Alekhine's Block - (Advanced Tactics)

 

Craft Your Kingside Onslaught
 Mastering Alekhine's Block

This blog post delves into the world of Alekhine's Block, a potent tactical weapon employed by the legendary Alexander Alekhine himself. We'll equip you with the knowledge and resources to unleash devastating kingside attacks!

Unleashing the Fury:

Alekhine's Block, a concept named after the fierce World Champion, involves strategically placing a piece directly in front of your opponent's kingside pawn. This audacious maneuver serves a dual purpose:

• Restriction: It physically hinders the pawn's movement, limiting your opponent's defensive options.
• Offensive Platform: The blocking piece becomes a powerful springboard for launching further attacks.

As Aron Nimzowitsch famously stated, "First restrain, then blockade, finally destroy!" Alekhine's Block embodies this philosophy, paving the way for a crushing kingside onslaught.

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Alekhines Block Chess Articles

What is Alekhine’s Block? - ichess.net - Short Article talking about the history . (Archived)

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LiChess Studies

Explore interactive training tools to solidify your understanding of the tactics concepts.

Alekhine's Block Collection of Studies

(Many Positions from famous Games with Examples and Annotations including Famous Studies by composers such as Charushin)

• Alekhine's Block  - 64 Chapter Study 
• Alekhine's Block II - 64 Chapter Study 
• Alekhine's Block III - 45 Chapter Study

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Games Database

Analyze real-life games featuring the Alekhine's Block Tactic and see how it's played in practice.

Chessgames.com

Alekhine's Block - 98 Game Collection (All have this tactic in them)

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Alekhine's Block Video Lessons

Chess with Suren

• Every Chess Player Should Know About Alekhine's Block - 6 min
• Learn How To Win In Chess With Alekhine's Block - 6 Min
• Bobby Fischer Uses Alekhine's Block To Beat Benko - 6 min - Learn from a masterclass by the legendary Bobby Fischer.
• Must See! Grischuk Uses Alekhine's Block To Beat Vitiugov - 6 Min

The Alekhine Block - 49 min - One of the Only Lectures found about this Tactical device. Video Below

Unleash the Power of Passed Pawns (Chess Strategy)

 

Mastering Passed Pawns:
 From Creation to Promotion

This comprehensive guide equips you with everything you need to learn about passed pawns in chess.

 Learn how to create passed pawns from various positions, protect them effectively, and ultimately convert them into unstoppable queens!

 Passed Pawn Wikipedia Page

What is a Passed Pawn?

In chess, a passed pawn is a pawn that has advanced beyond all of the opponent's pawns and has no enemy pawns on either the same file (vertical line) or adjacent files blocking its path to promotion.

Imagine a clear path ahead, with no enemy pawns to stop it. That's a passed pawn!

Why are Passed Pawns Important?

Passed pawns are valuable because they have a strong chance of being promoted to a powerful queen. Since only your opponent's pieces can hinder your pawn's progress, a passed pawn with proper support can be a game-winning advantage in the endgame.

Types of Passed Pawns:

There are various types of passed pawns, each with its own strategic considerations. Here are a few examples you might encounter:

• Isolated Passed Pawn: Stands alone on a file with no friendly pawns nearby.
• Connected Passed Pawns: Two or more passed pawns standing side-by-side on adjacent files.
• Outside Passed Pawns: Located on the "a" or "h" file (farthest from the king), often requiring special strategies.
  
  

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Passed Pawn Chess Articles

Dive deeper into passed pawn concepts with these insightful articles.

• Creating a Passed Pawn from a Pawn Majority -  Article showing Several ways of going about it.
  
  
• The Mighty Connected Passed Pawns - Nice Article
  
  
• Pushing Passed Pawns - Chess Improver Article
  
  
• Outside Passed Pawn (1) - Chess Improver Article
  
  

The Wayback Machine: Your Ally in Chess History

While some classic chess resources may disappear from the internet, their wisdom lives on! Here, we delve into archived articles.

Silmans Opening Archive Articles
Opening Analysis - Beating the Dragon - Karel van der Weide
Combating the Sicilian Dragon - IM Andrew Martin
Levenfish Attack - IM Andrew Martin
Dragon Forever - IM Andrew Martin
ACCELERATED DRAGON (UOGELE VARIATION) - IM John Donaldson
ACCELERATED DRAGON (NON-MAROCZY)
MAIN LINE WITH 11…Qh5 - IM John Donaldson & Silman
Accelerated Dragon Marcozy Bind - Jeremy Silman

How to Beat a Grandmaster - IM Timothy Taylor
Part 1 - Accelerated Dragon Marcozy Bind
Part 2 - Accelerated Dragon Marcozy Bind
Part 3 - Accelerated Dragon Marcozy Bind

ChessCafe Articles
The Yugoslav Attack - 13 Page Article By IM Gary Lane
Traps in the Dragon - IM Gary Lane
The Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack (B 78) - Informant @ Chesscafe

Remember:

The Wayback Machine is a powerful tool for accessing historical chess content. Utilize it to unearth hidden gems and enrich your chess knowledge!

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Passed Pawn Lichess Studies

These interactive Lichess studies provide the perfect platform to transform your passed pawns into unstoppable queens. 

• Passed Pawn Practice - 16 Chapter Interactive Study
  
  
• Pawn Structure 2 - 25 Chapter Study (Nice in-depth Study)
  
  
• Passed Pawns: Reassess your chess - 25 chapter Study (Lot of info from Silman's Book)
  
  
• Chess Homework Passed Pawns - 23 Chapter Study - Nice Study of Passed Pawn exercises.
  
  

New to Lichess studies? These interactive tools allow you to explore chess concepts and variations move-by-move, perfect for testing your understanding and deepening your knowledge.

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Games Databases

Witness Passed Pawns in Action: Explore Real Game Examples

Chessgames.com (Game Collections)

• THE POWERFUL PASSED PAWNS - 37 Games 
  
  
• Passed Pawns - 190 Games 
  
  

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Passed Pawn Lesson Videos

GM Johan Hellsten (U.S. Chess School) (These are Gold)
Discusses the strategic and tactical aspects of passed pawns in chess, using examples from his own games and famous matches. He emphasizes the importance of advancing passed pawns, removing their defenders, and the role of other pieces in supporting pawn promotion. 

• Passed Pawns - Part 1 | U.S. Chess School - 71 Min - GM Johan Hellsten delivers a lecture focusing on the idea of passed pawns w/ 8 examples.
• Passed Pawns Part 2 | U.S. Chess School - 73 Min - GM Johan Hellsten delivers the second part of a lecture focusing on the idea of passed pawns w/ 9 examples.

Passed Pawns: What to Do? | Secret Life of Pawns - GM Varuzhan Akobian - 36 Min - Shows his game against Vietnamese GM Nguyen from the 2017 World Rapid Championship. See the crucial moments in this game where passed pawns were the focal point.

The Passed Pawn is Making a Run for It! | Secret Life of Pawns - GM Denes Boros - 50 Mins - Grandmaster Denes Boros shows strong games, including his own, where a passed pawn sealed a victory.

Outside Passed Pawns

• Creating An Outside Passed Pawn in Chess | GM Alex Ipatov - 8 Min
  
  
• Outside Passed Pawn Explained in 7 minutes! - Daily Lesson with a GM 295 - 7 Min  - Learn why outside passed pawns are a decisive advantage in King and Pawn Endgames. GM Gabuzyan breaks down all the fundamentals you need to know about such pawns in this chess lesson.
• Winning Techniques to Stop the Outside Passed Pawns | Intermediate Level | IM Andrey Ostrovskiy - 7 Min - You will learn different methods how to stop the pawn promotion if the opponent's passed pawn is located on the a- or h-file.

Connected Passed Pawns

• How to handle connected Passed Pawns in Bishop Endgames? | Intermediate Level | IM Andrey Ostrovskiy - 18 Min -  IM Andrey Ostrovskiy will teach you how to play with and against two connected passed pawns in the opposite colored bishop endgame.
• A Subtle Way to Create Connected Passed Pawns - Daily Lesson with a GM 361 - 7 Min - GM Avetik shows how you can create connected passed pawns by sacrificing material at the right time.

Passed Pawn Endgames

• Rook & Passed Pawn Endgames - Endgames for Tournament Players - 23 Min - St.Louis CC - Learn how to enforce your passed Pawn by placing your Rook behind it.
• Understanding Passed Pawns | Principles of Chess Endgames | GM Naroditsky - 54 Min - After clarifying the definition, we consider the various ways of creating passed pawns, and identify five special types of passers that frequently occur in pawn endgames.
• Crush your Opponents With Passed Pawns in the Endgame! - GM Roman Dzindzichashvili - 20 Min - we learn about how to create passed pawns in the endgame. We also see how we can attempt to stop our opponent from doing the same thing.

Pawn Breakthroughs

• Pawn Breakthroughs - GM Ben Finegold - 42 Min - Grandmaster Ben Finegold guides you through a jungle of tied-up pawns. How do we untangle this mess and break through with a powerful passed pawn? Sacrifices, king position, and more...
• What a Pawn Wants, What a Pawn Needs | The Secret Life of Pawns - GM Yasser Seirawan - 35 Min -  shows examples of increasingly difficult pawn breakthroughs. Even when the position looks perfectly symmetrical there are ways to get a passed pawn.
• Pawn Races & Breakthroughs - FM Aviv Friedman - 46 Min - Using a variety of compositions and games, Aviv refines our knowledge of Pawn sacrifices (to create passed Pawns) and King opposition.

Queens Gambit (Accepted) D20 - D29

 

Queen's Gambit Accepted Resources

Wikipedia Page 
The Queen's Gambit Accepted (or QGA) is a chess opening characterised by the moves:
1. d4 d5
2. c4 dxc4

The Queen's Gambit Accepted is the third most popular option on Black's second move, after 2...e6 (the Queen's Gambit Declined) and 2...c6 (the Slav Defense).

The Queen's Gambit is not considered a true gambit, in contrast to the King's Gambit, because the pawn is either regained, or can only be held unprofitably by Black. Black usually allows the pawn to be recaptured, and uses the time expended to play against White's center.

Books (Free)

Chess Book: 500 Queen's Gambit Miniatures by Bill Wall - 130 page PDF

Understanding the QGA A Black Repertoire with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 - 18 Page PDF

Short & Sweet: Gledura's Queen's Gambit Accepted - FREE Chessable Course (GM Benjamin Gladura)  22 Lines with 1.5 Hr Free Video

Queen's Gambit Accepted Articles

The Queens Gambit at Simplify Chess -  Every Move Explained (Nice Page and Article)
Common Trap in the Queens Gambit Accepted - Blog Post
Best Openings for Club Players: Queen’s Gambit Accepted - ichess.net Article w/embedded Video (Nice)
Queen’s Gambit Accepted Chess Opening: For Starters - another Decent Web-page

QGA LiChess Studies

Queen's Gambit Accepted Traps - 10 Chapter Study
Queen's Gambit Accepted - 6 Chapter Study (Study at top of Page)
Queen's Gambit - 43 Chapter Study On Queens Gambit (Half is Accepted)

LiStudy  (Learn and Practice Studies here. Makes a Study Interactive)

Studies about the Queen's Gambit Accepted  - 4  Studies here 
Queens Gambit Structures  - 30 Chapters 

Games Databases

365Chess.com

Queens Gambit Accepted - all Variations from D20-D29 on this page. 

Chessgames.com

Queen's Gambit Accepted (D20-D29) - 48 Annotated Games 

PUZZLES

Queen's gambit Accepted Puzzles - 7765 Puzzles (Broken into 13 Variations Half-way down page)
QGA, Classical, 6...a6 (ECO D27) - 15 Puzzles (WTharvey.com)
QGA, Classical, 6...a6 (ECO D27) - 15 Puzzles (WTharvey.com)

Queen's Gambit Accepted Videos

Playlists

• Queen's gambit theory  -  96 Video Playlist - Jozarov's Chess Channel (This Playlist has Lessons for each line to Analyzed Full games from Great Players)
  
• Queen's Gambit Accepted Opening Theory - 4 Video Playlist - Hanging Pawns 
• Queen's Gambit - Opening Theory (Idea's and Plans) - 6 Video playlist -  IM Andrey Ostrovskiy

Lessons

Queen's Gambit Accepted | Prepare Like A Pro - GM Josh Sheng - 57 Min -  looks at the process by which he fell in love with the queen's gambit. The QGA is easy to learn. Quickly simplify the game or enter complications! (New - 5/29/24)

Queens Gambit Accepted Part-1 - 19 Min - GM ArunChess - In this introduction video of the Queens Gambit Accepted you will get to know some of the basic ideas and plans for Black.
Queens Gambit Accepted Part-2 - 11 Min - GM ArunChess - deals with the main lines white players play with 3.e3 followed 4.Bxc4.


Queen's Gambit Part 2: Queen's Gambit Accepted - 56 Min - GM Ben Finegold - Discusses three games in the Queen's Gambit Accepted.

The GREEDY Players Guide to the Queen's Gambit Accepted - 22 Min 

Chess openings - Queen's gambit accepted - 14 Min
Queen's Gambit Accepted || Chess Opening Tutorial - 13 Min GM Huschenbeth

Take the sting out 💉 of the Queen's Gambit... By accepting it! with IM Valeri Lilov - 60 Min

Top 8 Most Popular Queen's Gambit Variations - 80 Min Jonathan Schrantz

Isolated Queen Pawn Positions - GM Ben Finegold - 40 Min

QGA Chess Traps

Chess Openings: Tricks and Traps #12 - Queens Gambit Accepted Traps - 8 Min
Chess Opening Tricks & Traps in Queen's Gambit Accepted & PUZZLE | Best Strategy, Moves & Ideas - 6 Min
Basic Opening Chess Trap | The simplest Queen's Gambit Accepted Trap - 2 Min
5 Queen's Gambit Traps Every Chess Player Should Know  - 20 Min - IM Eric Rosen

QGA Game Videos (W/Analysis)

Queen's Gambit Accepted  - 14 Video Playlist - agadmantor's Chess Channel
Queens Gambit Accepted - 10 Video Playlist - kingscrusher

Master Class | Queen's Gambit Accepted | Chess Speedrun | Grandmaster Naroditsky - 20 Min
Queen's Gambit Accepted: Gelfand vs Anand Linares 1993 - 8 Min

Standard Chess #10: IM Bartholomew vs. walter (Queen's Gambit Accepted) - 40 Min
Standard Chess #107: IM Bartholomew vs. alakhine101 (Queen's Gambit Accepted) - 40 Min
Blitz Chess #461: IM Bartholomew vs. nurmi (Queen's Gambit Accepted) - 30 Min
Standard Chess #129: GABRIELC vs. IM Bartholomew (Queen's Gambit Accepted) - 21 Min
Blitz Chess #78: IM Bartholomew vs. sisis (Queen's Gambit Accepted) - 16 Min

A crazy line in the Queen's Gambit Accepted (QGA) | Pragg vs Zhansaya - 12 Min
Why the "Hari" to draw? | Anish Giri vs P. Harikrishna - 15 Min
Judit Polgar vs Samay Raina's community | An epic checkmate at the end! - 12 Min

Unlocking Victory: The Art of Domination in Chess

 

 The Power of Piece Domination

Domination: It's not just about capturing! In chess endgames, domination gives you a powerful edge by limiting your opponent's piece movement. Imagine a knight surrounded by squares, yet unable to escape your control. That's domination in action!

Domination Wikipedia Page

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Domination Articles: Mastering Control in the Endgame

Learn how to recognize domination patterns, restrict your opponent's piece movement, and ultimately secure victories you might have thought impossible.

Domination. A chess concept you should learn - chesscoachdiego - Explore the fundamentals of domination and its impact on endgame strategy.

Some classical dominations by Siegfried Hornecker - Chessbase.com - Put your domination skills to the test with 12 interactive studies by a renowned endgame composer, complete with annotations.

DOMINATION IN CHESS - Gain valuable insights from five annotated domination examples, solidifying your understanding of this crucial endgame concept.

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Domination LiChess Studies

Put your domination skills to the test with these interactive studies from Lichess. Solve puzzles and witness domination in action!

Domination in 2,545 Endgame Studies: - 10 Chapters -  Explore a range of domination concepts through 10 interactive endgame studies.

Domination (39 Endgame Studies) - 39 Chapters (Interactive)

kasparyan domination in 2545 endgames - 64 Chapters (Interactive) - Dive deep into the mastery of Genrikh Kasparyan with a whopping 64 interactive studies on domination in endgames.

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Domination Videos: Learn from the Masters

Sharpen your domination skills with expert insights!  Witness domination strategies in action and gain valuable tips to incorporate into your own play.

Domination Chess Studies | Insane in the Endgame - WGM Sabina Foisor - 60 Min -Woman Grandmaster Sabina Foisor presents a exploration of domination through engaging chess puzzles.

Dominate in the Endgame! - A study by Genrikh Kasparyan - Endgame Composition 4# - 7 Min -Dive into a 7-minute endgame study by Genrikh Kasparyan and see if you can find the domination strategy that leads to victory for White.

Powerful Domination in Endgame Study by Korolkov -1948 (White to move and win) - 10 Min -Uncover the brilliance of endgame composer Vladimir Korolkov in this 10-minute video featuring a domination study with in-depth analysis..

Knight vs Bishop Endgames | Domination in Chess Endgames | Chess Studies by Reti, Troitsky and Sneft - 10 Min - Explore the nuances of knight vs bishop endgames and the concept of domination in a 10-minute lesson by renowned chess figures Reti, Troitsky, and Sneft. 


Bishops Bounty Endgame Study Page - Updated with new Videos, Lichess Studies, Articles and Endgame Study Database.