The Mahabharata and the Origins of Chess
Did you ever stop to wonder where the game of Chess came from and how all the pieces got their names and shapes? It is difficult to determine exactly how old chess really is. There are many different scholarly opinions, but it does seem to come from Ancient India, and there is a great deal […]
Chess Blind-spots
A blind-spot refers to an area of your vision that is impaired while driving a car. When you change lanes you are supposed to look over your shoulder to make sure there aren’t any cars in your “blind-spot.” Well, there are blind-spots in chess as well. Whenever a move is made that you didn’t see […]
How to Play Chess Like an Animal
Ever want to play chess like a gorilla? A bird? A wolf? Guess what! You can! There’s a chess opening called the Orangutan. It starts 1. b4 for white. It’s a nontraditional opening with an animal name. The Bird is another chess opening with an animal name (although it is actually just named after a […]
Chess Art Show in Denver, Colorado
Out West, in the Santa Fe Arts District of Denver, Colorado, there is a wonderful Chess Art Show at Glovinsky Gallery. There are several beautiful chess paintings, some abstract, some realistic and one three-dimensional painting (entitled “En Passant”) that you need 3-D glasses to fully appreciate. There are also several gorgeous chess sets on display. […]
The Importance of the Mobil Duo
What, you might ask, is a mobil duo? It is a movable pair of pawns standing side by side on either the two center squares e4 and d4 (or e5 and d5 as black) or c4 and d4, or e4 and f4. What’s so great about it? Well, number one, your opponent has four squares […]
Finding your chess style
Are you an attacker? Do you like lots of tactics? Maybe you should try some gambits. Or are you more of a positional player who likes to maneuver his knights around in closed positions. Try some openings that lead to closed positions, like the closed Sicilian or the Reti. Do you like to play it […]
Queen to Play
The French movie “Queen to Play” starring Kevin Kline and Sandrine Bonnaire is about a housewife/cleaning lady in her mid-forties who takes a sudden and intense interest in chess. She begins taking lessons in exchange for cleaning from the character played by Kevin Kline and begins to beat him fairly soon after that. He encourages […]
Chess Bughouse
Bughouse Chess Game Bughouse chess is a variation of chess that is fun to play! Bughouse is a team game, which is the best part of all. Two players are on a team against two players. Each player takes a different color and when one team player wins a piece he or she gets to […]
Static Disadvantages — How to win a lost game
There are two kinds of disadvantages (or conversely-advantages) that you should be aware of in chess-static and dynamic. Examples of dynamic or changeable advantages are space, initiative and development. When you have those you must take advantage of them while they exist because they will soon disappear. That’s why they are called dynamic. Static or […]