Chess is a game that’s played on and off the board. On the board, players have to show their skills, understanding of different positions, pawn structures, tactical motifs, and much more. However, that’s not the only war. Chess is also played at a psychological level; the mindset you enter a game with is of great importance and can influence the course of the game. Emotions play a big part in the game and they can sometimes make us see threats that don’t really exist on the chessboard.
Chess is a fascinating game, full of possibilities.
The two armies – the white and the black one – put up impressive battles.
Some of them are long and full of strategy, where one of them is conquering territory after territory.
Others are pure fire and the chase after the rival monarch starts early in the game.
All this happens on one battlefield – the chessboard.
Ulf Andersson is one of the legends of our game. At his peak, he has reached number 4 on the rating list. He is famous for his great positional style and his strategic masterpieces. He contributed greatly at developing the theory in the Hedgehog line of the Sicilian, with both colors. This is one of the structures he loved to play, bringing many strong and innovative ideas. He has beaten many strong players in it, one of his victims being former World Champion Anatoly Karpov.
What separates a grandmaster from an international master in chess?
It’s his level of positional understanding and ability to formulate an accurate strategy on ANY move, in ANY position, and at ANY time. The process is subtle and subliminal—not much on the outside, rather on the inside.
If you watch a GM commentate on a chess game, it looks as if he is spouting some “common sense” ideas.
BUT… it is not so.
Robert James Fischer, an icon of our sport, is perhaps one of the most studied chess players. He is famous for his universal playing style, excellent endgame technique, and his great contributions to chess in the form of chess writings, new ideas in a number of openings, and a new variant of chess, which is becoming more and more popular today, Fischer Random or 960 chess.
Many chess history experts keep arguing whom to consider the best chess player of all time, but we will try to stay away from it. The aim of this article is different. The idea is to familiarize the readers with the greatest chess players and their best games. That’s why I ranked the best chess players in chronological order, starting from the past. Also, I was considering not only their strength and achievements but also the influence they made on chess overall.
The chess super-tournaments held in a small Dutch town Wijk aan Zee are never boring. The reason lies behind a great composition of the participants. It is a place where the elite players (usually led by the World Champion) face less-known but still dangerous players, sometimes even rated below 2700.
As in any other sport, hard training is always the key to improving your level. If you want to become a better player, you need to get your chessboard out, set the pieces, and start training. A complete training plan should cover all stages of the game, especially the ones you struggle with. Some players prefer aggressive play, others positional.
Anatoly Karpov is one of the greatest chess players of all time. He became the 12th World Champion in 1975 and held this title until 1985. In 1993, he became FIDE World Champion and held this title until 1999. He had won over 160 chess tournaments and was one of the most successful and consistent chess players in the whole history.
Dominating all kinds of competitions, he had won a lot of games in a brilliant positional style. Those masterpieces are highly instructive and everyone who wants to improve at chess should learn them carefully.
Mikhail Tal, the eighth World Chess Champion, is well known for his aggressive and imaginative style of play. His ability to take the game into his territory, his unpredictable style, and the impressive tactical ideas he found in his games brought him the nickname “The magician of Riga”. Most of his games are full of tactics and crazy attacks, but what made him so famous and even feared among fellow chess players are his intuitive sacrifices.
