Tactics are the types of moves you can use to gain an immediate advantage. One way to get an advantage is to capture hanging, also called free, pieces. Watch out for which pieces are unprotected each turn. If you can...
Each piece has a numerical value that can help you evaluate whether exchanging it makes sense. Pawns = 1. Knights = 3. Bishops = 3. Rooks = 5. Queens = 9. Kings = The whole game! This tells you that trading a knight...
Don't make the mistake of giving up your good pieces for less valuable ones. It's important that you evaluate all possible captures each turn. Often there are multiple options, but only one of them will lead to a favo...
How did WGM Qiyu Zhou escape a lost position against a higher rated player in the Women's World Championship? She found a swindle, of course! Check out this World Championship defensive technique!
How did Alireza Firouzja swindle Hikaru Nakamura in an astounding blitz game? What tricks work well in online speed chess games? What is the Rosen Trap, named after IM Eric Rosen? WGM Qiyu Zhou will show you the trick...
The original chess swindler was the great Frank Marshall. Watch how he first survived lost piece and then a bad endgame to defeat his opponent. Marshall's saving combination is one of the most famous swindles ever pla...
Even World Champions can fall for swindles. Check out how former World Champion Petrosian survived a deadly attack and turned things around against the great Garry Kasparov!
What should you do when you're losing a chess game? If it's not time to resign, it's time to swindle your opponent. Watch how World Champion, Magnus Carlsen goes down a piece and then builds up a winning attack as if...
AlphaZero has changed the game of chess by demonstrating that rook-pawn advances are frequently very powerful. In this game AlphaZero started an attack with the h-pawn, sacrificed a knight and then moved its active qu...
In the French Defense Black often accepts a restricted bishop, but usually has enough counterplay to fight back. In this astounding game, AlphaZero restricts Black's bishop so much that it could play down a whole piec...
Stockfish is a brilliant defender, but that didn't stop AlphaZero from sacrificing a pawn, without any real attacking chances. AlphaZero didn't mind staying down material for a long time as it slowly built up pressure...
How did AlphaZero embarrass Stockfish's queen for the second time in the match? Check out AlphaZero's powerful sacrifices to force Black's queen into the corner and establish a deadly back rank pin.
In game three of its match with Stockfish, AlphaZero sacrificed a pawn for long term compensation. For many moves Black kept a material advantage, but AlphaZero slowly dominated the board and eventually caught Black's...
GM Aman Hambleton starts his series on winning pawn structures with the famous Maroczy Bind. White grabs space with pawns on c4 and e4, giving easy play and a chance to play for a win. Learn the key ideas about this i...
The Queen's Gambit Accepted often leads to an early endgame, but that doesn't mean that White doesn't have tricks to put Black under pressure. Find out how the very best players, including Magnus Carlsen, restrict Bla...
Why is the Sicilian such a popular opening? One reason is that Black's half-open c-file and active pieces can lead to great endgames. GM Aman Hambleton explains the key ideas!
In many openings, one side can gain a space advantage with a pawn on c4. against one on d6. That space advantage might not seem like much, but GM Aman Hambleton shows how the space advantage can cause headaches for e...
It's unusual for Black to gain a big positional advantage right out of the opening. Watch out how GM Aman Hambleton recommends Black to damage White's structure in the English Opening. You can try this plan in other o...
Because the king can't move into check it is often possible to checkmate by placing a queen next to the opponent's king and having the queen defended by another one of your pieces. If the king can't move away and no o...
One good way to checkmate is to use two rooks, or a rook and a queen to force a lone opposing king to the edge or the board. If one rook defends an entire file then the opposing king can't cross it. If you use the oth...
The easiest way to checkmate with king and rook against king is to follow this process: 1. Use your rook to put the opposing king in a box. 2. Bring your king towards the rook to protect it. 3. If it's possible to shr...
Follow a four-step process to make an assisted checkmate with a queen. 1. Place your queen one knight move away from the opposing king. 2. Copy each king move with your queen to stay one knight move away. 3. When t...
At beginner levels, games are frequently won and lost with the four move checkmate, also known as Scholar's Mate. It's most commonly played with 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 with Qxf7# on the next move. It's very importa...
In the 2020 Candidates Tournament, Ding Liren ran into a razor-sharp sacrifice by Fabiano Caruana. Ding kept his cool, defended every weakness and won the game! Check out how he did it!
How did GM Fabiano Caruana handle himself when he lost a knight against GM Levon Aronian? He fought for counterplay and complicated the game until his star opponent gave him an opening to survive.
