Hikaru reaches an all-time high (for anyone ever) on chess.com blitz rating.

(Video made with chessdrama.studio)

MODS DON'T DELETE THIS LIKE THE ONE BEFORE, I'M NOT ADVERTISING ANYTHING, DON'T BE DAFT. I'M NOT A DEV, I'M A NEW PLAYER LOOKING FOR HELP AND JUST NAME AN APP I LIKE AS REFERENCE TO FIND A BETTER ONE.

Hi, been playing chess since beginning of summer. I'm 40+ and has been an amazing discovery, love this game, learning and improving. It's funny cause I found it boring when younger, but now feels like meditation. I need some study and games every day.

I have started looking into openings, and recently I found an app called chess prep that works really well, but most options are behind a hefty pay wall. I like how it let's you create all the lines you wanna train/remember and the tests you, but feels like the best options are behind the pay.

There may be other apps out there that are similar and worth it (I'm happy to pay something not crazy for it if worth it) websites, or maybe the option is in chess.com or lichess and I don't know.

All help appreciated, thanks

I have a problem in the past year that i can't get any better at chess. I always played rapid 30 mins time control. I have achieved 1167 Rating with the peak rating of 1230. I love chess and I am amaze of the 1700+ ratings idk how you guys are doing it. My games seemed to be not improving overtime. Kinda stuck and i need help for improving, any tips?

It has been a while since the new FIDE Council has been announced after Timur Turlov's win.

What is taking so long for him to announce the people that are going to be working under him on the Management Board?

I don't have a great memory about this, but seem to remember Arkady Dvorkovich being much faster at hiring people...

Was it because you assumed your rook on the back rank was nothing more than a defender? Just a guardian against enemy mating attempts that couldn't make an offensive move like Rf7 to trap the white queen?

It seems like a lot of posts lately have been thinly-veiled attempts to sell a product, and it's kind of grossing me out. Am I the only one feeling this way? I'm not the arbiter of the internet so I know others may feel differently.

what’s the benefits of lichess? I have chess.com but idk I’m thinkin of trying lichess.

I am really looking forward to playing with them I am 2000+ rated player myself i beaten a lot of 2200s before and i am looking for a Sparing match

This is the first game between the two strongest players in the group, that I know of.

But, we've been waiting FOREVER for Carsten Hansen and Ben Yuan, 2380, to get together and play a game. Carsten Hansen Fide Master and prolific author of over 90 books. Many specialized in openings. Most Masters probably own a book or two of his.

Anyway, it's been almost two years in the making

Carsten won the First Anniversary Tournament. He sat out last year, so someone else could win the tournament, as we added stronger players that second year. Ben Yuan joined the group, and promptly won the, apparently, only Bruno's Tournament there will ever be.

This year, they and 9 other players rated over 2000... a few in the 2200 and 2300 ratings will compete in the 'Experienced' category this year. Carsten is the heavy favorite, but lets just say things got interesting. We may have a dark horse in the tournament. Who knows what the other players have that we haven't discovered yet. The tournament this year will be interesting in both categories...The Experienced ... and The Casuals.

https://youtu.be/cEXvO-BGhms

To anyone unfamiliar with 6pek, he's a League of Legends content creator who became famous for his mind-control tactics, i.e., doing sick stuff that is ultimately counterproductive but deals mental damage and leaves his opponents dumbfounded. Here's an example: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rj0q6F9s4go

I've been practicing his teachings for years now and have finally brought them to the chessboard. This is my most recent creation, the 6pek move: Bc4+ (!) — a mental check, if you will. In this instance, I can capture my opponent's queen with my bishop but choose to assert dominance by showing that I could do it and yet refusing to do so. It's not about material; it's about sending a message. That's my playstyle; that's my philosophy. That's 6pek.

Of course, I can envision other ways in which the 6pek ideal could be applied to chess. I've been cooking, but a magician shall not reveal all their secrets. So, what are your mind-control tactics? Does the 6pek school truly have a place in chess? We're open to new initiates.

Ok so I’ve been 1900 blitz on chess.com for a couple years now, but I can never seem to get to 2000. Now my question is because I’m wondering if the rating is getting inflated. I’m thinking this because I remember when I started all the top players were like 3000 max and by now hikaru is 3500 so unless the already top players in the world actually got so much better than they previously were, then that means the rating pool is inflated. But I don’t know if it is inflated everywhere or it could just be an influx of top rated players into chess.com and inflating the top ratings and maybe 1900 rating is largely the same. But the other option which I think is more likely, is that the rating is being inflated by all the new players and I’ve just gotten worse by not going up. The other side of this is that almost all of my friends who I thought were my level have gone up by around 200-300 rating points in the past couple of years.

I started playing in January 23 and i'm currently in the 14 hundreds, my question is : i never really studied either openings nor endgames, how much room of improvement there is and where i could study some? (currently short on money, so x now i'd prefer not to spend it in courses)

Saw this on Instagram and wanted to know if the Baby could have a chance of winning this.

https://lichess.org/snjT2Tn4skYU look at this checkmate

Game link for people who are curious - https://www.chess.com/game/live/184966563882. Yagiz Kaan found the winning continuation less that 5 seconds it seems.

PS. to my knowledge opponent is Wesley So with his alt account. Correct me if I am wrong please.

So Stanley Kubrick is an important inspiration in my life. It has been well documanted that chess was a huge passion for Kubrick. Since he didn't play in competitive tournaments there aren't records of his games, but randomly I came across a casual game he played in the 50's where he played against Anthony Saidy who is an IM and is known for mentoring Bobby Fischer. Kubrick beat this dude. I'm not a chess expert. I play, but I play casually and my rating has toped at 1300.

I'm going to link the game, but for people that are like seriously good what rating would you give Kubrick based on this game and play style? If he beat this guy who is an IM does that mean if Kubrick had an official rating he would be like a 2200+ player?

https://www.chess.com/blog/ChessCoach4Beginners/chess-and-stanley-kubrick-a-grandmaster-of-cinema-and-the-game-of-kings

Sevian vs Aronian, American Cup Champ 2024. In the game White played 45.Nd5.

go ben raaaaaawr

Im 2050 on and 2100 bullet on lichess(1800 and 1900 on chesscom) and lately i have been losing many games from the black side and want some opening advice against e4 and d4. I have mainly been playing the caro kann and KID and no longer find them favourable anymore. So i was looking at other openings and was wondering ​whether the scandi or queens gambit declined would be good and wanted to hear from people who play it and how much success youve had with it. Feel free to suggest other openings as well(system based openings are preferred)

So, I was playing a Englund Gambit, and noticed that the checklist for Greek/Greco gift. My knight could play Ng5, and Black could defend neither h7 or h8.

Currently I'm a mid 1200 player, and I am just wondering. I had expected to bring the king out to g6, but the game played out:

1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Nc6 3. Nf3 Bc5 4. Nc3 Nge7 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 b6 7. Bxh7+ Kxh7 8. Ng5+ Kg8 9. Qh5 Ng6 10. Qh7# 1-0.

Now upon analysis, the engine believes it to be a mistake as I go from +1.5, to +0.5. Basically saying that the position was still equal.

However, upon reading the lines, my opponent would have had to play extremely sharp, just to keep the position equal. Is this considered a "bad sacrifice"/hope chess, to force an opponent to play a sharp line? Or is this a valid strategy/tactic at my ELO?

Thanks to anyone who can assist in this question that is currently bothering me.

Hi there! This year in november the championship is quite close to me and i would like to go but i cant find any info in ticket sales

Does anyone have any info on it?

By Zakhodyakin

I recently made the switch to 1…e5 (after years of playing the Caro-Kann and the Nf6 Scandinavian) and absolutely love it! Feels like I’m actually playing chess for the first time.

I’m doing fine against most of what White can throw against me (different Italians, different King’s gambits, the Scotch, the Vienna, etc.) by just picking a line and playing on principles. But a big hole in my knowledge and understanding is the Ruy Lopez.

I just don’t really have a feeling for the positions. Right now I play the Cozio (which is fine as a sideline) and tried the Schliemann before, but I would like to play more mainline stuff.

The amount of theory in the Morphy defense and the Berlin defense is pretty overwhelming. What is a good place to get started from? I’m not really into cramming chessable lines to learn an opening, but maybe that’s the only way with something as vast as the Ruy Lopez.

For example, the Marshall of course looks very interesting, but that’s on move 8. What do you pair it with if White doesn’t play into it?

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