5/15/2022 – Unashamed ultra-violence. Jon Speelman continues to share findings from his bookshelf, and today explores Irving Chernev’s “The 1000 best short games of chess”, a collection of miniatures first published in 1957. Speelman adds notes to selected games from the collection of thud and blunder.
Tata Steel 2023: Analyses by Giri, Van Foreest, Praggnanandhaa, Donchenko and many more. "Special" on Anthony Miles. Kasimdzhanov, Marin and Zwirs show new opening ideas from Wijk in the video. 11 opening articles with repertoire ideas and much more!
Winning starts with what you know The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
From Mating with a queen; a rook; two bishops; a knight and a bishop; to the basics of pawn endgames – here you will gain the necessary know-how to turn your endgame advantages into victories!
€39.90
Thud and blunder
[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]
After A fistful of chestnuts a fortnight ago, it was fairly inevitable — even though I’m not personally greatly enamoured of occidental cinematographic pasta — that we’d move on to A few chestnuts more.
With this in mind, I moved to the right along my bookshelf, away from Euwe and Kramer and Suetin, and then my eye happened to travel up a shelf to where I found Irving Chernev’s The 1000 best short games of chess.
After verifying that 1000(!) is not a misprint, it was obvious that this collection, first published in 1957, would be bigger on quantity than quality. But scanning through (looking at the pictures — or diagrams if you want to be technical) I did find lots of enjoyable games, if a paucity of credible variations before the violent dénouements, and I’m looking at a few of these today, all from the first 150 of the 1000.
Before that, a small moment from the recent tournament in Bucharest, which vividly highlights in a microcosm the relationship between material and activity on the chessboard.
So vs. Rapport - Bucharest (2022)
White to play
A strong player should see immediately that White should retreat Bd3 and that dxe3 then would be close to suicidal (in fact, it’s utterly fatal). But I’m interested, partly from a teaching perspective, in how strong a player needs to be for this to be obvious? Rapport’s clever reply of ...e5-4 then diffused the position immediately.
We move on to Chernev’s mega-collection of thud and blunder. I’ve given the game numbers in the book, in case anybody has a copy, and added some notes as well.
In this position, which has occured a number of times before, White
actually can't recapture on d4, but in any case it's obviously much better to
retreat the bishop.15.Bd3!I found eight instances of this in the database
I usually use, but no doubt there are more. Rapport now came up with an
interesting idea to take the sting out of the position.15.Qxd4?Rd815.Rxd4?e515...e5!In my databse I found four other moves, but this is
much the simplest, sacrificing a fairly unimportant pawn to limit White to
just a symbolic advantage. Rapport took about seven minutes to play it so it's
quite possible that he found it at the board.15...dxe3?would be
ridiculous since White gets a huge attack. Indeed after the simple recapture
Bxe3 engines give it as winning. I've given one variation to show the sort of
carnage which could follow.16.Bxe3Be717.Bg5h617...h518.Rac1Qa519.b4Qxb420.Bxf6gxf620...Bxf621.Qxb420...Qxh421.Bxh421.Qxh5f522.Rc4Qb323.Rg4+fxg424.Qh7#17...Rd818.Rac1Qb619.Be319.Bxh7+Nxh720.Bxe7Rd521.Ne5Qxb222.Nc4Qb323.Ne3!19...Qxb220.Bxh7+Kf818.Bxh6gxh619.Qxh6e520.Ng5e421.Bxe4Qf422.Bh7+Kh823.Bg6+Kg824.Rd8Qxg524...Be625.Rxa8Qxf2+26.Kh1Bd526...Rxa827.Bh7+Kh828.Bf5+Kg829.Bxe6Rf830.Qg6+Kh831.Nxf7+Rxf732.Bxf727.Bh7+Kh828.Be4+Kg829.Bxd524...Bxd825.Bh7+Kh826.Qxf8+24...Rxd825.Bxf7#24...Qxf2+25.Kh124...Qxh2+25.Qxh2Rxd826.Qh625.Rxf8+Bxf826.Qxg516.exd4e4!17.Bxe4Nxe418.Qxe4Qd7!This very nice move is
ready to meet Ng5 with Bf5, and also prepares Re8.19.Bf419.Ng5Qf520.f3!is suggested by Stockfish and perhaps gives an edge.f620...h621.Qxf5Bxf522.Ne421.g421.Qxf5Bxf522.Ne4Rfd821...Qxe422.Nxe419...Re820.Ne5Qf521.Qxf5Bxf522.Nd3Bxd323.Bxd6Bc2
White does have
an extra pawn, but it's easily blockaded, and he has no realistic winning
chances. Rapport drew without difficulty:24.Rdc1Rac825.a5f626.f3Bb327.Rxc8Rxc828.Re1Ba429.Ba3Re830.Rxe8+Bxe831.d5Bf732.d6Be833.Kf2Kf734.Ke3Ke635.Kd4Bc636.h4h537.Bb4Bb538.g4hxg439.fxg4Be240.Kc5Kd7!40...Bxg441.Kb6Kd742.Kxb7Be243.h5Bb544.Bc544.Bc3Be245.b444...Be245.b4Bd346.Bd4Kxd647.Bc5+47.Bxf6?actually
loses.47...Kd748.Bf8Be249.Bxg7Bxh550.Kxa6Kc8=41.Kb6Kc842.d7+Kxd743.Kxb7Ke644.Bc3Kf745.b4Bb546.h5Be247.Bb2Bb548.Bc3Be249.Bd2Bb550.Bc3Be2
On this DVD Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Oliver Reeh and Karsten Müller present the 8. World Chess Champion in video lessons: his openings, his understanding of chess strategy, his artful endgame play, and finally his immortal combinations.
Jonathan SpeelmanJonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.
The free app from ChessBase! ChessBase Mobile has everything you need as a chess player on the go:
access your chess data in cloud databases - and 13 million games.
Whether it’s a weak pawn, a vulnerable king, or poor piece coordination, this course will teach you how to pinpoint the critical targets, prioritise your attack, and execute a clear, effective plan.
Videos by Nico Zwirs: Nimzo-Indian with 4.e3 b6 and Robert Ris: French Advance Variation with 6.Na3. Alexander Donchenko analyses his winning game against Fabiano Caruana from the Saint Louis Masters 2024. “Lucky bag" with another 43 analyses by Edouard,
The Black Sniper is back – sharper and deadlier than ever! This dynamic system (1...g6, 2...Bg7, 3...c5 against 1.e4, 1.d4 and 1.c4) creates unpredictable, high-pressure positions, leaving opponents struggling to adapt.
YOUR EASY ACCESS TO OPENING THEORY: Whether you want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire or find new opening ideas for your existing repertoire, the Opening Encyclopaedia covers the entire opening theory on one product.
The King‘s Indian Attack is a universal opening: easy to learn, flexible, and rich in both tactical and positional opportunities.
€39.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.
After A fistful of chestnuts a fortnight ago, it was fairly inevitable — even though I’m not personally greatly enamoured of occidental cinematographic pasta — that we’d move on to A few chestnuts more.
