Perpetual Chess Linkfest #86, June 14, 2024
Lots of chess stuff
Hi again linkfest readers! I am back from a fun chess trip to Las Vegas, and apparently, a lot can happen in two weeks. (For example, I have been pretty checked out from online chess events, but a trip to Reddit quickly taught me that there was a lot of drama associated with yesterday’s Chess.com Bullet Chess Championship).
Wholesome chess fan that I am, I have been more interested in Gotham Chess’ pursuit of the GM title. Levy has put on quite a show, but the dream of a norm in Madrid died an honorable death today as well. I hope to see some norms from Levy in the near future.
There is a lot to dig into in this week’s links, including a Linkfest record 7(!) book reviews. I will leave you with one small programming note- I have a family event next week, so the next linkfest will be on June 28. Until then enjoy the chess, or the chess drama, or the Euro 2024 or what’s left of the boring NBA Finals, or the tournament you are playing, etc. Take care! - Ben
Chess Improvement
Dr. Nick Vazquez shares advice on managing one’s time in chess. “Time is a dilemma, not a problem. Problems are finite and solvable whereas dilemmas are endless and always exist.” (Chess in Small Doses)
NM Todd Bryant takes a look at the stats that define the styles of today’s bullet chess stars. “Hikaru is, on average, up by a crushing 4.5 seconds when the middlegame begins. No other player in the field was close to this number.” (Chess.com News)
GM Dmitry Gordiesvsky looks at Jospem’s opening repertoire. There are a lot of offbeat lines that club player might be well-served to emulate here. (LiChess Blog)
Ivan on how he got better at playing losing positions. “…after a blunder you can basically reset your mental attitude and play a different kind of game (right within your current game) — and …this game can actually be fun (trying to come up with devilish traps, attacking like a madman, sacrificing pieces fearlessly, what not to like?) — this was a revelation.” (64 Squares)
NM Matt Gross shares some helpful advice for how to interpret the moves of Stockfish (MoveLibrary)
David Hamm has managed to level up by working with an strong amateur, rather than professional coach. “I think the one thing that is so helpful about NoseKnowsAll is that he has a better grasp of where I am in my journey and what I need to think about to take the next step. The titled players were at my level when they were about 3, so hard to remember back then:)” (LiChess Blog)
Books
GM Peter Wells takes an insightful look back at IM Willy Hendriks’ classic book, Move First, Think Later. “What I see this book as doing is challenging – or more precisely savaging - the very foundations of what I do.” (ECF Blog)
Rich Tenario shares a few lessons he learned from GM Maurice Ashley’s new book. “Losing clarifies so much.” (The Guardian)
Looking for a suspense novel with some chess in it? Jostein Langstrand recommends The Nation’s Gambit (Patzer’s Review)
Sean Marsh reviews the latest edition of The Chess Informant (Forward Chess Blog)
FM Richard Webb reviews The Harry Attack by IM Richard Palliser and GM Simon Williams (British Chess News)
FM Richard Webb also reviewed and highly recommends Understanding Pawn Endgames by Valentin Bogdanov “In summary, this is a really good book and close study will reap rewards.” (British Chess News)
Want even more book recs? GM Alex Colovic shares a bunch in this post. (Chessable Blog)
Misc.
Who was better, Carlsen or Kasparov? FM Dennis Monokroussos isn’t sure, but makes a compelling point about Magnus. “Carlsen has been dominant for well over a decade and became the highest-rated player ever - by a substantial margin - despite having no close rivals the entire time. Imagine what he might have been if he had his own “Karpov” to overcome - maybe he would have broken 2900.” (The Chess Mind)
Jen Shahade contrasts the popularity of chess and poker. “As a chess poker player, I’ve been told hundreds of times over the years that chess is harder to popularize and profit from than poker, because regular people can’t play for money, and with no real money, there’s no rake. But what if …The reason chess can make money is that you can’t make money from it.” (Jennifer’s Substack)
Chess News
Is this 1 million dollar buy-in match really going to happen? I find it hard to believe, but GM Hans Niemann says he has the money and is in! (Peter Doggers for Chess.com)
There aren’t a lot of details in this article, but you can add British football superstar Harry Kane to the list of athletes who are chess aficionados (Amir Razavi for The Sun)
The Cairns Cup kicked off with 3 decisive results (IM V. Saravanan for Chess.com)
How do GMs change their approaches in armageddon games? Julian looks at the data. (The Chess Engine Lab)
GM Alireza Firouzja won the Bullet Chess World Championship. Rumors that he was up late the night before on a classical chess bender could not be substantiated. (Colin McGourty for Chess.com News)
FM Andy Lee shares 10 instructive diagrams from Norway Chess (Chess & Lit)
The MoveLibrary and Patzer's Review links look to be inaccurate.