A chess player has to know how to use a variety of methods of chess strategy. Super grandmasters mastered numerous methods of leading chess battles. This is why it is good to go over their games and learn typical plans. Today’s two examples are ta...
Today, as promised I will look at the positions that the readers posted. Two positions were similar in that one side had a material advantage but had trouble finding a winning plan. It is very hard to win a winning position. It is hard from a psyc...
A chess player should follow strong GM-tournaments like a business person follows the Wall Street Journal. First of all, one can see modern opening trends and adjust his opening repertoire accordingly. Secondly, and more important in my opinion,...
Last article featured two positions from the Aeroflot Open, which was hosted in Moscow. Grandmaster Le Quang Liem won the event, scoring an impressive 7/9 with 5 wins and 4 draws, and 0 losses. Going into the last round Liem shared...
The two positions that I posted for you to solve are new to me as well. The first one David sent me and I believe it is as a position from a Chess.com TV lesson, while the second position my coach gave me to solve. These two positions are not that...
The art of attack in chess is really much simpler than you think. It comes down to one simple rule: Remove the defenders! Everything else is just a variation on that theme. You see it all the time, but here is a wonderful example as Grandmaster Sh...
In this game, White plays the initial phase of the opening well enough, but then he starts to drift with some questionable and unnecessary moves, which allow Black to work up a strong queenside initiative. At that point, White: recognizes the pro...
I have stated that chess pieces are connected. As a result, I have been asked to explain how pieces are connected. The way a player deploys the pieces should take into consideration their coordination. The first part of this is simply development....
In this game, the players castle on opposite sides, which usually signals attacks on both sides. Both players pursue their chances on each side, but Black misses something that costs him the exchange. But he stays calm and uses the time White sp...
I usually set aside time on Wednesday evening to write my weekly column. It has already become a routine, though for such tasks I typically rely on my mood to determine when and what to write and not a schedule. Tonight, I am in no mood to talk t...
This article is the first in a series that will illustrate what a player needs to do and how he needs to think when facing a losing position or one that appears to be going from bad to worse. The first step is to realise that we all throw in a fe...
How does one plan a sacrifice? Sometimes the position requires for one side to sacrifice a piece or the exchange. It is often apparent when the position is bad and some active measures need to be taken. What about the positions that are better, bu...
The weak dark square complex is a group of squares that are undefended by nearby pawns on white squares. For examples in this article, Black has pawns on f7, g6, and h7, and the squares f6, g7,and h6 are undefended by Black pawns. They form a we...
Chess Exam: Matches against Chess Legends, You vs. Bobby Fischer IM Igor Khmelnitsky 2009 IamCoach Press 190 pages http://www.chessexam.com Hello chess enthusiasts and readers! I have just finished working through my copy of C...
In my younger years I was a big fan of Dvoretsky’s books. I read them all, even though I did not fully understand them. I still like to go back to the chess shelf to flip through pages from his books to see the many marks and under...
Imbalances Tom asked: If I’m doing a tactical puzzle, should I be looking at the imbalances before I start calculating? Or does this not apply when you know there’s a tactical shot in the position? Dear Tom, Imbalances (space, material, pawn...
There are different theories of how one should choose a move. Some of the theories are systematically developed and are presented as practical methods. Deciding on a chess move, unless you are a computer, is a very complex process. The decision-ma...
The Art and Science of the Isolated d-Pawn Madhacker asked: I’d like to ask about the correct handling of positions where White has an isolated queen’s pawn. The question was raised in my head by the following game I played in a lo...
Once again, it is great to see many readers coming up with creative ideas to solve the positions. Please, keep posting your ideas and comments, I read them all, even if I do not address all the continuations suggested. In Position 3 my natural in...
If any of us were asked "What makes some chess players better than others?", we might come up with a number of different responses. Some replies might be: They are better at seeing tactics, They have a better memory for openings, They can calculat...
I am very happy to see a large number of comments to the first article in the series about planning. I read through all the comments and was impressed with the numerous creative ideas that the readers came up with. With strategic positions there i...
It's nice to win games by playing amazing moves, surprising tactics, and slashing attacks, but we all know that those are rare and that we can't expect a steady diet of brilliant wins. It's like the lottery. It would be nice to win once in a whi...
Today will mark the start of a series of new articles that will span the next couple of months. The topic of the articles will be "Planning in Chess." One has to differentiate between the ideas of strategical play in general and a ...
One of the characteristics about modern chess is the fluidity of material values. When Morphy and Andersson were ruling the roost, sacrifices were common, but they were often with a clear tactical goal in mind - get the opponent's king stuck in th...
