8/9/2021 – The game Adolf Anderssen against Lionel Kieseritzky, the "Immortal Game", played in London 1851, is arguably the most famous game in the history of chess. Anderssen won with a brilliant mating combination after sacrificing huge parts of his army. But his opponent Lionel Kieseritzky also played an "Immortal Game". Stephan Oliver Platz discovered this game and uses it as a starting point to take a close look at Kieseritzky's contribution to the King's Gambit.

4/29/2021 – If Bobby Fischer had not retired after becoming World Champion in 1972 we would have seen a decade dominated by Fischer, Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Kortschnoi. What would have happened, if there had been a match Fischer - Karpov or Fischer - Kortschnoi? And why did Fischer not play against Karpov in 1975? And how would Fischer's decision have turned out if the challenger had not been Karpov, but Kortschnoi? Some thoughts by Stephan Oliver Platz.

3/4/2021 – The Philidor Defence 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6!? was often underestimated in the past. But World Champion Alexander Alekhine, who used the Philidor Defence several times with good success, showed the dynamic possibilities of the opening. Stephan-Oliver Platz takes a closer look.

11/10/2020 – Attacking artist Alekhine playing the Philidor Defense, an opening that is reputed to be slightly passive? Really? Yes, indeed! Stephan Oliver Platz had a look at the games which Alekhine played with the Philidor and concludes that the 4th World Champion was very successful with this opening!

8/14/2020 – Dr. Emanuel Lasker, World Champion from 1894 to 1921, enjoyed the reputation of being a very "lucky" player. After all, time and again he managed to save bad and very bad positions. However, to quote Lasker's rival José Raúl Capablanca: "A good player is always lucky"! But what should a good player do in lost positions to let fortune smile on him? Stephan-Oliver Platz has some ideas. | Photo: Emanuel Lasker | Photo: Cleveland Public Library

6/30/2020 – Chess engines are programs with character and each engine has its own way of playing. That is why it makes sense to analyze with different engines and that is how grandmasters get the maximum out of the engines. Houdini is an engine with a marked character and on the occasion of its 10th birthday Stephan-Oliver Platz takes a look at its development. @StockfishLegalNotice

4/7/2020 – The first official World Chess Champion William Steinitz (1836 - 1900) is regarded as a pioneer of modern chess strategy. His theories pushed back the gambit style that had prevailed until then and led to a much more cautious approach. How did Steinitz get his insights and what principles did he teach? Read an imagined interview with the legendary chess thinker, drawn from his own writings.

5/26/2019 – As is well known, Wilhelm Steinitz justified positional chess theory and thus ended the Romantic era. It is less well-known that Steinitz himself was previously a great chess romantic. A contribution by Stephan Oliver Platz. | Photo: Austrian National Library

2/20/2019 – Today, the London System (1.d4 Nf6 - or 1...d5 - 2.Bf4) is a very popular opening but it took a while before it was taken seriously. Though it is a rather old line, and James Mason, one of the strongest players of the 19th century, used to play it regularly and with success. Stephan-Oliver Platz tells more about Mason and the development of the London System.

1/30/2019 – Until now, chess programs mostly worked according to the so-called alpha-beta pruning search algorithm. The spectacular Deep Mind project Alpha Zero is based on the Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS). The Komodo developers, too, are now increasingly relying on this method — with success. STEPHEN OLIVER PLATZ explains the difference and shows the progress. | Photo: (Komodo Dragon) Ryan Vaarsi, CC BY 2.0

1/16/2019 – What if Bobby Fischer had played Anatoly Karpov in 1975? It's a persistent question and thought experiment that fascinates our readers, but also contributor STEPHAN OLIVER PLATZ, who shares a computer simulated 1975 World Chess Championship match, to add his own fuel to the fires of speculation.

12/6/2018 – The world was watching, but some people saw the spate of draws differently. Does the World Championship need reform? This is a debate that will continue for a while, perhaps until the next World Championship match in 2020. Contributor STEPHEN OLIVER PLATZ offers his opinion on Carlsen vs Caruana match as well as the World Championship format. The thesis? Blame the rules. | Photo: World Chess

11/8/2018 – In a day or two, Fabiano Caruana will challenge Magnus Carlsen. Will there be the new World Chess Champion by the end of the month? Commentator STEPHAN OLIVER PLATZ examines some history of the sixth World Champion, chess legend Mikhail Botvinnik, including select games against Capablanca, Alekhine, Reshevsky and Portisch. | Photo: J.D. Noske, Nationaal Archief, von li: Max Euwe, Vasily Smyslov, Paul Keres, Mikhail Botvinnik and Samuel Reshevsky.

6/19/2018 – The "Top Chess Engine Championships" (TCEC) is a competition of the world's best computer programs which play in several divisions. The strongest programs start in "Division Premier". TCEC Season 12 just came to an and was won by the new Komodo 12, place two went to Stockfish. On Monday, June 18, Komodo 12 and Stockfish started to play their 100-game superfinal.

2/14/2018 – The "Top Chess Engine Championship", TCEC for short, is considered a kind of unofficial computer world championship. Currently the 11th season is played, now in the form of a league with promotion and relegation. After the preliminaries, the "Premier League" started on Tuesday with the eight top programs. S.O. Platz gives an overview of the history of this unofficial chess computer world championship.

1/31/2018 – In 1886 Johann Hermann Zukertort played the first official match for the World Championship and lost to Steinitz. But at that time Zukertort already suffered from severe health issues which two years later led to his early death. Stephan-Oliver Platz takes a look at the health of Zukertort in the final years of the chess legend.

1/24/2018 – Johannes Zukertort (1842-1888) was a student of Adolf Anderssen and one of the world's best players of his time. In 1886 he played a match against Wilhelm Steinitz which was the first official World Championship match in chess history. Zukertort was also a prolific chess publisher. Stephan Oliver Platz presents an amusing chess problem by Zukertort.

12/13/2017 – In recent years the TCEC tournament has turned into the unofficial Computer Chess World Championship. This year Houdini and Komomo made it to the final, a 100 game match. But even before all 100 games were played Houdini decided the match in its favour. In an interview during the match the programmers of Komodo and Houdini revealed their views on current developments in computer chess.