The weak, "strong" e4-pawn
Before I explain the strange title of today's article, let me show you what kind of position we are going to discuss: This kind of position can happen in many different openings (we can assume that there ar...
The Truth About Doubled Pawns, Part 5
Concluding our discussion about the positives and negatives of doubled pawns we cannot miss the numerous games played by Botvinnik. He was probably the first world class chess player who loved to have doubled pawns. I could show you literally doze...
The Truth About Doubled Pawns, Part 4
In the previous part of our discussion about doubled pawns we could see that in the majority of cases such pawns are a clear disadvantage in the endgame. But what about openings and middle games? As we could see the major drawback of...
The Truth About Doubled Pawns, Part 3
Last week we analyzed games where doubled pawns were a liability in the endgame and unless they were compensated by something else (like a pair of Bishops for example), the game was doomed. The next basic endgame is another example that in m...
Amateur to IM Preview
*Please be warned, this is part article, part shameless book plug* Hey guys this is IM Jonathan Hawkins from England. My book 'Amateur to IM' was published last month, where I discuss some of the study material I worked on over the last 7-8 ye...
The Truth About Doubled Pawns, Part 2
Last week we started our investigation of the so-called 'weakness' of doubled pawns and I asked my readers to find a position where the mere existence of doubled pawns ruins the position. Many of you guessed correctly that the main drawback ...
The Truth About Doubled Pawns
If I had to choose the most popular misconception in chess, I wouldn't hesitate for a second. It is the so-called 'weakness' of doubled pawns. I cannot tell you my dear readers how many times I have encountered the same situation during anal...
Queen vs. 2 Rooks
Do you prefer a queen or two rooks? Everyone knows a rook is five points and a queen is nine points. 5+5 > 9 so the rooks should be a full pawn better, right? GM Larry Kaufman, who is an expert at computer chess, has determined the rooks are...
How Do You Win a Chess Tournament?
I recently (April 27-29, 2012) played in the Maryland Open chess tournament in the Under 2000 section. I played well and won the section with a 5-0 score. This earned me the title of 2012 Maryland Amateur Champion, the 4th time I have won the titl...
A Knight to Remember
I haven't posted a Reshevsky game in quite a while, so here goes... This game of his is notable because he manages to get one of his knights to the sixth rank. It then stays there for the rest of the game, and completely disrupts Treysman's plans...
Concrete Approach
When referring to general chess principles, approaches and structures in my articles I always add a disclaimer warning that a lot depends on the particular situation. A certain method might work in 9 cases out of 9, only to fail in the 10th. A gen...
Being a Good Chess Trader
Trading pieces is a typical technique in chess. While at the start of the game both you and your opponent have an equal chess army, later in the game your forces are starting to perish. Naturally, like Saviely Tartakover used to say, “It’s better ...
Fatigue Wins
Getting home after Saturday's games, I ate dinner and started preparing for Yankovsky. I had a general profile of him already, but I needed to play through a bunch of his games to ascertain what variations he played against my defenses to e4 (c5, ...
A Fighting Draw
Conventional wisdom says that when we are behind in material, we should never trade pieces. And yet, in this game, that is exactly what happens. White appears to sacrifice a rook for nothing, and is apparently lost by move 11. However, amazingly e...
Statistics and Chess Improvement
Today I would like to share with you an exercise I did at the end of 2011 to try to prepare for the events I would play in the next year. I logged 70 FIDE rated games in 2011. This is a decent but not huge sample size, and I decided to do a thorou...
Little Jack Horner's Revenge
This game features a rather unique attack. Korchnoi puts some pressure on Fischer's queenside, but throws away his advantage there with a few errant moves. This allows Fischer to attack his opponent's king without nay opposition. With the aid of a...
Video Series on Practical Defense
Chess has been called the art of attack and defense. A Lot of stress is always put on a beautiful attack with a beautiful combination that can win the game swiftly. But as GM Melikset Khachiyan illustrates in his video series on practical defense,...
Training Sessions
Right now I am taking part in the Russian Chess Teams’ (both men and women) training session for the European Team Championship. Generally speaking, such events last from 7 to 10 days and are held at a special boarding house. The idea is to change...
Making a Choice
During a game each of us has to make choices. In some positions the choice is limited to a single playable continuation, but in most situations we have to consider a few alternatives. If there are many options, this process becomes a real challeng...
Video Series on Playing with a Space Advantage in Chess
First of all, the videos in this series are all for advanced level players. If you (the reader) are just beginning to come across the concept of space in chess, this video will get you started. For intermediate players, this video and it's sequel ...
The Tempo of the Attack
One chess player said that I have a problem sensing the tempo of the game, that this is my weakness. I don’t know if it was legitimate advice or just an insult, but I found it interesting. True, I have seen, especially when I am in bad form, that ...
The Author of a Variation 2
An Inspiration When I read GM Becerra's article last week about a man who was an absolute inspiration to me, I just knew I had to share my own tribute to Lev Polugaevsky this week. Prior to reading GM Becerra's article, I actually did not know ju...
Surprising a Master of Surprises
The game I am about to discuss here was the final knockout match in the Carlos Torre Memorial Tournament 2007, in Merida, Mexico. I had won 3 knockout matches with the score 1.5-0.5 to reach final where I had to face Vasily Ivanchuk who was the wo...
To Take or Not to Take?
Gaining a material advantage is a classic way of winning in chess. In some situations an extra pawn is sufficient for a victory, in others even being up a queen doesn’t guarantee anything. After all, the main goal of chess is to checkmate the oppo...