What's the most important kind of endgame? While the answer is obvious for many experienced players, most beginners answer incorrectly. The most popular incorrect answer is a rook endgame. While it is statistically the most common kind of an endga...
The 2023 FIDE World Championship was an unusual event. First of all, it is very uncommon to call an event the "World Championship" in the absence of the unquestionable world's number-one player. It is also unusual to see so many hard-fought games ...
In the age of ChatGPT and artificial intelligence computer algorithms that know everything (or almost everything), a YouTube algorithm started recommending me videos of a doctor who promised to cure most health problems with just one simple recipe...
Most chess players know World Champion Alexander Alekhine as a master of attack and combinations. They might be surprised to learn that some great players considered Alekhine's strategic talent as the main reason for his success. I don't have the ...
Mistakes are an integral part of the game of chess: everyone makes them, even supercomputers! Yet, you should be able to avoid certain kinds of blunders easily. For instance, when you start in chess and learn about Scholar's Mate, then there is no...
Plot twists are popular in Hollywood because people really love them. After his breakthrough mega-hit The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan decided that every single movie he produces should have one at the end. As a result, while watching his movie...
All chess players are familiar with the following situation: You are analyzing a game played by two strong players when suddenly one of them makes a move that looks completely stupid. You are trying to figure out what's going on and yet have no cl...
GM Magnus Carlsen has produced hundreds of brilliant games, so when you saw the word "epic" in the title, you probably envisioned one of those sparkling attacks with multiple sacrifices. While this game indeed features many attacks, counterattacks...
There are thousands of ideas in chess. Some of them are very basic, and others are so complicated that you cannot help but think: "Who was the genius? Who came up with this idea first?" Unfortunately, in most cases, we will never know the answer. ...
GM David Bronstein famously said: “To lose one’s objective attitude to a position, nearly always means ruining your game.” I doubt that anyone would argue with this simple yet very powerful statement. Moreover, this wisdom can be...
The opening is the part of chess that players study the most. I doubt that this statement came as a big surprise to you, considering the humongous amount of books and videos on this subject. When I ask my students what kind of chess books they hav...
The recently concluded World Team Championship is in the history books already. China again demonstrated its enormous chess potential by winning the tournament, even without the presence of its top players. Uzbekistan was another hero of this even...
My article from last week has caused quite a dispute. Many readers argued that there is nothing wrong with the Bongcloud or any other "junk" opening. Indeed they have a point there: after a long day at work why not unwind and have some fun by play...
We live in the internet age and trolling is part of it, whether you like it or not. Since chess is quickly transforming into an online game (we discussed this topic here), we all have seen numerous cases of chess trolling. In this article, I would...
Francis Bacon's famous statement: "Knowledge is power" was written in big block letters on a wall of my school, so I read it more than a thousand times in my childhood and it became firmly engraved in my mind. Watching the 2022 U.S. Chess Champion...
Note: As is always the case, but should be stated clearly in this particular context, the views expressed by GM Serper in his articles are his views alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Chess.com. Chess is in the worldwide news aga...
If you frequent chess forums, you are probably familiar with the never-ending debates about the strength of chess players from various eras. There will always, for example, be a person making the traditional claim that any decent master today woul...
The Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz event is in the history books already, providing a lot of food for thought. First and foremost, let's talk about the phenomenal performance of GM Alireza Firouzja. It immediately brings memories of the famous Herzog...
The FTX Crypto Cup was an exciting tournament where any chess player could find something to love. For me, the most attractive part of the tournament was its abundance of blunders. Yes, you read that correctly! Now, let me explain my point. ...
Historic recurrence is a well-known phenomenon that has been discussed for centuries. There are two well-known quotes on this subject that most of us have known since childhood: "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce." by Karl Ma...
GM Bobby Fischer produced hundreds of brilliant chess moves and it is very difficult to say which one is the most beautiful. We can argue that his famous move 19.Rf6!! against GM Pal Benko was the tastiest one, since it was depicted on a cake. H...
The 2022 Candidates Tournament just finished last week, and I already see discussions about the coming world championship match. Will the challenger perform better this time, or is it going to be another one-sided victory for the world champion? I...
I spent the end of March 1994 playing the Oslo Open in beautiful Norway. The tournament was very memorable for me mostly for two things: I tied for first place with GM Ilya Smirin and also I had the opportunity to talk to legendary GM David Bronst...
The main chess event of the year, the 2022 Candidates Tournament, is already underway and by now only a lazy person wouldn't provide a prediction. While I hate to be called lazy, I cannot give you my pick for the simple reason that I have no idea!...
A pin is probably the most common chess pattern. It is difficult for me to imagine any master game where there would be no pins in the actual game or in the variations that could've happened during the game. Also, it is probably one of the easiest...