Play chess online, online games, chess league, free online chess games, chess games database, board games, chess teams, chess games, chess puzzles, chess clubs, free chess online and more...

Tags: online chess, chess online, play chess online, play chess, chess, play chess, backgammon

Chess Forum
mailcafe.net << online chess - < chess - chess > - chess online >>

From	Message
Posted by ccmcacollister mailcafe.net 10/03/2005 05:27:40 Play online chess	Subject: Point Count Chess Message: Does anyone remember this book..."point Count Chess" from the 70's or early 80's ?\It intrigued me but i never got it. Just wondering what it was about (because i recently read an article trying to assign numerical values (eg. partial pawn, like 1/2 pawn, etc) to positional aspects like the two bishops. Wonder if book was a forerunner? Welcome comments about the book, the article or the concept(s). Or any valuation system attempts ...
Posted by ccmcacollister mailcafe.net 10/03/2005 05:40:52 Play online chess	ps// Message: Cant find the article now. Probably saw it in forums ahile back, but not sure.
Posted by bucklehead mailcafe.net 10/03/2005 13:59:29 Play online chess	Sounds like a computer program Message: My first thought was that this idea sounded pretty much exactly like computer analysis, but dumbed-down for the carbon-based among us. My second, and more considered and charitable, was that the thing it really sounds like is the point system you use in Bridge to assess the value of your hand for bidding. That would certainly be the more interesting possibility. Anyway, I found a couple of links: -> www.amazon.com -> chessb.demonweb.co.uk (bottom of page) My sense from other sites and reviews is that it's a useful introduction to what constitutes a positional weakness or strength, but not so valuable as a straight "what to play" algorithm. ——— Finding a draw against a pair of queens — It's never easy to face a brace of queens. But can black find an answer here? Kramnik-Gashimov, Melody Amber 2010. Black to play. RB It's never exactly a comfort to find yourself facing a brace of queens, but at least they're as far from the defence of their own king as it's possible to get, and that king is exposed. Also, as long as the black queen can keep an eye on f8 neither enemy queen can give check on the next move. So there may be a chance for a draw. Three possible moves suggest themselves: 1...Qxg3, Ne1 and 1...Qf1+. 1...Qxg3 looks tempting – the threat is 2...Nf2 mate – but it has the rather obvious and slightly fatal drawback of ...
Posted by wschmidt mailcafe.net 10/04/2005 11:32:27 Play online chess	Craig, Message: I read the book years ago. The reviewer at Amazon provides a pretty good summary. His bottom line is mine as well - applying the point-count system in actual play is not realistic (although it's more realistic for correspondence play that OTB), but as a text illustrating the basics of positional chess the book is excellent. I dropped out of chess for many years and have only recently returned to it in the last couple of years. "Point Count Chess" is on my list of books to work through as I try to understand the game a little better. ——— Hard Times for Chess — Early last week, Silvio Danailov, the manager of Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, said in an interview that the M-Tel Masters would not be played this year because the main sponsor, after which the chess tournament is named, had pulled out. Instead, the company decided that it would get more for its money by sponsoring Topalov in his upcoming world chess championship match against Viswanathan Anand of India, the titleholder. Danailov said that he hoped that the chess tournament, which is usually held in May, would return next year. The world chess championship match begins on April 23 in Sofia, Bulgaria. M-Tel was first played in 2005, so it does not have a long tradition, but ...
Posted by thunker mailcafe.net 10/04/2005 13:05:41 Play online chess	Positional value Message: Dr. Hans Berliner addresses this type of valuation in his book "My System" (not to be confused with Nimzovich's "The System".) Of course, Berliner was a professor at Carnegie Mellon teaching AI type stuff and did a lot of developing of both chess and backgammon playing algorithms. In the book, he gives a lot of guidelines of valuing not only the piece, but the piece's position. ——— In Chicago, a Chess Tournament That Turns Out Grandmasters — In 1993, Laszlo Nagy began organizing monthly chess tournaments in Budapest that give players a chance to earn the norms needed to gain the grandmaster and international master titles. Called the First Saturday tournaments, the events have attracted many of the world’s best chess players. Five years ago, a Chicago man created a similar tournament series, the North American Masters, to help American chess players. The man, Sevan A. Muradian, organized the first one in April 2005. The 25th tournament ended March 24, and two players, Mackenzie Molner and Siddharth Ravichandran, each earned the third norm needed to become international masters ...
Posted by wulebgr mailcafe.net 10/06/2005 06:06:03 Play online chess	I've heard of that book Message: <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 4.0"> <meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document"> <title>New Page 1</title> </head> <body> <p>Andrew Soltis came out with a new book last year, <i>Rethinking the Chess Pieces</i>. In the first chapter he reviews many schemes that people have developed to put a value on the pieces. The instruction that follows then shows the flaws in all such systems, while providing a lot of useful tactical and position knowledge. I fell upon the book after it was recommended to me by an International Master; his advice is usually worth hearing.</p> </body> </html> ——— The late Vasily Smyslov was the composed champion of the 1950s — Vasily Smyslov, who died last weekend at 89, was the world's best chess player for most of the 1950s but held the championship crown for only one year and was nicknamed 'The Winter King'. Smyslov understood chess more profoundly than his great rival Mikhail Botvinnik, against whom he contested three world championship matches with honours even. But Botvinnik was the better psychologist, had a shrewd knowledge of chess politics and made wily use of rules where 12-12 kept his title in 1954 and his 1957 defeat gave him a return series where he caught the flu-stricken Smyslov at the start. Smyslov took his major reverse phlegmatically. Chess for him was an art form allied to ...