Here is a composition by chekhover from 1947. It seems the Black Rook will just enter White’s position and start capturing pawns. Yet White has a fortress like resource that Black could actually lose if he gets to clever and outwi...
On a site like this with active forums, one question comes up more than any other. Who is the greatest chess player of all time? There are many factors that influence people's opinions, including longevity and dominance, but one I like to use is c...
Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint Amant (also written: Pierre Charles-Fournié de Saint-Amant) After the death of La Bourdonnais, the mantle of leading chess player of France fell upon the shoulders of Pierre Char...
Benjamin Franklin - 1706-1790 Born the ...
Ivan Alexandrovich Butrimov, who was born in St. Petersburg March 7, 1782, produced Russia's first chess book, "Chess Play," in 1821. &nb...
I have some games of Prince Andrei Dadiani of Mingrelia that one usually can't find in any database. I had published these elsewhere, but wanted to put them all in one place. First a few...
Most people even remotely interested in 19th century chess know about Mrs. John W. Gilbert and her extremely long announced mates. What seems to be less appreciated today is the sheer strength of this lady chess pl...
Isaac Leopold Rice I had, of course, heard about Prof. Isaac L. Rice and his gambit as well as his famous Rice Gambit Tournaments. But my superficial impression over the years was that the gambit wasn't particularly good and that ...
Ernest Morphy was Paul Morphy's uncle. Ernest Morphy was probably also young Paul's greatest admirer. Besides sending Paul's games (and his only chess problem) to various publications, in Eu...
Louis Paulsen was a conte...
Today, especially on the Internet, fast games are probably more the rule than the exception. Most of the fast games played fall under the "Blitz" and "Bullet" or "Lightning" heading. Time clocks, particularly...
Grandmaster Melikset Khachiyan is a genuinely great conversation partner and a tough chess player, something former world champion Boris Spassky got to experience over a bottle of whisky in Teherean in 1992. Born in Aserbadsjan, Khachiyan left for...
According to a fairly trustworthy source: "Isidor Arthur Gunsberg (November 2, 1854 – May 2, 1930) was a chess player, best known for narrowly losing the 1891 World Chess Championship match to Wilhelm Steinitz." "In the late 1880s and early 1890...
He didn´t like school but has a masters degree in computer science, his nickname is "Captain Mag-Pan" (according to IM Danny Rensch) and he happens to be a fan of Gandhi... Meet Grandmaster Magesh Chandran Panchanathan from Madurai in India, host...
The media-shy grandmaster Roman Yakovlevich Dzindzichasvili, once the number four player in the world, has rarely if ever given an interview before. We learn about his meetings with some of the true giants and geniuses of chess - Fischer, Botvinni...
Sometimes this GM wishes he wasn´t a chess player at all.... But 19 year old Robin Van Kampen from the Netherlands always has the spirit to get back in the game, and he finds chess to be something that teaches him lessons in real life. He had t...
Woman Grandmaster Camilla Baginskaite from Sioux Falls in the United States has won the World Girls Under 20 championship, the US Women's championship, made top 16 in World Women's Championship and played in seven Chess Olympiads. She is also a ...
It's not the entire story - it's just what I know from talking to Michael on the phone, a series of email exchanges over a year+ period, and following the saga on the internet. As you will discover near the end, I only met Michael in person once.....
This week's featured subject is quite an eclectic person. NM Dan Heisman has written numerous chess books and he authors the award-winning Novice Nook column, and he has lived professionally from chess the last 16 and a half years. He is also a so...
Name: Eric Hansen &...
International Chess Master John Bartholomew is a 26 year-old chess professional from Eagan, Minnesota. He has more than 11 years of chess teaching experience with players of all ages and skill levels. John has run successful chess clubs and p...
The European Chess Club Cup is usually held in one of the European countries. This year was an exception – it took place in the Middle East, between Asia and Africa. The leading clubs travelled to Eilat, Israel, to determine the best of the ...
There´s a lot to be said about this week´s target for a Player Profile interview.... What you probably don´t know is that he lives in a village with less than 200 people, he is a husband and a dedicated father of three ...
In Part II I described a rather tough period for our team: we made three draws. This allowed China to take the lead by one match point. What could we hope for? Win all our matches, while China loses at least a point? This scenario was not very lik...
