Garry Kasparov needs no introduction. The games and career of the former World Champion, who was on top of the chess world for over 20 years, offer a ton of instructional value and they should be studied by every serious chess player. Shankland ...
Regardless of level, every chess player is looking for ways to improve their game. They solve tactical puzzles, research openings, practice endgames, study master games, and much more. But one area of their chess that is often neglected is the psy...
Chess.com Blitz Death-Matches are grueling, all-out battles of wit, speed, skill, and endurance. To see a list of past winners, check here. To view recordings of past matches, go here. Here are the current rules guiding them: 1) The match ...
This week I would like to present to you a great attacking game from Vassily Smyslov, the 7th World Champion! It is not easy to say what was his biggest strength in chess. He was simply fantastic in all areas of the game! He played ...
Lots of people have asked me whether I'm doing anything radically different these days to recently achieve some of my cherished goals (three IM Norms, several GM scalps) in the last couple of years - having failed to achieve them in almost 30 year...
I recently won the Northern California International, and I’d like to take you through what I believe were my three most important psychological decisions of the event. The first one came in round 3. I had won my first two games without much troub...
The Tradewise Gibaltar Chess Congress, the strongest Open ever, is underway and the excitement is building. The top seeds are truly inpressive: 1 4102142 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2749 bio 2 13401319 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2747 bio 3...
There is a common debate on the subject of what separates the different echelons of chessplayers. Some say it is tactics, others strategy. A lot of folks are of the opinion that opening knowledge is very important. Others claim ...
As you probably could have guessed, I write my articles some days in advance of when they are published. I noticed that this article would be my last in 2011, so I wanted to do a farewell article to 2011. At the moment I am visiting Alaska, where ...
First of all, I would like to congratulate you on your most recent article. It was very well written. However, I have one question. All titled players that I know say that you should learn the ideas behind openings, more so than the opening lines ...
Hello Magesh and Arun: As my question subject suggests I have a problem calculating complicated chess positions. Although I can see a single line in considerable length, when the variations become complicated and the tree of possib...
Greetings, in many of the openings that I play, I end up with a 4:3 kingside pawn majority while my opponent has 2:1 on the queenside. We generally both have at least one rook and a minor piece. What would you suggest is the best way to solve this...
from time to time we hear complaints that chess is doomed because opening theory has been exhausted. These complaints have come from amateur players and professionals alike. In response, many people have proposed changing the rules of chess in som...
I've been wondering this for a long time. In games for which it looks like white's (or black's) pieces are attacking a weakness which is throughly defended, a strong comentator on the game will say white's pieces aren't active. An example is an e...
From: jetfighter13 My question is, when is it ok to underpromote, I sometimes do, but only when I even/win material, or put my opponent in check. To help illustrate my point, I offer the following game: Dear jetfighter13, Under-promotion...
Hi Arun and Magesh, I have a question about the guicco piano for white. In this opening, black's main lines are all about making it as hard as possible for white to make or keep the centre with pawns e4 and d4. For example in 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 ...
Dear Sirs, Greetings of the day!!! I am an intermediate level player ( I think??) and desperately want to improve my game. I am facing a few problems with my chess studies & games, which I am sure that you can help me out !!!, are as follo...
Dear GM thamizhan, I am busy going over some of my games, and I am mostly confused about the ideas behind pushing pawns on the castled king-side. I think in this first position the idea is a fairly simple tactic. By playing h5 black is attacki...
Dear Grandmasters Arun Prasad/Magesh Panchanathan: My question may be too simple for you, but here goes: when reviewing my games, 80% of the time I lose because of knight blindness. I simply fail to see the potential my opponent's Knights have, a...
Dear Grandmasters Arun Prasad/Magesh Panchanathan: I have questions and I hope you may answer them. I have not played over the board chess for a year and have mainly played blitz or rapid chess online. Before I took a break I managed to achieve ...
This is a quick guide to a video series. For other video series, go here. In this series we will break learning one of the most complicated and theoretically sound responses to 1.e4, the Najdorf Variation, into digestible parts. The en...
Dear GM Prasad and GM Panchanathan : I am grateful to see the revival of this weekly column after IM Silman. Thank you! Hope you can answer a few of my questions below: a) I understand that in order to become better one has to accept losing many...
This is a quick guide to a video series. This series shows a few different ideas that white can use to play against the Petroff, including the under-investigated Cochrane Gambit. Clearly it would not be a bad idea for a black player of the Petroff...
This is guide to a video series. Intermediate Checkmates is for Beginner and Intermediate players to improve their vocabulary of checkmating positions. Recognizing a few patterns in various altered situations is absolutely required for being able ...
