With the "King and Pawn Ending" video series I set out to achieve one simple goal: Provide the most fundamental examples necessary in order for someone to go from a basic/beginner's knowledge, to a master level understanding of the most critical K...
This video series is specifically designed to target and improve an area that could always use "fine-tuning" at any chess player's level: technique. The ability to consistently convert upon your advantages (a.k.a. "win when you are winning") is ar...
Peter Romanovsky was born on the 29th of July 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the Soviet Champion in 1923 in Petrograd and in 1927 tied with Fedor Bogatyrchuk in Moscow. Years later these successes would cost Romanovsky the GM title! That ...
2nd Annual Brooklyn Chess Championship The Brooklyn Lyceum 227 4th Avenue Brooklyn, N.Y. 11215 $6000 Prize Fund ...
2nd Annual Brooklyn Scholastic Chess Championship The Brooklyn Lyceum 227 4th Avenue Brooklyn, N.Y. 11215 Trophies to top 10 in each Section Plaques to the top...
Initiative in chess means activity that allows enforcing a certain style and tempo on the game, and making your opponent play reactively. This is a very dangerous weapon in the hands of chess masters who enjoy active play and know how to attack. I...
jlueke asked: I suffer mostly from missed tactics, more often my opponents' than my own. I do study tactics 30 to 60 minutes a day, slowly, and I can solve the easier ones but slowly. What I want to ask about is a related issue I have at the boar...
GM Macieja is one of those strong chess players who is not well known outside of the professional chess players' circle (even though he was European Champion in 2002!) Meanwhile, he has an achievement that would be very interesting for the general...
This comprehensive series instructs on perhaps the most practical and commonly reached type of endgames (Rook Endings). It is designed to take a chess player with the most limited knowledge of basic rook ending ideas -- to a master level understan...
Giovanni Portilho Vescovi was born June 14, 1978 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He became an IM in 1993 and a GM in 1998. In 1998, he won a gold medal in the World Junior Team Championship (U-20) playing first board for Brazil. In 2001, he won the Sout...
The WWCC started at the beginning of December in Antakya, Turkey. The sacred chess number of players-- 64-- were to take part in the event, but two of them did not appear, and lost by forfeit. The first round saw the first surprises. Some of th...
Tatiana Kosintseva, being one of the top seeds of the Women’s World Championship, was eliminated in the second round by Yelena Dembo being more than one hundred points lower rated. The endgame that we will look at happened in the first game of the...
by GM Magesh and GM Arun The London Chess Classic tournament has ended with Carlsen retaining his crown for the second year. Though he needed some luck to have that miraculous save against Kramnik from a totally lost position in the penultimat...
Frederick Yates, born on the 16th of January 1884 in England, was a respected Yorkshire neighbor. He started a career in accounting, but similar to others colleagues, abandoned it and became a professional chess player. Also he was a journalist. ...
Let me speak from my heart…in English! By “start of a tournament” we usually mean the first 2 or 3 rounds. They define the tactics for the whole event. However, unlike the finish, the first few rounds are less important. In a perfect world the be...
Eric asked: You once mentioned that when you were in Budapest, you asked to see Fischer. If you got that opportunity, what would you have said to him? Dear Eric: I’ve found in my life that, when it comes to big meetings, it’s very important to ...
Russian GM Evgeny Bareev is widely known as a strong technical player. Probably for that reason Vladimir Kramnik invited him to be his second during the World Championship match vs. Garry Kasparov. Indeed, Kasparov was never able to break the Be...
The tournament at St. Petersburg in 1914 took place in two stages. The results of the first part, the preliminary, was reported at http://www.chess.com/article/view/tarrasch-sacs-two-bishops-and-nimzowitsch . The five players (with their scores) w...
Once again, we see an endgame that is more equal than winning, or heavily advantageous for one side or the other. I am interested in the endgames that have this almost-balance but where one side has a slight advantage. You start to feel the pressu...
Semyon Alapin, Chigorin's rival, was born on the 19th of November 1856 in Vilnius, Lithuania, later moving to St Petersburg. He was one of the strongest players in Russia in the late 19th century. He played chess throughout many years although wi...
Every year the best Russian chess players get to compete at the Russian Superfinal. A round robin featuring 12 world-class grandmasters is always an exciting event. To qualify for it, you either have to be in the Russian top-3 by rating, get a med...
Jahnknight asked: Could you tell me your honest evaluation of the Colle system as a whole. Is it effective at the sub 2000 level? Dear Jahnknight: First, let’s clarify the difference between the Colle and the Colle - Zukertort: Colle - Zukert...
Robert Byrne was born April 20, 1928 in New York City. He won the United States Championship in 1972, won seven medals representing the US nine times in the Olympiads from 1952-1976, played in three Interzonals placing as high as third (1973), and...
Last week we analyzed the game Nunn-Nataf (the best game of GM Nataf). I think it is only fair to talk about the best game of GM John Nunn. These days GM John Nunn is mostly known as an author of very high quality chess books, chess compositions ...
