Kushager Krishnater has quickly emerged as one of the most exciting young chess coaches and authors in chess. Hailing from India, this International Master began making waves not just for his playing strength but also for his precocious coachin...
Good afternoon everyone. I am going to try to limit my chat here, as there is a lot in the game notes for you. This week I have been browsing The extraordinary Sergei Voronkov's book 'Masterpieces and Dramas of The Soviet Championships. vol 3. I...
Today would have been the late Professor Lim Kok Ann's one hundred and sixth birthday. He is recognized as the father of Singapore Chess and his manifold contributions to developing and popularizing Singapore Chess is immeasurable. In 2018, the ...
Madonna, the Queen of Pop, is widely known for her versatility in music production, songwriting, and visual presentation. But how many are aware of her interest in chess? Madonna has a reputation for being an avid chess player, chess is routinely ...
Hey everyone, here's a quick Fair Play update from the month of December. There were 136k accounts closed for cheating. Additionally, there were 11 titled player accounts closed for violations. We continue to see clean events in Titled Tues...
Catapult to 1642: Quads, Tunnelvision, and a Month That Finally Clicked January wasn’t just a good month it was the month where everything stopped moving sideways. After two years of grinding, tinkering, studying, and trying to figure out w...
With five victories and a half-point bye in six rounds, GM Awonder Liang has topped yet another Charlotte Chess Center event, placing clear first at the 2026 Charlotte Open. A flawless tournament for Charlotte Open champion GM Awonder Liang. ...
One of my goals in my Modern Masterpieces series is to be able to cover all classic topics with great recent games. If a student wants, my goal is that once published, you would be able to go through this entire series and feel like you had been e...
Welcome everybody, to another edition of the Osaka Papers... There are four things that no one likes losing: your house keys, your wallet, your cell phone, and your ELO rating points... Sure technically they are just numbers on a screen, but th...
You learn the opening principles and try to play solid chess. Yet, some guy can break all the rules and beat you anyway. Here’s what’s really going on, and how to punish it:
INTRODUCTION That time of year is upon us once again. As the holiday season winds down, the largest online chess tournament of the year in terms of field size takes off: the annual Chess.com Daily Chess Championship. This is my third year pa...
In our last blog we featured Filip Kaczmarek's chess journey from beating his maths teacher to captaining his school team in the ECF schools team rapidplay competition. This week we feature Yury Krylov's report on this year's schools team rapidpla...
I reached a 2,000 rating at age 7.Grandmaster loading soon.Except it stopped loading. All I improved in the next 5 years was only +100 rating points. That’s it. One reason.I was lazy. I loved chess. But I loved video games more. A LOT ...
You didn’t lose that last game because you don’t know chess. You lost because your thinking process broke down for a move or two. Maybe three. That’s all it takes. One moment you’re playing solidly, the next you’ve ...
Do you enjoy defending? Most chess players would definitely say no! Playing defense feels like suffering sometimes. But... it's one of the most underrated skills in chess. If you hate being attacked, you are going to feel misera...
One of my students recently asked me a very good question: If opening theory is over exaggerated, what should I actually aim for in the opening?Is it more than just a bank of ideas? Why choose one opening and not another? This is a question I ...
I am pleased to share the book review AND the youtube interview with IM John Donaldson with Chess Reads Here is the Book Review of Bobby Fischer and His World https://chessreads.com/review/bobby-fischer-and-his-world/?fbclid=...
Dear Chess Friends! I'm excited to share insights from my recent workshop "The Art of the Active Move", where we explored one of the most crucial strategic skills in chess: identifying which piece requires improvement and finding the best way to...
Helloooo!!!! Sorry! Lately I’ve been a bit lost because I signed up for the Madrid League and, coincidentally, the strongest players from my team left this year… so I ended up playing against people with only 300 rating points more t...
The consistency with which you lot vote for World Championship Challengers over non-Challengers continues, with Chigorin defeating Tarrasch in the most recent bout (see here). The Russian maestro is thus our last semifinalist, and since the Macken...
An unusual match in that led to a permanent damage in reputation for both players. In Bogoljubow’s class, it was clear that he had lost a step from his peak and no longer had any real business challenging for the world championship. This, un...
Imagine the strongest player in the world, Magnus Carlsen, challenges you to a game. Your goal is simple: survive longer than Bill Gates, who famously got mated in 8 moves (12 seconds total). Let me help you.I’ll explain everything from...
It’s hard to believe that Varun and I started working on Chessalyz.ai almost a year ago now. Back in February 2025, we had an idea for a tool that could help players analyze their games in a more meaningful way. Not just “here’s ...
I’ve been working on ChessEver, a mobile app built specifically for following live chess tournaments on your phone. The app is now available on iOS and Android. What ChessEver does: Countrymen: Automatically follow players and games ...
Hey Impressive Chessers! As we are over half a month into 2026, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on 2025. I didn't want to dwell just on games and ratings, but on the people and lessons that made this year such a meaningful one in my chess l...
