Opposite-colored bishops never cross each other’s paths. As they control squares of different colors, a chess game featuring them has its own specifics. By saying “a position with opposite-colored bishops”, we mean that there are no other light pi...
NN (sorry, I misplaced his name!) asked: You describe the 1931 Mitchel - Nimzowitsch game, illustrated at Diagram 138 on page 217 of the Third Edition, as one of your favorite positions. You mention that the “greedy” variation 10.Bxa7 is to be av...
In this second installment we learn that the Petroff is anything but boring when exciting players sit on both sides of the board! Lasker plays some mind fames to lure Marshall into a brawl where the f7-square plays a huge role.
In my opinion it is impossible to say for sure which game of Alexei Shirov is the best one he ever played. He is one of the most imaginative contemporary players and therefore he has dozens of true masterpieces. So it would be impossible for me to...
Karel Opocensky was born February 7, 1892 in Most, Bohemia and died November 16, 1975 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. My databases show his games from 1912 to 1972. In that long career, Opocensky won the championship of Czechoslovakia four times in 192...
This is the first of a series of articles from my new eBook, available for Nook and other eBook readers from Barnes & Noble. The 15 official World Champions show how to follow the opening guidelines and then launch a quick attack to destroy th...
If you would like to spice up you repertoire against1.d4, consider the Janowski Indian, a rare but reliable fighting variation of the Old Indian. It is easy to learn as there are only a limited number of plans for White after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc...
Last week I assigned a set of positions to test your endgame understanding, to provide new ideas as well as to repeat the covered material. Every learned topic has to be tested, to provide feedback on where we stand. Endgame positions in this set ...
This is a really interesting game. It was the fourth game of the World Chess Championship that took place earlier this year. Up until this point, the scores were even and the tension was at its highest. Anand needed a win, and he got it in style. ...
This week we shall see the French Defence Rubinstein Variation. The speciality of this variation is that it can be used both against the Tarrasch Variation as well as the Winawer Variation. Black immediately reduces the tention in the centre and m...
Oldrich Duras, born October 30, 1882 in Bohemia is one of the most famous Czech Grandmasters and a renowned master of the early 20th century. He was also an outstanding composer. Duras became Czech Champion three times, in 1905, 1909 and 1911; an...
Originally my column has been titled “Preparing for international competition,” so today I decided to be more to-the-point and cover one of the most important topics in this field – planning one’s tournament schedule. Choosing where and when to p...
Ed Asked: I enjoy chess and would like to progress. I am a smart fellow and play intuitive chess. It serves me well. However, when I run into someone with training, it is apparent. What should I do? Dear Ed: What is “intuitive chess?” There’s ...
Preparing last week's column I replayed the "Immortal Game" one more time and couldn't help but think: yes, the Anderssen - Kieseritzky game is wonderful, but is it really the most beautiful game ever played? Of course it is impossible to answer a...
The Nimzo-Indian is considered a solid positional defense. However, the soundness of an opening is often tested by tactical problems. The line presented includes the offer of a piece by White. This has been played in only a few games. Black has b...
I know how everyone is excited about opposite colored bishops’ endgames. These endgames do not feature lengthy calculations like pawn endgames do. They are not as complex and unpredictable as queen endgames are. Usually, the opposite colored bisho...
Capablanca: A Primer of Checkmate By Friso Del Rosario (chess.com’s friscodelrosario) Mongoose Press 2010 ISBN 978-1-9362377-02-5 176 pages $19.95 Capablanca is usually thought of as an endgame specialist and great strategic thinker, and his ...
This simply-titled series takes you from the very fundamental notion of "development" in the opening through to a master-level understanding of this concept-- and some complicated examples in the later videos. Regardless of your level, this course...
This week we shall study the Bogo Indian Defence. Recently, the Catalan has become one of the most played systems and the specialty of this system is that White keeps playing for a win without any risk. For many players to play against the Catalan...
Grigory Levenfish was born on the 9th of March 1889 in Poland which was then part of the Russian Empire. He was the second Soviet chess player, after Botvinnik, who was awarded the title of grandmaster of the USSR in 1937. He played chess since th...
Right on the heels of the Chess Olympiad came another strong team tournament. The European Club Cup has a long history. The first event of this type was held in 1956. Women’s teams have been participating since 1996. This year the tournament took ...
Even before my 3 part series on How to Study Master Games, I had gotten various letters asking about the ultimate value of non-master games. Also, many people have asked me how to improve their attacking skills. I addressed the “do non-master game...
Luke McShane (pictured younger) was born January 7, 1984. He won the World Under-10 Championship while only eight years old. At sixteen he became the youngest ever British grandmaster. His record stood until David Howell broke it in 2007. He won ...
This is one of the most beautiful patterns. It happens when one of the players uses his Queen to capture one Rook with check and then immediately wins another Rook. Usually it goes like Qb7xRa8 check and then QxRh8 for White or Qb2xRa1 ...
