Grandmaster Melikset Khachiyan is a genuinely great conversation partner and a tough chess player, something former world champion Boris Spassky got to experience over a bottle of whisky in Teherean in 1992. Born in Aserbadsjan, Khachiyan left for...
Today we start a new series: 'Convert an Advantage According to Kramnik'. Vladimir Kramnik is not only one of the best players in the world, but also one of the best technical players. Converting an advantage, either positional or material, is not...
It is my goal to give back to the chess world every single bit of knowledge I have acquired about the game, without exception. Chess has been a major part of my life and it's time for me to share. How can you be a part of this? Please read on for ...
Today we continue our series on positional exchange sacrifices. Last week we saw some examples of exchange sacrifices to create a general situation which benefits the minor pieces. This week we will be focusing on examples of exchange sacrifices w...
Everyone has heard about chess lessons, but the dynamics of a lesson depends on a myriad of different factors: Is the teacher an “all moves” kind of guy, philosophical, an openings’ maniac, etc? And is the student open to change, stuck in his ways...
Today we will analyze one of the most remarkable games of Rashid Nezhmetdinov where the deadly attack against the black king appeared almost from nowhere! Also at the end, as an added bonus, you'll learn a typical tactical pattern. (The game is g...
A few years ago at the US Amateur Team Championship East (USATE) I saw a gentleman who was age 93 playing for one of the teams. Apparently the story was that at age 90 he was advised to take up something mentally pro-active, the idea that those wh...
In the last three articles I told you about my games at the US Women's Championship. Today we will wrap-up the topic by looking at some of the interesting moments from the US Championship. With 24 players and 9 rounds, there were a lot of fighting...
I am going to begin a series on the positional exchange sacrifice, consisting of several articles. There are of course many different possible justifications for an exchange sacrifice, and I cannot cover all of them. But we will be focusing on a f...
This week we are wrapping up the overview of my play from the U.S. Women's Championship. The last two articles featured the first six games and today we will look at the key moments from the last three games. With this article I would like to con...
Last December the chess community celebrated the 100th birthday of Rashid Nezhmetdinov, one of the most creative attacking players in the history of chess. He is one of my most favorite players and the game we'll analyze today shows why he w...
I have written about this in my blogs with all the details and everyone is raving about it. And chess.com has it! Essentially, 35 chess clubs in five different time zones across the world have been created where you may easily sign up for a long ...
According to a fairly trustworthy source: "Isidor Arthur Gunsberg (November 2, 1854 – May 2, 1930) was a chess player, best known for narrowly losing the 1891 World Chess Championship match to Wilhelm Steinitz." "In the late 1880s and early 1890...
This week's review of The March of Chess Ideas by IM Anthony Saidy might be my last "My Bookshelf" article. I say "might" because you never know, I could change my mind. First of all, although I have heard that some people like the book reviews, I...
In the last article we analyzed King-and-Pawn endgames, and today we'll talk about Kings and Queens. I don't mean King and Queen endgames. Instead, we'll see how chess Kings play with their Queens. Well, it sounds even more confusing... OK, in thi...
Right after the show tonight my wife and I ran out for the 3-D showing of Star Trek: Into Darkness. It was a good movie - we've come a long way in portraying science fiction on the big screen. Ironically I started watching Star Trek about the same...
In my previous article we looked at the first three games from the U.S. Women's Championship. This article will cover the next three rounds I played. In the round-robin format all the participants play each other, so it seems the order doesn't r...
Knowing all the different tactical devices in chess is both easy and extremely important since they turn up all the time. This means that you will be able to use them when the opportunity presents itself, and avoid falling for them when a suicidal...
If you have any knowledge of chess history, you have probably heard of the theoretical dispute - and antagonism - between Siegbert Tarrasch and Aron Nimzowitsch, the leaders of the classical and hypermodern schools (respectively). It appears that ...
In my last article I discussed “fetish chess moves.” I consider a move to be a fetish if it’s out of the ordinary, has serious positional clout, and gives the person who played it such deep pleasure that his reaction can almost be called orgasmic....
My next few articles will be about the US Championship that took place from May 2-13th in St. Louis. I was a participant in the women's event, where ten players competed for a purse of $65,000 and the title of US Woman Champion. This event is gran...
Everyone eventually learns that it’s important to find or create open files for your Rooks, or they might not be able to join in the battle (actually the “find” part is easy, but the “create” part demands a good deal ...
I hope the previous five parts of this article managed to convince you that the King and Pawn endgames are very complicated. Therefore, a decision to go for such an endgame is a major commitment and shouldn't be taken lightly. In the fi...
Last week I showed a couple of examples of a king hunt. This week we will see another example of a deposed king being chased across the board. First it somewhat willingly steps into the center, with the leader of the white pieces hoping that his o...
