William Lombardy was born December 4, 1937. He won the New York State Championship in 1954. He won the Canadian Open in 1956. Lombardy became the first American to win the World Junior Championship in 1957. That event held in Toronto, meant the un...
Here is a game from the 2009 Aeroflot Open, GM Ragger - IM Salem with full annotations and commentary: This game is a good example of the dangers that lurk within the Panov Attack (4. c4). White does not get concerned w...
This is a continuation of my previous article. The different variations of the French Defense include:-
The French Defense has a reputation for solidity and resilience, though it can result in a somewhat cramped game for Black in the early stages. Black usually gains counter-attacking possibilities on the queenside while White tends to concentrate o...
The Scotch Game has been played for many years. The first world champion, Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900), played the move 4...Qh4. The same Steinitz who developed the concepts of positional play, brought his queen out early. Today, due to specific l...
Hey everybody I have got a great opening for you guys to use against the very popular queen gambit. This is a strong opening for blitz games so please use it and tell me how it goes! This is it: A variation of this ...
One of my favorite openings is the Pterodactyl and related systems. Black opens with g6, Bg7, c5 and Qa5. The early queen deployment is the characteristic of the Pterodactyl. In this article I will start out by presenting the countermeasures th...
Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-1995) was the Soviet Champion many times between 1931 and 1952. He held the World Championship in the years 1948-1957, 1958-1960, and 1961-1963. Playing against the Caro-Kann Defense in this game, Botvinnik used the Panov A...
The Giuoco Piano (Italian: "quiet game") is the oldest recorded opening.Damiano played it at the beginning of the 16th century and the Italian Greco played it at the beginning of the 17th century. The opening is also known as the Italian Game, alt...
I have been plannng for weeks to show the game IM David Pruess won against GM Jesse Kraai this year in Berkeley. Yesterday and today, the news on this site indicates that David Pruess has been hired to work here. This game is an example of his abi...
Anyone who plays the Torre should be aware of this new line as a way of possibly facing the most challenging line to play against for any Torre player. Here's a very interesting amateur game annotated again by GM Aaron Summerscale:
Boris Spassky was born in Leningrad, which once again is St. Petersburg, January 30, 1937. He won the Soviet Championship four times from 1956 to 1973. He was a candidate for the world championship seven times from 1956 to 1985. He defeated Keres,...
Some players think that an unorthodox opening is a good weapon against a superior opponent. I think such openings can be useful against an equal opponent or a weaker one, but against a superior opponent one can only hope for the oppoent to choose ...
The Polish Opening 1.b4 is not bad. There are some intersting gambit line. In this article I present Tartakower's King's-Gambitish approach. There is a lot of analysis of sidelines, so make sure you click the Move List button to see them!
Nigel Short was born June 1, 1965 and qualified for the British Championship three day before his twelfth birthday. He was second only to Kasparov, who was two years older, in the World Junior Championship in 1980. He became a grandmaster in 1984....
Edward Lasker (1885-1981) has already been introduced in a previous article. His opponent in this game is Abraham Kupchik (1892-1970). Kupchik was born in Brest in the Russian Empire. In 1903, his family came to America where he became an accounta...
The Open Sicilian is the most popular response to 1...c5, with more than 287897 games played by players rated above 2000 according to Gameknot database. Obviously, white intend to open up the centre with d4, usually on move three, after 2.Nf3. Un...
Here is a game from the 2009 Australian Open Chess Championships, FM Sales - IM Xie with full annotations and commentary: In this game we saw the Slav Defence employed by black. This choice proved o be a solid one in which ...
The Terrapin is an approach for White in the Torre Attack after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nbd2 and then 5.e4. It is slow and unambitious, but very easy to play. It has been used by young Grandmasters such as Ponomariov and Radjubov. It can le...
Here is another fun, offbeat but playable opening. The Amazon Attack puts the queen at d3 to support light-square action. It can also lead to a Manhattan Gambit, as here, in a game with an interesting opening and flashy finish
For those who like radical, confrontational openings, 1.c4 g5 is worth looking at. I don't think it is very good, but White's avantage is not insurmountable. I bring it up because I was looking at the latest Randspringer reprint of its magazine ar...
Edward Lasker (1885-1981) was born in Germany (in an area now in Poland). He became an engineer and moved to London, England where he played his famous casual game against Sir George Thomas. Before war began in 1914, he moved to America. He won th...
As the name suggests, players playing white (with the Closed Sicilian) does not intend to open up the centre with d4 in the near future. Instead, they usually play on the king-side first, then decide whether they want to open up the centre or not....
"Why did you switch from 1.e4 to 1.d4?" I asked a friend of mine in the local club. And their reply, was the same of every other in my local area - "because of the Sicilian..." Despite how outrageous and ridiculous that sounds, that is the most c...
