Beat the French Defence with the reborn Milner Barry Gambit!
I have included the following contribution on the pages as a kind of lure, an advertisement both for a new system that appeared on the scene a few years ago in the fight against the third most popular opening against 1.e4, and as a taste of an extensive database that the reader can purchase from the author after studying or just reading the article. And do you know how the Milner Barry Gambit actually arises? Why and how it literally forced its way into the favour of even the world grandmaster elite. Why it is given quite a lot of 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 certainly saw it as a rehearsal before the upcoming Candidates Tournament, the world champion planned a dignified return after almost 10 months of 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 perhaps hoped to break into the world elite. But why does the author choose such a title for the article when there is no mention above of pessimists 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 that are supposed to determine your chess skill, or even rating, based on a single video example. It's entertaining, short, no need to read, and basically, if you don't feel like it,... you don't even have to think :-) . In this article, however, we will look at some of these ‚tests‘ a little more closely and critically... Continue reading
World Championship in Samarkand from a slightly different angle. Will Carlsen buy FIDE just like Gates bought 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 respectively, and the spectators surely got their money’s worth. This time, however, I would like to look back not only at 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 creating special conditions for ‚chosen‘ chess players, still acceptable and ethical? Well, as a coach, I naturally also noticed the new young and even child faces that appeared at the World Championship... and I was shocked... Continue reading
Three sharp treats without feeling thirsty, but with a razor-sharp wit
„What kind of end of the year and celebration of the New Year would it be for us chess lovers without some kind of New Year's Eve or New Year's blitz tournament or other exercise for the brain?“ I ask myself. What to prepare for the readers? Surely something original, preferably unknown to them, which will require a greater dose of imagination and force the neurons to mobilise a little differently than is necessary in the game itself, let alone the New Year's Eve celebration. The following three tasks will therefore require exactly 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 Championship title
By the time the reader is able to read this article, the question may already be answered. At the beginning of December, a closed tournament took place in London, where the likeable 17-year-old narrowly missed qualifying for the Candidates Tournament by a hair’s breadth. An unfortunate loss in round 4 brought him only third place, leaving his participation unclear. Apparently, FIDE itself decided that the 7th or 8th participant would be decided by another small tournament... Continue reading
The best opening in the world or rather an honour guard at the monument of the fallen Kiel variation?
What can be done to increase the viewership of chess videos? Nowadays, probably everything. There are no barriers and lying is possible at will! For example, on YouTube you can find a video titled „The best opening in the world...“, and what is this miraculous remedy? Perhaps the name Kiel variation means little to most readers, after all, there is such chaos in the names of openings and systems that even many experienced players no longer know what is being talked about. The Kiel variation, which the article deals with, arises after the moves 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Nxd5 4.c4 Nb4... Continue reading
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 unfortunately not the most hardworking) chess player of our time sacrificed the strongest piece without the possibility of precise calculation of the consequences. We are accustomed to calling such material sacrifices real dynamic or intuitive. Calculation of variations recedes into the background, and it depends on the correct evaluation of the situation. To complement this gem, I then present two famous intuitive queen sacrifices by the genius 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 humorous title 2033: „The secret of the best first move solved! Neural networks, artificial intelligence and quantum computers unanimously declare: 1.h2-h4!“ Now, please watch a video of a game, which I selected from among many others, mostly of course praising the winner... Continue reading
Thus the small centre is demolished! Sensational miniature by 17-year-old Javokhir Sindarov in the catacombs of the accelerated King's Indian
Another young Uzbek managed a daring feat at the recently finished big ‚Isle of Man‘ tournament. An elite American grandmaster got lost with the white pieces and resigned already on move 23! Two winners and qualifiers for the Candidates Tournament are known, but I preferred an impressive miniature to the games of the leading players of the tournament, which are notoriously often played on video platforms. So let’s see how a super grandmaster is defeated: with the black pieces, in a closed game, by a mating attack, without making an obvious blunder... Continue reading
How I drew with Tal
Fifty years ago, on 2 November 1973, I apparently found myself at the threshold of my chess journey. I had been able to play real chess for about two years (before that my sister and I had created somewhat modified rules), but like many other young chess players, I was literally kicked into action by the match for the chess crown, which the whole world – not just the chess world – watched with bated breath. In the summer of 1972, the defending champion Boris Spassky and challenger Robert Fischer met in Reykjavik... A draw with Mikhail Tal eventually led me to the thought that chess is and will be the number one thing in my life. When, at about 17, my teacher asked me, like the other pupils, what I wanted to be, I answered without hesitation: „I will make a living from chess!“ The teacher turned pale and I think he didn’t sleep well that night... Continue reading
Brilliant combination by Radoslav Wojtaszek: „Boy, but these aren’t blitz games!“
could say the experienced and likeable Polish super grandmaster to his opponent, the young Belarusian blitz „madman“ Denis Lazavik, who has surely already crossed the threshold of at least several tens of thousands of online blitz games played. The splendid combination witnessed by the spectators may well become the greatest creative highlight of the currently ongoing strongly contested tournament in the town of Douglas on the Isle of Man...
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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