11/21/2017 – Emanuel Lasker, World Champion from 1894 to 1921, was a strong defender who kept his cool in bad positions and always seemed to find ways to pose his opponents problems. But Lasker was also an excellent attacker and tactician. Lasker's perhaps most brilliant attacking game is his victory against Harry Nelson Pillsbury, played at the St. Petersburg tournament 1895/1896. A brilliancy in a crucial moment. | Photo: Cleveland Public Library

11/6/2017 – In chess the goal of the game is to checkmate the enemy king. However, most chess games are not decided by elegant mating attacks but because one side is materially superior. You first take the pieces of the opponent, then you mate. Sacrifices suspend these brutal rules of materialism, that makes them so enchanting. And some sacrifices seem to be almost magical.

10/18/2017 – Occupying the center, developing pieces, opening lines, mating the enemy king: Paul Morphy knew how to win quickly. His most famous game also followed this pattern. Morphy played it November 2, 1858, against the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard in the Duke's loge in the Paris Opera. Morphy's brilliancy is more than 150 years old but the strategic pattern is still relevant. As Magnus Carlsen knows. | Photo: (left) Engraving by Daniel John Pound, based off a photograph by a Parisian photographer named Thompson) was first published in "The Drawing-Room Portrait Gallery of Eminent Personages," vol. II, London. 1859 | (right) Morphy in New York City, 1857 by Mathew Brady

3/24/2017 – The arguably most often reproduced game in the history of chess is the so-called "Immortal Game". Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky played it on June 21, 1851, during the London tournament, the first chess tournament ever. But the "Immortal Game" was not played in the tournament but during a series of skittle games with which Anderssen and Kieseritzky entertained themselves. Kieseritzky lost the game but made it famous.

3/14/2017 – Recent trends in book publishing indicate how demanding life has become. A whole series of thick books tell you about "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", "1001 TV Series You Must Watch Before You Die", "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die" or "1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die". But what about chess? And why not start small, e.g. with "50 chessgames every chessplayer should know"?