Online chess community where you can play chess, learn strategies and tactics, read chess news, see book reviews, find rules & tips, get free downloads, and more! http://www.chess.com/ 2007 Chess.com The subject of today's discussion is the Göring Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4. c3!?).  Just like practically any gambit, this opening is a very dangerous weapon and since it is not particularly popular these days, most of your opponents... http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-goumlring-gambit Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:58:12 -0800 http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-goumlring-gambit The Petroff defense is loved by super GMs and hated by the average chess players! Why so? Here is what the Wikipedia says about this opening: "The Petrov has a reputation of being dull and uninspired."  Indeed, this is a weapon of choice for many... http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-petroff-defense Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:06:33 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-petroff-defense The Ponziani Opening is one of the oldest openings in chess (it was mentioned for the first time in 1497!). Yet it was never really popular. Top chess players avoid it because Black has many reliable ways to equalize. For the club players the open... http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-ponziani-opening2 Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:53:12 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-ponziani-opening2 Before we start the discussion about the Latvian Gambit (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 f5), I have a confession to make.  I never really trusted in this opening. It is one thing to play a risky King's Gambit and it is a totally different thing to play the same... http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-the-latvian-gambit Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:08:02 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-the-latvian-gambit It is difficult to imagine a chess player who never fell into a well-known trap in the so-called Fried Liver Attack in the Two Knights Defense. It happened to me in my very first tournament. I played all the logical moves (1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc... http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-the-two-knights-defense-black-is-ok Sat, 10 Oct 2009 23:16:16 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-the-two-knights-defense-black-is-ok Last week when we discussed the Urusov Gambit, we learned that the safest option for Black was to transpose the game to a very old and reliable line of the Two Knights Defense.  What an attacking player should do in this case? Well, the positi... http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-the-two-knights-defense Sun, 04 Oct 2009 09:11:37 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-the-two-knights-defense Today we will examine the favorite opening of most beginners- 1.e4 e5 2. Bc4 which is the Bishop's Opening.  Of course, most beginners play 2.Bc4 with the sole purpose of playing 3. Qh5 and then 4. Qxf7 checkmate. Pretty quickly we all learn t... http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-the-bishops-opening Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:46:20 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-the-bishops-opening UltraCorr3 (CD) Edited by Tim Harding System requirement:chessBase 8 or higher version ChessMail.2009 http://www.chessmail.com/ http://www.chess.com/article/view/ultracorr3part-i  Are you all ready for the treasure hunt? So here we go! Firs... http://www.chess.com/article/view/here-is-gods-plentypart-ii Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:51:40 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/here-is-gods-plentypart-ii Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841-1924), nicknamed "Black Death," started playing chess as an adult but reached master level in mere months. He learned how to play draughts as a child; however it was not until he heard about Paul Morphy's exploits aro... http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-black-death Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:15:00 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-black-death When we analysed the King's Gambit a couple of weeks ago, you could notice that even though this opening is a dream for a chess player looking for tactical complications starting right from the beginning of the game, there is still a major drawbac... http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-vienna-game Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:16:50 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-vienna-game Today we are going to talk about the Danish Gambit. The main concept of the opening is very simple. After the initial moves 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4 Bc4 cxb2 5. Bb2 White is down two pawns but he is ahead in development and his Bishops are... http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-the-danish-gambit Sat, 05 Sep 2009 22:53:09 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-the-danish-gambit Last weeks we discussed the King's Gambit as an ideal opening if you want to beat your opponent in 20 moves or less.  Of course if your opponent defends very well and your blitzkrieg fails... well then you might question your decision to sac a pa... http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-center-game Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:37:33 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-center-game In the first part of the article we learned some typical attacking ideas employed in the King's Gambit.  Even though these articles cannot be a substitute for an opening manual, still today I would like to give you some basic ideas for how White... http://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-beat-your-opponent-in-20-moves-or-less-the-kings-gambit-part-two Sat, 22 Aug 2009 23:54:21 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-beat-your-opponent-in-20-moves-or-less-the-kings-gambit-part-two In the previous articles we discussed typical tactical patterns, good traps and bad traps, pawn promotions and Queen sacrifices.  It is time to use this knowledge!  Let's try to beat our next opponent in 20 moves or less! Of course we won't be a... http://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-beat-your-opponent-in-20-moves-or-less Sat, 15 Aug 2009 23:18:22 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-beat-your-opponent-in-20-moves-or-less Today we will continue our discussion about the hidden power of little soldiers of chess.  But first I would like to remind you of a very useful feature of the chess applets used by chess. com to replay the games. If you click "Solution" and t... http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-unsung-heroes-part-two Sun, 09 Aug 2009 00:06:02 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-unsung-heroes-part-two Today we are going to talk about the unsung heroes of chess - pawns. In openings we are happy to sacrifice the little guys in order to get some positional or dynamic advantages (a strong center, lead in the development, etc.) and that's a purpose ... http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-unsung-heroes Sat, 01 Aug 2009 23:10:19 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-unsung-heroes Last week we analyzed the games where the castled King was attacked along the 'h'file.  Today we'll continue this subject and see what happens when a fianchetto is involved.  The good news about a fianchetto, it brings an extra defender ( a ... http://www.chess.com/article/view/edit--deletetypical-patterns-everyone-should-know-the-dangerous-h-file-part-2 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:04:45 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/edit--deletetypical-patterns-everyone-should-know-the-dangerous-h-file-part-2 Last week we discussed the dangerous diagonal 'a5-e1'.  Today we are going to talk about the most dangerous file. I think no other file can claim even a half of the number of Kings killed on the 'h' file.  This is not a big surprise since the Rh... http://www.chess.com/article/view/typical-patterns-everyone-should-know-the-dangerous-h-file Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:08:01 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/typical-patterns-everyone-should-know-the-dangerous-h-file When you are analyzing a combination during a game, sometimes your first go at it makes it seem as though it won't work.  Many chess books about tactics suggest that you then reverse the order of the moves in the combination to see if that helps.... http://www.chess.com/article/view/what-if-he-plays-the-second-move-first Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:38:12 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/what-if-he-plays-the-second-move-first Sometimes a game comes down to which player can see further ahead.  After dodging a bullet in the middlegame (where he almost loses a rook after initiating a combination), White finds himself in situation where he has to see as many as ten danger... http://www.chess.com/article/view/do-you-feel-lucky-well-do-ya Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:26:23 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/do-you-feel-lucky-well-do-ya