Jeffrey Ashton

Originally posted on January 20, 2013.  1...Qh1 2.g4 Qf3# or if White plays anything other than 2.g4 Black checkmated with Qf1# Also 1...Qf3 2.c4 and Black can play Nc1-Ne2-Ng1# while White pushes his c-pawn. Almost stalemate but not quite.

Originally posted April, 2013. White to Play: Mate in 5. This is the position that arises after: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. Nf3 e6 5. e4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. O-O O-O 9. e5 Nd5 10. Bxh7+ Kxh7 11. Ng5+ Kg8 12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Qh5 Re8

Quick note about worksheets: People sometimes ask me where I get my worksheets. I prefer to make them by hand using ChessBase. Usually I use rhetorical questions so they are very easy to solve. When it comes to making tactic and checkmate puzzles, I get the puzzles from famous games. If a student's goal is to do thousands of puzzles, I usually recommend software or websites. Although it uses a lot of paper and is more time-consuming, I find that doing things with pen/pencil and paper is a fun and relaxing way to learn. I recommend using this traditional method along with using training software or websites.

This blog is about 7 years old now. It had about 300 posts but I temporarily put them all in draft mode, since a lot of them are REALLY boring. I will, gradually, republish the posts that are not complete junk (events that are memorable to me personally, but also interesting chess stuff). I might even update some of them or add notes (but mainly just " strike through " broken links). A lot of the "chess stuff" on this blog is written towards an audience of experienced chess players and I will try to label such posts accordingly.

Mark Dvoretsky on American Scholastic Chess:

https://vimeo.com/61143596

This article features Susan Polgar. http://www.wired.com/playbook/2013/02/ff-grand-master-susan-polgar-chess/ Things have changed a LOT since I played college chess. I played for UTDallas when college chess was brand new.

What is Black's best move? a) 0-0 b) Nxe4 c) Ng4 d) d6

Hypothetical!