While reading a huge book about Russian kids' games, I came across two Soviet variants of chess that were introduced in mid-1920s. One of them ("International", developed by Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky, among others) had rules more akin to modern ta...
For some time now, armies of chess players have donned their most powerful openings, and rushed into matches-- often dubbed "sub battles"- to represent their favorite streamers and twitch channels. Now, 8 channels are taking this practice to a new...
Ok the title kinda hinted at everything. Great! If you are here, you most likely have: 1. Followed me! (Great!) 2. Subscribed to my channel! (Even Better!) 3. Found the title intriguing! (Amazing!!) I won't bother you with a lot. Just this...
Dear Chess Friends! When I analyze my students’ games it’s very often when I see that they are doing proper things, develop their pieces and get the center control, but then they are unable to exploit this advantage. What do you thin...
Hey there, In the previous blog post, I shared with you the story of how I achieved a bronze medal on Board 3 of the qualifying phase of the 2020 Asian Online Nations Cup. Would you like to enjoy more chess stories like this?Then I have a f...
One of my former students, Trevor Harley, is a professional psychologist. I told him about my concern about students who play too slow and consistently get into unnecessary time pressure, which costs them game after game. These students know they ...
Analyzing master games is an important training method for chess improvement. A lot of aspiring chess improvers ask where to find master games and how should they approach reviewing them. For a full review, check out my latest post on how to analy...
Howdy all, I hope you had a great weekend! This is the next installment of my series on my experience as a player with the Chess.com Club's League. The next and final preseason match is this coming Saturday (yes, on Haloween), and then the a...
Hi, check friends. Today we analyze a very instructive miniature by Arshak Petrosian (not Tigran Petrosian, the World Champion ). In this game, Petrosian vs Gusev, we can see opposite-side castlings and a great finish. There are three interesting ...
Intended level: late beginner/early intermediate Let us put it bluntly, without us Pawns there would be no chess. Just imagine this possible scenario at the start, there is no phalanx of pawns on the two confronting sides. What would follow? A...
The 1960s had SO MUCH GOOD CHESS. There were so many games by Fischer, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Korchnoi, Larsen, and many more players that could go on this list. I really think the 1960s may be the richest decade in chess his...
Alex Dunne, Fred Reinfeld: The Man Who Taught America Chess, with 282 Games. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2019. Paper. $45.00. Fred Reinfeld (1910-1964) helped teach me chess. In fact, he was “the man who taught Amer...
Hello! It's me, Midna! I mean... er... uh... Stacia Melinda. And I'm on a mission. I have been studying hard and ready to prove that I'm better at chess so I'm playing games on chess.com and I'm ready to break 1700. ...
A few months ago I came across an amazing game in which Lev Alburt, playing Black, won against Vlastimil Hort, at a time when Hort was a top-10 player! The game was astounding, for Alburt sacrificed his Queen, but dominated the whole board! He mad...
Would you like to play me in one of the largest online chess simuls ever and help support Doctors Without Borders? On October 31 at 8 a.m. Pacific time, I will be playing 77 opponents in a simul on Chess.com. IM Levy Rozman (twitch.tv/gotha...
Dear Chess Friends! It’s time for Simultaneous Exhibition! I almost recovered from COVID-19 and I’m ready to prove that this disease doesn’t affect intellectual abilities. I know examples when people who had COVID-19 couldn&rsq...
Hi ChessKids and Parents, There has been a LOT of new ChessKid content lately. With so many new announcements, it can be hard not to miss a few. We've rounded up all of the new ChessKid TV info here so you don't have to look. Our daily content t...
If you've been reading my blog for some time, you know I've made a few posts on the knight + queen smothered mate. It's a classic combination that every strong beginner/intermediate player should be aware of. If you are aware of it, then you fir...
As I posted last week, I have started to award beauty/best game prizes in all Dojo-organized events that I do commentary for. Here are the past week's crop of prize winners; enjoy! The past two weeks I've filled in for Kostya on Sunday Night Fig...
Hi All, Nudged by high demand we are back with the series "Master Analysis of Your Games" - episode #7! What has happened since last session? Well, there is a bit of news - finally FIDE approved my IM title, so I can officially call myself an ...
Want to hear some inspiring news to start your week?I just finished the qualifying stage of the 'Asian Online Nations Cup', where I represented Australia on Board 3.Australia finished in 4th place in the tournament, with 13 match points (out of a ...
Afternoon Everyone. A few days ago there was an article on this site where the term 'Pillsbury Bind' was used. My memory being what it is, I forget where that was, so feel free to enlighten me! Anyway, the use of that term dragged some games out o...
The 1970s were a remarkable chess decade in many ways. After the action-packed 1960s—possibly my pick for the most high-quality chess decade of all time—the early 70s were awash with the drama of Bobby Fischer's run at the title of Wor...
Hi chess lovers. Some friends and students have asked me before how do professional players read Chess Books. This week, I was thinking about this and prepared a post/video with some interesting ideas and advices to read them and get the most from...
Hi friends, I hope you are doing well, and welcome to my blog! If you are new here, this is where I post things, mainly games and thoughts that inspire me and that I want to share with the chess world. What is the Chess.c...