Carlsen-Leko Games 3 and 4

GM's Magnus Carlsen and Peter Leko continue their rapid match today, with Magnus pulling a draw out of his hat after neglecting to claim a draw on 3 fold repetition earlier in the game. Here is game 3, will post game 4 later this afternoon.



Here's game 4, sorry so late, been still ill. Trying to rest for my big trip to Alaska, if this blog doesn't get updated until about June 20, you know why, but I will be back! I will also put up games 5-8, at least my prediction came true on GM Carlsen winning the match!

Carlsen-Leko Rapid Match

The Rapid Match between GM Magnus Carlsen (Norway) ELO 2765 and GM Peter Leko (Hungary) ELO 2741 starts today in less than 2 hours 9:30am my time. I will post the games here as they finish, so check back now and then if you don't have access to replay servers. As I said on my website, I predict GM Magnus Carlsen to win. I hope I'm right!

As GM Leko is knows as the DrawMaster, guess how game 1 ended! It just finished.

Game 1


Opening "Sicilian: dragon, Yugoslav attack, 10.O-O-O"
ECO B78

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8.
Qd2 O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. Kb1 Re8 13. h4 h5 14. Bh6
Nc4 15. Bxc4 Rxc4 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Nd5 e5 18. Nxf6 Qxf6 19. Nb3 Rec8 20.
Qxd6 Be6 21. c3 b5 22. Qd2 a5 23. Qg5 Qxg5 24. hxg5 a4 25. Nd2 R4c7 26. a3
Rd7 27. Kc1 f6 28. gxf6+ Kxf6 29. Nf1 Rxd1+ 30. Kxd1 Rd8+ 31. Ke1 Kg5 32. g3
Rd3 33. Nd2 Bc4 34. Nxc4 bxc4 35. Ke2 Rd6 36. Rh2 {Game drawn} 1/2-1/2

Game 2: wow, what can I say? Who would have thought such a short draw?



[Opening "Caro-Kann: classical variation"]
[ECO "B18"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Nc5 b6 6. Nb3 Nf6 7. Nf3 e6 8.
g3 Nbd7 9. Bg2 Rc8 10. O-O Bd6 11. Qe2 Qc7 12. c4 O-O 13. Be3 Rfe8 14. Rac1
Bg4 15. Qc2 Bf5 16. Qe2 Bg4 17. Qc2 Bf5 18. Qe2 {Game drawn} 1/2-1/2

GM Alexander Rustemov (Goldmund) plays some games.

GM Alexander Rustemov, ICC Handle: Goldmund, played some games against TransWarp yesterday and today. Somehow, and I don't know how this happened, I had edited my book to avoid the C18 French Advance Variation he had used to beat TransWarp on time and draw on as well, but it seems my editing, got edited out somehow by chesspartner! How this could happen, I have no clue.

Here's the first C18 game, again with the king repetition...just as before when he was winning with it on time..just a draw this time. Beware..170+ moves.



This time TransWarp manages to hold, breaking through the blockade..however, I do believe that Goldmund could have just played his old C18 moves from way before and got the draw again.



Chessvideos.tv and ICC disagree on the ECO code, chessvideos calling it C17 and ICC calling it C18.

But the main thing is, GM Rustemov playing again! It's good to see him playing TransWarp, it's been a while. This is one of the GM's I mentioned that is someone I can chat with. It started with a disagreement, but however we fixed that and managed to be civil and chat now and then. When he had an all-time high for his blitz rating, he quit playing blitz for a while. So it's good to see him back playing again, that itch can never be scratched it seems...for a LOT of us!!

GM Wesley So

Timhortonsknight's blog (listed below in links) will have more info on this and more info on new GM Wesley So, who became the 7th youngest GM in history and the youngest at the moment. He has a FIDE ELO of 2540, highest ranked in the Philippines, just above legend GM Eugene Torre. (I thought it was Eugenio?) But I had to post this news as well, as I saw it on my chess news ticker. (Even though Timhortonknight called me Jaywalker, I will let him slide and not call him TimhortonHearsaWho. :P But for more news on the career of GM Wesley So, check out his site. Remembered the z's this time! I guess this is old news..ticker must have just picked it up..but for more info, really do check timhortonsknight's blog, link above. He's a big Wesley So fan. Even though we don't agree on Nakamura's temperament, we do love the sport of chess. I don't know why he doesn't get other GM's to chat, I do... Personally, I just think Naka likes the attention. But again, just opinion...you know what they say about that!

Two Games From GM Rahmaninov (anonymous)

Here's a couple games from GM "Rahmaninov" an anonymous GM on the Internet Chess Club. He's a pretty strong player when it comes to playing TransWarp, his 3000 ICC rating backs this up. It has been higher, but when playing on ICC, most GM's don't take the games too seriously, unless it's against one of their human rivals! But remember, it's just blitz chess too, not serious tournament chess. Like I always say, I just hope they are having fun.

Both games are A30 Reti opening, the first one, Rahmaninov gets the draw, but in the second game, TransWarp adjusts. I wish I could adjust like that, boy after my tumble yesterday, today is even worse! I feel like someone beat me with my cane or something, so trying to take it easy.

A Game From Bosnia 2008- Tournament "A"

I fell this morning, I would put games that Rahmaninov (Anonymous GM) is playing now, but I need to rest and take some pain meds. Sorry. So I will post GM Alexander Morozevich's win vs GM Movsesian. I will try to post more TransWarp games tomorrow. Sorry for not providing a lot of news today, besides my tumble. But once I start falling, there's no stopping me. I just have to hope while falling that nothing breaks! Luckily, only very sore.

Couple games from GM Evgeny Shaposhnikov & 1 from Coffeehouse

Last night, GM Evgeny Shaposhnikov played quite a few games vs TransWarp. He got quite a few draws, but with the many systems available now to blockade the computer, GrandMasters can often achieve a drawn position with correct play. Myself I like no materiel draws, or theoretical pawn draws & sacrifice for repetition draws. I'm not a big fan of the blockade, but against strong computers, what can a human do? The operator is also challenged to find variations that don't lead into positions that can a blockade. It's a never ending battle of the wits to keep those wily GM's and IM's from finding those variations. It can be quite fun, the only problem I have is people aborting games from the get go to avoid certain openings. It's not like you can get up and walk away from your opponent in a tournament until he changes his move. I am quite looking forward to Rybka 3.0 with it's (hopefully) anti-blockade settings. We shall see!

A C00 French Steiner Variation Draw as black by GM Shaposhnikov




Here's a nice repetition draw by GM Shaposhnikov, this one would have passed the "Sofia Rules"



GM "Coffeehouse" found this Sicilian line which led to two repetition draws for him. GM Banikas (bani) saw this line and also got a draw, it seems TransWarp learned after the 3 draws and Coffeehouse & bani's last attempts at it ended with their resignation. I'm not sure if I will change the opening yet, as it's last two attempts were won. But Coffeehouse is a very strong anonymous blitz player on ICC, so it may need some tweaking. We will see.



It's also notable that all 3 draws were achieved with the black pieces. Kudos to those finding the lines first. (Against TW, I've heard it's been played against another computer)

TransWarp's latest game

Had to do a lot of work on the website today...not going to be able to keep at this if I don't get a little pay.. lol, my total for adsense is a whopping $0.09! But the website is more flexible.. Anyway, to keep TransWarp's blog busy, I will post TW's latest game, a miniature vs GM Varuzhan Akobian, fresh off of his tie for 4-6 at the Frank K Berry US Championships 2008. His ICC handle is SCORPION83.




Also would like to thank GM Vladimir Kosyrev from Moscow, Russia, ICC Handle: Tankist for his standard games. Those games were played yesterday, like I say, I haven't been feeling well the past few days, still don't..why the website and blog haven't really been updated a lot, especially the website's news on the US Championships. I have added more game downloads there, from the US Champs Final Standings and The III President's Cup that was played in Baku, Azerbaijan.

RE: Smallville

Sadly, I have had to noplay Smallville again. I gave him another chance to play TransWarp even letting him keep trying his "hippo". But he started aborting games again to avoid certain openings. In the last 20 games, there were 7 aborts, including 4 in a row. As I was typing this, I got these tells when I went to check history to check the amount of aborts.


Smallville(GM) tells you: ha ha ha
t smallville I don't care about the hippo...it's the aborts...that's wrong
(told Smallville)
Smallville(GM) tells you: lol
Smallville(GM) tells you: Don't even talk to me
Smallville(GM) tells you: Just hit the censor already
Smallville(GM) tells you: you overly sensitive nerd

Did you see any insults by me? NO. I'm the one who gave him the second chance... but he has to go back to his verbal abuse as well as computer abuse. No doubt I will get threatened with legal action, but as this is true and all statements are true. He doesn't have a leg to stand on. It's just another way he tries to abuse people when he's done something wrong and try to put it off on the other person. It's like that GM title has made him royalty or something... But I could care less. Now the part from "It's just- I could care less, is my OPINION" Which I'm entitled to have.

Of the 20 games, one went over 200 moves, which game replayer has trouble with, so I will post it here in two parts: It's a draw with the A00: Mieses Opening.



Starting from move 196.. I guess it doesn't work after move 195. Here's the move list.



196. Kc1 Rda7 197. Kd1 Kf7 198. Kc1 Ra8 199. Kd1 Ke7 200. Kc1 Ke6
201. Kd1 Kd7 202. Kc1 Kc7 203. Kd1 R8a7 204. Kc1 Kd6 205. Kd2 Ke7
206. Ke2 Kf8 207. Kd2 Rf7 208. Ke1 Kg7 209. Kd1 Rfa7 210. Kc1 Kf7
211. Kd2 Ke6 212. Kc1 Kd7 213. Kd2 Kd6 214. Kc1 Rf7 215. Kd2 Ke6
216. Kc1 Rfa7 217. Kd2 Rd7 218. Kc1 Kd6 219. Ra1 Rxa1+ 220. Bxa1 Ke7
221. Kb1 Rd8 222. Bb2 Ra8 223. Bc1 Kd6 224. Bb2 Ra5 225. Bc1 Ke6
226. Bb2 Ra6 227. Bc1 Ra4 228. Bb2 Ra8 229. Bc1 Kd7 230. Bb2 Ra5
231. Bc1 Ke7 232. Bb2 Ra7 233. Bc1 Ra8 234. Bd2 Kd6 235. Bc1 Ra7
236. Bd2 Ra3 237. Bc1 Ra4 238. Bb2 Ra6 239. Bc1 Ke6 240. Bb2 Ra4
241. Kc1 Ra2 242. Kb1 Ra7 243. Kc1 Ra8 244. Kb1 Ra5 245. Kc1 Ra7
246. Kb1 Kd6 247. Kc1 Ra2 248. Kb1 Ra4 249. Kc1 Ra5 250. Kb1 Kc6
251. Kc1 Ra6 252. Kb1 Ra8 253. Kc1 Kc7 254. Kb1 Ra7 255. Kc1 Kc6
256. Kb1 Ra4 257. Kc1 Ra8 258. Kb1 Ra7 259. Kc1 Ra2 260. Kb1 Ra6
261. Kc1 Ra5 262. Kb1 Kb7 263. Kc1 Ra8 264. Kb1 Kc7 265. Kc1 Ra2
266. Kb1 Ra6 267. Kc1 Kd6 268. Kb1 Ke7 269. Kc1 Ra7 270. Kb1
{Game drawn by the 50 move rule} 1/2-1/2



Final position

Also my final position on this... you give a guy a chance to play fairly, but he won't do it, what's ironic, is that he aborted the opening he himself was using! The Benko opening...go figure. The guy can play great chess, which is why he has a lot of fans, but loses them with this type of behavior. I remember when he was a teenager in the Dos Hermanas online tournament..when it was still at the 8+2 time control, he was facing mate in 1, had over 2 minutes left on his clock, after hitting the draw button numerous times...which of course his opponent wouldn't accept. He let his time run out... Now he talks about how "grown up" he is..sure doesn't act like it.

I will now post the 19 other games on my website for people to check out for themselves, it would take up too much space to post them here. Keep checking the site, it might take about a half hour or so to get them up from now. Games available in the games.html page, link http://www.transwarpchess.com/games.html

GM Tigran L. Petrosyan (TIGRANO) win!

GM Tigran L. Petrosyan showed great form in giving TransWarp a thrashing, it's first loss since Dlugy won on March 22, 2008. TIGRANO was away from ICC for a short time due to a dispute, it's good to have him back!



Nice job by GM Petrosyan, who shares the same name as the former World Champion. Tigran is from Armenia and a nice fellow to chat with when he's not busy.

MTel Final Round, GM Vassily Ivanchuk Wins!

GrandMaster Vassily Ivanchuk wrapped up his fine tournament with a win in the final round to assure the tournament win, by 1.5 pts no less! Great job by GM Ivanchuk!



I woke up late today, not a good day for me...but goes with the territory. So I don't know when each game finished. For example, if Ivanchuk won before the next two games were played, I can see why they just went for draws. GM Topalov and GM Radjabov seemed fine in achieving a drawn position, going for the repetition draw.




GM Aronian and GM Bu Xiangzhi seemed content to finish with a repetition draw as well, to tie for last place, neither having the tournament they wished they would have had. It was all Ivanchuk for MTel Masters 2008.



Final Standings:
1 8.0 GM Ivanchuk UKR (2740)
2 6.5 GM Topalov BUL (2780)
3 5.5 GM Radjabov AZE (2751)
4 4.0 GM Cheparinov BUL (2695)
5-6 3.0 GM Aronian ARM (2763)
GM Bu Xiangzhi CHN (2708)

All Games for download on www.transwarpchess.com/news.html as well as final two games from Kramnik-Navara on replayer + final standings in that match. Also, update on Frank K Berry US Championships 2008

The Return of Smallville(GM)

GM Hikaru Nakamura played 4 games vs TransWarp today..it's 5:14pm ICC time (EDT) I was surprised to see him play after our disagreement. But hey, I said I took all off of the noplay list, guess he was checking. As a courtesy, here's a link to his website: http://www.HikaruNakamura.com I don't think the capitals in the site name matter..but he needs his name to stand out.

First to 4th game today.












Seems he was just getting warmed up in the first two, making TransWarp work in the last one I saw today..

Main thing, just hope we have fun, that's all I want.

MTel Masters Round 9 Results

The 2008 MTel Masters continues today with round 9, only 1 round left to go! We have 2 results so far, I'm observing GM Bu Xiangzhi vs GM Veselin Topalov at the moment and will insert that game after it's over. At the moment, it seems GM Bu has a 1 pawn advantage..will he hold on? Yes, he does, taking GM Topalov to the woodshed after he blunders with 38...a2. All games from round 9 below. Updates on Kramnik-Navara and US Championships will be on http://www.transwarpchess.com/news.html

GM V. Ivanchuk vs GM L. Aronian


And another draw, perpetual check coming..

GM Teimour Radjabov vs GM Ivan Cheparinov




GM Bu Xiangzhi vs GM V. Topalov



GM Bu wins, GM Topalov had a chance to equalize at one point. After 38. Ra6 Black had 38...Kg7 39. b6 Bxb6 40. Rxb6 Ra8 +0.24 d=21 But Topalov played 38...a2?? 39. Rxa2 Kg7 40. Ra6 with Rybka's eval at +2.50 (2.5 pawns) it was pretty much over. Great game by GM Bu Xiangzhi, GM Veselin Topalov made errors that Bu would not let go unpunished!

a Bullet Draw by bani

Not often I get to put Bullet games here, but here's a bullet draw made by GM Hristos Banikas (Greece) ICC handle: bani So I thought I would post this nice draw by GM Banikas, who forced TransWarp to go for the 3 fold repetition! To make the computer go for the draw is a sure sign it felt it was in trouble. It's a nice attacking game by GM Banikas for a 1 minute + 1 second increment game!



Sadly, the news from China just gets worse. The death toll could rise above 50,000 people. Finally, aid from other countries is getting in to help with the disaster. This tragedy does make me wonder about GM Bu Xiangzhi's play at the MTel Masters. I know I would be upset, especially if you know people in that area. GM Bu is not from that province, but could have friends or even have relatives there, I just don't know, only speculation. But I imagine if he had close relatives there, he would return to China. But let's keep them in our thoughts, there still may be a few miracle rescues in the rubble, but time is running out.

MTel Round 8 Results

GM Bu Xiangzhi holds GM Vassily Ivanchuk to a draw, again GM Ivanchuk may be taking it easy with the lead he has, but GM Veselin Topalov pulled off a win against fellow countryman GM Ivan Cheparinov, however there has been controversy raised by chess fans that Cheparinov may not be playing his best vs Topalov..I don't know though and wouldn't hazard a guess.

First: GM Bu Xiangzhi 1/2-1/2 GM V. Ivanchuk



GM Topalov 1-0 GM Cheparinov This brings Topalov within 1/2 pt of GM Ivanchuk for the lead, with 2 games to go.



In the final game of the day, GM Teimour Radjabov wins with the black pieces vs GM Levon Aronian to put GM Radjabov in 3rd place behind Ivanchuk and Topalov ahead of GM Cheparinov by a full point.



All games are available for download at http://www.transwarpchess.com/news.html As well as the US Chess Championship 2008 (Frank K Berry) and a rest day for the CEZ Chess Trophy Match with Kramnik firmly ahead 3.5-0.5 after 4 games of 8.

Two Latest Blitz Games + 1 more.

Well, it seems that bani has played a few games today, I will post both..although TransWarp wins, I don't want bani to think I'm rubbing it in, but just posting games as I promised to the website, I will also include a game from shengel a new player for TransWarp, GM Davit Shengelia from Georgia (again, the Country, not the state). Then after the MTel games are over, I shall post round 8 as I have been for other rounds. The full standings and all games for download are available on www.transwarpchess.com/news as well as updates on Kramnik-Navara and the US Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Now the two games from GM Hristos Banikas and one from GM Davit Shengelia.

GM Banikas-TransWarp(C)


TransWarp(C)- GM Banikas


Now a game from GM Davit Shengelia vs TransWarp



Now, I DON'T intend to embarass these players, I just want to post some of TransWarp's latest games. After all, these are just blitz games, not to be taken very seriously. I posted TransWarp's last loss, it's in the archive posts, vs GM Maxim Dlugy. I was glad Maxim won, he's very nice and I've played him OTB in a simul at the Kansas Open quite a while ago, he did win this event (The open section, which also had IM Michael Brooks and IM Jesse Kraai competing as well, of course Jesse Kraai is a GM now and competing in the US Championships). I believe IM Brooks could achieve a GM title, but it's tough for him to travel because of finances I believe.. I wish he could get around, he won the North American Open in Las Vegas in 1994, beating GM Alex Yermolinsky & GM Smbat Lputian. He's still active in the MidWest, winning many tournaments in Missouri and Kansas.

MTel Round 7 - TransWarp pretty quiet

As TW only had one standard game recently, I will put up the 3 MTel Games here and do updates on Website (Link Below) of US Championship & Kramnik-Navara Match.


GM Bu Xiangzhi is still having problems this tournament, this time losing to GM Teimour Radjabov, while playing with the black pieces.



GM Cheparinov and GM Aronian go for the 3fold repetition draw in A Ruy Lopez: Anti-Marshall, first Ruy Lopez opening this tournament.



GM Ivanchuk is held to a draw (Which I'm sure he will take against the 2nd place GM Topalov, going 1.5-0.5 against Topalov in the tournament) in another repetition draw agreed.



Again, with so much going on at ICC, I think this is holding down TransWarp's game play. I hope anyway, people watching the US Championships, MTel Masters & the Kramnik-Navara match. Plus I'm sure there are various tournaments going on around the world, I saw a bunch of them listed in the FIDE site for this time. I can only hope this is the reason.

MTel Masters Update & China

A quick note on the China Earthquake, news not good.. 20,000 dead with 40,000 buried in rubble or missing. Let's hope that as many can be saved as possible and those missing will be found safe. If you are religious, prayers cannot hurt despite China's belief on that.

GM Ivanchuk finally gives up a draw! The GrandMaster started out with an amazing 5 win start after 5 rounds. 2 games still going on, but I will put them here as well as for download on http://www.transwarpchess.com with standings as well, also some amusing cartoons of players I found on the official site (links only, don't want to upset copyright holders or MTEL Official Site).

GM Teimour Radjabov finally gets GM Ivanchuk into a theoretically drawn position. Again, a note, all draws must be approved by the arbitor, no "GM Draws" allowed. Must be No Materiel, 3-fold repetition or theoretically drawn. Also, the first Sicilian Defense. There have been two C11 French Defense games played, both involving GM Topalov. Another result has come in as well, with GM Ivan Cheparinov beating GM Bu Xianzhi with the black pieces, again I have to wonder if the China earthquake has something to do with this result.

GM Vassily Ivanchuk-GM Teimour Radjabov


GM Bu Xiangzhi-GM Ivan Cheparinov


GM Veselin Topalov beats GM Levon Aronian with the white pieces in another game where it seems Aronian resigned late. But who knows, despite computer evals of +3.00 (3 pawns or more) Aronian may have been trying for tricks or just a plain mistake by Topalov, which has happened.



GM Vladimir Kramnik and GM David Navara are also playing a match. At the moment, it's Kramnik 1-0 over Navara with a game in progress. Will try to put news in the http://www.transwarpchess.com website as well as US Championship News. I may be a little late with this as I was watching and evaluation the Topalov game.

MTel Masters Rest Day

Today is a rest day for the Grandmasters participating in the MTel Masters Double Round Robin Event. GM Vassily Ivanchuk is undefeated and has not given up a draw after 5 rounds! 5 wins in a row, including a win over GM Veselin Topalov. A quick note, Sadly, the China earthquake's death toll is 12,000 and climbing. Luckily, I looked and Bu Xiangzhi is not from that province. However, that doesn't mean he doesn't know anyone there or maybe fellow Chess players there. Let's hope the death toll doesn't rise much more, this is a sad time for China and it's people. Although, they are hardy people, coming back from many natural disasters like this, but like I said before, 1 death is too many.

TransWarp got some action today from hail (IM anonymous) who dug out GM Alexander Rustemov's moves that were proven to blockade. It's my own fault, when I switched a book, I forgot to delete a certain move order to get to the C18: French Winawer, advance variation. This is almost the same that Tactical(C) got beat with, also by GM Rustemov, only being C16 French Defense, using it twice to get draws. I have made my peace with Goldmund (Rustemov) He's cool about it, doesn't play anymore, but I guess that's okay with me, I wish he would, but it's his decision and I have to honor that. No disrespect, once you get to know him, he's cool.

But to show the similarity between GM Rustemov's games w/TransWarp & hail's, I will post 1 of each. Obviously, hail did some studying of Rustemov's games, see previous post of Players TransWarp has seen..not sure which part he's in, but it explains the event.

First hail's game



Now GM Rustemov's find. This one was kind of long and caused me to adjust the time setting for TransWarp..After I had to plead with an admin to remove the NoRating set on TransWarp (Meaning it couldn't play rated games, due to abuse, however, TransWarp never got those points back and nothing was done to the GM, I was asleep when all this was happening, what fun when I woke up and read the message from FREEBIRD)



GM Rustemov also got many wins with the same opening via transposition when TransWarp played d4.. 1.d4 e6 2.e4 etc Which reminds me to go back to the book for d4 openings! Whew!

GM Hikaru Nakamura's comment on age & earning GM title

I was reading timhortonsknigt's blog (http://cheszpatzerblog.blogspot.com) and came across some kibitzes with GM Hikaru Nakamura during his examination of a game and noted this question. "harmonicsa kibitzes: do you think someone who picks up chess after age 20 can achieve GM?" To which GM Nakamura replied, "Smallville(GM) kibitzes: No, definitely not harmoncsa"

I definately have to agree with Hikaru on this one. I didn't learn chess until 20, when you are a kid, your brain is like a sponge..neurons ready to take on any information. As you grow older, your brain is trained in the way you have grown in the 20 years before. If you learn chess at 6 and continue to play...your brain is tuned to the game, if you also have the talent to go with it of course. Your mind is fresh, ready to see ideas and concepts that an older brain is tuned to ignore, no matter how much you try to rewire it, it just seems to want to go back to it's old ways.

I learned the game playing with a few friends, getting beat constantly, which of course I didn't like! So I went to the local library in South Dakota (Not really the chess capital of the world) and found Mikhail Tal's autobiography. I learned notation and was in awe of the ways he found to win. By going over his games, I learned a few concepts and soon was beating my friends until they wouldn't play me anymore. Now trying to find another chess partner who is stronger in a small town in South Dakota isn't easy, so it wasn't until I moved to Kansas that I found more chess players. I then found out how weak I still was...so I played at the JUCO I was at, still winning most games, but finding tougher opponents and getting beat as well. Then the disability hit, and I had nothing to do but study chess.

I finally got to play in my first USCF tournament and was totally waxed and buffed. I worked my way over the years to almost a B player. I won some class prizes and such in the C class...but couldn't get over the hump. Then eventually, the disability kicked in more, relapses, more meds...getting older, my rating started to slide. I do not know if I wasn't in that condition if I could have made it to the B class, but I think so, I had beaten B players and drawn A players.

But this was before my first relapse...prednisone is a very useful drug, but evil in high doses...I still have cataracts from it. As well as the constant pain I'm in from the ravage of the immune system eating my muscles. Luckily, my Rheumatologist finally got it under control, but with the meds I'm on, Morphine, Percocet, Valium (to help with muscle tightness and anxiety) and various other drugs (over 20 total) I can't even keep up on ICC anymore.

Now I am 44, 24 years of playing chess and never reached my goal of a B player, except on ICC in blitz..a high of 1727..now in the 1300's! My bullet high was in the 1600's, now in the 1100's. I don't feel I've failed in any way...I've had a lot of fun with chess and now computer chess. That's the main thing. But to those over 20 who are just learning, keep learning. You may not become a GM, I think I've heard of some late learners getting titled, you may be next. But a super-GM, no, I don't think so. It's like the old saying, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks". (Actually you can, but chess isn't a trick) :P

So have fun, play chess, learn, read! And play and play. Learn from your mistakes...also, I've found working backwards was better for me when learning, first learn the moves, then learn your basic mates and mating patterns. Endgames are how you win, if you can get through that mess of openings and middlegames...that's another thing, openings..a kid can learn those so easy, all the names, positions..it's like when they know all the names of the dinosaurs. They just soak it up, it's much harder for us old folks. I don't know if this helps anyone, but I was thinking about it last night, as I was trying to sleep, dreaming of being in a super tournament and being a GM. It never hurts to dream and just maybe for some, that dream will come true.

Early Results in Round 5 of MTel Masters & China Earthquake

I can't help but wonder if the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in China affected Bu Xianzhi's play. I hope all of his family is safe, but sadly many lives were lost, with the death toll expected to rise...as it is, it's close to 8,000 people. Living in Kansas, we really don't have to deal with earthquakes too much, tornadoes being our main natural disaster as well as flooding. A strong storm that just went south of this area has claimed 23 lives, nothing like the China disaster, but when disaster strikes, you have to feel for the people, no matter the lives lost, one is too many. All games from round 5 are done, with GM Ivanchuk still on his winning ways! 5 rounds, 5 wins, what a start for GM Vassily Ivanchuk ELO 2740

Here is the Topalov-Bu Xianzhi game,



Now Ivanchuk's 5th win in a row, why did Aronian keep playing with such a disadvantage? Going for stalemate maybe?



A three fold repetition draw between Cheparinov and Radjabov

Not much for TransWarp last 24 hours..

TransWarp only had 1 standard game since the last post. Again, I think this is due to the MTel Masters Tournament going on at this time. I hope so anyway! It seems like GM Vassily Ivanchuk (FIDE 2740) is racing out of the gate with 4 straight wins after 4 rounds! So I will post the 3 games from today's 4th round. There was only 1 decisive game, of course that would be Ivanchuk over Cheparinov. Again, I have to ask why there are two Bulgarians in this tournament, there are many +2700 players to choose from, could it be it's IN Bulgaria? Chess has more politics THAN politics, I swear. I'll start with the Ivanchuk-Cheparinov game.



Now to two theoretical draws, in this tournament all games must be submitted to an arbitor before a draw is agreed. This is 3-fold repetition, no material & theoretical draws, of which these two games are.



It seems in the following game, both parties were eager to exchange down to a theoretical draw.

A Couple of Games From GM Hristos Banikas

Here's a couple of games from GM Hristos Banikas (Greece) who often plays TransWarp at 4+2 blitz. Not all computers require 0 or 1 increment. The first (in order not time, is a win as White by TransWarp in a King's Indian Defense: Andersson variation E92 , but earlier Bani (his ICC handle)got a draw with 3 fold repetition in a Sicilian Defense Steinitz variation B20.



Black did very well in reducing the position to a theoretically drawn position, sadly, the computer doesn't see this and GM Banikas has to play it out, at least it wasn't long 50 move draw.

More Games Added at www.transwarpchess.com

I have added more games to the games page at www.transwarpchess.com/games.html There is one file that has more than 1,000 TransWarp games, I'm sorry but I didn't have a zip utility handy, didn't check to see if vista has one in the command box... I remember there used to be pkzip.. Anyway, the file is over 8MB as a pgn file. I know it would have been much better zipped. I will be looking for a free utility in the future. Meanwhile, here's a game played against GM Alexei Dreev today. It is a C42 Petrov: Classical Attack, Mason Variation.

Sorry for No News

I've been ill the past few days. So I wasn't able to keep up with the blog or website or even watch the Baku Tournament. TransWarp did get some games the past few days, so Thanks to scacho (IM Sergio Cacho, Spain), junior (GM Ilya Gurevich, US), Bulletmaster (FM Srinath Narayanan, India) sertorio & Sensei24 (GM Ibro Saric, Bosnia and Herzegovina). TransWarp has finally regained a rating above 3500 after the attack of the hippo ;) But it's pretty hard to gain pts when you are gaining them 1 pt at a time. Some comps will put a limit of a rating of 500 pts below the computer's rating to gain at least 2 pts. Then at least if it wins 10 in a row, a draw won't erase all it's gain. Like right now, TW has a streak of 20 in a row, but a draw against someone 700 pts below, would erase all that and then some. But then you also sit idle for quite some time waiting for opponents rated over 3000 to play... at least those rated 2800 can play. I do feel that to get a good game, something has to be risked, even if just 1 pt, then you can sometimes get a marathon session with some players, which is quite fun to watch. That's the main news for now, if anything comes up will let you know! Oh, and all noplays are removed... I figure heck with it, I have to try something to beat that hippo....actually, a trivia note, the animal responsible for the most deaths in Africa, is the hippopottamus! Not the crocodile or say black or green mamba or boomslang. Hmn!

Really Slow Lately...

TransWarp has been sitting idle for a while now. But a lot of times it has to do with the games on ICC, especially the Baku Grand Prix. Most top ICC players are watching those games and when they want to play, they play with a friend or rival for fun. It could be also that GM's and IM's don't want to see their games posted on here... I don't know. But be assured, nice wins will also be posted! Just as those who have split TransWarp's wires have been noted here as well. Here's TransWarp's last blitz loss, vs GM Maxim Dlugy with the A01 Nimzo-Larsen Attack, but do note the hippo comes into play, but Maxim breaks out and takes TW to the woodshed. This was March 28, 2008

May Day

The first game of May, vs GM Jonathan Rowson, again another new player. I wish there was more than one game. Nice tactical game with 2 rooks vs Q

The Latest

TransWarp played a few games since KAPAMA3OB's run. GM Maxim Dlugy played a couple
5 min + 2 sec increment games. Also had a new player try one game. IM Wen Yang of China, ICC handle, maomaozhu. Pretty cool, always nice to have new players as I say. Then PrimeSuspect played a couple 15 0 games. Looks like a strong player, too bad he made a mistake in his ICC play, but to a lot of people, the availability of computers is a great temptation. But to those who have to put that statement in their notes, I feel for them, I hope they learned something. I think they are strong to stay and play and admit their mistake and go on, kudos.
Then IM Alexander Gasthofer (Traxx) played 6 games to end this update. He plays now and then and I welcome the play.

On the website side of the update, I have put in a few links.. mostly to Rybka and it's sponsor ChessOk.Com. I also have of course put some google ads on there, still need to put the donate button up. If I plan to keep this going, it will be with a little help, either with the links or something. No matter what, I have 3 months to try and get it going. (Boy, I expected a 1 month payment, I got hit for 3!) So no PapaJohn's pizza at the end of the month! Have to wait til tomorrow for a new month's budget. Bill's Bill's Bill's....do they ever end? Nope!