Content

NIC’s Café

Marcel Duchamp, The Art Of Chess
Marcel Duchamp, The Art of Chess, written by art critics Francis M. Naumann and Bradley Bailey with game analysis by WGM Jennifer Shahade, explores the web of connections between chess and the art of the French genius.

Touring the Land Where Only 1st Place Counts
Undaunted after the bitter pill he had had to swallow at the Foxwoods Open, our fearless reporter Loek van Wely continued his American tour.

Ivanchuk Bounces Back in Bazna
Once again Vasily Ivanchuk confirmed that he is one of the most unpredictable elite players on the circuit. At the Kings Tournament in Bazna, the erratic Ukrainian stopped his free fall in the FIDE rating list to win the strongest event ever to be held on Romanian soil.

Interview: Miguel Illescas
For more than a decade he was Spain’s most successful player. These days Miguel Illescas is a businessman and entrepreneur, running a chess school, an internet chess club and a publishing house. Still, the main reason why Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam went to visit the Spanish GM in his native Barcelona was Illescas’ involvement as an advisor and trainer in two historic matches.

Magnus vs. the Chinese Wall
Miguel Illescas investigates an ending that he couldn’t get out of his head.

Motylev’s Finest Moment
In spite of the financial crisis that has hit Russia hard, the Anatoly Karpov tournament in Poikovsky celebrated its 10th anniversary with the strongest edition so far. Seeded eighth, 29-year-old Alexander Motylev played the tournament of his life, outclassing the field with a 2916 performance. An eyewitness report from the Nefteyugansky district by Poikovsky regular Victor Bologan.

The Overcoat
Genna Sosonko writes about the first prize in the Georgian Championship of 1945 that served Tigran Petrosian for many years.

Life in the Old Dog
Inspired by his dashing win at the Sigeman tournament Nigel Short gives his thoughts free rein. ‘I guess I must have a little Viking blood, because Scandinavia seems to agree with me.’

A Chess Player’s Tragic End
Olimpiu G. Urcan paints a compelling portrait of Arthur Reynolds (1910-1943), a chess player who volunteered to serve his country at war and paid the highest price.

Superfluous Pieces...
And how to jettison them! In the second part of his delightful survey Oleg Pervakov focuses on the joy of giving away pieces in endgame studies.

Chess Among the Amigos
For the first time in his career Vladimir Potkin took part in the Capablanca Memorial and, boy, did he enjoy the trip to Cuba!

Those Who Can, Teach
Having read The Chess Instructor 2009, Jonathan Rowson muses about the difficulty of teaching in general and teaching chess in particular.

Anand Meets Leko in Bonn Postscript
Jan Timman takes a closer look at the theoretical discussions in the rapid match that Peter Leko and World Champion Vishy Anand played in Miskolc.

Just Checking
Guess who’s Joel Benjamin’s favourite artist?

Did they play your opening?

In this issue games with the following openings were annotated by world class players:

Sicilian
Short-Grandelius, by Short

Petroff
Sutovsky-Motylev, by Motylev
Sutovsky-Inarkiev, by Bologan
Motylev-Gashimov, by Bologan

Ruy Lopez
Gashimov-Naiditsch, by Bologan
Smith-Ehlvest, by Ehlvest
Nisipeanu-Ivanchuk, by Nisipeanu
Grandelius-Sokolov, by Grandelius

King's Pawn
Motylev-Shirov, by Bologan

Slav
Akobian-Fressinet, by Akobian

Catalan
Nybäck-Short, by Short

Queen's Indian
Sokolov-Short, by Short

Grünfeld Indian
Anand-Leko, by Timman
Leko-Anand, by Timman

King's Indian
Gelfand-Nisipeanu, by Nisipeanu

Benoni
Bareev-Sevillano, by Sevillano

English Opening
Timofeev-Dominguez, by Dominguez