The Carlsen Variation of the Sicilian

"Have you ever heard of the Carlsen variation of the Sicilian defense?" If not, that's bad news! You could be missing out on the latest fashion top players are pursuing in 1.e4 c5. This so-called "Carlsen variation" can be a great way to boost...

A Subtle Miss

Hi everyone, and welcome to my new post!  Here is the position we will be analyzing today. Black to play, White just played Rg4-Rg6. We are in trouble. We're down one pawn, and probably will be more, and I will be...

Chill with the Yaac Attack

'I have a unique approach to chess, which I use in my own games as well as to teach my students. I call it the Dacha Approach. It's based on building light and dark in harmony, With the pieces as builders and the pawns as bricks. Both the pieces a...

How I Lost to a Guy Who Literally Didn't Know Chess Moves

In chess, everybody can lose to everybody. Even the greatest masters have fallen victim. Defeat always hurt more or less, but to lose to someone who knows nothing about chess, to someone who literally doesn't know the moves can be devastating, it ...

King Tries To Give Checkmate Himself! - Best Of The 1980s - Portisch vs. Pinter, 1984

In one of the prettiest chess games of all time (seriously, I could watch this game all day long ,), Jozsef Pinter conducted a spectacular king hunt in the endgame, using his own king to help checkmate Lajos Portisch! Here are some of the spectacl...

TAKE THE CHALLENGE, PART XIV

Dear friends, I continue with moremovers. There was a curious story regarding the bottom problem. Some time ago, I completely forgot about the existence of the puzzle. As it was not easy to solve it, I decided to look for some familiar idea (after...

A Tale of Two Graphs

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,..." - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities “Chess is rarely a game of ideal moves. Almost always, a player faces a series of...

Ian Wells and David Bronstein, Defenders of the Truth!

Recently, Simaginfan published a nice blog post about Alexander Kotov. https://www.chess.com/blog/simaginfan/alexander-kotov-some-games-just-because-i-like-them  One of the photos has Kotov playing against a young British prodigy, I...

Understanding Minor Piece Imbalances: The Knight

This article is the second edition of a series covering minor piece imbalances. In the first part, I wrote about the bishop's characteristics in such situations. Click here to check it out! In today's article, the discussion will be on a knig...

Today's Daily Puzzle 8/13/20: Double-Check Your Opponent Before You Wreck Your Opponent

Ok I know it's a cheesy title, but I had to do it . For those who are newer to the game, a good rule to know when calculating checks is that if you can get your opponent into double-check (that is, making a move where two of your pieces are thre...

Webinar 45. The Technique of Playing Rook Endgames

Dear Chess Friends! People always ask me about how to play the endgame: what plan to apply, what to attack and how to not lose the endgame. When we talk about middlegames, first thing that comes to our mind is a kingside attack, second –...

TAKE THE CHALLENGE, PART XIII

Dear friends, we continue with moremovers. I repeat, don't be upset if you cannot solve them. Even strong GMs used to sit for hours on these puzzles. So just relax and get pleasure, good luck! ...

The Hedgehog is Solid Right? Go g4!! (Video)

Hello hedgehog lovers (those animals are cute )! I've decided not to do my Titled Tuesday coverages anymore due to their lack of interest (they are always on the bottom half of my view count). I might do videos, but my opening videos attract a L...

Carl Schlechter playing blindfold in 1898 in Vienna... I just found a game

The above photo comes from Das interessante Blatt of Dec 22, 1898. Not a new find! It depicts Carl Schlechter playing blindfold at the Vienna Chess Club on Dec 04, 1898. The exhibition was for seven boards, arranged like a horseshoe, and lasted le...

What Playing Chess Distracted Can Do To You!

Hi chess players and readers!  Now let me tell you something before we get into the meat and potatoes of this chess content. I am not one to make excuses for losing chess games. If there was drama on the board next to me, I needed to focus an...

Stream Schedule Week of 8/10

Here is chessdojo's schedule for this week! We already had a very exciting first on-air clash of the three senseis in a double-round robin blitz tournament-- here if you missed it yesterday. Among other exciting upcoming events, there is a rar...

How Would You Rank The Greatest Chess Players Ever?

How would you rank the greatest chess players of all time? Was Garry Kasparov or Jose Capablanca more dominant at their peak? What matters more, the length of Emanuel Lasker's career or the brilliance of Paul Morphy's? Here's my take on ranking ...

Today's Daily Puzzle 8/11/20: Wait, The King Is Where?

Hello Puzzlers! When first looking at today's daily puzzle it's impossible not to notice the extremely exposed position of the king. Pro tip: in middlegames kings usually don't belong on e4 . So, although black's bishop is hanging and it's ...

8 Tips to avoid Blunders (+ Video)

Hi… Do you blunder too much? Do you lose completely won games because you made only one big mistake and lost everything in a second? Do you see the games you played and ask yourself “how could I play such a bad move”? In this po...

Master Analysis of Your Games (3rd edition)

Hello Everyone, Hope you all are staying safe and healthy as the world seems to be in a mad state at the moment. That being said, chess is really seeing an uptick of attention, which is a really nice side-effect to everything else. For me Augu...

Alexander Kotov. Some Games, Just Because I Like Them!

O.K. I have a day off today, so grabbing the first book I set eyes on out of the bookcase I had a look at some chess.  It was this rather nice book. Alexander Kotov. A player most of you will have heard of - perhaps you will have read one...

Summer Tournament Week 4

My Dear Chess Friend! This article is written by @jay_1944, a member of Online tournament that I organized recently. And it reflects his impression about the the 4th round of our tournament! Hi all! Week 4 of FM Neustroev's Online Summer Tou...

Today's Daily Puzzle 8/10/20: Alternative Piece Valuations

Hello Puzzlers! First, I want to apologize for being missing for the past three days. As I recently became an affiliate on Twitch I have been spending some time improving my channel. I also had been spending some time uploading a new YouTube vid...

Analyzing Magnus Carlsen's Endgame Technique (Part V)

And without further ado welcome to the fifth and final blog in my Magnus Endgame series! As a reminder, I'm reading Hungarian IM Tibor Karolyi`'s ground-breaking work: Endgame Virtuoso Magnus Carlsen: His Extraordinary Skills Uncovere...

Analyzing Magnus Carlsen's Endgame Technique (Part IV)

Welcome ambitious chess enthusiasts! I'm glad you've come to Part IV in my Magnus series in order to improve your chess strategy and practical endgame play. There's nothing more precious then a game collection on the modern genius of the game.&n...