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 ...
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...
In our last article, we discussed the importance of typical chess patterns using a pin as an example. As you become proficient in recognizing chess patterns, you'll see them everywhere! Suddenly you'll realize that the Morphy's "Ope...
SkladakoV’s question is about this position. He asked: “What if White doesn’t take by 16.Bxa5? Doesn’t that leave the knight on a5 stuck on the side of the board?” Jeremy Silman: I think most people wou...
Editor’s note: Hikaru Nakamura is widely considered the best speed chess player in history. A vote by titled players confirmed this last year. Nakamura will face World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the three-hour GM Blitz Ba...
The Botvinnik-Kasparov school that I had privilege to attend was an unbelievable experience. The sheer fact that two legends were sitting just about five feet from you was very exciting! One of the strongest memories from the school was the w...
Target Skill Range: Advanced Path (Rated 1800-1999) Tasks: Learn the power of the pieces!!! Improve your knowledge of dynamics and tension in chess. Know how to exploit exchanges. Improve your prophylactic thinking and defense! ...
Target Skill Range: Advanced Path (Rated 1800-1999) Tasks: Play 50 standard time control games. Analyze your personal games. Document your mistakes. Work through these lessons. Follow Chess.com/news. Wow! You've venture...
Target Skill Range: Master Path (Rated 2000-2199) Tasks: Learn the following master-level pawn structures. Master the art of maneuvering. Learn to use your pawns actively. Study the exploitation of pawn weaknesses. Identify critical...
Target Skill Range: Advanced Path (Rated 2000-2199) Tasks: Analyze all games with a computer. Compete on the leaderboard. Start a blog. Play solitaire chess. Compete in a major open. Congratulations! You've made it to t...
Occasionally I run into players who think that Bobby Fischer "did it all by himself." I.e. he locked himself in his room, studied chess until he was world class, and then burst onto the tournament scene. Uh, no. Every day after school, Bobby w...
The puzzles in this article are a bit advanced, but don’t let that spook you. In general, these puzzles are about verbal recognition of what is going on. These kinds of puzzles help a player look beyond the usual mentality of “I go the...
The recent super-tournament in Bilbao is a part of chess history already. It will be remembered for many different things. While Hikaru Nakamura will always cherish the memory of his first win over Magnus Carlsen, many chess enthusiasts will ...
ih8sens (real name: Matt Nicholson) is a national master rated 2329. He asked the following: “I have a position that I’m curious about. The majority of players I’ve asked believe that Black should not play 18…Bxg3.&...
In all sports, you play much differently when you are winning easily. In baseball, if you are leading 8-0 in the 8th inning, you would not pull your fresh relief pitcher out of the game to pinch hit and try to get another run. In soccer, if y...
In our article last year, we talked about how to improve your positional chess. Today, I want to give you an opportunity to test your strategic skills. The game we'll use for our quiz is quite remarkable. Anatoly Karpov is...
