Mr.unknown asked: My question concerns agreed upon draws, by which players wish to protect their ratings and/or standings in tournaments (as either individuals or team members). This seems to be a form of corruption and abuse of the game. I’ve h...
Anand, the actual worldchampion in chess, searched often and scored well in his WC-match against Kramnik in open center formations. He lost only one in a game with a stable center situations. Did that happen by chance? I do not think so. Open and...
This game of Capablanca's is extremely interesting. In the opening, he induces little weaknesses in Yates' position, which he exploits in the middlegame. Then, in the endgame, his knight circles about a pawn like a hawk and then swoops down to cap...
The Anand-Topalov World Championship Match has seen the use of the Catalan Opening. The following game and notes will show its use by the then future World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik, World Champion Alexander Alekhine, and the great Paul Keres. Bo...
The Blackmar-Diemer gambit (BDG) can be reached via many different move orders. Even though most of the games there start with 1.d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4, or 1...Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. e4 it is also possible to play 1. d4 Nf6 2. f3!? d5 3.e4 dxe4 4. Nc3 ...
If you are a class player and want to improve you need to have some feedback on your play. There should be someone who can look at your game from a different angle and pinpoint weaknesses you need to work at. Usually, this should be a qualified tr...
A world championship provides so much learning material for any chess fan. The opening novelties, the middle game struggle, the endgame technique and the psychological warfare and so on. One major aspect of these matches is that they rewrite the o...
Now that we're done with the Pogonina vs Chess.com game, I would like to share with you some impressions and games from the last tournament I have been playing in, the Russian Club Cup in Dagomys. Chess.com has been providing nice updates on the e...
The match for the World Championship between Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov started one day late, to everyone's dissatisfaction due to the thick cloud of volcano dust that covered Europe and blocked the air traffic. However, the first game ...
During the current World Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov, observers have commented on how Anand has resorted to the Catalan System as White. It is normal for most players to change their opening choices in order to...
(article in English: http://www.chess.com/article/view/anand-with-a-slight-edge-at-the-half-time) Мачът за световно първенство между Вишанатан Ананд и Веселин Топалов започна с ден закъснение, за всеобщо неудоволствие на всички поради гъстият обл...
Trent D asked: I’m considering a big move from Internet chess to a real over the board tournament. Are there rules of conduct or polite behavior that I should know about? Dear Trent: I’ve discussed aspects of this in a past article (see my arti...
The big match Anand- Topalov is underway. There is plenty of coverage of the games on chess.com as well as other chess websites. Naturally, talking about something else in chess, when everyone seems to talk about the match does not make much sense...
This week we shall see the Modern Benoni with 7.h3. The Benoni is back in fashion thanks to the efforts of Gashimov and Topalov. They revived this system with great effort and introduced exceptional ideas to make this system a dangerous option aga...
Viswanathan (Vishy) Anand was born on December 11, 1969 in Chennai, India. Veselin Topalov was born on March 15, 1975 in Rousse (Ruse), Bulgaria. Anand is now 40.Topalov just turned 35. Topalov’s father taught him to play chess at the age of 8.A...
While everyone is following closely the exciting WC match between Anand and Topalov, I still have to pay my dues and share with you my analysis of the Pogonina vs Chess.com game. The first part of the article included a story about the game, some ...
The Veresov Opening (1.d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 or 1.d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bg5) is an original system developed by Soviet IM Gavriil Veresov. Today he is mostly remembered because of his opening, which is a shame since he was a very strong chess play...
This article is a companion for my Chess.Com video lecture. We will use this game to understand the key steps to improvement: Update: on May 22, 2010, I posted the solutions in this article (right next to the questions). Inspect Infer Double-...
Here's a nice little game played by Capablanca. He forces his opponent to keep warding off threats from both sides of the board in the opening, which he handles in a very modern style. Eventually, he is able to create a passed pawn, and some quick...
Vladimir Kramnik was born June 25, 1975. This Russian grandmaster defeated Garry Kasparov in a match in 2000 and became the Classical World Champion. He defended his title in 2004 by drawing a match against Peter Leko. In 2006, Kramnik defeated FI...
So let us look how Felix went on with his 1. b3- repertoire. You remember the first deviation in the black set-up in center (e5/d5)? 1. b3 e5 2. Lb2 d5 3. e3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Ld6 5. f4 f6 (black stabilizes the center) The idea behind it is cle...
Recently, Ben Finegold an American who became a grandmaster at age forty said that he wants to win every chess game equally. When not quite getting what he was saying, Ben clarified to me by giving the example from the King's Island Open where the...
The ash cloud drama that unfolded over World Champion Vishy Anand's journey to Sofia has only hyped up the enthusiasm of chess fans all over the world. Will this affect Anand negatively? or will he breeze through this just like the several other o...
The chess club of the English coastal town of Hastings was founded in 1882 and in 1895 the club organized a tournament that was the strongest ever held up to that time. Taking place over the month of August, it included all the leading players of ...
