How to Learn a Chess Opening Properly
Studying chess is certainly time-consuming. In addition to studying strategic concepts and practicing your tactical skills, there are some positions and sequences that you simply have to memorize, such as certain checkmate patterns and endgame techniques. But nowhere is this more relevant than the opening. Why memorize openings? Well, I am not advocating for wrote […]
Chess Science in the Making
Chess Science in the Making We have a treat in store for Chessable users interested in the science of chess development, in the form of a post by three of the most distinguished international researchers in the field of chess and expertise. Merim Bilalic, Roland Grabner, and Nemanja Vaci provide a succinct and nuanced summary […]
Which Beautiful Game, Exactly?
Which Beautiful Game, Exactly? At the time of writing this post, every participating country in the UEFA European Football Championships has played at least one group game, though the ultimate destination of this tournament’s title is known only to clairvoyant crabs, cats or pigs, or to Geller (that’s Uri, not Efim Petrovich, who is watching […]
Master Your Chess With Judit Polgar Part 1
Grandmaster Judit Polgar‘s chess career is full of record-breaking achievements. From becoming a Grandmaster at the age of 15 (beating the record held up until then by Bobby Fischer), through victories against nine World Champions (including Magnus Carlsen, Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov) to competing in the 2005 FIDE World Chess Championship, Polgar has done it […]
How to Inoculate Yourself Against Mistakes
We return to the subject of chess and science today, with a guest post by Nate Solon on How to Inoculate Yourself Against Mistakes. Inoculations are certainly in fashion at the moment, but can we take preventative measures against chess mistakes? How to Inoculate Yourself Against Mistakes There’s a saying that generals are always preparing to fight the […]
Positions To Ponder: Test Yourself
We have some positions to ponder for your weekend reading. The option of being able to test your chess skills on multi-choice questions can certainly set the old gray matter thinking. The late, great chess coach, tutor and trainer Bob Wade was a keen advocate of such questions and, of course, countless television quiz shows […]
Chess Opening Basics: The Chigorin Defense
What is the Chigorin Defense? The Chigorin Defense is a rare reply to the Queen’s Gambit. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 The Queen’s Gambit Last week, inspired by the release of Grandmaster Alex Colovic’s new course, Lifetime Repertoires: The Queen’s Gambit Declined, we looked at the most common way to decline the Queen’s Gambit, with 2…e6. This […]
What Not To Do: A Grandmaster’s Advice
Guest columnist Grandmaster Alex Colovic provided our final blog post of 2020 and he returns today with a fascinating piece full of advice on how to improve at chess. Alex doesn’t tell you what to do; he offers advice on… What Not To Do A lot of advice, mine included, is about what you should do […]