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Easy Guide to the Lowenthal

Tue, 2013-06-18 10:05 -- IM Max Illingworth

[pgn]{Easy Guide to the Lowenthal One of the most fascinating and reputable
openings in chess is the Sicilian Defence. However, it's easy to get
overwhelmed by the slew of theory associated with this opening, and the price
of a mistake can often be high as Black develops more slowly to achieve some
long-term positional gains. With this post I'm going to offer a solution to
both these issues: Play the Lowenthal Sicilian! This opening is not very
theoretical, and Black obtains an early lead in development almost no matter

Constructing Your Opening Repertoire (By Max Illingworth)

Fri, 2013-06-14 12:31 -- IM Max Illingworth

Constructing Your Opening Repertoire

At some point in their chess development, most players face and try to resolve the issue of which openings to play, and how to best learn these openings. With this blog post I’ll aim to answer this question, which has a differing answer depending on your playing strength, style, available time to study and opponents/time controls you are playing.

The Survival Guide to Queen + Rook ‘Endgames’

Wed, 2013-06-05 20:45 -- IM Max Illingworth

The Survival Guide to Queen + Rook ‘Endgames’

Positions with a queen and rook each (and no other pieces, excepting the kings and pawns) possess very different characteristics to other positions with simplified material.
Let’s start with the following position which illustrates the more dynamic nature of these positions:

Blog Post 27-05-2013 - Old Wine in New Bottles

Wed, 2013-05-29 10:04 -- IM Max Illingworth

Question: What is the oldest opening tabiya (theoretical position) in chess, aside from the initial position?
Answer: If you read last week’s post you will know the answer: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Qe7, which is pretty much forgotten today but remains unrefuted – Black allows White to play d4 and achieve a slight space advantage, but in returns obtains a solid d6/e5 central pawn structure and possibilities for counterplay against White’s centre.

The Rudiments of Chess Understanding

Mon, 2013-04-29 19:55 -- IM Max Illingworth

The Rudiments of Chess Understanding

Often you hear someone make a remark along the lines of ‘That player has a good understanding of chess’ or an excuse for losing like ‘My opponent has no understanding but I missed his cheap trick’. In chess, understanding refers to how well one appreciates the value of pieces, pawns and squares in a given position.

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