As GM Jonathan Rowson points out in his brilliant book "Chess for zebras", for adult players unlearning is often more important than learning. Indeed, throughout our lives, we acquire many stereotypes and limitations that might hinder our decision-making process during the game. For instance, let's list some of the shortcomings that are common among novice chess players: • Making too many moves with the same piece in the opening and forgetting to develop your pieces harmoniously. • Trying to develop major pieces way too early and exposing them to attacks. For instance, playing a4 and h4 follo ..read more

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” Sun Tzu, The Art of War In the modern chess age defined by engines and extensive databases, it is more menacing than ever to fall into a trap right out of the opening. What can one do to minimize the chance of this happening? Check your own and the opponent’s dossiers. Sun Tzu made a good point, after all. Modern chess databas ..read more

The beauty of a move lies not in its appearance but in the thought behind it. Aron Nimzowitsch Most chess players enjoy being in control and remaining active. Therefore, when it is their move, they are happy, and having to stay idle during the opponent's move is a necessary evil. However, being the one to move can actually be more of a curse for a human than a blessing! In every position, if you make the best move, the evaluation will remain the same. Speaking in chess engine terms, when you choose an inferior continuation, the evaluation will go down. If you frequent chess sites that featu ..read more

The life of a chess professional revolves around chess training. When Grandmasters formulate their recommendations for club players, they often forget that not everyone can afford to dedicate a large number of hours per day to chess studies, allocating the cream de la crème spots on one’s schedule for them. As an amateur, you typically have to improvise on the go, taking a chance to practice chess a bit in the morning, a bit on the road, a bit in the evening, and so on. Obviously, in some of the above-mentioned scenarios, you won’t be in your best shape mentally and physically. Both amateurs ..read more

Let's say you play a tournament, preferably a traditional Swiss one with a classical time control where you find out your opponent's name the evening before the actual round. The first step when preparing for the upcoming match is reviewing the opponent's games. The big question is: where do you find them? Some of the ideas lie on the surface, but other tips might be of use to you. Offline databases If you are a competitive chess player, you probably have ChessBase, Chess Assistant, or other similar professional database installed on your laptop. Don't forget to update it regularly! Such data ..read more

You have probably heard about the popular 10,000 hours rule that Malcolm Gladwell popularized. It states that it takes 10,000 hours of intensive practice to achieve mastery of complex skills and materials, such as playing the violin or becoming a proficient IT developer. As a result, many chess fans tend to oversimplify things, leaving all the other factors out of the equation. That is, they believe that their mastery in chess, typically measured in online or over-the-board ratings, should linearly increase over time as long as they put in enough effort. If, after doing some studies, they don ..read more

Last week, we prepared for you a blog post with a short overview of our brand-new Knight Runner app that takes you on an exciting chess journey through time and space. We revealed the first World featured in the game – India, 600 AD, where chess was allegedly created in one of its original forms. Also, we promised to present to you a video of Magnus Carlsen taking on the new app. As you probably know, Carlsen has an ultra-competitive mindset, so he never plays anything “just for fun” and typically tries to excel at everything he does. Was his Knight Runner test run (pun intended!) paved with ..read more

"I've always done things a little differently. That is what inspired me. Chess has always been fun, but this takes learning and training chess to a new level. Knight Runner is chess training for everyone!" — Magnus Carlsen Please welcome our new addition to the proud family of Play Magnus chess apps – Knight Runner! Knight Runner is a free-to-play and ad-free platform game based on chess mechanics. You take the role of a white chess knight and merrily jump in L-shape across exotic locations presented as game levels. For example, in India, the story's starting point, you get to witness such ..read more

Giving presents can feel even more satisfying than receiving them. Are you at a loss what to buy for your friend who is a huge fan of chess? Or maybe you are looking for ideas to add to your wish list? Here are ten suggestions that are worth exploring. Regardless of whether your gift budget is tiny or enormous, you should be able to find something of interest. A chessboard Constructed of gold and platinum, the Jewel Royale chess set, priced at $9,800,000 when it was released, contains diamonds, emeralds, rubies, pearls, and sapphires. No matter how gorgeous it looks, most chess players would ..read more

Image source “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” Albert Einstein Introduction One of the critical reasons chess players stop improving is that they don’t analyze their games and fail to pay enough attention to their mistakes at and away from the board. After a win, they are happy and don’t even bother rechecking the variations, and in the case of a tough loss, you may hear from them something along the lines of “I blundered a bishop for no particular reason; if I had played Qc7, I would have been fine”. What should the ..read more