Most chess players have several misconceptions about opening preparation. It's not too hard to understand why. When we hear about Grandmasters with photographic memories playing 30 moves from memory, "opening theory" can feel out of reach for mo...
Hi all! Time to post a blog on the adventures that I'll have at TATA steel chess. I'll be playing the amateur ten camp - ten days and 9 rounds of intense chess right next to the pro players. This will be day one of my blog and I will stream the an...
In March 1979 Chess Life and Review did a lovely presentation of the chess art of E. B. Rothwell. The magazine was all B&W, so the images published there lacked color. The name Rothwell didn't ring a bell but upon looking it up I did f...
Creating a strong outpost in the enemy's camp and using it for our pieces is always very uncomfortable for the opponent. In the next game, Mikhail Botvinnik demonstrates how such a piece can limit the activity of the enemy pieces, and how this can...
Dear Chess Friends, Nowadays chess becomes more popular among adults. Let’s say if, for example, 20 years ago chess coaches had to teach kids only, now we teach anyone who wants to learn chess. As for me, I have approximately equal number ...
The great chess strategist Aron Nimzowitsch notched the most magnificent triumph of his career when he created zugzwang in only 25 moves against Friedrich Sämisch." Saemisch had his chances in the game as Nimzowitsch did not play the openin...
Once again, our new video series Author Files provides an inside look into the book straight from the source, the book's author. Whether it is explaining some of the material already included in the book, or providing a little extra insight, this ...
To move a pawn is to create a weakness, or a "hole" in the position. Because the pawn cannot move backwards, the weaknesses left in its wake are irreversible. That is why we should be cautious about our pawn advances. Of course, pawns must move...
I created a Daily Chess Tournament for all those who want to practice the Catalan Opening.Every game starts from the position after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3I will analyze the most interesting games on my Twitch streamYou can join it...
Dear Chess Friends!Some of you might not have played chess for many years. However, many of those who play regularly find themselves stuck on a certain level and can’t get better. Why? Because they just don’t know what to do ...
A few days ago my Chessable course on the Anti-Sicilians was published. After working on the Najdorf it was only natural to round up the whole repertoire for Black against 1 e4 with the coverage of "everything else." Now that job is done....
Sometimes weaknesses will lie dormant until the end of the game, when the King becomes an important attacker of those latent weaknesses. The following demonstrates just such an example. Romanovksy, who finished second behind Botvinnik in the 1934 ...
This is a drastic digression from the central theme of my previous blogs but I think the content I'm sharing will be entertaining and useful for a large audience. I was being torn to shreds by a 1200 rated player. I do not intend to deride players...
GM Svetozar Gligorić interviewed GM Robert Fischer and GM Boris Spassky after their 1972 world Championship bout. Those two interviews, along with one of Gudmundur Thorarinsson by Johann Jonsson were reproduced in Chess Life and Review in Ja...
When we first start out playing chess, much of our learning revolves around winning material or at least not losing material. We learn how to punish opponent's mistakes to capture free pawns and pieces, how to do basic calculation to see if we hav...
Alright, so in my first post in this series (you can find it here: https://www.chess.com/blog/aranhawaii/my-first-legit-tournament-part-1-the-north-american-open-2019) we reviewed my first game of the tournament in Vegas. Even though I ...
Today's game is the most brilliant chess game I'd never seen until just recently. As a massive Alexei Shirov fan (His "Fire on Board" is one of my FAVORITE books.), I couldn't believe I'd missed this rapid game against Boris Gelfand which features...
Somehow, despite being ranked only 7th (by blitz rating), I managed to win the Odessa Christmas Blitz tournament, which took place on 12 January 2020: GM Golubev - 8 out of 9; GM E.Mirzoev and IM Molchanov - 7; FM Yurovskykh, GM Legky (FRA), ...
What's the biggest event in chess? The World Chess Championship? The Puzzle Battle World Championship? Whenever Magnus Carlsen finally loses a game? Not even close. Everything else pales to the upcoming release of Stockfish 11! The Champi...
“It is the aim of the modern school not to treat every position according to one general law, but according to the principle inherent in the position.” – Richard Réti, in Modern Ideas in Chess, 1923. Richard R&eac...
In a recent blog post, I shared a training with all of you about learning all of the "Branches of the Tree" for a particular opening. The general theme of the article was that most players think about opening preparation completely wrong, and that...
Disclaimer: this blog is on history, but not exactly on chess history. I'm trying to see the circumstances under which a possible symbol was born and used in Italy of the middle ages. The chessboard... After finding an interesting photo of the S...
Weak Squares are squares that cannot be defended. Since pawns are the principal defenders of your territory, a weak square usually refers to a square within enemy territory that cannot be defended by a pawn. In the position above, the w...
Hey all! This blog will have the "behind the scenes" analysis of each game from my Top 5 Chess Games of 2019 video series. Premium members, check out the videos! Enjoy the breakdowns of each game and leave a comment if you learned something.&nbs...
GM Larry Kaufman's New Repertoire for Black and White is now also available in the USA. It is the updated version from his 2013 book. There is one major change in the repertoire compared to 2013: with White Kaufman now recommends 1.e4 instead of 1...