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We have a great chess club; it runs smoothly and efficiently, like a clock. All thanks to the expertise and cordial demeanors of the CCCR and RCC staff. Give it a shot and you'll fit right in!

Many players lose patience and quit in the first two weeks because they lose a few chess games. But things get better after a few dozen USCF-rated games.

You'll safely explore new or hidden aspects of your psychology. In society, at home or at work, the social contract dictates that we act nicely. Of course the same is true while playing chess. -With one small exception: in chess you can play any style you choose. Fast and aggressive, or slow and positional. Like many other activities, chess can be all about self-awareness.

Learn about yourself. Otherwise, what's the point? Yet, change can be difficult.

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National Master Stephen Capp takes you on a journey into fighting chess. Games are rich with coffee-house tactical melees, bold sacrifices and 19th Century style king hunts... You will find very few draws here because nobody likes kissing your sister. Examine deadly attacking ideas arising from the Grand Prix Attack. This opening has been played at the highest level. Nigel Short, Anand, Carlsen and others have all scored important victories with it. You can, too. You can use it in response to the Pirc, and Modern Defence in addition to the Sicilian. There are games with gambits such as the Blackmar Diemer, the Elephant and Milner-Barry where you can learn to drag your opponents into 'deep dark forests' as Tal use to say. Tarrasch once said: 'Before the endgame, the gods have placed the middle game'. You will find very little endgame study in this game collection, -mostly just King hunts. They say, 'studying the endgame is like eating your vegetables'. Of course, learning the endgame is important. However, let's put the vegetables aside for now and dig into hot fudge sundaes and cheesecake. There are strategically rich games involving the main line Sicilian and various Ruy Lopez systems. There are two memorable battles in the Owen's defence which can't be missed.

FIDE Mas­ter (and USCF Se­nior Mas­ter) Igor Niko­layev's games in­clude 100's of gam­bit open­ings (King's gam­bit, Dan­ish and Scotch gam­bits, Evans gam­bit, Jaenisch-Schlie­mann Gam­bit, Smith-Morra gambit, Bu­dapest gam­bit, Blu­men­feld gam­bit, Benko gam­bit, Niko­layev gam­bit, some less known gam­bits). En­cy­clo­pe­dic ar­rays of 2.c3 Anti-Si­cil­ian (about two hun­dred games) and a splen­did Re­nais­sance of the Ponziani Open­ing (a few dozen games). Han­dling the French with­out the no­to­ri­ous pawn chains (~100 games). De­stroy­ing the Caro Kann with sim­ple tools the op­po­nents did­n’t study (~100 games). A bit of bru­tal vi­o­lence in the Scan­di­na­vian, Pirc and mod­ern de­fense (a few dozen games). Sur­pris­ingly ef­fi­cient rev­e­la­tions on both sides in the Two Knights and the Ital­ian Game (~200 games). Mak­ing White for­get 'milk­ing the cow' in the Span­ish Game (~100 games). Strate­gi­cally ag­gres­sive ap­proaches against the Queen's gam­bit, the Catalan Opening, the Eng­lish Open­ing, the Reti, the Colle, the Bird’s open­ing. Not to for­get Chig­or­in's De­fense with the ad­ven­tur­ous but con­vinc­ing early e7-e5, From's Gam­bit to its full ex­tent, and a real bomb in the Four Knights Open­ing. Still a lot more with any­thing in-be­tween, lead­ing to tense, dy­namic po­si­tions where imag­i­na­tive play and deep cal­cu­la­tions are most at home. At­tacks, com­bi­na­tions and tac­ti­cal strikes merge with many in­struc­tive endgames. And a bit of chess phi­los­o­phy, psy­chol­ogy and hu­mor.

A master player of the Sokolsky opening, which is far more than just a mere novelty. From a bold Orangutan on the queenside to the Sokolsky 'King’s Gambit'. The Veresov Opening is another hit of his. Robust conservative approach to the Ruy Lopez against various systems. Classical blockade ideas in the French as a universal method for White and a poisoned 3...b6 for Black. Impressive Caro Kann examples after 4.g4 with the following blockading e5-e6!? pawn sacrifice. With Isay you will love the Sicilian for either side. Black's repertoire is also submitted with the Alekhine's Defence, the modern Philidor Defence, the King's Indian, Pirc-Ufimtsev Defence. Includes games against legendary figures, some of whom he knew personally. A number of postal games which were recognized as masterpieces of correspondence chess. About a half century in master level competition allow you to say something important about chess.

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Russia Youth Championship Semi-Final, Vologda, Russia 1977
At a training session with my second, Borovichi, Russia 1979"
Russia Youth Championship Semi-Final, Borovichi, Russia 1979"
Novgorod Region Championship, Novgorod, Russia 1981
Novgorod Region Championship, Novgorod, Russia 1981
Russia Young Masters Championship, Bryansk, Russia 1982. Igor Nikolayev is the 6th from the left in the 1st row.
Russia Young Masters Championship, Bryansk, Russia 1982. Igor Nikolayev is the 6th from the left in the 1st row.
Spartakiada of Russia, North-West, Smolensk, Russia 1982. Igor Nikolayev is the 5th from the left in the 3rd row.
Spartakiada of Russia Semi-Final, Smolensk, Russia 1985.
Spartakiada of Russia Semi-Final, Smolensk, Russia 1985.
USSR Army Championship, Sverdlovsk, Russia 1987. Many Americans can recognize at least two chess players here: GM Vassily Ivanchuk and GM Ildar Ibragimov. Rochesterians can recognize one more.
Russia Championship Quarter-Final, Cherepovets, Russia, January 1989.
Russia Championship Quarter-Final, Cherepovets, Russia, January 1989. My coach Nikolai Gopkin watching.
Russia Championship Semi-Final, Voronezh, Russia 1989. Twelve guys from this tournament became GMs. One guy, the youngest (Vladimir Kramnik), became World Champion. And one guy now has fun playing chess at the Rochester Chess Center.
Russia Championship Quarter-Final, Belgorod, Russia, November 1989
FM Igor Nikolayev at NY State Championship, Rochester, NY, 2001. GM Joel Benjamin on the left.
FM Igor Nikolayev vs. GM Joel Benjamin at NY State Championship, Kerhonkson, NY, 2002. GM Ildar Ibragimov on the right.
FM Igor Nikolayev vs. GM Alexander Stripunsky at NY State Championship, Kerhonkson, NY, 2002. GM Joel Benjamin vs IM Jay Bonin in front. GM Leonid Yudasin watching.
126th New York State Championship, Kerhnonkson NY, 2004. A memorable fighting draw (with black) vs GM Hikaru Nakamura. Igor later went on to tie for 2nd with IM Jay Bonin, with Nakamura in 1st.
127th New York State Championship, Monticello NY, 2004. FM Igor Nikolayev (with black) vs FM Weeramantry. GMs Ildar Ibragimov and Gata Kamsky on the right. Winning the game Igor tied for 2nd with GM Ibragimov, F.
FM Igor Nikolayev at NY State Championship, Albany, NY, 2006. GM Joel Benjamin on the left.
FM Igor Nikolayev at NY State Championship, Albany, NY, 2007. GM Alexander Ivanov in front.
FM Igor Nikolayev and NM Matt Parry at NY State Championship, Albany, NY, 2007. NM Stephen Taylor is next to Matt Parry.
FM Igor Nikolayev vs Italian NM Alberto Profumo at Lugano Open, Lugano, Switzerland, 2008
FM Igor Nikolayev vs Italian NM Alberto Profumo at Lugano Open, Lugano, Switzerland, 2008.
Bad Ragaz Oster Open, Bad Ragaz, Switzerland 2009. Scenery from the event.
Bad Ragaz Oster Open, Bad Ragaz, Switzerland 2009. Scenery from the event.
Bad Ragaz Oster Open, Bad Ragaz, Switzerland 2009. FM Igor Nikolayev vs IM Alfred Weindl (GER), a co-winner of the tournament.
Pittsburgh Open, Pittsburgh PA. GM Alexander Onischuk vs FM Igor Nikolayev. GM Alex Shabalov on the right.
Pittsburgh Open, Pittsburgh PA. FM Igor Nikolayev, WGM Lufei Ruan and GM Alex Shabalov.
Bad Ragaz Oster Open, Bad Ragaz, Switzerland 2011. Award Ceremony. FM Igor Nikolayev with his prize check.
New York State Championship, Albany NY, 2011. FM Igor Nikolayev vs NM Steven Taylor. GM Mark Paragua vs IM Mark Esserman on the right.
New York State Championship, Albany NY, 2011. FM Igor Nikolayev and GM Joel Benjamin. IMs Jay Bonin, Justin Sarkar and Alexandr Ostrovskiy in the front row.
New York State Championship, Albany NY, 2011. FM Igor Nikolayev (with black) vs FM Alex Getz. GM Joel Benjamin vs IM Mark Esserman in front.
New York State Championship, Albany NY, 2011. FM Igor Nikolayev vs GM Joel Benjamin. IM Mark Esserman vs IM Justin Sarkar is the 2nd board.
FM Igor Nikolayev at New York State Championship, Albany NY, 2011. GM Joel Benjamin vs GM Mark Paragua in front.
New York State Championship, Albany NY, 2013. FM Igor Nikolayev vs NM Yefim Treger in Rd 5. Igor tied for 2nd and co-championed in NYS with the best result among NYS residents. GM Alex Ivanov was clear 1st (not a resident of the state.)
Marchand Open 2014. GM Mark Paragua vs Igor Nikolayev, in front GM Alex Lenderman vs GM Gata Kamsky. With this draw in the last round Igor tied for 3rd with GMs Lenderman, Ivanov, Paragua and NM Matt Parry.
Marchand Open 2014. GM Alex Lenderman and FM Igor Nikolayev sharing opinions about the last round games.
FM Igor Nikolayev playing in a local tournament in Rochester, NY.
FM Igor Nikolayev playing in a local tournament in Rochester, NY. Closing Ceremony.
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