You may have never imagined that some elements which seem to be irrelevant to chess can significantly influence players’ performance by affecting their health. Smoke The 8th World Champion Mikhail Tal was reproached for his addiction to smoking. Boris Spassky recollected that Tal once almost lost his life because of smoking. At the midnight when the …
Last September, I began my college life in London, with excitement, curiosity, and expectation. But at the same time, I felt worried. School would be very busy, and I would not be able to spend too much time on chess. In July and August I had experienced failures in many tournaments, and I became disoriented …
Bobby Fischer Against the World, by Oliver Schopf It was 1992, 20 years since Fischer won the world champion title and disappeared from the chess world. The United States still maintained its strength and remained as the only superpower in the world, while the Soviet Union could not stand the internal turmoil and external pressure …
Confrontations during the cold war (5): the end of a perilous battle Read More »
Year 1972 was a turning point of the Cold War for the Soviet Union. Losing the honor of world champion, the Soviet government was in dismay, as if it had lost its decisive advantage against the United States. The person who could retake the world champion title for the Soviet Union would become the great …
confrontations during the cold war (4): unimaginable “abdication” Read More »
Spassky won the first game. In the second round, Fischer did not come. Spassky played the first move and waited for one hour. In this weird fashion Fischer lost another game. Fischer protested against the disturbance of TV cameras and refused to show up. For Fischer, any noise during the game could be detrimental. He …
Confrontations during the cold war (3): struggle to subvert the order Read More »
The Candidate tournament in 1971 was the ideal tournament for Fischer. No one had thought that he would win the tournament so miraculously. He defeated Taimanov and Larsen with the identical perfect score 6-0, and defeated the previous world champion Petrosian in the final with an overwhelming advantage of 6.5-2.5. And now, the whole Soviet …
Confrontations during the cold war (2): dispute and compromise Read More »
Chess engines are improving rapidly. In 1985, the World Champion Kasparov played against 32 chess computers and won all games. But in 1997, a supercomputer called Deep Blue challenged Kasparov and defeated him with difficulties. Kasparov recollected that he felt confused when sitting in front of the computer. He was not able to look into …
chess talents of the soviet union (4): let machine cooperate with men Read More »
“My move gave Karpov a clever defense and suddenly he was one move from reclaiming his title. But his hurried response also proved second best, although our mutual exchange of errors would not be discovered until well after the game,” Garry Kasparov recollected. This was the last round of the fourth match he played against …
Chess talents of the soviet union (3): the rebellious chess king Read More »
Botvinnik, the founder of Soviet chess school, became the World Champion in 1948. He should have been the World Champion Challenger of Alexander Alekhine, but this was cut short by Alekhine’s sudden death in 1946. Thus the 1948 World Chess Championship was held to decide the World Champion between five players, including Botvinnik, Euwe, Keres, …
Chess talents of the soviet union (2): the pioneer of computer chess Read More »
The Soviet Union was a superpower in chess. From 1948, when the Soviet grandmaster Mikhail Botvinnik became the World Champion, to its collapse in 1991, the Soviet Union enjoyed hegemony in chess all the time, except for the three years when the World Champion title was in the hand of the American genius Bobby Fischer. …
Chess talents of the soviet union (1): The rise of a superpower Read More »
ZUGZWANG, Peter Kokol s.p.
Chess Education and Services
Ob potoku 11
2212 Šentilj v Slov. Goricah
Slovenia
