At some point every chess player is shocked the first time their opponent uses the en passant capture rule. No, they are not cheating! They are using a pawn capture rule that was invented in the 15th century. En Passant Capture...
It's never easy to critique yourself. After all, how can you know where you went wrong? Revisiting your own games, looking for areas to improve is a difficult task. In this series, we've employed our most self-depreciating experts to show you the ...
How do you win a chess game? To win in chess, a player must checkmate their opponent. Checkmate happens when the king is attacked by another piece and has no way to escape. At that point, the game is over. But checkmate doesn’t happen wi...
From the starting position in chess, the fastest checkmate possible can happen in two moves. It's best known as the Fool's Mate. A player cannot force his opponent into Fool's Mate. White has to start the game with the two worst moves. Let's take ...
Unless you’re playing a simultaneous exhibition, you’re most likely only going to be playing one person at a time. That’s assuming that you don’t have to beat yourself as well as your opponent. How many times have you sat...
Looking for a new, exciting chess variant? Maybe you watched my games vs GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave here and you're anxious to give it a try? Or perhaps you've always just been good at following the age old chess rule "always check, because it...
Tired of playing chess alone?! Doubles Chess (Bughouse) is for you! Tired of not having someone to talk to about your decisions on the board (at least not legally)? Doubles Chess (Bughouse) is for you! Tired of not having someone else (your t...
The Chess.com member KayOneM asked about the pros and cons of his games and how he can improve his play. He also mentioned that “in some positional games, when I don’t have any tactics or tricky attack, I don’t know how to improv...
Blundering in chess is one of the worst feelings that we experience while playing the royal game. A well-played strategic masterpiece can be completely spoiled with a single careless move. Anyone, including the very best...
The best way to improve your tactical skill is through practice; the more you solve, the stronger you'll become. If you're not sure how to go about solving tactics, this three step guide is for you: First, look at all the possible checks ...
When it comes to playing good positional chess, all strong players know the importance of improving the activity of your pieces. As the great Tarrasch once said, "One badly placed piece makes your whole position bad." Here are three tips for impro...
The ability to attack successfully is a necessary skill for the ambitious chess player. Here are three tips to help you with launching your attacks: Try to involve as many pieces as possible into the attack. The more pieces you have lined...
A famous saying goes "chess is 99 percent tactics." Here are three tips for studying tactics: Practice calculation and solve puzzles at least three times per week. Your ability to spot tactics successfully during a game will depend upon patter...
King and pawn endings are essential to every chess player's understanding of the game. Here are three practical tips when there are just kings and pawns left on the board: Try to create passed pawns. Without queening a pawn, you wo...
Time trouble can plague even the best players in the world, and often leads to painful blunders and losses on time in winning positions. In order to improve your time management skills, follow these three steps below: Try not to use more ...
Every chess game begins with an opening, which means that when reviewing your own games, it's important to analyze what happened in the first few moves. Here are three ways to improve your openings: Evaluate the outcome of the opening. Did you...
Like it or not, holiday gift-shopping season is now upon us, at least according to the ubiquitous calendar of commerce. Instead of being trampled by unruly deal-seekers at big box retail stores, you can shop online and still get somet...
This is another issue of Move by Move Chess Improvement. To join the group and get your game analyzed, see here Move by Move Chess Improvement I would like to thank Kancil660 for submitting this game! Now let's begin: What happens if Black ...
This is another issue of Move by Move Chess Improvement. To join the group and get your game analyzed, see here Move by Move Chess Improvement I would like to thank alekspachalov99 for submitting this game! Now let's begin: (tactic puzz...
This is part of my column Move by Move: Chess Improvement. To get your game analyzed, join the group: Move by Move Chess Improvement Now let's get started! I would like to thank Ala_ for posting this game. I chose this game because it featu...
This is an updated version of the initial Chess.com University's Prodigy Program announcement which was posted on October 15th, 2014. We have now finalized the starting date and added a third section (~1500 ELO). ALL live lectures will be recorde...
This is part of my column Move by Move: Chess Improvement. To get your game analyzed, please join the group: Move by Move Chess Improvement I would like to thank WhiteAnemone for submitting this game. White has achieved a nice position...
Update: Registration is now open! Want your child to be a chess prodigy? Yes? So do we! Or are you an adult and want to master chess? Great, we will get you there! Read on to learn more. *Presenting Chess.com University's Prodigy Program* M...
This is the second issue of my column Move by Move Chess Improvement. I would like to thank JeewanAtwal for submitting his game. A lot of players would without thinking play ...h6 to drive away the bishop. Unfortunately, "instan...
