Robert Tevrucht News Today

Hello chess friends! This month’s column was inspired by a reader! Matthew Brodhead sent in his game against John Cissik, and analyzing his game gave me the idea for this month’s column. GM Savielly Tartakower (whom I love to quote!) once said that any opening is good enough to play if its reputation is bad enough. What he meant was that once a line gets a reputation as a loser, it becomes fodder for those who are willing to work to find improvements and use them to gain points in competitio...

News Flash! 2022 US Chess Absolute Championship! Correspondence Chess Master Tim Corkum (WI) is the 2022 US Chess Absolute co-champion. Corkum won on tiebreaks over CCM John Walton (WA). Both finished with a score of 7½ points, with 3 wins and 9 draws.  They split the point in their game. This is Corkum’s first Absolute championship. Play began March 1, 2022. The tournament continues but there are no others that can catch the champion.

Shopping For a Sicilian As I mentioned in a prior column, I tend to respond symmetrically as Black except against 1.e4. I have several approaches I use against 1.e4 from time to time (the French, the Caro-Kann, and even the Scandinavian), but I have always enjoyed the counter-attacking nature of the Sicilian Defense. The problem I face is in which line to choose.