Is A Knight On The Rim Always Grim?
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...
7 Bullet Chess Tips By Hikaru Nakamura
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...
Botvinnik's Winning Chess Method
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...
Study Plan for Advanced Players: Strategy
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! ...
Study Plan For Advanced Players: Bringing It All Together
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...
Master Path Study Plan: Strategy
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...
Master Path Study Plan: Bringing It All Together
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...
The Best Of The Old And New Schools
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...
What Does The Position Need?
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...
Lessons From Carlsen: The Draw Problem
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 ...
Minority Attack: Turn Your Pawns Into Weapons
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.&...
How To Play When You're Winning Easily
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...
Are You A Giant Of Positional Chess?
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...
Fixing Your Weaknesses
This week, we’ll take a look at a young Indian player, Sakshi1234567. She had this to say: “I am 13 years old. My father taught me chess when I was 10. I’ve been taking the game seriously from October 2015. I want to become a g...
The Pawn Center Controversy
There are basic rules of chess strategy that we learn as soon as we start playing chess. One of the most fundamental premises is the importance of the center. We quickly learn that one of the major goals of positional chess is control ov...
If The Board Says ATTACK, Then ATTACK!
The Chess.com member kergnou said: “Can you take a look at my games and give me some advice?” Jeremy Silman: Okay, I’m going to review one game that shows many of your weaknesses. However, this game is actually one of the ...
What Is The Initiative?
The Chess.com member Mornarben wrote: “My question is about the initiative. I seem to be able to play well in the beginning, getting positions with good central control, but [I] never see a good way to launch an attack to seize the initiativ...
Get Better At Chess For Everyone: Comparison
When you see a good move, don't play it. Look for a better one. This is the number-one principle in chess. Over the years, I have also told my students: You are trying to find the best move you can in a reasonable amount of time. I...
Dynamic Chess With GM Khachiyan
What is dynamic chess? You'll find out here as GM Melik Khachiyan teaches you to compound your advantages and really put pressure on opponents. There's nothing like learning from in-game examples. Watch a great teacher break down dynamic chess fro...
Defense And Prophylaxis
Defense wins championships! The old cliche may not always apply to chess, but great defenders have certainly made a name for themselves. Tigran Petrosian and Vladimir Krammnik knew one thing for sure, if your opponent keeps crashing into a brick w...
Coach Keaton Reporting
We all have our favorite areas to study. In this series, you'll get to enjoy two of IM Keaton Kiewra's favorites: kingside attacks and queen endgames. As usual, coach Keaton has found some of the more exciting games on Chess.com for his lectu...
Fighting For Initiative
Seizing the initiative is not something that just happen. There's a strategy to gaining the initiative. However, the importance of playing aggressively doesn't justify reckless abandon. In this series, learn how to properly fight for the init...
Coach Dejan Explains
Sometimes the best way to learn is over the board, sitting across from your teacher and analyzing a recent match. GM Dejan Bojkov has had many students excel greatly under his watch. In this series, you'll get to learn vicariously through Coach De...
Becoming An Expert
If you're reading this, chances are you've been trying to crack the rating threshold to finally claim the "expert" title. This series is designed to help you do just that. Learn from one of chess' most accomplished coaches what it takes to re...