Michael Hansen

I learned how to play chess when I was 12 and life has not been the same since!
"Thanks, mom for encouraging me to play!
May you rest in peace."

Thank you for visiting my chess site.

 
I built this site to share my love of chess.
 I have posted my games against, Masters, International and Grandmasters.
In some of these games I won and some I lost. That's life!

I am currently building a link which will have every World Chess Championship match.

There are some stories and photos.

"Michael, great site you have there !" -  GM Alexandra Kosteniuk ( Woman's World Ch. 2008)

Chess is a game of skill

The only way to get better is to play an opponent who is stronger than you.

Study tactics and play through the games played by grandmasters.

Notice that they completely develop before they attack.

Study their endgames. I have posted some of my games on this site for fun.

I am sharing those games and no matter your skill level, maybe you might enjoy them.

I have played against grandmasters, international masters.

Today, I am in my 50's and so I mostly play on the internet and I teach chess to young people.

Near the bottom of this webpage, I am posting games from chess history as time allows.

You will find the  "Immortal Game" and the "Evergreen Game".

There will be more games posted.

If you are new to chess, I suggest you look at those games and study their tactics.

Some of my best CHESS moments

Fischer vs. Spassky - World Chess Championship, Iceland 1972

The best chess day of my life !

In 1986, Boris Spassky traveled to Dallas, Texas where I lived at the time.

It was great that Spassky was able to visit. My heros when I was a child were

 the top Russian chess grandmasters, like Tal, Botvinnik, Spassky, Petrosian, Keres, etc.

not sports athletes or football players like most kids in my neighborhood.

Because of the Cold War, I assumed I would never get to see any of them

play in a tournament or get to meet them. I don't think anyone could have predicted in the 1960's

that communism would collapse someday.  Spassky played a simultaneous exhibition

against 40 players, fortunately I was one of them!. There were a multitude of spectators and reporters present.

As he began the exhibition everyone got quiet as they concentrated on their games.

Spassky moved from one board to the next making a move. After a number of moves, he came to my board

a stopped to study the position. He stood there much longer than he had at any other chess board and then

shocked me by offering me a draw ! At that point, he turned and announced to everyone in the room that he would take a

10 minute break and he walked out of the room.

Of course, all of the spectators rushed to my board to see my game to see if they could figure out why Spassky would offer me a draw.

So, there I was in my chair with a hundred people right up behind me gawking at my position and making comments.

Behind me I heard someone say, "Wow, Spassky offered you a draw?". Another said, "I can't understand why he did that!"

Finally, a master, who was a member of the chess club, who would in normal times, never lower

himself to speak to me, looked at my position and said, "You played the Caro-Kann?"

I shook my head yes. "Wow", he said and walked away. That did it!! I knew then and there

that I would accept the draw. I would be the first game finished but hey, Spassky offered me a draw!

Let me put this into perspective, when I was 12, and just learned to play chess, my best friend, Sybren

van der Pol and I looked under "Chess" in his encyclopedia parent's set of Encyclopedia Brittanica and there was a photo

 of Spassky and Petrosian playing a round in their World Championship match in 1969.

It was difficult to explain, but this guy was good enough to be in the encyclopedia and he offered me a draw!!

After the 10 minutes had passed, Spassky came back in and everyone got back into their places and got quiet.

Spassky came right up to my board and I nervously said to him, "I accept your offer" and with that I laid my score

sheet on the board for him to sign. He took my pen and signed my scoresheet, it was so quiet in the

room you could hear a pin drop. But what happened next, was even better than I could have ever imagined.

Spassky looked at me and said in his deep Russian accent, loud enough for everyone

in the room to hear, "You are a very good player!". I was stunned. I felt like I was in a dream.

Here a man who is considered by the entire chess world one of the top 10 greatest players in the 1,000 year

history of chess just told me that I was not just good player but a "very good" chessplayer!!!

It was like in the movie, "Field of Dreams" when the ghost asked Kevin Costner, "Is this heaven?"

.... That's how I felt at that moment!  If I never played or even won another game of chess again in my life,

it would be ok because Spassky told me I was a very good player. It would be the best day of my chess life.

Thank you, Boris.

I continued to play and study chess and although I was not a spectacular player, I finally reached the expert section on a German internet chess site in 2004.

 Then Susan Polgar visited the my Chess Club she was 16. She was accompanied by her mother.

She played a simultaneous that night against 12 men who were the "old guard" of the club.

She was a Men's International Master at the time. I no longer have the score of the game,

but I remember she took pieces away from me like I didn't know any tactics!

She also did the same to "Smeltzer" one of the old guy's at the club. 

Susan easily defeated everyone. Today, she is a Grandmaster and lives in New York. She has done a lot to promote chess.

GM Susan Polgar

We learn more from our losses than from our wins.

Here are some of my losses and wins.

I was introduced to Alexandra Kosteniuk by a mutual friend, GM Annakov.

At the time she was only 15 years old. We met on ICC (Internet Chess Server) as she lived in Moscow and I was in the US.

When I would get home from work in the evenings, I would get online and she would pop open the chat screen and say "Hi !", and we would chat.

She sent me a poem a friend translated into English. I thought is was pretty good.

Every time I asked her what she was doing, she would tell me she was studying!

I assumed she was studing chess.

Whenever she was not on ICC for a week, I knew she was in some international tournament.

The next week, she would be back and she we would talk a little bit about how she thought she played.

I could get her games off of "This Week In Chess" and I had ChessBase

so I would load them in and look at them.

I did play her a couple of games, but I could only win one.

I have included that game score below.

But that was the only game I could win. She too strong for me and she was getting stronger everyday.

I no longer have contact with her. But for a brief time I got to be friends and play chess

 with one of the brightest young chess players in the world.

She is now in her 20's and has attained the rank of Men's Grandmaster and

she has grown into a beautiful, intelligent young woman who has all of the prospects

of a wonderful life and brilliant chess career in front of her.

All my best to you Sasha and I hope you win the World Chess Championship someday!!

(GM) Alexander Kosteniuk

(8) Kosteniuk(GM),A (2395) - Michael Hansen [B18]
ICC Simultaneous,

11/13/2001

This is my only win against her.

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.f4 e6 8.Nf3 Nd7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 11.Bd2 Ngf6 12.0-0-0 c5 13.Ne5 cxd4 14.Rhe1 Bc5 15.Kb1 0-0 16.Ne4 Nxe4 17.Qxe4 Nxe5 18.fxe5 Rac8 19.Rc1 Qb6 20.Qf3 d3 21.cxd3 Ba3 22.Rc2 Rxc2 23.Kxc2 Qxb2+ 24.Kd1 Qa1+ 25.Ke2 Qxe5+ 26.Kf1 Qd4 27.Qg3 Qf6+ 28.Kg1 Rd8 29.Bf4 Qd4+ 30.Kh2 Bd6 31.Re4 Bxf4 32.Qxf4 Qxd3 33.Rc4 Qd6 34.Qxd6 Rxd6 35.Rc8+ Kh7 36.Rc7 Kg6 37.Rxb7 Ra6 38.Rb2 f5 39.Kh3 Kf6 40.g3 g5 41.hxg5+ hxg5 42.Rc2 e5 43.Rc3 Re6 44.Rc8 Re7 45.Rc6+ Re6 46.Rc7 a6 47.Kg2 f4 48.gxf4 exf4 49.Kf3 Kf5 50.Rf7+ Rf6 51.Rg7 Re6 52.Rf7+ Kg6 53.Rc7 Rf6 54.Kg4 f3 55.Rc1 f2 56.Rf1 Rf4+ 57.Kg3 Kf5 58.Kg2 Kg4 59.a4 a5 60.Rxf2 Rxf2+ 61.Kxf2 Kh3 62.Kg1 Kg3 

White Resigns

"Michael, good game!" - (GM) Kosteniuk

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Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk

UPDATE: Alexandra Kosteniuk won the 2008 Woman's World Championship !

 

Congratulations Alexandra!!

www.kosteniuk.com

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GM Zarnicki was World Jr. Champion in 1992

Grandmaster B. Annakov

I met Bobakuli in Dallas. He is a Grandmaster and I learned from him. At the time, I lived in a very small town that only had one traffic light and one school. I was playing chess on Tuesday nights in the school library. I had asked Annakov if he would mind giving the kids a simultaneous exhibition.

So, he came one night and delighted the kids.

The event was the talk of this little small town. Everyone was running around saying, "Did you know a Russian Chess Master is coming to Little Elm !

During the simultaneous, I was standing by the parents watching and one of the parents asked me, "How did Little Elm rate a Russian Grandmaster ?"

I decided to take on the Champion of Russia!

He told me he lives in a small town about 600 miles north of Moscow.

It must get real cold up there!! Burr...

followed by Bc4 and Qxh7 and white wins