Last week, we explored the further development of your minor pieces (Knights and Bishops) during the opening. We also examined castling, more specifically when to castle. This week, we’re going to look at pawn and piece coordination during the opening as well as three things you should not do during this game phase. In a … Continue reading "A Foundation for Beginners Nine" The post A...

It was suggested that I cover the Elephant Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5?!) this week, though as I’m loathe to encourage this kind of thing I thought the Evans Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4!?) was a better choice. It is named after its creator, the Welsh sea Captain William Davies Evans. By … Continue reading "Eviscerate ’em with the Evans" The post Eviscerate ’em...

“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer” Bruce Lee A quick reminder how it works: Have a look at the position for 1 minute (watch the clock) Think about the choices in front of you and pick the one you feel it is … Continue reading "“What Say You?” The 1 Minute Challenge (45)" The post “What Say You?”...

It’s White to play here: would you trade rooks or keep them on the board? I was Black here in a ‘slow’ rapid game from an internal club online tournament. I’d blundered early on in a Ruy Lopez Schliemann and had been lost most of the game against my young and inexperienced, but talented, opponent. … Continue reading "Pawn Breakthrough" The post Pawn Breakthrough...

Over the last several articles, we’ve looked at the first three opening principles; controlling the center of the board with a pawn, developing our minor pieces (Knights and Bishops) to centralized squares, and castling our King to safety. This week, we’re going to look at the further development of our minor pieces and maintaining a … Continue reading "A Foundation for...

There had been requests for the Sicilian Dragon, but as this is a family site I felt that cult followings should be kept at a distance. Instead we have the Dunst Opening (1.Nc3) which was named after the New York master, Theodore Alexander Dunst. 1.Nc3 is actually a pretty good first move that can transpose … Continue reading "Destroy ’em with the Dunst" The post Destroy ’em...

The Great Ones (2) “You always admire what you really don’t understand” Blaise Pascal The past couple of weeks one of my student has been learning the Maroczy pawn structure. For those who hear about it for the first time or need a refresher, this pawn structure looks like this: One can reach it with … Continue reading "The Great Ones (2)" The post The Great Ones (2)...

This is an extract from a game in a club blitz tournament the other day. I was white against one of my regular opponents. He’s rated well below me over the board, but has clearly been working very hard on chess during the lockdown: his opening play is particularly impressive and he’s also very sharp … Continue reading "Double Blind" The post Double Blind appeared first on The...

Last week, we looked at the difference between “the opening” and “an opening.” We also started to explore one of the first openings beginners learn, The Italian Opening. We worked through the first three moves for White and left off at Black’s third move. With each move, we were able to see the opening principles … Continue reading "A Foundation for Beginners Seven" The post A...

Following on from my posts on the Budapest’ and Caro-Kann, I realized that these were in alphabetical order but that I had missed out A. To put this right here’s another dodgy line for Black, the Albin Counter Gambit with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5. As with the Budapest I have some sympathy with Black’s attempt … Continue reading "Attack ’em with the Albin" The post Attack...

“Στο Μουλμέϊν, στην Κάτω Μπούρμα, με μίσησαν πολλοί άνθρωποι – ήταν η μόνη φορά στη ζωή μου που υπήρξα αρκετά σημαντικός ώστε να μου συμβεί κάτι τέτοιο”. – Τζορζ Οργουελ, “οι μέρες της Μπούρμα”. Σκάκι...

“A dream becomes a goal when action is taken toward its achievement” Bo Bennett (businessman) In the spirit of Valentine’s Day I felt the urge to do my readers a solid. This coincided conveniently with me looking at different variations of the French Defence. I am not sure how this happened, but I have never … Continue reading "Need Sure Points? French Defence, Burn...

More than half a century ago I prepared this for a tournament, won a nice game with it – and never played it again. It’s never been very popular, but I was reminded of it when I saw a recent game in a magazine. Does the Schliemann’s even more disreputable brother deserve a place in … Continue reading "Ruy Lopez Schliemann Deferred" The post Ruy Lopez Schliemann Deferred...