There are many different ways to improve your chess, but few of them can compete with the time-proven method of studying games played by great chess players. Indeed, this way you learn all the elements of chess from opening to endgam...
Chess and poker are frequently compared as both games are based on strategic thinking and decision making. I know many professional and semi-professional chess players who've completely abandoned chess in favor of poker. At some point ...
When chess players say "match of the century," usually they refer to the famous match between the USSR and the "rest of the world" that took place in Belgrade in 1970. In reality, many famous chess competitions (mostly world championship matc...
I bet that some of you, my dear readers, think that I am going to talk about "Fool's Mate" or "Scholar's Mate." Indeed, there is no way to get checkmated faster than Fool's Mate: And there is no more popular beginner's opening than Schola...
As I explained in this article, modern life forces me to recollect the episodes from my childhood years. One such memory is something that every Soviet schoolboy was supposed to know if he wanted to get into a good college, something I t...
In the beginning of the 1990s, I established a certain routine. Whenever I set foot in Moscow (and I did it pretty frequently), I would visit the Central Chess Club and climb a narrow staircase to the third floor to meet Botvinnik in his labo...
"I detest endgames!" said Dawid Janowski more than 100 years ago. He elaborated further by saying that a good chess game should be decided in the middlegame. Today such an opinion would make most professional chess players smile, but please reme...
One of the biggest open tournaments of the year (Gibraltar) was marred by a bizarre incident that happened in the last round. The women's world champion, Hou Yifan, lost her game in just five moves! Media instantly spread the news thro...
The most shocking chess episode of the year that everyone is talking about happened in the Tata Steel super tournament. Indeed how often does the world chess champion miss a checkmate in three, when he has plenty of time to think on his ...
In the first part of this article, we saw numerous examples of Howard Staunton's sparkling attacks. Yes, he knew how to attack, but there were many players who could do it as well if not better than him (Paul Morphy instantly com...
Ask chess players about the period known as romantic chess and they will probably mention the names of La Bourdonnais, Anderssen and Morphy. Indeed, all three of them were called unofficial world champions of their time. ...
During the 2016 presidential election, many Americans got caught between a rock and a hard place. Indeed, since both candidates had flaws, it was very difficult to make a choice. I wish we had an objective criteria that would a...
My favorite episode from The Prince And The Pauper happens towards the end of the story: "Speak up, good lad, and fear nothing," said the king. "How used you the Great Seal of England?" Tom stammered a moment, in a pathetic confusion, the...
Most people like to celebrate their birthdays and most of my readers like to play chess. Have you ever wondered what happens when you combine these two great things and play chess on your birthday? Well, recently we had a bunch of high-prof...
In the age of endgame tablebases and engines rated 3300+, it is difficult to imagine a relatively basic endgame that even grandmasters have difficulties to play and evaluate. The endgame "two bishops vs. a rook" with all pawns on ...
The world has gone crazy! Did I just say it aloud? I am sorry; I used to better control what I say. In fact it was something you would learn from your early childhood in the former Soviet Union. As the very popular rock group Nautilu...
I recently received a question from one of our fellow Chess.com members. Since I've heard this question many times, I decided to share my opinion on the subject. The question goes like this: "I am 25 years old and know only basic chess rule...
We continue our exploration of common chess patterns today by looking look at the pattern "a bishop behind a pawn." While most of you have probably heard about "Tarrasch rule" which recommends putting your rook behind a passed pawn,...
Everyone agrees that knowledge of typical chess patterns is one of the main requirements for a chess player to become really strong. In our weekly column, we regularly analyze typical positional and tactical patterns. But imagine a position&n...
[Note: GM Serper reflects on the first half of the 2016 world chess championship.] At the time of this writing, the first part of the world championship match is over, and the score is still even: 3-3. Nobody would have predicted six s...
Anatoly Karpov's book of selected games is one of my all-time favorites. It was a part of the famous Soviet "Black Series" about the world's best chess players. Being one of my first chess books, it seriously affected my chess style for years to c...
The most awaited chess event of the year is right in front of us, and there is definitely no lack of forecasts. Both professional players and amateurs have their opinions about the coming world championship match. Of course, we have...
Many years ago, GM Alexander Ivanov made his famous statement "Russians do not retreat!" As one of our readers, Osokor, correctly pointed out, this is not historically accurate. Indeed, in the Great Patriotic War of 1812, the Russia...
In our last article, we discussed the importance of typical chess patterns using a pin as an example. As you become proficient in recognizing chess patterns, you'll see them everywhere! Suddenly you'll realize that the Morphy's "Ope...
