Anatoly Karpov was not only a world champion. He was also one of the most solid chess players to ever pick up a piece. So how do you beat such tough champion? Find out how Ulf Andersson did it in this exciting game.
Veselin Topalov took Leinier Dominguez on a trip to Vienna to get a clear lead on their match at the Saint Louis Champions Showdown. However barely played at a top level, the Vienna Game proved to be an effective surprise weapon as Topalov endorsed Hikaru Nakamura’s trend to play unusual openings in rapid. The Champions Showdown at the Saint Louis Chess Club confronts America’s top five players to super-GMs from the rest of the world in five separate speed chess matches. At the end of...
The Austrian chess master Heinrich Wolf (1875-1943) is not exactly a household name for most chess players these days. Yet he is father to one of the most profound concepts in modern opening theory. If people have heard of Wolf at all, it is usually for the reason that he was the angstgegner of the great Mikhail Chigorin, holding a crushing 7-0 record against him. He did have some decent tournament results in the first quarter of the 20th century, and he also was a second to Emanuel Lasker...
You might not have heard of this game's players, but you'll recognize—and love—the go-for-broke style of this romantic game. GM Simon Williams concludes his series with a cute miniature checkmate.
This blog post will also be quite short, as I am about to check out of my hotel room! I recently analysed an interesting GM game for my private students, and I'd like to share a couple of the lessons with you here. Let's start from the following position: What would your move be for Black after 17.c4? In the game, Black played 17...f6, and White replied 18.Ne3, leading to another critical position. Good luck with improving on Black's play in the game! In the game,...
The Dallas Destiny scored a league-high 20 points in PRO Chess League Battles Royale as several teams such as the Miami Champions made big strides forward in the league standings with strong performances. Other favorites such as the Montreal Chessbrahs faltered and lost ground in the increasingly tense playoff race. The biggest news on the individual player front was Anish Giri entering the fray for the Montreal Chessbrahs. Giri had spent two seasons on the Chessbrahs' roster without seeing action....
The recently concluded Tata Steel chess tournament was very memorable for the U.S. grandmaster Sam Shankland. From now on he will be forever remembered as a chess player who the beat the former world champion Vladimir Kramnik in his last professional classical game. But Sam will also be remembered as a grandmaster who resigned in a book-drawn position. Sam Shankland. | Photo: Alina l'Ami/Tata Steel Chess. I bet you've already seen that game: A resignation in a dead-drawn position is so unusual...
A few inaccuracies and some blunders took a harsh toll on contenders for the Champions Showdown on the second day of the rapid section in St. Louis. As most rapid matchups are nearly decided with a day to spare, two head-to-head encounters will be resolved by photo-finish. Wesley So retaliates: A relieved Wesley So talking to journalists. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club. A time-trouble incident knocked out David Navara to a third consecutive loss against Wesley So in the most exciting match...
In a continuation from the last article, Is Classical Chess Dead From Draws, we will be comparing different time controls in the Grand Chess Tour (GCT). Mike Klein just wrote a recent piece highlighting the new 2019 format and the players on the invite list. Last month we analyzed the classical chess draw rate by year when both players were rated over 2750. In the past couple of years, that rate has increased above 70%! Data CollectionThe data for this article contains all Grand...
