‘GM Simon Williams is an expert on this opening and his confidence in the defence and material is evident throughout the entire disc. His presentation skills are excellent. He is relaxed in front of the camera, maintains steady eye contact with the viewer and speaks very clearly.’

‘The graphics are impressive too, with footage from various chess events being played before each chapter starts. We see snippets of chess boxing, open-air chess with huge pieces at Trafalgar Square and various other bits and pieces. The production values are very high and the presentation is never allowed to become dry.’

‘Killer Dutch’ is an excellent DVD and one which I feel will genuinely help viewers develop a much better understanding of this tricky and demanding opening. A well prepared player should be able to look forward to a lot of very interesting – and successful – games against 1 d4.

I hope there will be more DVDs from Gingergm very soon. What can we expect? Perhaps something on the French Defence or King’s Indian Defence. We’ll see!’

Well a great review!! Thanks Sean! This certainly made myself and the crew happy. I thought that I would tell you how we came about to the idea of making the DVD…

It all started on a lazy Sunday afternoon over a beer in a quiet pub. I was meeting my friend Gary O’Grady and one thing led to another.

An idea was born… let’s make a chess DVD!

Neither of us were particularly impressed with the quality of some of the DVDs out there and it seemed like a challenge to try and make the best and highest quality chess DVD that the market had ever seen.

The reality of the project set in the next day. Was it just pub talk or could we actually bring out a top quality product? Well, a quote that Ernest Hemingway made sprang to mind,

‘Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut!’

Interesting words and how different the world would be if everyone stuck to them! So the challenge started…

Fortunately for me, I was in good hands as Gary has a friend by the name of Clive Simmons. Clive’s track record in the industry was very impressive. Clive has his own production company, ‘Chilli Pepper Films’. He had worked for ITV for 20 years and some of his productions had won awards – all in all, a perfect person to go into business with.

Myself, Gary and Aly met up, (surprisingly in a bar again!) to discuss the idea and I immediately found that Clive was a top bloke, a bit mad maybe, but a top bloke nonetheless! From the start, it was clear that he had some great ideas and I was fully confident that I would enjoy working with him!

So then the hard work started. We started to film the DVD in a makeshift studio at the bottom of his garden. This was a mission in itself as no one in the group had ever embarked on a project of this magnitude before and, like with most new ventures, it was more a case of trial and error at the start but in the end, I think we created a fantastic product.

Below are some more early comments that I have received concerning the DVD, they have all been positive so far which is a great sign.

The DVD is for sale here

Watch a trailer of Killer Dutch here

Andrew Martin, IM – The Right Move – English Chess Federation Junior Magazine

‘It’s an excellent and highly entertaining piece of work. Williams is known for his dynamic and unorthodox attacking style and his character comes right out over six and a half hours of Dutch discussion.’

‘One’s first DVD can often be a nervous affair, but Williams has no problems at all. He’s in full command of the material throughout and will teach you a lot about the fighting Dutch Defence. He holds nothing back and gives his own ideas. The production quality is first-rate and so this all adds up to a tremendous package. I highly recommend the DVD.’

John Anderson – British Chess Correspondence Association Magazine

‘The benefits of using a professional production company are immediately apparent in the excellent design, format and graphics. It really is a pleasure to watch.’

‘Highly recommended!’

Some comments from people who have purchased the DVD:

Mattias Hedlin

‘I must say it looks great! Even my 11-year old son liked it and understood most of the comments.
We even have a nice laugh when you crushed the swedish GM Agrest ’

‘A really nice product and I´m looking forward to see more dvd´s from you. Thanks!’

Kevin Bailey

‘Just finished looking at the DVD and wanted to say an excellent effort well done. True value for money I think.’

Andy Jolliffe

‘Thanks for what looks like an excellent DVD. Have only watched first hour so far but much prefer it to the couple of Chessbase products I have seen. Maybe because I am a casual player (not even been to chess club yet) it’s certainly more accessible and interesting from what I have seen so far.’

‘I love the DVD and am very pleased with my purchase. Engaging presentation and good production values make it a pleasure to use – well done and thanks again.’

And to finish this piece of an extract of an email by the famous chess hustler extraordinaire, general good guy, Mr Russell Manning!

‘Well done Simon! when’s Gormallys DVD coming out?

‘You’ve put Holland back on the map with your dvd. With all due respect, I’m sure your dvd is excellent, however i have a few others I will get first. Not because I believe they are better but it’s just that I’ve been meaning to get them for a while. I’m sure you’ll understand that my hierachy is not based on quality but waiting time, as all queues are. I’m afraid you’ll have to go to the back of the queue. I could make a revision of the rules were, combines with your, no doubt brilliant, efforts!’

Watch the Promotional Video

I’m currently in Reykjavik playing in the annual Open tournament. I’ve been meaning to play here for a while, Simon W likes the place and has previously reported favourably. This year I finally managed to make it!

The venue, Reykjavik City Hall

It’s obvious what Simon likes about Reykjavik – the pace of life is very relaxed (unlike the nightlife, which is legendary!) and the scenery is beautiful – even in the heavy snow. I’m looking forward to a few free days after the chess to explore. I’d certainly recommend the tournament to anyone – Iceland isn’t nearly as expensive as it once was since the well-documented financial crisis.

After six rounds, the chess isn’t going particularly well to be honest – I’ve hung two pieces in perfectly good positions, and yesterday was completely winning against American GM Yuri Shulman (2624) but managed to spoil a complicated position and even lost.

There has been one bright spot though. Having recently proof-read (proof-watched?) all 7 hours of a certain ‘Killer Dutch’ DVD and having nothing to lose, I thought it was time to give the opening a punt!

BUY THIS DVD and you too can win games like this:

You can replay the game on a Flash board at the bottom of the page.

Ni, Viktorija (2162) – Ansell, Simon (2381), Reykjavik Open 2010 (5) [A81]

1.d4 f5!

I usually play the Slav, but noticed my opponent had only faced the Dutch once on my database, played an innocuous line and got stuffed. This was the only day with a double round, I was tired and didn’t fancy grinding out another endgame. It all adds up to the Dutch!

Actually I have played the Dutch once before recently in a London League game, and had much the better of a draw using Simon’s Killer Dutch recommendation to neutralise the Staunton gambit.

So BUY THE DVD!

2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.c3 This is the innocuous line I mentioned. I thought the idea was to play for a quick e4 with Nd2; if Black plays …d5 to prevent this then White can play systems with Nh3-f4 because, as Simon mentions on his DVD, a good reaction to White’s Nh3 systems for Black is to play …d6 and …e5. But she seems to mix up her systems.

4…Be7 I couldn’t remember what I was going to play against 5.Nd2 to be honest (I hadn’t really prepared, other than deciding to play the Dutch), but over the board 5…0-0 6.e4 de4 7.Ne4 d5!? was looking ok. I’ll have to check the DVD!

5.Qb3?! I don’t really understand this move, if it’s to force Black to play …d5 so she can play her Nh3 stuff, it doesn’t work…

5…d5 6.Nh3 0-0 7.Nf4 c5!

…and this is why. The f4 knight usually needs the d3 square. Now with the queen on b3, it can’t have it. I am probably already threatening 8…g5 9.Nh3 h6, with a big space advantage on the kingside. She thought for a long time and decided she couldn’t hold the centre:

8.dxc5 Na6 9.c4?! Surely too ambitious, but Black is already better. Nxc5 10.Qc2 d4 11.b4 Na6 I thought this was better than 11…Nce4, when after 12. Nd3 and Bf4 White does have control of the e5 square (11…Nce4 12.Nd3 a5 13.b5 Bd7 14.0-0 Rc8 15.a4 Qc7) 12.a3 e5 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.Bxd5+ Kh8 15.0-0 Nc7 16.Bg2 a5! Taking more squares. 17.b5 Ne6

Not a bad result after 17 moves on the Black side of an opening you’ve only played once before, in my opinion!

18.Rd1 a4?! Possibly a bit careless, I hadn’t noticed her next move was possible at all. 18…Qb6 or 18…Qe8 are better. This kind of sums up how I’ve been playing in Reykjavik, my play and judgement in general has been ok, but I keep overlooking stupid one-movers – it’s cost me at least 2 points so far! 19.Nc3 Nc5 20.Nd5 Bd6 21.f4?

Thematic, to try and break the centre, but just bad. I assume she missed Black’s next. 21.Bd2 is normal, when I was looking at starting an attack with 21…f4. Black should still be doing well.

21…Nb3! Simple and strong, the knight protects d4 so the centre can be held. Black is probably just winning now. 22.Rb1 22…e4 23.Kh1?! It’s hard to offer White any good advice, but I think Rxb3 should be tried, not that it’s particularly good. 23…Be6 24.g4?! Desperation. 24…Rc8

White’s position is falling apart. She now did try: 25.Rxb3 axb3 26.Qxb3 Bxd5 27.cxd5 Rc3 28.Qa4 28.Qb2 Bxa3 28…Qh4 29.Bd2 29.Qxd4 Rxc1 30.Rxc1 Bxf4 31.Qg1 Bxc1 32.Qxc1 fxg4 is completely winning for Black.

29…Qf2 There are lots of ways to win, but I didn’t want to allow her to take on d4 with the queen, when White might get counterplay against g7, especially if the g-file becomes open. 30.Rf1 30.gxf5 Qxe2 31.Bxc3 dxc3 32.Rg1 e3 33.Qd4 Qd2 doesn’t help. 30…Qxe2 31.Bxc3 dxc3 32.gxf5 32.Rc1 Qd2 32…c2 33.Qxe4 33.Rc1 Rc8 is the point.

33…Qxf1+ 0-1

So, the moral of the story is: buy ‘Killer Dutch’! Hopefully I’ll get another chance to play the Dutch before the tournament ends!

Replay the game

^Top

I had an interesting game against Jonathan Rowson on Saturday at the 4NCL.

I suspected before the match that I would be playing Jonathan so I had a bit of time to prepare. After my recent bad result at Hastings I wanted to play as good a game as possible.

As expected it was a Samisch variation of the Kings Indian and the following chaos emerged:

I will take a look at this game in 2 short videos, each around about 15 minutes long. The first video covers the opening and the second part the middlegame and ending. Ok I hope that you enjoy!

Any comments are welcome!

An interesting point was raised in a previous post ‘Horizon Program due to Air Tonight’.

Simon Bibby was wondering if ‘anti-ginge was the last remaining ‘acceptable’ form of discrimination’?

I do not want this to turn into a serious post but I thought that he raised some interesting points.

For example, a top supermarket was going to launch this Christmas card. In the end they decided to take it off the shelves.

Imagine what would have happen if they had swapped the word ‘Ginger’ with ‘Black’ and then changed the ginger kid to a Black kid.

So why was it acceptable to put the word ‘Ginger’ in?

Well, I am not sure that it was. Saying that, I do wish someone had got into that supermarket early and brought me that Christmas card. I would have framed it on my wall for prosperity!

On a more serious note, in the past there has been many a dumb ass to have pointed out the colour of my hair.  Normally with higher original terms like: Ginger Nuts! Duracell! oi ginga! and my favourite… Bradley! (from EastEnders)

The Bradley one was actually quite funny. For a while I was driving a White van  (yep the dreaded White van driver!) and on one job I was dropping off some equipment at a busy hospital in the centre of London.

As soon as I got out of the van, a lady who must have been in her 60/70’s shouted, ‘Oi Bradley how’s Stacey getting on?’ ‘You still going to marry her!’

Well what do you say to that?

What other ginger jokes have people been brave enough to tell me, well I can remember one chess player telling me the following one.

‘A Doctor goes into a hospital ward to see a pregnant lady, who has had terrible stomach cramps and fears for the unborn child…
“Well, my dear, there’s good news and bad news. We’ve run some tests and the bad news is that your baby has ginger hair.”
“Oh no!” she replies, “what’s the good news?” 
The Doctor replies, “it’s dead’

Pretty harsh!

Well it’s not all bad news. Simon Ansell pointed out the following clip which showed a ginger in good light: Shaun White the Flying Tomato!

There is also Steve Davies, Damian Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Paul Scoles, Chuck Norris, Prince Harry etc.

Notice how I have left out Mick Hucknall even if he is a famous swordsman…

Here are some links that Simon Bibby left, for more discussion on ginger abuse:
The Guardian – Seeing Red
The Telegraph – Tesco should stand by it’s Christmas card
Zimbio – Should you dye your hair if you’re being bullied…?

Anyone got any thoughts on the matter?

Maybe gingergm should start producing a t-shirt range.

What would you put on the t-shirt? For better or worse!

This is a kind of diversion tactic for me as it means that I do not have to analyse another one of my losses from Hastings!

Chess does seem to attract some interesting individuals from all walks of life. You will often see an 8 year old playing against a 70 year old, so you are bound to come across the odd ‘character’!

Anyway, enter below to read about this colourful chap!

First of all, let’s get the word ‘notorious’ cleared up. So, with the help of the internet and a free dictionary I came up with the following definition:

Notorious

1. well-known for some bad or unfavourable quality, deed, etc.; infamous

2. Rare generally known or widely acknowledged

[From Medieval Latin notorious well-known, from nōtus known, from noscere to know]

Essentially a notorious chess player would be the type of guy who might slam the board over your head after a game! One thing for sure is the most notorious people are different to the norm which means that they are interesting to talk about.

The gentleman shown above and beside is none other than ‘The Great Beast’ Aleister Crowley. I guess you will agree that he is a rather scary looking guy.

I know that other chess websites have mentioned him before but he certainly seems like a good case to start on.

I found out the following about Mister Crowley and his interest in chess in a Wikipedia entry:

‘A third hobby of his was chess, and he joined the university’s chess club, where, he later stated, he beat the president in his first year and practised two hours a day towards becoming a champion-”My one serious worldly ambition had been to become the champion of the world at chess.”^[25] He also related having beaten famous chess players Joseph Henry Blackburne and Henry Bird and was on his way to becoming a master chess player, till he visited an important 1897 tournament in Berlin where’

Sounds like he was a pretty decent chess player. Now I found the next bit very interesting!

“I saw the masters – one, shabby, snuffy and blear-eyed; another, in badly fitting would-be respectable shoddy; a third, a mere parody of humanity, and so on for the rest. These were the people to whose ranks I was seeking admission. “There, but for the grace of God, goes Aleister Crowley”, I exclaimed to myself with disgust, and there and then I registered a vow never to play another serious game of chess.”

What can we infer from this? Well, the so called ‘most evil person’ in history gave up chess because he was disgusted with what he saw. He basically thought that a better and more worthwhile hobby, would be attempting to raise demons for the rest of his life!

So he decided to choose the company of demons to chess players. That’s not a good sign!

An interesting photo. Is it Crowley with one of his wands or a smoking device? I thought that it was also interesting to see how he has signed his name. The ‘A’ looks very suspicious!

There is obviously quite a lot of debate about Mr Crowley. Some have said that he was pure evil, while others have suggested that he was more out to shock than anything else.

The basis of his morals was the theory:

‘”Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

This can be interpreted in a number of ways:

One school of thought is that Crowley basically thought that an individual should do whatever he wishes without caring about the consequences of his actions.

Others have thought that this was more of a personal guidance thing. Basically, if things are not going right in your life, then you are not taking the right path and you must change direction. In other words, you are in charge of what happens in your life.

Whatever his philosophy, he certainly seemed like a dubious character and he was involved in the following list of unsavoury activities:

Black magic, heavy drug taking, prostitutes, sex magic, racism (the original skin head), sexism etc

A very unhealthy list, perhaps he should have stuck to chess after all!

Just from reading about him, I can see that this article could go on for pages and pages. Some interesting facts to note are the following:

L Ron Hubbard (the founder of the church of Scientology) was a close friend of Aleister Crowley.

Dennis Wheatley, the horror/novel writer (very good books, recommended. One of his books has been made into a Hammer Horror film ) met up with Crowley on a number of occasions. The lead role in ‘The Devil Rides Out’ was based on Crowley. Wheatley actually got on well with him.

Crowley himself wrote a number of books: From his addiction to Heroin to his own system of magic

It is said that the “baddie” in the latest Guy Richie movie, Sherlock Holmes is also based on Crowley.

Furthermore, which location did he pick as his final resting place… well Hastings of course!

Anyway, are there any other ‘notorious’ chess players are out there? Any suggestions?

Well there is this person:

MosNews is reporting that a serial killer has been detained in Moscow after
confessing to killing 61 people. The killer had planned to murder a total of
64 people, one for each of the squares of a chessboard.

Oh dear, this is not getting any better. Maybe I should get back to some of my Hastings games! Perhaps they are more light-hearted!

I found the following game of Crowley’s using the internet. This game is from ChessVille and the piece is written by Robert Tuohey. A link to the site will be given below:

Blackburne,J – Crowley,A [B45]
Blackburne simul Eastbourne, 1894

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 Bb4? This is a suspect variation. Black becomes too weak on the dark squares.

6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Qd4 Attacking the bishop and g7. A critical move.

7…Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 Nf6 9.Ba3 Qa5! Aiming for counter play on the queenside. The main problem that Black has is the a3-f8 diagonal.

10.Bb4 10 Qd6 also looked logical. 10.c5 11.Bxc5 Nxe4

12.Bb4

12.Qxg7! Wins.

12…Qd5 13.Qxd5 exd5 14.Rd1 Bb7 15.Be2

15.Rb1 or 15.Ba5 were better.

15…a5 16.Ba3 Nxc3 17.Rd3 Nxe2!

18.Re3+ Kd8 19.Kxe2! d4 20.Re7

.20…Re8 21.Rxe8+ Kxe8 22.Kd3 f6 23.Kxd4 Kf7

23…Bxg2?! 24.Rg1 Here actually hands the advantage, and likely the game, back to white.

24.c3 Re8 25.Rb1 Bc6

Playing safe for the draw.  25…Bxg2! Will work now.

26.c4 Re2! 27.Rb2 Rxb2 28.Bxb2 Ke6= ?-?

Well Crowley played pretty well there and a draw against Blackburn is no mean feat.

If you are interested in this subject, I have added some links that you might find useful.

http://www.chessville.com/misc/History/PastPawns/AleisterCrowleyChessMaster.htm

A very good article on Crowley and his chess interests.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordo_Templi_Orientis

The organisation that Crowley was a dedicated member of.

http://www.spellsandmagic.com/crowley_books.html

A list of his books.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley

His Wikipedia entry.

Well the program is due to air tonight. I have no idea if they will show any footage of us, as the main part of the program is based on ‘genius’ and neither Stuart nor I can fall into that category!

Anyway this is how the BBC are advertising the program:

What Makes a Genius?

Watch:

Next on:

Today, 21:00 on BBC Two (except Northern Ireland (Analogue), Wales (Analogue))

Synopsis

Could you have come up with Einstein’s theory of relativity? If not – why not?

This is what Marcus du Sautoy, professor of mathematics, wants to explore. Marcus readily admits that he is no genius, but wants to know if geniuses are just an extreme version of himself – or whether their brains are fundamentally different.

Marcus meets some remarkable individuals – Tommy, an obsessive artist who uses his whole house as his canvas; Derek: blind, autistic, and a pianist with apparently prodigious gifts; Claire who is also blind, but whose brain has learnt to see using sound.

Marcus is shown how babies have remarkable abilities which most of us lose as teenagers. He meets a neuroscientist who claims he has evidence of innate ability, a scientist who’s identified a gene for learning, and Dr. Paulus, who has discovered how to sharpen the brain… by electrically turbo-charging it.

Even if there is no chess involved it should be a fascinating program.

As you can see from the cool head gear, I am kind of hoping that I wont be on the program! The head gear could be the butt of jokes for a while to come….

The film is just over 20 minutes long and includes interviews with Simon Williams, Vladimir Kramnik, Malcolm Pein, David Howell, Stuart Conquest, Aaron Summerscale, Stephen Gordon and more. Enter the post to watch. Please leave your comments!

We also have over 20 minutes of exclusive footage from the London Chess Classic, including interviews with Vladimir Kramnik, David Howell, Malcolm Pein, Stuart Conquest, Stephen Gordon and more which will be available shortly on this website!

• Killer Dutch DVD with GM Simon Williams

  Promotional video | Quotes from reviews | Order Killer Dutch DVD

  Grandmaster Simon Williams, the world’s leading exponent of The Classical Dutch, introduces his debut DVD where the viewer explores the spectrum of exciting opportunities that Black will encounter when playing this opening. With a running time of over 6 hours, this innovative chess tutorial DVD is serious value for [...]

The time has come for me to look at one of my losses from Hastings. This is a moment I have been postponing for a while but I suppose it might be therapeutic for me.

The game I am going to look at is Hawkins-Williams. This game was my most painful loss as I thought that I was winning for the majority of the game. I was rather on tilt after this match and I went on to lose to a number of much lower rated players than myself, even though a number of these players played very well against me.

I have recorded the game as a video and I hope you enjoy it!

How painful chess can be!

One of the problems that I find with chess is that the most painful loses can often outweigh the most brilliant wins. Does anyone have any comments on this?

A certain Dr Amidzic and Dr Sautoy were also involved. Below is an actual EEG (Electroencephalography)  reading of my brain whilst I was involved in a game of chess with Stuart Conquest.

You can read below the conclusions that were taken from the experiment.

The first surprise was that they did actually find something in my head!

Both Dr Amidzic and Dr Sautoy are fascinating characters.

Dr Amidzic played chess for 15 years but he was never able to reach the standard of Grandmaster. He then decided to try and find out the reason for this, hence his research into the human brain.

I think that I am correct in saying that he made the hypothesis that Grandmasters brains are innately different to that of a amateur chess players. Hence his study into the topic. You can see his conclusions on me below. (it is amazing how correct he was!)

Dr Sautoy is a professor of mathematics at Oxford University and is the narrator of Horizon.

Anyway, I played a game against Stuart Conquest which took place at the natural history museum. We were both wired up to the EEG whilst the game was taking place. For more information on the EEG the wikipedia link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography

‘A lovely piece of headware’

I was told by Dr Amidzic that I had a very big head… As you can see the EEG looked more like a rugby hat then anything else. It will be interesting to see how it looks on TV!

Dr Amidzic then went away and came to the following conclusions about my chess style:

Dear Simon,
Analyses of your brain data are finished and I am ready to share the
results with you. Everything I am going to write now is based on years
of research, but as you know, nobody knows the 100% truth.
Please find enclosed the photo representing your brain activity during
chess game as well as photos from the filming. You can see on the brain
photo that you have not much activity in the frontal and prefrontal
areas, higher amount of activities in the temporal areas, and huge
activity in the occipital areas. According to my analysis, that
indicates that you have deficit in understanding complex chess
strategies, weaknesses in playing complex positional games. This
disadvantage is visible especially on the highest level. On the other
hand, you have huge brain network that gives you great tactical
abilities that compensate lack of strategic understanding. So your
talent is tactical, not strategic. The future of your chess career
depends on how long you will be able on the highest level to avoid
positions where you have weaknesses and keep your games tactical.
I would appreciate if you could tell me what do you think about that
estimation and how accurate it is from your point of view? If you have
any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
All the best,
Ognjen
Dr. Ognjen Amidzic

www.amidzicconsulting.com

Wow!!! How correct is that!! I have to admit that I was a bit worried at the start of the e-mail as it seemed to be saying that I was actually very thick.

At least things got a bit better later on! My reply to this email is below:

Dear Ognjen,
The results are very interesting.
I am well known as being a tactical player who prefers to avoid strategic play and long drawn out games. I am basically at home in sharp, messy, complicated positions.
I guess I am one of the most aggressive players in Britain so I would say your results are spot on! Well done!

Best Wishes,

Simon Williams

Anyway I found the whole thing very interesting and I must thank Dr Amidzic for letting me use his photos.

Just imagine how this could influence chess?

For example, if from the age of 6 you new that a player would excel in tactical positions, then you could shape his chess upbringing around that. You could choose the sharpest openings for him and generally suggest that he enters complications.