SICILIAN c3 IS DANGEROUS FOR BLACK

The Alapin variation, 2 c3, in the Sicilian Defence, is pretty dangerous for Black if one does not know precisely what one is doing in the opening.

The rapid game Mikormeister - Bahamapapa was short:

Here is my analysis of the game:

HOW TO RECONNECT?

I have lost a few games on the CHESSCom because of "disconnection." 

It has nothing to do with my computer or my internet connection. I even had no other browsers opened.

Such things have happened on other chess platforms, too.

Almost always, such incidents have happened when I had a winning position.

I have abandoned some chess platforms on which such incidents seem regular.

The weird thing is that sometimes, the chess platforms demand that the player should "reconnect". Unfortunately:

No information about how to "reconnect" has ever been given.

The same is true about CHESSCom. In the HELP files, no information is given about how to "reconnect". 

Note that if my internet connection is OK, it does not make sense to switch it off and then on again. The problem is only with the chess platform.

Perhaps I should switch the connection to the chess platform off and then on again? However, the following problems will immediately arise:

1. If I turn the chess platform on again, where will I find my ongoing rapid game, and how long will it take to find it?
2. If I turn the chess platform off and then on again, it is me who disconnected and then reconnected it. Can I prove that the notification of disconnection appeared earlier or appeared at all?

The information given by chess platforms, including CHESSCom, concerning disconnection issues is not clear and transparent.

I have no reason to trust such incidents, just as I have no reason to trust the digital electronic electoral systems or be sure there was no electoral fraud.

ALEKHINE AND HIS CATS

World chess champion Alexander Alekhine with his cat

Once, during a chess tournament in Salzburg, Paul Keres accidentally discovered why Alexander Alekhine always had a cat with him when he competed.

Young chess genius Paul Keres

Keres had just come out of the toilets and walked down the corridor towards the tournament hall. A portrait of Hitler was on the wall, and Keres paused for a moment to look at it.

Portrait of Adolf Hitler

Suddenly, Alekhine, a cat under his arm, rushed out of the hall. He opened the front door, put the cat down and hit it with his foot.

Keres looked at Alekhine, startled.

"I lost that game," said Alekhine, smiling shyly.

"Flying low. I think it's going to be rainy," he added.

 

ALEHHIN JA TEMA KASSID

Male maailmameister Aleksandr Alehhin oma kassiga

Ükskord Salzburgis maleturniiri ajal sai Paul Keres juhuslikult teada, miks Aleksandr Alehhinil võistlustel alati kass kaasas on.

Noor malegeenius Paul Keres

Keres tuli just WC-st ja kõndis mööda koridori turniirisaali poole. Seinal oli Hitleri portree ja Keres seisatus hetkeks, et seda silmitseda.

Adolf Hitleri portree

Äkki sööstis saalist välja Alehhin, kass kaenla all. Ta avas välisukse, pani kassi maha ja äigas sellele jalaga.

Keres vaatas Alehhinile jahmunult otsa.

"Ma kaotasin selle partii," ütles Alehhin häbelikult naeratades.

"Madalalt lendab. Tuleb vist vihmane ilm," lisas ta.

I WATCHED A VIDEO OF THE US CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS

The end of the game Yoo - Caruana.

The descriptions of the end of this game in the chess press are exaggerated and biased.

Yoo lost the game but did not act more aggressively than Carlsen did as a world champion.

Yoo stopped the clock and squeezed Caruana's hand. He put the chess pieces back in their original position.

If I understood correctly, he crumpled up one of the game's protocols and signed the other.

He stuffed the protocol he had crumpled up to remain with him into his pocket.

He then left the chessboard, calm but visibly upset.

This is where the video ends.

It is alleged that he left the tournament hall and punched a female photographer standing in the corridor in the back.

It is claimed that there is a video of this, but it is not shown. The reason remains unclear, raising suspicions.

As what happened behind the table has been exaggerated, what happened in the corridor may also have been exaggerated.

Theoretically, he could simply have run into someone or something.

In the absence of hard evidence, such as videos, etc., he could sue various chess players and chess officials for criminal defamation.

Post Scriptum

The news is that the grandmaster Christopher Yoo's father has publicly apologised for his son's behaviour. 

However, while it is evidence, it is also not direct evidence. Note also that the emergence of new evidence is consistent with what I wrote above.

Regarding one attack directed at me on CHESSCom, note that this new evidence was not included in the two articles I referred to (one on CHESSCom and the other on Chessbase). This new, indirect evidence has been published in a fresh article.

IT IS BETTER TO CASTLE AWAY FROM

Often, it is better to castle in the open positions, even if it costs some material.

In the rapid game played on CHESSCom, my opponent was too late to castle.

Mikromeister - Axumzs, CHESSCom 2024

Below is the analysis of the game

I SHALL STOP SOLVING CHESSCOM PUZZLES

OK. I have received a puzzle rating above 3400. One day, it was 3448. 

I shall stop solving CHESSCom puzzles from now on.

The reason is the poor quality of the puzzles with higher ratings. The rating points and the target times are also not well-tuned.

Yesterday, I got Kubbel's endgame study as a "tactics puzzle" to solve with the target time of 30 seconds.

Today, I got several messy positions as "tactics puzzles".

The last "puzzle" was not convincing at all. It looked somewhat like an attack with several options to continue that attack at several points.

It is evident that no human being has ever checked these positions and their solutions; there is too much trust in computer algorithms.

The themes of the puzzles are too often highly misleading, too.

By the way, other chess platforms have similar features.

CHESSCom puzzle rating 3448

WHITE TO MOVE

White to move and win

FEN:

8/8/1p1K4/Pp6/2k1p3/8/1P6/8 w - - 0 2

I am sharing here the CHESSCom puzzle (#59358) that I failed to solve. Its pass rate is below 20%.

The puzzle itself is excellent.

However, I am dissatisfied with the so-called "target time," which is below 1 minute in the present case.

If you are not well-trained in the queens' endgames and/or not acquainted with the rare theme included in that puzzle, then hardly you can solve that puzzle in 10 minutes.

Please note that I keep in mind that you have to see the solution from beginning to end before moving any pieces! You do not "solve" the puzzle; if you are making naturally looking moves, the computer replies, and you arrive at the crucial position to start calculating the difficult move.

Thus, it is not a tactics puzzle at all. Rather, it is an endgame etude, problem.

The other obstacle is that the CHESSCom puzzles, even those with a high rating, are usually standard. 

Nevertheless, solving any such puzzle gives only 5 points, independent of its difficulty. 

I have obtained a rating above 3400 in puzzles on CHESSCom. Unfortunately, I do not believe I could progress further because, at that high level, the puzzles are less tested due to the fewer solvers. There are already too many invalid puzzles like that one, which demands that you be a Carlsen and solve in a few minutes what others are solving in one hour.

PS

Indeed, one commenter on CHESSCom writes:

"It is a study by Kubbel, BTW."