Articles
Here it is a list of all the published articles in this site… If you are looking something in particular, maybe exploring the categories (index to your right) will be easier for you to find it.
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The Cochrane Gambit, an alternative against the Russian Defense
I. Defining the Cochrane Gambit -and the other “boring” classic variants. The Cochrane Gambit (which owes its name to John Cochrane, a Scottish amateur who used it consistently) is a knight sacrifice, played by White, in exchange for two pawns in the opening. Also, White gets a strong pawn center and some attack against the Black king, which is unable to castle. It’s not widely used by “big names” (with the honorable exception of the game Topalov-Kramnik, Linares 1999) -but in amateur and lower rated...
read morePaco Vallejo, our interview.
As promised, here is the interview that the readers of Chess For Real and its twin website in Spanish, AjedrezDeEntrenamiento.com did to the Spanish Grand Master Francisco “Paco” Vallejo Pons, one of the greatest exponents of chess Elite. Without further comments, the interview. SPANISH READERS (AjedrezDeEntrenamiento.com) Jhonattan Hello, greetings in advance from Venezuela! What has been the best combination you’ve done …? Hello Jonathan. Hard to say, but the ideas hidden in my game vs. Kuczynski in the...
read moreA hardcore guide to study and train your chess openings (1st part)
* FIRST PART: BEGINNERS. 1. Introduction: This article has been difficult to write down. Since I announced it, it has been a couple of months and some readers have asked me if I am ever going to do it. It is not easy. First, there is a lot of literature in both printed books and articles scattered around the Internet. While I have my own ideas about openings, I wanted to give an overview of the subject, respecting some opinions, especially since there are more respectable authors than myself, in playing strength and literary merits. Second,...
read moreFrancisco “Paco” Vallejo Pons, a readers’ interview
One late afternoon in April 2010, without making much noise, three friends went in the New York’s Village Chess Shop, a small but picturesque Chess Club located at 230 Thompson Street. They sat down and two of them began to play, or analyze. The third, a tall blond Nordic approached to the stand and asked to the women’s FIDE Master Alexandra Romanenko: “Do you play chess?” “Yes, I do,” she said with a weary, tired look, as she was frustrated with accepting challenges of “patzers”, but the...
read moreAbout Chess, Inner Beauty and Rockstar Pride.
I. Quixote Rockstar For a while I am of the opinion that Don Quixote’s mind is more interesting than his actions, but Cervantes had to invent wild and spectacular adventures to make it a novel. In the same train of thought, a Cuban grandmaster, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind, once said something like the beauty of chess will be always hidden for those who don’t know the game. He was right. So don’t expect anyone to understand us, don’t dream about a ChessTV, don’t expect to be acclaimed by...
read moreWGM Natalia Pogonina: An exclusive interview from our readers
As we promised, here it is the interview that you, Chess For Real readers (and those from our website in spanish, AjedrezDeEntrenamiento.com), did to the russian grandmaster Natalia Pogonina. It has been a superinteresting experience, and I would like to repeat it. How about you? 1-Andrew What is your estimation of how you currently divide your study time as a GM (by %)? The stronger the player, the more study is required. For beginners and club players the ratio should be about 80% play, 20% study. For CM-FM level it’s about...
read moreThe Phoenix Syndrome
- If the body is asking me rum… I will give him rum. If my body asks me to dance … I will dance. If my body asks me sex … I will give him sex. If my body asks me to work … no, no, no, you can’t give to the body everything. Latino popular joke. Introduction number one: Just a few days ago I received an email from a reader: “Hello Charlyaz (Charlyaz is my nickname at chess.com), I wonder if there is any easier way to study chess. There are thousands of books and methods of training and studying openings, middle...
read moreA reader’s interview to the WGM Natalia Pogonina
I have proud to announce that the Woman Grand Master from Russia Natalia Pogonina has agreed to be interviewed by the readers of Chess For Real and the twin website in spanish, AjedrezDeEntrenamiento.com. Starting today until Friday, July 22, the questions may be posted as a comment here at the foot of this post, or via a message on the contact form here. A little biography of Natalia Pogonina: She learned to play chess as her grandfather taught her the basics of the game at the age of five. Since then she never stopped studying chess. Natalia...
read moreA hardcore guide to analyze your chess games in 12 steps
Here is the promised article about how to analyze your games. I knew this would not be short, but what can I say – this will be useful for the rest of your chess career … Or maybe you will decide to end it right now after reading this! So before you start, go to the bathroom, then grab yourself a snack and a soda and start reading like you have all the time in the world… *** Why should we analyze our games? Because… A- We can compare our decisions against concrete evidence. B- We can look deep inside our...
read moreTen ways to know when a chess coach is good
This article is the logical continuation of the previous “10 ways to get free chess lessons from Masters.” That article was for those who do not have the financial means to hire a coach. This one, however, is for those who are able, or are saving ferociously, to hire one. But before you put your hard earned money into someone else’s hands, reading this guide is recommended. Unfortunately, the only way to have absolute confidence that the teacher is right for you is by having some sessions with him. If you cannot, then...
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