When hearing about a chess novelty our minds automatically translate it to an opening novelty. But there are endgame novelties as well! I was genuinely surprised to read an article about Ivanchuk’s endgame novelty: it was a whole new, fresh plan i...
Just as we had promised, you get to see the predator become the prey today. Last week there were some discussions about how the 500 elo point difference had made the game very one-sided. It is very true and we will see once again today how a stron...
The late great chess player Reuben Fine wrote: “Drawn games are usually looked down upon by the chess public. The common attitude is that if anything is worthwhile it must have resulted in a clear-cut decision. This point of view compels editors t...
Starting from today, I will dedicate my next three columns to studying the opening, middlegame and endgame and provide you with tips on how to work on all the three stages. Let’s start with the opening. The opening defines the course of the game. ...
BCG1 asked: Now that you admit that you make things up I am very upset. I religiously followed your training advice by pounding down the 22,000 calories daily, as you recommended, and now weigh 800 lbs! I tried the “professor of exobiology” on so...
This is a truly remarkable game. It starts off normally until Nezhmetdinov sacrifices his queen on the 12th(!) move for just two pieces. He then proceeds to build up an attack that his opponent is helpless to prevent. Eventually, Nezhmetdinov cras...
In my last article, I noted the passing of Zdenko Krnic and presented one of his games. His last completed issue of Chess Informant was #107. There he presented an article on the Gruenfeld Defense featuring the Exchange Variation. The variation wa...
The summer of 1967 is known as the Summer of Love (The Beatles, hippies, Woodstock, etc). I think the summer of 2010 will be remembered as the Summer of Spain. First Spain wins the soccer World Cup, then Nadal wins Wimbledon and the Spanish celebr...
Jackson W. Showalter, Herman Steiner, and Diane Savereide are all being inducted to the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame this afternoon in Irvine, CA (USA). I am still working on the manuscript for the Showater book and hope to have it completed by Spring...
[Ed note: this is the last of GM Bojkov's excellent three articles about the Grand Prix tournament in Jermuk. I apologize for publishing it so late, but we had a surfeit of articles to publish. It still remains an excellent, educational and enter...
When the most famous chess coach of all time Mark Dvoretsky writes a book about endgames his first chapter is usually dedicated to the endgame tragicomedies. The tragicomedies happen when one or both sides do not know some theoretical and usually ...
This week we shall study the thematic break d4-d5 in the Queen's Gambit Accepted System. This break is very important in all Isolated pawn structures. The point is that after the d4-d5 break the position gets opened and the activity of the pieces ...
Domenico Ercole del Rio (c. 1718 - c. 1802) was born in Guiglia, Italy, and wasa lawyer and author. He published a legendary chess book in 1750 under thepseudonym "Anonymous Modenese” which was the basis of a work by Giambattista Lolli thirteen ye...
One of the most efficient ways of improving in chess is analyzing one’s own games. The legendary world chess champion Botvinnik emphasized the importance of this activity and urged masters to publish analyses of their games in the media. I believe...
Zebratov said (concerning my article, Memorization – The Great Chess Conspiracy): 99% irrelevancy of memory sounds a bit harsh. Dear Zebratov: I was hoping that this would remain a secret, but I guess the cat is out of the bag and truth must wi...
If you excuse my liberty, I would like to slightly alter the iconic Coca-Cola jingle: Whenever there's a pool, there's always a thirst. Whenever there is school, there'll always be homework. Whenever there's a beat, there's always a drum. Wheneve...
The chess world has lost Zdenko Krnic, the editor-in-chief and director of Chess Informant. He died on July 23, 2010 a week after a motorcycle struck him in a crosswalk. Although he was an international master, he was best known for his work for I...
The 2010 US Junior Championship concluded a week ago. The tournament was held in St. Louis, side by side with the US Women’s Championship (for more on that event, check out WFM Zenyuk’s articles). The event was very well organized, as has beco...
The topic of the next set of columns will be endgames. As an introduction to the future column I want to show you the examples of the endgames from the recent US Women’s Championship. The first time I learned about endgame strategies was when I w...
After watching Inception, the following were the exact words that lingered in my mind, “Fantastic movie!!! Can someone please tell me the actual story???” I guess the feeling of a movie being above your immediate understanding is the trend these d...
In talking about nthe greatest players, Max Euwe, the 5th World Champion, is often overlooked. He produced many masterpieces. I present three of his fantastic finishes here.
Vera Menchik (16 February 1906—27 June 1944) was born to Czech (father) andEnglish (mother) parents, in Moscow. She was a British chess player who gainednotoriety as the world's first women's chess champion. From 1927 until her death she was women...
Every chess player fails to convert a winning position once in a while. Sometimes it happens even in situations when any move seems to secure the whole point. What is the reason for this? Chess is a sport, so the following three aspects are impor...
Here's a lovely game by Tartakower, in which he unleashes a long and pretty combination. His opponent snatches an unprotected pawn midway through the game and is quickly attacked. However, it looks as if he will be able to weather the storm, when ...
