Answers - Back Rank Mate

ANSWER TO POSITION A
-------------------------------------------
1.Re2-e8+ Ra8xe8
2.Re1xe8#

ANSWER TO POSITION B
-------------------------------------------
1.Qe3-e8+ Bc6xe8
2.Re1xe8#

ANSWER TO POSITION C
-------------------------------------------
1.Rf1-f8+ Rc8xf8
2.Qh6xf8#

ANSWER TO POSITION D
-------------------------------------------
1.Re3xe8+ Rc8xe8
2.Re1xe8#

Back Rank Mate

Castle quickly

It is important to castle early in the game to move your King to a safe position.
Observations on the position:
- Material is equal
- Black has not castled and his King is near the centre
- White's pieces are better developed

White won as below:
1. Rf1-e1+ Bc8-e6
2. Re1xe6+!! f7xe6
3. Bc2xg6#
1-0

Lucena Position

One of the most important and basic positions in Rook and Pawn endgames is the Lucena position.

The technique is to build a 'bridge' for the King with your Rook so that the passed pawn can be promoted.

Try it yourself on Chessvideos
Details with different variations on Wiki Explanation from IM Jeremy Silman

Analysis on YouTube

Evergreen Game

This is the famous game played between Anderssen and Dufresne.

At the time of playing this game, Anderssen was considered to be the strongest player in the world. This game also has a brilliant Queen sacrifice, similar to the Immortal game.

White: Adolf Anderssen
Black: Jean Dufresne

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.O-O
d3 8.Qb3 Qf6 9.e5 Qg6 10.Re1 Nge7 11.Ba3 b5 12.Qxb5 Rb8 13.Qa4
Bb6 14.Nbd2 Bb7 15.Ne4 Qf5 16.Bxd3 Qh5 17.Nf6+ gxf6 18.exf6
Rg8 19.Rad1 Qxf3 20.Rxe7+ Nxe7 21.Qxd7+ Kxd7 22.Bf5+ Ke8
23.Bd7+ Kf8 24.Bxe7# 1-0

Play through the Evergreen game

Download the game as PGN
The game analysed with comments on Wiki

YouTube videos - Animation & Analysis

Judit Polgar on life as a Super-GM mom

When Lars Grahn asked Judit Polgar eleven years ago, as she was about to get married to her boyfriend Gustav, if she thought it was possible to combine family life with a chess career at top level, and she told him she would let me know when she had some experience of it. Eleven years and two children later Judit replied provided the answer in an in-depth interview in CHESS Magazine.

Download the full article here

Read the interview on ChessBase

Interesting...........

Can you guess who is this Child Prodigy playing Chess with his Father?

Chess coaching classes at Sanjaynagar, Bangalore

Chess coaching classes at Avi - Sanjaynagar, Bangalore.

Ding Liren and Zhang Xiaowen win Chinese Championship

Ding Liren (19 years old) won the 2011 Chinese Championship with a tremendous 9/11 score (2867 performance). He had earlier won the 2009 Championship. In the 10th round, he won over Xu Deshun and won the Championship with a round to spare. He finished with a last round hard fought win over top seed Wang Yue.

Zhang Xiaowen won the women's section with 8.5/11.

2011 China Chess Individual Championships took place from March 30 to April 10, 2011 in Xinghua, Jiangsu Province, China. The time control was 90 minutes for the whole game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one.

Play through a brilliant game from this event

Official Tournament Site

Reports on ChessBase & TWIC

Download games in PGN: Men & Women

Centre control - game analysis by FM Joel Banawa

Part 3 of the Game

Best Chess Books of 2010

Here is Sean Marsh's list of the Best Chess Books of 2010 along with some interesting positions and analysis.

Sean's Blog Marsh Towers

Anand - Kasimdzhanov rapid chess match

A promotional friendly rapid (25 min+10 sec) chess match was organized jointly by Uzbek Chess Federation and the Forum of Culture and Arts of Uzbekistan foundation. Anand won the 4 game match 3.5-0.5.

Annotated games by GM Anton Filippov on ChessBase
Play through the games on TWIC
Download all games in PGN

Famous Chess Set Auctioned

Auction house Weiss Auctions has sold the chess set used in the infamous Game 3 of the World Chess Championship Match of 1972 between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky for $67,500.

The game was the first ever win by Fischer over Spassky and followed a game 2 default by Fischer. The win allowed Fischer to settle down to play chess and he came back from 2-0 down to score 6.5 points from the next 8 games.


The chess set is both nice and part of history, there were only two chess sets used in the match, this and the one used for the rest of the match. This one was presented to Gudmundur G. Thorarinsson.

Photos of the set
Report on TWIC
Play through Game 3
Download PGN of this Game

Surreal Photo Manipulation

Check out this and more rich imagination in these amazing artworks here

How to record a Position

A simple way to record a position is to note down all the pieces with the squares on which they are placed.

For example the Starting Position would be recorded as below:
White: Ke1, Qd1, Ra1, Rh1, Bc1, Bf1, Nb1, Ng1, a2, b2, c2, d2, e2, f2, g2, h2
Black: Ke8, Qd8, Ra8, Rh8, Bc8, Bf8, Nb8, Ng8, a7, b7, c7, d7, e7, f7, g7, h7

Another popular way is the Forsyth Notation

110 Fantastic moves ever played

Check this fantastic but relatively unknown site where Tim Krabbe presents his 110 most fantastic chess moves ever played (with full games that can be downloaded).

Tim Krabbe on Wiki & Chessbase

Summer Chess Coaching Camp

Itech Chess Academy will be conducting a Summer Chess Coaching Camp in Bangalore at the Rajajinagar centre. This is primarily aimed at children who are interested in learning Chess from the basics.

Date: From 6th April 2011 to 14th April 2011
Time: 9.30 AM to 11 AM

Training will be given in the basic concepts, important rules, movement of pieces, chess notation and opening traps. The coaching will be a mix of theory and practise sessions. Theory will be taught using a hands-on as well as the computer based approach and will be interactive with Students.

A tournament will be conducted towards the end of the coaching camp and students will be readied to participate in other tournaments.

Students are requested to enroll themselves and confirm their participation by calling Nagesh on 9845151403. Since only limited number of students will be taken, entries will be on first come first serve basis. Please hurry and confirm your participation!

More on Itech Chess Academy
Map to reach the Venue

Recognize the Master

Can you recognize this former World Champion who was one of the greatest defensive players of all time.

Legal's Mate

Another famous trap involving a Queen sacrifice is the Legal's Mate.

One example sequence of moves:
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 d6
4. Nc3 Bg4?!
5. h3 Bh5?
6. Nxe5! Bxd1??
7. Bxf7+ Ke7
8. Nd5# mate

Learn this trap from my Lichess study, Wiki, Chess.com, Chessfox

How to prevent Scholar's Mate

Read about the Scholar's Mate here

To prevent Scholar's mate, you must guard against the double attack on the f7 (or f2) pawn. This can be done by g7-g6 (or g2-g3 for white).

Scholar's Mate

One of the most common opening traps is the Scholar's Mate where the Queen and Bishop combine to deliver mate on the f7 (or f2) pawn.

For White

1. e2-e4 e7-e7

2. Bf1-c4 Nb8-c6

3. Qd1-h5 Ng8-f6 (blunder)

4. Qh5xf7#

For Black

1. e2-e4 e7-e5

2. Nb1-c3 Bf8-c5

3. Bf1-c4 Qd8-h4

4. Ng1-f3 (blunder) Qh4xf2#

Learn this trap on my Lichess study

Play through this mate on Chess

More on Wiki

Fool's Mate

The shortest possible way to checkmate in a game in just 2 moves is Fool's Mate.

1. f2-f3 e7-e5

2. g2-g4 (blunder) Qd8-h4#

The same idea for white

1. e2-e4 f7-f6

2. d2-d4 g7-g5 (blunder)

3. Qd1-h5#

Details on Wiki & Chesscorner

Learn this trap on my Lichess study

Play through this mate on Chess

ICA Basic Course

Itech Chess Academy - Chess Basics Course

1. What is Chess
2. History of Chess
3. Chessmen
4. About the Chessboard
5. Chess starting position
6. Movement of Chess Pieces and Pawns
7. How to capture Pieces and Pawns
8. Importance of the Centre
9. Check and Checkmate
10. Value of Pieces and Pawns
11. Rules of Castling
12. Pawn Promotion
13. DRAW
14. En-Passant
15. Rules of Chess
16. Chess Notation Symbols
17. Files and Ranks
18. How to record a Position
19. How to record a Game
20. Play chess online against the computer
21. Chess Glossary

How to capture Pieces and Pawns

When any chess piece or pawn is captured, it is removed from the chessboard and the piece which is capturing will occupy its square.

Usually when the players are equal strength, a material (chess pieces and pawns) advantage wins the game.

Definition on Wiki

Capturing on About

About the Chessboard

The chessboard is the battlefield on which the game is played. It has 64 squares of which 32 white squares and 32 black squares alternate with each other.

The correct way to place the chessboard Remember that the right hand square of the chessboard for both players should always be a "White" square.

More details on Wiki

Official FIDE standards

Story of the Chessboard with a mathematical problem

Chessblogger Blog-site

Few excellent posts from CHESSBLOGGER

10 Tips for Analysing your Chess Games
Becoming a Chess Master
10 steps to a better Opening Repertoire

Alekhine's Gun

This famous game came to be known as Alekhine's Gun game because of the idea of 2 Rooks doubled with Queen at the rear. It usually leads to total control of the file and serious disadvantage to the opponent.

White: Alexander Alekhine
Black: Aron Nimzowitsch
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2 Ne7 6. Nb5 Bxd2+ 7. Qxd2 O-O 8. c3 b6 9. f4 Ba6 10. Nf3 Qd7 11. a4 Nbc6 12. b4 cxb4 13. cxb4 Bb7 14. Nd6 f5 15. a5 Nc8 16. Nxb7 Qxb7 17. a6 Qf7 18. Bb5 N8e7 19. O-O h6 20. Rfc1 Rfc8 21. Rc2 Qe8 22. Rac1 Rab8 23. Qe3 Rc7 24. Rc3 Qd7 25. R1c2 Kf8 26. Qc1 Rbc8 27. Ba4 b5 28. Bxb5 Ke8 29. Ba4 Kd8 30. h4 1-0

Details on Wiki
Play through this game on ChessGames

Viktor Korchnoi turns 80

Victor Korchnoi is currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit.

He was born on March 23, 1931 in Leningrad, USSR. He learnt to play chess from his father at the age of five. In 1947 he won the USSR Junior championship, the first major tournament victory and later became a Grandmaster in 1956.

He first qualified as a World Title candidate in 1962. His best results were challenging Karpov for the title in the 1978 and 1981 championship matches (both which karpov won). Also in September 2006, he won the 16th World Senior Chess Championship in Italy.

His playing style initially was an aggressive counter-attack. Later his style became all rounded with mastery in all stages of the games and in all types of positions.

He has defeated 8 world champions from Botvinnik to Kasparov as well as FIDE world champions Ponomariov and Topalov. He has been at or near the top of the game for nearly half a century. He continues to play many tournaments every year.

He has authored some wonderful Chess Books like "Chess is my Life", "My Best Games" (Vol 1, 2 & 3) and "Practical Rook Endings".

Profile on Wiki, ChessGames & ChessBase
Play through his brilliant win over Tal

Files and Ranks

Vertical columns of squares on the chessboard are called as Files. There are 8 Files.

Horizontal rows of squares on the chessboard are called as Ranks. There are 8 Ranks.

Files and Ranks are named starting from the Left-Hand Corner of White's side.
The first file is the "a" file, next is "b" file and so on upto "h".
The first rank is rank "1", next is rank "2" and so on upto "8".

Pictorial representation of Files & Ranks
More on Files and Ranks

Chess Glossary

If you want to know what a chess related word means, check it out in the Glossary of Chess: on Wiki, ChessPoster, Arkangles, Chesskid & Jkpoonce

What is Chess

Chess is the greatest and oldest indoor games invented by man.

Two armies (white pieces and black pieces) fight on the battlefield (chessboard). The objective of the game is to capture the enemy king. Each army has a fixed number of pieces and pawns. You can capture the enemy pieces and pawns and there are particular rules for playing.

Details on Wiki & GameofChess

History of Chess

Chess was invented in India before the 6th century AD during the Gupta empire. It was called Chaturanga and was used as a tool for military strategy. The army comprised of Elephants, Horsemen, Chariots and Foot soldiers. Along with the King, the Minister also was an important chess piece.

The game travelled to Persia, then to Arabia and subsequently to Europe. Sometime during the 15th century, the current rules came to existence.

More on Wiki, Chess-Poster & Essortment
Origin of Chess in India
Detailed History and Evolution

European Championships 2011

Vladimir Potkin of Russia achieved his best result till date and won the 2011 European Championship. After 11 rounds, he scored 8.5 points with a Rating performance of 2822. Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland was second and Judit Polgar of Hungary was third in this Championship.

The 2011 European Individual Championship was held in Aix-Les-Bains, France from March 21st to April 3rd. The tournament was a Swiss league with 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for rest of the game (also 30 seconds per move increment starting first move). The top 23 finishers would also qualify for the 2011 World Cup.

Official Tournament Page

Details on ChessBase & TWIC

Download all games in PGN

Click here for complete standings

Play chess online against the computer

Play chess against the computer on Chess.com

List of Best Chess Games

Out of the countless games played in this glorious game, below are few lists of Best Chess Games ever played. Of course, the lists are the compiler's personal choice.

Chess.com list - here you can play through the whole game
AJ Goldsby's list
Chessmaniac list of famous Chess Games
Download the Mammoth Book Of Greatest Chess Games from Rapidshare
List of Instructive Games on CWBlog

Hope you like the great games! Let us know if there was any game that was missed in the above lists.

Check and Checkmate

When the King is attacked by any piece or pawn, it is said to be in "Check".

If the King cannot escape from Check it is Checkmate. The player whose King is Checkmated loses the game.

On Wiki: Check & Checkmate

Details on Chess.com

Movement of Chess Pieces and Pawns

Remember the below points to understand how the Chess Pieces move

King: One square, any direction

Queen: Any number of squares, all directions (files, ranks & diagonals) in straight line, no turning, no jumping over other pieces and pawns

Rook: Any number of squares, on files and ranks in straight line, no turning, no jumping over others

Bishop: Any number of squares, on diagonals in straight line, no turning, no jumping

Knight: 3 squares in "L" shape, can jump over other pieces and pawns

Pawn: First move can move either 2 or 1 squares, after that moves straight on file 1 square, captures on diagonal

Details on Chess.com

More on ChessStrategies: How Pieces move & How Pawns move

Illustrated moves on ChessVariants

Read basic rules on Chess pieces movement on Wiki

How to Teach Chess on WikiHow

Chess starting position

To begin a game of Chess, you need to setup the starting position.

The correct way to place the Chess board

Remember the Right-Hand corner square of both players should be a White square.

Chess pieces

Start with the Queen - White Queen on White square and Black Queen on the Black square.

Place the King next to the Queen.

Place the 2 Rooks in the corner squares.

Place the 2 Knights next to the Rooks.

Place the 2 Bishops next to the Knights.

Place one pawn in front of each and every piece.

You are ready to start the Game!

More details on Chess Strategies Blog

Read how the Chess Pieces and Pawns move

Rook Endgames in 2009

In this very instructive article by GM Valeriy Aveskulov, he analyzes three rook endings that were played by strong Grandmasters

ChessCafe Endgame Studies

Combining beauty and practicality, the Endgame Study is one of the unique and subtle wonders of the Royal Game. ChessCafe has, on a weekly basis, a selected endgame study for your enjoyment.

Unless specifically designated otherwise, it is always White to move. Unlike problems, studies usually do not require a solution in a pre-determined number of moves. Simply look for the best moves and replies to work out the win or draw. And don't be discouraged if at first you don't succeed – working out the solution will be satisfying – even instructive!

ChessCafe EndGame Studies page
Archives of all EndGame Studies

TWIC Live Games

Play through hundreds of latest Grandmaster games on TWIC Live Games page

CW Tactic

Another game from the RHP 2011 championship, Nagesh - Benda. After 22 moves, this is the position. White to play and win.

Clue: A beautiful sacrifice taking advantage of the enemy king stuck in the centre.

Chess Photography

Fred Lucas is a professional photographer who has captured some beautiful chess moments through his camera.

Check his website for some lovely Black and White images

Chess Traps

Play through some well known Chess Traps

You can even take a quiz on each one

Sicilian Defence

The Sicilian Defence is the most popular response from black to the King pawn opening.
It starts with the moves
1. e2-e4 c7-c5

The main idea of this opening is to control the d4 centre square with the c-pawn and try to retain both the e-pawn and d-pawn for stronger centre control.
There are several variations in this defence, most of which lead to sharp tactical play. White usually tries to attack on the king side while Black goes for a queen side attack.

Details on Wiki, ChessGames, ChessPoster, TheChessWebsite, Chess & Caissa
Blog on Sicilian & Downloadable PDF on Introduction to Sicilian

Game of the Day at Amber 2011

Every day a game was awarded the Game of the Day prize of Euro 1000 at the Amber 2011 Tournament. Below is the list of all the games:

Round 1) Alexander Grischuk - Vladimir Kramnik (blindfold), 1-0
Round 2) Vugar Gashimov - Magnus Carlsen (rapid), 0-1
Round 3) Vugar Gashimov - Anish Giri (blindfold), 1-0
Round 4) Sergey Karjakin - Vladimir Kramnik (blindfold), 1-0
Round 5) Vassily Ivanchuk - Magnus Carlsen (blindfold), 1-0
Round 6) Vassily Ivanchuk - Viswanathan Anand (rapid), 1-0
Round 7) Alexander Grischuk - Vassily Ivanchuk (rapid), 0-1
Round 8) Levon Aronian - Vishy Anand (rapid), 1-0
Round 9) Veselin Topalov - Hikaru Nakamura (rapid), 1-0
Round 10) Magnus Carlsen - Alexander Grischuk (rapid), 1-0
Round 11) Magnus Carlsen - Boris Gelfand (blindfold), 0-1

Download all games in PGN: Blindfold & Rapid

Chess Mazes

In the fall of 2004, popular chess author Bruce Alberston released a book called Chess Mazes, designed to help students to develop their visualization and planning skills. Chess Mazes was an instant success.

ChessCafe.com features a new Chess Maze puzzle each week from Bruce
An instructive introduction and overview to Chess mazes is here

Yuriy Kuzubov wins Reykjavik open

GM Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine, rated 2627, won the Reykjavik Open with 7 points in 9 rounds with 2722 performance.

One of the highlights of the tournament was 14-year-old GM Illya Nyzhnyk, who finished in the leading group with a 2688 performance while Top seed Luke McShane, rated 2683, played slightly below expectation and led the follow-up group of 21 players with 6.5/9 points.

The MP Reykjavik Open is took place from March 9th to 16th, 2011, with a total of 166 participants from 30 countries, including 29 GMs. This year's tournament was co-sponsored by Deloitte, which honors the memory of ex-partner and Icelandic IM Ingi R. Johannsson. The tournament was also the Nordic Championship.

Official Tournament site
Download all games in PGN
Reports on TWIC & ChessBase with Full results here

Garry Kasparov on Bobby Fischer

Read this very interesting article on Bobby Fischer written by Garry Kasparov

Maxim Matlakov wins Russian Junior Championship

The Russian Junior (U20) Championships for Men and Women took place in St Petersburg 4th-14th March 2011. Two 10 round 6 player double round robins settled the titles. In a thrilling finish to the Boys event Maxim Matlakov beat Aleksandr Shimanov to catch him on 7/10 points and take the title on tie-break. Anastasia Savina took clear first with 7/10 a point clear of the field.

Official Tournament Site
Download games in PGN: Boys & Girls
Report on TWIC

CW Tactic

In one of my games in the RHP 2011 championship (Nagesh-Rotti), this position has come. I had played 18.Bd5 to which my opponent has replied Qc5.

Can you get the winning combination now for white (clue - it is a brilliant queen sacrifice)!