"Threats are harder to see than captures. Some moves threaten checkmate, some threaten captures, some involve a general improvement in position. Some threats are crude, brutal, obvious. Others are unbelievably subtle in their intentions, refi...
Oldrich Duras (1882-1957), was one of the world's premier tournament players from 1905 until the start of the first World War. He was three-time Czech Champion (1905, 1909 and 1911) and tied for first in the German Championship of 1912. F...
Paradoxically, a weakened Queen-side can incur a loss on the opposite wing, as is masterfully demonstrated in the following game, played in New York during the US Championship of 1936. American chess giant Reuben Fine (1914-1993), shows us how it&...
When pure ideas clash, only a fine line separates success from failure. Here are two great Americans in a battle for the ages. Grandmaster Isaac Kashdan is the hypermodernist against the modernist Al Horowitz (photo). The game takes plac...
"The jargon of chess is replete with foreign words and phrases, suggesting the universality of the game. From the German, for example, comes the togue twister "Zwischenzug," a tactic that enjoys a respectable reputation. It mea...
Samuel Herman Reshevsky was born on 26 November, 1911 in Ozorkow, Poland. He learned to play chess at the tender age of four. By the time he was eight he was giving simultaneous exhibitions and defeating some of the prominents players of the count...
This is an interesting short game played in New York in 1956. After 12.Bb5+ is all over for Black. Three moves later, Black's choices are to lose his Queen or give up his King. He resigns. (If someone out there know who these players are...
This game, from the World Championship match of 1969 between Tigran petrosian and Boris Spassky, both from the Soviet Union, shows Spassky conducting a brilliant Kingside attack. When Spassky plays 15.g4!, he challenges Petrosian to a battle ...
In the following brilliancy-prize English Opening between GM Ludek Pachman and A. Chirich, the opening is Hipermodern. That is, one side attempts to provoke the other into taking control of the center with the view of taking it back and leavi...
"The intuitive touch, the instinctive factor in winning chess, possessed in varying degrees by all good players, is self-acquired and cannot be learned in the text books. Its highest manifestation is in the flair for decisive combination, usu...
The old famous chess trap "Noah's Ark", has caught many naive chess players off guard and even Grandmasters. It is usually the Ruy Lopez which embraces the diabolical set up. Down Argentine way, three-time Argentine C...
Are moves of the Rook Pawns good, bad or do they make little difference? The answer lies in the relative value to the total picture. Curiously, the moves have the atributes of attack, precaution and defense. Sometimes they keep enemy forces from d...
In this game, played during the Piatigorsky Cup tournament of 1966 in Santa monica California, pictured Danish GM Bent Larsen (1935-) defeated World Champion Tigran Petrosian (1929-1984). Never before has a World Champion been so caught with his p...
CCGM Peter Clarke of England and pictured GM Ludek Pachman of Czechoslovakia (1924-2003), played the following game during the Kecskemet tournament of 1964 in Hungary. They reached an early dinamic point with 11...f6. It would be enlight...
Here is a miniature endgame setting by the brilliant Bohemian M. Havel that is simple and ingenious. The winning idea is based on the recurrent position of the Black Bishop on e3.
In the following game, White violates the principles of development, he never moves his Queen side Knight and Rook, yet he still wins. Because nearly every position is specifically different, general principles may be applied only as a guide,...
The following Nimzo-Indian Defense, played by two young and promising European stars, Rumanian GM Florin Gheorghiu (1944-), and pictured Soviet legend Leonid Stein (1934-1973), is a complex illustration of the dangers of a material bent, particula...
Aaron Nimzovich (1886-1935) was a Latvian-born Danish Grandmaster and a very influential chess writer. He is the author of "My System" and he is widely remembered by his "Immortal Zugzwang" famous victory over&nb...
"The game of Chess is divided into three parts, the opening, the middle game and the endgame. Today's Chess Master must be a especialist in each department. Many a Master can cite by chapter and verse, the historical introductio...
Bobby Fischer plays the following game in New York in 1957 against Philippine Master Rodolfo Cardoso. Bobby Pawn-storms the enemy King's position, exposes the monarch by a violent Bishop sacrifice and wins handily. It is amazing that the ...
In ordinary circumstances, the gain of time and superiority in development sufficiently influences the position to counterbalance the loss of material. General principles, however, do not apply to most specific positions, particulary those involvi...
If there is such a thing as surrealism in chess, the game below has it. The player of the White pieces is Weaver Warren Adams (1901-1963), former US Open Champion and author of the book "White to Play and Win". Here, he essays the Vienna...
When players castle on opposite sides it is a pretty good indication both are out for the kill. The issue is clear: Pawn storm vs Pawn storm; attack and counterattack. In the following game between Vasily Smyslov (photo) and Alexand...
"The thrill that comes once in a lifetime" occurs in chess again and again. A true miracle happened in the game between Alfredo Dutra and E. Echeverry, played during the Uruguayan Championship of 1963. Threatened with immediate chec...
