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 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...
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 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 ...
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...
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. ...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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. ...
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...
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 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...
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...
It was very well, in the early 30s, to get excited about new talent — Botvinnik, Stahlberg, Lilienthal, etc — but lest anybody doubt who was tops Alekhine put in a terrifying performance in a mixed-quality tournament on the heels of hi...
Dear Chess Friends! I'm excited to share insights from my recent workshop "From Advantage to Victory: Converting Winning Positions", where we tackled one of the most critical skills in chess: transforming an advantage into a full point. Many gam...
Chess is a mysterious game....we hear talk about a "weak square", an "outpost", a "weak pawn", etc. I remember reading once that Anand, when he played, felt that the pieces "became alive". Vishy Anand, 5-time World Champion What a beaut...
Guy 1: All right, these are the group of people we’re going to fight. The sacrifices we made have led to this very moment, and I promise you this: they don't know what's about to hit them. Guy 2: What do you mean, what’s...
The finish line is in sight. Unsurprisingly, the three World Championship Challengers have won their first two matches, but at least one of them will have met their match in this round. Will our first finalist be the first Challenger, Johanne...
The chess world was eagerly awaiting the February 6 premiere of Queen of Chess. After the success of the series The Queen’s Gambit, Netflix has once again turned to chess, this time with a documentary. Like thousands of viewers around the ...
In the final round of The World's Championship, a veteran player faces his most dangerous opponent—himself.Told through dramatic still images and narration, Last Round brings Kester Svendsen’s classic chess story to life with psycholog...
Emmanuel Neiman is one of France’s most respected and seasoned chess trainers, a coach whose decades of experience have shaped players of all levels: from club competitors to titled players. Having worked with a diverse range of students,...
