How Chess Saved Beethoven
A Little Background: A man named Wolfgang von Kempelen created a supposed chess-playing machine in 1770. A chess master cleverly concealed inside controlled the exposed turbaned, mustached figure and the moves...
Fixing Common Errors
Errors. Sometimes we notice them (or think we notice them), and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we learn from our mistakes, and in many cases we are oblivious to them and, as a result, repeat these invisible horrors over and over. Most commo...
A Quiet Game in Germantown in 1762
The January 1962 issue of "Chess Review" featured an article written by John Frederick Harbeson. The article was a reprint of one that had appeared in "The Germantowne Crier." The author was a prominent Philade...
Grandmaster Blitz Battle Championship: Rules And Format
Below are the official rules and format of Chess.com's Grandmaster Blitz Battle Championship. For the full list of players in the 2016 GM Battle Championship, click here. By accepting the invitation to play, players acknowledge they have read an...
Castling Early And Piece Coordination
Should You Castle Early? Question: Chess.com member scmooney asked, “You stress castling early. In my experience I find that sometimes castling takes the king right into an ambush. In your lecture on attacking a castled king, Black’s...
Opening Questions And A Dream Mate
Openings That Lead to a Draw Question: Chess.com member jos2001 wrote, “I’m a 1076-ranked player who wants to know the best openings to draw.” Answer: Though various openings are known to be drawish at the master level (and u...
Introducing The New Chess.com (Version 3)
It's been a long time coming, but a brand-new version of Chess.com is finally ready to take online chess to a new level—and take your game to new heights. This new version (v3) has been our top priority for two years, and&n...
How Past Masters Can Help Your Game
I’ve gone out of my way to write articles about the importance of balance; everyone needs both tactical and positional/strategic skills (you also need endgame skills, but at the moment we will concentrate on tactics and strategy). To add a...
Tests: Psychology, Tactics, And Strategy
Some of my recent articles were about chess psychology and striving to have a balanced skillset. This article (all in puzzle form) lets you test what you’ve learned (or what you thought you already knew). The puzzles can be tactical, po...
A Story Strange and Sad
If you peruse old issues of "Chess Review," you will probably encounter the name Catherine Nye. You will mostly likely notice one of these photos of the pretty 34 year old lady from Syracuse, N.Y. 1941 ...
When Men Were Men
During the romantic era of chess, MEN WERE MEN. They played gambits. They went for mate. They drank whisky while pondering their next attacking move. If someone made a material sacrifice (which loses if the opponent simply refuses the “...
You Are Important!
When we were learning how to play chess, most of us dreamed about becoming next Capablanca, Fischer or Kasparov one day. Alas, the sad reality is that 99.999 percent of us will never become one of the chess gods. Should we be disappointed and up...
Chess Psychology 101
In last week’s article, I pointed out that chess psychology plays an enormous part of one’s results. There are many facets of chess psychology: self-confidence (or the lack thereof), fear of threats (real or imagined), fear of losing...
The Huge Importance Of Chess Psychology
I write quite a bit about chess psychology since it plays an enormous part of one’s results. Fear of a higher-rated player, trusting a player’s move instead of challenging it, falling victim to the ubiquitous (and deadly) “I ca...
Carlsen, Capablanca And The Beatles
About a quarter of a century ago, I started playing in international tournaments on a regular basis. Just like thousands of other folks from the former Soviet Union I enjoyed the fall of the Iron Curtain and ability to freely travel abroad. Pret...
A Legendary Chess Zen Master Has Died
When I was just turning 19, I would go with a friend to Berkeley and visit the Hare Krishna temple. Were we into them? No, not at all. But every evening they offered free (very tasty!) food, and when you are broke and starving, you are willing t...
The Player I'd Most Like to Have Met
Throughout the history of the game, chess has produced innumerable fascinating personalities. Some were stars, others played supporting roles. Many of them, at least from the hazy vantage point of my clouded ...
No Balance, No Success
I get countless questions that ask about taste in chess (No, don’t eat the pieces!). Taste, in this case, refers to a preference for positional or tactical situations. (However, if you MUST eat the pieces, please buy a chess cake or a ches...
The Day the Stars Came Out
Like a poorly rehearsed play, nothing seemed to go right. What started out as a brilliant idea was fizzling out before everyone's eyes. Perhaps it was ...
What Happened To Magnus Carlsen?
The European Team Chess Championship that took place last month in Iceland is already a part of chess history. There were many remarkable games and memorable moments over there. Some people will remember the double win by the Russian men...
Old Age, Great Chess!
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...
Carlos Castaneda And The Penthouse Suite
[Editor's note: Here are more selected chess stories from IM Silman.] CELEBRITIES GONE WILD 1988 and I just landed in Mazatlan, Mexico. Though the main course was the world 30-minute championships (packed with the best players in the world)...
The Art Of Beating Yourself
In chess, ego is king. Thus one often hears a player who just lost saying, “I beat myself!” The old “I beat myself!” is often a way to convince yourself that you could have beaten your opponent if it wasn’t for this...
The Eye Of The Beholder
Many players feel that chess is all about threats or attack or finding a combination or some other form of brute force moves. And, of course, that is exactly what many positions need. However, in many other positions those things are exactly what ...