Michael Adams of England, born in 1971, became one of the strongest players in the world. His father taught him the game of chess at the age of 6. His father had intended to teach him checkers, but Michael wanted to play the game with ...
Here is a nice game where Black declines the King's Gambit. Chigorin, playing the King's Gambit as White, finds a nice combination with a Rook sacrifice to force the win. Chigorin never feared the King's Gambit. This ...
The sacrifice of a queen in the course of a game is something all chess players would like to have a taste of. The opportunity does not come easy, but when it does, we're always too eager to play it. Just imagine yourself slamming your queen d...
Isaac Boleslavsky was a Soviet Grandmaster and a well-known opening theorist (you can check out the Chessopedia for more details of his life). He helped train Petrosian and was his second when Petrosian beat Botvinnik for the world champions...
In 1995, the World Chess Championship (Players Chess Association - PCA) was held in New York between Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan (Vishy) Anand. The match started on September 11 (9/11), 1995 on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center.&n...
Carl Schlechter (1874-1918) was one of the top 7 players in the world from 1900 to his death by starvation in 1918. He learned the game when he was 16 and soon gave up his studies to devote himself to chess. In this game, Carl was 19 y...
In 1934, the New York State Chess Association sponsored the New York State Chess Championship in Syracuse, New York. It has held at the Hotel Onondage from August 13th through August 25th. In round 11, Samuel Reshevsky met Arnold Denke...
Here is an interesting game in which White sacrificed his Queen to force mate. It's a familiar pattern - get the Bishop on Bishop 6 and threaten to put the Rook on Rook 8 for mate.
Victor Knorre was an amateur chess player (he was an astronomer) who beat some of the strongest players in the world. Here is a game in which he defeats Johannes Zukertort, one of the strongest players in the world. Knorre sacrificed a piece...
There have only been a few "serious" games in which 4 or more Queens appeared on the board at one time. In many databases there is a game Sumpter - King, Australia 1965, with 7 Queens, which was later proven to be spurious; many chess si...
Here is a game that Frank Marshall defeated Akiba Rubinstein by controlling the 7th rank. He was able to get his Queen and his Rook on the 7th rank to force mate. A Rook sacrifice helped it along.
Igor Bondarevsky was a Soviet grandmaster, and for many years, Boris Spassky's trainer. He played in nine Soviet championships, and won it in 1940. Here is a game that he played in one of the famous Hastings Christmas tournaments i...
Former world champion Jose Capablanca played some of the most perfect games of chess ever played by a human. In this game, a Ruy Lopez, he shows his gift for combination as he finds all the right moves to force the win.
In 1921, Alekhine played in an international tournament in Budapest in which he took first place and won a brilliancy prize. Alekhine annotated the game in his book My Best Chess Games 1908-1923, except he left a move out (27...Rac8 28.Rd4)....
Here is a game that was played in the first chess olympiad in London. The game won a brilliancy prize for its triple sacrifice that led to mate in 16 moves.
The opening 1.e4 c5 2.f4 is known as the Grand Prix Attack, or Larsen-Santasiere Attack, or McDonnell Attack. It is a less analyzed line, sort of like a King's Gambit against the Sicilian. Here is a clever, short game using this op...
Bent Larsen has been one of the top players in the world for many years. Here is one of his early games that in played in one of the chess olympiads. His opponent played the Lisitsin Gambit (1.Nf3 f5 2.e4) and Larsen got a quick attack...
Viacheslav Ragozin was a Soviet Over-the-Board (OTB) Grandmaster as well as Correspondence Grandmaster. He won the second World Correspondence Championship in 1958. Ilya Kan was an International Master, perhaps of Grandmaster strength....
Henry Atkins was a British International Master who liked playing the Danish Gambit. He won the British Championship 9 times between 1905 and 1925 (7 in a row starting in 1905). Here is a game in which he won by playing a Danish Gambit...
Joseph Henry Blackburne was known as the 'Black Death.' For over 20 years he was one of the top 10 players in the world. Here is a game in which he swindled the great Adolf Anderssen. Blackburne was losing playing the Whi...
Efim Geller was one of the 10 ten chess players in the world for about 20 years. He played in 23 USSR chess championships, winning it in 1955 and 1979. He was known for his swift attacks with a tendency to risk everything in order to w...
In 1929, Vera Menchik, the strongest woman chess player in the world at the time, was invited to the Carlsbad International tourament. Albert Becker, a Viennese master, did not want her to play in the event, saying she was too weak of a play...
In this game, Kasparov, aged 15,takes out one of the strongest Grandmasters of all time, Mark Taimanov. The ending has the Kasparov mark: you see what's coming but you cannot do anything to prevent it. Enjoy! (The annotation is ...
I found this little gem, a King's Gambit that Nigel Short used to bring down the great Kasparov in 15 moves. Don't try this at home! I have tried to annotate the game as best as I could. I am sorry that I did not do so earlier when I ma...
