Principles provide stability; exceptions, dynamism... The essence of chess lies in its duality: well-established strategic principles that provide solidity and clarity, versus dynamic exceptions that can break patterns and unbalance the positi...
A Conversation with Mani A. FIDE Arbiter “I think chess players develop a great ability to solve problems and puzzles. I want to encourage them to use that same capacity to work through and solve difficult problems, in their own...
Dear Chess Friends! Following my recent workshop on Positional Piece Sacrifices for Long-Term Initiative, I am excited to share critical ideas and game fragments that demonstrate this fundamental strategic notion. You can view the complete works...
#10000subs #chessnut #vienna Click to subscribe to my YouTube channel! I’m very proud to announce that my channel has reached a major milestone. 😃 I knew that it was coming, so had the live subscriber count open on ...
This guest post has been written by Alan-Safar Ramoutar, an International Master and Chessable Author from Trinidad and Tobago. Have you ever wondered what separates the greatest chess players in history from the rest? It's not just...
Hey, readers! Welcome to another blog! As you have surely seen from recent news reports, our world is once again witnessing an armed conflict in the Middle East, perhaps the most tense area on the planet. Obviously, my goal here is not to explai...
I was very focused on becoming the best, not the best woman. -Judit Polgar Welcome everybody, to a special "Oh, my God! I met Judit Polgar!!" edition of Blitz 'n' Memes. If you're a fan of puzzles taken from amateur online bl...
It's been awhile since posting one of these. For the first time in forever, I've actually felt satiated in terms of finding opening novelties. I still remain shocked from discovering my last post's 18.Qc8!N in the 9.0-0-0 Dragon. Finding a spic...
Good afternoon everyone. Whilst most online chess watchers were trying to work out Rapport's wonderful brilliancy this week, I was also trying to follow another game. When Ivanchuk is playing - it feels strange to see him in the secondary ...
This blog is all about my reflections on chess puzzles and the solving of them. I have littered this blog with a number of puzzles (sadly I can only access the last 25...). Feel free to post your scores below and let me know how you got on! I...
This post may be interesting primarily to complete beginners, or to those who are just starting their career as chess coaches and want to learn how to do it properly. The Wrong Approaches Let’s start with the first point: there sh...
We're excited to announce our new partnership with the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2025! Our titled members registered with the Indian Chess Federation can now participate in exclusive qualifiers on Chess.com on July 12 and 13 at 7:30 p.m. IST ...
Sometimes, a single pawn push can change everything – just like one breakthrough can redefine an entire field. As a grandmaster, I’ve often marvelled at how a simple move like e4 can open vast possibilities on the board. Yet these days...
What's the greediest chess move you’ve ever played? For me, it was this position from a 2018 game. My knight was on d5, his pawn on f4. I just needed 5 minutes to calculate the crushing Ne7 … But I grabbed on f4 because...
Welcome everyone, to another "...wait, did I just miss mate-in-one?" edition of the Osaka Papers. My most recent foray into the world of over-the-board chess, brought me to Japan's third city: Nagoya. I was there to participate in th...
"The quiet revolutionary of modern chess." A Prodigy Born for the Crown Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik was born on June 25, 1975, in Tuapse, a small town on the Black Sea coast in Russia. His parents were intellectuals—his father an arti...
Hey Impressive Chessers! I hate to be that guy…but please, for the sake of your chess future, stop playing "hope chess". If you are a returning reader, first of all thanks! Secondly, you know that I always try to give advice that’...
The position below comes from the game Boleslavsky–Lisitsin. It’s one of the first games where the famous idea of the Boleslavsky Hole in the Sicilian Defense was used. How can White continue the game? You can see that, despite bei...
#playersleague #elite #vonhennig #englund #queensac #duboisreti #kiddie Click to subscribe to my YouTube channel! On Monday morning (23rd June 2025), I woke up to the announcement on my phone that I had finally levelled u...
Dear Chess Friends! Understanding and regulating pawn tension in the center is a subtle but important ability in chess strategy. Central pawn tension arises when opposing pawns directly or indirectly threaten to capture or advance, resulting in ...
A Conversation with Coach Tim Moroney “What’s amazing about chess is that you can continuously test yourself and your theories in a safe setting.” Tim Moroney has been sharing his passion for chess with stud...
Efim Bogoljubow was born in 1889 in what is now western Ukraine. Very few top players have had such an inconspicuous rise to stardom as he did. He was strong enough to secure an invitation to Mannheim in 1914 but was largely an unknown quantity. I...
#kingsgambit #blunder #doublecheck #quickwin Click to subscribe to my YouTube channel! Every now and then, I find an unexpected piece sacrifice on the board, a beautiful move that excites and delights. During the research fo...
The ninth annual edition of the Carolinas Classic, one of the Charlotte Chess Center's flagship events, took place last weekend at the Hilton Charlotte University Place! The Carolinas Classic wasn't just a standalone chess tournament - it was a ...
In my last post (see here), we took a look at a prototype leaderboard-esque thing for the 1880s in a continuation of humanity's desire to rank things. I argued that the leaderboard had its flaws when it came to actually ranking people, but it serv...
