Despite his irritable personality and somewhat dogmatic assertions, Aron Nimzowitsch (1886-1935) is the undisputed patriarch of modern positional thought. In his magnum opus My System (1925), Nimzowitsch formulated and verbalized a litany o...
Be it annoying, mildly painful, or downright inappropriate, the pawn poke is a key theme in understanding pawn structures and color complexes. Once mastered, your opponents will feel like they are locked in a room with a deranged 5 year old waving...
Last week, we examined the rook lift as an attacking tool. Of course, a rook is not only an attacking piece -- it can be mobilized for positional reasons as well. In this article, we will analyze several instances in which the rook lift serves a...
GM Melik Khachiyan knows about positional chess. Not only was he trained by the best, but he now trains the best. The teaching that’s been passed down throughout his camp breeds champions. Learn positional strategy from Melik here in this ...
In my article on chess technique, I wholeheartedly agreed with Frank J. Marshall's affirmation that "the hardest thing in chess is to win a won game." Indeed, tenacious defense is now the norm rather than the exception. Fifty years ago, the fir...
The hardest thing in chess, Frank J. Marshall warned us, is to win a won game. It is no surprise that technique - the ability to convert an advantage (of any kind) into a full point - is a coveted skill. As beginners, we are often told that solid ...
FIDE elections are getting closer, so it is time to revisit one of their "brilliant" inventions: the doping test. I briefly touched this absurd innovation here. No one has ever been able to prove that a mythical chess-enhancing drug even exists,...
"The biggest risk is not taking one." Many of the greatest chess players in history are compulsive risk-takers. From Paul Morphy to Mikhail Tal to Bobby Fischer to Alexei Shirov, tournament success (especially at a high level) frequently h...
In parts one, two, and three of this article, I described the unusual concept of "doing nothing." In this article we'll discuss when it is appropriate to use this idea. Once upon a time, I showed my game vs. Nakamura as an example of "doing noth...
Quite a few amateurs become a bit confused when game annotations talk about the enormous importance of the dark squares in one position or another. Yes, everyone knows what the dark squares are, but in most cases, one is left wondering why they ar...
In part two of this article, I described how I came up with a weird looking, but nevertheless efficient, plan of treating an unpleasant middlegame in my game vs. Hikaru Nakamura. For in-depth analyzation of the study-like endgame in this encounter...
In last week's article, we started an analysis of a bizarre game I played ten years ago in the U.S. Championship. The key moment happened around move 15 when, quoting the ChessBase article, Serper "started moving his bishop back and forth between ...
Having been a chess master since 1981 my goal is to give back to the chess community everything I possibly can. I wish to share all my knowledge and enjoyment of chess with the world. You will be able to take the knowledge my simple teaching offer...
I cannot tell you, my dear readers, how many times I've had this conversation with my younger students while we analyze their games: "What did you try to accomplish with your last move?" "Nothing!" "Then why did you play it?" "I don't know...
I will begin by affirming that the title of this article is deliberately oxymoronic. According to David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld's The Oxford Companion to Chess (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984), a combination is "a series of forci...
When you hear the word "brilliancy," what comes to mind? A dazzling combination with multiple sacrifices? A captivating tactical melee in which both players display their calculational expertise? Without a doubt, brilliancy has a tactical connotat...
"Pawns are the soul of chess." In general, I loathe chess clichés, but some statements are so true, so deep, that they defy the notion of banality. Think about it. An inveterate patron of the Café de la Régence, an eighte...
The term "positional sacrifice" is construed by many players as a vague concept applied only in relation to complex positional battles between grandmasters. I exaggerate a bit, of course, but the art of sacrificing for positional compensation appe...
To chessify Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that all chess players in possession of a weak square are doomed to a miserable existence. The concept of weak squares appears rather straightforward: avoid creating them, but never f...
In the first two parts of this series we discussed the cases where White firmly occupies the key central d5-square with one of his pieces. If such a centralized piece cannot be successfully challenged, Black usually experience serious problems. Bu...
Last week we analyzed a common situation that happens in many different openings. Black voluntarily creates a 'hole' on the d5 square hoping to compensate it with activity of his pieces (it is especially typical for certain variations of the ...
Many openings (especially when you play Black) have specific strategical problems typical for that particular opening. If you play the French Defense, then the bishop on c8 is your constant headache. In the Tarrasch Defense you need to live with a...
Today we'll talk about the positions with the shortest possible checkmates. I almost hear your question: “Are you talking about checkmate in one move?” No, we actually discussed this kind of checkmates here, but today we will talk abou...
Last week we discussed the 'impossible' checkmate with just a king and a knight and today we'll analyze a similar 'impossible' checkmate with a king and a bishop. As all of you know, king + bishop cannot checkmate a lone king. But if you add...
