It's a shame that the grandmaster Nigel Short is not as well known to the general public as much as he used to be. In the 1990s he was one of the best chess players in the world and even played a match vs. Garry Kasparov, trying...
As in attics where things once used get stored out of sight and mind, old articles have a way of burying themselves under the weight of those that follow, becoming lost and forgotten. Sometimes it pays to put on an apron and gloves, wall...
Yes.* *Speed chess is good for you (meaning it can help your slow chess, too) but doing it "incorrectly" could be harmful. Let's digress... A few years ago our Main Line Chess Club hosted a seminar by WGM Jennifer Shahade. At the end...
At of this writing, GM Hou Yifan is the sole leader of the super tournament in Baden Baden. Her play in this tournament so far is simply unbelievable and each game is a textbook example of good chess. Photo: Georgios Souleidis. Here is t...
Simultaneous exhibitions are a great thing. A player who would normally never come face-to-face with a famous chess international master or grandmaster is able to live a dream and do his best to beat a legend and hang the signed scoresheet on his ...
GM Emil Sutovsky recently posted some shocking news on his Facebook page: a computer program, Ponanza, beat the best shogi player in the world. Not only that, but the computer program pretty much introduced a novelty on the very first move: no pro...
The Chess.com member Cubronzo asked: “I’ve been playing chess for about a year now and my playing strength keeps going up and down. My main problem is my ability to see ahead in a chess position. Do you have any advice on how I could c...
There are many different ways to improve your chess, but few of them can compete with the time-proven method of studying games played by great chess players. Indeed, this way you learn all the elements of chess from opening to endgam...
Amateur chess is often a back-and-forth, muddy, and even stormy adventure where a position’s assessment changes from move to move. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. The “trick” is to learn as many basic patterns (...
Chess and poker are frequently compared as both games are based on strategic thinking and decision making. I know many professional and semi-professional chess players who've completely abandoned chess in favor of poker. At some point ...
While wanting to write an introduction, putting my thoughts on the topic into words has proven to be a most difficult undertaking. Although I predominantly scour books, newspapers and periodicals for the bulk...
When chess players say "match of the century," usually they refer to the famous match between the USSR and the "rest of the world" that took place in Belgrade in 1970. In reality, many famous chess competitions (mostly world championship matc...
As I explained in this article, modern life forces me to recollect the episodes from my childhood years. One such memory is something that every Soviet schoolboy was supposed to know if he wanted to get into a good college, something I t...
After showing all of Tal’s 15 best game prizes in my previous article, it struck me that many Chess.com members might not have heard of Rashid Nezhmetdinov (born 1912, died 1974), who tied with Karpov for the third and fourth place...
In the beginning of the 1990s, I established a certain routine. Whenever I set foot in Moscow (and I did it pretty frequently), I would visit the Central Chess Club and climb a narrow staircase to the third floor to meet Botvinnik in his labo...
Before you read this article, have some fun and try to guess who has won the most best game prizes (usually a brilliancy prize but sometimes a positional masterpiece). Did you pick a player? Okay, then let’s see if you’ve picked the ...
Preface: An official U.S. Women's Chess Championship has existed for nearly 80 years. The USCF lists 1937 as the first year. There have been many strong and important women players over the early...
One of the biggest open tournaments of the year (Gibraltar) was marred by a bizarre incident that happened in the last round. The women's world champion, Hou Yifan, lost her game in just five moves! Media instantly spread the news thro...
Chess players are always looking for new openings. But picking an opening isn’t easy since there are so many to choose. Sometimes the choice is made by using the openings of your favorite chess hero. And other times the opening choice is ...
Preface: An official U.S. Women's Chess Championship has existed for nearly 80 years. The USCF lists 1937 as the first year. There have been many strong and important women players over the early...
This article is a bit different in that I’ve written about chess books and I’ve written about chess coaches, but I’ve never blended the two together. In doing so, I will show you how your chess teachers can turn your chess books ...
In the first part of this article, we saw numerous examples of Howard Staunton's sparkling attacks. Yes, he knew how to attack, but there were many players who could do it as well if not better than him (Paul Morphy instantly com...
The Chess.com member Canyounotquit wrote: “I really want to know why and how I lost this particular game. I had a piece lead and still I lost badly. I’ve no idea where I went wrong.” JS: Everyone loses games. But, wh...
Preface: An official U.S. Women's Chess Championship has existed for nearly 80 years. The USCF lists 1937 as the first year. There have been many strong and important women players over the early...
