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...
The Chess.com member QueensConquerer wrote: “I just read your article on opening preparation and in it you said that the player shouldn’t be afraid of getting doubled pawns. But there are times when I’m watching YouTube...
Sometimes the best way to learn is over the board, sitting across from your teacher and analyzing a recent match. GM Dejan Bojkov has had many students excel greatly under his watch. In this series, you'll get to learn vicariously through Coach De...
Have you ever wondered how grandmasters know when and how to attack? The key is pawn structure! Pawn chains are some of the most important attacking structures. In this series, learn the core concepts of furious pawn chain assaults in s...
The Chess.com member Olaspecial wrote: “I am keen to become Nigeria’s next titled player (I hope this makes you smile) and I believe you can help me get there. I am diligent and I have been working hard at developing my opening repe...
There are basically three ways a tactic can occur, both for and against you: The opponent makes a threat for a tactic (or a check or capture), which either can't be met, or can be, but is missed. There is no existing threat of a tactic, bu...
At the end of last week's article I mentioned that "recently we witnessed a real outbreak of touch-move rule violations." I think we can explain this phenomenon by a huge advance in modern technology and particularly devices...
Chess.com will host its first pro-am vote-chess event next month, pairing the Baltimore Ravens guard and chess enthusiast John Urschel with International Master Danny Rensch to take on the world over the 64 squares. Any...
Who will be the third player to reach the semifinal, Fabiano Caruana or Maxime Vachier-Lagrave? We'll know at the end of Chess.com's third GM Blitz Battle Championship, scheduled for Tuesday, 10 May at 10 a.m. Pacific (GMT-7), ...
Kudos to the brave members who contributed their games to this series. This time we're analyzing submissions from amateurs looking to take that next step. Sometimes we need a second pair of eyes to break down our mistakes and explore areas of impr...
Every great chess master agrees that time spent with endgame studies is time well spent! Courtesy of Yochanan Afek, grandmaster for composing endgame studies, Chess.com posts a new puzzle each week for your enjoyment and chess enrichment. ...
Editor's note: In an exclusive to Chess.com, Grandmaster Jon Ludvig Hammer writes his thoughts on what's happened in Norway so far, original analysis of some of the key games, and some fun, behind-the-scenes looks at what the players do ...
"You might not be able to fight like a samurai, but you can at least die like a samurai." -- Kill Bill, Vol. 1. The Berlin Defense in the Ruy Lopez is a very peculiar opening. Spectators hate it, most chess players hate it (coun...
When I look at games played by 1500-rated players and below, I see many weaknesses, but one is almost ubiquitous: both players are, more or less, dancing with themselves. What this means is that a player decides to do this or that, he might calcul...
Avenida de las Palmeras, Habana, ca. 1904 A large island in the Caribbean, this former Spanish colony lies just 93 miles from the state of Florida. Its proximity to the United States, the inherent beauty of the...
People spend too much time reading opening books. There you go, I have said it. Think what you may of this statement, but it seems to me that the chess market is saturated with opening books. So many people will blindly buy a book, add to their ...
The Chess.com member yoavb2 said: “I read your ‘How to Reassess Your Chess 4th’ but fail in the opening, which makes me start with a disadvantage. How can I fix it?” ANSWER: I looked at several of your games (whil...
As I did in the first Test Your Understanding article, I implore you to read the notes to the puzzles: The prose and variations are what makes this new series worthwhile, so PLEASE try and solve the puzzle and then go back (whether you got it righ...
