Aleksandra Goryachkina has just won the Women's Candidates' Tournament, earning a World Championship opportunity against Ju Wenjun. I've decided to let the chess.com readers know a bit more about this young prospect. This interview was conducted...
Indeed. Finally I am posting some games by a player you have heard of - the line in the Sicilian is named after him. A fascinating man, and a true joy of a chess player. I am taking a break from packing ready to go on holiday, so no full a...
While browsing the bulletins of 1942 Kuibyshev tournament I came across an interesting article on chess improvement by Grandmaster Levenfish. Things have changed quite a bit in the 75+ years that followed, and yet the recommendations of this artic...
Thank you all for the views on my last blog post, at the time I am writing this, it is at 3500 views!!! Thank you for all of the support I really appreciate it. For those of you who don't want to read the blog post: Click HERE to reveal the Se...
Hi all, A blog twice in one week? I know, it seems strange but since I am practising/studying for the World Open, I thought I'd share a nice line I came across. Click here for the Video: https://youtu.be/K_v2cefo4F8 Make sure to watch the ...
A couple weeks ago, I made a video for the ChessPathways YouTube channel, analyzing a game for Pierre - one of our members. He had won this Game Analysis video as part of his prize from the ChessPathways Blitz Streak Challenge, so I was exci...
One of the most famous checkmate patterns in chess is smothered mate. Everyone knows it, but have you ever won that way? Or have you ever seen that live? In that post I am going to show you couple examples of smothered mate application. Let's ...
Hi everyone!Check out my latest video series on things you should always/never do during the game. Hope you enjoy them! Why You Should Always Ask What Your Opponent Is Up To: https://www.chess.com/video/player/think-like-your-opponent Why...
What's up, guys and gals? As the title may (and technically does) imply, this post is not to brag about myself on how good I am. This is blitz by the way, so it probably does not have much long-term effect on my chess moving forward. I ju...
Hi everyone! As usual, if you don't want to read the blog post, here is the link to the video: https://youtu.be/OJLXNuMT2JA I wanted to share one of my most memorable games with you guys. I hold this game dear because it helped me break out of...
Dear Readers, Imagine the scene. The year is 1843, the place is London, and you are Howard Staunton, the greatest player in the world, a player so great that people hundreds of years from now will demand to play only on sets named after yo...
Hello chess mates. In this post we are going to analyze 6 selected tactic endgames I found some days ago. I really enjoy this kind of exercise (tactic endgames), because you have to use your general endgames knowledge and your sharp tactic vision,...
Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) was one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century whose celebrated works include Lolita, Pale Fire, and Ada. Early in his career he wrote The Defense (1930), the story of a chess grandmaster named Luzhin whose obse...
On the weekend of the 75th anniversary of D-Day, this post is dedicated to the memory of my friend and relative Augie, a man from the Greatest Generation who after Pearl Harbor volunteered for the Coast Guard, who for his first...
Some games are meant to be pored over, deeply analyzed, and learned from. Some games are simply meant to be enjoyed, mouth agape, as we bask in the beauty of chess. I would argue that Anand's 1997 miniature against Lautier is the latter. Like a ...
Morning everyone. Something brief but beautiful today, before I forget all about it! This week a wonderful article caught my eye, here. https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-win-with-the-longest-move-in-chess I insta...
Few technical points about chess have influenced me as much as the views on equilibrium by Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900), who many consider to be the first true theoretician of chess. GM Julio Becerra Rivero considers Steinitz “the fou...
In a previous post I looked at how engines represent positions with bitboards. (If you haven't read that, you should!). Having a full set of 12 bitboards lets you know where all the pieces are... but that isn't the end of the story. The next ...
The Chess Grandmaster title has a long and rather confusing history. There is a popular legend that it was first established by Tsar Nicholas II at St. Petersburg 1914 tournament - a theory that has been since debunked by chess historian...
In March 2018 Keep it Simple: 1.e4 was released on Chessable. Chessable’s slogan is ‘bringing books to life’ by taking classic print books and turning them into fully interactive spaced repetition courses. With Keep It...
In this analysis of a 3/2 blitz game we switch gears from looking at crazy attacks and sacrifices and we watch as your hero Stacia (lol) faces the London System. I’m often not too upset to see this opening as my d4 days are behind me y...
In this post I would like share with you a nice attacking game which I played recently in the Morra gambit. Although the Morra is not my main weapon against the Sicilian, I teach it to my young students, so I have to play it from time to time...
A couple weeks back, I made a last-minute decision to play in the Texas State Championship. On Friday morning, I thought I might just spend my 3-day weekend relaxing at home...and less than 24 hours, later, I'm waking up at 4am to rush to th...
Remember that 1000$ match Greg and Lawrence had two months ago? Yeah, they're going at it again and the stakes are doubled. So cancel your plans and invite all your friends, because you don't want to miss this gem of a match! How did it all star...
Hey Chess Friends, I had a recent blitz game where both kings were in danger throughout. It reminded me of World Champion Steinitz's claim that the king was a strong piece, capable of defending itself. We reached a critical position early whe...