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...
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...
Winning in chess is not only about reckless attacking and playing for checkmate from move one. Often it is easier to start with gaining a material advantage and then converting it. Today we will be discussing an interesting way in which you can ge...
Each piece has its relative value. During the game it may vary depending on what position the piece occupies and what role it plays. It’s hard to win when some of your pieces are misplaced. Therefore, you should make sure all your pieces are takin...
Who doesn’t like attacking? Improving the position, creating new threats, putting pressure on the opponent, sacrificing lots of material and finally winning. What do we have on the other side? Nit-picking for even the slightest counter-chances and...
We conclude our survey of weapons of chess destruction, with examples from the three most recent world champions. In each case we see them following the opening rules and then quickly demolishing the opponents position. This happens even though ...
In our survey of weapons of chess destruction we have now reached the glory days of chess. I was fortunate to be growing up during the period of the great superstars of chess that I believe has remained unrivaled in the history of the game. In ...
In case you are wondering, the white pawn to your right is begging for you NOT to attack him... Unfortunately, his future isn't so bright (he doesn't wear shades ) as an Isolated Queen Pawn. That said, his teammates don't always mind his isol...
This video series is specifically designed to target and improve an area that could always use "fine-tuning" at any chess player's level: technique. The ability to consistently convert upon your advantages (a.k.a. "win when you are winning") is ar...
We move on the the Soviet Era, with lessons in poisoned pawn/trapped piece and demolition in semi-open games.
In this second installment we learn that the Petroff is anything but boring when exciting players sit on both sides of the board! Lasker plays some mind fames to lure Marshall into a brawl where the f7-square plays a huge role.
This is the first of a series of articles from my new eBook, available for Nook and other eBook readers from Barnes & Noble. The 15 official World Champions show how to follow the opening guidelines and then launch a quick attack to destroy th...
This simply-titled series takes you from the very fundamental notion of "development" in the opening through to a master-level understanding of this concept-- and some complicated examples in the later videos. Regardless of your level, this course...
Luke McShane (pictured younger) was born January 7, 1984. He won the World Under-10 Championship while only eight years old. At sixteen he became the youngest ever British grandmaster. His record stood until David Howell broke it in 2007. He won ...
Give1take2 asked: My question in a nutshell is, “How do you evaluate a position?” How would you decide in a game between two moves that both look good? How do you find which one would be more beneficial to your position even though t...
Most of the time both sides castle on the kingside in the Queen's Gambit Declined. Not always, however. In this game Garry Kasparov shows us the power of queenside castling for White.
In today's article, I want to show you a strategy of using a sacrifice at g7 to set up a powerful pin that will allow your kingside attack to succeed. Another WC example:
Please look at following position: Black has given a knight for 3 pawns . This looks good if black can manage to bring the both ones on fifth row forward. But there is a danger. White is threating Nc4+ Nxb6 + Rxf2. If he would succeed wit...
This article wraps up the column that we had for half a year on planning. I believe that we covered some of the main ideas on how to plan and you can always go to the archive to review the relevant topics. My next column will be on endgames. I am ...
The set of the positions in the previous week was rather hard. I am sorry for giving you a tough test, but the benefit is seeing what type of positions the masters look at. Those were positions that my coach has given me to solve! This week the te...
Two equally strong armies have gathered on opposite sides of the river. One commander evaluates the pluses and minuses of his and the enemy’s armies’ dispositions, comes up with a plan while taking into account possible counter-attacks, and choose...
As a column wrap-up I would like to present a series of positions to solve. I will move from easier examples this week that are aimed at 1200s to harder ones in the next two weeks. In this Final Exam for my column's readers, it is important to tre...
Planning needs to be done in a controlled environment. Creating a plan at a chess board is like carefully planning a scientific experiment. The similarities are that one has to account for all the possible things that can go wrong, sketch an outli...
I was asked to write an article to help players of about 1200 strength with planning. I questioned myself: how do 1200s play? What is the difference between 1200 and 2200 rated players for example? Of course, masters see so many more hidden resour...
