Solving studies is never easy, but it is very beneficial.

It develops the good habits of disciplined and structured thinking and often demands self-control in a situation where it appears that one side has a lot of options. In such cases it is of primary concern to control the feeling of overwhelm and tackle all options one by one.

The following position is a late favourite of mine. I have written before of my fascination when it comes to the theme of domination and this study by Rinck from 1922 is a beautiful illustration.

White’s last move was 1 Ng7-e6. On an empty board with seemingly a huge number of possible moves Black can simply resign as he is losing the rook in all the variations. Try to figure out the lines, it’s a simple exercise and the lines are maximum 2 moves long.

On Monday I start the European Individual Championship and these tournaments have always been very difficult for me. I think this one will be the last one I ever play, so my only hope it to improve on my previous (horrendous) results. Soon enough we’ll see how that will pan out.