Mikhail Tal was a rather unique player. His wild, sacrificial style lead to some very different opinions of Tal. To some, he was the most successful patzer ever to play. To others his regular lack of objectivity was the very thing that...
Jan Timman, "The Flying Dutchman", needs no introduction. He has been a major force in the chess world since the 1970s. He returns to the Staunton this year hoping for a major victory. Not only has Jan defeated Kasparov, he has done so from a po...
The word tabiya used to refer to the initial position, however, over the years it has come to describe critical points during play at which players decide the future course of the game. Kasparov became the youngest ever world champion at th...
To get ready for next month's Staunton Memorial I present some games featuring the players in this year's event where I'll be arbiter and will post some reports. First up: Mickey Adams. Information about the event is at http://www.howa...
Episodes of "The Lone Ranger" would often end with someone saying, "Who was that masked man? He never told us his name." Another would answer with, "Why, he's the Lone Ranger." This would be followed by the Lone R...
Whether you are a begginer or an intermediate player or an advanced player you will find this article very helpful in improving your chess skills and eventually becoming a master.... Chessvideos.tv Just type the following into your adr...
Cambridge Springs 1904 was an international tournament with 16 players. Eight were from Europe and eight were from America. Marshall was clear first with a score of 13-2 consisting of 11 wins, 4 draws, and no losses. A full two points back were Da...
Adolf Anderssen Adolf Anderssen (July 6, 1818-March 13, 1876) was a German mathematics teacher was the first player to go over a 2600 ELO rating in 1850. who won the first international tournament in London, 1851, which was a knock-out ev...
Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin (1850-1908) was one of the greatest and most overlooked masters of all time. He challenged Steinitz to the world championship twice, in 1889 and 1892, but lost both times. Nevertheless, he was still one of the best playe...
Michael Botwinnik has done very much for the development of chess theory. Perhaps more than anyone else. And he was a very strong chessplayer - and world champion for a long period. It is an open secret, that he was a lover of a strong pawncenter....
A few days ago here was shown the famous game Mikhail Tal-Tolush (UdSSR-championship 1956) with the brilliant sacrifice 15.Bb5!. If you have not seen yet, please go through it and come back.- In that game we saw Tal in his elements - ...
Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (1929-1984) was a Soviet Grandmaster (1952) and 9th world chess champion (1963-1969). He was Armenian champion at the age of 17. In 1964, he won the championship of the Trade Unions in Moscow. Be...
Harry Nelson Pillsbury (1872-1906) was one of the greatest American chess players who ever lived. His most famous accomplishment was winning Hastings 1895 as an outside bet. Though he tragically died early from syphilis, he could still create mast...
Bobby Fischer had an immense importance for the development of chess in germany. After the win of championship many young people got interested in chess and joined in chessclubs. Me to. On my blogside, I show one of his famous games. ...
Machgielis (Max) Euwe (May 20, 1901-Nov 26, 1981) was a former FIDE President (1970-1978) who was twice world champion - 1935-37 and for one day in 1947. In July 1947, the FIDE Congress, held in The Hague, voted for Euwe to be world champion...
Alexander McDonnel (1798-1840) is an Irish master that works in the market business, he eventually becomes the secretary of the Committee of West Indian Merchants and because of his good job he has enough time to play chess. William Lewis wa...
Bernhard Horwitz (1807-1885) was a German-born painter (specialized in miniatures) and chess study composer. In 1845, he settled in England and began teaching chess. In 1846, he lost an unofficial world championship match w...
Mark Taimanov was born in the Ukraine in 1926. In 1952, he became a Grandmaster. He was also a concert pianist. In 1970, he was accused of buying a point from Matulovic for $400 at the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal in 1970. ...
Fridrik Olafsson was born in Reykjavik in 1935. In 1952, at the age of 17, he was Icelandic Champion. In 1953, he took 3rd place in the World Junior Championship. He was Iceland's first Grandmaster (1958) and the fourth FI...
Reuben Fine was born in New York City on October 11, 1914. He learned to play chess from his uncle in 1923 at the age of 8. He began tournament level chess at the Marshall Chess Club. He won the 15th Marshall Chess Club Ch...
Rudolf Spielmann was born in Vienna on May 5, 1883. He was a Viennese professional chess player who spent most of his adult life in Germany. He played over 100 tournaments and 55 matches in his career. He earned the nickna...
Edward (Eduard) Lasker was born in Kempen, Poland (near Breslau and part of the German Empire at the time) Germany on December 3, 1885. He learned chess at the age of 6 from his father. He earned degrees at the University of Berlin in mechanical...
Ngoc Truongson Nguyen ('Son', born Kien Giang Province, Vietnam, February 23, 1990) is the top Vietnamese chess player. Son started playing chess at the age of four, and he competed in the National Junior Chess Tournament before he w...
Arturo Pomar-Salamanca was born in Palma de Mallorca, Spain on September 1, 1931. He was a child prodigy, learning the game at age 4, and pupil of Alexander Alekhine during World War II (Franco’s regime in Spain paid Alekhine to...
