Friday 13 April 2007

ChessVibes and other links

As this blog rolls along, I'll be adding more links around the edges of the page. As you may have noticed I've added an advertising strip down the right hand side, but hopefully in a way that isn't annoying or distracting. What you may not have noticed is I've also added a link to various google/youtube chess videos along the bottom of the blog. You need to scroll all the way down to see those. For the record, the choice of videos is not mine, but whatever google serves up under the heading of chess (that goes for the advertising as well).
At the moment my list of links to other chess blogs is very small. At the moment I am linking to bloggers I know personally, as well as blogs that are updated regularly (eg at least 3 times a week). The newest blog I've added is Chess Vibes.
One of the ChessVibes editors is Manuel Weeks. Manuel and I have roomed together at a couple of chess Olympiads, Manuel in his role of Australian Mens Team Captain, me in my role of Board 2 or 3 for Papua New Guinea. While Manuel has an important role in looking after the Australian team during the tournament, he also was able to make time to assist the PNG team in their pre-game preparation.
The following game is a brilliant example of that. While discussing possible openings for me to play in my game against Fiji in the 2004 Olympiad I suggested the Torre Attack. Quick as a flash Manuel showed me a particularly vicious trap, which picks up a rook in the opening. Here's what happened.

Shaun Press (PNG) - Manoj Kumar (Fiji)
2004 Chess Olympiad, Majorca, Spain
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 d5 4.e3 Nbd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Be7 7.Nbd2 b6 8.Qa4 O-O 9.Ne5 Nxe5? 10.dxe5 Nd7 11.Qh4! Here is where the trap is sprung. The threat of mate on h7 forces Black to lose the Bishop on e7 followed by the rook on f8. 11. ... h6 12.Bxe7 Qe8 13.Bxf8 Qxf8 14.f4 Bb7 15.Rg1 a6 16.g4 Qd8 17.g5 Nf8 18.Qh5 hxg5 19.Qxg5 Qxg5 20.Rxg5 g6 21.Kf2 Kg7 22.Rag1 Kh6 23.R5g3 b5 24.Nf3 Rd8 25.h4 d4 26.cxd4 Bxf3 27.Kxf3 cxd4 28.h5 dxe3 29.Kxe3 1-0

Apart from their excellent choice of staff, the ChessVibes site also has very good coverage of current European events, as well as a discussion board and puzzle pages. All in all, it is well worth checking out.

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