The Marshall Plan - Control the 7th Rank
Here is a game that Frank Marshall defeated Akiba Rubinstein by controlling the 7th rank. He was able to get his Queen and his Rook on the 7th rank to force mate. A Rook sacrifice helped it along.
Bondarevsky's Back Rank Mate
Igor Bondarevsky was a Soviet grandmaster, and for many years, Boris Spassky's trainer. He played in nine Soviet championships, and won it in 1940. Here is a game that he played in one of the famous Hastings Christmas tournaments i...
Capa's Kingside Capturing Combination
Former world champion Jose Capablanca played some of the most perfect games of chess ever played by a human. In this game, a Ruy Lopez, he shows his gift for combination as he finds all the right moves to force the win.
Alekhine's Brilliancy Prize Game
In 1921, Alekhine played in an international tournament in Budapest in which he took first place and won a brilliancy prize. Alekhine annotated the game in his book My Best Chess Games 1908-1923, except he left a move out (27...Rac8 28.Rd4)....
An Olympic Effort - Triple Sacrifice
Here is a game that was played in the first chess olympiad in London. The game won a brilliancy prize for its triple sacrifice that led to mate in 16 moves.
Spassky Misses the Draw
In 1972, Robert Fischer and Boris Spassky played for the world chess championship. The 13th game featured a complicated endgame. On move 69, Spassky missed the drawing line and went on to lose the game, the match, and the world title.&...
Sicilian, Grand Prix Attack
The opening 1.e4 c5 2.f4 is known as the Grand Prix Attack, or Larsen-Santasiere Attack, or McDonnell Attack. It is a less analyzed line, sort of like a King's Gambit against the Sicilian. Here is a clever, short game using this op...
Larsen's Lisitsin Lesson
Bent Larsen has been one of the top players in the world for many years. Here is one of his early games that in played in one of the chess olympiads. His opponent played the Lisitsin Gambit (1.Nf3 f5 2.e4) and Larsen got a quick attack...
Ragozin Stops the Wrath of Kan
Viacheslav Ragozin was a Soviet Over-the-Board (OTB) Grandmaster as well as Correspondence Grandmaster. He won the second World Correspondence Championship in 1958. Ilya Kan was an International Master, perhaps of Grandmaster strength....
Botvinnik's Rook-Pawn Endgame
Former world chess champion Mikhail Botvinnik was a master at the endgame. Here is an endgame where he had a king-side majority of pawns (4 pawns to 3 pawns) where he immobilized his opponent, then penetrated his King and Rook to...
Atkins Diet - A Danish with Smothered Mate
Henry Atkins was a British International Master who liked playing the Danish Gambit. He won the British Championship 9 times between 1905 and 1925 (7 in a row starting in 1905). Here is a game in which he won by playing a Danish Gambit...
The Black Death Swindles for a Mating Combination
Joseph Henry Blackburne was known as the 'Black Death.' For over 20 years he was one of the top 10 players in the world. Here is a game in which he swindled the great Adolf Anderssen. Blackburne was losing playing the Whi...
Geller's Swift Attack
Efim Geller was one of the 10 ten chess players in the world for about 20 years. He played in 23 USSR chess championships, winning it in 1955 and 1979. He was known for his swift attacks with a tendency to risk everything in order to w...
Best Chess Players
There is some forum discussion on who are the top 50 chess players in the world or who the best player in the world is (or was). Well, if we look at current Elo (FIDE) ratings, they publish a list of the top players in the world. If we look at i...
Sir George Thomas Avoids the Menchik Club - This Time
In 1929, Vera Menchik, the strongest woman chess player in the world at the time, was invited to the Carlsbad International tourament. Albert Becker, a Viennese master, did not want her to play in the event, saying she was too weak of a play...
Check Out This Czech - Hort Hurts His Opponent
Vlastimil Hort, born in 1944, was the strongest Czech player in the 1970s and was one of the top players in the world. Here is one of his early games where he beat grandmaster Leonid Shamkovich with a rook sac that led to mate.
Johnny Cochrane Wins Another Case
John Cochrane (1798-1878) was a Scottish lawyer who loved to sacrifice his pieces for an attack. Here is a tactical game in which he beat the great Howard Staunton. He sacrifices a pawn on move 3, and eventually sacks his Queen for the...
Spassky's Kingside Attack
Former world chess champion Boris Spassky will always be remembered as the man who played and lost a match to Bobby Fischer, twice. Boris started out as one of the world's youngest grandmasters, Here is a game from his early days where he was ab...
Don't Play a Latvian Against a Russian
The Latvian Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5) may be too risky at the highest levels of chess. The top players know most of the opening wrinkles of gambits. Here is a game where a master tries to play the Latvian Gambit against Vasily Smyslov ...
Tennison Anyone? Who Keres.
The Tennison Gambit (1.Nf3 d5 2.e4), also known as the Lemberg or the Abonyi Gambit, can be a weapon for White as he gets quick development. In this game, the great Paul Keres played it as White in one of his early correspondence games. ...
Control of the 7th Rank
It 's almost always a good idea to occupy and control the 7th rank with your Rook. Here is a nice game where Rudolf Spielmann, an Austrian professional player, took complete control of the 7th rank with his Rooks to force the win.
Limericks
There once was a player from Maine,Who played chess on a fast train.He took a move backAnd was thrown off the track,And he never played chess again.There once was a chessplayer named Flo,Who liked to mate, you know;When you castled long,She helped...
Hungarian Mates a Pole with the French in Russia
Chess is such an international game. Here is a game played by a Hungarian player against a Polish player using the French Defense played in Russia. The winner was Leo Fleischmann, a former Hungarian champion who gave up the game after ...
Fischer Offers a Rook and a Queen
Bobby Fischer is considered by many as the greatest chess player who ever lived. He was US champion at 14 and one of the top players in the world in his teenage years. Here is a game where he sacs his Rook to get the king out in the ce...