“Real magic can never be made by offering someone else's liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back.” ― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn Magic does happen on the chess board; that is one of 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 most sacred of all pieces is the king, a piece we must care for and nurture. Right!? Wrong! In this article we are going to take a look at kings on steroids. The kings below are drugged up to their eyeballs and ready...
It's time to cut out the funny business, quit over-thinking, and go checkmate your opponent. There's no better way to claim a quick victory than an efficient, well-executed attack. In this series, you'll learn from GM Simon Williams ...
Throughout the years there have been hundreds, maybe thousands, of brilliancy prizes offered. Some are just games, albeit extremely clever ones, while others have their own stories. Some even have stories that hove...
Chess.com is proud to offer several viewing options for the Grandmaster Blitz Battle Championship. The three-hour round-one match between Levon Aronian and Alexander Grischuk will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific time on Wednesday, April 6...
In round four of the recently-concluded 2015 Qatar Masters, I found myself across the board from a rather obscure individual known as Vladimir Kramnik (yes, I am being sarcastic). As the chief arbiter made the usual pre-game announcements, I recal...
Officially released on September 16, the biographical thriller Pawn Sacrifice is the latest development in an ongoing chess renaissance. Directed by Academy Award-winning producer and filmmaker Edward Zwick, Pawn Sacrifice offers a ...
Lists... Everybody loves list! You couldn't ask for a better list as GM (IM at the time) Sam Shankland takes you on a video tour of his personal top 10 moves of all time. In a diverse collection, you will see brilliant attacking thrusts, stunning ...
Even the barest novice can appreciate and learn from the exquisite artistry and logic in the conceptual masterpieces to be found here. Join some of Chess.com's finest teachers on a tour of the most dazzling and instructive ches...
Uncle Yermo is here with commentary on the Baku FIDE Grand Prix! Twelve super grandmasters have been assembled to compete for a spot in the Candidates Tournament of 2016, and Yermo has all the hot takes, highlights, and insights you are seeking. T...
What motivated this move? Was that a blunder? How deeply did he calculate in this position? How many candidate moves did she consider? Did he memorize that entire opening? Why did she exchange these pieces and not those? How does he play so fast?!...
On March 1, 2013, at the age of 13 years and 8 months, Chinese super-talent Wei Yi earned his final grandmaster norm at the Reykjavik Open. I was deeply impressed by his games from the event, especially by his 33-move victory against Maxime Vachie...
Chess.com proudly hosted the online chess portion of the 2014 World Mind Games. IM Danny Rensch gives you the in-depth perspective on the tournament as he live-streams his own games from the event. Follow along as Danny competes across all five ro...
In its 10th season, the United States Chess League brought its action live to Chess.com. This annual contest between the strongest chess cities in the United States brought together a congregration of enthusiastic spectators to commentate, critici...
The US Chess League pits the chess cities of the United States against each other in a winner-take-all, no-holds-barred annual battle royale. In 2013, 16 cities faced off for the title of US Chess League Champion. Divided into two divisi...
The 2015 edition of Norway Chess was a memorable event in several ways. Above all, it heralded the resurgence of Veselin Topalov and Viswanathan Anand, who both stormed through the field and turned in 2900+ performances. Topalov won the tournament...
Many have tried to increase chess awareness over the years. None have succeeded to the degree GM Maurice Ashley did recently, in the Millionaire Chess Open of October 2014. GM Ashley, a brilliant entrepreneur, took a page from the NFL for his ow...
Every serious chess player dreams of creating his own Mona Lisa — a game so beautiful and memorable that he will look back on it for the rest of his career. Unfortunately, many players tend to equate the word brilliancy with fou...
GM Sam Shankland is one of the most promising young players to have emerged from the United States in recent years. Earning his GM title by the age of 21, Shankland built a considerable library of instructive and beautiful games by the time most p...
Explore the rise to GM by Ben Finegold in this fun series. Learn how a strong master earns the coveted grandmaster title, experiencing the highs and lows along with GM Finegold himself. You might be surprised by the kind of preparation it tak...
I clearly remember that day in March 2005 when Garry Kasparov announced his retirement from professional chess. I was convinced that it was all a misunderstanding, that my days of waking up at dawn to watch Garry massacre one super-GM after...
In his excellent 1995 work Winning Chess Brilliancies (part of the acclaimed Winning Chess series), GM Yasser Seirawan developed a novel analytical method: he literally broke every game down into its three stages, separately analyzing the opening,...
When discussing great games, many chess fans always think of slashing attacks and outrageous combinations. While every world-class player tossed out more than a few epic combinations at some point in his career, positional masterpieces are far har...
