The Chess.com member jyuvaraj asks: "I’m a beginner. I wish to improve my game. I’m currently reading the step-by-step method by Rob Brunia and Cor van Wijgerden. Will that help? What else should I do to improve? I’m also ...
The most sacred of all pieces is the king, a piece we must care for and nurture. Right!? Wrong! In this article we are going to take a look at kings on steroids. The kings below are drugged up to their eyeballs and ready...
Last week, we discussed the trickiest knight moves. Today, we'll choose the most amazing bishop move ever! I want to thank all the readers who contribute to our search for the ultimate chess beauty. While it is difficult to choose which b...
Chess.com's GM Blitz Battle Championship began in 2016. With Death Matches as the precursor, this championship is different in several regards. The Blitz Battles are still three hours in length, but each match does not stand alone. The...
The Chess.com member Mornarben wrote: “My question is about the initiative. I seem to be able to play well in the beginning, getting positions with good central control, but [I] never see a good way to launch an attack to seize the initiativ...
Convergences: Miles of String by Marcel Duchampfrom the "First Papers of Surrealism" exhibition New York 1942, for the benefit of the French war relief societiesPhoto by John Schiff hangs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Untitled scul...
When you see a good move, don't play it. Look for a better one. This is the number-one principle in chess. Over the years, I have also told my students: You are trying to find the best move you can in a reasonable amount of time. I...
What is dynamic chess? You'll find out here as GM Melik Khachiyan teaches you to compound your advantages and really put pressure on opponents. There's nothing like learning from in-game examples. Watch a great teacher break down dynamic chess fro...
Defense wins championships! The old cliche may not always apply to chess, but great defenders have certainly made a name for themselves. Tigran Petrosian and Vladimir Krammnik knew one thing for sure, if your opponent keeps crashing into a brick w...
There's nothing like a clash of the titans. The FIDE World Cup always lays a wonderful foundation for great moments in chess. 2015 was no exception. Get all the highlights from one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year. ...
We all have our favorite areas to study. In this series, you'll get to enjoy two of IM Keaton Kiewra's favorites: kingside attacks and queen endgames. As usual, coach Keaton has found some of the more exciting games on Chess.com for his lectu...
Seizing the initiative is not something that just happen. There's a strategy to gaining the initiative. However, the importance of playing aggressively doesn't justify reckless abandon. In this series, learn how to properly fight for the init...
Today, we continue our investigation (started in this article) of the weirdest, funniest and trickiest moves ever played. This time, we'll talk about knight moves. To tell you the truth, I thought knights were going to be the easi...
The three-hour, round-one match between Magnus Carlsen and Tigran Petrosian will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific time (1 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. GMT) Thursday, June 23. Click here to find the match's starting time in your own...
What's the biggest underdog story in sports? What's the biggest in chess? Thursday's much-hyped GM Blitz Battle between top-seeded World Champion Magnus Carlsen and qualifier Tigran Petrosian might seem more equal if the "other Petrosian" w...
The Chess.com member te_amo (from Kolkata, India) asked me to point out his weakness in his games. He said: “I undergo no sort of professional training, and I aspire to be over 2000 someday.” Mr. te_amo, the fact is that people start...
First of all I would like to thank our readers for their contribution to last week's article. Many of you shared your chess knowledge and helped to uncover some little-known games with really stunning moves. Since in that article&nb...
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The Chess.com member rosyflamitto said: “I usually blunder a lot, mainly in middlegames. Will you please look at few my games and give me some advice?” Jeremy Silman: Before continuing, a word to those reading this article: I am ge...
Mrs. Morphy is renowned in the salons of New Orleans as a brilliant pianiste and musician; and her son, without ever having studied music, has a similar aptitude for it, and he believes he would have become as famous therein as in chess, had he ...
Have you ever seen a beautiful landmark or an interesting building and thought, "hey, this place could use more chess?" It's time for another photo manipulation contest on Chess.com. [Update, June 30: results are below.] Use ...
The death of GM Viktor Korchnoi is a huge loss for chess. I am not going to repeat the obvious facts that he was the strongest chess player who never became the world champion or tell you about his enormous chess heritage. There are thousands...
The Chess.com member JerryPapada wrote: “My name is Jerry, I’m 15 years old, from Greece, and I’m trying to find a way to bump up my rating. I need to find what is missing from my games.” Jeremy Silman: Playing 3-0 games ...
The great Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi died Tuesday in Switzerland at the age of 85. His longevity as a top-level player and his fighting spirit were such that it was easy to hope that he might trick Death himself in a rook endgame and live f...
