Frank Marshall played quite a bit in 1915, but all his games were in the U.S. There were two reasons for this: First, World War I. Second: Marshall opened the Marshall Chess Club in New York! With new responsibilities and an inability to go to E...
In part 3 we left Frank Marshall playing in one tournament or match after another. Nothing changed in 1912. The guy seemed to live for chess and he continued to compete all over Europe, Russia, and the U.S. Since he couldn’t fly to all those...
What do you do when you've failed to win the world chess championship and, more important, you've realized that the biggest title will never be yours? Well, you play chess of course! Yes, the top players dream of the world championship, but ...
We left part one with Frank Marshall on top of the world due to his total domination of the Cambridge Springs 1904 tournament. The world wanted to know if he was really that good. Marshall, a fearless competitor, leaped into battle. 1905 Marsh...
Let’s talk about Frank Marshall. This man was U.S. Chess Champion from 1909 to 1936. He was a man who beat Emanuel Lasker once and Capablanca twice, a player who feared no one. He won many tournaments against world class competition. He was ...
A Chess.com member asked: After 1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 dxc4 5.d4 every chess engine tells me the best move for Black will be capturing en passant right away (which is why I never thought about playing d4 as White here). Still, in the databases ...
As many of you remember, I’ve used "BB’s" games as good examples of both right and wrong ideas and moves. He plays a lot of one-game-a-week USCF rated games, and sometime he also plays two tournaments at the same time (on different day...
The Chess.com member Kurniadigautama said: “I am currently trying to improve my understanding of positional play. The engine told Black to castle kingside while White is threatening to double take on c6. If White does take after Black cast...
Take a look at this game. As you can see, the pawn structure makes the whole dance work. To make this clear, if you don’t understand pawn structure, you will find yourself making moves that have nothing to do with the position. You’...
As everyone knows, all professional sportsmen have to stay sharp or their fitness and skills will quickly decay. In chess, a few months away from the game is enough to leave you out of sync. So it’s hard for me to understand how Henry Ern...
In April 2016 I wrote an article called "Dancing With Yourself." After looking at a lot of amateur games (on Chess.com and also in tournaments)—and at those by titled players—I see (sadly) that most people are still dancing with them...
CHESS REVIEW Chess Review (from 1933 to late 1969) was without any doubt the best American chess magazine until, in 1961, it ran into a remarkably improved Chess Life. Both tried to beat the other (interest exploded due to the advent of Tal and,...
CHESS LIFE Chess Life, of course, has had its good times and bad times; the late 1970s brought about a cut in the page-count while the Fischer drop in membership forced austerity, including removing many columnists. It never came close to its gl...
CHESS LIFE AND REVIEW I was recently thinking about the best U.S. chess magazines ever. There were quite a lot. Two favorites are Joel Benjamin’s magazine, Chess Chow (1991 to 1994), which was hilarious, and Inside Chess, Yasser Seirawan&r...
There is nothing wrong with your chessboard. Do not attempt to adjust the pieces. I am controlling the moves. If you wish to speak, I will bring up the volume. If you wish to mutter that all of this is insanity, I will tune it to a whisper. I w...
In my article “Efim Geller, Killer on the Chessboard,” I discussed Geller’s pioneering work with the King’s Indian Defense. (Mikhail Botvinnik said, “Before Geller we did not understand the King’s Indian Defense...
Several years ago I was at a coffee shop in Pasadena, California, and started a conversation with a few young (mid-twenties) Taiwanese people. After we chatted about Taiwan, our talk took a turn into various kinds of pop music. I made it clear tha...
The Chess.com member Animaul7 (his real name is Anthony Maulucci) wrote: I’m a 16-year-old who has been stuck at an expert rating for some time now, which I know is pretty normal. One question I have for you is what juniors like myself can...
The Chess.com member LittlePawn988 wrote: Something really bugs me. I often hear players, of every level, talking about the strength of masters of the past and sometimes I find them really arrogant and disrespectful. Even lower-rated players sa...
The Chess.com member grepschrop wrote: “Some players told me that it’s not important to know the names of mating patterns. My experience with kids is contrary. What is your opinion?” SILMAN: Though one might think this is easy ...
Here are six puzzles. They might be tactics, they might be positional, or the puzzle might be about understanding some hidden deep, dark, strategic concept. In other words you need to face real-world problems and figure out real-world solutions....
When I answer reader questions, I try to stay (vaguely) in that player’s rating group (two hundred points more or less). Of course, a beginner might feel left out, but I also answer beginner players’ queries. I do my best to give somet...
In August, I wrote an article about the King’s Indian and a game played by The Chess.com member IvnKaramazov. Well, he’s done it again with another exciting KID game. I won’t annotate it since my main focus is going to be the K...
The Chess.com member dudejan asked: I always seem to struggle to know where to develop my bishops. For knights the concepts of outposts or placement behind a pawn to double defend certain squares are quite logical for me. But for bishops I don...
