Playing chess is an immensely popular activity. Solving chess problems is also very enjoyable. But how about composing problems? During our revived Christmas Puzzle week, we want to discuss different methods of how to compose your very own chess problem! We ask you to give it a try yourself. Submit your own composition and win some great prizes!
It was a tiebreak that was worthy of the importance and drama that had led up to it. While Humpy Koneru and her fans will lament how it ended, the fact is the tiebreak was incredibly entertaining and had a bit of it all. Even the quiet start was crucial in setting up the very dramatic third and fourth games. Don't miss out on the report! | Photo: Michal Walusza
Some readers may have heard of this special tactics training regime, while others will wonder about the gimmicky sounding name. This is the name given to an intensive but very effective training method by the Finnish grandmaster Tikkanen, which just so happens to be a dream fit for the Replay Training feature in ChessBase 16. See how you can get this best of both worlds and watch the video to demonstrate!
With opening theory reaching insane depth and draws on the rise, there has been an increasing interest in chess variants such as Chess960 aka Fischer Random Chess, and the recent 'No-Castling' chess. Here is another variant that bears similarities to Chess960, but completely asymmetrical and no castling. One added plus is that you can even play it against Fritz Online!
"Surprisingly often I watch sequences of moves in games that do not remind me of anything from my previous chess memory," writes endgame study composer Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen. In such cases, he will rush over to his chessboard and start thinking about turning it into a study. One way to do this is to strip the position and present the main idea as economically as possible. Slumstrup Nielsen's description of the process appeared in The Macedonian Problemist.