Added on 11/1/2014
To celebrate Halloween, ICC organized a contest: members were invited to play the Frankenstein-Dracula (brrr) Gambit, and among those who could win at least once, 5 lucky members won 6 months of FREE membership! The Frankenstein-Dracula Gambit, with 1 e4 e5 2 Nc3 Nf6 3 Bc4 Nxe4 4 Qh5 Nd6 5 Bb3 Nc6 6 Nb5 g6 7 Qf3 f5 8 Qd5 Qe7 9 Nxc7+ Kd8 10 Nxa8 b6, is a particular hair-raising exchange sacrifice in the Vienna. It was given its ghoulishly gothic title by correspondence guru Tim Harding, who wrote many articles about it during the late 1970s. He explained that it is so-called because it is terrifying for both sides, and, much like those two famous gentleman of the night, has an incredible facility for rising - theory-wise at least - from the grave. GM Boris Alterman, back in 2010, did a two-video series on this Gambit, in his famous series "Alterman's Gambit Guide". Those who participated in the contest were given the chance to watch these videos, to facilitate their task! Here is the links to watch these nice videos on the Frankenstein-Dracula Gambit: Part 1 - Part 2. The contest has been a great success! the contest started October 30 at 1:28PM and ended October 31 at 11:59PM. 776 players took part in the contest, and 4,790 games were played. A number of FIDE titled players measured themselves with this rare and interesting gambit: demo05(FM), enfatico53(FM), Grandelius(GM), jefferyx(IM), just(WIM), Kamberi(FM), littlecaesar(IM), mandragoro(GM), MarcoCorvi(FM), MoonlightWizard(IM), NFork(FM), PazificDreams(IM), penguingm1(FM), Ricardov(FM), sibirica(FM H), SkorpionDefense(IM), SlimeDog2(FM), Sotsky(IM), SpinalTap(IM), tallulah(WGM), Tate(IM), Yorick(IM). Of course all of them figured out how to play a rook down for a great piece activity, but it was nice to see so many strong players try this out! 353 members were able to win at least one game, and among those ICC did a drawing, to find the 5 winners. Anunnaki Zhbugnoimt LentheMan78 demo05 Alturia7 Each of them won 6-months of FREE membership. You can download a .pgn file with all the played games by clicking HERE. Given the great success, STAY TUNED for new and thrilling contests in ICC!