The Botvinnik-Smyslov battle
17.10.2004
– Tired of Kramnik-Leko and all the draws? Hardly a timely question on the day the drama in Brissago reaches a climax. But if you want to see one of the bloodiest matches in history you should drop in at Playchess.com for Dennis Monkroussos's Monday night lecture.
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Dennis Monokroussos writes: While the Kramnik-Leko match has had
its exciting moments, the number of bloodless draws was distressingly high.
This week, we’ll examine some high points from a match that was on the
opposite end of the spectrum, the first Botvinnik-Smyslov match, in 1954. How
different? The 24-game match (ultimately tied 12-12) had 14 decisive games,
12 of the first 16, including a streak of 8 decisive results in a row! All
the games were full of fight, and many of the games were of theoretical significance.
Technology and chess have come a long way in 50 years, but we can learn a lesson
from them when it comes to fighting spirit – join us and see some great
– and combative – chess!
Dennis Monokroussos' Radio
ChessBase lectures begin on Mondays at 9 p.m. EDT, which translates
to 02:00h GMT, 03:00 Paris/Berlin, 13:00h Sydney (on Tuesday). Other
time zones can be found at the bottom of this page. You
can use Fritz or any Fritz-compatible program (Shredder, Junior, Tiger,
Hiarcs) to follow the lectures, or download a free
trial client. |
 Dennis
Monokroussos is 38, lives in South Bend, IN (the site of the University
of Notre Dame), and is writing a Ph.D. dissertation in philosophy (in the philosophy
of mind) while adjuncting at the University.
He is fairly inactive as a player right now, spending most of his non-philosophy
time being a husband and teaching chess. At one time he was one of the strongest
juniors in the U.S., but quit for about eight years starting in his early 20s.
His highest rating was 2434 USCF, but he has now fallen to the low-mid 2300s
– "too much blitz, too little tournament chess", he says.
Dennis has been working as a chess teacher for seven years now, giving lessons
to adults and kids both in person and on the internet, worked for a number
of years for New York’s Chess In The Schools program, where he was
one of the coaches of the 1997-8 US K-8 championship team from the Bronx, and
was very active in working with many of CITS’s most talented juniors.
When Dennis Monokroussos presents a game, there are usually two main areas
of focus: the opening-to-middlegame transition and the key moments of the middlegame
(or endgame, when applicable). With respect to the latter, he attempts to present
some serious analysis culled from his best sources (both text and database),
which he has checked with his own efforts and then double-checked with his
chess software.
Here are the exact times for different locations in the world
* indicates that the place is currently observing daylight saving time
(DST)
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