Group B of the PRO Chess League Summer Series kicked off with major upsets in both Live Club Matches. Barcelona announced their return to the PRO Chess League by burying Baden Baden in their match, which was followed by a strong showing in the Knockout Battles. In the biggest surprise of the day, the Reykjavik Puffins proved they belonged in the competition by throttling the Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers after a 471-day PRO Chess League absence.
Determined to make an opening-week statement, GM...
What is pawn structure?
From my online glossary, I define it as "the positioning of the whole pawn mass. Also referred to as the pawn skeleton. This positioning of the pawns is what usually dictates the types of plans available in a given position due to open files, space, pawn weaknesses, etc."
It’s normal to develop pieces, put a rook on an open file and make threats. Normal stuff, but not very exciting. Others get a few pieces out and go for an attack. That’s probably more...
The Caro-Kann is one of the most popular openings for Black. It is important to understand the plans and ideas that arise from its Pawn Structure. In this blog post, I am linking two videos.
Examples of when/what pawn to push to seize the initiative: https://youtu.be/Pt53U0OMguQ
How the D-Pawn can become a liability: https://youtu.be/2i3oVVbosxc
Learning things like this will help you become a better player almost instantly!
Click this link: Andrew Soltis' Pawn Structure Chess
If you want to...
The second semifinal of the Chess.com Women's Speed Chess Championship will be played today between GM Alexandra Kosteniuk and GM Valentina Gunina, both from Russia.
The winner of the Women's Speed Chess Championship will qualify for the general 2019 Chess.com Speed Chess Championship and also for the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss in October in Isle of Man.
Today we'll find out the opponent for Elina Danielian in the big final of this first Women's Speed Chess Championship to be played on June...
I learned the phrase "a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse" in school when I studied Richard III by William Shakespeare. These days, people use this expression when they want to underline the importance of something.
There is a story about a man who was about to sign a document that would finalize his very painful divorce. Eager to leave the nightmare behind, the guy exclaims: "a pen, a pen, my kingdom for a pen!"
Sometimes we have a similar situation in chess when a knight ("chess horse")...
This Saturday, Europe will make its debut into the PRO Chess League Summer Series, as three Central Division sides look to make their impact in Group B. The "group of life" nickname means that any of the four teams can find themselves in the next round, so fans will likely play a big factor.
Baden-Baden, the Central Division champion and PRO Chess League finalist, is certainly the favorite to win the group, but bitter PRO Chess League memories from the Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers, Barcelona Raptors...
Do you find that you sometimes miss opportunities to punish your opponent when leading in development?
This week we are proud to release our new Mastery course, Using Time In Chess by GM Simon Williams.
GM Williams shows you how to smell opportunity knocking and take the pawn by the horns. Learn how to speed up the game and punish your opponents for their incautious play!
Try This Course
Course Outline
This course features four lessons dissecting different aspects of tempo it...
