Chess History, Famous Quote and how to win more games !
To all
Here's a post starting with a bit of chess history.
Here's a famous quote by Jose Raoul Capablanca, a legendary player from Cuba
Jose Raoul Capablanca was a fascinating chess player.
Born in Havana in 1888, he became the 3rd world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. He died in Manhattan (NYC) in 1942 at age 53.
He was brilliant on the board and had a colorful life outside chess. https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/capablancaolga.html
Capablanca with his wife Olga
He was a visionary and extraordinary chess talent. He coined an expression which is still relevant in November 2025, in the era of Nvidia GPUs, Stockfish and LLM models !
a "petite combinaison" is a short, elegant, and precise tactical sequence of about two or three moves in chess, a term coined by former world champion José Raúl Capablanca. These combinations are characterized by their brevity and effectiveness, often securing a small material advantage or leading to a winning endgame without a complex, flashy sacrifice. They are "little" because of their concise nature, but they have a significant impact on the game.
A petite combinaison ( "small combination" or " small tactics") in english is today's focus on this blog
Let's feature 2 of the most prominent players of our time !
Yes @MagnusCarlsen vs @Hikaru
Black to play and win ! given as a quiz, you can play the winning move on the board, or click ? for the solution
Black to play
This game was played in a 3-0 Thursday Tournament on chess.com yesterday with a $1000 going to the winner, GM Magnus Carlsen, while Hikaru Nakamura finished 4th
lets go back to the key position where Magnus showed his tactical awareness.
Magnus sensed right away there was a tactical theme on the a7-g1 diagonal. He took the knight on d4 with his rook. A capture (like a check or a threat) is a forced move. White has to take back. and then Bc5 is the elegant finish, winning the rook and game. Hikaru immediately resigned.
it took 1 second ( this is a 3 minute no increment blitz game) for Magnus Carlsen to spot the "petite combinaison".
in the same tournament, Magnus Carlsen found more "petite combinaisons". twice in the same game !
Here's the first key moment BLACK TO PLAY
Did you find it ? if so fantastic, otherwise I will put the entire game below so that you can check your answer.
Position #2, same opponent and amazing tactics skills shown by Magnus
BLACK TO PLAY (petite combinaison)
the second position is less obvious than the previous ones but it took only 4 seconds
for Magnus Carlsen to execute the elegant tactical sequence
Visual Solution Position 1
The tactical detail here is that the Queen on d2 is unprotected. Magnus played Nxc4 and won a pawn. Recapturing the knight would mean losing the queen for White
and for the second position, Black to play
The not so obvious tactical idea is ..Bxd3! another capture which seems to lose a piece as White will recapture with the rook. Magnus spotted that the c4 square though is available and after Nc4, the knight on c4 will attack the queen and the rook.
I want to emphasize that white was a very strong GM from Iran. Here's the full game with explanations and variations for the two "petite combinaison" executed by Magnus
if you are interested in following these high quality games on Thursday's ( and possibly spot me playing as I am a titled player and did once participate lol), heres' the link
https://www.chess.com/events/info/2025-3-0-thursday
This will wrap it up to today!
