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Benko Gambit
The Benko Gambit (or Volga Gambit) is a chess opening characterised by the move 3...b5 in the Benoni Defence arising after: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 c5 :3. d5 b5 Black sacrifices a pawn for enduring pressure. White can accept or decline the gambit pawn. The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' has three codes for the Benko Gambit: * A57 3...b5 * A58 3...b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 * A59 3...b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6 6.Nc3 d6 7.e4 Origin and predecessors The idea of sacrificing a pawn with ...b5 and ...a6 is quite old. Karel Opočenský applied the idea against, among others, Gideon Ståhlberg at Poděbrady 1936, Paul Keres at Pärnu 1937, Erich Eliskases at Prague 1937, and Theo van Scheltinga at the Buenos Aires Chess Olympiad 1939. Later, the game Mark Taimanov–David Bronstein at the Candidates Tournament, Zürich 1953, drew attention. Most of these games began as a King's Indian, with Black only later playing ...c5 and ...b5. Possibly the first game using the now-standard 1.d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pal Benko
Pál C. Benkő ( hu, Benkő Pál; July 15, 1928 – August 26, 2019) was a Hungarian-American chess player, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems. Early life Benko was born on July 15, 1928 in Amiens, France, where his Hungarian parents were on vacation. He was raised in Hungary. Benko learned to play chess aged eight from his father, but did not compete in tournaments until age 17, due to World War II. During the war, he dug ditches for the Hungarian army before being captured by the Soviet army, which forced him to be a laborer. He eventually escaped to his home, only to find that his brother and father had been sent to Russia as laborers, and his mother died as the war neared its conclusion. Benko made rapid progress once he began tournament play, and became Hungarian champion by age 20. He was awarded the title of International Master in 1950. He qualified for the 1952 Interzonal tournament, but was unable to compete as he was sent to a concentrati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Taimanov
Mark Evgenievich Taimanov (russian: Марк Евгеньевич Тайманов; 7 February 1926 – 28 November 2016) was one of the leading Soviet and Russian chess players, among the world's top 20 players from 1946 to 1971. A prolific chess author, Taimanov was awarded the title of Grandmaster in 1952 and in 1956 won the USSR Chess Championship. He was a World Championship Candidate in 1953 and 1971, and several opening variations are named after him. Taimanov was also a world-class concert pianist. Early life Taimanov was born in Kharkiv, where his parents studied at the time. They moved to Leningrad when he was six months old. His father Evgeny Zakharovich Taimanov was Jewish; his family escaped to Kharkiv from Smolensk during World War I. Evgeny was a student at the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute and later made a career as a head engineer at the Kirov Plant and the Hydraulic Plant, but left it to work as an engineer at the Leningrad Conservatory and various Leningr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Half-open File
In chess, a half-open file (or semi-open file) is a with pawns of only one color. The half-open file can provide a line of attack for a player's rook or queen. A half-open file is generally exploited by the player with no pawns on it. Many openings, such as the Sicilian Defense, aim to complicate the position. In the main line Sicilian, 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 (or 2...e6, or 2...Nc6) 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4, White obtains a half-open d-file, but Black can pressure White along the half-open c-file. In positions where White has no pawns on a file but Black has one pawn or more on that file, the position is considered to be half-opened for white. During instances where Black has zero pawns on a file but White has one or more pawns on that file, the position is considered to be half-opened for black. In such instances where pawns capture or advance, in a way that it opens or half-opens a file or files, this instance is called a pawn break. The demolition of the pawn structure is a common ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artificial Castling
Castling is a move in chess. It consists of moving the king two squares toward a rook on the same and then moving the rook to the square that the king passed over. Castling is permitted only if neither the king nor the rook has previously moved; the squares between the king and the rook are vacant; and the king does not leave, cross over, or finish on a square attacked by an enemy piece. Castling is the only move in chess in which two pieces are moved at once. Castling with the is called ''kingside castling'', and castling with the is called ''queenside castling''. In both algebraic and descriptive notations, castling kingside is written as 0-0 and castling queenside as 0-0-0. Castling originates from the ''king's leap'', a two-square king move added to European chess between the 14th and 15th centuries, and took on its present form in the 17th century. Local variations in castling rules were common, however, persisting in Italy until the late 19th century. Castling does no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compensation (chess)
In chess, compensation is the typically short-term positional advantages a player gains in exchange for typically disadvantage. Short-term advantages involve initiative and . Forms Compensation can include: *Better pawn structure. *The "two bishops", which refers to having bishops of both colors while your opponent does not. Almost all modern players consider having both bishops as an advantage, although historically there has been great debate as to how much of an advantage they constitute. The two bishops are most likely to show their power in the endgame. *Better piece and/or better (common in gambits). *Having the enemy king exposed to future attack, either due to a loss of pawn cover or being trapped in the center of the board, is often excellent compensation. * Passed pawns are often decisive in the endgame. Connected and/or protected passed pawns are even more deadly. *Control over key squares, , , or . Examples Polugaevsky versus Evans A rook on the seventh ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exchange Sacrifice
In chess, the exchange is a situation in which one player exchanges a (i.e. a bishop or knight) for a rook. The side which wins the rook is said to have ''won the exchange'', while the other player has ''lost the exchange'', since the rook is usually more valuable. Alternatively, the side having a rook for a minor piece is said to be ''up the exchange'', and the other player is ''down the exchange''. The opposing captures often happen on consecutive moves, although this is not strictly necessary. It is generally detrimental to lose the exchange, although occasionally one may find reason to purposely do so; the result is an ''exchange sacrifice'' (see below). The ''minor exchange'' is an uncommon term for the exchange of a bishop and knight. "The exchange" differs from the more general " exchange" or "an exchange", which refers to the loss and subsequent gain of arbitrary pieces, for example to "exchange queens" would mean that each side's queen is . Value of the exchan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pin (chess)
In chess, a pin is a tactic in which a defending piece cannot move out of an attacking piece's line of attack without exposing a more valuable defending piece. Moving the attacking piece to effect the pin is called ''pinning''; the defending piece restricted by the pin is described as ''pinned''. Only a piece that can move any number of squares along a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line (i.e. a bishop, rook, or queen) can pin. Any piece can be pinned except the king, which is the most valuable piece. The inverse of a pin is a skewer, in which a more valuable piece under direct attack may move to expose a less valuable piece to an attack. Types Absolute pin An ''absolute pin'' is one where the piece shielded by the pinned piece is the king. In this case it is illegal to move the pinned piece out of the line of attack, as that would place one's king in check (see diagram). A piece pinned in this way can still give check or defend another piece from capture by the oppos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fianchetto
In chess, the fianchetto ( or ; "little flank") is a pattern of wherein a bishop is developed to the second rank of the adjacent b- or g-, the having been moved one or two squares forward. The fianchetto is a staple of many " hypermodern" openings, whose philosophy is to delay direct occupation of the with the plan of undermining and destroying the opponent's central outpost. It also regularly occurs in Indian defences. The fianchetto is less common in Open Games (1.e4 e5), but the is sometimes fianchettoed by Black in the Ruy Lopez or by White in an uncommon variation of the Vienna Game. One of the major benefits of the fianchetto is that it often allows the fianchettoed bishop to become more active. A fianchettoed position, however, also presents some opportunities for the opponent: if the fianchettoed bishop can be , the squares the bishop was formerly protecting will become weak (see ') and can form the basis of an attack (particularly if the fianchetto was perfor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grandmaster (chess)
Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally it has been revoked for cheating. The title of Grandmaster, along with the lesser FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and FIDE Master (FM), is open to all players regardless of gender. The great majority of grandmasters are men, but 40 women have been awarded the GM title as of 2022, out of a total of about 2000 grandmasters. Since about the year 2000, most of the top 10 women have held the GM title. There is also a Woman Grandmaster title with lower requirements awarded only to women. There are also Grandmaster titles for composers and solvers of chess problems, awarded by the World Federation for Chess Composition (see List of grandmasters for chess composition). The International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) awards t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samara, Russia
Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 million residents, up to 1.22 million residents in the urban agglomeration, not including Novokuybyshevsk, which is not conurbated. The city covers an area of , and is the eighth-largest city in Russia and tenth agglomeration, the third-most populous city on the Volga, as well as the Volga Federal District. Formerly a closed city, Samara is now a large and important social, political, economic, industrial, and cultural centre in Russia and hosted the European Union—Russia Summit in May 2007. It has a continental climate characterised by hot summers and cold winters. The life of Samara's citizens has always been intrinsically linked to the Volga River, which has not only served as the main commercial thoroughfare of Russi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
3rd Unofficial Chess Olympiad
The 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad was held by German Chess Federation (''Grossdeutscher Schachbund'') as a counterpart of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin with reference to 1924 and 1928 events. Many Jewish chess players took part in the event. Significantly, the "Jewish" teams of Hungary (i.e. Lajos Steiner, Endre Steiner, László Szabó, Ernő Gereben, Kornél Havasi) and Poland (i.e. Paulino Frydman, Miguel Najdorf, Henryk Friedman, Leon Kremer, Henryk Pogorieły) beat "Aryan" Germany. Also Jewish masters from other countries played leading roles there (i.e. Movsas Feigins, Gunnar Friedemann, Imre König, Lodewijk Prins, Isakas Vistaneckis, Emil Zinner, etc.). The ''Schach-Olympia 1936'' took place in Munich between August 17 and September 1, 1936. In that extra-Olympiad (non-FIDE) 208 participants, representing 21 countries, played 1680 games. The Munich unofficial Olympiad was the biggest team competition ever held.Stanisław Gawlikowski: ''Olimpiady szachowe 1924-1974'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King's Indian Defence
The King's Indian Defence is a common chess opening. It is defined by the following moves: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 g6 Black intends to follow up with 3...Bg7 and 4...d6 (the Grünfeld Defence arises when Black plays 3...d5 instead, and is considered a separate opening). White's major third move options are 3.Nc3, 3.Nf3 or 3.g3, with both the King's Indian and Grünfeld playable against these moves. The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' classifies the King's Indian Defence under the codes E60 through E99. The King's Indian is a hypermodern opening, where Black deliberately allows White control of the with its pawns, with the view to subsequently challenge it. In the most critical lines of the King's Indian, White erects an imposing pawn centre with Nc3 followed by e4. Black stakes out its own claim to the centre with the Benoni-style ...c5, or ...e5. If White resolves the central pawn tension with d5, then Black follows with either ...b5 and queenside play, or ...f5 and an ev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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