By GM Robert Hess and IM Teddy Coleman Sergey Karjakin has unfinished business. In 2014, he placed second in the Candidates', one point away from a shot at Magnus Carlsen. He’s coming back to finish the job. Karjakin has one title ...
Below are some of the images - photos, paintings, sketches, etchings - of Paul Morphy. Here is the earliest known image of Morphy - from 1854: from "Twice Remembered: Moments in the History of Spring Hill College" by Michael Kenny, S.J. ...
By GM Robert Hess and IM Teddy Coleman Peyton Manning retired yesterday after capturing his second Super Bowl on his last legs. Will Vishy Anand, former world champion and titan of chess for nearly three decades earn the same storybook ending? &...
By GM Robert Hess and IM Teddy Coleman It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog. GM Peter Svidler enters the Candidates' Tournament as the lowest-rated player, but don’t expect him to r...
By GM Robert Hess and IM Teddy Coleman Chess.com and the world at large need no introduction to GM Hikaru Nakamura. 2015 was a fantastic year for the four-time United States chess champion. Nakamura, who is well-known for his blitz and bullet ...
King and pawn endings are essential to every chess player's understanding of the game. Here are three practical tips when there are just kings and pawns left on the board: Try to create passed pawns. Without queening a pawn, you wo...
By GM Robert Hess and IM Teddy Coleman If Benjamin Button played chess, his name would be Anish Giri. At 21 years old, Giri is the youngest player in the eight-man field for the Candidates Tournament, yet has a geriatric style of play. His tal...
By GM Robert Hess and IM Teddy Coleman Two years ago, Levon Aronian was the clear frontrunner to challenge for the world championship. Boasting an astronomical rating of 2830 after demolishing the field at the 2014 Tata Steel event, he rod...
By GM Robert Hess and IM Teddy Coleman Just like Rocky Balboa, Fabiano “The Italian Stallion” Caruana is getting his first shot at becoming the world champion. But unlike Rocky, Caruana isn’t a dark horse. Caruana is ra...
Last week's article caused a significant response and dispute. It looks like our readers were split into two camps based on their viewpoints of the importance of classical games. Our member kingcobra07 summarized the standpoi...
Time trouble can plague even the best players in the world, and often leads to painful blunders and losses on time in winning positions. In order to improve your time management skills, follow these three steps below: Try not to use more ...
Chess.com member Squid22 wrote: “I played 5.Nb5 to be obnoxious. It wouldn’t be hard to make this knight move harmless (5...d6, and then I’ve just wasted a move). However, my opponent played 5...a6. That moves looks natura...
Edward Lasker published his delightful book "Chess of Fun & Chess for Blood" in 1942. In this book he examined Chess from the different perspectives of various amateurs in juxtaposition to that of serious tourn...
Whether you are a Luddite or technophile, the importance of being able to successfully collaborate with a chess computer cannot be overstated. In every stage and aspect of the game — opening preparation, endgame theory, game analysis&...
You definitely like chess. But are you an expert? No, I am not talking about the USCF title you get when your USCF rating is above 2000 but less than 2200 (which is the master title). You can be a USCF expert but not a true expert of chess and v...
I get a lot of letters from Chess.com members, and though their ratings run the gamut, I do my best to address all ratings as best I can. Today I’ll turn my attention to two players below 1500 : Mr. Prashant1994 and Mr. Rrrtttyyyuuuiii. I&...
A Little Background: A man named Wolfgang von Kempelen created a supposed chess-playing machine in 1770. A chess master cleverly concealed inside controlled the exposed turbaned, mustached figure and the moves...
Many a myth has been discussed about the "superhuman" power that a grandmaster holds over the chessboard. Amateur players tend to look at us GMs as untouchable geniuses that cannot put a foot wrong when shuffling our pieces about. I am now going...
Every chess player knows about two inevitable opening catastrophes: scholar's mate and the Fried Liver Attack. I still remember my shock when in one of my first tournaments I played what looked like reasonable moves and yet the resulting position ...
Errors. Sometimes we notice them (or think we notice them), and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we learn from our mistakes, and in many cases we are oblivious to them and, as a result, repeat these invisible horrors over and over. Most commo...
The January 1962 issue of "Chess Review" featured an article written by John Frederick Harbeson. The article was a reprint of one that had appeared in "The Germantowne Crier." The author was a prominent Philade...
Below are the official rules and format of Chess.com's Grandmaster Blitz Battle Championship. For the full list of players in the 2016 GM Battle Championship, click here. By accepting the invitation to play, players acknowledge they have read an...
We have seen them, haven’t we? The howlers? Amateurs and professionals alike in the aftermath of a game, trying to explain their blunder, shaking their heads in disbelief, scratching their brows, sighing while trying to come up with a ration...
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