Category: Attack

April 12, 2016 Matthew Sadler 5 comments

Last weekend was my debut as a birthday present! A colleague asked me whether I would be interested in giving a chess lesson to his brother who had just turned 50 and who was keen on chess. Not only did it turn out to be a lovely Sunday, I also learnt a lot myself! The…

April 9, 2016 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

Looking through old albums for pictures for the website photo gallery put me into a nostalgic mood. Some games in your career take on almost mythical proportions in your mind. One such game is my game against J Thomson in the 1984 Thanet Major. I was very young – just 10 at the time –…

February 29, 2016 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

One of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in the past couple of years is “Learn from the Legends – Chess Champions at their Best” by Mihail Marin (Quality Chess). Marin takes 9 great champions – Rubinstein, Alekhine, Botvinnik, Tal, Petrosian, Fischer, Karpov, Kortchnoi and Carlsen – and examines a particular facet of their play…

February 21, 2016 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

One of my favourite chapters in Chess for Life (a new book I co-authored with WIM Natasha Regan – see the books section on this blog for more details) is dedicated to the analysis of the Black opening repertory of Russian Grandmaster Sergei Tiviakov, in particular his use of the 3…Qd6 Scandinavian (1.e4 d5 2.exd5…

February 21, 2016 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

One of Alekhine’s most famous and spectacular sacrificial victories is his win against the super-solid Hungarian player Geza Maroczy at the Bled 1931 tournament. Bled was a massive success for Alekhine as he scored 20,5/26 undefeated and finished 5,5 points clear of the rest of the world-class field! As always, there’s plenty new to discover even…