Game: Leif Fjallheim v Julia Ostenssen - Uppsala Young Champions 2019
Black is two pawns up with a passed pawn on a5
White's knight is tied down defending the pawn on d4
However, Black now needs to move
the king out of check.
Which escape square would be best - f7, h5 or h6 ?
🤔 Play the game to check your thinking
👍 In the next game Julia is playing an opponent with a much higher rating. How did she go ?
(White's last 5 moves are worth a look !)
Chess960 (also called Fischer Random) is a chess variant with 960 possible starting positions and follows all of the normal rules of chess. This is intended to make the game fresher where players are thrown more on their own resources in the opening and so more balanced between players of different skills. It also helps to counter the growing role of computers in chess analysis.
👍 Play v computer Rules - including castling
The FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship 2019 was the first world championship in Fischer Random Chess officially recognised by the international chess federation FIDE. After several rounds, a last round was played in the form of a Final Four from October 27 to November 2, 2019, in Norway. The winner of this last round was Wesley So, defeating Magnus Carlsen 13.5–2.5 to become the first world champion in Fischer Random Chess.
😎 Video - Wesley So v Magnus Carlsen Game 6 analysis (6:18 min)
After learning chess on the streets just outside of Manila in the Philippines, Wesley So become a grandmaster at just 14.
‘I learned chess when I was seven or eight. A lot of people played on every corner
of the neighbourhood I lived in. Children don’t need money to play chess. People make the pieces out of bottle caps, or whatever materials they have. Every week I would cut out newspaper clippings about famous grandmaster games, study them, and then
I’d go from street to street with a makeshift board, challenging anyone who knew how to play.'
🙂 Video - game analysis age 13 (5:32
min)
🙂 Video - Wesley solving 3 studies without sighting a board (17:14 min)
👍 Checkmate puzzle: Position Play the game
How many times have we all overlooked an attractive mate-in-two - not even bothering to look for it - because, being so consumed with our own plans, we don't notice that the opponent's last move was a serious tactical mistake ! And how often,
after having missed a brilliant shot, have we found that it was there for one move only and it was our one opportunity to win ?
212 Surprising Checkmates - Alberston/Wilson
In this position White has just moved his knight to c5 attacking the rook which allows Black a mate in 4 opportunity.
👍 Explore Play the game (and 5 more puzzles)
Max Euwe was the 5th World Champion (1935-37). This is an impressive checkmate game played when he was 18