What is your Favourite Chess Software – poll?

Chess is what drove my interest to software in the first place, and in a way, the two have been fuelling my curiosity for each other. On this blog I write about chess software quite a bit, with the recent focus on free tools in particular. I added a new poll to the blog – I am curious to learn what chess tools are really the most popular among the readers of this blog. Please make your choice:

Bishops and Rooks - Solutions

Matnadze, Ana - Gagunashvili, Merab
GEO-ch I Liga  2002.04.27  

White to move
Solution: 37. Bxf7+

White wins the pawn and obtains the e6 square for the bishop. Either capture is met by c8Q.

37. ... Kh8 38. Be6 1-0

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Wirig, Anthony - Loetscher, Roland
Mitropa Cup 22nd  2003.05.19  

White to move
Solution: 40. Rxe6 Rxe6 41. Bxd5 Kf7 42. f4

White has time to put pawn on f5 and regain the rook.

42. ... gxf4 43. gxf4 Bd6 44. f5 Kf6 45. fxe6 h4 46. Kg2 Ke5 47. Bc4 Ke4 48. Kh3 Be7 49. Kg4 Ke5 50. Kh5 Kf5 51. e4+ 1-0

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These positions are taken from my E-book about endgames with bishops of opposite colour:

The book is formatted for electronic readers and can be read on devices of various sizes, from tablets to phones. The free sample includes 3 thoroughly annotated games and the full book comes with dozens of training positions to help develop a good sense for positions with bishops of opposite colour.

Rooks and Bishops – Find the best move

Matnadze, Ana - Gagunashvili, Merab
GEO-ch I Liga  2002.04.27  

White to move


Wirig, Anthony - Loetscher, Roland
Mitropa Cup 22nd  2003.05.19  

White to move

These positions are taken from my E-book about endgames with bishops of opposite colour:

The book is formatted for electronic readers and can be read on devices of various sizes, from tablets to phones. The free sample includes 3 thoroughly annotated games and the full book comes with dozens of training positions to help develop a good sense for positions with bishops of opposite colour.

I think ebooks are a very promising media for chess content, and would be very interested to hear what you think about it.

SCID vs PC latest release – docking feature

I am very impressed with the very latest release of SCID vs PC 4.9. It has a docking feature, which up to this point had been missing in this otherwise excellent (and free!) software product.

I can move sub-windows around, and as one would expect, as I navigate through the move in the game, SCID updates the tree view.

As a side note, while playing with docking, I also realized that any database in SCID can also be opened as a tree, which is very handy, and allows to look at multiple trees at the same time!

Bishop Endgame - Solution

Kiviharju – Ehrnrooth, Finland  1982  

Black to move
Solution: he must initiate a breakthrough on the queenside to create a second passed pawn. 1. ... b5! 2. axb5

( 2. Bxb5 Kxb3 -+ would give Black a passed 'c' pawn. )

2. ... f3+!

It is essential to open up the bishop to control 'b8' square, so that White does not get counterplay by advancing his own pawn. Material considerations are less important than strategic values!

( 2. ... a4? 3. Kf3 a3 4. b6 a2 5. b7 a1=Q 6. b8=Q+ = )

3. Kxf3 a4 4. Bd3 Kxb3   White resigned because he will have to give up the bishop for 'a' pawn. 0-1

This position is taken from my E-book about endgames with bishops of opposite color:

The book is formatted for electronic readers and can be read on devices of various sizes, from tablets to phones. The free sample includes 3 thoroughly annotated games and the full book comes with dozens of training positions to help develop a good sense for positions with bishops of opposite colour.

I think ebooks are a very promising media for chess content, and would be very interested to hear what you think about it.

Bishop Endgame – Find the Best move

Kiviharju – Ehrnrooth, Finland  1982  

 Black to move (Solution will be posted tomorrow)

This position is taken from my E-book about endgames with bishops of opposite color:

The book is formatted for electronic readers and can be read on devices of various sizes, from tablets to phones. The free sample includes 3 thoroughly annotated games and the full book comes with dozens of training positions to help develop a good sense for positions with bishops of opposite colour.

I think ebooks are a very promising media for chess content, and would be very interested to hear what you think about it.

Garry Kasparov Turns 50

Time flies, only “a few years ago” I was watching on Soviet TV an interview of a 27 year old Garry Kasparov while he was playing his last match against Karpov in 1990, and now he suddenly turns 50!

As a little tribute, here is a recent video I made of one of his last successful performances: