We live in an age of world records. Stories about a boy who wins the world title at 18, a girl who becomes World Champion at 16, or a pre-teen who becomes a grandmaster are not surprising anyone anymore. That's why when I read the news about yet a...
GM Daniel Naroditsky had several roles at Chess.com during his tragically short life—he would have turned 30 years old as we publish this article on November 9, 2025—but his first role was as an article author. One of Naroditsky's many...
If you're looking to get better at chess, the material on Chessable and the equivalent Chess.com Courses are some of the best educational resources you can find. Chessable is well-known for its huge variety of opening courses, but its endgame cont...
Losing in chess is a small death. — Albert Camus Picture this: You're playing an important game. Hours of intense battle (assuming it's an OTB game), you've built an advantage, everything's going according to plan… and then&md...
CM Can Kabadayi is one of Chessable's most popular instructors, and is now the Chess.com Coach of the Month! The 2024 Chessable Author of the Year and a cognitive scientist by trade, Can uses several tricks of that trade in order to teach importan...
WGM Sabina Foisor has been coaching and teaching chess for more than a decade, in addition to continuing her playing career and writing a book. Now, she is the Chess.com Coach of the Month for March 2025! The Romanian-American woman grandmaster ...
I don't like popular disputes where people compare legendary champions from the past to modern players. In my opinion, such discussions are silly and pointless. Besides, there is no way to prove your opinion is right or wrong. That's why I just sm...
Our first Coach of the Month in 2025 is GM Danyyil Dvirnyy! Danyyil moved to Italy with his family in 2003, turned professional in chess before graduating high school, and obtained his grandmaster title in 2013 at the age of 22. That same year, he...
The end of the year is always a busy time in chess, and that is true once again as we enter the final two months of 2024. There is a world championship starting, while past world champions are—virtually—on the comeback trail in what wa...
IM Alex Astaneh Lopez earned his international master title in 2011, but he is more than just a great chess player. Alex coached the Irish junior team in the 2010 World Youth Championships and has helped countless individuals improve their chess a...
I started my chess blog, really, because I couldn’t figure out what else to do during the dead time of a day. Some people, I suppose, apply makeup, or scroll on social media, or listen to podcasts, but, when I was waiting for a train or some...
Chess is more popular now than it has ever been. We see articles about chess and chess players in all major media outlets. As a result, chess fans know very well the current chess stars, from established elite players like GM Magnus Carlsen to upc...
NM Robert Ramirez is not just one of Chessable's top authors, he's also a great coach. Although he did not play competitively until he was 12, Robert became a chess master, earning the title in 2013. Now, he imparts his knowledge as a coach and an...
One of the first things we learn in chess is the enormous power of the queen. Then, after we discover the tricky Scholar's Mate, the importance of the queen reaches a truly mythic proportion in our minds. Not surprisingly, for many inexperienced p...
Tom Shupe is a US Chess Expert and the founder of MVP Chess, with the mission of providing high-value chess coaching at an affordable price. Tom started playing competitively in adulthood and overcame a physical disability to attain a national rat...
The news of the Argentinian prodigy Faustino Oro becoming the youngest IM ever at the tender age of 10 made headlines worldwide. Faustino plays an attractive, aggressive kind of chess, and those of you who want to get better can learn a lot from h...
The recently-concluded Clash Of Claims was definitely one of the most anticipated chess events of the year. For most people, this unusual match was interesting mostly due to the well-publicized controversy, but personally for me it was an opportun...
You might want to win more blitz games or maybe strengthen your tactical skills and see how far you can go in Puzzle Rush. Whatever your goal is, Chess.com has many features that can help you achieve them. However, with so many different feature...
What makes a photo "iconic" and not simply interesting or even outstanding? If you find that a difficult question to answer, you are not alone. The two leading dictionaries in the world can't exactly agree either. Merriam-Webster: iconic, ...
With two IM norms under his belt and over a decade of chess-teaching experience, FM Michel Coto Mederos is well-versed in coaching students online and in person. Some of his young pupils have even become national champions in their age categories,...
Dylan Quercia is a multi-faceted creator, chess player, and coach who has helped students improve their game for over 20 years. Dylan—a.k.a. Coach Q— is also one of the driving forces behind the film King Chess, an award-winning docume...
Hi, my name is Lula. And I play chess... or at least I did, until I accidentally took an eight-month classical chess break and moved to Paris, France, to pursue my dreams as a chic cat mom. But now I'm back, and I just played my first tournament...
Do you still remember when you were bitten by the chess bug? Followed by that feverish desire to improve in the game? Only to realize that you started “too late” to amount to anything? In this era of prodigies and 12-year-old grandma...
Many people who just started playing chess ask what games they should study in order to improve their skills. It is tempting to study games played by the highest-rated player in history, GM Magnus Carlsen, but this can be really counterproductive,...
November has come, bringing with it a huge new partnership and lots of exciting developments in the chess world. Can you defeat Duo, or will this cultured green owl be your doom? Here's what this monthly update covers: Product & En...
