My best game of the year!
Finally, this is my best game of the year.
Positively Gutted, I Tell Ya
by Dana Mackenzie, staff writer My wife is a big fan of reality television, and has watched almost every episode of the Great British Baking Show and has moved on to watching the not-so-great British interior design show. Even if the shows fail ...
Road to the Grandmaster title - Game 9 defended passed pawn or pawn majority?
Yesterday was the 1st game. You can look the results at Leányfalu International Ches Festival International Master Tourney. My opponent was a young, talented International Master To Nhat Minh I played the London system and mis...
What We Know That Just Ain't So
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” (misattributed to Mark Twain) I've just finished coaching at the Australian Junior Chess Champion...
A Bad Beating and a New Lineup
In the picture above, the Kangaroos are a sledgehammer and the Mechanics a small nut. A Bad Beating and a New Lineup by David Pruess, team manager Last Tuesday, we were beat quite badly by the Kangaroos 11-5. From the outset almost everythin...
Miniature #2: An Icy Attack
This is the 2nd in a new series I've been wanting to do where I analyze interesting quick or blitz games played solely for the purpose of learning. In this 3/2 game on chess.com I get an Icelandic Gambit! Every #teamscandi player se...
Why Rashid Nezhmetdinov Never Became a Grandmaster?
This is an excerpt from the book The Chess History of Tataria by Marat Khasanov, published at the Tatarstan Republic Chess Federation site. http://www.tat-chess.ru/publ/pochemu_r_nezhmetdinov_ne_stal_grossmejsterom/1-1-0-14 As Nezhmetdino...
Road to the Grandmaster title - Priorities and the next tourney
When I was a kid my mother baked me a fruit cake for my birthdays and we only celebrated it with my mother and step father. I had no birthday parties. When I grew up, I never really cared about my birthdays, some friends or the close famil...
Fire on the board at the Tata Steel Chess Amateur Tournament
The other day a colleague asked me for my hobbies, and I answered that chess was one them. “Ah chess,” he said, “I have not played that game in a long time. I used to play it with my brother in front of the tent when we...
Steinitz Immortal Game: My notes
Hello my chess friends. I have always thought that the best way to learn is to teach. That’s why in this post I try to explain what happened in this famous classic battle between William Steinitz (First World Champion in Chess History) and C...
Anand's Positional Chess Masterpiece? Ivanchuk vs. Anand, 1992
Once while riding to the Dallas Chess Club I was talking to IM Daniel Fernandez, and I asked him who his favorite player was. He turned the question back on me, and I said Alexander Morozevich was my favorite player. Daniel scoffed and said that I...
Wijk aan Zee 2019 Impressions
After Round 8 we have a very curious situation in Wijk aan Zee - we have World Champions on both ends of the standings. The last two World Champions are leading the field with 5.5/8. The one before them is dead-last with 2/8. While ...
Game 8 for the Grandmaster title - Last game of the first tourney
In the last round of the year opening tourney in Budapest I played with International Master Emil Szalanczy, a great tactician and endgame player. I decided to play a line to prevent his attacking ideas and put the game i...
Tata Steel Rd 6-8: Reversal of Fortunes for White
White came back to its usual form as it demolished Black to almost demolish the gap between them. In a drastic reversal of fortunes, White won 2-1 each on day 6 and 7 (counting only wins) and 4-0 (!) on day 8. It turned out that Black had just a m...
Greatest blitz match against national Teams
Hello, my dear chess friends! Today will be a grand event. In just a few hours, the two strongest chess countries in the world will meet in a duel on the website.Team Ukraine and Team Russia are not the first time playing a match. But for the ...
CM Goh Zi Han takes joint second place at George Trundle Qualifiers!
Immediately after becoming National U9 champion ( the Indian boy Rajveev Nahah finished 1/2 pt ahead but the title went to a Singaporean, of course), CM Goh Zi Han had to dash home to pack for his Auckland flight to compete in the George Tru...
On the Butcher's Block
In this USCF rated game from Parma Chess Club I find myself on Butch Kless's Butcher Block. How do I get myself in these situations? lol This game was a London System that starts rather calm and next thing you know tactics are everywhere ...
My good games at this week #50
Hello, my old and future chessfriends! I have a huge lack of free time this week, because I am administer the Jacob Yukhtman Memorial online tournament (and player!)getting ready to stream tomorrow's mega-match Ukraine vs Russia on chess...
"From the Diary of an Accomplice". Soviet feuilleton about pre-arranged games
This is a peculiar genre of Soviet journalism: feuilleton. Soviet state press used this form of sarcastic short stories to condemn some sort of "unbecoming" conduct. They were mostly based on reality, but with (obviously) changed names and so...
8 tips to play better in endgames
Hello everyone. People already know how important it is to learn and play well in the endgame. However, sometimes we feel overwhelmed with so many things to learn and so much information to watch. That’s why I wrote this post about some impo...
Gordon Thomas Crown. Only the good die young
Two months ago @simaginfan published a wonderful article about Ian Wells. When I started to read, I had a sense of déjà vu. A young British player who beats Grandmaster Alexander Kotov in a tournament and tragically dies a few m...
Chess Puzzle 1-19-19
Black to play in this puzzle! What should he play? I will reveal the answer in about 30 hours from the time this was posted!
FLchessplayer & chess traps. (#2)
I already have a long blog on chess traps. (Click here to see it - and you should really check it out! It is full of links ... and I won't reproduce all that info {again} in this blog.) My first blog on chess traps has generated many e-mails, PM's...
Bikfoot's prime number prize arena
Greetings chess.com! The last prime prize number that was held was a massive success. Because of that, I've decided to hold ANOTHER one this Sunday! So if you are interested in winning FREE Diamond Memberships, make sure to read the rest of...
How to excel in Blitz - the Magnus Carlsen way
This article will you give some advice on how to excel in blitz. Blitz specialist GM Maxim Dlugy published an article series in New In Chess called Magazine the Blitz Whisperer and my recommendations are based on his articles, an analysis of...