I am typing this from work during my lunch hour because my home PC has been taken hostage by some malware and I cannot get online. Norton Antivirus is on the way, however, so hopefully I can get it cleaned up soon. One of the best features of working at a technical college is that I have available any number of information systems experts (both instructors and the school's own computer people) whose knowledge may be accessed at any time. I am somewhat discouraged at how vulnerable we make ourselves when we try to utilize technology - it seems that no matter what human beings try to produce that is helpful, someone will corrupt and abuse. I guess this is human nature.
IM Dembo is currently competing in the World Mind Games competition in China, where she has performed credibly, I think, in both the Women's Rapid and Blitz competitions. She is rated #13 of 16 female participants, and placed 8th in the rapid and 7th in the blitz competitions. Today is the blindfold event, and I know she has two draws, including one with GM Stefanova. She sent me a couple of blitz games, wins over K. Lahno and A. Kosteniuk, who both placed higher in the final crosstable than she did.
GM Nakamura rebounded after a disastrous last place finish at the Tal Memorial to take second place in the recently completed London Chess Classic behind tournament winner Vladimir Kramnik. Using the 3-1-0 scoring system, he edged out Magnus Carlsen by a point, despite Carlsen's victory in their head-to-head matchup. Nakamura also lost to carlsen at the Tal memorial, and I wonder if the American Grandmaster is going to be the perennial victim of Carlsen as the future unfolds. Reports from various chess sources say that Nakamura is now working with Garry Kasparov (who once coached Carlsen, and not that long ago) so maybe there are aspects of the Swede's game, known to Kasparov, that Hikaru will be able to exploit.
Up until the tournament in China, I'd had three recent lessons with Yelena, which seemed to help me regain some chess-playing capability at Playchess.com. Correlation may not always be causation, but in this case I think it is.
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7 comments:
What are you working on these days with Yelena?
Yelena will be absent for a little bit longer there she has to play in the World team competition with Greece.
Yes, it is a burden if technological stuff has taken over your personal world. I would be devestated if my computer would crash. Not being able to get on the internet.............a nightmare.
apollo17: We are looking at various positional themes right now. It's an area where I am dreadfully weak.
chesstiger: Yes, she told me this. A rather last minute "assignment" it seems. I understand the situation, but I imagine it's rather inconvenient for her.
Yeah, its inconvenient for her because its directly after the mind games. Now she cannot prepare the way she wants and also mindgames was rapid, blitz and blindfold which you can hardly call a good preparation for serious games.
chesstiger: It's hard for me to fathom learning at the last minute that one is required to participate in a chess tournament, but I guess that's what happens when one receives a stipend from the government.
Somebody deleted his blog post the games? :)
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