Michael Adams of England, born in 1971, became one of the strongest players in the world. His father taught him the game of chess at the age of 6. His father had intended to teach him checkers, but Michael wanted to play the game with ...
Here's an interesting read which isn't really actually my article. Reading it on www.chessbase.com, I was simply enthralled, and loved it. So, i'll just edit it a bit and let you all enjoy it too! All good things should be shared, shou...
Like it or not, we ALL have a chess rating. You may not care at all about your rating, or you may be whining every time it goes down in the slightest. You might be someone who plays a game a year, or someone who plays 1,000 a day. Still, there is ...
Former world champion Anatoly Karpov, born in 1951, started playing chess at age 4, and joined the Zlatoust Pioneer's Palace around age 9. There were many endgames in his early games, and here is one example. Both sides missed chan...
Here is a nice game where Black declines the King's Gambit. Chigorin, playing the King's Gambit as White, finds a nice combination with a Rook sacrifice to force the win. Chigorin never feared the King's Gambit. This ...
The sacrifice of a queen in the course of a game is something all chess players would like to have a taste of. The opportunity does not come easy, but when it does, we're always too eager to play it. Just imagine yourself slamming your queen d...
Isaac Boleslavsky was a Soviet Grandmaster and a well-known opening theorist (you can check out the Chessopedia for more details of his life). He helped train Petrosian and was his second when Petrosian beat Botvinnik for the world champions...
Mate in 4
International/Professional Titles Grandmaster-(GM)Awarded by FIDE for three GM norms.International Master-(IM)Awarded by FIDE for three IM norms.FIDE Master-(FM)Minimum FIDE rating of 2300 after 24 gamesNational Senior Master-(SM)USCF Rating 2400+...
It's time for another example of piece activity and development. If there is anything we can learn from the masters, it is their ability to place a greater emphasis on major pieces over pawns. We move the clock up a bit from Morphy's day t...
In March-April 1843, Howard Staunton, the best player in England, decided to play Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint Amant, the best player in France. It was a casual match, held in London, of six games and the prize money was one guinea. ...
In 1995, the World Chess Championship (Players Chess Association - PCA) was held in New York between Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan (Vishy) Anand. The match started on September 11 (9/11), 1995 on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center.&n...
This article is about the most important of the three Opening principles, King Safety. It's also the most fun because there's little I can really say on the subject, at least not much too say as it relates to openings. But t...
Serving at one time or another in three cabinet posts, Judah Benjamin of Louisiana, a former US Senator, was sometimes known as "the Brains of the Confederacy". Four years before the birth of Paul Morphy in 1837, Benjamin got married in ...
George Henry Mackenzie was born on March 24, 1837 in North Kessock, Scotland. In 1856, at the age of 19, he purchased a commission in the 60th Rifles (the King’s Royal Rifle Corps). He served as a Lieutenant in the British army i...
John Barry (1873-1940) was a Boston lawyer and a strong amateur who played at Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania in 1904. He drew his games with Lasker, Marco, Showalter, Schlechter, and Mieses, He defeated Richard Teichmann. But hi...
One of the many ways to study chess is to learn from the masters. Lets begin with a classic from 1858 where a lead in development allows white to bring the house down on black well before he ever gets all his pieces into play.
Carl Schlechter (1874-1918) was one of the top 7 players in the world from 1900 to his death by starvation in 1918. He learned the game when he was 16 and soon gave up his studies to devote himself to chess. In this game, Carl was 19 y...
