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 The Tradewise Gibaltar Chess Congress, the strongest Open ever, is underway and the excitement is building. The top seeds are truly inpressive: 1 4102142 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2749 bio   2 13401319 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2747 bio  ... http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-boys-are-back-in-town-and-girls Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:01:10 -0800 http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-boys-are-back-in-town-and-girls There is a common debate on the subject of what separates the different echelons of chessplayers.  Some say it is tactics, others strategy.  A lot of folks are of the opinion that opening knowledge is very important.  Others claim ... http://www.chess.com/article/view/playing-with-your-pieces---aronian-in-tata Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:56:55 -0800 http://www.chess.com/article/view/playing-with-your-pieces---aronian-in-tata As you probably could have guessed, I write my articles some days in advance of when they are published. I noticed that this article would be my last in 2011, so I wanted to do a farewell article to 2011. At the moment I am visiting Alaska, where ... http://www.chess.com/article/view/at-the-top-of-the-year-2011 Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:42:58 -0800 http://www.chess.com/article/view/at-the-top-of-the-year-2011 First of all, I would like to congratulate you on your most recent article. It was very well written. However, I have one question. All titled players that I know say that you should learn the ideas behind openings, more so than the opening lines ... http://www.chess.com/article/view/basic-opening-ideas Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:58:56 -0800 http://www.chess.com/article/view/basic-opening-ideas Hello  Magesh and Arun: As my question subject suggests I have a problem calculating complicated chess positions. Although I can see a single line in considerable length, when the variations become complicated and the tree of possib... http://www.chess.com/article/view/calculation Sun, 04 Dec 2011 22:11:13 -0800 http://www.chess.com/article/view/calculation Greetings, in many of the openings that I play, I end up with a 4:3 kingside pawn majority while my opponent has 2:1 on the queenside. We generally both have at least one rook and a minor piece. What would you suggest is the best way to solve this... http://www.chess.com/article/view/queen-side-majority Sun, 27 Nov 2011 21:07:28 -0800 http://www.chess.com/article/view/queen-side-majority from time to time we hear complaints that chess is doomed because opening theory has been exhausted. These complaints have come from amateur players and professionals alike. In response, many people have proposed changing the rules of chess in som... http://www.chess.com/article/view/why-fischer-random-is-not-the-future-of-chess Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:07:34 -0800 http://www.chess.com/article/view/why-fischer-random-is-not-the-future-of-chess  I've been wondering this for a long time. In games for which it looks like white's (or black's) pieces are attacking a weakness which is throughly defended, a strong comentator on the game will say white's pieces aren't active. An example is an... http://www.chess.com/article/view/systemize-your-thinking-process Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:42:25 -0800 http://www.chess.com/article/view/systemize-your-thinking-process From: jetfighter13 My question is, when is it ok to underpromote, I sometimes do, but only when I even/win material, or put my opponent in check. To help illustrate my point, I offer the following game: Dear jetfighter13, Under-promotio... http://www.chess.com/article/view/promotion2 Sun, 13 Nov 2011 21:01:59 -0800 http://www.chess.com/article/view/promotion2 Hi Arun and Magesh, I have a question about the guicco piano for white. In this opening, black's main lines are all about making it as hard as possible for white to make or keep the centre with pawns e4 and d4. For example in 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 ... http://www.chess.com/article/view/center Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:13:27 -0800 http://www.chess.com/article/view/center Dear Sirs, Greetings of the day!!! I am an intermediate level player ( I think??) and desperately want to improve my game. I am facing a few problems with my  chess studies & games, which I am sure that you can help me out !!!, are as f... http://www.chess.com/article/view/practical-play Sun, 30 Oct 2011 22:05:34 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/practical-play Dear GM thamizhan, I am busy going over some of my games, and I am mostly confused about the ideas behind pushing pawns on the castled king-side.  I think in this first position the idea is a fairly simple tactic.  By playing h5 black is atta... http://www.chess.com/article/view/when-is-it-safe Sun, 16 Oct 2011 21:16:30 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/when-is-it-safe Dear Grandmasters Arun Prasad/Magesh Panchanathan: My question may be too simple for you, but here goes: when reviewing my games, 80% of the time I lose because of knight blindness. I simply fail to see the potential my opponent's Knights have, a... http://www.chess.com/article/view/knightmares Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:02:49 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/knightmares Dear Grandmasters Arun Prasad/Magesh Panchanathan: I have questions and I hope you may answer them. I have not played over the board chess for a year and have mainly played blitz or rapid chess online. Before I took a break I managed to achieve ... http://www.chess.com/article/view/understanding-opening-ideas-and-blitz-chess Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:35:29 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/understanding-opening-ideas-and-blitz-chess Dear GM Prasad and GM Panchanathan : I am grateful to see the revival of this weekly column after IM Silman. Thank you! Hope you can answer a few of my questions below: a) I understand that in order to become better one has to accept losing many... http://www.chess.com/article/view/recovering-from-defeat-and-improving-calculation Sun, 11 Sep 2011 22:26:51 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/recovering-from-defeat-and-improving-calculation Another of the “balancing acts” that chess players make is between the poles of consistency and flexibility. We all know that human chess players need a plan in order to play a decent game. We cannot calculate every single move the way... http://www.chess.com/article/view/flexibility-versus-consistency Wed, 31 Aug 2011 20:53:51 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/flexibility-versus-consistency Dear GM Panchanathan, I have psychology problems in the game of chess. My rating usually goes up and down from 1900 to 2050. One of my weaknesses is that I cannot control external feelings (i.e. fear, stress, overconfidence) when playing ches... http://www.chess.com/article/view/let-it-be Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:36:45 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/let-it-be I think the term "responsibility" in chess was coined by the late GM Alex Wojtkiewicz. Well, this term might be understandable without an explanation and didn't really need to be "coined". Nevertheless, it was Alex who I heard use this term to des... http://www.chess.com/article/view/responsibility-versus-apathy Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:18:04 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/responsibility-versus-apathy by GM Magesh and GM Arun From: Mustafa Rashid  In middlegames and openings I use the imbalance system to logically think through my moves which I find very helpful. I've studied a few books on the endgame but I still don't understand this phas... http://www.chess.com/article/view/from-paris-to-venice Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:20:30 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/from-paris-to-venice Many chessplayers think they know all the rules, but being a chess arbiter involves more knowledge than people think. Now you have a chance to see if you know enough to referee chess contests in an online test. It doesn't cover everything, for exa... http://www.chess.com/article/view/so-you-think-you-know-the-rules Sun, 21 Aug 2011 18:45:16 -0700 http://www.chess.com/article/view/so-you-think-you-know-the-rules