Who is your favorite chess player?

With all due respect to Newdad, when Capablanca started his career, he knew little opening theory. He would simply get into the middle game or end game with a slight minus perhaps and simply outplay his opponents for the rest of the game. As for Morphy, he knew opening theory of mid 1800's cold, very strong in middle and end game. Both Morphy and Capablanca had uncanny memories and visualization skills. If they were young enough, they would catch up fast and beat anybody alive today. Evolution aside, when push came to shove in the middle and end game, they would simply be too strong and quick (remember time element is important today) for the present grandmasters. It can never be proven, of course, but it's a fascinating debate.

Bronstein for his wonderful annotation and what it has done for my game. The Sorcerers Apprentice and Zurich 1953 are the best books in my collection. I also admire Paul Keres play, but I would never have studied it without Bronstein.

Jermey Silman is another I admire for his abilility to explain chess concepts so well. Reacess your Chess is a great book once you know the rules and have played a few games. His other books are less helpful.

As for Favorite, Capablanca wins for his amazing ability. He just played on principals and didn't worry about current opening theory.

"In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else, for whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame."

Originally posted by obliteration
Out of all the GM's there have ever been, who has been your favorite and why?

My favorite Have been many but right now th one who will rule is Sergey Karjakin!!! along with Nakamura and Radjov

i agree sundown , wholeheartedly! chess is a war and when i lose i truly feel beaten and depressed( for a minute).

Originally posted by obliteration
Out of all the GM's there have ever been, who has been your favorite and why?

Bowmann,...a Grandmaster, but not yet officially.

Nimzovitch (or whichever spelling you want to use) is my favorite player of all time.

Second place is Tal

Shabalov, Christiansen, Tal, anyone who has a healthy disrepect for material or who shows some imagination and creativity. 🙂

Originally posted by !~TONY~!
Shabalov, Christiansen, Tal, anyone who has a healthy disrepect for material or who shows some imagination and creativity. 🙂

I enjoy watching Christiansen play, especially at blitz. His pieces always seem to fall in the right place, playing some pretty amazing combinations even when being down in material.

Yeah, he is pretty much a beast. I am not gonna lie, he beat me in a material odds blitz game where I was up a rook to start. He is a beast. Flat out. I caught him later in a simul though. This was from about two days ago. I didn't post this because people got pissed last time, but now that we are on Christiansen talk it has to come out.

[Event "ICC 45 15 u"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2005.10.31"]
[Round "1"]
[White "LarryC"]
[Black "TheShootah"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B72"]
[WhiteElo "2559"]
[BlackElo "1900"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2005.??.??"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8.Nb3 Nc6 9. g4 Be6 10. g5 Nd7 11. h4 a6 12. h5 b5 13. hxg6 fxg6 14. Bg4 Bf7 15.f4 Nb6 16. Nd4 Nc4 17. Nxc6 Nxe3 18. Qe2 Qc7 19. Nxe7+ Qxe7 20. Qxe3 b4 21. Na4 Bd5 22. Nb6 Qxe4 23. Nxd5 Qxh1+ 24. Kd2 Qxd5+ 0-1

That's right. I had the balls to play the Dragon against LarryC! 🙂 Anyway, a blitz DVD came out recently that has Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Alex Shabalov playing in a blitz tourney. Apparently this was one of the qualifing tournies. The trailer is at generationchess.com and is actually pretty entertaining(albeit cheesy!). Enjoy!

Wow, that win is impressive. I also might have to check out that dvd, Naka is deadly at speed chess. Have you played Shabalov yet? Isn't he the one who is funding that House of Chess?

Nimozovich or Lasker. Lasker if I have to pick.

VladamirNo1...one of the greatest Russian chess players of all time...originator of the opening 'The Vladdy Dragon' he has to be my all time favourite....

Originally posted by !~TONY~!
... I didn't post this because people got pissed last time, ...

I bet most of us are very, very interested every single time an underdog gets to win. I know I am. after all, it's the essence of drama, isn't it. victory against all odds. good entertainment.

Originally posted by wormwood
I bet most of us are very, very interested every single time an underdog gets to win. I know I am. after all, it's the essence of drama, isn't it. victory against all odds. good entertainment.

Hahaha, thanks worm! Otis, I have played Shabalov about three times. Actually two of the three games were very interesting. Here is one I posted in the Bad Bishops forum, and I will work on finding the other score. This one has a little bit of my commentary in it.



[Event "House of Chess Simul"]
[Site "North Olmsted"]
[Date "2005.08.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Shabalov, Alex"]
[Black "Rotella, Tony"]
[Result "1-0"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[TimeControl "NA"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bg5

I was not to happy to see this move, as this means he is just going to try to beat my face in. I also don't know the theory all that well.

Bg7 5. f4 h6

Played to force the bishop to h4, undefending the f-pawn. Now if e5, I can play Nh5 and attack the pawn.

6.Bh4 c5 7. dxc5 Qa5 8. cxd6?!

White normally doesn't play this move, since Nxe4 followed by Nxc3 looks ok for black. But he does what he wants, he is Shabalov. Besides, he isn't playing someone all that great, so the complications here might be better for him.

...Nxe4 9. Bb5+ Bd7 10. Bxd7+ Nxd7 11. Nge2 Nxc3 12. bxc3 g5 13. Bf2 Bxc3+ 14. Kf1?

Whether or not I defended this well enough, I think this move is bad. He gets some play, but I think it might be better to just take again.

...Bxa1 15. Qxa1 e5 16. h4 g4

I think this is probably better than taking the pawn, as the pawn on g4 keeps the rook on h1 out of the game for a longer period. If I don't play it, he may lift it out.

17. fxe5 Qxe5 18. Bd4 Qf5+ 19. Kg1 f6 20. Kh2 Qd5 21. Ng3 Qxd6 22. Re1+ Kf7 23. Rd1 Qc7

This takes away some protection from the f-pawn, but the knight needs to stay put on g3.

24. Rf1 Rhf8 25. Qd1 Ne5 26. Qd2 Rad8 27. Qxh6 Ke6 28. c3 Rf7 29. Rf5 Rd5 30. Qf4 Ke7 31. h5 Ke6 32. h6 Qb8 33. c4 Nf3+?? 1-0 Black Resigns

Of course what I calculated was gxf3 Qxf4 Rxf4 Ra5 fxg4 Rxa2+ Kh3 Rc2, which is still very bad for black (I was the only one left I had to move very quickly since the mall was closing. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it.) What he played of course, was gxf3 Qxf4 cxd5+, completely beating my face in, as intended. Anyway, I am sure there are some improvements from 24 on, maybe before. He told me I should have castled, but I was reasonably happy with my position after he stopped me from castling, I think I blundered much later.

I found the other one. I was actually somewhat more pleased with my play in this game because of the knight sac. I was sitting next to a very strong player, and a good friend, and he was like, "Dude, don't do it!" but I just couldn't resist. After the game Shabalov said it was probably a good idea since my knight on b6 would have been out of play for quite a while.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 c6 5. f3 b5 6. Qd2 Nbd7 7. Nh3 Nb6 8.Nf2 Qc7 9. a4 b4 10. Ncd1 a5 11. c4 Bg7 12. Be2 c5 13. d5 Bd7 14. Qc2 e6 15. Ra2 exd5 16. exd5 O-O 17. b3 Rfe8 18. O-O Nfxd5 19. cxd5 Nxd5 20. Bc1 Nb6 21. Bb2 d5 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. Bb5 Bxb5 24. axb5 c4 25. Kh1 f6 26. Qc1 a4 27. bxa4 Rxa4 28. Rxa4 Nxa4 29. Ng4 Re6 30. Qh6+ Kg8 31. Nde3 d4 32. Nd5 Qd6 33. Nf4 Re7 34.Nxg6 Re2 35. Nf4 Re7 36. Nxf6+ Kf7 37. Qxh7+ Kxf6 38. Qg6+ Ke5 39. Qg5# 1-0