Learning ideas from the endgame (and not only from the endgame) is very important. Little by little, idea by idea, you get stronger. Just like penny by penny, you build something big. Master these ideas, like shouldering, and you improve step by s...
I want to share a special story about my good friend, Abel, and how he chooses to spend his Thursday mornings—and sometimes Tuesday evenings—with a truly unique group of chess players. Some people volunteer once and walk away feeling g...
When it comes to chess improvement, most players know the "big three": Chess.com, lichess.org and Chessable (especially if you're working on openings or tactics). These platforms are fantastic in their own right but if you're serious about broaden...
A Conversation with The Chess Friends about their new book Q&A Chess: Tournament Edition Get it now at: https://a.co/d/e069gQD The Chess Friends: Benjamin Frederick (13), Sarang Sankrithi (11) and Vivaan Sankrithi (7) are th...
In the first video in our Modern Masterpieces series, we looked at the importance of controlling the center. It is the VERY FIRST thing you need to in a chess game. The claims you and your opponent stake on the center in the first few moves dictat...
Dear Chess Friends! I'm excited to share highlights from my recent workshop "6.Bg5 in the Italian Game", where we explored one of the most dynamic and aggressive approaches to this classic opening. Whether you're looking to surprise your opponen...
September is well underway, but let's take a look at the numbers from last month. In August, we closed 123k accounts for violating the Fair Play policy. 16 of these accounts were titled players. These statistics remain consistent with the previo...
We've all been there. The position was winning. COMPLETELY winning. You played a brilliant game, found all the right moves, and then... a one-move blunder. A fork you missed. A back-rank mate you overlooked (Usually for me, it's the back-rank). Th...
Hello, everyone! Time to continue this series that I must finish before the end of the year! While my regular readers already know what it is about, I will give a brief explanation for newcomers. The idea is to relate the chess scenario to sig...
Tunnelvision XXXVI: Three Years, Fifty Players, and One Surprising Win Three years ago, Tunnelvision was just Brandon, me, and a stack of folding tables in a church hall.No livestream. No team of TDs. No custom pens or scoresheets, not even a pla...
In chess, time is as important as the position on the board. In decisive moments of a game—known as critical positions—a single decision can change the outcome. Yet these moments often coincide with time trouble, when the pressure of t...
I'm a believer in serendipity. It was only after a frustrating search for a solution to my e-board's connection issues that I stumbled upon a piece of software that changed my online chess experience. That software is Chessconnect, a Chrome extens...
What kind of player are you? How do we tell? The academic year began a few weeks ago in North Dakota, which means I've been busy with the Neuropsychology course I teach during the fall each year. The big goal I have for my students is to learn h...
Mikhail Tal treated chess like a toxic relationship, but instead of hating it, he secretly enjoyed it. He Enjoyed Pure Chaos. I wanted to go further in this video because Tal was a mastermind when it came to being the best attacking player of...
A Conversation with FIDE Master Aziz Degenbaev “It’s important to remember to concentrate on your own individual journey as a chess player. It’s not good to obsess about other players. That is their journey. While it&rs...
In the early 80s, one man’s nightmare became another’s dream.Metallica kicked out their guitarist Dave Mustaine.Handed him a bus ticket back to San Francisco. Goodbye. The same day, they picked a new guy. Kirk Hammett.Barely in his t...
My Windows got corrupted while I was writing this chapter, and among the things I lost were the games and misc. resources used in this blog series. This chapter is mostly unaffected, but expect an even longer gap between posts than usual while I r...
Today, I'm doing something INCREDIBLY stupid... I'm launching a MASSIVE new series on my YouTube channel: "100+ Modern Positional Masterpieces Guaranteed To Improve Your Chess" My previous greatest effort on my blog and YouTube channel has been ...
It is a common fallacy to believe that the great Masters of the past did not play chess well....a myopic approach, to say the least. The games of the great Masters can serve as a great source of inspiration and actual knowledge.....the final pos...
Dear Chess Friends! I'm excited to share highlights from my recent workshop "Pawn Wedge in the Center", where we explored how to leverage this powerful strategic weapon. Whether you play closed openings or dynamic systems, understanding pawn wed...
*Investbanka* tournament in Belgrade, The Capital of Serbia, *Yugoslavia* at a time, in 1989, been the most attractive gathering of chess players that year. World Champion Kasparov arrived with the specific goal - to achieve rating...
There is a place in chess where all masks fall. Opening theory dissolves, tactical fireworks fade away, and what remains is the bare essence of the game: the endgame. It is there that a player reveals the depth of their understanding, where memory...
#senserobot #chessrobot #firstlook I'm very excited to be reviewing the SenseRobot Chess - this is a very very cool chess robot from a manufacturer in China that makes use of a very high quality robot arm and gripper (the soft, barely audi...
SRM-A and BITS Pilani Hyderabad (Martial Knights-A) are leading the 2025 India College Chess Championship Autumn Season (ICCL). Teams VIT A and SRCC are currently in third and fourth places, respectively. Standings after Round 4 | Division...
It was a chess-filled Labor Day weekend here in Charlotte, North Carolina, as the Charlotte Chess Center hosted two FIDE-rated events: the Southeastern FIDE Championship and the Labor Day Norm Invitational! Both tournaments took place at the Sou...
