Tactics. After thousands of books written on this concept, after the development of several excellent tactical training tools (such as Chess.com's own Tactics Trainer), after the release of countless free engines that serve as paragons of tactical...
Once in a while, a game grabs my attention due to some amazing positional concept or, less often (I say “less often” since most tactics are rather repetitive), due to a really interesting tactical battle. Usually you’ll see these...
Mt. Whitney, the hightest peak in the contiguous United States Nestled within the Sierra Nevada Mountains at the base of the highest peak in the lower 48 states, the high desert community of Lone Pine became the unl...
GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are doubtlessly deep in preparation for their upcoming Grandmaster Blitz Battle Championship semifinal match on August 24 at 10 a.m. PST. They are surely doing countless ...
The 2016 Summer Olympics are underway right now in Brazil as 207 national delegations compete for medals in 28 sports, 41 different disciplines, and 306 total events. Unfortunately for chess fans, the royal game is not among them. And don’...
In our article last year, we talked about how to improve your positional chess. Today, I want to give you an opportunity to test your strategic skills. The game we'll use for our quiz is quite remarkable. Anatoly Karpov is...
Axorcist wrote: “My question is this: Who do you consider to be the greatest chess theorist of all time? I have never read a good review on who really had the most influence on the development of knowledge in our beautiful game. Was i...
Boris Gelfand’s musings in a recent interview on the benefits of children playing chess for its own sake - “Only a fraction will play professionally, but the rest will acquire the skill of strategic planning and the habit of thinking, ...
This week, we’ll take a look at a young Indian player, Sakshi1234567. She had this to say: “I am 13 years old. My father taught me chess when I was 10. I’ve been taking the game seriously from October 2015. I want to become a g...
In 1945, right after WWII ended, a team of United States players competed against a team of Soviet players in a chess match via radio. While the U.S. team expected stiff competition, there was little doubt in...
On the free day at the Jermuk Women's Grand Prix tournament way back in 2010, I had a pleasant opportunity to chat with the hosts. My conversation with the chief organizer and famous GM Smbat Lputian inevitably touched on the r...
Picking the correct opening repertoire is one of the most important decisions that a chess player makes. There is no point starting the game with a series of moves that will lead you into a situation that you find unc...
The Chess.com member jyuvaraj asks: "I’m a beginner. I wish to improve my game. I’m currently reading the step-by-step method by Rob Brunia and Cor van Wijgerden. Will that help? What else should I do to improve? I’m also ...
The most sacred of all pieces is the king, a piece we must care for and nurture. Right!? Wrong! In this article we are going to take a look at kings on steroids. The kings below are drugged up to their eyeballs and ready...
When you see a good move, don't play it. Look for a better one. This is the number-one principle in chess. Over the years, I have also told my students: You are trying to find the best move you can in a reasonable amount of time. I...
Defense wins championships! The old cliche may not always apply to chess, but great defenders have certainly made a name for themselves. Tigran Petrosian and Vladimir Krammnik knew one thing for sure, if your opponent keeps crashing into a brick w...
We all have our favorite areas to study. In this series, you'll get to enjoy two of IM Keaton Kiewra's favorites: kingside attacks and queen endgames. As usual, coach Keaton has found some of the more exciting games on Chess.com for his lectu...
Seizing the initiative is not something that just happen. There's a strategy to gaining the initiative. However, the importance of playing aggressively doesn't justify reckless abandon. In this series, learn how to properly fight for the init...
What's the biggest underdog story in sports? What's the biggest in chess? Thursday's much-hyped GM Blitz Battle between top-seeded World Champion Magnus Carlsen and qualifier Tigran Petrosian might seem more equal if the "other Petrosian" w...
The Chess.com member te_amo (from Kolkata, India) asked me to point out his weakness in his games. He said: “I undergo no sort of professional training, and I aspire to be over 2000 someday.” Mr. te_amo, the fact is that people start...
Mrs. Morphy is renowned in the salons of New Orleans as a brilliant pianiste and musician; and her son, without ever having studied music, has a similar aptitude for it, and he believes he would have become as famous therein as in chess, had he ...
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...
The Chess.com member JerryPapada wrote: “My name is Jerry, I’m 15 years old, from Greece, and I’m trying to find a way to bump up my rating. I need to find what is missing from my games.” Jeremy Silman: Playing 3-0 games ...
The great Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi died Tuesday in Switzerland at the age of 85. His longevity as a top-level player and his fighting spirit were such that it was easy to hope that he might trick Death himself in a rook endgame and live f...
