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- Tobey Maguire Playing Bobby Fischer?
Maguire might have just lost a franchise character in Spider-man, but it looks like he might be playing famous chess icon, Bobby Fischer, in the film "Pawn Sacrifice". Pawn Sacrifice follows Bobby Fischer who has to face the Russian chess champion, Boris Spassky, in 1972, in a game filled with Cold War overtones. Basically think Rocky IV just slightly geekier (only slightly). The film is being written by Steven Knight, who is also working on Matt Damon’s recently announced Robert F. Kennedy biopic, has apparently had the script written for Pawn Sacrifice for some time. No doubt the film will focus more on the earlier days of Fisher before he became a recluse, and started ... - Happy Birthday Bobby Fischer
On this day in 1943, one of the greatest chess players in history was born. Bobby Fischer's talent, known in the chess world for decades, would become evident world-wide when he defeated Russian Boris Spassky for the world title in 1972. Later, Fischer's erratic personality and anti-Semitic rants would dominate his life. Click here for his confrontation with ABC's Jeremy Schaap. The chess champion passed away in 2008. Here is a news report on Fischer's chess victory against Spassky. ... - Young Grandmaster-to-Be Bows to Formidable Older Foe
Older chess players are not an endangered species, but there is no doubt that chess is increasingly dominated by young men (and women). The world’s top-ranked player is 19, and more chess prodigies are emerging everywhere. The latest is Richard Rapport, a 13-year-old from Hungary. In the Gotth’Art Cup, which ended Wednesday in Hungary, Richard earned the final norm toward a grandmaster title. He has not yet qualified for the title, because his rating is below 2,500, the level needed to become a chess grandmaster, but there seems little doubt that he soon will satisfy that last requirement. When he does, he will become the 18th player to become a grandmaster before ... - Relentless Veselin Topalov wins again
The great double round robin in Linares, Spain, ended in a dramatic victory for world chess championship challenger Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. Like a crafty pitcher who wins without his best stuff, Topalov succeeded without revealing any opening secrets he had prepared for his April match against chess champion Viswanathan Anand. Two of his four wins came from inferior positions, and only once did he outplay his opponent thanks to an advantage in the opening. Topalov's legendary determination highlighted the final round. His cautious opponent, Boris Gelfand of Israel, reached an obviously drawn endgame, yet Topalov induced an almost imperceptible ... - Chess notes
In a review of Diego Rasskin-Gutman’s book “Chess Metaphors’’ (MIT Press), which deserves special attention by chess lovers, former world chess champion Garry Kasparov has published in The New York Review of Books a retrospective look at the development of chess machines. He also expresses a hope for the future. It is strange to this column that Kasparov ever thought that he would be a worthy opponent of chess computers. The computers have so many advantages over human beings in playing chess that it is hardly a fair fight. The chess computer memory is simply a copying device, the machine can look at any number of books on chess openings, and ... - The f-pawn, part 3: a blunt but effective attack?
Punting the f-pawn down the chess board may be desperate but it sometimes gets results. The Grand Prix Attack. White has just offered the f-pawn. How should Black reply? RB We've been using the metaphor of route-one football in our survey of the f-pawn advance, and while we all know from experience that the long, hopeful punt down the park can produce the occasional goal, this looks to me just a little too early and a little too crude. The team is barely on the pitch and the ball has already been booted up the other end. On principle alone it seems wrong. I can't decide whether Black's best response is 1…exf5 or simply to continue with ... - Vietnamese surprise in Moscow
The Aeroflot Open, arguably the strongest open chess tournament ever, ended Feb. 19 in Moscow. The field of 80 included 75 chess grandmasters. The surprising winner of 21,000 Euros (about $28,000) for first place was 18-year-old Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, who scored an undefeated 7-2. His success followed his tie for first place in the Moscow Open, another GM-heavy chess tournament, a day before the start of the Aeroflot Open. Entering the last round of the Aeroflot Open, Le shared the lead with his countryman Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, 19. Le defeated 2009 winner Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia), while Nguyen lost to GM Anton Korobov (Ukraine), who took ... - A Chess Player’s Attacks Pay Off, Even When They Shouldn’t
Computer chess programs are so popular, and so good, that almost anybody can use one to figure out where a chess player went wrong — when the game is over. But at the chess board, competitors can rely only on their brains and wits (unless they are cheating) and are bound to make mistakes, especially when they are under pressure. One reason why Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria is so good is that he forces opponents to make mistakes. Ranked No. 2 in the world, he is an aggressive chess player who is always trying to attack. There are problems with this approach, when being aggressive is not justified. But the constant pressure that he places on his opponents often ... - Vishy Anand saves his strength before world match with Veselin Topalov
Vishy Anand, who defends his world title against Veselin Topalov at Sofia in April, kept his powder dry in his warm-up chess event at Corus Wijk where the Indian, 40, played at full force in only a few games. In contrast Topalov, 34, has played hard in almost every game this week at the Linares elite chess tournament in Andalusia, where he won first prize with 6.5/10, half a point ahead of Russia's Alex Grischuk. The Bulgarian squeezed points from tiny advantages and by round six had regained the world No1 spot on the live chess ratings from Magnus Carlsen. These daily updated rankings have a huge following and their prestige is now not far short of ... - A Match All About the Sicilian
An unusual chess match is being held in South Carolina. It pits Judit Polgar of Hungary, the strongest woman chess payer in history, who is now ranked No. 46 in the world, but once was in the top 10, against Gregory Kaidanov, a Ukrainian-born American grandmaster, who is ranked No. 261. The match is four games and has an interesting twist: Each game begins with a different variation of the Sicilian Defense. The first game was on Monday and was won by Kaidanov, who had White, and featured the Sveshnikov. The second, which was won by Polgar, was on Tuesday and was a Dragon. The third chess game, which is being played on Wednesday, and can ... - The f-pawn, part 2: is f5 the answer here?
Does White have a better option than moving the f-pawn? Continuing our look at the chess equivalent of route one football – the f-pawn advance... RB Well, let's see what happens when we push – 1 f5. The answer comes back faster than Manchester United on the break, not much. Black is under no compulsion to take the pawn and can instead centralise with 1…Nd4 or even 1…Qd4, or start getting the queen's rook into play with 1…Rac8, and 1…Nb4, hitting the d-pawn, would be irritating. All right, let's try to be logical. What's wrong here is that even if we could swap off pawns on the f-file, the f1-rook would remain blocked by the bishop. Let's ... - Big Surprises in Europe
Europe has been a center of chess activity over the last month with a series of major open tournaments. The first was the Gibtelecom Chess Festival in Gibraltar, which ran from Jan. 26 through Feb. 4. Among the world-class chess players who competed were Etienne Bacrot of France, Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia, Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain, Michael Adams of England, and Gata Kamsky of the United States. The chess tournament ended in a nine-way tie for first, with Adams winning a four-person playoff to take the title. The Moscow Open, which overlapped with Gibtelecom and ended on Feb. 7, was divided into four sections — A, B, C and D — with ... - Topalov Closes In on Linares Title
After eight rounds, Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, the top seed, holds a one point lead in the annual Ciudad de Linares chess tournament in Spain. Alexander Grischuk of Russia, the defending champion, is in second place after beating Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan in Round 8 on Sunday. Levon Aronian of Armenia is in third, having managed, like Topalov, not to have lost a game in the chess tournament. Unlike Topalov, who has won three games, Aronian has not won a game either. So far, 25 percent of the games have been decisive, but that does not mean that the other 75 percent have been dull. Quite the contrary. The games have mostly been hard fought and exciting, even ... - Weekend of Fun and Friends Between Battles on the Chess Board
The highlight of the year for many chess players is Washington’s Birthday weekend, when four amateur team championships are held across the country. There are no cash prizes, but the chess tournaments are popular because of the camaraderie. Players walk back and forth chatting before, after and even during the games. Some renew friendships with competitors they see only once a year. The World Amateur Team East tournament in Parsippany, N.J., the biggest and oldest of the chess events, celebrated its 40th birthday this year. There were 1,150 players and 271 teams, down from 283 teams last year, said Steve Doyle, the tournament’s director, who ... - At Halfway Point, Topalov Leads at Linares
The annual Ciudad de Linares chess tournament in Spain began earlier this week, and after five rounds — or halfway through — Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, the top seed and No. 2 chess player in the world, is leading with 3.5 points, a point ahead of the field. Linares has been among the world’s elite chess tournaments since the early 1990s, when Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov were regular competitors. This year’s tournament has only six players, though they are all among the world’s best. The format is a double round robin in which each chess competitor faces all the others twice, playing once with White and once with Black. Aside from Topalov ... - The f-pawn, part 1: cheap, crude and obvious?
Is an f-pawn advance the chess game's equivalent of route-one football? RB For some time I've been nagging Dan to do a series of columns on the f-pawn advance. He's been resistant, partly, I suspect, because pushing the f-pawn is a bit like route-one football, the long ball punted down the park in hopes of a quick goal. The advance can sometimes be crude, obvious and speculative, but, like the infamous route-one game, it can also produce results, and, as we will see over the next few weeks, some very classy chess players have used it. We start with one of the classiest of all time, Botvinnik, in a chess game played in the decade before he became world chess champion. Having ... - At Gibraltar Chess Event, Women Begin to Close Gender Gap
Why aren’t there more great female chess players? One theory is that men are physically stronger and more aggressive by nature and therefore better suited at a game that simulates warfare. Another is that the talent pool among women has not been big enough to produce many great chess players. That has been changing over the last 20 years. And the results of the Eighth Gibtelecom Chess Festival in Gibraltar, which ended on Feb. 3, seems proof of that change. The chess tournament had a strong field that included 35 grandmasters, 5 of them ranked among the world’s top 40 players. The festival offered special prizes for women, and ... - Lines from Linares
The 27th edition of the Linares tournament is underway in the Andalucian town but the chess event has been affected by the economic slowdown. It was no surprise that the planned tie up with Dubai fell through and the organisers responded to budgetary pressures by reducing the size of the field. The chess tournament will be a six-player double round all play all and I am delighted to see that Francisco Vallejo, one of the strongest players Spain has ever produced, has been invited back. Veselin Topalov will be aiming to recapture the number one spot from Magnus Carlsen while Alexander Grischuk the Russian chess champion returns as winner of ... - Moscow hordes
Luke McShane has braved the Moscow winter, the hordes of seriously under-rated Russian GMs and is the first English chess player to enter the Aeroflot Open for many a year. As well as under-rated chess players there are also 14 of the world’s top 100 competing. After two rounds McShane has 1.5/2. The prize fund this year is € 180,000 and there are some qualifying places available in the World Blitz Chess Championship which will take place straight after the event. The Botvinnik Variation is a very sharp line which seems to defy all logic. Black loses a pawn, his kingside is wrecked and his king forced to run to the queenside. Despite this the second player often wins as ... - Chess Grand Prix to end in May
The World Chess Federation (FIDE) has announced that the final Grand Prix tournament will begin May 5 in Astrakhan, Russia. The six-tournament series was supposed to conclude in 2009, but three of the six cities that promised to host tournaments backed out. FIDE deserves credit for finding replacements, despite the delay in the schedule. The Grand Prix offers a total of 300,000 Euros (about $410,000) to the top 10 cumulative scorers. Levon Aronian of Armenia, who won two tournaments and tied for second in another, has already clinched the first prize of 75,000 Euros (about $102,000). More than half of the 14 chess players in Astrakhan retain ... - Gibraltar win puts Michael Adams back on top of the British pack
Last autumn Michael Adams lost the England No1 chess spot for the first time for a decade when his below-par results coincided with Nigel Short's purple patch. Adams used to be a world top-10 chess grandmaster but his poor run also dropped his international rating below the elite GM 2700 mark. This double reverse stung the 38-year-old Cornishman into adding a more incisive touch to his strategic game and last week he triumphed at the competitive Gibtelecom Open while Short struggled against the super-GMs at Corus Wijk. The outcome is that the live daily chess ratings today show Adams back above 2700 and Short below it. The old order is restored and, since ... - Blazing Baden-Baden
Michael Adams turned out for Baden-Baden in the German Bundesliga at the weekend and scored 1.5/2. His team lead the chess competition after nine of the 15 rounds with a perfect score. Baden-Baden even achieved a rare whitewash and defeated Berlin 1903 8-0. Baden-Baden’s strength is illustrated by the fact that Adams plays on board 3. Luke McShane’s Werder Bremen are in joint second place having dropped two match points. One of those was to the bottom club Erfurter SK who were out-rated by an average of over 180 points per board but managed a 4-4 draw. McShane played on chess board ... - Magnus Carlsen stands out from Corus
Magnus Carlsen, the 19-year-old chess grandmaster from Norway, won the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Since October, Carlsen has won three elite chess events plus the World Blitz Chess Championship. His latest success will boost his 2810 rating to an estimated 2814, the second highest in history. This triumph was more difficult, as first Alexey Shirov of Spain and then Vladimir Kramnik of Russia held the lead. Kramnik defeated Carlsen in the ninth round but finished weakly with three draws and a loss to world chess champion Viswanathan Anand of India. However, Carlsen rebounded with two more wins for a score of ... - The Scotch Opening, part 5: a dynamic endgame opportunity
How does White do something with this passive position? Howell-Werle, London 2009. White to play. Concluding our brief survey of the Scotch (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4), we look at the kind of dynamic endgame struggle that can arise from this old but still important chess opening. RB White's position after 1 exf5 Nxf5 2 Re1 (or 2 e4, or 2 Kd2) is so passive – and the e-pawn likely to be a long-term weakness – that White's best chance is to push with 1 e5. Assuming Black takes (1...d5 2 Na4 followed by Nc5 would give the white knight a great post ) with 1...dxe5, White has 2 Bc4, developing his bishop ... - Chess notes
All eyes this week were on the Corus chess tournament at Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, which had about everything one could hope for: drama, contention, star players, and great chess. The event’s sponsor, Corus, is a steel manufacturing and construction company, which was recently acquired by Tate Steel, India’s second largest privately held company. This corporation is a sponsor of many athletic and cultural events throughout Europe and hopefully will continue this great chess event in future years. The “Corus Line’’ in this tourney included, among its 14 contestants, nearly all of the world’s leading Grandmasters, except for Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Levon Aronian of ... - World's No. 1 Chess Player Widens Lead Over His Biggest Rivals
History will record 1990 as a great year for chess players: it was when three of the current top 25 players in the world were born. The youngest of the three is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who is No. 1 in the world. Of the other two, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France is No. 18, and Sergey Karjakin, who was born in Ukraine but now plays for Russia, is No. 21. Under different circumstances, Karjakin and Vachier-Lagrave would be considered potential world chess champions. But just as the talented players in the 2003 N.B.A. draft have labored in LeBron James’s shadow, Karjakin and Vachier-Lagrave have been eclipsed by Carlsen. In Karjakin’s case, it is puzzling. He was the youngest ... - Vishy Anand helps Magnus Carlsen to claim Corus crown
When Vishy Anand drew his first nine games at Corus Wijk aan Zee last week, opinions were divided on whether the world chess champion had lost his edge or was simply taking a well-paid rest before his April title defence in Sofia against Veselin Topalov. Then Anand acted as Corus king-maker, beating Alexei Shirov and Vlad Kramnik, so that the pair finished half a point behind Magnus Carlsen. Norway's world No1 had previously won at Pearl Spring in China and the London Classic and finished second at the Tal Memorial, His fine run continued at Wijk, and the live ratings now make him the all-time No2 to Garry Kasparov. Carlsen had final-round luck in Holland, and the impression is that ... - Fresh ideas from Adams
The Governor of Gibraltar Sir Adrian Johns visited the Gibtelecom Masters at the Caleta Hotel and chose the day the chess competition intensified as England’s Michael Adams regained a share of the lead with a ninth round win. Adams produced a new idea in the opening against the French Defence and although it did not look particularly dangerous he gradually outplayed the Argentinian GM Damian Lemos to reach 7/9. All the games were hardfought with the exception of the top board where the leader at start of play Jan Gustafsson was content to force an early draw against top seed Etienne Bacrot. With one to play Adams shares the lead with ... - Jan Gustafsson breaks away
If there was a traffic jam after seven rounds of the GibTelecom Masters there is gridlock after eight although GM Jan Gustafsson of Germany started speeding and broke away from the pack by defeating WGM Natalia Zhukova with black. Eight of the co-leaders at start of play drew, two lost and only Gustafsson reached 6.5/8 with over a dozen chess players on 6 points. Michael Adams held former US chess champion and FIDE championship finalist Gata Kamsky to a draw with black and the pair are in the group on 6. The top seed Etienne Bacrot is also on 6/8. He made a slow start but is back in contention. In the following game he employs the Moldovan Variation of ... - The Scotch Opening, part 4: what does White do next?
Fashions come and go in chess. And this is is one that may well be on the way back. 4... Bc5 is one of Black's main options against the Scotch chess opening (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4). How should White continue? RB I've done a tiny bit of study on the Scotch and so am not quite the total novice I was when we began this survey. In fact, I've reached this position in a couple of recent casual games. I've tried both of White's two principal continuations here, 5 Nxc6 and 5 Be3 (5 Nb3 is less often seen). The first of these looks appealing for White: 5...dxc6 6 Qxd8+ Kxd8 puts an end to Black's castling ...
ChessNinja's Daily Dirt
The Daily Dirt Chess Blog
- Construction Underway
Blog and template construction tonight. Kasparov in New York photos. - NY Kasparov Book Signing Friday Sep.26 at Penn Station BORDERS
Kasparov book signing in Manhattan at the Penn Station B&N on Friday the 26th at 5pm. Also a simul in Harlem on Sunday. - Learn Mandarin Now
China beating Russian men in their annual match. - Spice of Life
Strong GM invitational in Texas; goofy web numbers reported for EU Ch. - Bushed
Kasparov to meet President Bush at a "dissidents luncheon" in New York. - Kosteniuk Wins Women's WCh
Kosteniuk beats Hou Yifan in the final. Women's chess, stay or go? - Topalov Takes All in Bilbao
Topalov takes clear first in Grand Slam final after beating Ivanchuk in the final round. Carlsen and Aronian 2-3, then Ivanchuk, Radjabov and Anand in sole last. - It's Not Easy Being Number One
Topalov beats Carlsen to take over the lead in Bilbao with two rounds to play. Off day Thursday. - Nokia Gambit, Battery Variation
Nigel Short loses when his phone goes off during a game at the European Union Championship in Liverpool. - Carlsen Loses But Leads
Carlsen leads Bilbao by a point over Topalov with three rounds to play. - Carlsen Profile
NYT/IHT profile of Magnus Carlsen touches on training habits, school, Monty Python. - Bilbao 08: Aronian Tanks
Carlsen beats Aronian in round one. Other games drawn. Round 2: Ivanchuk-Carlsen, Anand-Radjabov, Topalov-Aronian. (All drawn.) - Balls Out in Bilbao
Anand, Ivanchuk, Topalov, Carlsen, Aronian, and Radjabov in a double round-robin. Sep-2-13 at 11EDT each day. Rest days are 7th and 11th. I'm on ICC Chess.FM live with various American GMs each day. - Ivanchuk Triumphs in Moscow
Ivanchuk wins clear first in Tal Memorial with +3. - Topalov Speaks in Spain
Topalov interview with Spanish newspaper touches on Kasparov, computer chess, and, umm, Scarlett Johansson.
What's Hot in Chess?
About.com Chess: What's Hot Now
- Basic Opening Principles
A discussion about freedom, one of the basic principles of chess openings. - Basic Tournament Chess Rules
Before you play in your first tournament, learn some of the most important rules in competitive chess. - Common Ruy Lopez Lines
The Open Variation of the Ruy Lopez opening. - Today's Best Chess Players
A guide to the best chess players today, including the top chess players in the world. - Strategy: Using the Bishops
Learn how to use the bishop in chess. Improve your chess strategy with this tutorial on bishops. - World Chess Champions
A list of the world chess champions throughout chess history. - Fool's Mate
A move by move guide to the fastest checkmate in chess, the Fool's Mate. - Every Move: Opera House Game
Paul Morphy's famous Opera House Game is presented, with each move by each side explained. - Learning Openings
A discussion of the best ways to learn the openings in chess. - Check, Checkmate and Stalemate
While many beginners may confuse them because they look similar at first glance, check, checkmate and stalemate are very different situations. It is important to be able to identify each and understand what they mean. - Basic Chess Tactics
A guide to the skewer, a basic chess tactic. - 10 Chess Openings to Know
A list of the most common chess openings. - How to Set Up a Chess Board
Where to put the kings at the start of a chess game. - Guide to the Chess Pieces
The first step towards playing chess is learning how each piece moves. Each of the six pieces moves differently, and this guide will help you understand how to use each one.
Most popular atricles
About.com Chess: Most Popular Articles
- How to Set Up a Chess Board
How to correctly place the board and pieces at the start of a chess game. - 10 Chess Openings to Know
A list of the most common chess openings. - How to Play Chess
A complete guide on how to play chess, including the basic rules of chess. - Every Move: Opera House Game
Paul Morphy's famous Opera House Game is presented, with each move by each side explained. - Five Ways to Improve at Chess
Learn the five best ways for novice chess players to improve their chess. - Guide to the Chess Pieces
The first step towards playing chess is learning how each piece moves. Each of the six pieces moves differently, and this guide will help you understand how to use each one. - Basic Chess Tactics
A guide to basic chess tactics, including forks, pins and skewers. - Common Ruy Lopez Lines
Some of the most common variations in the Ruy Lopez opening. - Common Sicilian Lines
A guide to the most common lines seen in the Sicilian Defense, a chess opening. - Basic Opening Principles
Learn the basic principles of playing chess openings properly. - Basic Checkmates
A guide to ten basic checkmates that every chess player should know, presented as a series of mate-in-one problems. - Fool's Mate
A move by move guide to the fastest checkmate in chess, the Fool's Mate. - The Rules of Chess
A quick guide to the rules of chess, with links to more detailed information on chess rules. - Special Rules
A quick guide to the chess rules that cause new players the most trouble: castling, promotion and en passant. - Check, Checkmate and Stalemate
While many beginners may confuse them because they look similar at first glance, check, checkmate and stalemate are very different situations. It is important to be able to identify each and understand what they mean. - World Chess Champions
A list of the world chess champions throughout chess history. - Basic Tournament Chess Rules
Before you play in your first tournament, learn some of the most important rules in competitive chess. - Understanding Chess Notation
Learn how to read and write algebraic chess notation. - Strategy: Using the Bishops
Learn how to use the bishop in chess. Improve your chess strategy with this tutorial on bishops. - Learning Openings
A discussion of the best ways to learn the openings in chess. - Lines in the Italian Game
A description and guide to the common openings lines which can be reached from the Italian Game. - Relative Piece Values
Learn how much each piece is worth in chess, from the pawn to the queen and king. - Today's Best Chess Players
A guide to the best chess players today, including the top chess players in the world. - Paul Morphy
Paul Morphy is widely considered the greatest chess player of his era, and is often referred to as an unofficial World Champion. - Tactics
Short, forced sequences of moves which can be calculated and lead to an advantage, usually the gain of material. Examples of tactical themes include forks, pins, and skewers. - Checkmates: King and Queen
Learn how to checkmate with a king and a queen, one of the most basic endgame checkmates in chess. - Viswanathan Anand
A profile of World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand. - Garry Kasparov
A profile of former chess player and world chess champion Garry Kasparov. - Candidate Moves
Learn what a candidate move is, and how candidate moves can help you improve your chess. - Bobby Fischer by K. Muller
A review of the book Bobby Fischer: The Career and Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion, by Karsten Muller. - Chess - QuickTips
An index of QuickTips for the Chess guide site. - Understanding Chess Ratings
Learn what chess ratings are, and how to earn a chess rating. - The World Chess Championship
A brief history of the World Chess Championship. - Mikhail Tal
A profile of chess player and former World Chess Champion Mikhail Tal. - Major Pieces
Queens and rooks. - Magnus Carlsen
A profile of grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, one of the world's top chess players. - The Improving Chess Thinker
A review of The Improving Chess Thinker, by chess author and National Master Dan Heisman. - Kramnik: My Path to the Top
A review of the Vladimir Kramnik: My Path to the Top DVD by ChessBase. - Time Management
Learn how to better manage your time during a chess game. Time management is an important, but often overlooked, chess skill. - Dvoretsky's Analytical Manual
A review of the chess book, Dvoretsky's Analytical Manual. - Back to Basics: Openings
A review of the chess book Back to Basics: Openings by Carsten Hansen. - Dismantling the Sicilian
A review of Dismantling the Sicilian, by Jesus de la Villa - Bobby Fischer
A profile of former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer. - Initiative
The player who is pushing the action of the game by making threats is said to have the initiative. This is usually an advantage, as the other player must react to these threats rather than start plans of their own. - Castle
Castling is a defensive move in which the king moves towards the corner of the board, and a rook moves toward the middle. It is the only move in chess that allows two pieces to move at the same time. Also, rooks are often referred to as castles by novice players. - Boris Spassky
A profile of former world chess champion Boris Spassky. - Mikhail Botvinnik
A profile of former World Chess Champion Mikhail Botvinnik. - Review: St. Petersburg 1909
A review of the 21st century edition of Emanuel Lasker's tournament book of St. Petersburg 1909. - Lasker's Manual of Chess
A review of the new 21st century edition of Lasker's Manual of Chess. - Review: Dynamic 3..Qd6 (Melts)
A review of the chess book Scandinavian Defense: The Dynamic 3...Qd6 by Michael Melts. - Bullet Chess (Nakamura/Harper)
A review of Bullet Chess: One Minute to Mate, by Hikaru Nakamura and Bruce Harper. - Vladimir Kramnik
A profile of famous chess player and World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik. - Anatoly Karpov
A profile of chess player and former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov. - Blitz
A type of chess played with a very short time control. - Strategy
The long term plans and ideas that guide play beyond what a player can calculate in the short-term. - Top 5 French Chess Players
A list of the best French chess players of all time, as voted by About Chess readers. - Chess Clock
Chess games are often timed, especially in tournament play. This is done through the use of a device which contains two attached clocks, known as a chess clock. By pressing a button on their side of the chess clock after they make a move, a player stops his clock and simultaneously starts the opponent�s clock. Chess clocks are available in both analog and digital styles. - Algebraic Notation
The most widely-used form of chess notation. In algebraic notation, squares are named by combining the letter of their file with the number of their rank. For instance, the square the white king begins on is e1. - Wilhelm Steinitz
A profile of the first World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz. - Viswanathan Anand: My Career
A review of the ChessBase DVDs "Viswanathan Anand: My Career," Volumes 1 and 2. - Popular Chess Variants
A list of popular chess variants, with basic explanations of their rules of play. - Bughouse
Learn the rules of bughouse chess, a popular form of team chess. - A Guide to Organized Chess
A guide to organized chess, including chess clubs, chess federations, and chess ratings. - Alexander Alekhine
A profile of world chess champion Alexander Alekhine. - Chess - Articles
An index of articles for the Chess guide site. - Top 5 American Chess Players
A look at the five best chess players in history from the United States, as chosen by About.com readers. - Tigran Petrosian
A profile of former world chess champion Tigran Petrosian. - Sergey Karjakin
A profile of famous chess player and grandmaster, Sergey Karjakin. - Development
The process of moving the pieces from their original squares to more active squares. Typically, the player who has better developed pieces will have an advantage. - Endgame
The final phase of a chess game, when few pieces are left on the board. The endgame often begins after the queens come off the board. - Illegal Moves
A discussion of illegal moves in chess, such as leaving your king in check. - Fork
A tactic in which one piece attacks two or more opposing pieces simultaneously. Forks are most commonly made by knights, due to their ability to leap over other pieces. - Candidate Master
A title awarded by FIDE, ranking below FIDE Master. - Middlegame
The second phase of a chess game. At this stage, both players have finished developing their pieces. The middlegame is the “meat” of a chess game, connecting the opening to the endgame. - Minor Pieces
Bishops and knights. - Vasily Smyslov
A profile of former World Chess Champion Vasily Smyslov. - Judit Polgar
A profile of Grandmaster Judit Polgar, a famous chess player. - Emanuel Lasker
A profile of former World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker. - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
A profile of famous chess player and French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. - Review: New York 1924
A review of the new 21st Century Edition of Alexander Alekhine's New York 1924 tournament book. - Let's Play Chess (Pandolfini)
A review of the chess book Let's Play Chess by Bruce Pandolfini - Chess Gems by Igor Sukhin
A review of Chess Gems - 1,000 Combinations You Should Know, by Igor Sukhin. - Genius and Misery of Chess
A review of the book The Genius and the Misery of Chess by Zhivko Kaikamjozov. - 1. b4: Theory and Practice
A review of 1. b4: Theory & Practice of the Sokolsky Opening by Jerzy Konikowski and Marek Soszynski. - Max Euwe
A profile of former World Chess Champion Max Euwe. - Peter Leko
A profile of famous chess player Grandmaster Peter Leko. - Rapid Chess
Chess games which are longer than blitz games, but shorter than standard tournament games. A typical time control for a rapid game might be 25 minutes for each player. - FIDE Master
A title awarded by FIDE which is above Candidate Master, but below International Master. It is often abbreviated as FM. The usual way of earning the FIDE Master title is by obtaining a rating over 2300. - En Prise
French for “in take,” a piece is considered en prise if it is unprotected and can be captured. - Gambit
An opening in which one player willingly gives up a pawn (or occasionally more) in exchange for better development, the initiative, or other compensation. - Draw
A game that ends without a winner. This can happen in several ways. The players may agree to a draw, there may not be enough material left on the board for the game to end with a checkmate, or there may be a stalemate. In tournament play, there are other situations which can result in a draw, such as triple repetition of position, or fifty moves being played without any progress (this is known as the “fifty move rule”). - Brilliancy
An exceptional game. - Fianchetto
Italian for “on the flank,” a fianchetto is the placement of a bishop on b2 or g2 for white, or alternately, b7 or g7 for black. - Skewer
A tactic in which a valuable piece is attacked and forced to move, leaving a less valuable piece vulnerable to capture. - Pin
A situation in which a piece cannot move because it will leave a more valuable piece vulnerable to attack. An absolute pin occurs when moving the piece is impossible because it would expose the king to check, while a relative pin exists when the piece can legally move, but only at the risk of exposing a stronger piece, such as the queen, to an attack. - Zwischenzug
A German word meaning “intermediate move.” It refers to a surprising move that is played in the middle of what appeared to be a forced sequence. This is also known by the Italian word intermezzo. - Tempo
A unit of time equal to one move. If a player can force their opponent to make an unpleasant but necessary move (such as retreating a piece to a less active square), that player is often said to have “won a tempo.” - Time Control
The time limit placed on a chess game. Time controls are especially common in tournaments, but are sometimes used in casual play. They may range from one minute for each player for the entire game, to several hours per side. - Hikaru Nakamura
A profile of American chess grandmaster and famous chess player, Hikaru Nakamura. - Alexander Grischuk
A profile of Russian grandmaster Alexander Grischuk, a famous chess player. - Samuel Reshevsky
A profile of famous chess grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky. - Vassily Ivanchuk
A profile of grandmaster and famous chess player, Vassily Ivanchuk. - Gary's Adventures (Sukhin)
A review of Gary's Adventures in Chess Country, an instructional chess book for children by Igor Sukhin. - Chess960
A short article about Chess960, also known as Fischer Random Chess or Shuffle Chess. - Levon Aronian
A profile of the famous chess player and grandmaster, Levon Aronian. - Fabiano Caruana
A profile of Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana, a famous chess player. - Alexei Shirov
A profile of famous chess player and grandmaster Alexei Shirov. - Vladimir Akopian
A profile of Grandmaster Vladimir Akopian, a famous chess player. - Blunder
A terrible chess move. - Gata Kamsky
A profile of famous chess player and American grandmaster Gata Kamsky. - Veselin Topalov
A profile of Grandmaster Veselin Topalov, a famous chess player from Bulgaria. - Ruslan Ponomariov
A profile of Ruslan Ponomariov, a famous chess player and former FIDE World Champion. - Zugzwang
A German word meaning “compulsion to move.” It refers to a situation in which a player has a position which would be strong if they were allowed to pass, but will be ruined because they must make a move. - Stalemate
A situation in which a player has no legal moves, but is not in check. This results in a drawn game. - Ratings
Numbers which represent the estimated strength of a chess player. Ratings are issued by FIDE, national federations, chess servers and other organizations. While ratings vary depending on the body that issues them, beginners are typically rated below 1000, average tournament players around 1500, and masters at 2200 or higher. The top players in the world are often rated around 2800. The highest FIDE rating ever achieved was 2851, by Garry Kasparov. - Opening
The first phase of a chess game, when both players attempt to develop their pieces and fight for the center of the board. - Material
The pieces and pawns controlled by each player. If one player has more pieces remaining than the other, that player is said to have a material advantage. - International Master
The second highest title awarded by FIDE, below Grandmaster but above FIDE Master. International Master is often abbreviated as IM. To earn the title, a player must have a rating above 2400, and have strong performances (called norms) in tournaments with difficult opponents. - Check
Learn the chess concept of check, what it means for your king, and how it differs from checkmate. - Checkmate
A king which is under attack and has no way of avoiding capture is said to be in checkmate. This ends the game as a victory for the player who has trapped the enemy king. - En Passant
French for “in passing,” en passant is a special move that allows a pawn to capture an enemy pawn which has moved two squares and landed on an adjacent square. The pawn is captured as though it had only moved one square. - Chess - StepBySteps
An index of StepBySteps for the Chess guide site.
