Thessaloniki Grand Prix, Round 5: Dominguez the Sole Winner, Sole Leader

Coming into round 5 seven players led the FIDE Grand Prix in Thessaloniki, and only one - Rustam Kasimdzhanov had White. Normally we'd think this would give him a leg up, but instead he was the day's only loser. His opponent, Leinier Dominguez, has now won three in a row and enjoys the sole lead with 3.5 points. Dominguez played the solid Bogo-Indian, in shocking violation of the guild's policy of playing the Gruenfeld whenever possible, and was rewarded for his insouciance. Kasimdzhanov misassessed the rook ending he started to head for with the exchanging combination starting with 22.Qxe4 and directly permitted with 26.Rc5. The resulting ending wasn't lost but it was very difficult, and some neat moves like 28...Kf8, 33...Re2 and 39...Ke8 helped push White over the edge.

The other five games went in every direction. Ivanchuk-Kamsky was drawn in just 25 moves and in half an hour, but the other draws all made it to at least the second time control. Svidler-Topalov saw White gain an advantage after 23...Nf8, but the position re-equalized after the natural 26.Ne5. (26.Nd2 was better, even though it doesn't force Black to initiate the swap.) Ponomariov-Grischuk was a Berlin that always looked pretty comfortable for Black. Interestingly, Grischuk wasn't completely sure that the final position was drawn, so the endgame mavens among you may wish to delve and see.

Two games made it past move 80, both Gruenfelds. Bacrot-Morozevich saw Moro down the exchange in return for a pawn and a beautiful knight. Soon he was even a little better, and refused a draw by repetition. Soon he regretted it, and after inaccuracies on moves 60 and 61 and an outright error on move 64 (he needed to try 64...Nxb5) he was lost. The key moment came on move 66, when Bacrot had to decide which way to move the king: to the kingside, to deal with Black's most dangerous pawns, or to the queenside, to support his own passer and free his rook to deal with the pawns. He chose wrongly, keeping the king on the kingside with 66.Rb8 followed by 67.Ke4-f3. Instead, 66.Kd4 followed by 67.Kc5 probably won.

Nakamura-Caruana initially followed a somewhat similar trajectory: Nakamura's inaccuracies just before and after the time control turned an equal position into one that favored Black and may have been winning. Nakamura had some compensation for a couple of pawns, but had Caruana immediately started the plan he initiated a move later it might not have been enough. Instead of 45...c5, it would have been better to consolidate with 45...Kf7 and 46...Bc8 (or vice-versa). As things went, Nakamura got one of his pawns back, and while Caruana tried for a long time to win the resulting same-colored bishop ending he was unable to break through against Nakamura's accurate defense.

Round 6 Pairings:

• Grischuk (3) - Morozevich (3)
• Caruana (3) - Bacrot (2)
• Dominguez (3.5) - Nakamura (1.5)
• Topalov (3) - Kasimdzhanov (2.5)
• Kamsky (3) - Svidler (2)
• Ponomariov (2.5) - Ivanchuk (1)

Thessaloniki Grand Prix, Round 4: Seven Lead!

Two players won today in round 4 of the FIDE Grand Prix in Thessaloniki, Veselin Topalov and Leinier Dominguez, and as a result they share the lead with five others going into the first rest day.

Topalov blitzed Vassily Ivanchuk off the board in just 21 moves, but this was primarily Ivanchuk imploding rather than a collapse due to his opponent's heavy pressure. Topalov had a small initiative after 17.dxe6, but it shouldn't have been anything too worrisome after 17...Nxe6 18.Qa4+ Kf8. Black's king isn't where it wants to be, but White's kingside structure isn't a dream come true either. Instead, Ivanchuk played one bad move after another, and his reward was a lost piece and a terrible king.

Dominguez beat Peter Svidler after the latter failed to preserve his king in a queen and rook ending. Svidler needed to play the overtly passive 26...Qf8 rather than the more active-looking 26...Qb7. The question is which White piece to contain, and it turned out that it was more important to keep White's queen off e8 than White's rook from a7. 29.f5 left Svidler in trouble, but the game wasn't decided until Black played the natural but erroneous 33...Kh8. Understandably, Black wanted to avoid allowing Qxe6 to come with check; the more important detail was that Black needed to keep extra control over f7. Thus after 33...Kh8 34.f6 White threatens 35.Ra8+ Qxa8 36.Qxg7#. If Black played 34...Rc8, then 35.f7 wins right away thanks to the threat of 36.Qh5#. This wouldn't be a factor had Black played 33...Kg8, as 34.f6 Rc8 35.f7+ just blunders the pawn: 35...Qxf7. Black tried 34...Rc7 instead, but after 35.Rf1 (threatening to take on g7 and continue 37.Rf8+, mating) 35...Rf7 36.Rf3 White is mating; the only question is how much material Black wants to throw into the wood chipper to delay it by a few moves.

Of the four draws, I'll take note of two. Kamsky-Ponomariov was even throughout, except for one fascinating moment right after the first time control. Kamsky should have played 42.Rxc5, when he should be able to neutralize Ponomariov's pressure after 42...Rxe4 43.Qb1 (e.g. 43...Re2 44.Qf1, or 43...Rd4 44.Rd5 Rxc4 45.Rd8+ Kh8 46.Qb2 etc.). Instead he played 42.Nf6+, but after 42...Qxf6 43.Rxc5 he was fortunate that Ponomariov missed 43...Qe7, which basically wins on the spot. Black threatens White's rook, and also threatens 44...Qe1+ 45.Kg2 Re2, when White cannot save his queen and cover the mate threat starting with ...Qxf2+. 44.Rc6! is the best try, aiming to meet 44...Qe1+ 45.Kg2 Re2 with 46.Rxg6+! If Black takes the rook, White has perpetual check; if he tries instead 46...Kf8? White wins with 47.Qf5.

Fortunately for Black in this variation, but unfortunately for Ponomariov, who must rue the missed opportunity, Black can improve with 44...Qb7! Now the rook sac is in vain: 45.Rxg6+ fxg6 46.Qxg6+ Qg7, forces a queen trade. If the rook retreats, however, e.g. 45.Rc5, then Black forces a speedy mate with 45...Re1+ 46.Kh2 Qf3. Instead of the winning 43...Qe7, Ponomariov instead returned the queen to f3, and Kamsky managed to hold starting with 44.Qd2.

The other especially noteworthy draw was the mind-boggling battle between Morozevich and Nakamura. Rather than give any hints or clues about it, I'll leave it to you to replay, analyze and simply enjoy it on your own. I'll note only that it was a remarkably well-played game considering its wildness.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is a rest day, and on Monday round 5 will occur with these pairings:

• Ponomariov (2) - Grischuk (2.5)
• Ivanchuk (.5) - Kamsky (2.5)
• Svidler (1.5) - Topalov (2.5)
• Kasimdzhanov (2.5) - Dominguez (2.5)
• Nakamura (1) - Caruana (2.5)
• Bacrot (1.5) - Morozevich (2.5)

Thessaloniki Grand Prix, Round 3: Ivanchuk Loses A Won Game

Five of the six games in round 3 of the FIDE Grand Prix in Thessaloniki were drawn, and of the five four of them were logical; that is, neither side ever had a serious advantage. Kamsky-Grischuk was another story, as Kamsky had a huge time advantage and an outright win in his grasp with 27.Nxf7! Nxf7 28.Nxg6. White's attack is too strong, and Black has loose material on h5, f8 and e7. Kamsky waited one more move before firing away with his attack, but 29...Qa2+! (perhaps Kamsky had missed this a few moves back?) gave Grischuk just enough to survive. Enough to survive, but not to equalize: Kamsky could have played on with 34.Qh7+ Kf8 35.Qe4 (or likewise two moves later); instead, he took the repetition and called it a day - pretty understandably, taking into account his own vulnerable-looking king and the ridiculous (and loose) bishop on h2. (Note, however, that after 35...Qxh2? White has 36.Rg2 Qh1 37.Nh7+, when Black loses the rook on f6 for nothing [at least nothing but the bishop captured on move 35], as White will otherwise win Black's queen with a discovered attack.)

As for the one decisive game, it was a catastrophe for Ivanchuk. He had a colossal advantage against Dominguez, missing an easy outright win on move 26 with 26.Be5 (he had time, too, but it's one of those moves you either "see" quickly or you don't; more time is unlikely to help), and then a more subtle win on move 31 (31.Nxg7 Rxd6 32.Qe8+ Kh7 33.Nh5! - not too difficult either, if one has time on the clock) and yet a third win the next move (32.Nxg7 followed by 33.Ne8). Even after these errors he was still better, and would have had good winning chances after 37.Nf6+ or especially 37.Nc7. Instead, he uncorked the ridiculous 37.f4??, hanging his knight.

The finish was if anything even more amazing. Back in 2009 the same players had another time scramble. Ivanchuk knocked over some pieces then, and although he was winning at the time control he felt bad about the toppled pieces and offered a draw. In act of remarkable sportsmanship, Dominguez didn't take the knight but went for a perpetual check, to pay Ivanchuk back for the 2009 game, but Ivanchuk's flag fell on the last move of the time control and the arbiters declared the forfeit - even as Dominguez tried to declare the game drawn! Alas...

Round 4 Pairings:

• Grischuk (2) - Bacrot (1)
• Morozevich (2) - Nakamura (.5)
• Caruana (2) - Kasimdzhanov (2)
• Dominguez (1.5) - Svidler (1.5)
• Topalov (1.5) - Ivanchuk (.5)
• Kamsky (2) - Ponomariov (1.5)

Thessaloniki Grand Prix, Round 2

Aside from a 19-move draw between Dominguez and Ponomariov, the action in round 2 of the FIDE Grand Prix event in Thessaloniki was plentiful once more. The other two draws had more life: Bacrot-Kasimdzhanov tested the suddenly resurgent Exchange Gruenfeld with 8.Rb1, while Topalov-Kamsky was a more offbeat Gruenfeld that saw Kamsky do most of the pressing.

In none of those three games was anyone really close to winning, but that obviously can't be said about the other three contests. Morozevich-Svidler was a startling blowout, won by White in just 22 moves. Morozevich played the Spanish Four Knights, and Svidler played Rubinstein's well-known pawn sacrifice. Morozevich returned the pawn for queenside play, and it seems that Svidler was a bit too interested in making something happen on the kingside rather than neutralizing his opponent's queenside play. The plan with 16...e4 and 17...Rh6 was a bit too optimistic, and 18...Nh4 was far too optimistic. Moro calculated and captured his way to what was by the end an overwhelming victory.

The second decisive game went considerably longer, with Caruana grinding down Ivanchuk on the white side of a Ruy Lopez, Steinitz Variation. In fact Black's position was tenable for a long time, but 44...Kf6 was a mistake that let White's queenside passers decide the game. Black probably should have played 44...Ra6, and on 45.Rd5 Rba7, freezing White's a- and b-pawns for the time being. Failing to do so, he was quickly overrun.

Finally, the third game was still longer - it went 121 moves! Nakamura was again the victim, as he was in round 1, of an impressive technical endgame won by his opponent. Grischuk grabbed a couple of pawns on the white side of a Neo-Archangelsk Ruy, and although his pawn structure was pretty ugly he managed to keep his material advantage into an endgame. After White's 52nd move both sides had a rook and a dark-squared bishop, while White had doubled f-pawns and a d-pawn against Black's lone f-pawn. No pawns were exchanged for the rest of the game, but the rooks came off at move 90. White eventually won by combining threats to Black's f-pawn with the power of his passed d-pawn (the "principle of two weaknesses" in action). Not a pleasant start for Nakamura: two blacks, 190 moves, and zero points. At least he's warmed up.

Round 3 Pairings (Scores in parentheses):

• Kamsky (1.5) - Grischuk (1.5)
• Ponomariov (1) - Topalov (1)
• Ivanchuk (.5) - Dominguez (.5)
• Svidler (1) - Caruana (1.5)
• Kasimdzhanov (1.5) - Morozevich (1.5)
• Nakamura (0) - Bacrot (.5)

USCF Rating Changes

United States Chess Federation members with ratings below 2355 may be interested to know that their "K-factor" has changed. Now their ratings will be more volatile, which is good news if their ratings are going up; not so good if they're taking a plunge. At least you're forewarned!

HT: Allen Becker & Brian Karen.

Encyclopedia of Chess Combinations, 4th Ed.: A Short Review

Chess Informant (CI) - the publisher - doesn't just publish the Informant - the book. Case in point: the fourth edition of the Encyclopedia of Chess Combinations. This is an old-style CI book: there's no English (or any other natural language) in the body of the text; all you'll find are diagrams, chess notation, and their standard symbols. (One exception: at the top of the page the theme covered on that page is given in English; non-English readers are likely to find the equivalent in their language in the table of contents.)

Tactics books are a dime a dozen (metaphorically; the literal price is considerably greater), so what's different about this one; what do you get for your $44-51? For starters, you get a lot of puzzles: 3001, to be precise. In general, the positions are challenging. Often knowing the theme will give you a good idea about the first move (you won't be shocked to know that in most cases the first move in the puzzles from the chapter "Demolition of Pawn Structure" will involve sacrificing a piece for a pawn in the general vicinity of the victim's king), but that's almost never enough to fully and properly solve the puzzle. Until you're around 1900 or so, you're probably better off working on other tactics book (or software, or tactics websites).

If you are 1900 and up though, it's worth considering because the puzzles are sorted by themes, which is relatively rare for advanced tactics books. In my view both kinds of tactics books are valuable: those where the puzzles are divided up by themes and those where one has no advance idea of what to look for. There are 10 themes in the book, each further subdivided into three sub-sections: "combinations with attack on the king", "combinations to achieve equality", and "other combinations". The 10 themes, with my occasional explanations and/or comments in parentheses, are:

• Annihilation of Defense [Typically removing a piece that guards another piece or a key square.]
• Blockade [Blocking a line, an escape square, etc. Not to be confused with Nimzowitsch's idea.]
• Clearance [Freeing a square or line for the benefit of another piece.]
• Deflection [Drawing a defender away from another defensive responsibility.]
• Discovered Attack [Not necessarily a discovered check.]
• Pinning
• Demolition of Pawn Structure
• Decoy [Not to be confused with deflection. The idea here is to draw the target piece to a bad square.]
• Interference [A move that forces the defender to block a crucial defensive line.]
• Double Attack

If you're a strong player and already have an impressive collection of (unused) tactics books, I wouldn't claim that this is the book for you, the one that will finally make everything fall into place. If you don't have a lot of advanced tactics books though, and especially if you don't have any that are sorted by theme, then it's worth considering - especially since $44-51 for 3001 puzzles is a good ratio. It's not worth getting if it's your 15th tactics book (meaning an advanced book for an advanced player), but if it's your first or maybe even your fifth, it might be.

Ordering info from the publisher.

Ordering info for U.S. buyers.

Informants 113-115 On DVD

As I've already reviewed Informants 113, 114 and 115 when they come out in book form, I won't repeat here what I said though you can find the reviews of each by clicking on the links above. My conclusion about those volumes, and with the Informant in general, now that the publishers have revitalized this venerable series, is positive. They aren't for everyone, but for strong club players - around 1800-1900 and up - the volumes can be both instructive and entertaining.

If it sounds interesting and you haven't already purchased those volumes, this is an excellent way to do it. The price for buying the three-pack on disc is considerably less than the cost for getting each Informant one volume at a time. The books run about $38 a pop, while this three-pack goes for about $64 from the publisher's site. Add to the savings the convenience of being able to examine the games (and all the other sections too) using ChessBase, Chess Assistant a PGN viewer or even the proprietary Informant format and it's an all-around good deal.

So if you're interested in the Informant and don't yet have these issues, it's definitely worth considering - especially for U.S. buyers, who can get it here for $57 (plus shipping). Highly recommended (for stronger/more ambitious club players, and up).

Thessaloniki Grand Prix, Round 1

The Grand Prix tournament in Thessaloniki got off to a good and lively start today, with three decisive games out of six and only one draw that so much as remotely resembled a non-event.

In fact, the quickest game was Peter Svidler's 27-move win over last-second sub Etienne Bacrot. Bacrot was only a little worse until 21...Ba3, and he could still fight until his 23rd move, ...Bc8?, which allowed Svidler to maintain the "blind pigs" on the 7th rank. Then it was just over.

The other two decisive games featured the participants from the U.S.A. Gata Kamsky had an advantage against Leinier Dominguez all game long, but putting his opponent away was another story. Had Dominguez played 44...Kd7 he would have kept chances to survive; instead, he committed a gross blunder with 44...Rxh4??, losing a piece to the simple tactic 45.Rxd6+ (45...exd6 46.Bf6+ and 47.Bxh4). My view is that if you're in Dominguez' situation, you just laugh, acknowledge your fallibility and forget about it.

The other U.S. participant, Hikaru Nakamura, lost what looks like a textbook-ready endgame to Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Kasimdzhanov won a pawn and reached a good knight vs. relatively ineffectual bishop ending after 43 moves, and skillfully used all his assets to break in with the knight. Black could have played on quite a while longer, but with the h-pawn dropping White's win is routine.

The other three games - Ponomariov-Caruana, Ivanchuk-Morozevich, and Topalov-Grischuk - were all drawn.

Round 2 Pairings:

• Grischuk - Nakamura
• Bacrot - Kasimdzhanov
• Morozevich - Svidler
• Caruana - Ivanchuk
• Dominguez - Ponomariov
• Topalov - Kamsky

Lothar Schmid: 1928-2013

Lothar Schmid is largely unknown to contemporary chess fans, and indeed was never among the world's elite. Nevertheless, he was a notable figure in the game, as in addition to achieving the grandmaster title in over-the-board play, he achieved it in correspondence chess as well. He was also a prominent arbiter, most notably overseeing the 1972 Fischer-Spassky match. Finally, he was also an incredible collector, owning more than 50,000 chess books.

For more on his life and career, try here and here.

Malcolm Pein on Cheating

A good, short essay here.