I do not write too often about the most up-to-date chess news, but this one would be very interesting. According the Chessdom server Magnus Carlsen could be a second of Vishy Anand in the upcoming match Anand – Topalov.

Although this news have been denied later, it was something which I did not expect at all.

Regardless the result of Anand – Topalov match, Anand will still be a player who will fight for the chess crown in next years. And now, when Carlsen (widely expected world champion in the period of a few years) would become a part of Anand’s team, Anand himself would help Carlsen to learn even more about Anand’s style, work and chess weapons.

From the perspective of a chess fan the cooperation Anand + Carlsen (and Kasparov hidden) would be something I would really enjoy. But from the perspective of Anand’s fan I would be in very ambivalent stage – it would be great for the upcoming match against Topalov, but too dangerous for the future.

What are your thoughts about cooperation of Anand and Carlsen (no matter it has not been confirmed after all)?

This post is not going to be about chess and it is highly predictable at this time.

I would like to wish you MERRY CHRISTMAS! Enjoy beautiful holidays with your families and friends and relax!

There is a few bloggers around (like Stratedy Fiend or DeepGreen) who has published their chess goals for the next year. I am going to play ape and here are my chess goals for 2010.

The most important one is to train chess regularly. Now I am in a stage when I train chess only if a) I have a free time (hard to find when you have a family, job and try to start your own business) and b) I overcome my laziness. Which is really not good. I will find some fix time, which will be dedicated to chess only. There is no chance to improve my game significantly without a serious training.

One thing is connected to chess training. It is a training log. Until now I don’t have any. But as a sub-goal I have a task to create and keep my training log.

Improve my endings. Was not said a lot about the importance of this stage of a chess game? Remember about it next time when you blunder in ending after 4 hours battle…

Finishing extending my opening repertoire. It is important to be able to play more than one-two openings. Firstly, you will learn new schemes and you will be able to understand chess better and secondly, the opponents will have harder task to prepare themselves for a game with you.

Play an official tournament where one game will be played each day. I have never attended such a tournament, all “my” tournaments so far were about one games weekly or so. I believe playing one game per day 9 days in a row is a complete different experience and I want to try it.

And regarding my ELO rating. No matter of what my rating will be in January 2010, I would  like to add another 50 points during the next year.

As the last goal I have something secret at the moment. But you, readers of my blog, will reveal it as soon as I complete it ;)

OK, these are my goals. Do you have your own chess goals for 2010?

This press release arrived to my mailbox yesterday and I have decided to publish it here. It shows a great success of the people of the chess club and scholastic center of Saint Louis, because this non-profit organisation has hired a GM to learn chess. Here is the text of the press release.

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis has hired Grandmaster (GM) Ben Finegold as its first GM-in-residence. As GM-in-residence, Finegold will give weekly lectures, provide lessons to members and others, teach summer camps and work with the club’s scholastic program.

Finegold is expected to start shortly after New Year’s. The Detroit native, who now lives in Ann Arbor, Mich., will move to St. Louis to work at the club full time.

Few chess clubs have full-time GMs-in-residence.

“It’s another sign that our club in St. Louis is one of the premiere institutions in the country,” said Tony Rich executive director of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. “It’s going to help raise the level of play in St. Louis and encourage other titled players to come to St. Louis.”

Finegold, 40, is one of the top 25 ranked players in the United States. He has played in six U.S. Chess Championships and twice tied for first in the U.S. Open Chess Championship.

Known for his good nature and self-effacing style, Finegold provided expert commentary during the 2009 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship held last month at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.

That appearance convinced Chess Club officials that Finegold would be an ideal GM-in-residence.

“He’s easy to get along with,” Rich said. “Sometimes you have a good teacher and sometimes you have a good chess player. It’s not often those things overlap in the same person. He’s the right person to teach any level of chess player.”

Finegold said his main task will be turning out stronger chess players from the St. Louis area.

“Probably 50 to 60 percent will be giving private lessons in the club,” he said.

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I wish I had this opportunity in my club. We don’t have any GM nor even IM in our club, not speaking about sharing their knowledge with us – average players…

Once again – congratulations to Saint Louis!

The first calendar quarter of this blog is over and I think it is a good opportunity to look at the most popular posts. Which articles have been interesting for the readers?

Here is the Top10 list:

1. Vote for the Miss Universe Chess

2. Where to play chess online – part I – My Chess on Facebook

3. Where to play chess online – part II – FICS – freechess.org

4. Decline of the Spanish boot

5. Weekend tactics #1

6. How to set up your mind when playing with stronger opponent

7. Noiseless explosion on e3 made by Alekhine

8. Ruy Lopez with 6.Qe2 and Marshall-like antidote

9. Sample of ultra-dynamic play by Mikhail Tal

10. Weekend tactics #3