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The 2011 SPICE Cup — This week I am in Lubbock, Texas, for the annual SPICE Cup Chess Tournament. SPICE stands for Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence, an organization devoted to the promotion of chess education and outreach headquartered at Texas Tech University. Susan is a former Women's World Chess Champion who works alongside her husband, Paul Truong, (a strong chess master in his own right) to organize all sorts of tournaments, chess classes and chess camps. The SPICE Cup is, by far, the strongest chess tournament they organize, and it is one of the strongest tournaments held annually in the U.S. each year. This year there are three different sections, each with several grandmasters. The strongest ...

On Chess: Being hunter better than being prey — Aggressiveness pays in chess and other games, as well as in life itself. Bobby Fischer’s relentless will to win and engage the opponent until only naked kings were left is legendary. Few opponents were able to keep from flinching or ultimately collapsing under the pressure of his fierce and predatory intent. Mikhail Tal attacked, attacked and attacked. Playing him was like facing a brigade of octopuses, each of whose tentacles were firing a Gatling gun. Of course, he wasn’t merely aggressive. He also played with extraordinary artfulness and creative flair. In his bible for athletes and coaches, Coaching the Mental Game, sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman recalls that his father had advised him at ...

Chess: Elite Players Struggle After Taking Break From Play — Tournament play after a long layoff is not easy, even for elite chess players. They can forget what they know about openings or fail to stay up to date. A larger obstacle is the crucible of competition: the pressure can be intense, and the mind and body have to be reconditioned. Gata Kamsky learned that lesson in 2004 when he returned after an eight-year layoff and his world ranking fell. Several top chess players have followed a similar course in recent months. One of them, Yasser Seirawan, 51, a former United States chess champion, had not competed on an elite level for eight years until he entered the national chess championship in April. He struggled then, but his results have improved. At ...

Matthew Sadler makes remarkable comeback and sets sights on Istanbul — The recent impressive comeback by Matthew Sadler, England's No3 in the 1990s, is a major boost for England's prospects in the 150-nation biennial chess Olympiad whose next edition is at Istanbul in 2012. Sadler, now 37, won an individual gold medal at the 1996 Chess Olympiad where England finished fourth, and was the top scorer in the gold medal squad at the 1997 European teams. Then he gave up the game for an IT career with Hewlett Packard, and hardly played at all for a decade. But this year he has won first prizes at Barcelona in August and Oslo in October, going through both chess tournaments unbeaten and restoring his world ranking to around No80, not far short of his ...

On Chess: Kasparov resurfaces occasionally for win — After two decades of dominating the chess world, Garry Kasparov astonished his contemporaries when he abruptly retired in 2005. On four occasions since, he has reappeared in blitz chess events — all of which he has won. His most recent foray was an eight-game match against Nigel Short, whom he had earlier defeated in a world title match in 1993. Although Short is still an active chess player, Kasparov was able to prevail, albeit by a narrow 41/2-to-31/2 score. It was a close call for Kasparov, who trailed Short by a point with two rounds to go. But the 47-year-old ex-world chess champion exhibited characteristic grit and determination in winning the last two games. Although Kasparov maintains some ...

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