I've harped on Susan enough for the last two weeks ... it's time to recognize her sister (and since today is her birthday it's perfect timing) Happy Birthday, Judit!

Wikipedia says Judit is "by far the strongest female chessplayer in history".

No lie ... just look at this game ...

Polgar-Kasparov, Russia vs. The Rest of the World match, Moscow 2002
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 h6 10.Rd1+ Ke8 11.h3 Be7 12.Ne2 Nh4 13.Nxh4 Bxh4 14.Be3 Bf5 15.Nd4 Bh7 16.g4 Be7 17.Kg2 h5 18.Nf5 Bf8 19.Kf3 Bg6 20.Rd2 hxg4+ 21.hxg4 Rh3+ 22.Kg2 Rh7 23.Kg3 f6 24.Bf4 Bxf5 25.gxf5 fxe5 26.Re1 Bd6 27.Bxe5 Kd7 28. c4 c5 29.Bxd6 cxd6 30.Re6 Rah8 31.Rexd6+ Kc8 32.R2d5 Rh3+ 33.Kg2 Rh2+ 34.Kf3 R2h3+ 35.Ke4 b6 36.Rc6+ Kb8 37.Rd7 Rh2 38.Ke3 Rf8 39.Rcc7 Rxf5 40.Rb7+ Kc8 41.Rdc7+ Kd8 42.Rxg7 Kc8 1-0

Judit is known for her head strong attacking style. Her most interesting games have been against other known attackers ... Kasparov, Shirov, etc. Her winning strategy consists mostly of pre-tournament preparation.

I guess she got that from her dad, too. Three cheers for Laszlo Polgar! (whew, my chess teacher streak is showing).

Anyway, Judit is still the strongest woman and plays more in men events then all-women ones. I think there's a lesson there, if you want to improve and "be like Judit" you have to push limits and play the toughest players you can find.

Daniel Ludwig (read: "young man with potential") has earned his Second IM norm. At least that's what the World Chess Live newsletter is telling us in one sentence. Well, okay ... if you go all the way down and read the article on the world open things become a little clearer. Danny earned his Norm at the World Open. They (the WCL writers) just had to mention the four way tie for first by four grandmasters before mentioning Danny's accomplishment. Sidestepping the readability issue I'll move on the Danny.

The WCL folks have done an interview and an mp3 can be found at ... http://www.chessclub.com/mailing/2008/06ewcl/daniel%20ludwig%20(with%20intro%20and%20outro).mp3

Anyway, congrats Danny and I look forward to seeing 'GM' in front of your name some day.

Yesterday GM Victor Mikhalevski (2597) celebrated a birthday!

Victor Mikhalevski was born in Gomel, Belarus but currently resides in Israel. He was twice Israel champion under 20, in 1991 and 1992. He was awarded the GM title in 1996. In 2002 he placed 1st at the 1st International tournament in San Salvador, El Salvador with 7.5 out of 9 points.

Source: Chess Addict

I think it's good to occasionally mention the birthdays of top ranking players ... all too often we only see them fade away (dare I mention 'En Passant'). I hope it was a happy one, Victor!

After his defeat of Short I just had to do a quick internet search for Sergey. I came up with some pretty obvious sources but I also found a gem ...

Sergey Karjakin on Wikipedia A full biography with very little left out.

Sergey Karjakin on Chessgames.com A shorter biography but with a collection of statistics and games second to none.

Sergey Karjakin's FIDE rating card More interesting statistics on Sergey and his current rating ... always important.

and the gem ...

Sergey Karjakin article by Nigel Short!! What!?! Back in 2005 Short wrote an article praising Karjakin for his prowess. I wonder how he feels getting the full brunt of said prowess? Probably not that bad since he recognized Karjakin's gifts three years ago.

According to chessgames.com ...



"ARKADI NAIDITSCH (born Oct-25-1985) Germany
Originally from Latvia, Arkadi Naiditsch settled in Germany and became the youngest-ever grandmaster from this country in April 2001. In 2002, he drew an eight-game match with former Candidates' finalist Jan Timman in Dortmund. His greatest tournament success thus far is his clear first at the Dortmund Sparkassen (2005), ahead of Veselin Topalov, Peter Leko, Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Svidler, Etienne Bacrot, and Michael Adams, among others."

Now, maybe I'm just paranoid but his history suggests that Dortmund (or rather ... Sparkssen) is his home turf. It looks like he's a genuine wildcard ... an unknown factor thrown into Dortmund (not that he doesn't deserve to be there). Naiditsch has had some great successes ... what makes Magnus Carlssen so special?