Tag: carlsen

Categories
analyzethis

Analyze This – Understanding the Chess Engine

What is Critter, Stockfish?

Critter & Stockfish are the Top free Chess engines (aka mini Computers) that come pre-installed with Analyze This.
They are like the commercial engines Fritz, Houdini albeit free.
As of May 2013, Critter has an estimated ELO strength of 3175 while Stockfish is rated at 3164! (Carlsen is 2868!)
Newer versions of Critter and Stockfish can be downloaded from their respective sites:
http://www.vlasak.biz/critter/
http://stockfishchess.org/download/

What are the three buttons next to the Engine?

“Start/Stop”
Start or stop the engine.
 
“+”
Increase the number of “lines” that the engine shows. By default, the engine only shows the first best move it has calculated. You can press “+” to ask the engine to show the 2nd, 3rd etc “best” moves. 1st move is always the best move. More engine lines mean that the engine has to use lot of CPU power and also spend equal time analyzing the other “best” moves that it considers. The quality can degrade with too many lines.
 
“-“
Decrease the number of lines. Lesser the lines, the efficient is the engine.

What do those numbers and symbols shown by the Engine mean?

+/= (=/+)
Slight advantage: White (Black) has slightly better chances.

+/− (−/+)
Advantage: White (Black) has much better chances. It is also written as ± for White advantage, ∓ for
Black advantage; the other similar symbols can be written in this style as well.

+− (−+)
Decisive advantage: White (Black) has a clear advantage.

(6.31) Centi pawn evaluation
The engine considers the position to be equal to 6.31 pawns (winning). Negative value means the position is losing for Black by those many pawns.
In other words, the evaluation of the position in terms of pawns (where pawn = 1pt)

ex: +3.2 means white is winning with score of 3.2 pawns. -0.5 means black is slightly ahead by 0.5 pawns.

d=16 (Engine depth)
The half-moves that the engine is currently thinking ahead. Typically means that the engine is thinking 8 moves ahead (8 for White, 8 for Black). As you give more time for the engine to chew on that position, the depth will keep increasing gradually.

For more details, please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_annotation_symbols

NOTE: Running more engines simultaneously or with multiple lines can severely drain device battery.

Should Anand win the Candidates?

A smiling Anand at the Candidates 2014
(pic by @NastiaKarlovich)

Note, the question is no longer, “Will Anand win the Candidates?” since this is now put to rest after the first 6 rounds. But my question is; should he?

Today is a rest day for the players and me too (after a BIG Analyze This app release). So I thought it was a good day to rest a bit, take a break from programming and ponder over this Q.

“Should Anand win the Candidates?!“.
Sounds dubious, doesn’t it? After all, which player would not want to win a tournament and challenge Magnus Carlsen himself!? And which fan would not want his favorite star to win the Candidates? But should he?

Before I start getting threat calls from Chennai, and Vishy himself ‘unfriends’ me on FB and stops following on Twitter, let me make it clear. I am a big Anand-fan and would like to see him play forever!

There is no doubt about his stature. He is a legend who has single-handedly carried the expectations of a million Indians Chess fans (and one of the reason I quit my full-time job and started working on my Chess Apps and eBooks). He has won everything there was worth winning.

And the way he is currently playing, is a treat to watch. Then, why this question?

Lets take 3 likely scenarios when the Candidates tourney ends:

Scenario 1 : Anand plays badly here-after (r6) and ends up somewhere in the middle of the standing.
This will be obviously bad for him and his fans, especially after a dream start like this. We fans and probably Anand himself would not have imagined that he would be in sole lead after 6 rounds!
This will be quite disastrous.

Scenario 2 : Anand wins the Candidates and the right to challenge Carlsen (again!). Many Chess fans would think this would be the easiest pairing for Carlsen and a lop-sided match. I am sure even Carlsen, would probably stop practicing on his Play Magnus app and stop drinking Orange Juice. He might even take up additional modelling assignments or sign-up a movie! (“Board Wars – Return of the Tiger” starring Liv Tyler and some south Indian dude).

But would Anand himself like to play Carlsen again? Carlsen is strong, but not unbeatable. And he might even take some inspiration from the Rocky movies. According to reports, Anand was initially planning to skip the Candidates (probably because he wanted a nice break and wasn’t really thinking of matching Carlsen again). Would the Chess-world (barring Indian fans), be excited again to watch the match? (well I bet, on any given day a Carlsen-Anand match would have more viewers than a Carlsen-XYZ match)
Anand will now need to spend months in intense preparation if he has to beat Carlsen.

If Anand defeats Carlsen, does it make Anand more greater than he already is? It would be another feather in his overcrowded hat and an impossible comeback! But at some point, the new generation has to overtake the older while the legends fade, and that is perfectly natural!
If Anand loses again, the cycle repeats!?

Scenario 3 : Anand narrowly misses the ticket and finishes 2nd in the Candidates. Probably Aronian beats him on tiebreaks.
Fans will definitely be sympathetic towards Anand and be happy that against all odds, he played a superb tournament and the “tiger is back”. No hard feelings. Even Anand would feel good about his performance.
Anand goes on a nice extended holiday with his family, feeling content that he performed his best and came very close to winning it. He gains a dozen rating points and is having a good time, till his next tournament. Less pressure!

What do you think? Should Anand win the Candidates?

Categories
android

World Championship App, Carlsen and some pics

“The first of its kind!”
This World championship match touched many lives, and mine has been no different.

Back in September, I approached the AICF with a proposal to develop a Android app for the Match. They liked the idea and the rest is history!

There were lots of new things that I had never done before with my other Chess apps. It was a big challenge. 

♚ The first line of code!
On, September 1st, 2013, I wrote the first line of code!
Given my familiarity with Java and affinity towards Google, I chose the Google App Engine as my server. (One of the main reason to use a separate server for my app was to reduce the load on the official servers, especially after the London Candidates’ debacle during the earlier rounds). There were many technical hurdles that had to be crossed.
Line by line, file by file, the Android app and the corresponding server was brought to life.
But the main setback was not a technical problem, but a lack of response from the concerned teams that almost threatened to derail the app or some of its features. 
There were so many questions that needed answers, but there was no one to answer!

♚ First board prototype

The first board prototype, using the color scheme matching the actual board from the Candidates! Lol. The teak theme was too dark on some phones, especially the black pieces on dark square.


♚ What you “fore-see” is not what you get!
But as it happens with so many projects, the end-product is almost always completely different from the initial idea that you had envisaged, and some times its good.
At some point, the “Cool Anand” and “Hot Carlsen” board ideas struck my mind.
The app had to be made personal. After all it was all about the duo. And the fans. Let chess fans proudly choose the board theme matching the player they support, is what I thought!


Tactics were never part of the initial idea, but they became one of the most liked features of the app! (Full set of 300 tactical puzzles of Anand and Carlsen are available for purchase via my iChess Android and iOS app)
Live video was! But even after the app was officially released, there were no details on how to access the live video! (lol, can only laugh when I think about it now!)
Picture gallery was optional, and remains optional till date! 😉
There were so many features that I wanted to add and so many changes that were requested by Chess fans, but then there is a limit to time, energy and motivation!

♚ Who will annotate the previous encounters?
The previous encounters had to be annotated. With my limited time and Chess skills, I could never had done justice to the master pieces. I initially approached a couple of Indian GM’s, one of whom is well known for his satirical posts. But I did not have the money to offer nor did they have the time. (Note, the app was developed for FREE with no monetary payment. Just for honor and pride, or “loyalty huh?” as Vishy Anand told me at the pre-match dinner party!)
Then entered, Sagar Shah, the most energetic and entertaining Chess annotator I have ever seen. His annotations are like poetry! He agreed to annotate for the share of the “glory” and no money, although I did tell him that in case there is a chance to monetize the app, then I shall pay him 30% of the revenue. Thanks to the server costs, the revenue is negative! Ofcourse, being the “official” app, it could not serve any Ads and generate revenue. Imagine the app saying, “you can only watch the first two games for free. Rest of the games need $0.99, each) 😛

♚ The first version
After several internal Beta test versions from Oct 21st to Oct 25th, the first version was released for public download on Oct 26th. I could now breathe easy, atleast that is what I thought!
Then followed a series of changes, bug fixes, improvements, additions, deletions. Overall, 15 versions were released since then, each carrying some improvement or bug fix or some unavoidable design change!

♚ Stats & Dates

  • Development started – Sep 1st
  • First version released – Oct 26th
  • Total active users – >45,000 (as of Nov 27) (my expectation before the match was a modest 5000!)
  • Average rating – 4.72/5 (389 of 471 were 5 stars!)
  • Top 3 countries – India (37.8%), Spain (7.72%), Germany (7.52%). Norway was #5 with 3.87% sessions.


♚ Thanks
This app would not have been possible without the kind support of so many Chess enthusiasts and even non-enthusiasts (the app icon was developed by a “non-Chess” guy!)
Starting with Bharat Singh, who liked the app idea and immediately called up to take this forward. Sagar Shah and Swayams Mishra who helped with the Previous encounters and Tactics respectively. Such was Sagar’s enthusiasm and commitment, that he would burn the midnight oil and stay up late till the morning and annotate the game (before he got busy with his own tournament)! I think it took a toll on him and he had a disastrous performance at the recently concluded Chennai Grand Master open tournament.
Soni Prasad, my college mate who designed the app icon even though he was faced with some personal tragedy and difficult situations.
Aart Bik, who offered the first “foreign” hand and translated the app to Dutch. BTW, he is the developer of the popular “Chess for Android” app.
Many of them came ahead on their own accord and helped with the translation. This is the real Chess spirit! Bruno Pellanda, David Kaufmann, Houssem Collo, Jan Hotarek, Michael Meyer, Sverre Eugen. And the many people on G+, Twitter and FB who helped with their kind and encouraging words.
Some times users don’t realize how their words (reviews in this case) can positively or negatively affect others. For instance, a user did not like the recently added Norwegian translation and chose to give a bad review. That was enough to upset Sverre, who had spent the time and effort to help translate and had personally offered his help in the first place. “So let them do it from here. I stick to only playing chess”, Sverre argued. The user who chose to award a bad review, never offered any help to correct the translation, inspite of asking for his feedback! Thats life!

♚ Future of the app?
Dalila – “I’ll miss seeing the coloured notification ‘a move has been made’“. It was indeed a part of my life for the past 3 months and for many fans world wide. This is quite evident from the amazing response the app received. And I am truly grateful.


At one point, the app was #6 in the Top New Free Apps in the Brain & Puzzle Category on the Google Play Store!
So whats next? Like Deep Blue, the super computer, the app will be disassembled! But the parts will be used for a future project with the intention of watching live games and even more! Stay tuned!

♚ Perks of the job

Watching the Opening ceremony from the front row!


Sitting on that chair, touching those pieces!



Oh and, congratulations to MAGNUS CARLSEN, the new World Chess Champion!
(My 10 year old niece, who was “not interested” in Chess, now likes Magnus Carlsen and has taken to chess again! She plays Chess with her 8 year old brother who coincidentally likes Anand…still!)

PS. Some photos from the event:
https://plus.google.com/photos/109229292553599584633/albums/5943560829066629073

Categories
android

Introducing the Official App of the FIDE World Championship Match 2013

First time in the history of a World Chess Championship match, fans world wide can follow the action on their Android devices! And not just follow, but immerse into it with this feature packed Android app!

DOWNLOAD

Get it on Google Play

APP HIGHLIGHTS


♚ Live Moves
Follow the live moves on a beautiful Chess board, and watch as the drama unfolds in real-time!

♚ Notifications
Get notified when the game starts or after moves are made. What more, after every game is over, you will be immediately notified of the result*

Sample game notification in the Notification tray during the game and after the game is over


♚ Engine Analysis
One click engine analysis of the current board position with two Strong Chess engines (Critter & Stockfish). Needs ‘Analyze This’ Android app

‘Analyze This’ Android app



♚ Annotated Previous Encounters
Get ready for the match as Sagar Shah (ELO 2373) walks you through some selected previous encounters of Anand and Carlsen, with some entertaining annotations and commentary.



♚ Tactics of Anand & Carlsen
Solve 30 tactical puzzles of Anand and Carlsen (15 each), carefully selected by IM Swayams Mishra (ELO 2434). These are “awesome tactics worth solving”, as he puts it.



♚ Integrated Tweets
Stay abreast with expert opinion and comments with the integrated Tweets. Also, Tweet while you watch the live moves right from the Board screen!



♚ 2 Board Designs
Whom are you supporting? Choose either the “Cool Anand” or the “Hot Carlsen” board design and support your man!

‘Cool Anand’ & ‘Hot Carlsen’ board designs!




♚ Home Screen and Lock Screen Widgets
What if you could follow the action without even opening the app!!? Too good to be true?
Yes, you can! Add the Board widget to your Android Home screen (or Lock Screen!!) and watch as the widget updates automatically when the moves are made!*
The home screen widget can be resized and made bigger!




♚ Match Score
View match schedule (in your local time!) and follow the score as the match progresses

♚ Available in International languages

Thanks to some awesome Chess enthusiasts, the app is available in native Portuguese (BRL), Dutch, French, Czech, German and Spanish languages!**


♚ Optimized for Battery and Data
The app only does its work when the server notifies it that a move has been made, instead of continuously connecting to the server every few minutes. This saves a lot of device battery and data charges. Hence you can always keep your data connection ON and never miss a beat!

TIPS N TRICKS

  • Live Board – Swipe down to flip the board


  • Tactics – Swipe right-to-left to load next puzzle


  • Tweets – Pull down to refresh tweets


FAQs

“Google Play Services not available.” What does this mean?

To save device battery and data charges, the app uses Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) to send moves and other details from the server down to the devices. If the correct version of Google Play Services is not available on your device, then cloud messaging will not work. Instead, the device will resort to pulling moves from the server. This has the following implications:
  • Server will not be able to push any move notification to the device. This in turn means that the device will periodically try and fetch this information, resulting in higher Battery and data charges
  • No move notifications from the server. Hence moves may be delayed
  • Game start/end notification will not work 
  • Home/Lock screen widget will NOT automatically show the latest board position.


With “Google Play Services” error, will I be able to watch live games? 

Yes! However, there will be no moves pushed by the server to your device automatically, nor will there be any game start/end notifications. As long as you are on the “Live Board” screen, the app will show the latest board position and refresh at a 2 minute interval.


How do I add the Board widget to my Home screen?

Click ‘Widgets’ category on your Android device and scroll right till you locate the ‘World Championship Match 2013’ widget shown below:

Then drag it and place it some where on your home screen. The widget will automatically update and show you the latest game position, when the game is in play*.





How do I add the Board widget to my Lock screen?

Lock your device and swipe the lock screen widget till you see the below:
Touch the ‘+’ area and scroll to locate the World Championship match widget.

Then touch to select the widget and it will be added to the Lock screen.

Now when the game starts, you only have to look at your lock screen to see the current game position!*
Adding widgets to lock screen is available only on Android 4.2 and higher

CREDITS


* – Notification feature is not available on devices like the Amazon Kindle Fire etc which do not have the Google Play Services.
Please see ‘Google Play Services not available’ FAQ above for other restrictions for devices that do not support Google Play Services.
Lock screen widgets are only available on devices running Android 4.2 and above. 

** – If you would like to help and translate the App to your international language, please mail me at pereiraasim@gmail.com. Only the App could be translated. The vast amount of Game annotations and commentary will still be in English.

♚ IMPORTANT: The app supports nearly 4200 different Android devices! So there is a possibility that the app may not always look “pretty” on your device. If you are one of those, please drop me a mail at pereiraasim@gmail.com and I shall try to fix it. A bad review will not automatically fix the issue since most likely I would need more details from you! 


DOWNLOAD

Get it on Google Play

Categories
android ichess

300 tactical puzzles from the games of Anand and Carlsen

The biggest Chess match of the decade is just around the corner. What better way to celebrate this historic moment, than by solving puzzles derived from the games of these two brilliant players?

300 puzzles from the games of Anand (166 puzzles) and Carlsen (134 puzzles) are now available for purchase inside iChess. Now, get into the Championship mood!
(Note: First 166 puzzles are from Anand’s games followed by that of Carlsen. As usual, all puzzles are arranged in increasing order of difficulty starting with basic one-movers and going on to several moves)
Sample Puzzle
How did Anand (White) destroy Black’s King side?
White to play and win

Apart from the default free 1000 puzzles arranged into Normal, Advanced and Master levels, iChess also has lots of other puzzles that you can purchase.

Some of the puzzles available inside iChess for purchase

 Solution

App Download

Categories
android

10 best chess games of 2012 – pgn available for download

I just noticed this post on GM Pogonina’s website and I thought I could easily go through the games on my Tablet, but unfortunately there was no PGN for download. Using a Chess board on a webpage is not the world’s easiest thing.

So I searched the relevant games she had listed there, on Chessgames.com, and created a PGN. Thought it will be useful for others too.

Now I can sit back and play through the games using my Analyze This Android app!

Download Best 10 games of 2012.pgn

“Top-10 chess games in 2012 according to Natalia Pogonina:
1. Volokitin – Mamedyarov. I had very few doubts about the first place. This is a fantastic game.
2. Kramnik – McShane. I believe this was Kramnik’s supreme masterpiece in 2012. A great example of a sacrifice of an exchange.
3. Carlsen – Caruana. Magnus is known for his remarkable endgame technique. This game is a living proof of how good he is.
4. Gelfand – Anand. Gelfand took full advantage of the light-squared bad bishop. The fact that this game way played in the WCC match adds to its importance.
5. Bodnaruk – Javakhishvili. A great game by Anastacia Bodnaruk. White sacrificed two rooks and slaughtered the Black king.
6. Gustaffson – Kramnik.  A wonderful journey of the a-pawn 🙂
7. Ivanchuk – Vachier-Lagrave. The sacrifice on d5 is standard, but it never gets old. Especially when accompanied by such a nice move as 26.g3.
8. Carlsen – Topalov. A wild duel with fireworks. I love replaying this game over and over again 🙂
9. Aronian – Morozevich. A lot of splendid games have been played at Tal Memorial, but I decided to pick this one. Both sides has their chances, but in the end Black prevailed.
10. Rodriguez – Veskovi. An impressive attack on the king.”

BTW, the complete list of 38 games is here

Chess reading for the week – Apr 14th

From Chess.com forum : “What music do you listen while playing chess?”
Yes, some people do like listening to music while playing chess. Although this kind of thing is unheard of in the Super GM club, I had a first hand experience when I was paired against GM Mark Paragua and he had his earphones on during the game! I lost that game and drew solace from the fact that maybe he had more inspiration and peace (than me), thanks to the music in his ears!
Head to the forum to see what people like listening to when they play chess!

From chess-news.ru : “The Match Should Be Held On Neutral Territory”
Aaand the politics has just begun. Now with MC “refusing” (not confirmed) to play in Chennai (not confirmed either), the venue for the World Chess Championship is like the Higgs boson; its there but its not. As an Indian Chess fan, watching the Anand vs Carlsen match in person, in Chennai, will be my biggest Chess moment!
“India is not a neutral territory and in addition it will be hard for Magnus to play there because of the climate and food.”
More details in a Norwegian paper (use Auto translate!)

From indianexpress.com : All square: Be it home or away
A nice article on “home advantage” and if it makes any difference in the game of Chess. Talking of Chennai, here is another nice article on the effects of the match on the Indian chess scene.
“Chess, unlike football or cricket, is largely unaffected by factors like the crowd, referee bias, fatigue of the travelling side and familiarity with playing conditions. With all these parameters eliminated, a study used multiple regression analysis to see if home advantage in chess could negate a difference in player strength, as indicated by their rating points (another measure rather unique to the sport, making such a study possible). The advantage of playing at home in this board game proved to be statistically insignificant (Sorqvist).”

From streathambrixtonchess blog : Decisive moment
A nice article with some interesting “decisive” positions from historical as well as critical moments from the Candidates. Do not forget to put on your Chess glasses for this post!
“After showing 0.00 for about an hour, suddenly the online analysis engine went mad after 50.g6?? – and so, as a result, did the viewer.
So what I’m saying is, in a way, that I wish the online engine had been quicker off the mark, or that mine had, because that way, I’d have known. I understand, at the same time, that not knowing is part of chess, part of its very nature, just as the goal that shouldn’t have stood is an intrinsic part of football. Pachman didn’t know for sure what had happened in Bronstein-Keres, and that was twenty-two years down the track. That’s the mystery.”

Thanks to all for the birthday wishes. 50! It is almost worth getting old to hear so many kind thoughts! April 13 of ’13, my lucky number!

There was a lot of “Kasparov” in the news recently since the former champ received a human rights award and he “is ready to help Carlsen against Anand” which he again denied as rumors and also celebrated his 50th birthday on April the 13th (luckily it was a Saturday)!

Not sure when was the last time FIDE wished the World Champion Anand or the World #1 Carlsen on their birthday, but here are kind wishes to Kasparov from the FIDE board. Politicians make interesting bed fellas!

Russian Dissident & Chess Champion Wins Human Rights Award
I think Gary is probably the only Chess player who has suffered cuts and bruises in off-the-board violence.
“UN Watch has decided to grant the Morris B. Abram Human Rights Award to Garry Kasparov for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in Russia,” said executive director Hillel Neuer. “Mr. Kasparov is not only one of the world’s smartest men, he is also among its bravest.”

From chess-news.ru : Born to Play Chess
Nice collection of birthday wishes from his former coach Nikitin to his last conqueror Kramnik.
“At least he visited Zurich and commentated the games which was very interesting, it was pleasant to see him there, everyone was really happy that he came. Let’s hope that he will have chess as a priority. It seems to me that the politics and these kinds of activities … Well, of course that is his choice, but I think that Kasparov is born for something else.” – Kramnik
Kramnik has also been in the news for some awesome extensive interviews (unfortunately in Russian). Hope you did not miss the first part (English). He also has a second big interview here (Russian, but can use Auto translate), or just wait for a proper english translation to appear.
After the brilliant performance in the Candidates, we would have loved to see Big Vlad in action in the super strong Norway tournament in May, but looks like he is not playing in Norway.

Chess reading for the week – Apr 6th

Here are some interesting chess posts for the week:


From blogs.smithsonianmag.com : How the Chess Set Got Its Look and Feel
A pretty interesting read on the history of Chess pieces!
    “Prior to 1849, there was no such thing as a “normal chess set.” At least not like we think of it today.
    By the 19th century, chess clubs and competitions began to appear all around the world, it became necessary to use a standardized set that would enable players from different cultures to compete without getting confused.
    In 1849, that challenge would be met by the “Staunton” Chess Set. Despite its name, the iconic set was not designed by Howard Staunton. According to the most widely told origin story, the Staunton set was designed by architect Nathan Cook”

Vishy Anand & Magnus Carlsen in the news
Ofcourse, the whole chess world and media outlets are talking about the Champ Viswanathan Anand and his challenger Magnus Carlsen, and rightly so. 

Here are links to the most interesting interviews I liked:

From blogs.wsj : Q&A: Inside the Mind of the World’s Top Chess Player
A pretty fascinating Q&A where the champ talks about pretty much everything; from his earlier days, chess in India, his preparation style, his favorite Indian city to play chess in, and his favorite chess player (mine too)!

From dnaindia.com : “I can detect my opponent’s emotions”
Another interesting piece with some nice quotes.
    Asked whether chess players made for good actors while making moves, he answered with a straight face. “I would say, yes and no. After one level, the opponent can guess that you are bluffing with a straight face. In my case, I can make out whether a player is nervous by the level of his breathing. I can detect his emotions, what he is thinking. So it’s very necessary to keep your emotions to yourself,”
Asked if he would like his son to follow his footsteps, he said, “I’ll introduce him to chess. But I won’t force him. It’s up to him what to choose,”

From deccanherald : Anand hails concept of Maharashtra Chess League
A chess league in India, first of its kind! They have even managed to get some sponsors. Kudos!
    “Countries that have very organised chess structure, have a chess league at the core. Those countries, like Germany for example, where I play in a league, have six or seven levels of leagues, with top two teams being promoted to the higher level, and bottom two teams being relegated to the lower level,” said Anand.

From NYTimes blog : A Conversation With: Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand
The champ talking about the NIIT Chess Academy.
    “Yes, there are plans to expand. We recently have introduced the Academy in Dubai, Botswana and South Africa especially after working with the governments of the latter two countries. My idea is to have the epicenter in India because of the N.I.I.T. network and also to give back to my country.”

From indianexpress.com : “Carlsen will be ridiculously difficult to play against”
I remember “seeing” Vishy online for most part of the Candidates. Once when I asked him if he is going to watch all the games online; “I am finding it hard to leave!” came the answer! He was awake till 1am catching some games till the very end. What a champ!
Interesting answers to some very interesting interview Qs
    “I managed to catch most of the games. I didn’t need to stay up late because most had ended by midnight and I was able to go to sleep.”
    “Firstly, he (Carlsen) is not from my generation. There is a difference in age and outlook. When I played Kramnik, Topalov and Gelfand, I read them in a certain way. And even then, I thought that if I end up playing Vlady this time, it would be a different Vlady from the one I played before. He (Carlsen) is from a different generation and Carlsen is also one of the most talented players from any generation.”

From bangaloremirror.com : ‘I will have to improve my game’
When asked if it will be a mother of all matches as it will be between the world champion and the world #1:
“Magnus is one of those talents that happens once a century. In that sense, it will be unique for me.”

From chess-news.ru : Magnus Carlsen, “The Privileges of the World Champion are Not Fair”
    “I still Think That the privileges of the World Champion are not Fair. As for the system, I think that the round-robin system is good, because that gives the strongest players better chances to win. If you want to have a world champion who sits on his crown for two years then you have to have a serious system to choose a challenger.”

Gary has to give his comments, and we do like to hear his opinion. After all he is the most important retired chess guy. He spoke about the weird rules, Carlsen’s weakness, Anand and was all praises for Kramnik!
    “The tournament showed that the rumors of the death of classical chess somewhat exaggerated. 
Anand is an experienced fighter, he is able to strongly hold the match.
I can hardly be called a big fan of Kramnik, but he really played brilliantly.” (Translated text)

From chess.com forums : What has India got to do with the “Indian” openings?
Some interesting discussion at the chess.com forums. It never occurred to me why the name Kings Indian defence or Nimzo Indian defence! You may find the answer in that discussion!

Heard saying

I think it could be much more fair if the World chess champion played in London and then the best first two players played for the title.
Funny cartoon
© 2013, José Diaz

Chess reading for the week – March 22

Here are some interesting chess posts for the week:

From Chessvibes.com : Open letter: “Please store and publish games including times”
I personally support this idea. It would nice to study master games knowing what was “home-cooked” and what came out of the grey matter.
“For instance the recent played game Ivanchuk-Svidler in the 3rd round of the London Candidates: Ivanchuk ran out of time at an early stage in the game and although his position wasn’t lost, he eventually lost on time. Who would recall these circumstances when reenact the game from a database that doesn’t provide clock time information? Technically it should be possible”

From chess-news.ru : Hikaru Nakamura’s Open Letter Vis-a-Vis the Grand Prix Series
Open letter sent by the manager of GM Hikaru Nakamura.
“It is with great disappointment that the chess world has recently learned, indirectly, that Agon is unable to fulfill its obligations in finding the funding for the Lisbon leg of the Grand Prix. Whether or not the funding has been found for further stages of the Grand Prix is ​​unclear as well.”

From chess-news.ru : Andrew Paulson: “I Found It Particularly Absurd That the Player Would Publish an Open Letter”
Paulson’s theory over using the outrageous red color pieces is frankly absurd. Also has his comments about the above open letter from GM Nakamura.
“Historically, chess pieces were made of ivory and coral – traditionally they were red and white. So from a purely historical point of view we can say there’s some justification here. Making the pieces red was necessary in order to make them stand out from black and white; my feeling at the moment is that on the tablets, on decent computers they’re perfectly readable as long as the screen has a good resolution.”

From polygon.com : Ex-convict creates chess-based puzzle game to teach children to make better choices
“I’m trying to spark the idea into anyone else who comes from my circumstances that they can do anything they put their mind to,” Brown said. “If you disguise learning with fun, a child will return for more.
Brown was arrested in 1999 after robbing two men of $110 and their driver’s licenses, and began serving his 10-year sentence the following year. During that time he focused on playing chess to keep himself out of conflict with the guards and other inmates. While in solitary confinement, he and other prisoners would draw chess boards on the floor and call out moves between cells in order to play. Two years before he was released, Brown sent his mother detailed blueprints of what eventually would become Chess King.”

From The Indian Express: India back in reckoning to host World Chess Championship
Take this news with a tspoon of salt. Going by past history, it can cause severe heart break if you are an Indian chess fan.
“The WCC final was one of the topics on the agenda when FIDE vice president Ali Nihat Yazici met Singh earlier this year. Yazici also confirmed the possibility. “The main subjects (of discussion with the minister) as you may guess were CIS (FIDE’s Chess in Schools program) in India and the World Championship match. For me it looks like India may host the next World Chess Championship match between WCC GM Anand and his challenger. Let’s wait and see,” he said.”

♔ Magnus on why he comes 10-15mins early for the round: “Honestly, I’m just dead nervous about the zero tolerance rule.”

Chess reading for the week – March 18

Here are some interesting chess posts for the week:
From Indian Express : Interview with Pentyala Harikrishna
Harikrishna is currently rated 2706 and is India #2 and World #43!
“On the possibility of breaking into top 10:
In order to reach the top 10, I have to gain another 35 to 40 points. I need to perform consistently in at least six to seven tournaments in the next seven months. I have to chose the right tournaments to play against good players.”
From Vishy Anand on Twitter during round 3
The champ is closely following each game and really appreciates what the players are going through.
From ibtimes.co.uk : Young Norwegian Number One is the David Beckham of Chess
“I have no doubt that when I am playing at my best, I am the best. The ratings don’t lie,” said Carlsen
Carlsen recently fronted an advertising campaign for the fashion label G-Star Raw alongside the actress Liv Tyler, counts Hollywood actor Ben Stiller as a friend, and was recently offered a role – as a chess grand master – in the film Star Trek Into Darkness.”
From chess-news.ru : “When the Brilliant Players Are At the Board”
“We have followed the game closely with Ruslan Ponomariov who gave a live commentary on Chess-News radio. Here we offer you some of his remarks which were available on our Twitter page:
Ponomariov on Ivanchuk-Aronian opening:
“Ivanchuk today plays like Aronian“
“What Ivanchuk does looks more like improvisation than preparation”
“Ivanchuk playes a bit impudently, but it’s unclear how to refute…”
“Honeslty, at the moment I’m a bit disappointed in Ivanchuk“
“Ivanchuk’s position is way too insecure now”
Ivanchuk has 3 minutes for 17 moves. Ponomariov: “Here he should already play following his intuition and forget that the hands are trembling…”
“It’s hard to commentate when the brilliant players are at the board…”
“For Ivanchuk it’s already not about winning the tournament; important is that he will at least recover”
From chessbase.com : A bodycheck, a Krushing attack, a rook retreat…
“The London Candidates Tournament is great, but something’s missing: not a single female player. For those of you suffering withdrawal our ChessBase Magazine columnist GM Karsten Müller has taken a look back at the Women’s World Team Championship and some of the instructive and entertaining endgame it produced”