I.Smykovsky

IM Ivan Smykovsky

Articles

I.Smikovski. The Superior League of the 60th Russia Championship: A Creative Survey (Rounds VIII-XI)
We bring to our readers' attention a creative survey of the rounds VIII-XI of Russia championship’s Superior league in Krasnoyarsk prepared by IM Ivan Smikovski.

I.Smikovski. The Superior League of the 60th Russia Championship: A Creative Survey (Rounds V – VII)
We bring to our readers' attention a creative survey of the rounds V - VII of Russia championship’s Superior league in Krasnoyarsk prepared by IM Ivan Smikovski.

I.Smikovski. The Superior League of the 60th Russia Championship: A Creative Survey (Rounds I – IV)
We bring to our readers' attention a creative survey of the first four rounds of Russia championship’s Superior league in Krasnoyarsk prepared by IM Ivan Smikovski.

I.Smikovski. Russian Club Championship (Rounds 6-9)
International master Ivan Smikovski reviews final rounds of the competition held in Sochi (Dagomys) in May.

I.Smikovski. Russian Club Championship (Rounds 1-5)
To say that Dagomys is a spring capital of chess Russia will not be a big exaggeration. Since April – children first, and now club championship... The whole country is waiting impatiently for news from Black Sea coast. Having turned from a potential player to a commentator, your author has got an opportunity of more attentive watching events on 64 squares. I shall gladly share many bright impressions with you.

I.Smikovski. Dresden Sketches (European Championship, Rounds 7-11)
In spite of expected plenty of colourless draws and absolutely normal desire of many participants to play more safely at finish, the second half of the championship turned out to be very interesting. It so happened that mostly players who succeeded both in result and qualifying have become the heroes of the review. On the whole, a creative risk and a struggle for high result did not prevent each other. A delighting fact, of course.

I.Smikovski. DRESDEN SKETCHES (Rounds 1-6)
European Championship in Dresden is the event of high status and of mass participation. Several hundred games were played daily, a good deal of them by high-class chessplayers.

I.Smykovsky. AEROFLOT OPEN (A Review: Rounds 6-9)
The survey of creative achievements of the international tournament "Aeroflot Open" is prepared by IM Ivan Smikovsky.

I.Smykovsky. AEROFLOT-OPEN (A Review: Rounds 1-5)
Aeroflot Open is known to be the strongest Swiss system tournament in the world. The highest level of the main tournament participants, the very atmosphere of tough and uncompromising sportive struggle, when in order to get a prize one has to be in a rather big "plus",- all these factors guarantee solid ground for creative achievements and simply for interesting and instructive games. In this part of my review I intend to deal with the first part of the tournament.

I.SMIKOVSKY. A PORTRAIT OF A CHESSPLAYER - VLADIMIR KRAMNIK (PART III)
In 1992 in Paris a rapid chess knockout tournament with participation of the best players of the world headed by world champion Garry Kasparov took place. There were no sensations – the rating favorite won the tournament. In the first round he had narrowly won a two-game micro-match against 17-years-old Vladimir Kramnik. This was the beginning of those two players' opposition.

I.SMIKOVSKY. A PORTRAIT OF A CHESSPLAYER - VLADIMIR KRAMNIK (PART II)
I suggest that readers do some exercises on solving various problems springing up on the chessboard and compare their standpoints with the opinion of one of the best players in the world. We will not examine the whole games. Here we have another goal – to concentrate on critical moments of the struggle.

I.SMIKOVSKY. A PORTRAIT OF A CHESSPLAYER - VLADIMIR KRAMNIK (PART I)
Having been offered to write about Vladimir Kramnik's chess creative work I did not have to think long before accepting. The only thing to do was to overcome certain intellectual doubts – does the IM, even if not the weakest one, has any right to discuss merits and demerits of the reigning Champion of the World? The work itself seemed interesting and exciting to me. I sincerely hope that it will bring some positive emotions to the readers as well.

I.Smykovskij. European Club Cup, rounds 5-7
The final rounds of the European Club Cup were characterized by the tense struggle and various creative achievements. It is impossible to present all interesting events and therefore I will have to leave out some encounters. However, I would like to mark out both the theoretical novelties and the games that became the most important for the results of the tournament.

I.Smykovskij. European Club Cup, rounds 1-4
Most games of the starting rounds were played between players of strikingly different level, as it usually happens in Swiss tournaments. Normally this predetermines the result as well as insufficiently tense character of play. However, apart from obvious disadvantages, one can also find some pluses. It is easier to find textbook examples on various topics in such games, because the weaker player shows low level of resistance.

I.Smykovskij. Tomsk, Higher League (rounds 4-6)
The tournament middlegame was very productive. The participants adapted successfully, and the spectators can sit back and enjoy. I will try covering all the exciting games, although it will be rather difficult, as there is more than enough material.

I.Smykovskij. Tomsk, Higher League (rounds 1-3)
The Higher League of the 59th Russian championship, which started in Tomsk, does not please the spectator with masterpieces, but a number of upsets makes it exciting for the fan. Can you remember another example from a Swiss when the rating favorites cannot win on 6 top boards, falling to a ‘minus` score, and barely manage 50% on 17 top boards? I failed.