I fumbled with my pawns, muttering “adjust” as I centered each one on their squares. The game hadn’t even started yet, but I didn’t want the chance of having to move my b-pawn (GM Magnus Carlsen may be able to pull that off...
The opening is the part of chess that players study the most. I doubt that this statement came as a big surprise to you, considering the humongous amount of books and videos on this subject. When I ask my students what kind of chess books they hav...
The FIDE World Cup 2021 is like a breath of fresh air after the series of tournaments where we see the same players playing the same openings achieving mostly the same results. The match between GMs Michal Krasenkow and Praggnanandhaa R, in partic...
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...
In his famous comedy routine, Richard Pryor tells a story about being caught cheating with another woman by his wife. Since the wife entered the room at the worst possible moment, it was pointless to deny the fact of cheating and yet, he tried his...
Time flies. That's always the feeling when another year comes to an end—and it was definitely a great year for chess. Caruana winning the Candidates' (and a few more tournaments!), Nakamura winning the Grand Chess Tour (and the Speed Chess...
[What is CAPS? Read the explanation here.] All 12 classical games are in the books for the 2018 world chess championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. Spectators are divided on their opinion of who deserves to be world champi...
Magnus Carlsen bought himself another two years to work on his admittedly ailing classical game with a devastating, nearly cruel demolition of the undisputed challenger and co-king of slow chess, Fabiano Caruana, winning 3-0 in the rapid tiebreak....
The world championship match is over and now it is a part of chess history. Just like any big chess event, it has provided a lot of food for thought. For many chess fans the main takeaway from the match is that something should be changed so we ...
Magnus Carlsen defeated Fabiano Caruana in game three of the rapid playoff to clinch the 2018 world chess championship. After 12 draws in the classical games, Carlsen won all the games of the tiebreak to win 3.0-0.0. He has now success...
Nowadays, it is normal for chess players of all levels to make a quick draw once in a while. The so-called "Sofia Rules" and other measures that attempt to prohibit draws by mutual agreement are typically applied in elite tournaments and even worl...
May 28, 1992. Moscow. The newly-established Russian Federation is enmeshed in social and economic tumult following the dissolution of the USSR. But chess fans have been treated to a small respite: a blitz tournament, broadcast live on television...
Chess players, chess authors and chess psychologists attempt to teach and explain chess playing with the concept of "pattern recognition": Pattern recognition is one of the most important mechanisms of chess improvement. Realizing that the ...
Chess.com member Squid22 wrote: “I played 5.Nb5 to be obnoxious. It wouldn’t be hard to make this knight move harmless (5...d6, and then I’ve just wasted a move). However, my opponent played 5...a6. That moves looks natura...
After I learned how to play chess (age 12), I jumped into the game head first by playing in a chess tournament (even though I didn’t know the difference between checkmate and stalemate). Let’s just say that I was absolutely awful. Wi...
Before the 2000 world championship match between Vladimir Kramnik and Garry Kasparov, the latter had been champion since long before I started playing chess. Kasparov dominated the chess world and seemed unbeatable. I naturally assumed that he wou...
In 1920s, the world chess champion Jose Raul Capablanca was at the height of his career. He was so much better than anyone else that he was called "the chess machine" due to the merciless precision of his play. So when Capablanca predicted ...
The second world champion, Emanuel Lasker, is a difficult one to include in this series, but it must be done. There is hardly any opening to which he is closely attached. He played a wide variety of solid, "common-sense" openings, w...
Among the less-trodden paths White can follow against the Sicilian Defense is the system with the seemingly paradoxical combination of Nc3 and Bb5. To my knowledge, this variation, unlike most of the other anti-Sicilians, has no name....
Are you tired of tackling the Sicilian Defense as White? There are just so many variations — The Dragon, the Najdorf, the Sveshnikov, the Scheveningen... It's exhausting! There are so many variations and ideas you have to know if you do...
Modernized: The Open Sicilian by IM Zhanibek Amanov & FM Kostya Kavutskiy This book is the second in the Modernized series, as last year MetroChess released Modernized: The King's Indian Defense&nbs...
The Open Sicilian can be broken down into four basic systems. In one, the Dragon, the black bishop is fianchettoed on g7. In the Scheveningen, it is developed on e7 while Black adopts a "little center" of pawns on d6 and e6. In a third, t...
Marzaduri R- IM Sveshnikov V. 1/2 This game was a draw, but I found a nice plan to win for white, I share it with you.
People get excited by many different things. Some swoon over a good beer, others are into cars, and many live for sports. As a chess nerd, I and most experienced players go crazy over advanced holes (central holes are the most prized. From White’s...
In the 1990s, when Pete Sampras dominated Wimbledon, he would sometimes win entire matches without a rally longer than a few hits. Expect the same this Saturday, as two energetic blitz specialists (and talented tennis players) lace up for Death Ma...
