DHLC Newsletter -- December edition

Dr_Cris_Angel

Dec 1, 2013, 11:15 AM | 2

Dan Heisman Learning Center

Newsletter for December 2013

Contents

Welcome!

News

Blog highlights

Games of the Month

Puzzles of the Month

Want to get in touch with the newsletter crew? Write to them at DHLCNewsletter@gmail.com

WELCOME!

NewsletterDecember edition, volume 12

Welcome to the Dan Heisman Learning Center!

All members of the DHLC share a common interest and we all have the strong desire to improve our chess playing. We are truly a group BY the members FOR the members. No matter if you are a master or completely new to the game, we welcome you. Please do take a look around the forums to see where other members can help you improve or you can help others as well.

We at the DHLC encourage active participation, good sportsmanship and above all, fun in learning this wonderful game. Whether your preference is for live chess, longer correspondence (“online”) games, some vote chess or working your way through the instructional articles written by some of stronger members, there is something for everyone at DHLC.

Slow events in the DHLC

SirIvanHoe

New to our events?

League Qualifer Tournament

This is the event that all new league players MUST compete in successfully to qualify to enter regular tournaments in the DHLC Slow Chess League. This is a 3 round event with games played at a time control of G/45+45. In order to qualify, you must participate in all 3 rounds, observe all league rules, and complete at least 1 game. Before signing up below, read our rules here. Use this time zone converter to help with scheduling your games. (Enter New York in the converter to get ET.)

League qualifers happen every three to four weeks. Watch for signups in the DHLC proper. Want to see how it works?

DHLC Slow Chess WEEKLY

Signups Are Now Open!

This brand new tournament format is designed to let regular league players get an extra game on any single week that they'll have the time to play.

New Feature! - We now offer both G/45+45 and G/90+30 sections. Let us know when you sign up which time control you want - or sign up for both! Being a single round event means that due colors are not observed week to week. Each week's pairings will not in any way be based on pairings or results of previous weeks. You must be a qualified league player to participate in this event.

Slow Swiss #11

Signups Are Open!

Our next tournament will be DHLC Slow Swiss #11. This tournament will be 5-7 rounds depending on the turnout. Games will be played at a time control of G/45+45 and will be played in one round per week scheduled according to the rules of the Slow Chess League using EDT. There will be one open section for pairing. There will be individual competition for all along with optional team play.

You must be a veteran league player or have qualified by playing successfully in the Qualifier tournament series to be elibigle for this tournament under our new rules.

Here's how it works: it starts on Monday, December 16 as an open paired Swiss-style tournament. There are 5-7 rounds of play at G/45+45.

But there's more: you have the option to join or form a team! You can play with friends from your local OTB club and call it Philadelphia Patzers. Or you can find 4 players from your country and call it the All-Australia DHLC Team. Or collect the coolest players you know and call your team Purple Daisies. Or, find some other enthusiasts of your favorite opening and call it the Caro-Kannters.

Each team has 4-6 players. The top 4 scorers from the team are counted for standings. You may have no more than 1 player over 1800 (Live Standard Rating), no more than 2 players (total) over 1600, and no more than 3 players (total) over 1400 on your team.

Everyone who plays is eligible to win as the top individual player regardless of whether you are on a team or not. But only teams are eligible to win as the top scoring team.

Signups will remain open until Friday, December 13 for this tournament, and invitations will go out regularly to those who get in early. A list of eligible rated players will be available at the playing group. Don't see the players that you want? Go back to the DHLC main group and get the best to sign up to play. Teams may form by messaging each other or exchanging notes or such. A player may not be placed on a team without his consent. Players may join only 1 team. To enter as a team, the team's chosen Captain will message the TD with the team name, members and ratings per the posted ratings list, and name of the Captain. You must have at least 4 players to enter as a team. After that, you may message again to add players up to the total of 6.

Please Note: Teammates are not paired whenever this is possible.

Optional Regional Pairing: Also, you will be asked at Player Check-In about the region you are in so that I may use a special software feature which will allow me to pair players within timezone areas when possible without using separate sections.

Special for this tournament: Round 2 will be 2 weeks long to accomodate flexible scheduling for the Christmas holiday.

Sign up here! http://www.chess.com/groups/forumview/dhlc-slow-swiss

Finally, don't forget that we have the "I want to be a Slow Chess Friend" forum where players who wish to play with other members who enjoy similar time controls, openings, ratings, etc. It's a great place to find a sparring partner and, of course, to make a new friend.

http://www.chess.com/groups/forumview/i-want-to-be-a-slow-chess-friend?page=1

Tournament Results!

SirIvanHoe

Slow Swiss #9

Congrats to Team Sicilian Mafia (JosefJB, nate23 (captain), Lavner, Suvel2000, milatin, Incredibletactic) for winning the team competition with 15 points!

Congrats to -waller-, Lavner, and kasparov57349 for each scoring 4.5 out of 5 to share the top individual honors!

1-2 Pairing #2

ThisIsChesstiny and PrivatePyle99 delivered perfect 3.0 scores to claim the win at G/45+45.

TheNinthPawn stays perfect to stand above G/90+30.

League Qualifier #3

Alex1968, philidor_position, and TheRomanticWarrior blanked the competition.

Players who qualified for league play in this tournament:

Alex1968	alghul	aplause
Boogada	Bronas	darsyd
FridayKnight	HiddenGrandMaster	JabotScrob
jjaillet	lamba27	magicjed
MikeUpNorth	MyRook	OldChessDog
petrip	philidor_position	Redman
renebonilla1969	SchriSchri	Shkbar
tabarisch	TheRomanticWarrior	viltaire
yusty666

Blog Highlights!

Dr_Cris_Angel

A few excellent blogs to include this month. I owe an apology to Thisischesstiny -- I promised to include this LAST month and it completely slipped my mind. I think you'll find it's well worth the wait as it's extremely well written and is a good read. Chesstiny kindly shares his experience from the DHLC 1-2 pairing. Enjoy.

http://www.chess.com/blog/ThisisChesstiny/dhlc-slow-1-2-pairing---suvel2000-vs-thisischesstiny-18-oct-2013

Philidor_Position kindly shares the rest of the League Qualifer experience with us in the final two games of the qualifer:

http://www.chess.com/blog/philidor_position/chess-is-a-difficult-game

http://www.chess.com/blog/philidor_position/failing-in-the-critical-moment

Another very detailed blog by LimpSpider -- wow!

http://www.chess.com/blog/LimpSpider/nimzovich-larsen-attack-a01

Finally, Gunners2004 shares more Tips for Novices, this time on the Knight -- Well worth the read, especially since these pieces can be so tricky!

http://www.chess.com/blog/Gunners2004/tips-for-novices-5---the-knight

Have a blog you think would be interesting and worth sharing? Please let us know about it! As you can see, blogs do NOT have to come from expert players. We all have something to share!

Chat Room Chess Club!

Dr_Cris_Angel

Please remember that the Chat Room Chess Club is open on Mondays for those who wish to participate in "skittles" games, chat and have fun. Your rating doesn't matter!! Dan Heisman often stops by and we pick up some pearls of wisdom while watching our fellow members play some games. You can watch any or all of them, can play in one yourself or can just chat - it's up to you. We really do have fun in there, many games to watch and discuss. Sometimes I even livestream! If you'd like to livestream a game with me, please let me know!

The Chat Room Chess Club meets on Monday evenings at 7:00 PM Eastern time and runs until about 10:00 pm (or later!!) and can be found here: http://www.chess.com/groups/home/dhlc-chat-room-chess-club

Games of the month

Farnel

A double treat for you this month. We have two annotated games submitted by one of our titled members NM Petrosianic (Matt O'Brien). I hope this is a trend that continues as I am keen to see more games played by our titled players from which we less experienced players can study and learn.

The first game is one from the recent World Chess Championship match between Anand and Carlsen. It is game 9, one of the more exciting games in the match and I remember being quite enthralled as I watched it live. Played when Carlsen was leading 2 - 0 with 6 draws, I was watching Anands' attack unfold and was hoping that he would find the path to victory to show that he wasn't finished and add a little life to a match that seemed likely to finish very soon. Alas, it was not to be which you will see when you play through the game.

The second game is one that Petrosianic won against an IM rated more than 200 points higher. I think it shows that a rating isn't everything, it is only a number, and with the right attitude and effort, you can prevail against someone you might otherwise not expect to beat. Of course you have to take your opportunities as they present themselves, which didn't always happen in this game as the winner explains in his notes.

That's it for this month. I hope you enjoy those games. And don't forget that we want YOUR games for the newsletter. You can send it me directly or to the newsletter team via DHLCnewsletter@gmail.com.

Puzzles of the month

Farnel

This month, rather than puzzles from actual games, the puzzles are all composed positions, mostly chess problems. The world of chess problems is a centuries old art and has produced a wide range of spectacular achievements. We certainly don't have room to show the huge range of problems that exist but I hope to give you a little taste. Unlike endgame studies, chess problems often have little resemblance to positions you are likely to encounter in a game. Meant more for entertainment and enjoyment than for instruction, a good problem usually clearly shows the fulfilment of a chess idea. Some of those ideas and themes do occur in games from time to time, for example the idea of interference, which you will see in one of the problems below, has occurred often in master games. The convention for all chess problems is that white is to play and mate in a specified number of moves. In traditional problems, they must be a "legal position", that is the problem setting must be one that could have occured in a game. It also usual that the first move is not a check which is seen as too forcing; a more subtle first (or key) move is the general rule. None of the problems in this set breaks that rule.

No particularly difficult or particularly exotic problems for you in this set, I will keep them relatively simple. However if anyone is up for a real challenge, I do have one problem that specifies that white is to move and mate in 1320 moves! So on with the show.

Just to get those brain cells tuned up and working, let's start off with a pawn endgame study by Chernev from 1960. Minimal material to begin with, looks simple doesn't it? Well, it is but be careful, it is easy to go astray. It's white to play and win.

Now that you are warmed up, our first problem is by G. Carpenter (1873). This is a miniature problem and clearly white will win in this position. However in a chess problem, it isn't quite that simple. It is not enough to win, it has to be mate in a specific number of moves. In this case, it is white to play and mate in 2 moves.

Next another miniature problem (that is a problem with no more 7 pieces), this time from the 13th century. Even in the medieval era, the composer of this problem had the modern composers feel for economy and symmetry. Again, it is white to play and mate in 2 moves.

Problems often have a theme, of which there are many. The following problem, by Sam Loyd (1859), of the greatest problemists who also produced puzzles in a very wide range of areas, illustrates what is called the Grimshaw theme which involves interference by the rooks and bishops on key squares. In this problem we see what is called the Organ Pipes, the particular position of the black rooks and bishops, invented for this problem by Loyd. Again it is white to mate in two moves.

I'm sure that you have all heard of Adolf Anderssen, who won the Immortal Game and the Evergeen Game, two of the most famous games in chess history. It is perhaps less well known that he also composed problems as we will see in our next position. It is white to play and mate in three. One small clue – don't be hasty in this one.

Another simple looking position next, with only 4 pieces including pawns ready to promote, from A Werle (1945). It is white to play and mate in 4 moves; can I suggest that it doesn't pay to be greedy.

Finally, something a little more … exotic, but not too much so. In this composition by C. C. W. Mann (1907), how does the white queen penetrate the formidable looking defences of the black king? It is white to play and mate in 4 moves.

I hope you enjoyed that all too brief introduction to the wonderful world of chess problems. For those who enjoy the beauty of chess, it is a field of endless variety and delight. See you again next month.

DHLC Newsletter -- December edition

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