General Information
Smooth Chess: After the closing ceremony of the European Individual Championship that crowned him a champion, I had a chance to talk with the rising Russian star Vladislav Artemiev. A humble fellow, but one that knows his talents. He knows he is good, though he also knows he needs to work more if he is […]
This year has started with rather sad news for the chessplayers all around – Vladimir Kramnik, or Big Vlad, as he has been known for years, one of the classics of our times, has decided to retire from competitive chess. His game and style of play have been an inspiration for many strong and aspiring […]
Won Positions are said the most difficult ones to win. And I believe many of you can relate to this saying. No matter how big the advantage, there are opponents who just won’t give up and will put up stubborn resistance. Not only that, but our brain sometimes seems to be on their side as […]
Improving at chess takes a lot of hard work and determination. You must study a lot, solve many exercises and memorize openings. This may sound boring, but it doesn’t have to be like that. You have to keep yourself entertained, so to speak, in order to keep your focus and interest in what you are […]
The question that gives the title to this article is one of those to which every chess player has his own opinion and answer. It is an extremely complicated matter. Sometimes we are in a tournament situation where the full point is the only acceptable result. The most common reasons are the chase for a […]
Getting a good positional understanding is an important step to improving your play and becoming a stronger player. Studying the basic themes, seeing the positional masterpieces played by the great players and solving many exercises can help you in this direction. One of the most important concepts, which appears in probably every single game is […]
One of the things every chess player has to do in order to improve at chess is seen many games played by strong Grandmasters. This is a great method of enriching your knowledge and getting to understand a wide variety of positions – not only in the middlegame but also opening plans and endgame. However, […]
2018 finished on an exciting note for the chess fans all over the world, with two last major events – the World Rapid and Blitz Championships. In spite of the fact that the details of the event were announced only a few weeks before its start, the strongest players from all over the world lined […]
Can you recommend me a book? If only I had a dime for every time a player searching for improvement asked me this question. Books are of course extremely useful in our learning but with so many writers and the extremely high flow of information, we got these days choosing good material can be difficult. […]
It is no secret that chess is difficult. In fact, we are convinced that it is among the most difficult sports one can choose. Studying chess can very often be frustrating, especially if you do it on your own. It is difficult to measure progress, you are never quite sure if you are improving. Unlike […]
