Kings and rooks

3/8/2025 – In the diagram position White wins despite the black passed pawns. Do you see how White can weave a mating net?

Two Knights Talk: Blunders, fantastic moves and the Prague Chess Festival

3/7/2025 – In the new episode of their 'Two Knights Talk' show, Arne Kähler and Johannes Fischer look back at the Prague Chess Festival and recall unusual and stunning moves from chess history. And they present another puzzle to test your linguistic skills and knowledge of chess history.

60m The Two Knights

This entry into the 60 minutes series concentrates on the Modern variation of the Italian game where White opens the centre early : 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d4 exd4 5 e5!. This line can be reached by various move orders, most frequently from the Scotch 3 d4 exd4 4 Bc4. It's a sharp variation and Grandmasters such as Evgeny Sveshnikov have used it frequently,with very good results. It's a perfect line for club players to adopt which is relatively easy to learn and which contains many traps. All the main responses are covered here, including 5...d5, 5...Ng4 and 5...Ne4 and the conclusion is that is is difficult for Black to equalize in a straightforward way. Problems are being posed, which over the board might prove tough to solve.