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I noticed that there is not any new topics about chess for while.  Can someone tell me what the best way to practice endgames, since it is a essential component or phase of chess.  Thanks.

Look for the hidden attack!

Origin The precursors of chess originated in India during the Gupta empire,where its early form in the 6th century was known as caturaṅga, which translates as "four divisions [of the military]": infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry, represented by the pieces that would evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively. In Sassanid Persia around 600 the name became chatrang and the rules were developed further. The game was taken up by the Muslim world after the Islamic conquest of Persia, with the pieces largely retaining their Persian names. In Arabic, the game became shatranj. The Moors of North Africa rendered "shatranj" as shaterej which gave rise to the Spanish acedrex, axedrez and ajedrez; in Portuguese it became xadrez, and in Greek zatrikion, but in the rest of Europe it was replaced by versions of the Persian shāh ("king"). Thus, the game came to be called sah in Romanian, šah in Slovenian, schach in German, schaken in Dutch, shakki in Finnish, szachy in Polish scacchi in Italian, šahs in Latvian, and échecs in French which originally meant "game of kings". Map showing origin and diffusion of chess from India to Asia, Africa, and Europe, and the changes in the native names of the game in corresponding places and time The game reached Western Europe and Russia by at least three routes, the earliest being in the 9th century. By the year 1000 it had spread throughout Europe. Introduced into the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors in the 10th century, it was described in a famous 13th century manuscript covering shatranj, backgammon, and dice named the Libro de los juegos. Another theory is that chess arose from the game xiangqi (Chinese Chess) or one of its predecessors. However, the game of chess has been attributed, not to the Chinese, but to the Indians by both Persian and Arab historians and literary writers. Even so, some say the origin of the game remains lost in antiquity. Chess spread throughout the world and many variants of the game soon began taking shape. This game was introduced to the Near East from India and became a part of the princely or courtly education of Persian nobility.Buddhist pilgrims, Silk Road traders and others carried it to the Far East where it was transformed and assimilated into a game often played on the intersection of the lines of the board rather than within the squares.Chaturanga reached Europe through Persia, the Byzantine empire and the expanding Arabian empire.Muslims carried chess to North Africa, Sicily, and Spain by the 10th century. The game was developed extensively in Europe, and by the late 15th century, it had survived a series of prohibitions and Christian Church sanctions to almost take the shape of the modern game. The modern times saw reliable references works, competitive chess tournaments and exciting new variants add to the popularity of the game, further bolstered by reliable time mechanisms, effective rules and charismatic players. reference:encyclopedia

Here is puzzle no. 8:

Hi, i´ll do the first of a serie queen vs. pawn endgames. good luck with it! After the puzzle, please check the movelist!

Long, but fun:

This one is a little easier. Find the checkmate

Here is the puzzle of February 3rd. Good luck with it! And by the way, there are still 9 places to fill in in the Tactical Tournament, go to http://www.chess.com/tournament/tactical-tournament to see more information, or join it!

check out this link for free books: http://www.chesszone.org/lib/lib.html

Hello Tacticians, here is a game I played yesterday evening at my local chess club. Please give comment, so I can improve!

This one is fun and easy.

This time i´m on time! Here it is:

Find the checkmate and post it below! * Note: you cannot move in the puzzle, so you have to think it yourself!*

White to play and checkmate. From this position it will take a minimum of 28 moves to checkmate! And it could only be more moves if you slip along the way. It could take more or less number of moves if the position is different with the same pieces. Let us assess the position. 1. White needs to check 50 moves rule. Check when the rule starts applying and how many moves are left with to force a win. 2. If White loses one of the pieces, the game will be declared as draw due to'insufficient' material to force checkmate! 3. With the present set of available pieces, it is impossible to force a checkmate in the centre. 4. The Black king would like to stay in the center as long as possible to avoid or delay checkmate. 5. White should try to force the Black king to one of the two corners where the corner square can be attacked by the bishop. 6. The combination of the White pieces must be creating a virtual wall to force the Black king to the desired corner.

Another tuesday, so here´s my fourth puzzle:

This is a long one. Here's a hint - you're going to need to sacrifice a piece to jar the king loose. Once you get the black king exposed, you will make him dance all over the board until you can finally put him in checkmate.

I would like to offer this game for analysis. Comments are welcome.