All Blog Entries

Becoming a 2300 Player
By Kevin Pacey – Part 1 – From En Passant #81; October 1986 pp. 7-8
In EP #66, Larry Bevand reported the results of a revealing interview with Kevin Spraggett. Mr. Bevand noted that “Many players spend an incredible amount of time studying chess but don’t advance because they haven’t developed proper study methods.” There is also a startling claim made by Kevin: “Before you are 2300, all you are doing is learning the rudiments of the game.” Having recently reached ...

Another one constructed by me. Trying to make it a little trickier - there are two moves that win (in 5 and 12 moves) and three that draw, the rest lose quickly.

[FEN "7R/rrnpp3/ppp4K/8/2B5/qP3k2/P2Q4/1b6 w - - 0 46"]{White to move, Mate in 5}

Today's puzzle is the first one I made up completely myself. It's not very good in my opinion, but it was my first try. The previous ones were either directly from one of my games vs. the computer, or modified versions of those positions.

[FEN "3q1b1n/8/2Np4/2pkp3/1rbP4/3PK2B/2QP4/8 w - - 0 1"]{White to move, Mate in 2}

For the first time in over a decade, I'm on the outside looking in regarding the CFC. I first became a CFC Governor at the July 2004 AGM in Kapuskasing, ON. By that point I had spent 10 months as Secretary for the Ontario Chess Association and had recently been elected as Vice-President of the OCA. Not only was I an incoming Governor for the CFC in 2004, but I was part of the CFC Reform slate of candidates and was elected Vice-President of the CFC. I was basically Mr. Vice-President at the time, ...

Today's puzzle is a little more difficult! Black has a huge material advantage and White's king is threatened. On the other hand, Black's pieces are poorly placed and his own king is also under threat.

What is White's best move, and does it result in a win, draw or loss for White?

[FEN "4k1n1/1R1pP1pr/n3ppr1/P1P1P3/4N1N1/q1B2PpP/b1R3P1/6K1 w - - 0 62"]{What is White's best move, and does it result in a win, draw or loss for White?}