FIDE Master (and USCF Senior Master) Igor Nikolayev's games include 100's of gambit openings (King's gambit, Danish and Scotch gambits, Evans gambit, Jaenisch-Schliemann Gambit, Smith-Morra gambit, Budapest gambit, Blumenfeld gambit, Benko gambit, Nikolayev gambit, some less known gambits). Encyclopedic arrays of 2.c3 Anti-Sicilian (about two hundred games) and a splendid Renaissance of the Ponziani Opening (a few dozen games). Handling the French without the notorious pawn chains (~100 games). Destroying the Caro Kann with simple tools the opponents didn’t study (~100 games). A bit of brutal violence in the Scandinavian, Pirc and modern defense (a few dozen games). Surprisingly efficient revelations on both sides in the Two Knights and the Italian Game (~200 games). Making White forget 'milking the cow' in the Spanish Game (~100 games). Strategically aggressive approaches against the Queen's gambit, the Catalan Opening, the English Opening, the Reti, the Colle, the Bird’s opening. Not to forget Chigorin's Defense with the adventurous but convincing early e7-e5, From's Gambit to its full extent, and a real bomb in the Four Knights Opening. Still a lot more with anything in-between, leading to tense, dynamic positions where imaginative play and deep calculations are most at home. Attacks, combinations and tactical strikes merge with many instructive endgames. And a bit of chess philosophy, psychology and humor.
A master player of the Sokolsky opening, which is far more than just a mere novelty. From a bold Orangutan on the queenside to the Sokolsky 'King’s Gambit'. The Veresov Opening is another hit of his. Robust conservative approach to the Ruy Lopez against various systems. Classical blockade ideas in the French as a universal method for White and a poisoned 3...b6 for Black. Impressive Caro Kann examples after 4.g4 with the following blockading e5-e6!? pawn sacrifice. With Isay you will love the Sicilian for either side. Black's repertoire is also submitted with the Alekhine's Defence, the modern Philidor Defence, the King's Indian, Pirc-Ufimtsev Defence. Includes games against legendary figures, some of whom he knew personally. A number of postal games which were recognized as masterpieces of correspondence chess. About a half century in master level competition allow you to say something important about chess.
National Master Stephen Capp takes you on a journey into fighting chess. Games are rich with coffee-house tactical melees, bold sacrifices and 19th Century style king hunts... You will find very few 'grandmaster draws' here because nobody likes 'kissing your sister'. Examine deadly attacking ideas arising from the Grand Prix Attack. This opening has been played at the highest level. Nigel Short, Anand, Carlsen and others have all scored important victories with it. You can too. You can use it in response to the Pirc, and Modern Defence in addition to the Sicilian. There are games with gambits such as the Blackmar Diemer, the Elephant and Milner-Barry where you can learn to drag your opponents into 'deep dark forests' as Tal use to say. Tarrasch once said: 'Before the endgame, the gods have placed the middle game'. You will find very little endgame study in this game collection, -mostly just King hunts. They say, 'studying the endgame is like eating your vegetables'. Of course, learning the endgame is important. However, let's put the vegetables aside for now and dig into hot fudge sundaes and cheesecake. There are strategically rich games involving the main line Sicilian and various Ruy Lopez systems. There are two memorable battles in the Owen's defence which can't be missed.
04/05/19 07:06
Wednesday night finds verlager at the Rochester Chess Center, running his buggy Community Chess Club accounting and pairings software.
Community Chess Club — about
Why did you start this website?
I wanted a serious website for the CCCR, publishing a membership list, bylaws, news, tournament announcements, cancelations, and members' games. The local chess community needed a more reliable, timely source of information. I sought CCCR accreditation for this site and appointment as CCCR webmaster and Director of Media. At that time the CCCR's website was not actively maintained. But Mike has improved it and it looks passable now. But there is one problem.
Running a local chess website requires the participation and cooperation of local organizers. Collecting needed data for publication proved to be initially problematic. In hindsight it's clear that establishing and maintaining website content is better left to the official powers that be.
And the concensus was that my motives were somehow malevolent and that my calls for rigorously open, honest club government were "too negative." It's true that I come from a different era, ex-military. My values center on morality, literacy and excellence. Today that passes for "negativity."
In fairness they postponed judgement, and later advised me that an official CCCR web site could not include public disclosure of complaints. Completely understandable. It upsets the pansy of fraternity when one of their own is caught. Which used to be regularly.
What's not true is the rumor that I am airing negative aspects of the CCCR without cause. Progress occurs gradually as CCCR reads my commentary and makes improvements. For example, club memberships now expire six months or a year from the date of payment, not universally on 12/31/2019 as before.
The membership list is quite an eye sore and you will not find many games in the games database.
At any rate, on September 30, 2008, about
11.20 years ago, I took the plunge and registered this domain. And I was stuck with the name.
"Chess books should be used as we use glasses: to assist the sight, although some players make use of them as if they thought they conferred sight." (Jose Raul Capablanca)
How did you learn HTML?
In the mid-1990's, I procrastinated for months in learning HTML, a mark-up language originally designed for non-technical acedemics to create web pages. I have no formal training.
While playing chess on FICS one bright Saturday morning, I met JohnnyRio, who said he had worked in an illegal auto chop shop, stripping down stolen cars for parts. While serving thirty-seven months in an Oregon State Prison for Grand Theft Auto (GTA), or soon thereafter, he created a Bobby Fischer fan web site. It was a simple web page and had a little table with an "x" marked for months that he had Chess Life magazine issues. Thrilling, isn't it? A convicted felon had a web page. I had none and had recently been cleared of all charges. Something about they never found the head. Whatever.
I resolved to learn HTML. Usually I went inline skating on Saturday. But I fired up the windows for workgroups 3.1 editor and grunged my way through a version of "Hello World" as a link in a web page. Maintaining this web site has necessitated updating those rusty HTML coding skills, first to XHTML and then to HTML5. That taught me to be more thoughtful and careful in producing good code. True story.
"He who fears an isolated Queen's Pawn should give up Chess." (Siegbert Tarrasch)
Why write valid HTML code?
At the bottom of this page are links to W3C validation tests for W3C HTML5 compliance. The higher the level of conformity, the more uniformly the pages will render among the various browsers. It also helps by catching errors, which I correct. There are other reasons to validate html, including the fact that search engine spiders often can't effectively parse or categorize sites with bad html. Most webmasters write sloppy code and hope that the browser will automatically correct the errors. This is only partially true. This page has cross-browser uniformity, having been tested in
chrome,
safari,
firefox and
microsoft edge.
It adheres to standard code and validates. The pages generally load quicker without the proprietary browser specific code. But varying degrees of W3C browser compliance affects minor cosmetics such as rounded corners and drop shadows.
is probably a good choice.
"Chess, like any creative activity, can exist only through the combined efforts of those who have creative talent, and those who have the ability to organize their creative work." (Mikhail Botvinnik)
Is being a webmaster difficult?
Being a webmaster without a computer is difficult. I plan to buy a nice one in late 2019, finances permitting. For now this means a slog of some fifteen miles, twice a week. I walk through snow and cold in winter, the rains of April, and the searing heat of summer. Arriving at the Henrietta Public Library, I use a free computer. Bus service is sporatic.
The hardest thing is supervising, training and selecting staff. Sometimes you've got to be cruel to be kind. And it breaks my heart to reject players' game submissions, but I must maintain high standards.
I learned HTML in the mid-1990's after procrastinating for months. It's a mark-up language originally designed for non-technical acedemics to create web pages. I have no formal training.
While playing chess on FICS, I met JohnnyRio, who said he had worked in an illegal auto chop shop, stripping down stolen cars for parts. While serving thirty-seven months in an Oregon State Prison for Grand Theft Auto (GTA), or soon thereafter, he created a Bobby Fischer fan web site. It was a simple web page and had a little table with an "x" marked for months that he had Chess Life magazine issues. Thrilling, isn't it?
A convicted felon had a web page. I had none and had recently been cleared of all charges. Something about they never found the head. Whatever. After this lucky break, I resolved to learn HTML. Maintaining this web site has necessitated updating those rusty HTML coding skills, first to XHTML and then to HTML5. That taught me to be more thoughtful and careful in producing good code.
"I had a toothache during the first game. In the second game I had a headache. In the third game it was an attack of rheumatism. In the fourth game, I wasn't feeling well. And in the fifth game? Well, must one have to win every game?." (Siegbert Tarrasch)
What's it like being webmaster?
It's difficult because I don't actually own a computer. I plan to buy a nice one in late 2019, finances permitting. For now this means a slog of some ten miles, twice a week. I walk through snow and cold in winter, the rains of April, and the searing heat of summer. Arriving at the Henrietta Public Library, I use a free computer. Bus service is sporatic.
The hardest thing is supervising, training and selecting staff. Sometimes you've got to be cruel to be kind.
"Chess is a terrible game. If you have no center, your opponent has a freer position. If you do have a center, then you really have something to worry about!" (Siegbert Tarrasch)
This is a Microsoft-free web site. Not a single line of code was written here using any Microsoft product. Instead various flavors of Linux were used, mostly Debian and its derivatives. All but Komodo Edit are open source or GPL. You can have them for free and use them however you choose.
"Chess helps you to concentrate, improve your logic. It teaches you to play by the rules and take responsibility for your actions, how to problem solve in an uncertain environment." (Garry Kasparov)
