Finding the right opening can be a lot of hard work and it usually requires deep investigation before you can finally settle for the most suitable one. If you are an attacking player who likes to play the unbalanced position, it might be especially difficult to choose an opening for black. The help of a coach can be of immense help in such situations, but if you are alone on your quest, we are here to help.
Famous chess master Richard Teichmann once said that “chess is 99% tactics”. Some players may disagree about the percentage, but no one would argue that chess tactics are essential. Better tactical vision allows players to see more possibilities, reduce the number of their own blunders, play beautifully, and overall score better.
Attacking chess is a delight to watch and probably every player who watched such a masterpiece wished they could do the same in their games. But everybody is different and each player has their own style. There are players for whom the sense for wild positions comes naturally and they feel like a fish in the water in them and then there are players who feel more comfortable in quiet positions, where strategy and planning are the keywords.
Stalemate is probably the most dramatic way of making a draw in a chess game. It is a common situation when a beginner tries to checkmate with lots of pieces against a lonely king, and then suddenly… stalemate and tears. But actually, this topic is much deeper than that. In this article, we will start with more basic stuff, and next, go to more advanced positions to see how wonderful a stalemate can be.
One of the concepts you’ve certainly heard or come across in your studying is planning. It is something every coach teaches their pupils right from the start, albeit with different words. Each move has to have an idea is something each of us has heard before. And while the level of difficulty of this idea will change with our chess understanding, this is still the essence of the word “plan”.
Chess Gambit is an opening where one side sacrifices material, hoping to achieve an advantageous resulting position. In most cases, in exchange for the material that side gets better development, weakens the opponent’s king, or opens some lines for an attack. If we compare chess gambits with life, it is like trying to prove mind over matter, trying to reject the philosophy of materialism. This is why there are so many fans of chess gambits all over the world. Besides being a truly romantic approach, it brings more fun into the game.
The Pirc Defense is one of those openings you can easily fall in love with. It is one of the most charming ways of meeting 1.e4 and there are many fans of the Pirc among the players of any level. The reason is that Black often tries to play for something more than just equality.
He has been number one in chess for over 10 years. He holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak in classical games. He is the current world champion in classical, blitz, and rapid chess at the same time. Many people consider him the best chess player ever. His name is Magnus Carlsen.
Even those who don’t know how to play chess are wondering what makes him so special, what qualities allow him to show such incredible results. Some assume that the secret is his phenomenal memory; others believe that he has an extremely high IQ level.
The Art of Exchanges is one of those under-the-radar ‘super skills’ that all the strong players possess, and the rest doesn’t quite get.
It is perhaps the most important, very underestimated SKILL in chess.
Few players, other than IMs and GMs realize how powerful that skill really is.
Needless to say, over 95% of club players do not put much thought when it comes to exchanging their pieces or pawns. If the exchange looks “fair” or “equal” why not swap a pair of bishops, trade the knight, or few pawns?
In this article, I would like to explain the reasons for recommending the Scotch Game as a way to combat 1.e4 e5 instead of many other possibilities that exist out there. As a person who has played nearly exclusively 1.e4 e5 on the Black side, and a person who just published a Black course on 1.e4 e5 and is about to publish a book, I can definitely say that White does not have any opening advantage in 1.e4 e5.
