Megatheory 12: French Winawer Poisoned Pawn
The French Winawrer Poisoned Pawn used to be one of the wildest arenas of opening theory. It has calmed down a bit, lacking a champion at highest levels, but ius still a complicated and thrilling ride.
Fine-Euwe: Vienna Variation of the Ragozin Defense at AVRO 1938
The tournament organized by the Dutch radio company, A.V.R.O., in 1938 is still considered one of the very strongest ever held. Its purpose was to find a challenger for the World Champion, Alexander Alekhine. The winner was to be that challenger. ...
Anand's Lasker Defence against Topalov
by GM Magesh and GM Arun This week we shall see The Queen's Gambit Declined - Lasker Defence used by the reigning World Champion Vishy Anand against former World Champion Veselin Topalov. As you may know, Anand used this solid system in his final...
Megatheory 11: Exchange Gruenfeld: The Exchange Sacrifice
David Bronstein was one of the early adopters of the exchang sacrifice at a1 n the Exchange Gruenfeld. White gives up a rook for Black's powerful bishop. Bronstein's choice is not the main focus of attention these days but it rmains a good approac...
Torre Attack Part 4: more inspiration
To wrap up this miniseries, a few more nice wins, including one by Julian Hodgson (pictured).
Megatheory 10: King's Indian:: Bayonet Attack, Kramnik Variation
The Bayonet Attack was born the same year I was. It is a logical response to Black's kingside ambitions. White plans an all-out attack on the queenside.but will also try to disrupt Black's plans by sinking a knight at e6 once Black weakens that sq...
The Dutch-Peruvian Gambit: Spassky-Ujtumen
A sideline of the Queen’s Gambit Declined is arrived at by 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 c5. This is not the Tarrasch Defense in which Black plays 3...c5. It is sometimes called the Pseudo-Tarrasch. White has options, but no need, to avoid 5.cx...
Torre Attack Part 3: Beating Karpov
World Champion Anatoly Karpov didn't lose many games but he did fall to the Torre Attack at the hands of Viktor Korchnoi and Artur Yusupov (pictured). Both games are instructive and entertaining.
Torre Attack part 2
We have seen how Carlos Torre used his attack, now lets look at how World Champions followed his example.
Carlos Torre and his Attack
The Torre Attack is one of the simplest chess openings. Yet it is highly effctive and can lead to spectacular games. Its inventor, the Mexican star Carlos Torre, used it to defeat no less than Emmanuel Lasker at a major international foreign us...
Karpov's Strange King Move in the Caro-Kann
by GM Magesh & GM Arun This week we shall see an interesting idea by the former world champion and one of the greatest players in the history of Chess, Anatoly Karpov, in the Caro-Kann Defence. Karpov has introduced many interesting ideas in ...
Thematic Knight Sacrifice in the Najdorf Sicilian
by GM Magesh and GM Arun This week we shall see a sacrificial idea in the Sicilian Najdorf. 6.Bg5 has always been one of the finest systems to counter the Najdorf. The arising positions are full of complications when White tries to pressurize Bl...
The Cochrane Gambit
by GM Magesh and GM Arun Are you the kind of player who wants to attack, attack, and attack more? Are you the kind of player who wants something happening in your game every single moment? Are you the kind of player who would take an unclear posi...
Megatheory 9: Sicilian Scheveningen
Perhaps the most flexible opening is the Sicilian Scheveningen, a labyrinth of positional paths that occupy a solid niche at the highest levels of competition. Some teachers seem to think the hardest thing about the opening is how to pronounce the...
Lead in Development
One of the main opening principles is “develop your pieces asap and castle.” The better your forces are mobilized, the higher the chances of launching a successful attack. One should remember that the person with a significant lead in development ...
Megatheory 8: Panov Attack/ Nimzo-Indian main line
At the crossroads of iopening theory lie the mainb lines of the Panov Attack that can be reached via many openings. ECO considers the Nimzo-Indians but that is an arbitrary choice. The flexible positions give rise to many strategies and great sco...
Megatheory 7: Sveshnikov Sicilian
The Sveshnikov Variation of the Lasker-Pelikan Sicilian soared in popularity in the 1980s. Despite a gaping hole at d5, a lot of counterplay has been discovered and the theory has mushroomed into a gigantic complex. The main line is now well-esta...
Levenfish Panov-Botvinniks Botvinnik’s Gruenfeld
Now to make sense out of that title containing the names of four players.Grigory Yakovlev Levenfish was born March 21, 1889 (March 9 at the time in the old calendar) in Piotrkow, Poland in the Russian Empire. He died February 9, 1961 in Moscow, US...
Megatheory 6: Closed Ruy Lopez
when I was learning the game, a Closed Ruy Lopez was considered the ultimate chess opening and even my classmates knew the first dozen movesor so. Every move is logical, and there areno particularly tricky tactics to stumble on. The opening has ...
How Equal is Equal? Continued...
by GM Magesh and GM Arun We promised you Kramnik this week, so here is Kramnik with his weapon of mass destruction: deadly precision in the endgame. Looking at the same opening, the same dull symmetrical position, many people would think a draw w...
Opening Surprises
Profound opening preparation is one of the key ingredients of overall success in chess. Luring your opponent into a trap, inventing a powerful novelty, knowing your openings well – all this will boost your confidence and create problems for your o...
Megatheory 5: Classical Tarrasch Defense
The Tarrasch is fairly positional, but computers seem to like the fluid piece play and have contributed to the development of the well-established main line.
Gelfand’s Harmless Looking Idea vs Anand's Meran
Two of the top grandmasters of the last twenty years met at Biel in 1993 to contest the Meran Variation. Boris Gelfand would win the game and his second interzonal. Viswanathan Anand, the future world champion, would lose, but keep the line as ...
Megatheory 4: Najdorf Poisoned Pawn
Back in the day the ultimate opening was the Najdorf Poisoned Pawn, constantly under debate by the world's best players. It is still seen today, though not oftn in elite tournaments. Our theory includes contributions fro blind tournaments and the ...