Still looking for last-minute stocking stuffers? Check out the new website www.tricitychess.com for software that would make a great last-minute stocking stuffer. You can get it delivered if you're in the Tri-cities area.

​Below is my recommendation: GM Anand, former world champion, shows you games and stories from his early career. This is great training. 

Merry Christmas!!
from Vas at Tricity Chess Enterprises, the owner of this website and www.tricitychess.com.

It's rare to pull off a double exchange sacrifice (rook for a minor piece) in a game. I did it in a correspondence game where I had no clue how to continue. My opponent declined my draw offer so we played it out. And I'm glad we did. 

After each exchange sacrifice, stop to consider White's compensation. Sacrifices only make sense when there is compensation. In this game White's compensation is the connected passed pawns which ultimately triumph.

​

[Event "3CSP/7VEN/GF1 (VEN)"]
[Site "ICCF"]
[Date "2020.01.15"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sladek, Vaclav"]
[Black "Grabowski, Benedykt"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D06"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Bf5 3. Nf3 e6 4. Qb3 Nc6 5. Bd2 Rb8 6. e3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Bb4 8. a3
Bxc3 9. Bxc3 O-O 10. Be2 dxc4 11. Qxc4 Be4 12. O-O Bd5 13. Qd3 Be4 14. Qd1 Nd5
15. Rc1 Qe7 16. Nd2 Bg6 17. Bf3 Rfd8 18. Qb3 Bd3 19. Rfd1 f5 20. Nc4 Bxc4 21.
Qxc4 a6 22. g3 Qf7 23. Bg2 Rd7 24. Qb3 Na7 25. Bd2 Rd6 26. Qc2 Nc6 27. Qb3 Nce7
28. Ba5 Nc6 29. Bd2 Nce7 30. Ba5 Rd7 31. f3 c6 32. Rd3 Re8 33. e4 Nf6 34. Rf1
h5 35. h4 Kh7 36. Bd2 Qg6 37. Qxe6 c5 38. Bg5 fxe4 39. fxe4 Nc6 40. Rxf6 ! (1)
Rxe6 41. Rxg6 Rxg6 42. d5 c4 43. Rf3 Ne5 44. Rf5 Nf7 45. e5 Rxg5 46. hxg5 g6
47. Rxf7+ ! (2) Rxf7 48. d6 Kg7 49. e6 c3 50. bxc3 Kf8 51. exf7 Kxf7 52. Bxb7 Ke6
53. Bxa6 Kxd6 54. Bd3 Kd5 55. a4 1-0

With COVID-19 shutting things down, some players have switched to playing webserver-based correspondence chess. The International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) has many big events and some can earn you norms towards titles.
But with databases and strong engines available, it's like swimming with sharks. You've been warned. In one game, as we reached the middlegame, my Indian opponent announced that I was losing a piece by force and he would chase down my extra pawns. I doubt he labored over the position in his chess lab. Most likely he just fed it to his chess engine.

The game presented here is my 16-move crush of a Slovak opponent who proudly announced that he doesn't use engines. Of course, this is great for his chess improvement but not for his ICCF rating. He should stick to online chess.

[Event "3MAB20/VEN/13S1 (VEN)"]
[Site "ICCF"]
[Date "2020.07.15"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sladek, Vaclav"]
[Black "Kopcok, Michal"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D44"]
[PlyCount "31"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 h6 7. Bxf6 gxf6 8.Bxc4 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. O-O Qd6 11. d5 (open up lines to the enemy king while you can) b4 12. e5! fxe5 13. Ne4 (Qxd5? 14. Nf6+ +-) Qd8 14. dxe6 fxe6 15. Qb3 Kf7 16. Nxe5+ and Black gets mated 1-0