What's the greediest chess move you’ve ever played? For me, it was this position from a 2018 game. My knight was on d5, his pawn on f4. I just needed 5 minutes to calculate the crushing Ne7 … But I grabbed on f4 because...
Welcome everyone, to another "...wait, did I just miss mate-in-one?" edition of the Osaka Papers. My most recent foray into the world of over-the-board chess, brought me to Japan's third city: Nagoya. I was there to participate in th...
"The quiet revolutionary of modern chess." A Prodigy Born for the Crown Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik was born on June 25, 1975, in Tuapse, a small town on the Black Sea coast in Russia. His parents were intellectuals—his father an arti...
Hey Impressive Chessers! I hate to be that guy…but please, for the sake of your chess future, stop playing "hope chess". If you are a returning reader, first of all thanks! Secondly, you know that I always try to give advice that’...
The position below comes from the game Boleslavsky–Lisitsin. It’s one of the first games where the famous idea of the Boleslavsky Hole in the Sicilian Defense was used. How can White continue the game? You can see that, despite bei...
#playersleague #elite #vonhennig #englund #queensac #duboisreti #kiddie Click to subscribe to my YouTube channel! On Monday morning (23rd June 2025), I woke up to the announcement on my phone that I had finally levelled u...
Dear Chess Friends! Understanding and regulating pawn tension in the center is a subtle but important ability in chess strategy. Central pawn tension arises when opposing pawns directly or indirectly threaten to capture or advance, resulting in ...
A Conversation with Coach Tim Moroney “What’s amazing about chess is that you can continuously test yourself and your theories in a safe setting.” Tim Moroney has been sharing his passion for chess with stud...
Efim Bogoljubow was born in 1889 in what is now western Ukraine. Very few top players have had such an inconspicuous rise to stardom as he did. He was strong enough to secure an invitation to Mannheim in 1914 but was largely an unknown quantity. I...
#kingsgambit #blunder #doublecheck #quickwin Click to subscribe to my YouTube channel! Every now and then, I find an unexpected piece sacrifice on the board, a beautiful move that excites and delights. During the research fo...
The ninth annual edition of the Carolinas Classic, one of the Charlotte Chess Center's flagship events, took place last weekend at the Hilton Charlotte University Place! The Carolinas Classic wasn't just a standalone chess tournament - it was a ...
In my last post (see here), we took a look at a prototype leaderboard-esque thing for the 1880s in a continuation of humanity's desire to rank things. I argued that the leaderboard had its flaws when it came to actually ranking people, but it serv...
As the chess season wound to a close, Andorra’s calendar didn’t slow...it surged! From mountain blitzes to cross-border clashes, pioneering school leagues to festive finales, the final two months of the season brought energy, surprises...
This well-known quote from the second World Chess Champion, Emanuel Lasker, has stood the test of time. But is it still practical? Time control in Lasker’s era was extremely long compared to today’s formats. Back then, if a player en...
Hey Chess.com Community! May was a great month here on the Fair Play team, and I feel that we're making great strides to catching more sophisticated cheaters and catching all cheaters faster than before. Here are the numbers. For the commun...
Good afternoon everyone. A conversation with a chess friend this week brought to mind a favourite game of mine. I have been over it many times via various books. So, with a day off work, I sat down with some of the books - Nuremberg 1896, by T...
Hey everyone, I'm back with a fun topic: The Touch-move Rule! A few days ago, Anish gave us "good content" when his opponent called him out and called the arbiter for a touch-move claim. Here is the clip: and the situation in slow motion:...
Hey Impressive Chessers! I get asked all the time, "How do you become a National Master?" My answer is usually something like: “Develop good habits. Be ready for a mountain of painful losses. Learn to assess your games honestly; even your ...
Back in 2018–2019, TikTok made a move most social platforms dismissed as a gimmick: it prioritized strangers over friends, delivering an endlessly fresh “For You” feed instead of the familiar circle-driven timeline. To many, it l...
Recently, several of my chess colleagues have written eloquently and heartfelt pieces honoring the legacy of Tigran Petrosian. And although so much has already been said, I simply couldn’t refrain from offering my own tribute to this true gi...
The endgame is not the conclusion… it’s the filter of mastery Endgame Theory — This phrase has sparked various reactions over time, from players who consider it unimportant to those who find it so complex they have no idea how...
Dear Chess Friends! In chess, some pawn arrangements appear frail at first appearance, but nevertheless have considerable dynamic potential. Hanging pawns, c4 and d4 for White or c5 and d5 for Black, are an example of such a structure. They come...
Before he became a grandmaster, Jose Gonzalez had an eye-opening experience. Along with the top players in his country (including a grandmaster and other four strong international masters), Mexican Champion Gonzalez was assigned a trainer...
#vienna #giraffeattack #brilliant #quickwins Click to subscribe to my YouTube channel! Welcome to another Quick Wins and today, we have a double brilliancy in one of my favourite lines in the Vienna Game, the Giraffe Atta...
This post is written by Chessable Research Awards Coordinator, Dr. Alexey Root. All applications have been reviewed, and the winners have been chosen for the 2025 Chessable Research Awards! From the applications, Chessable selected two win...
