Farbror asked: This is one of my favorite chess quotes: “Before our first Latvian posting I didn’t care for this gambit one way or the other. Now I hate it with a passion and, when I hit my 80th birthday, fully intend to devote my remaining year...
Svetozar Gligoric (pictured) was born February, 2, 1923. He was the Yugoslav champion many times and competed to seek the world championship. He first became famous in 1947 for his first place undefeated finish at Warsaw 1947 where he defeated Vas...
This week we shall see some of the more recent miniatures in the Ruy Lopez. Although this system has been played and analysed extensively in the last couple of centuries, it still has so much life in it that even super Grandmasters are not comp...
My last article showed Miguel Najdorf on the white side of the King’s Indian Defense using the Fianchetto Variation. This line has the advantage of placing the bishop on g2 where it can have considerable influence on the center, but does not exert...
When you combine the words 'best', 'young' and 'international' with a chess tournament, you know what to expect. One of the most celebrated chess tournaments for the youth, the World Junior Chess Championship, recently concluded in Chotowa, Poland...
Just as we had promised, you get to see the predator become the prey today. Last week there were some discussions about how the 500 elo point difference had made the game very one-sided. It is very true and we will see once again today how a stron...
Starting from today, I will dedicate my next three columns to studying the opening, middlegame and endgame and provide you with tips on how to work on all the three stages. Let’s start with the opening. The opening defines the course of the game. ...
In my last article, I noted the passing of Zdenko Krnic and presented one of his games. His last completed issue of Chess Informant was #107. There he presented an article on the Gruenfeld Defense featuring the Exchange Variation. The variation wa...
This week we shall study the thematic break d4-d5 in the Queen's Gambit Accepted System. This break is very important in all Isolated pawn structures. The point is that after the d4-d5 break the position gets opened and the activity of the pieces ...
The chess world has lost Zdenko Krnic, the editor-in-chief and director of Chess Informant. He died on July 23, 2010 a week after a motorcycle struck him in a crosswalk. Although he was an international master, he was best known for his work for I...
After watching Inception, the following were the exact words that lingered in my mind, “Fantastic movie!!! Can someone please tell me the actual story???” I guess the feeling of a movie being above your immediate understanding is the trend these d...
Ludek Pachman was born May 11, 1924 in Czechoslovakia and died March 6, 2003 in Germany. He played in six interzonal tournaments from 1948 to 1976. He wrote numerous books on chess openings and strategy. When I encountered his 1992 loss to the yo...
One of the difficulties of playing the black side of an open game is that your opponent may choose to play the boring Four Knights Opening. You can obtain a perfectly respectable gain by following the mainlines, but there are some exciting altern...
Chess learning has evolved so much over the past ten years that I pretty much belong to the older generation of chess players. Becoming a Grandmaster by 21 used to be a great thing when I learned the game, but by the time I actually made my title,...
Here is an unusual line I have frequently played in both the Caro-Kann and the Scandinavian defense. It arises on 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 c6 or 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5!? 4.Nc3 Qd6. It goes by several names, some associated with me ...
Artur Yusupov or Jussupow (pictured) was born February 13,1960 in Moscow, USSR. He won the World Junior Championship in 1977. He became an international master in 1977 and an international grandmaster in 1980. He came first in the Tunis IZ 1985 an...
What is up with all these strong players leaning more and more towards variations where they develop their light-squared bishop to g2? Maybe it is my imagination or it is just a pure coincidence, but it does feel like strong players these days are...
The opening of a chess game resembles three card Monte or the shell game. The vital difference is that in chess both players see the same things and they both handle the game pieces. After each player moves, the opponent gains information. The ...
In the recently concluded World open, Grandmaster Viktor Laznicka came out with flying colors winning the tournament with a clear half point lead. The best part for the Czech Grandmaster was his 6/6 start that allowed him to relax in the last thre...
In the first video on this topic we saw a good time to use chess engines is to check a game you played or witnessed where an opening you "know" (or remember, or have a hunch) is bad/refuted paid off for the underdog (the person trying it) and you ...
When preparing for a game (if we know the pairings), it is useful to compile a complete dossier on your opponent: what types of positions he likes and understands, which ones he doesn’t enjoy. What openings he employs. His playing style. Typical r...
A reader sent me the following request: “In the Najdorf … after 6.Bg5 … 15...Bf8 … we have lots of moves like Qh5 and Rg1.… If you could give me some variations to help in my study, or make an article on this opening!”The opening in question is th...
This week we shall see the Caro-Kann's Advance Variation. Caro-Kann is a system where Black tries to maintain a healthy pawn chain and utilize White's weaknesses to win. Usually Black develops systematically in the opening without showing much agg...
Peter Svidler was born June 17, 1976 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg again). He won the Russian Championship five times from 1994 to 2008. In 1994, he became a grandmaster. Svidler was the Chess960 World Champion three times in 2003, 2004, and 20...
