EDUCAÇAO FÍSICA PROFESSOR WILLIAM PEREIRA: ChessCafe.com Weekly Newsletter, August 12

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Issue #17
August 12 - 18

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

Arsenal Enrichment
Extracting useful information from chess texts is the theme of Mark Dvoretsky’s lengthy article this month. The examples will acquaint you with useful strategic ideas, which may not be generally known.

Cincinnati Commercial
Tim Harding reports on a project by the Historical Commission of the International Correspondence Chess Federation to collect the crosstables of each all-play-all correspondence tournament played throughout the world before the First World War.

Junior Championships
The talented youngsters who finished first in each of the U.S. Junior Championships this July have graciously contributed annotated games for our readers. So be sure to check out this month’s Scholastic Chess column.

Trademark Sacrifice
The game Dueckstein - Petrosian, 1962 continues with a trademark exchange sacrifice from Petrosian, after which he dominates the position with central play in the latest Video Spotlight.

New Club Special
ChessCafe.com is pleased to introduce the newest version of our most popular chess set: the New Club Special. It is sleeker and more elegant than its predecessor, yet at the same affordable price. It is available weighted and unweighted with a nearly four inch king and four queens.

Book Notes

Endgame Workshop, by popular chess author Bruce Pandolfini, is designed to give the reader maximum comprehension of this critical phase of the game in an easy-to-follow presentation. In it he follows the format tested in thousands of actual private and classroom settings.

Highlights of ChessBase Magazine #131 include Shirov’s video annotations to his game vs. Carlsen in Sofia; Motylev’s comments on two of his games from Poikovsky; Gelfand’s explanation of his game vs. Nisipeanu from Bazna; and the complete coverage of Kramnik’s ninth win in Dortmund.

This month you can enjoy tremendous discounts on a great selection of books, software and sets. Some for as low as 99 cents!! Plus, enjoy free UPS Ground Shipping on all domestic US orders of $75 or more!*

Reviews in Brief

Endgame Workshop
by Bruce Pandolfini

Bruce Pandolfini first began teaching chess in 1972 at a time when a whole class of educators arose to meet the demands for chess instruction because of the Fischer boom. He kept his eyes open and added the best practices to his own methodology. Yet, as far as the endgame was concerned, he still accepted the old-masters recommendations for teaching the endgame.

He notes that from 1972 until 1977 he averaged fifty teaching periods a week and that about a third of his lessons focused on the endgame. He writes, “gradually my endgame course selections adapted to the accumulation of group and face-to-face sessions. Student questions had to be answered and their learning roadblocks had to be overcome.” Thus, a “step by step the regimen grew, and after a point I was offering a general endgame program.” However, “it became clear that something like a curriculum had to be written out,” but that the standard way of expressing chess concepts were often confusing. “So the language of presentation had to be simplified and defined.”

He notes that a number of structured courses given at various universities and institutions forced him to spell out his ideas more concretely and that the material developed for these courses, “modified by a legion of experience from private lessons and seminars, constitutes the bulk of material in this book.” He writes, “that most of what appears here has been fashioned for real people with real problems about chess problems.”

The end result is thirty lessons, spanning 251 pages, that introduce the basic endgame concepts, such as elementary mates, the opposition, critical squares, and pawn promotion, as well as providing experienced players with deeper insights into more complex endgame matters.

ChessBase Magazine #131
by Rainer Knaak (ed.)

The top tournaments in CBM 131 are the M-Tel Masters in Sofia, the Poikovsky Tournament in Russia, the Kings Tournament in Bazna, and the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting Dortmund. Highlights include Alexei Shirov’s annotations to his decisive last-round game in Sofia vs. Carlsen in video format; Alexander Motylev’s comments on two of his games from Poikovsky; Boris Gelfand’s explanation of his brilliant King’s Indian game vs. Nisipeanu from Bazna; and the complete coverage of Vladimir Kramnik’s ninth win in Dortmund.

Moreover, the are Fritz-Trainer videos by GM Ftacnik, who showcases the latest trends in the Two-Knights-Tango, GM Mikalchischin, who presents a promising setup against the Gruenfeld, and GM Rogozenco, who invites you to a new repertoire idea: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3. Other opening surveys include Marin on the Dutch Defence [A81] and Ruy Lopez [C93], Stohl on the Caro-Kann [B10], Grivas on the Sicilian [B51], Krasenkow on the Gruenfeld Defence [D81], plus many more.

In addition there are regular features such as “Move by Move,” by Daniel King, where he challenges readers to select the proper move and awards points and provides feedback for the solutions. “Tactics” by Oliver Reeh, where he presents tactical exercises from the latest tournaments as well as a video that offers a deeper insight into the way combinations arise and how to find them. “Strategy” by Peter Wells examines the subject of tension in the center. “Endgames” by Karsten Mueller analyzes the most interesting endgames of the previous two months and demonstrates the most beautiful endings in video format. “The Opening Trap” by Rainer Knaak presents a subtle opening trap in every issue. Don’t miss out!

New Catalog Additions

8/12 ChessBase Magazine #131 (DVD)
8/11 The Safest Sicilian 2
8/10 Endgame Workshop
8/7: New In Chess Magazine, 2009/5
8/6: New Club Special Set (weighted)
8/6: New Club Special Set (unweighted)
8/6: Pirc Alert (2nd edition)
8/5: The Classical King’s Indian Uncovered
8/4: The King’s Indian: A Complete Black Repertoire
7/31: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
7/30: Win with the Stonewall Dutch
7/29: Counterattack!