When Amy Lee moved to our school and walked into class for the first time, my legs turned to jelly in seconds. I immediately knew I had to ask her out. Over the next few days, I scripted and practiced …
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Chess Analysis – Bobby Fischer’s Trap
Robert James “Bobby” Fischer vs Samuel Reshevsky Chess Analysis
This is one of the weirdest games to comment on since it’s played by two world-class chess grandmasters at the peak of their skill. We …
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Master Game Analysis – Capablanca-Tartakower, New York 1924
This master game, played between José Raúl Capablanca and Saviely Tartakower, is a true classic from the legendary New York 1924 tournament.
The game illustrates Capablanca’s exceptional endgame skill, …
Read moreThis master game is another from one of my chess heroes, José Raúl Capablanca. Here he takes on the Soviet Grandmaster Viacheslav Ragozin in the Moscow tournament of 1936.
This was the third of the Moscow tournaments organised by Nikolai …
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 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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Playing over the board requires a different skill-set to playing online. One of the key differences is the requirement to write down your moves on a scoresheet. There are several reasons for this requirement, one of which is that you …
Read moreA common thread runs through the answers given to beginners asking how they can improve at chess. This thread is threefold: practice tactics, play slow games and review your games. The first two are easy. There are many resources to …
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