I haven't posted a Reshevsky game in quite a while, so here goes... This game of his is notable because he manages to get one of his knights to the sixth rank. It then stays there for the rest of the game, and completely disrupts Treysman's plans...
When referring to general chess principles, approaches and structures in my articles I always add a disclaimer warning that a lot depends on the particular situation. A certain method might work in 9 cases out of 9, only to fail in the 10th. A gen...
Good tactical skills are all about pattern recognition. If, for example, you have solved a dozen 'back rank checkmate' problems, then I can guarantee that next time you play a tournament game and your opponent doesn't create a luft for his King by...
(Four versus Three on the Same Flank: Part 1-Attack) As the rooks are the most clumsy chess pieces and as they tend to get in the game very late, one of the most common endgames that arises on the board is the rook endgame. Therefore, st...
When you see games published involving king hunts, there tends to be only one result: at the end there is a spectacular checkmate. But what about those games where the king gets away? Does that ever happen? Of course it does, and this often prov...
NachtWulf (1587) – Tnhayseed (1616), [C02] Chess.com 2012 (TC: 1 in 3 days) 1.e4 e6 Nachtwulf said: “French. I play it as black, but rarely get the chance to practice against it as white.” 2.d4 Obviously best, but those ...
In Part I and Part II we were discussing the first four rounds of the Russian Team Chess Championship ’12. A few important clashes have happened already, but the most critical rounds are usually the final ones. The teams were competing not only fo...
Let me start with a disclaimer: I cannot read other people's minds. It would be extremely helpful in many different activities but especially so when you play chess. The good news is, sometimes you don't even need to guess your opponent's th...
"The uniqueness of the forthcoming match, as I see it, is in the fact that for the first time in the modern World Chess Championships history the match between the legitima...
Today's article is a set of positions that illustrate the technique of converting material and positional advantages. The protagonist of all the examples is GM Kramnik, who is particularly prominent in the field of converting advantages. We will u...
Here is a very unique game. The final position features five queens on the board, which is most likely a record. The opening features Mackic attacking his opponent, Maksimenko's kingside relentlessly, but to no avail. Maksimenko fights off the att...
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...
In the real, physical world, a “nail” is a small but sharp thing. In the chess world, a “nail” is not a common term, but it has been used to describe a pawn that is lodged deep in the opponent’s camp, near their king. It is blocked and immobile, b...
Jared Collins (1528) - John Laning (1478), B12, Foolish Moves Mobile AL, 2009 45 minutes on the clock for each player 1.e4 c6 2.d4 Jared Collins said: “I tend to be aggressive, and when offered the entire center I will usually ta...
Part I was published last week. The third round became the duel of heavyweights. SHSM-64 vs Tomsk-400, St. Petersburg vs Ugra. Saratov was facing a solid team Nagivator (Moscow) with Sutovsky and Sasikiran on the top boards. Given the short dista...
Recently it has become fashionable to criticize FIDE. Indeed, some of the FIDE inventions could be featured in the "you cannot make this up" column. But they definitely managed to achieve one goal: chess is 'rediscovered' by the media. Wheth...
Today we will look at endgames where one side had a queen for either a minor piece, a rook or both. Having an extra queen does not automatically guarantee an easy win. As you will see today there are many possible ways of losing or drawing while h...
Francois-Andre Danican Philidor, born in 1726, was one of the first chess theoreticians. In an era when chess was seen by almost everybody – even its most dedicated enthusiasts – as a mere game, Philidor had to have a certain “we...
Mahto_Man said: “This game was from a local tournament between schools in the district, which is pretty low rated to begin with. Being on board 3, most of the games are won or lost from simple tactical blunders, so most aren’t good to ...
The traditional Russian Team Chess Championship (both men’s and women’s divisions) was held from April 8th to 16th in the Loo district of the resort city Sochi on the coast of the Black sea. From 2005 to 2011 I have been playing in the women’s tou...
Chess players are very superstitious people! Almost every strong player I know has his own superstition. By far the most common one is a "lucky" pen or pencil. Even Mikhael Tal (who had the nickname "the Magician") half jokingly blamed the loss of...
I wanted to dedicate this article to winning endgames while being several pawns up but it happened that most of the endgame positions that I looked at resulted in transpositions to the endgames we looked at last week when one side is down a piece....
Emanuel Lasker, who was famous for his psychological insight and philosophical approach to chess, made a keen observation: “He who has a slight disadvantage plays more attentively, inventively, and boldly than his antagonist, who either takes it ...
Mr. Schell said: "Last weekend I played in the 40th Annual Queen of Hearts tournament in Montgomery, Alabama. I found the atmosphere overwhelmingly friendly and competitive. In the interests of full disclosure, I withdrew after the third round bec...
