Category: Chess school

For coaches – another way to diagnose the talent of pupils

Published 27. 01. 2018
Dear colleagues, do you sometimes wonder how else to be sure whether something will grow out of your pupil? We offer an original, fresh possibility to try to get to the truth. Let us find out whether our pupil ‚knows‘ how to think deeply about problems, how to tackle tricky puzzles. The presented logical task awaits anyone who wants to think differently and more deeply than they have to every single day... Continue reading

Chess d'Artagnan

Published 11. 11. 2017
In May this year, the first Belarusian grandmaster Viktor Davidovich Kuprejchik passed away. He meant a lot to me! I devoured his games, attacks, combinations; eagerly awaited his new discoveries in openings that immediately appealed to me and, of course, tried to replicate them in my own games. The story of the valiant fighter, nicknamed for his fearlessness, persistence, and record number of consecutive tournament wins as the chess d'Artagnan, is supplemented by the author not only with examples of his work but also with an analysis of three now forgotten Sicilian Defence systems. Viktor Davidovich's name has the privilege of being borne by a currently unjustly neglected variation: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5!?, which we can now also see as a gauntlet thrown down to the somewhat tastelessly long-reigning Najdorf system: ‘Why actually play 5...a6?„ Let's try Kuprejchik's invention! Continue reading

Let's analyse (12) - Bow before the Princess, super grandmasters

Published 12. 08. 2017
..., bow deeply and tremble, adds the author. Many readers surely know the name of the current twenty-three-year-old best female chess player in the world, the chess princess, who has a huge performance lead over her female rivals, as well as at least two sisters from the Polgár family before her. She too logically quickly came to the conclusion that ‚wasting time‘ in women's tournaments (including the World Championship) is completely pointless. Continue reading

Not all coaches are the same

Published 01. 07. 2017
How to recognise a quality coach from an average, below-average, or even downright poor one? You might think it’s no big deal. A coach simply ‚explains something‘, demonstrates, analyses. However, if you care about improving performance (yours or your child's) and are looking for a quality coach without experience and don’t want to throw money away, it is certainly good to know how such a quality coach works... Continue reading

Two moments from the eighth game from a coach's perspective

Published 19. 11. 2016
On the 8th game of the match in New York from the coach’s database: At last, we have waited! The 8th game of the World Championship match between Carlsen and Karjakin upset the balance. Regardless of the final result of the match, that is the development of its last third, much has already been written (and surely will be) about this decisive game of the match. Below I would like to introduce readers to two moments from this thrilling encounter until the very last moment, which I gladly and eagerly included in my coaching databases. The first situation concerns the seemingly voluntary relinquishing of an open file (a secretive rook move?), the second moment concerns the phenomenon of blockade (chapter of the article ‚Nimzowitsch in seventh heaven‘). Well, and at the very end of the article, the reader can also (unusually) take part in a competition... Continue reading

For coaches (3) - Mate in 6 moves

Published 30. 10. 2016
Black has a decisive advantage in the position and can certainly win in relatively many ways. However, what interests us here is something else: Using a brilliant combination, let us mate the white king in no more than 6 moves! Continue reading

Let's analyse no. 11 - The phenomenon of Carlsen

Published 02. 08. 2016
The secret of the crushing performance lead of the world champion; what lies behind it? Botvinnik’s analysis: „Capablanca the greatest natural talent of all time!“ Reincarnation of Capablanca into MC...? We analyse the game Carlsen vs. Karjakin from Basque Bilbao, which reveals a veil of the secret... What are multifunctional games and how to learn from them?... Let’s evaluate positions using analogies... A closer encounter of the third kind: can the system opened by Carlsen 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3!? be accepted as the 3rd member of the Delayed Alapin family? […] Continue reading

Overview of pupils' achievements as of 1.7.2016

Published 02. 07. 2016
Overview of achievements and current performance ranking of Chess School students available here: Overview of pupils' achievements as of 1.7.2016   Continue reading
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