Chess Scotland Noticeboard

AMcHarg · Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 8:18 pm Post subject: Predictions for 2010

Please post your Chess predictions for 2010. Can be anything from who you think will be the next WC to what you think your grade will be when they are published.

- I predict that Magnus Carlsen will continue to dominate Chess tournaments.

Very Happy

Graeme Forbes · Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 4:37 pm Post subject: Re: Predictions for 2010

Geoff Chandler · Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 8:21 pm Post subject:

Quote:

"I predict that Magnus Carlsen will continue to dominate Chess tournaments."

Cods Wallop - the kid is just a flash in the pan.

I bet he does not win The Lothian Championship this coming weekend.

Paul Denham · Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:10 pm Post subject:

Geoff is quite right.

Read the Time article (linked via Chessbase website) on Carlsen.

The kid doesn't even know if he has a chess set in his house.

The Patriarch (Mikhail Botvinnik) was once reputed to have asked Ljubojevic if he analysed and annotated his own games. When Ljubojevic said "no", Botvinnik concluded that he would never reach the highest echelons.

Even though The Patriarch was meticulous in his preparations, Geoff has apparently taken it one step further:-

GC: "Magnus, do you analyse and annotate your games? "

MC " Yes"

GC: "Good, Good. But tell me, Do you use a chess set to analyse your games and annotate them???"

MC " ... Erm.... No "

GC "You will never amount to much"

Wink

Re predictions for Chess in 2010;

I predict the current crop of juniors will continue to perform well in events they compete in.

PD

sigrun · King Joined: 25 Jan 2007 Posts: 307 Location: Europa

John Blake · Pawn Joined: 22 Feb 2007 Posts: 9

AMcHarg will solve his Binary Sudoku puzzle some time in 2010

Geoff Chandler · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:38 am Post subject:

All the great players from Morphy to Fischer studied on a full sized
set and it works. It has a proven track record.

I've not seen a marked improvement in you box users.
I've seen a decline in over all play and some shocking blunders.

If they are so great at improving chess then where are all the new
IM's and GM's?

Chess players are lazy and the idle ones who think studying
with a computer is actually helping their game are totally deluded.

Don't argue with on this. You know I'm right.

Dust off your chess sets and work work work - you will thank me.

Give it a try......What harm will it do?

Jim Johnston · Rook Joined: 29 Mar 2008 Posts: 44

On a visit to José Capablanca’s home, Julius du Mont was astonished when he found that Capablanca did not possess a complete chess set and that for a game he had to use an assortment of household articles as improvised pieces. The only matching pieces were the two white rooks, which were represented by sugar lumps!

In his book The Inner Game (1993, page 133), Dominic Lawson wrote that British world championship challenger Nigel Short never seemed to have a chess set in his rooms during his match with Kasparov in 1993. Short was “much happier discussing positions from the games ‘blindfolded,’ " without the unnecessary tedium of actually moving the pieces.

As for Fischer, there are countless references to the fact that he used a pocket set which accompanied him everywhere...

Paul Denham · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:03 am Post subject:

I predict that Jim Johnston will double the number of his noticeboard postings from 3 to 6 in 2010. Laughing

As ever its the quality that counts.

I thought I would toss that wee Carlsen/no chess set bait on the waters to see if GC would take the bait.

To be fair I think there is a place for using a board and set - though I get glowers from 'er indoors when she sees me set it up Sad

. Think she thinks its out of place on the dining table surrounded by baby toys, rattles and a pile of (unused) nappies. The nipper has had me and my chess stuff turfed out of the spare room and now I am struggling to commandeer a corner of the living room.... ohh woe is me Wink

I know I don't use the board and set often enough.

But.... Here is one for Geoff. All the strongest players of the modern era and days past (Petrosian, Kotov, Capa etc) advocated going through games or solving problems without a board. So do you think this is also an important element to reaching a player's full potential??

PD Wink

Geoff Chandler · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:34 am Post subject:

You are quoting strong players, GM's and what they do.

Quote me young Scottish players who gained an IM or GM title recently.

These guys Short, Fischer, Petrosian lived and breathed chess
and learned their craft by studying on a full sized set.

First you have to become a good player to get the full beneifit
of a tool like a computer. None of you are good players.

It's like you buying a pair lightweight golden Nike football and
then expecting to bend the ball by Beckham.

You lot are trying to miss out the studying bit. The quick fix.

Why do you think the pictures of the GM's on the front page all
show Scottish players who are over 30? (most are over 40).

They learned the game the correct and proven way.
None of them used a computer to improve. It was all done by
studying games on a real set and graft.

The first Scottish youngster to switch off their box and get the
pieces out to do some committed work will very soon leave the
rest of you in his (or hers) wake.

You have all been been bleating on about how good computers
are for the past 10 years.

Where are the new titled players?

And no sob stories about being a small nation, family commitments
and lack of opportunities.

What do you want to be chess player or a drone?

Paul Denham · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:31 pm Post subject:

As I don't qualify as a "youngster" any more, I won't answer the chessplayer/drone.

What I would pose are a couple of questions;

1. When was the last top drawer player to visit Scotland in a chess playing/simul giving// lecture giving capacity (of the type which our Historian has documented)?

2. When will the next top drawer player visit Scotland in such a capacity?

3. Why might it be that way?

4. GM Kotov in "Think Like a Grandmaster" (which I am currently enjoying reading the wordy bit and trying one or two of the exercises) offers some guidance on having a life/career first before committing full time to a career as a tournament player. Are things easier or harder now in 21st Century Scotland then they were in the late 1950's in Russia for a person to become a full time player?

... More questions to follow a screaming 4 month old family commitment beckons...

PD

admin · Site Admin Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 1386

Paul,

May be wrong but i think it was Artur Yusupov a couple of years ago.

Would have loved to get either Mr Kramnik or Mr Carlsen here, they are a tad expensive. Jacob has invited players here before for his lecture series which are normally well receive and I suspect that could be the source of the next one. I am certainly unaware of any plan.

The reason for this is purely funding, it is expensive for us to organise something like that, much as we would love to.

Question 4? Я понятия не имею

admin · Site Admin Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 1386

My wishes / hopes for 2010?

I wish you all have a happy and prosperous year with plenty of fighting chess.

I would love for Chess to be taken seriously in this country, as it has in many others and receive proper funding and sponsorship (as in the Turkey Model). I would love for Scotland to become the Chess Hotbed for Northern Europe.

Predictions?

At least one of our Juniors will gain an IM Norm,
At least one of our Juniors will gain the FM title.

The Men's and Women's Olympiad teams will surpass all expectations.

Labour will lose the Election

An outsider will win the Grand National

Germany will win the World cup with England losing to them on penalties at some stage

The boat race will be won by Oxford

Premier league will be won by Man Utd

SPL will be won by Rangers (or Celtic...)

Enough predictions already

AMcHarg · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 6:06 pm Post subject:

AMcHarg · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 6:07 pm Post subject: