Learning Chess

Interested in learning chess? This suite of articles will help you understand the game, improve your skills and ultimately master it.

Play chess better on a team? USA Senior Chess

The USA Senior (50+) Team won a gold medal at the 2024 FIDE World Senior Team Chess Championships. The three members of the USA Senior (50+) Team traveled from the FIDE World Senior Team Chess Championships in Krakow, Poland, to St. Louis, USA, to compete as individuals in the U.S. Senior Championship. More 🡢

Fischer Era Chess Prodigy Headlines Caveman Chess Festival

Chess Review first mentioned Salvatore “Sal” Matera in its July 1959 issue. In 1959, Matera was eight years old and had learned chess only the Christmas before. Yet Matera played well in the U.S. Amateur Championship, thus earning the 1959 mention. More 🡢

Three Bob Fergusons, Two Chess Masters, and One State of Confusion

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, age 59, is running for Governor of Washington State. As a teenager, he went by “Bobby Ferguson” and was a chess master. Just before the filing deadline, two other men named “Bob Ferguson” joined him in the race to become governor. Another chess master, Christopher Chabris, co-authored a book that discusses how people are fooled, with one example being voting for a similarly named, but less qualified, candidate. More 🡢

David Smerdon: The Complete Chess Swindler

The Complete Chess Swindler: How to Save Points from Lost Positions won the 2020 English Chess Federation Book of the Year Award. The book is by Grandmaster David Smerdon, who later created a Chessable course based on the book. More 🡢

Jennifer Shahade: Play Like a Champion

Two-time U.S. Women’s Champion Jennifer Shahade’s latest chess book is Play Like a Champion: Chess Tactics from the Greats. Its 700 chess positions have answers that range from checkmate in one move to checkmate in 13 moves. More 🡢

Grind Like a Grandmaster: Magnus Carlsen

The Champions Chess Tour Finals (CCT Finals) was the closing event of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour, run by Chess.com. Eight players met in Toronto from December 9 to December 16. They played for a $500,000 prize fund. The pre-tournament favorite was former World Chess Champion GM Magnus Carlsen. In the finals, Carlsen defeated GM Wesley So to win the 2023 Champions Chess Tour. More 🡢

Chess Endgames: Pawn Principles

Chess endgames with passed pawns have many principles. A previous article explained the opposition. In this article, a game between two top grandmasters demonstrates two other principles: passed pawns must be pushed and the square of the pawn. More 🡢

College chess clashes at U.S. Open

The 2023 U.S. Open ran from July 29 to August 6 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It offered nine-day, six-day, and four-day schedules, which merged in round 7. Two University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) students, Grandmasters David Brodsky and Rahul Srivatshav Peddi, participated. More 🡢