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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 6 OF 6 ·
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Aug-10-07
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| chancho: Congrats to GM elect Jacob Aagaard in winning the British Championship with a score of 8.5/11. http://www.chessscotland.com/archiv... |
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Aug-11-07
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| Domdaniel: Aagard's last round win vs Flear gets the <Spirit of Saint Nimzo> award for whatever month we're in at the moment. A brilliantly provocative Nimzo-Indian, full of mini-blockades, positional sacrifices, heroic defence, counter-attack, etc. And tension. Somebody might want to update his profile to include the British Championship for 2007 (or whatever year we're in at the moment). Maybe Jacob will even decide whether to pronounce his name Danish-style (Oah-yur) or Scots-style (Wah-garrd). Is there even such a thing as being a "Scottish citizen"? Despite devolution, the passport still says "British subject". |
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| Aug-11-07 |
| Larsker: <Maybe Jacob will even decide whether to pronounce his name Danish-style (Oah-yur) or Scots-style (Wah-garrd).> Or French-style: <En garde>. |
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| Aug-12-07 |
| Ezzy: How Jacob Aagaard won the British chess championship. Round 1 A Posazhennikov(2247) v J Aagaard(2457)
click for larger viewPosazhennikov decides to make a discovered attack on the black night on f4 with 34 Ng3? To his surprise, Aagaard plays 34…Rxf2 defending the knight and winning another pawn and the game. Round 2 J Aagard(2457) v M Hebden(2540)
Aagaard took advantage of Hebden’s decision to give up material for no real compensation, after which he was always in control. Round 3 Li Wu v J Aagaard
click for larger viewWu only needs to play 28 Rb7 threatening mate and black’s queen simultaneously and Aagaard will resign. He didn’t and unbelievably went on to lose. The great escape by Aagard. Round 4 J Aagaard(2457) v G Oswold(2147)
click for larger viewA game won in the opening.
Oswold just played the aweful 19…dxc5? And after 20 d6 Nf6 21 bxc5 his position was in tatters. |
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| Aug-12-07 |
| Ezzy: Round 5 N pert(2536) v J Aagaard(2457)
click for larger viewAagaard has sacrificed a piece for 3 pawns for total domination of the centre, and so Pert decides to give the piece back to release the squeeze. Not a good Idea, as Aagaard plays brilliant chess and makes Perts king live in misery. Fantastic game from Aagaard!!
Round 6 J Aagaard(2457) v J Rowson(2599)
The game was always equal. A hard fought draw.
Round 7 S Williams(2480) v J Aagaard(2457)
click for larger viewAnother masterclass from Aagaard. From this position Aagaard builds up a big positional advantage with 26…Qd8! I really like the idea behind this move. I t threatens 27…Bg5 28 Qg3 Bh4 29 Qh3 Rd2 winning one of the bishops. Note that white can’t now play the defending 30 Rf2 because the bishop is on h4 attacking the f2 square. Aagaard from here built played a great positional game and was in total control. A fantastic performance. |
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| Aug-12-07 |
| Ezzy: Round 8 J Aagaard(2457) v S Haslinger(2468)
click for larger viewAagaard’s first loss. Haslinger is threatening 32…b4 with a strong initiative. Aagaard thinks he sees an opportunity to grab the initiative with an attack against the f7 pawn which doesn’t turn out well. 32.Re7 b4 33.Bc4 bxa3 34.bxa3 d3! <very strong> 35.Rxf7 Kh8 36.Bxd3 Qxd3 37.Qe7 Qf1+ 38.Kh2 Qxf2 39.Rxg7 Qf4+ 40.Rg3 Nh5 0–1 Aagaard should have prevented 32…b4 by 32 Qb4 or 32 Qa5 Round 9 D Howell((2519) v J Aagaard(2457)
Aagard’s pressure won the exchange and after a lot of moves, finally the game. Round 10 J Aagaard (2457) v S Gordon (2487)
click for larger viewOn the time control Aagaard blunders with 40.Kh3?? <40 Bf2 and the game goes on> Qf1+ 41.Kg4 Nd3 42.Be3 d4 0–1 Round 11 G Flear (2479) v J Aagaard2457)
click for larger viewAagaard was the exchange down and then Flear played the reckless 37 b4? Which weakens his king and opens up the dangerous ‘c’ file. From here Aagaard penetrated into Flears position with his queen and it was all over. Aagaard becomes British champion!
It could of all been a different story if Wu would have played 28 Rb7 in round 3. But you need a bit of good fortune to win a championship, and Aagaard played some really nice games. Congratulations to him on some fine attacking and exciting chess! |
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Aug-14-07
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| Domdaniel: <Ezzy> Excellent commentary, thank you, and those FENs are useful. I agree that the Pert and Williams games were superb -- much as I regretted the latter, because I tend to play the same opening repertoire as Simon Williams, and a loss for him almost feels like a loss for me. Pert's decision to return the piece looks all wrong in retrospect (he had a dynamic alternative in Nce4, instead of Nxb5) -- but in fact Black has some drawing chances in the endgame that resulted, and Aagard had to play precisely for the full point. Leading from the front -- with five straight wins -- is always the toughest way to win a tournament. I've never done it myself: but on three occasions I can think of I 'caught up' via last-round wins over players who had been on 100% -- the fact that a draw will suffice seems to inhibit many people in this situation. Coming from behind is psychologically easier, another reason to be impressed by Aagard's tenacity. I think maybe you underestimate the last-round win against Flear. Given the tension of the occasion, it's a remarkable game. Flear admittedly played some nervous-looking moves, but Aagard took advantage of them expertly. A very worthy champion, in my opinion. And 3 or 4 great games, perhaps more. Plus a great score for Black! |
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| Aug-15-07 |
| Ezzy: <Domdaniel: A very worthy champion, in my opinion.> Absolutely! I noticed he hasn't played that much chess recently as well, so this was a special performance. To win your GM title during the tournament was a massive added bonus. What a two weeks for him!! Thank's also for your kind words. |
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| Sep-19-07 |
| sanyas: <During the second half of the 20th century, chess underwent a similar transformation. The most important change was probably realizing the importance of dynamics. While some moves were ruled out on principle at the beginning of the 20th century, even in 1925 when this book was originally published, a more scientific approach gradually took over. I will try to give some brief headlines over the next few pages, but would recommend that the reader refer to John Watson's Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy : Advances since Nimzowitsch for a deeper understanding of how modern chess is approached by the strongest players.> http://www.chesscafe.com/skittles/s...
He seems to have made up, mostly, with John Watson and his book. <Like Nimzowitsch, Watson is not necessarily correct in every detail of his analysis, but, as with My System, reading his book will undoubtedly enhance the reader's understanding of how chess works.> ...but cannot resist one final dig. |
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| Oct-01-07 |
| capablancakarpov: Aagaard´s spectacular play in the last 3 months was awarded with an astonishing 68 elo point gain in 33 games, and a life top 2535 fide rating. |
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| Oct-01-07 |
| RookFile: Well, this guy is always going to be first on any alphabetical list of chessplayers. |
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| Oct-03-07 |
| capablancakarpov: <RookFile: Well, this guy is always going to be first on any alphabetical list of chessplayers.> Not exactly true... Anton Aaberg
Jakob Aabling-Thomsen |
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Oct-03-07
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| dx9293: Hmm...Aagaard hasn't submitted a GM title application yet. |
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| Dec-29-07 |
| Everett: I find his books very instructive. I have three (Technical, Combinational, and Positional Chess) and the author's unique mix of concepts and examples have helped improved my problem solving and correspondence chess success. The only slight is the book on combinations, as the puzzles are all taken from the Sicilian. Nonetheless, most of those positions are so far away from the opening as to be nearly unrecognizable ECO-wise. Coincidentally, the runner up Rowson is another favorite of mine, though I think his books help the process of playing the game of chess, how it relates to life, etc. and is less effective in the nuts and bolts of making good decisions on the board. |
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| Dec-29-07 |
| square dance: <everett> coincidentally, i have the same three books you do in aargaard's "excelling at..." series. im working through the problems at the end of the combinational book. i read the positional book, but didnt work on the problems. as for the technical book, well, that will be collecting dust for some time. although i think the books are meant for players stronger than myself, i still find it useful to reach over my head and try to occasionally pull myself up to that level. |
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Dec-29-07
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| bystander: <square dance>
I have been working on Agaards' excelling at combinational play for a while, and for me it was too difficult to grasp the concepts presented and most of the puzzles I have tried (did not try them all) I could not solve.Now I am reading Learn Chess Tactics from John Nunn. It is more suitable for my level of solving chess puzzles.
For example, Agaard explaines the very basic ideaas of combinations in 3 pages (Eco Thema selection, basic ideas liked ouble thread, deflection, pinning etc) where John Nunn uses several pages for each theme. Maybe after finishing John Nunn, I give Agaard another try! |
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| Jan-01-08 |
| Everett: Those combinations at the end are not easy at all. I see about 2 or 3 out of the 6 per page, and not all the possible defenses. The positional book, and the exercises, are really, really good, and different.... and difficult. I think they're improving my vision and understanding more than any recent material. I know many don't appreciate his "pot shots" at other chess book authors, yet I don't think his opinions are unreasonable, and it's refreshing (to me) to hear a very good player make commentary on the various books out there. Good luck with your study!
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| Apr-09-08 |
| Freelix: GM Aagaard wrote a well-received book on the Dutch Stonewall a few years back. Interestingly, he doesn't play this variation (or even the Dutch) in a single game in chessgames. Isn't this strange? |
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| Apr-10-08 |
| DarthStapler: I have some books by this guy |
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| Nov-03-08 |
| Silverstrike: I've seen this guy a couple of times in various tournaments around Scotland. Never played him though... |
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Jan-17-09
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| Joshka: This guy was Dan Heisman's guest on his show last Thursday!!..it's available on re/play from the ICC Website! |
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| Mar-19-09 |
| jon01: I just got his book "Starting Out: The Grunfeld". |
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Apr-28-09
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| alexrawlings: <jon01: I just got his book "Starting Out: The Grunfeld".> How are finding that book? I've just started it... |
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Apr-28-09
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| Marmot PFL: Aagaard wrote a book on the Tarrasch Defense, and he doesn't play that either. Why write about the lines you plan to play? |
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Jul-31-09
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| wordfunph: Happy Birthday to Jacob Aagard who authored one of best reads...."Inside the Chess Mind"! |
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