The Classic Bishop Sacrifice - Part Four
Our final article on the Classic Bishop Sacrifice is simple and too the point: it features nothing but puzzles, which will allow you to see if you fully gasped the concepts we explored in Parts 1 – 3. ...
The Classic Bishop Sacrifice - Part Three
In Part One of this series, the main topic of the Bxh7+ thrust concerned the win of material. In Part Two, we explored what happens after 1.Bxh7+ Kxh7 2.Ng5+ Kg8 and 2…Kh8. In Part Three, we’ll move on to 2…Kh6 and 2…Kg6...
The Classic Bishop Sacrifice - Part 2
In Part One of this series, the main topic of the Bxh7+ thrust concerned the win of material. This might have been boring to some, but it is no less important than a full bore mating attack. Now, in Part Two, we’ll let the blood fly! Here we...
The Classic Bishop Sacrifice - Part One
Continuing our theme of “mating tactics,” this time we’ll explore one of the most famous sacrifices in chess, the Classic Bishop Sacrifice. In our beginner mating patterns trilogy, we took a good look at the h7-square and how Qh7...
Beginner Mating Patterns Redux - Part 3
In my first article on beginner mating patterns, we explored Back Rank mates, Queen mates on h7, Queen mates on g7 (while also discussing general dark-square weaknesses around f6, g7, h6, and even h8), and smothered mates. In the second article we...
Beginner Mating Patterns - Part 2
In my first article on beginner mating patterns, we explored back rank mates, Queen mates on h7, Queen mates on g7, and smothered mates. This week we’ll explore the two beginner favorites: Scholar’s Mate and Fool’s Mate. However,...
Beginner Mating Patterns Part 1
The ins and outs of a mating combination are, on one level, simplicity itself, and on another level deep, complex, and (like a fine wine) full bodied and intoxicating. In this new column we will explore how beginners can create mating combos, whil...
The Queen in the Opening, Part Three
Today we'll analyze the last case of the Queen getting to the center early in the game. This time she doesn't go there voluntarily, since she must do it to recapture a piece or a pawn to keep material even. The simplest example is the ...
The Queen in the Opening. Part Two.
Last week we analyzed games where an early "development" of the Queen broke a well known opening principle and led to a disaster. Today we'll discuss the exceptions from this rule. Exception #1 is when you move your Queen and immediately a...
The Queen in the Opening
The following opening moves are extremely popular among inexperienced chess players: When I ask my students who play Black why they trade the knights and bring the White Queen into the center the usual answer is: "it is a bad idea to develop y...
A Rook or Two Minor Pieces? Test your skills.
In the first three parts of this article we analyzed many positions where a Rook was fighting two minor pieces. You could see how difficult it is sometimes to correctly evaluate the situation even if the material balance is about even. Today you'l...
A Rook or Two Minor Pieces? Part Three.
In the first two installments of this article we mostly discussed positions where a Rook was fighting against two minor pieces in an opening or a middle game. Today we will talk about endgames. The good thing is, unlike openings and middle g...
A Rook or Two Minor Pieces? Part Two
It is common knowledge that in openings, as a rule, it is not a good idea to give up two minor pieces for a Rook and a pawn. The explanation is very simple: there are not many open files for your 'extra' Rook to work on and therefore such a sacrif...
A Rook or Two Minor Pieces?
I cannot even tell you how many times I had to discuss the subject of ' A Rook vs. Two Minor Pieces' with my students. Usually it starts in a position like this: And I face the same problem again: how do I explain that the trade of a ...
A Chess Incubator
The Soviet Junior Championships traditionally took place in January, during the Winter school break. It was really an incubator of future champions since as far as I know, every single chess star from the former Soviet Union played there at ...
The Titan of the 20th Century, Part Three
In Part Two we already had a chance to see GM Svetozar "The Opening Expert" Gligoric at work. Today we'll discuss his King's Indian Defence legacy. There are not many chess players who introduced as many ideas to the theory of the Kin...
The Titan of the 20th Century, Part Two
[part 1] With his crystal clear, logical style of play, GM Gligoric has created many instructive games that allow you to understand the ideas of a particular opening pretty quickly. That's why the excellent book "I Play Against The Pieces" by Sv...
Fischer's Patent
The year is 1959 and a rising chess star beats one record after another one. The youngest GM in history, the youngest Candidate for the World Title... Still the main accomplishments of Bobby Fischer's career are in the future and for now he ...
The Greatly Misunderstood and Potentially Challenging Tactic "Counting"
When I coined the term "Counting", many thought I was simply referring to knowing the value of the pieces, but that's just a minor aspect. By Counting I meant determining whether any sequence of exchanges led to gain or loss of material on any squ...
The Titan of the 20th Century
With the death of the legendary Grandmaster Svetozar Gligorić (1923-2012), the Chess World has lost one of the biggest chess Giants of the last century. I never had an opportunity to meet or even see GM Gligorić but my generation of ches...
Students Demonstrate Subtle Analytical Mistake
Last week, one of my students showed me a position and asked what I would do. I thought it was fairly instructive (it turned out to be!), so I will ask you the same question. In the following position, assume you are playing a long time control ga...
Fire in the Mailbox
I receive a lot of messages from fellow chess.com members. Sometimes I am frightened when I open my mailbox since I know very well that I won't be able to reply to many of them. There are requests like "I am an attacking player, what opening shoul...
Past and Present
I am frequently asked (mostly by young chess players) if the best players from the past could successfully compete against today's chess elite. I always had an opinion that the human natural abilities are approximately the same today as they were ...
Positional Rxe6 Sacrifice - Part Two
Last week we discussed the basic ideas of the Rxe6 (or Rxe3 for Black) positional exchange sacrifice. Today let me present the hit parade of games where this effective and useful chess tool was utilized. 7th Place - GM Vlastimil Hort and his tot...