World Chess Live Comes to Illinois!

"VALENTINE'S DAY WEEKEND WASN'T just for lovers this year, as chess players from across the USA took advantage of it also being President’s Day weekend, a popular time for multi-day chess tournaments in the country." So begins the recent WCL Special Report by our very own photographer and journalist Betsy Dynako. In her first-ever video for Chess.FM, Dynako documents a trip taken by the World Chess Live team to one of the largest scholastic chess events in the nation, the 35th Annual Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Team Chess Championship. While there, WCL awarded free memberships to players and coaches. There was even a guest appearance by GM Yury Shulman, the current U.S. Champion. Congratulations to dynamo Dynako on this cinematic success!

Remembering Joseph Gerald Sullivan, Jr.

This week we remember one of our own, Joseph Gerald Sullivan, Jr., who passed away December 1, 2008. Sullivan, better known around World Chess Live by his username "jgs", was a USCF Life Master. "[Sullivan] watched all of our tournament relays, and, though a quiet man, did do some commentary of the games," said one WCL employee. "He never posted, commented, or placed in his notes he was a Master - a very humble guy actually." If you would like to know more about the man behind "jgs", The Oak Ridger has more information.

KibBlitzing with NM Evan Rosenberg

This week, our KibBlitz features NM Evan Rosenberg, author of the #10 article in the "Best of Chess Life Online" awards. Rosenberg was one of some 1200 chess players who attended Steve Doyle's famous U.S. Amateur Team East tournament over February 14-16. USATE, as it is called, was a huge success, and this year Rosenberg played on a team with GM Pascal Charbonneau which was in contention for a share of first until the final round. Thanks to Rosenberg, GM Charbonneau will be annotating one of his best games from USATE in Jonathan Hilton's upcoming report for Chess Life magazine. Don't miss it!

Chess.FM Update

This Week: "New Ideas In The 150 Attack" with GM Ronen Har-Zvi

In the latest of his "New Ideas In..." series, GM Ronen Har-Zvi looks at "The 150 Attack," a sharp line for white against the Pirc that was pioneered in the 1980s by a new generation of English players, such as John Nunn, Nigel Short and Mickey Adams.

The main idea is Be3, Qd2, Bh6, advance the h-pawn and then deliver mate. Naturally, this seemed too good to be true and was quickly dubbed the 150 Attack (a peculiarity of the English grading system, with 150 equating to 1800 Elo), since it seemed that only a club player would use such a blatant attacking system and expect the game to finish in checkmate.