The Daily Position
Here you will find training positions, and I will try to publish them three per week.
As you have read in “A fair warning” (the column at your right) , you won’t find easy positions; this section is conceived to grind your neurons. This is a great resource and you should take advantage of it, I haven’t found this concept in any part of the web.
Currently there are 75 positions.
A practical advice about this kind of chess training:
-
It’s recommended to use a chess clock programed to 20 minutes, minimum, and try to extract the position’s secrets, writing down everything you are able to spot. The studious player is almost certain to have heard of this training method; who didn’t, it doesn’t matter: is in this site’s nature to explain about different training methods in Chess. Meanwhile, you only need a clock, a pen and a paper (and of course a board with its pieces). You only need that because is all what you get when you are in a chess tournament.
- Due to this chess positions are chosen from the grandmasters’ daily practice, maybe in some (or in many!) of them you won’t be able to get the whole solution. if that is the case, you can click in the links provided below of every diagram. Gradually I will publish links to downloadable PDFs documents with the whole lesson and more visually pleasing, and a better organization than the Facebook page of ChessForReal/AjedrezDeEntrenamiento has… This way you will can have it with the whole explanation, the why and the how. (Please, notice if you are not a “fan”, it would greatly appreciated you “like it”) These PDFs will be optimized for printing and the idea is for you to study in front of a real board.
- I advise you to prepare a binder where you should save the printings and consult them often… because as the time passes your understanding of chess will grow and you will observe these positions with another eyes and you will learn new things that in the beginning you couldn’t see. This is valid in the case you understood the lesson, or you just got lost the first time. If this happens, do not worry, is very normal.
I can´t wish you luck, because in Chess there is no luck, but Bon Appetit!
Ad Majorem Caissa Gloriam! 
Position 75
<<Previous position The great Bobby Fischer innovates on the treatment of this kind of positions, a hedgehog sicilian with reversed colors. After this game, the Sicilian won’t be the same. Here you may download the solution in zip/pdf and print it out You may also reproduce the solution below, just like a lesson, on the interactive board. The comments (in the small box below the board) appear in both English and Spanish Hey! Help me spread the word and help your friends! Just click in the Facebook...
read morePosition 74
<<Previous position After a hazardous game, as all games from the Wizard of Riga, Mikhail Tal, this position showed up. With black, his opponent, an unknown and innocent Californian simul player, commited a lot of mistakes allowing escape some advantage that the ex-world champion converted in pure dynamite. So, now black is on the ropes, although many variations floating in the position makes this a difficult exercise. How to continue with White? Give yourself half an hour to resolve all the variants. This is an excellent exercise to...
read morePosition 73
<<Previous Position White (english GM Nigel Short, ex challenger for the world chess championship) has a dominant position, the only open line, the control over the weaken dark squares and a crushing space advantage. However, at first sight it seems black (dutch GM Jan Timman) has a “solid position”. How Short can beat black’s “solid” defense? This one became an instant classic since was played. Here you may download the solution in zip/pdf and print it out You may also reproduce the solution below,...
read morePosición 72
<<Previous position How do we assess this position? There are two elements that you should be able to spot at first sight: the pawn majority in the kingside, and the weakness on the dark squares. So, what will you do? Here you may download the solution in zip/pdf and print it out You may also reproduce the solution below, just like a lesson, on the interactive board. The comments (in the small box below the board) appear in both English and Spanish Hey! Help me spread the word and help your friends! Just click in the...
read morePosition 71
<<Previous Position This is a deceiving symmetrical position. How do you assess it? A battle of the Great before they were “not as great” as now. Here you may download the solution in zip/pdf and print it out You may also reproduce the solution below, just like a lesson, on the interactive board. The comments (in the small box below the board) appear in both English and Spanish Hey! Help me spread the word. Just click in the Facebook “Like” or send it to a friend using the “Share”...
read morePosition 70
<<Previous Position It seems black pieces can hold the position, even if white pieces (conducted by David Bronstein) looks dominant and the space advantage is massive… or they won’t? There is any chance, any hidden detail, pointing out a white victory? Here you may download the solution in zip/pdf and print it out You may also reproduce the solution below, just like a lesson, on the interactive board. The comments (in the small box below the board) appear in both English and Spanish Hey! Help me spread the...
read morePosition 69
<<Previous position Sometimes, reproducing and analyzing the gransmaster’s games, we wonder how they come up with such wonderful moves… This is a case of those, and I bring it up here to share with you my amazement, even though every startling move has its very internal logic. So, you are invited to this party… (there are some positions here that you could use to train your chess calculation skills) Here you may download the solution in zip/pdf and print it out You may also reproduce the solution below, just like...
read morePosition 68
<<Previous Position This is a beautiful positional combination (a combination to get another advantages instead of material or checkmate) For your information, the grandmaster Kramnik (white) saw this combination in a rapid game against the great Kasparov! Good luck! Here you may download the solution in zip/pdf and print it out You may also reproduce the solution below, just like a lesson, on the interactive board. The comments (in the small box below the board) appear in both English and Spanish Hey! Help me spread...
read morePosition 67
<<Previous position White (Francisco Vallejo) enjoy some control over the light squares, and there is some hope to build an attack over the kingside, but the solid black position is holding back any attempt of breakthrough. Here you may download the solution in zip/pdf and print it out You may also reproduce the solution below, just like a lesson, on the interactive board. The comments (in the small box below the board) appear in both English and Spanish Help me spread the word! Just one click on the Facebook “Like”...
read morePosition 66
<<Previous Position The space advantage that white enjoys here is enormous, but how to continue? Well, the technique that Gelfand used here is “simple”: set up an attack in both sides, in the very Alehine´s style . Here you may download the solution in zip/pdf and print it out You may also reproduce the solution below, just like a lesson, on the interactive board. The comments (in the small box below the board) appear in both English and Spanish Help me spread the word! Now is easier than ever: with just one...
read more
Leave a Reply
