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 Ever since picking up chess again a few years ago I have been playing easy to learn openings that require little time to study. Although this allowed me to be competitive fairly quickly, it now works against me in the club competition. It is not t...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/a-lazy-club-players-repertoire---the-petroffMon, 23 Jan 2012 11:40:37 -0800http://blog.chess.com/polleke/a-lazy-club-players-repertoire---the-petroffWell, it's that time of year again! It's supposed to be summer, people took off to go on holiday, and for Belgium that means that on highways you have to slalom your way home from work past Dutch holidaymakers and their caravans. This reminded me ...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/camping-with-the-dutchMon, 15 Aug 2011 05:04:13 -0700http://blog.chess.com/polleke/camping-with-the-dutchJust had some fun going through old chess notebooks. Fun that ended in regret a bit when I found a somewhat well-played game between myself as a 12-year old beating a guy that now has a FIDE rating of 2282. The fact that I won that game makes me ...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/for-old-times-sakeWed, 08 Sep 2010 14:39:31 -0700http://blog.chess.com/polleke/for-old-times-sakeThis year's European Chess Championships, held in Croatia, were very interesting to those of us that are interested in the Fantasy Variation of the Caro-Kann. That is a very boring first sentence of a blog post, but since humor and the Caro-Kann m...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/a-fantasy-too-farThu, 19 Aug 2010 16:12:29 -0700http://blog.chess.com/polleke/a-fantasy-too-farSomehow I don't like to play against the French Defense. This has nothing to do with the results I score against it, but mainly with the lines in which the centre is closed and my opponent starts to pick at my centre with sneaky moves like c5 and ...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/a-friendly-french-defenseSat, 09 Jan 2010 08:33:18 -0800http://blog.chess.com/polleke/a-friendly-french-defenseThe first proper book I found on the Budapest Gambit was the one written by Viktor Moskalenko in 2007, named "The Fabulous Budapest Gambit", published by New In Chess. The book is written in a lively manner, and contains a lot of "text", which mak...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/two-budapest-gambitsSat, 28 Nov 2009 06:24:12 -0800http://blog.chess.com/polleke/two-budapest-gambitsThe village I grew up in was not very friendly to kids wearing glasses who rather played chess than football. As a consequence, I got very attached to a chess pal with the funny name "fidelity voice chess challenger". I think this chess computer w...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/dumb-computer2Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:07:58 -0800http://blog.chess.com/polleke/dumb-computer2Not often does it happen that a visitor leaves my house sucking peacefully on one of my chess trophies... Not often, but I would not write this article if it didn't happen this summer! The person to blame: my little niece - or should I blame the t...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/the-case-of-the-wandering-pacifier2Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:00:24 -0700http://blog.chess.com/polleke/the-case-of-the-wandering-pacifier2Last weekend I was reunited with the chess pieces I played with when I was a little kid. They were still hanging out in the cigar-box I used to keep them in years ago. The box was hidden somewhere in an antique cupboard in my dad's living room. I ...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/hidden-treasures-trench-defense-2Wed, 13 May 2009 14:19:55 -0700http://blog.chess.com/polleke/hidden-treasures-trench-defense-2There are certain benefits to having an elo rating of nil. Earlier this year I joined a chessclub, and after shaking the dust from my chess brain in the first couple of months, and some "sniffing out" by my club mates (who is he, is he any good?) ...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/yes-i-admit-my-elo-is-nilFri, 12 Dec 2008 06:42:05 -0800http://blog.chess.com/polleke/yes-i-admit-my-elo-is-nilSir George Alan Thomas. His name may not ring a bell... To me he was a total stranger until I stumbled on some of his chess games. In an attempt to spice up my chess life I bought a number of books on (to me) unorthodox chess openings. One of thes...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/12Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:50:49 -0800http://blog.chess.com/polleke/12Having nothing important to occupy my brain with, it occurred to me that female chess players are often good looking. Of course there's taste involved, and given the low number of “girls in chess” the outcome of my pondering is statist...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/queens-wantedTue, 12 Aug 2008 07:58:44 -0700http://blog.chess.com/polleke/queens-wantedOuch, I had my first bad chess.com experience. Nothing negative about this site, au contraire, my first bad event was completely self-inflicted. Some days ago I received a challenge for a game. I accepted, got the white pieces and was happy that...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/naivitySun, 27 Jul 2008 08:04:40 -0700http://blog.chess.com/polleke/naivityA complete opening repertoire against any white first move.  “Come here and look at this position little man!”. We just arrived at my grandparents’ house and I didn’t even get a chance to get rid of my coat. My grandf...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/trench-defenceThu, 10 Jul 2008 07:48:59 -0700http://blog.chess.com/polleke/trench-defenceI feel greedy today, and I don't like it. In general I aim to possess as little as possible to avoid worrying about the risk of loss, maintenance, tripping etcetra, but for chess sets there's a weird exception. That is where the problem starts...Â...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/chessboard-100001Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:14:11 -0700http://blog.chess.com/polleke/chessboard-100001 Between the age of 7 and 10, playing chess came with a serious risk to my health. Not because I did nothing else and became fat and lazy, nor because I was allergic to the germs that other players left on the chess pieces, but simply because som...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/dignified-in-victorySat, 28 Jun 2008 08:17:23 -0700http://blog.chess.com/polleke/dignified-in-victoryChess is a wonderful game! Everytime I play it, I am grateful that people took the time to teach me when I was a little boy. My teachers were my grandpa and an uncle - both in love with the game, and determined to convert my soul sooner or later. ...http://blog.chess.com/polleke/grandpas-notebookMon, 23 Jun 2008 00:59:24 -0700http://blog.chess.com/polleke/grandpas-notebook