Keep It Up!
© 2015, José Diaz Links Interview with José Diaz José Diaz Official Website
Pandolfini's Mailbag: Lost In Losing
Topic for next month: Speed Chess (Please start submitting questions concerning the above topic for the next column. Questions different from the above theme should be submitted to other Chess.com departments.) Question 1: (Submitted by Warri...
The King Hunt, Revealed
To me, the term king hunt invariably conjures up an image of a bygone era, when chess was played over coffee and cigars at the Café de la Régence. With defensive tenacity largely considered a hindrance to the game's beauty, spec...
How To Battle The Caro-Kann
In the previous two articles, I have discussed the earliest beginnings of the Caro-Kann Defense as well as later usage and developments. In this third part of the four-part series, I will discuss the various methods White has evolved to oppose the...
Dreams: The Secret Formula For Chess Success, Part 3
What in the world is a chess dream? And how can such a thing help your game? For those that want the full introductory prose, please go to part one of this series. For the busy masses who have things to do and places to go, here’s a nutshe...
The 7 Weirdest Chess Openings
Everyone knows the popular, "normal" openings played at the top level of chess. The Ruy-Lopez, the Sicilian, the French: thousands of pages have been written about these world-championship-level openings. But what if you're not playing a...
Saw: Chess Horrors
"I want to play a game." -- John '"Jigsaw" Kramer (from the movie Saw). You all probably know this cliche from many horror movies: A group of people are having fun (like a bunch of drunk college kids partying in a remote location), upbeat...
The Northern Gambit
The Northern Gambit The moves of the Danish or Northern Gambit are 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 - after which Black can accept the gambit with 3...dxc3 or decline it in a variety of ways. The Danish o...
The Northern Gambit II
Danish Gambits of Dr. Lindehn Non-Danish Gambits of Dr. Lindehn - Dr. Lindehn's Games at Odds ...
In Pursuit Of Zugzwang
Zugzwang in chess seems like a simple concept: being forced to move even when it's disadvantageous. To me, zugzwang is the saudade of chess; a straightforward idea on the surface, but a profound and fascinating concept on the in...
The Caro-Kann: Modern Times
In part 1 of this series on the Caro-Kann, I discussed the earliest beginnings of the opening, the origin of the name, and its first adoption by top players. It is always fascinating to learn about the beginnings of these openings, which today see...
What If Death Match 31 Were Competitive Eating?
What if Chess.com added a food consumption element to its Death Matches? On which meal would GMs Sam Shankland and Georg Meier prefer to gorge? For this and other pressing and non-pressing questions, we caught up with the players. You can read b...
The Scandinavian Video Series
What makes chess beautiful is what remains undiscovered in its lesser-used openings. Obviously, some theory remains more popular than others and for good reason. Regardless, becoming acquainted with the ugly ducklings of chess, like the Scandinavi...
Dreams: The Secret Formula For Chess Success, Part 2
What in the world is a chess dream? And how can such a thing help your game? For those that want the full introductory prose, please go to part one of this series. For the busy masses who have things to do and places to go, here’s a nutshell expl...
Fill Out Your Bracket To Win Prizes
The sports network ESPN estimates that 70 million college basketball brackets will be filled out this week in the United States alone. You can get in on the fun by joining the official Chess.com college basketball bracket contest. Play along wit...
Little Mother
In the 1890s women's chess in England, as in most places, was considered nearly inconsequential. To bring this arena to the forefront required dedication, energy and persistance. It so happened that man...
The Opening You've Never Heard Of
Grandmaster David Bronstein was an excellent chess player, original thinker and a brilliant chess author who produced a number of bestsellers. His most famous chess book is undoubtedly "Zurich 1953." Everyone loves this book and for a good reas...
Vassily No More
© 2015, José Diaz Links Interview with José Diaz José Diaz Official Website
The Two Rook Endings You Must Know
The study of theoretical endgames is a necessary evil. For most players, it is a rather torturous experience simply because there is no room for innovation or creativity. However, as any strong gandmaster will tell you, there are several th...
The Caro-Kann: A History
We turn our attention to a defense that has been known for its solidity from the very beginning: the Caro-Kann Defense. Surely the moves 1.e4 c6 have been played in casual games long ago -- probably soon after the modern rules of chess were inst...
Video Series On My Memorable Games
GM Sam Shankland is one of the most promising young players to have emerged from the United States in recent years. Earning his GM title by the age of 21, Shankland built a considerable library of instructive and beautiful games by the time most p...
Dreams: The Secret Formula For Chess Success
In general, most players view imbalances as positional commodities. However, though that’s certainly true, one also has to learn to recognize dynamic and tactical imbalances. To be a good player, you need to learn as many tactical and posi...
You Can Play Hikaru Nakamura This Saturday
UPDATE: This article, written for the first "Nakamura's Knockout" event in March. NEXT Nakamura's Knockouts is this Saturday, April 18th at 2pm Pacific, 5pm Eastern. Have you ever wanted to take on the best chess player in the United States and...
Catalans
Joan Carbó i Batlle was born the same year as Paul Morphy. In fact, Batlle was just 3 weeks older than his more famous contemporary. Also a lawyer, though born in Tarragona, Catalonia, Batlle with his two friends, Judge Josep-Salvi Fàbregas...
