CZN: January 2026
Table of Contents
This Month in CZN
There are two types of sacrifices: correct ones and mine.
Mikhail Tal
Game of the Month!
Coach Bella Annotates
Bella Belegradek is the 3rd highest-rated woman to ever live in Georgia, with a peak rating of 2107. She is a long-time Kid Chess coach and has led many Eastside Elementary teams to state titles. Chess Zone News welcomes her as our new Game of the Month and Tactics columnist. If you want her to consider one of your games or if you have an interesting tactic to share, please send your pgn file to bella.belegradek@kidchess.com.
Make sure to see the new Tactics column from Bella further down!
This month’s game is a slugfest from the Chess Zone November Action event. Nicholas Karas finished the event in a tie for 2nd-3rd behind winner Lucas Foerster-Yialamas.
Chess Zone Tactics
Coach Bella highlights tactics from games played at Chess Zone the past month. Some directly arise from the game, some are interesting possibilities from the path not taken.
Click on the “Interactive Board” button to be taken to the LiChess study where you can play through the solution. (Note: If you are using a Safari browser, you may need to copy the link and paste directly into a new browser window to access the study.)
To skip the below and go directly to the LiChess Tactics Study, click this button:
White to move
Tactic 2
Black to move
Tactic 3
White to move
Tactic 4
White to move
Tactic 5
White to move
Tactic 6
White to move
Upcoming Chess Zone Events
Sunday, February 1st – RAPID G/15+10
Sunday, February 1st – BLITZ G/5+2
Sunday, February 8th – Action G/60+5
Sunday, February 15th – Melee G/30+5
Saturday, February 21st – Generations G/60+5
Sunday, February 22nd – Scholastic K-12 G/25d5
Chess Zone News is edited by Dan Lucas with contributions from Bella Belegradek, Doug Cox, Matthew Hardman, and Chess Zone staff.
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