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Game result (chess) S. Ligon, 2321 M. LaDuke, 2326 1/2-1/2 See game 152178 |
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Here are 24 results for Taylor Colton in the games.
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Here are 12 results for Taylor James in the games.
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Here are 0 results for Taylor Boris in the games.
There are at least 100 results for Taylor in the forum.
William Taylor (2019-03-24 21:23:31)
Leela Chess Zero & neural networks
Early on it looked like it was never going to approach AlphaZero levels, but it went toe-to-toe with Stockfish in the last TCEC and must presumably be better than it in some kinds of position. I don't play much correspondence chess these days but will probably try using it for OTB preparation soon.
You're certainly right that AI is having and will have massive societal impacts - hopefully largely positive ones, but that will require smart legislation, responsible research and an informed general public.
William Taylor (2019-03-05 22:27:10)
AlphaZero 2.0
Hi Abdulsamad. No... we were all posting about AlphaZero. You are the one who posted about Leela!
Certainly another interesting engine - let's see if it approaches AlphaZero's level.
William Taylor (2019-01-28 19:59:03)
I cannot make move in my Go games
Yep - cheers!
William Taylor (2019-01-28 16:18:43)
I cannot make move in my Go games
Yep.
William Taylor (2019-01-28 16:17:51)
James Romig
Thib - it seems you might have misinterpreted what Kym said. He isn't saying that James has died - he's saying that someone else on another forum has and that he hopes that's not the case with James.
William Taylor (2018-12-06 22:50:39)
AlphaZero 2.0
The result seems very conclusive again. For those who were concerned about the time control last time, that has been addressed. A couple of news articles:
https://www.chess.com/news/view/updated-alphazero-crushes-stockfish-in-new-1-000-game-match
https://chess24.com/en/read/news/alphazero-really-is-that-good
William Taylor (2018-11-19 22:15:18)
World Championship Tie-breaks
Paul has also sent abusive private messages to me. At some point action should be taken. This is not the first thread he has de-railed into a flame war.
William Taylor (2018-11-13 16:59:11)
William Taylor (2018-10-31 14:48:02)
World Championship Tie-breaks
Fair enough, Thib. Maybe Demis Hassabis could win a game against Eros, but I don't see anyone else doing it. :)
William Taylor (2018-10-30 12:05:46)
New Chess Record...
Remarkable, but still some way short of Tiviakov's record. (Ding has of course been playing much stronger players than Tiv.)
William Taylor (2018-10-28 23:09:11)
World Championship Tie-breaks
I'm not sure that's appropriate for a chess event, but it has given me another idea: a mixed game tournament for the overall FICGS WC title.
William Taylor (2018-10-27 12:03:10)
World Championship Tie-breaks
For many years, the reigning classical world chess champion had draw odds. The chess world eventually realised this was both unfair to the challenger and uninteresting for the spectators, and introduced a rapid and blitz playoff match for use in the event that the players remained tied after the classical portion of the match. There have always been, and will continue to be grumbles about this system (mostly that the classical WC should be decided by classical games), but overall it is popular (as I imagine can be seen from online viewing figures from the Carlsen-Karjakin match, for example) and, to my mind at least, fairer than the alternative. I propose something similar for the FICGS WC match: an advanced chess tie-break match. Granted, there is the same objection as for the classical WC match - advanced chess is not the same as correspondence chess. However, the combatants will already have had ample opportunity (12 games) to decide matters in that format. An advanced chess tie-break would provide much more sporting interest, as the current system is becoming a bit predictable (this is not in any way a dig at the incumbent, Eros Riccio, who is just doing what he has to do, and doing it very well). I think the match would also be great for promoting FICGS - you could stream it live on Twitch, for example, perhaps with commentary. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
William Taylor (2018-06-06 23:18:06)
Order games load in
Thanks - that partially works, but not being able to separate chess and big chess is still annoying (for me). I understand adding another icon for big chess might be confusing for some though (people who don't play big chess).
William Taylor (2018-06-02 14:31:46)
Order games load in
Hi Thib,
Currently when we make a move in a game, another loads automatically afterwards which may or may not be of the same type. Personally I like to make moves in all of my Go games (for example), followed by all of my big chess games, rather than switching between games. What do you think about changing the algorithm which determines which game loads next to facilitate this?
Cheers,
Will
William Taylor (2018-05-13 22:11:04)
New domain names for FICGS apps
You may be able to sell playchess.app on to ChessBase for a decent amount.
William Taylor (2018-05-02 10:31:20)
1st King Supertournament
I'm sure it will be a fun event. :)
William Taylor (2018-05-01 23:52:16)
1st King Supertournament
One of the reasons I didn't enter this tournament is that it's not clear how to guarantee compliance with the 'no databases' requirement. What happens if I need to prepare for an OTB game against a King's Gambit player? Obviously I will consult my database and theoretical works, and cannot help but have my ongoing 'King Supertournament' games in my mind.
William Taylor (2018-04-15 14:07:42)
Big chess castling
Thibault,
Have you ever considered allowing players to castle twice in big chess, giving a mechanism to allow similar castled positions to normal chess? For example, from the starting position the king could castle once to kingside, ending up on l1 with the rook on m1, and then again, ending up on p1, with the rook on o1. He could also go the other way, finishing on c1 after castling twice.
William Taylor (2018-04-01 23:06:04)
Poll: renaming the Queen as Dragon
On a related note, I have just moved to Paris, and had my first Domino's pizza here today, only to discover that it did not come with the traditional garlic & herb dip. I hope this is just another Frenchman playing an April Fool's joke on me, and that the dip will be back tomorrow, but who knows?
William Taylor (2018-04-01 22:56:16)
Poll: renaming the Queen as Dragon
Agreed. Only question now is what we do with chess games in progress - let them play out, or somehow convert them to the new game partway through?
William Taylor (2018-04-01 22:11:41)
Poll: renaming the Queen as Dragon
Then you would have to give the Rooks/Dwarves the power to tunnel under other pieces, and the Bishops/Elves the power to shoot other pieces with their bows & arrows.
William Taylor (2018-04-01 19:45:27)
Poll: renaming the Queen as Dragon
Hmm. There is already a game, played on a chessboard, where the pieces are renamed in similar fashion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arimaa
Good game, btw.
William Taylor (2018-04-01 19:36:39)
Poll: renaming the Queen as Dragon
Black and White is at least the other way round in Go. Perhaps you should switch chess to Black moving first, and Go to White moving first, for the benefit of those of us who don't play both games.
The problem with cats, of course, is that we would be leaving out dogs.
William Taylor (2018-04-01 18:42:20)
Poll: renaming the Queen as Dragon
Not sure how sexist it is, or to whom. Yes, the King is the most important piece, but the Queen is by far the most powerful. It seems more sexist to remove women from the game entirely by renaming the Queen.
Thibault de Vassal (2018-03-14 23:12:38)
A few questions to Nelson Bernal Varela
Nelson Bernal Varela is an early FICGS correspondence chess player, now rated 2277 but also rated 2359 at ICCF (Correspondence Chess Master - CCM).
Last but not least, and as all poker holdem players here probably noticed, he is also our ranked #1 for years, who just reached an outstanding poker rating of 2382, while number two is now rated "only" 2212. A good occasion to ask him a few questions, that he kindly accepted to answer.
-----------------------
- Hello Nelson! You are the 2nd most active player at FICGS for years now. Everyone here probably noticed your incredible results in poker tournaments. "Correspondence poker holdem" was probably a strange idea as it is very unusual and very different from "Internet poker". What's your opinion on this and on the presence of a card game (played without money) at FICGS?
NBV: There are more important things than money and one of those is HONOR; It is honorable to be a chess master, international master, grandmaster, world chess champion at ICCF and at FICGS and to be number one in the ranking. It is honorable to be a FICGS world champion at Go and to be first in the ranking, it is honorable to be poker world champion at FICGS poker and in my case, it is an honor to be number one at poker here at FICGS during the last years, understanding that our general level of play has improved remarkably. None of these activities produces money, but to achieve any of the mentioned titles, it is necessary to have extraordinary abilities.
When I was about 18 years old, I had the opportunity to meet a person with immense material wealth, we spent whole evenings playing chess and then I told him my perceptions about each movement of the game. He thanked me for my chess explanations and paid me with good money. That wealthy man in his turn told me about life and recommended that I should always be proud of the gifts I had, since he knew, with all the money he had and being able to hire the best grandmasters in the world, that it could hardly come at the level of chess master. That person told me that the intellect can be turned into money whenever you want.
Now, by playing poker without money at FICGS, I understood that it was my extraordinary and wonderful opportunity to study-learn-perfect and test my poker theories without costing me a single dollar. In FICGS there is no money, but thanks to the knowledge I gained playing poker in FICGS, today I can go after the money in online poker rooms and probably in OTB poker tournaments. I am studying the possibility of becoming a professional poker player.
- The understanding of your opponent's behaviour is usually quite important at Poker. Do you manage to establish some profiles while playing so many simultaneous hands & games? Did you build any method?
NBV: Today I am sure that the most important thing to raise, and keep raising my level in poker, has been to build a psychological profile of mine, to get to know Nelson Bernal Varela in depth and above all to understand me, accept me, love me and be work every day eliminating my technical errors, strategic, psychological that make me play badly. I am aware that in poker I can play perfectly and still lose, what I can not forgive me is playing badly, which is why I work hard correcting my wrong decisions.
Of course, there is a space in my brain where I have built a psychological profile of each contender, that profile I have been able to elaborate with all the information that is provided to me in each hand we play. The way each of us plays, gives reliable information about our personality.
About my method I can write the following: A few years ago, I created a table in excel, where I had all the games with each contender, I identified them with the FICGS numeration and each movement in each hand (preflop, flop, turn, river ) it I was writing and studying; I started to add technical-psychological variables that seemed important to me, resulting in 20 variables that I had to qualify in each movement. With the passage of time and my effort, I no longer needed the excel table and I did not use it again (it was exhausting and time consuming) because I was assimilating things faster and with greater depth. Today I can say that I evaluate these 20 variables in a natural way, as if I was breathing and that when I am at a poker table, online or real, after a few minutes I get the psychological profile of the table and each of my opponents. In the pocket of my shirt I keep a small paper with the list of variables, periodically reread it and I wonder if I should modify, remove or add something.
- You won 1007 poker games, and lost only 380, with a ratio usually going from 57% to 80% according to your best opponents. Undoubtly you know the mathematics hidden behind poker but that may not explain everything. How did you learn to play?
NBV: Mathematics is an ingredient in poker, in the same way that my psychological aspects and of my opponents (I recommend reading-studying about four times the book “The Poker mindset” of Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger), it is vital to understand the Law of Large Numbers. Next I make a list of topics that I consider important to raise the level of poker; compete with EV+ cards, you have to know the small ball theory of Negreanu (but not apply it, hahaha) you have to always look at the texture of the board, you have to evaluate your reality and your future, also that of your opponents (act and power), the position to talk is important, the stack, the personality of the table, know who has the panic button on. All these and other variables must be evaluated in the few seconds they have to make a move and the only important thing is to make the right decision according to the circumstances. There is a good list of poker books to read... it is mandatory to have read about 15 poker books.
- As for me, I may be wrong but I can't imagine that you reached such a rating without special techniques & maybe by optimizing it in some ways... Of course, "rating management" is not a problem, and it is only one thing with a limited impact, but maybe you have some other secrets? What about this "+1" technique that I noticed in many of our games, if this is not a secret? :)
NBV: In these years I have used different techniques that I had to read, study, learn, repeat, modify, invent and sometimes eliminate. Poker is a sport that seems easy, with time one manages to understand that it has an amazing complexity, today I consider poker to be as complex as chess and I study them in a "similar" way. As an example, I have tried to create "openings in poker"; based only on probabilities I invented something that I called mirror theory and another "opening" that I called opposite outs. I am fascinated by mathematics and from the mathematical perspective they are perfect "theories-openings", but I have lost tournaments and a lot of money for applying such theories in mistaken emotional moments. In poker it is important to never lose sight of the Law of Large Numbers and be aware that this LAW likes to make fun of each one of us... I am working on giving an emotional nuance to my theories "mirror" and "opposite outs". There are moments when perfect mathematics becomes an unforgivable psychological error...
For the last few months I have modified my way of playing and my results have improved; Today it must be much more difficult to win a game me, thanks to small and imperceptible adjustments that of course only I know, because I have followed my mistakes-successes-evolution in the game over several years.
- Isn't it too frustrating for you to play heads up only (here at least) ? Of course it is a way to improve this important technical case but we know that many complexities come with 3 to 8 players on the table, which is the most common case in professional poker tournaments.
NBV: Currently I spend little time every day playing heads-up in FICGS, thanks to the fact that I have the profile of each contender. The 4-5 hours that I study poker daily, include practice in micro limits in cash tables of 6 players and tournaments in tables of 8-9 players. I think I'm covering the whole range of possibilities, experiencing game situations between 1 and 8 contenders.
- What do you think about computer analysis in poker? Do you think it could make a difference here just like the way we play advanced chess?
NBV: I think the algorithms are ready to be written in machine language and the question is where are those algorithms? Well, in the brains of the best players in the world and in their games compiled in huge databases. But programming language can be accelerated with artificial intelligence brains, making A.I. studying databases of the best professionals, playing with itself millions of games and building an invincible TACTIC-STRATEGIC SYSTEM, similar to chess software and GO... I think preflop and flop play would be very similar between humans and artificial intelligence, but on the turn and on the river artificial intelligence would take considerable advantage, but in the short time the level of human poker would rise because artificial intelligence would teach us to play poker, this event that would diminish the profits of the professionals. It will always be said in favor of poker that because it is an incomplete game of information, to make computer algorithms are quite complicated, but despite that, I am sure that artificial intelligence will far surpass the best human poker player. It is possible that an artificial intelligence that plays a perfect poker already exists, but unlike GO and chess, poker does produce a lot of money. Due to the money factor, in today's world, it is very difficult that there is a Prometheus willing to steal fire from the gods and give it to mankind...
- How would you describe your relation to games in general?
NBV: I can summarize it in one of the first chess books I had the fortune to read, by the great Danish master Bent Larsen, "I play to win"
- When did you start to play chess & poker? Do you play other games?
NBV: My first contact with chess was at the age of nine, it was love at first sight and until death separates us; I must confess that for some years we have been separated, due to my stupidity and my erroneous decisions. I have always been self-taught in any subject, my method is to buy about 10 to 15 books of the subject that interests me and I read them thoroughly, sometimes 3 or 4 times; already with that information in my head and thanks to the constant practice, I build MY SYSTEM (Nimzowitch) according to my personality, my dreams, my desires, my anguish, my fears... I was youth champion of Bogotá, for 4 years , my OTB level was strong, but I had to abandon chess because I had to work and survive; Being an athlete in Colombia is an absolutely difficult thing, but being a chess player is extremely complicated since there is no support or respect from society and you can not live by chess, because it does not produce money.
I met poker in 2009 in FICGS, at that time I was in a terrible emotional situation, trying to get away from a relationship with a woman that I should never approach and where I wasted valuable time and energy. In that context, looking for my thoughts to be occupied, I ended up playing the FICGS C-24 poker tournament and tied the first place with three more players; I kept playing, without understanding what was happening with the cards and obviously, losing, until in 2010 I won the FICGS D-21 tournament with perfect score, 6 out of 6. I had already bought-read my first beginner book: Poker for Dummies of Harroch and Krieger, but my poker was coarse, wild, street, intuitive, amateur, without dedication or study. In the background of this paragraph, the affection and gratitude that I have for FICGS is condensed, a place where I have been able to build-practice-study-test MY SYSTEM in poker.
I play Backgammon, I do not care that it may sound pretentious-petulant, but I have a very strong level and I have not read my first book yet. Hahaha. Any year I register as a participant in the world championship and I will cause disgust to more than one professional. Hahaha. Unlike chess and poker, backgammon does not cause me stress, on the contrary, I feel a lot of joy and pleasure when I play backgammon. I feel something similar with math, reading and music. It's true and I'm proud, I've always been a NERD.
- We all know how difficult it is to reach a number 1 rank but it is even more difficult to keep it during a long time. What is your motivation? Do you have more goals to achieve (chess & other games included) ?
NBV: My motivation in any activity I undertake in my life is to do it with absolute passion (passion is everything you would do to get a breath of air, in the second before dying by drowning or suffocation).
I have several goals to accomplish before December 2021; In the ICCF correspondence chess I must reach the 2400 elo and get the titles of International Master, SIM and Grand Master, also perform outstanding performances in world championships. In FICGS Chess I must complete my Master and International Master titles and overcome the 2450 elo, also snatch the title from our eternal champion Eros Riccio. You're warned Eros, hahaha. On the LSS site where I also play, www.chess-server.net I want to be a world champion.
In POKER I find myself playing micro limits bets in several online sites; in June 2018 I hope I have built some bankroll. In July of 2018 I must be evaluating my poker to know if my immediate goal is to become a professional poker player, that would completely change my chess goals and I would have to dedicate myself to OTB poker. At the moment I study and practice poker every day, about 4-5 hours a day. At this moment my poker is full of errors that I am eliminating one by one. MY SYSTEM needs to win and raise money in the micro limits, so that it can succeed in professional poker.
In chess OTB I should become a great master, but that topic should be left as a goal for after 2021. I could achieve the record of being the oldest human in getting the title of Grand Master OTB. Hahaha.
In backgammon I would like to play some important tournaments in USA and Europe and maybe to be OTB world champion, but at the moment I do not have clarity on how to do it. I must mature that idea.
I hope they invent immortality before I die and that I have enough money to buy it, because time is what I need to realize all these and other dreams...
- Finally, playing so many games on several websites (obviously with serious ambitions in each game & place) may look quite inhuman and exhausting, does your body or brain say "stop" sometimes? Do you train by melting sports and brain games just like Kasparov did in the past?
NBV: It's true, it takes willpower and a lot of resistance to sustain the pace that I carry. To take care of my body, I am doing daily exercise for 60 to 90 minutes, including routines of strength, elasticity, speed and endurance. I also practice table tennis to preserve the agility of my body. I'm also divorced and I do not have a girlfriend... Hahaha
- By curiosity, do you consider playing Go in the future, even after... 2021? (which would surely be an enormous charge more, but the game is really interesting)
I have a kind of commitment with the best Colombian GO player, exchange of classes, he makes me a competitive player of GO and I turn him into a competitive player of backgammon. But the truth is that I do not have time... it could be after 2021...
- Do you confirm that you are not (entirely or partly) AlphaZero or any kind of A.I. (yet) ? :-)
NBV: Hahaha, of course I would like to be a real centaur, human with machine power, I do not care what physical form I should adopt. I offer myself publicly as a guinea pig in projects of technological singularity. Hahaha
- Many thanks for your detailed and instructive (impressive as well) answers! My best wishes of luck in all your games and future tournaments.
William Taylor (2012-02-13 18:54:29)
annotated games
Definitely looks like spam.
William Taylor (2011-12-15 10:51:25)
5 player double round robins
Presumably because if people are entering the double round robin tournaments fewer people will be entering the others (so it would slow down the start of the normal tournaments even more).
William Taylor (2011-09-26 01:18:37)
Au revoir
When my current games are finished I'll be leaving FICGS for a while to focus on other things (mainly the last year of my degree and OTB chess). Thanks for all the games, and I'll be back for some more in the future. :)
William Taylor (2011-08-24 13:33:12)
Comments anyone?
Thib - can you see who has removed messages? If so, perhaps you can caution people who remove them for no obvious reason, and remove their ability to do so or ban them from the site if necessary.
William Taylor (2011-04-20 00:53:23)
You can't enter this tournament
Or they may have had a higher rating when they entered, though Jimmy's suggestion is more likely.
William Taylor (2011-04-07 13:56:53)
Major update : Wikichess / hashtables
I've added the Arkhangelsk Variation (in the Ruy Lopez) to Wikichess. It's not complete (only 7. Re1 is covered properly), so feel free to add to it, or I may come back later and add more.
William Taylor (2011-04-01 20:19:14)
FICGS Birthday?
Good idea Don. Looks like my first games started on Christmas day '06.
William Taylor (2011-04-01 00:40:10)
FICGS Birthday?
Is it possible to find out when I joined?
William Taylor (2011-03-30 19:04:59)
Active rating lists
Hi Thib,
The 'Active' rating lists currently filter out people who haven't connected to the server for 2 months. I think it would make more sense to filter people who haven't made a move in a game of that type for 2 months, as currently the lists contain people who are not active in that game type at all. For example, the poker list contains lots of people who have never played a game of poker on this site.
Will
William Taylor (2010-12-24 19:59:37)
Chess Christmas song
Cheers. :)
William Taylor (2010-12-24 17:46:51)
Chess Christmas song
Hello everyone,
I have recorded a chess-themed Christmas song about the FIDE President, called 'Kirsan Baby', which you can listen to here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_xYiUEDRPU
I'm not a very good singer, but perhaps it'll make you laugh. Let me know what you think. :)
Will
William Taylor (2010-10-09 13:54:15)
Road to Grandmaster
There's no time limit.
William Taylor (2010-09-24 01:44:55)
Road to Grandmaster
Thanks for the encouragement, and I'll keep you updated. Don: if there are regular team tournaments I hope I will still be a Dark Knight if/when I make GM. ;)
William Taylor (2010-09-23 01:42:30)
Road to Grandmaster
Hello FICGS friends,
On the 1st of September I started a chess website - http://roadtograndmaster.com - which documents my attempt to become a GM (otb). The first post and 'mission statement' can be read here: http://roadtograndmaster.com/?p=11
Of course I realise the goal is extremely ambitious, but I'm going to give it a shot. :) I probably won't be playing much serious correspondence chess for a while, as I'll be focusing on OTB games, but I'll still be keeping a few games of one sort or another running here. Comments/suggestions about the site or the goal are welcome.
Will
Thibault de Vassal (2010-08-03 12:46:54)
Congratulations to "FSF en passant"
Finally here are the final results !!!
"FSF En passant" won this very interesting tournament by 1 point ahead of 2 teams !! The suspense was until the very last games to know the final team ranks.
The fact to note: Yellow Blue warriors finish second while they were actually 3 players in the team, Yura Lemekhov played an amazing tournament (5.5/6 , perf 2456) ... (the last player stopped to play :/)
Thanks to all players, it was lots of fun! I'll try to make the things clearer in the tournaments pages for the next edition...
10 points for : FSF En Passant
Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff (2270)
Volker Koslowski (2264)
Sebastian Boehme (2175)
Roland Markus (2096)
9 (tot: 15.5) points for : The knights who say "Ni"
Michael Aigner (2602)
Xavier Pichelin (2577)
Hannes Rada (2559)
Thibault de Vassal (2473)
9 (tot: 13.5) points for : Yellow-Blue Warriors
Iouri Basiliev (2173)
Dmytro Romaniuk (1937)
Ostap Hladky (2176)
Yura Lemehov (2171)
8 points for : The Dark Knights
William Taylor (2140)
Scott Nichols (2089)
Don Groves (1991)
Josef Riha (1989)
4 points for : Happy Pawn
Stephane Legrand (2209)
Garvin Gray (2125)
Daniel Parmet (1961)
Ilmar Cirulis (1805)
2 points for : Our team King
Alexander Blinchevsky
Stanimir Denchev
Benjamin Block
Ranganathan Raman
0 point for : The Ghost Knights
Vadim Khachaturov
Yugi Inving
Sophie Leclerc
Jorge Orden
Ni FSF Dark Happy Blue Ghost King
Aigner 1 = = = = =
Pich 0 = = 1 1 1
Rada = = 1 = 1 =
DeVas = = 1 0 1 1
0 Lehnh = = = = =
1 Koslo = = 1 1 1
= Boehm = 1 = 1 1
= Marku = 1 = 1 1
= = Taylo = = = =
= = Nicho = 1 1 1
= = Grove = 0 1 =
= = Riha 1 0 1 1
= = = Legra = = =
= = = Gray 1 1 1
0 0 = Parmet 0 1 =
0 0 0 Ciruli 0 1 1
= = = = Basili = 1
0 0 0 0 Romani 0 0
= = 1 1 Hladky 1 =
1 = 1 1 Lemekh 1 1
= 1 = = = Khacha =
0 0 0 0 1 Inving 0
0 0 0 0 0 Lecler 0
0 0 0 0 0 Orden 1
= = = = 0 = Blinch
0 0 0 0 1 1 Denchev
= 0 = = = 1 Block
0 0 0 0 0 0 Raman
"Team 1" - "Team 2" : points (score)
"Ni" - "FSF" : 1-1 (2-2)
"Ni" - "Dark" : 1-1 (2-2)
"Ni" - "Happy" : 2-0 (3-1)
"Ni" - "YB" : 1-1 (2-2)
"Ni" - "Ghost" : 2-0 (3.5-0.5)
"Ni" - "King" : 2-0 (3-1)
"FSF" - "Dark" : 1-1 (2-2)
"FSF" - "Happy" : 2-0 (3-1)
"FSF" - "YB" : 2-0 (2.5-1.5)
"FSF" - "Ghost" : 2-0 (3.5-0.5)
"FSF" - "King" : 2-0 (3.5-0.5)
"Dark" - "Happy" : 2-0 (2.5-1.5)
"Dark" - "YB" : 0-2 (1.5-2.5)
"Dark" - "Ghost" : 2-0 (3.5-0.5)
"Dark" - "King" : 2-0 (3-1)
"Happy" - "YB" : 0-2 (1.5-2.5)
"Happy" - "Ghost" : 2-0 (3.5-0.5)
"Happy" - "King" : 2-0 (3-1)
"YB" - "Ghost" : 2-0 (2.5-0.5)
"YB" - "King" : 2-0 (2.5-1.5)
"Ghost" - "King" : 0-2 (1.5-2.5)
Definitely, even if the "Knights who say Ni" team decided before the match to play unusual openings in most games, this tournament shows again that the strength gap between top players and players rated 2150-2300 is not big at all as many of these players tend to reach the 2400 barrier...
William Taylor (2010-06-17 22:47:14)
FIFA world cup 2010, predictions
I predict Argentina will win.
William Taylor (2010-06-11 15:08:41)
FICGS chess database
Hi Thib,
Would it be possible to make 2 options - a database with only correspondence games, and one including bullet/blitz/lightning/freestyle cup? (Or a database just of those games.) I think it's a good idea to have a database without them, but I for one would like the option of downloading them.
Will
William Taylor (2010-05-14 13:03:40)
Big chess engine
The prevailing opinion in this forum has always been that the huge board would make an engine really hard or impossible. That doesn't seem to be the case at talkchess so far.
William Taylor (2010-05-14 13:01:56)
Big chess world championship
It seems there is no final match phase for this. Do you plan to have a match between defending champ and challenger in future editions of the championship, and if not, why not?
William Taylor (2010-05-12 17:53:24)
Rybka 4, news, tests & results
I was under the impression it was being released as normal, but there may be a stronger version held in reserve for the online thing.
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-21 15:15:22)
Match Against Rybka Forum
Here are the pairings (games started at RybkaForum & are to start here)
Games at Rybka Forum:
Bobby C (RybkaForum) Vs. Harvey Williamson (FICGS)
Kamesh Nookala (FICGS) Vs. Mark Eldridge (RybkaForum)
omprakash (RybkaForum) Vs. Sebastian Boehme (FICGS)
Thibault de Vassal (FICGS) Vs. SpiderG (RybkaForum)
Weirwindle111 (RybkaForum) Vs. Wayne Lowrance (FICGS)
William Taylor (FICGS) Vs. Vytron (RybkaForum)
Games at FICGS:
Garvin Gray (FICGS) Vs. burch_michael (RybkaForum)
clement_george (RybkaForum) Vs. Michel van der Kemp (FICGS)
Mircea Hrubaru (FICGS) Vs. Gaetano Laghetti (RybkaForum)
Ivan Trajkov (RybkaForum) Vs. Robert Mueller (FICGS)
Samy Ould Ahmed (FICGS) Vs. Jos Sanz (RybkaForum)
Plant_Kevin (RybkaForum) Vs. Stphane Legrand (FICGS)
Let's have fun :)
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-20 16:02:07)
FICGS team (final)
Wayne Lowrance 2479 (will play at Rybkaforum)
Harvey Williamson [2425 ICCF] (will play at Rybkaforum)
Thibault de Vassal 2376 (will play at Rybkaforum)
Sebastian Boehme 2288 (will play at Rybkaforum)
Kamesh Nookala 2126 (will play at Rybkaforum)
William Taylor 2110 (will play at Rybkaforum)
Robert Mueller 2383 (will play at FICGS)
Michel van der Kemp 2226 (will play at FICGS)
Stphane Legrand 2222 (will play at FICGS)
Garvin Gray 2133 (will play at FICGS)
Mircea Hrubaru 1988 (will play at FICGS)
Samy Ould Ahmed 1889 [ICCF 2418] (will play at FICGS)
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-17 22:54:30)
Match Against Rybka Forum
Our almost definitive team :
Wayne Lowrance 2479 (will play at Rybkaforum)
Harvey Williamson [2425 ICCF] (will play at Rybkaforum)
Thibault de Vassal 2376 (will play at Rybkaforum)
Sebastian Boehme 2288 (will play at Rybkaforum)
William Taylor 2110 (will play at Rybkaforum)
Robert Mueller 2383 (will play at FICGS)
Michel van der Kemp 2226 (will play at FICGS)
Garvin Gray 2133 (will play at FICGS)
Mircea Hrubaru 1988 (will play at FICGS)
Samy Ould Ahmed 1889 [ICCF 2418] (will play at FICGS)
Stphane Legrand 2222 (will play at (?))
Kamesh Nookala 2126 (will play at (?))
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-17 21:34:42)
Match Against Rybka Forum
We need a 10th player for the match vs. Rybkaforum, this player would play his game at Rybkaforum... Anyone interested ?
Our current team :
Wayne Lowrance 2479 (will play at Rybkaforum)
Harvey Williamson [2425 ICCF] (will play at Rybkaforum)
Thibault de Vassal 2376 (will play at Rybkaforum)
William Taylor 2110 (will play at Rybkaforum)
??? (will play at Rybkaforum)
Robert Mueller 2383 (will play at FICGS)
Michel van der Kemp 2226 (will play at FICGS)
Garvin Gray 2133 (will play at FICGS)
Kamesh Nookala 2126 (will play at FICGS)
Mircea Hrubaru 1988 (will play at FICGS)
William Taylor (2010-04-11 23:43:06)
Match Against Rybka Forum
I'm in if my rating's good enough, and am happy to play at Rybka forum if necessary. If you get too many people volunteering I'm happy not to play.
William Taylor (2010-04-11 17:48:52)
Match Against Rybka Forum
I'd be interested in playing, and I also like the suggested rule of Rybka forum members only being assisted by Rybka, and us only being assisted by other engines.
William Taylor (2010-04-11 14:19:39)
Freestyle Cup: April 2010
Not sure I agree with Garvin about the time control. I liked the fact that we could play 3 games (often of decent quality IMO) and still not use up an entire day.
William Taylor (2010-04-11 01:24:05)
Thib
Hi Thibault!
I, and many others on this website are in the habit of abbreviating your name to Thib. I'm curious to know if this is a shortening which is actually used in France, or if it's just a 'FICGSism'...
Will
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-10 19:37:35)
Congrats to David Evans!
David Evans wins this 2nd FICGS freestyle cup!
Here are the final standings (please note that the FICGS crosstable may be slightly different from the pairing software's one) :
1. Evans, David : 4,5 / 6 games played (berg 11,75)
2-3. Petrolo, Mauro : 4 / 6 games played (berg 12,5)
2-3. Taylor, William : 4 / 5 games played (berg 9,5)
4. van der Kemp, Michel : 3,5 / 5 games played (berg 6,75)
5. Boehme, Sebastian : 3 / 5 games played (berg 6,25)
6-7. de Vassal, Thibault : 2,5 / 5 games played (berg 6)
6-7. Nichols, Scott : 2,5 / 5 games played (berg 4,25)
8. Pichelin, Xavier : 2 / 6 games played (berg 5,75)
9-10. Moreira, Jose : 1,5 / 4 games played (berg 3,5)
9-10. Gray, Garvin : 1,5 / 3 games played (berg 3,25)
Of course and unfortunately, the number of "played games" includes losses on time without playing. There were numerous problems with access providers during this tournament...
William Taylor (2010-04-10 18:27:50)
Challenges
I'll second this request. Another related issue which I and several other players have been experiencing recently is that of repeated spam challenges (i.e. a player keeps sending challenges even when they are turned down). Perhaps it would also be a good idea to be able to exclude certain players from challenging you (like an ICC 'noplay list').
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-05 18:04:46)
Issues + New pairings
Hi Garvin, what is your browser ? I guess that you use cookies so your problem is quite strange to me as the links posted in the forum only open a new window (that should use the same session - works fine on Firefox & Chrome, at least)...
About the freestyle tournament, I just tried to add a new player during the tournament and the software seems to accept it. Finally I think it cannot be bad to authorize players to enter the waiting list until the end of the tournament, so I just added this rule.
Consequently the pairings for round 4 changed :
Table 1 : Boehme - Taylor
Table 2 : Evans - Pichelin
Table 3 : van der Kemp - Petrolo
Table 4 : Moreira - de Vassal
Table 5 : Gray - Nichols
Sorry to the players for this update, but I'm still trying to find the best rules for this kind of tournaments.
Thibault de Vassal (2010-04-03 22:13:23)
Round 4 - Pairings
Hi all, the freestyle tournament will continue on April 10... A very interesting tournament but I hope we'll have less problems with our *$@#&% internet providers this time.
Here are the pairings for round 4, I'm BYE this time.
Table 1 : Boehme - Taylor
Table 2 : Evans - Pichelin
Table 3 : Moreira - Petrolo
Table 4 : van der Kemp - Nichols
William Taylor (2010-04-01 14:08:03)
SITE DOWN HACKED???
Ah, thanks for reminding me it was April 1st Xavier. The 'Fischer's remains to be exhumed' story on Chessbase must also be an April Fool's joke.
William Taylor (2010-03-26 14:47:19)
Freestyle Cup: April 2010
What's the planned prize structure for this tournament? Just a 1st place prize? 1st and 2nd? 1st 2nd 3rd? Or will it depend on the number of entries?
William Taylor (2010-03-24 18:33:18)
Blitz time controls
No objection from me either.
William Taylor (2010-03-22 13:14:19)
Freestyle Cup: April 2010
Sure, 10/11 would also be possible for me.
William Taylor (2010-03-22 12:50:15)
Freestyle Cup: April 2010
The original dates are better for me, as I may be playing an OTB tournament on the 17th. That said, Garvin's desire to play in this event may be stronger than mine. ;)
William Taylor (2010-03-03 15:21:08)
E-point tournament
Good idea. I'd definitely play tournaments with 1-2 e-point entry fees, and would be quite likely to play higher ones too. I like Scott's prize structure.
William Taylor (2010-01-13 11:41:23)
Accept Draw and resign......
Did you work out what would have happened? :)
William Taylor (2010-01-05 12:27:08)
Rodolfo
Great, thanks, Rodolfo.
William Taylor (2010-01-04 18:35:41)
Rodolfo
I haven't managed to get hold of anything other than the Basman-Sale index page, so I second Philip's request for you to make the files you downloaded generally available somehow. Perhaps Thib could host them - or if not then maybe you could upload them to some site like rapidshare?
William Taylor (2010-01-03 11:59:09)
ECF
English Chess Federation grades are available online here:http://grading.bcfservices.org.uk/
They are very different to FIDE ratings, but can be converted fairly accurately using the formula: ECF x 8 + 650 = FIDE
As for go, I believe at least the Chinese, probably the Koreans, and possibly the Japanese do publish rating lists online, but it would be difficult for me to find them - your best bet is asking on godiscussions.com.
William Taylor (2009-12-30 22:17:44)
Wayne
Stockfish is not a commercial program, and has only been released relatively recently (I think), but it is already at about the level of Rybka. I know it's based on Glaurung, which has had years of work put into it, but perhaps Robbo is also based on a strong open source program. I'm not saying Robbo's not a Rybka clone - very likely it is - I'm just pointing out that it is possible for free, open source programs to approach or surpass the level of commercial ones.
On another note, for anyone interested I ran a quick 12xRR 2 2 tournament today with Rybka 3 32-bit, Stockfish 1.6 JA and RobboLito 0.085g3 w32. Rybka scored 13/24, Stockfish 12/24, and Robbo 11/24. Of course, the time control was very quick and I'm not putting this result forward as a serious test, but it seems that the 3 (or 2) may be close enough to be competitive. An interesting time for computer chess.
William Taylor (2009-12-30 11:38:30)
RobboLito
There are lots of discussions on talkchess about whether or not RobboLito is a Rybka clone (some of which are made longer by the fact that not everyone sticks to the topic). As far as I can tell there is no clear consensus - perhaps most are saying that until someone provides clear evidence that Robbo is a clone it should be assumed not to be, but some are adamant that it is a clone (either of Rybka 3, or of something closer to Rybka 4 - leaked code). Vas says it is a clone, and that the hackers have even informed him of their progress via e-mail, but he has apparently not provided evidence for his claim as he did for the Strelka case (Strelka was a Rybka clone). Many programmers on the forum say that they cannot see any evidence that Robbo is a Rybka clone by looking at the source code, and it often gives quite different evaluations.
William Taylor (2009-12-29 18:46:30)
Rybka demise
I wasn't suggesting that Stockfish was a Rybka clone - I was talking about RobboLito.
My testing of Stockfish vs Rybka was not serious - just a 12-game blitz match (4 minutes with 2 seconds increment). Rybka won 6.5 - 5.5, so not a bad performance by Stockfish, but we can't draw any real conclusions from such a test.
William Taylor (2009-12-29 15:49:17)
Rybka demise
Thanks Wayne - an interesting post. I've downloaded Stockfish and am currently testing it against Rybka - 50% so far. While searching for the engines you mentioned I came across an engine called RobboLito (and Ippolit and Igorrit which are similar I believe). Opinion seems to be divided as to whether or not it is a Rybka clone, and how strong it is. Is this what you were referring to when you said Rybka's code may have been compromised? Any opinion on RobboLito?
William Taylor (2009-12-22 12:16:38)
Go Dark Knights!
Well done to all of us for performing above our rating, and congrats to Josef and particularly Scott for finishing with plus scores. Let's hope The Knights who say 'Ni' don't catch us.
William Taylor (2009-12-10 00:19:47)
Hmm
It may be that the Basman-Sale index is the only bit you can get too. Not having success at the moment at finding the pages linked to from there.
William Taylor (2009-12-09 09:55:08)
Philip
If I try to click that link on the chessbazaar homepage (got to via archive.org), I get an error message. However, if I paste the url of the link directly into the box on the homepage of archive.org then I get there eventually, though it takes a loong time to load. Can you get to the chessbazaar homepage ok through archive.org?
William Taylor (2009-12-09 00:09:18)
Thib
Try putting this into archive.org - http://users.skynet.be/mlcc/chessbazaar/basmansale/index.html
That should get the article up.
William Taylor (2009-12-05 21:48:19)
Great
Thanks Thib - it is possible to find it through this site. I haven't investigated it fully yet to see if all his analysis can be seen, but some certainly can.
William Taylor (2009-12-05 17:22:48)
Opening theory
I remember Marc publishing some material about this opening on his website. Unfortunately it seems like the material was not transferred when his website moved. He had accumulated a lot of knowledge on this opening and it would be a shame to lose all his work on it - I don't suppose anyone knows if the material is available anywhere do they?
William Taylor (2009-11-30 20:05:49)
Already discussed
Hi Pavel. The question of big chess piece values has already been discussed in this thread: http://www.ficgs.com/thoughts-on-Big-Chess-and-tips-q7154.html
As for castling and en passant - castling is not allowed, and I'm unsure about en passant.
William Taylor (2009-11-29 22:08:59)
Thanks
Thanks for the link, Nick.
You're right - can't castle after moving the rook, even if it's been returned to its starting square.
William Taylor (2009-11-29 19:52:10)
Yoghurt story?
I don't know it - please tell me!
Daniel Parmet (2009-11-24 20:40:09)
Taylor is correct
Taylor has the casino; true texas hold em rules. The only reason you see some online servers do it differently is an attempt for them to show no cheating was involved.
William Taylor (2009-11-24 14:46:22)
Hmm
I'm aware of two commonly used rules for who shows down first. One is that the person to the left of the dealer shows down first, and the other is that the last person to bet or raise shows down first. In both cases the second player to show can muck (not show his cards)if he/she chooses to. Whenever I have played live (in a casino, or elsewhere) or online, one of these rules has been used, and I have never been forced to show my cards.
William Taylor (2009-11-17 20:44:08)
Terrible news
I remember him beating Anand in a simul on the ICC (he was the only one who won). The game can be seen here (in a posted comment, which also confirms his death): http://www.chessgames.com/player/marc_lacrosse.html
I didn't know him personally, but it's a great loss for the whole of FICGS.
William Taylor (2009-11-13 18:18:27)
Lots of draws
No decisive games so far in table 1. I wonder if there will be any.
William Taylor (2009-11-07 17:14:04)
I'll try
You're right - I haven't played a fast game here for a while. I'll try it again soon.
William Taylor (2009-11-05 18:36:33)
Is it worth improving?
FICGS is mainly a correspondence games server, and I wonder whether it's worth spending lots of time trying to improve its live games. Personally, when I want to play a live game, I go to one of the many servers which are dedicated to that. Perhaps the main disadvantage for me of playing a live game on FICGS is that the page keeps refreshing - it's annoying and you don't see the opponent's move instantly.
William Taylor (2009-11-05 14:10:51)
Yes
Of course hold'em is a game of chance to some degree. I think it's also obvious that there is some skill involved. Now that I've stated the obvious, I will leave the rest of you to discuss how much chance is involved... ;)
William Taylor (2009-10-31 13:14:20)
Don
One correspondence game is taking up lots of my time at the moment - a so-called 'Malkovich' game, where you explain all of your moves at length to the audience. It's here if you felt like taking a look: http://www.godiscussions.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10309
Anyway, I have some way to go before I reach 24,000 moves. :O I wonder if I can make it before the team championship is over and the Dark Knights hold the trophy...
William Taylor (2009-10-31 13:08:01)
Yes Milo
Actually I haven't looked it up, but I don't why it would be any different. World championships are running all the time.
William Taylor (2009-10-30 14:03:25)
Just made it...
I just sneak in at number 50. Clearly I must try harder. :)
Thibault de Vassal (2009-10-29 23:01:27)
Most active players, amazing statistics!
These statistics (updated every 2 days) are available at :
http://www.ficgs.com/about.html
And the overall winner is........ :)
Players most active : General (moves played)
1. Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff : 124234
2. Rolf Staggat : 81806
3. Anderson Barradas : 55829
4. Stephane Legrand : 47936
5. Scott Nichols : 46711
6. Mark Noble : 37387
7. Findlay Murray : 35874
8. Volker Koslowski : 33241
9. Don Groves : 29539
10. Thibault de Vassal : 26104
11. Francisco Gramajo : 25281
12. Sergey Uzdin : 25256
13. Michael Sharland : 24890
14. Josef Riha : 24193
15. Jason Repa : 22765
16. Laurine Sgur : 22577
17. Alexis Bromo : 20198
18. Benjamin Collette : 20112
19. Fernando Vasquez : 19928
20. Laszlo Kis-Kos : 19174
21. Christian Koch : 18450
22. Evgeny Yarkov : 17168
23. Xavier Pichelin : 16559
24. Garvin Gray : 16388
25. Ranganathan Raman : 15750
26. Sebastian Boehme : 15190
27. Zdravko Stoyanov : 15186
28. Nick Ioffe : 15151
29. Phil Cook : 15007
30. Sean McNabb : 14572
31. Daniel Parmet : 13814
32. Ilmars Cirulis : 13118
33. Joaquim Malpalma : 13057
34. Dmitriy Panov : 12733
35. Nelson Bernal Varela : 12119
36. Marco Roncagliolo : 11741
37. Dmytro Romaniuk : 11648
38. Miroslav Rakovic : 11435
39. Nick Burrows : 11242
40. Janeen Walden : 10967
41. Claude Brisson : 10812
42. Sandor Porkolab : 10714
43. Christophe Czekaj : 10678
44. Janusz Kepinski : 10675
45. Peter Willoughby : 10634
46. Benjamin Block : 10633
47. Kate Lubeck : 10155
48. Charlie Neil : 10076
49. Darko Pipac : 10072
50. William Taylor : 10036
Players most active : Go
1. Don Groves : 17026
2. Claude Brisson : 10812
3. Nick Ioffe : 10795
4. Alejandro Suarez-Moreno : 10018
5. Mickal Simon : 8986
6. Thibault de Vassal : 8870
7. Sean McNabb : 8666
8. Sergey Tarassov : 8236
9. Phil Cook : 8186
10. Tetsuya Kobayashi : 7816
Players most active : Chess
1. Josef Riha : 24119
2. Fernando Vasquez : 19820
3. Zdravko Stoyanov : 14523
4. Anderson Barradas : 12587
5. Ilmars Cirulis : 12200
6. Laszlo Kis-Kos : 12068
7. Janusz Kepinski : 10675
8. Garvin Gray : 10638
9. Scott Nichols : 10211
10. Charlie Neil : 10076
Players most active : Chess 960
1. Christophe Czekaj : 1224
2. Joaquim Malpalma : 916
3. Frederick Estieu : 672
4. Ilmars Cirulis : 605
5. Pavel Hse : 600
6. Sefa Sarihan : 524
7. Sandor Porkolab : 512
8. Jay Melquiades : 495
9. Christian Koch : 470
10. Rick Spangler : 447
Players most active : Big Chess
1. Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff : 5583
2. Peter Willoughby : 4368
3. Jos Carrizo : 3319
4. Thibault de Vassal : 3199
5. Mark Noble : 2949
6. Sandor Porkolab : 2467
7. Volker Koslowski : 1887
8. Paul Knig : 1790
9. William Taylor : 1706
10. Ranganathan Raman : 1620
Players most active : Poker Holdem
1. Heinz-Georg Lehnhoff : 111119
2. Rolf Staggat : 75570
3. Stephane Legrand : 41639
4. Anderson Barradas : 38671
5. Scott Nichols : 36500
6. Findlay Murray : 33008
7. Mark Noble : 31172
8. Volker Koslowski : 25829
9. Michael Sharland : 20721
10. Francisco Gramajo : 20431
Congrats Heinz-Georg, definitely you're the most addicted player ;)
William Taylor (2009-10-26 14:00:00)
Correction
I said 'crazyhouse is a 1-player game' in my last post... I did of course mean 2 players, 1 board.
William Taylor (2009-10-26 13:58:56)
Crazyhouse
Lazaro: 1. I think you are confusing crazyhouse and bughouse. Crazyhouse is a 1-player game and so wouldn't have the problem you described.
2. Shogi - I might play shogi if it was introduced here, but I would certainly want proper shogi pieces, not chess pieces.
3. The original question - I enjoy crazyhouse, but wouldn't play it here at the moment as I'm too busy to start more time-consuming correspondence games. I'm also not sure if I'd enjoy it as much at correspondence time controls.
William Taylor (2009-10-20 23:56:52)
Still more than 100 ELO points...
...so some way to go yet.
William Taylor (2009-10-13 14:08:30)
C
C is the only option which I would have time to play (at the moment that is - in uni holidays I'd have time for any of the options). I may not play anyway though during term time, so I don't have a strong opinion on this.
William Taylor (2009-10-02 11:30:07)
Amazing
He's doing brilliantly so far, and he had a winning position at one point in the 3rd game too but spoiled it in time trouble. I for one hope his winning streak continues.
William Taylor (2009-09-27 12:14:34)
Fritz 12
I haven't tested it, but I'd be surprised if it was a match for Rybka.
William Taylor (2009-09-24 15:16:46)
Not over yet...
There are still 8 blitz games to be played, so Tolya could stage a comeback (it seems unlikely though, given the time trouble he's had in the rapid games).
William Taylor (2009-09-22 22:16:32)
#2
I also vote for number 2.
Regarding Hannes Rada's point about the decision also affecting other players in a round-robin - this is also true to a lesser extent in elims, as it could affect who somebody's opponent is in the next round. Personally I don't think these considerations are very important if it is an obvious mouse-slip (such as Kf1 instead of O-O) and I certainly wouldn't want you to get the agreement of everyone in the tournament before allowing a takeback.
William Taylor (2009-09-08 00:45:12)
Depends
It depends whether you mean a solid, consistent number 1, or just being number 1 on one two-month period's rating list. The latter could happen at any time - he has been number 1 briefly on the live rankings before - though admittedly Topalov has quite a lead at the moment. I think Carlsen is still some way from being a dominant number 1 in the way Kaspy was though - that may not happen at all of course, and if it does I think it will take at least a year but probably rather longer.
There are 53 results for Taylor in wikichess.
William Taylor (2110)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 a6 Ba4 Nf6 O-O b5 Bb3 Bb7 c3 Nxe4 d4
The only try for an opening advantage.
============
Contributors : William Taylor
William Taylor (2110)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 a6 Ba4 Nf6 O-O b5 Bb3 Bb7 c3 Nxe4
The most principled way, though other moves (e.g. d6) may be possible.
============
Contributors : William Taylor
William Taylor (2110)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 a6 Ba4 Nf6 O-O b5 Bb3 Bb7 c3
If there is a way to refute the Arkhangelsk Variation by force, it will probably start with c3. The move can lead to wild complications, but black currently seems to be holding his own in them. The point is to accelerate the plan of d4 without bothering to defend e4, arguing that capturing on e4 will be dangerous for black as his king is still in the centre.
============
Contributors : William Taylor
William Taylor (2110)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 a6 Ba4 Nf6 O-O b5 Bb3 Bb7 Re1 Bc5 c3 d6 d4 Bb6 Bg5 h6 Bh4 g5 Bg3 O-O
Although black's kingside pawn structure looks a little weakened, practice has shown that black gets excellent play in this position. His two bishops look strong, he has a solid foothold in the centre, and he is ready to commence active operations on the kingside with moves like Nh5.
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Contributors : William Taylor
William Taylor (2110)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 a6 Ba4 Nf6 O-O b5 Bb3 Bb7 Re1 Bc5 c3 d6 d4 Bb6 Bg5 h6 Bh4 g5
Once this idea was found, the Bg5 line decreased in popularity. The point is that a sacrifice on g5 has little value because the black king has not yet castled. Black gets out of the pin and is ready to castle afterwards.
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Contributors : William Taylor
William Taylor (2110)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 a6 Ba4 Nf6 O-O b5 Bb3 Bb7 Re1 Bc5 c3 d6 d4 Bb6 Bg5 h6
The start of a plan to get out of this annoying pin.
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Contributors : William Taylor
William Taylor (2110)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 a6 Ba4 Nf6 O-O b5 Bb3 Bb7 Re1 Bc5 c3 d6 d4 Bb6 Bg5
One of the main moves, the other being Be3. This pin can be extremely annoying for black, but it seems like he has found a strong antidote in this instance.
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Contributors : William Taylor
William Taylor (2110)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 a6 Ba4 Nf6 O-O b5 Bb3 Bb7 Re1 Bc5 c3 d6 d4
Continuing with his plan. White now has a nice pawn centre, but the black bishops exert plenty of pressure on it.
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Contributors : William Taylor
William Taylor (2110)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 a6 Ba4 Nf6 O-O b5 Bb3 Bb7 Re1 Bc5 c3 d6
The main move, though castling is also possible.
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Contributors : William Taylor
William Taylor (2110)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 a6 Ba4 Nf6 O-O b5 Bb3 Bb7 Re1 Bc5 c3
Simply planning to expand in the centre with d4, which will come with a tempo because the black bishop on c5 will be attacked.
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Contributors : William Taylor
William Taylor (2110)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 a6 Ba4 Nf6 O-O b5 Bb3 Bb7 Re1 Bc5
By delaying d6 black is able to develop his dark-squared bishop to this more active square, and his two bishops now exert a lot of pressure on the centre and towards the white kingside.
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Contributors : William Taylor
William Taylor (2110)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 a6 Ba4 Nf6 O-O b5 Bb3 Bb7 Re1
The traditional main line, though d3 has gained in popularity recently. White defends e4 and prepares to follow up with c3 and d4, a typical plan in the Ruy Lopez.
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Contributors : William Taylor
William Taylor (2110)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 a6 Ba4 Nf6 O-O b5 Bb3 Bb7 d3
The line which is currently causing Arkhangelsk practitioners some problems. Black can quickly run into trouble after Bc5, so he usually plays Be7 instead, leading to less active positions. d3 also strongpoints e4, making black's bishop on b7 look less than optimally placed. The d3 line is a good way of avoiding the sharper variations which arise after Re1 or c3.
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Contributors : William Taylor
William Taylor (2110)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bb5 a6 Ba4 Nf6 O-O b5 Bb3 Bb7
The first move of the Arkhangelsk Variation, named after the Russian city of Arkhangelsk where many of its originial practitioners hail from. This is a combative and slightly offbeat line, but has been championed by several strong Grandmasters, such as Beliavsky, Malaniuk and Mikhalchishin.
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Contributors : William Taylor
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Legrand, Stephane (FRA) [member # 3609] Correspondence chess : 2433 FIM Ranked # 64 in the rating list. Rating history : 2466 2465 2433 2433 2433 2433 2433 Go : 1581 Advanced chess : 2207 Big chess : 2270 Poker holdem : 2257 This member has no profile in the social network. |
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