In my piece on Vidmar for “Chess in the 1910s,” I argued that Vidmar may well be the most underestimated player in chess history. He confirms that somewhat whimsical status with his performance in the 1920s — by my metric (head-t...
My recent conversation with Levon Aronian was so profound that I went back to rewatch the episode and reflect on some of his concepts and ideas. Then, just like I do with books, courses, or podcasts, I wrote down the key insights I took from Lev...
A Different Kind of Blog Post: The First Edition of the "Make Them Cry" Tournament (a friendly competition among my students) Today’s post is going to be a little different. Instead of the usual content, I want to share the story of a spec...
This blog post is written by WIM Luciana Morales, Social Media and Community Manager at Chessable. I’m going to keep it real – I never read IM Jeremy Silman’s books when I was learning. My own path was shaped by differ...
Dear Chess Friends! Opportunities for decisive strikes frequently occur during chess games. Missing these moments can have a significant impact on the outcome. This concept, known as the "Sudden Attack," is not only powerful, but it can occur at...
Last week, the eleventh season of the North American Corporate Chess League kicked off, with the games being played right here on chess.com! A grand total of 45 teams competed in three rounds of online rapid chess on Thursday evening, representing...
Good afternoon everyone. WARNING! This will be a long blog - albeit a mere pin prick of the 460+ pages of the book being looked at, so normal advice - pop in and out when you have the time. Hopefully it will be worth the time spent. Before I g...
Happy Cinco de Mayo, Impressive Chessers! In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate an impressive figure in chess history. The first Mexican Grandmaster (GM): Carlos Torre Repetto. While Torre wasn’t officia...
বাংলাদেশে দাবা একটি জনপ্রিয় এবং সমৃদ্ধ ঐতিহ্যের খেলা, যার শিকড় ভারতীয় উপমহাদেশের প্রাচীন চতুরঙ্গ খেলার সাথে জড়িত। ষষ্ঠ শতাব্দীতে উদ্ভূত চতুরঙ্গ পারস্য এবং আরব বিশ্বের মাধ্যমে আধুনিক দাবায় রূপান্তরিত হয়, এবং গঙ্গা সমভূমির অংশ হিসেবে বাংলাদেশ ...
#quickwins #romantic #fun Recently, I’ve had almost a couple of weeks off work: the Easter long weekend, and then attending the WONCA (World Organization of Family Doctors) 2025 Asia-Pacific Regional Conference, held this year in Bus...
Once I get into the Middlegame, I feel disoriented, I don't know what to do... !? This is one of the most common questions students ask me. And certainly, it's a problem, since in the Opening everything is clear: Develop Pieces, Control the Cent...
Last weekend, the SouthPark Hilton Garden Inn played host to one of the Charlotte Chess Center's flagship tournaments: the Spring ALTO. ALTO stands for At Least Twenty One, meaning that all participants in the event were 21 years old or above! H...
দাবা, যাকে আমরা শতাব্দীর প্রাচীন বোর্ড গেম হিসেবে জানি, দাবা এবার প্রথমবারের মতো ইস্পোর্টস বিশ্বকাপে (Esports World Cup) অন্তর্ভুক্ত হয়েছে। সৌদি আরবের রিয়াদে জুলাই-আগস্টে অনুষ্ঠিতব্য এই টুর্নামেন্টে বিশ্বের শীর্ষ খেলোয়াড়দের অংশগ্রহণ নিশ্চিত কর...
Dear Chess Friends!Today, I'd like to simplify the complex realm of rook endgames. Many players dread endgames because they appear to be endlessly complicated, but the good news is that most rook endgames are as simple as grasping two critical pri...
I have some rather annoying brain fog today, but at the same time I'd really like to wrap up this particular project, so it's a good thing (for all of us, really) that today's post is not a traditional Winner's POV. As the title suggests, this i...
Hello, guys! Welcome to another blog! I will not make any mystery regarding what the topic is because it's already been written up there, but would you like to know why I decided to write about it and where the idea came from? Okay, I can't kn...
Playing against a Grandmaster (GM) as an amateur can feel like stepping into a storm. Even when the first moves look normal, you quickly realize you’re being pulled into something you can’t control. The pressure is constant, the mistak...
Dear Chess Friends! Every chess player dreams of reaching a situation where the ultimate, decisive combination will result in an immediate triumph. These "final combinations"—the tactical strikes at the end of a game—are critical for...
Carlos Torre was born in 1904 in Mérida, Mexico. When he was six he pulled the Capablanca trick of learning the rules of chess from watching his brothers play. At 11, the family moved to New Orleans and Torre’s talents were quickly no...
Today I had a 40 minutes calculation session later I had a 20 minutes session when I played a game and analyzed it. You can watch the calculation session: I played with the Serbian International Grandmaster Vladimir Raicevic. He playe...
Your move! You stare at the position, the clock ticking. Should you trust your gut feeling pulling you toward that knight sacrifice, or calculate every variation to be sure? We've all been there – caught between intuition and calculation. ...
Today I decided to take time every day to improve my own chess. This way I will also gain more experience how adult improvers can use well their limited time. I will share the ways I study, my games with annotations and all ideas which you can a...
Hi everyone! It’s been a while since my last blog post. At some point, I wondered if anyone was really interested in reading them anymore. But recently, I felt the urge to write again, even if just briefly. Over the past couple of years, ...
CCC24 Bullet will round out the final event in the CCC24 series. We've just had a taste of 1+1 time control in the Bullet Brawl: Spring 2025, which is our bi-annual rating event. For the first time since Torch's release, Torch has won an event bea...
Oh, boy, I got myself in trouble again. Where to start? Well, with the King's Indian Defense. But where does the name come from? We have all sorts of "Indian" Defences....King's Indian, Queen's Indian, Nimzo-Indian, Bogo-Indian, etc.... It's a...
