I bet most of our readers have heard the overused cliche, "Chess is 99% tactics." This catchy phrase underlines the importance of calculation in chess, but is chess really 99% tactics? Well, it depends. The chess competition betwe...
Target Skill Range: Advanced (Rated 1800-1999) Tasks: Identify and address your tactical weaknesses. Complete a perfect ten. Complete the legendary 30-minute drill. Develop your visualization skills. Complete these tactics-themed le...
Target Skill Range: Master Path (Rated 2000-2199) Tasks: Solve tactics, tactics, tactics, and ... tactics! Solve studies. Practice calculation. Play blindfold chess. Complete these tactics-themed lessons. You probably thought y...
Back rank checkmates are very common in chess. As a matter of fact, many tactical textbooks start with exactly this kind of combination due to their simplicity. The vast majority have one thing in common: You need to deflect your opponent's b...
Tactics. After thousands of books written on this concept, after the development of several excellent tactical training tools (such as Chess.com's own Tactics Trainer), after the release of countless free engines that serve as paragons of tactical...
The already famous game So vs Kasparov played in the Ultimate Blitz Challenge is both fascinating and puzzling. Not only did GM Wesley So produce a game of unbelievable beauty, he did it against the arguably strongest chess player in the...
There are many patterns in chess which you should know if you want to become strong. I have discussed many of them in this column through the years. Today, I'll talk about the deadliest chess pattern, the one that usually ...
There are basically three ways a tactic can occur, both for and against you: The opponent makes a threat for a tactic (or a check or capture), which either can't be met, or can be, but is missed. There is no existing threat of a tactic, bu...
Why title this series "The Art Of The Tempo Move In Chess"? Tempos are more than a tactical strategy. With the right finesse and calculation, tempos can subtly generate a number of different threats against your opponent. In this five-part serie...
Having trouble perfecting your study habits? Without a coach, training to perfect your chess game can feel like shooting in the dark. After all, how do you know your identifying every important concept in a position? Your daily tactics are ...
Every chess player knows about two inevitable opening catastrophes: scholar's mate and the Fried Liver Attack. I still remember my shock when in one of my first tournaments I played what looked like reasonable moves and yet the resulting position ...
The following is a reprint of a charming article composed by Al Horowitz in "Chess Review," Nov. 1953. Of course, this version has been updated to Algebraic Notation with the digital supplanting the physical. Al Horow...
In last week's article, we saw that breaking the classical rules of play in the openings is one of the cardinal sins of less experienced players. Another common problem that you can find in their games is missing basic tactical ideas. ...
Chess is a cruel game. One moment of negligence, one second of distracted thinking, and hours of hard work instantly go down the drain. For most chess players, the euphoria of success — a combination, a hard-fought victory, a positional mast...
This is the last installment of my tribute to IM Emory Tate. The first two parts can be found here and here. There are definitely people out there who knew Emory much better than me, so they could disagree, but I always had an impression that hi...
A few months ago, IM Jeremy Silman wrote an entertaining and highly informative article on why grandmasters blunder. I was particularly impressed with his opening remark: "Over the years I’ve noticed that whenever a grandmaster hang...
I run a chess club in a local school, and whenever I ask my students if a king can check another king, I hear a loud "No! Kings cannot kiss each other!" Of course, I know what they mean. Even beginners are well aware that this is the closest a k...
"Chess" circa 1913by Annti Favén "A combination is a tactical maneuver in which you sacrifice material to obtain an advantage, or at least to improve your position. So, strategy then, is...
If you follow my weekly column, then you probably noticed that I am a big fan of Magnus Carlsen. I like his chess style, his general attitude to play till the very end and his notorious disregard of the opening theory. I grew up at the height...
In every single position — whether opening or endgame, tactical or positional, winning or losing — our priority is to ensure the safety of our king. Indeed, the monarch spends most of the game cowering behin...
Sometimes we can observe a peculiar situation in chess: one of the pieces on the board practically doesn't exist. Yes, it is there: we can see it, we can feel it, but we cannot move it. Therefore, in most of the cases, for a practical purpose su...
Everyone gets tired from time to time, stress kills, and the periodic brain melt is pretty much impossible to prevent. — IM Jeremy Silman, Why Do Grandmasters Blunder? No matter how hard he works, or how strong h...
Some time ago, I wrote an article with a similar title where we discussed a sacrifice that happens when Black plays h7-h6 and attacks White's Ng5, but instead of moving the knight back, White plays Ng5xf7! starting an attack. Today we'll analyze...
Garry Kasparov is definitely one of the best players in the history of chess. His games have been analyzed over and over in hundreds of books and thousands of articles and videos. Then how can I be so sure that you somehow missed some of his bri...
