Chess is a game of knowledge and skill. Yet many players - as evidenced from the majority of questions I get on the show - seem to think improvement initiatives lean toward the knowledge side, typical questions being "Where can I learn more about ...
Today we will review typical positions where one side varied their move order and combined some well-known ideas to reach a new, completely fresh position. When you are familiar with plans and typical ideas, sometimes you don't need to exactl...
Today I will show a typical Isolani-game, when there is no real compensation for the Isolani. It will go slowly downwards with the position. Compensation is the keyword when playing with the Isolani. Otherwise the opponent, as Lasker in the fo...
Many chess players consider a king and pawn ending the simplest form of an endgame. It explains why one of the most popular ways to convert a material or positional advantage is to go straight to the king and pawn endgame. Here is a classical exam...
This week I will be covering a very interesting old book called 100 Soviet Chess Miniatures. The games were selected and annotated by P.H. Clarke. This book is particularly unique because the games are entirely by unknown players, and the games ar...
Just as my "Novice Nook" column at Chess Cafe quickly became a misnomer because the 6-time "Best Instruction" winner is aimed at improving players of all levels, so has the Dan Heisman Learning Center (DHLC) here at Chess.com quickly become more t...
The year was 1969, I was 15 years old and had just made the trip from San Diego to beautiful Santa Monica to participate in the American Open (which, at that time, was held in the luxurious Miramar Hotel). I got there early, checked out the playin...
Today we will continue with typical plans arising from the Queens Gambit Declined. I had a chance to experience the lack of knowledge in one critical and very popular line last weekend, while playing in the Philadelphia Open. The game ended favora...
Here is something you don't see very often... On the 17th move of the game, Tartakower decides to sacrifice his rook for a few pawns. Although his attack seems to go nowhere, he then calmly completes his development. Eventually, he is able to use...
A Queen is by far the most powerful chess piece and whenever we attack we are usually trying to bring our Queen to the action ASAP. But what if a chess player moves his Queen in the opposite direction? Is he insane? As the saying goes, there is a ...
I opened the show by randomly selecting a position from one of my Chess.com friend's slow games: I spent about the first 15 minutes of the show analyzing the position. My general considerations were that White was slightly better due to the act...
Today we start a new series that will show how modern players understand positions through the lenses of typical strategic plans. The series will span 4-5 articles and cover a range of positions. We will learn to differentiate ideas found at the b...
How to evaluate a position? In this article I would like to cover a topic or even a skill which is very important for practically every chess player. I really like asking my students one little question: "How do you evaluate a position?". In many...
Few games test a player psychologically as much as the last-round game of a tournament (or the decisive game of a match). When the prize money, championship, or norm is on the line, the tension becomes extremely high. In this situation you can fin...
"Knowledge is power" famously pronounced Francis Bacon in 16th century. I doubt many people would argue with this statement since the more knowledge you have, the better for you, right? Well, almost. Today we'll discuss a very unusual situation wh...
Playing against an Isolated Pawn you should know the main rule: Never allow its advance! So a blockade and attack-strategy should be your aim, as you can see in the following example: Normally the Player with the Isolated Pawn has to ...
We are wrapping-up the column on Intuition and I would like to take a look at few games from the Candidates Tournament that is currently underway in London. Carlsen and Aronian are two favorites of the tournament and we will analyze their games an...
In an earlier four-part article we saw how powerful the Classic Bishop Sacrifice (sacrificing one’s Bishop against h7) can be. However, now and then we see games where the Bishop is tossed to h7 (not sacrificing anything at all) just for the...
When I introduced this column I mentioned that I probably wouldn't be covering many opening books. However, I decided to write a review of this fairly old book on the French by grandmaster Lev Psakhis from the "Complete..." series. Why? Well, fi...
It is time to summarize our discussion about all the positive and negative aspects that computers brought to our game and see which side outweighs. One of the biggest positive sides I see is that computers really enhanced our chess knowledge. So...
No time to study opening theory? Shock your opponent with an SOS! With an SOS you deviate early (usually before move 6!) from regular lines in mainstream openings. So you will reach positions you have actually studied without having memorized tons...
Today I have the pleasure of reviewing Grandmaster Judit Polgar's new book, How I Beat Fischer's Record for our community here on Chess.com - and I must say I found Judit's work refreshingly honest, surprisingly inspiring, and undeniably as i...
The Pin is a must-know tactic, and it’s particularly feared by amateurs who find themselves pinned in a myriad of different ways. As with all tactical devices, pins range from very basic to beautifully complex. Our first example goes way, way bac...
Today's show coincided with the first round of the Candidates Tournament in London. Unfortunately, none of the games were exciting (all draws, most fairly short), so it was not a big topic of conversation. However, I was asked who I thought would...
