Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Feb 9, 2012 12:00am.
Chess isn’t all about winning games as if proving mathematical theorems. It isn’t all about obtaining an advantage through superior preparation and then using technique to coast to victory. A big part of chess strength is craftiness in the hea... Read more »
1612 reads | 6 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Feb 2, 2012 12:00am.
If you follow my column, you will notice that I have not often been covering the most recent games from top-level tournaments. I don’t really want to annotate the same game that other commentators (and their computers) have already picked ap... Read more »
5711 reads | 31 comments | 8 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Jan 26, 2012 12:00am.
Tactics naturally flow from “tactical weaknesses” – an unguarded piece, an exposed king, two heavy pieces on the same line, etc. Often this weakness is out in the open and the only question is if it can be utilized. But occasiona... Read more »
7380 reads | 28 comments | 8 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:00am.
The Benoni Defense was first mentioned – and got its name – from an 1825 manuscript by Aaron Reinganum, Ben-oni, or the Pawn-Sacrifice Defense in Chess. The word “benoni” means “son of sorrow” in Hebrew. Accordi... Read more »
8003 reads | 13 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:00am.
Everyone has heard the saying “an attack on the wing should be met by a counter in the center”. Or, if you haven’t – now you have. But what does a central counterattack look like, and why is it so strong?
Every attack uses up some kind of... Read more »
8128 reads | 26 comments | 10 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Jan 5, 2012 12:00am.
Every once in a while, someone asks me the question “who is your favorite player?” That’s always a difficult question to answer, because I don’t really have a single favorite player. If I have to name one, though, I would probably say Alex... Read more »
9281 reads | 43 comments | 10 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:00am.
The game I will show you today is – as you could guess from the title of the article – a comedy of errors. And the source of those errors is a surprising misjudgment of the “speed” of play (for more on this subject, check o... Read more »
5650 reads | 23 comments | 6 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:00am.
It’s rare to see the king going on the attack, especially in the middlegame with queens on the board. However, it can happen and when it does it is usually aesthetic and shocking.
We learn early on to protect the king, and quickly begin to see ... Read more »
10410 reads | 36 comments | 5 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Dec 8, 2011 12:00am.
What is “space” on a chess board? And why is it so important?
A simple answer to the first question is that space is “control of squares”. So a player with a “space advantage” is one who controls a greater number of squares. This coul... Read more »
5874 reads | 26 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
WGM Natalia_Pogoninaon Tue Dec 6, 2011 12:00am.
A positional sacrifice implies giving away material for long-term positional advantages. Such exchange operations don’t lead to a straightforward win of the game or material. While any piece can be positionally sacrificed, the most common victim... Read more »
7195 reads | 28 comments | 6 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Dec 1, 2011 12:00am.
I would like to show a game in this week’s article which really amazed me when I first saw it. In the 36th Soviet Championship a fairly little-known player Igor Platonov took on the legend of attack, Mikhail Tal.
Playing the Najdorf Sicili... Read more »
9489 reads | 44 comments | 9 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Nov 24, 2011 12:00am.
Probably the vast majority of games you will see in articles on chess.com or other places end decisively. But overall, at least in the higher levels of chess, the majority actually end in draws. We have been seeing mostly games where the balance w... Read more »
6105 reads | 27 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:00am.
There are certain kinds of positions where one particularly well-placed piece leads the entire action, like a conductor in a symphony. We chess players always try to put our pieces in good places, but it is more difficult than it seems. A piece th... Read more »
6694 reads | 37 comments | 4 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Nov 10, 2011 12:00am.
How do you know if a sacrifice is correct or incorrect? In the absence of a calculable forced line leading to mate or winning back the material – how can you assess whether the compensation is enough?
Let’s look at the following position:
... Read more »
8040 reads | 21 comments | 5 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Nov 3, 2011 12:00am.
I want to discuss today a subject that is crucial to the chess player who wants to improve – this is “defensive thinking” – also known as “prophylaxis”. It is strange that this subject is sometimes presented as ... Read more »
8613 reads | 30 comments | 12 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Oct 27, 2011 12:00am.
This week I am going to discuss a particular kind of sacrifice. This is usually a piece for one or two pawns. There are no clear-cut immediate threats and the defending side has many possible defenses. However, the defender’s king is perpetu... Read more »
8325 reads | 33 comments | 7 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Oct 20, 2011 12:00am.
I have always found attacks on the king in which the queen does not take part (usually because she has been traded or sacrificed) to be quite artistic. Why is this? I think it’s because to conduct an attack on the king without the help of the qu... Read more »
8031 reads | 32 comments | 7 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:00am.
In today’s article I am going to discuss a specific structure which gives a type of position with a complex interplay of attack and defense on opposite sides of the board. This type of structure does not have a specific name, although I am s... Read more »
6774 reads | 23 comments | 6 votes:
Submitted by
GM thamizhanon Mon Oct 10, 2011 12:00am.
Dear Thamizhan,
I am a d4 player, rated 1300-1400 and I enjoy playing the Samisch Variation against the King's Indian.
a) What are the factors or principles that I must use in order to win a game whenever I am in a good position?
b) Since th... Read more »
7144 reads | 16 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Oct 6, 2011 12:00am.
A big part of being a good player is knowing what liberties you can afford, and where the real danger is. Knowing from experience what kind of attack is deadly and what can be shrugged off is more important than being able to calculate more and fa... Read more »
6053 reads | 20 comments | 9 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Sep 29, 2011 12:00am.
You cannot always get a great position out of the opening. Besides falling into preparation or just making a mistake (everyone does) you can also have a temporary loss of control or weak nerves. Being able to fight back in a bad – or even lost ... Read more »
4833 reads | 16 comments | 4 votes:
Submitted by
WGM Natalia_Pogoninaon Mon Sep 19, 2011 12:00am.
In this article a popular pawn structure will be reviewed: when White has pawns on e5 and d4, and Black – on e6 and d5. It is typical of the Caro-Cann, French Defense, and can occur in other variations as well. For example, in the following game... Read more »
8948 reads | 27 comments | 6 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Sep 15, 2011 12:00am.
As you know, there are all kinds of chess games. When you sit down to play, you don’t know what kind of game it will be. It could be a long endgame where one side is slightly better. It could be a fast defeat for a player who is too optimistic. ... Read more »
7373 reads | 36 comments | 10 votes:
Submitted by
IM IMBryanSmithon Thu Sep 8, 2011 12:00am.
As you might know, I have decided to change the topic of my column from the psychology of chess to “Attack and Defense”. On Chess.com we have (or had) columns about endgames, openings, and strategy. I decided to cover the interplay of attack a... Read more »
6719 reads | 25 comments | 11 votes:
Submitted by
GM thamizhanon Mon Sep 5, 2011 12:00am.
Hello, I have a question:
I have always been taught that when both kings are castled on opposite sides, you should go for an attack on the opposite wing. Recently, however, I played a game in which, after I castled king side and my opponent quee... Read more »
8474 reads | 38 comments | 6 votes:
