This article is about four interesting positions. Much of this is moderately advanced to very advanced, so hold onto your hats and see if you can meet the storm head-on! I've also discovered some incredible tactical possibilities in one of ...
BeekeeperBob wrote: “I am a 19 year old who has been toying with the idea of making chess a career for me (either playing professionally or teaching chess). Unfortunately, I currently have no official ranking. So before I go spending the m...
One of the great joys of chess is to sit back, relax, and review a game filled with subtle maneuvers or insanely wonderful tactics. At times, the game might be a masterpiece. At other times, the game might offer only one incredible moment, but tha...
The puzzles in this article are a bit advanced, but don’t let that spook you. In general, these puzzles are about verbal recognition of what is going on. These kinds of puzzles help a player look beyond the usual mentality of “I go the...
Once in a while, a game grabs my attention due to some amazing positional concept or, less often (I say “less often” since most tactics are rather repetitive), due to a really interesting tactical battle. Usually you’ll see these...
In an amateur chess game, opportunities abound. Unfortunately, these opportunities are often missed. Positional gains are snubbed, tactics are missed, a winning endgame is agreed drawn, and mutual fear leads both players into a deep, dark abyss.&n...
ih8sens (real name: Matt Nicholson) is a national master rated 2329. He asked the following: “I have a position that I’m curious about. The majority of players I’ve asked believe that Black should not play 18…Bxg3.&...
Axorcist wrote: “My question is this: Who do you consider to be the greatest chess theorist of all time? I have never read a good review on who really had the most influence on the development of knowledge in our beautiful game. Was i...
This week, we’ll take a look at a young Indian player, Sakshi1234567. She had this to say: “I am 13 years old. My father taught me chess when I was 10. I’ve been taking the game seriously from October 2015. I want to become a g...
As a man that has many interests (UFOs, martial arts, philosophy, various forms of history [chess and non-chess], literature, art, film, music, and even criminology), I recently began reading an excellent book entitled "Shady Side: The Life and Cr...
The Chess.com member kergnou said: “Can you take a look at my games and give me some advice?” Jeremy Silman: Okay, I’m going to review one game that shows many of your weaknesses. However, this game is actually one of the ...
The Chess.com member jyuvaraj asks: "I’m a beginner. I wish to improve my game. I’m currently reading the step-by-step method by Rob Brunia and Cor van Wijgerden. Will that help? What else should I do to improve? I’m also ...
The Chess.com member Mornarben wrote: “My question is about the initiative. I seem to be able to play well in the beginning, getting positions with good central control, but [I] never see a good way to launch an attack to seize the initiativ...
The Chess.com member te_amo (from Kolkata, India) asked me to point out his weakness in his games. He said: “I undergo no sort of professional training, and I aspire to be over 2000 someday.” Mr. te_amo, the fact is that people start...
The Chess.com member rosyflamitto said: “I usually blunder a lot, mainly in middlegames. Will you please look at few my games and give me some advice?” Jeremy Silman: Before continuing, a word to those reading this article: I am ge...
The Chess.com member JerryPapada wrote: “My name is Jerry, I’m 15 years old, from Greece, and I’m trying to find a way to bump up my rating. I need to find what is missing from my games.” Jeremy Silman: Playing 3-0 games ...
The Chess.com member QueensConquerer wrote: “I just read your article on opening preparation and in it you said that the player shouldn’t be afraid of getting doubled pawns. But there are times when I’m watching YouTube...
The Chess.com member Olaspecial wrote: “I am keen to become Nigeria’s next titled player (I hope this makes you smile) and I believe you can help me get there. I am diligent and I have been working hard at developing my opening repe...
I’ll start with a fun game. Black was so taken with his own brilliance that he wrote a blog about it, and he gave his opening a name: "The Magicians’ Attack!" Well, he should be excited since this kind of attack and subsequent m...
I always mention the importance of patterns in chess. Unfortunately, many laugh at the thought, others prefer to ignore a reality (patterns) that demands hard work for those who dream of being a master, and some view patterns as nothi...
Let’s take a quick look (no notes) at the following game. We will be looking at a few games by the Chess.com member RevolNoom, a young man (born 2001) from Hanoi, Vietnam (I was there a few years ago and had a very good time). H...
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...
First, let me implore you to read the notes to the puzzles: The prose and variations are what makes this new series worthwhile, so PLEASE try and solve the puzzle and then go back (whether you got it right or not), click on the little question mar...
When I look at games played by 1500-rated players and below, I see many weaknesses, but one is almost ubiquitous: both players are, more or less, dancing with themselves. What this means is that a player decides to do this or that, he might calcul...
