In their World Championship match Anand vs. Gelfand, both the World Champion and the pretender played so little impressive chess that a question was asked: “is there any point of playing chess?”
Yes, there is.
It needs to be borne in mind that in case of such highest-level encounters, when a player is capable of predicting almost all his opponent’s combinations, it’s nearly impossible to surprise the competitor with an unexpected, brilliant action. What remains is an arduous, and thus dull, fight for every inch of the chessboard, for capturing a pawn or gaining advantage.
Nowadays, when the computers are rated 3300 ELO (highest Grandmasters’ ratings are at 2700 – 2800 ELO) and their moves are often incomprehensible for the Grandmasters themself, the times of Tal and Shirov on the highest rungs of the chess ladder are slowly fading away. But the beauty of chess will never fade away. It is, was, and will be present in many chess tournaments worldwide, first of all at our place – at the Goldchess website. And with us, virtually each and every chess player can create their own, the one and only, beautiful game, which will grab a slice of the history of chess. Among other things, or maybe mainly, that’s why our website was created.
Every Goldchess task is an example of the maximum utilization of a given position. Squeeze as much as possible or everything out of a given position – that’s the motto of Goldchess, consistent with the timeless rule of chess. That’s what we teach and show at our portal.
Each game is also a specific study of precision and accuracy. One change in the sequence of moves may prevent you from winning. Moreover, the author’s games in Goldchess are mostly anti-debuts. In the “fun” convention the author purposefully and daringly moves away from the theory of debuts, and surprisingly he wins the positions created in such a way.
But reaching the solutions, entering author’s continuations’ paths is sometimes very hard.
However, given that the author is an amateur – everyone can succeed.
When departing from the theory it’s easier to create chess fireworks, brilliant combinations sacrificing the chessmen, and often the queen herself, which we highly encourage.
Good luck!
Goldchess Team