Online chess community where you can play chess, learn strategies and tactics, read chess news, see book reviews, find rules & tips, get free downloads, and more! http://www.chess.com/ 2007 Chess.com In 1987 I competed in the World Veteran Games in Melbourne. It was a wonderful experience and brought together athletes of all abilities, ranging from world champions to people who run like crabs. It's an experience akin to the Olympic Games for...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/sunbonnet-sue-and-the-chesscom-blogsMon, 11 Aug 2008 15:54:15 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/sunbonnet-sue-and-the-chesscom-blogsI just read Phil-from-Blayney's entertaining forum post about Why OTB will always be best. Phil's obvious enthusiasm -- and it bubbles through in this thread -- underlines his opening contention that OTB will "always be best". While I would ar...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/internet-otb-or-tournamentsTue, 29 Jul 2008 14:26:30 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/internet-otb-or-tournamentsIn choosing games for my recent Spanish post (Duke of Plaza Toro) I selected a group of brevities won by Black, basically because I never play the white side of the Lopez. No doubt this would have been disappointing for all the Spanish aficionad...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/spanish-gold-the-other-side-of-the-coinFri, 25 Jul 2008 06:19:16 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/spanish-gold-the-other-side-of-the-coinWhen my Russian friend Pavel asked me to write about the Spanish Opening I needed a wrinkle because I had never played it—never as white anyway—so I thought I'd ask that celebrated, cultivated, underrated Spanish nobleman, the Duke of ...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/a-russki-an-aussie-and-the-duke-of-plaza-toroSun, 20 Jul 2008 15:49:30 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/a-russki-an-aussie-and-the-duke-of-plaza-toro When the last king has been laid to rest and I go to play on that Big Chessboard in the Sky  St. Peter will ask what I have done to merit entry and I'll say, “I once taught a wealthy man how to play chess.” That's n...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/a-place-in-heavenSat, 12 Jul 2008 17:44:55 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/a-place-in-heaven A few years ago I was working at a festival in an Australian country town. At 9.00 when the doors opened I was talking to my friend Richard, a man with a deep love of philology. Only one person came through the doors, walked around looking at ...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/the-leprechaun-gambitThu, 10 Jul 2008 20:02:33 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/the-leprechaun-gambit When my opponent, PerfectGent, asked this morning about we Australians giving free hugs I didn't have a clue what he was talking about and asked my one-eyed friend Mr Google to help. Well, it seems a “free hugging” started in S...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/hugs-pretty-girls-and-smothered-matesMon, 07 Jul 2008 22:56:25 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/hugs-pretty-girls-and-smothered-mates Sometimes it's tempting to think a lower-rated opponent may be cheating if they find an uncharacteristically strong combination and sit you on your proverbial bottom—but is this necessarily so? Sometimes the difference between two ...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/so-you-think-youve-been-cheatedSun, 06 Jul 2008 14:32:32 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/so-you-think-youve-been-cheated After Round 14 of the 1959 Candidates Tournament in Bled, a lightning tournament was held before the players moved on to Zagreb. Tal won, but his victory was not without incident—or humour. In his game with Yuri Averbakh he blund...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/even-the-greatestFri, 04 Jul 2008 16:36:25 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/even-the-greatest A jackal could scarcely hope to defeat a lion, but a pack of jackals, attacking from all sides, might well bring down the king of beasts. So it was in the Lidums Australian Open of 1971 when GM Lajos Portisch had the white pieces against the...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/the-queen-and-the-jackalsThu, 03 Jul 2008 12:11:38 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/the-queen-and-the-jackals When Goethe said, “Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at,” he wasn't thinking about chess, and he certainly wasn't thinking about Bobby Fischer and Mikhail Tal—but in the Candidates Tourname...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/bobby-misha-and-a-little-laughterTue, 01 Jul 2008 23:35:56 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/bobby-misha-and-a-little-laughter Chess has had its share of prodigies who astounded (and confounded) their seniors. Capablanca whupping his father at age four and Sammy Reshevsky going on tour as a young boy are two who went on to claim their place among the all time greats ...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/chess-with-mother-gooseMon, 30 Jun 2008 15:30:56 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/chess-with-mother-goose Almost everybody who ever studied a chess primer has seen the Immortal Game—a spectacular sacrificial binge Adolf Anderssen (pictured) perpetrated on Lionel Kieseritzky in London, in 1851.   As good as he was, Anderssen wasn'...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/a-kind-of-immortalityWed, 25 Jun 2008 18:29:43 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/a-kind-of-immortality One of the secrets of Napoleon's success was his unwavering attention to the task at hand. He certainly didn't allow external frip-frappery to distract him. When he played chess against Madame de Remusat (Elisabeth le Michaud d&#...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/not-tonight-josephineer-elisabethTue, 24 Jun 2008 13:27:08 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/not-tonight-josephineer-elisabeth When Napoleon said that you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs he might have been talking about his style of playing chess as much as his ruthlessness in war. In this game against General Bertrand, Napoleon—who had the white...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/eggs-omelettes-and-maurauding-queensMon, 23 Jun 2008 15:55:40 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/eggs-omelettes-and-maurauding-queens Sometimes draws are obvious. Stalemate is one, insufficient mating material another, perpetual check a third. Three-time repetition can be a little harder to see and I've only once had a game that applied the 50-move rule. Most draws ar...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/drawing-conclusionsSat, 21 Jun 2008 02:13:18 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/drawing-conclusions In the musical classic, Kismet, the young caliph (portrayed by Vic Damone in the movie) disguised himself as a commoner and went walking in the market place. It might be feasible for a flesh-and-blood ruler to do that but on the chessboard it&...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/kismetFri, 20 Jun 2008 00:07:10 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/kismet In Catch 22 when Joseph Heller wrote, “Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them,” he might have been looking at the way I play chess. The other day I drew a low-rated opp...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/chess-in-a-time-warpWed, 18 Jun 2008 09:36:21 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/chess-in-a-time-warpWhen you're good at something, and you know that you're good, it does wonders for your self-confidence. Sometimes it might be better not to make a song and dance about it. Some years ago I interviewed a man named Emmanuel Margolin on my c...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/emanuel-emmanuel-and-the-six-million-dollar-manSun, 15 Jun 2008 14:02:03 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/emanuel-emmanuel-and-the-six-million-dollar-man It's always great to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but it can be painful indeed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. In a NSWCA rapid play tournament I thought I had played well against a guy named Blair Mandla, and since he ...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/jaws2Sat, 14 Jun 2008 14:34:16 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/jaws2 Four years ago, playing in an inter-club team competition, I admitted to a non-chess playing friend that I had been beaten by a twelve year-old girl. “Ooh! That's embarrassing,” she said. “Not when it's this twelve y...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/chess-kids-an-exercise-in-humilityFri, 13 Jun 2008 17:54:04 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/chess-kids-an-exercise-in-humility Yesterday, when one of my opponents replied to 1.e4  with ...Nf6 I said , "Alexander Alekhine would have approved of that move."  And he said, “Who's that?” Goodness me! Don't they teach 'em anything ...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/alexander-whoThu, 12 Jun 2008 18:40:27 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/alexander-who Hang glider pilots know that it is better to be sitting on the hill wishing you were flying than to be flying in dangerous conditions, wishing you were sitting on the hill. Sometimes the King's Indian Defence is just like that, and there hav...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/hang-gliding-and-the-kidWed, 11 Jun 2008 13:31:58 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/hang-gliding-and-the-kid This morning one of my opponents manoeuvred his knight into a position where it was about to become a game-winning advantage then, instead of moving to the square I feared, he forked my king and rook. The problem with that was that I played PxN ...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/do-you-suffer-from-mgsMon, 09 Jun 2008 17:21:18 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/do-you-suffer-from-mgs During my triathlon days a guy was trying to sell me a bicycle computer that showed speed, distance travelled and cadence. About the only thing it didn't do was play Waltzing Matilda. When I declined he said, “Don't you want to kn...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/triathlon-chess-and-julius-caesarSun, 08 Jun 2008 17:44:32 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/triathlon-chess-and-julius-caesarWhen should you resign a chess game? Certainly not when you have a forced mate on the board. The Man from Ironbark just wouldn't have understood that at all. Banjo Paterson (1864-1941) was Australia's most loved bush poet and wrote suc...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/ironbark-chessFri, 06 Jun 2008 16:49:50 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/ironbark-chess Somebody once quipped that fear is the first time you can't do it the second time, and panic is the second time you can't do it the first time. And the chess equivalent? For me, fear sets in when I'm a piece down without compensati...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/fear-and-panicThu, 05 Jun 2008 15:41:13 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/fear-and-panic On line today, Phil_from_Blayney, an Australian chess player who promotes chess in his district, asked what would make would make a tournament attractive to me or my friends. Competitive chess in the Land of Oz attracts a tiny group of people. ...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/tournaments-in-ozWed, 04 Jun 2008 07:18:05 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/tournaments-in-oz Although the idea of registering an email address at chess.com was attractive I didn't realise how useful it could be until I'd actually done it. After all, I've had my existing email address for about six years and everybody who nee...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/emailchesscomTue, 03 Jun 2008 16:48:06 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/emailchesscomChess upsets are always entertaining, more so for the upsetter than the upsettee, but once in a while there's an upset of such magnitude that it gets attention way beyond the tournament itself.  So it was in the 2000 Malaga Open when a 14...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/upsetting-a-grand-masterMon, 02 Jun 2008 14:29:07 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/upsetting-a-grand-master In The Devil's New Dictionary, Richard Ianelli defines the word “nice” like this: Pleasant and forgettable: as in, it certainly was a nice party; Inoffensive and unremarkable: as in, he sure is a nice guy; Sweet and unatt...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/the-nice-trophySat, 31 May 2008 15:45:29 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/the-nice-trophyRemember the song from Oliver?  "Consider yourself our mate, consider yourself one of the family"?  It's a bit like that on chess.com. I'm always pleased when somebody asks me to place them on my friends list.  It ...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/consider-yourself-our-mateSat, 24 May 2008 02:46:32 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/consider-yourself-our-mateIn 1948 when George Orwell invented Newspeak he could never have believed that the idea would actually find a way into commmon usage, but it daily grows stronger as political correctness. Back in the days when the air was clean and sex was dirty t...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/limericksTue, 06 May 2008 13:11:57 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/limericksMany years ago my son was in his bedroom working through a set of chess problems with the help of a board and pieces.  When one of his friends came to visit I said, "He's inside playing with himself." Well... Since joining ches...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/solitaire-chessTue, 29 Apr 2008 16:27:51 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/solitaire-chess Sometimes chess games are hard-fought battles right down to the last pawn; sometimes they are one-sided. It happens in the first round of Swiss Tournaments when the top half of the field plays the bottom, and even in chess.com tournaments where...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/mismatchTue, 22 Apr 2008 22:19:44 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/mismatchIt's great to have friendly opponents.  In a current game, playing black against the KG, I declined with 3...Bc5. During the game my position became more and more cramped.  My opponent, Grolich, commented, "I don't like the ...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/falkbeer-counter-gambitTue, 08 Apr 2008 15:16:19 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/falkbeer-counter-gambitIn my "Getting to Know You" post I said that the guy who taught me to play showed me just enough so he could beat me easily.  When he took an interstate posting for six months I asked a Hungarian friend how I could learn to play the...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/beware-the-magyarsSun, 06 Apr 2008 15:10:43 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/beware-the-magyarsI've been a chess.com member for just over seven months now, and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience but the addition of tournaments has added a whole new dimension.  It's not new to say that a chess game is like a duel but, to me,...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/a-duel-or-an-all-in-brawlSat, 05 Apr 2008 23:49:10 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/a-duel-or-an-all-in-brawl Desmond Bagley was one of England's all-time top thriller writers. He could put together an intriguing plot in which he was also capable of indulging a little philosophy, a little whimsy, and a touch of humour. He once described a nebbish a...http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/getting-to-know-youWed, 26 Mar 2008 21:11:18 -0700http://blog.chess.com/Dozy/getting-to-know-you