Conrad's First Club Game !!

Conrad played his first club game for Farnham Chess Club this evening in their 'E' Team!! 

Great news - he won !! :) - he beat a player who played the London System.  Here is the game ... with  only a few inaccuracies on both sides - and a great win for Conrad .- well deserved ... Black rather impressively scored an accuracy rating of 83%   

London System 

 

 Final position ... 

Grand Prix Attack - perfection!

It's not often that a Grand Prix Attack game comes together so well ... But when your opponent falls for all the tricks and techniques its great fun to play ... 

This game was rated at 94.7% accuracy :)

Taimanov - Sicilian

Here is one of my first attempts at the Taimanov Sicilian.  

As you can see. my opponent blundered their Bishop and I was provided with a chance in the end to mate them with the extra Knight!   

Catalan Opening ... Game (2)

I should have lost the exchange in this game - can anybody spot where?

Here is Game 2 anyway ...

Catalan Opening ...Game (1)

I have played against the Catalan before and it can sometimes be a very tricky opening to deal with ... !!
Fortunately I had the White pieces in this game and was able to play the Catalan myself :) 

My opponent had clearly not faced this type of opening very often before ... hence it was over quickly ... 

I am uploading these games to keep a record for myself ... 

Caro-Kan - finding a novel trap!

 I was dabbling this evening, and discovered a nice trap in the Caro-Kan.  Admittedly I wasn't looking for it, but if you don't try interesting ideas then you won't make your opponent trip up! Part of the fun of chess is actually the voyage of discovery.  The placement of each piece had a profound impact on the games verdict.  I thought I might be able to win my opponents Queen, but instead I went for a win of the oppoent's light squared Bishop, then realised that their dark squared bishop was also en-prise.   

Grand Prix Attack - fun chess!

This was one of my latest Grand Prix Attack games ...

When you learn all the ideas in this opening, it can be a great deal of fun!!

I think that it is possible that if you haven't faced this opponent as Black too often, it can come as rather a shock!!  Here I was able to deploy a classic King hunt, and lure the enemy King to one side of the board - once the king started marching, he really had little or no choice but to continue to his doom ... Pleasingly, he engine reported 8 GREAT moves ... !  

Funny bullet game !! :)

Scotch Blumenfeld Attack ...

Latest Grand Prix Attack win against 1804

Here is the winning game ...



Astonishingly, ending the game with 7 consecutive checks!   

Games played with Coddy Sept 2026

My youngest son is definitely improving ... We both made blunder this evening.  In the first game, I blundered first apparently with Bxf6??

King's Indian Defense: Sämisch, Normal Defense

In the second game, Coddy blundered first with Be6 - I think he was getting tired !!

Italian Game: Hungarian Defense

I will continue coaching him ... and we'll see what happens :) !!!  

Look for an intermezzo check!

I was trawling through 1.b3 games the other day and I stumbled on a game recently played on chess.com where the game reached a critical juncture.  

Note:  This looks like a simple enough position:   Surely 13. Bxa6 bxa6  14. Qxd5 wins a pawn, right?  Well, not quite ... because after 13. Bxa6 Nxe3 Black can also win a pawn and threaten White's Queen! Therefore Black would have seemed to have equalised?  Not quite ... 


The intermezzo check ... 

Once you start looking at the intermezzo checks, then you become a better chess player.  Beginners tend to look just one or two moves ahead in all positions ... However, to the trained eye there is an intermezzo check available as in:   

13. Bxa6 Nxe3  14. Bb5+ c6 15. Bxc6+ (winning a second pawn) bxc6 16. fxe3 

and White is a pawn up ... !

Note:  In the game above 13. h4 was played leading to a complicated position.  

So my advice would be to look at all possible checks in any given position,  just to see what can actually be gained.  This technique comes with practice and dedication, but will transform how you play chess.

Learn the Nimzo-Larsen Attack

Due to work pressure, I’ve had very little time to play many serious games of chess this year.  Having said that, I find that 1.b3 has provided me with a solid opening, that’s effective, occasionally unpredictable and easy to learn!  

Why? 

I think it’s ideal if you don’t want to trawl through reams upon reams of opening theory concerning classical openings like the Sicilian or the Ruy Lopez!  The Nimzo-Larsen Attack can be used as a surprise weapon, given that it’s simply not a very popular opening … and Black needs to be very well prepared to know how to counter the ideas behind it!  

Why is it called the Nimzo-Larsen? 

It is generally said that there were two leading proponents of 1.b3 … Latvian Grandmaster, Aron Nimzowitsch in the 1920’s and 30’s and Danish Grandmaster, Bent Larsen in the 1960’s.  It is a hyper-modern opening, making use of the long range bishop on b2.  

Typical ideas for White

Pawn breaks with c4 and f4 to undermine Black’s central pawns.  Bishop on b2, and sometimes a double fianchetto, with a Bishop on g2.   

Nimzowitsch vs Rubinstein, 1926 

Here is the opening played one hundred years ago by the great Aron Nimzowitsch…

Game here ...