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.

Accusations by World Chess Champions Bobby Fischer and Vladimir Kramnik

Fischer was convinced that some chess players were prearranging games. For example, the ninth game of the 1984/1985 Karpov versus Kasparov World Chess Championship match included a knight retreat in a knight and six pawns versus bishop and six pawns endgame. More 🡢

Advanced Chess Instruction: Secrets of Queen Endgames

The focus of Secrets of Queen Endgames is just queens, kings, and pawns. Starting diagrams may also show rooks or minor pieces but those are traded off before analysis begins. More 🡢

David Smerdon: The Complete Chess Swindler

The Complete Chess Swindler: How to Save Points from Lost Positions won the 2020 English Chess Federation Book of the Year Award. The book is by Grandmaster David Smerdon, who later created a Chessable course based on the book. More 🡢

Jennifer Shahade: Play Like a Champion

Two-time U.S. Women’s Champion Jennifer Shahade’s latest chess book is Play Like a Champion: Chess Tactics from the Greats. Its 700 chess positions have answers that range from checkmate in one move to checkmate in 13 moves. More 🡢

Grind Like a Grandmaster: Magnus Carlsen

The Champions Chess Tour Finals (CCT Finals) was the closing event of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour, run by Chess.com. Eight players met in Toronto from December 9 to December 16. They played for a $500,000 prize fund. The pre-tournament favorite was former World Chess Champion GM Magnus Carlsen. In the finals, Carlsen defeated GM Wesley So to win the 2023 Champions Chess Tour. More 🡢

Over-the-Board College Chess, 2024

Since 1946, the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship (Pan-Am) has attracted college chess teams from North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Since 2001, the top four U.S. schools at the immediately previous Pan-Am qualify for the President’s Cup, also known as the “Final Four of College Chess,” to determine the best U.S. chess college. More 🡢

U.S. Senior Women’s Championship

The first ever U.S. Senior Women’s Championship, an invitational for women 50 and older, was held November 3–5, 2023, at the Berkeley Chess School. The Eade Foundation was its sponsor, with help from US Chess. More 🡢

Chess Endgames: Pawn Principles

Chess endgames with passed pawns have many principles. A previous article explained the opposition. In this article, a game between two top grandmasters demonstrates two other principles: passed pawns must be pushed and the square of the pawn. More 🡢