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At a club tournament last month, my opponent, with three seconds left on his clock, stopped it and declared the game drawn based on Rule14H. The rule centers around the concept of insufficient losing chances. Nearing the end of the time control (5... | Read More
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Going over the games from Biel 2007, I came upon this position from Round 3 between Van Wely and Motylev. Van Wely was not in a favorable position with his bishop pinned and black's rook on the second rank. His prospects lay with his two... | Read More
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Here's a game between Judit Polgar and Anatoly Karpov, Monaco, 1993, played blindfolded. No doubt, it is not easy to play blindfolded and some very interesting play are born from this sort of play. Karpov might not appreciate this game en... | Read More
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Some people just don't want to win! My opponent mishandled this ending and allowed me to draw by pushing and exchanging the pawns, a strategy that decreased the power of his knight. The final drawn position had my king holed up at h1 and blac... | Read More
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Perhaps, it was just the excessive heat of summer or a long day at work but plodding through a book on the Slav and Semi-Slav last night finally brought me to ask the question: Is this necessary? The underlying strategy for Black in the QG Decline... | Read More
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This is one of those kick-yourself-in-the-rear experiences when I missed a clearly winning combination in this position. I had just played my knight to d6 and my opponent pushed his pawn e6-e5, attacking my queen. My continuation was not bad ... | Read More
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Although it is very rare to end up with a rook against a knight with no pawns, it is still important to know that a knight can draw with correct play. The important point is to keep the defending king and knight in close proximity of each other, n... | Read More
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There is discussion on the web, specifically at the Closet Grandmaster's site, about FIDE's new(?) rule about behavioural norms of players in competition. I don't know exactly when this rule was first created, but it seems that th... | Read More
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Well, in some cases, a name requires a little stretching and curling until you get it right. Rather, until your tongue gets it right. You don't need to go to Thailand---perennial winners of the longest name contest--to find examples. Let's... | Read More
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I once overheard a tourist say to his family, " Well, we're here in Bryant Park. I don't know why it is famous, but this is it. " True, the park is nice but nothing spectacular. It is approximately half an avenue block with the N... | Read More