Exploring the King's Gambit Part 2
Some normal and some very strange lines in this installment as we continue our journey through King's Gambit territory.
Exploring the King;s Gambits Part 1
This is the first in a series of articvles exploring a variety of lines in the King's Gambit. You'll see popular lines, rare lines, and outlandish experiments. Keep in mind that just because a gambit is "refuted" doesn't mean it can't hbave practi...
Space and Dark-Squares in the Caro-Kann Advance
by GM Magesh and GM Arun We have studied the Caro-Kann advance variation before in our articles, but after seeing a game today I was compelled to get back to this variation. The game was played by none other than the creative genius Alexey Shirov...
Opocensky’s Math: Minority Attack + Exchange Sac = Majority Attack
Karel Opocensky was born February 7, 1892 in Most, Bohemia and died November 16, 1975 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. My databases show his games from 1912 to 1972. In that long career, Opocensky won the championship of Czechoslovakia four times in 192...
Why not try the Janowski Indian?
If you would like to spice up you repertoire against1.d4, consider the Janowski Indian, a rare but reliable fighting variation of the Old Indian. It is easy to learn as there are only a limited number of plans for White after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc...
French Rubinstein by GM Magesh and GM Arun
This week we shall see the French Defence Rubinstein Variation. The speciality of this variation is that it can be used both against the Tarrasch Variation as well as the Winawer Variation. Black immediately reduces the tention in the centre and m...
A Nimzo-Indian Piece Offer
The Nimzo-Indian is considered a solid positional defense. However, the soundness of an opening is often tested by tactical problems. The line presented includes the offer of a piece by White. This has been played in only a few games. Black has b...
Bogo Indian Defence by GM Magesh and GM Arun
This week we shall study the Bogo Indian Defence. Recently, the Catalan has become one of the most played systems and the specialty of this system is that White keeps playing for a win without any risk. For many players to play against the Catalan...
Caro Kann Advance Variation Update by GM Magesh and GM Arun
This week we shall see an update in the Caro-Kann Advance Variation. http://www.chess.com/article/view/caro-kann-advance-variation-by-gm-magesh-and-gm-arun. As we concluded in our last article the idea of grabbing the b2-pawn was playable for Bla...
Kramnik Taking on the Queen's Indian
It is not news anymore that the World number 1 is having a bit of a slump in the last month or so. Carlsen ended up losing a bunch of points in the Olympiad and now he is struggling in the Bilbao Masters tournament. While Carlsen is trying to find...
Sicilian Scheveningen by GM Magesh and GM Arun
Today we will study the Sicilian Scheveningen variation. One of the best things about this variation is the amazing potential of all the transpositions into this variation from other branches of the Sicilian. Our first game today is the 9th game...
“Chess is my Life” Korchnoi vs. “Uncompromising Chess” Beliavsky
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi was born March 23, 1931, in Leningrad, USSR. He defected (the old word for escaping from the Soviets) to the Netherlands. Later, he moved (what a free person does) to Switzerland. In 1974, he lost the Candidates final to Ka...
Polgar - Shirov: Modern Lightning vs. Fire on Board
Judit Polgar was born July 23, 1976 in Hungary. She has dazzled the chess world since she was a child. In 1991, she became a grandmaster at 15 years and four months. That was the youngest ever at the time. She is the best female player ever. Her ...
Carlsen's Idea against the Alapin by GM Magesh and GM Arun
This week we shall an idea against the Alapin system for Black. The Alapin has been a super solid variation for White against the mighty Sicilian. Many of the players who are not ready to face the long theoretical battles in the Sicilian often pr...
Gelfand-Bruzon: Positional and Material Imbalance
Boris Gelfand was born in Minsk, Belarussian SSR (now Belarus) on June 24, 1968. He was Soviet Junior Champion at 17 and European Junior Champion two years later. In 1988, he tied for first in the World Junior Championship, but Joel Lautier was aw...
Leningrad Dutch by GM Magesh and GM Arun
This week we shall study the Leningrad system in the Dutch defence. The Leningrad Dutch is an interesting dynamic opening combining many strategic and dynamic possiblities for both sides. Dutch players often argue that it is better than the King's...
The Keene Defense to the King's Gambit
The Keene Defense (1.e4 e5 2.f4 Qh4+) involves two early moves by her majesty, since after 3.g3 the queen must retreat. What is the point of this maneuver? The basic idea is to set up tension on the e-file while the pawn at g3 just gets in the way...
Vucic Needs to Win Against the English in So Cal
The English Opening is very flexible for both sides. In many games, the player who is more flexible is the winner. Each move played gives the opponent information and while gaining ground a move can reduce the flexibility of the position. An advan...
Stonewall against flank openings
The Stonewall Dutch has been part of my Black repertoire for a long time and I have also used it effectively against various flank openings. It is rock solid and allows some nice kingside attacking possibilities. Here are four examples. ...
Unusual Openings by GM Magesh and GM Arun
We have studied several opening ideas in our past articles. All those plans and those tiny little nuances that we try to understand are all very important, but also important is the question of when to use them exactly and when to neglect them? Th...
The fallacy of "reversed" openings
Many people seem to think that if an opening is good for Black it is even better for White with an extra tempo. In fact, that is not the case. The problem with such thinking is that it fails to take into account the fact when you play the openin...
Fun with the Albin Countergambit
Perhaps the most aggressive reply to the Queen's Gambit is the Albin Countergambit 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4. It is sound enough for use in amateur games and has even been used by the pros in Interzonal competition. Here are a few examples with m...
Kt Maneuvers Against the Advance Caro-Kann
Drumdaddy (commenting on an article about the Schliemann) said: I suppose that there are many excellent players who can comfortably read through game moves presented in paragraph form, but I am not one of them and would much prefer active diagram...
Queen's Indian Update
After two seasons of pure disastrous results in the United States Chess League (USCL) I was hoping for a fresh start this season. When I played for the Dallas Destiny in the first two seasons of the USCl, it would not be an overstatement to say I ...