New Video: Chess Match

I have uploaded a new video going over a chess match I had tonight that highlights just how important assessing material trades can be. You can view the video here or from my YouTube channel here. Full PGN's of all my videos are located on the links to the right.

Thanks Susan Polgar!

Today started off as a normal day - woke up around 5:30AM, checked my messages and played a couple quick chess matches online while enjoying a cup of coffee, and headed off to work. Got home and found out that both this blog and my YouTube channel were mentioned on Susan Polgar's chess blog ... and it was one of those moments! When my son saw mention of his daddy's videos on Susan's blog ... his blue eyes were just beaming! Thank you Susan and also thank you for doing what you do with children and the chess community!

You can read the post here on Susan's blog if you haven't visited yet today, and the link to her main blog is on the link menu to the right:

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2007/09/jrobichess-youtube.html

The Most Powerful Knight

I ordered a book called How to Play the Sicilian from amazon, and I soon hope to have a review of it for everyone out there. Until then, I recently played a game that had a position that was somewhat beautiful. If not beautiful, it was at least interesting!

It's black to move. The move Nxd3+ should be immediately apparent. I don't know why white moved the king to b2 here, probably a case of time pressure and not expecting the knight check in the first place. But here you can see the absolute power of the Knight. A Knight can be interesting because when it attacks other non-Knight pieces the attack is never mutual. Here the Knight is forking every single kind of piece (other than another Knight) and they are all helpless against him!

Tactics Pulling Ahead!

3 days left on the poll and the tactics option is pulling ahead. Big surprise or not? Cast your vote below on the right-hand side of the blog.

Tactics Practice!

This position was emailed to me by our chess club organizer. It's white to move. There are two ways that I can see to checkmate the black king - can you find them?

Susan Polgar Starts a Chess Forum Community

I was very excited to come across the news on Susan Polgar's blog that she has started an online chess forum community! You can access Susan's blog on the links to the right, and the new forum community is located at http://www.chessdiscussion.com/. I have absolutely no doubts that there is going to be some amazing discussions there, and definitely recommend that everyone check it out!

The Results are in!

Bobby Fischer and Gary Kasparov tied in the online poll at 50% each with the question: "who do you think was the strongest at chess?".

This week's poll concerns what you believe to be the most important training for an amateur to spend his or her time at. Looking forward to the results!

Chess Club Night Roundup

Chess club night was fun this week, and had some interesting twists. I brought some score sheets, my two sons, and some students from the local high school. My seven year old son beat the strongest student there 3 games to 1, and even beat me in a blitz match. The night was all his, that's for sure. I went 0-2 with the club organizer, along with some rapid blitz losses. We didn't track with score sheets, but I am going to make a point to do so in my non-blitz games next week, win or lose.

New Video: Chess Tactics #1

I posted a video tonight going over the position I put on the blog last week. I am going to make videos of interesting positions that come up on occassion in my matches. You can check out the video here or from my YouTube channel. On a side note, the weekend is here! Time to initiate weekend-warrior mode.

Club night!

Thursday evenings are my favorite - it's chess club night tonight. I am going to transcribe my matches, and post some details. This week has rocketed by already, which is fine by me ... makes the weekend closer. =)

Introduction to Slatts: Playing Chess with Principles

This is my first post here at the jrobichess blog and I thought I would post an example of a game I recently played. I am an amateur chess player (very amateur!) and like jrobi I have an interest in getting better at chess. My favorite aspect of the game is the endgame and I hope to have much to share on that subject. I want to share chess positions and explain the principles that make the position work.

I reached this position as black in which my opponent made a fundamental error. He let the center open up without castling. Not only that, but he put his Queen in front of his King. And if that isn't enough, I had a Rook gazing longing past a single enemy pawn that stood between him and a very lovely royal pin.

It is black to move. White just played Bxb5 (a pawn) attacking the rook at e8. It looks strong because it not only takes a pawn but does so with tempo. What is the best move for black in this position?

Chess Principles at work:
(1) Important in the middle-game is king-safety. (2) Do not let the center "explode" or "open up" when your King is caught in the middle. In this situation with both black rooks on the e and d files white must be very careful about the tactics. The objective for white here should be to castle as soon as tactically possible.

Did you come up with the move? Hint: It may not spell the immediate end of the game, but after the dust settles white will only be able to struggle in a hard endgame for a draw.

Post the move if you see it!

Simul of all time! Enjoy! =)

Chess Puzzle and New Contributer

First, I would like to welcome Slatts to the blog! He is planning on posting various things like puzzles and end-game analysis in the future, so stay tuned! If you would like to be a contributer to the blog, you will be more than welcomed! The more chess addicts we have here the better in my opinion! Simply email me at jrobichess@gmail.com and introduce yourself and what you would like to do on the blog!

As for the puzzle, here is a game I had today on FICS. I was black playing a Sicilian Defence. It is black to move. What do you think was possible from this position?

Looking for contributers!

I would like to make the page here even more interesting, and build a team of chess enthusiasts if possible. Basically if you are interested in posting chess tidbits, news, puzzles, and things of that nature right here on the main page of the blog, please email me at jrobichess@gmail.com introducing yourself and what kinds of things you have in mind. I believe you would need to create a blogspot ID but if you have gmail already that will be a snap, and if you don't it's still a snap. Hope everyone's weekend is going great so far!

New Video: Exploring Fischer's Openings #3: Four Knights Game

In my new video located here I take a look at how Bobby Fischer handles a four knights game, avoiding losing a pawn which can be a common mistake by white. This match took place in 1955 against Ames. Hope you find it useful in your chess play!

Another Fun Chess Club Night

I took my boys to the chess club tonight, my youngest is the stronger of the two in chess, and the older son is showing interest in the game. There wasn't many people there tonight but it was still a fun night of chess. The picture here is a position I was in as black, which I won. I am posting the position to see what you guys might have played as white. In the image, it is white to move.

The match was won via promoting the A7 pawn after exchanging rooks. After moving rook to E1, and my opponent moving his knight, I took my rook down to D1, forcing the exchange, creating a knight vs. bishop end-game.

New Video: Exploring Fischer's Openings #2: Sicilian vs. King's Pawn

I have made another video in the series "Exploring Fischer's Openings", this time looking at Fischer playing black against his favorite King's Pawn opening. The match was played in 1966 in Santa Monica against Wolfgang Unzicker, with Fischer winning. The video looks at Fischer's play against the King's Pawn opening with the Sicilian Defence. You can access the video from my YouTube page or directly here.

The votes are in!

The results from last week's poll are in. The question was "Do you think someone in their 30's can become an International Master with training and determination?"

Absolutely! (33%)
One can try, that's for sure! (55%)
Most likely not. (11%)
You must be joking! (0%)

Interesting spread! I am definitely going to try hard to reach IM status over the next few years. Will I make it? I am not sure, but I know one thing: I will definitely enjoy the ride!

There is a new poll up - check it out and place your vote!

New Video: Exploring Fischer's Openings #1: King's Pawn vs. French Defence

I have started a new series for my YouTube channel to go along with my other ones. I am going to be looking at Bobby Fischer's opening strategies, covering the first 10-13 move segments from each player. In the video which you can see here I examine the match he played against Bent Larsen in Denver, 1971. The purpose of these videos is to improve my opening play as white, along with my counter-play with black. I also plan to do similar videos with Fischer playing black against a number of white openings. I welcome your feedback to see if this is an idea you think will be useful or not.

Fischer vs. Spassky: Documentary

These videos were very fun to watch - passing them along to you.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

I enjoyed watching the series. I can only imagine the tension back then during that match that was sweeping the nation. Fischer at that time elevated chess to a level much like baseball and football.