Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Touched-Piece Blunder
Chess is a game that requires much concentration and less impulsiveness. Young players love blitz and bullet games but in classic chess they make the mistake of playing too quick. I have a friend...
Nairobi Chess Club Blog
Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Krejcik Gambit
This post is a collaboration with my friend Misha who is a true chess enthusiast. I met him at Nairobi Chess Club (NCC) where he served as a Committee Member, Director of Play for...
Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: CopyCat Trap
Inexperienced newcomers to this game have some basic notions like how to move the pieces. However, most of them have never heard about openings theory, tactical motifs, or typical checkmates. So when playing their...
Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Ivkov’s Tragedy
This post is a collaboration with Mr Andrew Crosby who is an expert in chess gambits. Andrew usually plays them in his games with great success. In addition, he is an active member of...
Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Queen’s Coffin
Chess players learn that is a good practice to develop pieces in the opening and not to play too early the queen. However, there are exceptions to the latter. The first exception is when...
Match “Nairobi vs Marshall”
20 members of Nairobi Chess Club (NCC) had the privilege to play an overseas online match against the prestigious Marshall Chess Club (MCC). MCC is one of the oldest chess clubs in USA. The...
Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Shankland’s Trap
I would like to thank my friend Mushfig for his contributions and suggestions in writing this post. I met him at Nairobi Chess Club (NCC) where he served as a Committee Member, Director of...
Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Opening Basics
One goal of chess openings is the control of central squares, the other is piece development. If falling in accomplishing one of them is bad, do not succeed in both becomes disastrous. Today’s game...
Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Attacked Becomes Attacker
This post is a collaboration with Mr Andrew Crosby who is an expert in chess gambits. Andrew usually plays them in his games with great success. In addition, he is an active member of...
Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Danger, Pawn on 7th Rank!!
As Philidor stated. “Pawns are the soul of chess”. The value of pawns increases as they advance towards the eighth rank. And a pawn in the seventh rank is generally a headache for the...
Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Queens’s Bishop Headache
There are openings like the Caro-Kann, French, Slav,… where after playing e6, the Queen’s bishop remains trapped behind the pawns chain. One of Black’s headaches is how to bring it into the game. Black’s...
