Phobetor's Blog
Welcome to my blog! This blog mostly contains the more interesting games I played, either over the board in competitions or tournaments, or online on sites like the Internet Chess Club. Usually the game comes with a story about why the game was interesting or what we can learn from that game, and I always add annotations and analysis to the games.
Although I try to check my annotations and analysis of the games with an engine, sometimes an error slips in, so if you think I made a mistake or you don't understand something, just say it! Just reply to the blog post in question, and I'll usually answer the question the same day or within a few days. And of course other feedback is welcome as well!
I also have a series called "Magnificent Puzzles" where I post beautiful chess compositions. These are usually "miniatures" (compositions with only few pieces on the board) with unexpected beautiful solutions. These can be as old as from 1920, and stalemates and underpromotions are not uncommon in these puzzles.
I hope you'll enjoy reading the blog posts, since, well, that's why I write them :)
Submitted by
Phobetor on Mon May 11, 2009 6:15am.
Below is the fifth game in the Beating the Najdorf series, and this time I beat a Grandmaster! Again, I used the 6. Bg5 variation, and we followed a long theoretical variation where black sacrifices the queen for three minor pieces. At first, I go... Read more »
Submitted by
Phobetor on Fri May 8, 2009 9:36am.
After watching a very interesting DVD from Alexei Shirov on the Grunfeld I decided to pick up the Grunfeld again. His clear explanations about his games, but also about the way the opening is supposed to be played (with very dynamic chess, often n... Read more »
Submitted by
Phobetor on Tue May 5, 2009 11:05am.
It's been a while since my previous blog post, mainly because my enthusiasm for chess dropped to a minimum in the last few weeks, but here's the 9th post in the Berlin Wall series! Again, it's about a game I played online, but this time the title ... Read more »
Submitted by
Phobetor on Sat Mar 21, 2009 9:06am.
There are many places where you can find simple tactical puzzles (for example Chess.com's Tactics Trainer or Daily Puzzle) or more complicated puzzles with highly unlikely positions, where the key move is a totally unexpected move. There are only ... Read more »
Submitted by
Phobetor on Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:52pm.
After reading shootfilm's blog post about blindfold chess and how we can try it too, I decided to play some games 'blindfolded', first against Rybka, and then on the Internet Chess Club. Below is actually quite a nice game I played today, at a 7/0... Read more »
Submitted by
Phobetor on Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:25am.
Below is the 8th game in this series. This time black was a Grandmaster and I was white, and although I thought I was doing quite well (neutralizing most counterplay) I made one big mistake on move 22 which cost me the game. I actually found it qu... Read more »
Submitted by
Phobetor on Mon Mar 9, 2009 9:46am.
Below is the 7th game in the Berlin Wall series. In this game, white had the curious idea of bringing his king to the action with Kg1-g2-g3xh4, but was punished for this. White's king soon felt uncomfortable and intimidated by the black rooks and ... Read more »
Submitted by
Phobetor on Fri Mar 6, 2009 7:39am.
This post would have really fit in the "Beating the Najdorf"-series for the tactics and sacrifices, but unfortunately it was not a Najdorf-Sicilian but a Sicilian Kan game. But like I said, this didn't make the game less interesting or less sharp.... Read more »
Submitted by
Phobetor on Tue Mar 3, 2009 7:57am.
People who play the 6. Bg5 Najdorf won't be surprised to see the word "tactics" in the title. Especially not if I also mention that the game I'm talking about was in the poisoned pawn variation (7... Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2). Games in that variation are n... Read more »
Submitted by
Phobetor on Mon Mar 2, 2009 8:49am.
Below is a short game I played a while ago. Because black didn't play the typical Nc6-a5 to prevent b2-b3, I (white) could take over the domination of the queenside early on. Before we were able to complete our development, the game was suddenly d... Read more »