This is (obviously) the last in the series and covers the Zukertort version of the Colle Opening. White plays a Colle set-up with 1.d4 followed by 2.Nf3 and 3.e3 but then follows up with a fianchetto of his queen’s bishop with b2-b3. This is a nice opening to play at club level because of the … Continue reading "Zap ’em with the Zukertort" The post Zap ’em with the...

The 2021 FIDE World Cup reached Quarterfinals in Men’s event, while the Women’s World Cup got to the stage of Semifinals. 6 tie-break matches of Round 5 were played yesterday in Open section, bringing exciting games and great fights. Read more: FIDE WORLD CUP R5- Calm before the storm Reigning World Chess Champion, Magnus Carlsen, […]

“He who analyses blitz is stupid” GM Rashid Nezhmetdinov I am going to end the foray into the Canadian Youth Chess Championship 2021 with two games that reinforce what I have been talking about in this blog. We learn and practice new things throughout the year. This is done properly when we build on past … Continue reading "Tales from CYCC 2021 (4)" The post Tales from CYCC 2021...

The 2021 FIDE World Chess Cup reached the 5th round. Only 16 players emerged in the Open event and 8 players in the Women’s section. The first games of the Round 5 ended in a peaceful manner. Only one game in the Open section and one game in the Women’s section ended with decisive results. […]

I missed a tactical opportunity in a recent online training game against a pupil. I had black in this position. I played 21.. Rad8 without thinking too much, when I should have preferred 21.. Bh3!. The point is that the immediate Be5 would be met with g3, so Black wants to deflect the g-pawn first: … Continue reading "Missed Opportunity" The post Missed Opportunity appeared first on The...

Round 4.1 of the FIDE Women’s World Cup 2021 brought only two decisive results and 6 draws. One of them happened on the first board in the match between former World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria 2463) and last World Championship challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia 2596). Stefanova won the game after Goryachkina fell into a trap […]

We’ll wrap up our look at tactics over the next three weeks and move onto a set of middle-game principles that will greatly help you during this game phase. As with the opening principles, each remaining phase of the game – the middle-game and endgame – have their own set of principles to guide your … Continue reading "A Foundation for Beginners Twenty Seven" The post A Foundation...

Before anyone asks, yerk is a real word and its meaning can be found here. As for Yugoslav I already covered the Yugoslav Attack against the Dragon under its other name, the Rauzer Attack, so this time I will look at the Yugoslav System against the fianchetto King’s Indian in which Black plays …c7-c5 instead … Continue reading "Yerk ’em with the Yugoslav" The post Yerk...

Οι νικητές του φετινού 44ου Διεθνούς Σκακιστικού Τουρνουά "Ίκαρος" 2021 στη γενική κατηγορία και στην κατηγορία γυναικών. Από αριστερά Μ. Βάρμερνταμ (1η θέση), Α. Ριτσάγκοβ (2η θέση), Α.Ντέηβιντ (3η θέση), Ε. Δελή (3η θέση), Μ...

The third round of the FIDE World Chess Cup cut the battlefield to only 32 players in Open section and 16 players in Women’s section! As the stakes started to be high, the games became sharper, bringing more surprising results! That everything is possible in the FIDE World Cup, we could have seen already after […]

Dutch top chess player and World No.8, Anish Giri, got expelled from the FIDE World Cup in the round 3, when he suffered a loss from 16 years old Jumabayev Rinat (Kazakhstan 2634). However, this did not affect Giri’s famous sense of humor. Anish tweeted to prove that he manages to always find glitter in […]

International Chess Federation (FIDE) was founded on 20th July in 1924 in Paris, under the motto “Gens una Sumus” (Latin for “We are one Family”). Today, FIDE celebrates the 97th birthday anniversary and the whole World celebrates the International Chess Day! Two years ago, on 12 December 2019, the General Assembly of United Nations proclaimed 20 July […]

“He who analyses blitz is stupid” GM Rashid Nezhmetdinov A score of 4 out of 5 with two rounds to go normally pairs you against a strong opponent. The game did not look like that. It was more of an exchange of errors in the middle game. My student’s opponent was rated 400 points lower … Continue reading "Tales from CYCC 2021 (3)" The post Tales from CYCC 2021 (3) appeared...

It’s an interesting question for all sportspeople. When should you retire? Should you quit when you’re at the top, or keep going as long as you’re able to do so. And, once you’ve retired, should you consider making a comeback? It’s very much a personal choice, isn’t it, especially if you’re a world class practitioner … Continue reading "Comeback...