Best of the Web: Week 3

Hi everyone,

This week, I decided to present one of my favourite games of all time. I hope you enjoy it! You can find the game here. It was played in 2008 between V. Ivanchuk and S. Karjakin. Both players were blindfolded, and Ivanchuk produced a masterpiece, sacrificing his queen against two pawns in a rather dull position, to win the game 35 moves later, after a crazy battle!

John Upper will be following the FIDE Thessaloniki Grand Prix, and probably missing the live commentary that made last week's US Championship and Norway Chess so addictive: Follow it here!

Félix Dumont recommends ChessVibes, a great website which often features interesting news articles such as this one, about a recent match between representatives from the USA and Russia... Did I mention the representatives were inmates, and that the Russian team destroyed the American squad?!

Finally, for those of you who have trouble understanding grandmaster play in the endgame (anybody? :), check out the Shredder tablebases. They will solve any position with 6 pieces or less! The interface is very user-friendly, and it's free! I used this website for the first time a few months ago during a game between M. Carlsen and V. Ivanchuk (him again!), and it made it a lot easier to follow. 

Have a great week!