As promised, we will continue our coverage of the greatest upsets in chess history by moving in reverse chronological order. Of course, it is rather ludicrous to assume that upsets did not exist before Elo ratings were implemented and recognized...
The Chess Olympiad is one of my favorite events. In the words of the Romanian GM Mihail Marin, "the champions themselves do not mind rubbing shoulders with mere mortals, even though this may look risky for their ratings." Most lopsided matchups,...
Despite his irritable personality and somewhat dogmatic assertions, Aron Nimzowitsch (1886-1935) is the undisputed patriarch of modern positional thought. In his magnum opus My System (1925), Nimzowitsch formulated and verbalized a litany o...
Even devout Petrosian fans cannot deny that combinations are aesthetically pleasing by definition. However, keen tactical vision is no longer a unique commodity. Sharp combinatorial awareness has become a required skill of all serious chess play...
Last week, we examined the rook lift as an attacking tool. Of course, a rook is not only an attacking piece -- it can be mobilized for positional reasons as well. In this article, we will analyze several instances in which the rook lift serves a...
About a year after I learned the rules of the game, I became practically obsessed with rook lifts. In my (inexperienced and naive) opinion, no attack was truly complete without an aesthetically pleasing rook lift. Indeed I had a rook (or two) on...
In my article on chess technique, I wholeheartedly agreed with Frank J. Marshall's affirmation that "the hardest thing in chess is to win a won game." Indeed, tenacious defense is now the norm rather than the exception. Fifty years ago, the fir...
Whether you like it or not, Paul Morphy is almost invariably remembered for his brilliant victory over the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard in 1858 (refresh your memory here). And for good reason! However, while Morphy indeed conducted a bril...
Last week, we broached the fascinating subject of endgame attacks, which is rarely addressed in chess literature as an individual concept. Today, I would like to zero in on a particular type of endgame: queen and bishop vs. queen and knight (QBQN)...
Endgame attacks? Aren't these two words mutually exclusive? Indeed, with limited material left on the board, the king is usually able to play a crucial role in the battle without worrying about its own safety. Nevertheless, you should not forget t...
The hardest thing in chess, Frank J. Marshall warned us, is to win a won game. It is no surprise that technique - the ability to convert an advantage (of any kind) into a full point - is a coveted skill. As beginners, we are often told that solid ...
"When I asked Fischer why he had not played a certain move in our game, he replied: 'Well, you laughed when I wrote it down.'" -Mikhail Tal (1936-1992)Â Neither Mikhail Tal's life, nor his personality, nor his playing style, nor his ailments can ...
Throughout my chess career, I have resigned in several different ways. During my very first games with my brother, I - well, I resigned by knocking the pieces over in disgust. In my first tournaments, I flicked the king over, old style. Then, for ...
"Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before," quipped American actress Mae West in 1936. So it is with defending bad positions in chess. One cannot deny that in the majority of cases, the best way to test your opponent's techniq...
Last week, I discussed a three-step method which you can (and should) apply to every move you are planning to make in a complex position to diminish the risk of blundering. As promised, today, we will actually test this method out and determine if...
A few weeks ago, I was surfing through some of my earliest games, played in 2003 and 2004 and recorded in a tattered blue scorebook that has been gathering dust in my closet forever. As I expected, positional blunders appeared in alarming quantiti...
"The biggest risk is not taking one." Many of the greatest chess players in history are compulsive risk-takers. From Paul Morphy to Mikhail Tal to Bobby Fischer to Alexei Shirov, tournament success (especially at a high level) frequently h...
As beginners, we are taught a surprising amount of various tricks, sacrifices, and mates that rarely occur in serious tournament practice. Scholar's Mate, Fool's Mate, Legal's Mate - all of these are aesthetically pleasing to an amateur, but requi...
Most tournament players scoff at the notion of Coffeehouse Chess. Even so, some of the most famous brilliancies in chess history were produced under dubious, non-tournament circumstances: The Immortal Game (Anderssen-Kieseritzky) was played at the...
Unsurprisingly, one of my favorite movies of all time is Searching for Bobby Fischer (I know - the things you find out about me!). Hollywood-style dramatizations of chess games aside, the film is extremely well-made, featuring a thoughtful ex...
I will begin by affirming that the title of this article is deliberately oxymoronic. According to David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld's The Oxford Companion to Chess (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984), a combination is "a series of forci...
When you hear the word "brilliancy," what comes to mind? A dazzling combination with multiple sacrifices? A captivating tactical melee in which both players display their calculational expertise? Without a doubt, brilliancy has a tactical connotat...
"Pawns are the soul of chess." In general, I loathe chess clichés, but some statements are so true, so deep, that they defy the notion of banality. Think about it. An inveterate patron of the Café de la Régence, an eighte...
The term "positional sacrifice" is construed by many players as a vague concept applied only in relation to complex positional battles between grandmasters. I exaggerate a bit, of course, but the art of sacrificing for positional compensation appe...
