First of all, I would like to congratulate you on your most recent article. It was very well written. However, I have one question. All titled players that I know say that you should learn the ideas behind openings, more so than the opening lines ...
I've been wondering this for a long time. In games for which it looks like white's (or black's) pieces are attacking a weakness which is throughly defended, a strong comentator on the game will say white's pieces aren't active. An example is an e...
Hi Arun and Magesh, I have a question about the guicco piano for white. In this opening, black's main lines are all about making it as hard as possible for white to make or keep the centre with pawns e4 and d4. For example in 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 ...
Dear Grandmasters Arun Prasad/Magesh Panchanathan: I have questions and I hope you may answer them. I have not played over the board chess for a year and have mainly played blitz or rapid chess online. Before I took a break I managed to achieve ...
Dear GM Prasad and GM Panchanathan : I am grateful to see the revival of this weekly column after IM Silman. Thank you! Hope you can answer a few of my questions below: a) I understand that in order to become better one has to accept losing many...
Dear Mr. Prasad; My friend refers me to this website as he told me I can ask questions to a grandmaster and they will answer in their article (very nice idea!). I had achieved expert strength last year. Then I took a break to study chess (daily s...
Hello GM thamizhan; I have questions relating to chess studying and hope you can answer these questions: - After reading IM Soltis's Studying Chess Made Easy I understand that in order for a player to improve in chess they ...
Hi! :) Hopefully this isn't too vague a question... I am a 2000-2100ish rated player and have been experiencing a horrible slump lately. Despite playing pretty excellently for my first 20-25 moves or so (including a winning pawn up endgame...
Kkjimbo asked: I am a low ranked club player (British Chess Fed 109) A fellow patzer at my club has agreed to spend some time with me in the close season training. We plan on a once a week 1 or 2 hour session. Have you any tips on how we could ge...
Eniamar asked: Finally, I leave with a question, since this may be the last chance I get to ask it of you: I am a sicilian player, and I am deeply in love with the Najdorf. After 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6, I often see w...
What would you say if it was the last word you were to speak? What would you do if it was the last thing you were to do? What opening would you write about if it was your last opening column you were to write? That was a little too dramatic for a ...
by GM Magesh and GM Arun This week we will study the Stonewall Defense. An interesting idea from black to use his pawn chain to build a wall-like formation that stops white from encroaching into black's territory. But, just as any idea has its o...
by GM Magesh and GM Arun This week we shall study an idea against the King's Indian Defence often played by Super Grandmaster Alexander Moiseenko. The King's Indian Defence in recent times has started doing well and many strong players have ad...
by GM Magesh & GM Arun This week we shall see an interesting idea by the former world champion and one of the greatest players in the history of Chess, Anatoly Karpov, in the Caro-Kann Defence. Karpov has introduced many interesting ideas in ...
by GM Magesh and GM Arun This week we shall see a sacrificial idea in the Sicilian Najdorf. 6.Bg5 has always been one of the finest systems to counter the Najdorf. The arising positions are full of complications when White tries to pressurize Bl...
By GM Magesh and GM Arun The Tata Steel Chess 2011 (used to be known as the Corus, Wjk Aan Zee) has produced some wonderful chess games for the fans. I have decided to share a very nice game today played by Alexey Shirov against Vladimir Kram...
by GM Magesh and GM Arun This week we shall see the King's Indian Attack by Robert James Fischer, who is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time. Fischer employed the King's Indian Defence with the black side frequently and trie...
This week we shall see the King's Indian Defence Samisch Variation. Samisch Variation in the KID is the most direct approach of refuting the KID structure. White protects the e4-pawn with f3 and starts an attack on the kingside with Be3,Qd2,g4,h4 ...
by GM Magesh and GM Arun The Modern Defense is not one of the mainstream opening choices for elite chess players. However, it still surfaces at the top as an occasional surprise weapon. It is quite natural that several side lines that were dee...
This week we shall see an idea against the Benoni system. The g3 fianchetto system is one of the strongest replies against the Benoni. Benoni is one of the dynamic systems where Black seeks counterplay on both wings and white needs to be careful i...
This week we shall see the French Defence Rubinstein Variation. The speciality of this variation is that it can be used both against the Tarrasch Variation as well as the Winawer Variation. Black immediately reduces the tention in the centre and m...
This week we shall see an update in the Caro-Kann Advance Variation. http://www.chess.com/article/view/caro-kann-advance-variation-by-gm-magesh-and-gm-arun. As we concluded in our last article the idea of grabbing the b2-pawn was playable for Bla...
Today we will study the Sicilian Scheveningen variation. One of the best things about this variation is the amazing potential of all the transpositions into this variation from other branches of the Sicilian. Our first game today is the 9th game...
This week we shall study the Leningrad system in the Dutch defence. The Leningrad Dutch is an interesting dynamic opening combining many strategic and dynamic possiblities for both sides. Dutch players often argue that it is better than the King's...
This week we shall see some of the more recent miniatures in the Ruy Lopez. Although this system has been played and analysed extensively in the last couple of centuries, it still has so much life in it that even super Grandmasters are not comp...
