Kosteniuk Chess960 Simul
Hi everybody!
Tonight I gave a 20-board Chess960 simul at the 2010 Mainz Chess Classic, while Vishy Anand gave a 40-board Classical Chess Simul. What was special about my simul is that I played chess with different starting positions on the board, none of the 20 boards had a classical chess setup!
Playing Chess960 makes the games very interesting, and one must start thinking from the first move on. The great advantage in simuls is that you don’t have situations where players play out 20 theoretical moves and then get in trouble the move after they don’t remember the continuation. In Chess960 it’s a challenge to find the right plan right from the beginning of the game, that makes it more enjoyable also.
One of the key supporters of the Mainz Chess Classic is Mayor Jens Beutel. Here you see him playing me in the Chess960 Simul.
The room where the simul is played is very beautiful, it’s located in the Hilton Mainz, right on the bank of the river Rhine.
I obtained 18 points out of 20, with 4 draws and no losses.
Here I am analyzing my game against Mayor Beutel. Actually the position was quite equal, and on one of my turns I offered him a draw, but he was so deep in thought that he did not hear it. He continued to play and I eventually won the game…
Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women’s World Chess Champion
www.chessqueen.com
Tags: chess simul, chess960, kosteniuk simul
Posted in Chess | 5 Comments »
I recall there were 4 different starting positions but placed so that none of the same starting positions were next to each other (positions 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, etc). Moving from board to board was even more of a challenge than usual, especially at the beginning of the game when one usually plays quite fast theoretical lines. The advantage of Chess960 simuls is that you don’t get people who play 20 theoretical moves but then blunder on the 21st. In Chess960 it’s thinking from the first move on, that’s much fun and still has all the elements of chess as we love it.