Since it's Christmas Eve and people are thinking about gifts, this may be a good time to mention FIDE's free pdf lessons. FIDE trainers publish high-quality chess teaching materials on FIDE.COM for free. So if you teach chess, feel free to download and use the lessons with your students. If you're a student, you can download these great mostly GM-authored chess lessons and study them. 

​My goal for 2018 is to go through all of the available pdf files and study them. I also intend to play more tournament chess.

​What are you chess goals for 2018?

Mark your calendars right now so you can start off the year well. On January 6 and 7, 2018 you can play in the active chess championship and then at the end, on Sunday you can celebrate by playing in the blitz event. Or just come play in one. Your choice. 

Visit the EVENTS page for website links. See you there in January 2018.

​Happy holidays!!

For details click here: ​http://chess2inspire.ca/Chess2Inspire/chess2inspire-junior-championship-2018

Passed pawns can be a menace on the chessboard, especially when they get piece support. Here are two examples from my recent internet play. Remember to push your passed pawns!

​In the examples below the e-pawn quickly decides everything but also note White's bishop pair. If you can get your bishops on open lines they can support your passer. Here the black knight had no place to run.

[Event "ICC 3 0 u"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2017.12.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "NCM Vas Sladek"]
[Black "Bunzan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2018"]
[BlackElo "2196"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nc6 7. Be2 h6 8. h3
Ne4 9. Rc1 f5 10. O-O Bd6 11. Ne5 Bxe5 12. dxe5 Bd7 13. cxd5 exd5 14. Qxd5+ Kh8
15. Rfd1 Be8 16. Nxe4 fxe4 17. Qxd8 Rxd8 18. Rxd8 Nxd8 19. Rxc7 Bc6 20. Bc4 a6
21. e6 Re8 22. e7 1-0


​

​Here the b-pawn decides everything. Note how difficult it was for White to deal with it when his pieces were stationed on the king side. Remember to push your passed pawns!

[Event "ICC 5 2 u"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2017.12.08"]
[Round "?"]
[White "NM Fire1"]
[Black "NCM Vas Sladek"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "1843"]
[BlackElo "2018"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Bg5 e6 7. e3 Be7 8. Bd3
h6 9. Bh4 O-O 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Rc1 b5 12. a3 Bb7 13. Qe2 Rc8 14. Rfd1 Nb6 15.
Ne5 Ne4 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 17. Bxe4 dxe4 18. Qg4 f5 19. Ng6 Qf6 20. Qg3 Rfd8 21. h4
Nc4 22. h5 Nxb2 23. Rf1 Nc4 24. Ne2 Bd5 25. a4 b4 (here we go: a massive passed pawn) 26. Nef4 b3 27. Nxd5 exd5 28. f3 b2 29. Rb1 Nxe3 30. fxe4 Nxf1 31. Kxf1 Rc1+ 0-1

I don't much care for bullet chess because I'm not very fast with my PC laptop. But according to GM Yasser Seirawan, bullet chess can help you see tactics with very limited time. And as we already know, tactical awareness is critical in chess.
​The other bonus is also being ready for time trouble in tournament chess. If you know you can bang out a decent game in 1-2 minutes, you should be able to make the time control.

​Below it's Black to play.

​

White focused on e4 and left his Queen pinned. Always consider all threats and break pins before they hurt you.

​1. ...Nxc3 2.Qxc3 Nxe3+! 3.fxe3 Rxc3 +- 

The endgame is an important phase but it isn't as deeply studied as other phases like the openings. When I bought IM Jonathan Hawkins' chess book "Amateur to IM" I expected to see a list of secrets. Instead, what I got was a great book on endings.
​And I had no idea that some of the endings even existed; with their own names and well-known procedures. If you study the book, you are bound to improve your rating.

​In the position below it's my move as white against German IM Ulrich Schulze. Fortunately it's equal so we agreed to a draw. But it's often stressful, even at standard controls, to hold the ending against FIDE-titled and experienced players. This is why it's a great thing to have free access to titled players online because almost every game is a lesson.

​How much time do YOU devote to studying endings?

​[Event "ICC 3 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2017.11.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "NCM Vas Sladek"]
[Black "IM Ulrich Schulze"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A45"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e3 c5 4. c3 b6 5. Nf3 Bb7 6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nbd2
d5 9. Ne5 Nfd7 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. f4 f6 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Qe1 e5 14. fxe5 fxe5
15. Bb5 Rxf1+ 16. Qxf1 Rf8 17. Qe2 Nf6 18. Rf1 exd4 19. exd4 Qxe2 20. Bxe2 a5
21. Nf3 Ne4 22. Ne5 Bc8 23. Rxf8+ Kxf8 24. Bd3 Nf6 25. h3 Ke7 26. Kf2 g5 27.
Ke3 h6 28. g4 Be6 29. b3 Kd6 30. Bf5 Nd7 31. Nxd7 Bxd7 32. Bxd7 Kxd7 33. c4 Kd6
34. Kd3 Kc6 35. a4 Kd6 36. Ke3 Kc6 37. Kd3 Kd6 38. Ke3 Kc6 39. Kd3 Kd6 1/2-1/2