Four Games of Salahuddin With My Analysis

I got introduced to Salahuddin recently through him email as he found my details from this blog. He is working in Austrlia as a .NET developer and wants his son to learn chess. He sent me 4 of his games for my comments and here I am taking the chance to look into his games.

Game 1: Please check my comments in move 17 where I think White has a better chance.

Game 2: There is nothing much to say about this game because as soon as Black made the mistake of 18..Nb5?, the rest of it is to keep the head cool for White to win with a piece up.

Game 3: Because White made the final blunder and he was short of time, he lost.

Game 4:

These games show me that he plays quite well.

Chess And Wine

Abhinav Chadda, my colleague in Salesforce has forwarded it to me today. Isn't it funny!

Casual Game between Ashik and Wali

Wali Bhai all on a sudden sat down for a casual game of chess with me. So we played the following game in 2 days adjourning in the middle due to late night.


White: Waliul Islam (Unrated)
Black: Ashik Uzzaman (1834)
Game: Casual Date: 10/23/2011 - 10/24/2011
Result: 0 - 1
Opening: Sicillain Closed

Chess Openings for Black, Explained: A Complete Repertoire By Lev Alburt

Ashik writes: I started reading this book and found it very resourceful for tournament players like me. I got it in half price books and as I finish this book, I will buy the white companion book of it as well - Chess Openings for White, Explained: Winning with 1.e4 Chess Openings for Black, Explained: A Complete Repertoire (Revised and Updated) by Lev Alburt  (31 customer reviews) List Price: $29.95 Price: $19.77 You Save: $10.18 (34%) 44 used & new from $13.28 In Stock

Played US National G60 and G/30 Tournaments in Santa Clara Hyatt

Last weekend I played US National G/60 and G/30 championship at October 1st and 2nd respectively at Santa Clara Hyatt hotel. Bay Area Chess arranged these as usual in different sections. I made 50% scores in both of those at 1800+ (Open) section to my relief. My last month's tournament performance was disappointing (1 win and 3 loss) while this time in G/60 it was 2 loss, 2 win and in G/30 it was 2 loss, 1 draw and 2 win. With this performance now I am a bit relaxed and I think I can still carry on playing competitive tournaments for a few more years even if I don't hit the prize lists.

Here is my G/60 result - https://bayareachess.com/events/11/usg60.php

And here is my G/30 result -https://bayareachess.com/events/11/usg30.php

With this, now I am inspired enough to teach chess to my son and other children from next week.

Nelson vs Ashik, Game 5, US National G/30

White: Terry Nelson (2007)
Black: Ashik Uzzaman (1821)
Tournament: US National G/30 at Santa Clara Hyatt
Date: 10/02/2011
Result: 0 - 1
Opening: Queen Pawn

Ashik vs Kevin L G, Game 4, US National G/30

White: Ashik Uzzaman (1821)
Black: Kevin L Gong (1844)
Tournament: US National G/30 at Santa Clara Hyatt
Date: 10/02/2011
Result: 1 - 0
Opening: Sicillian Early E5
Update: Kevin actually saw this blog post after a couple of weeks and emailed me his blog post where he posted this game as well. I was so happy to get in touch with an on-the-board opponent on-the-web! Here is his post - http://blog.chess.com/kevingong/losing-sucks-my-games-of-the-us-national-g30-championship . You will find this game if you scroll down to the fourth game!

Klotz vs Ashik, Game 3, US National G/30

White: Hun Klotz-Burwell (1858)
Black: Ashik Uzzaman (1821)
Tournament: US National G/30 at Santa Clara Hyatt
Date: 10/02/2011
Result: 1/2 - 1/2
Opening: Sicillian Defence

Ashik vs Felix, Game 2, US National G/30

White: Ashik Uzzaman (1821)
Black: Felix Rudayak (1939)
Tournament: US National G/30 at Santa Clara Hyatt
Date: 10/02/2011
Result: 0 - 1
Opening: Center Counter Game

Olavic vs Ashik, Game 1, US National G/30

White: Svetjovic Olavic (2017)
Black: Ashik Uzzaman (1821)
Tournament: US National G/30 at Santa Clara Hyatt
Date: 10/02/2011
Result: 1 - 0
Opening: Slav Defence

Ashik vs Delacruz, Game 4, US National G/60

White: Ashik Uzzaman (1821)
Black: G Avdencio Delacruz (2000)
Tournament: US National G/60 at Santa Clara Hyatt
Date: 10/01/2011
Result: 1 - 0
Opening: Sicillian Defence

Mihir vs Ashik, Game 3, US National G/60

White: Mihir Kumar (1939)
Black: Ashik Uzzaman (1821)
Tournament: US National G/60 at Santa Clara Hyatt
Date: 10/01/2011
Result: 0 - 1
Opening: Slav Defence

Colin vs Ashik, Game 2, US National G/60 2011

White: Colin Chow (1930)
Black: Ashik Uzzaman (1821)
Tournament: US National G/60 at Santa Clara Hyatt
Date: 10/01/2011
Result: 1 - 0
Opening: Sicillian Defence

Ashik vs Siddharth, Game 1, US National G/60 2011

White: Ashik Uzzaman (1821)
Black: Siddharth G Banik (1901)
Tournament: US National G/60 at Santa Clara Hyatt
Date: 10/01/2011
Result: 0 - 1
Opening: French Defence

Francisco Anchondo's Game During US National G/30 at Hyatt, Santa Clara

This is one game that I watched while the players were analyzing during my recent US National G/30 tournament over the weekend. It's a very attacking game!

Source: Chess Musings Blog

Teaching Chess To Kids!

It took me some time but finally I have made up my mind over the weekend while attending US National G/60 and G/30 tournaments. I will teach chess to Ahyan and any other kid who wants to learn and play chess. So if you want your son or daughter to learn chess, then please feel free to contact me. You may forward this email to your friends who you think might get interested. Teaching one kid and one dozen kids are almost same amount of time involvement from my side.

Because chess is my passion and not profession, I won't charge any money. My return will be a bunch of kids who play chess in many bay area tournaments in near future. If you have ever worked on a volunteer organization, you will know what this means!

I want to start it immediately before I loose my drive to teach chess. I know once I start, I will continue it for a good amount of time, at least next few years. But if I don't start now, I will never get to the point to start it again.

Regarding the logistics, let's start once a week in my house. I have got proposals to host it in my friend's houses in rotation as well and we will evaluate that option. But for now, let's gather together every evening in my house.

Depending on the level of students, I will batch them in 2 different groups. One who doesn't know chess at all and want to learn from the scratch (I guess most of them will be like that including my son Ahyan). I guess there will be a few (I know a couple of them) who already knows chess at basic level and want to advance a bit so that they can play in the tournaments competitively. I guess the first batch will catch up with these guys in 6 months or so. I will spend one hour (or more) with the regular kids and some extra time with the couple of advanced kids that I am expecting.

Regarding timing, I would prefer Thursday evening. So let's start from next week's Thursday at my house. We may use Saturday night in case I get busy in office in a particular Thursday but in general, I will leave the weekend free to go out of town for traveling and let you do the same. I will use demonstration board, chess sets and laptop computer but I expect every kid's parents will arrange one standard chess set and will have access to internet at home. I plan to use this chess blog for home work (if any). It's okay if the parents want to stay with the kids during the session or want to leave them and finish some shopping.

If you are interested, then please reply me to this email with your phone number, your son and daughter's name and age and if he/she already knows the move at ashikuzzaman@gmail.com . I plan to start at 13th October (Thursday) 7 PM at my Fremont house.

Update: I already started teaching chess to 6 kids since 13th October. The very first session I showed them the famous Opera Game by Paul Morphy to use it as a frame of reference for my next sessions. I used chess demonstration board and the kids looked interested. Let's see how the next few sessions go.

Stearman vs Ashik, 4th Game (G/60), Pleasanton

Ashik: Josiah P Stearman (1772)
Black: Ashik Uzzaman (1808)
Tournament: Super Swiss G/60 at Pleasanton Hilton
Date: 08/20/2011
Result: 1 - 0
Opening: Sicillian

Ashik vs Pranav, 3rd Game (G/60), Pleasanton

White: Ashik Uzzaman (1808)
Black: Pranav Srihari (1700)
Tournament: Super Swiss G/60 at Pleasanton Hilton
Date: 08/20/2011
Result: 0 - 1
Opening: Sicillian Dragon

Jack Li vs Ashik Uzzaman, 1st Game, Pleasanton (G/60)

White: Jack Li (1485) Black: Ashik Uzzaman (1808)
Tournament: Super Swiss G/60 at Pleasanton Hilton
Date: 08/20/2011
Result: 0 - 1
Opening: Queens Pawn

Shakil Became IM, Liza WIM and Zia Moves For World Chess Championship

Great news! My playing partner and gentle younger brother-like chess friend Abu Sufian Shakil has become International Master. Liza also became Women International Master, second only after WIM Rani Hamid. Moreover, Ziaur Rahman winning the 3.2 Zonal tournament will play the next cycle for World Chess Championship representing this zone.

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=179668

Shamima Akhter Liza became country's second Women International Master (WIM) after Rani Hamid, who won it in 1985, as she earned seven points from nine games in Asian Chess Zone 3.2 Championship in Sri Lanka yesterday.

Liza and Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka earned equal seven points but the latter finished top by virue of a tie breaker. Liza had earned her first WIM norm last year during Six Seasons Women's International Rating Chess in Cox's Bazar.

Apart from Liza, FIDE master Abu Sufian Shakil also earned his third and final norm of International Master from the championship as Shakil secured 6.5 points from nine matches to finish third in the men's section where GM Ziaur Rahman finished top to qualify for the World Chess Championship.

Shakil had earned his first IM norm back in 2009 from the National Chess Championship and then secured the second one from a competition in Indian state Orissa last year, according to information provided by Bangladesh Chess Federation.

http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/date/2011-03-30/news/142789

বাংলাদেশের দাবায় একটা ভালো দিন গেল পরশু। এশিয়ান জোনাল চ্যাম্পিয়নশিপের ৩.২ অঞ্চলের খেলায় চ্যাম্পিয়ন হয়ে আগেই বিশ্বকাপ দাবায় খেলার সুযোগ মিলেছে গ্র্যান্ডমাস্টার জিয়াউর রহমান ও শামীমা আক্তারের (লিজা)। কাল পাওয়া গেল আরও একটি সুসংবাদ।
এশিয়ান জোনাল চ্যাম্পিয়নশিপে তৃতীয় হওয়া আবু সুফিয়ান (শাকিল) পেলেন আন্তর্জাতিক মাস্টারের খেতাব। এর আগে দুটো নর্ম পূরণ করা আবু সুফিয়ানের তৃতীয় নর্ম পূরণ হয়েছে শ্রীলঙ্কায়। সুফিয়ানের সঙ্গে শামীমা আক্তার হয়েছেন মহিলা আন্তর্জাতিক মাস্টার। রানী হামিদের পর দ্বিতীয় মহিলা দাবাড়ু হিসেবে এমন অর্জন শামীমার।

Ziaur Rahman Only half point behind Champion Areshchenko in 9th Parsvnath International Chess Tournament

Areshchenko clinches title in a tie-break with 9 points while GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh scores 8.5 points.

Top seed Ukrainian Grandmaster Alexnader Areshchenko ensured a thrilling end to the 8th Parsvnath International Chess Tournament by setting for a draw with fellow Ukrainian Grandmaster Yuriy Kuzubov in the eleventh and final round at Ludlow Castle Sports Complex here on Sunday. Areshchenko tied for the top spot along with national champion Parimarjan Negi, Yuriy Kuzubov, Austrian Grandmaster Ragger Markus and highly regarded Chinese Grandmaster Ni Hua with 9 points each but better tie break score helped Areshchenko to take the Winners trophy and pocketed a shared cash prize of 1.51 lakh rupees while Negi finished second and Kuzubov satisfied with third spot finish. Markus and Ni Hua finished fourth and fifth respectively.

In the final round encounters Negi overcame CRG Krishna while Markus defeated Grandmaster Hanens Stefansson of Iceland and Ni Hua beat former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta to catch up with Areshchenko for the pole position.

Shri. V P Agarwal, Chairman Airport Authority of India; Shri Suneet Sachar, Vice President Parsvnath Developers; Shri Dhiraj Raghuvanshi, President Uttaranchal Chess Association give away the prizes in presence of Shri. Bharat Singh, President Delhi Chess Association.

Final Standings :-

(1) GM Alexander Areshchenko of Ukraine with 9 points
(2) GM Parimarjan Negi of India with 9 points
(3) GM Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine with 9 points
(4) GM Markus Ragger of Austria with 9 points
(5) GM Ni Hua of China with 9 points
(6) GM Lenic Luka of Slovenia with 8.5 points
(7) GM Mikhailo Oleksienko of Ukriane with 8.5 points
(8) GM Henrik Danielsen of Iceland with 8.5 points
(9) GM Postny Evgeny of Israel with 8.5 points
(10) IM Nabaty Tamir of Israel with 8.5 points
.....
.....
.... GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh with 8.5 points

Important Results Round-11 (Indians otherwise specified):- GM Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine (9) drew with GM Alexander Areshchenko of Ukraine (9); GM Abhijeet Gupta (8) lost to GM Ni Hua of China (9); GM Hannes Stefansson of Iceland (8) lost to GM Ragger Markus of Austria (9); GM Mikhailo Oleksienko of Ukraine (8.5) drew with GM Lenic Luka of Slovenia (8.5); Krishna C R G (8) lost to GM Parimarjan Negi (9); GM Henrik Danielsen of Iceland (8.5) drew with GM Evgeny Postny of Israel (8.5); GM Konstantin Chernyshov of Russia (8) drew with IM Karthikeyan P (8); IM Nabaty Tamir of Israel (8.5) beat Arun Karthik R (7.5); Surendran N (7.5) lost to GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh (8.5); Zeng Chongsheng of China (8.5) beat GM Kidambi S (7.5); GM Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan (7.5) drew with IM Shyam Nikil (8)

Source: http://blog.delhichess.com/2011/01/areshchenko-clinches-title-in-tie-break.html

Move Of The Century - Ossip Bernstein vs Jose Raul Capablanca, Moscow 1914

This is the sixth game featured in Raymond Keene's book Duels Of The Mind : The Twelve Best Games of Chess.

Ashik vs Art Zhao, Round 3, Hexes 3 Round Swiss Tournament, Fremont

White: Ashik Uzzaman (Rating 1797)
Black: Art Zhao (Rating 1863)
It was a relatively easy won for me. My opponent simply surrendered to my king side attack in the middle game where I came out a piece up but exchange down. The rest of the game was a routine.

Ashik vs Rahul, 2nd Round, Hexes 3SS, Fremont

White: Rahul Mohan (Rating 1596)
Black: Ashik Uzzaman (Rating 1797)
Result: 1/2 - 1/2
This is one of the worst games I played recently. I was completely in a lost position but due to my opponent's mistake was able to equalize and draw the game. I was having a headache all through today and it only went worse during this game and I was not able to think more than a few minutes. In that sense, I am happy with the result

Ashik vs Dikr, Round 1, Hexes 3 Round Swiss Tournament, Fremont

White: Ashik Uzzaman (Rating 1797)
Black: Dikr Karagueuzian (Rating 2157)
A good game of G/60 which was ultimately drawn as I could not take advatange of my one pawn up position due to a close Rook Ending.

Salesforce.com Chess Tournament Round 4 (Final): Ashik vs Ganesh

Ganesh and I picked lunched from Oasis Grill across the street and played our fourth round and final game in 15th Floor of our 1 California building. Ganesh played quite an attacking game but I kept the edge after winning the exchange. Finally in a time pressure he found himself a piece down before resigning.

With this win (4 out of 4) I am became the champion of this tournament. Good feeling!

The Immortal Game - Adolph Anderssen vs Lionel Kieseritsky, London 1851

Opening: King's Gambit
Theme: Combination
Source: 2010: Chess Oddities by Alex Dunne

This game features as the first of Raymond Keene's Duels Of The Mind : The Twelve Best Games of Chess.

Mikhail Botvinnik vs Milan Vidmar, Nottingham 1936

Opening: Queen's Gambit Declined
Theme: Isolated Queen Pawn
Source: 2010: Chess Oddities by Alex Dunne

Frank Marshall vs Jose Capablanca, Game 23, Match 1909

Opening: Queen's Gambit Declined
Theme: Queen Side Pawn Majority
Source: 2010: Chess Oddities by Alex Dunne

Berthold Englisch vs William Stenitiz, London 1863

Opening: Ruy Lopez
Theme: Two Bishops
Source: 2010: Chess Oddities by Alex Dunne

37th People's Chess Tournament by Bay Area Chess

Last weekend I was quite busy with the 37th People's Chess Tournament in Fremont Marriott. As it was a long weekend, I registered it online through www.bayareachess.com after renewing my US Chess Membership.

After a successful World Cup Cricket 2011 opening ceremony in Dhaka where Bryan Adams, Shankar-Ehsan-Loy, Runa Laila, Sabina Yasmin et al perfomred in the midst of mind blowing fireworks, we gathered in Shahriar's house for the India vs Bangladesh opening match of the world cup in 19th February. He arranged lots of people and we had a nice time gossiping together (Ezaz, Amin, Dhanad, Sayeem, Wali Bhai, Sumit Bhai, Mamun Bhai, Dipu Bhai and some others). Although we lost due to a huge score from Sehwag (175) that took India's total to 370/4 in 50 overs, we gave it a fight by scoring 283/9 without being all out.

That meant I didn't get much sleep for the next morning's chess game in the tournament at 11:30 AM.

I won the first game nicely, drew a lost game against Kevin, got a win by forfeit in third round, won playing well in fourth game, drew a completely won game in fifth and finally lost a drawn Rook ending in the final (sixth) round. Despite this, I was in the prize list for my group (AB - 1700 to 1899) winning $66. I was jointly 6th-7th-8th for 4.0 out of 6 games. Look at the link below and check the AB section for my name in red in the prize list! I also gained 30 US Chess rating and my new rating now is 1797. I am planning to participate in short tournaments in future as well. This tournament was a 5 hour each game tournament for 6 rounds (move 30/90 + 60 each) spanning 3 days. My colleague Ganesh came twice during the tournament to watch my games and the final evening Amin, Shusmita, Ahyan and Suhaila came. Ahyan was very happy to see this vast gathering of chess players in Fremont Marriott (200+ participants in several groups).

http://bayareachess.com/events/11/221sp.php

In case you are interested for my games, please check  earlier posts in this blog for the game notations to replay yourself.

Seigbert Tarrasch vs Jackson Showlater, Vienna 1898

Opening: Hungarian Defense
Theme: Space / Mobility
Source: 2010: Chess Oddities by Alex Dunne

Ashik (1767) vs Tendoro Porlares (1897), 4th Round

Opening: Caro Kann Defence
It was interesting as he was the highest rated player in our AB group. After defeat in this game to me, he withdrew from the rest of the 2 games as he knew he won't be able to make it to the prize list.

In the 3rd round, I got a win by forfeit as my opponent Bryan Ling (1584) could not attend due to illness. I looked for alternate opponents but the tournament directors couldn't find someone interested to play at 1700+ player!

Arnold Hua (1674) vs Ashik (1767), 6th Round

Opening: Sicillian Defence
I made a very early and common mistake in the opening. However, I was able to hold the position till the very last move, where a one move mistake made the drawn game a lost one for me!

So the tournament standing finally was Kevin and Arnold joint champion with 5 out of 6 while 3 other guys were 4.5 followed by 3 of us 4 points each. So I was jointly 6th to 8th and will get some prize money. Also with this tournament, I gained 30 US Chess rating and my rating now is 1797!

Edward Li (1822) vs Ashik (1767), 5th Round

Opening: Slav Defence
I made a big blunder in the end game to make a completely winning game to a drawn one.

Kevin (1704) vs Ashik (1767), Round 2

Opening: Sicillian Defence
Kevin, 10 years old only boy, finally went on to become joint champion in AB group. He was crying with tears after making 2 blunders against me in a completely winning position. Finally when I was winning after his blunders, he offered me a draw as he was not able to think clearly or sit down on the board... I accepted the draw offer.

Ashik (1767) vs Terri (1702), 1st Round, 37th People Tourney, Fremont Marriott

Opening: Caro Kann Defence

I believe it was a hard fought, complexly calculated long game for me where I went into severe time pressure but could hold the strings together till end. And hence the victory brought satisfaction!

Anatoly Karpov vs Viktor Korchnoi, 3rd game, 1978

Bobby Fischer (Black) vs Boris Spassky (White), 3rd Game, Reykjavik 1972

Tigran Petrosian vs Boris Spassky, 10th Game, 1966

Mikhail Botvinnik (Black) vs Arnold Denker (White), 1945 Radio Match

KChess - Chess For Kindle

Today I found KChess, the chess software for Kindle in Amazon. It's built by Oak Leisure Systems Software and is available for $2.99 only.

It has 10 levels of strength, level 1 being the easiest and 10 the strongest. I was surprised to see how good even Level 1 plays. I have won against that after some accurate play and had to play all through a rook end game to win against Level 2. I am now playing against Level 3 and looks like this is the level where I will be stopped for the moment. The app is surprisingly well designed. I wish I could save the games that I play - that's one thing that can be done as additional feature in future release of this app.

I am so happy to get this. This game itself made me think again - Kindle Rocks!

Alexander Alekhine (Black) vs Richard Reti (White), Baden-Baden 1925

Also check: http://coxschess.tripod.com/attack9.html

Jose Raul Capablanca (Black) vs Frank Marshall (White), Final Match Game, 1909

Emanuel Lasker vs Jose Raul Capablanca, St Petersburg, 1914

Dr Emanuel Laster (Black) vs Dr Seigbert Tarrasch (White), Dusseldorf, 1908

White resigned as he can't escape huge losses in e-file.

Salesforce.com Chess Tournament Round 3: Ashik vs Randy

I won the third round of the tournament against Randy Sepe. He is a Support Metrics Manager and sits in One California St.



It was a Caro Kann Defence game and as I was writing my moves, Ganesh was also writing our moves. Randy made a dubious opening choice against which i was able to create pressure on him to limit the movement of this pieces substantially. It ended with an attack from which I came out a piece up. The rest of time he defended well, but I was too ahead by then to make any difference in the end result.

Wilhelm Steinitz (Black) vs Adolf Anderssen (White), 13th Game, 1866

Opera Game: Paul Morphy vs Duke of Brunswick & Count Isouard, Consultation Game in Paris

This game is famously known as Opera Game - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_game

You can find another analysis of at online chess lessons dot net.

This game is features as the second of Raymond Keene's Duels Of The Mind : The Twelve Best Games of Chess. 

Paul Morphy (Black) vs Louis Paulsen (White), 6th Game, New York 1857

This game features as the second of Raymond Keene's Duels Of The Mind : The Twelve Best Games of Chess.

Howard Staunton vs Elijah Williams, 8th Match Game, London 1851

Salesforce.com Chess Tournament Round 2: Ashik vs Ron

I won the round 2 of chess tournament in Salesforce.com a little earlier playing with black. My opponent was Ron Pragides who sits in seventh floor in the same building as mine. He is Senior Director of Software Engineering. Shishir and Maithili joined me to watch the game. The chess clock we had actually ran out of battery so Ron did an interesting thing. He downloaded a chess clock in his iPhone where we set 20 minutes for each of us. It served the purpose fine!



Ron made the first mistake but I made a follow up mistake too to bring him back in the game. So it went down to Ron to make the final mistake by him through which I was able to mate him. Unlike round 1, this time I was ahead of time.

Salesforce.com Chess Tournament Round 1 - Ashik vs Didier

I played the first round of the four round chess tournament in Salesforce.com. I won with White, although I felt I am out of touch by a good margin due to the lack of practice. My opponent was Didier Prophete who is PMTS and sits in 3rd floor in the same building as I do. Also I took lot more time than my opponent to move.

However, I will do some practice before next rounds so that I don't make simple miscalculations.



Soon after this, I exchanged the queens to make sure there is nothing left in the board except my Rook and Didier's Bishop while I have a bunch of queens side passed pawns to march for promotion. So he resigned here while I had some 3 minutes left in the clock as opposed to his 9 minutes.

Great Chess Players In History (Non-English)

I got an email from the following blog owner where he started compiling all the great chess players career brief in short.

http://comentariosdeajedrez.blogspot.com/

While this is great, this is in Spanish or some other language as I have no idea. I wish I would get the English version of it somehow.