Articles

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 written previously about 7 deadly mistakes every novice player makes. Today I have decided to extend this list even further and to add 5 other typical “problematic choices” that amateur chess players make to have their chess life more difficult and stressful. If you find yourself in some of these how-not-to-play examples you […]

I have previously talked about evaluating of chess position. Today’s topic is a little different even though it may seem to be similar: analyzing chess game. The main difference is that we’ll concentrate on a whole game analyzes which occurs immediately after the game, in contrast, to the evaluation of a chess position which happens […]

I have written a How to get better at chess: a guide for all levels a while ago and have received quite a few responses. I want to say a couple of words about that article. First of all, it is impossible to write a precise guide for each rating level, especially for a player […]

The clock is a very important aspect of practical chess. You may be a very good chess player but lose a lot of games because you get short on time and make blunders as a result. In order to perform at your best, a good time management technique is required. What do I mean by […]

There is nothing that disgusts a man like getting beaten at chess by a woman. Charles Dudley Warner Playing in mixed events is enjoyable since it allows one to learn more about chess and psychology, and to improve more rapidly. So why, one might ask, are women often segregated? The problem is that most organizers […]

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 […]

Two Bishop Mate is another checkmate that seems problematic for club-level chess players to implement, even though it should not be. I have previously written about Knight + Bishop Checkmate, which is much more subtle, but no doubt very important to know. The main idea of checkmating with two bishops is occupying the center with […]

Here is another cool article written by the WGM Natalia Pogonina, where she continues the nemeses and customers theory and talks about three basic chess characters as Positional, Tactical and.. Calculator. Natalia also analyzes her game against 2448 FIDE rated WFM (!?). One of the reasons behind the “nemeses and customers” theory is that each […]

The transitivity law does not hold for chess. That is, if player A usually beats player B, and player B usually beats player C, it does not imply that player A usually beats player C. In fact, sometimes it’s quite the opposite. While playing against some opponents of similar rating is a walk in the […]