Welcome everyone for Part II of the King's Gambit series! In case you haven't seen Part I, you can get to it by following this link if you wish! http://blog.chess.com/KillaBeez/the-kings-gambit-part-i A note to readers: This series on the Kin...
Chess just isn't what it used to be. With the advent of chess engines and countless books dedicated to moves of opening theory, many players have decided to minimize risk in the opening and play only openings that are considered "sound." While t...
Hello everyone! It's been nearly three years since my last blog post! (Life goes by so quickly!) Chess used to be my entire focus in life; I didn't want to do any extracurricular activities or do any homework because I loved chess so much. My ...
Here's a fun game I played at the bookstore on Friday. Perfect example of interference.
The Benko Gambit is one of Black's modern tries against d4. Black attempts to sacrifice a flank pawn to gain open files on the queenside and wrest the initiative away from White. Top Grandmasters such as Carlsen, Topalov, and even Kasparov have ...
Here is a fun live chess tactic that I played to deliver mate. See move list for variations.
Today, I was able to play in the Kansas Grade Championships. It was the first scholastic tournament of the season. I came into the tournament worrying only about making things crazy and dynamic. I finished off my top two opponents (both rated 1...
It has been a while since I have blogged. This is because I have found nothing particular interesting to blog about. But, I would like to talk about a subject that I have been struggling with recently. Burnout. Virtually every chess player goe...
Last week, I played in the Kansas Open. It was a strong tournament and I was the lowest rated player entered in the tournament. In round one, I drew a 1900 player as White in the French Defense. I allowed a strong sacrifice in round two and mis...
Okay, this is the one I meant to post for part two. It demonstrates how deadly White's kingside attack can be. Anand had absolutely no counterplay and could only wait to get crushed.
Yesterday, I tried to post a game between Kasparov and Anand. Kasparov won fairly quickly thanks to a big kingside initiative. However, when I hit the save and preview button, my internet froze and I was unable to post it. So technically, this ...
I recently have begun studying the games of Kasparov. And I decided that I would learn much if I fully annotated Kasparov victories in various openings. So this is as much for me as you; it gives me a game to look back on after the fact. So enj...
Views are varied as to the best way to improve at chess. Some say that learning about planning, key squares, minority attacks, and other positional aspects is the best way to improve at chess. While this may generate more knowledge about the gam...
Nothing in chess has more psychological power than a draw offer. The draw offer can be a very good thing, saving time if it is obvious that nobody can make progress. However, I am under the belief that offering the draw hurts the player who offe...
I recently played a game where my opponent fell into a trap and let me sacrifice on f7 for a mating combination. He was playing moves rather quickly and probably didn't see my attacking possibilties. Hopefully this will be a reminder to you to m...
The purpose of this series is to let the player understand the ideas behind the Closed Sicilian rather than just main line theory. In this game, many of the ideas of the Closed Siclian come into play, which is very instructive.
This game was played last Saturday against a 2171. We both missed a winning move for him, but I think I played well otherwise. It culminated into a nice finish.
This is a game I played at Supernationals. It featured a nice closed Sicilian.
I was just fooling around at a local bookstore in a two minute game against one of my friends. I played an brilliant knight sac and decided to sacrifice my queen because I felt like it. This lead to an aesthetically pleasing mate.
This was an OTB game that I played from a tournament on Saturday. I was paired with a 1950 rated player who really liked tactical positions. This was a fun game with accurate play from both sides. I was definitely better, and probably winning a...
This was a game I played in a tournament on Saturday. I was White. My opponent was so focused on attacking my space advantage that he left his kingside without many defenders. I was able to take advantage of this through a great combination. I...
I know a lot of you absolutely hate playing against the Sicilian. Some of you refrain from playing e4 because of it. However, Nf3 after c5 is actually a very flexible move. White makes Black show his hand. Then White can choose the variation h...
I had a 6 month long stint with d4 and I am calling it quits. The reasons? I really like d4, but there are too many defenses involved and they usually know more than me. Plus, they can prepare drawing lines against me. Also, I am a natural att...
I played this game last night at a bookstore. This game featured a fun variation that's almost a novelty with castling on opposite sides. It also showed some good defense and some inaccuracies by both sides.
Since starting a year ago, I have learned a lot about how to deal with chess psychology mentally and what to do. Let me share with you some of my insights. My very first tournament started very badly. I lost to a 900 in the first round and hung...
