At the end of today's show, one of my steady viewers asked if I should create a FAQ file at Chess.com so, if I kept getting the same questions, I could just refer the questioner to the file. My reply was "No, but I do get a lot of 'I am 1400. What...
A blunder at the end of the game... is it an accident or something one can predict? Wang Hao had to defend against Gelfand for a large chunk of the game and at last equalized only to lose a move later. We will not try to do neuroscience here and e...
Last week we learned about miniatures – short games where one player heads home early. It is much more common for the player having white to win a miniature; and we normally imagine that miniatures are sharp, attacking games with a lot of ta...
White had been trying to keep the position closed since he feared activating black’s two Bishops if he opened things up. The first and foremost question in any position should be, “Where is my play coming from? Which side of the boar...
Round 5 was the last one before the first rest day. We were paired with the co-leader, France (8 match points). I had a free day. When everyone left the hotel, the Internet finally started working fine. I managed to watch a movie online and then w...
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 ...
Today we continue with the topic of initiative in endgames. Today's game once again shows the transition moment when one sides loses the initiative, and the other side seizes it. Placing the rook on a passive position cost McShane his advantage, a...
There are some times when the game is started and a long battle anticipated, but for whatever reason that doesn’t happen. I’m not talking about quick draws, but rather when one player’s position is quickly destroyed – the so-called “miniature”. A ...
IMPORTANT: [At the end of the puzzles, you should click MOVE LIST so you can see my instructive notes and variations. If you are having trouble solving a problem, just click SOLUTION, and then MOVE LIST. Even if you solve everything, DO click MOVE...
The World Chess Olympiad is one of the most exciting and classical tournaments. Its importance is overshadowed only by the individual World Chess Championship. It is both a fantastic festival and a place where serious confrontations take place, wh...
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...
In this Player Profile we get to know an exciting "under-the-radar" - player from London a little better. He is a polite and knowledgable man, and last year he was on a team of chess players who won a tv-quiz show in England. CM James Coleman...
"Never bring a queen out too soon" But what is too soon? What is too anything, for that matter? How does it help someone to tell them not to bring out their queen too soon? If it is bad, it's too soon, and if it's good it's not too soon! Let's ...
This article starts the series that will cover the topic of initiative in endgames. There are many definitions of what initiative is. In my own terms a player who has initiative usually dictates the play. He can create direct threats and puts the ...
The ninth world champion, Mikhail Tal wrote in his autobiography, The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal: “After an event, certain players like to indulge in an unusual form of statistics; they count up the points that stand alongside their names...
No time to study opening theory? Shock your opponent with an SOS! With an SOS you deviate early (usually before move 6!) from regular lines in mainstream openings. So you will reach positions you have actually studied without having memorized tons...
Black (newble) shared this game and asked, “Please tell me what I did wrong.” Well, Mr. newble, it won’t be pretty, but if you insist, I’ll obey! Keep in mind that it’s not just what you did wrong, it’s what y...
There is nothing more frustrating than resigning in a winning position, but in today's game the player can be forgiven because the winning line is truly manaical. However, it serves to remind us that you must consider all captures in every complic...
USCL 2012 Preview - East If you are interested in the rubric based on which I'm evaluating these teams; or in my predictions for the Western Division, they can be found here. If you don't know what the US Chess League is, it is an exciting, profe...
USCL 2012 Preview - East If you are interested in the rubric based on which I'm evaluating these teams; or in my predictions for the Western Division, they can be found here. If you don't know what the US Chess League is, it is an exciting, prof...
[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...
With the last two articles we explored the importance of the long diagonal in queen and bishop (Q+B) endgames. Today we will look at endgames where the attack takes place on the shorter adjacent diagonals, while playing white these would be a2-g8 ...
The German word “Zugzwang” means “move compulsion”. “Der Zug” is a chess move – it also means “train” – and “der Zwang” means “compulsion”. There is no equivalent English word for this concept, so chess players use the German word; and this word i...
IMPORTANT: [At the end of the puzzles, you should click MOVE LIST so you can see my instructive notes and variations. If you are having trouble solving a problem, just click SOLUTION, and then MOVE LIST. Even if you solve everything, DO click MOVE...
