When you have a better position there often comes the moment for a breakthrough, as you can see in the following game: The right Idea and correct calculation have to walk "hand in hand" when you want become a successful chess player Finally,...
If someone sacrifices a pawn or a piece (s)he wants to get something as compensation for it. In the following example the White player sacrificed a pawn to limitate the activity of a black knight: White won that game later. The black knight was ...
The former world champion Emmanuel Lasker wrote: "There are three powerful weapons in endgame: Passer, King activity and Zugzwang!" In the following example we can see all three "weapons" at work 1. White king activity vs. Black passer As we...
In a just finished online game - my opponent and I didn`t take it too seriously - I got a bad position. After the early middle game I faced a material state of "three pawns behind": So, what to do? I decided to take one of the pawns, although it ...
In the background you see a ferris wheel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_wheel at night in my home town Duesseldorf Have Fun with the following video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjEmquJhSas
The following game is a typical one of the category: Both side castling and a closed center. So let`have a look at our starting position: Here we have already the both-side castling on the board, but the center is not yet closed. The mai...
In the following game you can see that an amazing king march into the opponents camp became the decisive factor
Inthe following game we have a pawn structure, which often occurs in early middlegame. White has a 4:3 pawn majority on king side, Black a 3:2 majority on queen side. Of course, as we know, it is a pawn structure which favours Black in the endgame...
In the following two examples we see that only by a bishop sacrifice the own king was able to come into opponent`s position. Example one: Example two:
In the following game White got the pair of bishops and a better position. But how to go on? White decided to go for two-wing-attack:
A few days ago someone showed me an example, when White was able to start a decisive mate attack As you have seen, Queen and Knight can be a very effective duo in a mate attack. Here another example. Queen and knight forced the black king in...
"Attack and Defense" is a great theme in chess. You should know when and how you should attack, and when and how you have to defend In the position above the attacking move 21. g5 seems to be ob...
In the game Carlsen-Anand (Norway 2013) they got very soon following pawn structure: As you easily can see it is a better one for white. Black has an backward pawn on d6 and white has the option to build an outside passer. In the gam...
A while ago we have seen that Felix has made some general decisions according to his opening repertoire:http://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-build-up-an-opening-repertoire Now he starts concretely with 1. b3 e5, which is presumably the most f...
We know that rooks need open files. But sometimes it is more effective to let them walk sideways. Example 1: Example 2: Example 3: Example 4: Example 1-3 are taken from "Techniques of positional play"( in German langu...
In the following diagram you can see a very typical pawn structure. White has on the queen side a pawn majority and can create an outside passer, but will this be enough for a win in a pawn endgame? Tal believed and proved it! So we have seen...
"In chess, an isolated pawn is a pawn which has no friendly pawn on an adjacent file. An isolated queen`s pawn is often called an isolani. Isolated pawns are usually a weakness because they cannot be protected by other pawns."(wikipedia) ...
You know what is a backward pawn? It is a pawn standing behind his neighbour pawn, but without defending support by other pawns Here in this example d6 is such a backward pawn. Putting a white pawn on e4 you may understand that it could become...
In the following endgame White forced a better rook endgame ( with an imprisoned rook) and waited then for the right moment to exchange the rooks. The correct timing was here important, because the direct exchange would have forced a loss. So he f...
The limitation of opponent`s pieces is one of the main strategies in chess. In the following examples we will see how rooks put and hold out of use. Example 1: Example 2: Example 3: Here the rook is already out of use
Please look at the following position: It is obvious that White has the better position. Especially the position of the White king is very good. A good moment to force the things. A good moment for a decisive Breakthrough in Center ... ...
One always should be ready for improvement of own bad-placed pieces. In the following example the improvement of the misplaced white queen became decisive: In the following example Black decided to blockade queen side and center. So the fig...
Pawn Storms as preparation for a decisive mate attack are often seen in chess games. So, please, have a look at following position Obviously White has an advantage. His bishops, aiming already in directi...
As I already said before I`m convinced of the concept of active and coordinated piece play. In the following online game the piece play of my opponent became dis-coordinated early, but it took me a while to bring my all my pieces into active posi...
A few weeks ago I finished an online game that I would like to share with you. I had a more or less passive position when I suddenly got the chance to improve my bad bishop by a pawn offer. This was the beginning of a general improvement of my pie...
