TCEC Season 8 Superfinal Week 4

In the previous post, TCEC Season 8 Superfinal Week 3, we left Komodo and Stockfish, our cyberchess warriors, with an 'overall score of +5-1=69'. During the intervening week, Komodo added +3-1=16 to the score, bringing the total to +8-2=85 after 95 games.

A little later Chessdom.com announced, Komodo is triple champion, wins the Top Chess Engine Championship 2015! (*), adding, 'Komodo secured the victory with score 50.5 – 44.5'. The rules stipulated,

If the match is theoretically won for one side before game 100, the match will still continue until all 100 games have been played.

so the two engines slugged it out for another +1-0=4, Komodo scoring the lone decisive point. This was an epic match, worthy of inclusion in the long list of such matches stretching back to 1834 Labourdonnais - McDonnell and including the five 1980s-1990 Kasparov - Karpov clashes. It was a real treat for me to switch on my second laptop at any time of the day or night and watch the two antagonists tirelessly clubbing each other with ideas and moves that I can't pretend to understand.

Congratulations to everyone involved in producing this unique event. The live event page, http://ift.tt/1N0oNdg, lists under 'About TCEC',

Special thanks:Martin Thoresen, Marit Thoresen, Paolo Casaschi, Matthias Gemuh and Jeremy Bernstein.

with an additional 'Thank you' to a long list of individuals:-

Marit Thoresen, Anton Mihailov, Paolo Casaschi, Matthias Gemuh, Jeremy Bernstein, Ivan Anev, GM Ioannis Papadopoulos, FM Dennis Monokroussos, Santiago Méndez, Peter Petrov, Nelson Hernandez, Adam Hair, Mark Uniacke, Amir Ban, Miguel Ballicora, Roberto Munter, Robert Houdart, Lukas Cimiotti, Don Dailey, Mark Lefler, Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, Ubaldo Andrea Farina, Marco Costalba, Gary Linscott, Jon Dart, Raimund Heid, L-Å Lander (LaRzZa), Tord Romstad, Giancarlo Delli Colli, Richard Pijl, Ben-Hur Carlos Vieira Langoni Junior, Vadim Demichev, Johannes Zwanzger, Robert Hyatt, Onno Garms, Daniel Shawul, Engin Uestuen, Jim Ablett, Izak Pretorius, Sam Hamilton, Edsel Apostol, Martijn Grimme, Hans van der Zijden, Andrei Olsen, Dean Ellis, Eivind Skifjeld, Paul Frigge, Jon Erik Braenden, Kevin Plant, Frederic Labertit, Alcides Schulz, James I. Hymas, Julien Marcel, Dan Schmidt, Enrico Fagiuoli, Jeffrey Hall, Edwin Meiners, Bill Rust, Bram Mourik, Øystein Schønning-Johansen, Brian Richardson, Kim Burcham, John Rood and everyone who has donated to support TCEC.

(*) At some point, probably between Season 7 and Season 8, TCEC came to mean 'Top Chess Engine Championship' rather than the name 'Thoresen CEC' used in previous competitions. Whatever the name, a footnote to the http://ift.tt/1N0oNdg page adds, 'TCEC is powered by pgn4web and cutechess-cli'.

Once again, congratulations to all!

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Woodbridge Junior results

78 children from around East Anglia, aged between 6 and 18, played in the Woodbridge Junior Open yesterday.   There were five sections: u8, u10, u12, u14 and u16/18.   This tournament, organised by IM Adam Hunt, is one of the qualifying events for the London Junior Championships.   Players in the Under 8 section needed 4 points to qualify, whilst those in the Under 10 and Under 12 sections needed 3½ points for the Minor section at London, or 4½ points for the Major section.   Several youngsters managed to achieve their desired qualification certificates.

Suffolk prizewinners included the following:

Under 18  Winner   -   Alex Sheerin (Ipswich)
Under 18   3rd place:   -   Alan John (Bury St Edmunds)
Under 12   Winner   -   Teddy Yang (Leiston)
Under 12   2nd place   -   Jaden Jermy (Bury St Edmunds)
Under 12   =3rd place   -   Adam John (Bury St Edmunds)
Under 10   =3rd place   - Toby Martin (Bury St Edmunds)
Under 8   2nd place   -   Rowan Kent (Woodbridge)
Under 8   =3rd place   -   Tia Martin (Bury St Edmunds)

The five prizewinners from Bury St Edmunds are all members of the Bury Knights Junior Chess Club (pictured right including Alex Sheerin, former Bury Knights member).

Separate trophies were awarded to Woodbridge School pupils who performed best in each section.

A large number of photos taken during the event can be viewed as a slideshow here (click on 'Slideshow').





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Chess Curriculum - ChessKid/Chess.com

As so often happens, the first shall be last, and the series within a series that started with Chess Curriculum Inventory(June 2015), ends with the first item on the initial short list. From the first post in the series, Chess Curriculum(April 2015) :-

No.1: ChessKid.com's Curriculum! • ChessKid.com is a spinoff of Chess.com and the download link leads directly to that site. The downloaded ZIP file creates five sections with a total of 20 lessons. The introduction says,

With the ChessKid.com Curriculum we set out to create an original, creative and extremely "kid friendly" way of learning the game of chess! While acquiring knowledge of the rules, basic fundamentals, as well as advanced strategies and tactics – coaches and beginning chess players alike will enjoy working through these lessons.

From the inventory:-

No.1: ChessKid.com Curriculum - Welcome & Introduction • Daniel Rensch, Co-Director of Content and Professional Relations • 12 pages (Introduction.pdf) • ChessKid_Curriculum.zip (-> Directory:ChessKid_Curriculum -> 5 Subdirectories = 22 PDF documents)

The last curriculum to be considered is also the most extensive. While I take the time to look through it in more depth, here's a recent video showing its author in an entertaining attempt to solve chess puzzles live.

23 Chess Puzzles In 23 Minutes (36:44) • 'IM Daniel Rensch tries to solve 23 daily Chess.com puzzles in 23 minutes -- can he beat the clock?'

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Suffolk First Team victorious again

The Suffolk First Team took on Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire today at Newmarket.   Despite fielding a weakened team, Suffolk won both matches, 9 - 7 and 13 - 3 respectively.

Five players won both games: Ian Wallis, Mike Cook, Tim Lunn, Richard Lamont and David Brown (1 by default).   Mike Cook has now won all four games this season for the county.

These results confirm Suffolk's position at the head of the league table, which can be viewed here.   Bedfordshire did Suffolk a huge favour by beating Bedfordshire 9½-6½.   It now seems likely that the two matches against Cambridgeshire on 7 February and 13 March will be crucial in deciding the EACU Championship.




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The draw kings

Several Suffolk players have drawn most of their league matches this season:

Division 1   -   Tim Lunn   5 draws/5 games;   Bob Jones   3/3;   Phil Hutchings   3/4;   Kevin Greenacre   3/4;   Mike Cook   3/5;   Simon Riley   3/5.

Division 2   -   Martin Alvin   4 draws/4 games;   Jim Buis   3/4.

Division 3   -   David Green   3 draws/4 games.

It's interesting to note that there are fewer draws in the lower divisions.   In Division 1, 27 games out of 68 have been drawn (40%).   In Division 2 it's 30% (18/59) and in Division 3 only 24% (16/67).

There have been just two defaulted games so far this season, one in Division 2 (Manningtree B) and one in Division 3 (Ipswich F).





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Chess Bloopers

Many of these clips are classics and it's a real treat finding them all in a single video.

Hilarious Chess Moments Collection (13:56) • 'Kasparov, Carlsen, Anand, Ivanchuk, Svidler, Karpov, Spassky, Korchnoi, Grischuk...'

12.730 views and counting -- everyone loves this stuff. What's not to like?

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A game from 1961

54 years ago, the Under 21 British Junior Championship in Aberystwyth featured two local players - Vivian Woodward and John Feavyour.   At the time, John lived in Saxmundham, whilst Vivian was from Leicestershire (he was then the Leicestershire under 21 and senior champion).   Now a member of Sudbury Chess Club, Vivian has provided the original game score (above) and the game can be played through below (it may take a few seconds to load).   The notes to the game are Vivian's, apart from the possible ending after John's resignation.

Soon after, Vivian gave up chess for 30 years, but John continued playing.   Perhaps they should now play a challenge match, where John may be able to get his revenge!




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Ethics in Chess Politics - Stories

My previous post, Ethics in Chess Politics - Cases, listed nine recent cases considered by the FIDE Ethics Commission, all involving chess politics in some form. In this post, I'll look at the original stories behind those cases.

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'Case 5/2014: Complaint of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov against Ignatius Leong and Garry Kasparov regarding agreements' and 'Case 7/2014: Complaint of the Philippines and Kenya Chess Federations against Kirsan Ilyumzhinov'

Both stories received widespread coverage during last year's FIDE presidential election. The decision of the Ethics Committee on the first (Case 5/2014: 'Respondents found guilty of breach of par 2.1 of FIDE Code of Ethics') received considerable coverage this year. For example, Peter Doggers' Chess.com report, Kasparov, Leong Found Guilty Of Breaching FIDE Code Of Ethics(September 2015), gave a summary of the entire affair which broke early in 2014.

The story behind the second decision (Case 7/2014: 'Respondent found to be not guilty and case dismissed') is not so obvious. A post on Kasparov2014.com, Kasparov's campaign site, blandly titled Open Letter from Continental Candidates, helps make the connection.

The complaint to the FIDE Ethics Commission regarding the Agon scandal submitted by Githinji Hinga of Kenya and Prospero Pichay of Philippines is attached herewith.

An accompanying attachment, Agon-Complaint-6-June-2014.pdf, now gives a '404 Not Found' message, but there are plenty of web reports from last year. See, for example, another Chess.com report by Peter Doggers titled, Leaked Agreement Between Ilyumzhinov & Paulson Suggests Conflict of Interest(January 2014).

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'Case 8/2014: Complaint by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov against Garry Kasparov regarding an unsigned / proposed agreement for the support of the Salvadorian Chess Federation' and 'Case 10/2014: Complaint of Garry Kasparov against Margaret Murphy, Darcy Lima and Bharat Singh regarding alleged irregularities in Electoral Commission'

These two cases received less coverage from the chess press, but were also related to the 2014 FIDE election. The first (Case 8/2014: 'complaint withdrawn by Mr Ilyumzhinov') is mentioned on the English Chess Forum in a long thread titled Kasparov vs Ilyumzhinov: the FIDE Presidency battle begins(page 48, May 2014).

The corruption scandals escalate with another breaking story of Kasparov via Mig Greengard allegedly trying to buy the votes of Latin American countries (specific mention is made of El Salvador) for $30,000 each.

The second (Case 10/2014: 'complaint held to be not admissible') was reported on Chess.com by Mike Klein in Delegate Issues Deepen for FIDE Elections(July 2014), referencing the three FIDE representatives listed on the complaint.

Every federation gets exactly one vote at the 85th FIDE Congress, but who exactly gets to represent each federation is not as simple as it seems. The battle to select or recognize certain delegates represents a back-channel method for each candidate to improve his chances of election.

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'Case 13/2014: Complaint of European Chess Federation against S Danailov, V Sakotic and S Stoisavljenic' and 'Case 14/2014: Complaint of Montenegro Chess Federation against V Sakotic and S Stoisavljenic'

The next two cases involved the 2013 European Youth Championships in Montenegro. In Organization of EYCC in Budva broke the law, authorities said(March 2014), Chessdom.com reported,

Montenegro Directorate of Youth and Sport, a government body, inspected the documents and accounts of 13 sport federations and 7 clubs. The inspection found that the Montenegro Chess Federation broke the law during the organization of 2013 European Youth Chess Championships in Budva, "Sahovska Hronika" quoted the Montenegrin News Agency MINA.

The report mentioned European Chess Union (ECU) President Silvio Danailov and Montenegro Chess Federation President (also ECU Executive Director) Vladimir Sakotic. ECU Secretary General was Sava Stoisavljevic. Since both cases had the same status -- 'complaint held admissible and respondents appealed to CAS; appeal pending' -- there's not much more to be said at this time.

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'Case 4/2015: Complaint by K Georgiev, S Stoichkov and M Stoynev against Bulgarian Chess Federation' and 'Case 5/2015: Complaint by Bulgarian Chess Federation against Z Azmaiparashvili and T Tsorbatzoglou'

Two more ethics cases involve the Bulgarian Chess Federation. The first (Case 4/2015: 'complaint held admissible and matter awaits exchange of statements regarding the merits') was reported by Chessdom.com: Bulgarian Chess Federation in deep trouble, investigation by the Chief prosecutor announced at a press conference(June 2015); and Chess.com: Bulgarian Chess Federation Bans Whistleblowers, Danailov To Run For FIDE President(June 2015).

Last Thursday, Chess.com reported on a recent press conference where the Bulgarian Chess Federation was accused of fraud and corruption by GM Kiril Georgiev, Metodi Stoinev and Simeon Stoichkov. On Friday, during a management board meeting, all three were banned from the federation.

The second (Case 5/2015: 'decision regarding admissibility held over until outcome of CAS appeal in case 13/2014 [as above]') is on Danailov's web site, Danailov-for-president.com: BCF complaint vs. Zurab Azmaiparashvili and Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou regarding flagrant violations of the FIDE Code of Ethics(July 2015).

Bulgarian Chess Federation sent to FIDE Ethics Commission complaint vs. current ECU President Zurab Azmaiparashvili and ECU Secretary General Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou regarding flagrant violations of the FIDE Code of Ethics.

The CAS appeal was reported by Chess.com: More Clashes Between FIDE, Silvio Danailov(May 2015).

Danailov has appealed to a ruling from the FIDE Ethics Commission at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne. In the fall of 2014, the Ethics Commission had received complaints from the European Chess Union (under a new administration since August 2014) and the Montenegro Chess Federation concerning the organization of the 2013 European Youth Chess Championship in Budva, Montenegro. [...] The Ethics Commission "has neither direct nor indirect (extended) jurisdiction to resolve on the issues raised in the complaints, it has no instruments to adjudicate on them..."

The CAS is generally the last stop in FIDE legal matters.

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'Case 3/2015: Complaint by Michaela Sandu against Natalia Zhukova and 14 other players'

The final 'political' case is a twist on the typical charge of cheating and is in process (Case 3/2015: 'for false accusations of cheating -- matter awaits appointment of Investigatory Chamber'). In Chess championship rocked by thinly-veiled allegations of cheating(June 2015), Malcolm Pein of Telegraph.co.uk reported,

The European Women’s Championship at Chakvi in Georgia was marred by some thinly-veiled allegations of cheating made against the early leader WGM Mihaela Sandu of Romania, who started the tournament with five straight wins.

A proper look at this case should discuss the evolving relationship between the Ethics Commission and the FIDE Anti-Cheating Committee. I'll save that for another time.

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Adam's the name

One of the more common names amongst Suffolk chess players is ... Adam.   There are six of them, including an International Master and a FIDE Master.

IM Adam Hunt (Woodbridge)	FM Adam Taylor (Manningtree)	Adam Harvey (Bury St Edmunds)
Adam Wilson (Ipswich)	Adam Leigh (Bury St Edmunds)	Adam John (Bury St Edmunds)

But Adam is far from being the most popular name amongst active Suffolk players.   According to the grading database, the leaders are:

John:   (Barratt, Barty, Feavyour, Kent, Lambert, McAllister, Peters, Player, Price)   =   9
David (& Dave):   (Brown, Clark x 2, Green, Mabbs, Robertson, Spence, Wild, Wood)   =   9
Michael:   (Clapham, Cook, Coughtrey, Harris, Schalit, Spalding, Usher)   =   7
Andrew:   (Donnelly, Lewis, Molloy, Paige, Salmon, Shephard)   =   6
Also, there are four Richards, four Martins and four Stephens (or Steve).




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London Chess Classic

Who's going to the London Chess Classic?   This prestigious event is taking place at the Kensington Olympia, between 4 and 13 December.

The main tournament is the final (and third) leg of the Chess Grand Tour.   Nine players are competing in this nine-round event (Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Veselin Topalov, Alexander Grischuk, Vishy Anand, Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian), to which Michael Adams has been invited as England's No.1.   Topalov is the current leader.   There is a total prize fund of over a million dollars!

The Final of the British Knockout Championship will take place between 4 - 9 December. Seven of England's top players, as well as Scotland's Jonathan Rowson, will be competing for a first prize of £20,000.   The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be held on 1 and 2 December at the nearby Hilton Hotel, with the two finalists battling it out over six games at the Classic.

Also taking place between 4 and 11 December is the FIDE Open, which has a guaranteed prize fund of £15,500.   To date 26 GMs have entered, as well as a host of IMs and FMs.   Amongst the 205 entrants is Bury's Ed Player, who is also playing in the Super Rapidplay (see below).

Manningtree's Adam Taylor is playing in the 5-round Weekend Open (4 - 6 December), as well as the 10-round Super Rapidplay (12 - 13 December), which has a massive entry of 238 players.

You can watch some of the world's best players for just £20; that's the cost of a daily ticket, which can be purchased online.   Women and anyone aged under 25 can watch for free - all you need to do is register online.   Tickets include access to the Auditorium, where the games will be played, as well as to the live Grandmaster commentary room and all other festival events areas.




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Ethics in Chess Politics - Cases

The topic of ethics -- or lack of it -- is a growth industry. Everywhere you look someone is accusing someone else of some sort of ethical slip and international chess is no exception. In the nearly two years since I last looked at the FIDE Ethics Commission in Ethics and Cheating(December 2013), the commission has not stood still.

As I recently mentioned in The Resurrection of Agon,

A few months ago I prepared a short series on Spectating the 86th FIDE Congress (September 2015), with closer looks at two topics of particular interest: Chess in Schools and the Journalist Commission. FIDE has just released a new batch of documents.

Those new documents include two annexes of particular interest:-

46. Minutes of Anti-Cheating Committee.
[...]
52. Minutes of Ethics Commission.

For some reason Annex 52, covering 23 cases involving ethical accusations, has been released as a scanned document. It starts like this...

Annex 52

...In order to make some sense of its terse, legalistic content, I'll start by transcribing (that's a fancy term that means running OCR software) its summaries of the most interesting cases. Then in another post I'll match those cases back to reports that documented the original ethical question. These cases are often reported in the chess press without a follow-up, which some might consider an ethical lapse in itself.

For me the most interesting cases are those that involve some sort of political angle. For example, here is closure of an infamous case involving computer chess that I looked at last month in The Rybka - ICGA Ethics Judgement. Annex 52 informs,

Case 2/2012: Complaint of Mr V Rajlich and C Whittington against International Computer Games Association (ICGA) regarding alleged ethical breaches during internal disciplinary procedure -- Respondent found guilty and sanctioned with a warning (judgment prepared by Roberto Rivello).

Here are other famous, infamous, and not-so-famous cases involving chess politics.

Case 5/2014: Complaint of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov against Ignatius Leong and Garry Kasparov regarding agreements for cooperation in the FIDE elections and the payment of consideration in exchange for written pledges or proxies -- Respondents found guilty of breach of par 2.1 of FIDE Code of Ethics; procedure for sanctioning pending.

Case 7/2014: Complaint of the Philippines and Kenya Chess Federations against Kirsan Ilyumzhinov alleging the FIDE President no longer inspires the necessary confidence or has become unworthy of trust -- Respondent found to be not guilty and case dismissed.

Case 8/2014: Complaint by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov against Garry Kasparov regarding an unsigned / proposed agreement for the support of the Salvadorian Chess Federation of Mr Kasparov in the FIDE elections and chess development in El Salvador -- complaint withdrawn by Mr Ilyumzhinov.

Case 10/2014: Complaint of Garry Kasparov against Margaret Murphy, Darcy Lima and Bharat Singh regarding alleged irregularities in Electoral Commission -- complaint held to be not admissible.

Case 13/2014: Complaint of European Chess Federation against S Danailov, V Sakotic and S Stoisavljenic regarding the organisation of the 2013 European Youth Championships in Montenegro -- complaint held admissible and respondents appealed to CAS; appeal pending.

Case 14/2014: Complaint of Montenegro Chess Federation against V Sakotic and S Stoisavljenic regarding the organisation of the 2013 European Youth Championships in Montenegro -- complaint held admissible and respondents appealed to CAS; appeal pending.

Case 3/2015: Complaint by Michaela Sandu against Natalia Zhukova and 14 other players for false accusations of cheating -- matter awaits appointment of Investigatory Chamber.

Case 4/2015: Complaint by K Georgiev, S Stoichkov and M Stoynev against Bulgarian Chess Federation for failure of fundamental justice in internal disciplinary proceedings -- complaint held admissible and matter awaits exchange of statements regarding the merits.

Case 5/2015: Complaint by Bulgarian Chess Federation against Z Azmaiparashvili and T Tsorbatzoglou (ECU) for alleged interference in BCF's affairs -- decision regarding admissibility held over until outcome of CAS appeal in case 13/2014.

Next post: the stories behind these cases.

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European Team Championships round-up

The European Team Championships concluded on Sunday, with England's teams finishing 10th (Open) and 23rd (Women).   Both results were rather disappointing, as the teams had been seeded 5th and 18th respectively.

In the Open section, all except bottom board Gawain Jones under-performed, especially Luke McShane, whose performance of 2466 was more than 200 points below his current rating.   England finished with 11 points (four wins, three draws), whilst winners Russia scored 15 points (six wins and three draws).

In the Women's section, England's top board Jovanka Houska played extremely well, scoring 7/8 to gain the silver medal for Board 1, with a performance of 2614.   Suffolk's Dagne Ciuksyte had a disappointing event, losing her last two games against lower-rated opponents.   This was the position from her last-round game, where White (Dagne) is to play in a level position against her opponent from Azerbaijan.   Dagne erred with 39. Kxg2??   Instead 39. Rxe5 or Rd5 maintains equality.   After 39... Rd2! Dagne had no answer to the threats on f2.

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TCEC Season 8 Superfinal Week 3

My first post about the TCEC Season 8 Superfinal in Progressclosed with the comment, 'It is, after all, showing us the future of chess.' My second post, Superfinal Week 2, noted that the then-current score, with Komodo leading Stockfish, was '+4-1=41, with 54 more games to be played'.

During the intervening week, another 29 games have been played, with a score of +1-0=28, the sole win again for Komodo. That gives an overall score of +5-1=69. At this point it's safe to conclude that the future of chess is a snoozefest.

What's going on? The following composite chart shows some basic TCEC statistics from game 74, although it could have been taken from almost any of the drawn games.

Top: Evaluation, Time usage, Depth
Bottom: Speed, Tablebase hits

The first graph ('Evaluation') shows White starting with an advantage of ~0.60 Pawns in the opening, eventually dropping to 0.00 in the endgame. The third graph ('Depth') shows the principal variation ('PV' in chess engine jargon) consistently at ~40 ply, i.e. 20 moves for each player. The fifth graph ('TB hits') shows the number of times an engine reached a six-piece position that can be looked up in a tablebase. TB hits were registered before move 10 was reached in this game.

In other words, the pattern of a typical game is start with a position that favors White, trade off most of the pieces, reach a known draw. How much of this is caused by the choice of opening? The 'Opening Book' tab on the TCEC Archive Modepage informs,

Stage 1 will be bookless: every engine will compete from the starting position. We’re not worried about repetitive openings; with a good mix of engines we don’t expect that to be much of a problem.

Stage 2 [...] will have a double round-robin format, but this time we will use a two-move book

Stage 3, the qualifying round for the Superfinal, will revert to the format we’ve used in recent seasons: an eight-move book

Superfinal [...] will use 50 positions selected by our guest IM Erik Kislik, of which 33 are his own and the remaining 17 are made by [Nelson Hernandez, aka Cato].

This season, as you can see, we’ve decided to cover more numbers on the roulette table. Bookless, short-book, medium-book advocates should all be satisfied that their cause is at least being represented and that the responsibility for selecting these positions is distributed among multiple individuals, thus mitigating possible biases.

For the superfinal, possible opening biases have been 'mitigated', except perhaps the bias of the experts doing the selection. Chess engine competitions, whether man-machine or engine-to-engine, have always been skewed by the unseen human hands creating the engine's opening book. Isn't there another way? How about offering the engine an incentive to take a risk that a human wouldn't take.

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Sharing the lead

As at the start of this week, there are some unusual features in both the Suffolk League and the Bury Area League.

In all three divisions of the Suffolk League, the lead is shared by two teams.   In Division 1, Ipswich C and Bury St Edmunds C have both scored 9½ points from four matches.   In Division 2, Sudbury and Ipswich D have scored 10½ points from four matches.   And in Division 3, Ipswich E and Ipswich F are equal on 11 points from four matches.   Also, in all three divisions, several other teams are very close behind, making this season one of the most closely fought in recent memory.

Meanwhile, over in the Bury Area League, there's a 'first'.   Linton's three teams are all heading their respective divisions.   Linton A lead Division 1, Linton Blacks Division 2, and Linton Whites Division 3.   Between their three teams Linton have played 11 matches, winning 10 and drawing one.   Not a bad start to the season!

You can view the latest tables by clicking on the respective leagues:

Suffolk League
Bury Area League.





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Chess Charcoal Drawing

In the previous edition of Top eBay Chess Items by Price, titled A Lot of Live Auctions, I noted,

When I started the series on 'Top eBay Chess Items', there were no live auctions. Now they pop up every fortnight and are always good candidates for the final post.

I could have said the same for the present auction. I had two live auction candidates on my short list and picked the item pictured below because it looked less commercial.

The eBay auction was titled 'Russian Charcoal Drawing -– Children Playing Chess Lot 422; Part of a live auction event'. It sold for US $1750 after 21 bids that started at $400.

The description added,

Russian charcoal drawing on paper of six children gathered in a field, two of the children are playing chess; signed lower left in Cyrillic script; in excellent condition with no rips, tears, foxing, staining or visible repairs. 26 in. high x 28 in. wide. • Seller's Estimate: USD 800 - 1,200

Out of curiosity I clicked through to the eBay page, About Live Auctions, where I learned,

We’re opening the doors of traditional auction houses, giving global shoppers a new way to bid on world-class art and collectibles. This is the classic auction house experience, with an innovative twist.

I should have looked into that when I first encountered live auctions.

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Suffolk Cup and Plate draw

The initial round of the Suffolk Cup & Plate was completed last Tuesday, when Sudbury thrashed Felixstowe B 4 - 0.   The draw has now been made for the next round.   Because of the number of teams playing, several byes are necessary.   The aim, of course, is to get four teams into the semi-finals of both sections.

The 11 teams and their sections are as follows:

Cup - Bury St Edmunds E; Saxmundham A; Felixstowe A; Ipswich B; Sudbury and Manningtree A

Plate - Bury St Edmunds D; Ipswich F; Saxmundham B; Manningtree B and Felixstowe B

So, to decide the semi-final line-ups, two matches are needed in the Cup and one match in the Plate.   These are as follows:

Cup - Saxmundham A v Manningtree A (to be played on Tuesday 15 December); and Ipswich B v Bury St Edmunds E (on Tuesday 22 December).   Felixstowe A and Sudbury both receive a bye.

Plate - Ipswich F v Felixstowe B (on Tuesday 22 December).   Bury St Edmunds D, Saxmundham B and Manningtree B are straight through to the semis.

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A game from Division 3

It's not often that a game from Suffolk League Division 3 features on this website, but here is one between Bury St Edmunds' Chas Szentmihaly (right) and Felixstowe's Dave Robertson.   It was played recently in the Suffolk Under 125 Cup.   Aged 84, Chas is Bury's oldest member, who swears that good health in old age is related to the food that you eat.

The game has its errors, as might be expected from players graded 108 and 104.   But the finish is good!

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Petrosian's 'Dining Room'?

I can't explain why I like this photo. Because it's a tribute to a former World Champion? Because it looks like a typical chess club of yesteryear? Because it's perfect for a serious tournament? All of the above? Something else? Like I said, I can't explain it.

Tigran Petrosian Chess House, Yerevan© Flickr user Rob Schofield under Creative Commons.

The caption added,

House of Chess Players, Yerevan
Architect: Zhanna Meshcheryakova
Built: 1970

On top of typical tags like Yerevan, Armenia, Russian, and architecture, the photo had more tags like modernist, concrete, and brutalist. A Flickr search on tags=brutalist+chessbrings up a few related photos by the same photographer, who carries a '[PRO]' designation next to his name. His personal site, Rob Schofield Photography, has a category titled 'Brutalist/Social Housing' that explains the subject, although the photos there are far less charming than the Flickr chess photos. A few years ago, I did an eBay post, Brutalism in Chess, which might be worth exploring some day.

While I was preparing this current post, I discovered that Flickr tags could be combined on search, like tags=petrosian+chess. More interesting than that search is tags=art+chess, which delivers all sorts of ideas for Caissart-style posts.

My previous Flickr post, It's All About Pattern Recognition, introduced the subject of gray & white tags. For this current photo, the Flickr robots suggested that the photo be tagged 'dining room'.

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Mike Taylor R.I.P.

Many Suffolk players will have known Mike Taylor, who sadly died of a heart attack on Wednesday.   A long-time member of the Bury St Edmunds Chess Club (and before that King's Gambit Brandon), Mike was on a cycling holiday in Central America with his wife Sally.   He felt unwell on Tuesday and died suddenly the following day.   In an email he had sent to me on Monday, he said he had cycled 46K to Lake Ometepe in Nicaragua, in tropical heat.

Mike worked for the Forestry Commission, and was responsible for the highly successful Forest Live concerts.   Starting back in 2001, when Mike brought Jools Holland to Thetford Forest, these concerts are now held in seven locations around the UK.

Mike had been very busy at work this season and although he agreed to captain the Bury St Edmunds 'A' team, he had not been able to play.   Only a fortnight ago, he and Sally moved from Mundford to Thurston, much closer to Bury; he had hoped this move would enable him to play more chess.

A strong County player (highest grade 176 in 1998) Mike would have played on Board 1 for the Suffolk Under 160 team on 6 December.

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10 days to go to the Woodbridge Junior

Adam Hunt reports that entries are coming in well for the 15th Woodbridge Junior Open tournament, which takes place at Woodbridge School on Sunday 29 November.

This is a qualifying tournament for the London Junior Chess Championships, with sections for Under 8, u10, u12, u14, u16 and u18.   There are six rounds, with 30 minutes each for the game.   All games will be ECF Rapidplay graded.

To avoid a £4.00 late entry fee, be sure to send in entries by next Wednesday.   Entry forms can be downloaded from the Woodbridge School chess website.





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The Resurrection of Agon

A few months ago I prepared a short series on Spectating the 86th FIDE Congress(September 2015), with closer looks at two topics of particular interest: Chess in Schoolsand the Journalist Commission. FIDE has just released a new batch of documents -- 86th FIDE Congress: Executive Board Minutes and Annexes(November 2015) -- where a cursory inspection shows the first 30 annexes were available in September and the rest are new.

One of the most interesting documents for me is 'Annex 54: Report by Ilya Merenzon, CEO of AGON Limited'. While this will eventually become fodder for the next edition of Whither the World Championship?, one section is relevant on a broader level.

2. The Financial Times and Chess • We have agreed that the Financial Times will publish an annual section called ‘Chess and Business’. The first installment will be published on October 8, 2015, a day before opening of the Rapid and Blitz Championship. The section will have 4 pages of interviews and editorials about chess and how it affects global culture. Until chess, the newspaper had only one section dedicated to sport - it was Formula 1.

Presence in the Financial Times is really good for chess, as the elite audience of over 1 million people who read the Financial Times see that chess is a major part of the global business life. It’s also good for sponsors who support chess and can place advertisements in a section dedicated to the sport they support and love. Once the first installment is published, we’ll send it to all members of the Presidential Board.

The rest of us will have to make do with the headlines.

The annual section for 2015 is available on the web at ft.com > reports > Chess. Its introduction 'IN THIS REPORT' explains, 'The latest technological revolution has provided big online opportunities for players, fans and businesses, as the worldwide web proves to be a natural home for the venerable game.' The 11 articles are only available via a paywall. I'm not an FT subscriber, but I might have a trial subscription by the time you read this post. In the meantime, a typically British review is available online at Hip To Be Square(KingpinChess.net).

There's a second section of general interest in Annex 54.

6. Media site • Sponsors have been demanding digital presence within chess, it was their absolute requirement. To address the issue, Agon (in cooperation with FIDE) has developed a media and chess broadcasting site, www.worldchess.com, which will feature exclusive broadcasts, ratings, events (all federations will have a capability to add their events and sell tickets and publicize their events globally).

That domain, worldchess.com, has been active for a few months now and the Agon report to FIDE informs, 'Dylan Loeb MacClain, chief chess reporter for the New York Times, is the WorldChess.com's editor-in-chief'. One of the site's contributors is The Chess Mind blog, as in This Week's World Chess Column: In Praise of Amateur Players.

After a promising launch in 2012, Agon stumbled badly. How will it fare during its second life?

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Cambridgeshire Girls' Chess Challenge

The first Cambridge Junior Chess Challenge for Girls took place on the 8th of November in Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge.   36 participants were divided into three sections (Under 8, Under 11 and 11+).   Five rounds, with 25 minutes each for a game.

Dagne Ciuksyte took her two girls, Charlotte (8) and Sofia (6) along to the tournament and this is her report.   The photo above was taken back in August when the girls played in a tournament in Lithuania:

"A great event for the little girls like Charlotte (8) and Sofia (6) Ciuksyte.

Charlotte, playing in the Under 11 section had fun promoting the pawns into queens (in one of the games she had as many as three of them on the board!) then showing her excellent restriction technique but found it difficult to deliver the mate.   Two stalemates rather than checkmates and the total result 1 point out of 5.   Look out - we know now what to work on!

Sofia did well scoring 2½ out of 5 in the Under 8 section but she had a hard time as well.   In one of her games she played a long Qc3-c8 check but then her opponent captured the queen with her king.   When Sofia pointed that the queen was defended by the bishop on b7, her opponent captured the bishop as well!   So here you go - Sofia was the queen and bishop down, looked puzzled about what happened but carried on playing without calling the arbiter.   She didn't give in and getting close to one of her opponent's rooks and capturing it gave her an idea to sneak close to another rook which she did and succeeded in demolishing it as well.   So now she was two extra passed pawns up in the minor pieces ending, but not knowing what she should be doing next offered a draw a few moves later.   :)

A big thank you to the organisers for a very well-organised tournament, a great venue and nice experience for all the participants.   And I'm pretty sure there's been more of the girls coming back home and wanting to play more chess games on the same day like my Charlotte and Sofia did!   Mum's dream came true!"




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European Team Championships latest

After four rounds of the European Team Championships in Reyjavik, Iceland, the England Open team (Adams, Howell, McShane, Short and Jones) are still unbeaten.   But three of their matches have been drawn.   Today they face 10th seed Germany in Round 5; a good win could elevate England into third place.

In the Women's section, England are not doing so well, having won only one of their four matches.   Whilst the top two England boards are strong (Houska/Ciuksyte), the remaining team members have been heavily outrated in all the team's losses.   Suffolk's Dagne Ciuksyte (pictured right) has been rested for today's match against Sweden, who should provide weaker opposition and an opportunity for the England team to climb the table.

The Russia teams have won all four matches in both sections.

The venue, the Laugardalsholl, is where the legendary match between Fischer and Spassky took place in 1972.

Round by round results can be followed here.   Tomorrow (Wednesday) is a rest day in the nine-round schedule.




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'Ask Marilyn'

From Marilyn vos Savant's Parade.com column of 14 November, Double Standards Among Chess Players...

'A.C. in Brooklyn, New York, writes: • I recently played a game of chess against a woman in my chess club, and she defeated me in front of many of her girlfriends. As you probably know, the object of the game is to trap the opponent’s king so that it cannot escape -- this is known as “checkmating” the King or simply “mating” the King. 'As my opponent was closing in on my King, I started to feel very embarrassed. I was in a helpless position. Then she did it -- she moved her Queen up against my King, executing the “mating.” I was blushing in embarrassment when she declared, “Checkmate,” and I conceded defeat in front of her cheering friends. 'One of her friends said, “Her female piece, her Queen, executed the mating... Oh, yes!” Again, I felt very embarrassed. I also felt as if all women had defeated me. Do you have any thoughts about this?'

...This would make a suitable question for an essay on the final exam of 'Chess Journalism 101'.

Q:Write a one page essay on whether you think this story is true. Explain your reasoning.

For more about the author see, Marilyn vos Savant[Wikipedia], 'known for having the highest recorded IQ according to the Guinness Book of Records'.

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TCEC Season 8 Superfinal Week 2

A week ago in TCEC Season 8 Superfinal in Progress, I noted

Komodo won the first game of the match and currently leads +2-0=14, with an average of five games played per day.

Since then the world's top two engines, Komodo and Stockfish, have played another 30 games with a result of +2-1=27 in Komodo's favor. Komodo scored both of its wins with Black, bringing the total score of the match to +4-1=41, with 54 more games to be played.

The week's most memorable game was undoubtedly no.22, where Stockfish seemed to throw away a huge advantage with White in the following position.

TCEC Season 8 Superfinal, game 22
Stockfish - Komodo

After 63...Qd6-Qf6

The position was discussed at length in the FishCooking forum (see my recent post Chess Engines : FishCookingfor background), especially From +26.13 to 0.00 in two moves(11 November).

What happened in game 22 of the final? Stockfish's evaluation was steeply raising, until at move 62 it evaluated its position as +26.13. Komodo agreed to a degree by evaluating it at +4.22. Then two moves later both evals had dropped to 0.00, and it ended in draw. Rather unusual, I would say.

The post included a link to the original game, TCEC Archive game 22, where the moves and evaluations are preserved for posterity. The incident just goes to show -- in case there is any doubt -- that even the strongest chess engines in the world can have trouble coping with the depths of chess.

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Basildon Junior Congress

Remember the name - John.   And that's a surname, not a first name.

There are three 'Johns', all with first names beginning with 'A'.   The oldest is 12-year old Alan, currently graded 111 but heading for 130+ in January.   Then there's 9-year old Adam (93 ECF) but also expecting to be around 130 in January.   Both Alan and Adam are regularly beating adults in the Suffolk League and the Bury Area League.   The youngest is 7-year old Amy (13R).

All three played in the Basildon Junior Congress on Sunday, where strong opposition can always be expected.   Alan played in the Under 14s (he's eligible for the same section next year) and scored 4½/6 to finish joint second.   Adam, in the Under 10s, scored 5½/6 and shared first place.   Amy played in the Under 8s, scoring 5/6, also sharing first place.

The three Johns were joined by five other Bury Knights' members.   11-year old Tom Roy (67 ECF) was joint second in the Under 12s, with 4½/6 (beating a 115 grade in the last round).   Tom's 6-year old sister Tania, playing in her first tournament, scored 1½ in the Under 8s.   Other Bury Knights playing were the three Martins: Toby 3 (u10s), Tia 3 (u8s), and Ralph 2 (u14s).

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Chess Curriculum - ChessCafe/ChessEDU

Continuing with Chess Curriculum Inventory, after Chess Curriculum - FIDE II, we come to the last title identified in the preliminary survey, described in Chess Curriculum No.6(June 2015). The title page says, 'ChessEdu.org, White Belt Chess Curriculum, by Mark C. Donlan', introducing the 'ChessEdu.org Belt System' as a series of colored belts: white, blue, purple, brown, black, and red. The belts are defined at the beginning of the document, e.g.

White Belt• The white belt signifies the beginning of the students journey to chess mastery. The student will learn the basics of chess along with the following material:
1) knows the number of squares on the chessboard.
2) knows the number of light squares.
3) knows the number of dark squares.
4) knows to place the board so that there is a light square on the right.
5) knows the definition of ranks.
[...]
48) knows which direction the pieces move in a diagram.
49) knows how to name each square in algebraic notation.

Blue Belt• A blue belt signifies that the student knows the basic rules and is ready to progress from beginner to novice level. At this level the student will learn the following material:
1) abides by the touch-move rule.
2) knows what a "fork" is.
3) knows what a "pin" is.
4) knows what a "skewer" is.
[...]

And so on. I start to stumble on the requirements for the Brown Belt -- 'Alekhine's Gun', 'Anastasia's mate', etc. -- although my rating should qualify me for the Black Belt. The Red Belt is reserved for players with the FIDE titles GM & IM. The white belt curriculum covers the Chessboard and the Chessmen, developed with a series of puzzles like the following from page 28.

Early credit is given to a trio of heavyweights in chess education.

The ChessEdu.org belt system is based on the adult Brazilian Jiujitsu belt system with inspiration from Pandolfini's Diagnostic Chess Checklist, ChessCafe.com January 2014, and input from NM Dan Heisman, NM Bruce Pandolfini, and GM Karsten Mueller.

In case there is any doubt, the system is for classroom use.

Introduction• The ChessEdu.org curriculum is designed to use chess as a tool for teaching problem-solving, creative thinking, and abstract reasoning in a classroom setting, be it in a public or private school, home school or other institution, or for personal use.

While the entire document appears to hold together very well, I have some doubts about the concept. First, a 200 page document that introduces only the board and pieces risks serious overkill. I can understand a belt system for a martial art where beginners might easily hurt themselves, but we're talking about a board game here.

Second, before embarking on the white belt program I would like some assurance that material for the subsequent belts -- at least the next two -- is available. I could find no mention of these on the Chessedu.org site. That site is anchored to Chesscafe.com, which 'has fallen on hard times' according to a post titled Chesscafe.com 2015that I wrote earlier this year. How much of an 'ongoing concern' are we dealing with here?

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4NCL Results

The first two rounds of the 4NCL season took place this weekend.   Divisions 1 & 2 were held at the Holiday Inn, Birmingham Airport.

Playing on Board 1 for Division 1 team Oxford 1, IM Justin Tan faced two strong GMs and lost both games.

In Division 2, Anglian Avengers 1 drew 4-4 on Saturday, and won 4½-3½ today.   Individually, Andrew Lewis scored 1½, Adam Taylor 1 (two draws), Ed Player 1 and David Spence ½.

Divisions 3 and 4 were held at a new venue, the Radisson Park Inn at Telford.   This proved to be an excellent hotel, with spacious, clean facilities and friendly staff.   Those who had dinner in the hotel enjoyed an excellent meal.   Below is one of the two tournament rooms in the hotel:

In Division 3 (South), Anglian Avengers 2 drew 3-3 on Saturday, and won 3½-2½ on Sunday.   Graham Moore scored 1, Steve Gregory ½, and Ian Wallis ½ (played only one game).

In Division 4, Iceni 1 lost narrowly on Saturday 2½-3½, but whitewashed the Barnet Knights 3 youngsters 6-0 today.   Jon Collins scored 1½ and John Feavyour 1.

Iceni 2 played a triangular match, so the results were not known until today.   They beat BCM Hippos 3½-2½, but lost to Oxford 3 by the score of 2-4.   Peter Collicott scored 1½ and Bob Jones 1 (two draws).




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