Arno Nickel
Encyclopedia
Arno Nickel is a German
correspondence chess
Grandmaster
.
Arno Nickel currently (2006) lives in Berlin and writes and publishes chess books through his well-known Edition Marco. Since 1983 he has been editing the German "Schach-Kalender", a pocket-calendar with about 500 biographical player entries each year and a lot of information, stories, anecdotes, statistics, pictures and other things each year. From 1991 until 1994 he edited the "Schach-Journal" together with Alexander Koblencs
, former trainer of Mikhail Tal
. In 1996 he published Robert Hübner
's famous book "Twenty-five Annotated Games". Nickel has also advanced his correspondence and freestyle chess knowledge.
In a correspondence match lasting many months, he won two games and drew
a third against Hydra
, the most powerful chess supercomputer in the world at that time (2005). Nickel, who achieved his grandmaster title in the era before GM-level chess computers, was allowed to use weaker personal computer chess engines to help him decide on his moves in this match. Hydra also received limited assistance from human chess experts and programmers, especially in choosing its opening
book moves.
Since 2005 Nickel has been promoting Freestyle Chess
, a new kind of online chess competition with computer-assisted play, where anything is allowed, also help from other players. He is a co-organizer of the series of PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournaments in 2006, where teams of classic chess masters and grandmasters compete against correspondence chess and computer chess specialists as well as amateurs armed with computer chess engines. An unassisted human or unassisted computer playing alone has never won one of these events; the top prizes have always gone to human/computer teams (often with multiple humans and multiple computers on each team).
In March 2007 Arno Nickel beat ICCF
World Champion Joop van Oosterom
in their correspondence game from 21st WC Final. Nevertheless van Oosterom won the Final and became World Correspondence Champion for a second time. Nickel finished fifth out of 15 finalists.
On August 28, 2006 Nickel began to play an online correspondence chess
game against the world, i.e. the combined efforts of the users of ChessGames.com
. Nickel resigned this game on January 11, 2007 after White's 41st move. A rematch started on August 25, 2008, which ended in a draw on February 25, 2009. About 1500 users participated in each of these exhibition matches. http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1426491&view=1.
On February 16, 2009 Arno Nickel won the Simon Webb Memorial, a category 15 correspondence chess event with 13 grandmasters. In the ICCF Champions League top group A, season 2007-2009, he achieved the best result on board 1. With an Elo of 2640 his ranking in the ICCF rating list 4/2011 is No. 19 of the World.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
correspondence chess
Correspondence chess
Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, usually through a correspondence chess server, through email or by the postal system; less common methods which have been employed include fax and homing pigeon...
Grandmaster
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
.
Arno Nickel currently (2006) lives in Berlin and writes and publishes chess books through his well-known Edition Marco. Since 1983 he has been editing the German "Schach-Kalender", a pocket-calendar with about 500 biographical player entries each year and a lot of information, stories, anecdotes, statistics, pictures and other things each year. From 1991 until 1994 he edited the "Schach-Journal" together with Alexander Koblencs
Alexander Koblencs
Alexander Koblents was a Latvian chess International Master, trainer, and writer.In 1935, he took 4th place in Rosas . In 1936, he took 5th in Reus . In 1937, he won, ahead of Lajos Steiner, in Brno with 9/11. In 1938, he took 5th in Milan...
, former trainer of Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal was a Soviet–Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion.Widely regarded as a creative genius, and the best attacking player of all time, he played a daring, combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability....
. In 1996 he published Robert Hübner
Robert Hübner
Robert Hübner is a respected German chess Grandmaster, chess writer, and papyrologist . At eighteen, he was joint winner of the West German Chess Championship...
's famous book "Twenty-five Annotated Games". Nickel has also advanced his correspondence and freestyle chess knowledge.
In a correspondence match lasting many months, he won two games and drew
Draw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
a third against Hydra
Hydra (chess)
Hydra was a chess machine, designed by a team with Dr. Christian "Chrilly" Donninger, Dr. Ulf Lorenz, GM Christopher Lutz and Muhammad Nasir Ali. Since 2006 the development team consised only of Donninger and Lutz. Hydra was under the patronage of the PAL Group and Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al...
, the most powerful chess supercomputer in the world at that time (2005). Nickel, who achieved his grandmaster title in the era before GM-level chess computers, was allowed to use weaker personal computer chess engines to help him decide on his moves in this match. Hydra also received limited assistance from human chess experts and programmers, especially in choosing its opening
Chess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...
book moves.
Since 2005 Nickel has been promoting Freestyle Chess
Advanced Chess
Advanced Chess is a relatively new form of chess, wherein each human player uses a computer chess program to help him explore the possible results of candidate moves...
, a new kind of online chess competition with computer-assisted play, where anything is allowed, also help from other players. He is a co-organizer of the series of PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournaments in 2006, where teams of classic chess masters and grandmasters compete against correspondence chess and computer chess specialists as well as amateurs armed with computer chess engines. An unassisted human or unassisted computer playing alone has never won one of these events; the top prizes have always gone to human/computer teams (often with multiple humans and multiple computers on each team).
In March 2007 Arno Nickel beat ICCF
International Correspondence Chess Federation
International Correspondence Chess Federation was founded in 1951 as a new appearance of the ICCA , which was founded in 1945, as successor of the IFSB , founded in 1928....
World Champion Joop van Oosterom
Joop van Oosterom
Joop van Oosterom is a Dutch billionaire and chess enthusiast. For many years he has staged the annual Melody Amber tournaments in Monaco, where world-class Grandmasters play rapid and blindfold games....
in their correspondence game from 21st WC Final. Nevertheless van Oosterom won the Final and became World Correspondence Champion for a second time. Nickel finished fifth out of 15 finalists.
On August 28, 2006 Nickel began to play an online correspondence chess
Correspondence chess
Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, usually through a correspondence chess server, through email or by the postal system; less common methods which have been employed include fax and homing pigeon...
game against the world, i.e. the combined efforts of the users of ChessGames.com
Chessgames.com
ChessGames.com is a large chess community on the Internet, with over 156,000 members. The site maintains a large database of historical chess games where every game has a distinct message board for comments and analysis. Basic membership is free and the site is open to players at all levels of...
. Nickel resigned this game on January 11, 2007 after White's 41st move. A rematch started on August 25, 2008, which ended in a draw on February 25, 2009. About 1500 users participated in each of these exhibition matches. http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1426491&view=1.
On February 16, 2009 Arno Nickel won the Simon Webb Memorial, a category 15 correspondence chess event with 13 grandmasters. In the ICCF Champions League top group A, season 2007-2009, he achieved the best result on board 1. With an Elo of 2640 his ranking in the ICCF rating list 4/2011 is No. 19 of the World.