In this article we continue to examine the endgames and queenless middlegames played in the World Cup, currently being held in Tromsø, Norway. We will now be looking at the games played in the second round of the knockout. First, we have a very i...
Amateur chess players are always discussing their style, or claiming that tactics is more important than anything else, or arguing that drug testing is important in top level events, or insisting that Bobby Fischer was actually a Reptilian alien, ...
Grandmaster Mark Paragua from the Philippines is not a household name. But he is a very strong and solid GM who can be a dangerous opponent for anyone. The next remarkable game played by Mark both fascinates and puzzles me. Let's see what happened...
Hello everyone, I'm very happy to share this video with you, my idea is give a tool to help who want study the endgames, with a practical approach.
The State of Chess.com is the revival of a monthly segment the CEO used to provide for Chess.com members on Chess/TV. The State of Chess.com was airied on August 14th at 11:30 AM Pacific with Erik, Chess.com's CEO and co-founder. ...
On today's show the great majority of questions involved getting better at chess, and most involved openings (with a smattering of endgames thrown in). I think many players have this "improvement model" in their head where they memorize an opening...
Since tactics are the most entertaining and important part of chess, it comes as no surprise that there have been many books written about them. This site—which amounts to another book, and not a short one—thus requires a few words of justificatio...
The World Cup continues and it’s simply one of the most exciting Chess events of the past two years. Before I delve into the article I want to define some terms just so that we’re on the same page. Skill: the ability to play good moves or better...
With this article I would like to start a new series that will span over 5-6 articles on Blunders in Modern Chess. The articles will feature games from the World Cup that's currently under way in Tromsø, Norway and concentrate on the positions whe...
Here we go again ChessKids! It's back to planet Zugzwang with ProfessorPando. Did you solve his crazy first and second puzzles? Now try this one: “I know you love the impossible,” Professor Pandolfini said to Zephyr. Let’s see what you can do wit...
One of the classic ways to attack a castled king in a double king pawn opening will be covered in this article - King Safety and the Doubled f-pawn. This situation occurs in the following situation Opponent's king is castled kingside Opponent's ...
For the next few weeks, the FIDE World Cup will be taking place in the arctic town of Tromsø, in the very north of Norway. Many of the best players in the world are competing, beginning with the top seed, Levon Aronian (2813). The winner and runne...
Ivan Alexandrovich Butrimov, who was born in St. Petersburg March 7, 1782, produced Russia's first chess book, "Chess Play," in 1821. &nb...
World Cup Round One 2013 The strongest Chess World Cup of our time has begun! The first round pits the top half against the bottom half in such a way that the higher seeds are given the most favorable parings, i.e. 1 vs. 128, 2 vs. 127, 3 vs. 126...
In Part 1 of this glimpse into Alexander Alekhine’s life and games, we left off with him winning the Moscow Championship (late 1919/early 1920) with a spectacular clean sweep (11-0) followed by victory in the first USSR Championship (9 wins, 6 dra...
Chessplayers have different values and tastes about different openings. One likes to play solid Caro Kann, the other one rather plays crazy gambits or sharp Najdorf. There are also different ways to play the openings phase: play what you like or f...
In the first part of this series, we analyzed Aron Nimzowitsch's influence on the modern openings. While everyone knows that Nimzowitsch was the creator of a number of well-known opening variations like the Nimzo-Indian Defense or the 5...gxf...
Before diving into the next series of articles I would like to take this one week off to look at few examples from the recent U.S. Open chess tournament. I followed it live online and found many games to be very interesting. There were three pla...
Here we go again ChessKids! You've already solved a position from ProfessorPando where you had to find the worst move, now see if you can checkmate a whole army of Black kings in this zany puzzle! ------ Professor Pandolfini gave Lucian an unusual...
You probably know about the drawing tendency of opposite-colored bishops in the endgame - particularly pure bishop endgames. For example, it is hard to believe that the following position, in which Black has three extra pawns, is a draw. But it is...
I have some games of Prince Andrei Dadiani of Mingrelia that one usually can't find in any database. I had published these elsewhere, but wanted to put them all in one place. First a few...
How to win a won game? This is probably one of the most difficult skills that a chess player has to master in order to be able to collect points confidently. The answer to the question asked in the title lays in the player's ability to convert an...
Imagine this is YOU It’s 1918, and you’re one of the strongest chess players on earth. You live in Odessa, during one of Russia’s most chaotic periods. Trying to stay on top of the political upheaval, you take whatever side offers the best chance...
Alert: If you are interested in how rules get changed and/or tournament pairings get made, this article should prove fairly entertaining. If not, then just skip it, as the story may not be your cup of tea . Our Main Line Chess Club runs ongoing U...
