WIM Alexey Root, PhD

Alexey Root is a Woman International Master and the 1989 U.S. Women's chess champion. Her peak US Chess rating was 2260. She has a PhD in education from UCLA. You can find her books on chess on Amazon.com.

Kateřina Němcová, photo by Lennart Ootes, Courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club

Gift Horse or Trojan Horse in Chess

If your chess opponent gives you a knight, check for teeth. The sacrificed knight may be a Trojan horse planning to bite you. More 🡢

Winning! At chess, with Nigel Short

Former World Chess Championship Challenger Nigel Short has written his first book, Winning. The English Chess Federation selected Winning as one of four books under consideration for its 2021 “Book of the Year.” Although Winning did not win, it got a special mention. Like Nigel Short the chess commentator, Nigel Short the chess writer is educational and entertaining. More 🡢

Tolstoy playing chess with the son of Vladimir Chertkov

Leo Tolstoy, Anish Giri, and Chess

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) named Anish Giri its “Person of the Day” for September 13, 2021. Giri had just won the Tolstoy Cup, a nine-round, all-play-all rapid chess event with a time control of 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move. Games won by Leo Tolstoy (in 1906) and by Anish Giri (in 2021) are explored. More 🡢

Igor Khmelnitsky and US Chess Board Member Kevin Pryor (August 2021)

You versus Bobby Fischer

International Master Igor Khmelnitsky participated in three U.S. Chess Championships. An actuary by profession, Khmelnitsky is also a chess player, coach, and author. In this article, I highlight one of his books, Chess Exam – Matches against Chess Legends: You vs. Bobby Fischer. More 🡢

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave; Photo courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

Queen Sacrifices by Top-Level Chess Players

Sacrificing a queen is rare in chess games. Since the queen is the most valuable piece, giving her up for lesser chessmen or for an attack is difficult to contemplate. Within the last two months, two top-level chess players have sacrificed their queens. More 🡢

Turning Chess Wins into Draws

On behalf of the Alliance Chess Club, Louis A. Reed Jr. organized and directed the Fourth Annual Queen City of the Prairie Open & Fort Worth Championship on July 17–18, 2021. Although I scored just 3 points out of 5 rounds, I split the first expert prize with my last-round opponent. My fourth-round opponent missed turning his losing position into a draw. In round 5, I turned my winning position into a draw. More 🡢

International Chess Day: The Caro-Kann

In 2021, Gambit Publications published Win with the Caro-Kann. The authors, Norwegians Sverre Johnsen and Grandmaster Torbjørn Ringdal Hansen, recommend specific lines for Black. The book’s specialization is a plus if a reader is looking for a repertoire. It also is a useful guide to selected lines of the Caro-Kann Defense, if you are teaching chess for International Chess Day, July 20, 2021. More 🡢

How to learn chess

With the success of the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, many people are interested in chess for the first time. Although chess has a reputation of being a difficult game suited for smart people, anyone can learn the rules of chess. Becoming a grandmaster, however, takes a lot of work. More 🡢