Once I had a conversation with a very strong chess player and he casually mentioned that he was going to delete all the old games from his database because they were practically useless. I don't remember exactly his definition of 'old games', but ...
In 1985, Anatoly Karpov was challenged by Garry Kasparov in their first championship match with a fixed number of games. Instead of an unlimited match, which was stopped when they played the year before, there would be only 24 games. In this match...
Last week I played in the Manhattan Open and as the tournament progressed I knew exactly what this week’s column would be about. The tournament endgames were of a very bizarre nature. Maybe the tournament location in a chandelier hall of the histo...
I think the term “responsibility” in chess was coined by the late GM Alex Wojtkiewicz. Well, this term might be understandable without an explanation and didn’t really need to be “coined”. Nevertheless, it was Alex who I heard use this term to des...
[part 1] Fischer attended Erasmus Hall High School at the same time as Barbara Streisand and Neil Diamond; Frank Brady talked to someone in the Grade Advisor's Office at Erasmus Hall while Bobby was a student there. This person said, "His I.Q. w...
When planning how to train, it is essential to know all the most efficient techniques. One can often hear the question: “Do you study chess on your own, or with a coach?” This leaves us under the impression that there are only two possible options...
by GM Magesh and GM Arun From: Mustafa Rashid In middlegames and openings I use the imbalance system to logically think through my moves which I find very helpful. I've studied a few books on the endgame but I still don't understand this phase ...
Many chessplayers think they know all the rules, but being a chess arbiter involves more knowledge than people think. Now you have a chance to see if you know enough to referee chess contests in an online test. It doesn't cover everything, for exa...
The World Chess community celebrated the 100th anniversary of Mikhail Moiseevich Botvinnik a couple of days ago (he was born on August 17, 1911). He was the founder of the famous Soviet School of Chess which explains his popula...
Akiba Rubinstein (1882-1961) was a Polish Jew born when Russia ruled most of Poland. He learned chess at the age of 16, which is now considered too late. Within five years, he gave up his studies to become a rabbi to play chess. It took him anothe...
The two endgames presented today are from my own practice. They happened in the recent Cleveland Open in the last two rounds. My friend made a joke saying that I steer the games into endgames in order to have material for my endgame column. He has...
Success or failure in competitive chess is to a large extent due to one’s ability to balance several polar opposites – bravery versus caution; responsibility versus apathy, and consistency versus flexibility. I will discuss these topics in my last...
Chess... by the numbers! Our favorite game is amazing.
Robert James (Bobby) Fischer was born at 2:39 pm on March 9, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois (Michael Reese hospital) by the banks of Lake Michigan, his mother Regina Wender Fischer Pustan (born in Switzerland of Jewish parents on March 31, 1913 and rai...
No one likes to resign, but we are all happy to accept the opponent’s capitulation. So, when is it the perfect time to wave the white flag? Of course, you have heard the cliché 'it’s never too late to resign' and 'no one has e...
This is a survey of the literature on the Morphy Gambit, an excellent weapon for White that begins 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nxe4 4.Nc3. It is also a nice sharp reply to the boring Petroff. I present the views from the following sources with many k...
In the final installment of our discussion about blunders I would like to talk about one of the most popular kinds of blunders. This kind of blunders is extremely popular in the games of not very advanced chess players, but from time to time even ...
After the Canadian Open Championship, there was a week pause, and then the Canadian chess circuit continued with the Quebec Open from July 23-30. In 1967, the Quebec chess federation was created in reason of the conflict between chess players fr...
The long competition between the world champions Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov reached game number 162 in round ten at Linares in 1993. Karpov as White opposed Kasparov’s King’s Indian Defense with the Saemisch Variation. In order to not face ...
I am happy to receive positive feedback from you on the first part of this two articles series on R+B vs. R endgames. It is good to know that many of you are interested in endgame theory as well as practical examples of play. The last week article...
The opening phase of the game can be particularly influenced by the psychology of the players. Whereas in the middlegame and endgame you are usually simply looking for a good move – or the best move – in the opening you have many choices. Since we...
Guillermo Garcia Gonzales was born in Santa Clara on December 9, 1953 and learned chess at the age of six. His triumphs were predicted one day when an unknown woman, overwhelmed by the heat, took water at the Garcia residence in Santa Clara and gr...
The stronger the player, the more important it is that they know the opening well. The number of lines also increases tremendously. While beginners may get away with knowing just the basics, elite players have to analyze and memorize huge amounts ...
Dear Mr. Prasad; My friend refers me to this website as he told me I can ask questions to a grandmaster and they will answer in their article (very nice idea!). I had achieved expert strength last year. Then I took a break to study chess (daily s...
