It is impossible to become a world champion without mastering every facet of the game. Most champions, however, are remembered for their proficiency in one particular area of the game. To this end, Wilhelm Steinitz is remembered as the founder o...
At its heart, chess is a logical game. Every move — no matter how outwardly mysterious — can be explained and rationalized. To be sure, an idea can (and often should) violate general principles, but it still must satisfy the ...
The 2015 edition of Norway Chess was a memorable event in several ways. Above all, it heralded the resurgence of Veselin Topalov and Viswanathan Anand, who both stormed through the field and turned in 2900+ performances. Topalov won the tournament...
More than a decade ago, I took part in a small open tournament at a local chess club. After winning the first game in rather one-sided fashion, I became convinced that the next five games would follow an identical trajectory. In round two, I reach...
For my victory over Capablanca I am indebted primarily to my superiority in the field of psychology. Capablanca played, relying almost exclusively on his rich intuitive talent. But for the chess struggle nowadays one needs a subtle knowledge of hu...
In The Complete Book of Chess Strategy, IM Jeremy Silman defines prophylaxis as "a move or strategy that stops the opponent from undertaking some type of action or plan." Coined by Aron Nimzowitsch in his seminal work My System (1...
Half the variations which are calculated in a tournament game turn out to be completely superfluous. Unfortunately, no one knows in advance which half. -- GM Jan Timman, The Art of Chess Analysis (1997) As we saw in part one, chess does not...
Intuition manifests itself first and foremost in the ability, in a somewhat unconscious way, and with a high degree of accuracy, to choose between different lines of play. — GM Valeri Beim, The Enigma of Chess Intuition I ca...
Last Friday, we discussed the first half of José Raúl Capablanca's chess career, tracing his meteoric rise through the lens of his finest positional wins. In 1921, after a decade of heated negotiations and parley, the final te...
José Maria Capablanca was a busy man. A lieutenant in the cavalry division of the Spanish army, he spent his limited free time playing chess with fellow soldiers. One day, his four-year-old-son José Raúl decided to reliev...
The concept of underpromotion epitomizes the beauty of chess. Mathematically speaking, the queen is far and away the most potent force on the board. Yet there are certain situations in which the lady's subordinates are more deserving of reincarnat...
Around June, Rubik's Cube extraordinaire and chess aficionado Tyson Mao approached me with a fascinating proposal. Together with his friend Jesse Levinson, Tyson was exploring the current state of computer chess engines. It is well establis...
Every chess player has a unique style, his own tendencies and preferences. But one attribute is common to all elite grandmasters: tenacity. Consider Magnus Carlsen's performance at the 2015 Gashimov Memorial. In the first round, Magnus conf...
In 2007, at the Far West Open in Reno, I played the first two grandmasters of my life: Melik Khachiyan and fellow Chess.com columnist Gregory Serper. Khachiyan soundly outplayed me in a King's Indian, but my battle with Gregory was a different ket...
The 1930 San Remo International was a rather one-sided affair. World Champion Alexander Alekhine stormed through the field, winning 13 games and conceding only two draws. Yet this tournament is remembered not for Alekhine's magisterial performance...
Let us begin with a small challenge. Take a look at the following diagram: It is the starting position, stripped of all pieces except kings. If you managed to examine it without a yawn, eye roll, or grimace, you have passed the test . ...
Every serious chess player dreams of creating his own Mona Lisa — a game so beautiful and memorable that he will look back on it for the rest of his career. Unfortunately, many players tend to equate the word brilliancy with fou...
As beginners, we are taught a litany of strategic precepts that inform our thought process and shape our general understanding. "Occupy the center," "knights before bishops," "the rook's place is behind the passed pawn" — all of thes...
To me, the term king hunt invariably conjures up an image of a bygone era, when chess was played over coffee and cigars at the Café de la Régence. With defensive tenacity largely considered a hindrance to the game's beauty, spec...
Zugzwang in chess seems like a simple concept: being forced to move even when it's disadvantageous. To me, zugzwang is the saudade of chess; a straightforward idea on the surface, but a profound and fascinating concept on the in...
The study of theoretical endgames is a necessary evil. For most players, it is a rather torturous experience simply because there is no room for innovation or creativity. However, as any strong gandmaster will tell you, there are several th...
"A queen sacrifice, even when fairly obvious, always rejoices the heart of the chess-lover." -- Savielly Tartakower (1887-1956). Even the most technical, positional-minded player cannot dispute the accuracy of Tartakower's remark. No matter...
Last week, we dissected Magnus Carlsen's positional mastery by examining two of his finest strategic victories. However, modern chess demands universality, and it is impossible to become world champion and attain the highest rating in history thro...
At the recently concluded Grenke Chess Classic in Baden-Baden, Magnus Carlsen defeated German grandmaster Arkady Naiditsch in a scintillating blitz playoff for first place. It was the latest success in a dazzling career, an encore to his resoundin...
