A game of chess is full of emotions. We give our best over the chess board and try to play well and win, but it doesn’t always go according to the plan. Especially after having played a good game for many hours a loss can feel painful and disappointing. It is perfectly normal and there’s probably no chess player who hasn’t felt that way at least once. The important thing is to get back on your feet before the next game and continue the fight.

So, what should we do after we lose a chess game? Here are a few things you could try.

Magnus Carlsen needs little introduction; he has shown great determination and talent from an early age and has quickly established himself as the strongest player of our times [and here is why]. He is a universal player who can handle well any type of position, but he prefers strategic play – positions with a slight plus where he can slowly increase the pressure without risking anything. His games are a source of inspiration for any aspiring chess player who looks for improvement.

Here are a few things we could all learn from him.

Becoming a chess champion is not an easy road. History shows us that in order to get to the top one needs to work hard and invest a lot of time into chess training and preparation. Some people support the idea that everyone can become a chess champion. While this is partially true, not everyone is fit with the same conditions and willingness to make it to the top. For example, everyone wants to achieve a high rating and the Grandmaster title, but the question we should ask: is everyone willing to do what it takes? In this article, we are going to list some of the traits every chess champion has.

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.