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The Chronicles Of Sekar - Chapter One - Chess Forums

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The Chronicles Of Sekar Chapter One - A Chance Encounter Antim surveyed his work with satisfaction and put down his pen. As a scribe for a spice merchant his duties were not difficult but they could be dull. So dull. His plans for today had been made far in advance and he had no intention of dallying...

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The Love for Wood (chess documentary 1979 - ENG subs)

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I n one, the Dragon, the black bishop is fianchettoed on g7.

In the Scheveningen, it is developed on e7 while Black adopts a "little center" of pawns on d6 and e6.

In a third, the black e-pawn is pushed to e5, leaving the d-pawn backwards -- this encompasses the Boleslavsky variation, the Lowenthal/Kalashnikov, and Sveshnikov Sicilians.

And a final development pattern involves Black playing ...e6 but leaving the dark bishop free to develop to a variety of squares such as b4, c5, or even d6. The last scheme encompasses the Taimanov, Paulsen, and a variety of obscure systems.

To make things clear, this article covers the opening that begins with 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6:

To some, this is called the Paulsen variation, after the 19th-century master Louis Paulsen. To others, it is the Kan variation, named after the Soviet theoretician Ilya Kan.

There is some confusion about nomenclature here, as well as the related Taimanov variation (with the black knight going to c6). But according to my understanding, the above opening line can be called either "Kan" or "Paulsen."
Louis Paulsen, The Greatest Chess Philosopher:
Who was chess's greatest thinker and innovator? Was it Wilhelm Steinitz, who brought chess out of its days of careless -- if inspired -- attacks and poor defenses, and laid down scientific principles?

Was it Emanuel Lasker, who saw chess as a fight of a higher order?

Or was it Aron Nimzowitsch, who revolutionized the understanding of the center and positional chess?

No. It was Louis Paulsen, if only because he could think longer than anyone else -- in the days when he competed, before the chess clock was used, players could spend as long as they wanted on a game.

And Paulsen was the one who took it to the most extreme level, sometimes even taking up to 15 hours for a game!

In all seriousness, I doubt there has ever been a player who was so far ahead of his time in understanding. And yet, Paulsen is not known so well by the general chess public.

The number of openings he created, from his own mind, is amazing. Especially in the Sicilian -- Paulsen invented the Dragon, the Boleslavsky variation, and was the conceptual author of the Paulsen system.

In essence, he conceived most of the ideas that make up the modern-day Sicilian. And some of them were not "discovered" until 100 years after he played them.

Paulsen's inventions in the opening were not just a result of a creative mind or one who is focused on the openings. His innovations came out of a deep understanding of positional chess.

In the age when most games began with 1.e4 e5, Paulsen understood the concept of asymmetrical play. He understood the ideas of defense and positional advantage, even before Steinitz did.

In playing the Sicilian, he created a basic positional advantage (more black central pawns) and then created various systems to build up a proper defense, in order to strengthen the position and neutralize White's attacking chances.

It has to be suspected that Paulsen had a huge influence on Wilhelm Steinitz and inspired his later theories. Even before Steinitz, Paulsen understood (although he never said it) that chess was based on scientific principles -- that an attack could not be created by sheer brilliance, but that it came from a properly built-up game.

Paulsen never wrote about his special understanding of chess, but it comes through in the openings he created.

And yet, strangely enough, Paulsen never played what we now know as the Paulsen Sicilian!

Nevertheless, he was one of the first exponents of the concept that eventually became the exact move order at the start of this article.

Louis Paulsen used two related systems: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5!? (a fairly uncommon line nowadays, but related to the Paulsen) and 4...Nf6 followed by ...Nc6.

Louis Paulsen's elder brother, Wilfried Paulsen, used the actual modern-day move order with 4...a6, and one can guess that the brothers may have studied these lines together.

But according to my database, the first master who used the 4...a6 move was Adolf Anderssen in 1859, after the basic concept had already been used (primarily by Louis Paulsen).

And yet, despite its ancient pedigree, the Paulsen Sicilian is seen as a very modern opening. Indeed, after the beginning of the 20th century it was only seen in a handful of master-level games until the 1950s, when the Soviet masters re-discovered it -- especially Kan and Lev Polugaevsky.

Anderssen connected the opening with the idea of playing a quick ...d5 in one move, transferring the game into some sort of torturous French. He duly outplayed his opponent:

The first game by a Paulsen (Wilfried Paulsen) showed one of the possible alternative developments of the black king's bishop -- to b4. This system is still the most frequent answer to White's kingside fianchetto today:

In the early part of the 20th century, the Paulsen was not frequently seen. However, Savielly Tartakower was one of the few masters who utilized it. Part of the reason that the Paulsen went out of fashion might have been the fact that Black allows White to play c2-c4, creating a Hedgehog type of position.

In those days, setups like the Hedgehog were not so highly regarded -- it was considered that White's spatial advantage gave him a clear edge. Tartakower's early attempt to put pressure on White's center by ...Bb4 led to a difficult game:

Having lost faith in the natural response to White's space grab, the remaining Paulsen players played an early flexible ...Qc7, leading to the Hedgehog. Tartakower later played that, and Black's maneuvers -- particularly the ...Rac8, ...Qb8, ...Be7-d8 -- look very modern.

But playing a Hedgehog requires patience, and Tartakower broke in the center with ...d5 too early. This caused White's extra mobility to become relevant when the position opened up:

Perhaps as a consequence of these failures, the Paulsen was neglected until the late 1950s.

Check back next week to find out how the Paulsen Sicilian slowly grew in popularity over the past 60 years.

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The Open Sicilian can be broken down into four basic systems. In one, the Dragon, the black bishop is fianchettoed on g7. In the Scheveningen, it is developed on e7 while Black adopts a "little center" of pawns on d6 and e6.

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In the first installment of my series on the development of various opening variations, we learned about the history of the King's Gambit.

This week we will be moving on to a more modern and frequently seen opening: the Winawer French.

In the basic position of the French after 3.Nc3, the Classical Defense (3...Nf6) was by far the most popular move in the distant past. The alternative way of stepping up the pressure on e4, 3...Bb4 was played far less often.

In those days, there was a far greater regard for the exchange variation from White's point of view. After all, open games were preferred, and White does have one extra move to get a piece out.

Thus after 3...Bb4 4.exd5 was the most frequently seen answer -- and some regarded this as a superior exchange variation for White.

The move 3...Bb4 became associated with Szymon Winawer, a Polish player who was active in the late 19th century, and now the variation is called by his name.

Winawer actually only used his opening a few times, although he did beat Mikhail Chigorin with it:

The day of the Winawer French did not come, however, until Aron Nimzowitsch began to use it in the 1920s. In particular, he showed that Black did not need to fear the exchange on d5 -- the inclusion of Nc3 and Bb4 could benefit Black.

Nimzowitsch was known for not being afraid to give up a bishop for a knight, so it is natural that he would adopt this variation.

Alexander Alekhine also used the Winawer occasionally. In particular, it helped him to wrench the world title away from Jose Capablanca when he used it to win the first game of their 1927 match with the black pieces -- another blow to 4.exd5.

In the early days of Soviet chess, the Winawer was very popular, perhaps largely due to its adoption by Mikhail Botvinnik. During this time, 4.exd5 started to completely lose its popularity, and become replaced by the space-gaining 4.e5.

With this move, White cramps the black kingside, which is already weakened by the absence of the dark-squared bishop, while also somewhat entombing Black's light-squared bishop. Since that time, 4.e5 has remained by far White's most popular move, although 4.a3 and 4.exd5 are seen from time to time.

Initially Jefim Bogoljubow's 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.Bd2 was frequently seen. But soon it became clear that the position after 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 was anything but safe for Black.

White had weak doubled pawns, but the dark squares in Black's position were very drafty. If the position opened up -- even at the cost of a pawn -- Black could feel a very cool wind blowing through the dark squares.

In the 1930s and 1940s, many very fascinating games were played by Botvinnik and his contemporaries. The type of chess played in these unusual structures differed greatly from the chess which had been seen before.

Botvinnik thoroughly explored the complex positional themes resulting from the particular unbalanced structure with the weakness of the white c-pawns opposed to White's two bishops and space advantage.

Eventually, players generally (although not unanimously) came to the conclusion that positional approaches such as 7.Nf3 and 7.a4 did not lead to an advantage for White. 7.Qg4, striking immediately at the g7 pawn -- which was weakened by the exchange of Black's dark-squared bishop -- became the critical move, and has remained such to this day.

Black has many possible responses to 7.Qg4. Initially such moves as 7...Qa5 and 7...Nf5 were tried, but they were soon discredited.

Black is left with three principle approaches:

to play the natural 7...0-0, maintaining material equality and harmony while exposing the black king to a rather strong attack;

to play 7...Kf8, leaving Black with positional advantages while avoiding a direct attack, at the cost of locking the rook out;

and the moves 7...cxd4 or 7...Qc7 (which might transpose), sacrificing the g7- and h7- pawns while spiriting the king away to the queenside, with a rapid counterattack in the center following.

The last one -- known as the "poisoned pawn" -- became the crucial line, full of intricate theoretical variations. A major exponent was the German grandmaster Wolfgang Uhlmann:

Meanwhile, Black sought other ways of playing the Winawer that avoided the critical 7.Qg4 move. One of the early ways was 6...Qc7, instead of 6...Ne7, which allowed 7.Qg4 to be met by a move of the f-pawn. However, this in general was found wanting.

Black also found ways to vary earlier. Among these was the so-called "Armenian Variation," where Black meets 5.a3 with 5...Ba5 (instead of exchanging on c3).

This led to very sharp play. The Armenian grandmasters were big exponents of this line -- hence its name -- although Botvinnik used it early on, in his 1954 match with Vassily Smyslov.

Other, more obscure, deviations were also used by Black. A variety of tricky setups involve the delay or avoidance of ...c5 enjoyed the advocacy of players such as Tigran Petrosian, David Bronstein, and Borislav Ivkov.

Where does the Winawer currently stand?

First of all, the Poisoned Pawn variation is still critical, but instead of the older 11...Bd7, as played by Ulhmann and others, 11...bxc3 has been played recently more often, with the idea of developing the light-squared bishop on b7, and also with the idea of meeting 12.Qd3 with 12...d4, sacrificing the d-pawn rather than the c-pawn.

This led to some sharp, theoretical lines:

There is more interest in meeting White's 7.Qg4 with 7...0-0, where there has been some very deep examination of this rich position:

Finally, in the Armenian variation with (5...Ba5), which had been under a cloud for a long time, there has been an interest in ideas involving meeting Qg4 moves with ...Kf8.

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In the first installment of my series on the development of various opening variations, we learned about the history of the King's Gambit. This week we will be moving on to a more modern and frequently seen opening: the Winawer French. In the basic position of the French after 3.Nc3, the Classical Defense...

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The Ruy Lopez (also known as the Spanish Opening) is a chess opening enjoyed by chess players from complete beginners to the world champion, Magnus Carlsen!

History

The opening bears the name of Ruy López de Segura, a Spanish priest from the 16th century who published a book on chess in the year 1561.
Ruy Lopez' book "Libro de la invención liberal y arte del juego del ajedrez" was the first one to give a name to the Spanish Opening. | Dutch National Library
Let's take a look at the moves that bring about this popular opening.

There is a large amount of opening theory for all of the variations shown in the above diagram, and some lines can go as deep as 30 moves! The opening is full of strategic and tactical opportunities for both White and Black.

The first recorded modern chess game featuring the Ruy Lopez opening was played in 1803 between Hermann Victor Hesse and an unknown player.

Notable Games:
Lasker vs Capablanca, 1914 (1-0)
World Champion Emanuel Lasker selected the "Exchange Variation" for this critical game against the up-and-coming Jose Capablanca. Lasker played a brilliant positional game, seizing space, and establishing strong knights. Lasker's victory in this game affirmed his status as the pre-eminent chess player in the world for years more.
Capablanca vs Marshall, 1918 (1-0)
One of the most famous opening innovations of all time, the Marshall Gambit, was introduced by Marshall in this game. Despite the ensuing popularity of this gambit, brilliant defense by Capablanca delivered a famous and beautiful victory in the face of Marshall's aggression.
Kasparov vs Karpov, 1990 (1-0)
World Champions Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov have almost certainly contested more brilliant games than any other two chess players in history. In the 20th game of their 1990 match for the world championship, Kasparov won this brilliancy in classic "Spanish" style, securing a two-point lead with four games to go. He would win the match and secure the world championship title for the coming decade.

Opening Explorer
Want to learn more? ➨ Check out the Ruy Lopez in our Opening Explorer!
Share your favorite Ruy Lopez games in the comments below!

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The Ruy Lopez (also known as the Spanish Opening) is a chess opening enjoyed by chess players from complete beginners to the world champion, Magnus Carlsen! History Notable games Opening explorer History The opening bears the name of Ruy López de Segura, a Spanish priest from the 16th century who published...

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Bobby Fischer is easily the most famous chess player of all time. When Bobby spoke about chess naturally people listened! Here are ten of his famous quotes.

You can find a few games where Fischer started the game with 1.c4, or 1.Nf3, but without question, the most played first move by Bobby was 1.e4.

"1.e4 - Best by Test!"
Just play over a handful of Bobby Fischer's games, and you can easily sense his strong desire to win. Just take a look at the game below, and you see the search for perfection and a strong desire for victory.
To play over more games like the one above click on the link! -> Bobby Fischer Games.
3. All that matters on the chessboard is good moves."

Fischer was known not to believe in changing one's style for a certain opponent, but rather he searched for the best moves in each position.

4. "Chess is a matter of delicate judgement, knowing when to punch and how to duck."

Sounds like Bobby was taking advice from a boxing trainer. Fischer's search for the best move on every move helped to keep this strategy is balance.

5. "Don't even mention losing to me. I can't stand to think of it."

Probably a mindset that any chess player who becomes world champion possesses.

6. "Chess demands total concentration."

Fischer was known to complain about tournament conditions throughout his career. He did not want anything to have influence over his concentration during the game.

7. "There are tough players and nice guys, and I'm a tough player."

Fischer was all business at the chess board. For his opponents it did not matter if he knew you, liked you, played you before - Fischer was there to win.

8. "My opponents make good moves too. Sometimes I don't take these things into consideration."

This one hits home for anyone who plays chess. It is easy to get too into your own ideas and not consider your opponent's moves. Many games have been lost due to this oversight.

9. "The turning point in my career come with the realization that Black should play to win instead of just steering for equality."

This realization made Fischer one of the most dangerous opponents for anyone regardless if he was White or Black.

10. "Nothing is so healing as the human touch."

Fischer carried a hostility towards the world throughout his life, but the soft human side of Bobby Fischer was noted in his last words before passing away in the above quote.
Have a favorite Fischer quote? Don't forget to leave your choice in the comments below!

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Bobby Fischer is easily the most famous chess player of all time. When Bobby spoke about chess naturally people listened! Here are ten of his famous quotes. 1. "1.e4 - Best by test." You can find a few games where Fischer started the game with 1.c4, or 1.Nf3, but without question, the most played first...

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Partidas de ajedrez de ataque de todas las épocas, todo el ajedrez romántico repleto de golpes tácticos

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Bobby Fischer Meets Bob Hope -- Hilarious!

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Pagina con algunas de sus partidas analizadas mas una biografía

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Pagina con algunas de sus partidas analizadas mas una biografía

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Magnus Carlsen - Nacido en Noruega en 1990, desde 2004 maestro de ajedrez, ganado contra Anand 2013 su primer título mundial.

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Cut your losses. Sometimes you are going to lose material. Try to minimise your losses and move on.

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Cut your losses. Sometimes you are going to lose material. Try to minimise your losses and move on.

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Sometimes you get stuck in a position known in chess as zugzwang: where whichever move you make is a bad one. This is just the way it goes sometimes, in chess and in life.

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Sometimes you get stuck in a position known in chess as zugzwang: where whichever move you make is a bad one. This is just the way it goes sometimes, in chess and in life.

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We all blunder from time to time. This does not mean we should give up and run away. Often when you’re sure there is no way out after a bad mistake, you will be given a lifeline.

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Play for the middle. Don’t hold back too much, and don’t push through too early. Your opportunity will come.

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Play for the middle. Don’t hold back too much, and don’t push through too early. Your opportunity will come.

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Chess Endgame Simulations - Interactive Chess Endgame Training

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Improve your chess endgames by trying to beat the computer in over 40 different endgames, from basic endgames to expert positions