It’s 45 years ago this autumn (sadly the exact date is lost in the mists of time) that Richmond Junior Chess Club opened its doors for the first time. For the first few years our members had the inestimable benefit of the late and still much missed Mike Fox’s hilariously brilliant instruction. Mike was always … Continue reading "King Up For The Ending" The post King Up For The...

Play Magnus Group, the tech firm founded by World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen, has listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The company has now gained more than 250 shareholders and is trading on Oslo’s Merkur Market. Shareholders have provided the company with NOK 300 million ($30.2m) in fresh equity, which will be used for technology [...]

An often neglected issue for players at club level is not having a defence against Flank Openings. A few of them, such as the Queen’s Gambit Declined and King’s Indian Defence, easily lend themselves to adaptation against Flank Openings. For example a Queen’s Gambit Declined player will meet 1.c4 with 1…e6 followed by 2…d5 and … Continue reading "Preparing for...

“Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine.” Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart One of my students is working through the “How to Reassess your Chess” book by IM Silman. Below position is the first one in chapter 5 … Continue reading "Students Analysis (2)" The post Students Analysis (2) appeared...

Last time I looked at some masterly opinions as to whether or not you should study the classics. By chance, the next book I picked up to review was by GM Mihail Marin. Here’s what he has to say on the subject: “… it may be no secret to the reader that the inheritance of … Continue reading "Play the Classics?" The post Play the Classics? appeared first on The Chess Improver.

In my last two pieces for The Chess Improver, we looked at some potential endgame issues you might face as a beginner. In future articles, I’ll address endgames problems and solutions involving pieces. However, I want to address pawn problems first because many of the endgame situations involving pieces will have pawns also involved. This … Continue reading "Preparing for the Endgame...

Following up on my last two weeks posts on the London System, this time I thought I’d take a look at the Jobava flavour with 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bf4, or 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bf4. To a large extent the presence of strong Grandmasters on the White side can be explained by the fact … Continue reading "Handling the Jobava London" The post Handling the Jobava London appeared first on The...

The 29th Annual Chicago Open and the Chicago Blitz Open are scheduled to take place from 9-12th October online on the Internet Chess Club (ICC). The Chicago Open will have 7 rounds played over three days from 9-11th October. There will be five sections: Open, Under 2200, Under 1900, Under 1600 and Under 1300. The [...]

“In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.” Yogi Berra Our club championship final is being played online this year. We had 6 players competing in a round robin setup with 2 games against each other instead of one. Reflection time was 1 day per move. The top 3 … Continue reading "Learning New Openings (3)" The post Learning New Openings...

Some of you may be aware that I have a new job (sadly unpaid) reviewing books for British Chess News. Reading books with a critical eye is a very different experience from just reading for pleasure. It’s interesting, for example, to compare the views of different authors on the same subject. One question on which … Continue reading "Study the Classics?" The post Study the Classics...