Let me start with a disclaimer. While the title sounds sinister, I can assure you that no frog or any other animal was hurt for the sake of this article. It is just a metaphor! This is how Daniel Quinn describes it in "The Story Of B": If you ...
Nowadays, it is normal for chess players of all levels to make a quick draw once in a while. The so-called "Sofia Rules" and other measures that attempt to prohibit draws by mutual agreement are typically applied in elite tournaments and even worl...
A classic movie and literary ploy is when the hero must stay out of sight behind enemy lines, and decides to disguise himself as one of his foes. Students of classical literature might recall the ancient story about Achilles, the Greek hero of the...
For those that enjoyed my previous article, Test Your Positional Chess, let’s do it again. It’s fun to follow positional concepts, and it’s also extremely instructive. Please keep in mind that these puzzles aren’t li...
May 28, 1992. Moscow. The newly-established Russian Federation is enmeshed in social and economic tumult following the dissolution of the USSR. But chess fans have been treated to a small respite: a blitz tournament, broadcast live on television...
Even beginners know that castling is a very important part of an opening strategy since it moves your king away from the center into a comfortable home created by a rook and three pawns. But what if the new king's house is not so cozy, since the...
The games played by Jose Raul Capablanca have been analyzed in countless chess books, magazines and videos. Today, I want to show you two of his less famous games. Both were played against the strong American master Alexander Kevitz, and both de...
Strong and weak squares are a cornerstone of chess strategy. The definition of a weak square is very simple: it is any square that cannot be defended by a pawn. Usually such a weak square in our opponent's camp is the ideal place to put our pieces...
You don't play 3-check on the Chess.com live server? That's a shame. I thought we could be friends. Why is the game great? All that opening theory that masters know more about? Yeah, it's all useless. Draws? Almost never. Oh, and did I ment...
Hello, dear friends and chess fans! From today onwards I'll be writing my own blog in Russian. Please follow my articles and kindly share opinions and feedback. Today I would like to talk about a very important elem...
"It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you wil...
Ask chess players about the period known as romantic chess and they will probably mention the names of La Bourdonnais, Anderssen and Morphy. Indeed, all three of them were called unofficial world champions of their time. ...
In pursuit of a topic for my very first article on Chess.com, I decided to go over my recent games and see if anything interesting would come up. I got really excited when I touched down on my game against GM David Howell from the Winter Classic t...
Imagine you have been assigned to make a penalty shoot-out for your team. Your eyes are focused on the right side from the goalkeeper. You are determined to shoot there. Obviously, the goalkeeper prepares to jump into that direction. You gradually...
The best way to counter-attack a hater is to make it blatantly obvious that their attack has had no impact on you. (Tim Ferriss) For this article, I have chosen two classical games and three games from my career, to illustrate the method of aggr...
Sometimes, the point score doesn't tell the whole story. A queen and a pawn might add up to ten, but it's not always equal to two rooks. In this series, IM Daniel Rensch and GM Ben Finegold explore the many variations of unbalanced material a...
Think twice before you exchange one of those bishops! Most grandmasters would prefer the bishop pair over two knights and for good reason. How do they exploit their opponents with this slight advantage? GM Jon Ludvig Hammer will show you the ...
Winning in blitz, yeah... it's that important. Our next compilation is brought to you by GM Maxim Dlugy. There's an art to be being a blitz master, but there's also a secret. This series unveils the strategy and technique behind a prominent blitz ...
Chess players, chess authors and chess psychologists attempt to teach and explain chess playing with the concept of "pattern recognition": Pattern recognition is one of the most important mechanisms of chess improvement. Realizing that the ...
We continue our exploration of common chess patterns today by looking look at the pattern "a bishop behind a pawn." While most of you have probably heard about "Tarrasch rule" which recommends putting your rook behind a passed pawn,...
Everyone agrees that knowledge of typical chess patterns is one of the main requirements for a chess player to become really strong. In our weekly column, we regularly analyze typical positional and tactical patterns. But imagine a position&n...
Anatoly Karpov's book of selected games is one of my all-time favorites. It was a part of the famous Soviet "Black Series" about the world's best chess players. Being one of my first chess books, it seriously affected my chess style for years to c...
clement41 wrote: My question for you deals with the concept of “accountancy” of tempi; let me make myself clearer: in many instances one side has the opportunity to trade pieces (typically minors) with an imbalance; not only ca...
It's hard to replace over-the-board lessons with a grandmaster, but this series sure does cut it close. In Melik and Me, we've paired GM Melik Khachiyan with amateur BrotherJosh. Josh will ask all the questions amateurs need answers of which&...
Many years ago, GM Alexander Ivanov made his famous statement "Russians do not retreat!" As one of our readers, Osokor, correctly pointed out, this is not historically accurate. Indeed, in the Great Patriotic War of 1812, the Russia...