The former World Champion, Boris Spassky, once described his marriage to his first wife Larissa as 'like opposite colour bishops'. In the chess World this picturesque metaphor became a way of describing marital estrangement, the opposite colour bishops move on different colour squares and in no way interact.
From the perspective of chess strategy, opposite colour bishops have some interesting features. Pure pawn endgames are notoriously drawish because opposite colour bishops can help blockade otherwise dangerous passed pawns. Yet when you start to add more pieces, such bishops tend to favour the side with the initiative because they help a player attack things that cannot be defended.
In a tournament in Budapest, in 1987, I witnessed a game between Stefan Kindermann and Mikhail Gurevich which made a deep impression on me. At first sight it seemed that White had the better game, but then Black brought his pieces to bear on the vulnerable f2 pawn and eventually even won. At the time of this game Gurevich was not widely known, but within a few years he became recognized as one of the best players in the World.
This and two other opposite colour bishop games were included in this week's webinar, which can be viewed by Tiger Chess standard and premium members. Premium members also get access to the complete archive.
Training Tournaments
Richard is doing a great job of running these, introducing a slightly longer time limit and starting some of them from the initial position or just a single first move. Here are the ones that are currently scheduled:
Sunday January 25th, 5pm UK Time King's Indian Attack French
Sunday January 25th, 6.15pm UK Time: French Classical
Sunday February 1st, 5pm UK Time Colle System
Sunday February 1st, 6.15pm UK Time: Torre Attack
Video Discounts
This week's discount is 40% off Learning from the Greats: Mikhail Botvinnik using the code 'jan23to31'. Botvinnik was a great master of the endgame and introduced a number of new methods including deep research into different opening systems. These insights would later to transmitted to one of his students, the formidable Garry Kasparov.
Last week's discount was 40% off Learning from the Greats: Anatoly Karpov using the code 'jan16to24', which is still valid until tomorrow. Anatoly Karpov is widely acknowledged as having been one of the greatest players in history, in this series of videos I examine Karpov's style and strengths, showing what can be learned from him.
Upcoming Events
I'm currently playing in Nova Gorica, in Slovenia shortly, one of my favourite tournaments in one of my favourite countries. I've also signed up for a 4NCL Congress over Easter, and now understand that I'll be playing for the England 50+ first team in the World Senior Team Championships in April. I might look for another weekend event in February or March.
January 23-30: Nova Gorica
A very nice and well organized event that starts today! Details can be found here.
April 3 - 6: 4NCL Easter Congress, Daventry
I try to make most of the 4NCL Congresses because I like them so much. This one is 7 rounds, and played over Easter weekend.
April 18 - 29: World Senior Team Championships, Durres, Albania
I've had confirmation that I'll be in the 50+ first team for this one.
Have a good weekend.
Nigel
