Let's Analyse (12) – Take Your Hats Off to the Princess, Super Grandmasters
..., bow deeply and tremble, the author adds.
Many readers will surely know the name of the current 23-year-old world’s top female chess player, the princess of chess, who enjoys a huge performance lead over her female rivals, as well as at least two of the Polgár sisters. She too quickly came to the logical conclusion that ‚wasting one’s time‘ at women’s tournaments (including the World Championship) is a completely pointless endeavour. Continue reading
In the Pillory (5) – You're Failing History, Mr Editor!
In the first part, we analyse and criticise another of the gems from the editor of the Chess Weekly, who – as is, after all, the custom nowadays not only in chess – apparently rewrites history to suit himself, until he starts to believe it. Primarily, however, we will focus on the origins and analysis of blunders! Why do they occur? How should they be classified? How can we try to defend against them? Is it possible that there is a connection between blunders on the chessboard and... travelling into the future?... Continue reading
In the Pillory (4) – Like Little Children
After the recent rapid and blitz tournaments in Paris and Leuven (June and July 2017), when I read the enthusiastic and celebratory articles about Carlsen, a memory came to mind from my early days as a coach... The article Like Little Children asks whether anyone today still makes a distinction between a classical game, a rapid game and blitz... Continue reading
Competition – Fun (3) – Solution
Below, not only competitors can acquaint themselves with the correct solution to the third problem. This time, solvers were even a little more successful than in the previous task!. Continue reading
Competition – Fun (4)
Our website will fill your holiday time not only with the continuation of the solving competition, but we are also adding a humorous, though by no means easy, puzzle. Indeed, we cannot rule out that you, dear reader, have already come across it, but on the other hand, we believe it will brighten the leisure moments of most of you!. Continue reading
Not all coaches are the same
How can you tell a good coach from an average, below-average, or even downright poor one? You might think it’s no great art. A coach simply ‚explains something‘, demonstrates, analyses. However, if you care about improving performance (whether your own or your child’s) and are therefore looking for a quality coach, without having experience and not wanting to throw money away, it’s certainly good to know how such a quality coach works... Continue reading
Competition – Fun (2) – Solution
You can now see the correct solution to the second competition problem. More than ten of you, including several readers from Slovakia and Russia, successfully tackled this truly difficult task... Continue reading
Competition – Fun (3)
Will you, dear readers, try your hand at the third problem of the long-term competition? The excellent study, whose author we will keep anonymous for now, can certainly be solved by a strong practical player; however, less experienced chess players can also succeed! By simple elimination and, of course, the necessary patience, you can work your way to the solution just as well... Continue reading
Competition – Fun (1) – Solution
Here, dear readers, you can view or compare your solutions to both the first prize competition problem and the other tactical tests... And, as is our custom, we are adding something extra to the solutions. We will pause—though not for the first time—at the correct technique for calculating variations: a complex position awaits you in the game! Which candidate moves should you consider first in your mind?... This article also, after some time, includes another warning against the ‚pawn-grabbing style of play‘ in the opening... Continue reading
Competition – Fun (2)
Our competition for attractive prizes continues! This time, dear readers, you can focus on just one study, which may well ‚give you a hard time‘. The reward for successfully solving the problem, however, may be—not only, as in the first part of the competition, a possible luxury prize in the form of a product from National Pen Corporation, but also—and this we can guarantee—an exceptionally pleasant feeling. You may have seen a great many studies in your chess life, but something this enchanting...? Continue reading
In the Pillory (3) – A Brilliant Information System
In the next instalment of this polemical column, we will first return to the time when a group of Yugoslav chess players created a new, sophisticated information system. Their discovery not only paved the way for chess engines to enter the stage of history several decades later, but the two complement each other perfectly... We will learn (or revise) the basic principles of the system; we will discover that without it, it is practically impossible to analyse a game correctly and at the same time clearly.
In some of the reader exercises, focused specifically on the art of analysis, we will then – fear not – return to the original purpose of the column. Among other things, the reader can try to improve a somewhat poorly annotated game, apparently by the ever-present young master, who to this day still confuses the names of openings, some of which have been known for several hundred years! The game itself, however, has travelled the world, its charms making it a candidate for the crowning jewel of the past year!... Continue reading
Two Moments from the Eighth Game through a Coach's Eyes
On the 8th game of the match in New York from the coach’s database: At last, we have it! The 8th game of the World Championship match between Carlsen and Karjakin broke the deadlock. Regardless of the final result of the match, that is, the development of its last third, much has already been (and surely will be) written (and seen) about this decisive game. Below, I would like to introduce readers to two moments from this nail-biting encounter, which I have gladly and enthusiastically added to my coaching databases. The first situation concerns what appears to be a voluntary surrender of the open file (a mysterious rook move?), the second moment then the phenomenon of blockade (the section of the article ‚Nimzowitsch in Seventh Heaven‘). And, at the very end of the article, the reader can even (unusually) take part in a competition... 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