, followed by Cluster Toga and then Shredder. The hardware used in the event ranged from a 40-core system to a Nokia cell phone. Final report.

16th World Computer Chess Championship

This tournament was held from September 28th to October 5th 2008 in the Beijing Golden Century Golf Club, Fangshan, Beijing, China. It was part of the Computer Games Championship, with 28 different games like chess, draughts, checkers, Go, backgammon, etc. The final standing in the chess tournament was as follows:

The victory of Rybka was hardly surprising, since this program is dominating the computer rating lists and was running on the most powerful hardware in Beijing. The performance of the British program Hiarcs, the oldest in the field, was very impressive. In the final round Hiarcs beat the German program Shredder, which in the past has won many world championship titles. The Israeli program Junior, also a former world champion, finished a clear point behind Hiarcs in third place. Here a dramatic game from the final round:

Computer Chess World Champion Vasik Rajlich, author of Rybka

The program Rybka is well known to our readers – Version 3 was launched by ChessBase in July this year. It won the 15th World Computer Chess Championship in Amsterdam last year and so was the defending champion in Beijing. Author IM Vasik Rajlich mentions Lukas Cimiotti, who provided some awesome hardware for the event: an overclocked 40-core (5x2x4) Harpertown cluster. "Lukas also spent about two weeks working with me to make sure that everything ran properly," Vasik writes. "We must have had more than 100 phone conversations related to this. For what it's worth, in self-play, the performance of this Rybka configuration seems to be around 100 Elo higher than that of Rybka 3 running on a normal overclocked Skulltrail. The search tree is shaped differently, giving the entity a somewhat different playing style. I find it quite attractive – the play is very precise. There is some food for thought here in the area of normal multi-processor search. Lukas is a regular in the Playchess engine room and no doubt anyone who is curious can learn more there."

Vas Rajlich experimenting with hardware in his Budapest flat

The program Hiarcs (pronounced "high-arks") has a long history. It was originally developed by Mark Uniake (pronounced You-nee-ack) more than twenty years ago, and today it is available on a number of platforms (PC, Macintosh, handheld devices). Hiarcs' playing style is very aggressive, with a distinctive liking for attacking the opponent's king. This often leads to dynamic exciting games which are played on a knife-edge. Hiarcs is written entirely in 'C' and it searches around an order of magnitude less positions per second (average 1,8 million) than most of its competitors. However, it makes up for this apparent slow speed by clever searching and accurate evaluation. The program uses many selective search extension heuristics to guide the search and incorporates a sophisticated tapered search to resolve tactical uncertainties while finding positionally beneficial lines.

Junior is an Israeli program developed as a hobby by Amir Ban and Shay Bushinsky. In 2006 it won the 14th World Computer Chess Championship in Turin, Italy, in 2004 the 12th WCCC in Ramat-Gan, Israel, and in 2002 the 10th WCCC in Maastricht, Holland. 

Cluster Toga is a German system running a parallelized version of the program Toga (based on Fruit). The hardware used in Beijing was a 24-core cluster. The German program Shredder, which scored a disappointing 50% in this event, has, like Junior, won multiple world computer chess championships in the past: the 11th WCCC in Graz, Austria, in 2003, and the 9th in Paderborn, Germany, in 1999. Shredder is written in ANSI-C and therefore it can easily compiled on various hardware platforms.

Links

• Official web site
• All the games in PGN
• Hiarcs forum with discussions and pictures
• Rybka Forum, with a lot of discussion on the WCCC, comments by the Rybka team.
• Buy Rybka 3, Deep Rybka 3, Hiarcs 12, Deep Hiarcs 12, Shredder 11, Deep Shredder 11

Prices for Rybka

Multi-processor version: Deep Rybka 3		99.90 Euro
Single processor version: Rybka 3		49.99 Euro
Rybka 3 Book		24.99 Euro

Note that Rybka 3 includes a database of one million games, and that the purchase of the program entitles you to one year of access to the chess server Playchess.com. Rybka 3 is a UCI engine, with 32 and 64-bit versions included in the package. Rybka can be made the default engine in ChessBase 10.

Article Source : Chessbase 

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With GM Nigel Short | A Recent Interview

Mention GM Nigel Short and we think grandmaster, world championship challenger, coach, author and journalist. Some of us will also associate him with the French Defence, an opening that he used to play regularly many years ago. But away from the chess board, this man is also very well known for his witty reports and articles on chess. Edwin Lam interviews the chess writer.

Bisik-Bisik with GM Nigel Short

By Edwin Lam Choong Wai

As a chess player, Short, the England number two, is best known as the man who challenged Kasparov’s throne back in 1993. En route to his world championship summit against Kasparov, Short defeated no less an opposition, than the ex-World Champion, Anatoly Karpov, in a match. Besides his illustrious individual career, Short is also a constant feature in the English national team having represented them to countless Chess Olympiads, Euroteams and World Team Championships.

Away from the chess board, this man is also very well known for his witty reports and articles on chess – a far cry from the other writers who are content with a drier approach to chess journalism. His writings have appeared on the pages of The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail and The Spectator.

While his competitive chess career may have been very well documented, the same cannot be said about his career as a chess journalist and writer. In this Bisik-Bisik column, let us sit back and read more about Short, the chess journalist.

Edwin Lam: Do you consider yourself, first and foremost, a chess player and only then a chess journalist? Or, vice versa?

Nigel Short: I have always considered myself to be first and foremost a chess player. This was true even in 2005, when I hardly played at all and was dependent upon writing for my livelihood.

Edwin Lam: When was your first foray into chess journalism?

Nigel Short: I am not quite sure of the answer to this one. I was asked to fill in for Peter Clarke at the Sunday Times, during a four week period of his convalescence. I think I must have been about 18 at the time. My contributions, without being dire, were forgettable.

Edwin Lam: What inspired you to be a chess journalist?

Nigel Short: I really came into journalism by accident. I was a very poor student, having been thrown out of two schools, for low academic achievement, by the age of 17 and thus had a massive inferiority complex. My friend Dominic Lawson, however, totally against prevailing opinion, regarded me as a smart and capable individual, and asked me to do a review of Kasparov and Trelford's "Child of Change" for the Spectator, for which he was working at the time. Dominic liked my piece, as, more importantly, did the Literary Editor of the magazine. I would say that this was the moment when I first began to believe I could become a good writer.

Edwin Lam: When you started as a chess journalist back then, what were your goals like? Did you dream to one day be reporting for the chess public around the world?

Nigel Short: My first regular journalistic job was when I became chess columnist for the Daily Telegraph. I didn't really have ambitions per se: it was just a very useful source of income. I guess it took me a little before I really found my stride.

Edwin Lam: Could you please share with us as to what your journey was like, over the years, as a chess journalist?

Nigel Short: My best work was done during the ten years I wrote for the Sunday Telegraph. Of course, not everything I submitted was a masterpiece, but I managed to produce sharp and witty columns at fairly regular intervals. To be honest, I would not mind seeing them in an anthology. I was also very pleased with the overwhelmingly positive response to my San Luis World Championship reports for ChessBase. The website received literally hundreds of e-mails praising my reports. It is quite obvious that the vast majority of chess fans don't care for masses of analysis: they want excitement, flavour and good description. Almost everyone I know possesses a volume or two of Kasparov's classic "My Great Predecessors" but I have found again and again that people simply have not read it. At some point they become intimidated by the labrythine variations. I think there is a moral there.

Edwin Lam: In your opinion, what was the role of a chess journalist back then?

Nigel Short: Chess journalists should inform and entertain.

Edwin Lam: The Internet emerged as a great force in the 1990s. In your opinion, how has the Internet changed the face of chess journalism?

Nigel Short: It has made it much easier to cover events.

Edwin Lam: And, how has the Internet changed the role of a chess journalist in the past 15 years?

Nigel Short: Nowadays everyone is a big genius sitting on his fat arse in front of the computer watching Rybka and Fritz whirring away. Therefore journalists who just copy and paste cyber evaluations don't produce anything worthwhile. I am certain there is a huge unmet demand for humorous, instructive, amusing, quality writing.

Edwin Lam: Over the past few years, very many chess players have also started blogging. How do you see the role of bloggers being different from that played by a chess journalist?

Nigel Short: I have not given enough thought to this question.

Edwin Lam: Thank you for this interesting conversation.

Courtesy: Chessbase

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The Ruy Lopez for White - Classical Variation Part 1

We will start a new chapter today, which will deal with The Classical Variation, characterized by the move 3...Bc5.  It goes like this:

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Bc5 3...Bc5 is a very natural and active move. However, it has never been really popular because it runs straight into White's basic plan of c3 and d4. As this can hardly be prevented, Black must be prepared to lose time by moving this bishop again. Nevertheless, there is a plus side in that that the bishop will be actively placed on the a7-g1 diagonal , where it can exert pressure on White's centre. Black's main problem is that it is difficult for him to maintain his pawn on e5, where it comes under considerable attack.

White's two main options after 3...Bc5 are 4 c3 and 4 0-0. Out of these two, recommended is the slightly more flexible 4 0-0, which also rules out having to learn the unclear consequences of 4 c3 f5 !?

The different variations in this chapter basically revolves around Black's fourth move alternatives. 

Let's start with Variation A: 4...Nge7

In the next post, we will study the two remaining variations in this chapter.

Keep visiting and keep reading! There is lot more to come.

Thanks a lot. Enjoy!

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The Ruy Lopez for White - Schliemann Variation/Jaenisch Defence Part 3

Hello everybody,

The last discussion in the Schliemann Variation/Jaenisch Defence was regarding Black's fourth move alternative 4...Nd4!?, where we saw that White can make out an advantage for him in the endgame.

This time we will study Black's main continuation as a fourth move alternative, 4...fxe4, Third Main Option for Black in this situation. This Variation has two sub-variation and will be a little long. So, sit tight, watch and learn.

Following is a discussion on Variation C1: 5...Nf6

Now let's study Black's fifth move alternative, Variation C2: 5...d5

Black's reply of 4...fxe4 is the most complicated Variation in the Schliemann/Jaenisch Defence owing to the fact that it has so many alternatives for both sides!!! But White, with cautious playing, can still keep an edge over Black. And that requires knowledge and imagination about how the outcome is going to be! 

So, take your time and go through the variation repeatedly until you get a clear picture of the happenings at various positions and you will come to know how to imagine a stronger position and how to plan for it.

Well, this was all about the Schliemann/Jaenisch Defence.

From the next post we will study a new chapter, The Classical Variation in the Ruy Lopez. 

So, keep visiting and keep reading. There is lot more to come. Let us know your feelings about earlier posts.

Until then, bye.

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With Vishy Anand - a recent interview

In a rare interview before the World Championship, which begins in less than two weeks in Bonn, Germany, the reigning champion Viswanathan Anand speaks about the title match against Russian Vladimir Kramnik, about his training in the cellar, the role of emotions and his meeting with Bobby Fischer. The story is in the SPIEGEL, one of Europes largest new portals.

Interview with Viswanathan Anand in Der Spiegel

SPIEGEL: Mr Anand, in two weeks you will be defending your title as World Champion against the Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik in Bonn [Germany]. Two weeks ago you finished last in the Masters Tournament in Bilbao. Is that a psychological handicap?

Anand: Thank you very much for bringing that up. It reminds me of John Cleese from Monty Python. In Fawlty Towers a group of Germans visits his hotel, and he admonishes his staff not to mention the war to them – while he himself can talk about nothing else. So please: don't mention Bilbao.

SPIEGEL: Okay, then on to Bonn. The World Championship goes over eight games, with a possible tiebreak. You have known Kramnik for nineteen years. Can he still surprise you?

Anand: We have been playing in the same events since 1993. But there is a difference if you know someone and if you understand him. In the past twenty years Kramnik has played a few thousand games, and if you show me a position from one of them, in 90 percent of the time I will be able to tell you which game it is from. But one cannot conclude from that that I can see through him. In fact I expect him to surprise me. And vice versa, logically.

SPIEGEL: How did you prepare for the World Championship?

Anand: I have been studying Kramnik since the end of April, up to ten hours a day, here at home in my cellar, where I have my office. I have a database and construct game plans. I try to neutralise positions in which Kramnik is strong. He is doing the same thing with my game, which I must of course take into consideration. Let me put it this way: I must remember that he is thinking about what I am thinking about him. In any case one is working for months with the computer, trying to find new paths.

SPIEGEL: Computers are becoming more and more important. Has chess become a preparation game – whoever is better prepared wins?

Anand: That was always the case. Today we analyse our games with the computer, in the 16th century people did it with a board. That is only a gradual difference. Preparation for a world championship was always an arms race, in previous times with books, then with seconds, today with computers. The computer is an excellent training partner. It helps me to improve my game.

SPIEGEL: But if chess becomes a computer game and every move is calculated by the machine, then isn't the human being simply moving the pieces, and won't every game end in a draw?

Anand: No. Actually I was always pessimistic. Ten years ago I said that 2010 would be the end, chess would be exhausted. But it is not true, chess will not die so quickly. There are still many rooms in the building which we have not yet entered. Will it happen in 2015? I don't think so. For every door the computers have closed they have opened a new one.

SPIEGEL: What do you mean by that?

Anand: Twenty years ago we were doing things that don't work today because of computers. We used to bluff our way through games, but today our opponents analyse them with a computer and recognize in a split second what we were up to. Computers do not fall for tricks. On the other hand we can undertake more complex preparation. In the past years there have been spectacular games that would not have been possible without computers. The possibility of playing certain moves would never have occurred to us. It is similar to astrophysics: their work may not be as romantic as in previous times, but they would never have progressed so far with paper and pencil.

SPIEGEL: One keeps hearing rumours of players secretly using computers during their games. That is cheating. Are the genies out of the bottle?

Anand: It is a threat that we have to live with. I have got used to being checked with metal detectors before playing a game. In the beginning it was a shock for me, since I grew up during an innocent age in sports. But technology develops very quickly. Somebody can be sitting at a remote place, following a game with a computer and sending information to the player. Receivers are becoming smaller, and the number of cheaters is growing. We need to take measures. We have a rule that says that if a mobile phone rings during a game you lose. It is tough, but it has to be enforced. The alternative would be to permit the use of computers during the game.

SPIEGEL: That would be like legalising doping.

Anand: I think it is not doping, it is a different form of the game. But chess should remain a contest of strength between two human beings.

SPIEGEL: What is the role of emotions?

Anand: They are decisive. The moment in which you realise that you have made a mistake is the most unsettling you can imagine. You have to try to keep control of your emotions. Chess is a form of acting. If your opponent senses your insecurity or your annoyance or your dejection, then you are bolstering his courage. He will take advantage of your weakness. Confidence is very important – even pretending to be confident. If you make a mistake but do not let your opponent see what you are thinking then he may overlook the mistake.

SPIEGEL: Are you good at reading the faces of your opponents?

Anand: Usually their faces are completely calm and dispassionate. The exception was Garry Kasparov, against whom I played a World Championship in New York in 1995. He was an open book. What I tend to do is to listen to their breathing.

SPIEGEL: You listen to your opponent breathing?

Anand: If the breathing is deep or shallow, fast or slow – that reveals a lot about the degree of his agitation. In a match that lasts a month even a clearing of the throat can be quite important. Incidental facts are also important: did your opponent have a fight with his wife? If he is occupied with private matters he may not be as focussed as usual.

SPIEGEL: Do you work with psychological tricks?

Anand: No.

SPIEGEL: What do you find most disturbing?

Anand: When my opponent turns the game around. Sometimes it is almost liberating when you finally lose. I think to myself, okay, the point is gone, tomorrow you are going to play better. During a world championship you have to be careful not to panic. It occupies your mind when you see your opponent at breakfast. Is he relaxed? Tense? One is in a strange way obsessed. Kramnik and I will be staying in the same hotel in Bonn, but in opposite wings. Actually we like each other, but it will take quite some time before we exchange any words.

SPIEGEL: Can you switch off in the evening during such tournaments?

Anand: It is difficult to relax without having feelings of guilt. I keep asking myself: shouldn't you be working? But you have to relax, otherwise you cannot play well. Experience helps you to find the right balance. I like to watch old Hitchcock films in order to give my brain a rest.

SPIEGEL: Your nickname is the "Tiger of Madras". But you are not considered to be a predator on the chessboard. Some experts say you are missing the killer instinct. Are they right?

Anand: The thing with the tiger was an invention by some journalist who probably could not think of any other Indian animal. Normally I avoid conflict, and I am indeed not a killer like Kasparov. That is not my style. I am used to moving around in peaceful surroundings. I grew up in a family where values were very important.

SPIEGEL: You are a Brahmin and belong to the highest Hindu cast. You learnt to play chess from your mother, when you were six years old. Unlike the Russian prodigies you were not systematically trained. Would you have liked to go to a special chess school?

Anand: No, that would not have helped me a lot. I would have missed the fun. I had to earn permission to play chess by producing good results in school. Sometime I could not play for a month, and after that I was dying to get back to it and very happy when I could play in a tournament again. That had a great influence on me. After high school I studied business economics, because I was afraid of becoming a chess nut.

SPIEGEL: The American Bobby Fischer, who died at the beginning of the year, was chess crazy, paranoid, misanthropic. You met this chess genius two and a half years ago in Iceland, where he was living in exile. How did that happen?

Anand: I played in a tournament in Reykjavik and the Icelandic grandmaster Helgi Olafsson asked me if I would be interested in meeting Bobby Fischer. Olafsson picked him up from his flat, while I waited in the car. Fischer probably wanted to avoid my knowing which apartment was his.

SPIEGEL: What did you talk to him about?

Anand: Fischer told me how he sometimes rode around Reykjavik with the bus, in order to see the city. He complained that he could not get Indian balm [Amrutanjan] in Iceland. Suddenly he wanted to go to McDonalds. So there he was, this legend of the chess world, asking me if I took ketchup.

SPIEGEL: Did you talk about chess?

Anand: Of course. We were standing in a park and Bobby pulled out an old pocket chess set and we analysed a couple of games between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in 1974. He wanted to prove that all world championship games after his victory were prearranged. He did not convince me.

SPIEGEL: Why did Fischer specifically want to meet you?

Anand: Perhaps he felt an affinity. We are both from countries in which chess was not popular until we came along. I am not Russian and Fischer felt persecuted by the Soviets in the past. And there is evidence to suggest that Soviet grandmasters actually ganged up against him.

SPIEGEL: Fischer proposed a new variation of the game, which is called Fischer Random Chess. He wanted the pieces in the starting position to me shuffled before every game. Would that not be a more creative form of chess?

Anand: I do not think much of a random placement of the pieces. That is perhaps something for people who were previously active and now have very little time. They don't want to study openings theory. But the opening systems are part of chess.

SPIEGEL: Some top players have gone mad during their careers, like the Austrian Wilhelm Steinitz, the first generally recognised world champion. Is that a professional risk?

Anand: You need to have a life apart from chess, then there is no danger. You have to have other interests. But there weren't that many who became seriously deranged. Only they became known to a wide public. I am sure there are just as many crazy doctors or bus drivers.

SPIEGEL: You are now 38 years old, which means that as a chess professional you are close to retirement. How long are you going to keep playing?

Anand: As long as I can play at the top. At the moment I feel great, my best years were the last three. But it is clear that chess players are becoming younger and younger.

SPIEGEL: In recent times the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen has been in the headlines. He is seventeen and at the beginning of the month he was, for five days, the number one in the unofficial world rankings. How good is he?

Anand: He will sooner or later become World Champion. I like him, he is a Monty Python fan, just like me.

SPIEGEL: There are rumours that he is your second for the World Championship against Kramnik.

Anand: That's a rumour I have heard as well. Perhaps there is some truth in it. Perhaps not. Let Kramnik figure it out, let him occupy his mind with this question. That is part of the psychological game before this kind of match. When you know who is part of your opponent's team you can imagine what he is planning. So I will not reveal anything.

SPIEGEL: Mr Anand, we thank you for this interview.

The interview was conducted by SPIEGEL editors Ansbert Kneip und Maik Großekathöfer. The original German version is to be found in the latest issue of SPIEGEL Magazine and on Spiegel Online, Europe's largest news portal. Translation into English by Frederic Friedel. Interview © SPIEGEL.

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Devil's Advocate: Viswanathan Anand on mind games

World chess champion Viswanathan Anand is set for his title-defending match against challenger and Russian Grand Master Vladimir Kramnik in October. Anand says Kramnik’s challenge and taunts don’t bother him because he believes “the main thing” is to win. “My own tendency is to just ignore him,” Anand told Karan Thapar(one of the leading journalist's in India) in an interview on Devil’s Advocate ( a popular program on Indian Television) .Here is the full interview ahead of the title-defending match next month.

Karan Thapar: What does the World Chess Championship mean to you?

Viswanathan Anand: It is the end of a long journey for me; it is the realisation of a dream. When I started out playing chess as a kid I thought I should be world champion. As a kid you have no idea what that means and you only sort of picture it. It is hard to imagine that I waited all those years and it happened in a late stage of my career.

Karan Thapar: You were surprised that it didn’t happen earlier?

Viswanathan Anand: It happened in Delhi in 2000 but under the cloud of two rival associations and all that. This time it has been devoid of all that. When I became World Champion this time and got the rating you knew I was just that: the World Champion.

Karan Thapar: In fact the World Champion title has led to many other recognitions. You will get the Padma Vibhusan from the President in Delhi. How does that compare with the World Championships?

Viswanathan Anand: Of course, it is (the Padma Vibhusan) very prestigious but in a way it is not about choosing. The World Championship led to the Padma Vibhusan in a sense, so it follows from that.

Karan Thapar: So the World Championship is really the special one.

Viswanathan Anand: Definitely.

Karan Thapar: You have got a lot of recognition but the truth is in India other than cricketers most sportspersons tend to get ignored. When people make that point they are usually thinking of the way the Twenty20 team was treated after winning the World Cup. Would you agree that other sports tend to get ignored or overshadowed?

Viswanathan Anand: I think in India cricket is a fact of life. You have to accept that but my reception when I became World Champion was spectacular—both times. In 2000 as well we had a parade in Chennai. In 2007, I was received in Delhi at the airport by what seemed to me a huge mob of people. The same happened in Chennai a few days later. I don’t feel neglected in any way. I think you can always try to promote your sport better. I don’t feel neglected or badly treated in any way.

Karan Thapar: Not neglected, but let me put a comparison to you. You were given Rs 25 lakh by the Tamil Nadu government when you became the World Champion and you got Rs 10 lakh more from the chess federation. In contrast, almost at the same time, Yuvraj Singh hit six sixes and he got Rs 1 crore from the BCCI and another Rs 80 lakh as part of the winning team. So you have a situation of Rs 1.8 crore versus Rs 35 lakh. Is that a fair difference?

Viswanathan Anand: What the state government did was very nice, and so was the Central Government. If the BCCI does something it is between them. You have wide differentials in prize money in various sports. I don’t really want to complain too much or in fact complain at all. The World Championship was very special and for a few days I felt like a complete star here.

Karan Thapar: What about the fact that if you had been a Russian you would have been lauded almost like Sachin Tendulkar is in India. Do you sometimes feel that chess in India doesn’t quite have the status and stature that it does in Russia?

Viswanathan Anand: Let us put it this way. If you compare chess when I started out and what it is today then you can see the sea change that has taken place. I am pretty proud that in some way I have contributed to that, but it is up to me to build that up from where we are. You have to build chess as a mass sport in India. That is why we are very keen to get the Mind Champions Academies into more and more states. We have already some 5,000 schools; last year about 115,000 students took part in this competition. But you have to build these numbers; success just won’t appear. You have got to build these numbers, and potentially we are building a huge chess fan base.

Karan Thapar: India is the No. 1 chess-playing nation in Asia and it has 17 Grandmasters. Do Indians have a special affinity for chess?

Viswanathan Anand: I think so. If you look at our sporting performance it is really in very few areas but chess is one sport which we have taken to naturally.

Karan Thapar: Why have we taken to it naturally? Is it genetic or is it some sort of special affinity, like our affinity for maths and information technology?

Viswanathan Anand: It could be bit of that. It is very difficult to pinpoint reasons. I think when India takes to something it really goes into it big time. The numbers have gone up 10-15 times in school and college competition since the time I started to a decade later.

Karan Thapar: So do you see a chess renaissance happening in India sometime soon?

Viswanathan Anand: Definitely, chess is going forward. I think it is important to keep promoting the game and not keep on focusing on what could be. Work hard and try and popularise the game at every chance. You have to acknowledge, chess has come a long way.

Karan Thapar: The problem actually is popularising the game. For most people chess seems to be a forbidding, cerebral and almost intimidating game. Is chess a prisoner of its own image?

Viswanathan Anand: To some degree, yes. A lot of people are intimidated by chess but once they come into contact with it they realise that it is just a game like any other. You play it; you try to outfox your opponent. That is what you do in every sport. It is a fairly simple game; of course there is lot of complexity behind it but it is basically a simple game. It is something, which people of any age can pick up very easily and in fact kids tend to pick it up very easily.

Karan Thapar: How much of the game is mental toughness of the player and how much of it is psychology?

Viswanathan Anand: Psychology plays a big part but I always say psychology will only be a differentiator when the players are of equal technical strength. If you keep working hard you will generally not encounter the problems of psychology and all that till you meet a rival of equal stature.

It is only at the highest levels that that psychology starts to become a big differentiator, because there both players have done all the technical work. They are approximately matched in most areas. That is when psychology plays a big part.

Karan Thapar: When you say psychology do you mean that is when they psyche each other?

Viswanathan Anand: Basically. That is when all the mind games happen—the idea of getting into the opponent’s skin and bringing out the mistakes. Things like nervousness, cracking under pressure, all that—you have to build up the pressure both off the board and on it.

Karan Thapar: So how do you protect yourself from your opponent?

Viswanathan Anand: One of the things I remember is how Victor Korchnoi in 1978 got obsessed that his opponent had put shrinks in the audience and they were staring at him. It later turned out to be mainly in his imagination but it did affect him. So, no longer matters whether those people were there or not.

I have always thought that somebody in the audience is looking at me. But the trick is just look at the board and forget about the rest. After a while he can’t affect you anymore. That is my preferred method.

There are others who look there, see that person, get angry and feed on it. If that works for you, go for it. But it doesn’t work for me; I like to sort of block out everything I don’t want to deal with and try to just focus on the board. Sometimes if there is someone you really dislike then you play them and get extra motivation by just thinking what it would be like to beat them. But generally I would like to block someone out.

Karan Thapar: But dislike can be a motivation?

Viswanathan Anand: Yes, definitely and it helps you concentrate much more. When I play someone I dislike I really don’t want to make mistakes; then your mind hardly ever wanders.

Karan Thapar: You have got a big match coming up in October, when you have to defend your World Championship title. (Russian Grand Master Vladimir) Kramnik has challenged you. Do you dislike him enough to want to beat him?

Viswanathan Anand: I think as the match goes along these feelings will inevitably surface but at the moment we are both not going down that road yet. But I am sure as the match comes along we will feel it.

Karan Thapar: You are not going down the road, but he has spent a lot of time taunting you. He says publicly that he has only allowed you to borrow, or he has lent you the World Championship.

Viswanathan Anand: He went down this road for a week, I replied and the matter just died. As far as I know neither of us has spoken much about that. I think it will probably surface again in July-August.

Karan Thapar: Something else he said was that there is a difference between winning a championship at a tournament and winning it in a match. In 2007 you won it in a tournament and in 2008 you have to defend it in a match. Will that make it difficult for you?

Viswanathan Anand: My own tendency is to just ignore him and to think well, that is what he would say. I would think what else would he say for he didn’t win the tournament and leave it at that. But once the match starts you have to make sure that these sort of things don’t affect you.

My own response to that is: the winner can say anything he wants after the match and the loser would have lost interest in this topic. So the main thing is to win. If I win it hardly matters what my opinion is or what his opinion is. Let’s just win.

Karan Thapar: The mind games begin long before the actual game. He or you start pressurising the other to get an advantage, so that when you meet face to face on the chessboard you have a point in your favour—at least a mental point.

Viswanathan Anand: Yes, I think it is important that you don’t let your opponent impose his style of play on you. A part of that begins mentally. At the chessboard if you start blinking every time he challenges you then in a certain sense you are withdrawing. That is very important to avoid.

It is very important to put pressure on your opponent (and) some of it is getting your opponent into unfamiliar territory. But some of it is also simply body language, showing confidence; showing that you are not affected by all sorts of interviews and remarks. You just have to ignore these things.

Karan Thapar: How do you compare yourself with the great chess players of the eighties and nineties. I suppose the two names that come to mind are Anatoly Karpov and Gary Kasparov.

Viswanathan Anand: It is very funny for me to compare myself with them because in the nineties they were my contemporaries but in the eighties they were people I looked up to. I could not associate myself with them in any way. I grew up studying Karpov’s games. I think it is very difficult to see yourself objectively. I hardly ever compare myself directly.

Karan Thapar: Just after you won the World Championship in October you said beating Kasparov would be a nice challenge.

Viswanathan Anand: I think I sort of wonder what it would be like. In 1995 I played a match against him but it is amazing that in the next 10 years I was second or third in the rankings—most of the times second and he was first for this entire period—and we just never played each other. I think it would be very interesting.

Karan Thapar: Would you be in awe of him if you played him?

Viswanathan Anand: I think to some degree that is gone because I have played him for so long.

Karan Thapar: PTI published your scorecard. They said you played 78 matches with each other—both classical chess and rapid chess—of which you had won eight and he had won 27.

Viswanathan Anand: It is pretty one-sided. He built up a huge lead from round about the time of 1992 to till about 1999. After that it is not so bad but in general when you have such a score it is better not to try and explain it. But I think I could do a very good job now. From about 2005 I have felt that I could confront him. I think I could face him now.

Karan Thapar: Is it right to say that one of advantages people like Karpov and Kasparov have over you is that they are products of the Soviet system—of rigorous institutional training. Yours is much more intuitively done. Would you accept that you might have been a more rigorous player had you gone through the mill that they have gone through?

Viswanathan Anand: It is possible. I would have been a different person and then it is like one of those science fiction questions. What would I have been in another universe?

I think I was right in working with the Soviets very early. Round about 1991 when I was going to play Karpov I just said ‘okay, somehow you have to learn from these guys.’ I think I learnt a lot of their techniques and over the years interacting with them I no longer feel that they are a mystery.

Karan Thapar: You are 38 today and chess world is getting younger and younger. You have grandmasters at 12 and 13. How do you get the motivation to keep carrying on?

Viswanathan Anand: It is basically I would say I enjoy chess. I enjoy the tournament circuit, the challenges of going to a tournament but also because I am just curious. I am curious to know how long it can go on.

Chess is getting more and more interesting. In the last few years we have had lots of young players coming along and that sort of livens it up.

Karan Thapar: Are you curious to know how long you can keep playing at this rate? Are you testing yourself?

Viswanathan Anand: Yes. Once you have won the World Championship; once you have won many events but I want to see how long I can go on like this. It is a challenge when you can keep competing at the highest level and keep the No. 1 ranking. It is an obligation as well, you have to work hard.

Karan Thapar: You have got a big challenge in October, when you have to defend your World Championship title. If you succeed, will the motivation slightly diminish because even that target would have been achieved?

Viswanathan Anand: It is possible. I think there could be a short-term dip. It is entirely possible that you go off for a month or so and that has happened frequently in my career. The important thing is to recognise it, at some point, stop it and start again.

Karan Thapar: And what happens if you lose in October? Will that fire you with the determination to come back and win it again?

Viswanathan Anand: I think we will deal with it when we get there. Before a match you shouldn’t prepare for those kinds of scenarios. If it happens it happens but I am going to give it my best shot and make sure it doesn’t happen.

Karan Thapar: But one day competitive chess wouldn’t hold the same appeal to you as it does today. Then what?

Viswanathan Anand: I don’t know. There are a lot of interesting things. I could find more time for my hobbies and I could find more time for the academy I mentioned. But I don’t think I will ever disconnect from chess completely.

Karan Thapar: Kasparov went into politics. Might you consider politics yourself?

Viswanathan Anand: No. Politics, I think, you can count me out of right now.

Karan Thapar: Writing books?

Viswanathan Anand: Perhaps. I think it is very difficult to imagine these things. I cannot see my life without chess being a very, very big part of it. What would I do the whole year without being able to prepare for the next tournament? I really don’t know how to deal with that.

Karan Thapar: Viswanathan Anand, good luck for October.

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The Ruy Lopez for White - Schliemann Variation/Jaenisch Defence Part 2

The last discussion in Schliemann/Jaenisch Defence was regarding Black's reply 4...Nf6, which we saw, can become more or less an easy task for White to convert into an advantage for him/her.

This time we will study Black's fourth move alternative 4...Nd4!?, the Second Main Option for Black in this situation. We will study different move alternatives from both White and Black at different positions of the game and in doing so we will find out how the actual line mentioned has turned out to be the Main Line!

Just sit tight, watch and learn:

Hmm... 

Let me ask you something first. After studying progressively the different lines above and comparing them with the actual Main Line, don't you feel that White can snatch a victory if faced with this Variation? If you don't think so then you better think again, because we actually saw that White can certainly make his/her position better step by step with gradual development. No tactical moves, no brilliant sacrifices like Mikhail Tal, no surprise element for the opponent, no brand new ideas like David Bronstein! Just a calm play, castling early for King safety, and a clear simple idea; the idea of making your "Position" better. Because that's what you must and must do when you face a strong opponent!! Isn't it? 

Now let me tell you something. The above Main Line guides you through the opening to a near endgame where you, as White, have a "lead in development". Now what does this "lead in development" means? It doesn't mean that you have a "material advantage". It means that you have developed your pieces properly, your pieces are mobile enough, which in turn means you can further develop them to a comfortable square on the board, your King is castled to safety, you have a good hold on the centre and you have exchanged pieces correctly. And that gives you a "positional advantage". So how do you learn to satisfy all these parameters? You learn them by studying the different positions that might arise from a different response made either by you or your opponent at a particular instance. And that generates far-sightedness. To see a position or even a move coming shortly. This far-sightedness is really important in chess. After you have done it, then comes tactics, and sacrifices that might benefit you, and waiting moves, and penetrations, and winning or losing an exchange. It's far far away! So, a "lead in development" in the truest sense, is really really necessary. Ruy Lopez is an Opening that helps you understand this. You follow Ruy Lopez, and you will know what "positional advantage" can really offer you.

For those who know how to convert an advantage to a victory, it's an easy task from the position shown above. 

For those who doesn't know or are a little confused, don't worry at all. Just study and try to co-relate. We will study "endgames" shortly!!

Keep visiting and keep reading.

Thank you. Enjoy!

     If you liked the article kindly Digg it, Stumble it, Add to Technorati, bookmark it and please consider subscribing through  "Subscribe by Email"  and have articles & a  Everyman Chessbase eBook delivered right to your inbox! OR "Subscribe to Chess Blog Feed" in a Fead Reader of your choice OR Subscribe to "SMS Alerts" & Get Article Headlines & Updates delivered to your Mobile Phone for free.

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The Ruy Lopez for White - Schliemann Variation/Jaenisch Defence Part 1

 Now we will study the various defences/counter-attacks offered by Black after 3 Bb5. One of the defences that demands mentioning is the Schliemann Variation (also known as Jaenisch Defence), recognized by 3...f5.

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 f5

The Schliemann Variation is probably the sharpest way of meeting the Ruy Lopez. Black immediately goes on the counterattack in the centre, in King's Gambit fashion . Most positional considerations are overtaken by tactics and hard variations, so there's much more homework for the student here than in many of the other chapters. That said , a well -prepared player on the white side could certainly look forward to facing the Schliemann. After all , this line is fun for White too, but only if you know your stuff!

The Schliemann is quite popular at club level, where many white players refuse to take up the challenge and opt out with the passive 4 d3 . However, this is just the type of move Schliemann players would enjoy playing against, as Black is put under no immediate pressure and has been able to 'get away with' his third move. After, for instance, 4...fxe4 5 dxe4 Nf6, Black already has a comfortable development plan and White no longer has a d-pawn! Instead of this, White must try to punish Black for his sins and thus recommended for White is the critical reply 4 Nc3!.

Let's see what this reply from Black has in store for White! Follow carefully:

In the next post we will discuss another reply from Black. That will be Variation B. Hope you liked this one.

Until then bye.

Keep visiting and keep reading. There is lot more to come.....

Thank you. Enjoy!

     If you liked the article kindly Digg it, Stumble it, Add to Technorati, bookmark it and please consider subscribing through  "Subscribe by Email"  and have articles & a  Everyman Chessbase eBook delivered right to your inbox! OR "Subscribe to Chess Blog Feed" in a Fead Reader of your choice OR Subscribe to "SMS Alerts" & Get Article Headlines & Updates delivered to your Mobile Phone for free.

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The Ruy Lopez for White - an Introduction

 Let's start with the following famous moves:

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5

Three moves, and we reach a position that carries a famous name behind it, the name of Rodrigo (Ruy) López de Segura. The Ruy Lopez (or Spanish Game, as it' s often called) is a simple opening, with a simple idea . White's second and third moves have both increased the pressure on the centre, and in particular the e5-square. Give or take a few developing moves , the next stage of White's plan is to take control of the centre and increase the pressure on e5 with the advance d4, which is often supported by c3. It may be a simple enough plan, but it can be highly effective. Because of this, the Ruy Lopez has stood the test of time . Other openings come and go, drifting in and out of fashion, but the Lopez has always been a popular choice for all levels of player, from novice to World Champion, and it will continue to be.

Mobile and Little Centres

If Black buckles under the pressure and relinquishes the centre with ...exd4, then depending on whether White has played c3 or not, White either obtains a Mobile Centre or a Little Centre, either of which is generally favourable to the one in possession.

This is the Mobile Centre. The pair of central pawns on e4 and d4 control many important squares and give White a space advantage plus more freedom of movement for his pieces. In addition, White has the option of creating a central breakthrough with a timely e5. This thrust could provide a platform for a successful attack on the black king.

The following diagram shows the Little Centre.

This pawn structure is less dangerous for Black than the previous one , but it still favours White. The pawn on e4 is more advanced than Black's central d6-pawn, which once again means that White has more space to move his pieces. Added to this is that White also has control over the important d5- and f5-squares.

How Does Black React?

Of course Black has many different possible defences against the Lopez, but in general there are two different types of strategy. The first is to meet White's d4 advance by bolstering the e5-pawn with pawns and pieces. This plan is seen in all the closed defences, the Classical Variation, the Deferred Steinitz and the trendy Meller and Arkhangelsk Variations.

Black's second strategy revolves around a swift counterattack against White's e4-pawn. This is seen in lines such as the sharp Schliemann Variation, the Berlin Defence and the Open Lopez.

A Real Opening

As a junior player you might be quite content to play openings such as the Vienna Game, the King's Gambit and the Scotch Gambit, obtaining quick victories against the unsuspecting opponents who did not know their theory.

However, as time will progress and your opponents will become more experienced, your repertoire of tricky openings just won't work any more. No one will fall for your traps, and often all you will be left with is a sterile equality, or something even worse.

This was exactly the case with John Emms! In 1989, Emms appeared in the British Championship for the fourth time. Keen to make more of an impression than on his previous undistinguished attempts, he vowed that as White he would give up his 'baby openings', take a deep breath and try the Ruy Lopez. After all, it was time he grew up! His chance came in round 9, when he was paired with Scotland's top player Paul Motwani, who was a seasoned 1...e5 player. The experience for him was quite enlightening!"

So friends, does that stir something inside you? Well, this is just the begining. We will now study one by one, all the defences and counter-attacks Black can offer in reply and we will see how White can benefit from all of them!

Keep visiting and keep reading! From my next post onwards, we will travel the jungles of different variations of Ruy Lopez. Thank you. Enjoy!

     If you liked the article kindly Digg it, Stumble it, Add to Technorati, bookmark it and please consider subscribing through  "Subscribe by Email"  and have articles & a  Everyman Chessbase eBook delivered right to your inbox! OR "Subscribe to Chess Blog Feed" in a Fead Reader of your choice OR Subscribe to "SMS Alerts" & Get Article Headlines & Updates delivered to your Mobile Phone for free.

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