Good idea, bad execution? This is a common issue in everyday tactics. In order to make our ideas work, we must carefully consider the move order involved. Here are some examples on this topic. Black to move. We immediately spot a motif bas...
Hi all! Episode 6 is here!!! Check the video out for free knowledge! Click here for Free Video In this Endgame Lesson we will learn the secrets to winning a Bishop vs Knight Endgame! Learn this and beat your Dad, significant other, or that ran...
Hello, my dear! I am amateur chess player from Ukraine. And you can know about me and my (slightly boring) blog Fresh Chess... If you watched it at least once, you, of course, came across blogs with my games. But today I thought tha...
Georg Rotlewi [or Gersz Rotlevi], a Polish chess master of Jewish origin, born in Lodz [at the time Russian Empire, now POL] in 1889, is mostly remembered for the Rubinstein's immortal. A fascinating game played in Lodz in 1907, where Akiba sacrif...
Today I received a copy of a newly published book: "Louis Paulsen- A Chess Biography". This book is more than a masterpiece; it is immortal.I know this is high praise, but I cannot find one weakness, and indeed I find many great virtues. ...
Two Singaporeans competed in the ultra strong Grenke Open (56 GMs and 322 titled players!) which featured an attractive 20,000 Euros first prize. 12 year old Siddarth Jagadeesh (2132) made his 1st International Master norm with one round to spare....
It's May 14, 1955. A decade has passed since VE Day, when Germany surrendered, marking the end of World War II in Europe. The four Allied war powers — the United States, Britian, France and the Soviet Union — still maintain zones of ...
Hi chess friends. It has been a tough week. I was playing a tournament; also working in lessons.... But everything was really good, and even when I didn’t have too much free time, I could manage it and here we have our weekly post. This time...
Hello!Again, I have some good games this week! Last Sunday I played for the first time in the Elite Superblitz Arena on Lichess site. My trophy was my game against the famous Venezuelan coach and chess player FIDE Master Eddy Ravelo (FIDE 2406...
Happy Easter everyone. Here's a thought. If Carlsen had been born 100 years earlier, would anyone have ever heard of him? Quite possibly not. Before WW11 pretty much all the great players developed in the important centers of chess life - Berl...
If you have not heard of GM Alireza Firouzja, you better look him up. This kid is brilliant. He's only 15 and is going for 2700 before his 16th birthday. I have seen him on Chess.com playing bullet against the fastest in the w...
What's up, guys and gals? It's been a while since I've written to you. Why have I not been writing? As is the case for many people, "life" got in the way. School, friends, family, prom, chess coaching, etc have been eating up my ener...
In this second part of my article about Candidate Moves, we will have a look at some situations where you have many moves to choose from. Let's start with a very simple case. Black to play. He is a piece down, but we can sense a back rank moti...
.....and the seal roared with laughter! A few weeks ago I posted a blog about how both Rubinstein and Botvinnik learned from Chigorin a system with Black against the Symmetrical English Opening, achieving a favorable formation with pressure o...
The date was August 5th, 2018. I was on Twitch watching a streamer by the name of "Bertrout". He was accepting challenges on Chess.com so I obliged. It was just a normal game, me playing the London System and him loathing it.&n...
So, next Thursday comes and we have a continuation of the blog about the "Secret" Gambit of Von Hennig.In the first part we broke off on the second line of our opening. After some discussion in the blog, I remind you that I am not a sel...
Before getting to my planned post on the BDG, a few quick updates: 1. Taming the Tennison on Chessable A few weeks ago I wrote a post on Taming the Tennison Gambit. Now my free course on it is out on Chessable. Get it HERE ...
I've come across a trap in the Alekhine defense, Scandinavian variation. Since I haven't seen it written up elsewhere, I thought that I'd share it here. If you play the Alekhine defense as Black, you might want to be aware of this trap in ...
Beautiful photo, isn't it?! It's Marienbad 1925, a tournament with Gunsberg as its director that started just 10 days after the end of Baden-Baden 1925. 10 players participated in both. Alekhine and Bogoljubov were also invited but didn't make it....
In the 5th round of the Budapest Spring Festival, I played with the young Hungarian Talent Tamas Tancsa. I played the Breyer variation, the first time in my life. The center and the queenside became totally closed and his attack looked strong on...
Hello chess mates. Magnus Carlsen played Gashimov Memorial last week, he had a great performance (close to 3000), and beat some really strong players. In this post we are going to study one of the greatest victories of this contest: Carlsen vs Gir...
In the 4th round of the Budapest Spring Festival I played with English FIDE-Master Adam C Taylor. This is his chess.com profile: https://www.chess.com/member/tayip99 You can check the current standings at http://chess-results.com/tnr411068.as...
Happy weekend everyone. There is a strange thing that happens when you do what I do. I study chess players - their games, style, approach to chess, and how they fit in to the chess of their time. As I have said before, buying a 'Best Games O...
"During the month of December, 1923, interest in chess was at a high level on this side of the Atlantic, largely due to the presence of Alexander Alekhine and his remarkable performances. At a social gathering on New Year's Eve the possibility of ...
In Round 9 I was White against GM Santos Ruiz, rated 2560 and one of Spain's brightest prospects. I noticed he had some problems in the Ruy Lopez and I expected him to switch to the Najdorf, his other main opening. I again managed to use a line I'...