Stalemate is a vital part of many theoretical endgames. For example the whole defensive mechanism in such a basic position as king and pawn vs. king is based on a stalemate: Image: Thoughts from the Line Here is a bunch of imp...
Last week we saw violent outbreaks of stalematis in the games of Kasparov and Reshevsky. One of the most curious cases of this infectious disease happened in the games of another famous world class player, Mikhail Chigorin. Look at the position th...
Imagine a chess position where you have almost your whole army and your opponent has just a lonely king. The game is practically over and yet he just keeps playing. Even if you blunder some of your pieces and pawns, there is still no chance for hi...
In the last two articles we analyzed brilliant attacking games of Rashid Nezhmetdinov. There the Great Master of Attack showed a number of useful attacking techniques that you can use in your own games. But one of the readers expressed the followi...
Today we will analyze one of the most remarkable games of Rashid Nezhmetdinov where the deadly attack against the black king appeared almost from nowhere! Also at the end, as an added bonus, you'll learn a typical tactical pattern. (The game is g...
Last December the chess community celebrated the 100th birthday of Rashid Nezhmetdinov, one of the most creative attacking players in the history of chess. He is one of my most favorite players and the game we'll analyze today shows why he w...
In the last article we analyzed King-and-Pawn endgames, and today we'll talk about Kings and Queens. I don't mean King and Queen endgames. Instead, we'll see how chess Kings play with their Queens. Well, it sounds even more confusing... OK, in thi...
I hope the previous five parts of this article managed to convince you that the King and Pawn endgames are very complicated. Therefore, a decision to go for such an endgame is a major commitment and shouldn't be taken lightly. In the fi...
No discussion about King and Pawn endgames can be complete without mention of a pawn breakthrough. The following endgame is well known and yet extremely delightful no matter how many times you've seen it. I remember it was one of the f...
Last week we analyzed the game Koull - Stanciu where the leader of the Scotland's women Olympic team resigned in an absolutely drawn position. Unfortunately, such a case of the 'ultimate blunder' is more common in pawn endgames then you might thin...
I would like to start today's installment of my column with a basic position somebody posted in the comments, which surprisingly was difficult for some of you. You should remember this simple rule: once the King gets to the sixth rank (th...
If you read the first part of this article, then you already know that, despite popular belief to the contrary, King and pawn endgames can be very tricky. Even the most basic position, with just one pawn on the board, is impossible to play well if...
Many chess players consider a king and pawn ending the simplest form of an endgame. It explains why one of the most popular ways to convert a material or positional advantage is to go straight to the king and pawn endgame. Here is a classical exam...
A Queen is by far the most powerful chess piece and whenever we attack we are usually trying to bring our Queen to the action ASAP. But what if a chess player moves his Queen in the opposite direction? Is he insane? As the saying goes, there is a ...
"Knowledge is power" famously pronounced Francis Bacon in 16th century. I doubt many people would argue with this statement since the more knowledge you have, the better for you, right? Well, almost. Today we'll discuss a very unusual situation wh...
It is time to summarize our discussion about all the positive and negative aspects that computers brought to our game and see which side outweighs. One of the biggest positive sides I see is that computers really enhanced our chess knowledge. So...
In the last week's article I touched the subject of cheaters who use computer engines during their games. To my great surprise, judging by reader's messages, many of you are not aware of this problem. I was asked how can cheaters possibly us...
There is no doubt that providing that you know how to use a chess engine and well aware of its shortcomings (like for example the Capablanca's position that we discussed in the previous part of this article), then you have an amazing learning tool...
The first two parts of this article generated many comments from our readers so let me address a couple of popular misconceptions. First of all, the goal of this article is not to find out who plays chess better, computers or human players. This...
In last week's article, we looked at a very interesting phenomenon of computer chess - the "horizon effect." Basically it is a computer's inability in certain situations to see the future no matter how fast its processor is or how many plys it can...
Computers are an essential part of the modern world and it is impossible even to imagine our everyday life without them. As a matter of fact, you wouldn't be able to read this article if there were no computers and the miracle called "Internet". B...
The subject of today's discussion might sound bizarre for most of you. Indeed, all the chess coaches as well as books, magazines and Web sites teach you how to win your games and here we talk about when to resign? And yet, I think any e...
In my column "Pros and Cons" I discuss the subjects that have no clear answer. Are doubled pawns good or bad, is an isolated pawn an asset or a liability, what's better a Bishop or a Knight? The answer is the same to all these questions: "It...
Probably all chess players ask themselves at some point of their chess career: "Am I a positional chess player or a tactician?" Based on the answer to this question they choose openings and the general strategy of their games. But if you say...
