"We work 25 hours a day." "But there's only 24 hours in a day!" "We just wake up an hour earlier." —Eternal Call, a Soviet TV series (1973-83) Our society's obsession with time knows few bounds. It is the golden age of at...
Note: The cover image was modified from that of a novel of that name written by John Donoghue. The story, set in Auschwitz, is much deeper and serious than this article. There has never been any doubt that chess ...
This series on Wilhelm Steinitz isn’t about every detail of his life. It’s about some basics and, most important, the games. I’m writing this since whenever chess players get together and talk about the past top players...
Note: The cover image was modified from that of a novel of that name written by John Donoghue. The story, set in Auschwitz, is much deeper and serious than this article. There has never been any doubt that chess ...
The 1860s were very good for Adolf Anderssen, who was still at his peak. He won several important tournaments and was also successful in most of his matches. However, new players were appearing, such as Ignatz von Kolisch, Steinitz, and Zukertort....
Adolf Anderssen (born 1818) was born in the German Empire (Breslau, which is now Wroclaw, Poland). He learned how to play chess at the age of nine, and learned much of his chess understanding by going over all the games of the legendary Labourdonn...
I have gotten lots of people asking about positional chess. Some think it’s one or the other (either positional play or tactics), and others think that positional chess is out of their reach. Both are wrong. Anyone can learn solid posi...
Editor's note: IM Silman publishes a roundup of messages received from Chess.com members. The Chess.com member RuleDomain said something about a group called the “Silman Stalkers.” After hearing that, I make sure I lock the door and ...
Frank Marshall played quite a bit in 1915, but all his games were in the U.S. There were two reasons for this: First, World War I. Second: Marshall opened the Marshall Chess Club in New York! With new responsibilities and an inability to go to E...
In part 3 we left Frank Marshall playing in one tournament or match after another. Nothing changed in 1912. The guy seemed to live for chess and he continued to compete all over Europe, Russia, and the U.S. Since he couldn’t fly to all those...
In the end of October 2000, I played a traditional chess tournament: Cap d'Agde. It was a memorable event for me. First, it is not every day you mingle with such legends as Anatoly Karpov. Also, the way we entered the stage was quite remarkable....
What do you do when you've failed to win the world chess championship and, more important, you've realized that the biggest title will never be yours? Well, you play chess of course! Yes, the top players dream of the world championship, but ...
With the upcoming semifinals and finals of the 2018 Professional Rapid Online (PRO) Chess League also marshaling in the era of chess as an esport, many exciting changes are afoot. One of them will be musical -- not usually something that play...
The tournament of the year is over and we have a deserved winner. The quality of Fabiano Caruana's games was higher than anyone else's in the Candidates' Tournament and he kept his cool throughout the whole competition. Now we all are waiting fo...
Don't worry, I haven't lost my mind when insist that you are stronger than Magnus Carlsen even if your rating is just 1400. Also, it is not a April Fool's Day joke. It is pure math and logic, so let me explain. If you forgot what transitivity ...
We left part one with Frank Marshall on top of the world due to his total domination of the Cambridge Springs 1904 tournament. The world wanted to know if he was really that good. Marshall, a fearless competitor, leaped into battle. 1905 Marsh...
Let’s talk about Frank Marshall. This man was U.S. Chess Champion from 1909 to 1936. He was a man who beat Emanuel Lasker once and Capablanca twice, a player who feared no one. He won many tournaments against world class competition. He was ...
We already have 13 for the 13th. Thirteen of the Professional Rapid Online (PRO) Chess League's teams already know they'll be playing more chess during the opening week of the playoffs on March 13. That leaves only three openings left heading in...
A Chess.com member asked: After 1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 dxc4 5.d4 every chess engine tells me the best move for Black will be capturing en passant right away (which is why I never thought about playing d4 as White here). Still, in the databases ...
This is a story of a trinity: a store, a man and a masterpiece. Nearly a century ago, a man named William Lindenberg opened a jewelry store on 1314 E. 45th St. in Seattle. This was in...
Playoff scenarios are beginning to take shape in the PRO Chess League's second season. With the announcement that the final four teams will play in person in San Francisco, we can call these last two weeks of the regular season the road to the "ch...
As many of you remember, I’ve used "BB’s" games as good examples of both right and wrong ideas and moves. He plays a lot of one-game-a-week USCF rated games, and sometime he also plays two tournaments at the same time (on different day...
Earlier this season, the Professional Rapid Online (PRO) Chess League held a full weekend of chess, dubbing it "Super Saturday" and "Super Sunday." For each team's seventh match, the league will reprise the free-for-all format, but all the action ...
These days, when opening theory grows exponentially, it is very difficult to come up with an opening novelty. The new move you are considering was either already played by someone, analyzed in some publication or already stored in somebody's com...
The Chess.com member Kurniadigautama said: “I am currently trying to improve my understanding of positional play. The engine told Black to castle kingside while White is threatening to double take on c6. If White does take after Black cast...