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 When sifting through the archives of forgotten webpages, I found an interesting column on a certain checkmate pattern, which should be familiar to most of you. Today I present the positions that appear in that column, as puzzles for you to solve, ...http://blog.chess.com/Nytik/a-checkmate-patternWed, 19 Aug 2009 13:15:05 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Nytik/a-checkmate-patternSo, you're the sort of player who likes to play gambits, huh? Sacrificing a small (sometimes large!) amount of material to get the initiative and so, hopefully, win more material than you gave to the opponent. These days, computer analysis has ref...http://blog.chess.com/Nytik/kings-gambit-accepted--3-g5Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:06:37 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Nytik/kings-gambit-accepted--3-g5 The year was 1886. Three years previous, Johannes Zukertort had shown the world his commanding power over the chessboard, crushing all opposition in the 1883 London International. He was already considered the unofficial world champion by many of...http://blog.chess.com/Nytik/zukertort---steinitz-1886-game-1Thu, 28 May 2009 08:49:36 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Nytik/zukertort---steinitz-1886-game-1I play the Italian Game OTB religiously, and have seen practically every response to 3. Bc4. While some are complete rubbish (3... Na5? 4. Nxe5 Nxc4 5. Nxc4) there are one or two that require pondering over. It is these that we will look at today....http://blog.chess.com/Nytik/italian-game-odd-responsesSat, 09 May 2009 03:01:50 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Nytik/italian-game-odd-responsesMy openings OTB have recently taken a turn towards the more modern openings... one of these being the Pirc. In these two games, two grandmasters beat two of the best players in the world using this sometimes underrated defence. http://blog.chess.com/Nytik/pulling-off-the-pircMon, 16 Mar 2009 13:40:13 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Nytik/pulling-off-the-pircThe Ware Opening (1. a4) is often dismissed as a pointless move, doing nothing for development. However, like every move, it does have its advantages. In this game, I manage to use the a-pawn to open up the queenside, allowing a rook penetration d...http://blog.chess.com/Nytik/the-ware-openingWed, 18 Feb 2009 05:46:03 -0800http://blog.chess.com/Nytik/the-ware-opening