Latest Posts - Page 131
About 8.6% of the world’s population or roughly 700 million people play chess.
Majority of these players will never reach even 1000 rating level which is considered to be a beginner’s strength.
Why is that the case? How to change it?Most people are not good at chess because they:
In the following position Black played 1…Bd6. He had other aggressive continuations
like 1…Nf3+ followed by…Rxh2+. Would they have been preferable to the game continuation?
Answer: No. Other moves are not preferable to 1…Bd6!.
It’s still the best move in this position, combining attack and defence.
Reader John Ngangi’s move 1…Ba3!? leads to fascinating play on both sides, and only the final position is favorable to White. Nevertheless, the idea deserves mention.
The other move 1…Nf6+ followed by …Rxh2+? has a fatal flaw that is refuted in the end.
Solution:
Note: The position arose in the game Kasparov-Tal 1983 and the game can be found here.
We all love the game of chess. Some love it because of its infinite possibilities that even computers cannot calculate. Some love it because of its very competitive nature. Some love it because most of the games are decided by skill and not by luck.
Regardless of that ‘why‘ these are the 11 mistakes you don’t want to make in your chess.
Chessbibliophile offers the second instalment of the report on ACP Cup, Riga.
The first instalment is here for those who missed. -Ed.
Every chess master was once a beginner. Even the great ones like Kasparov, Anand, Carlsen and Kramnik knew less about chess at one point of their career than you may know now.
With experience you look back at the ‘old days’ when you first start playing chess and think with irony, I wish I knew that earlier! Why no one told me that before? My results would have been better, much better. This article is for those who just starting out playing chess and want to avoid mistakes many players make.
This day, 9th November happens be the birth anniversary of Misha Tal.
Few players in chess history have been loved and adored as much as this charismatic figure. Our columnist pays a tribute to the wizard of Riga recalling a rare encounter that is sure to be called one of the greatest games ever played.
Genius meets genius and the annotations are out of the world. Enjoy!-Ed.
Many of the chess players want to improve their chess playing skills for whatever reason. Some players just don’t like losing in general, at anything. They see improvement at chess as a way to avoid this big disappointment. Some players want to win tournaments to get trophies. In order to increase the probability of the success, they see training as a necessary stepping stone. Others want to achieve a FIDE norm (FM, IM, GM, WGM, etc.).
I have decided to do a little research and to compile a list of the biggest blunders made by top chess players in the world for last 20 or so years.
If you think that 2700 – 2800 rated players and the World Chess Champions don’t blunder at all, or if their blunders require a microscope (aka Houdini) to be spotted you definitely need to read this!
In the current column on ChessPublishing.com Chessbibliophile draws to your attention to Carlsen’s last theoretical battles weeks before the World Championship Match.
Don’t miss the videos at the end of the article-Ed.
Here is the list of quotes by number 1 ranked chess player in the world – Magnus Carlsen. Not many chess players have the ability to become a grandmaster. Not many grandmasters cross the 2700 line. Only a few of those who do, achieve the 2800 rating.
But this guy is very special, not only he became a grandmaster at a very young age and was dominating the FIDE rating list for almost 2 years now, he also broke the ‘highest rating ever’ record of 2856 (held by Kasparov) with a new 2878.
It takes little extra something to achieve that much, so I feel he’s definitely worth listening to.
