Live Chess & Moscow !

How lovely it is to be a spectator at a tournament !

My 1st experience at being a spectator was in the World juniors 2014 at Pune, where I was one of the official commentators..I remember I felt so relaxed and tensed at the same time, similar to how we feel in a tournament, but not in the same degree..no, nowhere close! It was a very enjoyable experience to simply go and watch the games live , without having the burden of the result on my head. Or shoulders. My main job was to comment on the games, but when I was not doing that, I would spend time observing the players, their body language, mannerisms, tournament habits..Evenings after the game were relaxed , and involved talking to other players or simply hanging out with my friends. Dinners were free from unwanted friends like mr. regret who follows a loss or ms. anticipation who comes with the next day's pairing. It made for a good change and gave me a different perspective towards my own attitude during a tournament.

1st time as commentator

Studying player's body language :D

Sometimes I would try and guess how the players were feeling about their position by their reactions ..it made me realise my opponents must be doing the same during a game !

This is one of my favourite playing pictures, and the reason why I like it more than the others is because I seem so confident and in control !

PC : Official tmt website of World Team ch 2013.

                                                 
                           How important it is to look confident, to not give away our real feelings !

Have you noticed, our calculations, evaluations are much quicker when we have to take a decision in somebody else's game ! When there is no clock ticking beside the board or no tournament standings or rating calculations to consider. For me, my involvement is much higher when I am present at the venue & watching the game live, rather than watching a game live online. One of the reasons could be that, at home if I am not sure about a certain move, I tend to check it immediately with the engine provided by the website or the followchess app, rather than forcing myself to calculate (This is actually a very bad habit, the right way to check would be to 1st apply your mind and then check with the engine if necessary ) Also, its just much easier for me to recollect Dominguez - Shirov from Corus 2010 or Nakamura - Sasi from Olympiad 2012, than any game I have studied at home, because I was present at the venue and watched them make the moves on the board at the time.The other day I was solving some positions from Jacob Aagard's exceptional book on calculation, titled... "Calculation"  (duh!) & came across this position

Koneru Humpy - Ushenina, 2011

WHITE TO PLAY

( Chessbase software has this nice feature of saving the position on the board as a picture, which is very very useful. To use it, go to file --> save --> save position. )
Actually, I dint notice the player's names when I saw the position, but I immediately recognised the game. It was played in the World Team Championship 2011, when I was a part of the team and was watching this game Live. I remember this game quite well, Humpy built up the attack move by move & gave the winning blow in exactly this position. She played 1. Qh6 !! The game ended after 1...gh 2. e6 + f6 3. Rf6 Kg8 4. Nf7+ 1-0.

(The flipside of this information was I found no reason to argue with her and wrote down the same move as my answer - which is not the best move ! For 1. Qh6 black can go 1...Qc5+ 2. Kh1 Qc4 ! 3. Bd3 !! gh 4. e6 f6 5. Bc4 , white is still better , though engine only gives a clear plus, the variations are very nice & very difficult for black to defend. But after the right answer 1. Nh7 ! Nh7 2. e6  white wins immediately. Try & figure out the variations after both 1. Qh6 & 1. Nh7  yourself, and later you can check it with the book or engine :) )

But the best part of visiting and watching live games at a tournament is it makes me feel like I am a part of the tournament. It can be a very inspiring experience you know ! You should try it !

This year I decided to stay back at Moscow after the Aeroflot open and watch a few games of the Candidates tournament 2016 ! My very good friends Eesha Karavade & Mary Ann Gomes accompanied me. It was a good holiday cum brief training, I felt so much more relaxed, positive and inspired when I came back home.

                                     
                                                   The venue for the Candidates 2016

I would like to share some brief notes which I took during the candidates tournament

My 'notescoresheets' make for good souvenirs :)

March 2016 : Candidates tournament 2016 :

My observations :

Day 1: Round 3.

V. Anand - Caruana, Candidates 2016, Round 3.

What will you play as black ?

Within a few moves , Fabi has transformed his positon, thanks to excellent re-arrangement!

"Anand drew. Good play by black. Starting from Bd7-Bc6 to h4,Rfe8,a5 ! Controlling b4. Very strong. Anand's Bf3 I dint like very much and if he has gone Bf3 why not follow it up with Bg4 ?! dint understand."

Actually, Bf3 is a good move ! I think the idea of Bf3 is to prevent Nd7 (as Nh5 in any case is ineffective as white goes Nd5 everytime). For eg 1. Bf3 Nd7 (idea Nc5) 2. Bg4 Rh6 3. Bf5, followed by Qg3 or Qg5. My suggestion of going for Bg4 plan, with knight on f6 is never good, as black simply moves his rook & if we take on d6, he takes on e4.

Topalov - Aronian, Candidates 2016. Round 3

White to play

Topalov went for 1. Qh5 here.

"In Topi's game , why not Qd5 instead of Qh5 ?! If Rd8 - Qe4, if Bg2- Kg2.Maybe black plays Qd5 - Qa3 ?! Rc7+ Kh8. But I think white will be able to find a defence here. Lets say Rc7 - Kh8 -Ne1 is very much possible."

1. Qd5 was a better try, though after 1...Rd8 2. Qe4 Rd4 ! 3. Qe7 Ne7 4. Be2 c6 5. bc Nc6, black remains a pawn up.

Day 2 : Round 4.

"Everybody is very well dressed today. Two of them were also very well prepared and quickly made an eventful draw and got up."

Nakamura - Giri, Candidates 2016, 1/2-1/2

The final position of the game with the king on g6 !

Lets move on, shall we !

Karjakin - Anand, Candidates 2016, Game 4. Position after 10...f5. 

White to play. What will be your plan in this position ?

"Plan for white : Be2, 0-0-0, Rdg1, g4. So lets say 1. Be2, Bf6 2. 0-0-0 Bb7"

The plan I suggested is very dangerous for white as well, there are many knight jumps. While we were thinking of a good way to proceed, Karjakin totally surprised us by going for a positional continuation, and playing against the weakened squares thanks to f5. He played 1. Bb5 in this position, followed by Nd5-ed, d4!, dc - bc & shortcastled.

Black to play

Once we saw this position on the board, it was clear how strong his plan ( and understanding ) is.

"Karjakin has a lot of clarity. He goes for specific positions and does not hesitate"

"If 1...f4 works black is surely fine. So lets try to make f4 work."

But it doesnt work, as for 1..f4 white simply goes 2. Bd3 h6 3. Bh7+ Kh8 4. Bg7 Kg7 5. Qg6+ Kh8 6. Qh6 wins. Anand played 1...Bf6, & later Ba6 & they exchanged both coloured bishops. But the weakness of having committed both d5 & f5 told; Karjakin won this game.

One of the absolute highlights of my stay was a chance meeting with the legendary Mark Dvoretsky !!

"Spoke to Dvoretsky ! Analysed Svidler - Aronian with him. Told him  I loved his books."

Thank you Mark, for being my teacher. 

When I heard the news of his passing away, I felt a number of things at the same time..
Sadness that such a great legend had passed away..
A sense of gratitude to have got the chance to meet him in Moscow and even talk to him and tell him how grateful I was for his teachings !
I never knew him personally, but from what I have read and observed, I feel he taught chess until the very last days of his life and it makes me feel very happy for him. I think any person passionate about his work would want to spend his last days the same way.
But above all I felt gratitude.. to have been lucky enough to have read his books and learn from them. In my initial years, I dint use a computer for a very long time, and a large part of whatever I knew about chess was thanks to his books. Even today I always carry one Dvoretsky book with me for every tournament, and the thing about a good book is , every time you read it you learn something new. Thank you Mark, for being my teacher.

Hanging around at the Candidates venue :

   Nakamura - Giri : "Well Dressed & Well Prepared "

Thats all about the chess stuff..Now lets talk about Moscow !

We managed to take some time out to go around Moscow as well..Its a beautiful city and luckily for us, the weather more or less cooperated with our plans. We visited the Kremlin palace, and went for a tour of the Armory chamber and Cathedral Square. The Kremlin is majestic and left us spellbound . For eg, The armory chamber has a museum which displays Russian treasury, such as Gold, silver & copper ware & jewellery from the 1700s , thrones used by the Tzars, horses's decorated saddles, dinner & cuttlery sets received as gifts by the Tzars by various kings & monarchs all over the world ( it was a custom to bring an appropriate gift for the Tzar while meeting him ; among other things, there was 120 piece dessert set gifted to the Tzar by Nepolian ) , gowns worn by the King & Queen for their coronation ceremony..it was a real treat. It took us 3 hours to go through it fully and at the end we were like kash moghals aur britishers India nahi aate, to hamare museums me bhi ye sab dekhne milta.  Moscow has an old world charm that has been expressed & preserved so well through its architecture. While walking down the streets in Tverskaya street, our eyes would be hooked on to the buildings around us. Even a bank office would be in this rich heritage building. For me , one of the highlights of my sightseeing was travelling in the Underground metro. It is more than 80 years old. built in the 1930s by the Soviet Union. Its many feet under the ground, so that the public transport system would be safe from any bombings. Going down so many feet in the escalator was an event in itself for a person like me who is not comfortable with heights. I was a bit afraid but also thoroughly enjoyed it ! Some pictures from our trip  :

Moscow architecture is dominated with red bricks, with elements of gold & blue, the colours look beautiful at dusk.

Kremlin at night, with the disneyland- like church at the background. 

                                       
                                                           Its a new day at Moscow :)

                         Cathedral Square, where Ivan the Terrible and his family is buried.
 

                                               The Tzar's Cannon at Ivanovskaya Square.

Space Museum , in the pic above, and The All Russian Exhibition Centre, in the pictures below, are right opposite the Cosmos Hotel, where we stayed for 11 days before the Candidates tmt for the Aeroflot Open - but we never noticed either of these !

I can take heart that my bad result at the Aeroflot open might have been due to several reasons, but surely not lack of focus. ;)

I have always been very fascinated by this city. After all its the mecca of chess. I love going back to Russia again and again, and playing in Russian tournaments. Even 60 year old 2200 veterans can give you an endgame lesson when you have been a decent chess player for 20 years yourself. Their love and respect for chess is reason enough for me to be drawn to this city. I once read a lovely quote which says when we travel we find out how wrong other people are about the places we visit and people we meet ! Its true..I have never really agreed with this general perception of Russians being cold..though the weather in Moscow remained cold as ever everytime ! But this time, that changed too. Thanks to my friends, my meeting with Dvoretsky and my experience at the Candidates, Moscow was warm. Welcoming and warm.

Lessons on Friendship !

                                                         

No no, dont worry. Its not going to be a class on how to be a good friend. or even worse, how to make friends. If you want to learn that then you better google it. Though I personally feel, just being the best version of youself will help you more than google. But ok, its matter of choice, I leave it to you.

So ya, this blog is not about that. Its about my personal musings. I am a person with a philosophical bent of mind. I am always looking for 'tatwa', the kind who will derive a life lesson over a seemingly routine occurence. As the year ends, I am trying to make a gist of all the new lessons I have learnt this year..I have a lot of time right now and there have been a lot of them. Career Lessons, Relationship lessons, Lifestyle lessons. U can say 2015 was a truly learning experience hahaha. But , even though friendship day is long over, all I feel like talking about today are my lessons on friendship. And thats what I plan to do with this article. But you know how life is. You think you are doing something routine, following your plan, when something extraordinary happens. Aah never mind, we will come to that later ;)

U know, yesterday, the 16th of December was my very dear friend Vera's birthday. Yesterday I also saw this amazing film called 'Bangalore Days'. Its a Malayalam movie about 3 cousins who are also the best most amazing set of friends. Its funny how in all these friendship stories, the characters involved are either childhood friends or school friends or college friends. Thats it. Its as if uske baad to friends bante hi nahi. Its also true to a certain extent. Children dont judge and children let go. The top two signs of being a true friend !

                                                 

Since I am a chess player - the college thing doesnt really apply to me. I would say the college equivalent in a sportsperson's life are his junior years. So that would mean all the good friends are made in the 1st 20 years of your life and if u managed to make a few after that then Bro, you must be really good at pretending to be a nice person ! Its not like I havent made any good friends after my junior years. For eg, Vera - we met only last year, but then thats the thing about having a soul sister. You recognise her whether u r 8 or 80. In the movie, the 3 of them - Kuttan, Arjun and Divya - grow up in the same village, go to the same school and spend summer holidays at their ancestral house every year. Now they are all grown up and dont meet so often - but destiny brings all 3 of them to Bangalore. And thats it - Happiness. The way their face lights up when they are together - thats a one of a kind feeling. U dont feel this way with everybody. U might not ever feel this way with anybody, and that would also be completely normal. Luckily I can relate to this feeling completely. Last year I was on my way to Kalyani Nagar for World Junior's Commentary. It was my 2nd day and I was really excited and nervous at the same time. I was passing through FC road when I suddenly spotted my friend Sneha on the road. Now Sneha and me are friends since we were 10. We have gone to the same school, been in the same class, same division, same tutions, same colony, same college. More importantly she also used to play chess so we have played the same tournaments and stayed together at many of them. When I saw her across the road I stuck my head out of the running auto, called out to her at the top my voice, and amidst all that traffic she heard me. Just those 2 mins with a friend left me feeling so happy and relaxed about my day ahead - even though we dint talk about my day at all.

Kuttan is a 'good boy' IT professional who would ideally like to go back to his village and live a life as simple as possible, Divya is a class topper who keeps her dreams of going for MBA at IIM aside and agrees for an arranged marriage instead - deciding upon it in just 1 meeting because 'he seems nice' - and Arjun is the quintessential Vagabond who has his own set of issues stopping him from becoming what he really wants to be. But the way these characters approach their problems is truly awesome ! They have an amazing spirit, they are kind, understanding, not so dumb and driven ! One more important point is - they dont have any other friends ! Frankly, I dont think they even tried to make new ones.

 A couple of months back, I called up one of my old friends in exasperation : "Eeshu I am done. I am done making new friends. I dont want to meet any new people and dont want to make any new friends. I am happy with my limited friend circle and I dont want to broaden my world now." Her reply was so wise, and so clear that it made me feel happy about my life decisions once again :

" Soumya, luckily we made friends with some really good people in our childhood and so if we want to stop making new ones now,  I think we can afford to do so. " 

Towards the end of the movie, Arjun has this important bike race ahead. In his head it is the culmination point , at the end of which everything in his life will have clarity, make more sense. Thats the reason its so important for him. On the night before the race, while he sits staring at the route map, wondering if he will be able to zoom his super bike through it all, Kuttan comes and places their Toy bikes on the map. A hero honda - for Kuttan, a super bike - for Arjun , and a scooter for Divya. A silent way of saying We Ride Together. I loved the movie and would highly recommend it to everyone out there. Its fun, beautiful, relatable..and the best part is everyone is so good looking :D

                                                   

Frankly this is all I wanted to talk about in this blog. Then I suddenly remembered that I had been pondering over something similar at the beginning of this year too..I remember I had even written a post about it but decided not to post it immediately as it felt a bit incomplete back then..So today I went back to that post and re-read it. Here is the 1st post , which now forms the continuation of my present article :)

"Today I read an old report on chessbase. It was a 2005 report about a chess tournament in Harlem, in which Ex Women's World Champion Nona Gaprindashvili also participated. Nona is Georgian and was Women's World Champion for 17 years (!!). She is a living legend you could say.

What struck me was a photograph of Nona walking dejected after a loss in the 7th round. Her friend Käty van der Mije-Nicolau, who was also in World Top 10 for a long time & lives in the Netherlands now, was walking beside her . She has her arm around her and can be seen consoling Nona. Katy & Nona have been friends since 1961. Katy would come to the hall everyday to cheer for Nona. Nona won the tournament. At the age of 64. 

I was amazed ! 1st of all this woman still felt like playing competitive chess at 64. & her friend understood what it meant to her. I thought when I am 64 will I still be able to play chess ? Moreover will I have a friend who understands what it means to me even then ?

I feel whatever life we chose for ourselves, we should try and make atleast 1 friend who will do that for us - be there for us, encourage us, believe in our dreams, and fill our heart with gratitude for having him/her in our lives. No matter how old we get. or they get. & for whom we would do the same. "

So you see, my earlier incomplete post helped me complete my present day post..wonderful how life works out sometimes ! But thats not the most incredible part. The most incredible part was the date on the earlier post - It read 16th December 2014 ! Happy Birthday Vera ! :) <3<3<3

                                                 

                                                   
                                                        &  Dont forget to Dance !


( Sorry I am a bit late, my watch is exactly 1 day slow )


                                                   

My Best Friend's Wedding - & How I dint make it :O

At the beginning of last year I got an opportunity to go and stay at the Akademie Schloss Solitude , in Stuttgart, Germany , as a fellow scholar for a period of 3 months. Naturally I leapt at it with both hands..so I went there from Jan to March 2014.. This also meant that I missed my best friend Amruta's wedding. She was going to get married to the love of her life, Sagar, on 5th Feb 2014. I thought, chalega , wapas aake wish kar loongi. Anyway Marriage zyada imp hai na wedding se. Mujhe actually shaadi wagaira attend karna kabhi acha nahi laga. bachpan se me har shaadi par roti thi - out of boredom. I used to get soo bored and fed up of all the hellos and smiles I had to give away at weddings..and then wud feel even worse for the bride and groom who had to do it all day for god knows how many days at a stretch thanks to the fact that they were getting married ! Aur ek cheez mujhe aaj tak samajh me nahi aayi ; log shaadi karne pe congrats kyu bolte hai..Ideally they should wish the couple all the best, nahi ?  

Anyway, so all this, coupled with some thoughts like ' doston ke bure time pe unke saath hona zyada imp hai rather than unki shaadi attend karna ' made me feel totally ok about missing my best friend's wedding..and off I went. 

As the days to her wedding came nearer I started feeling oh, maybe I could have helped her with her shopping today had I been there..kuch last minute make up appointment hoga to I could have taken her with me..or nail art ! Like we did for shanku & srinidhi ..Eh Shanku se yaad aya, bachellorate party ka kya hua ? Wo to kiya hi nahi ! Shit man yaha aane se pehle hi kar lena chahiye tha..Shit Shit Shit. Ok wapas jaake me ek din amruta ko girls night out ko leke jaungi. Haan ye sahi hai..baaki ? uske cousins aaye rahenge na ab tak .. Hey sab friends ne dance set kiya ki nahi..yaar mujhe dance karna tha yaar amruta ki shaadi pe ! Bas ek hi to tammanna thi..

& suddenly it dawned upon me ki I was such a useless best friend ! I was missing the Most Important Day of her life ! For what..ok, this academy is really cool & I am really grateful to be here..but still..shes my best friend and I could not take her out for dress shopping or zero in on a bridal look with her, cudnt be her moral ( if needed physical ) support while she negotiated with the hallwala and the phoolwala, cudnt have any late night convs, share any boyfriend/ husband tips, scout for exotic honeymoon locations online ..or just go over for a stayover.. nothing ! Here I am in germany while she is some 5000 miles away..doing what ? I dont even know..

A week before her wedding I decided to make a gift for amruta. I thought maybe this would make her - actually me - feel slightly better about me not being present on her special day. I decided to make a collage of all the beautiful memories we have. I know amruta since I was 8 and she was 11, I know her properly since we were 10 & 13 respectively, and by the time we were 13 & 16 we had played countless tournaments together where I wud tag along with Prachi mavshi & Ams, had had countless fights - verbal & physical, had consoled each other after all those tears that come after losing - which was often, had attended two 1 month long camps, and after the 2nd camp - Calicut 2003 - we were Best Friends Forever :) 

                                                    Calicut Camp 2003

  Those days when attending a chess camp meant sharing secrets & making friends for life :)

Ya, so I decided to do this collage thing..& the 1st night I only cried..I cant explain why. Let me remind you weddings dont make me senti, at all, but this time I only cried. 

Then I finally got to making the collage the next day.  & one by one i started running through all those memories once again..

                2003 / 04 / 05..sweet memories with an ever affectionate friend :)

 

                                                             
                                                      December 2005

Oh this was on Anu's Birthday ..Anu's place was our fav hangout place when we were kids..i remember taking lots of pictures on webcam, online chatting with random people, sharing ghost stories over bhadang..& debating on who liked whom ! :D

                                                      MOSCOW 2007

This pic is of our 1st foreign trip together Aeroflot 2007 at Moscow ! Ek to humko tabhi aadhe se zyada cheeze khaneme problem thi. " Borsch soup ? - never !" upar se we dint even take rice cooker, just a small water kettle. To u know hum us tmt me bilkul khaana hi nahi khate the..maybe 1 time meal thts it ! Roz plan banate the aaj snow me jaenge, photo nikalenge..ek din himmat banake gaye bahar . It was -30 ! We literally freezed ! After every 2 clicks we wud get back in the well heated lobby , prepare ourselves for the next shot, & go out again . Haha..

                                          Academy Practise in 2008

I remember this time when we seriously started working on chess for the 1st time together - in around August 2004, when Amruta was the reigning National Sun Junior Champion..thanks to our practise sessions I also won my first title soon - U-17 nationals.This pic was taken at Abhijit dada's academy in 2008, where many of us pune players worked together for an year and our playing strength ( & ratings ) simply escalated ! On this particular day  me, Amruta & Eesha decided to 'rebel' & 'bunk class' & go for a movie, just to get the feel of being a regular college kid ..we ended up watching Bombay to Bangkok. Karma. Bas usi ki tickets thi ya hamari choice itni kharab thi, yaad nahi. Par uske baad kabhi bunk nahi mara class ko. 

                                                  4th November 2009

On the night I returned from Argentina as the new World junior girls champion. One of the happiest moments of my life. Amruta, Anu and Sneha made it all the more special for me by decorating my house that night, and gave me a huge surprise as soon as I entered :)

                                                 

 A few more surprises: 8th August 2011, Barcelona. Amruta's 25th Birthday :)

THE ENGAGEMENT - Always enthusiastic! She specially designed their rings herself!

  

16th July 2013 : Amruta actually postponed her engagement date so that I could be there too ! How cute :) Love u for this, and lots of more moments like this. :)

Finally kaise to ye collage banaya..The tough part wasnt to collect all d pics, but to actually make it rather than just sit and ponder over all the memories from all these years.

( Collage ka backstory ye hai ki I dint send by post  on her wedding nor gave it to her the 1st time I met her after that. Somewot awkward lag raha tha everytime, as if its too late to make amends now..so finally gave it in August as birthday gift :p )

Sagar ne shaadi ke baad chessbase report likha tha unki shaadi pe. It was a chess themed wedding ! :) Report padhke ekdum feel aya jaise me wahi thi ..Kya masttt lag rahi Amruta..with all that jewellery..oh btw if u have read sagar's report then u must be knowing about the fact that amruta did not wear any gold on her wedding ( except for her wedding ring & mangal sutra ) as a mark of protest against all the pressure Indian parents are made to go through in order to make their daughter look all 'decked up & looked after' on her wedding day. Fiesty , aint she ? :) 

Ek din amruta aur sagar ke saath unka reception party ka video dekha..they had danced on 'me rang sharbaton ka' and 'agal bagal' that day..wo dekha..bohot sundar tha..bohot hi sundar ! Ekdum Made for each other :) 

I think this would be the right time to wish this super awesome total fun fabulous super loving & caring couple all the happiness in the world. I wish you a very very happy wedding anniversary, Congratulations on completing 1 year of marriage ! May you both have the happiest, most fulfilling and everlasting married life together :)

                                                       2008 - Forever 

Tum dono ko dekhke lagta hai ki now I know why we wish Congratulations & not all the best on weddings :)

Coming back to wedding video, fir maine dono ke friends ka dance dekha...bohot sahi naacha sabne..fir dj night tha to sab log nachne lage, amrutas parents, prathamesh, sagar's bhaiya bhabhi, his parents, friends, relatives, relatives's friends, friend's relatives, everyone..overall bohot mast lag raha tha video dekhke but at the back of my mind I thought yaar ek hi to tamanna thi , Amruta ki shaadi pe naachne ki ..