A Pretty Miniature
This game is one of those unknown masterpieces of chess. Black leaps at a "forced" mate early in the game, and is struck by chess lightning.
A Different kind of Chess
Al Horowitz (photo) and Herbert Seidman played this game in New York during the US Championship of 1942. Neither of these great players won the event (Samuel Reshevsky did), but they produced a masterpiece to be talked about&nb...
Fire on Board in Morelia
Here is a game from the 2008 Morelia/Linares tournament, GM Shirov - GM Anand with full annotations and commentary: This game is a perfect example of the power behind the thematic exchange sacrifice on c3 in the Sicilian. Bla...
Extraordinary and Pretty
Adolf Anderssen (1818-1879) well known by his impressive victory in the world's first international chess tournament held in London in 1851. The event is often considered to be a world chess championship, although the term does ...
A Case for learning Mating Patterns
Checkmate is the heart of a chess game. There are many known mating patterns - how certain pieces coordinate to deliver mate and chess players should know these by heart. Knowing how to deliver mate opens a world of possib...
Material or Piece Activity?
Here is a game from the Women's section of the 2008 Moscow Open, WFM Kiseljova - WGM Pogonina with full annotations and commentary: This game is a good illustration of the battle between material and piece activity. Early ...
An Exquisite Mating Combination
George Henry Mackenzie (1837-1891) was a Scottish-American chess Master. He entered the British Army in 1856 at the age of 19 and retired as Captain in 1861. He moved to the United States in 1863, during the American Civil War. From 1865 through ...
Russian Supremacy
For many years, the Russian chess players have been dominating the field. Unlike the US, the Russian government, acting as sponsors, promoted a vast program of chess activitiy, encouraged and professionalized its top flight talent. Because no othe...
The Power of h4- Part 1
In this game, the power of the pawn move h4 is shown. After a dubious opening line by his opponent, Polugaevsky sacrifices his rook. It seems as though he does not have enough compensation, but then a few subtle moves brick in his opponent's with ...
Capablanca's Surprise
This is an interesting game played in Moscow between Ukranian Grandmaster Ossip Bernstein (1882-1962) and Cuban chess legend Jose Raoul Capablanca (1888-1942). The heat of the fight suddenly concentrates around Black's far advanced c-Pawn...
The Power of Bishops
this is a game that shows the strenght of the bishops in the diagonals.
The Importance of Development
Here is a game from the 2008 Moscow Open, GM Zviagintsev - FM Slugin with full annotations and commentary: This game clearly illustrates the importance of development. As we saw in the game white sacrificed a pawn early and bl...
An Amazing Attack
This game is one of the greatest attacking gems. White sacrifices both his rooks, initiates a huge light-square assault, and forces the win of Black's queen.
The Dragon Variation (Part II)
The Dragon Variation calls for sharp play on Black's part. But the same obligation falls on White as well. In the following game White stumbles at move 10. His mistake seems a very small one, but he soon finds that he has lost the initiative. ...
Poisoned Play
Here is a game from the 2008 Corus Group C event, GM Negi - GM Grivas with full annotations and commentary: This is a good example of the dangers of taking a "poisoned" pawn or piece. In this game black decided to pl...
The Dangers of the Dragon
One attractive feature of the Dragon Variation is that White cannot get by with merely indiferent play. Planless moves by White usually results in a promising middle game for Black. Take the game below for instance. White plays carelessly; his cen...
Kieseritzky's Power
Lionel Adalbert Bagration Felix Kieseritzky (1806-1853) was a 19th century chess Master of German descent and a teacher of Mathematics. He is most remembered as the man who lost "The Immortal Game" against Adolph Anderssen in 1851. ...
The Piece-Snatcher
In this game White offers both his knights early on to gain a lead in development. Black takes them both, and is run over by the ensuing kingside attack.
A Brilliant Execution
This game was played in Milwaukee in 1949. White executes a brilliant attack using the opened f-file. One of the important factors that contributed for this smashing attack being successful was the powerful posted White Knight at e5. In the end Bl...
The Power of Knights
Here is a game from the 2008 Corus Honarary Group, GM Ljubojevic - GM Timman with full annotations and commentary: This game is a nice illustration of the power of knights in closed positions. Both of the black knights were ab...
Informative game
While positional chess is not my strong point , in my opinion this game is quite instructive . It shows the concepts of overworked peces , holes , and planning . Please comment and rate if you think it benefited you ( please check out the move lis...
This Game has it All
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...