The Soviet Defector

The Guardian: I was a Soviet defector. Chess was my door to freedom by Lev Alburt:

Finally, I decided to defect in June 1979. But on an Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Frankfurt, I began to waver. I was already missing my family, my friends. Perhaps I would, after all, come back – one more time, just one? To stiffen my resolve, I grabbed a copy of Pravda, the Communist party’s propaganda paper.

Interesting read. The only thing questionable is his admiration for Vladimir Putin. Otherwise, a good trip down memory lane.

Wesley So vs. Garry Kasparov (2016)

You heard it right. It’s happening! In 6 blitz games.

BLITZ PROMO_v02

As a bonus to the US Chess Championship 2016 event, the top 3 finishers, which of course include Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, and Hikaru Nakamura, all members of the top 10 in the recent FIDE Ratings List, will play in a 4-way sextuple round robin with the legendary Garry Kasparov.

A Quiet Attack

Time for some puzzles. White to move and win.

[fen_compat]2r5/pp2kp2/3q1p1Q/4p3/6b1/1B6/P1P3PP/1K3R2 w – – 0 1[/fen_compat]

Submit your solution in the comments below.

US Chess Championship 2016 Final Standings

Fabiano Caruana wins his last game against IM Akshat Chandra to establish a full point solo lead at the recently concluded US Chess Championship 2016.

Final Standings - US Chess Championship 2016

Final Standings – US Chess Championship 2016

Wesley So settled for 2nd place where he shared the score 7.5 with Hikaru Nakamura.

US Championship Open?

On Chessbase news: US Championship 2016 – The strongest ever?

Three top ten players start in the US Championship 2016 and nominally it is the strongest US Championship of all times. But can you really compare today’s tournaments with those of the past? Andy Soltis takes a look at previous Championships that were surprisingly strong and concludes that in a historical context 2016 might not be “the strongest ever”.

Let Magnus Carlsen and the rest of the top 10 gang play, and sure you may call it the strongest US Championship ever.

My point is, if you ask the question, “Is the 2016 US Championship by native Americans the strongest ever?” Then the answer is NO!

So’s Sweet Revenge

US Chess Champs, 5: So’s sweet revenge

In 2015 Wesley So’s US Championship was derailed when he lost a 6-move forfeit game against Varuzhan Akobian. This year they got to play a full game, or at least 24 moves, which was all it took for So to crush his opponent.

Sweet revenge, indeed!

LightFICS is the Lightweight Solution for FreeChess.org (FICS) App for Mac

If there’s Raptor, a great FICS desktop client for Mac, for advanced users, fortunately, there’s LightFICS for newbies. What’s more, apparently it’s lightweight from all the bells and whistles. You pretty much have to log in and play.

The app actually looks promising, although personally, I still have to try it out. Moreover, I liked the brown and cream squares color combination for the chess board.

image

Check out more details that I copied from the website below: