Does Your Opponent Steal Your Pawns? Chess Tactics When Exchanging Pieces
You are sitting in a tournament hall, and your gaze locked on your opponent. All your attention is focused on an upcoming trade. He takes a piece, I take it…
Grandmaster Mistakes – Chess Psychology
It's not always that we see a World Number 5 Grandmaster thinking for almost six minutes and get self-destructed into a mate in one. In the recent Meltwater Champions Tour…
Getting better at problem solving: Observation and Pattern Recognition
Imagine a Grandmaster, say our favorite former World Chess Champion Mikhail Tal, staring at his chess board with a tilted head and hands on his cheek, contemplating his position for…
Getting Better at Problem Solving: Thinking backwards
It is wrong to use a hammer for a job that requires a wrench. It is the same with problems, from the ones we face in our hardbound puzzle…
Will You Resign in this Position?
A hopeless position -- that feeling of our heart sinking like an old abandoned ship and our smile fading away as the time in your clock ticks down -- is…
The Power of Thinking Half-A-Move Ahead of your Opponent
Here's a tricky position to get the ball rolling. It's a simple position and easy to understand, which makes you go "OMG" every single move. 6k1/8/4b3/8/8/6b1/1R6/3B3K w - - 0…
Why should we analyze our games?
Remember the last time you tried to cook something and ended up screwing it? How did you figure out what went wrong? It was easy for me to find this…
Getting better at Problem solving: Recognizing Tactical ideas
When I think about Chess combinations, I am always reminded of a recipe for soup. The first time I tried to make one, someone gave me a simple piece of…