-
This week I will be reviewing a unique book - 200 Open Games, by the former "Vice-World Champion", David Bronstein. Rather than fully annotated games, this book presents 200 short vignettes, each followed by an un-annotated game, with one diagram.... | Read More
-
In the course of updating the Caxton Named Opening list I have been reading both the New in Chess Yearbooks and SOS series. Opening novelties are not dead. New ideas have been aided by computer tools, which have also rescued many obscure old ideas... | Read More
-
In the first part of this article we started analysis of the classical position with an Isolated Queen Pawn where Black's e6-pawn is moved to c6. This kind of position happened in many games of the famous match La Bourdonnais - McDonnell. Tod... | Read More
-
Target Skill Range: Beginner (Rated 1000-1399)
Acquire the knowledge you need to approach the opening with confidence and achieve success!
Tasks:
Memorize the Principles of the Opening
Apply the Principles in Practice Games
Learn a Few "... | Read More
-
OK, I have to admit that I totally made up the name of this opening. If after the moves 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Black doesn't want to play the Italian Game (3...Bc5), the Two Knights Defense (3...Nf6) or the Hungarian (3...Be7) and instead ... | Read More
-
The Italian Game is one of the oldest opening in chess. And it's sharpest line known as 'Greco Attack" is almost 400 years old. You might think that 400 years is enough for everyone to learn the main traps of this sharp opening and yet this dang... | Read More
-
Many players are afraid to play the Two Knights Defense as black because they fear the dreaded Fried Liver Attack and 4.Ng5 lines in general. Of course this can be avoided byselecting the Italian game but then one has to cope with the ferocious ... | Read More
-
The 'Mad Queen' rules (before these Bishops were capable of only moving two squares diagonally, and the Queen one square diagonally) were introduced to chess during the Renaissance, in Italy, and it was there that one of the first masters was born... | Read More
-
You may have seen opening analyses that cite statistical evidence regarding how well an opening fares. Those statistics are based overwhelming on games by players with ratings over 2200. What would we discover if we looked only at amateur games? H... | Read More
-
In this article, we're going to take a look inside the winner's toolbox. Some of these items are absolutely essential to have, or you will lose games that you shouldn't have lost. Not having these skills in your toolbox would be like a carpent... | Read More
-
I will always remember the day I signed up for my first chess club. Even though most of the members there were about my age (7-8 years old), they all seemed more experienced and smarter than me. So, when one of the kids asked me if I wanted to... | Read More
-
The Giuoco Piano (Italian: "quiet game") is the oldest recorded opening.Damiano played it at the beginning of the 16th century and the Italian Greco played it at the beginning of the 17th century. The opening is also known as the Italian Game, alt... | Read More
-
Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin was a leading Russian chess player. He served as a major source of inspiration for the "Soviet school of chess," which dominated the chess world in the middle and latter parts of the 20th century.He became serious about ... | Read More
-
Dawid Przepiorka (1880-1940) was the winner of the 1st Polish Chess Championship in 1926, which was held in Warsaw. In 1939, Poland was occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union. In 1940, Przepiorka was arrested by the Germans while he was in a che... | Read More
-
First of all, this article is intended for novice players who may have heard of the ruy lopez opnening but haven't studied it and understand it. People who have studied it should not bother reading it. This is an introduction to the Span... | Read More
-
Hi everybody, having given an overview over meeting both 1.d4 and 1.c4, I can't resist the temptation of trying to characterize the possible answers to 1.e4 as well. I trust that most of you already have a reliable defence against this, b... | Read More