General Information

There are many different chess products available on the market these days. Hundreds of companies produce chess books, chess clocks, chess boards, chess pieces, chess notebooks, chess software, chess computers and just everything about chess. Do you really need to buy all these things in order to be a successful tournament player? Which things are […]

You probably know what chess is. If you do, you most likely know how chess pieces move and which pieces are worth what. However, what you may not know is why they are worth that much and how to efficiently use them to win more games. You may not know these simple facts and ideas […]

This article is mostly intended for inexperienced chess players, who decided to play competitive chess and looking for some hints. However, even an “occasional” tournament chess player may find some of the ideas discussed and things advised here useful for their chess careers. A very first thing a player needs to understand before he goes […]

I already talked about the subject of elo rating but decided to expend previous article with more information and some technical details about elo chess rating system. This article is not recommended for people who take statistics/predictions way too seriously since this information can ruin their chess results. So read it at your own risk! […]

I have been asked many chess questions lately via my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Here is a list of selected questions with answers which maybe interesting for the general chess audience. If you have your own questions to ask you can send it on my email, Facebook or Twitter. I have also received questions on […]

It always surprised me how many chess players are unfamiliar with chess terminology. I was recently talking with a player whose rating will hit the master’s level very shortly. We went over the game which was just played between two of us and I mentioned the word “Skewer” while analyzing. He obviously did not know […]

CHESS IN ANCIENT HISTORY The game of Chess has been attributed to the Indians both by the Persian people and by the Arabs. However, the origin of the game remains lost in antiquity. The words for chess in Old Persian and Arabic are chatrang and shatranj respectively – terms derived from chaturanga in Sanskrit, which […]

Part I As for me I always wanted to learn play chess. What a game! All those units standing in a row – bishops, knights, rooks and pawns and of course – King and Queen – the authority and power united on central squares! All seems so clear, so geometric, so waiting just for my […]

What is blindfold chess (BF)? According to Wikipedia it is a way to play chess, when play is conducted without players having sight of the position of pieces nor physical contact with them. How many times have you been amazed by somebody’s ability to easily and effortlessly calculate long variations during a game or come […]

This is a list of 27 most important chess traits represented in form of quotes from the greatest chess players of all times: Kaparov, Fischer, Karpov, Lasker, Tarrasch and many others. To be good at something we need to understand what and how the greatest think about the subject. That applies to chess as well; […]