I'm seeing a lot of requests for help and improvement advice from beginner-intermediate players, and many of them fall into one of these broad categories: What openings should I play to improve? / What should I do against this opening? How sh...
This is a verbatim copy and paste from a conversation with staff following a bug report which was denied by the same. Because it is a long and convoluted explanation, I am keeping this on my blog as a record in case the original conversation gets ...
"I think the #1 player in the world needs to be good at everything, really, at all formats." - Magnus Carlsen This statement is self-evidently wrong, but before you downvote, please read at least this and the next paragraph. I presume Magnus, wh...
NM Dan Heisman lists out these reasons as sources of most common blunders, especially at the amateur level or during fast games: Basic Hope Chess: Playing a move without first anticipating the opponent's response Passive Hope Chess: Hope Che...
First of all, to all those people writing in the comments "I am allowed to not resign! I'll resign when I want to!"... Nobody denies this. If your idea of fun is watching your opponent checkmate you on the 50th move after promoting his 10th Knight...
This is simply a collection of mostly composed puzzles with the theme of "mate in X". Most are suitable for beginning-intermediate players (~1000 FIDE), but I have concerns about the total value contained within the pages. I was able to get throug...
The copy I received was used, but this book stems from the era where Dover books were really built to last. Durability aside, I very much enjoyed this book despite it being clearly outdated and containing a few questionable inclusions. The author,...
I bought this book for one reason: To allow my friends to borrow it. For this function, 101 Questions on How to Play Chess is near perfect - it's dirt cheap, it teaches many of the basics of chess in digestible order and form, and the cover genera...
