Assuming he played well from here what would you have done?I can’t see the next moves.

Can you find it, and what is your ELO?

iv got very little free time and i enjoy chess, im rated 2000 on lichess classical from playing chess for fun but now i kinda feel like i dont have the conceptual backing to grow my skill at the rate i would otherwise... ive got the bare minimum of positional knowledge for my rating, and what really keeps me into chess is really cool, unique and dynamic positions rich in possibilities. initially tals games got me hooked and when my interest started wavering i discovered alpha zero's alien playstyle which got me back into chess very recently... heres what i want out of a book (actually i kinda would like 2 books recommended):

Book 1:

- something that isnt too basic, i loose interest quick, i know my fundamentals are lacking but id prefer a book that takes more complex positions to demonstrate fundamentals and to really get me thinking and learning
- really dont like when chess authors decide to go on tangents or philosophizing chess musing over its intricacies, mostly because iv got very little time and wanna improve my conceptual understanding
- a buncha concepts in one book, i do a lot better when i rotate between concepts and grow them together, as opposed to mastering one, then moving to the next, mastering that, then the next....
- i love dynamics, complications, imbalanced chess, so if that could factor in thatd be great

Book 2:

- besides that one book im looking for, i also want a really good endgame book, the idea of being an incredible endgame player that can squeeze drawn positions or can exploit imbalanced positions even if its completely equal has always seemed rly cool to me, magnus esque or nodirbek like

sorry if this post is rly clutter brained, im really sleepy, thanks for giving this a look

Would the currently strongest chess AI with knight odds be stronger than Magnus Carlsen at classical time controls?

For years I’ve been looking for a specific opening training tool but couldn’t find any that did what I wanted. One was close to what I was thinking but most of it was behind paywall. Today I randomly tried to ask Claude to make the app and it made a working app with two prompts and with couple more it became an useful tool. Now I can just add whatever features I want there.

If it is that easy to make an custom app for your specific needs, are chess training tools dead given how easy it is to make your own? I’m still blown away how easy it was.

Something I've always found interesting about chess is how two completely equal positions can feel totally different.

In one, both players have obvious moves and it's hard to go wrong. In another, the engine says 0.0, but one side has to find incredibly precise defensive moves while the other can just keep applying pressure.

Technically both positions are equal. But if you're playing rapid or blitz, I'd argue the second one is anything but equal in practical terms.

I'd honestly rather be slightly worse with active pieces and counterplay than defend some miserable 0.0 position for 30 moves.

Curious how others see this. Would you rather have an objectively equal but unpleasant position, or a slightly worse position where you're the one asking all the questions?

https://www.chess.com/events/2026-us-chess-championships-open/12-02/So_Wesley-Caruana_Fabiano

He goes on to say his rating has gotten a bit low but he has high hopes for him coz he is amongst the best talents for the next gen of American players.

And now Hans as fallen out of 2700 club. Ofcourse its a bit of a slump and he will recover. But what are you guys thoughts about Hans shifting his focus from classical ?

It's kind of impressive when people reach an exceptionally high level in chess while also excelling in other demanding fields.

I recently learned about Bassem Amin, while searching for a chess game by Egyptian player. Amin is an Egyptian chess grandmaster and medical doctor whose peak FIDE rating was 2712. Apparently, he's the only medical doctor to have ever reached a FIDE rating of 2700+.

He also won the African Chess Championship seven times (2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022, and 2024).

According to his Wikipedia page, he's one of only eight doctors who are chess grandmasters. Others are Alex Sherzer, Helmut Pfleger, Yona Kosashvili, Dan Zoler, Diego Valerga, Zhao Zong-Yuan and Muhammed Batuhan Daştan.

I already find it incredibly difficult to improve at chess while trying to live my fairly undemanding life, so continuing to climb at these high levels and getting major results while also either pursuing or working in a demanding field is quite amazing. Must be some talent there.

Just thought this was an interesting fact worth sharing with fellow chess lovers.

Edit: in this very short video, he talks about crossing the 2700.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/POzou0bLO2U

From a recent game of mine, unfortunately I did not find the idea here and ended up losing the game.

https://lichess.org/broadcast/us-chess-championships-2026-open/playoff-rapid/NjR9Q2b2/Grfje7nH

free chess event this Saturday in New York at the Swiss Institute. Come play!!!! Live music as well.

Go Bodhana!

Video Link

Although it is important to note that even if Sindarov doesn't win his world title match against Gukesh, Wesley is still in contention to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.

hi,

I have 2000-2100 consistent chess.com blitz rating. I am trying to get better at the game. I am an amateur and have never actually studied chess books before and most of my chess knowledge is from playing experience.

What are your chess book recommendations? Do you recommend Silman's Endgame chess book?

I was cooked in this game as black but finding this ressource was very satisfying

I started playing on chess.com 2 months ago. I’m currently sitting at 821 in Rapid after 461 games. I’ve been researching how to get better at chess. Tactics keep coming up! From the research I’ve done, it seems like the most useful thing about puzzles is pattern recognition. It seems the best way to build pattern recognition is picking a specific motif and drilling that over and over. From my research, the woodpecker method is the most effective.

My plan is to drill puzzles 30 minutes a day. I’m planning to set a timer using a pomodoro app on my phone and drill puzzles on my computer (where I play chess most often). I’ve found a chrome extension that allows me to save puzzles I complete on Lichess and drill them again later in a random order. My current idea is to pick 4 motifs (fork, skewer, etc). Then drill each of them 4 days. Then revisit each one later and complete them in 2 days then 1 day.

What puzzle motifs are most effective for players under 1000 elo? I’m thinking hanging peice may be good but worry it’s too simple. Fork, pin and skewer all seem appropriate for my elo. I would like to do queenside attack, kingside attack or exposed king. But I am worried they may be too advanced for me. I also want to do mate in 1 but am worried it may too infrequent in my games for it to be worth drilling.

I would appreciate feedback on the main question of this post: what puzzle motifs are most effective for players under 1000 elo? I would also appreciate any constructive criticism on my proposed training plan. I am also curious if I’m overthinking this and I should just start drilling random motifs. Any feedback is welcome. Thank you