Road to the Grandmaster title - The unexpected pin
Yesterday I solved puzzles for 2 hours. Let me share a few puzzles which I solved yesterday from Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player ----------...
Capablanca's Copycat Game in the Four Knights
This post is all about Capablanca's famous 'Copycat' game, which many of my students have shared with me over the years. So, I have included my own notes...but first, try and find all of Capablanca's moves yourself! Now, for the game with my...
Chess as Spectator Sport
If chess players are taking half an hour to make some moves, how can you honestly enjoy watching it live? This question is the core problem with chess becoming a spectator sport. Of course, I'm talking here about classical chess, not rapid or bl...
The Tension Question
How should you deal with piece tension in a position? My recent blitz game on Chess.com covers this subject quite concisely. It started as follows: White's last move (8.Qe2) is a good example of prophylaxis - stopping ...Ba6 while de...
Mission (Half) Accomplished
By Dana Mackenzie, Staff Writer Last week I wrote that the San Francisco Mechanics’ PRO Chess League match this week was one that we “really have to win to achieve our team goals.” Hm, perhaps that was a bit of exaggeration. In...
Team Ukraine Jacob Yuhtman online Memorial
The blitz marathon (all games was 5/2 time control) lasted from January 01 to February 10, 2019, with 86 players from Ukraine, India and the United States. The games took place at the chess.com portal on Team Ukraine group. The tournam...
Book review: Game Changer - my Book Of The Year!
At the end of January New In Chess published the long-awaited book Game Changer by Matthew Sadler and Natasha Regan. In the book the authors explain the science behind AlphaZero through interviews with the developers of AlphaZero at Google Deepmin...
Road to the Grandmaster title - Strong variation against the Chebanenko Slav
My 4th game in the February Titled Tuesday was against the young and very talented Indian Internatioanal Master Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh He played the 5.a4 variation against theh Chebanenko Slav. I played my usual Bf5 move, but aft...
How to Beat Automatic Play
What exactly is 'automatic' play in chess? It's when you play the first move that seems natural in a position, without calculating the consequences deeply. It very much resembles the thinking seen in blitz chess and could also be called 'lazy th...
The legendary Genrikh Chepukaitis, the welder from Saint Petersburg — Part 1
This post is a tribute to Genrikh Mikhailovich Chepukaitis (Генрих Михайлович Чепукайтис): a welder, an inveterate card player, an enthusiastic poet, a Master of Sports of the USSR and a chess player — one who never became a grandmaster yet ...
Road to the Grandmaster title - Time management - Life Management
On last Sunday I played in the Hungarian first league. My team is the Kobanya Chess Club which is in the middle of the field and our opponent was around the same strong. My opponent was Vilmos Balint a young and strong Hungarian player rated 231...
Road to the Grandmaster title - 3 ways to save a lost game
There are 3 key ways to save a lost game: 1. stalemate 2.perpetual checks 3.perpetual attack In today's training I studied those possibilities and used 2 hours to solve puzzles from C...
My annotations in a fantastic game: Paravyan vs Golubov, 2018 (+ Video)
Hello everyone. In The 10 best games of the year selected by Chess.com there are 10 fantastic games played by very strong masters in 2018. I have been analyzing some of my favorite games in this list (click to see the best game of the year with my...
Chess.com & ChessKid Staff Profiles: Introducing Rafa!
We checked in with the ChessKid team today for our Staff profile feature and we are super pleased to introduce you to Rafa! What is your name? Rafa Quiñonero Photo credit: zumglueckberliner Where do you live? I live...
Quick Puzzle
White to play in this position! How should he proceed? I hope you enjoyed the puzzle! See you soon with another post!
Miniature #3: Opening Tricks! (Alekhine Defense)
This is the 3rd in my new series where I analyze interesting fast (and short; under 25 moves) time control games played solely for the purpose of learning. In this 3/2 game on chess.com I get an Alekhine Defense (Exchange Variation) by tr...
Puzzles from my first blitz tournament
If you're looking to improve your game, I highly recommend playing tournaments here on chess.com. I've learned a lot from the daily tournaments I've played. Holding myself accountable to get the best result I can and having the opportunity...
Road to the Grandmaster title - Kasparov and the advanced passed pawn
Today I studied tactics for 2 hours. Let me share a few puzzles I solved today from Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player --------------------------...
The London System - Introduction
The start of a video series explaining how to play this system/opening for white! Hope you like it :-)
Landau vs Cortlever, Amsterdam 1941
My very first intention was to make a post with Salo Landau's last games during WW2. Some really beautiful were played until he was caught by the nazis in Sep 1942. But as I was searching and studying some of these games, I've found a great one, I...
Learn From The Masters: Bishop and Knight Teamwork!
Greetings to all of my loyal readers! Ahhhh... I caught you! No, I did not quit this series! I am still working through Chess.com's perspective on the greatest chess games ever played! This game will feature chess...
My good games at this week #53
Hello, my dear chess friends! Now some funny games in your friendlist! In the first game, Black suffered death from suffocation in my favorite gambit. Liked? More games in my blog Ssscandinavian! I admit, in both games, oppo...
Road to the Grandmaster title - Attack of the uncastled king in the Slav defense
My 3rd game in the February Titled Tuesday tournament was with black against National Master Yelfry Torres from the Dominican Republic. The time control was 3 minutes per player plus 2 seconds increment per move. He started with 1.c4 and I...
Boris Markovich Verlinsky. First Grand Master of The U.S.S.R.
A couple of weeks ago, there was a fascinating post from Spektrowski that you can find here In the comments, the name of Verlinsky came up, so I decided to spend the morning putting together something about him. Most of you will only know of t...
Playing in Live Chess vs an International Master - Video Commentary
International Master vs FIDE Master blitz game here on Chess.com in Live Chess. I have the black pieces and my opponent uses the exchange variation against the French.