Category: Chess school
Dubov's retrograde study – solution
Preview: Below you can mainly familiarise yourself with the solution to a challenging problem I posted on the website a few weeks ago. In the text, I will also recall the fantastic retrograde studies of the brilliant German composer Werner Keym. Those of you, dear readers, who once again have the desire and time, are not currently persistently searching for goods that we will probably need in autumn or winter, or are not following the Chess Olympiad so intensely – with the absence of at least two extremely strong chess nations, reminiscent of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles – may immerse yourselves in the solution. Continue reading
Decadence even in chess: where have the calculations of complex variations gone? Circus in Biel. Lazy world champion
In this article, the author mainly wants to share with readers news from the chess world of the declining West and suggests readers test whether they can manage the calculation of variations where a super grandmaster (who nevertheless won a strong tournament in Biel) failed. He also relies on the opinions of world figures – former world champions! What is happening to chess? Continue reading
Diary from the Legend tournament (2)
Are you looking for an aggressive opening with White in open games? Perhaps you are tired (disgusted) by the ‚Italian shuffling‘ d3, c3, O-O, Re1, Nd2-f1, etc., or the analogous development in closed Spanish games?! In 1987, Dutch grandmaster John Van der Wiel introduced a then revolutionary tool to gain the initiative in the Scotch Game, specifically the Mieses Attack (3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5) by the then almost secretive rook lift 8.h4! In the computer era of searching for new and new systems, Alexander Morozevich revived the system a few years ago, only for analysts with their engines to immediately focus again on the early pawn push „h“. Of course, such a system could not go unnoticed by a player like Jan Nepomniachtchi; already in the dramatic semi-final of the Legend tournament, in the rapid tiebreak at 2-2, it was an ideal challenge for the correct and strong positional technician who is – perhaps coincidentally today a Dutch grandmaster – Anish Giri… Continue reading
Diary from the Legend tournament (3)
In the third and final game of the online Legend tournament, we cannot avoid looking at one of the encounters of the world champion himself against Jan Nepomniachtchi. The game was still played in the preliminary group, and Black had to win to equalise the mini-match score at 2-2 and allow it to continue… with an armageddon. How to play for a win with Black in a rapid game against the world champion? Continue reading
Diary from the Legend tournament
In the Diary, I focused on an instructive game between the current number three and four by rating, but the choice of opening is no less important. Do you have trouble breaking through the Caro-Kann Defence? And conversely, for Black’s supporters: do you know the relatively new tricky development system that White used in the game?... Continue reading
Triple king, but ominous clouds are gathering in the distance
We look back at the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship, analyse a fragment of the decisive blitz game Firouzja vs. Carlsen. Did the arbiters harm the young super grandmaster? Are the rules for blitz play set correctly? Do you know the Berger rule in opposite-coloured bishop endgames? And who will finally dethrone Magnus Carlsen? This, and many other interesting facts, are offered by the first article of 2020… Continue reading
Vugar Gashimov – could he stand up to the world champion?
On 24 July 2019, the prematurely deceased Azerbaijani grandmaster Vugar Gashimov would have celebrated his 33rd birthday. Our next lesson is dedicated to this exceptional young grandmaster who, despite a serious illness which he eventually succumbed to five years ago, managed to break through to the very top of today’s super grandmasters. The article goes even further! The author believes that today it could be precisely him who could stand up to the currently extraordinarily dominant world champion… Continue reading
Limes inferior or a glimpse into chess Mensa
We believe that after the previous months of battles for the highest world peaks, which we could watch in live broadcasts, and the subsequent pleasant rest of the Christmas holidays, readers might want to think about our beautiful game a little differently...
The first part of the article’s title, which very loosely follows the previous one, i.e. tests and fun, we borrowed from the eponymous utopian (or dystopian?) novel by Janusz A. Zajdel. Why? The society of the future described by him is divided into layers according to individuals‚ mental abilities. The most intelligent naturally enjoy various advantages. But beware! Everyone, even those at the very bottom of the imaginary caste hierarchy, always has the chance to move up... if they successfully pass the presented tests... The main character, who makes a living by a sophisticated technical method of cheating during tests (the so-called Lifter), gradually discovers that ‘everything is different‚. He passes the highest life tests, sees through and enters a kind of utopian ‘Mensa'... Will you, dear readers, succeed in the same? Test your wit differently (not in a direct encounter at the chessboard), under extraordinarily difficult conditions... Continue reading
Saint Louis 2018 – question marks over Nakamura's fortress
In the lesson Analyse, we will take a close look at the mysterious endgame from the last round of the Saint Louis supertournament, Carlsen vs. Nakamura. What was the cause of the American's hopeless play in the rook ending (RE)? Faith in a fortress, which he actually did not have to build on the board at all? Today, Carlsen has no equal in endgames (he saw the winning fortress-breaking scheme 25-30 moves ahead!), but the patent for its destruction is held by... Polish grandmaster Gajewski!... The iron (computer) in fortresses certainly does not ‚fail‘ and does not wander... Why does the world champion arrive at tournaments rested, while the competition travels frantically from place to place?
In the lesson, we will also get acquainted with techniques for playing rook endings with pawns in a 4 to 3 ratio, explain the concept of the Achilles‚ heel of pawn structures, and there will also be a ‘nourishing' calculation test! Continue reading
Jan Bílek – Professional biography
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 of his pupils, whom he has 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