Some Articles for Beginners #1

Crazyhouse is a popular chess variant similar to bughouse, but you only need two players to play. The basic premise of crazyhouse is that pieces which you capture from your opponent can be dropped on empty squares on your turn. Crazyhouse Chess "Dropping" captured pieces back into play adds an explosive dynamic to crazyhouse chess! Rules: The standard rules of chess apply to crazyhouse with these additions. When you capture an opponent's piece, it is placed in your "pool" of pieces and you can "drop" it on an empty square on your turn. Pieces may only be dropped on empty squares. You may drop a piece to give check or checkmate. Pawns may not be dropped on the first or eighth ranks. Notation: In order to record drops in crazyhouse the @ symbol is used. An example would be N@g3 which means a "knight is dropped from the pool to the square g3." The next two diagrams shows crazyhouse in action. You can see that the white king has been chased off the back rank to the h3-square. Black "drops" a rook on h4, and it is immediately checkmate! Crazyhouse Chess The white king has been chased out to h3. Crazyhouse Chess Checkmate Black "drops" the rook on h4, and the game is over! Crazyhouse is an extremely fun chess variant that allows you to be creative and put your tactical vision to the test! To play crazyhouse on Chess.com simply: Go to the "Play Live" tab. Click on the chessboard icon and... Choose crazyhouse! Crazyhouse Chess at Chess.com Play crazyhouse today on Chess.com! Play Now! Want to see crazyhouse in action? Watch the 2018 Chess.com Crazyhouse Championship with GM Yasser Seirawan and IM Daniel Rensch! Recommended Resources: Chess.com Crazyhouse Club Play Variants on Chess.com Crazyhouse Championships

The PogChamps 5 live in-person finals are almost starting, with the players gathering in Los Angeles to play for a first-place finish in the Championship and Consolation brackets. While it's not uncommon for people to point out how much better they are than the Pog players (oh, wow, somebody give them cookies!), many beginners can in fact learn a lot from the event. I remember being around 1000-rated, about where several Pog players are also rated, and trying to improve. I was making the same mistakes you constantly see in PogChamps. That's because many players in that rating range share the same chess instincts—and sadly, most of these instincts suck. So here are five basic yet fundamental chess concepts that every beginner can learn in order to play better and surpass the 1000 Elo mark. And you'll also find funny clips. Enjoy! Learn How To Checkmate Follow The Golden Rule Of The Opening Resist The Temptation To Trade Pieces Going Forward Is Not Always Better Don't Give Useless Checks How to watch the PogChamps 5 Live Final You can watch the in-person finals of PogChamps 5 live on Chess.com/TV and on our Twitch and YouTube channels, or follow the action on our events page. PogChamps 5 Learn How To Checkmate When QTCinderella drew a game by stalemate for the third time on the same day, the crowd went crazy. How could she keep doing that? Well, if you've seen enough PogChamps, you know it's not her fault. It's all IM Levy Rozman's fault. Jokes aside, QT is not alone. Pog players never cease to amaze the audience with brand new ways to stalemate. Who can forget Franks' unbelievable stalemate against Jarvis? Or, from a past PogChamps, Ludwig's staircase stalemate against Boxbox? As you can see, stalemates are common, even when you're beyond the 1000-rating level. But how can you avoid them? First of all, stop and relax. The thrill of winning can cloud your judgment, but if you have time to calculate, make sure your opponent has moves. Second, do not take your opponent's harmless pawns. If they're not promoting, they're actually an asset for you, not your opponent—because even if their king has no legal moves, their pawns will! Finally, and most importantly, I beg you to learn how to checkmate. The two-rook mate, queen mate, and one-rook mate are enough to get you past 1000 Elo. Pretty please? Follow The Golden Rule Of The Opening QT could've made it to the Championship Bracket if she had won her second game against Papaplatte. Why did she lose? The clip below should give you an idea (hint: she wasn't thrown off by WFM Anna Cramling's awkward commentary, it was something else): You'll notice Papaplatte had four pieces developed and had already castled. QT had two pieces developed, and one of them was the queen. Though she was two pawns up, the engine claimed Papaplatte was much better.