Another Queen's Gambit Trap?

This line has always worked as a trap for me, as the following blitz game attests. Strangely enough, most white players don't go for the chance to win material. Do they not see it, or does the note to black's 7th move scare them off? What would you play in the position below?

Grandmasters

It's been a busy couple of weeks, but I'm back blogging again. I'm in preparation for the final match of the DC Chess League season, which will likely put me up against a GM. In a probably unwise strategy I spent way too long today trying to get my 3-minute ICC rating back from what I considered too low to be seen with. Eventually I got it back in the normal range, thanks in part to wins at the end against GMs Eugene Torre and Aleksa Strikovic. The final game against Strikovic looked lost for a long time, but eventually we reached the following position, where black made the wrong move and lost despite his extra rook. What would you play?

Oy Vey

Right after his visit to Chicago, the president of FIDE decided that Syria was the logical next stop.

http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8115

Pre-World Championship Contests

They both got knocked out of the World Championship cycle, but Kramnik and Aronian are playing a training match for the title of nothing in particular. I've been too busy to seriously cover this match, but you can get some great commentary online from chessvibes.com. The most exciting game so far is available here:  http://www.chessvibes.com/live-commentary/kramnik-levels-score-against-aronian

Gelfand-Anand 2012

It's an exciting time to be a chess fan these days. Today is the first round of a 6 game exhibition match between Kramnik and Aronian, the first ever match I am aware of between two 2800+ players. In early May we will get both the US Championship and the World Championship. The latter features two brilliant players, defending champion Anand, and challenger Boris Gelfand. Gelfand has earned his way there by winning a World Cup, and a knock out tournament which included the likes of Aronian and Kramnik. In the run up to the US and World Championships, I will be posting some interesting games from the careers of the contenders. Below is a position from a blindfold game between Gelfand and Anand. See if you can find the best move for black before checking out the game here:  http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1488741

Puzzle Solutions, IE the Full Game

Here's the full game with Kevin from last Friday. For the second tournament game in a row I fell into a bad position, but after a couple of mistakes from white I was able to survive.

Chess Xtreme

I mentioned in my last post that my opponent in that game was in the web show Chess Xtreme. I watched the first episode of that show yesterday, and you can find it here:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/xtreme-chess

I think that it's an interesting concept, but the show lacks a target audience. Chess players won't want to sit through a discussion of the rules, while beginners won't be able to follow much of what's happening in the games. I suppose more opportunities to attract media coverage for chess is probably a good thing overall.

What do you think?