 Surging in the Spotlight
  Is there no stopping Norwegian wunderkind Magnus Carlsen? The 17-year-old teenage ace is again in the spotlight by winning yet another big elite tournament, this time taking first place with ease at Aerosvit ahead of Vassily Ivanchuk to add to his extraordinary haul so far for the year.
Carlsen's winning surge now of all the big elite events of the first half of the year -- Corus, Morelia/Linares, the Fide Grand Prix in Baku, and now Aerosvit -- is simply remarkable. No teenager has ever performed at this high a level in the game. Not even former world champion legends such as Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer - Carlsen is way ahead of their teenage feats.
And the rating points Carlsen is quickly amassing makes him odds-on to topple Vishy Anand for the top spot in the world rankings before the end of the year -- and at the same time, he looks as if he's going to become only the fifth player in history (behind Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik and Topalov) to crack the 2800 barrier.
Fide only publish their rating list ever quarter and the cutoff dates for the July 1st list means Aerosvit - with Carlsen and Ivanchuk's big hike in their ratings that would have made them world # 2 & 3 - not being included. However, you can follow Carlsen's surge to the summit at Hans Arild Runde's Live Top List, which is updated minutes after tournaments are completed. The Live Top List cover all players with a current, live rating above 2700, who are now generally known as "Super-GMs".
ICC: Foros08
Aerosvit 2008 official
site
Leaving Las Vegas - Kamsky Video
GM Gata Kamsky was at the top of a six-way tie for first recently at the National Open (June 5-8), part of the Las Vegas International Chess Festival. In this 8 minute interview with U.S. Chess Journalist of the Yearnominee Macauley Peterson of ICC Chess.FM, Kamsky, before leaving Las Vegas, shared his views with us on his time there and his thoughts on the upcoming World Championship candidates match with Veselin Topalov, scheduled for November in Lvov, Ukraine.
Should any website wish to have this video embedded to play from their own site, then please contact John Henderson at jbhthescots@chesslcub.com.
Mainz Chess960
 All of last week, qualifiers were held here on ICC for the coveted spots in the 16-player KO Mainz Chess Classic online Chess960 finals, to be staged Sunday, June 22, starting at 15:00 EDT.
Four players won through from each of the four hotly-contested qualifiers. Of the 16 contesting the finals, over half the field are titled players with 5 GMs - Dmitry Andreikin, Hikaru Nakamura, Aleksa Strikovic, Gawain Jones and Mateusz Bartel - 4 IMs and 3 FMs. The full list of finalists and pairings can be found at our dedicated Mainz Chess960 page.
The overall winner will receive over $1000, hotel room and breakfast at the Hilton Mainz Hotel by the banks of the Rhine, just 1 block from the picturesque Old Town. They will also receive an automatic seat into two of the biggest and most prestigious series of rapid chess tournaments in the world, playing alongside many of the game's top grandmasters at the FiNet and Ordix opens. |
Why not join us here at ICC to watch the finals by trying out a free 7-day trial membership? Play starts Sunday, June 22 at 15:00 EDT. Don't miss it!
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NM Dan Heisman "Improve Your Chess"
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National Master Dan Heisman is a
name that is synonymous with excellence in chess coaching
and teaching.
Over the years, Dan has produced
many winning students and scholastic teams - and now
he can help you, too! In this series of five instructional
videos for ICC Chess.FM, Dan brings you his innovative
teaching methods on how to play better chess - and
all packed with sound advice from the maestro himself.
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1. Introduction to Safety and Counting
(below 1500) -- Watch
now
2. Introduction to Time Management (all players)
3. Introduction to Thought Process (800-1800)
4. Common Evaluation Misconceptions (1000-2200)
5. Is It Safe? (below 1900) - this video is a follow-up
to "Introduction to Safety and Counting"
These 5 videos are available exclusively
for ICC members - but as a special launch promotion, non-members
can view for free Dan's
first video in full. To view the other four video in
the series, sign
up for membership!
Mondays: GM Ronen Har-Zvi "New Ideas
in the Petroff's Defense"
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The Petroff Defence (sometimes called the Russian Defence, and named after Russia's Alexander Petrov, 1794-1867) is considered as one of Black’s most reliable and solid methods of meeting the king’s pawn opening. It is easy to play and an excellent choice for someone looking for an alternative to the Scotch Opening, the Italian Game and the ‘Spanish torture’ of the Ruy Lopez.
Until a few years ago, the Petroff was an opening that was favored by only a few top Grandmasters, including Anatoly Karpov and Artur Yusupov. However, the last few years have seen a dramatic rise in its popularity, and it now provides battlefields for many top clashes of the modern elite players, including Anand, Kramnik, Leko, Topalov, and Shirov. And in the latest of his "New Ideas in..." series, GM Ronen Har-Zvi, takes a closer look under the microscope at the solid Petroff.
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Click here
for a free 5 minute preview of Ronen's latest video. To
listen to the full videos, sign
up for membership!
Tuesdays: 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. All shows run on demand
for members after airing.
This week (Tue., 17 June), joining IM John Watson on Chess Talk is former Chess Journalist of the Year, author, columnist and chess teacher, Pete Tamburro.
Pete is a well known writer on the game and a past president of the Chess Journalists of America. He has been the weekly chess columnist for the Newark Star-Ledger (N.J.) since 1997 and has served as chairman of the Cramer Awards for chess journalism. Pete was the USCF's nationally syndicated and award-winning columnist for five years and authored Learn Chess from the Greats and produced many videos here for Chess.FM, such as his recent series The Sizzling Scandinavian.
Find below a selection of free 5-minute
previews of the latest shows. To listen to the full shows, sign
up for membership! |
Wednesdays: Attack with LarryC!
 New
at ICC Chess.FM - Attack With LarryC! A
weekly 30 min+ show on Wednesdays at 15:00 EDT
(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. By popular demand from members, we are now archiving
previous Attack
with LarryC shows. This video is just one of the many
benefits of being a full member of ICC - so, sign
up for membership!
Thursdays: 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 EDT. 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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Thursdays: Boris Alterman's Gambit Guide
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.
Fridays: 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 not-to-be-missed weekly video
series is exclusive 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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Losers (Wild 17) Championships!
Qualifiers are June 20-25! There will a 1 0 section and a 3 1 section. The bullet section will always be 12 round swiss qualifiers, while the blitz section will be 7 rounds of swiss. The top 3 finishers in each qualifier will advance to the finals, along with the next best 4 finishers in the total series of qualifiers. Check out http://www.littleper.com/public/champs/start.html for full details.
Interested in becoming a tourney manager?
We are always taking applications for new managers. We periodically go through them and select our new managers from these applications. For more information see “help manager-new”.
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Wednesday Night Standard!
Every Wednesday at 18:00, there will be a 5 round Swiss 15 0 standard tourney in Slomato! If you're looking for a faster Standard tourney, this is the place to be! The entire event only takes about 2.5 hours, so head over to Slomato this Wednesday and join up!
 Tourney
Tip: How do I leave a tourney?
The proper way to leave a tourney is to “Tell <bot> leave”. For example, if you join a tournament in Tomato and must leave before it is completed, type “Tell Tomato leave”. Be aware, however, that any time you leave a tournament early, you will receive dr-points! (“tell tomato help dr-pts” for more info.) So the best policy is to only join a tournament if you have time to complete it.
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Chess Opening Trap of the Day - Bruce Albertson
Great for beginners who want to improve their game and intermediate players who love challenges, this powerful collection of opening traps will immediately improve your play and have your opponents fearing you. You'll learn how to spot the everyday opening mistakes made by opponents and how to take advantage of these mistakes by setting opening traps. Covering both fundamental and tricky opening traps, this book features 217 opening traps and more than 500 diagrams that span 40 openings.
232 pages.
Price $14.95
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Buy
now!
Beating the Open Games (new ed.) - Mihail Marin
 Many players would like to play the main lines of the Spanish with Black, but fear answering 1.e4 with 1...e5 because of White’s great variety of deviations. Acclaimed author Mihail Marin presents a repertoire for Black against the Open Games. This means providing an answer to 1.e4, but not considering the main lines of the Spanish Opening. This includes openings such as the Scotch, Giuoco Piano, Vienna, Spanish Exchange Variation and even the notorious King’s Gambit.
Marin reveals his own opening repertoire, which he prepared for high-level international competition. But besides giving concrete answers to any worries players might have about facing the Open Games, Marin uses his renowned skills to lucidly convey the main strategic ideas. This way Marin has succeeded in writing a middlegame book disguised as an opening book. No one can read this book without being entertained and educated at the same time.
336 pages - soft cover.
Price $34.95 -
Buy
now! |
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Building up Your Chess with Artur Yusupov 1 - The Fundamentals
 Build up your Chess with Artur Yusupov is for chess players who want to build their skills on solid foundations. Yusupov guides the reader towards a higher level of chess understanding using carefully selected positions and advice. This new understanding is then tested by a series of puzzles.
Artur Yusupov was ranked No. 3 in the world from 1986 to 1992, just behind the legendary World Champions Karpov and Kasparov. He has won everything there is to win in chess except for the World Championship. In recent years he has mainly worked as a chess trainer with players ranging from current World Champion Anand to local amateurs in Germany, where he resides.
Published by Quality Chess.
Price $29.95
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Buy
now!
Jon Speelman's Chess Puzzle Book - Jon Speelman
 Jon Speelman is one of the most successful British chess-players of all time, and is renowned for the creativity of his play and his remarkable calculating ability. He is also an extremely experienced writer and chess coach. His personal selection of chess puzzles will infuriate, entertain, test and instruct chess-players of all levels.
Themed sections include:
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Finger Exercises
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Stalemate
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The Skewer
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The Pin
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Pawn Promotion
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Line Opening and Closing
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Loose Pieces
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Mating Attacks
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The Back Rank
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Knight Forks
Price $19.95 -
Buy
now!
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