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Have you ever heard of Chessgames.com?

In Mikhail Golubev's Interview with Chessgames co-founder Daniel Freeman Daniel says that Chessgames.com is, “a worldwide chess community where anybody from anywhere can come to discuss anything they want about chess."

If you have ever used a search engine in an effort to find out about a chess tournament, player, or game either ancient or modern then you've no doubt seen Chessgames.com as one of the top listings. Since its founding in 2001 the site has become overwhelmingly popular. Why? Because users can comment on every game, player, and tournament in the database.

The game database itself is made up of the cream of the crop as far as quality. Other databases are larger but the degree of skill is usually compromised. Chessgames.com takes great pains to verify all of its content and according to the Wikipedia article on Chessgames.com: “The primary factor for inclusion in the ChessGames.com database is that one of the players should be master strength (an ELO rating of 2200 or above) to avoid low quality games and erroneous fabrications.”

There a three “Explorers” at Chessgames.com that organize the games in the database in various ways. There's an Opening Explorer where the user can click on chess moves in the form of hyperlinks, either from the starting position or from a FEN (Forsythe-Edwards Notation) string. There's a Sacrifice Explorer that organizes the games by winning sacrifices. That's good for sheer entertainment value or to learn about common sacrifices. The Endgame Explorer is my favorite. Games are ordered by the pieces in the ending (i.e. bishop and two pawns versus knight and three pawns, etc.). Gone are the days where you have to pour through layers of computer tablebases just to find a specific type of endgame to study.

The guys over at Chessgames.com are sincere about helping people improve their chess. You can go through a series of chess games called “Guess-The-Move” which tests your skills and can help broaden your mind. You can search all the comments made on Chessgames by keyword … which means that if you want to hear people's opinion of the King's Indian Defense you just type that into the Kibitzing Search and there you go. For those who love to have training materials right at there fingertips without a whole lot of searching wrap your head around this … There's a Zipfile Directory available to Premium Members that organizes the entire database in all kinds of ways. My favorite way is the knight versus bishop pgn download. There's no better way to improve your use of these two pieces than to see them used against one another in consecutive games. Learning is made easier by this kind of saturation.

While the database is really cool the thing that attracts me to Chessgames.com the most is the matches. Over the years Chessgames.com has sponsored several “World vs” styled matches where everyone can participate that is a premium member. Among those that have taken on the Chessgames.com community are GM Arno Nickel, GM Yury Shulman, as well as two former World Correspondence Champions Gert Jan Timmerman and Mikhail Umansky. There has also been team matches on chessgames.com where members can sign up and are assigned to one of two teams (a team for the white pieces and a team for the black pieces) and they debate with one another on their choice of move.

Add all that to a daily puzzle, player spotlight, and opening spotlight that is available to everyone on the front page including non-users and Chessgames is very interested in spreading the word of good chess to everyone.

If you're interested in trying a premium account just click here to become a member for free and then click here for the membership options landing page. If you found this article informative or would like to leave your opinion please comment to this page.

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com

I recently had a discussion with some friends about last year's U.S. Womens Championship (2009). This event was an interesting blend of brilliant and unexpected calculation and catastrophic blunder. The current game sticks in my mind as a good example of moving pawns indiscriminately. I can hardly blame Sabina for playing the way that she did but resisting the temptation to push a pawn in front of your king was in my opinion the pivotal moment in this game. At the time this game was played I did not really know either competitor and I was more interested in Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush's games as they were the popular favorites at the time. Sabina (White) comes out modestly with Anna (Black) tagging along in the opening and white's choice of variation with 15.e3 seems perhaps too modest and unwilling to play in a tactical shootout.

2009 US Women's Championship
St. Louis, U.S. December 10,2009, Round 8
WGM Sabina Foisor (2379) - IM Anna Zatonskih (2492)

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 Nf6 6. Qc2 c5

The more interesting variation starts with 7. dxc5 d4 but White chooses a different path where the White d-pawn is more of a liability but the prospects of tactical shots is minimal, but then again when you're winning from a positional standpoint all you have to do is wait. That’s the bookworm in me talking though as practically speaking the chances are about equal in either continuation.
7. e3 cxd4 8. exd4 Nc6 9. Bb5 Qb6 10. Nge2 O-O 11. Bxc6 Qxc6 12. O-O Be6 13. Rac1 Rac8 14. f3 Qd7 15. g4
I disagree with the choice to play 15. g4 in this position and this is the deciding moment and the real subject of this article.

Playing g4 may have been a "justification" for 14.f3 but the weakness of the pawn structure on this side of the board after 15.g4 becomes apparent in the ensuing endgame. Better is 15.Be5 leaving the pawns in front of the white king alone. This can be seen in just a few more moves and I give a couple of variations:
a) 15. Be5 Nh5 16. Qb3 f6 17. Bg3

b) 15. Be5 b5 16. Qb3 a6 17. Nf4 Rfe8 18. Rfe1

In these two cases white enjoys various pluses to go with his weak e-pawn, enough to claim a slight advantage in my opinion. White may also consider 15.Qb3 (as per Fritz) but proper calculation and “only”-type moves are required to survive in some lines and I just don't see it as practical to discover at the board or economical to use your time in calculating. After 15. g4 the game continued:

15. ... b5 16. a3 Ne8 17. Qb3 a6 18. Bg3 Rc4 19. Rcd1 f6 20. Rfe1 Bf7 21. Nf4 Nc7 22. Qc2 b4 23. axb4 Bxb4 24. Qf5 Qxf5 25. gxf5 Nb5 26. Nfe2 Nxc3 27. bxc3 Bxc3 28. Nxc3 Rxc3 29. Kf2 Rfc8 30. Re3 Rxe3 31. Kxe3 Rc3+ 32. Rd3 Rxd3+ 33. Kxd3 Bh5 34. Ke3 a5 35. Bd6 Kf7 36. Kf4 Ke8 37. Ba3 a4 38. Ke3 Kd7 39. h3 Kd8 40. Bf8 Ke8 41. Bc5 Kf7 42. h4 Kg8 43. Kf4 Be8 44. Ba3 Bb5 45. Ke3 Kf7 46. Bb4 Bc4 47. Kd2 Bf1 48. Ke3 Bh3 49. Kf4 Ke8 50. Ba3 Kd7 51. Bf8 Kc6 52. Ke3 Bxf5 53. Kd2 g5 54. Be7 gxh4 55. Bxf6 h3 56. Be5 Be4 0-1

White resigns before the coup de grace 57. Kc3 Bxf3 58. Kb4 Bd1 59. Bf4 Bb3 60. Bg3 h6 61. Bb8 Kd7 62. Bf4 or even 57. fxe4 dxe4 58. Kc3 Kd5 59. Bf4 e3 60. Kd3 a3 61. Kxe3 a2