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”
Tag Archives: Francisco chess
Francisco Friday for 5/6/2022
Attacking maestro Francisco Anchondo had the black pieces in the chess game below. As for white, “Le fue como a los perros en misa.” [Event “Casual Blitz game”] [Date “2022.03.02”] [White “Anonymous”] [Black “Francisco Anchondo”] [Result “0-1”] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 f5 4.d3 Nf6 5.Qc2 Bc5 6.Be2 Bb6 7.Na3 a6 8.b4 d6 9.Bb2 f4Continue reading “Francisco Friday for 5/6/2022”
Francisco Friday for 4/29/22
His name is Francisco Anchondo. If you sit at his chessboard, prepare to be checkmated! [Event “Casual Blitz game”] [Date “2022.02.28”] [White “Anonymous”] [Black “Francisco Anchondo”] [Result “0-1”] 1.e4 e5 2.d3 Bc5 3.Be2 d6 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.h3 f5 6.exf5 Bxf5 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Bg5 O-O 9.O-O Qd7 10.Nh2 Nd4 11.Bxf6 Rxf6 12.Bg4 Rg6 13.Ne4 Bb6 14.Ng3Continue reading “Francisco Friday for 4/29/22”
Francisco Friday for 4/22/22
There’s not a lot of crossover between groups of chess and boxing aficionados despite the two activities sharing many similarities. For example, watching white’s queen movement at the end of this game brings to mind the famous Muhammad Ali quote, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Also, perhaps the best way to describeContinue reading “Francisco Friday for 4/22/22”
Francisco Friday for 4/15/22
Francisco Anchondo has spent decades building his reputation as one of the East Bay’s most dangerous chess players. Oftentimes, Francisco is at the chessboard for one reason, and that is to deliver checkmate. Sit beside him long enough and you will learn the art of checkmating. [Event “Casual Blitz game”] [Date “2020.06.04”] [White “Francisco Anchondo”]Continue reading “Francisco Friday for 4/15/22”
Francisco Friday for 4/08/22
Even after the Queens leave the board, you still need to analyze all of the checks, captures and threats. In today’s episode of Francisco Friday, White castles as soon as possible but fails to see a check at Black’s disposal. San Francisco Bay Area chess coach Francisco Anchondo punishes this inaccuracy with a beautiful gameContinue reading “Francisco Friday for 4/08/22”
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”
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”