The European Team Chess Championship that took place last month in Iceland is already a part of chess history. There were many remarkable games and memorable moments over there. Some people will remember the double win by the Russian men...
After I learned how to play chess (age 12), I jumped into the game head first by playing in a chess tournament (even though I didn’t know the difference between checkmate and stalemate). Let’s just say that I was absolutely awful. Wi...
[Editor's note: Here are more selected chess stories from IM Silman.] CELEBRITIES GONE WILD 1988 and I just landed in Mazatlan, Mexico. Though the main course was the world 30-minute championships (packed with the best players in the world)...
After Anatoly Karpov came Garry Kasparov, the 13th world champion. Kasparov took opening preparation to possibly the most extreme level of any champions before or since. His deep explorations, with the help of a team of grandmasters and -- a new p...
I didn’t intend to write a 4th Cracked Grandmaster Tales article, but so many Chess.com members asked me to do another that I decided to share a few more (true) stories. I hope you enjoy these as much as you did the others. Be warned: there might ...
After his famous 1972 victory over Boris Spassky in the so-called "Match of the Century," Bobby Fischer stopped playing chess. He did not compete in any tournaments as the world champion. When Anatoly Karpov emerged as his challenger in 1975,...
This is my third and final Cracked Grandmaster Tales article. Click the links if you haven’t seen Cracked Grandmaster Tales and More Cracked Grandmaster Tales. We’ll start with Najdorf again since some people felt that he wouldn’t resort to the g...
"At the root of all advances in the science of chess-play lies the necessity of discovering an intelligible system of notation, by means of which the squares of the board may be easily defined and the moves of the pieces recorded." —...
If it feels like we haven't had a Death Match since the early summer, that's because we haven't! Back when GM Maxim Dlugy claimed his title, the days were at their longest and outdoor barbecues were in full swing. But don't fret! As th...
Can you identify some of the most famous chess players ever? Find out in another fun contest here on Chess.com. If you whiffed on our devilishly hard 2014 Holiday Puzzler, take heart: all you have to do this time is fill in the last name o...
Although Vasily Smyslov was only the world champion for one year, he is nevertheless remembered as among the greatest players ever, and his matches with Mikhail Botvinnik dominated chess in the 1950s. All in all, they played three matches, with ...
Everyone gets tired from time to time, stress kills, and the periodic brain melt is pretty much impossible to prevent. — IM Jeremy Silman, Why Do Grandmasters Blunder? No matter how hard he works, or how strong h...
If Buckle had entered the Tournament list [in 1851], and been pitted against Staunton, I think he would have proved victor, as the fine edge of Staunton's play was then taken off, a fact amply demonstrated in his matches with Anderssen and Willia...
July was the month of chess weddings. Dutch super-GM Anish Giri got married to Georgian IM Sopiko Guramishvili, and Polish GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek tied the knot with Russian WGM Alina Kashlinskaya. If the title of this art...
n 1616 Augustus of Brunswick‑Lüneburg, writing as Gustavus Selenus in his work, "Das Schach- oder König-Spiel," tells of his visit to Ströbeck where he encountered three types of chess being played. One was the Mediæval Chess, which had been...
José Maria Capablanca was a busy man. A lieutenant in the cavalry division of the Spanish army, he spent his limited free time playing chess with fellow soldiers. One day, his four-year-old-son José Raúl decided to reliev...
Chess often forms a juncture with various disciplines such as literature, poetry, music, painting or films. The point where they meet can be symbolic, thematic or just a hook meant to reel in the audience. Certain artists or writers are, in fa...
Chess fans have a lot to look forward to at Chess.com. If you like big-time chess events, you're going to love this spring. Yesterday, a charity fundraising simul hosted by world-number-nine GM Anish Giri online on Chess.com's ...
Today we will be taking a look at what is, on the surface, a grotesque combination of Bird's Opening and the Orangutang. Combining these two obscure openings might seem to create a monster worthy of Dr. Moreau -- or perhaps Dixon Bainbridge of The...
[UPDATE: You can play GM Anish Giri and support the Nepal earthquake recovery effort. Details here.] My first game of online chess was against a grandmaster. Decades ago, I had signed up for a now-defunct website, and logged in to play for my ...
Gambits are an important part of chess. Although most of them come from White’s initiative, there are also many sound counter gambits for Black that have developed over time. Understanding how to play with and against gambits is important fo...
The Northern Gambit The moves of the Danish or Northern Gambit are 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 - after which Black can accept the gambit with 3...dxc3 or decline it in a variety of ways. The Danish o...
Danish Gambits of Dr. Lindehn Non-Danish Gambits of Dr. Lindehn - Dr. Lindehn's Games at Odds ...
Joan Carbó i Batlle was born the same year as Paul Morphy. In fact, Batlle was just 3 weeks older than his more famous contemporary. Also a lawyer, though born in Tarragona, Catalonia, Batlle with his two friends, Judge Josep-Salvi Fàbregas...
