Pearl Spring Chess Tournament

An interesting defeat for Anand in the fourth round of the competition. Completely unexpected considering how much stronger he is than his opponent. I have to say congratulations to Etienne Bacrot for a well played game. You can find detailed coverage of the fourth round on chess vibes here.

Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman

Jeremy Silman is one of my favourite authors. This book has its material broken down into class and rating so you know how much of the books material to study. There is also a test at the end of each class to make sure you've learned the material. The final part of the book is not for teaching its for everyone to go over and enjoy, endgame's played by the great masters of the past. If you want only one book on endgame's I'd recommend this one.

How to choose a chess move by Andrew Soltis

An interesting book on the thought processes involved in choosing chess moves. If you've ever read Think like a grandmaster by A. A. Kotov you should also read this book. If you haven't you should consider reading this book first. It has lots of examples of games in which certain techniques were used to choose a move. Intuition is one of the techniques that are mentioned that of course can only be a good idea when you have enough experience to make use of it. If you don't have much chess experience your intuition will probably give you a bad move which is why you'll have to resort to correct analysis and evaluation. I highly recommend this book I don't however make claims of rating improvement from any book I review.

Medals awarded at the Olympiad

Congratulations to the Ukraine for winning gold, Russia1 for getting silver and Israel for getting the bronze in the open. Congratulations to Russia1 for winning gold, China for getting silver and Georgia for getting bronze in the women's event.

Round 11 Final Round of the Chess Olympiad

Round 11

Cuba                             1.5 United States of America  2.5
England                         2   Czech Republic                  2
Canada                         2   Montenegro                       2
Australia                       4   Nigeria                               0
Ireland                          1.5 Singapore                         2.5
United Arab Emirates   2.5 New Zealand                    1.5
Iraq                              1.5 Scotland                          2.5
Luxembourg                 3   Wales                               1
Jersey                          0.5 Thailand                           3.5
Ghana                         1.5 Guernsey                          2.5

Rounds 8 to 10 of the Chess Olympiad

An unexpected loss to Israel in the tenth round for America. Canada did well to draw against Kazakhstan in the tenth round. Wales also did well in the tenth round drawing against Malaysia. Jersey lost to Nigeria which might suggest that Nigeria's ranking is lower than their true strength. Considering how many games they won in that round. None of the other games in the tenth round or rounds preceding it came as a surprise.

Round 8

United States of America  2    China                2
Australia                          1.5  Czech Republic 2.5
England                           3.5  Germany           0.5
Mongolia                         1.5  Canada             2.5
Ireland                             0.5  Columbia          3.5
Moldova                         3.5  Scotland            0.5
South Africa                    2    New Zealand     2
Bangladesh                      2    Wales                2
Jersey                             1.5  Jordan               2.5
Papua New Guinea         1.5  Guernsey           2.5

Round 9

Bulgaria              1.5 United States of America 2.5
Czech Republic  3    Canada                            1
Russia3              2    England                            2
Sweden             2.5  Australia                          1.5
Ireland              0.5  Denmark                          3.5
New Zealand    3.5  Kenya                             0.5
Costa Rica       0.5  Scotland                          3.5
Wales              0     ICSC                               4
Jersey              2.5  Mali                                 1.5
Guernsey         1.5  Burundi                            2.5

Round 10

United States of America 1   Israel                           3
England                           2   Netherlands                 2
Canada                           2   Kazakhstan                 2
New Zealand                  1   Belgium                       3
Scotland                         1   Bosnia & Herzegovina 3
Singapore                       2   Australia                      2
Mongolia                        2   Ireland                         2
Nigeria                           3   Jersey                          1
Malaysia                        2   Wales                           2
Guernsey                       2.5 Rwanda                       1.5