The Tragedy of Arjun Erigaisi at the Qatar Masters Tournament
I closely followed the major tournament in Qatar, which ended a few days ago. Many elite grandmasters participated, including Magnus Carlsen. However, this article is not about the ‚greatest chess player of all time and countries‘, nor about the multiple suspicions of cheating, but about a huge sporting tragedy that occurred in the final round! The likeable current Indian number six, twenty-year-old grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi, led the entire chasing pack alone after round 8 with a half-point lead, and in the case of a draw in the last round, he would have at least shared first place... Continue reading
Medical report: health condition at age 105 excellent! Name: Marshall Attack
One might say that the Marshall Attack in the Spanish Game suffered the same fate as the main character in the film ‚The Curious Case of Benjamin Button‘ (2008). He was born a crippled old man, only to grow younger and stronger throughout his life! It is not entirely clear whether there was a significant period when the counterattack was outright rejected, but the fact is that the final verdict, which computers may have already made, is: fully sound, in excellent health! Continue reading
Cozio Defence
Or rather the Cozio-Steinitz Defence of the Ruy Lopez arises after the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Ne7. The following contribution serves as a sample of the ‚black‘ database, which you can order and purchase on the chess school website in the Services section. Continue reading
About coaches
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 (whether your own or your child's) and are searching for a quality coach without experience and without wanting to throw money away, it is certainly good to know how such a quality coach works... Continue reading
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa among the candidates for the World Championship match
As many readers probably know, in the World Cup final the former world champion Magnus Carlsen eventually defeated the young star of today in the tiebreak and became – for those who do not believe in determinism – with great luck the ultimate winner. Continue reading
Magnus’s acting Oscar and a ticket from a parallel reality
, and that from one not so far from ours! In round 4 of the World Cup in Baku, the ex-world champion lost to the German hopeful, eighteen-year-old Vincent Keymer. In the rematch the following day, he therefore had to win at all costs (true, with the white pieces) to bring the mini-match to a tiebreak. How did the rematch on 10 August 2023 unfold? What does it have in common with a film Oscar and also some kind of ticket? Continue reading
Forgotten lessons of two strategic themes... in two World Cup games
The World Cup in Baku became, besides the World Championship match, certainly the most important event of this year. There were so many interesting clashes that choosing the best among them is practically impossible. I approached the matter a little differently. I selected for readers two games in which Black – the world rating number one and two – at a certain moment committed serious strategic mistakes, yet the ‚young whites‘ did not exploit them. Would you be able to recognise their errors? Maybe yes, maybe no, but if you better master two strategic themes and can also connect them, then I believe you certainly will! Continue reading
After Magnus? No way! He wins whatever he can
...in blitz tournaments... I admit that after Magnus Carlsen gave up defending the world championship title (probably for the first time in history due to ‚laziness‘), he has become the centre of attention even more, at least on all YouTube videos. Almost every second one analyses one of his fresh brilliant performances... in blitz, less often in rapid. Continue reading
Jene, would you like the Royal Cobra?
This is how one of the world's best theoreticians and super grandmaster Daniil Dubov could have asked his opponent Jan Nepomniachtchi in the last round of the World Blitz Championship at the end of last year! „But what does the Royal Cobra have to do with the World Championship and our beautiful game?“ the reader might ask. Well, few know that in opening theory there really is a variation called the Cobra... Continue reading
Love is love, fashion is fashion: Black has been helped in the opening by the good old Dragon, but with sharpened teeth, while online blitz games are commanded by the old Stafford Gambit.
In today's article we will focus on the changing fashion of two variations that have recently become very popular. We will touch on the Dragon variation, in which Black calmly allows the still dangerous Rauzer Attack. But we will mainly focus on the killer of White; well, especially in blitz games. Have you ever heard of the Stafford or Staunton Gambit? We will also advise how to deal with it as White... Continue reading
The spirit of the ‚h‘ pawn demolished not only the Pirc-Ufimcev Defence but also conquered the world champion
In the previous article I dealt with new views on the function of the edge ‚h‘ pawn. I asked the question, who will be the first to pick up the gauntlet and write an undoubtedly voluminous work on how mainly computers elevated this often modest pawn at the beginning of the millennium to a modern hero... However, I chose the game for analysis for another reason: in my previous article ‚2033: 1.h2-h4!…‘ I ‚forgot‘ something fundamental. The ‚h‘ pawn does not have to be ‚alive‘, it does not have to be present on the board. Its spirit can – perhaps together with Caissa – hover over the board... Continue reading
2033: the secret of the best first move solved! Neural networks, artificial intelligence and quantum computers unanimously declare: 1.h2-h4!
This is roughly how we can imagine the chess world in 10 to 15 years – nothing else really fits, and ... it is not exactly a joke or an attempt at one.
Why did the author put the year 2033 in the title? By no means am I playing Nostradamus or Baba Vanga. Even George Orwell gave up in his (dystopian?) work 1984 from 1949! 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