Dear Chess Friends! I'm excited to share highlights from my recent workshop "How to Become an Uncomfortable Opponent", where we explored how to create maximum psychological and practical pressure on your opponents, forcing them out of their comf...
In this week’s blog, Maidenhead and Birmingham University Club player, Calvin Chris Biju takes us through his chess journey including joining Maidenhead Chess Club, reaching the final of the Club Championship, meeting a former British Prime ...
Many things in life happen by coincidence, but writing a book does not seem to be one of them. Even so, I never planned to write my book about Capablanca and Alekhine, although after several years of working on it, I am very glad that I did. My ...
November 8, 2025 With the tournament only 5 days away, I started my preparation by doing puzzles on Lichess, as I had cancelled my Chess.com subscription because I wasn't using it as often. Therefore, I'm not willing to pay for a service that I ...
Forgot to post a blog last week, so let's wrap up the last two weeks of chess news in audio! In Episode 7, I discuss the quarterfinals and semifinals of the FIDE World Cup, three matches from the Chess.com Speed Chess quarterfinals, the Women&rs...
#royalfork #giuocopianissimo #tactics Click to subscribe to my YouTube channel! It’s been quite a hectic November, and I’d realised this morning, that I hadn’t played a rated game on Chess.com for ove...
Duolingo, the online platform that has provided free language lessons for more than a decade, has recently added chess to its repertoire. It seeks to benefit from the continually expanding worldwide interest in the royal game that we love. Chess...
Chess players often rely on book recommendations to guide their study. Good reviews are extremely helpful and can save players hundreds of hours by pointing them toward the right material. If there’s one downside, it’s that reviews can...
With only two rounds left at the annual US Masters tournament in Charlotte, three GMs stand tied atop the standings with 6/7. But with a whopping nine players on 5.5 behind them, there are plenty of players left in contention for the tournament's ...
Welcome Everybody, to another blunder filled edition of Blitz 'n' Memes... If you're a fan of puzzles taken from amateur online blitz tournaments, then you have come to the right place, because that is what I do. As always, the tactics have be...
The world is changed. I feel it in the openings. I feel it in the endgames. I smell it in the wooden pieces. Much that once was is lost, for none now play who remember it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Back to Top It began with the forging of the ...
The annual US Masters tournament is well underway in Charlotte, and one player still has a perfect score through five rounds! With wins over two GMs and two IMs in his last four games, GM Andrew Hong stands alone atop the standings, with three oth...
Through three rounds at the annual US Masters tournament in Charlotte, only nine perfect scorers remain. Thanksgiving Thursday saw quite a few upsets, as even top-seeded GM Awonder Liang ceded a draw, and several other pre-tournament favorites eit...
Afternoon everyone. As usual, far too much here for you to get through in one go, so pop in and out. Yep, I was having fun doing what I do and ended up with a mass of material. I will never be a 'content creator' who times everything down to the l...
Things are about to get increasingly interesting around these parts. If you think about it, we're over halfway done; we've covered eight matches and eight biographies, and there are only seven matches and eight biographies remaining. Welcome ...
In this game, Levon Aronian and Hans Niemann navigate a razor-sharp Nimzo-Indian where every tempo matters and every pawn structure carries long-term consequences. What looks serene on the surface hides a dense web of threats, counters, and quiet ...
November 2025 Recap: Sharp Lines, Long Drives, and Early Mornings Tournament Hall of The Columbia Club If October was about getting back in the ring, November was about seeing whether I could actually throw punches again. Over the course o...
Throughout my life, I have had the chance to meet and even play with some legends of chess. It is very likely that in the future I will tell you about other encounters I was fortunate enough to experience, but today I am going to talk about the da...
The strongest open chess tournament in the United States, the US Masters, kicked off on Wednesday at the Hilton Charlotte University Place! The US Masters is hosted by the Charlotte Chess Center, and follows the recently-completed Fall Nor...
It is one of the oldest chess prohibitions—and also one of the most frequently broken: Don't bring your queen out too early! The reason for its frequent breakage is clear. The queen is the most powerful piece—why shouldn't I use it a...
Hey Impressive Chessers!! I hate to inform you that I've been in a bit of a blitz slump as of late*. But the good news that comes with that is that I get to play chess players that play "hope chess". I thought that you all had stopped playing "h...
If I had to pick one idea about chess expertise that fascinates me the most, I think that would have to be the possibility that strong players see the board differently than mere patzers like myself. I've written about various aspects of this befo...
This past week, the Charlotte Chess Center hosted a Fall Norm Invitational tournament for players seeking IM and GM norms. Two participants emerged with their first-ever IM norms: 11-year-old FM Linxi Zhu and 13-year-old FM Andrew Jing! The pl...
Hey everyone, In October, we saw a slight decrease in the amount of accounts closed for fair play violations. September had around 125k closures, whereas in October, we had roughly 105k. As for titled closures, we saw 18 titled accounts banned...
Every week, thousands of titled players play on Chess.com and enjoy varying degrees of success. Some rattle off amazing win streaks or show brilliant form in a prize event, while others achieve rating thresholds that previously seemed beyond reach...
