This is a brilliant miniature that I saw recently. Planinc unleashes a bold combination on his nineteenth move by leaving a rook en prise to start an attack on Vaganian's king. A neat quiet move follows two moves later, and white is forced to resi...
This is a really cool game. White develops a deep plan towards the end of the opening and on the 27th move, sacrifices the exchange to start a neat 15-move combination. A neat knight sacrifice enables a pawn to move forward, which eventually wins ...
Every chess player should aim to create a masterpiece when playing a game. The next example was played between two GMs: GM Serper, G - GM NIkolaidis, I- in 1993. This amazing game shows the beauty of combinations in chess. GM Serper sacrificed ...
by IM Daniel Rensch To start this "post game review" off right, I would first like to say that I had a lot of fun broadcasting this match, G-Star Raw's World Chess Challenge, Magnus Carlsen vs the World, for all of you here on Chess.com/TV! Ever...
In modern chess it's now wellknown that being an exchange up or down is not that much! Topalov's tendency to sacrifice a rook for a bishop some years ago contributed to that, among other things. Of course you need something in compensations, it co...
There have been a few challenge matches in the past that test the solitary genius of one exceptional person against the wisdom of the masses. In these "World v. X" matches, "The World" always comes upon its move by voting: every individual who wis...
There have been a few challenge matches in the past that test the solitary genius of one exceptional person against the wisdom of the masses. In these "World v. X" matches, "The World" always comes upon its move by voting: every individual who wis...
Sacrifices on empty squares are not as common as other kinds of sacrifices, but they can be just as deadly. Take this game, for example. Kalegin, playing white, decides to sacrifice a rook on the 20th move on an empty square. After it is captur...
The late great chess player Reuben Fine wrote: “Drawn games are usually looked down upon by the chess public. The common attitude is that if anything is worthwhile it must have resulted in a clear-cut decision. This point of view compels editors t...
This is a truly remarkable game. It starts off normally until Nezhmetdinov sacrifices his queen on the 12th(!) move for just two pieces. He then proceeds to build up an attack that his opponent is helpless to prevent. Eventually, Nezhmetdinov cras...
Here's a lovely game by Tartakower, in which he unleashes a long and pretty combination. His opponent snatches an unprotected pawn midway through the game and is quickly attacked. However, it looks as if he will be able to weather the storm, when ...
Here's a remarkable game that I came across recently. The players are largely unknown, and Karmov, playing black, unleashes a neat combination in the opening that leaves his queen hanging for several moves. Musaiev puts up a resourceful defense, ...
To reach the current evolution of chess knowledge, chess like science, art and sport, has absorbed the best of the most outstanding and gifted players, as well as many other not so famous but who contributed with many ideas that after have bee...
While everyone is following closely the exciting WC match between Anand and Topalov, I still have to pay my dues and share with you my analysis of the Pogonina vs Chess.com game. The first part of the article included a story about the game, some ...
Before I get into today's column, I'd like once again to thank Grandmaster Bhat for his excellent contributions to this site for over a year. His articles have been uniformly excellent, and he took the time to come up with thought-provoking questi...
Last week, I shared my best game from Seville. This time, I'll move on to my second tournament of the trip in Gibraltar (the GibTelecom Masters) and show my best game from there. After a win in the first round, I had drawn my next 3 games against...
Pogonina vs the World match took place from December 24, 2009 to March 28, 2010. During these three months a few thousand chess players from over 100 countries have been competing against top female grandmaster Natalia Pogonina. Among those who ha...
Here is yet another exciting game where the players castle on opposite sides. Both quickly begin an attack, starting with some sharp pawn thrusts. For a while, the situation looks unclear, but killer queen sacrifice and some pretty back-rank play ...
This game is a very nice creative achievement by Kasparov. The opening played leads to a wide-open position, and both players race to see who can get to the opposing king first. Though at first it looks as if Ivanchuck has defended well enough...
Rudolf Charousek (September 19, 1873, Prague – April 18, 1900, Budapest) was a Hungarian chess player. He had a tragically short career, and he was once called by Reuben Fine the John Keats of chess. A brilliant player and a tremendous talent,...
The Yugoslav attack in Sicilian dragon is one of the sharpest lines in chess. The starting position (tabiya) is this one: Normally white goes here for a sharp kingside attack,- often in the h-file -, and black counters at the queenside. Oft...
How should you play when you face an opponent who is hundreds of points higher rated than you are and has a wealth of experience? Should you play your regular opening or choose something tricky that might catch the opponent in a trap? Should you g...
Sacrifices of the major pieces used to be fairly common among top chess players, but nowadays are rarely seen when top grandmasters square off. However, in the game that follows, Nigel Short sacrifices his queen...after a mere seven moves have ...
Now that Hikaru Nakamura is our leading player let's take a look at his first victory over a GM, played back in 1998 when Hikaru was just 10 years old.
