january 31 2006

Don't be too sad if Bacrot gives the point to Topalov in one move, after giving the point to Aronian in zero move. And again, it's one of the best, I have a particular memory, dating from... 1995 (yes, he was 12 years old). For the others, it is expected that before 2060, the French will start studying the endgames. As J. Lautier wrote, before Dvoretzky's book (2004), there was nothing about endgames. With such friends, one does not need enemies.

The game of the day is a classic, recognisable (and recognised) from the 6th move.

A classic that should be studied again, if only for the extraordinary talent of choosing, among the equally efficient moves, the most natural ones (in fact, the most "findable", and moreover found, without a computer) and those which bring into play the last reserves, exchanging in the process the most active opposite pieces. I add, "noblesse oblige", the tests of the last solution contest.

Note: the Saint Lazarus "policy" is permanent contestation, and consists in not "rejecting anything on principle" (hence the importance for me to write the report the same night, when everything is still fresh). And if my character often pushes me to choose the side of the defence, I am sometimes on the other side, it was the case in the study of 12...Bxg2. And the only "botched analyses" are due to lack of time.