If you're a Scandinavian player, you will frequently see this tricky line that White can play that drags you into a nasty minefield (hey, that's not in the script! Aren't we Scandi players meant to be dragging White into our minefield?) that ca...
Some blunders can come about because you're trying to play it safe with mechanical "when I'm winning, I should probably do this ..." moves. I recently played a blitz game that went up in flames in this very manner.I christen this ... my "Luft" w...
Here's a nice way to start the year. This happened a few minutes ago on the ICC. It is a bit ironic that playing an inaccurate move leads you into a position where you are immediately given a chance to play a pretty historic shot. Of course,...
I got into this position as black in a G/30 game with 4:00 minutes on the clock and blundered into a draw. Black to move and squeeze out the win. With best/tricky play by white, the sheer number of "only" moves for Black makes this a fun exerci...
I've been shopping around for a sharp (and slightly insane) opening response to 1.d4 d5 2.c4 (and friends) for quite a while. I decided to have a little fun with the Baltic defense against a similar rated (USCF 1700ish) player. Quite rare and defi...
I've hacked up a helpful tool (it is nothing but a big html file) that makes maintaining a personal chess journal the easiest thing in the world. The improving player will find it really helpful given the usual difficulties they might face w...
Not really, she tolerates me running off a weekend every month to a tournament and has made her peace with my daily chess addiction - both offline and online. This is more of a chess anecdote relating to how she reluctantly learned how to play th...
It is always reassuring to know that even IMs are human. In Simuls, they are even more human. Play through this if you have the time, but if you want to get to the shot and see if you can spot it, fast-forward to move 18.Rac1?? Enjoy!
I gave this puzzle that name because it reminded me of a fun Japanese puzzle-game I played on the computer when I was younger. According to NM Dan Heisman, this problem falls in the category of "indicative" in that the way you tackle this problem...
I like collecting bizarre chess problems and this is one of my favorites. It's more of a whodunit mystery than a chess problem. Mate in 2. Make no assumptions. Everything should be proven :) Note that the FEN string is intentionally incorre...
Disclaimer : This is a mere copy-paste from a forum and I wish I could quote the author but I can't seem to find the source any more. Apologies to whoever it is ... you deserve to be cited for writing something this interesting!!!! (warning: Very...
Everyone has a fancy game they are really proud of. This one happens to be the game that made me start taking chess more seriously.
