How to evaluate a position? In this article I would like to cover a topic or even a skill which is very important for practically every chess player. I really like asking my students one little question: "How do you evaluate a position?". In many...
"Knowledge is power" famously pronounced Francis Bacon in 16th century. I doubt many people would argue with this statement since the more knowledge you have, the better for you, right? Well, almost. Today we'll discuss a very unusual situation wh...
Playing against an Isolated Pawn you should know the main rule: Never allow its advance! So a blockade and attack-strategy should be your aim, as you can see in the following example: Normally the Player with the Isolated Pawn has to ...
In an earlier four-part article we saw how powerful the Classic Bishop Sacrifice (sacrificing one’s Bishop against h7) can be. However, now and then we see games where the Bishop is tossed to h7 (not sacrificing anything at all) just for the...
It is time to summarize our discussion about all the positive and negative aspects that computers brought to our game and see which side outweighs. One of the biggest positive sides I see is that computers really enhanced our chess knowledge. So...
In the last week's article I touched the subject of cheaters who use computer engines during their games. To my great surprise, judging by reader's messages, many of you are not aware of this problem. I was asked how can cheaters possibly us...
There is no doubt that providing that you know how to use a chess engine and well aware of its shortcomings (like for example the Capablanca's position that we discussed in the previous part of this article), then you have an amazing learning tool...
The first two parts of this article generated many comments from our readers so let me address a couple of popular misconceptions. First of all, the goal of this article is not to find out who plays chess better, computers or human players. This...
On Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, I returned to my old stomping ground in San Francisco: The Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club. The first thing my visit to San Francisco did was reaffirm Mark Twain’s old comment, “The coldest winter I eve...
In last week's article, we looked at a very interesting phenomenon of computer chess - the "horizon effect." Basically it is a computer's inability in certain situations to see the future no matter how fast its processor is or how many plys it can...
I haven't featured a Karpov game in quite a while, so here goes... On his eleventh move, his opponent (Velimirovic) either decides to sacrifice his queen or commits an oversight. Still, there is work to be done for the full point, and Karpov is a...
Computers are an essential part of the modern world and it is impossible even to imagine our everyday life without them. As a matter of fact, you wouldn't be able to read this article if there were no computers and the miracle called "Internet". B...
The subject of today's discussion might sound bizarre for most of you. Indeed, all the chess coaches as well as books, magazines and Web sites teach you how to win your games and here we talk about when to resign? And yet, I think any e...
In my column "Pros and Cons" I discuss the subjects that have no clear answer. Are doubled pawns good or bad, is an isolated pawn an asset or a liability, what's better a Bishop or a Knight? The answer is the same to all these questions: "It...
Today I am going to continue with examples on what to do when you have a time advantage. Continúo hoy con más ejemplos sobre qué hacer cuando tienes una ventaja de tiempo. Here’s the video of the middlegame stage from Gulko-Radjabov. I made this ...
Probably all chess players ask themselves at some point of their chess career: "Am I a positional chess player or a tactician?" Based on the answer to this question they choose openings and the general strategy of their games. But if you say...
You'll have to excuse me for not putting this article up sooner. My friend, Gomi, invited me to go on vacation with him and his family. And you just don't reject Islands and Fun. Back to Chess I am going to use English and Spanish in this article...
One of the major strategic rules of chess is "Keep your King safe!". It is precisely due to this rule that a very common pin from many openings which start with 1. e4 e5 is especially dangerous. For example this one: We've all had a similar ex...
The Torre Attack is not a particularly popular opening these days. Wikipedia says that " The Torre Attack is rarely met in modern top-flight play, and statistical analysis shows that it is not particularly advantageous for White." Maybe so, b...
I want to show you guys my game against Grand Master Omar Almeida and how I imitated Grand Master Boris Gulko but first you need to see how brilliantly effective Gulko plays so you can understand in what ways exactly I imitated him. There are m...
I'm back with some more Golden Gulko Nuggets. "More Golden Gulko Nuggets, please!!" "Honey, slow down, one box of Golden Gulko Nuggets costs 20 Euros!" Do you remember what Gulko played in the following position? What do you have to do whe...
In last week's column we discussed a hustler's trick where he would offer you a position where you could choose White or Black and the hustler would take the opposite side and beat you. Sometimes top chess players borrow this trick from the hust...
A few weeks ago I played my first and only tournament of 2012. I haven't played in a long time because tournaments take up too much of my time but because I thought the world might end, I made an exception "Bye Chess! According to the Mayan Prop...
In my new weekly column "Pros and Cons" I am aiming to show that a well known strategical concept can be both an advantage and a disadvantage for you, depending on the position. Today is the special Holiday edition of the column and for your ...
