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.
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Your key to fresh ideas, precise analyses and targeted training! Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.
IM Andrew Martin gets you ready to play the Barry in your own games. Players under 2200 will benefit the most. It turns out that after 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 Nc3!? d5 4 Bf4 Bg7, White has no less than four dangerous moves, 5 e3, 5 Qd2, 5 Nb5 and 5 h3.
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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.
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.
Select an entry from the list to switch between games
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.
7/3/2022 – Unlike in ancient times, in our (chess) world, the oracles are not priestesses but silicon based. For high grade but not necessarily perfect information, we turn to computer engines. The crucial thing is that, however splendiferous the software, it has to be we who control the process. We need to put the time to work through the lines with the engine to understand why we should play a specific move in a given position. | Pictured: Ganesha, a Hindu deity, the deva of intellect and wisdom
6/19/2022 – Although chess is a total-information game in which everything is laid bare on the board, in practice we can see only part of the picture. Feelings do play a crucial role, at least in games between humans. One necessary evil is the ability, when the need arises, to bluff — or at the very least to keep a reasonably straight face! | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club
If you are looking for a new attacking plan against the popular Queen’s Gambit, then this download is for you. Completely new ideas after 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 turn the solid London system into a serious weapon. New approaches and Fritz analyses will catch out an unprepared opponent. Henrik Danielsen used this system to win the Icelandic blitz championship in 2011. Some strong GMs and IMs didn't realise the danger before it was too late. Even after Black’s best defence White will be able to fight for an advantage. After watching 60 minutes you have a total opening plan against the Queen’s Gambit.
The new Komodo Dragon 3 engine has gained 100 Elo points in playing strength over its predecessor when using a processor core in blitz. That's a huge improvement for a program that already reached at
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The new European champion, Matthias Bluebaum, comments. New video series by Jan Markos: "Practical tips for the tournament player". Opening videos by Sokolov, Rogozenco and Marin. 10 opening articles for your oening repertoire and much more!
These video courses feature a black repertoire against 1.d4, 1.Nf3 and 1.c4. The recommended variations are easy to learn and not difficult to remember, but also pose White serious challenges.
Besides covering all the critical lines after 1.d4 & 2.c4, popular systems such as the Trompovsky, London/Jobava System, Torre Attack, Colle System and Veresov are dealt with as well.
This video course offers you a complete, clear repertoire for Black against the moves 1.Nf3 and 1.c4. The recommended variations are easy to learn and not difficult to remember, but also pose White serious challenges.
This video course is aimed as a tactical guide for Black, featuring the most typical combinations for the French structures.
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