"The ability to work hard for days on end without losing focus is a talent. The ability to keep absorbing new information after many hours of study is a talent." - Garry Kasparov
I miss prophylactic moves! It's not that I don't look for them, I just miss them anyway. I've been studying Dvoretsky's book "Recognizing Your Opponent's Resources", but I've been struggling and my work hasn't transitioned to my gameplay as well...
Here's a challenging position from a game I just played. Black to move. Questions: 1. Is white winning, or is this position drawn? What does best play look like? 2. If white is winning, how can black try to swindle the game? 3. If the p...
Neat game against an undisclosed FM. Time control was 10+0. Lessons: Trapping/burying pieces on the queenside is a great way to gain a winning advantage without actually winning any material. When attacking, make sure to consider...
After using the ih8sens handle on this, and many other, sites for the last decade, I've made the decision to change my username. For those who don't know, I originally picked the name mostly because of its widespread availability across several ...
Hey guys, haven't blogged in a while but I think the world needs this PSA: The Ruy Lopez Exchange structure is a losing king and pawn endgame for black. In fact, if your opponent has a pawn majority and you don't, regardless of the opening, prob...
I saw a question on Reddit today that got me thinking. It was from a complete beginner, so the wording was a little weird, but the gist of it was this: "If Bxc6 isn't the plan, and white can simply meet 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 with 3...a6 4.B...
Part 1 I registered for my first tournament in 2008. The ChessCA Open in Elora. I was forced to take a full-point bye in the first round, as I was the only unrated player. The rules have since changed and unrated players cannot be given byes,...
I got a message this morning pointing out that I've never written a blog about my own early experiences. I'm not 100% sure that's true, but it also makes sense to write something about which I am knowledgeable (for once). So we'll start to...
TLDR at the bottom Besides the occasional one-off session with friends, I haven't formally coached in several years. In spite of this, I still get messages here on chess.com (and elsewhere) asking "how do I get better at chess?".&nbs...
Beat a 2500 in blitz today. Looks like I'm finally starting to make some progress again after 5+ years sort of stagnated.
Here's a nice, highly positional, game played by a fellow chess.com blogger. This series has receiving a pretty good response so far so I'll continue it as long as people are enjoying themselves and maybe learning something! As always, if you ha...
Beat a decent IM today pretty convincingly. Here's the game with some notes .
This is the second of a two part blog post. The first article can be found here. This blog is a little trickier, of course. The side with the white pieces has a tiny little advantage to start the game, and that provides a ton of flex...
So I'm doing some science over here. Don't mind me. I've gone big brain on my copy of Chessbase and I created a set of games where black is 2700+, white is lower rated, and black wins. My hypothesis is that the SuperGM will choose an opening t...
I had typed up a ton of notes and then decided there was too much for a simple blog post... So I literally went and made a youtube account so I could post this video analysis lol. I hope you enjoy it .
Pro tip: When your opponent plays ridiculous looking moves, it's time to start looking for nutty tactics. Please enjoy the 10 seconds it'll take to go through this game .
Black to move and... IDK . First U2000 (chess.com rating) to post the correct answer gets a game of their choice analyzed for free in my blog . Make sure you post the whole line!
Hey all! It's been a long time (too long) since I've blogged, so to get back into things I'm starting a new series aimed at helping players between 1600 and 2000 to improve their game as quickly as possible! This series will feature deta...
This blog features an annotated blitz game between two National Masters. It should be instructive for players 1500-2000. The Tartakower, or Nimzovich variation of the Caro Kann defense is characterized by the following moves: Normal...
This Saturday I'm playing in the Aurora (Ontario) Chess Day event. It's a 4 round standard tournament where they cram all 4 games into one day. This appealed to me because I don't often have free weekends, and so when I do play I like to get...
I have a slightly different opinion on this nonsense. What nonsense? Well for those of you who have been living under a rock, Carlsen and Caruana just drew 12 consecutive classical games in their WC match and a bunch of people are screaming that...
Neat little game... It shows a few ideas of how to play a symmetrical pawn structure where one side has a space advantage. Also, I'm thinking of starting a youtube channel so that I can annotate games more effectively. Let me know if you'd b...
FYI This year's Sudbury Championship is to be held at Laurentian University on November 4/5. Message me for more info! Thanks, Matt
The Sudbury Fall Rapid ended yesterday. I was pleased to finish with a 6/6 score and clear first place by at least a point and a half. I've included the games with a few instructive notes. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Because ...
I didn't get a chance to play one yesterday, so sorry for the wait! This game was okay. My opponent completely blew it early but my conversion wasn't so good. What I learned: The early Nbd7 idea screws up all of white's tr...
