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Iranian, Refusing to Play Israeli, Expelled From Chess Tournament — One of Iran’s top chess grandmasters was expelled from an international chess tournament on Tuesday after he refused to play a match against an Israeli opponent, the director of the tournament said. The Iranian, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, was scheduled to play Ehud Shachar in the fourth round of the Corsica Masters, a pairing determined by computer. The director, Léo Battesti, said in a telephone interview that Mr. Maghami had asked him to change the pairing, but was told that doing so would violate chess tournament rules. Mr. Maghami then failed to appear at the scheduled time to play Mr. Shachar. Mr. Battesti said Mr. Maghami should have told him beforehand that he would object to ...

Vlad Kramnik holds his hoodoo over Judit Polgar — The phenomenon of the difficult opponent against whom you have poor results which create a psychological mountain is well known to many chess players. At top level, it can change careers and decide world-class chess events. Bobby Fischer often did badly against Ewfim Geller, which helped spark the American's failure in the 1962 candidates. Garry Kasparov found Vlad Kramnik tough, and eventually lost his world title to the younger Russian. The all-time best woman Judit Polgar has proved herself the equal or superior of dozens of the top men. But she struggled against Kasparov, including in an infamous game where he retracted a knight move, and she also has a large minus total against ...

On Chess: Fischer figured he could draw with God — Bobby Fischer was renowned for his objectivity in regard to matters of chess. When confronted with the question of whether he could defeat God at chess, he immediately rejected the notion. Nevertheless, he insisted, “With White, I should be able to draw against him. I play e4 and, if we have a Ruy (Lopez opening), the position would be balanced, and I would never lose.â€� It might be relevant that religion was a lifelong passion for Fischer. His biographer, Frank Brady, noted that Fischer carried a Bible with him during his early years. It is, therefore, likely that he was familiar with the biblical story of Jacob wrestling with God before his fearful reunion with his brother Esau — whose birthright he had stolen — at ...

Aggressive Strategy Pays Off at Women’s Grand Prix Event — Here’s a striking fact about the game of chess: There is only one woman ranked among the world’s top 100 players. There is no obvious reason for such a disparity in a purely intellectual game. One dubious explanation put forward over the years is that women are not as naturally aggressive as men and that successful chess requires frequent attacks. Yet in women-only chess events, a higher proportion of the games end in decisive finishes than they do at chess tournaments in which men participate. That has held true in the current Women’s Grand Prix series. The third tournament, which ended earlier this month in Nalchik, Russia, was dominated by Zhao Xue of China, who won 9 of her first 10 games before ...

Lasker's tenacious defence — This game from the legendary 1914 St. Petersburg tournament shows a chess great at his best. RB: I like text as well as chess in my chess books, and The Joys of Chess by Christian Hesse (New in Chess) has plenty of both. It's a compendium, in the mould of earlier works like Fox and James's The Complete Chess Addict or Hooper and Whyld's Oxford Companion to Chess; it's the sixth and last nomination for our book of the year award. Hesse, a professor of mathematics, may not be a top-flight chess player, but he roves over his subject with the sharp eye of an avid collector. If it reads pedantically at times (Dan was aghast at the title, which he thought sounded like a bad translation from ...

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— 5/19 08:04