by GM Magesh and GM Arun The last few weeks we have studied some conventional openings such as the Lasker Defense, Caro-Kann and the Petroff, now it is time again to switch gears and study some Kamikaze attack. The Albin Counter-Gambit, as su...
Paul Petrovich Keres was born on January 7, 1916, in Narva, Estonia. Keres first learned about chess from his father and older brother Harald. In 1935, Keres became the chess champion of Estonia, defeating Gunnar Friedemann for the title. Keres b...
This is the second part of my three-part series about my travels while playing chess. In Part 1 I described my decision to move to Prague, my troubles last fall which led to me feeling like quitting chess, and my first tournament, the Prague Open,...
member UNiMEDia asked: I’m writing about 1.d4 Nc6. I work with a man who is presently obsessed – and I do mean obsessed, in that I have to listen to him rant and rave about the plusses of this opening every time I see him. We are of more or less ...
One of the best movies ever produced in my opinion is "Scent of a Woman". If you've seen the movie, then I don't need to explain why. In the very unlikely situation that you never watched the movie, stop right here and run, don't walk, to rent thi...
Robert James Fischer (1943-2008) won the world championship in 1972 from Boris Spassky and stopped competing, except for a match with Spassky twenty years later. He became a legend and is considered by some to be the greatest chess player ever. O...
This week we will do something different. Currently, I am playing in the US Women’s Championship in St. Louis. It is hosted along with the US Men’s Championship in the already well-known St. Louis Chess Club and Scholastic Center. This year the wo...
by GM Magesh and GM Arun While some very young and vibrant chess talents are battling it out in the Dubai open, the Bundesliga league as always has some of the strongest pulling their brains out to take their teams home successfully. Chess playe...
David lonovich Bronstein was born February 19,1924 in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine, to a Jewish mother and father. Growing up, he learned chess at age six from his grandfather. As a youth in Kiev, he was trained by the renowned International Master Alexa...
In this three part series, IM Bryan Smith describes his trip to Europe in search of a better life as a chess player. Hi, my name is Bryan Smith. I am an international master who grew up in Alaska. I have been writing for Chess.com&rsquo...
Many players aggressively asked (in effect): Can a non-titled, low rated player who desperately wants attention from players in his own category also become well known in elite chess circles? Dear “I want to be a chess star” hopefuls [This sound...
This is a remarkable game by Nicolas Rossolimo (who the Rossolimo Variation is named after). He sacrifices his queen with a brilliant 18th move, and attacks his opponent's kingside for the rest of the game. Thanks to his two hard-working bishops, ...
Last month the world chess community celebrated the 80th Birthday of the legendary Grandmaster Victor Lvovich Korchnoi. There are hundreds of books and thousands of articles devoted to this extraordinary person, so it is very difficult to write an...
The tournament at Linares in 2002 was called a Super GM event. There were seven players in a double round robin playing twelve games. The results were: Kasparov 8, Ponomariov 6.5, Ivanchuk 6, Anand 6, Adams 6, Vallejo Pons 5, and Shirov 4.5.Kaspar...
(Continued from) Round 8: Postny drew against the top seed Areschenko with the black pieces and raised his tally to seven points. GM Ni Hua, IM Nabaty and GM Greenfeld joined the lead with victories over GM Zharebuk, IM Thejkumar and GM Kuzubov ...
We return to the position studied last week. Let us review our findings from the previous game. Black is better because of an extra pawn but it is not enough for an easy win. Black should be careful of not coming under attack on the kingside, espe...
by GM Magesh and GM Arun This week we shall study an idea against the King's Indian Defence often played by Super Grandmaster Alexander Moiseenko. The King's Indian Defence in recent times has started doing well and many strong players have ad...
Early Years Tigran Petrosian was born to Armenian parents on the 17th of June, 1929 in Tiflis, Georgia, which was then a member of the Soviet Union. As a young boy, Petrosian was an excellent student and enjoyed studying, as did his brother Hmaya...
The 12th European Chess Championship was held in France and finished on April, 2nd. I couldn’t restrain myself from commentating on this great event. As my column is dedicated to preparing for international tournaments and playing in them, I will...
member polydiatonic asked: I’ve been reading a book by GM Soltis called: WHY LASKER MATTERS. In it, Soltis makes the following interesting point: “What is truly typical of Lasker is that he relied on tactics, not combinations. Ther...
The biggest part of Botvinnik's chess legacy is his contribution to opening theory. I don't think there is another chess player who could compete with Botvinnik in this department. The Patriarch managed to completely change whole openings! The be...
Geza Maroczy (March 3, 1870-May 29, 1951) was a Hungarian grandmaster who was one of the world’s top players in the early twentieth century. His opponent in the game shown is Georg Marco (November 29, 1863-August 29, 1923), who was a Romanian w...
In 1972 Bobby Fischer won his first ever game against Boris Spassky in game 3 of their World Championship match using a very interesting idea in the Modern Benoni: The great Yugoslav Grandmaster Svetozar Gligoric wrote one of the first and best ...
After the Parsvnath International tournament the chesswagon moved to the south Indian city of Chennai. The two cities, separated by 2000 Kilometres, have quite different climatic conditions. Most of the players would have preferred the warmer cond...
