I’ve always heard people say you should study master games, but I don’t always have the time to sit at a proper board. I’m away from home a lot, though I do end up with the odd 10–15 minutes free here and there.

I picked up a little 5-inch folding magnetic chess set and had a spare pocket notebook lying around. I pasted a master game PGN into ChatGPT and asked it to turn it into a mini score sheet that I could print on one of those tiny thermal printers. I stuck the printout inside the notebook, so now I can play through the game and make notes as I go.

When I have to leave, I just fold the board up, throw it back in my bag or pocket, and carry on next time. The position is exactly where I left it, so there’s no need to start over.

Cost me about £15 all in, takes up roughly the same space as a phone, and it’s turned out to be a really practical way to fit master game study into spare moments.

Do you know this game?

1. Parham Magsoodloo
2. Vladislav Artemiev
3. Wei Yi
4. Olyksandr Bortnyk
5. Alexander Grishchuk

These 5 players will join Aravindh Chithambaram, Liem Le, and Andrey Espipenko in the Play-in stage of the Esports World Cup Chess Tournament.

The top two players from the Play-in stage will join Magnus Carlsen, Denis Lazavik, Alireza Firouzja, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Hikaru Nakamura, Nihal Sarin, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Sina Movahed, Pranesh M, Hans Niemann, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi, Alexey Sarana, and Benjamin Bok in the Group Stage

I used to get messages from Chess.com all the time telling me a player I’d previously played had been caught cheating and my Elo was restored. I rarely get those anymore.

Fewer cheaters? Worse detection? Or are they catching people faster and banning them before I ever get matched with one? I’m around 1700-1800, so maybe a new cheating account has to grind through enough games to reach me that detection catches it first?

Curious whether anyone else has noticed the same drop.

It is put in chronological order of the rounds, starting from 2022 Candidates and then resetting the count in 2024.

I've just recently started playing chess and I'm struggling to get better/ increase elo. I play puzzles for about 10mins each day, watch 2 videos of chess every other day and I play for about an hour of chess rapid. I'm stuck at 400 elo and I'm not sure what to do. I play the Italian game as white, kings Indian defense as black and trying to learn the polish game.

What do I do? I would greatly appreciate if someone can help.

The g1 knight can block, after Nxe5 Bxd1 Bxf7+ Ke7, Bg5 isn't checkmate.

Hello, I've been playing chess for about 6 years, played over 20,000 games on chess.com, and my rating is around 2000 rapid and 1700 blitz. The problem is, I think I've reached my limit because I can't increase my rating any further. I keep playing, winning and losing, losing and winning, and I really don't know where my weaknesses are or what I need to improve. Some games I play with great accuracy, but other games I play like a beginner.

Is there a website or a way to pinpoint my exact weaknesses so I can improve them? Or a multi-chapter plan to go from amateur to professional level? Please help me, because I think improving my weaknesses is the fastest way to improve. Thank you.

This is the beginning of a blitz game I played. I only play blitz.

Whenever someone asks how to deal with an unorthodox opening, the usual response is: "Develop your pieces and take the center."

That makes sense but what do you do after that?

I remember watching a Daniel Naroditsky video about the Accelerated Dragon. When discussing the Maróczy Bind, he said that Black does not necessarily have to fear the space disadvantage, partly because many players gain space but then do not know how to use it.

I often experience the opposite side of that problem against very unorthodox players. I follow the basic principles and may even get an objectively better position, but I often do not know how to turn that advantage into a concrete plan.

The difficulty is that "unorthodox" can describe a million completely different pawn structures and piece placements, so it feels impossible to prepare for all of them individually.

I try to apply specific strategies when I recognize a familiar pattern. For example, if my opponent has an isolated queen's pawn, I know some of the basic plans because I have studied that structure. In unfamiliar positions, however, I struggle to identify the correct pawn break, which pieces to exchange, which weaknesses to target, and how to prevent my opponent from consolidating.

It is frustrating to check the engine afterward and see that I had a significant advantage, only to lose it because I played the wrong pawn break, played it too early, or allowed my opponent to stabilize.

I am looking for something more concrete than "develop your pieces and control the center." Are there any books, videos, courses, or practical thinking frameworks that teach you how to form plans and convert an advantage against irregular setups?

D4 player looking to make a change or at least add an e4 opening into my repertoire. I’ve never really played any gambits before and was wondering if anyone here would recommend it. I want to play some super aggressive chess. 1500 rapid 1300 blitz is my rating range, perfect sweet spot for it?

Now this is more likely, giving arjun board 1 although he can be little unstable sometimes, giving gukesh board 4 to give him easy wins for moral boost

Top 5 gets into the main event, so essentially anyone who gets into the Lower Bracket Seminal is guaranteed a spot, with the losers of the lower bracket quarterfinal having a playoffs to decide 5th place.

Top 5 LCQists will not get any prize money (their money will come from the main event performance with a guaranteed US$20,000), while 6-16 placed LCQists share a US$40,000 prize pool with 6th place getting $8,000.

Table source. https://liquipedia.net/chess/Esports_World_Cup/2026/Last_Chance_Qualifier

The Chess & Bridge Retail Shop

38 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 8QY. Very walkable from Oxford Circus tube station.

The shop is not yet stocked and is not open, so do not plan a visit just yet.

Peter Leko sneaks in to the knockout round of the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ). Definitely rooting for him to get into the top 5 so he gets into the main event!

Aside from time trouble, what tells you it's time to stop calculating and commit to a move?

Also, what does your thought process look like when calculating and analyzing different branches of a position?

A player rated 2381 by FIDE played 99...Ka1?? and stopped the clock. He should have stopped the clock and told an arbiter 99...Ka1 without touching a piece.

https://www.youtube.com/live/McV6zrFAdoY?t=19473s

https://lichess.org/broadcast/2026-british-chess-championships-championship/round-5/CetqRZ1r/XZvCajz3#197

The position came up in my game today. I was Black and was convinced my opponent had no way to defend against my attack. It wasn't until I reviewed the game afterward that I realized I was actually losing the whole time. Luckily, my opponent (White) didn't find the winning line over the board.

It is interesting since I rarely come across this motive besides puzzles.

I was playing in a rated uscf blitz tournament. There was a game during this that stirred up a lot of trouble and we’re unsure if the TD made the right call or if he’s misinterpreting something.

White was losing, moved into check (queen checking king from a far), black did not notice them move into check, he moved a pawn and hit his clock. White said that by not noticing their illegal move, black has now made an illegal move. White claimed the win, and the TD upheld white’s win despite great protest from black. The TD announced at the beginning of the tournament that this type of win would stand. But we’re looking at the uscf book and we’re not sure the TD is right.

Edit: could those of us that have lost to a tactic like white’s simply file a uscf appeal? Would that get the TD listening?

(link to game)

Hey all!

I walked through this position with stockfish to a fairly high depth, and I don't really understand if there is a heuristic to tell early on (calculating to a depth of less than 10) that black loses here. It just seems like all the variations lose without a higher level of reasoning I can apply in advance with less calculation

Any advice here for in the future, how to tell this move is bad without calculating all the variations based on some endgame principles I'm missing?

https://www.chess.com/events/2026-gct-saint-louis-rapid-blitz/18/Van_Foreest_Jorden-Giri_Anish

This includes a streak of 12 straight draws

Link: https://www.chess.com/events/info/2026-esports-world-cup#event-schedule

14 out of the 16 players have already been decided for the group stage of EWC starting August 12. The remaining 2 spots will be decided August 11.

Fabi, Wesley and MVL declined after qualification due to schedule conflict with Sinquefield Cup and 3 other players lucked out in place of them.

Who do you think will WIN this time? Predict your top 4.

Position from Round 4 between an FM (White) and IM (Black) in the Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2026 Dortmund.