It has come, finally... after days and days of blood, sweat, and tears! (ok, if you take things literally, that's a joke ). In all seriousness, thank you all for your patience! It was actually refreshing to hear you guys pester me about when it wo...
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,...
The training of an athlete with a view to the high competition must be carried out uniformly, that is, without any of the skills to be developed in athletes lagging; even if we try, we will always have outstanding traits known as strengths, while ...
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...
"Checkmate: RHS Sophomore Aziz Kodirov Wins 1st Place in National Chess Tournament". A detailed article and an interview with my student.<...> "now I see a loss as a positive thing as it will help me identify the mistakes I made and help me ...
In round 5 I played against the 20 years young talented Croatian International Master Leon Livaic. He surprised me in the opening. Played an early Be2 to prevent Bg4. We got similar position like in the first game when I lost a pawn. In this gam...
“I will make 40 good moves and if you are able to do the same, the game will end in a draw.” - Vasily Smyslov There has been a fierce debate in the past about what the result of a chess game would be if both sides played all of the b...
In the 4th round I played against a strong young International Master Tamás Petényi. He played the old Indian defense. I got space advantage and more active pieces, but I could not find the best way to improve my positi...
White to play and draw. (Inspired by a question from GM Michal Krasenkow but it doesn't answer his question). ***Vote For The Chesscom Immortal Game@chesscom users can vote for my games here: https://chess.com/news/view/vote-chess-com-immortal...
Hello everybody! This week I am close to the most fantastic success of my chess career! As you know, the Chess.Com portal has announced a competition for the best game to be added to the ongoing Immortal Games Collection...
Intended level: Beginner/Early Intermediate I have never seen anything more terrible and dreadful than a Macedonian phalanx! — Aemilius Paullus, Roman general Two important concepts of pawn play, the ram and the lever, have been alre...
In round 3 I played with International Grandmaster Gábor Nagy from Hungary. He surprised me in the opening with Qc2 in the chebanenko Slav. I wanted to play solid, so I gave up the pair of bishops and space. He could have a winning at...
Hi, everyone! A few things I wish to share with you all. First of all here are some of Kramnik's thoughts: Vladimir Kramnik, World Champion 2000-2008 Kramnik – I did not have the opportunity to study chess classics when I was a c...
In round 2 I played with the young Hungarian FIDE-Master Ferenc Gombocz. I played the London system and I got an advantage, because I blocked his a6-b7 pawn with my a5 pawn and I got a passed pawn on d4. I did not find the way to increase my adv...
AMATEUR CHESS LEAGUECorporate Chess India and IM Nubairshah Shaikh are the core organizers of the Amateur Chess League in coordination with Chess.com India team. After organizing 2 successful seasons of ACL they are back with the THIRD SEASON!! An...
One of the most important things in chess is to find the right plan. During the game, every player faces that challenge. The first time to evaluate is right after the opening and usually 2-3 times later on. There is even a saying, “better to...
In the 1st round of the Grandmaster tournament I played with the 15 years old talented International Master Marcell Borhy. I played the Chebanenko Slav. I played too slow in the opening and he won a pawn with active play. He could win the ...
Want to quickly increase your rating by say 50+ points? Forget about reading yet another book, or watching yet another online chess course. Instead … are you ready for this? Are you sure? Here it is: find your mojo, your Joie De Vivre (J...
Hey guys! How do you know who is better at some specific position in Chess? Why is it important to properly evaluate positions? Which Key Factors should we analyze to assess any position? Today we will be answering those questions... Well, b...
Dear Chess Friends! To sacrifice or not to sacrifice? The eternal question in chess, especially when you are into the attack! However, Mikhail Tal knew the answer. He sacrificed material very often and his intuition was right. Was it his intuiti...
Live Chess World League 2021-S1 is in progress! At the end of first stage's play, top 4 teams from each division have qualified for Championship pool. Here is a recap of the first stage of this season. Div.1 In absence of Ukraine, Russia starte...
Yesterday I won a game against Grandmaster Alexander Rustemov in the Titled Tuesday Tournament. I played the London system. He replied the modern Bd6, Qc7 line. I got a big advantage, but missed my chances to win material and I got into a worse ...
Baruch Harold Wood was a fixture of British chess for decades. In 1935, he founded the magazine, "Chess," and he edited the magazine for more than 50 years, up until 1988. Wood was a strong player as well as an organizer and arbiter, but one his b...
I haven’t said much in this series about Mikhail Chigorin, who was kind of the elder statesman of chess masters of this period, held in something of the same reverence that Keres or Bronstein would be for Soviet players in the ‘60s &nd...
I will play in the 2nd Vezerkepzo Grandmaster Tourney. It will start tomorrow in the Berlin Hotel, in Budapest, Hungary. The following players will participate: Starting rank list of players No. Name FideID FED Rtg sex ...