Perrin
Although his association with Paul Morphy was somewhat minimal, Frederick Perrin's chess career was very often viewed though Morphy-colored glasses. When Morphy first arrived in New York for his national debut, Per...
The Best Chess Books Ever
Lately I’ve gotten several letters from chess fans who want to know what kind of chess books I like, and what books I consider to be the best of all time. That kind of “best-ever” list is very much a matter of taste, and a smal...
The Lion of Chess
A long, long time ago. . . in September of 1706 in Amsterdam to be exact, a man named Mr. Caze dated his manuscript on chess, "Instruction pour ce livre d'échecs : contenant les diverses manieres ...
Review: The Sicilian Najdorf 6 Bg5
If you were to ask a hundred grandmasters to name the most difficult chess variation about which to write an opening book, my guess is that the 6 Bg5 Najdorf would be the frontrunner. It is perhaps the most analysed line in chess history, the pi&e...
The Paulsen Sicilian: A History
The Open Sicilian can be broken down into four basic systems. In one, the Dragon, the black bishop is fianchettoed on g7. In the Scheveningen, it is developed on e7 while Black adopts a "little center" of pawns on d6 and e6. In a third, t...
The French Winawer: A History
In the first installment of my series on the development of various opening variations, we learned about the history of the King's Gambit. This week we will be moving on to a more modern and frequently seen opening: the Winawer French. In th...
The Greenwich Village Gambit
Manhattan, early '60s -- a place and a time. One of the few sources of insight into this particular chess scene comes to us through the pages of the March-April, 1964 issue of Frank Brady's mar...
Book review: 1.e4 vs The French, Caro-Kann & Philidor by GM Parimarjan Negi
I’m a hard man to please, and no more so than when it comes to chess books. I expect honesty, I expect diligence, I expect innovation, and, perhaps most difficult of all, I expect my short attention span to be entertained at all times. It&rs...
Classic Pawn Structure, Part 4b
This is the second part of an article (Classic Pawn Structure, Part 4a) that pointed out some structural similarities between the Sicilian Wing Gambit, the French Wing Gambit, and the Benko Gambit. However, the main focus quickly moved to the...
Review: The Secret Life of Bad Bishops
A former team member of mine has a favourite phrase which he likes to sing during blitz sessions with a big grin on his face: "gute Läufer, schlechte Läufer!" Referring to the legendary German grandmaster Wolfgang Uhlmann's similarly titled 1980's...
Classic Pawn Structure, Part 4a
Is the Sicilian Wing Gambit and the French Defense a version of the Benko Gambit!? mcelsouza asked: I used to play the Wing Gambit against the Sicilian: 1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3. I must say I played it due to my laziness (avoiding the Sicilian t...
The 5 Craziest Places to Play Chess
Most chess players have found themselves lost deeply in a game, so consumed by the position on the board — or the tactics brewing in their heads — that they all but ignore their surroundings. Usually these games are played ...
10 Chess Players Who Have Saved The World From Gigantic Meteorites
Hello chess.com readers! I'm absolutely thrilled to share with you some groundbreaking research on the little understood link between world chess champions and intergalactic debris avoidance. You see, ever since there have been chessplayers the...
Readers’ Games, Questions and Comments, Part 7
GOOD OR BAD? Mordecai10 asked: I have just completed part 1 of your Test Your Chess Understanding articles, and I wasn’t completely satisfied by one aspect of your solutions. In your solution to puzzle 2, you say the following: &lsquo...
Pandolfini's Puzzler #53: In Passing
Professor: Bonjour, class. Class: Bonjour, to you as well, Professor. Lucian: What’s with the French? Thomas: Were you trying to confuse us? Professor: No, not at all. Zephyr: Then why use French to say good afternoon? Ryan: Do...
Chess in the Vieux Carré
The Vieux Carré or French Quarter, cradled in the crescent of the Mississippi River, was the original site of La Nouvelle-Orléans. Although during the 19th century New Orleans expanded and become more Americanized eroding the influe...
The 10 Most Important Moments In Chess History
There is arguably no other game with the timeless staying power and global reach of chess. Unlike most of the other games and sports played today by millions around the world, chess has a history that spans millennia. While chess has change...
Pandolfini's Puzzler #52: Rooking the Queen
Professor: Welcome back. Class: Welcome back to you, too, Professor. Rachel: So what are you going to talk about today? Professor: Well, the last two sessions had to do with queens winning queens. Ryan: Were you planning to present more of...
The Great Saint Petersburg Tournament of 1914, Part One: Everyone Expects the Spanish Inquisition
One hundred years ago the chess world witnessed one of the greatest chess tournaments of all time, Saint Petersburg 1914. Its storylines were numerous and compelling: Capablanca's early domination, Alekhine's first major international success, Rub...
Living Chess
Chess has had some difficulty throughout the years in presenting itself as a form of public entertainment. There has been some isolated cases where chess made good TV and even a few instances where chess was limelighted and managed to captiv...
Classic Pawn Structure, Part 3b
In our first look at this pawn structure in Part 3a we explored the piece setups, dynamics, and general plans of the Burn Variation of the French Defense. Though doubling one’s kingside pawns early in the game may look idiotic, the resulting struc...
The French - Tarrasch Variation 3...-Nf6
In this article I want to look at "Ngf3 systems" of the French- Tarrasch Variation,( the "Universal System" ) and I would like to explore an interesting and rare setup. Black has many alternatives to the seventh move and can directly play on the ...
Classic Pawn Structure, Part 3a
When a player starts out, he’s told various rules that will help him navigate through the choppy waters of chess. A few basic ones are: Don’t hang your pieces Don’t swallow and talk at the same time Castle as quickly as possible Don’t allow your ...
Imbalanced Forces, Part 1
A material imbalance in the endgame provides an unusual type of play. Here we watch the spectacle of pieces, each with different capabilities, fighting, trying to change the terrain to their own advantage. It is like two knights on horseback fight...