One of the biggest open tournaments of the year (Gibraltar) was marred by a bizarre incident that happened in the last round. The women's world champion, Hou Yifan, lost her game in just five moves! Media instantly spread the news thro...
Chess players are always looking for new openings. But picking an opening isn’t easy since there are so many to choose. Sometimes the choice is made by using the openings of your favorite chess hero. And other times the opening choice is ...
Preface: An official U.S. Women's Chess Championship has existed for nearly 80 years. The USCF lists 1937 as the first year. There have been many strong and important women players over the early...
The most shocking chess episode of the year that everyone is talking about happened in the Tata Steel super tournament. Indeed how often does the world chess champion miss a checkmate in three, when he has plenty of time to think on his ...
This article is a bit different in that I’ve written about chess books and I’ve written about chess coaches, but I’ve never blended the two together. In doing so, I will show you how your chess teachers can turn your chess books ...
© 2017, José Diaz Links Interview with José Diaz
In the first part of this article, we saw numerous examples of Howard Staunton's sparkling attacks. Yes, he knew how to attack, but there were many players who could do it as well if not better than him (Paul Morphy instantly com...
If getting people to pay you for advice was as simple as asking, everyone would be doing it! The same goes for chess coaches looking to develop their professional career. While Chess.com does provide the tools you need for teaching, we ...
The Chess.com member Canyounotquit wrote: “I really want to know why and how I lost this particular game. I had a piece lead and still I lost badly. I’ve no idea where I went wrong.” JS: Everyone loses games. But, wh...
Preface: An official U.S. Women's Chess Championship has existed for nearly 80 years. The USCF lists 1937 as the first year. There have been many strong and important women players over the early...
© 2017, José Diaz Links Interview with José Diaz
Ask chess players about the period known as romantic chess and they will probably mention the names of La Bourdonnais, Anderssen and Morphy. Indeed, all three of them were called unofficial world champions of their time. ...
In the annual "Battle of the Sexes" at the 2017 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival, where a teams of 5-10 square off, the men conjured some irregular openings against the ladies. On Saturday evening's three-game match, here's the trio of opening...
Se-Brain asked: I am currently boggled by positional sacrifices. First off, what are possible motifs for sacrifices, and second, how do you find out if your sac’s compensation is worth it or not? JS: I pretty much answered this in my ar...
With a staggering 480 players and more than 150 grandmasters currently playing, the PRO Chess League is expanding as word of mouth spreads and new free agents and local players sign up to do battle for their teams and help bring them glory. Here...
Are you a better predictor of PRO Chess League winners than Chess.com's panel of experts? More specifically, are you better than Tarjei Svensen? Through two weeks of the regular season, Norway's "fastest chess Tweeter" has won both weeks, and th...
What if each of the 16 Carlsen-Karjakin world championship games were made into a movie, or into one compilation of vignettes like "New York Stories," "Four Rooms," or "Paris, Je T'aime"? Which director should take the lead on each game? ...
© 2017, José Diaz Links Interview with José Diaz
During the 2016 presidential election, many Americans got caught between a rock and a hard place. Indeed, since both candidates had flaws, it was very difficult to make a choice. I wish we had an objective criteria that would a...
The Chess.com member alaskan asked: “I would like to focus more on understanding rather than on lines, but almost all the opening books I can find focus on lines rather than on general ideas, so where to get this understanding from? ...
Preface: An official U.S. Women's Chess Championship has existed for nearly 80 years. The USCF lists 1937 as the first year. There have been many strong and important women players over the early yea...
The PRO Chess League's panel of pundits is back for week two. The second week of action is rivalry week (amongst the teams, not the panel, we think)! For more on who the quintet comprising the illustrious panel, click back to week one's predicti...
One of the most common questions educators have is, "Where can I find research studies devoted to the educational value of chess?" More studies are being conducted every year, but this article is a compilation of some of the past research d...
My favorite episode from The Prince And The Pauper happens towards the end of the story: "Speak up, good lad, and fear nothing," said the king. "How used you the Great Seal of England?" Tom stammered a moment, in a pathetic confusion, the...
