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Hey Impressive Chessers! We are going to go over a game from 2023 between Vallejo Pons, a strong Spanish GM, and Gukesh Dommaraju, the current World Champion; although not at the time of the game.  What Thematic but not Obvious Move did Gukesh Play Here? White Falters Under Pressure, How did Gukesh Pounce? How did you guys do, is World Champion in the cards for you?  Let me know in the comments and... …Stay impressive!OLM/NM Craig C.linktr.ee/ChessToImpress

Answer to this puzzle below Did you get this puzzle right?  By the way, if you'd like to check out my full blog 🔗https://www.chess.com/blog/NMChesstoImpress/identifying-critical-positions-in-chess-reintroducing-the-rule-of-10 please leave a comment if you liked (or let me know, respectfully, what you would've liked) Stay impressive!OLM/NM Craig C.linktr.ee/ChessToImpress

One reason our chess.com tactic puzzle ratings are so much higher than our actual rapid/blitz/bullet/USCF/etc. ratings is that we all know that there's only one good move in the position we are looking at. The puzzles (below) sometimes only have one good move but also sometimes have multiple decent moves but your job is to find the move that was played in the game and is the move that I (Craig) believe is the best move. Can you get 10/10 trying to find CraiggoryC's favorite move in the following puzzles?! #1 White just played a novelty with 13. h2-h4. What sequence of moves did MVL play here that I think is also best? Black to move. #2 White just played 15. Nc3. What did Black play? #3 White to play. Can White do anything while also keeping his/her own King safe? Who has an advantage after my favorite move? #4 Is 19...Bxd4 a good move? #5 White to play. Can White do anything while also keeping his/her own King safe? Who has an advantage after my favorite move? #6 Black to play #7 Is Black's initiative enough to compensate for his structural weaknesses? What should Black play? #8 What is Black's most popular move in the above position? #9 Black to play. #10 White to play

YAY THANK YOU SO MUCH LAURA

March Madness Challenge March Madness is here! Each day of March we will have a problem that gets harder and harder depending on the date. For instance today's puzzle will be rated in the 100s, tomorrow's will be in the 200's etc. until we get to the 3100s for March 31st! Good luck!: March 1st: March 2nd March 3rd March 4th March 5th March 6th March 7th March 8th March 9th March 10th March 11th March 12th March 13th March 14th (Pi Day!) March 15th March 16th March 17th (Happy St. Patty's Day!) March 18th March 19th March 20th March 21st March 22nd March 23rd March 24th March 25th March 26th March 27th March 28th March 29th March 31st Black to play and win Answer to come on 4/9/21

What should White do against the tricky 5...Nc6? Tip: when facing a tricky/offbeat defense (that you don't have much knowledge about, if you know how to get a big advantage, of course go for it!) it's a good idea to go for a line that you can see leads to a slight advantage and dodge Black's knowledge of their pet, tricky line. Unless you know how to refute their tricky move, you will be at a disadvantage in knowledge and be walking into a buzzsaw. After the game is over you can check how to get a big advantage. Try to guess the moves: It doesn't (at first glance) seem like White has such a huge advantage. Can you guess the remaining moves of this game?

Interesting French Defense Puzzle How would you play here for Black?