Submitted by
WIM energia on Fri Nov 20, 2009 2:06am.
Once again, I will deviate from the topic of my chess column – exchanges. In this column I will present some thoughts on practical tournament strategies based on my own experience. There is much advice of what to do when one does not do well in ... Read more »
2584 reads | 22 comments | 4 votes:
Submitted by
WIM energia on Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:30pm.
This article will address the question of queen exchanges. Particularly, we will look into positions where one side forced the queen exchange to get some advantage in return. The opponent’s doubled pawns can be considered an advantage for us, fo... Read more »
4774 reads | 15 comments | 5 votes:
Submitted by
WIM energia on Fri Nov 6, 2009 1:48am.
More than a half of a century has passed since David Bronstein wrote probably one of the best chess books that have ever been written: “ Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953.” The book is about the tournament that gathered fifteen o... Read more »
3918 reads | 15 comments | 4 votes:
Submitted by
WIM energia on Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:44am.
The last article was about how to collect a library of positions and use it to improve your chess. This would improve your technique, increase the quantity of familiar positions, and make you overall a better player, but chess is a game too and on... Read more »
2663 reads | 9 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
SWRR2009 on Sun Oct 25, 2009 5:30am.
Hi again everyone,
This time we will try to take a look at how black can answer a variation which a lot of sources consider to be critical to the whole survival of the Dragon. I’ve tried to include a lot of possible deviations for black tha... Read more »
1754 reads | 20 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
WIM energia on Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:26pm.
Two years ago I spent the summer in Ukraine, a chess Mecca, took chess lessons, played a couple of tournaments. In theory I know many methods that are designed to improve your chess, but in practice I hardly ever put... Read more »
4383 reads | 21 comments | 5 votes:
Submitted by
SWRR2009 on Tue Oct 20, 2009 12:28am.
Hi guys, you know the rules to predicting these games, stop when you hit the highlighted portions and answer before moving on. Take all the time you want and good luck!
Almasi,Zoltan - Watson,William N
German Bundesliga, 1995
1.... Read more »
3799 reads | 25 comments | 5 votes:
Submitted by
GM vbhat on Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:30pm.
Before playing in the Montreal International this fall, I spent a good amount of time studying strong GM games (usually Kasparov games) and middlegames, but I also spent some time reviewing some technical endgames and my openings.
For such a stro... Read more »
2669 reads | 15 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
WIM energia on Fri Oct 16, 2009 12:45am.
I just came back from the US Women’s Championship and want to share with you my impressions as well as chess game fragments. First of all, I would like to thank all the chess.com fans who were rooting for me during the Championship; it is amazin... Read more »
3483 reads | 24 comments | 5 votes:
Submitted by
GM vbhat on Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:17pm.
One of the main ways to combat the Stonewall Defense is to break down Black's strong central pawn chain with f2-f3 and then e2-e4. Assuming there are pawns on c4 and d4, the pressure on d5 will likely force some action, leaving the e6-pawn weak in... Read more »
3526 reads | 26 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
PavleKosic on Wed Oct 7, 2009 4:13am.
Hi everyone, this is my first article after a long time and like the previus ones this is written for guys with rating around 1800-1900. This article have a purpose to familiar you with some basic structure which arise from Budapest gambit. I play... Read more »
1814 reads | 29 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
WIM energia on Fri Oct 2, 2009 2:10am.
In this article I would like to give my thoughts on an important subject matter, but I warn you in advance there are no chess positions; I took a so- called chess break. I hope the reader will forgive me…
Today, I woke up in the middle of th... Read more »
3192 reads | 38 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
WIM energia on Fri Sep 25, 2009 12:19am.
Many of you have requested before that I put the text of the whole game here. The reason why I prefer fragments instead of full games is that by putting the whole game one can get distracted by other parts less relevant to the given topic. I mean ... Read more »
2851 reads | 16 comments | 4 votes:
Submitted by
GM vbhat on Sun Sep 13, 2009 8:18pm.
After the Bacrot game from the 4th round that I went over last week, I had the white pieces against Tiviakov. This was maybe my best game of the event, but in light of my upcoming event in Texas (the SPICE Cup, group B), I didn't quite have enough... Read more »
2457 reads | 15 comments | 5 votes:
Submitted by
NM GreenLaser on Fri Sep 11, 2009 1:51pm.
Mikhail Tal was on his way to the world championship when he faced Milko Bobotsov on his way to beconing the first Bulgarian grandmaster. Tal played the King's Indian Defense which Bobotsov challenged with the Saemisch Variation characterized by f... Read more »
1467 reads | 33 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
WIM energia on Fri Sep 11, 2009 1:06am.
I would like to talk about a case when two knights are stronger than two bishops. The obvious case is when the position is closed – there are no open diagonals for the bishops and many outposts for the knights. This article addresses the other c... Read more »
3116 reads | 18 comments | 5 votes:
Submitted by
GM vbhat on Fri Sep 4, 2009 7:46pm.
This game was from the last round of the Continental Championship in Brazil. After my loss to Vescovi (analyzed in my last article), I had 4/6. I then proceeded to struggle horribly, scoring only 1/3 against lower-rated opposition. I won my 10th r... Read more »
2296 reads | 20 comments | 4 votes:
Submitted by
WIM energia on Fri Sep 4, 2009 2:25am.
What is a chess genius? I cannot answer this question but I can give examples of the play of a chess genius. I came from the country where no one questioned whether this person is a genius or not; it was accepted he is. The games that I will p... Read more »
5594 reads | 30 comments | 4 votes:
Submitted by
WIM energia on Fri Aug 28, 2009 1:36am.
I would like to offer a set of examples to solve. In all of them you have to evaluate some exchanges and make if not the strongest move, then the most practical decision. Some of the examples are very hard, therefore set yourself enough time, I... Read more »
4359 reads | 21 comments | 7 votes:
Submitted by
GM vbhat on Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:58am.
In my last tournament in Brazil (the Pan-American Continental Championship), I started with a solid 4.0/5 and in round 6 had the black pieces against GM Giovanni Vescovi. I was expecting 1.e4, but as he plays pretty much everything with the white ... Read more »
2533 reads | 18 comments | 4 votes:
Submitted by
GM vbhat on Thu Aug 20, 2009 12:07am.
My last tournament in Brazil was a bit of a disaster, but I still played a few games that I think will be of use to show. In the first game I want to show you, my opponent played one of the oldest known openings, the Giuoco Piano. However, the lin... Read more »
2602 reads | 16 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
WIM energia on Wed Aug 19, 2009 8:22pm.
When we think of the way people played chess in the late 1800s we think of insane sacrifices and attacks that faced almost no resistance. Names like Pilsbury and Morphy, of great imaginative players come to mind. In the early 1900s there was Hype... Read more »
2664 reads | 8 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
GM vbhat on Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:17pm.
The 2008 World Championship match between Anand and Kramnik was largely decided based on one opening - the Meran Variation of the Semi-Slav. Anand scored two victories in games 3 and 5, as black, that carried him to an insurmountable lead.
In th... Read more »
4373 reads | 24 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
WIM energia on Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:06am.
World class chess coach Joseph Dorfman in his book “Method in Chess” discusses the importance of exchange in a chess game. He came up with a method that can be applied to evaluate any position. The method is easy to app... Read more »
4583 reads | 26 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
GM vbhat on Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:39am.
In my last article, I showed my game with GM Josh Friedel from round 2 of the World Open in Philadelphia. The following day, I had the black pieces against IM Ray Robson, the 2009 Samford Fellowship recipient. I had planned to play a Winawer Frenc... Read more »
2703 reads | 20 comments | 4 votes: