The second highlight has to be the publication of the first
chess book written in Irish by our very own Una O'Boyle.
It's wonderfully illustrated, and is perfect for any child
attending a Gaelscoil. The real novelty of her book, is that
each copy comes with its own board and pieces, as well
as very nice bookmark. Contact Una quickly, if you want a
copy for Christmas.
The third highlight has to be Sam Collin's win against his
Mongolian opponent Gundavaa in the Olympiad
(http://icu.ie/games/display.php?id=29822). Sam needed
a win with Black to keep any chances of a final GM norm.
Somehow he managed to sacrifice a piece for a
speculative attack. Unfortunately, Sam couldn't put his
opponent away, and he ended up in a position with Q and
pawns against 2R + N. Sam kept playing for the win, and
amazingly got it. There were quite a lot of us following the
game live, using the LCU blog to exchange comments
with each other. Sadly, Sam had to draw with a very
strong former Chinese GM the next day, and ended
losing, thus missing his norm by half a point. However,
having seen Sam winning Kilkenny this year against
opposition such as Ivan Cheparinov, our Bulgarian visitor,
I know it won't be long before Sam gets his well deserved
title.
My fourth highlight is Alex Lopez' third IM norm, scored in
the London Classic FIDE Open tournament. It still has to
be confirmed by FIDE, but from what I have heard, Alex
can expect his nice shiny new IM certificate to be winging
its way from Kalmykia soon.
As some of you may know, I'm an inveterate chess book
buyer, and this year has been quite a good one. My
favourite book this year has to be Yasser Seirawan's
"Chess Duels: My Games with the World Champions".
Not only are the games beautifully annotated, Yasser is
the best story teller amongst the grandmasters. The best
opening book ever written has to be Sergei Shipov's
labour of love, "The Complete Hedgehog, Volume 1".
Unlike many opening books, this one tells the story of the
opening. On middle games, Ivan Sokolov has written
"Winning Chess Middlegames: An essential guide to
pawn structures". It systematically examines the pawn
structures that arise mainly from queen's gambits, and
Nimzo-Indians. The only similar book previously on this
subject was Alex Baburin's "Winning Pawn Structures".
Sokolov's book seems to have more material on doubled
and hanging pawns. I should, of course, mention Sam
Collins' new book "Gambit Busters: Take it, Keep it ... and
Win!" Sadly, I haven't got a copy yet (hint, hint Sam, send
me a copy, and I'll review it) so I can't say what it's like,
but given his previous books, it'll be worth the read.
I have had a chess Annus Horribilis (Latin for dreadful
year, and not ugly backside), winning a single game
against the unfortunate Rory Quinn, and to be honest, I
should have lost that one too. I have lost games to
Gordon Freeman and Kilian Delaney in under 20 moves. I
could claim over work, the stress of trying to move house,
or the reduction of free time due to my ICU
responsibilities, but I actually think it is due to my lack of
fitness. "Mens sana in corpore sano" say the sages, and
so I'm heading for the gym in the new year.
Finally, on behalf of the executive, may I wish you all a
merry Christmas and a winning new year.
PUZZLEd?
Instructional positions for the improving player.
L van Vliet (1888)
White to play and win!
5|Page
T. SiersKieler
Neueste Nachrichten 1937
White to play and mate in 5
Solutions on last page!
Irish Chess Journal