Tag Archives: chess lesson

#Chess Position Worth Sharing 133

Tonight I finished a long day of teaching chess by presenting an absolutely superb mating combination played by the first World Chess Champion. A brilliant positional player, particularly in his later years, Wilhelm Steinitz rose to prominence in the mid-nineteenth century as a dangerous attacker in the romantic style of chess that had been popularisedContinueContinue reading “#Chess Position Worth Sharing 133”

#Chess Position Worth Sharing 132

In my last post, I challenged the reader to solve a mate in two which required truly understanding basic move possibilities in order to be solved. Returning to puzzles that test our mastery of the basics is a great way to learn how to play the game at a higher level and especially so whenContinueContinue reading “#Chess Position Worth Sharing 132”

#Chess Position Worth Sharing 128

As chess players, we should always be trying to make improvements in our technique. For example, the player playing white in the position below should be able use good technique to win easily. Good technique may be good enough to win this endgame but with perfect technique white can checkmate in just four moves! SoContinueContinue reading “#Chess Position Worth Sharing 128”

#Chess Lesson Worth Sharing: Carlsen vs. Xiangzhi 2017 FIDE World Cup

One of my favorite jazz artists, Charles Mingus once said, “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.” In chess, it is quite common for the more confident player to add complications to the position in order to allow him/her more opportunities to prove superior skill. In general, thisContinueContinue reading “#Chess Lesson Worth Sharing: Carlsen vs. Xiangzhi 2017 FIDE World Cup”

Carlsen vs Anand 2014 World Chess Championship: Game 7 Analysis

The best chess education available comes from attempting to grasp the work of the greatest masters. In game 7 of the 2014 FIDE World Chess Championship Match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand, students of the game are treated to a battle between the great master of maneuvering and the great master of the fortress.ContinueContinue reading “Carlsen vs Anand 2014 World Chess Championship: Game 7 Analysis”

Happy Halloween (Gambit)

There is a unique horror the players with the black pieces feel when the Four Knights Opening takes a dark turn into the Halloween Gambit. As white, remember to make black’s Knights run… Should black do something unexpected, just grin like it is all part of your Halloween fun! Here is an example from oneContinueContinue reading “Happy Halloween (Gambit)”

Attacking Chess: Move by Move

Obviously, the ultimate goal in chess is a checkmate and therefor it stands to reason that good technique for attacking an opponent’s king  is one the most important skills a young chess player should study. However, because understanding the tactics and strategies of attacking is also a necessary skill for a successful defensive chess player,ContinueContinue reading “Attacking Chess: Move by Move”

April’s Chess Combination of the Month

This month’s chess combination comes from a nice win I had over “Flash,” the number two ranked player on VelocityChess.com. Each Month I will select one combination that I played in a real game to examine in detail for the benefit of my students and readers.   When it is your turn, the first thingContinueContinue reading “April’s Chess Combination of the Month”

March’s Chess Combination of the Month

“Chess is 99% tactics” – Richard Teichmann   Richard Teichmann (24 December 1868 – 15 June 1925) was an excellent chess teacher and a powerful chess player from Germany. This month tactical shot is dedicated to him.     Below is the entire game. The answer to the puzzle is in bold font. [Event “Training Game”]ContinueContinue reading “March’s Chess Combination of the Month”

Useful Junk: The Jerome Gambit

Below is another interesting game where I played the Jerome Gambit against my student, Iddo Zohar. The Jerome Gambit is an unsound specialty of mine which I like to categorize as “useful junk.” Iddo Zohar is a very talented junior chess player who you will definitely here more about in future posts.   1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.ContinueContinue reading “Useful Junk: The Jerome Gambit”

How to Beat Houdini at Chess

Below is a game I played against Houdini 3 on FICS. This version of Houdini is 64 bit running on a Intel Quad Core 2.93Ghz with 6Gigs of Ram. This was my first attempt against this program and I think I did pretty well. In fact, I believe that with an improvement or two I could haveContinueContinue reading “How to Beat Houdini at Chess”

Fan Mail

My friend, James S. Welborn, likes to play the Englund Gambit. Here is a game he submitted to me for review where he tried to go “Englund” on his opponent but the game ended up transposing into an English or even a Slav. The Englund Gambit starts with 1 d4 e5. Play normally continues dxe5 Nc6 and the fun begins. InContinueContinue reading “Fan Mail”

A Variation on a Theme by Morphy

Todays lesson examines the Morphy Variation of the Two Knights Defense (Fried Liver Attack.) Adi Kisieu is a talented young chess player from Oakland, California who, in this game, invented an interesting theoretical novelty on move 15 of a very frequently played opening. Unfortunately for his novelty, Adi used unfocused aggression and ended up giving his teacher a niceContinueContinue reading “A Variation on a Theme by Morphy”

1. d4 e5

The game below is a fun example of the dynamic Englund Gambit. While nowhere near being 100% sound, black usually gets excellent attacking chances for the pawn. Enjoy! [Event “Englund Gambit”] [Site “FICS”] [Date “2011.04.27”] [Round “blitz”] [White “kaye”] [Black “chessmusings”] [Result “0-1”] 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Nc6 3. Nf3 Qe7 4. g3 f6ContinueContinue reading “1. d4 e5”

Fremont Chess Camp Miniature

Below is a fun example of the exciting chess played in Fremont, California. [Event “Fremont Summer Chess Camp”] [Site “Mission San Jose Elementary School”] [Date “2010.06.30”] [Round “?”] [White “Zhao, Luke”] [Black “Zhang, Joseph”] [Result “0-1”] [ECO “C57”] [Opening “Two Knights”] [Variation “Fritz Variation, Main Line”] [Comment “An example of the exciting chess played inContinueContinue reading “Fremont Chess Camp Miniature”

Chess in Albany, California

Below is an exciting chess battle between two brothers at the 2010 Albany Chess Summer Camp. [Event “Albany Chess Camp”] [Site “Albany”] [Date “2010.08.11”] [Round “?”] [White “Xu, William Young”] [Black “Xu, Thomas (Taotao)”] [Result “1-0”] [ECO “C55”] [Opening “Two Knights”] [Variation “4.d3 Be7 5.Bb3 O-O”] [Comment “Battle of the Brothers”] 1. e4 {Notes byContinueContinue reading “Chess in Albany, California”

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4

Below is the infamous Blackburne Shilling Gambit.  The name of this variation in the Italian Game is utter nonsense do to the fact that Blackburne never played this line and it is not a gambit because white cannot take the pawn on e5 without losing material. Despite the terrible nomenclature, every student of chess should know this game.  ContinueContinue reading “1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4”

Perfect Game at the National Elementary Chess Championship

Luke Zhao, a first grader from Fremont, played a perfect chess game at the 2010 Bert Lerner National Elementary Chess Championship in Atlanta, Georgia. Below is his game with notes by his chess coach Chris Torres. [Event “Bert Lerner National Elementary Chess Championship”] [Site “Atlanta, Georgia”] [Date “2010.05.08”] [Round “1”] [White “Jha, Kubair”] [Black “Zhao, Luke”] [ResultContinueContinue reading “Perfect Game at the National Elementary Chess Championship”