August 11, 2016
Matthew Sadler
2 comments
After a quick win in the 1st round, the 2nd round at Haarlem was a considerably tougher struggle against the Dutch FM Rene Tiggelman. We join the game after 10 moves. Via a transposition, we have reached a tabiya of the 4.e3 Nimzo-Indian. 10…Bxc3 11.bxc3 Qa5 12.Bd2 Qh5 I’ve played the White…
August 4, 2016
Matthew Sadler
No comments exist
One of my favourite themes is that of the side with too few pieces to cover its (too large) territory. I first came across it in a book I’ve mentioned many times already in this blog: “Best Play: A New Method for Discovering the Strongest Move” by Alexander Shashin. Shashin turns the conventional wisdom of…
July 28, 2016
Matthew Sadler
7 comments
My second tournament outing of 2016 was the ROC Nova College Open in Haarlem. It was the first weekend tournament I competed in after returning to chess in 2010 and has become a permanent fixture in my calendar due to the beautiful town, the lovely venue (the best conditions I’ve played in) and last but…
June 1, 2016
Matthew Sadler
3 comments
Although I love analysing attacks and crunching out reams of variations, it’s often just as useful to reflect quietly on the general course that a game has taken. The aim then is not to discover the whole truth about the position, but rather to get into the heads of the players and to understand the…
April 23, 2016
Matthew Sadler
No comments exist
I’ve spent a bit of time recently taking a look at Alekhine’s opening repertoire. 3 things struck me in particular. First of all, Alekhine played gambits until the end of his life, even against the strongest players in the world. Some examples: 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 was a regular guest in…