Do As The Chess Super Grandmasters Do!

Some time ago my friend complained about his stock market misfortune: "Whenever I buy a stock it immediately starts going down! Greg, it almost feels like somebody is watching me. The stock could go straight up for years, but once I buy it, it is almost like somebody sees that I bought it and turns the switch, so the stock starts going down!"

Then he shared his plans to buy some Bitcoins, so if you are thinking about buying cryptocurrencies, consider yourself warned!

You might be wondering what does this story have to do with chess. Well, I also have a similar feeling of being watched, like certain grandmasters are following everything I write in my column.

Judge for yourself.

About eight years ago I wrote series of articles, "Openings For Tactical Players." One of them, published on April 25, 2010, was about the Veresov Opening. The Veresov Opening is not popular these days, so I provided some exciting attacking games with the conclusion that if you like to attack and prefer the openings where your creativity is more important than knowledge of certain lines, then the Veresov opening is for you.

Some of the readers were not convinced and one of the comments read: "It is difficult to believe these games were played in 20th century. Were his opponents really of master level or he was playing club players? Most GMs play like Tal against club players."

Then less than three weeks after my article was published, the following game was played:

Again GM Short used the opening approach from my article how to learn an opening in just one hour.

The second instance of GM Short following my article's recommendations made me think that he probably reads my column, but I needed proof. I got it seven years later when I wrote this article. Finally Nigel Short acknowledged it on his Twitter:

Apart from the "girls just don't have the brains to play chess" bollocks again - which I never said - a fun... https://t.co/BVs5u2YLbk

— Nigel Short (@nigelshortchess) May 1, 2017

Throughout the years I got numerous confirmations that very strong chess players read Chess.com. Naturally I was pleased to see comments to my articles from greats like Hikaru Nakamura—until one day the following notorious game was played:

You can read the detailed report about this game here. When I saw what happened at the end of the game, I couldn't help but do my best "Janice" impression.

I immediately felt partially responsible for the incident because I discussed a similar situation in two articles. Here is what I wrote in one of them:

Look at the new USCF official blitz rules, specifically 3b:

"If an illegal position is created or an illegal move made without the opponent making a claim, the position stands and a claim (is) not allowed when the opponent has determined a next move."

I don't like this rule! It can lead to a situation in which a dishonest chess player tries a dirty final trick in a position like this:

White is completely lost. White's previous move was e4-e5. Now Black expects White to play e5-e6 after which Black is going to queen one of his pawns. Cleverly, White plays 1.Kh3??!, and Black automatically queens a pawn. Suddenly, it is too late to claim White's illegal move and, per the aforementioned rule 3b, the illegal move Kh3 stands. Therefore, White simply captures Black's king and wins the game! I know it sounds absurd, but so does a rule that permits an illegal move to stand!

Moreover, in another article I clearly recommended that if you get yourself in a lost position against Magnus Carlsen, go for a crazy check:

So, I feel like GM Inarkiev read both articles and combined my advice in his move 27...Ne3+?!?! 

My only consolation is that I never wrote about other dirty blitz tricks from the toolbox of master Genrikh Chepukaitis, like for example how White can win this position:

In case you are wondering, the "method" of winning is very similar to the trick demonstrated by an unknown guy in this video. The good thing is such "methods" can work only in over-the-board games, so when you enjoy a game of chess on Chess.com, you are safe! 

Let me state the obvious: Chess.com is an endless source of chess information. You can find everything you need to know about chess from an opening to endgames.

So, do as super grandmasters do and use it for your daily chess needs! But please, be responsible, so if for example you read my article about cheaters, remember that it was intended for your enjoyment and amusement and not as a user manual!