At the end of the last century when I played one of the big American open tournaments (I think it was North American Open in Las Vegas), I stumbled upon a very interesting book at the concession stand. Well, since the book was written by GM John...
Hou Yifan, the youngest women’s world champion in history, tells David Cox about her journey to become one of the strongest female players of all time. Find out her thoughts on a "battle of the sexes" match against Magnus Carlsen, and why sh...
The updated standings and leaderboard information for Arena Kings season five are below. You can read the season five announcement here for complete details. Season Recap: Beginning on September 16, Arena Kings was back for ...
Football is sometimes called "chess on the gridiron." And by sometimes, I mean I just called it that. But the game is actually often compared to war, which is the most common metaphor for chess. And if football is war, the quarterback is the fie...
Get your reading glasses out for this article! The number of books written about chess is tremendous. While that can be great for the chess world, it poses practical issues for many fans. Most chess players have their own favorites, but how do y...
Do you remember the day you joined Chess.com? At first, it could all seem a little overwhelming (so many features and options!), but you gradually got the hang of it. Suddenly, you realized that Chess.com had become like your second home, where yo...
What is a pawn structure? From my online glossary, I define it as “the positioning of the whole pawn mass. Also referred to as the pawn skeleton. This positioning of the pawns is what usually dictates the types of plans available...
Reminder: Deadline for entries is 5:59 p.m. Pacific time September 2. The biggest event in online chess is back for 2019, and the field of 16 grandmasters is set for the 2019 Speed Chess Championship beginning September 2 at 6 p.m. PDT. W...
The concept of time in chess is one of the most difficult topics for young kids to grasp. While they have no trouble understanding how you can lose a piece, a pawn or the right to castle, the subject of losing time is usually confusing for them. ...
When we talk about blitz chess, we usually think about tactics, blunders and opening surprises that force our opponents to spend their precious seconds. I doubt that many people would mention good endgame technique as an integral element of b...
I am sure that you've encountered the situation where your opponent played an opening move that breaks all known chess rules. What is your second thought when this happens? (I assume that the first thought is usually: "You gotta be kidding me!")...
What is pawn structure? From my online glossary, I define it as "the positioning of the whole pawn mass. Also referred to as the pawn skeleton. This positioning of the pawns is what usually dictates the types of plans available in a gi...
Want to learn the Caro Kann Defense from a U.S. champion? Few could have predicted just how bright the future was for GM Sam Shankland when he recorded his fantastic series on the Caro Kann Defense in 2012. Six years later, Shankland brok...
Destiny makes its urgent way to the mighty and those who do violent deeds. This is the beginning of Stefan Zweig's famous Die Weltminute von Waterloo (The World Minute of Waterloo). While this short novel describes the decisive moment of the his...
The 14th world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik reflects on his remarkable career, telling David Cox about his championship battles with Garry Kasparov, Peter Leko, Veselin Topalov and Vishy Anand, and why Kramnik finally ran out of motivation for ...
This month we are pleased to meet Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, known as MVL, the French number 1 and member of world top 5. Chess.com France will follow closely his quest for the world title that will require being qualified for the next Candidate...
What is pawn structure? From my online glossary, I define it as “the positioning of the whole pawn mass. Also referred to as the pawn skeleton. This positioning of the pawns is what usually dictates the types of plans available in a given ...
IM Mateusz Bobula is one of the new coaches on Chess.com. His streams at www.Twitch.tv/matbobula emphasize opening theory and break down critical opening and middlegame structures during and after his games, many that he has pl...
[cover image from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll; illustrated by Peter Newell, 1902 ] ___________________________________________________________________________________________________...
What is pawn structure? From my online glossary, I define it as "the positioning of the whole pawn mass. Also referred to as the pawn skeleton. This positioning of the pawns is what usually dictates the types of plans available in a given ...
One of the most promising Dutch junior players of the early 1970s was Roy Dieks from Amsterdam. In the final of the 1972 European Youth Championship, held in Groningen, The Netherlands, Dieks played a crucial game against Tony Miles (who would lat...
"What a stupid question!" I bet this is the natural reaction of many readers once they see the title of this article. Indeed it is a dream of any chess fan to play like Magnus Carlsen. OK, let me rephrase the original question: Should ...
The classical format of our beloved game is under attack. People are complaining about boring games that lead to an abundance of draws in super-GM tournaments. They are trying to change everything: the scoring system (three points for a win, one...
Tactics are short term opportunities to gain material, checkmate the enemy king, or force a draw in an otherwise lost game. Most chess games are decided based on tactics, so it is vital to recognize common tactical patterns in your...
