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Feature Articles 2004-2005...

31 December 2005 - Photos from the 2005 FIDE World Championship
Here is a selection of our favorite photos from the 2005 FIDE World Championship, San Luis, Argentina. • GMs Michael Adams, Viswanathan Anand, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Peter Leko, Alexander Morozevich, Judit Polgar, Peter Svidler, Veselin Topalov. • Courtesy 'Prensa Mundial / World Chess Championship Press', used with permission. (M-W.COM)

24 December 2005 - Chess Tactics Illustrated
A series of 12 charming French postcards illustrate basic tactical themes in chess. Follow the Suggested Reading links below each image to find out more about the tactic illustrated on the card. (M-W.COM)

17 December 2005 - Top 10 Popular Chess Openings
What's hot? What's not? Here are ten chess openings all players should be familiar with. Are you? Since the most popular first move in chess is 1.e4, it follows that many of the most popular openings are King's Pawn Openings. (M-W.COM) • If you would like to know how we chose the top-10 popular openings, see Behind This Article : Popular Chess Openings.

10 December 2005 - Chess Books for Specific Openings
There is only way to judge an opening book: by using it in competition. Some considerations have more to do with the author's chess knowledge. Other considerations have more to do with technical aspects of writing and publishing. • See also our reviews of The Bishop's Opening Explained by IM Gary Lane, and of French Defence - Steinitz, Classical and Other Systems by GM Lev Psakhis.

03 December 2005 - Chess Shopping Guide (2005-2006)
Buying a gift for a chess player is almost as easy as learning how to play the game. No real chess player ever has enough chess sets or enough chess books. Here is a guide to the many product related resources located on About Chess.

26 November 2005 - 'Chess Exam and Training Guide' by Igor Khmelnitsky
'How can I improve at chess?' is a question that all chess players ask constantly. What if you could take a test supervised by a world class chess player and trainer? You can! It's the format of IM Khmelnitsky's award winning book. • See also our review.

19 November 2005 - Opening Tutorial : Nimzo Indian Defense - 4.e3
One of the best moves to meet the Nimzo Indian Defense (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4) is 4.e3. Many authorities call this the 'Rubinstein Variation'. Unlike other moves, 4.e3 doesn't attempt to refute Black's setup. White builds a strong center and aims for flexible development. One idea is to continue Ng1-e2, recapturing with the Knight if Black plays ...Bxc3+. (M-W.COM)

12 November 2005 - Chess Problems, Puzzles, and Studies
The chess terms problem, puzzle, and study are sometimes used interchangeably. Although they all have something to do with finding the best move in a given position, they have different meanings. Do you know the difference between the three terms? (M-W.COM)

05 November 2005 - Top Picks : 10 Chess Gifts for the Holiday Season (2005-2006)
Our annual list of holiday gift ideas concentrates on chess sets. It starts with two sets designed to teach newcomers how to play the game, then moves on to lots of suggestions for theme sets. For good measure, we also mention a couple of fashion accessories.

29 October 2005 - Opening Tutorial : French Defense - 3.Nc3
The most common continuation of the French Defense is 2.d4 d5. Black accepts a restricted Bishop and less space in return for a solid position which is not easily breached. The variations after 3.Nc3, where the Knight develops to its natural square, keep the central tension. Black has three good replies: 3...Bb4, 3...Nf6, and 3...dxe4.

22 October 2005 - 2005 FIDE World Chess Championship
One of the many qualities that determine a good chess game is a surprising sacrifice. The 2005 FIDE World Championship at San Luis, Argentina, was full of excellent sacrifices. Here are seven from the first half of the tournament. (M-W.COM)

15 October 2005 - Blue Ribbon Chess Books
Remember blue ribbons? Those humble, yet elegant, badges denoting first class and excellence? When it comes to chess books, we give blue ribbons to books that have shown outstanding commercial or critical success. Among the thousands of available chess titles, these are almost guaranteed to please.

08 October 2005 - Opening Tutorial : Queen's Gambit Declined - 4.Bg5
A popular response by Black to 1.d4 is the Queen's Gambit Declined (often abbreviated QGD) : 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6. The game usually continues 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5, which pins the Black Knight and threatens 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bxf6 gxf6, ruining Black's Kingside. As with most Queen Pawn openings, the QGD move orders are flexible. In this tutorial we look at the main ideas.

01 October 2005 - Two Books about World Chess Championship Candidates
World Chess Championship candidates are generally players in or near the world's top-10. We recently reviewed books that focus on two players -- Miguel Najdorf and Andras Adorjan -- who competed at the candidate level. The annotation style of the two couldn't be farther apart. One uses verbal assessment; the other uses concrete analysis of variations.

24 September 2005 - Chess Glossary : Clock Terms
Two and a half years have passed since we last looked at chess clocks. We updated our Before You Buy articles by refreshing some obsolete info and by adding one new manufacturer to each of our analog and digital categories. Since we are limited in the number of models we can discuss in a single Before You Buy article, we added a new feature: Before You Buy a Chess Clock "Made in China".

17 September 2005 - Opening Tutorial : English - 1...e5
The variation 1.c4 e5 of the English Opening is called the Reversed Sicilian. Because the Reversed Sicilian is a tempo ahead of the Sicilian, many beginning players assume there must be something wrong with it for Black. Experienced players know that even if not logical, it is eminently playable.

10 September 2005 - Chess and the Inner City
While preparing a review of 'Chess for Success' by Maurice Ashley, we received a press release about Salome Thomas-EL from the America's Foundation for Chess (AF4C). What's the connection? Maurice Ashley, Salome Thomas-EL, Orrin Hudson : chess impacts children's lives.

03 September 2005 - Tutorials for the Basic Concepts of Chess
A few weeks ago we announced new About Chess tutorials for Introduction to the Rules of Chess. Now we have the same for our 'Essentials : Basic Chess Concepts', shown on the left of every page - 'Here's what every chess player should know -- chess notation, draws, the relative value of the pieces, the phases of the game, tactical play, and more. This is basic knowledge you need to get started on the winner's path.'

27 August 2005 - The French School of Chess (18th/19th cent.)
For nearly 100 years, from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century, French chess players were the strongest in the world. The line from Philidor, to Deschapelles, to La Bourdonnais, to Saint-Amant, reminds us of a modern relay team, each player passing the team's baton to his successor. (M-W.COM)

20 August 2005 - Opening Tutorial : Ruy Lopez - 3...a6 Closed Variation
The moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 (Ruy Lopez) 3...a6 (Morphy Defense) 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 (Closed Variation) 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O, lead to the most common position in chess after eight moves by both sides. One reason for its popularity is that the opponents have so many plans available.

13 August 2005 - Introduction to the Rules of Chess
What's the most important link on About Chess? It's the How to Play Chess link in the left column under 'Essentials'. Each of its lessons ('How to set up a chess board, move the pieces, castle, capture, checkmate, more!') is designed to teach newcomers how to play the world's greatest game.

06 August 2005 - Opening Repertoire Books for White and Black
Developing your own repertoire takes a lot of knowledge about the comparative strengths and weaknesses of different opening variations, not to mention a lot of time. Many players prefer to have someone else, meaning a better player, do the dirty work for them. If you are in that second category, you might be interested in two opening repertoire books that we recently reviewed.

30 July 2005 - Rise of the Soviet Chess Hegemony
Was the fantastic success of 20th century Soviet chess a school or a hegemony? Answers.com: 'hegemony : The predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others'. Mikhail Botvinnik, the first Soviet World Champion, thought that the success was because the U.S.S.R. treated chess as not just a pastime and not just a table game. (M-W.COM)

23 July 2005 - Opening Tutorial : Kings Indian Defense - Classical Variation
The Kings Indian Defense is one of the sharpest ways to meet 1.d4. The Classical Variation (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O) is one of the sharpest ways to meet the Kings Indian. After the board is separated into two pieces by ...e5 and d5, White attacks on the Queenside and Black attacks on the Kingside. Piece exchanges are infrequent and combinations arise everywhere.

16 July 2005 - Opening Tutorial : Count the Developing Moves
An extremely useful tool for handling the chess opening is to count the developing moves. First, it gives an idea who is leading in development. Second, it tells us what moves to consider next. Third, it lets us recognize and evaluate tradeoffs for less tangible positional factors. (M-W.COM)

09 July 2005 - Birth of the FIDE World Championship
After the death of World Champion Alexander Alekhine in 1946, the World Chess Federation took on the job of building a structure for determining fairly a new World Champion and subsequent title challengers. At the same time FIDE rebuilt itself decentrally to match the first organizational steps of the qualifying cycle. The early FIDE delegates did their job well. (M-W.COM)

02 July 2005 - Opening Tutorial : Sicilian Defense - Najdorf Variation
If you play 1.e4, planning to answer the Sicilian with 2.Nf3 and 3.d4, you will meet the Najdorf Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6) many times. Be prepared!

25 June 2005 - Introduction to World Chess Federation (FIDE) Zones
The World Chess Championship qualifying cycle starts with zonal tournaments organized by FIDE zone. Using this qualification structure, any player in the world has the opportunity to climb the ladder to become the next World Chess Champion. (M-W.COM)

18 June 2005 - Getting the Most out of Solitaire Chess
Solitaire chess, where you guess the next moves of a master, is a popular instructional format that you'll find in chess magazines and books. While it's largely self explanatory, here are a few tips to make it a little more valuable. Play using tournament conditions. Prepare a scoresheet. Score your moves afterwards. (M-W.COM)

11 June 2005 - Swiss System for Chess Tournaments
A tournament open to all players usually has far more players than the number of rounds scheduled for the event. The Swiss system for pairings allows to determine the strongest players and the eventual winner as fast and as fair as possible. Players with the same scores meet each round and no one is ever eliminated. (M-W.COM)

04 June 2005 - 'Game Over' : Did IBM Cheat Kasparov?
The film 'Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine', directed by Vikram Jayanti, strongly suggests IBM may have cheated Kasparov. The film failed to ask the tough questions. The conspiracy theory is still open to speculation. • See also our review of the film.

28 May 2005 - Famous Chess Tournaments (Part 3)
The list of notable chess competitions is long and subject to debate by experts on which were the strongest or the most important. Our approach is to find a consensus: where the experts agree, we take note. We tackled World Championship Qualifiers, noted the strongest pre-WWII events, and started to track important series.

21 May 2005 - Tal - Larsen, Candidates Match (g.10), Bled 1965
With this article we continue our game walk throughs, featuring in-depth analysis of famous chess games. This game features a tactical battle between Mikhail Tal and Bent Larsen, played during the 10th game of their 1965 semifinal candidates match. Before playing his piece sacrifice Tal said to himself, 'If in the end, Misha, you are destined to lose this match, there is no need for the reason to be cowardice'. (M-W.COM)

14 May 2005 - Chess Glossary : World Championship
The World Chess Championship is based on a hierarchical qualifying cycle. From 1948 until 1996, the cycle consisted of zonal tournaments, an Interzonal, a Candidates' event, and a title match. In recent years, the cycle was compressed into a knockout tournament. Unification also became an issue.

07 May 2005 - Two Game Collections from Batsford
Looking for a collection of modern games by strong players? Consider two recent titles from Batsford : 'Winning the Won Game' by IM Danny Kopec & GM Lubomir Ftacnik and 'Test Your Chess' with GM Daniel King.

30 April 2005 - About Chess Site Map : A to Z List of All Resource Categories
About Chess is a big site that grows constantly. Here is an alphabetical list of all categories listed under Articles & Resources in the left hand column of every page on the site. If you ever get lost, don't overlook the 'You are here' trail at the top of all pages.

23 April 2005 - Online Resources for Chess Variants
We started by looking at the offerings on the online play sites. We noticed that three chess variants receive more coverage than the others : Fischer Random Chess, Bughouse, and Crazyhouse.

16 April 2005 - Chess Tips : Positional Guidelines
Every chess player learns practical applications of positional principles. Here are a few of the best known. Don't let these guidelines interfere with common sense, which takes priority over all else.

09 April 2005 - Personalize Your Chess News
Did you know that you can have all recent headlines from your favorite chess news sources -- blogs, forums, and news groups -- on a single web page? The My Yahoo! service offers a remarkably easy way to do this.

02 April 2005 - Online Resources for Chess Art, Literature, and Fun
Here we include chess collecting, chess humor, chess movies, and chess music, plus chess stamps & coins. Don't look here for the Chess record label, Chess McCartney, Victoria Chess, chess pie, Mary Chess perfume, or Chess United lens filters.

26 March 2005 - Tales of Two Fischers
We read and reviewed two recent books about Bobby Fischer. While reading interviews of people who have met Fischer, we noticed that many of them spoke of him as though he were two different people. Our conclusion: there are two Bobbys.

19 March 2005 - Korchnoi - Kasparov, Olympiad, Lucerne 1982
Introducing game walk throughs, in-depth analysis of famous chess games from our 'Classic Chess : 64 Great Games'. Our first walk through is a tense tactical battle between Viktor Korchnoi and Garry Kasparov, played at the Chess Olympiad in Lucerne, Switzerland, 1982.

12 March 2005 - Online Resources for Correspondence Chess
The age of computers and the Internet has had as profound an impact on correspondence chess as on chess in general. The correspondence organizations, which once served the purpose of pairing postal players, have been rendered nearly obsolete by the correspondence servers.

05 March 2005 - More Chess FAQs
Just the FAQs, please! We updated our Frequently Asked Questions, collected them all into a single list, and created a new Reference resource. Have a question? Look here for the answer.

26 February 2005 - Book reviews : 'Chess for Juniors' series by Robert M. Snyder
If you look at the list of current chess bestsellers on Amazon.com, you can't help but notice that two books by Robert M. Snyder rank first and third. We recently reviewed these books -- 'Chess for Juniors' and 'Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors' -- plus one more -- 'Winning Chess Tournaments for Juniors' -- by Snyder.

19 February 2005 - Online Resources for Chess Blogs, Magazines, and Columns
When we created this category, its original name was 'Magazines and Columns'. Some months later we added 'Blogs'. If you're scratching your head wondering, 'What's a blog?', the best way to understand them is to look at a few. Blogs are an increasingly popular web-based activity. (M-W.COM)

12 February 2005 - Romance in Chess
'What could possibly be less romantic than chess?' you might be asking. After all, chess is a game of war based on logic, isn't it? Chess once served a social function of allowing young men and women to meet over the board. The scientific view of chess as a game of logic took hold only at the end of the 19th-century. The greatest proponent of the earlier romantic style was Adolph Anderssen. (M-W.COM)

05 February 2005 - Chess 102 - Beyond Beginner
Introducing our new email course Chess 102. Learn to play better chess in six email lessons, one lesson per day. In these lessons, we introduce the principles behind openings, middle games, and endgames. If you would like to follow Chess 102, but are rusty on the rules of chess, you can sign up first for Chess 101.

29 January 2005 - Online Resources for Player Biographies
The ideal approach would be a page per player with links to the best external resources. Active players require several sources. Here's everything you need to know about Michael Adams, the popular English player.

22 January 2005 - Chess Camps
Chess camps are a special type of summer camp, like music camp or computer camp, that has become popular in the last few decades. No one knows your children better than you do. If they really are keen on chess and you want them to develop to their full potential, consider sending them to a chess camp near you.

15 January 2005 - Fischer - Spassky Games Revisited
Six months after being detained in Japan, Bobby Fischer is still languishing in Japanese custody. While every twist and turn in his continuing ordeal is reported in the mainstream press, the games that got him into his current predicament are forgotten. We gathered all 50 games from Fischer's two matches with Boris Spassky and loaded them into our game viewer. Enjoy the games!

08 January 2005 - Online Resources for Scholastic Chess
Scholastic chess is always an extracurricular activity with the school chess club as the focus. It covers reasons for having chess in schools, advice to parents and teachers, established programs, and chess camps. • See also our guest article Why Offer Chess in Schools? by Jerry Meyers.

01 January 2005 - The Year 2004 in Review
The year 2004 in chess saw FIDE World Championship Knockout tournaments for men and women, a non-FIDE title bout between Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko, and the 36th Olympiad. A year filled with so much promise for the World Chess Championship ended with no prospects in view. (M-W.COM)

25 December 2004 - Vincenzio the Venetian
'You ask me, madam, to tell you a story about Chess; I know one which nobody else knows. A true tale, but very shocking. It relates facts which happened -- oh! a very long time ago; before you were born.' [From Chess & Chess-Players : Consisting of Original Stories and Sketches by George Walker, 1850.] (M-W.COM)

18 December 2004 - Online Resources for Chess Organizations
Two of the questions that our correspondents ask frequently are 'How do I start a chess club?' -or- 'How do I organize a chess tournament?' If you know a good online resource that addresses either of these areas, let us know and we'll help spread the word.

11 December 2004 - Tools to Calculate Your Chess Rating
Even if you hate math, you can calculate chess ratings. First see our Rating Calculator tool. Then see our series on Step By Step Rating Calculation. Do you know that you can use performance ratings to identify your strengths and weaknesses? (M-W.COM) (M-W.COM) (M-W.COM)

04 December 2004 - Chess Shopping Guide (2004-2005)
Stuck for a holiday gift for your favorite chess player? You've come to the right place! We've assembled a list of resources for finding chess gifts. Spend a little time browsing these links and you're sure to find something that will please even the most demanding person.

27 November 2004 - Online Resources for Chess Events
Point the Wayback Machine at early chess portals and you'll find all sorts of pages on long gone historical events. We classify chess events as history rather than news for two reasons. First, today's news is tomorrow's history. Second, we can't think of any other activity where historical events are just as important as current events.

20 November 2004 - Chess Book Classics : Old and New
Looking for a recommendation on a chess book? We have our own list of classics, a list of Book of the Year award winners, and a few others. All of our recommended titles -- bibliography, award winners, easy reading, and tactical puzzles -- make great gifts! (M-W.COM)

13 November 2004 - 36th Olympiad, Calvia, Spain, 2004
The international character of chess is most apparent during the biennial Chess Olympiad. Of the 129 teams (four players plus two reserves per team) in the men's event, Ukraine emerged as the gold medal winners. Of the 87 women's teams (three players plus one reserve), China repeated as gold medal winners.

06 November 2004 - Online Resources for Chess History
Chess History is a broad subject that, among other topics, covers the origin of chess, chess personalities, and chess events. Many relevant sites are listed under other About Chess categories. Looking for sites in languages other than English?

30 October 2004 - Themed Chess Sets
Chess pieces are miniature statues, where each one can be a separate work of art. Along with their use for an occasional game of chess, theme sets can be displayed in the home or study for decorative or artistic purposes. We've discovered some particular chess set themes available through the About Inc. shopping network. (M-W.COM)

23 October 2004 - 2004 Dannemann World Championship Match
Vladimir Kramnik of Russia played a tied match with Peter Leko of Hungary to retain his title of World Chess Champion. The match, sponsored by the Dannemann cigar company, took place September - October 2004 at the Centro Dannemann in Brissago, Switzerland. Here are highlights from the decisive games plus a link to play through the games in our game viewer. (M-W.COM)

16 October 2004 - Online Resources for Chess Software
Chess Software & Databases cover so many titles that we rely on external chess and shareware directories. We tackle chess freeware and shareware under Shareware Directories and we depend on the main Chess Directories to complement our own listings.

09 October 2004 - Chess Traps : Full Games behind the Quizzes
Chess traps have two elements : the tactics of the trap and the moves leading to the trap. Our quizzes will help you see if you understand the moves of various traps. Our game viewer shows the full games leading up to the traps and will help you understand how the traps came about.

02 October 2004 - Chess Books : Top 10 Most Popular (2004-2005)
Looking for a book for a chess player on your gift list? If the player is a beginning or intermediate player, you should consider the titles which are currently the most popular. We identified chess titles on two bestseller lists and weighted them according to their rank.

25 September 2004 - Online Resources for Buying Chess Books
It's often said that there are more books about chess than about any other game. We did a quick test and it's true : chess wins the battle of the game books hands down! How do we know which books give the most value for our hard-earned cash?

18 September 2004 - Chess Quizzes for Beginners : Check and Checkmate
This series of quizzes is designed to test your knowledge of check and checkmate. Each quiz is a series of seven multiple choice questions based on a specific chess position. Make sure you've mastered one set of six quizzes before you start the next set.

11 September 2004 - Chess Gifts : Top 10 Picks (2004-2005)
Looking for a gift for a chess player on your list? Look no further! Our Top 10 Chess Gifts for this Holiday Season should give you plenty of ideas. If you happen to be buying a chess-related item for Bill Gates or for one of the Hilton sisters, we have several expensive, off-the-wall ideas for them as well!

04 September 2004 - Online Resources for Buying Chess Equipment
Continuing the About Chess top-level review of chess categories, we tackled our Products & Shopping links for Chess Equipment. We tripled the number of our links for buying equipment online and we wondered about safe shopping. If you own a web page that sells chess products, are you giving a good description of your site to visitors?

28 August 2004 - Opening Repertoire : View Example Games
If you've spent any time browsing our site, you've probably seen the section on 'Chess Openings : Repertoire Recommendations'. We enhanced this feature by combining our game viewer with an old idea from the American master and writer Al Horowitz : illustrative games.

21 August 2004 - Chess for Free
Whoever said 'the best things in life are free' could have been talking about chess. You don't have to be a cheapskate to enjoy chess, but you don't have to be a millionaire either. (M-W.COM)

14 August 2004 - Online Resources for Computer Chess
What does the phrase Computer Chess mean to you? Computers have had such a profound impact on chess that this is one of the most difficult categories to sort out. We took a good, long look at our links to computer chess sites.

07 August 2004 - Chess Quizzes for Beginners : Notation, Setup, and Moves
It's quiz time! You've learned the basics of chess notation, how to set up the board for a new game, and how the pieces move. Now you want to see how well you've learned the basics. If you get a perfect score, then you know how to play chess!

31 July 2004 - Guide to Chess Gambits (Part 2)
Part 2 of the About Chess Guide to Gambits covers all openings except those that start 1.e4 e5 or 1...e6. The Queen's Gambit is in our list even though it's not a true gambit. It's not the only so-called gambit where it's too dangerous to keep the Pawn. (M-W.COM)

24 July 2004 - Online Resources for Chess Downloads
Download : 'Transferring files or information from a remote computer to your computer'. Chess downloads can mean games or software. Take your pick!

17 July 2004 - Classic Chess : 64 Great Games
Introducing the About Chess Game Viewer, here are 64 great chess games considered by many experts to be among the best ever played. Step through the moves of a game or click Autoplay to watch a game like a movie.

10 July 2004 - Guide to Chess Gambits (Part 1)
How many different gambits and counter gambits are there? Part 1 of the About Chess Guide to Gambits covers 1.e4 e5 and 1...e6. Almost half of these are variations of the Kings Gambit. (M-W.COM)

03 July 2004 - Online Resources for Chess News
What's new? Specialized resources offer chess news that the mainstream press doesn't deliver. Continuing the review of About Chess categories, we look at news sources.

26 June 2004 - FIDE World Championship 2004 : Results
Despite the organizational difficulties, 124 players (out of 128 invited) participated in the FIDE World Championship in Tripoli, Libya. We list important start data for the 2004 participants plus their results from all five FIDE knockout tournaments. (M-W.COM)

19 June 2004 - FIDE World Championship 2004 : Background
The 5th FIDE World Championship knockout tournament is underway in Tripoli, Libya. The ill-starred event is one of the most controversial chess competitions ever held. We present the controversies, previous knockout events, participants, and important rules. (M-W.COM)

12 June 2004 - Online Resources to Play Chess
The Internet revolution has made 'chess anytime' possible; the wireless revolution will do the same for 'chess anywhere'. We categorized the many online play resources into crossboard servers, email servers, mobile/wireless services, and peer-to-peer software.

05 June 2004 - TWIC 500!
Mark Crowther has produced the 500th weekly edition of his TWIC (The Week in Chess) Magazine. Here's a look at TWIC's history using the archive resources available on the Web. (M-W.COM)

29 May 2004 - Chess Tips : Pieces II
Our second set of tips covers middle game and endgame tips for specific pieces. In the middle game : Keep your King safe, Advance Pawns to capture space, etc. In the endgame : Centralize your King, Create passed Pawns, etc.

22 May 2004 - Online Chess Resources to Improve Your Game
Chess is a game where your goal is to win by playing better than your opponent. Why play if you have no ambition to improve? We identified and linked many sites whose goal is to help you improve.

15 May 2004 - New Buyer's Guide
Near the bottom of the left navigation column, you'll find a new link called Buyer's Guide. Clicking there opens links to three new About Chess categories for product-related articles : Before You Buy, Top Picks, and Product Reviews. In the future we'll be adding lots of new articles to these categories. Hope you'll check back from time to time!

08 May 2004 - Chess Glossary : Opening Terms
Chess terminology is at its most colorful in the names that have been applied to the openings and their variations. Chess also has a technical vocabulary which applies to opening theory in general. We expanded our chess glossary to include terms applied to chess openings.

01 May 2004 - Online Chess Resources for Beginners
We now have more powerful linking tools, so we're starting a new review of our About Chess categories. Our first stop is at links for beginning chess players. We asked ourselves, 'What does a beginner need from the Internet?' The rules of chess provide one obvious answer, but there's much more!

24 April 2004 - Chess Tips : Pieces
Although chess is a difficult game, there are many rules of thumb that help guide you through the complications. Our first set of tips covers general considerations and opening tips for specific pieces. Watch for future articles with more tips.

17 April 2004 - Famous Chess Players : The Lost Generation
Our initial list of Famous Players missed many strong players active in the 1970s and 1980s. The FIDE rating lists covering the 30-year period from 1975 to 2004 help us to identify the Top-25 players in the world for those decades.

10 April 2004 - Chess Glossary : Terms of Competition
In addition to the many terms and expressions applying to a game, like the special moves of the pieces, chess has a vocabulary related to the fair conduct of games and competitions. We expanded our chess glossary to include terms used in chess competitions : tournaments and matches.

03 April 2004 - Email Play Sites : Introduction
Email chess play via a server is an evolution of email play. You make your moves using a Web interface, which are then transmitted to your opponents via email. You also receive notification via email when your opponent has moved. Here we discuss some of the more important characteristics of these sites.

27 March 2004 - How To Improve at Chess
Want to play chess better? Of course you do! Every chess player's favorite topic is how to improve. It's hard to know where to go after learning the basics. Motivation is an important factor and just asking the question -- 'How can I improve?' -- is a first step. (M-W.COM)

20 March 2004 - World Chess Championship for Women
Ask any chess player to list the World Chess Champions and you're likely to get an answer like 'Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca, ...' It's a rare player who will ask, 'Which champions : men or women?' Menchik, Gaprindashvili, Chiburdanidze, Xie Jun, Polgar : remember those names! (M-W.COM)

13 March 2004 - Chess FAQs
It's a FAQ! After one and a half years as Chess Guide, we have a good idea about what's on your mind. Have a question? Look here for the answer. Sometimes you'll find a fact, sometimes an opinion. If you can't find your question, send us an email. Maybe your question will find its way to a new FAQ!

06 March 2004 - Famous Chess Players : Women
Our register of outstanding players now recognizes the Queens of the game. We added the names of 18 women who have competed in title matches for the Women's World Championship.

28 February 2004 - Chess Glossary
We expanded our glossary from 20 to 90 terms, with definitions for everything from Algebraic notation to Zwischenzug. Watch for more glossary terms coming soon!

21 February 2004 - FIDE Top-10 Players (1975-2004)
Since 1970, chess has used the Elo rating system to rank world class players. Using FIDE historical ratings we identify world Top-10 players over the last 30 years. (M-W.COM)

14 February 2004 - Chess 101 : How to Play Chess
Want to learn how to play chess, but don't have the time? Learn to play in six email lessons, one lesson per day. After just 15 minutes per day, you'll be exchanging pieces with the pros. Sign up now!

07 February 2004 - Elementary endgames (Part 10)
An introduction to endgame studies, especially the theme of domination. Our guide is Genrikh Kasparian, author of Domination in 2545 Endgame Studies. (M-W.COM)

31 January 2004 - Other Online Chess Play Sites
Here we list a few sites which we failed to look at on our first round of reviews. Most of these sites are free; some have play for cash programs.

24 January 2004 - Online Chess Play Sites V
The fifth in a series of online play articles compares 11 sites. For this last article we combined our observations across all sites and added a few new comments on functions that we consider to be the most important. We also attempted to assign an overall rating to each site.

17 January 2004 - Elementary endgames (Part 9)
One of the curiosities of chess is that the Bishop and the Knight, whose moves are so different, have the same approximate value. The relative strengths and weaknesses of these pieces are particularly pronounced in endgames where they face each other in solo combat. (M-W.COM)

10 January 2004 - The Year 2003 in Review
The year 2003 was not a great year for chess. The reunification of the World Championship title, which should have been the biggest story of the year, met only setbacks. The biggest events were Kasparov matches with two of the world's strongest chess playing computers. (M-W.COM)

03 January 2004 - Online Chess Play Sites IV
The fourth in our series of online play articles covers three sites that aspire to be major players in the world of online chess : the Internet Chess Club (ICC), Playchess.com by ChessBase, and U.S. Chess Live (USCL).