A lesson about the Mortimer trap, also known as the Mortimer Variation of the Berlin Defense.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Ne7?! This sets a trap, the capture of the black pawn on e5 may be very tempting for White.
Let’s have a look at the diagram below. White is two pawns ahead, but it is Black’s turn to move. Is he able to get a draw?
White’s bishop is a bad bishop. It has the wrong color and will not be able to drive away Black’s king from the promotion square of the rook pawn. [...]
The following diagram is a nice exercise about a chess position that looks rather easy at first sight. It’s White turn to move. Is this a draw?
It’s White’s turn to move, but Black will gain a tempo because of the check by f4+. So at first sight it may look like a draw, but as [...]
In the game Colle – O’Hanlon, Nice 1930 we have seen one of the most famous examples of the Classical Bishop Sacrifice. In this lesson we will focus on some of the aspects of such a position that will help you to determine whether or not the sacrifice will be sound. I am going to [...]
The game between Konstantin Aseev and Vladimir Bagirov played in Leningrad 1989 is one of the games that perfectly illustrates some of the main concepts of the endgame with bishops of opposite colour.