In general, amateur chess players do their best to push their pieces forward and attack. However, sometimes they think they have to retreat due to the opponent threatening something or starting to take over the game (I said “think” bec...
One of the best blitz chess players ever will face a young but supremely talented challenger today as GM Alexander Grischuk battles GM Richard Rapport in the first round of the 2017 Speed Chess Championship, the strongest tournament ever...
In honor of "The Emoji Movie" (and its certified six percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes), we've decided to assign emoji to some of the best chess players in the world. Let us know if you agree with our emoji, and feel free to sugge...
Last week we analyzed the situations where promoting a pawn into a rook, bishop or knight was a logical way to achieve a goal (whether to win or draw the game). Today we'll see the games where underpromotion didn't make much sense and wasn't ...
The Chess.com member Souvik had a couple things to discuss. The first is his simultaneous game against an international master. After Souvic was completely outclassed in the opening (not a surprise when a 1500 player plays an IM), the IM got ...
When a pawn reaches the last rank it creates one of the biggest miracles of the game of chess. In such a situation the weakest chess piece can instantly become the strongest one! While in the majority of such cases, chess players indeed promote a ...
The Chess.com member ostria wrote: I wonder if you would take a look at one of my games. I won, but the thing is I have no idea how! I made simple moves through the game and I am sure we both made many mistakes, but what was my opponent’s...
I noticed that when I teach the rules of chess to kids, almost nothing excites them more than a pawn promotion. I can see sparkles in the kids' eyes and have to answer the unavoidable question: "So, I can have two queens at the same time?" Of co...
In this article we’ll take a look at "deep squares" (6th, 7th, and even the 8th!). So far we’ve used knights as the conqueror of squares, and most of the games will indeed highlight knights. However, this time I’ll also give exam...
Johannes Jacobus van Oosterom Joop van Oosterom, the Dutch business and chess maecenas, died in October of 2016. The Association Max Euwe of Monaco, which Oosterom, along with his hi...
Dear United States Federal Communications Commission staff members and congresspeople, I’m writing to you, good people of the FCC, fine senators, and upstanding representatives, to ask you to please reconsider your plans to remove Title II...
Most of the classical attacking games have a similar scenario: the winner brings his pieces close to the opponent's king and then sacrifices something to deliver a winning combination. But what can you do if your pieces are far away from your oppo...
[Editor's note: David Levy is the president of the International Computer Games Association.] The history of chess programs competing in tournaments is exactly 50 years old. In February 1967 the program MacHack VI, developed at MIT pr...
There are many openings in chess that were named after chess players who invented or make them popular. But what happens when such a chess player is forced to play against his own opening? How does it feel to fight your own brainchild? It is d...
I prepared for my first chess tournament for weeks. Every night, I played a rapid game -- and then studied it, reviewing my moves to see where I missed a tactic, where I anticipated the wrong move, where I could have pressed for better advantage...
In my first "Passionate About Squares" article I demonstrated how important it is to create weak squares in the enemy camp (often referred to as “holes”). In many cases putting one’s pieces (knights in particular) on these hol...
1943 The 1943 tournament was held from July 5th - July 11 Anthony Santasiere and Pfc. George Shainswift shared the $50 first prize award. Santasiere, who espoused Romanticism, played defensi...
Chess is both a game, and a sport! Here are ten ways that chess is a sport: 1. Chess is physically demanding. Chess players do not compete based on athletic prowess, but it is essential for elite chess players to be in excellent physical s...
In my recent article, "The Lonely Knight Checkmate," I discussed a very uncommon situation where a checkmate is delivered by a knight and the winner has no other pieces on the board besides pawns. Such situations are indeed so rare that all t...
Many chess players have a limited understanding of the game. They think it’s all about mating the enemy king. They think it’s all about tactics and attack. They think it’s about creating threats. Of course, all these things are i...
© 2017, José Diaz Links Interview with José Diaz
After my very first lesson at the chess club of the Pioneer Palace, our coach gave us a simple checkmate-in-three-moves puzzle. Immediately our most advanced players started shouting that it is an absolutely impossible task. Some 40 years later ...
Many years ago I wrote a Novice Nook column, "The Fun of Pros and Cons." This column was directed at the many players who play way too fast in long time-control games. The column and its sequel "Chess is Decisions" have proven very helpful as refe...
1941 The 1941 Ventnor City Invitational took place on the Municipal Pier from July 5-13. Of those initially invited, Jack Collins, Harry Morris and Olaf Uvestad couldn't accept and were replace...
