Jeremy Kane is a National Master and three-time Wisconsin state champion. He is the Curriculum Director for chess.com. He has been teaching chess in person and online for over 15 years and has designed hundreds of lessons, available on chess.com/lessons. He is the author of Starting Out The Trompowsky on Chessable and The Next To Last Mistake, a book on defensive ideas in chess.
He is the developer of the Caro-Kane Variation of the Caro-Kann Defense.
email: jeremy@chess.com
Twitter/X: @chessmensch
Hello chess friends, Three years ago I got a dangerous but unsound sacrifice, that virtually no one besides me played, recognized as the Caro-Kane Variation. Since then, I kept playing it in online games, but no one knew about it and it remained...
Hey Chess Friends, We're approaching the end of another year and it's been an eventful one. My biggest chess accomplishment of the year was the publication of my Chessable course, Starting Out The Trompowsky. It's currently on sale and comes wit...
Hi chess friends! I just published my first course on Chessable, Starting Out The Trompowsky. This is an in-depth look at my favorite opening. I know that these variations work because this is my opening preparation, that I've played thousands o...
Hey chess friends, In my games this year, I've noticed that some of my most violent games have come in the quietest of openings, the Exchange Slav. I thought I'd put together a quick guide for you based on my recent practice. Isn't the E...
Hey Chess Friends, Did you get your Chess.com Year In Review email yet? It inspired me to write up my annual review of my personal chess highlights of the year. 2022 was a busy chess year for me as I toured the chess podcast world promoting my...
Hi Chess Friends! I recently played a bullet game that ended with one of the wildest positions I've ever had. I'll present it with a series of difficult puzzles and then show the whole game. First, I went all in on a kingside attack, let my op...
Can you keep up with the tactics from this wild match? Hello chess friends, IM Lawrence Trent has performed well in the current edition of the I'm Not a GM tournament. He's won his first two matches decisively, but my favorite game was actu...
Hey Chess Friends! Buckle up. This is a long one! A few years ago I wrote a post on the Botvinnik English. I still play it on occasion, but it's time to discuss a system that I enjoy even more: the Tromp Wall. Don't let the name confuse you. T...
Hi chess friends, I played a wild game today and thought a few of you might enjoy trying some of the tactics that occurred or could have come up. The first critical moment occurred here. White threatens Qxh8+. What would you play? Le...
Hey Chess Friends, 2021 was an exciting year for chess as a whole. We continued with the Queen's Gambit boom from last year and witnessed exciting candidates and title matches. For me personally, the chess highlight of the year was releasing my ...
If you're here for serious chess improvement, you probably want to check out my previous blog post. If you want a fun surprise weapon to score some quick wins in blitz and bullet, this is the place for you! I don't usually play 1.e4, so when I d...
Hello Chess Friends! It's been an eventful fall for me. In September, we welcomed my 2nd child and in October, I received the first copy of my new chess book! It's available for pre-order here. Four years ago I decided that ther...
Hey Chess Friends, I recently played a bullet game that wasn't terribly high quality but featured some wild tactics near the end. See if you can work your way through some of the key tactical moments. I probably should have just won a qu...
Hey Chess Friends, 2020 was a strange year for my chess growth. I played nearly no over the board games, but thousands of games on Chess.com. Now I'm looking back on the year and sharing a few highlights. Best Mating Attacks: Not a great ...
This week I played an interesting blitz game on the Black side of the Vienna. I played an early sacrifice in the style of the King's Gambit and won quickly. After the game, I looked up the opening to see how similar this had been to prev...
Last week I wrote about some changes I made to my blitz repertoire this year that brought me success with the white pieces. A couple people asked me for similar thoughts with Black, so I’m going to present a few model games for my favorite l...
Hey Chess Friends, 2019 has been a big year for me. As we get to the end I'm reflecting on a few things in my chess life, most of which has taken place right here on chess.com. The biggest change was that I started a job working on our chess....
Last week I played two blitz games on the same day that demonstrated the limits of the queen against a rook and a piece. The first game I won in good style and didn't realize until post-game analysis that I should have forced a draw after winning ...
Today I played a wild blitz game against a slightly higher rated opponent. In an even ending he sacrificed a piece to gain some powerful passed pawns, which led to the position below. I had White and didn't want to passively try to block ...
Hi chess friends, At this point I'm generally on hiatus from competitive play. I have a toddler at home and don't sleep enough to play well or generally have enough free time for most tournaments. That said, a friend of mine convinced me to play...
Hi Chess Friends, I've recently been reading through Game Changer, a book about AI chess engine AlphaZero, the strongest chess entity to date. Obviously no person can play at the level of the machine, but we can pick up a few of its preferred...
Hey Chess Friends, I had a recent blitz game where both kings were in danger throughout. It reminded me of World Champion Steinitz's claim that the king was a strong piece, capable of defending itself. We reached a critical position early whe...
Hi Chess Friends, Since having a kid I haven't had the time or focus to compete in tournaments, so most of my play has been blitz right here on chess.com. I've noticed that as I've gotten more adept at the traps in my current openings a clear...
Hi Chess Friends, A few years ago post-game analysis of one of my online blitz games revealed one of the most astounding mating combinations I've ever seen. See if you can find the win. It's worth your time. Today I played a game on chess...
Hi Chess Friends, In the recent World Championship match, after drawing 12 classical games Carlsen broke through by winning the first rapid game. He gained a large advantage on the board and the clock, and even after some mistakes he still wo...
