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”]ContinueContinue 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 canContinueContinue reading “Francisco Friday for 6/3/2022”

Chess Position Worth Sharing 146!

“Capablanca’s phenomenal move-searching algorithm in those early years, when he possessed a wonderful ability for calculating variations very rapidly, made him invincible.” – Mikhail Botvinnik White to move mate in 3 (Jose Raul Capablanca vs Abraham Friedman, Simultaneous Exhibition in Cuernavaca, Mexico 5/1/1933.)

Puzzle Worthy Position 36

Today’s puzzle worthy position comes from the exciting Round 3 chess game between IM Roberto Carlos Sanchez Alvarez and GM Jorge Cori played in Mexico City at the Iberoamericano chess tournament on 2/13/2022. In the position below Grandmaster Cori (black) has just played 22… Qa5. What brilliant move did IM Roberto Carlos Sanchez Alvarez (white)ContinueContinue reading “Puzzle Worthy Position 36”

Chess Position Worth Sharing 138

Tonight’s chess position comes from a game played by a talented student. Avik (black) found himself in a difficult situation where his opponent was threatening checkmate with Qh8 and also threatening to capture his queen with Rxa4. Avik, who goes by crosserbishop on chess.com, analyzed all of his checks, captures and threats and went onContinueContinue reading “Chess Position Worth Sharing 138”

Winning Chess Moves: Mieses vs Von Bardeleben, 1905

Curt Carl Alfred von Bardeleben Curt von Bardeleben was a most interesting chess personality and managed to lose in some of the most beautiful ways possible. Of course, many students of chess are quite familiar with the triumph Wilhelm Steinitz played over Curt Carl Alfred von Bardeleben at Hastings in 1895, but also of noteContinueContinue reading “Winning Chess Moves: Mieses vs Von Bardeleben, 1905”

Winning Chess Moves: Bronstein vs Geller, 1961

There have been many great chess players over the years, but only a small percentage of them manage to captivate the public imagination and receive considerable mainstream attention at any given time. David Bronstein never became a world champion, but there’s no denying that at the height of his career, he frequently captivated imaginations whileContinueContinue reading “Winning Chess Moves: Bronstein vs Geller, 1961”

So I was just playing a game of #chess and then this happened! 41

Here’s a fun tactic from a training game I played against a student last Wednesday. What is white’s winning idea?