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Chessville Columnists

Columnists at Chessville typically write for us for the love of the game, and to increase their exposure within the chess community. Some have products or training services to offer, and Chessville encourages you to support them. Patronize your favorite columnists and watch your enjoyment - and your rating - rise!

GM Nigel Davies	*Tigerchess*: Nigel Davies is an International Chess Grandmaster who has been playing tournament chess for well over 30 years. Besides having won 15 international tournaments and several national titles, he is one of the most highly regarded authors and trainers in the world. He has written books on chess and presented DVDs and Videos. "Chess improvement can be a time consuming job and prove especially difficult for those with lives outside the game. For this reason my books, DVDs and mentoring services are aimed at enabling players to improve their results as much as possible in the least amount of time."
GM Raymond Keene	Keene on Chess: Raymond Dennis Keene, OBE, is an influential figure in the chess world, bringing many notable chess events to London. He is also the author of a significant number of chess books, including a well respected treatise on Nimzowitsch titled Aron Nimzowitsch: A Reappraisal, and a chess book claimed to have been authored over a weekend! However, it is not as a player Keene is best known. His contributions to the organizational side of chess contrast with the mire of politicking and back-biting that sometimes overshadowed his successes. Keene is also responsible for a number of significant chess events...
IM Igor Khmelnistky	Chess Lesson of the Month: Igor is an International Master and a very experienced chess coach. His first high-profile coaching experience was in 1986, when he served as a coaching assistant of the Ukrainian national junior team. Several members of that team went on to become successful Grandmasters (V.Ivanchuk, B.Alterman, M.Brodsky, A.Maksimenko and others…). Since moving to the United States in 1991, Igor has been coaching in the Philadelphia area. His students include players of all levels, ranging from novices to masters.
ICCF-IM Keith Hayward	The Road Not Taken: "When it comes to chess openings, I prefer to play less popular, less traveled lines. For over two decades, I have mostly played the Bird’s Opening, the Dutch Defense, and the French Defense, which are all well known, solid openings. These are my more solid, sane opening choices. However, I must confess I have a passion for opening study and experimenting. Recently I have been experimenting, again..."
Peter Wong FIDE Master of Chess Composition	Peter's Problem World: Introducing the Art of Chess Composition. Peter Wong of Sydney, Australia. Since publishing his first chess problem at the age of 15, Peter has contributed his works to many of the world’s leading chess composition journals, including The Problemist, Die Schwalbe, Phénix, feenschach, and StrateGems. More than 60 of his compositions have received tourney awards, including 30 prizes.
FM Amatzia Avni	*Inside Avni's Mind: Amatzia Avni is an Israeli psychologist. He is a FIDE Master in both game and composition, a former editor of the Israeli magazine Schahmat* and a regular contributor to Chess Monthly. His latest book, Chess Tips for the Improving Player was released by QualityChess in 2008. His earlier works include Devious Chess, 2006; Practical Chess Psychology: Understanding the Human Factor, 2001; and The Grandmaster's Mind, 2004. Chessville is proud to offer insights and instruction from this outstanding chess writer and teacher.
NM Brian Wall	Going to the Wall: Life Master Brian Douglas Wall learned to play chess from his father when he was six years old. At age 17 he won the Colorado Junior Championship, becoming a master at age 23. Brian webcast events on the Internet Chess Club in 2006, and the following year for ChessTelevision.com. He has been writing about chess since at least the year 2000. Brian's charm and wit especially shine through in his game annotations, some of which are likely to leave you laughing out loud.
Jim Mitch, Ph.D.	Recon64 / Chess-Vision: Jim Mitch Ph.D., aka Prof. Chester Nuhmentz. Similar to Predict-A-Move, Recon64 challenges players to find candidate moves from games played by masters. Encouraged to search for several strong candidate moves in each position, players are rewarded as long as their list of moves includes the move played by the master. In the Chess Vison exercise, players try to imagine up to 10 moves being made from a starting diagram, with the goal of finding all the legal captures and checks that could be made in the envisioned position.
A Really Old Bird	Alekhine's Parrot: The weekly leader of chess events around the world, The Parrot reports chess events & politics. Chessville welcomes your Feedback to The Parrot where selected letters will be featured. The Parrot Squaawks about the topic of the week, previous news can be found in The Parrot's archives. Check out The Parrot's Special Reports and The Parrot's Rare Chess Photo Collection too.
Clyde Nakamura	*The Search for Dragons and Mythical Chess Openings*: "Some players have believed that chess is almost dead. That there is no more to be discovered in the openings. That you have to memorize 20 moves deep to play a correct game of chess. I do not believe that this is true. There are still many new and exciting opening lines to discover. Chess is still vast and unexplored... We are still very much trapped by what we believe in."
Bob Long	The Chess Reports: Most chessplayers who have been around the US chess community for any length of time know of Bob Long. Bob is not only a chessplayer himself, but was the man behind Chessco, is the man behind The Thinker's Press, and now he's the man behind The Chess Reports. Chess Reports is an ongoing series of pdf files delivered every other Friday via e-mail. Each issue contains a wealth of chess instruction, with a wide variety of subject matter: "Topics of Coverage: Endgame; Odds and Ends; Openings; Planning; Psychology; Strategy; Tactics; Traps."
Bill Wall	Bill Wall's Wonderful World of Chess: Most net-savvy chessplayers know of Bill Wall's web site. It's jam packed with some of the most fascinating chess stuff I've ever seen collected in one spot. Topics covered there include everything from opening analysis & games on some unorthodox openings (1.b4, the Blackburne-Schilling Gambit, etc.), to techniques for annoying your opponent, to a chronology of chess to biographies of some famous & not-so-famous players.

Archives

GM Alexandra Kosteniuk	GM Alexandra Kosteniuk: Born on April 23, 1984, Alexandra lived in Moscow since she was one. She graduated from the Russian State Academy of Physical Education in July 2003 and is now a certified professional chess trainer. "It's my dad, Konstantin Vladimirovich - who taught me to play chess when I was 5 years old and I am very grateful to him for that." In 2004 Alexandra became just the 10th woman in the history of chess to be awarded the Open (men's) GM title. Then there's that whole fashion model thing...
ICCF-GM Yoav Dothan	News & Notes: GM Dothan's insightful look at could'a-would'a-should'a positions, culled from the games of the great players of today. Lots of Correspondence News, too! GM Dothan looks at tactical twists and turns from recent master games, as he takes us on a tour of master-level blunders, and sharpens your tactical vision!
IM Andrew Martin	Bits and Pieces: Chessville was proud to feature highly respected opening theoretician and instructor IM Martin. As a professional coach Martin teaches in schools, groups and individuals (He is the former coach to four world junior champions and many current national junior champions). He writes regularly for Chess Publishing, www.jeremysilman.com, and Chess Magazine, and authored a number of books and instructional videos, including Accelerated Dragon Assault!, The Scheming Scandinavian, and many more.
NM Dan Heisman	The Coach: "The fact is that no one ever got really good at chess without good chess coaching. This is true for almost any kind of endeavor... Even Bobby Fischer, who liked to compare himself to the Russians by saying he did it all himself, actually...studied with ...some of the best players in the country... Chess is like anything else – to improve you need theory and practice. Theory may include reading books, watching videos, etc., but getting lessons is the key here..."
GM Susan Polgar	GM Susan Polgar: While never a regular columnist for Chessville, 4-time world champion GM Polgar has contributed a number of chess news reports and other chess materials to Chessville. In addition to her other accomplishments, Susan recently oversaw the establishment of the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE), located at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Be sure to check out her 20 Questions Interview too.
Manus Patrick Fealy (Manny)	The Great Pawn Hunter: "I sincerely hope that you learn a great deal about the game of chess which I love so dear. I have categorized the lessons so that coaches can teach the lessons and assign awards to their students based on the completion of the levels. I use this approach for my own players. Again these lessons are only meant to introduce the subject matter to the student. It is up to the coaches and parents to look for these concepts in the student's games so that they can assign the awards accordingly. In chess, a lesson not practiced is a lesson not learned..."
Andy Hortillosa	The Whites of Their Eyes: A Fresh Perspective on Mastering Tactics. Andy is Webmaster and Senior Writer of the US Military Chess website. "The mainstream approach to tactical learning, in my estimation, is partially flawed because it tends to develop only the skill of finding tactical solutions, but not more. The skill with the most practical value during a chess game is the one that helps players recognize that a tactical opportunity exists on the board..."
JanXena	*Les Echecs des Femmes: "Xena" (a/k/a Jan Newton) is one of the principals at Goddesschess, a popular "niche" website since its debut in 1999, publishing articles from authors around the world. Jan also regularly publishes women's chess news at Chess Femme News. Here in Les Echecs des Femmes* Jan reports on recent and upcoming events, other chess news as it relates to women, and lastly presents each month a Featured Chess Femme, including a mini-biography, recent photo, chess accomplishments, and links to other sites with more information, games, etc.
Larry Tamarkin	A New York Chess Player (Lessons From The Marshall Chess Club) Chessville is proud to introduce Lawrence S. Tamarkin (read his Resume here) to our readers. Larry is a USCF Life Master, and denizen of the famous Marshall Chess Club. Larry even has an opening variation named after him - The Tamarkin Counter-Gambit in the Zilbermints Benoni (1.d4 c5 2.Nf3 cxd4 3.b4 e5). Enjoy Larry's writings, in which he says "I comment on my ongoing attempt to improve my game playing in the World renowned Marshall Chess Club's 4-rated games tonight events."