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 This is a rather curious game. It shows the great Morphy at work again; naturally, he plays the game with rook odds. However, this time, something strange happens. Take a look and see if you can come up with an explanation for what occurred over t...http://blog.chess.com/benws/throw-the-rook-at-himFri, 27 Jan 2012 18:30:41 -0800http://blog.chess.com/benws/throw-the-rook-at-himHappy Boxing Day! I hope that everyone has had a great year, and I hope that next year will be just as good. Anyway, here's a nice game to analyze. In the opening, Ivanchuk decides to sacrifice his queen. It is not clear whether or not he did t...http://blog.chess.com/benws/saved-by-the-bell2Mon, 26 Dec 2011 11:29:02 -0800http://blog.chess.com/benws/saved-by-the-bell2This is a rather interesting game between Tarrasch and the Stockholm chess club. The grandmaster is surprised by a series of Morphy-like sacrifices in the opening and never fully recovers. The club gains a large advantage and eventually converts i...http://blog.chess.com/benws/stockholm-syndromeSun, 13 Nov 2011 08:11:16 -0800http://blog.chess.com/benws/stockholm-syndromeMy fourth anniversary on chess.com has come and gone. I still can't believe how quickly this site has changed. Last year, chess.com had a "mere" 2.5 million members. Today, it has over 4 million! It's simply astonishing. In additon, we've seen the...http://blog.chess.com/benws/chesscom-four-yearsSun, 16 Oct 2011 16:26:29 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/chesscom-four-yearsSome of you might remember my post a while ago about Shirov's neat game-winning opposite-color-bishops endgame sacrifice. Well, here is another nice game that showcases another of these sacrifices. In the opening, Hindle makes a few errors, and en...http://blog.chess.com/benws/piquant-piece-sacrificeTue, 23 Aug 2011 21:02:08 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/piquant-piece-sacrificeHere is a cool game that I stumbled across recently. It is yet another example of how powerful connected passed pawns can be, and how large amounts of material can be sacrificed just to promote on of them. In the game, Averbakh takes advantage of ...http://blog.chess.com/benws/bakh-in-the-ussrSat, 13 Aug 2011 07:39:21 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/bakh-in-the-ussrHere is yet another game that shows the tactical brilliance of David Bronstein. After some insipid play by Mikenas, Bronstein is able to seize the advantage by making some threats against his opponent's weak back rank. Mikenas cautiously tries to ...http://blog.chess.com/benws/back-rank-bluesThu, 04 Aug 2011 20:14:54 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/back-rank-bluesI haven't posted in my blog for a while, so here goes... This is a short and sweet miniature that I came across today. After a sharp opening, Book decides to sacrifice his queen. Although it is not clear that he can finish off his opponent, he co...http://blog.chess.com/benws/face-book2Sat, 23 Jul 2011 22:27:04 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/face-book2Here is another brilliant game from the great Bronstein. The game is relatively quiet until the forty-seventh move, when his opponent gives up the exchange to seemingly set up an impenetrable fortress. However, instead of acquiescing to the draw, ...http://blog.chess.com/benws/cocktail-of-rook-movesThu, 25 Nov 2010 18:45:45 -0800http://blog.chess.com/benws/cocktail-of-rook-movesThis is a really cool game. Mikenas begins a series of crazy-looking moves after Black is forced to ruin his kingside pawn structure. He sacrifices one piece after another, and even though the sacs don't seem to do anything, they eventually lure t...http://blog.chess.com/benws/mikenas-crazyThu, 11 Nov 2010 18:58:06 -0800http://blog.chess.com/benws/mikenas-crazyHere's another brilliant little miniature. Laster employs a neat tactic on his eleventh move and uses the lines that open up to go directly for the black king. Gahtan tries to defend, but four consecutive (!) piece sacrifices from Laster force him...http://blog.chess.com/benws/and-the-first-shall-be-lasterMon, 25 Oct 2010 20:23:21 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/and-the-first-shall-be-lasterI came across this game recently. It's pretty interesting. On the 17th move, Black offers his queen and White accepts. I'm not sure if White has to capture, but I'm pretty sure he does. After the sacrifice, Black is able to force White's king all ...http://blog.chess.com/benws/the-bishops-funeral-marchSat, 16 Oct 2010 19:53:28 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/the-bishops-funeral-marchWhen I logged into the site today, I was surprised to get a notification that I had received a trophy. Since I usually don't get trophies nowadays, I wondered what it could possibly be for. Then I realized that another year had gone by and that to...http://blog.chess.com/benws/chesscom-three-yearsTue, 05 Oct 2010 19:46:06 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/chesscom-three-yearsThis is a pretty cool game. Krasenkow decides to give up a pawn in the opening in order to begin an attack on his opponent's uncastled king. Although it appears as if Adianto is under no danger, Krasenkow unleashes a series of neat moves and quick...http://blog.chess.com/benws/the-gift-of-givingSat, 25 Sep 2010 19:21:15 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/the-gift-of-givingThis is a pretty cool game. Gligoric and his opponent play through a quiet first 28 moves. Then, suddenly, Gligoric quietly moves a rook one square on his 29th move, and his opponent, in a completely lost position, is forced to resign. The interes...http://blog.chess.com/benws/the-bughouse-immortalWed, 08 Sep 2010 19:10:55 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/the-bughouse-immortalWell, I'm no longer the top blogger on chess.com, but it was fun having my name on the top of the list. And I finally accomplished one of my long-time goals! That's always exciting. Anyway, here's a nice game I saw recently. White builds up an at...http://blog.chess.com/benws/roman-holidayMon, 30 Aug 2010 17:32:52 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/roman-holidayA funny thing happened today on chess.com... I logged onto the site, as I always do every day. Everything looked normal, until I saw something very strange. Here's the screenshot of what I saw: Well, I guess that it was bound to happen, after s...http://blog.chess.com/benws/highlights-of-a-careerMon, 23 Aug 2010 19:56:44 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/highlights-of-a-careerThis game is, quite possibly, the craziest that you will ever see in your lifetime. Complications arise quickly, as White boldly marches his king out into the open. Black begins to amount an attack, but White's brilliant 19th move turns the tide i...http://blog.chess.com/benws/van-de-loo-industriesThu, 19 Aug 2010 10:52:33 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/van-de-loo-industriesThis game contains one of the most remarkable double check combinations of all time. Mason, playing white, has the advantage for most of the game. He eventually wins a few pawns, but it is unclear how he will infiltrate black's seemingly solid pos...http://blog.chess.com/benws/seeing-doubleSun, 15 Aug 2010 13:26:47 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/seeing-doubleHere's a lovely game played by Duras. His opponent decides to sacrifice the exchange to obtain two connected passed pawns midway through the middlegame. He then gives them up to begin an attack on Duras' kingside. Duras then launches a brilliant c...http://blog.chess.com/benws/gibbous-moonWed, 11 Aug 2010 17:42:45 -0700http://blog.chess.com/benws/gibbous-moon