The Internet is full of seemingly elegant chess pictures, whether they are stock photographs or staged poses by individuals who want to appear interesting and cerebral. Unfortunately, the chessboard positions in many of these photographs do not ...
After organizing the world's first online chess camp, which was aimed at intermediate and advanced adult tournament players, Chess.com University is back with another online chess camp, this time for youth and novice chess players! Chess.com ...
One of the most interesting continual threads in the chess.com forums is called "Post Your Own Miniatures Here." Many very good players post their less-than-thirty-moves games showing off their skill, and sometimes brilliance, in punishing we...
The Sinquefield Cup is a fantastic event! It is the strongest tournament in chess history, the players demostrate fighting, very "tasty" chess, and the coverage on the official website is amazing. Of course, the whole chess community must thank Re...
A former team member of mine has a favourite phrase which he likes to sing during blitz sessions with a big grin on his face: "gute Läufer, schlechte Läufer!" Referring to the legendary German grandmaster Wolfgang Uhlmann's similarly titled 1980's...
Legendary chessplayers are usually remembered for their virtuosity in a particular area of the game. Tal is remembered primarily for his otherwordly tactical genius. Petrosian, as a master of prophylaxis and defense. Karpov, as a titan of positi...
Professor: How nice to see you all today, class. The class tried to look like it was smiling. Professor: If you recall, last week’s session began with a position Thomas had emailed me. Thomas: It was a position where a queen beat a rook and kni...
Mikhail Botvinnik had regained the world championship in 1958, but soon after the chess world's attention was captured by the rapid ascent of a young player with an unusually sharp and creative style: the Latvian Mikhail Tal. Frequently ma...
After a brief summer break, Chess.com's Death Match returns less than three days from now with a battle between two gold medal winners. GM Wang Yue (China, FIDE 2713) will take on GM Aleksandr Lenderman (USA, FIDE 2584) in D...
Is the Sicilian Wing Gambit and the French Defense a version of the Benko Gambit!? mcelsouza asked: I used to play the Wing Gambit against the Sicilian: 1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3. I must say I played it due to my laziness (avoiding the Sicilian t...
Most chess players have found themselves lost deeply in a game, so consumed by the position on the board — or the tactics brewing in their heads — that they all but ignore their surroundings. Usually these games are played ...
By Steve Farmer My favorite time of year is finally here; cooler weather, football season under way, the World Series is around the corner... as is basketball. But above all else, the US Chess League has already started! Chess.com hosted the US ...
You cannot be a really strong chess player unless you know how to play endgames. This simple statement was a cornerstone of the Soviet school of chess. There was even a well known Russian chess saying: "С молодёжью - в эндшпиль!" -- which...
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As promised, we will continue our coverage of the greatest upsets in chess history by moving in reverse chronological order. Of course, it is rather ludicrous to assume that upsets did not exist before Elo ratings were implemented and recognized...
I recently took a train from Amsterdam to the quaint little Belgium town of Bruges. Looking for a book to keep me occupied for the four hour ride, I remembered my review copy of Richard Pert’s Playing the Trompowsky, which is certainly thinner tha...
Professor: Good afternoon, class. The class offered a nebulous “hello” to the Professor. Rachel: What's on the agenda for today, Professor? Professor: I thought we'd show examples based on a position Thomas emailed me earl...
At the time that Vasily Smyslov became world champion, a rule was in effect giving the previous champion an automatic rematch in the event that he lost the title. Mikhail Botvinnik benefited from this rule twice -- the first instance was with Smys...
The Study of games between great chess players from the past has been recommended by the best coaches around the world. But, how do we actually benefict from this games? It's not easy to answer this question. The tactics and strategies that are ve...
Hello chess.com readers! I'm absolutely thrilled to share with you some groundbreaking research on the little understood link between world chess champions and intergalactic debris avoidance. You see, ever since there have been chessplayers the...
Today we’ll enjoy a lighthearted (with a tad of “morbid” tossed in) look at the time-honored queen sacrifice. I’m calling it “Parting With the Lady” in honor of the late Jerry Hanken, who wrote a number of excel...
We have GM-IM-ELO rated round robin chess tournaments in Budapest, who is interested to get more info about them? www.firstsaturday.hu
After organizing the world's first online chess camp, which was aimed at intermediate and advanced adult tournament players, Chess.com University is back with another online chess camp, this time for youth and novice chess players! Chess.com U...
Playing live online chess can be great fun, but sometimes you just want to play another person over the board. As we all know, playing over-the-board chess has its own set of rules and guidelines that must be followed in tournament play. Breach...
