At the Sickbed of the King's Gambit
That was the title of an article by a disappointed and shaken Rudolf Spielmann, published at the beginning of 1924. Five ugly defeats, almost in succession, forced one of the last knights of the Romantic era to give up his favourite weapon, which had served him faithfully for decades – the King's Gambit. And who was the main culprit at the time? What was the proverbial last straw that led to Spielmann's confession or admission? The Falkbeer Countergambit! If only the last romantic had known that, a few decades later, it would be the Countergambit itself that would be laid to rest, when things could have turned out so differently!
And what is the state of health of the King's Gambit today? Can it still be used with an open visor even in serious games against a diligent opponent? And how, on the other hand, should Black respond? Is it really necessary to write off the Falkbeer Countergambit? In the first part, we will focus on the clash between the King's Gambit and the Falkbeer Countergambit, which began as early as 1851...
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Samarkand Between Gold and the Crown
It is simply impossible to write a brief article about this year’s record-breaking Olympiad in Samarkand. So many beautiful games, unexpected twists and powerful experiences positively invite me to share them with the readers!
We will return to the triumph of the Uzbek team, the Chinese women’s return to the top of the podium, and the question of why the Indian men failed to defend their title. We will introduce the king of the Olympiad, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and savour Wesley’s queen sacrifice. The most beautiful and the most critical moments, the joy and the disappointment, will be complemented by one more perspective: what did the Olympiad games of Gukesh and Sindarov reveal to us ahead of their upcoming battle for the chess throne in Geneva?...
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Fourth Board for the King
The first unpleasant surprise of the Samarkand Olympiad came even before it began. Looking at the line-up of the Indian team, I noticed that the reigning World Champion Gukesh had been placed only on board 4. This article, therefore, is not yet an analysis of the Olympiad battles or an assessment of their results. It is an immediate reaction to a historically unusual decision and a reflection on what it means for the value of the world champion title when rating is given priority over the chess crown... Continue reading
Who Will Prevail? (2)
The second part of the article, in which we try to map the prospects of the participants in the upcoming world championship match, is devoted to the world champion. While the challenger’s results made it quite easy to select suitable examples, analysing the long-term decline in the world champion’s level of play – and above all, finding its causes – is a much more complicated task. What is happening with Gukesh? Can it all be blamed on the psychology of the „heavy crown“? On his youth and the fact that he reached the very top at just 18 years old? Or should we even call his phenomenal results in 2024 a fluke? No one has a monopoly on the truth. So all we can do is attempt a kind of reconstruction from what we actually know – and above all, from Gukesh’s games… Just as we looked at the Pomtow Gambit in the first part, in the second we will focus on a problem that troubles – and has always troubled – chess players of all levels: unforced blunders! Where do they actually come from? Why do we sometimes overlook something we would normally spot at first glance? It is impossible to eliminate them entirely – but can we at least reduce their number? And if so, how?...
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Who Will Prevail?
FIDE has officially announced the venue and date for this year’s World Championship match Gukesh vs. Sindarov. In the end, „neutral“ Geneva was chosen, giving neither player the advantage of a home crowd. The match will be played, as it was two years ago, over 14 games. How will the battle turn out? Most predictions clearly favour the challenger, who is going from success to success and is currently world number four by rating, while the world champion is struggling more and more. But what are the real prospects for these young men? And why is the average age of chess players fighting for the highest title dropping so sharply? In this article, we will try to analyse these questions and the form of both participants several months before the match begins. In the first part, we will focus on the challenger.
But the article would not be complete without some new opening idea. Do you know how to play the Pomtow Gambit? No? Then let’s take a look at one of Sindarov’s weapons…
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Classical Chess for Sale?
On 20 July, chess players all over the world celebrate their holiday – International Chess Day. This year, on the 102nd anniversary of FIDE’s founding, they received a symbolic „gift“ from their world federation. On the imaginary package was a single number: 45+30.
Around the mid-1990s, I read an interview with the then young Kazakh grandmaster Vladislav Tkachiev. He claimed that the future belonged to active chess (rapid) and that the classical game in its current form would give way to a much shorter time control. Most chess players at the time considered his words the eccentricity of a talented youngster. Thirty years have passed. In mid-July, the FIDE President announced that a classical game would now also include a time control of 45 minutes + 30 seconds per move for the whole game! Are we really on the threshold of a new era in world chess? Or is a thirty-year-old vision, which in my opinion threatens the very essence of classical chess, now coming to pass?...
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Tournament Turned Upside Down
The report from this year’s UzChess Cup Masters could be given a headline a metre long and still not capture everything interesting and important that happened in Tashkent. The organisers invited not only a strong but also a generationally balanced line-up, and they really had a lucky hand in their selection! After all, how often in a lifetime do we see a strong tournament ultimately won by the youngest participant with by far the lowest rating? Even so, I would hesitate to report on a tournament without any players from the world top ten, had it not been for a sharp generational clash not only over the board, but also in views on how far chess etiquette or even ethics should go, even though everything took place within the rules... Continue reading
Super-Tournament or Blitz on Demand?
After move forty, it was as if the Norwegian super-tournament had gone back more than half a century. Instead of classical adjournments, spectators watched a modern version of the old dictated blitz games, in which the arbiter would call out every few seconds: „White now! Black now!“ But this time it was not a club pastime, but points that decided the standings of one of the world’s strongest tournaments – a Category XXI event. As a little boy, I saw a chess tournament in dictated blitz with my own eyes. Today I remember only fragments, but I know that I watched the whole show with my mouth open. Why do I recall this old curiosity? Because while watching this year’s super-tournament in Norway, I sometimes felt as if I had gone back to the days of dictated blitz… Continue reading
A Bitter Pill for a Birthday
Magnus Carlsen gave Gukesh a birthday lesson he will not soon forget.
World Champion Gukesh celebrated his twentieth birthday during the ongoing tournament in Norway. But as 29 May fell on a rest day, the chess presents were handed out a day early. In this, even by today’s standards, crazy tournament, where time trouble stretches over half the game… in almost every other match, Carlsen prepared the birthday boy a gift not easily forgotten. One of his finest games of recent years turned into a vivid lesson in strategy, positional chess and tactics.
For Gukesh, it was undoubtedly a bitter pill. For the rest of us, however, a didactic gem. After all, what if someone gave you a private lesson in chess strategy? And you finally realised a simple but profound truth: strategy = what we want, tactics = how we do it...
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Just an Ordinary Tournament
The recently concluded tournament in Malmö, Sweden, gave Carlsen’s fans real ammunition! Their favourite not only played a classical tournament for the first time in a while, but won it outright. And this despite having only 50% after four rounds. In the end, Magnus finished the tournament with three wins in a row and then „crushed“ Erigaisi in the tiebreak. But what really happened? Let’s take a look at this very strong tournament through „two lenses“... Continue reading
Sindarov Ruled Cyprus with a Steady Hand, India Celebrates with Vaishali – Part 2
The second part of the article on the Candidates Tournament will this time focus mainly on Sindarov’s „black maturities“. In particular, his game against Caruana showed that the Uzbek youngster is no longer just a talented attacker, but a chess player capable of passing even the toughest positional and psychological tests. The duel with Caruana struck me almost as a symbolic coming-of-age exam – the moment when talent finally turns into a world title contender... Who is Roman Vidoniak? A name that was almost unknown just two months ago is now on everyone’s lips in chess circles. We will introduce Sindarov’s coach from 2025 in the second part of this follow-up… Continue reading
Sindarov Ruled Cyprus with a Steady Hand, India Celebrates with Vaishali
Two and a half years ago – in November 2023 – I wrote the article „This is How You Break Down a Small Centre! The Sensational Miniature by 17-year-old Javokhir Sindarov in the Catacombs of the Accelerated King’s Indian“, knowing that the Uzbek youngster could grow into a world-class super-grandmaster in a few years. But I never imagined that on 14 April 2026 he would become the world champion’s challenger! And the unprecedented way he made it through the tough tournament, clinching victory with a round to spare, shows that we witnessed something truly extraordinary. One record after another! India has recently seen the decline of its male chess stars, confirmed also in the Candidates Tournament. But the Candidates Tournament for women brought joy instead, as Vaishali Rameshbabu triumphed after great drama… Continue reading
Chess quote
Chess is the touchstone of intellect.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Chess quote
Chess, like music and love, has the power to make a person happy.
Siegbert Tarrasch
Siegbert Tarrasch