2019 was a great year for chess. While many chess fans are ready to jump right into 2020 and the world championship drama, let's take a moment on this last day of 2019 to appreciate the best chess had to offer this year. For much of 2019, the ...
Just like most people who love chess, I have certain favorite players. Notice how many times I've mentioned Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen in my articles and you'll get an idea of my chess prefer...
Sports commentators love to mention chess during their broadcasts of football, basketball and baseball games, but often these shallow metaphors don't show a true understanding of chess. IM Daniel Rensch recently observed, while watching a sports...
Vladimir Kramnik's decision to quit professional chess shook the chess world. Many people even sense deja vu. Indeed, there is an uncanny resemblance to 14 years ago when Garry Kasparov quit chess. Oddly enough, both great players lost thei...
Chess is a rich game, dating back over a millennia. On Chess.com alone, over 2,000,000,000 games have been played! Which games are the very best ever played? No one can answer that conclusively, but we are going to give you Chess.com's opinion. ...
With two of the opening matches of the 2018 Chess.com Speed Chess Championship now in the books, fans are still waiting for the first competitive match. GM Levon Aronian and Hikaru Nakamura were simply too strong for GMs Fabiano Caruana and Hou ...
There's a lot of discussion about who are the best chess players—but today we're interested in the most dangerous assassins of the chess battlefield. Magnus Carlsen might be the greatest ever, but his games are marked by calm precision and...
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...
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...
The news about the four-year old Misha Osipov beating a grandmaster spread the world like wildfire. It must be a new record by a wide margin. Many people think that little Misha is going to be the world champion one day for sure. Photo: Che...
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...
[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...
Is 51.Qe6? from Magnus Carlsen in game 8 one of the worst blunders in world championship history? Well... probably not After all, Sergey Karjakin did need to find the incredible only-move 51...h5! to win the game. However, the world champi...
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...
Target Skill Range: Advanced Path (Rated 1800-1999) Tasks: Learn the power of the pieces!!! Improve your knowledge of dynamics and tension in chess. Know how to exploit exchanges. Improve your prophylactic thinking and defense! ...
Target Skill Range: Master Path (Rated 2000-2199) Acquire the knowledge you need to approach the opening with confidence and achieve success! Tasks: Learn About Advanced Opening Preparation Expand Your Knowledge of Thematic Middlegam...
Target Skill Range: Master Path (Rated 2000-2199) Tasks: Learn the following master-level pawn structures. Master the art of maneuvering. Learn to use your pawns actively. Study the exploitation of pawn weaknesses. Identify critical...
Target Skill Range: Advanced (Rated 1800-1999) Acquire the knowledge you need to approach the opening with confidence and achieve success! Tasks: Expand your Knowledge of Common Structures and Plans Learn About Creating an Opening Re...
This article concludes our exploration of the best moves played by each chess piece throughout history. To my surprise, the tiniest guys in chess provided so much material that I have to agree with the great Philidor that "pawns are...
The death of GM Viktor Korchnoi is a huge loss for chess. I am not going to repeat the obvious facts that he was the strongest chess player who never became the world champion or tell you about his enormous chess heritage. There are thousands...
When it comes to playing good positional chess, all strong players know the importance of improving the activity of your pieces. As the great Tarrasch once said, "One badly placed piece makes your whole position bad." Here are three tips for impro...
You definitely like chess. But are you an expert? No, I am not talking about the USCF title you get when your USCF rating is above 2000 but less than 2200 (which is the master title). You can be a USCF expert but not a true expert of chess and v...
When we were learning how to play chess, most of us dreamed about becoming next Capablanca, Fischer or Kasparov one day. Alas, the sad reality is that 99.999 percent of us will never become one of the chess gods. Should we be disappointed and up...
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...
