International Master Andrew Martin from England presents a regular series of articles to answer any questions that Chess.com readers have about the game of chess. If you want to ask Andrew a question, then send an email to askandrew@chess.com and...
never heard of four move checkmate? you all should try it. the away is just to use your bishop on the kingside and you use your queen. first you move the king's pawn two spots. then you move your bishop. next you move your queen diagonal all t...
BGP: Space, and also the sub issue "How to get better at chess" In this 2nd issue of Beginners Gone Pro, I will discuss the importance of space. "Space" is the term describing the amount of squares one controls of his opponent's side. Examine...
It''s not Kasparov vs. The World, but a very spirited consultation game is taking place between NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff - an amateur chess aficionado - and, well, anybody else who wants to participate. The game started last fall, when astro...
I am a beginning player with only a few games under my belt, but I strongly feel that the title of this Article is true. I am curious about others' thoughts on this point. When I first started viewing games of more experienced players, I was sur...
Edward Lasker (1885-1981) has already been introduced in a previous article. His opponent in this game is Abraham Kupchik (1892-1970). Kupchik was born in Brest in the Russian Empire. In 1903, his family came to America where he became an accounta...
One year ago today, the greatest chess player of all time passed away in Iceland of kidney failure. Bobby Fischer was 64 years old when he died and despite the fact that he had not played competitive chess since 1992, he was still the most talked...
You might remember Wesley So as a Promil kid a couple of years back, but now he’s more known as one of Philippine chess’s rising stars. Last year, at the tender age of 12 years, he became the youngest-ever Pinoy to get the rank of International Ma...
As Andrew Martin has the week off, let me pay a little tribute by presenting one of his games in the Sicilian Grand Prix Attack, the variation he helped establish as a major weapon in the 1980s. Here he plays a popular line against a defensive pla...
I thought I'd share some inspirational games from my nearly 50 years of chess. In these games I defeat powerful titled players. I have a somewhat unusual profile. I have beaten many stars, but manage to lose to many amateurs too. My rating of 2200...
Rating is no means the only factor that people consider in selecting an opponent. We also look for someone we can get along with - win or lose. The Extended Profile - described here (originally proposed in this discussion http://www.chess.com/fo...
...you couldn't win a game by hanging on to your pawns and giving up everything to see them through? There will always be doubters in society, but as i sit here, watching chess.com move away from "beta", while accomplishing all that it set out to...
So everyone probably knows by now that chess.com shut down yesterday, and when you attempted to access the site, a new page prompted you to try your hand against Little ChessPartner. I thought, why not? I chose White set it to the highest difficul...
The Open Sicilian is the most popular response to 1...c5, with more than 287897 games played by players rated above 2000 according to Gameknot database. Obviously, white intend to open up the centre with d4, usually on move three, after 2.Nf3. Un...
Andrew Martin's Column is taking a break this week, but will be back again next Monday. In the meantime, keep those questions rolling in to askandrew@chess.com! Don't forget to include your real name and your chess.com email - however, you can s...
Here is a game from the 2009 Australian Open Chess Championships, FM Sales - IM Xie with full annotations and commentary: In this game we saw the Slav Defence employed by black. This choice proved o be a solid one in which ...
Hi, this is the first of many Beginners Gone Pro articles I will be submitting. This article covers one of the more well known openings: The Ruy Lopez. The move sequence is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 This opening is popu...
The Terrapin is an approach for White in the Torre Attack after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nbd2 and then 5.e4. It is slow and unambitious, but very easy to play. It has been used by young Grandmasters such as Ponomariov and Radjubov. It can le...
Here is another fun, offbeat but playable opening. The Amazon Attack puts the queen at d3 to support light-square action. It can also lead to a Manhattan Gambit, as here, in a game with an interesting opening and flashy finish
For those who like radical, confrontational openings, 1.c4 g5 is worth looking at. I don't think it is very good, but White's avantage is not insurmountable. I bring it up because I was looking at the latest Randspringer reprint of its magazine ar...
Player Profile - Wesley So Top Philippines player and currently world's youngest Grandmaster Wesley So, the World’s Youngest Grandmaster (at 14 years 1 month) and the No. 1 ranked player in the Philippines, was born on 9 October 1993 in Cavite, ...
Here is an excellent game played by Michael Adams.
Edward Lasker (1885-1981) was born in Germany (in an area now in Poland). He became an engineer and moved to London, England where he played his famous casual game against Sir George Thomas. Before war began in 1914, he moved to America. He won th...
Below are the Anand vs Kramnik games with complete analysis. ...
