Chess board dimensions aren't as simple as one might think. The basic geometry of the chess board isn't difficult to grasp, but chess board dimensions also include the size of the squares on the board. One of the most important aspects...
Chess has a long and storied history. The game has changed quite a bit from its earliest forms in India. The modern iteration we enjoy today wasn't known until the 16th century. There were no clocks, and the pieces were not standardized until...
James Holzhauer is rewriting the Jeopardy record books on a nightly basis. The professional sports gambler from Las Vegas is playing the trivia game show at the highest level in history, racking up huge winning scores and showcasing bold n...
We've all heard the cliche that chess is war on 64 squares. So, if it is a war between two armies, then I assume that the chess pieces are soldiers. And just like in the real world, some soldiers are good and some soldiers are not so good. I be...
There are many ways to end a chess game. Sometimes the result is clear. However, there are situations when some players have questions about the result or why the game suddenly finished. To clarify these situations, here are eight typical ways...
Well, here I go again, answering questions from the Chess.com members. We will start out with an oldie but goodie: planning. MAKING A PLAN The Chess.com member @001GENERAL_GRIEVOUS asked, “Isn’t planning good to know?&rdq...
Tags allow us to label each puzzle in Tactics Trainer with one or more tactical motifs (types of tactics) commonly encountered in chess. Understanding these motifs will help you recognize tactical patterns - both in Trainer, and in your actual gam...
The first few moves of a chess game can be some of the most important moves you make. In those moves, you will establish your early plans and fight for your place on the board. Most beginners don’t need to memorize exact opening moves and sh...
Last year, I wrote an article intended for players rated below 1000 on Chess.com. Judging by your response, the article was helpful for people just starting at chess. Of course there were many comments that can be summarized like this: "I am rat...
I am going to do something a bit different. I am going to look at the games of the most prolific (and nicest), chess writer in the world: IM Cyrus Lakdawala. Of course, Fred Reinfeld, who died in 1964, wrote more than 100 chess books. That will be...
Get ready to learn everything you ever wanted to know about the Grunfeld Defense! IM Valeri "Tiger" Lilov reviews the main lines of this dynamic opening. Not what you were looking for? Back to the video guide. Introduction Get read...
Time flies. That's always the feeling when another year comes to an end—and it was definitely a great year for chess. Caruana winning the Candidates' (and a few more tournaments!), Nakamura winning the Grand Chess Tour (and the Speed Chess...
Most lower-rated players want to improve their game, but many just want to slug it out in blitz and have a great time. I certainly understand that! However, for those that want to be as good as they can be, they'll have to work hard. Play oppon...
The Chess.com member kurniadigautama asked: Something has been bothering me since I saw the game between GM Vidit Santosh and GM David Eggleston in The Chess.com Isle of Man international open tournament (round 1). In the game, we see that Vid...
After a year of exciting chess, this weekend is the culmination of the 2018 Speed Chess Championship. Who will survive the final four and emerge as the champion after 12 hours of grueling blitz and bullet chess? Tune in to Chess.com/TV and Twitch....
I recently read an interesting article in Time, written in 2008 by then-world champion Viswanathan Anand, in which he argues that chess originated in India, and then traveled westward to Persia and ultimately to Spain. In the elegant f...
Magnus Carlsen defeated Fabiano Caruana in game three of the rapid playoff to clinch the 2018 world chess championship. After 12 draws in the classical games, Carlsen won all the games of the tiebreak to win 3.0-0.0. He has now success...
We all make mistakes playing chess, proving the old saying "to err is human."' However, it is one thing to miss a 30-move-deep variation like Fabiano Caruana did in game six of his world championship match. It's a totally different story wh...
One of the most interesting aspects of the recent chess960 matches (featuring Garry Kasparov) in St. Louis, was their potential to develop some kind of rudimentary opening theory. It appears that the players enjoyed this opportunity as well. As ...
HOW TO START OUT I get many, many players (rated 800 to 1200) asking me what their style is, why do they lose when they had a better game, are their opponents cheating, how to get good fast, or simply how to get a higher rating. All thes...
Everyone knows the story about the Trojan Horse that helped the Greek army win the Trojan War. Since chess is a model of a war on 64 squares, can't we use this 3,000-year-old trick on the chessboard? Just think of it: Your opponent hides his ki...
A well-known saying states that all is fair in love and war. Our beloved game is actually both love and war. While it is pretty obvious that chess is a war on 64 squares, what about love? Well, check the Twitter hashtag #WhyILoveChess and...
I get so many questions and statements about chess, but being old (yep, 108 years old…don’t worry though, the friends that are still alive tell me that I don’t look more than 98) means that all those questions have been asked ov...
Every day at Chess.com we get a lot of suggestions, feedback and bug reports—and we really appreciate it! One of the most common bug reports looks something like this: In my game, I moved my pawn to h4 and somehow his pawn from g4 ...
