ChessCafe.com Weekly Newsletter, May 13 - 19, 2009

234 Depot Rd. Milford, CT 06460 1-877-91-CHESS (1-877-912-4377) Issue #6 May 13 - 19 Welcome to the ChessCafe.com weekly newsletter. You can keep up-to-date with new product releases, read reviews of selected products, and follow the latest postings at ChessCafe.com. Plus, try your hand at solving our weekly puzzle. Enjoy! Here & There Worst-Piece II This month Mark Dvoretsky continues to look at examples where using the worst-piece principle makes it easier to search for the strongest continuation. He also offers a simple positional quiz in which the worst-piece principle will help you to arrive at the correct solution. Dr. Harding In July, the University of Dublin will formally confer the degree of PhD on Tim Harding for his research into correspondence chess history. He is now extending the scope of his research and this month’s article, which completes thirteen years of The Kibitzer, presents two new discoveries about Philidor. SuperNationals IV More than 5,200 players competed in the SuperNationals IV mega-tournament. This month Steve Goldberg introduces the winner of the K-6 section and the winner of the K-3 section and presents some select games. Nottingham 1936 Watch for Alekhine’s classic book on this legendary tournament to be available in the next week or so. Like New York 1924, it has been converted to figurine algebraic notation, with a cleaner, modern look. And it will be exclusively at ChessCafe.com until June 15. Book Notes Sharpen Your Chess Tactics in 7 Days is perfect for players who are desperate to brush up on their tactics, but don’t have time to devote to long hours of study. It is full of easy-to-follow advice on developing tricks that will confound your opponent and help you win the game. Kasparov: How His Predecessors Misled Him about Chess was written as an imaginary sixth volume in the Predecessors series in which the authors write in the first-person, taking on the role of “virtual Garry Kasparov,” where he blames each of seventy defeats on the influence of the previous champions. A great selection of books, software and sets at tremendous discounts. Most are available for $9.95, some are less!! Don’t forget that all orders of $75 or more are shipped free, UPS Ground, anywhere in the continental U.S.* Reviews in Brief Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces by Igor Stohl (2nd ed.) In a review titled “Big and Beautiful,” Stephen Ham wrote of the first edition of this work that “this book is a collection of 50 grandmaster versus grandmaster games, spanning chronologically from Gelfand-Dreev, Tilburg 1993 (Game 1) to Anand-Khalifman, FIDE World Cup, Shenyang 2000 (Game 50) ... it is jam packed with high quality chess information.” He called the opening theory and commentary “excellent” and wrote “the book’s detail actually increases during coverage of the transition from the opening to the middlegame and each game remains deeply annotated through to its conclusion.” Ham concluded that “this book will appeal to anyone searching for “truth” in chess. Stohl’s deep concrete analysis and probing commentary gets about as close to this elusive truth as any book I’ve ever seen. While the amount of analysis is exceptional, I found the commentary to be proportionate to the analysis. In fact, the analysis supported the commentary, making the book relatively easy to follow and comprehend. ... Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces is on the top of my list for quality and quality of annotations.” The new enlarged edition reprints the fifty original games, updated where necessary, and presents twelve new games played from 2000 up until the Mexico City world championship. Stohl writes that “the games chosen provide good instructional value and illustrate well all the important aspects of contemporary chess.” He notes that because of “the increasingly opening-orientated character of chess ... it was necessary not only to provide a substantial update of opening references in comparison with the original notes, but sometimes also to give extensive analysis of the opening phase to present the whole game in its proper context. Nevertheless, the emphasis of the book lies firmly on the later phases of the games.”     The Flexible French by Viktor Moskalenko Moskalenko writes that the purpose of this book “is to offer a combative repertoire to black players, and also offer white players some sharp ideas.” He describes it as a mix of his “general experience in the opening, new concepts and analysis of several creative lines.” He further states “a new time has arrived for chess books on opening theory. Instead of copying thousands of games that are played each day and presenting the analysis be engines, it is much more effective - and more positive - to compose a book with articles according to a different concept: with space for background information, an instructive selection of the material and conclusions drawn from this material.” The book is divided into five parts: the Advance variation, the Tarrasch variation, the Classical system, the Winawer, and a miscellaneous section of early deviations. Each part is structured as follows: the historic origin of each variation; main ideas, resources, advices; analysis of the most interesting lines through model games; illustrative games; and statistics, summaries and conclusions.   New Catalog Additions 5/4: Chess Opening Essentials, Vol. 3 5/3: Chess Opening Essentials, Vol. 2 5/2: Sharpen Your Chess Tactics in 7 Days 5/1: Kasparov: How His Predecessors Misled Him about Chess 4/30: My 60 Memorable Games (2008) 4/24: Foxy Openings, Vol. 80: King’s Gambit, Part 2 (DVD) 4/24: Foxy Openings, Vol. 79: King’s Gambit, Part 1 (DVD) 4/23: Foxy Openings, Vol. 78: Nimzo-Indian (DVD) 4/22: Foxy Openings, Vol. 77: Sicilian Kan (DVD) 4/20: ChessBase Magazine #129 (DVD) 4/19: The Closed Sicilian (DVD) 4/18: Power Play 9: Major Pieces vs. Minor Pieces (DVD) 4/17: Fischer World Champion! (2nd ed.) 4/16: New In Chess Yearbook #90 4/15: Chess Tactics for Champions (restock) 4/13: Tiger’s Modern (restock)   Weekly Puzzle   Quote of the Week White to Move/Solution Below   A typical characteristic of modern chess is its complexity. Igor Stohl, Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces Check Out the May Savings Sale Only $9.95!! Only $9.95!! Only $9.95!! Only $9.95!!  Only $9.95!! Only $9.95!!  Plus dozens of other titles! Puzzle Answer: 45.e6! Rf8 46.e7 Re8 47.d7 Bxd7 48.Qxf3 Qg5+ 49.Kf1 1-0 Shirov-Grischuk, FIDE-Wch KO New Delhi 2000 (Source: Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces) * UPS Ground Only. Excludes Hawaii and Alaska. Does not apply to Next Day Air, 2nd Day Air, Bulk, Foreign Orders or Multiple-Issue Subscriptions Copyright 2009 CyberCafes, LLC. All Rights Reserved. "ChessCafe.com" is a registered trademark of Russell Enterprises, Inc.