For Jeremy Silman's article on the early life of Pal Benko, click here. Pal Benko: My ticket to freedom was, naturally, chess. First on my agenda was to qualify for an out-of-country zonal. Of course, I didn’t want to play in a Soviet-co...
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. Standings as of October 12 ** There will be an update shortly for Oct 14...
Pal Benko was born July 15, 1928 and died August 25, 2019 at the age of 91. Instead of throwing endless games at you (okay, okay…I will throw you a lot of games), I first want you to understand Benko’s personality and who Benko r...
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...
At one time there were no official titles in chess. In 1950 FIDE created the Grandmaster, the International Master and the International Women Master titles. The first two sets of titles weren't based on rating...
This year, Chess.com has been working on new resources to help you connect with the chess community. Our latest project, Top Chess Players, is now in alpha mode, and you can start learning about your favorite players and giving us feedback. ...
Anish Giri tells David Cox about the multicultural upbringing that shaped his chess talent, why social media has been huge for the game and the moments when he’s believed he can become world champion. As the current world number-four, Anis...
Magnus Carlsen is off to a hot streak to begin his 2019 chess season. Carlsen won the Tata Steel masters tournament (9/13), Gashimov Memorial (7/9) and Grenke Chess Classic (7.5/9). Carlsen's performance ratings at the three events we...
We are thrilled to introduce a new series at Chess.com: coach of the month! Each month, we will be highlighting a coach at Chess.com/coaches and sharing an interview with that coach discussing his or her philosophy of chess, philosophy of coachi...
Wesley So tells David Cox about his remarkable journey from learning the game in an impoverished neighborhood in the Philippines to reaching the world's top 10. In many ways, Wesley So’s life story reads a bit like the script of a Ho...
As we gear up for Chess.com's first ever Junior Speed Chess Championship (JSCC), many on our staff have had conversations about who the youngest and strongest players are in today's game... which naturally led to a review of who the youngest, and ...
A little perspective: At the turn of the 20th century Harry N. Pillsbury was the dominant American chess player. Most other well known American chess players of that time, such as Jackson Whipps Showalter, Albert Hodges and...
As you know from my previous article, in 1992 Vladimir Kramnik transformed from a FIDE master into one of the world's leading players. The year 1993 made it official: Kramnik became a candidate for the world title. Again we played in the ...
This year, the Chess.com Speed Chess Championships will feature a series of three innovative esports bracket tournaments featuring the world's best chess players and a guaranteed combined prize pool of $100,000. Find out the details for the...
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave tells David Cox about his chess origins, the state of elite chess and his world championship ambitions. 2019 is all about unfinished business for Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Known for his sharp, tactical style, the Frenc...
The old time brilliancy prize games are fun to watch, but for some people they are even more fun if you can solve them in puzzles. Then, when you get little bios for the players too (winners and losers)…well, it’s a good time for all....
Vladimir Kramnik's decision to quit professional chess shook the chess world. Many people even sense deja vu. Indeed, there is an uncanny resemblance to 14 years ago when Garry Kasparov quit chess. Oddly enough, both great players lost thei...
David Cox speaks to GM Hikaru Nakamura as he begins a year he hopes will land him a place in the 2020 Candidates' tournament. Sometimes outspoken, and certainly never conventional, the American super-GM Hikaru Nakamura has always been an in...
Of all the death notices for Paul Morphy, the following transcription from the New Orleans Times-Democrat, Sunday, July 13th, 1884, written by Charles de Maurian and graciously supplied by WilhelmThe2nd, is by far the best. &n...
A little over 5 years ago I published an article called Lesser Known Games of Prince Dadian in which I presented 29 games absent from all of the databases I consulted. I had found them in and transcribed them from va...
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 ...
The 2018 Chess.com Speed Chess Championship will feature 16 of the world's best chess players in an innovative eSports bracket tournament and a guaranteed prize pool of $55,000. Congratulations to Hikaru Nakamura, the 2018 Speed Chess Champion. ...
It's what you've been waiting for all year: The Speed Chess Championship semifinals and finals are this weekend. With three action-packed matches in three days, you'll want to tune in Friday, Saturday and Sunday. SCC final four sched...
After a year of exciting chess, this weekend is the culmination of the 2018 Speed Chess Championship. Who will survive the final four and emerge as the champion after 12 hours of grueling blitz and bullet chess? Tune in to Chess.com/TV and Twitch....