Breaking through a castled king’s defenses is an important skill and one we can improve by studying illustrative examples. GM Vadim Zvjaginsev played a beautiful mating combination against a castled king during the second round of the 2022 Dvoretsky Memorial chess tournament. In the position below, IM Aleksey Grebnev (black) has just played 42… Nc6Continue reading “Watch and Learn Chess”
Category Archives: Online Chess Lessons
Birthday Simul 2022 + Special Emory Tate Chess Lesson
As is my annual tradition, I took an opportunity to play several young chess players in a simultaneous exhibition to celebrate my birthday. This year’s Birthday Simul took place on December 20th (not December 18th) so as not to conflict with The Calchess Grade Level Championships which took place on my actual birthday. The eventContinue reading “Birthday Simul 2022 + Special Emory Tate Chess Lesson”
Viewer Requests: Position of the Week 2
This week’s submission comes from a student in Fremont California and deals with the age old question of which is better, a queen or two rooks. Generally a queen is stronger against uncoordinated rooks and especially so with pawns on both sides of the board. However, in our feature position, black’s rooks are already workingContinue reading “Viewer Requests: Position of the Week 2”
Viewer Requests: Position of the Week 1
Chess Dad & Coach Arun from Fremont California asked me to break this complex endgame down for his students. Watch below to see how this position plays out.
Best Educational Chess Lesson
Awarded by Chess Journalist of America I am deeply honored and humbled to have been selected to receive the Chess Journalists of America’s Best Educational Lesson award. It was especially meaningful to receive this award for A Night at the Opera. The very first time I showed this game to a class, I put aContinue reading “Best Educational Chess Lesson”
Francisco Friday for 7/1/2022
German chess master Alexander Fritz (1857–1932) suggested 5…Nd4 in the Italian: Two Knights Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nd4) to Carl Schlechter who publicized the line in a 1904 issue of Deutsche Schachzeitung. Sixty years later, the Fritz Variation famously re-emerged during Bobby Fischer’s crushing loss to Robert Eugene BurgerContinue reading “Francisco Friday for 7/1/2022”
Puzzle Worthy Position 38
This puzzle worthy position has long been one of my favorite instructive combinations to use as a part of beginner classes on checkmating. The player with the white pieces is none other than the fifth World Champion Max Euwe but our feature position occurs twelve years before Max famously defeated Alexander Alekhine in a closeContinue reading “Puzzle Worthy Position 38”
The Free Online Summer Chess Camp Starts Tomorrow!
See you tomorrow (June 13) at 9:00 am Pacific on The Daily Chess Musings Twitch Channel … for the start of The June 2022 edition of The Free Online Summer Chess Camp!
Francisco Friday for 6/10/2022
When it comes to attacking in chess, the stronger, the faster and the more difficult to deal with, the better. In today’s game, attacking maestro Francisco Anchondo uses a well conducted early pawn storm to penetrate his opponent’s defenses with brute force. [Event “Casual Blitz game”] [Date “2022.03.12”] [White “Anonymous”] [Black “Francisco Anchondo”] [Result “0-1”]Continue reading “Francisco Friday for 6/10/2022”
Francisco Friday for 6/3/2022
Popular with beginners who strictly follow the time honored opening principles they have been taught, The Four Knights Opening has a reputation of leading to a rather dull positional game. However, Francisco Anchondo makes a habit of taking an opening with a dull reputation and running it through a metaphoric knife sharpener until it canContinue reading “Francisco Friday for 6/3/2022”
Francisco Friday for 5/20/2022
First debuted by Adolf Albin against Emanuel Lasker in 1893, the Albin Counter Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5) is a good surprise weapon for attacking chess players who seek to take a Queen’s Gambit player out of their prep. Decades ago, Francisco Anchondo taught a masterclass in the San Francisco Bay Area on this hyperContinue reading “Francisco Friday for 5/20/2022”
Winning Chess Moves: Palatnik vs. Geller, 1980
Ukraine has long been a source of great chess and great chess players. As such, many famous chess games have been an all Ukrainian affair. Tonight’s winning chess move comes from one such game. Ukrainian-American chess Grandmaster Sam Palatnik played a beautiful winning move over fellow Odessa native Grandmaster Efim Geller at the URS TeamContinue reading “Winning Chess Moves: Palatnik vs. Geller, 1980”
Francisco Friday for 5/13/2022
Long established San Francisco Bay Area chess instructor Francisco Anchondo turns the tables on the Fried Liver Attack by using the good old Traxler Variation. [Event “Casual Blitz game”] [Date “2022.03.04”] [White “Anonymous”] [Black “Francisco Anchondo”] [Result “0-1”] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kf1 Qe7 7.Nxh8 d5 8.exd5 Nd4 9.c3Continue reading “Francisco Friday for 5/13/2022”
Francisco Friday for 4/01/22
San Francisco Bay Area chess coach Francisco Anchondo demonstrates nicely why dominating the center of a chessboard is an important step toward dominating a game of chess. [Event “Casual Blitz game”] [Date “2022.02.22”] [White “Francisco Anchondo”] [WhiteElo “?”] [Black “Anonymous”] [BlackElo “?”] [Result “1-0”] 1.e4 e6 2.d4 Nc6 3.f4 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Nf3 b6 6.Nc3Continue reading “Francisco Friday for 4/01/22”
Francisco Friday for 3/25/22
In this week’s installment of Francisco Friday, San Francisco Bay Area Chess Coach Francisco Anchondo plays a delightful variation on a Greek Gift theme. Students of the game should take note that sometimes it’s better to play Bxh2+ and then Ng4 while in other positions, such as in today’s game, the inverse order is preferable.Continue reading “Francisco Friday for 3/25/22”
Yes, I Teach Private Chess Lessons
At the Calchess Super States, a few chess parents inquired if I teach private chess lessons. I do coach chess privately and there are two main benefits to taking private chess lessons with me: 1. Your child’s lessons will be customized to accelerate their learning process. 2. Your child will get my one-on-one attention whenContinue reading “Yes, I Teach Private Chess Lessons”
Francisco Friday for 3/18/22
Today I am sharing one of Francisco’s famous tabiyas. In chess a tabiya is a special position reached by fairly standard opening chess moves but that results in a complex starting point requiring a serious investigation. Francisco proudly showed me his homegrown theory on this particular tabiya a decade or so ago and it onceContinue reading “Francisco Friday for 3/18/22”
Francisco Friday for 3/11/22
The “back rank mate” is one of the first checkmating patterns we learn as chess players. In today’s game, Francisco Anchondo plays an exquisite variation on this simple theme that is enjoyable for master and novice alike. [Event “Casual Blitz game”] [Site “?”] [Date “2022.01.24”] [Round “?”] [White “Francisco Anchondo”] [WhiteElo “?”] [Black “n.n.”] [BlackEloContinue reading “Francisco Friday for 3/11/22”
Francisco Friday for 3/4/2022
Those who live in Northern California or are regular readers of this blog know that Francisco Anchondo is an expert of the attack on the chessboard. His tactical expertise regularly creates short masterpieces that are equally as educational as they are fun. So today, I am pleased to begin a weekly series featuring the gamesContinue reading “Francisco Friday for 3/4/2022”
So I was just playing a game of #chess and then this happened! 42
This evening’s position is from a training game I played with a student earlier today. My young opponent just blocked my rook’s check with Bd3 so as to avoid losing his queen on d1. Does this work? Sign up for a private chess lesson with Chris Torres and maybe a position from your game willContinue reading “So I was just playing a game of #chess and then this happened! 42”