Chess is a complex game that requires a good memory, creativity, patience, and many other qualities. Perhaps, the main demand is the ability to think. For some reason, most of the players never really work on improving their thought processes. Instead, they spend all their time studying openings and solving puzzles. It is still a good investment that will pay off over the board, but to fully unlock your potential it is necessary to get rid of mistakes in thinking.
Many club players believe that tactics is the main reason they are stuck at that 1200, 1400, or 1800 level. And they are mostly correct. The ability to solve tactics greatly increases your chances to conquer the next rating bracket.
What could be more powerful than training tactics?
The answer is simple. Working on your calculation skills.
According to a legend, Napoleon Bonaparte knew the names of all of his soldiers. I am not sure if this is true or just a myth, but I can assure you that in chess, it is not enough to know the names of the pieces to win.
You should also be aware of their best qualities and weak points. The better you know your pieces the more suitable employment on the board you can find for them.
The attack is one of the most beautiful and interesting aspects of chess. It is also a skill that everyone can and should master to improve at chess.
Many rules could help with that. First of all, you should always remember the attack has to be energetic and fast. That is why different sacrifices become so powerful. It often comes as a trade of material for time and helps to speed up the invasion.
Is chess a sport? The old debate.
Although chess has officially been recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee since the year 2000, opinions are still divided. Some people agree that it should be considered a sport, while others think otherwise. Both sides bring valid arguments, but let’s start with the beginning.
The Fried Liver Attack is one of the oldest and at the same time most popular opening lines at the beginner level. You can see it played even by grandmasters sometimes but usually experienced players tend to avoid it as Black. Of course, it is not only because the Fried Liver Attack sounds scary (friendly internet users assure us it comes from an Italian saying “dead as a piece of liver”) but the attack is very dangerous for Black objectively.
After the longest half-time break ever, the Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg resumed. Ian Nepomniachtchi won the tournament with8.5 points and a round to spare and thus gained the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship title. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is second with 8 points. Anish Giri and Fabiano Caruana have shared third place with 7,5 points.
Kasparov wasn’t called the ‘Beast from Baku’ for nothing. He was indeed a “beast”!
His style of playing was more like a herd of full-grown African buffaloes and zebras charging toward you… as Thanos said, dread it, run from and it still arrives.
His style of chess was extremely powerful, and his opponents cowered even they pushed the first move on the board. They were lost even before the game started.
One of the first things you learn when starting out is how to read each square. Each of the 64 squares has a unique name and you will hear strong players and Grandmasters naming them constantly when they analyze. It might be confusing at first and it might take a while before you can quickly identify a square, but you will get there, with a little patience. Chess notation is the language of chess and you will eventually need to learn it, if you want to continue down this road and make your journey easier.
Can there be ten pawn structures? Really?
Yes, my man. They can and they ARE. In fact, each of them is pretty important, and you will come by them every now and then.
If you are not ready, you might just fall into a nasty trap and end up losing the game. You don’t want that, do you?
Read this article from start to finish then.
