Chess Mazes #383 There are two types of chess mazes: checking and mating. For bishop, rook, and knight mazes the play is to check the black king. For queen, pawn, and king mazes the object is to checkmate the enemy king; here checks are not allowed. The rules in common for each type of maze are as follows: Black never moves. Only the maze piece (in the case of pawns – the maze units) may move. A maze piece may never move to a square where it can be captured by enemy forces. A maze piece may capture undefended enemy forces. Plus we look for the shortest solution. Helpers in queen and king mazes are frozen to the diagram position, unable to move or be removed. In pawn mazes p … [Read more...]
Sicilian Taimanov [B48]
Sicilian Taimanov [B48] By Abby Marshall 1.e4 For the springtime I am covering a main line in the Open Sicilian. I usually try to avoid covering heavy theoretical stuff because to know these lines you have to cover more than the basics, but this is a relevant line that is still unexplored enough so that knowing the ideas is more valuable than covering all the finer points. 1...c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Black can still go in various directions from here, such as the 5...d6 Scheveningen or 5...Nf6. Here we are looking at the Taimanov variation. 5...a6 In the line we're looking at Black can also play 5...Qc7 first. 6.Be3 White prepares queenside … [Read more...]
The French the Easy Way
The French the Easy Way An easy way to play the French is revealed. Martin Brown from Wales commented via e-mail, "I play the French but no longer like the opening. My problem is that after 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Be7 6 Bxf6+ gxf6 the positions are not to my liking; but the truth is that I do not know many book moves. I thought about 6...Bxf6 or even 4...Bb4. What do you think?" I think that 4...Bb4 is a good option but needs a lot of study. Therefore, until you have the time and patience the more practical option is 6...Bxf6. I can think of some inspiring games that might be of help: Robin Van Kampen-Sam Shankland Wijk aan Zee (B group) 2015 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 … [Read more...]
A Happy End For Both Players
This month we present a lightly edited excerpt from the Chess Evolution Newsletter #159. Top GM Secrets is released every Friday of the week. The newsletter contains twenty-plus pages of great chess material written by top grandmasters Arkadij Naiditsch and Csaba Balogh, along with theoretical articles by GM Alexander Khalifman, puzzles, endgames, and more. A Happy End For Both Players By Arkadij Naiditsch Bartel,Mateusz (2631) - Nepomniachtchi,Ian (2714) 16th ch-EUR Indiv 2015 Jerusalem ISR (11.3), 08.03.2015 Sicilian Moscow Variation [B51] We are in the last round of the ECC and both players are on a score of +4, which is enough to qualify for the World Cup, but knowing Bartel … [Read more...]
Queenfest IV: Breaking Free
Queenfest IV: Breaking Free By Jeff Coakley Continuing from past columns, we present several new puzzles involving multiple queens. The task is to arrange the queens on the board to achieve certain goals. For the first puzzle, an ‘edge square’ is defined as any square along the side of the board (a- or h-file, 1st or 8th rank). Queenfest #11(four queens) Place four queens on the board so that … 11a. all edge squares are attacked except the four corners. 11b. the most edge squares are attacked, without placing any queen on the edge. 11c. all squares on both long diagonals are attacked, without placing any queen on a long diagonal. Earlier Queenfests can be found in the … [Read more...]
Some Reflections From My Experiences
Some Reflections From My Experiences This is Chronicle no. 56. I initially thought this marked the five-year anniversary of the column, but that is not the case. Anyway, I had already made up my mind what to write for this occasion, so you get it a bit early. During these (almost) five years I have tried many openings in more than 350 games and achieved plenty of experience. Therefore, I have assembled my top pieces of advice for you from this period: 1) Chess engines can be divided into two groups: fast and slower. In the first group we have Houdini, Fritz, and others. In the slower group we have Hiarcs, Rybka, and others. Engines in these groups function differently. Fast engines … [Read more...]
Chess and the Start of the American Civil War
Chess, the New York Clipper, and the Start of the American Civil War: April 1861 By John S. Hilbert With its April 13, 1861, issue the New York Clipper, a weekly sporting and theater magazine owned and edited by Frank Queen, announced the close of its eighth year. Begun in 1853 as a four page spread devoted to a variety of entertainment, the Clipper was not modest. Queen's editorial that week prided itself on denouncing the "sport" of dog fighting, for instance, because it had become "but a pretext for the basest swindling, for law breaking; for the grossest demoralization of the man and cruelty to the brute." The Clipper would no longer report the disgraceful doings of men who set … [Read more...]
Let’s Get Critical
Let's Get Critical By Bruce Pandolfini Some say "key squares," others say "critical squares." You say "to-may-toe," I say "to-mah-toe," let's call the whole thing off. If we do, I have a feeling it won't impact George and Ira Gershwin very much, but it could give me an out. That way, I might be able to avoid doing this month's column. Only kidding. Okay, now that we've started with a bit of humor, we can actually talk about the ten examples that follow. They all reflect simple positions in which the black king has to get to a critical square in order to force a win. As with all critical square situations, the defending king in each of these positions doesn't have to occupy a critical … [Read more...]
Anatomy of a Disaster
Inside Chess, 1992/9 Anatomy of a Disaster By Yasser Seirawan Since winning the US Championship, Gata Kamsky's chess career seems to be heading straight up. I was anxious to cross swords with him at Belgrade. In this, Anatomy of a Disaster Part II, you'll see that when it rains, it pours. Seirawan,Yasser (2615) - Kamsky,Gata (2595) Belgrade Investbank, 1991 Symmetrical English [A34] 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Qxd1+ 7.Kxd1 Bg4? A bad mistake. Since Black doesn't want to trade this Bishop, it's better left at home. On g4 it's a target. 8.Kc2 Nc6 9.Be3 e6 10.Bb5 Surprisingly, the position is already a technical win. Since a doubling of … [Read more...]
Rook and Knight Pairs
Rook and Knight Pairs By Jeff Coakley This column presents seven puzzles of various types, all involving rooks and knights. The grand finale is a very challenging “eight pair loop”. 1. Triple Loyd 43 Place the black king on the board so that: A. Black is in checkmate. B. Black is in stalemate. C. White has mate in one. 2. Inverted Loyd 16 Add two white rooks and two white knights so that White has mate in one. 3. Inverted Loyd 17 Add two white rooks and two white knights so that White has mate in one. 4. Construction Task 08 Construct a position with a white king, two rooks, and two knights against a lone black king so that White has the most … [Read more...]
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