The US Chess Championships are coming to a close. Today is Championship Day, however, the possibility exists for a playoff scenario.
Let me be blunt- I am a crappy chess player. In the chess vernacular, I am a patzer. A patzer is a weak player. The word 'patzer' comes from the German for blunder- Patzen. In chess, a blunder is a bad move. It's not just a bad move, though. It's the kind of bad move that is made without sufficient compensation. To win a game of chess, you want to be forcing your opponent into the position where they are obligated to make a bad move. 'Blunder' seems to be somewhat more weighty than a simple 'mistake.' A chess player may make a mistake in her opening moves, but it is the level of the mistake, and the resulting consequences that define whether it is a blunder.
Blundering, however, isn't the same for all players. The more skillful you are at combining the power of the pieces with the tactical tools, and the long and short range strategies of chess, the fewer mistakes you make, and the more consequential each tiny error becomes.
Examples of blunders-
Moving out your f pawn one square on move one, followed by moving your g pawn out two squares on move 2. This results in the most consequential result of a blunder, a lost game. These are are the precursory moves to the fastest way to be checkmated- The Fool's Mate.
Leaving your queen under attack with no compensation while also not playing a move which attacks the king directly- check. Many of the most exciting chess games that we teach to beginner chess players feature the amazing, queen sacrifice. As in, "I just sacc'ed my queen for nothing, and then played a two move checkmate with my rook and my bishop!" Kids love the idea of doing that in a game. When one of my students blunders his queen, they sometimes will say, "I meant to do that. It's my plan."
As you look at games from more and more skilled players, simple blunders like losing a piece 'en pris,' do occur. Typically, however, the higher you go up the ladder, the finer the distinction becomes. A blunder can become something as slight as capturing with the incorrect pawn allowing your opponent to advance her pawn just one square, setting in then on a light square where it will then be untouchable by your opponent's defenses in the endgame- promoting a pawn to presumably win the game.
At the outset of a game of chess, the player with the white pieces is ahead. The computer analysis as well as common sense will confirm this. The white player has the initiative and has to make move 1. The most common move at this point is 1. e4, placing white's pawn in the center of the board for black to consider. The players at very high level when playing the black pieces in a tournament for the most part, are satisfied to simply hold the game to a draw when playing against equal competition.
A game of chess is won, according to Savielly Tartakower, by "...the player who makes the next to last mistake." Computers will basically play themselves to a draw. Human error in a game of chess is a nuanced thing. It relies on so many different factors, all of which exist in the past, present, and the future of that game. It can also stretch back beyond the game you are playing. The reputation and trust of your level of play can cause your opponent to misunderstand your error as the onset of a plan to gain more value in return. VIshy Anand did not capture the pawn on e4 in the world championships, even though it was free. Perhaps this was based on his trust in Magnus's skill level. You can see this when chess players discuss and examine positions and ideas as they play out on the board.
Chess players will spend hours a day studying and learning in order to reduce their errors by just the tiniest bit. Yet, if all they do is avoid error, they may never take the initiative to win the game.
The player then stands astride a wobbly board resting on a cylinder. She must take the initiative, yet with initiative comes the increase in the possibility of error.
The St. Louis chess club is hosting the US Chess Championships. They are also running a very professionally done streaming broadcast of the event. You can watch it at many sites, but I enjoy the Youtube channel from the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.
https://www.youtube.com/...
There are two events happening currently- The US Chess Championship, and the US Women's Championship.
A couple of common questions-
Why are their so many foreign people?
The US Chess Championship follows a specific set of rules to determine eligibility for play. https://www.uschess.org/...
U.S. residency. Non-US citizens, including those who have an approved FIDE federation transfer, must provide documentation of U.S. residency. Documentation includes I-94, work, refugee or humanitarian visas. In accordance with ADM 14-31 approved at the 2014 Delegates Meeting, a student or tourist visa is not sufficient for eligibility to play in USCF Invitational events. Students and tourists desiring invitation to such events must demonstrate their commitment to the U.S. by providing a Green Card or properly processed Green Card application.
Why do women chess players get a title at a lower rating than men?
Chess players who play in one of the recognized ratings systems can earn titles. GM is the top title awarded to chess players, but there is also a class of GM's who are referred to as "Super GM's." If a woman achieves the ratings requirements, and the tournament play requirements, the she is awarded the title of GM.
Women, however, also have a set of titles that are honorific, and reflective of the overall field of women players in chess. So, a woman can be recognized by the title "wgm."
At high level chess, it would seem to be the case the we are still now in the first generation of women who compete in the game at the highest level. Some of the highest rated women in the world are really only the first wave of women players who weren't told as children that girls can't play chess.
When I attend a scholastic chess event, there may be 250 kids from k-6 playing in the event. Out of those 250 kids, it is not uncommon for there to be only 25 girls.
When we compare the size of the pool of women players with the size of the pool of players who are men, it is simply an expected result that there would be fewer women who reach the highest levels of chess. I can certainly understand that this is an ongoing discussion, and that it has merits. What I won't accept, however, is the idea that there is somehow a bias which harms men and benefits women. Every year, we attend a large all girls chess tournament called "The Queen's Quest." When I tell the students I teach about that tournament, they inevitably ask, "Is there a King's Quest?" I just tell them that every other tournament is a King's Quest, and we laugh.
Grandmaster (GM) 2500+
International master (IM) 2400+
FIDE master (FM) 2300+
Candidate master (CM) 2200+
Woman grandmaster (WGM) 2300+
Woman international master (WIM) 2200+
Woman FIDE master (WFM) 2100+
Woman candidate master (WCM) 2000+
Why was GM Wesley So forced to forfeit a game?
GM Wesley So was forced to forfeit one of his games, because he wrote notes of encouragement on his scoresheet. Each player has to keep track of the moves that are made on the board. The player must write the move, after making it on the board- in that order. Additionally, the player may write things such as the time that is remaining on the clock.
According to Chief Arbiter Tony Rich, Wesley was writing words of “general encouragement and advice” to himself on a piece of paper below his score sheet – a detail forbidden per the laws of FIDE. Later revealed was that So had been given two prior warnings for the infraction in earlier rounds, and Friday came as So’s third offense.
“I mentioned to Wesley twice earlier in the event that using notes or other sources of information is not allowed and strictly forbidden, according to the FIDE laws of chess," Rich said. "After the second warning, I notified Wesley that, if it happened again, I would be required to forfeit him. Unfortunately, that was the decision that I had to make: Wesley's round 9 game was forfeited.”
Here is a link to a game that was a lot of fun. GM Timur Gareev is an odd bird. He stands out in a room of chess players. He goes with the dyed blonde hair, very loud shirts, and sometimes disco like pant selection. He revels in playing the odd, but successful moves. He refers to himself as a "recreational player."
In the following game, he is playing the 14 year old GM Sam Sevian. It seems like a good idea when playing a younger opponent to force a game that is rife with awkward, unusual positions. These positions lead to less well known variations in the game.
http://www.chessgames.com/...