For anyone who follows professional chess at the top the level, it is obvious that the Alekhine defense is not a common choice at the Super GM level, and this is not without good reason. In many cases, White is able to get a reasonable space advan...
Richard Teichmann (24 December 1868 – 15 June 1925) was a strong German chess player, easily of grandmaster strength! In 1890 he was a student of modern languages (becoming fluent in several of them) and studied in Berlin where he also improved hi...
The Dragon Variation of the Sicilian Defense has always been considered an enterprising, adventurous opening for Black. The Yugoslav Attack vs. the Dragon has always been considered the "acid test" of the variation and is one of the most heavily ...
Mark Evgenievich Taimanov was born on February 7, 1926 in Kharkiv. He became a grandmaster in 1952 and was one of the world's top players for years. His record of playing in 23 USSR championships was matched only by Efim Geller. He tied for first ...
One of the characteristics about modern chess is the fluidity of material values. When Morphy and Andersson were ruling the roost, sacrifices were common, but they were often with a clear tactical goal in mind - get the opponent's king stuck in th...
Two Opening Questions No-Name asked: A recent book by GM Glenn Flear advocates playing against the exchange Queen’s gambit thus: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Bb4 (Which my mentor GM Hans Berliner says is bad) when he only covers W...
The Evans gambit is a true chess link between the romantic past and the computerized present. This sharp opening was played by the biggest stars chess ever produced: Morphy, Fischer, and Kasparov. This fact alone should tell you that the Evans G...
I know, your first reaction to the title of today's column could be : "What?? Four Knights Game for a tactical player??" And I can understand your scepticism. Even Wikipedia says : "The Four Knights usually leads to quiet positional play", but th...
The World Cup is still continuing in Siberia. There are only eight players left. There are no Americans left as Gata Kamsky was eliminated in Round 3 by the young Filipino superstar Wesley So, whose exploits include a Round 2 victo...
The Best Opening Ever by meniscus The Scotch, 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6? 3. d4! is a direct attack on Black's audacious attempt to blockade the white e pawn and form a cowardly defence* of this blockade. White can claim a psychological victory as e...
One of the goals we aspire to in each game is to make every move count. That is, we want to make moves that threaten something or at least contribute to some objective. We try to avoid pointless moves that put our opponents under no pressure. ...
Alexander Alekhine is undoubtedly one of the strongest chess players of all time. His games have been a source of study for most of the young and upcoming players. One of his big contributions other than the brilliant games he has given to the che...
There are chess players that, despite being outstanding players, did not reach the fame of their other, more famous, colleagues. This is the case of Jacques Mieses (February 27, 1865 – February 23, 1954) who was born in Germany and moved to Englan...
The USCL (http://www.uschessleague.com/) is the American version of a national chess team league. In the fall, 14 teams in 2 conferences battle it out in matches with 4 boards apiece. I've played in the USCL for the San Francisco Mechanics since t...
Too Much Opening and the Grand Plan Abhilash_007 asked: (In response to my article, HELP! I FEEL SO LOST WITHOUT A PLAN!). How do you decide it’s time to map a grand plan? Dear Abhilash_007, Grand plans are rare, even in grandmaster chess....
Judit Polgar was born July 23, 1976. She became a grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, which was the youngest ever at the time (1991). She is the strongest ever female player and was rated as high as eighth in the world. It was actuall...
Exchanges play an important role in modern chess. Even though the chess that we see today is marked by heavy pre-analysis by computers and superb opening preparation, it has not lost its positional elements. When one decides which pieces to exchan...
This week we shall study the Nimzo Indian Classical system. Usually this system is considered to lead to more of a positional game, but the British GM Nigel Short employed an interesting idea against the legendary Garry Kasparov in their World Cha...
As you might gather from the title of this article, some players do not seem to be aware that the loss of a single pawn in the opening, without obtaining any visible compensation for it, is enough to lose a chess game. This probably stems from th...
Going into the last round of the SPICE Cup in Texas, I was tied for 2nd place with GM Eugene Perelshteyn and IM Ray Robson with 5.0/8. IM Ben Finegold was leading with 6.0/8, and was playing Eugene in the last round. Ray had black against FM Danie...
As players progress beyond the initial stage of their chess education it becomes necessary to develop an opening repertoire. An opening repertoire is a collection of the openings at you use on a regular basis. There are several stages to developin...
Blindfold Chess, The Fried Liver Attack, and Playing Multiple Openings Goldiga asked: I wanted to know your take on blindfold chess for the improving player. How difficult is it to learn, and is it true that learning to play blindfold will reall...
OK, I have to admit that I totally made up the name of this opening. If after the moves 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Black doesn't want to play the Italian Game (3...Bc5), the Two Knights Defense (3...Nf6) or the Hungarian (3...Be7) and instead pla...
The Italian Game is one of the oldest opening in chess. And it's sharpest line known as 'Greco Attack" is almost 400 years old. You might think that 400 years is enough for everyone to learn the main traps of this sharp opening and yet this dange...
