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“The cavalcade, the jamboree of life I thought was meant for me. I never dreamed that it would be replaced by this eternity of isolation.” – The Mighty Boosh &nbs... | Read More
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MASTERING MATERIAL IMBALANCES
HiddenDeath said: “After reading your HOW TO REASSESS YOUR CHESS 4th Edition and going over the examples where a player sacrificed his queen for two pieces, a pawn, and some positive imbalances, I decided to give t... | Read More
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If you have read Part I of the article, you already know that China prevailed in the classical games over Russia: 26-24. Now even more points were at stake: 100 instead of 50; contested in rapid chess. This offered us good chances to overcome our ... | Read More
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Hi! Glad to be able to communicate with the chess.com members! Tonight was our first show, and after each I will be providing a quick summary, including the best question or two and the most pertinent answers.
Since this our first summary, it mig... | Read More
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Last week we discussed the basic ideas of the Rxe6 (or Rxe3 for Black) positional exchange sacrifice. Today let me present the hit parade of games where this effective and useful chess tool was utilized.
7th Place - GM Vlastimil Hort and his tot... | Read More
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This game is yet another fantastic effort by the great Mikhail Tal. On his 11th move, he sacrifices a knight, apparently for no reason. However, after whipping up an attack on Szukzszta's king out of nowhere, Tal throws in a couple of neat sacrifi... | Read More
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The topic of today's article is checkmating ideas in endgames. The inspiration for the article was a recent game played in the Biel tournament, Nakamura vs. Bologan. This article features that game at the very end, first introducing relevant examp... | Read More
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No time to study opening theory? Shock your opponent with an SOS! With an SOS you deviate early (usually before move 6!) from regular lines in mainstream openings. So you will reach positions you have actually studied without having memorized tons... | Read More
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Of all the pieces, one has to admit that the knight most illustrates the romantic aspect of chess. Symbol of an ancient institution in a society that no longer exists, and moving in a “crooked” non-linear way, unlike all the other piec... | Read More
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After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 we get the exciting Two Knights Defense. In that case, white’s most combative move is 4.Ng5 when 4…d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxf7!? is the Fried Liver Attack (an amateur favorite… the name alone makes y... | Read More
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From July 1-9 St. Petersburg, the cultural capital of Russia, hosted the 8th unofficial match between Russia and China. The format of the event has usually been different each year. This time the participants had to play 5 classical games and 10 ... | Read More
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Today we are going to talk about a relatively common positional exchange sacrifice - Rxe6 (or Rxe3 for Black). As a rule, a player achieves two main goals with such a sacrifice: 1) eliminates the opponent's Bishop and therefore completely dominate... | Read More
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Ignatz Kolisch was, according to historical calculations from Chessmetrics, the number one chess player in the world from 1867-1868. Although he did not frequently play in tournaments, he was known for his aggressive style, which often produced so... | Read More
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For the last few months I've been working on a new book on the Blackmar Diemer Gambit. This gambit is sort of a Rodney Dangerfield of chess openings, it just doesn't get any respect. Statistically, it performs quite well especially if you consult ... | Read More
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Last week we looked at a B+N vs. 2Ns endgame where there are fixed and isolated d-pawns present on the board. The endgame was played between the World Open winner Sokolov and American GM Lenderman. For the last 20 moves Sokolov has been pressing w... | Read More
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From our earliest beginnings in chess we learn that the center is the most important part of the board to try to control. To some extent this is self-evident – probably many people don’t even need to read or be taught this, but just understand... | Read More
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IMPORTANT: [At the end of the puzzles, you should click MOVE LIST so you can see my instructive notes and variations. If you are having trouble solving a problem, just click SOLUTION, and then MOVE LIST. Even if you solve everything, DO click M... | Read More
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After the first six rounds we had a rest day. The Top League is a rather tense tournament, so playing 11 rounds non-stop would have been way too much. How does one spend the rest day? It depends. Some do sports, others go sightseeing, and some jus... | Read More
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The following game was played just a few hours ago. It's a wonderful miniature which Bacrot won because either Morozevic didn't want a draw or simply missed how to get it (I think he was probably still trying to win by inertia, after what seemed l... | Read More
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In the first part of this article we discussed how dangerous a Knight can be if it is placed on the 'magic' f5 square (f4 for Black). As you could see in the games we analyzed there, the main danger coming from such a Knight is the coming sa... | Read More
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Leonid Stein was one of the great Soviet chess grandmasters of the 1960s. The Ukranian won three USSSR Championships, and came up short in several attempts at becoming world champion. Several times, Stein qualified for the Candidates' Tournament (... | Read More
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Recently GM Ivan Sokolov conquered the American chess scene by winning the largest open in the US - the World Open, technically, tying for 1st place with American GM Shabalov but winning on tie-break. Sokolov showed no mercy playing two young and ... | Read More
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It sometimes happens that a player faces a critical choice early in the game. One way leads to a quiet backwater, or even directly onto the shore of the draw; while the other way leads to the rapids. Will he founder on the sharp rocks, or survive ... | Read More
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IMPORTANT: [At the end of the puzzles, you should click MOVE LIST so you can see my instructive notes and variations. If you are having trouble solving a problem, just click SOLUTION, and then MOVE LIST. Even if you solve everything, DO click MOVE... | Read More
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Early summer was a very busy period for me in terms of tournament play. I took a short break after the World Women’s Blitz & Rapid Chess Championships and then headed to the Russian Top League in Tyumen, followed by a trip to St. Petersburg ... | Read More