All blogs (Feb 11 to Feb 28)
A Century of Chess: Leningrad 1934
If there’s a moment when the Soviet era in chess really started — the dominant theme for the next fifty years of chess — it would be this tournament, a USSR event with two foreign masters, Euwe and Kmoch, invited and memorialized...
David Bronstein, One of the Greatest Attackers in History – Part 6
David Bronstein, One of the Greatest Attackers in History – Part 6 Learning the Art of Attack from Bronstein’s Games – Part 6 Which Were Bronstein’s Most Beautiful Games – in His Own View? Previous articles: ...
Fair Play Update - January 2026
Hope everyone is enjoying the new year!Out of over 1.2 million fair play reports created, there were 152k accounts closed for fair play violations. 11 of those accounts were titled players. In December, 0.48% of active users were closed for chea...
February's Blitz 'n' Memes
Welcome everybody, to another awe-inspiring 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 bee...
The Art of Patience and Precision: Knowing When to Strike in Chess
Dear Chess Friends! I'm excited to share highlights from my recent workshop "The Moment to Strike: Timing in Chess", where we explored one of the most elusive skills in our game: recognizing exactly when a position is ripe for action. Many playe...
What “Talent” Actually Means in Chess (It’s Not What You Think)
A while back, GM Daniil Dubov made headlines when he called Fabiano Caruana “arguably the least talented player in the top 20-30.” It caused a stir in the chess world and everybody had their own take on whether Dubov was being disrespe...
Tournament Report: MVP Chess K-12 Quads | February 2026 | Alexandria, VA, USA
On February 15, 2026, the MVP Chess K-12 Quads brought together 28 players from Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia. The event used a three round G/25 d5 quad format and included a small Swiss section to support a wide range of US Chess rat...
Rating Your Moves: Guess the Elo, Move by Move
When a chess game ends the outcome is simple: your rating goes up or down. The thoughtful buildup, rush decisions, small inaccuracies and big blunders are all condensed into one number. However, chess players know that strength shows itself bef...
A Conversation with Valentin Razmov
A Conversation With Valentin Razmov Being intentional about who you are,what you do, and how you contribute Ken Lee “While for most of us, chess will not be a profession; I see it as an opportunity to learn to be better human be...
A Century of Chess: Syracuse 1934
It’s hard to think of a great player who’s less beloved, and has less of a legend attached to him, than Reshevsky. In the ‘20s he was the twerp in the sailor suit, the boy prodigy terrorizing grown men in simultaneous exhibitions...
5 things that will ACTUALLY get you over 1000 elo!
5 Habits That Will Actually Improve Your Chess Rating ~If you feel like you're doing everything you can to improve your chess but you're still stuck, maybe you're doing the wrong things. These are very simple, basic things. But the actual thing ...
Loser's POV: Isidor Gunsberg (1881-1889)
The people have spoken, and they have said that Johannes Zukertort is our first finalist. He won the previous vote (see here) and moves on to contest one more head-to-head; his fallen antagonist, Isidor Gunsberg, is thus the subject of today's dis...
Trust Your Intuition When Low On Time
The engine roared so loudly inside the car that they had to raise their voices just to hear one another. Driver. Why are these guys chasing us? It seems like there are 4 or 5 guys in the car behind us waving their weapons outside the window. ...
The Power of the Square: When Pieces Placement Matters More Than Material
Dear Chess Friends! I'm excited to share highlights from my recent workshop "Strong Squares: When a Square is Worth More Than a Pawn", where we explored one of the most profound concepts in positional chess. Sometimes a single square—an ou...
SRCC Leads After 4 Rounds
SRM-A and SRCC Spring 2026 (ICCC) lead the 2026 India College Chess Championship Spring Season after week four in the spring season. Teams JU Team A and SSN are currently in third and fourth places, respectively. Standings after Week 4 | D...
Steinitz Against The French Defence. Part One.
Good afternoon everyone. WARNING! This is one of my stupidly large blogs - lots in the game notes - so just pop in and out when you have time. Cheers! O.K. I have been back to what I really do - most of my blogs are 'throwaways' these days. I am...
Stafford Gambit Explained: The Best Way for White to Stop It
How to Neutralize the Stafford Gambit as White The Stafford Gambit has become extremely popular in recent years, especially in online chess. Its aggressive nature, rapid development, and abundance of tactical traps make it a dangerous weapon for ...
Hopeless Romantics: The Rivalry That Sparked Love for Attack
INTRODUCTION When most people think of the Romantic Era of chess, they picture the brilliancies of Morphy or Anderssen. But the Romantic playstyle didn't appear out of nowhere. Long before those stars took the stage, there were lesser-celebr...
The Squares Between Us
Dear readers, happy Valentine’s Day! This is the first time that I am publishing a blog dedicated to this special date, so I was not sure what kind of post would appeal most to my audience. Ultimately, however, I have decided to share anot...
Sixty-Four Places of Serendipity
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places, or actual events is purely coincidental. ...
The Speed Chess Championship Finals in London
In this week's blog ECF Director Yuri Krylov reports from his visit to the Speed Chess Championships in London. The Speed Chess Championship Finals by Yuri Krylov In early February Chess.com rolled into town to host the 2025 Speed Chess Champi...
Coach’s Corner: Volodymyr Vetoshko
Ukraine has produced some of the most creative and aggressive chess players throughout history. The region of Lviv, in particular, is the hometown of legends such as Vasyl Ivanchuk, Alexander Beliavsky and the Muzychuk sisters, Anna and Mariya....
Back to Playing Humans
Back to Playing Humans On February 4th, during my lesson, my coach FM Mees van Osch told me something I kind of already knew… but didn’t really want to hear. “James, you need to play real people online.” And I immediately...
You Asked, We Built: What's New in Chessalyz (Spring 2026 Updates)
This guest post is written by my co-founder Varun. Varun is the technical mind behind Chessalyz.ai. He builds the features and squashes the bugs while I focus on the chess side. Today he's walking you through everything we shipped this month, from...
A Century of Chess: Zurich 1934
It was very well, in the early 30s, to get excited about new talent — Botvinnik, Stahlberg, Lilienthal, etc — but lest anybody doubt who was
