Abdusattorov in Prague 2024 like Alekhine in San Remo 1930
, that is how the performance of the young Uzbek super-grandmaster in the closed nine-round tournament struck me. Nodirbek Abdusattorov, incidentally the 2021 World Rapid Champion, won it by a margin of 1.5 points! „Well, isn't the author exaggerating a bit?“ a student of history might remark: „After all, Alekhine won the 14-round tournament in San Remo by 3.5 points!“ „Yes, but at that time he was also twice as old as today's newly minted world number four!“ I dare to put forward my argument. So let's take a closer look at his performance in Prague… Continue reading
Bishop or Knight? In a Number of Well-Known Positions, Computers Dot the ‘i'… and Coaches Have More Wrinkles on Their Foreheads (1)
„The worst bishop is better than the best knight,“ a classic is said to have once remarked. This bon mot may, however, have a rational core, and when we look at the texts and opinions of those who are now classics to us, at least we begin to ponder the issue. The following article can be seen both as a supplement to my old work Bad Bishop – Reality, Dogma or Chimera?, which received considerable attention many years ago, and as a discussion of new perspectives on the topic. The corrections computers have brought to these problems may be shocking for many readers… Continue reading
Beat the French Defence with the Reborn Milner Barry Gambit!
I have included the following contribution on the website as a kind of teaser, an advertisement both for a new system that appeared on the scene a few years ago as a weapon against the third most popular response to 1.e4, and as a taster of the extensive database that readers can purchase from the author after studying or simply reading the article. And do you know how the Milner Barry Gambit actually arises? Why and how did it literally worm its way into the favour of even the world’s elite grandmasters? Why does it attract such considerable attention?... Continue reading
Wijk aan Zee despite the pessimists
The traditional and strongly contested tournament in the Dutch town of Wijk aan Zee is behind us! Some super-grandmasters surely saw it as a dress rehearsal before the upcoming Candidates Tournament, the world champion was planning a dignified return after almost 10 months' absence, the women's world champion wanted to achieve the best possible result and perhaps join her two predecessors who managed to win strong men's tournaments, and others were hoping to break into the world elite. But why, then, does the author choose such a title for the article, when there is not a word above about doomsayers or gloomy predictions for the future of chess!?... Continue reading
Modern diagnostic tests of chess talent not only for coaches
Fun, fun, fun! Well, why not. After all, there are plenty of ‚modern‘ diagnostic chess tests on the internet today, which claim to determine your chess skill, or even your rating, based on a single video example. It's entertaining, short, you don't have to read, and basically, if you don't feel like it… you don't even have to think :-) . In this article, however, we'll take a closer and more critical look at some of these ‚tests‘… Continue reading
The World Championship in Samarkand from a Different Angle. Will Carlsen End Up Buying FIDE Just as Gates Did the WHO?
The annual World Rapid and Blitz Championship is over. The winners who stood on the podium took home 60,000, 50,000 and 40,000 $ each, and the spectators certainly got their money's worth. This time, however, I would like to look back not only at the interesting games and, of course, the inevitable blunders, but also at the prospects for the development of chess. Where are we actually heading? Is the current situation, for example the creation of special conditions for ‚chosen‘ chess players, still tolerable and ethical? And as a coach, I naturally also paid attention to the new young, even child, faces who appeared at the World Championship… and I was shocked… Continue reading
Three Sharp Delicacies Without a Hint of Thirst, but with Razor-Sharp Wit
„What would the end of the year and the celebration of the new one be for us chess lovers without some kind of New Year's Eve or New Year's blitz tournament or other brain-teasing exercise?“ I ask myself. What to prepare for the readers? Surely something original, preferably unknown to them, but which will require a greater dose of imagination and force the neurons to mobilise a little differently than is needed in a regular game, let alone at a New Year's Eve party. The following three problems will therefore require just this kind of concentration… Continue reading
Dommaraju Gukesh Fights as the Third Indian Chess Player for a Place in the Candidates Tournament for the World Champion Title
By the time the reader can read this article, the question may have been answered. At the beginning of December, a closed tournament took place in London, where a likeable 17-year-old narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Candidates Tournament by a whisker. An unfortunately lost game in round 4 left him only in 3rd place, after which his participation remained unclear. Apparently, FIDE itself then decided that a further small tournament would determine the 7th or 8th participant… Continue reading
The Best Opening in the World or Merely an Honour Guard at the Monument to the Fallen Kiel Variation?
What can be done to boost the viewership of chess videos? These days, apparently anything at all. There are no barriers and lying is, after all, perfectly acceptable! On YouTube, for example, you can find a video entitled „The Best Opening in the World...“, and what is this miraculous cure? Perhaps most readers won't know the name Kiel Variation, since there is such chaos in the very names of openings and systems that even many experienced chess players no longer know what is being talked about. The Kiel Variation, which this article discusses, arises after the moves 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Nxd5 4.c4 Nb4… Continue reading
An Intuitive Queen Sacrifice in Three Versions, or Firouzja as Nezhmetdinov
This article was inspired by a recent rapid game Firouzja vs. So, in which, in my opinion, the most talented (though, alas, not the most hard-working) chess player of our time sacrificed the strongest piece without being able to calculate the consequences precisely. Such material sacrifices are usually called real dynamic, or intuitive. Calculation of variations takes a back seat, and it all depends on the correct evaluation of the situation. To complement this gem, I also present two famous intuitive queen sacrifices by the brilliant Rashid Nezhmetdinov… Continue reading
When Carlsen Is in Charge, Reality Outpaces Imagination!
On 10 September 2022, I published a post on my website with the comical title 2033: „The secret of the best first move revealed! Neural network, artificial intelligence and quantum computer all agree: 1.h2-h4!“ Well, now please watch a video of one game, which I have selected from among all the others—most of which, of course, are full of praise for the winner… Continue reading
This Is How You Smash a Small Centre! A Sensational Miniature by 17-year-old Javokhir Sindarov in the Catacombs of the Accelerated King's Indian
Another young Uzbek player pulled off a brilliant feat at the recently concluded major ‚Isle of Man‘ tournament. An elite American grandmaster, playing White, got lost and resigned as early as move 23! The two winners and qualifiers for the Candidates Tournament are known, but I have chosen an attractive miniature over the often-replayed games of the tournament leaders on video platforms. So let's see how to beat a super-grandmaster: with Black, in a closed game, with a mating attack, without the opponent making any obvious blunder… 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