Wednesday night was Gerrards Cross club night so Natasha and I were there for the latest leg in our Chess for Life tour. We started this time with a tribute to the great Viktor Kortchnoi who died earlier this week. Then it was Natasha’s turn to help people discover their “inner Keithdom” through the always …

Just a few days ago, I had a Facebook chat with the Dutch IM Stefan Kuipers about the ending Arkell-Emms that is covered in Chess for Life. I noticed the game originally due to the creative way that Keith transposed into a Rook and pawn ending with 4 vs 3 on the same side.   …

On May 31st we made our next stop on the “Chess for Life” promotion tour – this time at the Ashtead Chess Club. We started off with an impromptu demonstration of Paul Morphy’s famous game against Count Isouard for the benefit of the juniors still present. We were both very impressed at how many of …

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 …

One of my favourite pieces of chess literature is the short 1964 article by Robert J Fischer entitled “The 10 greatest masters in history” which Edward Winter has made available on his excellent Chess History site (http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/fischer4.html) The first time I read it, I dismissed Fischer’s views as eccentric, but the more I learn, the …