World Championship Match 1st Game

The first game in the World Championship Match 2008 between Anand and Kramnik ended in a draw. Kramnik played White, Anand played Black.


1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.e3 Bf5 7.Nf3 e6 8.Qb3 Bb4 9.Bb5 O-O 10.Bxc6 Bxc3+ 11.Qxc3 Rc8 12.Ne5 Ng4 13.Nxg4 Bxg4 14.Qb4 Rxc6 15.Qxb7 Qc8 16.Qxc8 Rfxc8 17.O-O a5 18.f3 Bf5 19.Rfe1 Bg6 20.b3 f6 21.e4 dxe4 22.fxe4 Rd8 23.Rad1 Rc2 24.e5 fxe5 25.Bxe5 Rxa2 26.Ra1 Rxa1 27.Rxa1 Rd5 28.Rc1 Rd7 29.Rc5 Ra7 30.Rc7 Rxc7 31.Bxc7 Bc2 32.Bxa5 Bxb3 1/2-1/2

Svidler Still In First

Svidler is still in first place in the Russian Superfinal Tournament. However, he might not be if one of his opponents found a winning move. The game between Peter Svidler and Nikita Vitiugov went: 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 a6 5. e3 e6 6. c5 b6 7. cxb6 Nbd7 8. Bd3 c5 9. b3 Nxb6 10. O-O Bb7 11. Bb2 cxd4 12. exd4 Be7 13. Rc1 O-O 14. Qe2 a5 15. a4 Nc8 16. Ne5 Na7 17. Nb5 Nxb5 18. Bxb5 Qb6 19. Rc2 Rfc8 20. Rfc1 Rxc2 21. Rxc2 Bd6 22. Qe1 Qd8 23. Qc1 Qe7 24. Bc3 h6 25. h3 Ne4 26. Be1 Qd8 27. Nd7 Ra7 28. Ne5 Ra8 29. Nd3 Qe7 30. f3 Ng3 31. Bxg3 Bxg3 32. f4 Ba6 33. Bxa6 Rxa6 34. Rc8+ Kh7 35. Rc7 Qf6 36. Qe3 Bh4 37. Ne5 Qf5 38. Rxf7 Qe4 39. Qc3

Position after White's 39th move


Here, Vitiugov missed the winning move 39. ... Rc6!. This was mentioned at chessgames.com--I cannot stop praising that site--see http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1508855 for analysis.

Zappa vs. Rybka Game

Here is a game between Zappa and Rybka, arguably the two strongest chess playing programs, which occurred this year.

The game started: 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nge2 Nf6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O Bd7 9. f3 b5 10. Nxc6 Bxc6 11. Bd3 Be7 12. Kb1 O-O 13. h4 Rc8 14. a3 Ba8 15. Qe3 Re8 16. Qa7

Diagram after White's 16th move


And here Rybka sacrifices the rook 16. ... Rxc3, an idea seen in Sicilian games. The game continued: 17. bxc3 Qc8 18. a4 Qxc3 19. axb5 axb5 20. Bd2 Qc6 21. Ba5 d5 22. e5 Nd7 23. Qc7 Bc5 24. Qxc6 Bxc6 25. f4 Ra8 26. Bc3 Nb6 27. Bb2 h6 28. Rh2 Be3 29. Bc1 Bf2 30. Rh3 d4 31. Be2 Nd5 32. Rf1 Bxh4 33. Bb2 Be7 34. Bxd4 Ra4 35. c3 b4 36. Bd1 Ra5 37. cxb4 Nxb4 38. Bf3 Bb5 39. Rfh1 Bd3+ 40. Kb2 Bf5 41. g4 Nd3+ 42. Kb3 Ra3+ 43. Kc4 Ra4+ 44. Kc3 Bg6 45. Bc6 Ra6 46. Bb5 Ra3+ 47. Kd2 Ra2+ 48. Ke3 Nf2 49. Ra1 Rxa1 50. Kxf2 Ra2+ 51. Be2 Bc2 52. Kg1 Be4 53. Kf2 g5 54. fxg5 Bxg5 55. Kf1 Bd5 56. Ke1 Ra4 57. Bb2 Kg7 58. Ba3 Bf4 59. Bb2 Re4 60. Kf2 Bxe5 61. Bc1 Bf4 62. Bb2+ e5 63. Ra3 Be6 64. Bd3 Re3 65. Be2 Rxa3 66. Bxa3 Kg6 67. Bf3 Kg5 68. Be7+ f6 69. Ke2 Kh4 70. Kf2 Bg5 71. Bd6 Bxg4 0-1

Svidler In Lead

In the Russian Superfinals, Peter Svidler so far is in first place, with three wins in three games. One of his games, against Ernesto Inarkiev, went:

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. e4 e5 11. Ne2 a6 12. b3 Re8 13. Bb2 Bb7 14. Rc1 exd4 15. Nexd4 c5 16. Nf5 Bf8 17. e5 Ng4 18. Nd6 Bxf3 19. Qxf3 Ngxe5

Position after Black's 19th move

Then Svidler played 20 Bxh7+ and the game went: Kxh7 21. Qf5+ Kg8 22. Nxe8 Qxe8 23. Rce1 g6 24. Qe4 Bg7 25. f4 Rb8 26. Qd5 Rb6 27. fxe5 Re6 28. Rd1 Nxe5 29. Qxc5 Nf3+ 30. Rxf3 Bxb2 31. Qd5 Bf6 32. Rdf1 Qe7 33. g3 Kg7 34. Kh1 Rd6 35. Qa8 b4 36. Rf4 Bc3 37. Re4 Qc7 38. Rh4 Rd8 39. Qxa6 f5 40. Rc4 Qe7 41. Qc6 Kh6 42. Qf3 1-0

New England Masters Game

A game between Parker Bi Guang Zhao and Leonid Kritz in the New England Masters Tournamet went: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O h6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bf4 d5 11. Qe3 Bb4 12. a3 Ba5 13. Be2 O-O 14. exd5 cxd5 15. Qg3 Kh8 16. Be5 Ne8 17. f4 Bc7 18. Bd3 Bxe5 19. fxe5 a5 20. h4 Qb6 21. Rdf1 Rb8

Position after Black's 21st move

And here Parker Bi Guang Zhao played 22. Qg6! In order to avoid mate, Black eventually has to give up material. The game went: 22. ... Qe3+ 23. Kd1 fxg6 24. Rxf8+ Kh7 25. h5 Qxd3+ 26. cxd3 Bd7 27. hxg6+ Kxg6 28. Kc2 Rc8 29. d4 Kg5 30. Rhf1 g6 31. R1f7 Bc6 32. Re7 1-0

Three Move Problem IV

This is problem XXXVIII from the book, composed by A. C. Challenger. White to mate in 3:



Solution: 1. Qb8 Kxd5 2. Nd4 exd2 3. Qb5 mate

Three Move Problem III

The chess problem here is number XXXVII from the book, and was composed by Dr. Lasker.



White moves 1. Qh1 There are various ways Black can play but they all lose. One example is 1 ... e4 2. Rxb7 Bb5 3. Qe1 mate