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 Before we discuss today's typical pattern, I would like to thank my readers again for their comments and feedback.  One of you suggested to me to use the feature "Board Coordinates" so you can see the notation better. Today I'll try it for the ... http://www.chess.com/article/view/typical-patterns-everyone-should-know--pin-unpin Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:18:49 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/typical-patterns-everyone-should-know--pin-unpin If you ask a chess player what opening is the most dangerous one in the sense that you can lose quickly if you don't know exact moves you are supposed to play, then most probably you'll hear the King's Gambit, the Sicilian Defense or some other no... http://www.chess.com/article/view/typical-patterns-everyone-should-know-part-six Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:52:07 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/typical-patterns-everyone-should-know-part-six Everyone has there own tips and tricks now and again but here are a few tips to get you started. 1-Do not go for the ATTACK right at the start. Have a fortress ready so your enemy cannot attack and then go for it. 2-Try to protect ALL your piece... http://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-tips Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:53:54 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-tips Before I present a new typical tactical pattern, I want to thank my readers for their comments, ideas and suggestions.  Particularly I have to thank one of my readers who suggested that in the beginning of my articles I should mention a very usef... http://www.chess.com/article/view/typical-patterns-everyone-should-know-part-five Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:56:48 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/typical-patterns-everyone-should-know-part-five Some chess books about tactics have puzzles for you to figure out.  Most of them are neat, but you never see them in your games, so you wonder if studying them is even worth the effort.  IT IS!  But they don't just appear. You have to:1) Know t... http://www.chess.com/article/view/i-thought-this-only-happened-in-books Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:29:30 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/i-thought-this-only-happened-in-books It's been a long time since I posted my first power of h4 article, but I've finally summoned up the courage to post another one. Anyway, here it is. Polugaevsky initiates the greek gift against tal-but in an somewhat unorthodox setting. It takes... http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-power-of-h4--part-2 Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:03:06 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-power-of-h4--part-2 I would like to thank all my readers for their comments. This feedback helps me to determine what would be the most interesting subject for my coming articles. Today I would like to answer some of your questions and requests. Due to the space lim... http://www.chess.com/article/view/typical-patterns-everyone-should-know-part-four Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:51:03 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/typical-patterns-everyone-should-know-part-four First of all, let me thank you my dear readers for your positive response for my "Typical patterns everyone should know" articles.  It shows that you want me to continue our discussion of this important subject. Today's installment is devoted to ... http://www.chess.com/article/view/typical-patterns-everyone-should-know-part-three Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:36:02 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/typical-patterns-everyone-should-know-part-three (Author's Note: Special thanks to my opponent _DARKHORSE_ of Team Canada for his display of sportmanship. This game will serve as our token of friendship.)   THE BISHOP CAN CREEP TOO!!!     Have you heard about the phrase “creeping move... http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-bishop-can-creep-too Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:16:56 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-bishop-can-creep-too This is a continuation of our discussion about typical patterns you can reuse in your games. The recipe for today's pattern is: 1) Fianchettoed Bb2 (Bb7 for Black) pointing at the opponent's King 2) Ne5 (Ne4) that joins the attack eventually 3)... http://www.chess.com/article/view/typical-patterns-everyone-should-know-part-two Sat, 30 May 2009 23:58:08 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/typical-patterns-everyone-should-know-part-two Want to give yourself X-ray vision at the chessboard?  Well, as with achieving any worthwhile result, you may expect to have much work to do – but the task is certainly far from impossible.   This seems to be the common problem when learning... http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-vital-importance-of-visual-scan-to-tactical-chess-play Sat, 30 May 2009 12:28:27 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-vital-importance-of-visual-scan-to-tactical-chess-play Let me present to you one of my favorite games played by WGM Natalia Pogonina against FM Dmitry Biryukov. Natalia (currently #14 female player in the world rated 2501 FIDE) delivered an unexpected attack on the kingside followed by a few remarkab... http://www.chess.com/article/view/female-spectacular-attacking-chess Fri, 29 May 2009 08:23:10 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/female-spectacular-attacking-chess Whenever I present a beautiful game in my article, I inevitably see a comment that looks like this: “Wow! Such a beautiful game! I wouldn’t find this fantastic combo in a million years”.  From my teaching experience I know that sometimes ch... http://www.chess.com/article/view/tipical-patterns-everyone-should-know Sat, 23 May 2009 23:06:27 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/tipical-patterns-everyone-should-know Today you have the chance to play like Moscow Open-2009 winner WGM Natalia Pogonina. In the last round of the tournament she crushed her opponent, IM Marina Romanko, with a few nice tactical blows - can you also spot them? Replay the annota... http://www.chess.com/article/view/tactics-challenge-play-like-wgm-pogonina Sat, 23 May 2009 17:28:05 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/tactics-challenge-play-like-wgm-pogonina http://www.chess.com/article/view/winsons-tactics-5-hehe Thu, 21 May 2009 17:55:13 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/winsons-tactics-5-hehe http://www.chess.com/article/view/winsons-tactics-6-hehe Thu, 21 May 2009 17:54:27 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/winsons-tactics-6-hehe http://www.chess.com/article/view/winsons-tactics-7-hehe Thu, 21 May 2009 17:52:36 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/winsons-tactics-7-hehe What do you think about trade of the Ns in the following positions?           STOP: The Article begins below.   I'd like to show a very unusual variation of the very important tactical theme - Intermediate Move (also called In-be... http://www.chess.com/article/view/bad-trade-not-exactly Thu, 21 May 2009 08:36:36 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/bad-trade-not-exactly The US Chess Championship is the premier American event of the year.  It is one of the longest running tournaments in the World ( dates back to 1845).  Since all of the best US players participated in the US Championships, you can find many true... http://www.chess.com/article/view/and-the-winner-ishellip Sat, 16 May 2009 23:22:56 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/and-the-winner-ishellip This is one of my most recent games in which I foresaw a great tactical continuation. Let's see if you can find it. (Sorry if I am bragging) Please look at the move list!! It is in the wrong order, first is the game, then the less simplified puzzl... http://www.chess.com/article/view/favorite-combination Sun, 10 May 2009 10:03:31 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/favorite-combination