Joseph Henry Blackburne was born on December 10, 1841 in Manchester, England. As a youth, he became an expert at checkers (draughts). His father was a temperance reformer who travelled all over Britain and Ireland, taking his son with him. It is i...
Here is a game in which former world chess champion Max Euwe beat Bobby Fischer before "he suddenly got good." Euwe visited one of the New York chess clubs and played a friendly game with the rising star Bobby Fischer.
In 1928, Miguel Najdorf, at the age of 18, played a very good game in Warsaw, Poland that later became known as the Polish immortal. Here is the game - a real Dutch treat. Hit the move list to see annotations to some of the moves...
Vishy Anand of India is now the highest rated chess player in the world. When he encountered the Center Counter or Scandanavian Defense (1.e4 d5), he was able to trap a piece and attack the enemy king caught in the center of the board....
What's the best age to learn chess? No one really knows. Perhaps the earlier, the better. Maybe there is no difference at a very young age (for example, age 4) and a young age (for example, 10). Here are some the ages of when some of the play...
The Giuoco Piano means quiet game. But in the hands of a strong player, it is not a quiet game. Here is one of the most famous Giuoco Piano games of all time. It was played by world champion William Stienitz at the great Hastings...
In 1968, Stanley Kubrick (a strong chess player himself) directed 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is probably the most famous man vs. computer chess games in film. The movie features an astronaut, Dr. Frank Poole (played by Gary Lockw...
In 1959, former world champion Mikhail Tal defeated former world champion Vassily Smyslov in a game full of sacrifices. Smyslov defended with the Caro Kann, and may have had some winning or drawing chances. But Tal played brilliantly.&...
Here is a nice Two Knights' Defense game played by former world chess champion Max Euwe. See how he handles a passed pawn.
Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen was born in Breslau, Prussia (now Wroclaw, Poland) on July 6, 1818. He came from a poor family. He learned chess from his father in 1827 at the age of 9 and filled up his school books with chess diagrams. He lived with...
The wife (or husband or significant other) of an addicted chessplayer is a very lonely creature who must put up with her husband's (or wife or significant other) obsession with chess. The chessplayer's widow sees her husband...
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp was a French chessplayer and renouwned artist. He was born in Blainville-Crevon, France on July 28, 1887 and died on October 2, 1968. He came from a family of artists and chess players. He had 4 brothers and 2 sisters. ...
In April 1914 an initiative was taken in St. Peterburg, Russia to form an international chess federation. In July, 1914 an attempt was made to organize an international chess federation during the Mannheim International Chess Tournament. In 1920...
At the beginning of World War II, world chess champion Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946) was living in France (he later moved to Portugal, but the Nazis refused to let his wife join him). When the Nazis came into power, he became in...
Chess and religion did not always get along. At one time or another, chess was forbidden by Muslims, Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Jews, the Puritans, and the Taliban.Chess (shatranj) was a legal issue after Mohammad died in 642. I...
During a class after explaining how chess ratings work, a second grade boy raises his hand and says very seriously, "I don’t want to get a chess rating…because I want to be a professional hockey player." In one scholastic ev...
In the September 1, 1894 New York Times issue, an article appeared that a Women's Chess Association of America was formed. The article states that in the Spring of 1893, a few women met informally and organized the Women's Chess Ass...
Here is a game full of tactics in which a grandmaster (Frank Marshall) gets checkmated in 11 moves!
Here are some chess links for beginners at chess. http://www.geocities.com/lifemasteraj/beginner1.html - beginner chess course http://www.logicalchess.com/resources/lessons/index.html - beginner chess lessons http://www.princeton.edu/~je...
Paul Morphy was born on June 22, 1837 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He had two sisters, Mahrina and Helena, and a brother Edward. His father's nationality was Spanish, but he was of Irish origin. His mother was French. From the age of 8 ...
The Slav Defense(1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6) is one of the most popular openings among grandmasters. It is a solid opening with a good reputation. There aren't too many opening traps in this opening at the highest level. So here is one ...
Alexander Alehine (1892-1946) was the 4th official world chess champion, after William Steinitz, Emamuel Lasker, and Jose Capablanca.Some sources say he was born on November 1, while other sources give October 31, 1892 (Halloween) as the dat...
Rook and two Pawns vs Rook and Pawn. White to play and win.
Here is another King's Gambit miniature.
