Review: Play 1.b3!

It doesn’t happen often that a chess author makes me laugh, but Ilya Odessky is one of them. But that’s not all. Many reviews of his new book Play 1.b3!, published by New in Chess, are also extremely funny. The point is, most reviewers assume Odessky wrote an opening book, which only reveals they haven’t even read the book. This book is not about a chess opening at all. If I had to classify it, I’d say it was perhaps a postmodern novel. Read more

Zen and the Art of Chess Opening Maintenance

In two recent reports on the Grand Prix in Nalchik, my colleague-editor Michael Schwerteck wrote about how he hates the Petroff Defence – especially the way it’s played by all these super grandmasters.¬†All these boring draws – blegh.¬†And Michael’s clearly not the only one. Read more

Chigorin’s queen move

Everybody has a favourite chess move. Many just love 23…Qg3. Tim Krabb?©’s favourite is 16…Nc6. According to British Chess Magazine, it’s 47…Bh3. And a member of my local chess club is obsessed by the move 7.Ke3! in the Traxler Counter-Attack. These are all highly spectacular moves. My own favourite is the¬†very modest queen-shuffle 2.Qe2. Read more

Review: Mastering the Chess Openings Volume 3

John Watson is one of the best chess authors around. Currently, he’s writing a series of high-quality opening books, focussing (as always) on understanding and framing the opening in its proper context. I will take a look at the latest volume in his ‘Mastering the Chess Openings’ series, published by Gambit Books, which is about the English Opening. I was especially interested in this part, because¬†I have¬†almost no experience with this opening, yet have always found¬†it¬†extremely¬†fascinating. So what’s in it for people like me? Read more

The wrong Philidor

All successful chess players are alike; every unsuccesful chess player is unsuccessful in his own way. I was eight years old and I was excited as any eight-year-old can be. My excitement was caused not by chess, but by the arrival of a book I had ordered, titled How to be a Spy. It was full of thrilling tips which could be used by our ‘group’ in school to fool and ‘conquer’ the group of a neighboring school.
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Review: The Flexible French

[lang_en]Because I don’t think it’s really possible to write a serious review about an opening book unless you regularly play that opening yourself, I have not written about Viktor Moskalenko’s previous opening book, The Fabulous Budapest Gambit. This review about his new book, The Flexible French is an attempt to compensate this lapse.[/lang_en][lang_nl]Because I don’t think it’s really possible to write a serious review about an opening book unless you regularly play that opening yourself, I have not written about Viktor Moskalenko’s previous opening book, The Fabulous Budapest Gambit. This review about his new book, The Flexible French is an attempt to compensate this lapse.[/lang_nl] Read more

[lang_nl]Recensie: The Chebanenko Slav According to Bologan[/lang_nl][lang_en]Review: The Chebanenko Slav According to Bologan[lang_en]

[lang_nl]Eindelijk heeft een topschaker een heel boek geschreven over een van de meest fascinerende openingsvarianten van de moderne schaaktheorie: het Slavisch met 4…a6, oftewel het Chebanenko Slavisch. En de auteur, grootmeester Victor Bologan, is niet alleen een topschaker, maar ook een topanalyticus, hetgeen hij vorig jaar bewees met zijn prima debuut Selected games 1985-2004.[/lang_nl][lang_en]Finally, a great chess player has written an entire book on one of the most fascinating opening variations of modern chess theory: Slav with 4…a6, or the Chebanenko Slav. And the author, GM Victor Bologan, is not just a great player, he’s also a great analyst, as he proved last year with his excellent debut called Selected games 1985-2004.[/lang_en] Read more

[lang_nl]De honderdste informator[/lang_nl][lang_en]Chess Informant no. 100[/lang_en]

[lang_nl]Exclusief interview met hoofdredacteur Aleksandar Matanovic

Onlangs heeft de beroemde Schaakinformator een mooie mijlpaal bereikt: de honderdste editie is uitgekomen. Feiten, cijfers en een exclusief interview met de 77-jarige hoofdredacteur Aleksandar Matanovic.[/lang_nl][lang_en]Exclusive interview with editor-in-chief Aleksandar Matanovic

Recently, the famous Chess Informant reached a milestone: edition no. 100 was published. Facts, figures and an exclusive interview with 77-year-old editor-in-chief Aleksandar Matanovic.[/lang_en] Read more

Opening Amber 2008

[lang_nl]Gisteravond vond de feestelijke en chique openingsceremonie plaats – zoals een prestigieus toernooi als het Amber betaamt natuurlijk. Een fotoverslag.[/lang_nl][lang_en]Yesterday night a cheerful and chique opening ceremony took place – as can be expected with a prestigious tournament like Amber. A photo report.[/lang_en] Read more

Update je Moskou! ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú GM-analyses World CupUpdate your Moscow! ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú GM analysis World Cup

[lang_nl]ChessVibes presenteert met gepaste trots de volgende uitgebreide analyses van GM Erwin l’Ami & GM Jan Smeets van enkele partijen die gespeeld werden in de World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Toen we besloten om wat partijen van de World Cup te analyseren voor ChessVibes, hadden we gewoonweg te veel keus. We kozen ervoor om veel interessante maar al geanalyseerde partijen te negeren. In plaats daarvan brengen we je de laatste ontwikkelingen in de Mockba Variant van het Half-Slavisch. De Moskou (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Pf3 Pf6 4.Pc3 e6 5.Lg5 h6) is een van de belangrijkste tabiya's in de hedendaagse theorie. 6.Lxf6 is de positionele keus, met ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú verrassend genoeg ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Mamedyarov als belangrijkste voorvechter. Wij concentreren ons in dit artikel op het scherpere 6.Lh4. Anand won het WK met deze opening als zijn belangrijkste wapen. In Mexico schaarden de meeste spelers zich in de discussie (Kramnik, Gelfand, Aronian, Svidler en Grischuk). In Khanty-Mansiysk gaat het vuurwerk verder?¢‚Ǩ¬¶[/lang_nl][lang_en]ChessVibes is proud to present the following lengthy analysis, by GM Erwin l’Ami & GM Jan Smeets, of several games played at the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk.

When deciding which World Cup games to analyse for ChessVibes, we simply had too much choice. We chose to neglect many of the interesting, already annotated games. Instead we bring you the latest developments in the Mockba Variation of the Semi-Slav. The Moscow (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6) is one of the main tabiya's in present day theory. 6.Bxf6 is the positional choice, with ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú surprisingly ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Mamedyarov as its main advocate. We will focus on the sharper 6.Bh4 in this article. Anand won the world championship title using this opening as his main weapon. In Mexico most of the players joined the discussion (Kramnik, Gelfand, Aronian, Svidler, and Grischuk). In Khanty-Mansiysk the firework continues?¢‚Ǩ¬¶[/lang_en] Read more

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