The following game was played just a few hours ago. It's a wonderful miniature which Bacrot won because either Morozevic didn't want a draw or simply missed how to get it (I think he was probably still trying to win by inertia, after what seemed l...
After the first six rounds we had a rest day. The Top League is a rather tense tournament, so playing 11 rounds non-stop would have been way too much. How does one spend the rest day? It depends. Some do sports, others go sightseeing, and some jus...
In the first part of this article we discussed how dangerous a Knight can be if it is placed on the 'magic' f5 square (f4 for Black). As you could see in the games we analyzed there, the main danger coming from such a Knight is the coming sa...
Leonid Stein was one of the great Soviet chess grandmasters of the 1960s. The Ukranian won three USSSR Championships, and came up short in several attempts at becoming world champion. Several times, Stein qualified for the Candidates' Tournament (...
Recently GM Ivan Sokolov conquered the American chess scene by winning the largest open in the US - the World Open, technically, tying for 1st place with American GM Shabalov but winning on tie-break. Sokolov showed no mercy playing two young and ...
It sometimes happens that a player faces a critical choice early in the game. One way leads to a quiet backwater, or even directly onto the shore of the draw; while the other way leads to the rapids. Will he founder on the sharp rocks, or survive ...
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...
Early summer was a very busy period for me in terms of tournament play. I took a short break after the World Women’s Blitz & Rapid Chess Championships and then headed to the Russian Top League in Tyumen, followed by a trip to St. Petersburg fo...
In our life we are surrounded by thousands of opposites. Day and Night, Up and Down, Good and Evil. Almost every day we need to make a choice: Left or Right, Paper or Plastic, Ginger or Mary Ann (OK, I am just kidding about the last one. It is Mar...
If I were asked to summarize hypermodern defense in a single sentence, it would be “Black sacrifices space for speed, planning to use his superior development to counter-attack the center White erects in response.” At least this seems a reasonable...
Name: Dejan Bojkov Title: GM Date of birth: 03 July 1977 Fide rating: 2556 ...
Today we will wrap up our series on endgames from the US Championship. Here is a selection of examples where your task is to find the best plan. The topics vary but include converting an advantage, defense, creating and attacking a second weakness...
Once when I was at a tournament in Chicago, I was sitting in a restaurant in the hotel, analyzing chess with somebody. A waiter came over and said “Uh, excuse me fellas, but there is no gaming allowed in the restaurant area.” I guess he figured th...
Today, possibly 90% of chess is played on the internet and possibly 90% of the chess games on the internet are played at fast time controls. Classical chess is still the Gold Standard, but fast games...
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 MO...
Earlier this year, I decided to take part in one of the strongest chess competitions in my country, the 34th International Open Bulgarian Chess Championship “Georgi Tringov Memorial.” This was a tough tournament which happened to ...
This is a rather intriguing game. First of all, both players appear to miss a three-fold repetition in the middlegame (or they both choose to ignore it). The ending is quite crazy. Both players rush to queen their pawns, and at one point, there ar...
[previous article] Today's article is dedicated to the endgame Ramirez - Robson from the US Championship. This is the battle between two players who won the prestigious Samford Fellowship - Robson at the age of 14 in 2009 and Ramirez this year. T...
Have you ever seen one of those situations – let’s say on National Geographic or some other nature show – where a group of hyenas are trying to steal a lion’s fresh kill? One hyena jumps in and the lion bats him away, but meanwhile another one is ...
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...
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 MO...
I have a student with whom I work mainly on openings. He is a decent player, has all the IM norms, and understands the game well from a positional and tactical point of view. He knows a lot, and has read a lot of books. And still, while analyzing,...
Today we'll talk about a relatively common chess idea known as a "Rook Lift". When you do a Rook Lift, a Rook usually moves from the initial position to the third rank (or sixth rank for Black) and then jumps to the opposite side of the board almo...
When I first started playing chess, my favorite strategy was to wait until my opponent castles, and then castle on the opposite side and start a pawn storm! It was exactly what I liked about chess. This way of playing would promise a very ex...
