It has been a year now that I started researching and testing different techniques to take my chess skills to another level. While results may not have always been as expected, positive signs will certainly encourage me to persevere in my quest. Although I need to put aside the project for now, my work is certainly not finished… Read More »
As promised, here are the last valuable lessons from 2700+ players! 25 – Nakamura on recovering from a loss HN: The most important key to being a great chess player is the ability to kind of forget, or to compartmentalize a very bad game or a very bad loss, and to come back the next day and just… Read More »
Dear chess friends, Since I started this project, I had decided to collect progressively all the articles, videos and other selected pieces of advice from books that could be valuable to improve my chess level in a minimal amount of time. What I realized is that top GMs tend not to unveil their secrets so easily, as they… Read More »
Endings being really complex in nature, finding the right path to either win or save a half point is definitely no easy task. Hopefully, a few rules exist to help you navigate more safely into their meanders. So here are 10 endings rules you certainly must know! Unleash the King’s power The fewer the pieces on the board,… Read More »
The endgame is probably the toughest phase to study. The fewer the pieces left on the board, the more subtle it becomes to manoeuver and thus, the harder it is to create weaknesses in your opponent’s camp or to defend your position. Developing an ending technique is somewhat close to being an art. On top of that, you… Read More »
Which player has never heard that chess is all about tactics? Well, as the game requires also a good dose of strategy, we cannot say this claim is entirely true. But the thing is it is not totally wrong either. Indeed, until a certain level, let’s say 2000 Elo or so, most games are decided with a tactic… Read More »
The game has just started… Your opponent plays a couple of moves you anticipated thanks to your preparation the day before and suddenly, it all goes blank… Despite all your efforts to look inside your head, it’s impossible to recall the correct continuation, leading to the advantage you worked so hard to establish yesterday, exactly as if your… Read More »
If you haven’t been following my adventure, I have recently attempted to get my mind free. By free, I mean without any distractions from the day-to-day life. The idea behind this experiment is to enjoy not being disturbed at all during the tournament next week and thus be fully concentrated when I play. Consequently, I rigorously followed a… Read More »
Have you ever played a chess game while pondering about this task at work you didn’t manage to finish in due time? Or being interrupted in the middle of a critical calculation wondering if you finally did what your partner asked you to prepare, among the never-ending list of to-do’s you have? Often annoying, isn’t it? David Allen,… Read More »
Legendary human rights activist Malcolm X once said, “There is no better than adversity.” This quote is especially valuable in a chess loss, because the post-mortem analysis gives you much more insight than r a victory and reveals to be an excellent growth opportunity. As I just lost my two first ICN games of the season, writing these… Read More »