-
Endgames can be convoluted. Many ideas are interwoven, which makes it hard to isolate pure endgame ideas or technical plans. However, if one looks for a specific idea and searches through the games, one can be surprised at finding it under differe... | Read More
-
In today's show there were many open-ended questions similar to "Hi! I'm 1600 and want to get to 1800. What books should I read?" or the more answerable "Hi! I'm 1600 and I want a good book on positional play. What do you recommend?"
There's a to... | Read More
-
Today we will be seeing a game by grandmaster Svetozar Gligoric, who recently passed away. Gligoric was born in Belgrade in 1923 and died on August 14 at the age of 89. After first learning chess by watching people play at a local bar, he ma... | Read More
-
When I coined the term "Counting", many thought I was simply referring to knowing the value of the pieces, but that's just a minor aspect. By Counting I meant determining whether any sequence of exchanges led to gain or loss of material on any squ... | Read More
-
IMPORTANT: [At the end of the puzzles, you should click MOVE LIST so you can see my instructive notes and variations. If you are having trouble solving a problem, just click SOLUTION, and then MOVE LIST. Even if you solve everything, DO click MOVE... | Read More
-
Part I of this story dealt with the first five rounds of the championship. I was the leader with 4/5, and among my pursuers were Olga Girya and Alisa Galliamova, whom I was to face in the rounds to come.
During the rest day I decided to take a f... | Read More
-
With the death of the legendary Grandmaster Svetozar Gligorić (1923-2012), the Chess World has lost one of the biggest chess Giants of the last century. I never had an opportunity to meet or even see GM Gligorić but my generation of ch... | Read More
-
Every year we hold the charity Holly Heisman Memorial Tournament to raise money for women in need. Thanks to our organizers, the Ramachandras, our TD Joshua Anderson, and Howard Stern, who donates a trip to his studio which we auction off on EBay... | Read More
-
Today we continue with the endgame examples from the recent Washington International chess tournament. There were quite a few games where queen and bishop were well-coordinated and participated or could have participated in a mating attack against... | Read More
-
Do you prefer a queen or two rooks? Everyone knows a rook is five points and a queen is nine points. 5+5 > 9 so the rooks should be a full pawn better, right?
GM Larry Kaufman, who is an expert at computer chess, has determined the rooks a... | Read More
-
In any series of Candidates tournaments for the world championship of chess, you can count on your fingers and toes the realistic contenders for the crown - about 20 people - out of over 7 billion people in the world. Magnus Carlsen is one o... | Read More
-
Last week I showed an interesting moment from my game against IM Goran Vojinovic in the Cleveland Open. In this follow-up article, we will see the entire game, which was a fascinating battle.
I set off for this tournament Friday morning before i... | Read More
-
IMPORTANT: [At the end of the puzzles, you should click MOVE LIST so you can see my instructive notes and variations. If you are having trouble solving a problem, just click SOLUTION, and then MOVE LIST. Even if you solve everything, DO click MOV... | Read More
-
Last week, one of my students showed me a position and asked what I would do. I thought it was fairly instructive (it turned out to be!), so I will ask you the same question. In the following position, assume you are playing a long time control ga... | Read More
-
The main Russian chess event of the year started on August 2nd in Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel in Moscow. 10 male and 10 female chess players were to compete for the title of the Russian Chess Champion. In each section, the contestants were: three ... | Read More
-
I receive a lot of messages from fellow chess.com members. Sometimes I am frightened when I open my mailbox since I know very well that I won't be able to reply to many of them. There are requests like "I am an attacking player, what opening shoul... | Read More
-
This is an Alekhine game that you may not have seen before. On his tenth move, he takes a bold risk with the classic Greek gift bishop sac. He even has the audacity to quietly castle in the middle of an attack! Several more quiet moves follow, but... | Read More
-
Name: Alejandro Ramirez
Title: GM
Date of birth: 21 June 1988
Fide rating: 2576 ... | Read More
-
Today we will look at two endgames from the recent and very strong Washington International chess tournament that took place in Maryland. The two endgames that I chose are similar. Both feature a position where one side has an extra pawn but the o... | Read More
-
This week's show, as always, featured an eclectic set of questions on all topics. One viewer asked what was the most beautiful game in literature and I responded "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. There's many games I find quite beautiful, bu... | Read More
-
An important principle in chess is the concept of the “forcing move”. A forcing move is one which requires the opponent to reply in a certain way, or which greatly limits the ways in which he can respond. Essentially, a forcing move is either ... | Read More
-
IMPORTANT: [At the end of the puzzles, you should click MOVE LIST so you can see my instructive notes and variations. If you are having trouble solving a problem, just click SOLUTION, and then MOVE LIST. Even if you solve everything, DO click MOVE... | Read More
-
I am frequently asked (mostly by young chess players) if the best players from the past could successfully compete against today's chess elite. I always had an opinion that the human natural abilities are approximately the same today as they were ... | Read More
-
Today we will look at my endgame against GM Joel Benjamin from the recent Washington International chess tournament. The endgame was worse for me and usually such a small advantage is enough for a GM of Joel's class to win. However, this time I de... | Read More
-
“The cavalcade, the jamboree of life I thought was meant for me. I never dreamed that it would be replaced by this eternity of isolation.” – The Mighty Boosh &nbs... | Read More