Posts

518

If one player is weak on a colour complex (has no bishop of that colour), and the opponent has that colour bishop, and the queens are on the board, that weakness is likely worth more than one pawn. Dan Heisman, ChessCafe.com

517

The English Opening is basically geared to controlling the d5 square. White starts off with 1.c4, follows up with Nc3 and completes the job with a kingside fianchetto. Gary Lane, Ideas Behind Modern Chess Openings: Black

516

Stockfish is a wonderful tool, but remember: it's not enough just to notice that the machine recommends a move - you need to understand why. If it's not immediately obvious, play a natural move for the other side  and keep digging until you'd be able to explain and demonstrate to another player why the machine evaluates things the way it does. Andrew Greet, Chess magazine

515

Few sacrifices work if the attacker cannot bring several pieces, particularly the queen, into the attack with great speed. David LeMoir, Essential Chess Sacrifices

514

There will always be times when your preparation or memory fails you (in the opening) and you have to make it up. In these cases you should aim to find a move which is sensible on general principles and which does not have an obvious refutation. John Nunn, Grandmaster Chess Move By Move

513

Don't just study variations in your repertoire; investigate the typical endgames that can occur from different variations as well. Andreas Tzermiadianos, How To Beat The French Defence