Vote to Support Earth vs Space

(Earth vs Space game after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Bb5 Qa5+ 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.O-O Nxc3 9.Qd2 Ne2+ 10. Qxe2 Ba6 11. Qe1 Qb6 12. dxc5 Qxc5 13. c4 Bxc4 14. Qc3. Black to move.)

Six weeks have passed since the opening move of the correspondence chess match between International Space Station resident Greg Chamitoff and his challengers on Earth. The team of earthlings led by elementary school champions from Bellevue, Washington has captured White's c4 pawn and must now withstand counterplay on the c-file, targeting the backwards c6 pawn. Of course, White threatens b2-b3 next move. Humanity needs to protect the queen, finish developing and castle before White's attack materializes. Do we have enough time?

Please vote on move 14 by 1pm on Saturday. You do not have to be a USCF member to participate. The team leaders from Stevenson Elementary School selected three candidate moves: Qb6, Qb5 and e7-e6. I won't reveal which one I chose; try to calculate two moves ahead and see which option makes the most sense.

• Click here to vote on the official match website!
• NASA webpage featuring astronaut Chamitoff and his velcro chess board in space.
• All Earth vs Space posts on this blog.

Earth vs Space Reaches Critical Position

Earth vs Space after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Bb5 Qa5+ 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.O-O Nxc3 9.Qd2. Black to move.)

The ongoing correspondence chess match between astronaut Greg Chamitoff (on left in NASA photo, posing with fellow American Richard Garriott) and us Earthlings has become tactical by move 9. After Earth voted for Qa5+ on move 5, White's resources along the a5-e1 diagonal were limited. Humanity has seized the initiative. On the bright side, the resident of the International Space Station still has a development advantage and even managed castled. Is that enough?

If you read this post by Sunday at noon Pacific time, please surf to the USCF website to vote on move 9. You do not have to be a member to participate. The champions from Stevenson Elementary School in Bellevue, Washington selected four candidate moves: Ne2+, cxd4, Bg4 and Ba6. I won't reveal which one I chose; instead, I urge the reader to calculate the tactical possibilities after each option.

• Click here to vote on the official match website!
• NASA webpage featuring astronaut Chamitoff and his velcro chess board in space.
• All Earth vs Space posts on this blog.

Vote on Sunday for Earth vs Space

(Earth vs Space after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Bb5. Black to move.)

The Earth vs Space match is proceeding slowly but steadily on the USCF website. In a unique outreach from a high orbit on the International Space Station (see photo at right), astronaut Greg Chamitoff is playing a chess game against all of us Earthlings. The opening is a London system featuring 3.Bf4 instead of the far more popular (among masters) move 3.Bg5.

On Saturday afternoon, the astronaut played the natural but novel response 5.Bb5 (c3 or Be2 are common). Actually, it isn't entirely a novelty, as my database turns up a game between two Cuban Grandmasters (Nogueiras vs Bruzon 2005) which continued with 5... Bg4 6.Nbd2 cxd4 7.exd4 Qb6. The good news for us Earthlings is that black won.

What four moves will the national champions from Stevenson Elementary School in Bellevue, Washington recommend to us? And more importantly, what will humanity decide to play? Here's your chance, yes YOU, to vote! The match director emailed me that the polls will be for much of the day on Sunday, beginning in the early afternoon. Let's rock the vote! (You do not have to register at the USCF website to vote. This event is open to ALL chess players, including non-USCF members.)

• Click here to vote on the official match website!
• NASA webpage featuring astronaut Chamitoff and his velcro chess board in space.
  
• My previous blog post on September 28.

Update on Sunday afternoon: Our choices are Qb6, Qa5+, e6 and Bd7. The move Bg4 played by GM Bruzon was not seriously considered by the kids from Washington.

Earth vs Space Match

Here's some news that's really out of this world! Astronaut Greg Chamitoff from the International Space Station has challenged us Earthlings to a friendly game of chess. Each day, the astronaut will make his moves on a Velcro chess board in space and relay them to Mission Control in Houston. All Earthlings may then vote on the response and the most popular move will be played. (USCF membership is not required to participate!) To help us decide, the national champion chess team from Stevenson Elementary School in Bellevue, Washington will recommend up to four moves for us to vote on each turn.

Playing white, Chamitoff opened with 1.d4. Earth must now choose between d5, Nf6, e6 and f5. You can guess what I picked, but don't let that influence your choice. :-)

If you never participated in such a format, check out Wikipedia for Kasparov versus The World in 1999. Kasparov finally won after 62 moves over 4 months in probably the most heavily analyzed chess game ever. Read the Wiki page for an in-depth annotation of the game or simply click to play through this remarkable game.

Update on Monday afternoon: 1.d4 Nf6 was played. We now await Chamitoff's response.