Those of you my dear readers who were patient enough to read through Parts 1-3 of this series might be asking : 'Well Mr. Serper, what's your point? You showed us that the kids are generally good in chess, so what? I knew it anyway!" Please bear ...
Today we'll take a look at the games of a very young Tal. Despite the fact that there are so many books and articles written about "The Magician from Riga", his life is still the stuff of legends. Many sources contradict each other. For example, ...
Today we are going to analyze the games of a very young Bobby Fischer. He was one of the most enigmatic players in the history of chess and looking at his early games I am really puzzled. Let's start with the well known fact: In May 1949, the si...
I am sure that most chess players at some point faced this awkward situation. You are supposed to play a cute little kid only to find out that the appearance is very deceiving and at the chessboard the little tyke is a real beast. You curse your ...
If you ask any chess player (even just a beginner) what is the quickest way to get checkmated, then no doubt you'll hear the correct answer: 1. f3 (or f4) e6 (or e5) 2. g4 Qh4 checkmate. And the fact that this quick checkmate is so well-known...
When I was a kid, one of my favorite opening set ups was to play 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 (or Nf6) 4. d3 and then jump Bg5 pinning the Nf6. In many cases I was even able to play Nd5 and then using the pin to play Nxf6 or Bxf6 completely dest...
The pattern we are going to discuss today is unique in many ways. First of all, every single tactical pattern we've talked about so far can happen both in an opening or in a middle game, but today's pattern usually happens only in an early opening...
Even if you have never heard of chess surrealism, you definitely encountered it at some point. What is chess surrealism? In art, the key feature of surrealism is the element of surprise, the same is true for chess surrealism. If you see a positi...
I don't think I need to introduce Grandmaster Frank Marshall who was one of the strongest chess players in the World in the beginning of the 20th century and the US Champion from 1909 till 1935!! Today I would like to discuss his stunning opening ...
The summer of 1967 is known as the Summer of Love (The Beatles, hippies, Woodstock, etc). I think the summer of 2010 will be remembered as the Summer of Spain. First Spain wins the soccer World Cup, then Nadal wins Wimbledon and the Spanish celebr...
If you excuse my liberty, I would like to slightly alter the iconic Coca-Cola jingle: Whenever there's a pool, there's always a thirst. Whenever there is school, there'll always be homework. Whenever there's a beat, there's always a drum. Wheneve...
When a chess player remembers tournaments he played, the first ones that come to mind are obviously those that he won. But in my case, when I remember the International tournament in Oslo that took part in 1994, even though I tied for first there...
While I was researching material for my article on the Sokolsky Opening ( http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-sokolsky-opening ) , I found a little known game of Alekhine. The game featured a combination which doesn't...
One of the best things I ever watched on TV is the episode of "Seinfeld" called "The Opposite". There George Costanza announces "My life is the complete opposite of everything I ever wanted to be!" and then Seinfeld convinces him that “if every ...
How many of you, dear readers, can identify the man shown in this picture? This man never had a title of IM or GM and yet he managed to beat many top players of his time including Capablanca! Can you name another player who would be able to reach...
The Sokolsky Opening (1. b4) never enjoyed much popularity , which can partially explain it's nickname "Orangutan Opening". In my opinion, there are two reasons why most chess players never seriously consider this opening. The first reason is tha...
The Dutch Defense is one of those openings where Black doesn't hide his intentions and starts preparing a King's side attack from the very first moves. The Stonewall variation is one of the most positionally sound lines of the Dutch. It is a well...
Last week we discussed one of the most aggressive openings against 1.d4 - King's Indian Defense (KID). But for the true KID fans it's not enough to play it against just 1.d4. They want to play their favorite opening in every single game, even whe...
It's difficult to find a more agressive opening against 1.d4 than the King's Indian Defense (KID). As most of the hyper-modern openings, it voluntarily gives up the center in order to attack it later. But unlike many other openings with a simila...
The Queen's Indian Defense is one of the most quiet positional openings. The World Champion Tigran Petrosian was one of the most positional chess players in the history of chess. So what do you get when you cross the Queen's Indian Defense and a ...
When a famous Grandmaster Aron Nimzowitch invented a new defense against 1.d4 which was later named after him, the new hyper modern opening took the chess world by storm. Many chess players were attracted by this solid, positional opening which w...
As you probably already know, the World's oldest Grandmaster passed away last week. Just three days after celebrating his 99th birthday, Andor Lilienthal died. It is difficult to believe that just a week ago there was a living person who had wins ...
The Blackmar-Diemer gambit (BDG) can be reached via many different move orders. Even though most of the games there start with 1.d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4, or 1...Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. e4 it is also possible to play 1. d4 Nf6 2. f3!? d5 3.e4 dxe4 4. Nc3 ...
The Veresov Opening (1.d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 or 1.d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bg5) is an original system developed by Soviet IM Gavriil Veresov. Today he is mostly remembered because of his opening, which is a shame since he was a very strong chess play...
