Sunday, May 1, 2011

Learn – Study – Play Chess

Research and Benefits of Chess 

The Game Chess (Wikipedia) 

Value of Chess Pieces (Wikipedia) 
Glossary of Chess (Wikipedia)
Ten steps to learn Chess Tactics and Combinations (pdf) 
Strengthen your position 
Key question 
Ten Tips To Winning Chess 
Winning Tips 
Chess-Game-Strategies.com 
Articles by Nigel Davies 
Index of Chess Articles (Wikipedia)
 
Chess Records 
  
Opening-Middlegame-Endgame
Opening 
Middlegame 
Endgame 
From Opening to Endgame

Chess Quotes
A Collection of Chess Advices, Useful Chess Quotes (Part 1)
A Collection of Chess Advices, Useful Chess Quotes (Part 2) 
A Collection of Chess Advices, Useful Chess Quotes (Part 3) 

ChessQuotes.com 

How Good is Your Chess? 
  
Chess Test 1
Chess Test 2
Chess Test 3
Chess Test 4
Chess Test 5
Chess Test 6   
Chess Test 7   
Chess Test 8   
Chess Test 9 

Chess Test 10 

Collection Chess Puzzles
Collection Annotated Chess Games 
 
Play Chess Online 

Play online against chess engine Rybka
Play online against chess engine Shredder 

Free Internet Chess Server (FICS)
Internet Chess Club (ICC) 
Playchess 
Queen Alice 
Chess.com 
SchemingMind 

World Chess Federation (FIDE)
Website 
Wikipedia 
  
Chess Around The World 
Wikipedia
 
 
Correspondence Chess
Wikipedia
ICCF Website
The Check Is in the Mail (Alex Dunne)

Lessons for Correspondence Chess Players
(By Grigory Sanakoev, 12th World Correspondence Chess Champion) 
  
New facets of famous chess positions, games and books 
TrueChess.com   

Chess Books (Paper)

Some good chess books    

Chess eBooks

Chess Publishing 
Everyman Chess
Search Chess eBooks

Chess Gifts - Chess Shops
Links    
  
Chess Videos   

Maurice Ashley
Action: Chess   
Chess-Mates
Euro Chess Tournament
Chess Tournament
Chess in Schools  
How to Win at Chess  
Caribbean Chess Carnival 
Gibraltar Chess Festival 
Canadian Open 
Norwegian Chess Championship 
Chess Me Out - talk on board
Mark Dvoretsky 
Gregory Kaidanov
Magnus Carlsen 
Kasparov, My Story  
Garry Kasparov 
Akiba Rubinstein and Polish Chess
Steinitz: Chess Champion
Paul Morphy: Mozart of Chess   
Queen's Gambit Accepted
Colle Attacks
The Réti Opening
Queen to Play
A Game for Two
First Day of Chess
The Chess Duel
Geri's Game
Very surprising chess moves :)  
Fun with Grandmaster Simon Williams   
Funny? You decide... 
Chess Fever, Part 1
Chess Fever, Part 2   
Chess music videos: Tal vs Botvinnik     
     
      

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Video with Irina Krush and Grandmaster Ron Henley

            

      
         
          

Sunday, April 24, 2011

GM Ian Rogers shows a nice endgame


Solomon - Steadman, Doeberl Cup 2011 
      

         
         
         
More about this endgame and another one in Karsten Müller's CBM Blog                     
        
         

Videos: Kasparov - Speelman

Video 1 
Video 2       
   

Sacrifices for best practical chances

When is the earliest best moment to play a Pawn sacrifice, Knight sacrifice, Bishop sacrifice, Rook sacrifice or a Queen sacrifice? 
 
Pawn
sacrifice
  
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 is not the the earliest best moment. Black has no problems to equalize the position and Black maybe even stands a little better.
  
The earliest best moment goes neither to for instance:
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 or 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3. 

A stronger candidate for White looks to be the Evans Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4. But Black should with best play equalize the position after 4…Bxb4. 

Black has an interesting candidate in 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5. Well, if you like a draw with Black it might be a winner…It should be good enough to a draw with best play. 

It is not easy after 1.e4 c5 and 1.e4 c6 to say when the the earliest best moment appears to sacrifice. And for who appears the earliest best moment to sacrifice? For White or Black? Sicilian Najdorf games has seen many sacrifices for both White and Black. Sicilian Dragon too. Also Sicilian Scheveningen. And so on…  

Black can in the French sacrifice the g7-pawn after for example the continuation: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 Qc7. It might with best play from Black be good enough to hold a draw after 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 cxd4 10.Ne2. But Black can instead play the safer 7…O-O.

Should we instead first sacrifice in the middlegame?

Comes the earliest best moment to sacrifice first in the middlegame?
If not in a later stage of the opening it should be somewhere in the middlegame.

Should the opponent first be totally strategically outplayed before we sacrifice?

Is it first when the opponent is totally strategically outplayed as the earliest best moment to sacrifice appears? The position could then already be so superior that there is no need for a sacrifice to win the game. But it is necessary many times to end a strategical played game with one or more sacrifices. At least some form of tactics has to be ready to be used. 


Wikipedia about sacrificing:
 

Sacrificing some material is often necessary to throw the opponent's position out of balance. The sacrificed material is sometimes able to be regained with interest a couple of moves later. Pawn sacrifices in the opening are known as gambits; they are usually not intended for a short-term gain, but instead to achieve a more active position. 

Direct attacks against the enemy King are often started by sacrifices. A common example is sacrificing a Bishop on h2 or h7, checking the King, who usually must take the Bishop. This allows the Queen and Knight to develop a fulminate attack. 
 
    
    

Friday, April 22, 2011

Activity of the pieces and Pawn structure

         
Activity of the pieces

The most important single feature of a chess position is the activity of the pieces.

– Michael Stean, Simple Chess 

The primary constraint on piece's activity is the Pawn structure.
– Michael Stean, Simple Chess 

The job of the chessplayer must therefore be to use his skill to create a Pawn set-up which will allow his own pieces the optimum freedom and stability, while denying his opponent's similar scope.
– Michael Stean, Simple Chess 

Look after your Pawns 

Look after your Pawns and your pieces will look after themselves.
– Michael Stean, Simple Chess
        
              

Naroditsky - Kamsky, 2011 US Championship, Saint Louis

          
Video from the 2011 US Championship, where Gata Kamsky speaks about
the game in round 6 against Daniel Naroditsky:

          
     


   
   
The game at Chessgames.com 
More similar games in Caro-Kann
     
             

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Grandmaster and Chess Artist Nicolas Rossolimo

        

     
       
            
   

           
        
         
Nicolas Rossolimo at Wikipedia
         
        

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Hikaru Nakamura visits Washington University 2/26/11

         

     
      
       
   

       
        
          
   

       
       
          
   

       
        
          
Wikipedia about Hikaru Nakamura.       
     
   

Endgame lesson with Grandmaster Nick Pert

        

          
           
        
Endgame DVDs Nick Pert
       
         

Friday, April 15, 2011

Master Moves #10

               
Chess puzzles at ChessBase News from the 2011 Individual Chinese Chess Championship and the 1st Mangini Memorial.   
   
Master Moves #10           
         

Chess Puzzles YouTube

                

            
            

       
           
           
        

        
         
             
         

         
             
          

Amateur Chess Organization (ACO)

           
www.amateurchess.com
     
  
   

   
   

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Brilliant Chess in China

       
"One of the most beautiful chess games that I have seen on last 100 years !!!", is one comment
about the game between Zhao Jun and Xiu Deshun, played in the 2011 Individual Chinese Chess
Championship.
  


The game
annotated at ChessBase News.

       
More similar games 
   
   

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Bring It On

                
                  

         
             
           

Improve your position

              
Always play to improve your position. 
Jeremy Silman, The Amateur's Mind
         
             

Tal - Bronstein, Tbilisi 1959

       
More similar games 
   
   

Bronstein - Tal, Yerevan 1975

       
More similar games 
   
   

Fischer - Taimanov, Palma de Mallorca 1970

    
More similar games   
    
    

Petrosian - Portisch, Palma de Mallorca 1974

       
More similar games 
    
   

Portisch - Petrosian, Palma de Mallorca 1974

       
More similar games 
   
   

Nepomniachtchi - A. Korobov, Aix-les-Bains 2011

     
More similar games 
   
   

Moiseenko - McShane, Aix-les-Bains 2011

           
More similar games 
   
   

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Studying chess made easy

    
The reason studying chess is so hard for so many is simple: We make it hard.
Andrew Soltis, Studying Chess Made Easy
      
       

Chess eBooks is the future - and update them often

     
Chess eBooks is the future, for many reasons.
  
It's economically easier to update them.
It's easier to update them when errors has been found in a previous edition. 
It's easier to update a opening eBook than a opening paper book.
It's easier to travel with hundreds eBooks than hundreds paper books.
You don't need to have so many bookshelves.
  
And a opening eBook should be updated once a year (at least in popular opening variations), and not every 5-10 years as normal with paper books. Tournament players don't like to wait 5-10 years on a updated opening book about the Sicilian Najdorf, Sicilian Dragon, French, Ruy Lopez, Slav, Grünfeld, Queen's Indian, English etc.
    
  

Since eBooks are cheaper to produce, do not require paper and ink, and have no shipping charges, eBooks should be cheaper for readers to buy. Right now, some publishers make eBooks just as expensive as paper books, but this will change in time.

Jeremy Myers



        
       

Cartoon José Diaz

          
        




















José Diaz
   
  

Monday, March 28, 2011

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Yes, you can

                
You could be a much better chess player than you are.
Simon Webb, Chess for Tigers
  
        

Sutovsky - Hammer, Aix-les-Bains 2011

     
More similar games 
        
        

Cheparinov - Mastrovasilis, Aix-les-Bains 2011

      
More similar games 
       
        

Psakhis - Šahović, Lviv 1984

    
More similar games 
       
        

Koneru - Hoang Thanh Trang, Nalchik 2008

      
More similar games 
      
       

Minasian - Bikhovsky, Ubeda 1999

   
More similar games 
          
       

Azmaiparashvili - Rotstein, Wijk aan Zee 1993

    
More similar games 
       
        

Benjamin - Kraai, Saint Louis 2011

Winning Tips

        
Articles with winning tips: 
 
Winning Tips (ChessCorner.com.) 
Ten Tips To Winning Chess (uschess.org) 
   
        

Key question

         
Keep in mind the key question:
What squares are no longer defended?
 
Once you have that you have the secret of chess. 

Maurice Ashley, The Secret to Chess
        
        

Strengthen your position

          
…every move you make should strengthen your position in some way.
Jeremy Silman, How to Reassess Your Chess
          
        

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Resign - or play on?

              
Link to article Resign (Or Play On?). 
        
                       
































Puzzles: Mates in 2-4 moves

  
Links
to puzzles with:

 
Mates in 2
Mates in 3
Mates in 4   
    
         

Chess Video

         
             

         
            
         

Lessons on Life

           
              

       
            
           
    

            
             
            

Blog Archive

About me

I played my first chess game in December 1977 and was lucky to hold draw. I continued to play chess and joined a chess club in September 1978. I'm still enjoying playing chess. I like to do many other things than playing chess. Long walks, some jogging, cycling, reading books, listen to music, watch movies, writing and much more. Life is fun!