 Joel
Benjamin: American Grandmaster
 Three-time
U.S. Champion Joel Benjamin is one of the most prominent
faces in the history of US chess. He's also well known to
us here on ICC with his regular stints on Chess.FM as part
of our commentary team and his weekly show, Game
Of The Week.
Recently, Joel has taken over for a
short period as chess
correspondent and chess
blog writer to the New York Times. His latest book,
American
Grandmaster: Four Decades of Chess Adventures, has just
been released and promises to be the book of the year -
and we've just reached February! And, before Amazon and
USCF, ICC has the book in stock in their store ready for
immediate shipping - and at a special ICC price of $22.50!
At thirteen years of age Joel broke
Bobby Fischer's record as the youngest ever national master,
and this was followed by countless tournament successes.
Perhaps most famously, in 1997 he hit the headlines when
he became the chess consultant for IBM's Deep Blue computer,
which made history by beating World Champion Garry Kasparov
in an epic encounter.
 In
American Grandmaster, he takes the reader on a journey through
chess adventures spanning more than thirty years. Tracing
through his own career, from being a prodigy in the 'Fischer
boom' era thorough to an experienced Grandmaster with many
titles, Benjamin is in a unique position to highlight the
major changes that have occurred both in US and international
chess throughout the last four decades.
This 192-page book includes:
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Instructive annotations of his favorite
games
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Anecdotes and reflections from thirty
years of US and worldwide chess events
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New perspectives on the legendary
Kasparov-Deep Blue match
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Insights into how Grandmasters earn
their living
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A deep look into the current major
issues of chess
The list price is $24.95 - but you can
get it today from the ICC Store for only $22.50!
4th
Moscow International Open
 It
may be freezing right now in the Russian capital of Moscow,
but things look set to heat-up over the weekend as the 4th
Moscow International Open draws to a conclusion - and
you can follow all the live action of the crucial final
rounds here on ICC! Finger
MoscowOpen08 for further details on ICC. Official
site: moscowchessopen.ru
After seven rounds, there's a three-way
tie at the top with GMs Ernesto "Che" Inarkiev,
Artyom Timofeev and Ivan Popov leading the
field on 6/7. And, with a total prize fund of over three
million rubles ($120,000), you can bet the action is going
to be fierce.
Linares!
Linares!
 Next
week, the second super-tournament of the year gets underway
with the annual Morelia/Linares tournament. The eight-player,
double round-robin has a stellar field that includes (in
rating order): Vishy Anand (India), Veselin Topalov
(Bulgaria), Alexei Shirov (Spain), Peter Leko
(Hungary), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Levon Aronian
(Armenia), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) and Magnus
Carlsen (Norway).
The Mexican leg runs 14-23 February
in Morelia, with the second leg running February 28 - 8
March in the tournament's spiritual home of Linares, Spain.
The ICC Chess.FM team of Mig Greengard & Macauley
Peterson will be on hand bringing you all the move-by-move
action, and they'll be joined on Chess.FM by our GM commentators
of Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen, Ronen
Har-Zvi, John Fedorowicz, Nick De Firmain,
Jon Speelman and Gregory Kaidanov.
We'll also have the New In Chess trivia
contest (where each day you can win a 1-year subscription
to New In Chess), Game of the Day, Macauley's on-site videos
from both Morelia and Linares, and look out next Monday
for a special Linares preview video from GM Ronen Har-Zvi.
On ICC, finger
Linares08 Official site: www.ajedrezmorelialinares.com.mx
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GM Ronen Har-Zvi: "New Ideas
in the Slav and Semi-Slav Defences" part 9
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In a series of new opening videos for ICC Chess.FM, GM Ronen Har-Zvi investigates the latest developments and trends that will keep you up-to-date in the rock-solid Slav and Semi-Slav Defences.
Click "Play
Video" for a free 5 minute preview of both of
Ronen's latest videos. To listen to the full videos,
sign
up for membership!
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"Chess Talk" with IM John Watson
 Tune-in
for Chess Talk with IM John Watson on ICC Chess.FM. John's weekly 60+ minute show (members only) will feature an interview with leading chess personalities.
This week, John's guest is chess retailer
and publisher Hanon Russell. A lawyer by profession, Hanon,
who publishes the popular web site ChessCafe.com, has been
translating Russian chess literature for four decades and
collects chess memorabilia. He first became known during
the Soviet era for translating Russian Language documents
into English; giving him in the process access to important
Soviet materials on the game.
Find below a selection of free 5 minute preview of John's latest shows. To listen to the full shows, sign up for membership!
Attack with LarryC!
 New
at ICC Chess.FM - Attack With LarryC! A
weekly 30 min+ show on Wednesdays at 15:00 EST
(and available on-demand thereafter for members), featuring
three-time U.S. Champion Larry Christiansen, one of the
most dangerous and respected attacking players of his generation.
Larry is a feared competitor and attacker who authored two popular books that showcase his aggressive style: Storming the Barricades and Rocking the Ramparts. And each week on his show, Larry will feature various
attacking motifs and themes and showing you how best to play for mate.
Click "Play
Video" for a free 5 minute preview of Larry's latest
video. This video is just one of the many benefits of being
a full member of ICC - so, sign
up for membership!
Ask the Renaissance Man
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Tune-in for "Ask the Renaissance Man" with National Master Dan Heisman every Thursday at 21:00 EST. You send in the questions and Dan provides the answers every week on his Q&A
show. Questions on tournament rules, opening play, chess books, chess politics, current events, and more!
Click
"Play Video" for a free 5 minute preview of Dan's
latest show. To listen to the full show, sign
up for membership!
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Boris Alterman's Gambit Guide
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New at ICC Chess.FM - In his new weekly video lecture series for ICC, Boris Alterman's Gambit Guide, Boris will investigate gambits old and new and show that, while some may not be actively played on the grandmaster
circuit these days, they are all exciting to play and at the same time instructive as they teach us all about natural development of the pieces and tactics in chess.
Click
here for a free 5 minute preview of his new video
series on the Evans Gambit. To listen to the full
show, sign
up for membership!
Previews of previous shows: Danish
Gambit Part 1 and Part
2
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Israeli GM Boris Alterman is best known as a leading chess advisor for the multi-title winning chess software program (Deep) Junior, where he specialized in developing its opening book.
GM Joel Benjamin "Game of the Week"
 Three-time
U.S. Champion GM Joel Benjamin starts his
weekly show every Friday at 15:00 Server Time. Click "Play
Video" for a free 5 minute preview of Joel's latest
show. To listen to the full show, sign
up for membership!
Joel is regarded by many as one of the best commentators and analysts' we have in the game today, and each Friday he will be giving us his insight and spin with his selection of Game of the Week.
This is a not-to-be-missed 30-minute video is exclusively for ICC members only -- so if you want to get ahead of the game, get ready to tune-in! By popular demand and requests from members, ALL
of Joel Benjamin's GOTW videos are available. Enjoy! |
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Craigscheck's
4000th Tourney Celebration!
Congratulations to plotkin
for winning the 20 round 2 0 bullet tourney with a
score of 17.5/20! Finishing 2nd was Eorl (16.5/20)
and 3rd was kaimann (13/20) Great job on the
4000 tourneys Craig and thanks for all you do in tomato!
1
0 Bullet Championships!
 Qualifiers
will be held from Feb 9th - 14th. All qualifiers will
be 15 rounds of swiss 1 0. The top 5 finishers in
each qualifier will advance to the finals. They will
be joined by the next 3 best finishers in the series
who did not otherwise qualify, as well as last year's
champion. There will be an open section and an u2000
section. The top 3 places in the open section final
will receive a 3 month extension, a 2 month extension,
and a 1 month extension, respectively. The winner
of the u2000 final will receive a 2 month extension.
Let's see if anyone can dethrone the 2007 champion,
bulletmaster (FM).
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Saturday
Flash !
Every Saturday at 16:00 server
time, ICC is proud to present a 10 round 1 0 bullet
tourney in Flash. You'll find some of the top bulleters
on ICC in these tourneys, so come on out and see how
you stack up against the competition!
 Tourney
Tip of the Week:
What's the deal with w29
tourneys? Well, basically, ICC has re-vamped the w29
system to accommodate dasher users. As of Jan 16th,
the old w29 system is history. In the new w29, two
of the old wilds have been removed. Wild 16 (kriegspiel)
and wild 28 (shatranj) are no longer part of the w29
equation. Dasher users also had problems with wild
9 (2 Kings) and wild 27 (atomic) in the past, but
the new version of dasher (1.2) is able to accommodate
these wilds now. So please note the changes. If you're
a blitzin user, it's still business as usual with
regards to playing in w29 tourneys. But the real exciting
news is that if you are a dasher user and download
the new version 1.2, you can now play in w29 tourneys
also! "Help wild" for more information on
wild 29 (Random wilds).
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ICC Quiz #4455
White Mates in 2
To play this puzzle on
the ICC type:
tell trainingbot number 4455
Then type: play trainingbot
ICC Quiz #4662
White mates in 5 To play this puzzle on the ICC type:
tell trainingbot number 4662
Then type: play trainingbot
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ICC Quiz #4650
White mates in 3
To play this puzzle on
the ICC type:
tell trainingbot number 4650
Then type: play trainingbot
ICC Quiz #4937
White mates in 3
To play this puzzle on
the ICC type:
tell trainingbot number 4937
Then type: play trainingbot
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Secrets of Opening Surprises Volume 7 - Bosch
 The
highly acclaimed SOS series provides intermediate
chess players with perfectly playable, easily digestible
opening ideas: deviations from main line opening theory
in a very early stage of the game (usually before
move six). Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of
the chess opening will be able to apply these SOS-ideas
in an actual game. There is no need to study large
quantities of stuffy theory, but there is an almost
immediate return on the investment of a limited amount
of time. Readers of SOS will baffle their opponents,
gain crucial time, and stand a good chance to get
an advantage in the game. 144 pages
Price $21.95 - 
Buy
now!
Play the English - Pritchett
 The
English opening - It's flexible and diverse and White
can play either aggressively or quietly, and positions
are rich in both strategy and tactics.
In Play the English, Craig Pritchett
provides an active repertoire for White, offering
answers to Blacks key defences both in the main lines
and sidelines. Drawing upon his wealth of experience
in this opening from both sides of the board, Pritchett
highlights the positional and tactical ideas for White
and Black, and the subtle move-order nuances so important
in the modern game. This book contains all you need
to know to play the English with confidence in your
own games
189 pages, Published by Everyman
Price $22.95 - Buy
now!
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Play The Semi-Slav - David Vigorito
 The
Semi-Slav is one track to becoming the most popular
opening on top level after 1.d4 in the same way that
the Marshall Attack is the most popular opening after
1.e4.
In this book American IM and theoretical
expert David Vigorito gives a full repertoire for
black with many possibilites to vary.
If you want to play this topical
opening you cannot do without this book.
Published by Quality Chess, 277
pages
Price $29.95 - Buy
now!
Queen's Gambit Accepted, The (3rd edition) - Konstantin
Sakaev and Semko Semkov
 With
the combined efforts of Kasparov, Karpov, Anand, Ponomariov,
the QGA is suitable for all players from Club level
to World Champion.
A brand new edition, with material
up-to-date to January 1, 2008.
Published by Chess Stars, 254
pages
Price $27.00 - Buy
now!
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Solution to
ICC Quiz #4455
1.Qg5+ Kf8 2.Qd8#
Solution to
ICC Quiz #3205
1.Qxh6+ Kg8
2.Qg6+ Kh8 3.Nxg5 fxg5 4.Be5+ Rf6 5.Bxf6#
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Solution to
ICC Quiz #4650
1.Rf4+ exf4
2.Qxf4+ Kh3 3.Qg4# (or Qg3#)
Solution to ICC Quiz #2985
1.Qxh6+ gxh6
2.Bb2+ Nd4 3.Bxd4#
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