Reminder: Deadline for entries is 5:59 p.m. Pacific time September 2. The biggest event in online chess is back for 2019, and the field of 16 grandmasters is set for the 2019 Speed Chess Championship beginning September 2 at 6 p.m. PDT. W...
The concept of time in chess is one of the most difficult topics for young kids to grasp. While they have no trouble understanding how you can lose a piece, a pawn or the right to castle, the subject of losing time is usually confusing for them. ...
NM Bojan Lukajic's (@lasker_fiverr) notes on Chess.com are an incredible testament to the affection and appreciation of his students. Probably no coach on Chess.com has so impressed his students with such dedication and effort. NM Lukajic truly ca...
If you have seen the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, you may remember one of the Washington Square Park hustlers who held a sign offering a photograph or a game with the man who beat Mikhail Tal. Just like most of the movie's chess...
When we talk about blitz chess, we usually think about tactics, blunders and opening surprises that force our opponents to spend their precious seconds. I doubt that many people would mention good endgame technique as an integral element of b...
Do you want to learn an excellent and diverse opening without a lot of theory? IM Keaton Kiewra teaches the course for you! The Trompowsky Attack (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5) is an excellent try for an advantage that can easily throw Black into shark-infest...
At one time there were no official titles in chess. In 1950 FIDE created the Grandmaster, the International Master and the International Women Master titles. The first two sets of titles weren't based on rating...
I am sure that you've encountered the situation where your opponent played an opening move that breaks all known chess rules. What is your second thought when this happens? (I assume that the first thought is usually: "You gotta be kidding me!")...
In December 2017 the company Deep Mind took the chess world by storm when they announced that their new engine, AlphaZero had decisively won a match against the previous top engine in the world, Stockfish. Join IM Danny Rensch as he analyzes key g...
Making forecasts is not one of my best skills. Actually it is quite the opposite: Usually my predictions of the future are quite bad. Yet one of my forecasts was a no-brainer, since I couldn't possibly have gone wrong with it. Almost four ...
What is pawn structure? From my online glossary, I define it as "the positioning of the whole pawn mass. Also referred to as the pawn skeleton. This positioning of the pawns is what usually dictates the types of plans available in a gi...
Are you looking to participate in a community league? Community Leagues provide great opportunities to represent your nation, state, city and communities in many different types of chess, including daily chess, vote chess, live chess formats, an...
Want to learn the Caro Kann Defense from a U.S. champion? Few could have predicted just how bright the future was for GM Sam Shankland when he recorded his fantastic series on the Caro Kann Defense in 2012. Six years later, Shankland brok...
Destiny makes its urgent way to the mighty and those who do violent deeds. This is the beginning of Stefan Zweig's famous Die Weltminute von Waterloo (The World Minute of Waterloo). While this short novel describes the decisive moment of the his...
The 14th world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik reflects on his remarkable career, telling David Cox about his championship battles with Garry Kasparov, Peter Leko, Veselin Topalov and Vishy Anand, and why Kramnik finally ran out of motivation for ...
There is a well-known chess joke (or maybe not even a joke!) that it is much more difficult to sacrifice a pawn than a queen. Indeed, in most queen sacrifices you get huge dividends right away, since it is difficult to imagine a player sacrifici...
This month we are pleased to meet Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, known as MVL, the French number 1 and member of world top 5. Chess.com France will follow closely his quest for the world title that will require being qualified for the next Candidate...
What is pawn structure? From my online glossary, I define it as “the positioning of the whole pawn mass. Also referred to as the pawn skeleton. This positioning of the pawns is what usually dictates the types of plans available in a given ...
IM Mateusz Bobula is one of the new coaches on Chess.com. His streams at www.Twitch.tv/matbobula emphasize opening theory and break down critical opening and middlegame structures during and after his games, many that he has pl...
If you are a club player rated around 2000 USCF, then you are probably laughing at the question in the headline. You are probably thinking: "Yes, I would love to be world number-one, but what are my chances to push my rating above Magnus Carlsen?&...
[cover image from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll; illustrated by Peter Newell, 1902 ] ___________________________________________________________________________________________________...
EDIT: Entries for Season 4 are now closed. Check out the fixtures and rules for Season 4 here. Want to represent your homeland in the "Olympics" of chess? The Live Chess World League will soon begin season four on Chess.com with do...
Do you want to improve your puzzle rush score? What a silly question. We all want to improve our Puzzle Rush score. Puzzle Rush is a great way to learn how to quickly spot and calculate common tactical patterns. Improving your Puzzle Rush scor...
The Petrov Defense is one of the most hated openings in chess. Probably only the Ruy Lopez Berlin Defense is hated more by chess fans. Both openings are the weapons of choice in many super tournaments where the main goal of many participants playi...
