First of all, is chess popular or not? Many people know it...? Many people play it...? If it's popular, maybe this article doesn't make sense... Or should it be more popular? If it is not popular, should we make it popular?
We all know chess is more than just a game; I usually refer to it, herein, as game/art. However, it is a game and, as any game, it is meant to be played. Or can it just be “contemplated”, like a painting? Its art side...
Almost one hundred years ago, Don Capablanca wrote: There have been times in my life when I came very near thinking that I could not lose even a single game. Then I would be beaten, and the lost game would bring me back from dreamland to earth. Nothing is so healthy as a thrashing at the proper time, and from few won games have I learned as much as I have from most of my defeat.
How early should children start playing chess? How early should children start studying chess? How early should children start using chess databases? Everything at once? Little by little? Or it will depend on the answer to the first question? I believe chess playing parents might be interested in this discussion. Curious children may read it too. Ideally, parents and kids: discuss this topic together and we will wait for the next young geniuses!
Copyright is kind of a forbidden word in the chess world. You can study and play some chess openings or defenses, to be successful with them and then you will see, especially in the elite, how other players will start copying your choice of repertoire and novelties.
This Tuesday, October 6th, the 1st European Universities Chess Championship (EUCC) will start..
Far away are those days when playing a chess tournament meant arriving to the playing hall and just to discover (of course, on a handwritten pairing sheet) who was your opponent for that round five minutes before the start. Some pioneers dared to call to the referee the previous night, took some opening book and checked some opening which according to some friend was usually played by his next opponent.
C60 Spanish - Dreev – The Cozio Defence (Chess Stars 2014). In this book, we have analyzed one of the oldest variations of the Ruy Lopez -1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7. The move 3...Nge7 was particularly popular during the second half of the 19th century. It was played at these times by such outstanding masters like Adolph Andersen and Willhelm Steinitz.
"The times they are a-changin'" - Bob Dylan. Yes, Uncle Bob was right in the 1960s, is right now and will be right for ever and ever. In fact, the times are changing every day, every hour, every second. Conversely, chess has been quite stable throughout the times. Probably, it's due to its double art/game character.
One of my favorite chess tournaments, if not the most, is the World Chess Cup. You have there plenty of interesting games, all kind of Grand Masters, classical, rapid and blitz games… what more can we ask for? But have you seen the hot drama between Kramnik and Bruzon? That was something.