User Profile: A Karpov Fan

A Karpov Fan
Member since Aug-02-09

The only way I could enjoy chess more is if I was actually good at it.
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<"Current Endgame studies now under discussion">
<Simpler Endgame 11>

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White to play and win
<Simpler Endgame 10>

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White to play and win
<Simpler endgame 9>

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White to go and win
<Simpler endgame 8>

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white to move and win
<Simpler Endgame 7.>

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White to go and win
<Simpler Endgame 6.>

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White to go and win
<Simple Endgame 5.>

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White to play and draw
<Simpler Endgame 4.>

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White to go and win
<Simpler Endgame 3.>

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White to move
<Simpler Endgame 2.>

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White to move
<Simpler Endgame 1.>

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White to move
BREAKING NEWS-- Giant Rat Found In Lost Volcano!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/eart...
does it get any better than that? -lol-
I am 25 years old and I have been blundering pieces since the age of 15.
:-)
My favourite chess book is Fighting Chess by Kasparov!
<Kasparov now training Carlsen, a dream come true for chess fans everywhere :-)>
The Greatest Tournament Performance of All Time!!!(http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail...) Game Collection: Linares 1994
A good website I found for openings:
http://www.eudesign.com/chessops/
and for general stuff
http://www.mark-weeks.com/aboutcom/...
I am currently thinking about trying 1.e4 e5, the Ruy Lopez, for serious games, but I don't know where to start. :-)
My favourite defense is the Caro-Kann by far atm, but tbh if I could play the Najdorf I would -lol-
I play on FICS and playchess.com, and if you are really nice to me I will tell you my rating so you can feel better about yourself! :-)

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White to play
pretty huh?
A little relaxing study music:
Shake Your Foundations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi4d...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yex1...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h44L...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwKR...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb7X...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8clx...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-Qx...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9Om...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1Ej...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCrq...
Pray for the Day:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAt2...
Kingdom of Madness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D4I...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAfB...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIvZ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dbi...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obfc...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu9x...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKb9...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILJx...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elli...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvNp...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE7l...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C2d...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuLl...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAHZ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0Qw...
Some Fitness Links
Yoga for beginners: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3vL...
Military style push ups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X72L...
Military style sit-ups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VndD...
nutrition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9J5...
<The Power of the Active Rook!>
A good example of Rook activation, taken with kind permission from the game Spassky VS <malthrope> (yeah the real Spassky :-))
after 23...bxc6

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White has a clear edge, an extra pawn and control of g-line, but how to activate the rook even more?
24. c4 Rb8 25. Kc2 c5 26. Ra1 Rb7

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White Rook targets weak a-pawn
27. Ra6 Kg7 28. Rc6 f5

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Now Spassky Rook targets c6 pawn, winning it
29. Rxc5 Rb6 30. d7 Rd6 31. Rc7 1-0

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I am currently working on improving my endgame knowledge :-)
Players I am most interested in watching/studying:
Anatoli Karpov
Robert James Fischer
Garry Kasparov
Jose Raul Capablanca
Viswanathan Anand
Vladimir Kramnik
Levon Aronian
and

Magnus Carlsen

   A Karpov Fan has kibitzed 638 times to chessgames [more...]

   Nov-21-09 Battle of the Brains 3, 2009
   Nov-21-09 whiskeyrebel chessforum

A Karpov Fan: < whiskeyrebel: This lonely little pest will be himself at the end of this fantasy session. A fitting punishment.> nice one <whiskey> -lol-

   Nov-21-09 A Karpov Fan chessforum

A Karpov Fan: remember to look at this game [DIAGRAM]

   Nov-21-09 V Okhotnik vs V Berezhnoi, 1981

A Karpov Fan: missed

   Nov-21-09 malthrope chessforum

A Karpov Fan: <malthrope> This is a position from one of my games (blitz 5 3 I was Black), [DIAGRAM] I passed it through Fritz as per usual, and although I won eventually, White missed an <amazing> resource here. Take a look 19.Rf6!! h5 (19...gxf6 20.Bxf6 Kh8 21.Qg3 winning) ...

   Nov-21-09 Anatoli Karpov

A Karpov Fan: The simple truth is a top class player would have enough respect for Karpov not to fill his player page with such crap.

   Nov-20-09 Mamedyarov vs Kramnik, 2009

A Karpov Fan: very nice attack here, who cares about material lol

   Nov-20-09 H P Garcia vs R Ziatdinov, 1994

A Karpov Fan: got it

   Nov-19-09 hms123 chessforum

...

   Nov-19-09 M Pavlovic vs G Cabrilo, 1991

A Karpov Fan: got it. So here connected knights were a <strength> :-)

indicates a reply to the comment.

Simpler Chess

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 9 OF 9 · Later Kibitzing >
Oct-27-09		A Karpov Fan: Yeah thanks <craw>. I do appreciate your puzzles, but I'm not as strong as you or <H>. Actually from what I can tell I'm pretty much at the botom of the strength pile on this site. I think maybe it goes from strongest <malthrope>, -big gap- <switch> <H> and you then -medium gap- <Jess> and -small gap- me :-)

Oct-27-09		hms123: <AKF> You are far from the bottom of the pool at the site. Some of us worry more about puzzles and endgames than do others, so it is a mistake to judge OTB strength from puzzle/endgame strength. <malthrope> is clearly the class of the field, but each of the rest of us has strengths and weaknesses. As <jess> has pointed out many times, studying helps no matter which aspect of the game you are studying. As an example, I tend to study the game backwards--is the ending won? can I win it? how did the winner of the game get to a won ending? what's the middlegame look like? I rarely worry about the opening (my weakness), whereas <jess> studies openings a lot, and knows way more about the ones she uses than I do these days about my old favorites.

Oct-27-09		crawfb5: As promised, a K+P study. White to play and win. click for larger view I'm probably not as strong a solver as you might think. Remember I have the advantage of the solutions. I look for ones that seem to have interesting twists.

Oct-29-09		A Karpov Fan: <H> Thanks for cheering me up I used to spend most time on openings but switched to the endgame, er, since I joined here :-) <craw> That King plus pawn endgame looks good, I will get to work on it :-) and here is a position for you strong players and analysts to enjoy as well. It is simple, but also one of the neatest positions I have <ever> seen :-O click for larger view white to play and mate in 2

Oct-29-09		Pyke: Hi <A Karpov Fan>, nice place you got here. I'll try to visit frequently, as I believe that studying endgames is a good way to improve. And it seems you guys have a lot of fun here.

Oct-29-09		A Karpov Fan: thanks for coming over <pyke> tell me, why 'pyke'? :-)

Oct-29-09		Pyke: <A Karpov Fan: thanks for coming over <pyke> tell me, why 'pyke'? :-)> Well, it's curious you should ask ;-) There's nothing special behind it - actually it's quite boring. I just read it somewhere as a youngster and liked the sound of it. And since I am a pisces (astrology) I decided it was somewhat fitting, so ever since I used it as a nickname and alias. It's of course only after I got some more deeply involved with chess - and the lingo - that I shockingly realized that my choice might not have been the best one for a chess player. :-)

Oct-29-09		crawfb5: <AKF> I'm not a big Grunfeld expert. Deffi's suggestion of Rb1 lines in the exchange variation is worth consideration. I have a 2300 CC player who is playing that line against me as we speak. Kramnik played it some about 10-15 years ago: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... Gelfand also plays it: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

Oct-30-09		jessicafischerqueen: LOL!! Epic Fail costume!! HAHAHAHAHAHAAHA

Oct-30-09		A Karpov Fan: <pyke> thanks for telling me about your unique nickname, it makes as much sense as I was hoping ;-) in fact, our handles may even share a distant fishy connection didn't the Korch say Karpov meant 'of carp' or something like that. <craw> many thanks for the suggestion (and thanks to Deffi too). I will analyse those games and see how I like the line. My tendency is not to follow main lines if I can help it tho cos I don't have the time for all the learning involved. If I can jump off a main line early I am happy, plus it is tougher for my opponent that way :-) Don't be surprised to see a Grunfeld section appearing in my profile soon tho :-) <Jess> Epic Fail indeed. But we don't know what he looked like behind the mask, maybe he had nothing to lose. lol

Oct-31-09		A Karpov Fan: <craw> thanks again for that KP ending, here is my 'first' attempt :-) click for larger view white to play and win 1.e5 d3 2.e6 d2 (2...Kxf6 3.exf7 d2 4.f8=Q+ is losing imo and also 2...fxe6 3.f7 d2 4.f8=Q d1=Q 5.Qf7+ leads to mate) 3.exf7 (3.e7 d1=Q 4.e8=Q Qd5 looks drawish imo) 3...d1=Q 4.f8=Q Qxg4 (4...Qd5+ 5.Kh8 wti 6.Qg7+ seems winning) 5.Qg7+ Kf5 6.f7 Qc4+ 7.Kh7 Qh4+ 8.Qh6 looks won to me click for larger view I spent longer on this first attempt, so maybe I am right...? -lol- thanks <craw>, I will keep my fingers off Fritz incase you want to tell me anything first :-)

Oct-31-09		A Karpov Fan: Time for another <simpler endgame> i think. How about this... click for larger view white to move and win (er well get a decisive advantage anyway, full conversion is a little more difficult...)

Oct-31-09		crawfb5: <1.e5 d3 2.e6 d2 (2...Kxf6 3.exf7 d2 4.f8=Q+ is losing imo and also 2...fxe6 3.f7 d2 4.f8=Q d1=Q 5.Qf7+ leads to mate) 3.exf7 (3.e7 d1=Q 4.e8=Q Qd5 looks drawish imo) 3...d1=Q 4.f8=Q> So far so good... <4...Qxg4 (4...Qd5+ 5.Kh8 wti 6.Qg7+ seems winning)> ...but here you've gone astray. After 4...Qd5+ 5. Kh8? click for larger view 5...Qh1+ wins for Black, so I'd look for something better than 5. Kh8?

Oct-31-09		A Karpov Fan: the procrastination is over. I have drunk all the tea and eaten all the biscuits and now I must study this Grunfeld line :-) this is mainly for my memory but I thought I would include it here incase it was of interest to the good inhabitants of planet CG :-) Grunfeld Exchange Variation 7.Be3 click for larger view http://www.chessgames.com//perl/exp... 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8. Qd2 8...Qa5 9. Rb1 b6 10. Bb5+ Bd7 11. Bd3 O-O 12. Ne2 Nc6 13. dxc5 bxc5 * click for larger view found this game, M Stettler vs Oral, 2000 0-1 Fritz analysis suggests 15.Rxb5 Rfd8 16.O-O Rab8 keeps advantage white 8...O-O click for larger view 9. Nf3 Qa5 10. Rc1 cxd4 11. cxd4 Qxd2+ 12. Nxd2 Nc6 13. Nb3 Rd8 14. d5 Nb4 15. a3 Na2 16. Rc2 Nc3 17. Bd3 e6 18. Bg5 f6 19. Bd2 Na4 20. Bc4 * click for larger view Piket vs F Hellers, 1989 1-0 8...cxd4 click for larger view 9. cxd4 Nc6 10. Rd1 O-O 11. Nf3 Bg4 12. Be2 Rc8 13. O-O Qa5 14. Qxa5 Nxa5 15. Rc1 Nc6 * click for larger view Ehlvest vs Ivanchuk, 1995 1/2-1/2 quite an easy draw there, Fritz suggests, well not much, maybe 18.Bg4 a taster anyway, I have some more games in my MDB but this is the stuff on CG, for easy viewing :-)

Nov-01-09		A Karpov Fan: <craw> <5...Qh1+ wins for Black, so I'd look for something better than 5. Kh8?> click for larger view -lol- Looks like a bad case of board blindness to me, every other square is harmless but the pseky h1... :-( how about 5.f7 Qe5 6.Qh6+ Kxh6 7.f8=Q+ Kg6 8.Qf7+ Kh6 9.Qh7 mate or 5.f7 Kf6 6.Qh6+ Ke5 7.Qxg5+ winning :-) This looks correct, certainly a better sort of puzzle like finish then I had planned before...lol thanks <craw>

Nov-01-09		Pyke: Hi <AKF> answer to your question at my place.

Nov-01-09		A Karpov Fan: thanks <pyke>, I was just there actually. These things happen when you leave the door open :-) p.s. sorry about the mess ;-)

Nov-01-09		Pyke: <A Karpov Fan: These things happen when you leave the door open :-) p.s. sorry about the mess ;-)> Haha! Never mind, I like it and think it's quite cosy.

Nov-01-09		crawfb5: <Looks like a bad case of board blindness to me, every other square is harmless but the pseky h1... :-( how about 5.f7 Qe5 6.Qh6+ Kxh6 7.f8=Q+ Kg6 8.Qf7+ Kh6 9.Qh7 mate or 5.f7 Kf6 6.Qh6+ Ke5 7.Qxg5+ winning :-) This looks correct, certainly a better sort of puzzle like finish then I had planned before...lol> Well done. Of course in this position at the end: click for larger view There is a "cook" because either 9. Qh7# or 9. Qh5# works. Still a nice little composition.

Nov-01-09		crawfb5: Here's another K+P for you. click for larger view White to play and draw

Nov-07-09		A Karpov Fan: thanks <craw>, I will investigate that endgame fully just as soon as Tal M stops sucking up all my attention :-)

Nov-08-09		Sneaky: Hello Karpov Fan -- a random question for you. Do you (or anybody else) happen to know the name of the artist who painted the art that you use as an avatar? I remember seeing his art in an old issue of Chess Life and he's really something else. That's not his only chess painting, he is like a chess art specialist. I bet he's got an online portfolio but not knowing his name it's rather hard to google it. If you're curious, my motive is to track down a chess position -- you see, one of his better paintings had this delightful little endgame puzzle where all of the pieces were in one corner of the board. The winning move was this amazing zugzwang sacrifice that is so surprising it knocked me over when I first found it. I want to see that position again.

Nov-08-09		A Karpov Fan: sorry <sneak> I have no idea. I picked it cos it looked cool :-)

Nov-21-09		A Karpov Fan: D35: ueen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3 c6 9. O-O Qb6 $146 lack threatens to win material: b6xb2 (9... Qe8 10. Qc2 h6 11. Bh4 Nb6 12. Rfe1 Be6 13. a3 Rc8 14. b4 Nfd7 15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. e4 dxe4 17. Nxe4 Qd8 18. Nc5 Nxc5 19. dxc5 Nd5 20. Rad1 Qf6 21. Nd2 Qc3 22. Qxc3 Nxc3 23. Rc1 Nd5 24. Nc4 Stimpel,F (2255)-Mahnke,E/Wiesbaden 1993/GE/1/2-1/2 (36)) 10. Qc2 Bd6 (10... h6 11. Bh4 $16) 11. a3 Re8 12. Bh4 h6 Controls g5 13. Bg3 (13. Rae1 Re6 $16) 13... Bxg3 $14 14. hxg3 Ng4 15. b4 Ndf6 16. Na4 White threatens to win material: a4xb6 Qc7 17. b5 Bd7 18. bxc6 (18. Rac1 Rac8 $11) 18... Bxc6 $11 ( Instead of 18... bxc6 19. Nc5 $16) 19. Nc5 b6 lack threatens to win material: b6xc5 20. Na6 White threatens to win material: a6xc7 Qd6 21. Rfc1 (21. Nd2 Rac8 $15) 21... Rac8 $15 22. Qe2 Re6 $4 gives the opponent new chances (22... Bb7 $142 and lack is still in the game 23. Rxc8 Bxc8 $15) 23. Bf5 $16 Ree8 (23... Bb7 $5 24. Rxc8+ Bxc8 $16) 24. Bxc8 $18 Rxc8 25. Nd2 Re8 26. a4 Rd8 $2 (26... Bd7 $142 $18) 27. f3 Bb7 28. fxg4 Qxg3 29. Nf1 Qxg4 ( 29... Qd6 cannot undo what has already been done 30. Nc7 $18) 30. Qxg4 Nxg4 31. Nb4 Re8 (31... Rd7 does not help much 32. a5 bxa5 33. Rxa5 $18) 32. Rc7 a5 (32... Rb8 praying for a miracle 33. a5 bxa5 34. Rxa5 a6 $18) 33. Rxb7 axb4 34. Re1 (34. Rxb6 $142 and White takes home the point Kf8 $18) 34... Ra8 35. Rxb6 Rxa4 36. Rb8+ Kh7 37. Rb1 Ra3 38. R8xb4 Kg6 (38... g5 doesn't do any good 39. Rb5 $18) 39. R4b3 (39. Rb7 makes it even easier for White Ra8 $18) 39... Ra2 40. Rb5 Nf6 41. Re1 h5 (41... Ra3 does not improve anything 42. Nh2 $18) 42. Nh2 h4 (42... Rc2 doesn't get the cat off the tree 43. Nf3 $18) 43. Nf3 Kf5 44. Rb7 g5 (44... Ke6 doesn't improve anything 45. Ng5+ Kf5 46. Nxf7 $18) 45. Rxf7 Ra6 (45... g4 does not save the day 46. Ne5 g3 47. Rf1+ Ke4 48. R7xf6 Kxe3 49. R6f4 $18) 46. Ne5 (46. Rf1 $142 might be the shorter path g4 47. Ne5+ Ke4 48. R1xf6 Ra1+ 49. Rf1 Rxf1+ 50. Kxf1 Kxe3 51. Nxg4+ Kxd4 52. Rf4+ Kc5 $18) 46... Ke4 47. Nd7 (47. Rg7 $142 and White has triumphed Ra3 $18) 47... Nxd7 48. Rxd7 Ra2 (48... Rg6 is not the saving move 49. Re7+ Kd3 50. Rf1 $18) 49. Rg7 Kf5 50. Re7 Kg4 (50... Kg6 doesn't change anything anymore 51. Re6+ Kf7 52. Re5 $18) 51. Re5 Ra5 52. Kh2 Ra2 53. Rxd5 h3 (53... Rf2 a fruitless try to alter the course of the game 54. Kg1 Rc2 55. Re5 $18) 54. Rg1 Re2 (54... Kh4 doesn't get the bull off the ice 55. Kh1 h2 56. Rf1 $18) 55. Re5 Kh4 (55... Rd2 doesn't change the outcome of the game 56. d5 $18) 56. Kh1 hxg2+ (56... h2 hoping against hope 57. Rd1 Rb2 $18) 57. Rxg2 Re1+ 58. Kh2 g4 59. Re4 Kg5 60. Rexg4+ Kf6 (60... Kf5 is the last straw 61. Rf4+ Ke6 $18) 61. e4 Ke6 62. Rg6+ Kd7 63. e5 Ke8 64. Rg7 Re4 65. R2g4 Rxg4 (65... Re2+ cannot change destiny 66. Kg3 Kf8 67. Ra7 Ra2 68. Rxa2 Ke7 69. d5 Ke8 70. Ra7 Kf8 71. Rgg7 Ke8 72. Ra8#) 66. Rxg4 Ke7 (66... Kd7 does not solve anything 67. Rg6 Kc7 68. d5 Kd7 69. Rg7+ Ke8 70. d6 Kd8 71. e6 Kc8 72. Rc7+ Kd8 73. Kg3 Ke8 74. Rc8#) 67. Rg6 Kf7 (67... Kd7 is no salvation 68. Rd6+ Kc8 69. Kg3 Kb8 70. Rd7 Kc8 71. e6 Kb8 72. e7 Kc8 73. e8=Q#) 68. Ra6 Ke7 (68... Kf8 does not win a prize 69. d5 Ke7 70. Kg3 Kf8 71. d6 Kf7 72. d7 Ke7 73. Rd6 Kd8 74. e6 Kc7 75. d8=Q+ Kb7 76. Rb6+ Ka7 77. Qb8#) 69. d5 Kd8 70. Kg3 Ke8 71. d6 Kd7 72. Kf4 Kd8 (72... Ke6 is not much help 73. Rb6 Kd5 74. d7 Kc5 75. d8=Q Kc4 76. Ke4 Kc5 77. Qd4#) 73. Ra7 (73. e6 Kc8 74. Rb6 Kd8 75. Rb8#) 73... Ke8 (73... Kc8 cannot undo what has already been done 74. Rc7+ Kb8 75. e6 Ka8 76. e7 Kb8 77. e8=Q#) 74. e6 Kf8 75. Kg5 Kg8 76. Kh6 Kf8 77. Ra8# 1-0

Nov-21-09		A Karpov Fan: remember to look at this game click for larger view

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a real life chess murder mystery

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