Online chess community where you can play chess, learn strategies and tactics, read chess news, see book reviews, find rules & tips, get free downloads, and more! http://www.chess.com/ 2007 Chess.com   More than a half of a century has passed since David Bronstein wrote probably one of the best chess books that have ever been written: " Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953." The book is about the tournament that gathered fifteen of th... http://www.chess.com/article/view/bronstein--creator-of-the-chess-classic Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:48:06 -0800 http://www.chess.com/article/view/bronstein--creator-of-the-chess-classic The last article was about how to collect a library of positions and use it to improve your chess. This would improve your technique, increase the quantity of familiar positions, and make you overall a better player, but chess is a game too and on... http://www.chess.com/article/view/when-the-clock-tickles Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:44:19 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/when-the-clock-tickles Hi again everyone,   This time we will try to take a look at how black can answer a variation which a lot of sources consider to be critical to the whole survival of the Dragon. I've tried to include a lot of possible deviations for black that ... http://www.chess.com/article/view/test-your-chess-sicilian-dragon-2 Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:30:37 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/test-your-chess-sicilian-dragon-2                 Two years ago I spent the summer in Ukraine, a chess Mecca, took chess lessons, played a couple of tournaments. In theory I know many methods that are designed to improve your chess, but in practice I hardly ever put... http://www.chess.com/article/view/a-library-of-positional-pictures Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:26:13 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/a-library-of-positional-pictures Hi guys, you know the rules to predicting these games, stop when you hit the highlighted portions and answer before moving on. Take all the time you want and good luck!       Almasi,Zoltan - Watson,William N German Bundesliga, 1995   1.... http://www.chess.com/article/view/test-your-chess-sicilian-dragon Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:28:43 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/test-your-chess-sicilian-dragon Before playing in the Montreal International this fall, I spent a good amount of time studying strong GM games (usually Kasparov games) and middlegames, but I also spent some time reviewing some technical endgames and my openings. For such a stro... http://www.chess.com/article/view/not-all-draws-are-boring Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:30:50 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/not-all-draws-are-boring I just came back from the US Women's Championship and want to share with you my impressions as well as chess game fragments. First of all, I would like to thank all the chess.com fans who were rooting for me during the Championship; it is amazing ... http://www.chess.com/article/view/a-players-perspective Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:45:12 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/a-players-perspective One of the main ways to combat the Stonewall Defense is to break down Black's strong central pawn chain with f2-f3 and then e2-e4. Assuming there are pawns on c4 and d4, the pressure on d5 will likely force some action, leaving the e6-pawn weak in... http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-battering-ram Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:17:33 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-battering-ram Hi everyone, this is my first article after a long time and like the previus ones this is written for guys with rating around 1800-1900. This article have a purpose to familiar you with some basic structure which arise from Budapest gambit. I play... http://www.chess.com/article/view/basic-budapest-gambit-idea Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:13:40 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/basic-budapest-gambit-idea In this article I would like to give my thoughts on an important subject matter, but I warn you in advance there are no chess positions; I took a so- called chess break. I hope the reader will forgive me...   Today, I woke up in the middle of th... http://www.chess.com/article/view/in-this-article-i-would-like-to-give-my-thoughts-on-a-given-subject-matter-i-warn-you-in-advance-th Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:10:26 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/in-this-article-i-would-like-to-give-my-thoughts-on-a-given-subject-matter-i-warn-you-in-advance-th Many of you have requested before that I put the text of the whole game here. The reason why I prefer fragments instead of full games is that by putting the whole game one can get distracted by other parts less relevant to the given topic. I mean ... http://www.chess.com/article/view/strategical-advantage-having-less-pieces Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:19:52 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/strategical-advantage-having-less-pieces After the Bacrot game from the 4th round that I went over last week, I had the white pieces against Tiviakov. This was maybe my best game of the event, but in light of my upcoming event in Texas (the SPICE Cup, group B), I didn't quite have enough... http://www.chess.com/article/view/playing-for-a-draw Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:18:47 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/playing-for-a-draw Mikhail Tal was on his way to the world championship when he faced Milko Bobotsov on his way to beconing the first Bulgarian grandmaster. Tal played the King's Indian Defense which Bobotsov challenged with the Saemisch Variation characterized by f... http://www.chess.com/article/view/tal-attacks-or-did-i-repeat-myself Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:51:10 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/tal-attacks-or-did-i-repeat-myself I would like to talk about a case when two knights are stronger than two bishops. The obvious case is when the position is closed - there are no open diagonals for the bishops and many outposts for the knights. This article addresses the other cas... http://www.chess.com/article/view/equestrian-dominance Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:06:49 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/equestrian-dominance This game was from the last round of the Continental Championship in Brazil. After my loss to Vescovi (analyzed in my last article), I had 4/6. I then proceeded to struggle horribly, scoring only 1/3 against lower-rated opposition. I won my 10th r... http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-endgame-grind Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:46:27 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-endgame-grind What is a chess genius?  I cannot answer this question but I can give examples of the play of a chess genius. I came from the country where no one questioned whether this person is a genius or not; it was accepted he is.  The games that I will p... http://www.chess.com/article/view/how-the-best-handle-their-queens Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:25:15 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/how-the-best-handle-their-queens   I would like to offer a set of examples to solve. In all of them you have to evaluate some exchanges and make if not the strongest move, then the most practical decision. Some of the examples are very hard, therefore set yourself enough time, I... http://www.chess.com/article/view/so-you-think-you-can-solve-problems Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:36:04 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/so-you-think-you-can-solve-problems In my last tournament in Brazil (the Pan-American Continental Championship), I started with a solid 4.0/5 and in round 6 had the black pieces against GM Giovanni Vescovi. I was expecting 1.e4, but as he plays pretty much everything with the white ... http://www.chess.com/article/view/losing-the-thread Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:58:38 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/losing-the-thread My last tournament in Brazil was a bit of a disaster, but I still played a few games that I think will be of use to show. In the first game I want to show you, my opponent played one of the oldest known openings, the Giuoco Piano. However, the lin... http://www.chess.com/article/view/a-case-for-playing-the-main-lines Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:07:26 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/a-case-for-playing-the-main-lines When we think of the way people played chess in the late 1800s we think of insane sacrifices and attacks that faced almost no resistance. Names like Pilsbury and Morphy, of great imaginative players come to mind. In the early 1900s there was Hype... http://www.chess.com/article/view/modern-fights Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:22:14 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/modern-fights