Watch how Judit sucks her opponent's king to the center after move 48. Beautiful execution. Rating wise Judit was 28 points behind her opponent. At that time, Van Wely was above 2700. A great battle with some minor annotations by Pol...
All of the Polgar sisters are amazing. How is it that three offspring can be phenomenal chess players when I can't find my way around the chess board? I am sooo jealous. I wish I knew their father's training secrets for real. Not the stuff...
Adams paralyzes Akopians bishop and swipes a few pawns in the process. Adams played this opening perfect. See how Adams corrals the King into the center and destroys Akopians chances. As my Chessmaster says "Black's asleep ...
Feel free to add onto my list below. This was originally started some time ago by Bill Wall at another site. I'm not sure where his original left off but I'd like to continue the list. You know your a chess addict if: You bump into someone...
For all of you King's Gambit Lovers here's a treat that will make you drool for days!!!!!!!!!! White's move 15 will blow you away!!! Spassky was brilliant in this game. It is exciting, powerful and original. I'd like to thank A. J....
The problem with gambits is that if you don't establish your reason before the endgame, you just end up playing a pawn down in the end. The great Chigorin was taken down using the Evans Gambit against Steinitz because he couldn't gain enou...
Queenside structural weaknesses cause Schiffers to miss an opportunity of a lifetime. Steinitz crushes Schiffers with superior play. Steinitz's endgame play is phenomenal coated with exceptional technique. My favorite move 19...Bxg3 (Bishop Sa...
I don't know about you, but I'm tired of getting pounded OTB. So I started searching for an answer. I have a great rating here at this site, but my over the board play is much less impressive. I can't seem to transfer my skills from th...
Here's a game I just finished. Just skip right to the end position. I think this is the first time I ever ended up with two knights and four pawns versus two knights and four pawns. I think my position was slightly worse but my opponent and I ...
Keep an eye on Steinitz's Queen side pawn play, it was awesome long term positional planning. Wilhelm Steinitz (1834-1900) is regarded as the first world champion. He applied the strategic dogma of Cluley: an attack has to be prepared. Steinit...
Move 62 blew my mind. So simple but I totally would have missed it in one of my own games. Paulsen applies consolidation in an excellent manner and showed great patience in this game. As we move up the date range in these classical evaluation...
This is the first documented game where the advantage of the pair of bishops in an open position is used. Paulsen executed the sequence to perfection. I wonder if it was happenstance or something he configured over the board.
Morphy gets a two pawn advantage and never looks back. Adolf Anderssen (1818-1879) won the first international chess tournament London 1851. He was a great attacker. His technics were shown in the first game of a match against Morphy. The best pla...
Howard Staunton lost a short match against De Saint-Amant in London 1843. Along return match was won by Staunton in Paris during the same year. It wasn't too often he lost so this is a treat. This is a pretty fiesty game. Around move 50 i...
Bernhard Horwitz (1807-1885) moved from Germany to London in 1846. Stauntondefeated him in a match. He cooperated with the chess composer Josef Kling.Endgame composition began with their joined effort.
De la Bourdonnais (1797-1840) played a series of six matches with MacDonnellin London 1834. It was the first long international chess event. The tacticaltalent of the Frenchman prevailed. He composed a simple endgame study. Black mates on the next...
12. Bc4!! was a great move. Endgame theory started with Polerio, Greco and Stamma. Philidor also made valuable contributions. He formulated the basics for the endgame of rook and bishop versus rook.
I will be submitting 150 classical endgame studies that I will study along with you. These were reviewed and annotated by Jan Van Reek. Thanks Jan!
Kasparov, Kramnik and many other Grandmasters have popularized and proofed the QG. Howard Staunton demonstrates his chess prowess by playing against an opening that 100 years later would prove to be as solid as ever.
Paris 1800s', a slow Closed Sicilian, White Fighting for breathing room. All the while enjoying good coffee. What more could you want? (ahhhhhhhhhhh, if only I were there) Coffee houses and chess were chic. De Saint-Amant vs S...
Here's a great game De la Bourdonnais vs McDonnell, Alexander. Black gives his Queen away early in the opening for a couple of pieces and launches a violent attack with his remaining pieces to prevail. A very exciting game that happened i...
This game has a great ending of Knight and four pawns against Rook and three pawns. The Knight prevails. See how!!!!! Here's a great annotated game of GM Van Wely playing against Rebel Century 4. (Annotated by Jan Van Reek)There was a time whe...
The history here is great but the ending combination is simply artwork at its height! The development of coffeehouses was a great stimulus for chess. The European cafe appeared during the seventeenth century. At first it consisted of a simple room...
Why you might hate chess. Despite what some would say, there are very few board games that are deep rooted into our social fabric. Monopoly is one. Cluedo (or Clue in the US) is another. Various card games such as Bridge and Poker. Be honest, can ...
Paul Morphy competed in only one tournament in his short career, the 1st American Chess Congress in 1857. In the final round of this knock-out event, he defeated German master Louis Paulsen by a score of +5, =2, -1. In this game, he demonstrates b...
