Mate in Two puzzles
Here are some mate in two puzzles gleened from a book by Polgar. White to move.
Outpost squares
Here is a brief review of the concept of outpost squares. Anoutpost square is any square that cannot be attacked by an opposing pawn, and may be defended your own pawn. White would have: 1. d5 2. f6 and h6 3. a6 ...
D4 Games - opening errors
Here I will evaluate a few of my (finished) online games using a computer. I will go a few moves in to where I made a mistake and see what the computer suggests. My goal is to improve my opening play. I play D4 as white in all games. In th...
Tactical Finish
This game ended with a nice tactical finish.
Maroczy Bind For Black
If you play the Sicilan as Black, you might find yourself Defending against a Maroczy Bind. According to Andrew Soltis, the right approach for black is to try to change the pawn structure here. Black can break with the b p...
Live Game - Sac the Exchange to win
In this game I sacked the exchange to win. The sack comes on move 26 when I trade a rook for a knight, then take apart his pawn chain and mount an attack... I was happy to be able to sack an exchange in order to open up a position and ga...
Mate in Three Puzzles
Delving into the Polgar Chess book again. I looked for puzzles where black had a fianchetto. For some reason when you click on solution button the arrow keys don't pop up. I'm not sure why that is. But if you click on the moves you can see t...
Computer analysis of a few games of mine
Here is the computer analysis of how I misplayed the opening. Play through the game until you get to the blunder. Here is a sicillian Here is the same game. Click over to the end. I play rook b8 and the computer doesn't like...
Tactical Finish
Thanks for checking out my game. I think I learned this tactic from a Danny Rensche video.
Lucena Position
I've been brushing up on my endgame. These puzzles are courtosy of Silman's "Reassess your chess" Engame 101: Lucena position
Closed Sicilian Pawn Structure
The Closed Silian English Pawn Structure Soltis recommends 2....N c6. Both Sides try to create a wing attack. White has allowed black to open a file on the side of the board. He starts his own pawn storm, but a little ...
Combinations
Ideas for Black In the Caro-Slav Pawn Structure
A thematic idea for black in the Caro-Slav formation is the move: ....Pawn to C5. Opens diagonal for bishop If white retakes, then c5 can be used by black's pieces Might create an isolated pawn for white, which can then be blockaded on d5 In ...
Combinations
Games from Polgar's "Chess"
Middle Game Ideas In the Caro Pawn Formation
These ideas are taken from Soltis: Pawn Structure Chess. This post looks into some middle game ideas in the Caro pawn formation. White has potential outpost squares on c5 and e5. Black would have to weaken his center ...
Pawn Structure Change in Dragon
White is able to change the pawn structure to restrict blacks pieces. Blacks pieces are constricted on the first three ranks, while white has all the activity. 24. B-e6! Mate would have followed if this bishop was taken, after queen takes ...
QGD Pawn Structure
White can alter the structure with (1. PxP ...) offering Black a choice of a symetrical structure (....cxd) or the Orthodox Exchange Structure (...exd). White could also play...
exploiting a hole on g2
In this game I messed up my pawn structure early in the game, but used the hole in my pawn structure on g2 to create a winning attack. I'm interested in these kind of attacks, because your opponent will almost always steer a game this directi...
win with underpromotion
tactical finish
This game had a neat tactical finish.
Sicilian p d5 for black
Tcigorin - Paulsen Berlin 1881 To sum up, after placing all of blacks pieces on their favorite squares, d5 can blow the center open and activate his pieces.
Schenveningen for dummies: (self included )Pt. 2
Black should play d6 right away to avoid white trading a minor piece on c6. Black's d6 move stops this as shown in the following game.
Schenveningen for dummies: (self included)
Scheveningen 101: White's ideas include pawn breaks to e5, f5 (and fight for d5 by removing pawn) and g5. Black may try: P - b4 as part of an attack on white's e pawn, d5, or e5 for a blockade. Black has good chances o...
Q Gambit Position
I don't know if this is what a blog is supposed to be, but I enjoy plugging in interesting games from my rading so I can share them, revisit them, and play them through on the computer rather than on the board. That said, at times I don't even bo...
d4 breakthrough, fianchetto
Continuing to explore d4 games with interesting breakthroughs. I get in trouble sacraficing pieces for combos that don't actually work. Still, with diligent study, I hope to get good at seeing these opportunities. H...
