Efim Geller vs Bobby Fischer
In my article “Efim Geller, Killer on the Chessboard,” I discussed Geller’s pioneering work with the King’s Indian Defense. (Mikhail Botvinnik said, “Before Geller we did not understand the King’s Indian Defense...
The 7 Best Holiday Songs To Play During Chess
Listening to music while playing online chess is natural, and may even improve your play. If it's good enough for the world's top players, it's good enough for you. Hikaru Nakamura bobs his head to AFI and The Offspring during his Speed Chess Ch...
How Does AlphaZero Play Chess?
By now you've heard about the new kid on the chess-engine block, AlphaZero, and its crushing match win vs Stockfish, the strongest open-source chess engine. The reactions from the chess community to this match ranged from admiration to utter dis...
AlphaZero: Its Great Predecessors
Garry Kasparov's book My Great Predecessors is one of the best ever written about chess. If I had to take just one chess book with me on a proverbial desert island, that would be my pick. Well, actually I would take all five volumes of the book....
The Most Beautiful Chess Book
It's a chess book like no other, a visual tribute to the royal game. The book is 208 pages of Fedrigoni paper filled with tension in the eyes of silent protagonists. Club players, Olympic members, world champions. All focused, deep in thought, ...
Have You Seen These 2 Amazing Capablanca Games?
The games played by Jose Raul Capablanca have been analyzed in countless chess books, magazines and videos. Today, I want to show you two of his less famous games. Both were played against the strong American master Alexander Kevitz, and both de...
The Dean of American Chess
The expression "Dean of American Chess" officially refers to specific individuals whose contribution to American Chess deserves special recognition and, as such, the title is considered the highest honor the national organizat...
The Chess Endgame Every Beginner Should Know
Chess is a game of dramatic possibility. Within a few moves, the number of potential positions is in the millions. Soon, there are more permutations than a human could count in a lifetime. This is well known; you sometimes hear that there are mo...
Were Players In The 1800s Terrible?
The Chess.com member LittlePawn988 wrote: Something really bugs me. I often hear players, of every level, talking about the strength of masters of the past and sometimes I find them really arrogant and disrespectful. Even lower-rated players sa...
Do You Need To Know Mate And Tactic Names?
The Chess.com member grepschrop wrote: “Some players told me that it’s not important to know the names of mating patterns. My experience with kids is contrary. What is your opinion?” SILMAN: Though one might think this is easy ...
The Best Holiday Deals On Chess Gear
Holiday shopping season is here, and there's no better time to pick up some over-the-board chess gear for anyone on your list (or even yourself). The holidays are a great time to get together and play some chess, so make sure you stock up ...
How To Learn From The Best
In one of my recent articles we analyzed the games of Rudolf Pitschak. As one of the readers correctly pointed out, he wasn't the best player in the world. Actually quite far from that! And yet we could learn something from his games. Now imagin...
Chess Tests For Players 1400 And Up
Here are six puzzles. They might be tactics, they might be positional, or the puzzle might be about understanding some hidden deep, dark, strategic concept. In other words you need to face real-world problems and figure out real-world solutions....
Double the Fun
A few months ago Chess.com introduced an individual version of four player chess called "Free For All." Just recently a second version called "Teams" has been released. Four player chess is hardly a new concept....
Why Study Chess?
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...
Chess Tests For Players 1600 And Up
When I answer reader questions, I try to stay (vaguely) in that player’s rating group (two hundred points more or less). Of course, a beginner might feel left out, but I also answer beginner players’ queries. I do my best to give somet...
Are You Brave Enough To Play This Attack?
In August, I wrote an article about the King’s Indian and a game played by The Chess.com member IvnKaramazov. Well, he’s done it again with another exciting KID game. I won’t annotate it since my main focus is going to be the K...
Fun With Double-Exchange Sacs
When I was a teenage Sicilian Dragon aficionado, I salivated over the thought that one day I might land in a certain theoretical sub-variation of the Yugoslav Attack where Black sacrifices not one but both exchanges to bust up White’s queens...
Serendipity: An Unforeseen Friendship
"Do you know who that is"? whispered the tournament leader and nodded toward the door where an elderly man in jacket, black shirt and purple tie slowly with the support of his cane of copper came into the room and settled down at one of the beauti...
How Can Older Players Improve?
IMPROVEMENT FOR OLD PLAYERS The Chess.com member jayzorac wrote: I have a question for you. Do you think “older” players can still improve to expert and master level? SILMAN: Mr. jayzorac wrote quite a bit about hi...
What Is The Best Move?
All chess players encounter this situation in every single game. You are considering your next move and see numerous tempting opportunities. All the moves look equally strong, so which one should you prefer? What is the best move to play? There ...
How To Improve Your Calculation
The Chess.com member Benjamin_Dubuque (rated 1288) wrote: I have a question about calculation. I often miss either simple intermediate moves or very quiet moves in my calculations, especially in complicated messes that I seem to find myself in...
Is Chess Barbaric?
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...
Should You Fear Symmetry?
The Chess.com member Addu_Chess asked: I’ve read How to Reassess Your Chess, and I read about the various imbalances. But what if the position is symmetrical? JS: There are quite a few symmetrical openings, but it’s usually easy ...