The Duke
Many people who have no knowledge of or even interest in Chess know the name Bobby Fischer because he is so iconic. There are such icons in all endeavors - those who transcend their fields and become pub...
How To Play Multi-Purpose Moves
How to Improve Your Tactics Chess.com member shivendu2059xyz asked: I would like to discuss how to get better at tactics. Is solving tons of puzzles the only way to improve? Mr. shivendu2059xyz: There are many ways to study ...
The Man That Walked By Himself
The recent departure of IM Emory Tate is a severe blow to American chess. While we have many chess players who are stronger than him and a huge number of chess players who are weaker than him, we'll never have another Emory Tate. In this article...
The Schliemann Gambit
The Schliemann (AKA Jaenisch) Gambit is one of Black's most aggressive responses to the time-tested Ruy Lopez. Some say the Schliemann is unsound, but GM Melikset Khachiyan (Melik) believes the Schliemann is better than its reputation. In thi...
The Terrifying Grinder Of Chess
The title of this article sounds like the name of a cheap horror flick, perhaps a low-budget rip-off of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A spine-chilling monster known as the Grinder terrorizes the inhabitants of a fictional town... A quick...
Garry Kasparov And The Scotch Opening
After Anatoly Karpov came Garry Kasparov, the 13th world champion. Kasparov took opening preparation to possibly the most extreme level of any champions before or since. His deep explorations, with the help of a team of grandmasters and -- a new p...
Links to the Past
This is the week of Halloween, a time when we dust the cobwebs, ressurect the dead and free the whispy ghosts of the departed.I thought this would be an appropriate time to open my own vault into the not-so-distant past with links to what has c...
Cracked Grandmaster Tales: Polgar vs Silman
I didn’t intend to write a 4th Cracked Grandmaster Tales article, but so many Chess.com members asked me to do another that I decided to share a few more (true) stories. I hope you enjoy these as much as you did the others. Be warned: there might ...
Komodo Devours Lenderman; Hikaru Match Slated Jan.
Humans long ago relinquished their claim as the world’s best chess players to the computer engines that now play the most accurate version of chess and who now exclusively probe the leading edge of game’s discoveries. While play...
The Most Unusual Check In Chess
I run a chess club in a local school, and whenever I ask my students if a king can check another king, I hear a loud "No! Kings cannot kiss each other!" Of course, I know what they mean. Even beginners are well aware that this is the closest a k...
The Chess Kings
© 2015, José Diaz Links Interview with José Diaz José Diaz Official Website
Melik Suggests Video Series
For 10 video lessons, GM Melikset Khachiyan is here to analyze his preferred variations of different openings. Melik is one of our favorite coaches but he is also a world-class player. Our lessons will come from games of his own and his students. ...
Remembering IM Emory Tate
On October 17, the chess world suffered yet another devastating loss: IM Emory Tate passed away at age 56. Though he was taken from this world much too soon, Emory has left behind an unforgettable legacy, and he will forever be remembered as ...
Anatoly Karpov And The Caro-Kann
After his famous 1972 victory over Boris Spassky in the so-called "Match of the Century," Bobby Fischer stopped playing chess. He did not compete in any tournaments as the world champion. When Anatoly Karpov emerged as his challenger in 1975,...
Targets, Time Pressure, And Reaching Expert
SPOTTING THE ELUSIVE TARGETS Chess.com member speedyg2 asked: “I have been reading your book How to Reassess Your Chess 4th Edition and I was wondering if move 23 for White (Rfe1) is following the imbalances. My imbalance breakdown was that Bla...
Combinative Chess
"Chess" circa 1913by Annti Favén "A combination is a tactical maneuver in which you sacrifice material to obtain an advantage, or at least to improve your position. So, strategy then, is...
The Best Game Of Millionaire Chess Contest Winner
The Millionaire Chess Open concluded last week in Las Vegas with a dramatic win in the open section by world-number-two Hikaru Nakamura, who took home $100,000 as the top prize in the world's richest open chess tournament. Chess.com was on site ...
More Secrets Of The Soviet Chess School
In the first part of this article I demonstrated by my own example that the biggest secret of the Soviet school of chess was the utmost motivation of the Soviet players. We simply had no right to do wrong since the consequence could be ...
The Positional Queen Sacrifice
Alone together. Foolish wisdom. Cruel kindness. Arrogant humility. All of these phrases are oxymorons, "combination of words that have opposite or very different meanings." The title of this article seems to fit this definition to the lett...
Bobby Fischer And The King's Indian Defense
After Boris Spassky came the most famous chess player ever: Bobby Fischer. Fischer was the world champion with the most limited and consistent opening repertoire. Indeed, Fischer had an attitude that there must be one correct way of playing in e...
The Golden Age
In September 1945 the proud and confident USA team suffered a humiliating, crushing defeat at the hands of the Soviet team in a 10 board, 20 game match played through a novel use of radio transmission, each set of matched contestants played...
The Last Cracked Grandmaster Tales
This is my third and final Cracked Grandmaster Tales article. Click the links if you haven’t seen Cracked Grandmaster Tales and More Cracked Grandmaster Tales. We’ll start with Najdorf again since some people felt that he wouldn’t resort to the g...
The Biggest Secret Of The Soviet Chess School
The famed Soviet school of chess has produced hundreds of grandmasters and dozens of world champions. Thousands of chess coaches teach their students using "the Soviet training method." But who can really describe what exactly was/is the So...
Why Solving Studies Is So Important
Genrikh Kasparian (1910-1995) was a very accomplished chess player. A 10-time Armenian champion, Kasparian was a strong IM and permanent fixture on the Soviet chess scene. However, Kasparian is remembered not as a great chess player —...
