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1500 questions
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Why is sacrificing an extra pawn good for White in the Goring gambit but bad in the Smith-Morra gambit?
In both the Smith-Morra (accepted) and Goring gambit lines, white offers a pawn on c3. If Black takes the pawn on c3, White can play Bc4, offering a second pawn in exchange for rapid development with highly active bishops.
Although neither line is…
hunter
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Arbiter's top work cause
Any solid data on which rule decision makes up the lion's share of arbiters work nowadays? (I neglect "Lookie, Flag!" because this is rather passive, and a player can claim it anyway. Neither do administrativa like setting clocks count.) Before the…
Hauke Reddmann
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Why should the knight maneuver to d5 in this position?
In How to reassess your chess from Jeremy Silman there is this position about knight outposts:
[FEN "2r2rk1/pbqnbppp/1p3n2/1Pp1p3/2P1P3/5NP1/PBQN1PBP/R4RK1 w - - 0 1"]
The author argues that the knight should maneuver to d5 with the plan Rfe1, Nb1,…
iaquobe
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Where Does Lichess Get Its Names for the Openings?
On lichess.org, when you turn the opening book on in an analysis board, you get names for the openings. For example, after 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6, lichess says the opening is called "Czech Defense." Many openings have standard, accepted names,…
Leonard Blackburn
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Lowest rated player(s) who earned a GM norm
Who had the lowest rating when they earned at least one GM norm?
Ian Ringrose
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15
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Who makes the rules of chess?
We all know the rules we play competitive chess under. They are the FIDE Laws of Chess. Our individual federations in different countries may tweak the parts of the rules they're allowed to tweak (the ECF, for instance, overrides the FIDE "zero…
Brian Towers
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15
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In game 1 of the 2012 WCC between Anand and Gelfand, black ignored his passed pawn advantage. Why?
In the first game of the WCC 2012 between Anand and Gelfand, which was drawn, Gelfand had a passed pawn on a6. Could he not have exchanged the major pieces and then tried to win with it?
Why was the passer ignored and the draw accepted?
[Title…
Binoj Antony
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Is anything known about the chess game at the Vostok station that resulted in murder?
Multiple sources on the Internet describe a murder at the Soviet Vostok station in Antarctica over a game of chess. Supposedly, the losing player was upset enough to attack their opponent with an axe. Perhaps the most reputable source I could find…
Roman
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Why do pro chess players look up (look at the ceiling) when waiting for their move?
When players like Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand finish their move, they sometimes look up while they wait. Shouldn't they be looking at the board to see their next move?
sadnapoleon
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What is a pawn hook?
On my question (Why is 11. .. h6 such a bad move?) someone commented that I should read about the concepts of hooks. One definition that I found was:
A hook is an advanced pawn which can be exploited by the opponent to open lines.…
maxmitz
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In Hand and Brain chess, is the stronger player generally preferred to be the hand or the brain?
Exactly what it says on the tin, as the British say:
In Hand and Brain chess, is the stronger player generally preferred to be the hand or the brain?
And secondarily:
Is the answer to the previous question affected at all by the particular…
Lieutenant Zipp
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Can you solve this queen + 3 pawns vs bishop + 3 pawns chess problem?
[FEN "7k/8/8/8/6p1/4QpPb/5PpP/6K1 w - - 0 1"]
I found this interesting and unique chess problem online while surfing on the internet.
Disclaimer: This is not necessarily a position from a game. It's just a beautiful composition wherein your…
ritesh_ratn
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I provided water bottle to my opponent, he drank it then lost on time due to the need of using bathroom. Is this unethical?
Many years ago, I was playing in a chess tournament. We had been at the board for at least three hours. My opponent had spent the entire time at the board trying to find good moves. I had the better position and plenty of time on my clock. My…
Bob
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Can a grandmaster still win against engines if they have a really long consideration time?
Can a grandmaster still win against engines if they have a really long consideration time? For example, say that Stockfish gets 20 minutes and the GM receives days, if not weeks.
2080
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How does one promote a third queen in an over-the-board game?
Most chess sets come with only one spare queen, and according to the video in the question Is holding the opponent's captured pieces legal or allowed?, one cannot use an upside-down rook because is effectively the same as promoting to a rook.
If two…
Akavall
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