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Posted by andy94
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11/16/2008
08:02:21

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Subject: A chess saying...

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"White plays to win, black plays to draw."
I don't remember who said it, but it's an interesting thing to talk about.
What do you think?

Posted by ionadowman
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11/16/2008
12:36:32

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Is it indeed attributable to one person?...

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I seems to have been the approach taken by many chess masters, but certainly not all. Judging by the recent World Championship match, Vishy Anand had no idea of taking such a line. Bobby Fischer would have thought such an approach pusillanimous.

I much prefer the attitude of one Efim Bogoljubov, who flourished in the '20s and '30s: "When I have White, I win because I have the White pieces; when I have Black, I win because I am Bogojubov."

Cheers,
Ion

Posted by ccmcacollister
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11/16/2008
14:02:17

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I have always liked Bogo's~! Very masterful :))

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Corollaries:
Alekhine: "When I am WT I win because I am Alekhine, with black I win because you Are Bogojubov".

Mine: "When I am White I win because You are not Bogojubov, with black I win because Bogojubov is deceased and only had an hour to get to the board. "
{ "Wait a minute, I won? What happened??" }

}8-)

About drawing with black, winning with WT. Obviously it Wins any single match. Besides that it is often used in RR or double RR play particularly amongst near equals and in long events. In Swiss play, especially short ones, it is not so commonly sought.
There it might be more like: Crush the lower rated because you are higher rated; Win with WT among your peers; and Let's see about winning with black among peers and betters since I hope to know my chosen defense better, but if not perhaps I will grace them (aka "bail out" :) with a draw . . .
———
Gata Kamsky qualifies for 2011 candidates — American chess has a munificent sponsor, Rex Sinquefield. The retired fund manager has bankrolled the last two US chess championships, the latest with a $170,000 prize fund, in his Missouri home city Saint Louis where he has created a state of the art chess club which hosted the title event. The 2009 chess champion, Hikaru Nakamura, was stimulated to hone his inconsistent talent and is now ranked in the world top 20. Its format, a 24-player Swiss, included top US women plus Ray Robson, 15, who has since become a grandmaster. The 2010 championship last month went to Gata Kamsky, the former chess prodigy who went close to the world title in 1996, gave up to become ...
Posted by kansaspatzer
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11/16/2008
14:04:45

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I think that such an approach is more applicable at a higher level than most of us are at. Certainly, when you look at the world championship matches such as the one just played between Kramnik and Anand, the notion of who was White and who was Black was critical to match strategy (and it was a very big deal when Anand won as Black.) At my level - I'm around 1600 both on here and OTB, I'm going to play for a win any time I'm playing somebody unless they're much higher rated than I am, in which case I may head for drawish lines, knowing that heading for a technical endgame will likely play into the hands of someone with more endgame experience than myself.
———
The Catalan Chess Opening, part 2: the g2 bishop — How can White best exploit the potential of his fianchettoed kingside bishop? RB I'm a Catalan virgin, but I'm beginning to see some themes, in particular the power of the bishop on g2. Unfortunately the bishop's dominance of the h1-a8 diagonal is contested by the black bishop on b7. If I could somehow block its scope, my own bishop's potential would be enhanced. That's why I'm fixating on the c6 square. Ideally, I'd like to land a knight on c6, and maintain it there or force Black to swap off his bishop. The trouble is that ...
Posted by cascadejames
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11/16/2008
20:39:57

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Better with Black?

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For reasons that are unclear to me, I have consistently had a better record on Gameknot with
black. So I am skeptical about the application of the rule to those of use who are not Class A
players or higher.
———
New Way to Crown Winners in Chess Games That End in Ties — Tournaments that end in ties are a problem in chess, and how to break them — or whether to even try — is a thorny topic. Some chess tournaments use complicated scoring systems to determine a winner. But what fan understands that a new chess champion is the player with the higher Sonneborn-Berger score? People want the winner to be decided in a competition, not by a calculator. Tie-breaker games have their own problems. If they keep ending in draws, it may be days or even weeks before one player wins. And White always has an advantage, so each player needs a turn at that color. So-called Armageddon games emerged a few years ago. These are one-game playoffs ...
Posted by lighttotheright
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11/16/2008
21:35:48

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I sometimes play for a draw, even when I'm white. I drew a 2300 + player recently doing just that. I was surprised to get an early lead, but I knew it wasn't enough to win. When I got a chance to trade Queens, I took it. I had to give back some material to force a draw, but it worked.

I sometimes lose a game because I push things too far - trying to force a win.


———
Ukrainian Ex-Pat, in His Homeland, Wins World Rapid Chess Cup — Displaying amazing resiliency, and not a little good fortune, Sergey Karjakin captured the Fourth World Rapid Chess Cup over the weekend. The chess tournament was held in Odessa, Ukraine, organized by the Association of Chess Professionals and sponsored by Pivdennyi Bank. Karjakin is originally from Ukraine, but last year he changed federations, moving to Russia. At the time, he said that “he didn’t have enough support inside the country, in Ukraine,” adding, “I also need to train with good coaches and there are a few good coaches in Russia.” The very best chess players — Viswanathan Anand of India, the world chess champion; Magnus Carlsen of Norway; Veselin Topalov ...
Posted by kansaspatzer
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11/16/2008
22:34:56

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An attitude I would generally find more profitable would be "keeping the draw in hand" rather than "outright playing for the draw". Trying to push for a miniscule advantage is easier than pushing outright for a draw, in which you aren't able to claim any positional advantages, which can be tricky since playing for a draw tends to be harder than it sounds.
———
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to battle Karpov and Kasparov for Fide presidency — Fide, the International Chess Federation, holds its five-yearly presidential election in September and it is turning nasty. The incumbent since 1995 is Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, controversial ruler of Russia's semi-autonomous Caucasian state Kalmykia. In his early years as Fide president Ilyumzhinov built a 'chess city', made the game mandatory in Kalmyk schools, and financed grandmaster chess so generously that his dubious human rights record and eccentric claim to have met "humanoid aliens" were shrugged off. But recently Fide's excessive reliance on ex-Soviet tournament venues and an autocratic rule change where a chess player loses if not seated at the board at the start have ...
Posted by blake78613
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11/17/2008
04:55:41

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When I am Black, I am happy to repeat a line that lead to a draw, and will keep repeating it until someone finds a way to obtain an advantage. While with White if I draw with a line, I will start looking for a different line.

Posted by ionadowman
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11/17/2008
12:29:51

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Back in '83 ...

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... I got roped into a six-round Easter tournament, having played just one game (in a telegraph match) in the previous 12 months. Naturally I wasn't in form, having made no preparation. In the event Black won all six of my games!

On reflection, I suppose that wasn't such a good occasion to depart from my usual English Opening to try opening lines I hadn't played before. That wasn't very clever... :(

Cheers,
Ion

Posted by farhadexists
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11/18/2008
08:07:12

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At my level (1500-1600), I don't think it matters, as almost every single game is decided by a blunder of some sort, mine or my opponent's.
Then again, I've won 60% of my games as White here on GK, and 53% as Black, so maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Farhad

Posted by wulebgr
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11/19/2008
06:16:37

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another

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Black is Okay

The title of a series of books, and allegedly a famous statement by some player--I don't know who.

Posted by ketchuplover
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11/19/2008
06:24:03

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Chess is a theoretical draw-Bobby Fischer

Posted by andy94
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11/19/2008
07:28:51

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Thanks ketchuplover, lack that quote of Bobby!

Posted by fmgaijin
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11/19/2008
10:50:48

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Andras Adorjan, wulebgr

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EOM

Posted by markb56
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12/04/2008
11:14:19

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I have a terrible time playing as White both on GK and OTB. My win record as Black is about 20% higher both on GK and OTB. I prefer playing with a plan (e.g positional) rather than attack. It also depends on the opponent -- young players seem to have a harder time grinding it out than older players, as they need constant stimulus to stay interested.


Posted by ionadowman
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12/04/2008
11:50:06

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I guess it depends...

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... on what you find "stimulating" enough to keep your interest. Consider that you are down a pawn in a rook ending; possibly - even probably - a draw, but your opponent has whatever the winning chances going. What keeps you interested enough to play the thing down to its last gasp - lose or draw? It could, of course, be your place in a tournament - the possibility of a "grade prize" (if such things are offered), or, since your opponent has 200 ELO rating points more, there's the "moral victory" of acquiring a significant boost to your own rating and an addition to your chess CV.

Then, there's the intellectual exercise of making the best of the situation, finding whatever tactics there might be in the position, of setting your opponent problems. The same goes if you're on the upside of such an endgame.

Maybe it's worth thinking of it in these terms: When down, you are extracting a draw from a game probably lost; when ahead, you are extracting a win from a game probably drawn! Grinding out the win is not always - I find it's not even usually - lacking in interest.

Cheers,
Ion