Vasily Smyslov was born in 1921 and was the World Chess Champion in 1957. Smyslov played the champion, Mikhail Botvinnik three matches for the title. In 1954, Botvinnik kept his title with a score of 12-12. In 1957, Smyslov won 12.5-9.5. Botvinnik...
Frederick Yates (1884-1932) was the British Chess Champion six times. Sandor Takacs (1893-1932) was a Hungarian master. These two players met twice in Kecskemet 1927. That tournament began with two sections, A and B, each with ten players. They we...
Rudolf Spielmann (1883-1942) was a great player whose book, "The Art of Sacrifice in Chess," has become a classic. He described the types of sacrifices and the conditions required for each. He practiced what he preached while winning dozens of tou...
Jacques Mieses (1865-1954) was born in Leipzig, Germany. In 1939, he fled Nazi persecution of Jews. He was accepted in Great Britain where he became a citizen. In 1950, he was the oldest player (85) awarded the grandmaster title and the first Brit...
Frank Marshall (1877-1944) was the chess champion of the United States from 1909 to 1936 when he gave up the title. He played a match against Emanuel Lasker for the world championship in 1907. Despite losing to Lasker with 8 losses and 7 draws, Ma...
Dawid Przepiorka (1880-1940) was the winner of the 1st Polish Chess Championship in 1926, which was held in Warsaw. In 1939, Poland was occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union. In 1940, Przepiorka was arrested by the Germans while he was in a che...
In 2004, Magnus Carlsen of Norway became the second youngest player to earn the title of international grandmaster at 13 years, 4 months, and 27 days. The first norm was at the Corus GMC in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands in January 2004. The second nor...
When White offers the Danish Gambit, how many pawns should Black accept? It is possible to accept or decline the pawns offered. Each time the Gambit is offered Black has to decide how many bites of the Danish should be taken. For some the appetite...
Gata Kamsky won the final against Alexei Shirov 2.5-1.5 in last year's World Chess Cup. As a result he is to play a match against Veselin Topalov. The winner of that match is to play for the world championship against the winner of the match betwe...
The following game was played in Lone Pine, California. The Louis D. Statham Masters tournaments held there from 1971-1981 were directed by Isaac Kashdan. The illustration is from the Beverly and Jim Rogers Museum of Lone Pine Film History. The st...
In the following game, White resigned. White is grandmaster Mikhail Rytshagov of Estonia. Black is Boris Gelfand (illustrated) of Israel. He has held Soviet and European junior championships. For the last 15 years he has been a candidate for the w...
Jackson Showalter (1860-1935) was the United States chess champion four times in the period of 1890 to 1898. He held the title a fifth time from 1906 to 1909. Altogether he won the title five times in matches against four rivals and lost title mat...
Paul Morphy, an American went to the Paris opera in 1858 and entertained two French nobles, producing his most famous game. An opera is often an international event. The author of the opera, the performers, the language the opera was written in, t...
There are so many ways for White and Black to play the Sicilian Defense. The knowledge required to be prepared is great and the variations often become critical. Some players insist on playing 1.e4, but simplify their preparation by replying to 1....
The Polgar sisters consist of Susan or Zsuzsanna (April 19, 1969), Sofia or Zsofia (November 2, 1974), and Judit (July 23, 1976). Judit is still active and is the highest rated woman ever. Susan was the Women's World Champion (1996-1999). Despite ...
Playing White is Boris Verlinsky (1888-1950). He lived in Ukraine and Russia where he won the championships of Odessa (1912), Ukraine (1926), Moscow (1928), and the Soviet Union (1929). For the last, he became the first Soviet Grandmaster. His tit...
The variation of the Sicilian Defense with 6.Bc4 shown here is known as the Sozin Variation or Attack, named after the Russian, Veniamin Sozin (1896-1956). In the years after Sozin's death, the line was use by the American, Bobby Fischer (1943-200...
The Modern Opening, like the Pirc Defense, which it freqently transposes into, allows White great choice in establishing a pawn center. Black will challenge that center later in order to get counterplay. In this game, from Russia's big annual Aero...
Episodes of "The Lone Ranger" would often end with someone saying, "Who was that masked man? He never told us his name." Another would answer with, "Why, he's the Lone Ranger." This would be followed by the Lone R...
Svetozar Gligoric was born in 1923 and became the greatest of all chess players born in Yugoslavia. He reached the position of being the highest rated player in Europe outside of the Soviet Union. In this game he plays a closed version of the Ruy ...
Cambridge Springs 1904 was an international tournament with 16 players. Eight were from Europe and eight were from America. Marshall was clear first with a score of 13-2 consisting of 11 wins, 4 draws, and no losses. A full two points back were Da...
In the following game the white pieces were commanded by Josif Dorfman. He was born in Ukraine in 1952 and tied for first in the Soviet Championship with Boris Gulko in 1977. They came ahead of the likes of Petrosian, Tal, and Polugaevsky. A playo...
Ever since Vladimir Kramnik used the Berlin Defense against Garry Kasparov, players of the white pieces have been struggling to exploit their perceived advantage. The success of Black in defending and even winning at times, has led to the variatio...
For the purposes of teaching chess to a group of young students, a short game is very useful. The particular game shown here appears to display opening theory since it doesn't go beyond the opening stage of the game. It is to be noted that the...
