After a quick break for Round 3 on Sunday (forgive me ) I'm back at it again with the White Vans (I mean chess videos!). Here I analyzed 4 positions, crammed into 3 videos. Let me know if you're enjoying the blogs and videos in the comments belo...
Hi chess enthusiasts. Today we are going to study a miniature by the only Cuban who has won an Absolute Chess World Championship. The combination we see here is very famous; Capablanca sacrificed a rook and a queen. He used deflection to get rid o...
Most simul games are hack and slash affairs which pose little risk to the master who quickly punishes tactical errors from his amateur opponent. Tal's simul game from 1988 against Jack Miller initially goes according to script as a quick Bxf7+ net...
A small Soviet sci-fi novella by Aleksandr Abramov, published in 1926. The year is 1927. An elderly mathematician from Moscow claims to have built a true chess automaton that can defeat any human player. What happens if his claims are indeed tru...
Sometimes it happens that the game may not turn out the way you hope. The opponent does not make any mistakes or you blunder something very early - you feel that you are on the track to lose the game. Can you do anything to change your luck? There...
Another day NOT on the Isle has me doing a few quick video lessons, highlighting some of the fun, educational takeaways from Round 2 of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss. Hope you enjoy the written notes to go along with the videos... ...
Hi All, The last couple of weeks have been a proper autumn here in Edinburgh, Scotland and so today I decided to re-live the happy sunny days I had in end of August in Sicily, Italy. Between 23-24 August I was taking part in 5th Chess Festiva...
Hey there, Stacia here and I thought I'd share a tournament game played recently in the Parma Championships. This is a game where my opponent misplays the opening and is begging for punishment! Despite having a winning advan...
Today I played a wild blitz game against a slightly higher rated opponent. In an even ending he sacrificed a piece to gain some powerful passed pawns, which led to the position below. I had White and didn't want to passively try to block ...
Good Morning everyone. Had my head in another Alekhine related book! My friend Victor Ciobano has been kind enough to send me the first draft of his latest translation work - Botvinnik on the 1937 World Championship Match. The two Alekhine - E...
You've probably got that one player, always rated 100 or so points higher than you, who you seem to do well against. If not, then you've definitely got players for whom you are that "good customer"; players with significantly lower ratings who are...
Chilean singer Juga just released her 3rd chess song and music video called:TACTICAL As a close friend of Juga, I'm one of those lucky ones who get to listen to her compositions and watch her music videos before anyone. It's quite a privilege, a...
I'm often asked by our ChessPathways members if I think they "have what it takes" to become a Chess Master. While it's certainly not an easy road, I believe that the possibility exists for all who dedicate themselves to it! Are you up for the ch...
The Spanish Division de Honor, their Premier League, took place in Melilla from 30 September to 6 October. I was present during the tournament and had a chance to observe the games as they happened in the playing hall. As it turned out, every ro...
Each day, I'll be recording a few videos designed to bring you some educational, entertaining insight into a few games or key moments that didn't get as much love as they deserve from the main broadcast...These will be titled "Missed On the Isle" ...
How does it feel to let another winning position slip through your fingers? You knew you were much better, and yet, you had no idea how to turn that advantage into a win. Not only are you frustrated, but you feel incompetent and weak, and ...
Niclas Huschenbeth defeated Arkadij Naiditsch in the first round of the World Cup using an idea in the French Poisoned Pawn Winawer variation from the AlhpaZero - Stockfish match. After the game, GM Niclas Huschenbeth tweeted: It all starts w...
Sicilian counter-attack, also known as the Pin Variation is a very sharp way of playing in the Sicilian Defense. Black immediately develops minor pieces and creates threats in the center. It was played by such strong players like Alekhine, Aronian...
Paul Morphy is the chess player we all wish we could be. After effortlessly outdeveloping and outplaying his opponents, he regularly finishes with clean sacrifices and beautiful checkmates. It helps of course that Morphy was literally hundreds of ...
As chess fans, we are fed bits of information that are easy to digest, but might not always be foolproof: "Tal/Morphy was a tactician" "Petrosian was a positional player" The truth is, no player can ascend the heights of chess performance...
I'm happy to announce the second winner of our ChessPathways "Tournament Challenge," where I encouraged our members to play long-time-control games and analyze them! Brendan played in the New West Summer Open and scored a respectable 3/5. I enjo...
I've taken a long time off blogging, but now I'm back! The infamous Blackmar-Diemer Gambit or BDG can arise from at least two move-orders. The most common one is 1. d4, d5 2. e4?!. However, also possible is 1. e4, d5, 2. d4!?. Thus, if ...d5 ...
Hello & Namaste!In the next few posts, I will focus on the "how to" part of chess. To start with, I am writing on the subject of openings. There are a lot of books available on openings that give you knowledge but very little is written about ...
Hey chess people. Some hours late this week, but here we are. This time we are talking about a very nice thematic in pawns endgames: Reti’s Maneuver. There are some very interesting Artistic Endgames using this idea. Today we are going to an...
Mikhail Tal once said the happiest day of his life was the day he lost to Rashid Nezhmetdinov. What was this miraculous game that so inspired Tal and who was Rashid Nezhmetdinov? Nezhmetdinov is a fascinating figure in chess history. A five-time...