Members enjoy access to all archived content, including thousands of PDFs and hundreds of Ebooks – all free! To join: make a $25 (or more) tax deductible donation to ChessEdu.org and we will send your log in details for one-year access. (It may take up to 72 hours to receive your log in.) In Trial by Tactics you are shown the position just before the tactic occurs and then asked to visualize the winning sequence. Thereby emulating a real game scenario. We intersperse these puzzles with endgame studies and chess problems to explore the broad spectrum of chess creativity. We recommend using Trial by Tactics in conjunction with the ChessEdu.org curriculum. A new puzzle is posted … [Read more...]
Defending an Inferior Ending
Russian IM Mark Dvoretsky is one the most respected chess trainers in the world today. In his April 2015 column he presents the fourth of a six-part series dealing with positions in which Black opens the g-file after a trade of minor pieces. A new column is posted the second Tuesday of each month. Defending an Inferior Ending By Mark Dvoretsky Dvoretsky - Moiseev Moscow Championship 1973 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.0-0 Nf6 6.e5 de 7.Nxe5 Qd8?! (7...Qc8) 8.Nc3 Nbd7 9.d4 e6 10.Bg5 Be7 (10...cd!? 11.Qxd4+/=) 11.Nxd7 Qxd7 (11...Nxd7?! 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.d5+/=) 12.dc Qxd1 It's harder for Black to defend if he keeps the queens on: 12...Bxc5 13.Bxf6 gf? … [Read more...]
At the Crossroads
by Mark Dvoretsky In a very old classic game, after all of thirty rather boring moves, an interesting position arose, which shall become the subject of our discussion. Fine – Shainswit U.S. Championship, New York 1944 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. d4 d5 4. Nc3 dc 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Qc7 8. g3 e5 9. de Nxe5 10. Bf4 Nfd7 11. Bg2 Be7?! To cite Garry Kasparov in My Great Predecessors, Part 2: “Later on, players would prefer 11...f6 12. 0-0 Rd8, or 11...Rd8 12. Qc1 f6. 11...g5!? is the fashion these days.” 12. 0-0 Be6 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. a5 14. Qc2! Rd8 (14...Qa5 15.Nb5; 14...0-0 15. Nb5 Qb8 16. Nd4) 15. Rfd1 0-0 16. Nb5 is probably stronger, as was played in the 1st game of … [Read more...]