Opening Reviews and Other Articles.

This section of the site will gradually expand to include details of relatively large articles on a wide range of chess topics. These almost exclusively do not involve simply annotation of just a single or a few games (The latter is the general format of the shorter articles published each month on this web site).

The longer articles have been published in chess magazines, either in paper format or as e-zines, but the list also includes a few only available on this web site.

A small number of these articles, such as those of a more general nature, or those that involve opening theory that is less affected by becoming significantly outdated, are available for downloading by clicking on the relevant hyperlink.

Note that Norman Stephenson (UK), Ben Graff (UK) and Antonio Demetrio (Portugal)  have also made contributions to this section of the web-site.

1. Essay for Chess Players, Salford University Chess Club, p 1-6, December 1972.

2. Bobby Fischer and the World Chess Championship, Dalgety Digest, No 23 Winter 1974.

3. The Queen's Fianchetto Defence, CHESS, p 200-205, March 1976; and CHESS p 234-237, April 1976.

4. An Uncommon Line in the King's Indian Defence (9...Re8-Fianchetto variation.), CHESS, p 54-57, November 1976.

5. Against the Odds, Rabbits Review (Mike Basman Editor), p 21-24 February/March1979.

6. The Closed Grunfeld with 6.Be2, CHESS, p 218-223, May 1979.

7. Chain Combinations, Rabbits Review (Mike Basman Editor), No 6, p 26-31, August/September 1979.

8. Look Before You Leap, Rabbits Review (Mike Basman Editor), No 7, February 1980.

9. 2.c4 versus the French Defence, The Lancashire Chess Bulletin, p 11-12, March 1980.

10. Use Your Initiative, Rabbits Review (Mike Basman Editor), No 9, p (?) June 1980.

11. Learn From Losses, Rabbits Review (Mike Basman Editor), No 11, p 12-20, October 1980.

12. Opposite Castling, Rabbits Review (Mike Basman Editor), No 12, p 16-22, January 1981.

13. Computer Chess-some thoughts and games, Lancashire Chess Bulletin, p 13-14, Summer 1981.

14. Slow Chess, Rabbits Review (Mike Basman Editor), No 13, p 19-24 , April 1982.

15, Attacking An Uncastled King, Rabbits Review (Mike Basman Editor), No 19, p 23-25, September 1982.

16. Development of an opening novelty (6.Bg5 in the Closed Sicilian Defence), Correspondence Chess, p 10-11, September 1984.

17. The Dragon in Postal Play, Compuserve Chess Chat, January (?) 1997.

18. Postal Preparation, Compuserve Chess Chat, February 1997.

19. Intra-Club Rivalry, Compuserve Chess Chat, May/June 1997.

20. From the Pages of History (1), Compuserve Chess Chat, August 1997.

21. Opening Preparation, Compuserve Chess Chat, October 1997.

22. Opening Tricks, Compuserve Chess Chat, November 1997.

23. A Visit to the San Francisco Chess Club at the Mechanics Institute, Compuserve Chess Chat, December 1997.

24. First Inklings of Strategy, Compuserve Chess Chat, January 1998.

25. Benefits of Playing Off the Beaten Track, Compuserve Chess Chat, February 1998.

26. The Art of Chess Problems, Compuserve Chess Chat, March 1998.

27. The P.C.Gibbs Trophy-MCCU Individual Correspondence Championship, CHESS p 22-24, April 1998.

28. Don't Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here, Compuserve Chess Chat, June 1998.

29. Beginner's Corner-Weak Squares, Compuserve Chess Chat, (?) 1998.

30. From the pages of history (2), Compuserve Chess Chat, September 1998.

31. Beginners Corner-Use or Even Don't Use Your King !, Compuserve Chess Chat, October 1998.

32. From the Pages of History (3), Compuserve Chess Chat, November 1998.

33. Learning From Losses, Compuserve Chess Chat, January 1999.

34. From the Pages of History (4), Compuserve Chess Chat, February 1999.

35. Postal Players over the board (results, game and letter covering the BCCA participation in the 4NCL), CHESS p37 April 1999.

36. Lest We Forget (1), Compuserve Chess Chat, May/June 1999.

37. Drawn Games Need Not Be Tedious, Compuserve Chess Chat, September 1999.

38. P.C.Gibbs Trophy 1998, Correspondence Chess, No 144, Autumn 1999.

39. Lest We Forget (2), Compuserve Chess Chat, August/September 1999.

40. Building Your Own Database-discusses the pros and cons of chess study using databases and the advantages of building your own base (a zipped Word document). September 2001.

41. A Colle Game, Correspondence Chess News, No 57, 2001.

42. A Review of the Tarrasch Gambit -a detailed discussion of this unexplored way for white to meet the Tarrasch Defence (a zipped Chessbase .cbv file). Coventry and District Chess League Bulletin June 2001 (revised and updated December 2001 for this web site).

43.Lest We Forget, Coventry and District League Bulletin , No 5, January 2002

44. Making a Comeback, Chess Mail (Tim Harding Editor), p 41-44, No 1, 2002.

45. Avoiding Main Line Theory (Kings Indian Defence and Modern Benoni Defence), Correspondence Chess News, 71, 2002.

46. Both Sides of the Coin-analysis of games for adjudication, Correspondence Chess News, No 74, p 7-9, 2002.

47. Learning From Loses, Correspondence Chess, No 155, p 39-42, 2002.

48. RCCA International Invitation Tournament, Chess Today (Alexander Baburin Editor) , No 88/507, 2002.

49. The Devils Opening Revisited, Correspondence Chess News, No 78, p 5-9, 2002 (with contribution from A.Demetrio).

50. Missed Opportunity, Pakistan Chess Player, No 4, 2002.

51. Experiences With And Analysis of the Von Hennig-Schara Gambit-a review of some lines of this very sharp reply to 1.d4 (a zipped .pgn file). GMCCA Newsletter Vol 3 (4), January 1988 (revised and updated for this website April 2002).

52. Meeting Speculative Sacrifices, Pakistan Chess Player , No 3, 2003.

53. The Zollner Gambit Against the Sicilian -a review of this under-rated line against the Dragon or Accelerated Dragon openings (a zipped Chessbase .cbv file). March 2003. (Also published with permission following a request on the web site of the All India Correspondence Chess Federation (AICCF) December 2005.

54. Leading Up To Adjudication, Correspondence Chess News, No 95, p10-14, 2003.

55.Example Articles from Correspondence Chess News-comprising mine (A Little Bit of Nostalgia-Chess in War Time Britain 1943-45) and Michael Jensen's (Gambiteer's Apology) contribution to issue 100 (zipped .pdf format). December 2003.

56. Going for it!, Thomas Johansson web site, February 2004.

57. Another Look at the Englund Gambit, CHESS, p 41-42, April 2004.

58. A Correspondence Chess System, SCCA Magazine, No 87, August 2004.

59. A Postal Chess Method-a summary of the method I used (and continued to use until 2018 when retiring from correspondence chess) to increase my rating to International Master level in correspondence play (zipped Word document). November 2004.

60. The Joe Soesan Memorial Tournament (part 1), Chess Chronicles, No 1 (3), July 2005.

61. The Joe Soesan Memorial Tournament (part 2), Chess Chronicles, No 1 (4) August 2005.

62. Another Best Game Prize for Joe Soesan, Chess Chronicles, No 1 (5) August 2005.

63. The Rise of Women, Chess Chronicle, 2005. (series not completed -see below for full series)

64. Svenonius' Line (7...cxd4 and 8...Bc5) of the Tarrasch Defence-CHESS, p 34-37, August 2005-a review of this sharp and complex black line favoured by Keres and in which black often sacrifices the d5 pawn (a zipped Chessbase .cbv file).

65. The Rise of Women in Chess-This series, part published in the e-zine "Chess Chronicle", comprised 5 parts as follows:

Part 3 is offered as a small tribute to the talent of the late Jessie Gilbert (as a zipped Word document), whilst Part 5, my loss to WGM and World Correspondence Championship finalist Ingrida Priedite  (as a zipped Chessbase .cbv file), remained unpublished due to the demise of this magazine. Part 1 was a win versus Policewoman Kate Donegan (Part 1).

A win versus WGM and World Correspondence finalist Mary Jones (Part 2), and my loss against WGM/IM Jovanka Houska (Part 4) are available on request. September 2006.

66. The Pros and Cons of Tripled Pawns- a theoretical treatment of tripled pawns which occurs much more frequently in practice than I had initially realised before writing this article. This study of advantages and disadvantages of this type of pawn structure was originally published in Correspondence Chess News 67.  This edition of CCN also includes other articles such as New Ideas in the Dragon by IM Marius Ceteras. Available on this web site from February 2010.

(Further examples of tripled pawns are given earlier on this web site in the articles for June-July 2003, and later for web site articles for Sept-Oct 2015).

67. A Detailed Examination of the Concept of Queen Takes Knight's pawn is given in the games for the monthly articles for January 2016.

68. More on the Alekhine's Defence Opening (subtitled "Almost an opening innovation")- a detailed analysis of Qe8 in the exchange variation (zipped .cbv file).  An updated, revised and edited version of an article published in Chess Chronicles 2005 made available on this web site from April 2016.

69. Recent Ward-Higgs Games-Part 1, Correspondence Chess, Spring 2016.

70. Recent Ward-Higgs Games-Part 2, Correspondence Chess, Summer 2016.

71. A Detailed  Investigation of the "Double Bishop Sacrifice as an Attacking Concept Against the Opponent's King" is given, along with some Derived Guidance Rules which may also be downloaded, in the monthly articles for May 2018 and November 2018.

72. An Extensive opening review of the Ng6 and Bd6 concept for Black in the Rubinstein variation (4.Bf4) of the Budapest Gambit. As a zipped Chessbase .cbv file here or a zipped .pgn file here. June 2019.

73. How to Prepare Ones Repertoire- a small database (in zipped pgn format) of mostly annotated games using the French Defence (Tarrasch variation) as an example and the games of David Eggleston and trainer Norman Stephenson. Article submitted by Norman Stephenson (England Youth Trainer, twice British Veteran Champion, and many times Teesside Champion).  August 2019.

74. Thoughts on the move Nh6-several annotated games (in zipped pgn format) which instructively provide some thoughts concerning the move Nh6. This move can appear in wide range of opening such as the Modern, French , Pirc and Dutch to name but a few. Article submitted by Norman Stephenson (England Youth Trainer, twice British Veteran Champion, and many times Teesside Champion).  November 2019.

75. Annotations to game in article: I remember...  by Ben Graff, CHESS December 2019.

76. Candidate Moves-a discussion of this important concept can be downloaded as a zipped Word Document here whilst the games utilised in the article in pgn format (zipped) can be downloaded here. Article submitted by Norman Stephenson (England Youth Trainer, twice British Veteran Champion, and many times Teesside Champion). April 2020.

77. Annotations to game in article: Searching for Israel Zilber-Washing Square revisited by Ben Graff, CHESS June 2020.

78. Annotations to game in article: Following our heroes by Ben Graff, CHESS January 2021.

79. Miniature Joy, CHESS, p 43-45, March 2021.

80. Dont think, Feel!, CHESS, p 42-44, August 2021.

81. Kurt Richter: Chess Blitzkrieg, CHESS, p 42-45, March 2022.