In atomic chess, a capture causes an “explosion” through which both pieces are removed from the board as well as all non-pawn pieces in the eight squares immediately surrounding the capture.
Full Game Analysis
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Queen’s Gambit Accepted, Alekhine System: Read him like a Böök
It was in this tournament that Alekhine won a really wonderful game against the Finnish master, Böök. The chief feature of the game is the remarkably intuitive nature of the sacrifices involved.
Tricks And Traps
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Blackburne Shilling Gambit: Set a trap for a greedy opponent
The opening is not a true gambit, since White cannot take the pawn on e5 without losing material. The only virtue of the dubious third move of Black is that it sets a trap that has ensnared many players.
Tactical Tips
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Artificial Castling: Protect your king by hand
Artificial castling, also known as castling by hand (or manual castling), is a positional maneuver used by players that want to achieve a castled position without the use of castling.
Opening Theory
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Learn to play Latvian Gambit: A blast from the past
Let’s say it in the beginning – the Latvian Gambit is a controversial opening, and…
Variants
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Dice Chess: The perfect information with a random factor
There is no check or checkmate, it is allowed to move the king to a square attacked by the opponent’s piece. The goal is to capture the opponent’s king, which means to capture it like any other piece. Even a king can capture the other king.
Curiosities
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King’s Checkmate: Cloak and dagger
The famous game between Edward Lasker and George Alan Thomas in London 1912 is usually mentioned as the best example. However, it’s not fully clear if the notation reflects the real situation, as many different versions of it were published in various newspapers and bulletins.
Full Game Analysis
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Polish Opening, Birmingham Gambit: Why is it called the Orangutan?
Polish chess grandmaster Savielly Tartakower, along with other participants of the New York 1924 chess tournament, visited the Bronx Zoo, and jokingly consulted an orangutan named Susan. Allegedly, she indicated that Tartakower should open the next game with b4. Tartakower also noted that the movement of the pawn to b5 reminded him of the orangutan climbing up a tree.
Tactical Tips
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Alekhine’s Gun: Unleash an aggressive heavy battery to crush opponents
How can you defend against this strong attack formation? Well, the most straightforward way is to prevent the opponent from creating it in the first place. It shouldn’t be too difficult because to place both rooks and a queen on a single file usually requires a long sequence of moves. The intention to build the battery can be spotted at the early stage, so you have enough time to counter it.
Opening Theory
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Learn to play Spielmann Gambit and jam your opponent
As you know, I usually pick a suitable game from my game site, BrainKing.com, to demonstrate the strategy and tactics of the opening in question. However, there was no real selection this time, as the only Spielmann Gambit game in the BrainKing.com database wasn’t actually played by strong players, so the commentary will be a little longer to highlight all blunders and suggest stronger lines.