GM Magnus Carlsen has proven himself the world's best in classical, rapid, and blitz. Now it's time to face the bullet. Having won official world championships in three disciplines, there aren't many mountains left to climb, even for a Norwegian...
The 2016 Summer Olympics are underway right now in Brazil as 207 national delegations compete for medals in 28 sports, 41 different disciplines, and 306 total events. Unfortunately for chess fans, the royal game is not among them. And don’...
The recent super-tournament in Bilbao is a part of chess history already. It will be remembered for many different things. While Hikaru Nakamura will always cherish the memory of his first win over Magnus Carlsen, many chess enthusiasts will ...
ih8sens (real name: Matt Nicholson) is a national master rated 2329. He asked the following: “I have a position that I’m curious about. The majority of players I’ve asked believe that Black should not play 18…Bxg3.&...
Many naturally talented chess players effortlessly envision mating patterns, applying them or threatening their application with amazing ease. Other, less talented players such as myself, must keep hammering t...
In all sports, you play much differently when you are winning easily. In baseball, if you are leading 8-0 in the 8th inning, you would not pull your fresh relief pitcher out of the game to pinch hit and try to get another run. In soccer, if y...
Chess.com was able to sit down with each of the four major presidential candidates last week as they turned their attention to courting the ever-important chess demographic. Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Gary Johnson, and Jill Stein w...
In our article last year, we talked about how to improve your positional chess. Today, I want to give you an opportunity to test your strategic skills. The game we'll use for our quiz is quite remarkable. Anatoly Karpov is...
Axorcist wrote: “My question is this: Who do you consider to be the greatest chess theorist of all time? I have never read a good review on who really had the most influence on the development of knowledge in our beautiful game. Was i...
Boris Gelfand’s musings in a recent interview on the benefits of children playing chess for its own sake - “Only a fraction will play professionally, but the rest will acquire the skill of strategic planning and the habit of thinking, ...
Pokémon Go is the fastest-growing smartphone game in history, and it's been dominating the news since its launch in July, at least in the gaming world. But is it a better game than chess? We don't think so. While both games have their f...
George C. Parker was a famous con man. Here is what Wikipedia says about him: "He made his living conducting illegal sales of property he did not own, often New York's public landmarks, to unwary immigrants. The Brooklyn Bridge was th...
This week, we’ll take a look at a young Indian player, Sakshi1234567. She had this to say: “I am 13 years old. My father taught me chess when I was 10. I’ve been taking the game seriously from October 2015. I want to become a g...
In 1945, right after WWII ended, a team of United States players competed against a team of Soviet players in a chess match via radio. While the U.S. team expected stiff competition, there was little doubt in...
On the free day at the Jermuk Women's Grand Prix tournament way back in 2010, I had a pleasant opportunity to chat with the hosts. My conversation with the chief organizer and famous GM Smbat Lputian inevitably touched on the r...
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The world championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin is getting closer, and it is time to update our old forecast. This time I will channel my inner Nate Silver and provide you with some numbers. Let's loo...
As a man that has many interests (UFOs, martial arts, philosophy, various forms of history [chess and non-chess], literature, art, film, music, and even criminology), I recently began reading an excellent book entitled "Shady Side: The Life and Cr...
People are obsessed with chess openings. Amazon shows 28,265 books listed when you search for "Chess Book", but I expect the number of books written on the game is well over 100,000. If I were to hedge a bet, then I would also guess that...
There are basic rules of chess strategy that we learn as soon as we start playing chess. One of the most fundamental premises is the importance of the center. We quickly learn that one of the major goals of positional chess is control ov...
The Chess.com member kergnou said: “Can you take a look at my games and give me some advice?” Jeremy Silman: Okay, I’m going to review one game that shows many of your weaknesses. However, this game is actually one of the ...
As in attics where things once used get stored out of sight and mind, old articles have a way of burying themselves under the weight of those that follow becoming lost and forgotten. Sometimes it pays to put on an apron and gloves, wal...
Picking the correct opening repertoire is one of the most important decisions that a chess player makes. There is no point starting the game with a series of moves that will lead you into a situation that you find unc...
This article concludes our exploration of the best moves played by each chess piece throughout history. To my surprise, the tiniest guys in chess provided so much material that I have to agree with the great Philidor that "pawns are...
