Chess Teacher on January 11th, 2009

The game between Garry Kasparov (2812) and Veselin Topalov (2700) in the fourth round of the 1999 edition of the Hoogovens tournament in Wijk aan Zee is called Kaparov’s Immortal. The most noteworthy move of this game is the rook sacrifice on the 24th move. It is nice to replay the game and try to [...]

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Chess Teacher on December 12th, 2008

Noah’s Ark Trap is not just an opening trap. The name is used for a lot of openings in which the white bishop is trapped on b3 by black pawns. Most of the games that contain this trap can be found in the Ruy Lopez.

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Chess Teacher on November 16th, 2008

As a kind of followup on the lesson about the minor promotion I have added this lesson on the Lasker Trap in the Albin Countergambit. The underpromotion plays an important role in this trap and probably contributes to the success of it.
The Albin Countergambit starts with the moves 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 after [...]

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Chess Teacher on November 1st, 2008

In most chess databases you can also find some very strange games. As an example I have searched for some early stalemates in the the ICOfY database and I have found some stalemates at the 12th move in which all pieces are still on the board.
I think that all these games are prearranged draws, but [...]

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Chess Teacher on October 22nd, 2008

Minor promotion or underpromotion is the promotion of a pawn to a knight, bishop or rook. The player that has moved the pawn to the promotion square has to decide which piece to select: a queen, a rook, a bishop or a knight. It can not remain a pawn and according to the FIDE rules [...]

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