The Chess Mind

There are positions where a player amasses a whole herd of pieces at the enemy king's doorstop. In such cases it's obvious that a big attack is on the way. But sometimes there isn't any such buildup, and yet an attack is possible and may very well succeed. How is this possible?

One answer is that although the prospective attacker may have but a few pieces in the vicinity of the opponent's king, it might be that the defender has even fewer pieces to protect it. I believe that this explains how Topalov got crushed in game 4 against Anand from what looked like a fairly innocuous position, and it likewise helps explain the success of Larry Christiansen's brilliant attack against Yasser Seirawan in a 1978 contest.

The games are instructive, entertaining and beautiful, so have a look here. The show is free (free registration required) and will be available on demand for the next month or so.

For this week's show, I found a very impressive attacking game from the recently completed Vietnamese Championship. It's exciting and entertaining, and it's also a good game for training purposes (I pause a number of times to challenge the viewers to find the right moves).

Have a look here: the show is free (free registration required) and available on-demand for the next month or so.

Another week, another ChessVideos show. This time around I look at three viewer games and address a viewer question. Two of the games feature attacks (one is really spectacular) and two of the games (yes, I know there are three total games!) and the question involve endgames, so it's a well-balanced meal for the viewer.

The show is free (free registration required) and available on-demand for the next month, here.