Regular readers will know that I think endgame study should form a major part of every improving chess player’s routine. One of my favourite authors on the subject is GM John Nunn. GM Nunn is not just a prolific chess …
Read moreThis problem presented itself recently while I was doing tactics training on ChessTempo.
The three features which jumped out were the semi-exposed king on the g-file, the unprotected knight and the awkwardly placed queen. I quickly dismissed the opportunities …
Read moreFollowing a recent up and down tournament, I reviewed my play and decided to make some adjustments to my study plan. Here is what I learned in my review. In a later post I will show how I …
Read moreAt a recent tournament, I played in two sections; U140 (1750) and U160 (1900). There were five rounds in each section. In one I scored 1.5/5 and in the other 2.5/5. With my rating of 121 (1608) you might think …
Read moreThe first game in Zenón Franco’s Morphy: Move by Move
From a king’s gambit opening, Morphy sacrificed a piece to expose Black’s king and then opened the centre to launch …
Read moreA week or two ago, the ECF published the June 2017 month end grading list. For some reason they still only update gradings twice a year, despite the technology being available to do it almost by the day. They certainly …
Read moreIf you play regular, long time control, rated, over the board (OTB) chess games, you will have a fair idea of your rating, or playing strength. I play around 50 OTB games a year, so I can place some worth …
Read moreWhen I play a much stronger player, my thought process is sometimes affected. On the one hand I feel I have the freedom to play aggressively and more instinctively, because a loss would not be unexpected. On the other hand …
Read moreThis is not a ‘sexy’ lesson with a big wow-moment, but it is the sort of subtle thing which is often overlooked.
My opponent, rated 1150, made life difficult for himself out of the opening, having to displace his King …
Read moreThis position arose in one of my recent games. White is better here to the tune of about +6, partly because of the knight on the great c6-outpost, the pressure on the backward c-pawn and the superior dark squared bishop.…
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