The tournament took place in my city of Skopje from 6-9 December and I was eagerly waiting for it. I did some preparation for it and was curious to see how things will work out. In short, they didn’t. I was forced to leave the tournament (...
Hello, my old and new friends! Thanks for visiting my blog. I again approached the level of 2200. This week my rating on chess.com is 2186. This was the result of several interesting games, some I will show you now. The week began for me...
I have now played a handful of games of 960 chess. On another site, I lost the first 5-10 games that I played in this variant as correspondence games. And I want to see if I can figure out why, I also thought it would be fun to post the ga...
Welcome to my Intro to the Sicilian Sveshnikov, an opening recently featured by Magnus Carlsen in the 2018 World Championship not once, or twice... but four times! It was enough to get me interested. The Sveshnikov comes from th...
Back in Part One, we left the story at the end of the great Baden-Baden tournament of 1870. Some five months later he took part in the huge City of London Chess Club Handicap Tournament. There were four players - out of the 48 competitors ...
In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey advises us to "put first things first." This puzzle (which is inspired by a position that popped up in a recent 15/10 rapid game) is a helpful reminder of this simple yet powe...
O.K. A handful of you will have seen the bulk of this article before, but I have, in view of new information and further digging, decided to redo it in two parts. I have also added some notes to all the games. Since my original effort, I have fo...
I have a slightly different opinion on this nonsense. What nonsense? Well for those of you who have been living under a rock, Carlsen and Caruana just drew 12 consecutive classical games in their WC match and a bunch of people are screaming that...
Let's face it: chess fans don't like draws. They complained about them in 1920s (Alekhine vs. Capablanca), in the 1980s (first Karpov vs. Kasparov match), and especially now, after Carlsen and Caruana drew all 12 classical games. Still, Carlsen ...
Hello! This blog summarizes the my creative results of November. And I have one question for you. Which game is the best, in your opinion? Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Write in commentary number of g...
There is a famous story, which I believe originated in India. Five blind brothers were asking themselves, what is the shape of the elephant? So they decided to find out. They went to the river and touched the elephant. One of the brothers touche...
In 1939/1940, Max Euwe and Paul Keres played a "friendly" match which the chess world followed enthusiastically in light of the current turmoil in the world championship situation. In 1937, Euwe had lost his rematch with Alexander Alekhine, whil...
Hello everyone. As you already know, tactics is a very important aspect of the game if you want to raise your level. In this post, I’m going to try to help you to improve, explaining 5 puzzles, where you have to win using Obstruction Tactica...
Reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen proved his dominance in speed chess by whitewashing Fabiano Caruana 3-0 in the rapid tiebreaks after all the classical games ended in draws. The World Chess Championship 2018 was a match-up for the ages. Af...
Well, of course I'm joking. Richard Reti wrote the article titled "Some Conclusions: Alekhine vs. Capablanca" in 1928 for Shakhmatniy Listok. Still, many of the things written 90 years ago seems still relevant today, so I think it's worth rep...
This will be a blog of annotated games ... for the average player ... say 1650 and below! (If you are a higher rated player, please look away, this blog is not for you!) This is a chance for me to teach and try to help all the lowe...
Hi folks! There are lots of books on the opening, and middlegame strategy is replicated through thematically recurring patterns, but as an intermediate player, the endgame is an area that I have quite neglected. Although there are fewer pieces...
Good evening! Its UAArtur! And I have some good games for you this week. This week I played in the match of my country (Ukraine) against the serbian national team. We played bullet (1/1) and blitz (5/2) matches. Serbia is a...
Kramnik plays in a style that reminds me of two players: Rubinstein and Smyslov. He is a player of world-class strength, whose moves carry abundant power. Both Lasker and Petrosian spoke about the search for Truth in their chess, about the force o...
Chess is a world of innovation and creativity. It is such a world that if you dare get inside, you will be mesmerized by the majestic beauty manifested in 64 square blocks. An amazing brain game, it requires highly logical and complex thinking p...
Hello, my friends! Last week I received a post box from my friend Alexander @AlexanderMatlak from Kiev. When I opened the package, I am found the book inside. It was a book about an outstanding ukrainian chess player of the middle of the last ce...
Morning everyone. Before I start, special mentions to @batgirl @Gottfrid and my good friend @kamalakanta for their time, trouble, and inspiration. Thanks guys. O.K. A short time ago there was a truly beautiful post on this site, here Go ...
Hi Chess Friends, A few years ago I held a lost position when my opponent gave me a perpetual tactic I had never seen before in a rook ending. What struck me as unique about this tactic is that it's not a perpetual check. The Ra1 mo...
It was one-sided, even though it shouldn't have been. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It seems like a stroke of genius now, that draw offer in Game 12. It is all justified looking backwards, there is no argument against success. And that succe...
Welcome to my blog! I thought - that since I have not seen ANY blog posting that goes along the lines of what I would like to see - that I would offer my thoughts on some of the games. Not only this, I thought that I would offer links to ALL the c...