Tschigorin had written in 1880: "In the chess world there are not a lot of names with such a wide and well-deserved reputation as the that of our compatriot Carl A. Jaenisch." Carl von Jaenisch (1813-1872) Jaenish, a railroad engi...
Since the beginning of time everyone had an opinion, whether or not they had a clue about the subject being discussed. However, in the past opinions usually stayed in one’s own mind or went no further than your friends or acquaintances. Now that’s...
Last week we analyzed the games where great world champions (Fischer, Petrosian, Smyslov) happily parted with their fianchettoed bishops to isolate and double their opponent's pawns, turning them into long-term weaknesses. Another famous world cha...
Here is a composition by chekhover from 1947. It seems the Black Rook will just enter White’s position and start capturing pawns. Yet White has a fortress like resource that Black could actually lose if he gets to clever and outwi...
I received several questions asking how I would handle weird openings like 1.d4 d5 2.Be3?! and 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qd6?. The number of permutations of possible weird openings, even on the first two moves, is enormous, so no one can be "prepared" for al...
We continue with the topic of blunders in modern play and today's article features games from the World Junior Chess Championship 2013, which was held in Turkey and has just finished. (GM Yu Yangyi won!) The three examples featured today are about...
The final installment, taken from my forthcoming book for Ishi Press.
“Occasionally,” Professor Pando began, “I lighten up and pose easy problems anyone can solve, even a novice. Cast your eyes on the following position.” ---- ---- White to move ---- Question: How can White checkmate Black in six moves?” ---...
This article is drawn from my forthcoming book French Winawer Poisoned Pawn (Ishi Press).
This cartice is drawn from my forthcoming book French Winawer Poisoned Pawn (Ishi Press).
This material is taken from my new edition of French Winawer Poisoned Pawn, forthcoming from Ishi Press. Comments and criticism are welcome.
For those of you who are expecting the seventh part of "Endgames of Tromsø", unfortunately there wasn't much material from the finals of the World Cup which would fit into the topic of my column. By this I mean that there was no interesting endgam...
Every chessplayer who likes to fianchetto his king's bishop in the opening quickly learns the value of this bishop. It is the main (and in some cases the only) defender of his king. As my first coach used to say, pointing at my Bg7 in the Dragon v...
The “Plan” Fails In Part Two of our Alekhine series, I described Alekhine’s plan to force a match with Capablanca: “Play against the world’s best and win every tournament, thus showing that he was the true challenger to the title. And, at first h...
Today's article features four endgames from the 14th Karpov Tournament in Poikovsky, which was recently won by the Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljanov. His spectacular wins are outlined by FM Mike Klein in a recent post, so here I will concentrate on endga...
“I’m going to take you far away in time and place,” Professor Pando began. “There and then, chess is called Checker Chess, and the following bizarre position is legal.” ---- White to move ---- “Do not ask how the following position aro...
The sixth round of the World Cup was crucial for the remaining players, since it determined who would compete in the final match for the World Cup. Both the winner and the runner up would qualify for the candidates matches — thus, getting through ...
Before I start talking about my mistakes and errors, watch the following video and pay attention not only to my moves but also to my thoughts. By the way, I should mention that I am NOT replacing Danny Rensch. Chess.com held a contest a few months...
"After Anderssen's departure, Paul Morphy declared he would play no more even matches, and, certainly, his resolve was justified by the unheard of manner in which he had walked over all opponents." -Frederick Edge &n...
I constantly see amateurs raving about how tactics is 99% of chess. However, if that was actually the case then chess wouldn’t be the amazing game that it is. A true fan of the game sees beauty in opening theory, in subtle positional play, in barn...
Friday the 13th wasn't too unlucky for the show - we had lots of varied and interesting questions. Today's show was moved back an hour to allow for the finish of the telecast of the 4th round of the Sinquefield Cup. One question involved the Worl...
On a site like this with active forums, one question comes up more than any other. Who is the greatest chess player of all time? There are many factors that influence people's opinions, including longevity and dominance, but one I like to use is c...
Several weeks ago I played in an excellent tournament organized by Dr. Walter High in North Carolina. The US Masters tournament attracted an extremely strong field with many GMs including Mamedov, Ramirez, Shabalov, & Jankovic - just to name f...
ChessKids did you know that September 15 is the official Opposite Day? Well we're celebrating this weekend with ProfessorPando's puzzler! Check it out: ---- “Checkmate is fun, but it’s even more fun if you make the opponent mate himself. Examine t...
