The holiday season can be a little daunting, whether it’s due to the commotion of shopping, hosting get-togethers or traveling. Rather than adding to this extra stress with the high intensity of online bullet chess, I recommend enjoying the slower pace of chess puzzles. Why not fill a mug with your favorite hot beverage, cozyContinueContinue reading “Betcha Can’t Solve This #Chess Puzzle! 71”
Tag Archives: chess
Winning Chess Moves: Vokhidov vs. Wojtaszek, 2022
The FIDE World Team Championship for 2022 consisted of 12 nation teams and included many illustrious players who are recurring stars on the Daily Chess Musings blog including Anish Giri, Vasyl Ivanchuk, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Teymur Radjabov, Nihal Sarin, and Alexei Shirov. However, the best finishing move of the event did not occur inContinueContinue reading “Winning Chess Moves: Vokhidov vs. Wojtaszek, 2022”
Viewer Requests: Position of the Week 1
8/8/k7/4PP1p/3pK2P/2b5/8/8 w – – 0 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. https://youtu.be/qkYlNjVWD1o
So I was just playing a game of #chess and then this happened! 48
Position after just five moves. Last night I Played a 5 move miniature with the black pieces that would fit nicely into Irving Chernev’s 1000 Best Short Games of Chess. Enjoy… 1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7 4.c4 Nxe5 5.g3 Nxf3#
One Year Later… Carlsen-Nepo Game Six
Today marks the first anniversary of Magnus Carlsen’s incredible Game 6 victory over Ian Nepomniachtchi during the 2021 World Chess Championship Match. As you may recall, the first five games of the Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi were drawn. Their sixth game, however, was an epic battle where both players took risks for a decisive result. Magnus Carlsen’s talentContinueContinue reading “One Year Later… Carlsen-Nepo Game Six”
Puzzle Worthy Position 44
Since it’s inception in 2018, the Tata Steel Chess India tournament has invited five of the most talented Indian Grandmasters to compete in their home country against an equal number of top international competitors. The annual event features the strongest rapid and blitz chess on the subcontinent. For 2022, the Tata Steel Chess India eventContinueContinue reading “Puzzle Worthy Position 44”
Winning Chess Moves: Caruana vs. Lenderman, 2018
The 2018 US Championship was an action packed event. The San Francisco Bay Area’s own Grandmaster Sam Shankland stole the spotlight by taking first place over such pre-tournament favorites such as Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura. Norcal chess enthusiasts weren’t exactly shocked by GM Shankland’s championship run as we have long since grownContinueContinue reading “Winning Chess Moves: Caruana vs. Lenderman, 2018”
CalChess Journal Fall 2022
The Fall 2022 issue of the CalChess Journal is a whopping 33 pages filled with California chess news, Bay Area chess results and annotated games from NorCal chess players.
Puzzle Worthy Position 43
Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman. Today’s puzzle worthy position comes from one of the many great battles between GM Anatoly Karpov and GM Jan Timman. Both chess geniuses were born in 1951 and their chessboard rivalry stretched for a half century from 1967 until 2016. Karpov had a winning record against his Dutch contemporary withContinueContinue reading “Puzzle Worthy Position 43”
Betcha Can’t Solve This #Chess Puzzle! 70
Today’s puzzle of interest is a mate in 2 with many carefully placed ingredients. I was struck by this chess problem’s modern design and surprised by the fact that it was composed over a century ago in 1920. Not only is this chess puzzle a beautiful reminder of how much is possible on the chessboardContinueContinue reading “Betcha Can’t Solve This #Chess Puzzle! 70”
Puzzle Worthy Position 42
The action at the Chess Bundesliga is always worth checking out! A recent Bundesliga game between GM David Navara and GM Luke McShane reached a most remarkable position before concluding. In the position below, black (McShane) has just moved his pawn to b2 on his 34th move. GM David Navara (white) responds to the promotionContinueContinue reading “Puzzle Worthy Position 42”
Halloween Blitz Chess Extravaganza 2022
October 29, 2022 – The first night of the Extravaganza! https://youtu.be/r1V6BLJEl9Q October 30, 2022 – Night two of the Extravaganza! https://youtu.be/-Xu6WzjOXAA Winners We will message you on Chess.com for your address so you can receive your prize! MahatAr113Tylman119chuppecat125Sophiafeifei0190ThunderingKavin204 Participants Tylman100KrishMathimaran101luckylol3102Sophiafeifei0103Kowarenai104AshwinMathimaran105SmartField106NeevSuperChess107KrishMathimaran108Sophiafeifei0109chuppecat110KrishMathimaran111Sophiafeifei0112MahatAr113luckylol3114MahatAr115chuppecat116luckylol3117KrishMathimaran118Tylman119np2015120chuppecat121luckylol3122np2015123lohithpa124chuppecat125EiffelTower8894126crosserbishop127Sophiafeifei0128AshwinMathimaran129NeevSuperChess130Kowarenai131Kowarenai132Sophiafeifei0133lohithpa134Kowarenai135np2015136Kowarenai137AshwinMathimaran138Kowarenai139SmartField140luckylol3141EiffelTower8894142Kowarenai143Tylman144MahatAr145chuppecat146KrishMathimaran147KrishMathimaran148SmartField149AshwinMathimaran150SmartField151Tylman152crosserbishop153SmartField154Poochi1155jrs_ns156Kunj_1157Poochi1158batelab159SmartField160stesan60161Kunj_1162Sophiafeifei0163RohanFeb164Poochi1165DarkSoul200166luckylol3167luckylol3168B_BABY_YODA_A169batelab170ChessMasterGS171B_BABY_YODA_A172Kowarenai173Sophiafeifei0174ChessMasterGS175SmartField176RohanFeb177justelliott61970178batelab179ChessMasterGS180Kunj_1181EiffelTower8894182ThunderingKavin183SmartField184ThunderingKavin185justelliott61970186B_BABY_YODA_A187Sophiafeifei0188Poochi1189Sophiafeifei0190AFX2012191DarkSoul200192RohanFeb193Kowarenai194Kowarenai195SmartField196ThunderingKavin197stesan60198Kunj_1199Kunj_1200Kowarenai201jrs_ns202B_BABY_YODA_A203ThunderingKavin204EiffelTower8894205B_BABY_YODA_A206ChessMasterGS207DarkSoul200208ChessMasterGS209AFX2012210SmartField211DarkSoul200212RohanFeb213Poochi1214ChessMasterGS215justelliott61970216Kunj_1217DarkSoul200218Kowarenai219luckylol3220
Puzzle Worthy Position 41
At just 19 years of age, FM Ekaterina Goltseva has made quite a name for herself by twice tying for first place at the European Youth Championships and also winning the silver medal at 2017 Russian Youth Chess Championship. Today’s Puzzle Worthy Position comes from the seventh round victory by Fide Master Ekaterina Goltseva overContinueContinue reading “Puzzle Worthy Position 41”
Plenty of Real Chess Drama at the Real Bay Area Championship
Chess players from around the San Francisco Bay Area showed up to battle for a share of the $10,000 prize fund at The Real Bay Area Championship this weekend in Milpitas, California. I took a break from analyzing games to capture photographs of the over-the-board chess drama. Look for a full report on this excitingContinueContinue reading “Plenty of Real Chess Drama at the Real Bay Area Championship “
Say Gay Chess Day 2022
I was honored to be employed as the Chief Tournament Director for The Eade Foundation’s Say Gay Chess Day chess tournament. It was especially fitting that James Eade formally welcomed the gay community into the chess community in a place that has such a storied chess history as The Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco. InContinueContinue reading “Say Gay Chess Day 2022”
Winning Chess Moves: Karpov vs. Mickiewicz, 1997
Former World Champion Anatoly Karpov is an incredible chess player who dominated the international chess scene for a decade beginning in the mid-seventies. Anatoly wasn’t the flashiest World Champion but his games are very approachable and I often recommend that fans of Capablanca also study the games of Karpov. For today’s Winning Chess Move puzzle,ContinueContinue reading “Winning Chess Moves: Karpov vs. Mickiewicz, 1997”
Puzzle Worthy Position 40
Today’s puzzle worthy position comes from the 1985 Baden-Baden Chess Tournament. 1985 was a strong edition of this historic tournament featuring many prominent chess players including Susan Polgar, Efim Geller and Ludek Pachman. However, our puzzle worthy tactic comes from a winning combination played by Robb Witt. FM Robb Witt of the Netherlands sadly passedContinueContinue reading “Puzzle Worthy Position 40”
Don’t Miss the 17th Susan Polgar Foundation’s National Open for Girls and Boys
If you are a chess parent who lives or can travel to Bellevue, Washington, consider taking your child/teen to the 17th annual Susan Polgar Foundation’s National Open for Girls and Boys. The SPFNO, which will take place on October 22-23, is one of the most prestigious scholastic chess tournaments in the United States and theContinueContinue reading “Don’t Miss the 17th Susan Polgar Foundation’s National Open for Girls and Boys”
Betcha Can’t Solve This #Chess Puzzle! 69
My Facebook friend Michael Pasman recently became a World Champion. More specifically, Michael won first place and thus the gold medal for the Studies category in the 10th FIDE World Cup in Composing. Michael Pasman is well known in the chess puzzle community for his compositional knowledge, creativity and his high output of outstanding studies.ContinueContinue reading “Betcha Can’t Solve This #Chess Puzzle! 69”
The CalChess Journal Spring/Summer 2022
The CalChess Journal is the official news magazine for Northern California chess. In the Spring/Summer issue you can read about the most important California chess events of the last several months and see the games of Norcal chess’ top players. Special thanks to Bay Area Chess, The Berkeley Chess School, The Eade Foundation, Mission 360,ContinueContinue reading “The CalChess Journal Spring/Summer 2022”