Category: Defence

September 29, 2025 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

At various moments during the analysis of the Conquest-Royal game with the engines, it was noticeable that the move …cxd4 was often suggested as one of the top 3 moves. For example here: 1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 c5 3. e3 d5 4. Nf3 e6 5. d4 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8….

September 24, 2025 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

Through previous blog entries, we navigated our way towards the interesting possibility of 12.Ng4   Line 12.Ng4 In this blog entry we look at 12.Ng4 in more detail. We start by putting the f6-knight on the spot that was most annoying to White in the Conquest-Royal game: 12…Ne4 Line 12…Ne4 As Black, this feels very…

September 2, 2025 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

Since 2018, most of the games of chess I’ve analysed seriously have been engine games. I’ve therefore developed a somewhat atypical frame of reference for recognising themes and patterns. I’m more likely to say “Oh I saw that in Alliestein-Komodo” than “Carlsen played like this against Aronian” And that turned out to be the case…

August 30, 2025 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

One of the most striking pieces of analysis I have done on my Silicon Road YouTube channel was of game 86 of the Season 24 TCEC SuperFinal between Stockfish and Leela.  The video is here (https://youtu.be/ss0r2OIrHXU) And the game is available for viewing at the TCEC here (https://tcec-chess.com/#div=sf&game=86&season=24) Game: Stockfish-Leela after 40…Ra5 In the course…

June 16, 2025 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

In my last blog post, I left you with 2 intriguing middlegames which the engines assessed as dead equal and yet would only be the start of hostilities in a human game! I spent some time looking at these positions and I wanted to share my thoughts with you. Let’s start off with this one:…