Every chess journey is different and every chess player chooses the path that fits them best. Some have a coach to guide them in their training, while others create their own working schedule.

However, there is probably always something every chess player wishes he/she had done or studied sooner. In this article we have tried to gather a list of these things; some are from our own experience and some from our colleagues’.

If you have done most of what is listed below, we can only congratulate you!

When beginners are just starting out with chess, they make many simple mistakes which could easily be avoided. In this article, I want you to know them and learn how to prevent these mistakes in your own games.

Preventing most common mistakes will help at accelerating your progress, avoiding stagnation and saving you from many disappointments chess players usually face when they fail to improve.

Let’s go ahead and dive right in!

Chess has many personalities, from World Champions to famous writers and strong Grandmasters who never won the supreme title.

All of them have contributed to the chess world with their games and ideas put in practice, as well as with in depth analysis and material to help chess players improve.

It is difficult to say who had the greatest influence in chess, but if we had to decide, this would be our list.

Every chess player has their own habits and views when it comes to training or chess in general. What might work for some strong players might be of no use for others and the other way around. You have to analyze your style of play and create your own training schedule that will help you improve your overall performance. However, while the percentage of hours invested in your training weighs most when it comes to seeing an increase in your rating, we believe that there are also other factors that influence it. Having a healthy and disciplined lifestyle is of great importance and will improve your overall performance in tournaments.

Here are some things chess masters do in order to prepare for tournaments and improve their play and might work for you as well.

Improving at chess takes a lot of hard work and dedication. You have to give it some daily time, even if it is only one hour a day. However, you have to be constant and fully concentrated on your training. It is important to analyze your weaknesses (and be fair to yourself here) and then create a working plan. If your goal is to reach 2000 Elo, then this shouldn’t be very difficult to achieve given that you respect your training schedule. We have created below a list of the aspects we think you should study first in order to reach your aim.

Let’s get started.

Nowadays it is obviously very important to know theory and get out of this phase with some slight advantage or at least an equal, playable position. However, besides learning your lines well, it is useful to know how to play common structures and patterns that arise from different openings. Knowing the plans and the ideas in these middlegames will help you improve your overall understanding of chess and save time over the board when faced against them.

In this article, we are going to discuss and briefly explain some of the most important structures that can arise in a game.

Mistakes are part of the learning process, they say. We have to go wrong in order to get better. However, it is safe to say that in chess everybody prefers to avoid mistakes, or at least make as little as possible. It can be frustrating to see how a good game turns into a nightmare in only one move. It takes a lot of hard work to lessen (if not completely make disappear) such moments and even so, the inevitable might happened to anyone, from club players to strong Grandmasters. A moment of carelessness or simply a bad day at the office is all it takes.

In this article, we are going to make a short list of what we believe are the most common mistakes that amateurs tend to make in the hope it will help you improve your overall results. Here we go.

Defense is perhaps one of the most important chess skills you can have. World Championships and major tournaments are always won with a help of outstanding defense. Ability to play well in inferior positions and don’t collapse under pressure is the trait shared by all World Champions and greatest chess players.

If you want to strengthen your game, it is one of the skills you should definitely look to develop. Today we will study the 7 greatest defensive combinations by the world’s best.

Garry Kasparov is the legend among the legends. His playing style is a hybrid between Alekhine’s, Tal’s and Fischer’s. He is a very dynamic player with extensive opening knowledge and aggressive play. Kasparov is perhaps the most titled and awarded player that ever lived. He played a total of ~2500 rated games winning 55% of the times and losing just 7.7% throughout his career! For comparison, Magnus Carlsen’s winning percentage is “just” 43% and losing 16.6%. Kasparov has played hundreds if not thousands of beautiful games, but today we show you 5 of his amazing wins. Any chess player from 100-2800 can learn from those games.

Siegbert Tarrasch was one of the world’s best chess players in the early 1890s. He had a “+3” score against Wilhelm World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz but never faced him in the Match because of Tarrasch’s full-time job as a doctor. Tarrasch was an influential contributor to opening and endgame theory. One of his famous principles states: “Always put the rook behind the pawn…. Except when it is incorrect to do so.” Today we will take a  look at some of the best chess games played by Siegbert Tarrasch. Let’s learn from this great teacher together!