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...
Hello, readers! Today's post will, once again, focus on the magic of writing and reading chess blogs! And why did I decide to write about it? Well, it is because we have just finished another successful season of the most prestigious blogging co...
Hello there, welcome to the Lightning Reports! I know, I know, two blogs in one week is crazy for me. Some might say it's impossible. No, I did not get hacked. Yes, I am totally fine. Totally. Anyway, last time y'all heard from me, I had a bit of ...
In search of a crack in the opponent’s defense... The Rook Pawn Advance is a strategic method that can transform an apparently unwinnable position into a dynamic and promising offensive. Often seen in to...
Dear Chess Friends!I've just started my series of group classes "Improve Your Endgame Technique" and I decided to share a fragment of that group class with you. At the lesson we were covering essential endgame principles: Activating your ...
Hello there, welcome to the Lightning Reports! I previously stated that my Journey To NM blogs would be going on a break, but... turns out I can post. Life is... funny sometimes. Yeah. So funny. Anyway, here I am. In this post, we're goin back to ...
This guest post was written by Karel van Delft and Dries Wedda. Karel van Delft is a psychologist, chess trainer, and the Science Project Manager at Chessable. He is the author of the book Chess for Educators and co-author of the book Developing...
Keys to building an effective, flexible, and truly competitive repertoire. Opening study, the backbone of chess training, has undergone profound transformations in recent decades. Today, in the digital age, modern preparation methods are deeply ...
INTRODUCTION Much of the 20th century was filled with global conflict that affected countless activities and lives. Even our great game of chess could not escape the devastation of the two World Wars. Major chess tournaments were interrupted...
Beware of the obsession with finding “the perfect move” with the engine... Chess engines have transformed the game. Stockfish, Lc0, and other engines allow us to analyze games with surgical precision, uncover hidden ideas, and verify...
This is quite possibly the most dry post I'll ever make. I beg you to bear with me, despite all of the seemingly useless arithmetic, I'm going somewhere important with all of this. In February of 1886, the mathematician William Sonneborn shared,...
