Chigorin's King Gambit Brilliancy
Here is a game with lots of sacrifices that finally led to mate. Mikhail Chigorin played the King's Gambit Accepted and played some wild moves and finally trapped the King for mate.
Annotated game: GM Korchnoi - GM Spassky
Here is a classic game from the 1977 Candidates match between Korchnoi and Spassky, two of the world's best players at the time. I will provide full annotations and commentary: This was a great display from GM Viktor Korchnoi who is still play...
Mikhail Chigorin
Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin (Tchigorin) was born November 12 (October 31 Old Style), 1850 in Gatchina near St Petersburg. In 1860, at the age of 10, he was an orphan. He learned to play in 1866 at the age of 16. His schoolteacher taught h...
Capablanca Knows How to Mate
Here is an early game of Jose Capablanca when he lived in New York and was going to school. He accepts the King's Gambit, ignores the threat on his Queen and finds a neat mate.
Annotated game: GM Carlsen - GM Malakhov
Here is an interesting game from the World Cup event in Khanty Mansyisk, 2005 betwen GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Vladmir Malakhov. At this point Carlsen was down a full point in the match score and this was a must win for him to bring the match to ti...
Capablanca
Jose Raul Capablanca y Graupera was born on 19 November, 1888 in Havana, Cuba. His father was an army officer and Jose was his second son. Jose learned chess at age 5 by watching his father play. He defeated his father the first time they played. ...
Karpov and the Poisoned Queen
Here is a game in which a young Karpov tries to sac his queen, but his opponent decided to resign instead. Karpov's Queen sac may surprise you. Click on the Move List button to play over the alternative moves and what moves could h...
Alekhine's Gun
Most chess players know that it is a good idea to double rooks on an open file or rank (especially the 7th, where there may be pawns waiting to be eaten!), but what if your opponent's defences still hold? Well, if your Queen is still on the bo...
Annotated game: Herman Steiner - Reuben Fine
Here I provide annotations and commentary of game 5 of the match between Herman Steiner and 18 year old Reuben Fine at the time it was played. By the time Reuben Fine turned 18 years old he had only played a few tournaments but already been involv...
Kasparov Sacs a Rook to Trap a Queen
Even at a young age, Garry Kasparov knew how to play tactics. In this game, when he was 14, he sacrificed his rook, then trapped the enemy queen.
Chessplayers Who Gave Up the Game
Garry Kasparov retired from competitive chess in March, 2005. He gave up competitive chess after playing chess and being the best in the world for 20 years (1985 to 2005). He gave up chess to devote more time to politics. Other prominant chess ...
Chess Prodigies
The age of becoming a chess master is geting younger and younger. We now have 10 year old masters and a 12 year old grandmaster. Here are some of the chess prodigies over the years.Alexander Alekhine learned chess at the age of 7 and w...
A Tal Tale About a Queen Sac
Here is a game by former world champion Mikhail Tal where he sacrifices his Queen to force mate. It was from a simultaneous exhibition.
World War II and Chess
On August 23, 1939, the 8th Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires was formerly opened. Play began on August 24, 1939. The world women’s chess championship also took place at the same time in Buenos Aires. Due to political events, prom...
Celebrities and Chess
In the film industry, there are many names of movie stars and other folks that have played chess. These celebrities include: Claude Akins (Sheriff Lobo) Alan Alda (M*A*S*H), Woody Allen, Lauren Bacall (once married to Humphrey Bogart), the B...
Joseph Henry Blackburne
Joseph Henry Blackburne was born on December 10, 1841 in Manchester, England. As a youth, he became an expert at checkers (draughts). His father was a temperance reformer who travelled all over Britain and Ireland, taking his son with him. It is i...
Can Euwe Beat Fischer?
Here is a game in which former world chess champion Max Euwe beat Bobby Fischer before "he suddenly got good." Euwe visited one of the New York chess clubs and played a friendly game with the rising star Bobby Fischer.
The Polish Immortal
In 1928, Miguel Najdorf, at the age of 18, played a very good game in Warsaw, Poland that later became known as the Polish immortal. Here is the game - a real Dutch treat. Hit the move list to see annotations to some of the moves...
My draw against GM Jon Speelman
Here I present you with a recent simul game I had with GM Jon Speelman. This game was a real battle the whole way. Ok, here is the game with full annotations: This game was truly a case of missed opportunities and bad time management...
Annotated game: Matt Helfst - John Claxton
Here is another one of my recent USCF tournament games. This is in the last round of the tournament, I was 1/2 going into this game, in the first round defeating an 1834 and in the second round losing to a 1851. Just to set the stage, going into r...
Annotated game: Bobby Waddel - Matt Helfst
Here is one of my recent tournament games where I reached my peak rating of 1784 USCF! I provide full instructional annotations for your enjoyment.
A tactical gambit for all tastes
The Albin Counter Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5) is quite rare in GM practice and only very few “dare” to play it. Russian GM Alexander Morozevich is one who plays it occasionally and with success. American GM Hikaru Nakamura is likely the s...
The importance of the centre
The importance of the 'centre' of the chessboard is often stressed to beginners, but the reasons are not always explained. One of the reasons that the centre is important is that the chess pieces control more squares from the centre ...
Encountering the Center Counter
Vishy Anand of India is now the highest rated chess player in the world. When he encountered the Center Counter or Scandanavian Defense (1.e4 d5), he was able to trap a piece and attack the enemy king caught in the center of the board....
