Garry Kasparov played a near perfect game against David Navara at the St. Louis Chess Club yesterday (16th August 2017), only to see it all blow up in his face when checkmate appeared inevitable. Can you find what’s wrong with 49.Nb4-c6+ ? […]
Book review: 365 Chess Master Lessons – GM Andrew Soltis
Publisher: Batsford Chess Author: GM Andrew Soltis 384 pages ★★★★☆ An all too familiar problem facing chess players is the question of what to study. Most of us have jobs, families or other commitments leaving us precious little time for studying […]
The 5 Best Ways to Get Better at Chess
Chess is a competitive game and those who play it like to win. But it’s not always so easy when your opponent is hell-bent on winning too. If you want to win more games, more tournaments, more prizes and perhaps […]
Hou Yifan and the Bizarre 5 Move Loss
Women’s World Champion Hou Yifan (2644 Elo) played a shocking game in the final round of the Tradewise Gibraltar chess tournament, resigning after just 5 moves – the quickest loss by a Grandmaster. Of more interest was just how bad […]
Magnus Carlsen Misses Golden Chance Against Giri!
Magnus Carlsen doesn’t get too many wins against Giri – and he missed a great opportunity recently at Tata Steel Chess, eventually drawing a 123 move game. What should Magnus have played here, at move 56? White to play.
Instructive Rook Endgames: Nakamura – Giri
Hikaru Nakamura and Anish Giri played out an instructive Rook endgame at the Grand Chess Tour Paris Blitz event this year. Material is level but Nakamura (White) has his Rook ideally placed behind his pawn and his King is helping […]
Secrets of chess tactics: Reversing the move order
Ever had it where you get a really good position and your tactical radar starts going crazy? You know there’s a win here somewhere… but when you play the obvious moves your opponent somehow escapes. Trust your intuition – there […]
Chess Tactic #543: Wesley So – Magnus Carlsen
(Board viewed from Black’s perspective). Wesley So (White) had a slight edge but his last move, Qd7, was careless. What did Magnus Carlsen play?
Chess Tactic #542: Averbakh – Korchnoi
(Board viewed from Black’s perspective). Yuri Averbakh, the renowned endgame expert, is a pawn up against Viktor Korchnoi and the passed h-pawn will also fall after Rb1-h1. What should Black do?