while reviewing some ancient messages, i have found some beauties; here is a
topical one about the recently deceased david bronstein

On another topic, I've heard that the radio match is
postponed/cancelled. Pity, because there is a beautiful
anecdote in Bronstein's "Sorcerer's Apprentice" on how
he only learned to drink Scotch because of such a match.

I trust all is going well with you.

PI

Previously it was thought that it would be in two groups, one in Tripoli and
one in Baku. Kasparov joked that the reason he was seeded into the final was
that as he was half-Jewish, he could not play in Tripoli and as he was
half-Armenian, he could not play in Baku.

Regards

Nigel

Hanon,

How come you did not publish my letter in reference to Guert's column? I
would hope that chesscafe will not become infamous for the commercial
slant of its authors in preference to some more objective reporting, and
frankly, since Edward Winter makes such a fine fuss about historical
veracity, is
he aware of the editorial selection procedure of his primary e-publisher?

Should I ask him directly?

Phil Innes

Whereas my otherwise correspondent said:

Did you get a response as yet? Likely, you will get no response.

And I am still waiting 4 years later.

PI

It runs counter to some ChessCafe deal. That's why
it is not going up. You should put the piece on rgcp, though if you do,
I
will chip in and detail the horrendous censorship going on there.

I don't want to continue any blague there - its a waste of time; the
contributors don't really seem involved with anything I would consider
useful to chess, and mostly are content rewriting historical chess
fantasies
and doing a bit of useful brown-nosing trying to get a nice job at the
Kastle - erm, at HeadQuarters

To be quite frank, I never would have wanted to work for him. But if you
remained at a bit of distance, he was truly a man of his word. Someone you
could really make a deal with. And he could run rings around most of us. Now
he will be remembered also as someone who was 'absolved of any wrong-doings'
by his successor K.I., just like Nixon was left off the hook by Gerald Ford.

I know you detest Campo, Larry, and you hate FIDE. But I am quite firm on
this point. Campo may have done a lot of things, but any money he took was
(most probably) to reimburse those 'friends' who had lent him the funds to
save FIDE in 1993 - 1994. I myself was very angry about what Campo did in
Moscow 1994 (e.g. Karpov was refused entry into the hotel where the Olympics
were staged ! This was the then FIDE World Champion; the vote-buying and
intimidation that went on at the night before the decisive vote). The reason
is (I think) that Campo had not solved this financial problem yet, and the
then bookkeepers had not yet been able to cook the books. Someone will write
a great book about this FIDE period, when the statute of limitations has
passed. Looking forward to it. (Maybe I can contribute - on the Oman story
!).

I thought A v ROW black score was 1.5/3 Not Russia
Championship. Could U supply me the URL for download?
Srikanth
--- Chess One wrote:

Hey! Someone knows something about the Armenian
variation!

Did you notice its two recent outings? The first in
the Russian
championships and the second in Armenia versus ROW.
Black scores 1.5/2.0
against 2600 level opposition.

I recently contacted a Russian GM expert in this
system [one of the players
above] and asked him if he would write a monograph
on this opening system,
and he agreed. I think your conclusion below is
correct, that it is far from
well known, and in fact have just surveyed the
opinion of 2 American GMs and
they don't know any current lines since about 1980.

Sorry to top post, but I add nothing of detail to
your message, and simply
want to recommend its study for the serious player.

Cordially, Phil Innes

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3 6.bxc3
Ne7
7.Qg7 - The standard French Winnaver position not
including early deviations and positional lines.
White
gets double B and a shattered pawn structure.
Level
play field. If you stack all the theory leading up
to
this point and beyond, it should be as tall as
Mount
Everest. It's a problem akin to KID at the top
level.
Everybody seemed to know everything or so I felt.

Armenian Variant is 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5
c5
5.a3 Ba5 (withdrawing the bishop and loosing the
tempo) 6.b4 cxd4 7.Nb5 Bc7

I have made 4 pawn moves and 3 bishop moves in
seven
moves, buddy. And you can take it and retain your
double B. You don't have to spoil your pawn
structure
as well! Some guts.

If white plays 8.f4 black plays Bd7. This is the
main
line now and black seems to tell white "I'll give
you
a choice now. You take me on c7 or I'll make to
take
me on b5. Choice is yours. Double B is also yours"
This is what I like about this variation. This
seeming
insanity. The reality is both sides have achieved
essentially nothing and 8 moves are over. Perhaps
white's space and black's development count for
something but nothing substantial.

This is a very old line with Botvinnik and
Alekhine
playing it. But the Aremenian GMs, particularly
Lputian Smbat and Vaganian gave respectability to
the
line. They invested a life time on this and
extended
the theory, often at the cost of elo points.

Though C17 is pretty regular at top level
tournaments,
I have a feeling not many play at lower levels. I
don't know why. Probably because not many books
are
available and one has to depend on database.
Someone
like McDonald writing a book on this will probably
make it popular.

I can tell you this. If you are a French player
and if
you don't try this line then you are missing
something.

Best

Srikanth