Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Feb 5, 2012 12:00am.
As the well-known legend goes, Ernest Hemingway once won a bet that he could write a short story which would have just six words. You see this story as the title of this article. It is a perfect story indeed: it has a beginning, a middle and ... Read more »
7728 reads | 46 comments | 15 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Jan 29, 2012 12:00am.
It's been two month since we did our first tactical Super-Test, so now it is time to check your chess skills again and compare them to the best players in chess history! Let me remind you that unlike typical tactical tests, here in most of the pu... Read more »
10024 reads | 37 comments | 14 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:00am.
Last week we analyzed games where it was wise to spend a whole tempo and play h2-h3 (or h7-h6 for Black) to avoid a very unpleasant pin. But sometimes it is a good idea to play such a move even if the pin is not our concern at all. In order to u... Read more »
6011 reads | 21 comments | 5 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:00am.
Today I am going to talk about the h2-h3 (h7-h6 for Black) move in an opening.
Let me tell you right away that in the majority of the cases when my students (mostly kids) play this move, it means only one thing: they find themselves in an unfamil... Read more »
11883 reads | 53 comments | 12 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Jan 8, 2012 12:00am.
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 »
5448 reads | 13 comments | 4 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Jan 1, 2012 12:00am.
Even though the progress of modern chess theory is truly amazing, we can still learn a lot from the old classical games. In the "Classic games" series of articles we analyze the games which were played long time ago but still could benefit modern ... Read more »
10114 reads | 30 comments | 7 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Dec 25, 2011 12:00am.
Last week you had the chance to compare your chess skills with the famous American GM Frank Marshall. This time your task is harder as the new benchmark you are supposed to keep up with is the legendary Paul Morphy. In one of my previous art... Read more »
10981 reads | 77 comments | 13 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Dec 18, 2011 12:00am.
I want to share my frustrations with you, my dear readers. I find it extremely annoying that these days you cannot turn on TV, read a newspaper or browse the Internet without being attacked by the Kardashians' news. Their weddings, divorces, fragr... Read more »
9012 reads | 53 comments | 8 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Dec 11, 2011 12:00am.
After reading your feedback for the Tactical Super-test that we had a couple of weeks ago (http://www.chess.com/article/view/classical-games-everybody-should-know-tactical-super-test), I learned 2 main things:
1) A majority of the readers enjoye... Read more »
8997 reads | 65 comments | 13 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Dec 4, 2011 12:00am.
While doing my research for the "Classical Games" series, I have discovered many interesting and exciting things. And I am not talking just about games. Today I want to talk about an intriguing chess personality from the past - Josef Cukierman.
I... Read more »
7122 reads | 29 comments | 8 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Nov 27, 2011 12:00am.
Most chess players have probably heard the saying "Chess is 99% tactics". While it is an exaggeration, the goal of this saying is to emphasize the importance of calculation in chess. Indeed, the fastest and most efficient way to improve your ... Read more »
14385 reads | 55 comments | 13 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Nov 20, 2011 12:00am.
The most obvious and important benefit of working on classical games is that such a work significantly broadens your chess horizons. This is what just happened to me since I discovered something new and very important, at least from the historical... Read more »
8661 reads | 31 comments | 8 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Nov 13, 2011 12:00am.
The so-called Steinitz variation in the French Defense arises after the next sequence of moves: 1.e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 where Black gives up space for an opportunity to attack White's center. When he succeeds, the results a... Read more »
7477 reads | 16 comments | 5 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Nov 6, 2011 12:00am.
In the previous instalments of this column we already discussed the importance of the knowledge of classical games and ideas. Today I'd like to discuss how to generate your own ideas. Again, sometimes it just means using somebody else'... Read more »
7131 reads | 31 comments | 7 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Oct 30, 2011 12:00am.
Many times in my articles I addressed a very important question "How to study chess openings?" You can find some of my suggestions here:
http://www.chess.com/article/view/do-the-opposite
and here:
http://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-lea... Read more »
8482 reads | 23 comments | 10 votes:
Submitted by
benwson Sun Oct 30, 2011 12:00am.
This is another game in which Bobby Fischer comes up with another ingenious idea. On his twenty-third move, he seemingly sacrifices his rook, and then reveals his point when he traps the black queen in his own territory. After that, he springs a f... Read more »
3154 reads | 16 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Oct 23, 2011 12:00am.
There are not many games in the chess history as popular as the next one played by the great Emanuel Lasker. You'll be hard pressed to find a book on tactics that doesn't mention this game. The combination was even named after the second World Cha... Read more »
12338 reads | 44 comments | 12 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sat Oct 15, 2011 12:00am.
I am frequently asked if the classical games played by great champions should be memorized. In my opinion it is not necessary. But what you should do for sure is to understand and memorize the key ideas of those games. If you learn typical p... Read more »
11080 reads | 36 comments | 8 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sat Oct 8, 2011 12:00am.
Wilhelm Steinitz is widely known as the founder of a new positional school of chess, so you might expect to see long boring games played by the first official World Champion. In fact, Steinitz created many beautiful attacking gems, so we can lea... Read more »
8456 reads | 31 comments | 7 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Oct 2, 2011 12:00am.
Last week we analyzed one of Morphy's games and you had a chance to see why Fischer once said that by the precision of his play Morphy was the best chess player of all time. In Part 4 we saw that Adolf Anderssen would give his opponent a chance be... Read more »
10293 reads | 32 comments | 7 votes:
Submitted by
benwson Sun Oct 2, 2011 12:00am.
In this game, Berkes' slightly passive opening allows Judit Polgar to establish a lead in development. Berkes decides to set a trap, which Polgar seems to fall into. However, a White's neat 14th move showed that Black was actually the one that had... Read more »
2309 reads | 18 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Sep 25, 2011 12:00am.
First of all, let me assure you that I am not discontinuing my 'classical games' series. As a matter of fact, this is a continuation of our journey through the classics. But the game I am going to present today is so beautiful and instructive that... Read more »
19274 reads | 117 comments | 12 votes:
Submitted by
IM ACEChesson Sat Sep 24, 2011 12:00am.
At the age of 15 I had the wonderful opportunity to work with International Master, and world renowned chess trainer, Mark Dvoretsky. He visited Arizona, courtesy of the sponsorship of my father and grandfather, to work with a group of me and my p... Read more »
14005 reads | 44 comments | 9 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Sep 18, 2011 12:00am.
Since we finished last week's article with "the Immortal Game" it is only fair to start today with its twin - "the Evergreen game".
(Just like in most of my articles I give you a chance to test your chess skills, so the games are given as a Q... Read more »
7500 reads | 32 comments | 9 votes:
Submitted by
GM Gserperon Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:00am.
We continue our exploration of classical chess games with the next immortal gem. It is a truly unique situation when a chess player became famous because of just one ultra short game he played (just 7 moves). Moreover, as far as I know, it is th... Read more »
11746 reads | 46 comments | 10 votes:
