The Chess Ghost

By GM Susan Polgar September 29, 2008 GM Susan Polgar. Photo by Jeffrey Weiss An important opening idea I believe that for most scholastic players (at least until one reaches 1800 rating), very little specific opening knowledge is needed. On the other hand, being familiar with as many tactical and strategical ideas in the opening as possible can be very useful. This understanding can sometimes be useful in various openings as positions can transpose. In this column, we shall look at a famous and beautiful idea that was invented by Mr. Legal a long time ago in the 18th century. Legal’s Mate 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Bg4 Pinning the knight on f3 is often a good idea in similar positions, but as a rule of thumb, I prefer to wait with it until after White castles. The reason is that until then White by playing h2-h3, Bg4-h5 and g2-g4 does not weaken the king’s position as the king has not chosen yet to which side it will castle. The...

Improvement in chess over years is usually related to the frequency of play and the addressing of discovered weaknesses as a result of your losses. One facet that I have discovered is that people tend to get stuck in a method of so-called 'training' and revert back to that method after a series of less-than-spectacular games played on their part.. One tends to 'hunker down' and retrain using the same methods they used previously. The unfortunate thing is that those training methods, whatever they were, led to their current predicament, and are thus flawed in some way, were not executed properly, or did not meet the current needs of the player. One way to address this phenomenon is to make available several different training methodologies to yourself and rotate from one to another. This enriches one's chess knowledge and makes available to the player differing perspectives from some of the great chess teachers throughout history. But what does that mean? Here is a s...

Many beginners or even 'good' players lose their games because of many factors. The game that they should win but they lost. Try to avoid 12 common opening mistakes which would lead to lose or perhaps an uncomfortable middlegame positions: 1. Exposing your KING 2. Losing Material 3. Failing to castle 4.Attacking prematurely 5. Losing control of the center 6. Moving the same piece twice 7. Not developing all pieces 8. Developing the Queen too early 9. Pawn-grabbing 10. Blocking pieces with pawns 11. Making unnecessary with pawn moves 12. Giving useless checks (Ronald H. Curry et. al, May 1995,Win at Chess) You may saw these when you play with your small kids or whoever just started playing chess. Or you yourself may have experiences 'em all. If one may have analyzed own games or follow the basics of opening, he or she may successfully achieved the middle game with better hopes. Unlike if you like to play an odd opening like Clyde Nakamura's favourites. Garr...

The clash of the titans - nope, its the clash of the Kings! Well, I bet it is hard to know who'll win the World Champion title. We'll see it soon... WCC 2008 Round1 Kramnik-Anand_0।pgn Vladimir Kramnik - Viswanathan Anand WCC 2008 Round 1 Bonn 14.10.2008 Note: The live comment by Chessdom for this event in fact would be with some delay - a requirement for all game translations by the organizers of the match. For a live broadcast go to the official site. Every match for the title of World Champion is a tough test for the contenders. The preparation involves a lot of analytical work with a helped by the seconds - and both opponents have impressive list of such - for several months, as well as improving in psychological and physical aspect. Such event may turn very nerve-consuming as we've seen during the Kramnik-Topalov match. Both contenders were recently focused only on this encounter. The Russian was preparing without playing much, while Anand was far from his usual resul...

"Try not to mechanically think during chess game" advised Josh Waitzkin. Thinking is the way to make decisions, but having knowledge to make the best move is the only 'fuel' to thinking! Here are some advice for you to benefit; More than once I've read here in the group that opening should be learned (if at all) later, after you master tactics, game ends etc. Suggested book by Jim Roe "Reassessing Your Chess " by Silman starts with game ends?! But the problem is that in the order to properly learn thinking or any other aspect of the game, you have to know opening. (does that make any sense??) I'll quote Professor Aleksey Bartashnikov (Chess Strategy Course CDs with ChessBase): "The opening is a basis on which the whole chess building leans. A well played opening is a precondition for success in the middlegame. And on the contrary, mistakes at the beginning of the game can result in a fast and unexpected defeat. What is necessary to avoid these m...

Yeah! Can you believe it? Kramnik lose to Slav . Thanks to Shirov's gambit (7. g4) ... 2-GM Alexander Morozevich (Russia)-GM Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Tal Memorial, Moscow 2008_0.pgn

Gambit anyone?! BDG - Black Diemer Gambit: quite well known as its tricky traps in the opening. Have anyone played it in tournament? Well, I did... Check it out - below is one of BDG example: Black-Diemer Gambit col-sea94.pgn