Chess Training 1.19.23 (Defense and Calculation)
You are playing Black. It is White to move though - should you be afraid of Qxg8 followed by h7, with what looks like an inevitable queen? Or is Black winning, as long as you find some key resources?
Sokolov - Melkumyan: Brilliant Positional play
Can you spot the play for Black? It's a beautiful positional play!
Do people still read this? A fun swindle
I haven't posted in a while, as blogs seemed to have died out recently. Are there still readers? Consider this a test.
Lessons in Positional Chess (2.24.17)
You will find below an exercise which tests your positional skills. Solving these will help you improve your positional chess. Black to Move: Rook endgames
Lessons in Positional Chess (2.22.17)
You will find below an exercise which tests your positional skills. Solving these will help you improve your positional chess. White to move
Lessons in Positional Chess (2.16.17)
You will find below an exercise which tests your positional skills. Solving these will help you improve your positional chess. White to move
Lessons in Positional 2.13.17
You will find below an exercise which tests your positional skills. Solving these will help you improve your positional chess. White to move Find the best way to improve our position
Lessons in Positional Chess (2.10.17)
You will find below an exercise which tests your positional skills. Solving these will help you improve your positional chess. White to move Hint: What is White playing for?
Lessons in Defense (2/7/2017)
You will find below an exercise which tests your defensive skills. Solving these will help you improve your positional chess. Black to move and defend
Lessons in Positional Chess (2.4.17)
You will find below an exercise which tests your positional skills. Solving these will help you improve your positional chess. Black to play. White just played 1. a2-a4. What should Black do? Should we force things?
Blunder Checking lessons (1/31/17)
You will find below an exercise which tests your blunder checking skills. Solving these will help you improve your overall chess. Is ...Ne5 a good move for Black? Why not?
Lessons in Positional Chess (1.28.17)
You will find below an exercise which tests your positional skills. Solving these will help you improve your positional chess. White to move - do we have an attack?
Lessons in Positional Chess (1.25.17)
You will find below an exercise which tests your positional skills. Solving these will help you improve your positional chess. White to move: Find the first move and short plan
Lessons in Positional Chess (1.22.17) A tricky one
You will find below an exercise which tests your positional skills. Solving these will help you improve your positional chess. How should Black equalize? Be careful!
Lessons in Tactical Chess (1/19/2017)
You will find below an exercise which tests your tactical skills. Solving these will help you improve your tactical chess. Black to move and win
Lessons in Positional Chess (a bit more Endgame) (1.10.17)
You will find below an exercise which tests your positional skills. Solving these will help you improve your positional chess. How should Black stop these passed pawns? Why doesn't 1...Bc8 work?
Lessons in Positional Chess (1.7.17)
I haven't blogged in a while, but I hope to continue it now. Basically you will find below an exercise which tests your positional skills. Solving these will help you improve your positional chess.The solution will be posted in the comments in abo...
Pattern recognition is important, but misunderstood
Chances are you've heard that chess is all about pattern recognition. That said, one shouldn't say that they have to have seen the pattern to be able to find it. IMHO chess strength is not only based on how many patterns you know, but also whether...
How well do you know the Benoni?
The following position looks very innocent, but actually White has a very strong initiative. Can you find it?
What we can learn from Bullet Super Grandmasters
This post will be a little different. We'll be learning from a game of a bullet super-grandmaster a couple of their key traits that we can implement in our own games:Principal #1: take free material if isn't a blunder (it tends to be easier to pla...
Training
Take some time to figure out what's the best move for White **Hint**Is it necessary to defend the pawn? If White plays our most natural move, what happens if Black takes the pawn?
The power of logical thinking in calculation
When calculating, sometimes the right threats don't just come to us. At this moment, it is useful to use some logical reasoning. Consider the following problem. Spend ~10 minutes Were you able to solve the problem? If not,...
Steps to Improvement: Mind reading your opponent's ideas
When calculating, it is very natural to want to just look at the obvious move and be done with it. I find among my students that they tend to do this especially when training tactics. However, this makes you susceptible to being surprised by your ...
How to really improve at chess (no gimmicks, no lying, just the cold hard truth)
I've been meaning to write this for a while but kept putting it off. Now that I have ten minutes of free time, I will finally take the time to write it! As a self-trained player I have come to realize that there are so many educational...
Why you should never resign
Great chances show up, if you only look hard enough
