Sweden is now a regulated market, which means that as a player you can only play at casinos with a license. See all regulated casinos in Sweden by Mr casinova.
AVS tied ShSM after a dramatic exchange of blows on the first two boards and two draws on boards 3 & 4. Natalia drew Valentina Gunina with Black in 90 moves.
Grandmaster Natalia Pogonina vs. the World at Chess.com
Written by Natalia Pogonina
Thursday, 01 April 2010
This is the current position of the Pogonina vs. the World game which is taking place at Chess.com (started on December, 24).
You can still join it here.
Will be happy to play against you! Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!
[Event "Pogonina vs. the World]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2009.12.23"]
[White "Pogonina"]
[Black "Chess.com"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteElo "2501"]
[TimeControl "1 in 1 day"]
Natalia Pogonina (winner of Moscow Open-2009) is playing against Nazi Paikidze (winner of Moscow Open-2010) with Black.
Games start at 3 p.m. Moscow time.
What happens when one team totally outclasses the other? AVS had over 170 (!) average rating advantage over Dvorets, and they... lost 2.5-1.5! A sensation, of course. Let's see if AVS members will be able to pull themselves together and prove their class in other matches.
Black is a pawn up & has two passed pawns. However, White has put up some resistance: their bishop is eyeing the pawns, the b7 passer looks formidable. How would you handle this?
Pogonina vs the World match took place from December 24, 2009 to March 28, 2010. During these three months a few thousand chess players from over 100 countries have been competing against top female grandmaster Natalia Pogonina. Among those who have revealed their identities were two IMs, two FMs, numerous NMs and CMs, as well as many strong correspondence players. Each side had one day per move. The World was offered a chance to discuss the course of the game at a special forum (not available to Natalia), come up with the best decision and vote. The move that received the most votes was automatically made. Its important to mention that vote chess is perfectly suited for learning chess since more experienced players have a chance to teach and instruct their less experienced teammates along the way.
After scoring an impressive strategic win in 55 moves, Natalia Pogonina was kind enough to share her impressions of the game.
On the concept of vote chess
Vote chess seems to be an excellent opportunity for people to learn more about chess and decision-making. Team work is also an important part of it. Many chess players are individualists; they prefer working on their own. Meanwhile, this format allows them to feel themselves part of the team.
WGM Natalia Pogonina (FIDE 2501) challenged the World to a vote chess game
On correspondence chess, killer instinct and match expectancies
Correspondence chess is something totally new to me. I have never played it before, especially against consultants. My primary goal was to make the game instructive and memorable for all the participants, as well as enjoy it myself. Of course, I didnt feel like losing, but there was no killer instinct or must win frenzy involved. The level of play from both sides is more important than the outcome.
Before the game some well-wishers tried to talk me out of playing by either telling me that the World will be playing very badly and quickly lose or you will be dealing with professional correspondence players and their chess engine labs. I waved these scary stories off being optimistic helps a lot. In reality, neither of these scenarios came to life.
Each week I get lots of messages with chess-related questions. Some of them are quite typical and repeated over and over again. I think it makes perfect sense to share my replies to some of the most common questions at Pogonina.com. Every week I am planning to publish 7 of them, one for each day of the week.
Q1: I am 20 (30,40, 50). Do I still have a chance to improve?
A1: Yes, although it is harder to learn chess at an older age, you can still progress, no matter how old you are.
Q2: Why do GMs avoid playing at public chess portals?
A2: They don't want to reveal their opening preparation by showing on what lines they are working.
Q3: Can I play you? A3: While for most people chess is a hobby, for me it is a full-time job. When I have free time, I prefer to spend it on something not chess-related, so I don't accept any chess challenges, sorry! Besides, I get from 10 to 20 new game invitations a day, so even if I wanted to, I would not have been able to accept them.
Q4: How much time a day do you spend on chess?
A4: I don't have a schedule. Sometimes it's a few hours (during tournaments), sometimes I don't work on chess at all.
Q5: Will I be able to make it to national master (FIDE master)?
A5: A lot depends on you, conditions and circumstances. If you have time, will, financial support and at least an average talent, you will probably make it. Almost anyone can reach that level given some persistence.
Q6: Is it ok that I'm playing 400 (500, 600) correspondence games simultaneously?
A6: It's nothing to brag about. Playing so many games at a time, you spend a few seconds on each move. That leads to detoriation of skills and superficial play. Concentrate on quality rather than on quantity of the games.
Q7: I'm an amateur who has about 1 hour per day to spend on chess. What is the best way to do it?
A7: An hour of tactics a day keeps the patzer away! Make sure you solve tactical problems on a daily basis. Also, it's better to solve 5 or 10 problems that are relatively difficult for you than a hundred cheapos which teach you nothing except for mouse-racing.
Send your question to grandmaster Natalia Pogonina
Who will win in the Anand - Topalov match?
