Arturo Pomar-Salamanca was born in Palma de Mallorca, Spain on September 1, 1931. He was a child prodigy, learning the game at age 4, and pupil of Alexander Alekhine during World War II (Franco’s regime in Spain paid Alekhine to...
Georg Marco was born in what is today Cernauti, Ukraine in 1863, and was raised in Romania. He was a medical student before he gave that up to become a journalist and professional chess player. He moved to Vienna from Romanai in the 18...
Edmar (Edmars) John Mednis was born on March 22, 1937 in Riga, Latvia. He and his family escaped from Latvia in 1944. They lived in several displaced camps in Germany before coming to the United States in 1950. In 1949, at ...
Chess is learned with a variety of approaches. One of the variables is time. Over the board games with various time limits is one approach. Another is correspondence or postal chess which requires patience,fosters opening study, and allows suffici...
The morphy defence was obviously first championed by the famous American, Paul Morphy, who was the first to support that the move 3...a6 after 3.Bb5 is the best move as gives Black a lot of flexibility. As we have already seen that the exchange va...
It's always dangerous to remove a critical defender. This game is a good illustration of it. This was a very good example of this theme so be aware of taking away the last kingsid...
A exciting game, showing an opening fight for a slight adavantage and the crowning of a passed pawn in style. NOTE: ANNOTATIONS AND TITLE BY IRVING CHERNEV.
When you play chess do you ever think about how this ancient and great game so mirrors one's life? You being with an opening, that would be your birth of course, and every move you make is a decision in that life of yours. Sometimes you have ...
Gyula Breyer (1893-1921) was a Hungarian Chess player. He was a leading member of the Hypermodern school of chess theory, which favored controlling the center with pieces on the wings. In 1912 Breyer won the Hungarian Championship i...
So you want to get better. You are a beginner or weak player, or just want to beat a certain player. But you keep on losing. You fall for traps or play a bad opening or make bad moves. You overlook unprotected pieces or miss comb...
The Alekhine variation of the exchange variation in the Ruy Lopez, after 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6, is 5.d4 immediately challenging the center. The ideas again are very similar to the other main variations following the Ruy Lopez ex...
This game was found in the book 107 Great Chess Battles by the well known Grandmaster Alexander Alekhine. After a classical style response to the Sililian Defense, Dragon Variation with 6 Be2, Hasenfuss makes an intersting pawn push with 8...
This is one of the first things I learned when I took an interest in playing chess. It taught me the importance of controlling the center, developing pieces, and not letting greed rush my play. I believe this situation is a good one to...
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 Correct Response(s) - Many, d4 being prefered by many. Black follows what may very well be the single most played opening in the history of modern chess. The idea behind the move is simple; support the ...
Here is a game from the XIV International Tournament of Dos Hermanas, GM Shirov - GM Vallejo: In this game we saw a very sharp battle starting with 5. g4!? all the way to the end of the game. There were many critical points where the...
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Best Response(s) - Many White develops his knight and pushes onward down the 'most common' Sicilian line. Although there is little 'theory' involved at this point, it is clear that White is...
Now let's take a look at another variation, 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb4 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0. This variation was employed by one of the greatest chess players ever, Robert James Fischer. After 5.0-0 the threat Nxe5 becomes real. Because after ...
For those unfamiliar with the chess games of Rashid Gibiatovich Nezhmetdinov or Super Nezh for short, we'll go through a great game of his which served as inspiration for a recent blitz game I played. By the way, if you have no clue who I'...
This series of articles will explain the basic ideas behind the exchange variation in the Ruy Lopez, and explore the key variations. But firstly let's see why white would want to exchange his bishop on b5 with black's knight on c6.&...
I was wondering that a great strategy would be nice. I think I have a pretty sharp opening(I know a few) and I think I have a pretty good end game. If you know a great middle game strategy please tell me.
Keres does not let his opponent any time to breathe througout the entire game. He attacks all sides of the board until his opponent's resignation. NOTE: ANNOTATIONS AND TITLE BY IRVING CHERNEV.
Anna Muzychuk was born 28 February 1990 in Lviv, Ukraine. She is an International Master and a Woman Grandmaster with FIDE rating 2486. In 2004 she became a citizen of Slovenia, where she is the strongest female chess player. On t...
1. e4 c5 Correct Response(s) - Many. Nf3 being historically preferred. Black decides to play the Sicilian Defense. Note some interesting intricacies in the position already! - Black has asserted control on the queen side. - The...
As the game began, my opponent used the deliberately rude tactic of reading a newspaper during the game. The rudeness was not shown by merely reading during the game. After all, I myself had been a reader during games. However, I always read on th...
