Chess in Israel

In the summer of 1919, twelve chess players gathered in Hastings, England for the first major international tournament since the conclusion of World War I. Among them were Jose Raul Capablanca of Cuba and William Winter of Britain. Their game, played on 15 August, would later be dubbed "Cold Winter." Compared to "The Opera Game" and "When Pawns Attack," Winter-Capablanca 1919 is long. And in contrast to the first two, "Cold Winter" features an endgame whose nuances are difficult to grasp, much less articulate and remember. Nonetheless, it is a game Jeruchess instructor Alon Cohen recommended that his Adult Improver students memorize. Without the help of YouTube, Stockfish and Capablanca's own written recap, most of the insights explored below could not have been appreciated. 1. Opening: Four Knights Game, Nimzowitsch (Paulsen) Variation White opens 1.e4 , and Black replies 1...e5 . White attacks White's e5-pawn with 2.Nf3 , and ...

The experience of memorizing the Opera Game was not only rewarding in the context of chess, it was intellectually revitalizing, surprisingly easy, and fun. Replying to another student in the Jeruchess Adult Improver class, who solicited a recommendation for more games to memorize, Alon Cohen suggested Larsen-Spassky 1970 . In the spring of 1970, FIDE held a tournament in Belgrade between the Soviet Union's top ten players and the top ten players of the rest of the world. Bent Larsen, of Denmark, faced off against Boris Spassky in a game that would later be dubbed "When Pawns Attack." A video recorded by David Pruess and uploaded to YouTube by Chess Dojo was an invaluable resource in understanding the game for the purpose of this exercise. 1. Opening: Nimzo-Larsen Attack, Modern Variation White opens with 1.b3 , preparing a queenside fianchetto to control the a1-h8 diagonal. Black, seeking to spoil White's plan, replies 1...e5 , the Modern Variation. ( 1...d5...

What are the building blocks of chess improvement? Some are obvious: play games and analyze them, master an opening repertoire, and solve tactics puzzles. Others are less obvious: study master games, emulate the style of a top player, and read chess books. Alon Cohen of Jeruchess, the Jerusalem chess club, considers memorizing games an essential building block and a better use of one's time than reading chess books. Among the games Cohen recommends memorizing are Winter-Capablanca 1919 (Cold Winter) and Morphy-Karl/Isouard 1858 (the Opera Game). Rather than committing the games' move lists to memory, however, Cohen recommends breaking each game down into logical components. For example, instead of remembering the opening moves, remember the opening variation. Additionally, any time there is a pin, threat, capture, etc., articulate the reason for it. In the case of Morphy-Karl 1858, a helpful feature to refer to is the hotspot , the square on the board that becomes a focal po...

Since January's "Missed tactics, part 1," has my tactical vision improved? If my puzzle ratings on Lichess and Chess.com are any indication, no. On Lichess I have dropped to the mid-2250s, and on Chess.com I dropped as low as 2800 in March before climbing back above 2900 yesterday. On the other hand, I am more alert to potential sacrifices when attacking the castled king and have won games where opponent was caught off guard by my attack. The puzzles featured in this batch follow the same format as in part 1: a brief description of the game whence the puzzle originated, an explanation of what is happening on the board and of how to approach solving the puzzle, and the solution. I have also added the name of the opening directly beneath the puzzle image. This may be useful for situations when a particular opening is played and I can steer the game more or less in the direction of the puzzle. 1. 2024-01-26 , game 1 White to move (Semislav Defense) In this position,...