Yes, you've caught me! Whenever I see a checkmate, I cannot help but re-phrase the well-known joke of Steve Martin. You see, Wikipedia has a page about different mating patterns, and it turns out that the checkmates I knew since childhood all have...
A popular saying insists that there are no bad questions: there are only bad answers. Well, I have a confession to make. There is a sort of question that is really difficult to answer. It usually goes like this: A student rated around USCF 1200 co...
In his famous book My Great Predecessors, Garry Kasparov titled a chapter about Mikhail Tal "Bluff as a Weapon of Victory." Indeed, there is no other world champion who sacrificed as many pieces and took as much risk as Tal. Yet as GM Averb...
Today we are going to talk about a very simple trap that any experienced chess player is supposed to know by heart. Yet,at least two legendary world champions fell into this trap in the most unfortunate moment: when they played their world champio...
These days, when opening theory grows exponentially, it is very difficult to come up with an opening novelty. The new move you are considering was either already played by someone, analyzed in some publication or already stored in somebody's com...
People love magic tricks! Yes, we know that the magicians trick us and they don't really saw women in half, and yet we cannot help but admire the miracle that happens right in front of our eyes. Now tell me, when was the last time you saw ches...
Last week, one of my students, whose USCF rating is around 1000, asked me: "What will my rating be if I beat Magnus Carlsen 8-2?" Don't laugh, the kid is just 10 years old and he was not going to do it in 30 days. Besides, he has a predeces...
Some time ago my friend complained about his stock market misfortune: "Whenever I buy a stock it immediately starts going down! Greg, it almost feels like somebody is watching me. The stock could go straight up for years, but once I buy it, i...
Magnus Carlsen is a genius. I doubt that many people would argue about this well-established fact. It is a totally different question why we call him a genius. Is it because he is the world champion? I don't think so. Max Euwe was the world cha...
In one of my recent articles, I asked readers to share their goals for 2018. Despite my explicit warning that the goal of gaining rating points can be counterproductive, this is exactly what majority of our members wish. Well, your wish is ...
For most club players, blunders are a very big problem. They can ruin a game or even a whole tournament! Besides, they prevent a chess player from getting better results and a higher rating. That's why some time ago I wrote a six-part arti...
It is New Year's Eve and millions of people are making their New Year's resolutions. The top two resolutions traditionally have something to do with weight loss and achieving certain financial goals. Nevertheless, I am pretty sure that ches...
Despite severe criticism for a very high number of draws, the London Chess Classic was an interesting event followed by chess players around the world. After the first three rounds where every single game was drawn, many people, including the s...
Garry Kasparov's book My Great Predecessors is one of the best ever written about chess. If I had to take just one chess book with me on a proverbial desert island, that would be my pick. Well, actually I would take all five volumes of the book....
Even beginners know that castling is a very important part of an opening strategy since it moves your king away from the center into a comfortable home created by a rook and three pawns. But what if the new king's house is not so cozy, since the...
The games played by Jose Raul Capablanca have been analyzed in countless chess books, magazines and videos. Today, I want to show you two of his less famous games. Both were played against the strong American master Alexander Kevitz, and both de...
The Wall Street Journal is not the publication you want to read looking for a good laugh, unless you find such terms like GDP, P/E ratio or volatility index particularly funny. Yet, I couldn't stop smiling reading through their recent article abou...
In last week's article we learned some of the favorite chess patterns of super-GM Ding Liren. As you probably remember, he loves to play for domination when his opponent's pieces can barely move. His most common recipe to get this kind of a p...
In one of my recent articles we analyzed the games of Rudolf Pitschak. As one of the readers correctly pointed out, he wasn't the best player in the world. Actually quite far from that! And yet we could learn something from his games. Now imagin...
Recently a chess player asked me a simple question: "I have no chess talent, so should I spend my time on reading chess books and studying chess games?" I am sure that at some point (usually after a disappointing game or a tournament) many peopl...
From time to time I learn about strong players from the past that are generally forgotten now. I wrote about one such player in this old article. Today I would like to talk about another master who is pretty much forgotten today. Have you hear...
Unless you live under a rock, you know that the 65-year-old librarian James Tarjan beat the former world champion Vladimir Kramnik in the recently concluded Chess.com Isle of Man tournament. Of course Grandmaster James Tarjan is not an ordinary ...
All chess players encounter this situation in every single game. You are considering your next move and see numerous tempting opportunities. All the moves look equally strong, so which one should you prefer? What is the best move to play? There ...
The title of this article might surprise you. Indeed it sounds like an oxymoron. How can such a noble, royal game be barbaric? Well, the traditional definition of chess is a trifecta of art, science and sport. If you are mostly oriented tow...
