Category: Chess school
Dubov's Retrograde Study – Solution
Preview: Below you can mainly find the solution to the challenging problem I posted on the website a few weeks ago. In the text, I also reminisce about the fantastic retrograde problems of the brilliant German composer Werner Keym. For those of you, dear readers, who once again have the desire and time, are not currently persistently searching for goods we may need in autumn or winter, or are not following the chess Olympiad so intensely—an event marked by the absence of at least two not only chesswise extremely strong countries, thus reminiscent of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles—you can immerse yourselves in solving. Continue reading
Decadence in Chess Too: Where Have All the Complex Calculations Gone? Circus in Biel. The Lazy World Champion
In this post, the author mainly wishes to share with readers the latest news from the chess world of the declining West, and invites the reader to check whether they can manage the calculation of variations where a super grandmaster (yet the winner of a strong tournament in Biel) failed. He also draws on the opinions of world greats – former world champions! What is happening to chess? Continue reading
Diary from the Legends Tournament (2)
Are you searching for an aggressive opening with White in open games? Perhaps you are tired (or even disgusted) by the ‚Italian shuffling‘ with d3, c3, 0-0, Re1, Nd2-f1, etc., or the analogous development in closed Spanish games?! In 1987, the Dutch grandmaster John Van der Wiel introduced what was then a revolutionary tool for gaining the initiative in the Scotch Game, specifically in the Mieses Attack (3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5), by means of the then rather mysterious rook lift 8.h4! In the computer age of searching for ever new systems, the setup was revived a few years ago by Alexander Morozevich, and almost immediately, analysts with their engines pounced on the (again!) early advance of the h-pawn. Naturally, such a system could not escape the attention of a player like Jan Nepomniachtchi; already in the dramatic semi-final of the Legends tournament, in the blitz tiebreak at 2-2, it was an ideal challenge for a correct and strong positional technician—who, as it happens, is today also a Dutch grandmaster—Anish Giri… Continue reading
Diary from the Legends Tournament (3)
In the third and final game from the online Legends tournament, we cannot fail to look at one of the encounters between the world champion himself and Jan Nepomniachtchi. The game was played in the group stage, and Black had to win to level the mini-match score at 2-2 and allow it to continue… with an armageddon. How do you play for a win as Black in a rapid game against the world champion? Continue reading
Diary from the Legends Tournament
In the Diary, I focused on an instructive game between the current world number three and four, but the choice of opening is no less important. Do you struggle to break through the Caro-Kann Defence? And conversely, for those playing Black: do you know the relatively new tricky development system that White used in the game?... Continue reading
Triple King, Yet Ominous Clouds Gather on the Horizon
We look back at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships, and analyse a fragment of the decisive blitz game Firouzja vs. Carlsen. Did the arbiters wrong the young super grandmaster? Are the rules for blitz play set correctly? Do you know what Berger's rule is in opposite-coloured bishop endgames? And who will finally dethrone Magnus Carlsen? All this, and many other interesting topics, are covered in the first article of 2020… Continue reading
Vugar Gashimov – Could He Have Stood Up to the World Champion?
On 24 July 2019, the late Azerbaijani grandmaster Vugar Gashimov would have celebrated his 33rd birthday. For this reason, our next lesson is dedicated to this exceptional young grandmaster, who, despite the serious illness to which he finally succumbed 5 years ago, managed to fight his way to the very top of today's super-grandmasters. But the article goes even further! The author believes that it could well be him who, today, would be able to challenge the reigning world champion, who currently rules with an exceptionally firm hand… Continue reading
Limes Inferior, or a Glimpse into Chess Mensa
We believe that after the recent months of battles for the highest world honours, which we were able to follow live, and the pleasant rest of the Christmas holidays, readers may wish to reflect on our beautiful game from a slightly different perspective…
The first part of the article's title, which loosely follows on from the previous one—tests and entertainment—we have borrowed from the eponymous utopian (or dystopian?) novel by Janusz A. Zajdel. Why? The society of the future described in the book is divided into layers according to individuals‚ mental abilities. The most intelligent, of course, enjoy various privileges. But beware! Everyone, even someone who finds themselves at the very bottom of the notional caste ladder, always has the chance to rise higher… if they successfully pass the tests set before them… The main character, who makes a living by using a sophisticated technical method to help others during tests (the so-called Lifter), gradually discovers that ‘everything is different‚. He passes the highest life trials, sees through the system, and enters a kind of utopian ‘Mensa'… Will you, dear readers, manage the same? Test your wits in a different way (other than in direct combat over the chessboard), under exceptionally tough conditions…. Continue reading
Saint Louis 2018 – Questions about Nakamura's Fortress
In the lesson ‚Let’s Analyse‘, we will take a closer look at the mysterious endgame from the last round of the Saint Louis super-tournament, Carlsen vs. Nakamura. What was the cause of the American's hopeless play in the rook ending (RE)? Was it faith in a fortress that he need not have tried to build on the board at all? In endgames, Carlsen has no equal today (he saw the winning fortress-breaking scheme 25-30 moves ahead!), but the patent for its destruction is held by... the Polish grandmaster Gajewski! The machine (the computer) of course ‚does not fail‘ in fortresses and gets lost... Why does the world champion arrive at tournaments well-rested, while the competition frantically travels from place to place?
In the lesson, we will also look at techniques for playing out REs with pawns in a 4 vs. 3 ratio, explain the concept of the Achilles' heel of pawn structures, and there will also be a 'nutritious' calculation test! Continue reading
Jan Bílek – Professional CV
The first fully professional chess coach, theoretician and analyst in the Czech Republic since the early 1990s. The most successful coach of children, youth and juniors in the Czech Republic in terms of the results achieved by his protégés, whom he guided from the very first steps of their chess careers. 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