November 17, 2016
Matthew Sadler
No comments exist
F.D. Yates was a great admirer of Alekhine’s play as shown by his fulsome tribute in the Yorkshire Post of 29th November 1927 on the occasion of Alekhine’s victory over Capablanca: “After many encounters with Alekhine personally, I can say he has the pure love of the beauty of the combinations of the game, evolved…
September 22, 2016
Matthew Sadler
4 comments
The most intriguing part of a game is the turning point: exactly which moves shifted the objective balance of the game and put one of the players on the back foot? With complex games, I start analysing close to the end of the game from a position in which I can demonstrate a clear advantage…
September 16, 2016
Matthew Sadler
No comments exist
A little while back I analysed the double-edged idea …c5-c4 in Queen’s Gambit Declined structures (https://matthewsadler.me.uk/chess-for-life/c5-c4-dogma/) and explained the conditions necessary to make this a viable plan for Black. At the recent Baku Olympiad, Nigel Short won a fascinating game in this structure against his young 2746-rated Chinese opponent: Li,Chao b – Short,Nigel D…
August 18, 2016
Matthew Sadler
No comments exist
In 1928, Bogolyubow played 2 matches against Euwe in Holland for the title “Champion of FIDE” (see http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/fide.html for Edward Winter’s excellent Chess Notes entry on the story behind this title) Bogolyubow won both 10 game matches 5,5-4,5 after very tough fights. In the first match, Bogolyubow only managed to nose ahead after winning the…
March 15, 2016
Matthew Sadler
14 comments
While playing through Alekhine’s “Collection of Best Games”, my attention was caught by this position from Alekhine-Reti Vienna 1922. It’s a famous position of course, but I couldn’t escape from the feeling I’d seen this diagram in another old book: I had an image in my head of how it looked on the page…