October '99 Update
Dedication
This first update (after the previous launch material) is dedicated to GM John
"Gandhi" Emms. John's 1997 "Foxy Openings" video on the Ruy Lopez provided me
with much extra inspiration recently (especially because John talks about "the
Lopez" with the same enthusiasm which I witnessed him putting into performing
his "Gandhi" song some years ago!).
New Highlights
Lots of new goodies await us, including a double Scotch where GMs Ildar Ibragimov and Alexander Onischuk rapidly down White twice in games G9.4 and G9.5. Black also does well in the Lopez game G13.2 and its four supplementary sub-games, but White hits back at lightning speed in a dynamic duo of quick wins featuring the King's Gambit (G4.4) and Philidor's Defence (G6.4).
There's also Italian on the menu in game G12.2,
where the extra big bonuses include the super-heavyweight encounter Kasparov-Timman
played at the recent Wereldhaven Festival in the Dutch port of Rotterdam, with
the aid of fork-lift trucks to shift gigantic cargo representations of the chess
pieces! Look out, too, for our sensational young Hero of the Month, who stars
in new games within groups 12 and 13. In general, the action-packed games are
made even more irresistible by the presence of related challenging puzzles,
which can also be seen in the section called "Puzzle Paradise".
Rewind Reward
The key idea here is that (although in general we focus on recent happenings)
it still pays off to study some classic older material. For example, GM Sergey
Dolmatov's instructive 1992 win with the Ruy Lopez in game G13.3
is reminiscent of G13.1
from the previous launch material, where GM Bogdan Lalic also dealt a heavy
blow to the Zaitsev variation. However, IM Krishnan Sasikiran, a new young star
of India, keeps Black's flag flying high in game G13.3.1.
For a special extra course on the Spanish Opening, I can recommend GM John Emms's
1997 "Foxy Openings" video on the Ruy Lopez, which is available from Grandmaster
Video Ltd., PO Box 50, Woking, Surrey G22 7YT, UK. Throughout the 90 minutes
of the video, John Emms explains clearly his ideas against all of Black's major
responses after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5, with his favourite line being 3...a6
4 Ba4 Nf6 5 d3, but our Hero of the Month has other thoughts...
Hero of the Month
He`s only eight years and nine months old, but it`s David Howell...click here to find out why
Motto of the Month
The previous launch material laid the foundations for exciting adventures with
1 e4 e5 as our chosen starting point, and there still remains much for us to
discover. Even in lines which have been well-analysed by others before, it's
often possible to find fascinating new ideas, especially when one is armed with
Szent Gyorgyi's inspirational motto "Discovery consists of seeing what everybody
has seen and thinking what nobody has thought".
Index of New Games
G4.4.2 Gallagher,J-Balashov,Y/Campora,D
G13.2.2 Blees,A-Van der Sterren,P
New Index of Players
(bold indicates that the player had White)
New Alphabetical Index of Openings
Four Knights Game with 4 Bb5 G11.4
King's Gambit with 2...exf4 3 Nf3 d5 G4.4
King's Gambit with 2...exf4 3 Nf3 g5 G4.4.1
Philidor's Defence, Larsen variation G6.4
Ruy Lopez, 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 d3 b5 6 Bb3 Be7 G13.2
Ruy Lopez, 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 d3 b5 6 Bb3 Bc5 G13.2.3
Ruy Lopez, 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 d3 d6 G13.2.2
Ruy Lopez, Schliemann variation 3...f5 G13.2.1
Ruy Lopez, Zaitsev variation with 12 d5 G13.3
Ruy Lopez, Zaitsev variation with 12 a4 G13.3.1
Scotch Game, 4...Bc5 5 Be3 Qf6 6 c3 Qg6 G9.4
Scotch Game with 4...Bb4+ G9.5
Launch highlights
I really like the material contained in all of the 13 opening groups (otherwise
I would not have chosen it!), but personally, my five favourites at the moment
are groups 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and the Puzzle Paradise is also great fun. I hope
that you too will very much enjoy the range of features, and of course it will
continue to grow every month as I constantly expand and update the e4-e5 'story'
with the most exciting and noteworthy new developments.
Stay tuned!
Taster
Here`s a sample from the launch material of the sort of coverage you can expect if you subscribe:
G2.2: Bishop's Opening: Heat on the h-file grills top grandmaster
You can click through the games using the TAB key and press RETURN whenever you wish to see the postion on the javascript board.