Discuss chess in a central London pub
(Note that Jon Speelman also references the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.)
Today we’ll start with a position that arose when we were considering how to stop a connected passed pawn. Of course, as a general rule, the rook should be behind the passed pawn, whether it is your own pawn or the enemy’s pawn alike. But sometimes that’s not possible, and after some tinkering, we arrived at this position.
Black plays (he didn’t have to bother turning it to “research”; there’s really not much to it), and the question is which of the two pawns he advances. You probably have an intuitive view of this, but it will take a little analysis to verify whether this is right or wrong. The answer lies in PGN.
Almost every month I have lunch with some chess players in central London. We usually go to the pub, but this time we had a decent pint and a cheap veggie burger, interrupted by some gossip and chess along the way, and the picture above was my small contribution. David Norwood was kind enough to text me several other positions. Here are some of them. I don’t know the source, so if you know, please let me know.
This problem took 5-10 minutes and I couldn’t solve it myself. I’ve shown this method to several people I teach, and at least one was noticeably faster than this. Bravo! Check it out and see if you can do it better than me. The solution is short and beautiful, and if you understand it, you’ll understand it.
I got myself back by resolving this issue right away. Like its predecessor, it’s either something that hits you or you can spend quite a bit of time looking for it.
This was the first thing we considered. I feel like I’ve seen it before, but I couldn’t find it in my research database. White can’t stop Black’s pawn from turning into a queen, but there are things it can do in the meantime…
jewels of budapest
Attack like a super grandmaster
This Fritz Trainer: Attacking Like a Super GM with Gukesh touches on every aspect of his game, with special emphasis on how to become a better offensive player.
The Olympiad has been covered extensively on ChessBase and elsewhere, with over 4,000 matches played in the open section alone, but here are some matches you may not have seen.
The first two matches were mismatched from the first round. I’m not trying to showcase a weaker player who had little chance given the huge rating difference, but both are very aesthetically pleasing.
My last match of the day is a very clean win by Benjamin Guledula, the bottom board of Hungary. Back to November 3rd.
Baadur Jobava at the 2022 Chess Olympics in Chennai | Photo: Renato Woots
Switch games by selecting an entry from the list
Master Class Vol.17 – Boris Spassky
In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenko, Mikhail Marin, Carsten Müller, and Oliver Lee examine Boris Spassky’s game. Let us show you where Spassky chooses to play in the opening stages, where his strengths lie in the midfield, and more.
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