ChessForSharks Blog
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How To Get Better At Chess: A 12-Step Guide
Chess is a game that requires a lot of focus, practice, and hard work. When a player starts learning the…
How To Be A Chess Grandmaster In 11 Detailed Steps – ChessForSharks.com
The grandmaster title is the ultimate achievement in chess, second only to the world championship. 600+ players have earned the…
The Best Chess Books of all Time: From Beginner to Advanced
Reading chess books is one of the primary ways a chess player acquires knowledge. However, the most instructive and suitable…
How To Play Chess For Beginners: Learn Rules, Moves, Setup, Efficient Tactics & Strategy
Did you recently encounter a fancy-looking game, and you'd like to know more about this mysterious game? Would you like…
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DownloadChess News
“It Was More Logical For Him [Dubov] To Remain Neutral” – Ian Nepomniachtchi speaks in
Ian Nepomniachtchi, former world championship contender has come out to clear the air regarding the recent Dubov vs Russians controversy.…
Alireza Firouzja Breaks 2800, Becomes World No 2
Grandmaster(GM) Alireza Firouzja just became the new world #2 after crossing the legendary 2800 rating barrier. The 18-year old Grandmaster…
Nodirbek Abdusattorov Wins World Rapid Chess Championship 2021
Pleasant surprises make everything sweeter. Seeing underdogs triumph in a field of favorites makes the crowd go wild. Chess has…
Ian Nepomniachtchi Slugs It Out With Russian Billionaire Businessman
December 24th brought about an exciting atmosphere of Chess in Russia. The Central Chess Club located in Moscow organised a…
Openings
10 Weird Chess Openings with Animal Names
We have always been fascinated with the creative and amusing names of some chess openings. Openings like these are usually…
15 Best Chess Openings For White
Chess has been a popular game for centuries, and one of the most critical aspects of the game is the…
How To Play The Larsen’s Opening For White And Black
The Larsen's opening is an unorthodox or flank opening that starts with 1. b3. b3 is an unconventional opening that…
How To Play the Scotch Game For White And Black
The Scotch Game is an opening move for White that looks to attack the center and create an opening attacking…
General
African Chess Grandmasters: Who They Are And Why They Are So Few
According to the Oxford dictionary, the word "MASTERY" means comprehensive knowledge or skill in a particular subject or activity. However,…
The Dark Side Of Chess (And What Can Be Done)
Chess in all its broadness, is a game that unites people from the ends of the earth. People find solace…
16 Hilarious Chess Memes From The 2021 World Chess Championship
This article presents a compilation of funny chess memes with inspiration gotten from the 2021 world chess championship match between…
The Art Of Defense In Chess
Defense is a very essential aspect of Chess. It's all about detecting and neutralizing your opponent's plans and ideas. To…
Chess Players and History
A Biography of Josh Waitzkin (and Why He Stopped Playing Chess)
After watching the award-winning movie 'Searching For Bobby Fischer', a lot of people ask this familiar question: "Does Josh Waitzkin…
Bobby Fischer vs Garry Kasparov: Comparing Two Legends
As a chess fan, you must've wondered what a match or even a game between some World Champions across different…
Top 5 Underrated Chess Players in History
Chess, as we know, is a game that has been in existence for centuries. Some chess players have played the…
Top 10 chess players likely to dethrone Magnus Carlsen
The chess world is currently blessed with a host of players that would’ve probably borne the World Champion title if…
Chess Basics
What is Stalemate In Chess?
A stalemate is a type of draw that occurs when your opponent is unable to make any legal moves to…
What Is Material Advantage In Chess?
Material refers to the number of pieces and pawns on the board. An advantage in chess refers to a situation…
How To Castle Queenside In Chess
The game of chess is a game of strategy; It involves both the art of attack and defence. Every chess…
What Is the Exchange Sacrifice in Chess?
An exchange sacrifice is a chess move where a player trades their rook for the opponent’s bishop or knight. This…
Chess Advice
How To Get Better At Chess: A 12-Step Guide
Chess is a game that requires a lot of focus, practice, and hard work. When a player starts learning the…
How To Start A Chess Club in 5 Easy Steps
The entire essence of chess depends on having someone to play with. There can be no chess game without an…
How To Get To 1800 Chess Rating With Advice From Experts
Wondering about how to get to 1800 chess rating? Honestly, it depends on what level you're starting from. If you're…
How to Improve in Chess Without a Coach
Not everyone has the luxury of hiring a chess coach. Maybe it’s too expensive, or you prefer learning at your…
Openings For White
How to Play the Catalan Opening: Ideas And Variations
The Catalan Opening is a very flexible opening that White can employ to gain a solid position before moving into…
How To Play The Bird’s Opening For White And Black
The Bird's Opening is a unique opening that starts with the development of a flank pawn (1. f4). That's why…
Crush Your Opponents With The King’s Indian Attack: A Dynamic Opening Approach
The King's Indian Attack (KIA) is a chess opening known for its flexibility and adaptability. It arises after the moves…
How To Play the Danish Gambit For White And Black
The Danish Gambit is an aggressive opening for White that stems from the King's pawn opening (1. e4). This opening…
Question And Answers
Why Is Chess So Popular? Here Are 5 Reasons
It's no longer news that chess's popularity has boomed in recent years. You turn here, you turn there, you see…
Who Invented Chess?
Chess is well-known worldwide and has many fans, but its roots and origins are unclear and highly debatable. Numerous legends,…
Is Chess a Relaxing Game?
Chess is one of those games that people tend to have strong opinions about. Some see it as an intellectual…
Why are Chess Championships Separated by Gender?
You've probably heard of the World Chess Championship, but did you know there are actually separate championships for men and…
Openings For Black
How To Play The French Defense For White And Black
The French Defense is one of the oldest chess openings in the game. It is very popular among all levels,…
How To Play the King’s Indian Defense For White And Black
The King's Indian Defense is a unique way of countering the Queen’s pawn opening. It is a very popular hypermodern…
How to Play The Popular Sicilian Defense: A Comprehensive Guide for Chess Players
The Sicilian Defense is one of the oldest and most popular openings in chess. Dating as far back as the…
How To Play The Philidor Defense For White and Black
The Philidor Defense is a calm way for Black to approach the King's pawn opening by White. The main idea…
Chess Pieces Movement
Can a King Check Another King in Chess?
This answer is a simple NO. There is no way in chess that you can use your king to check…
How Does The Rook Move in Chess?
The rook moves vertically and horizontally on the chess board. You can view it as moving in a plus (+)…
How Does a Knight Move in Chess?
The knight is the only chess piece that moves in a weird way compared to other chess pieces. Every other…
Why Are Rooks More Important Than Bishops?
Before jumping to a conclusion, let's have a look at how each piece moves. The bishop in chess moves in…
Chess Career
Top 10 Exciting Careers In Chess To Earn A Living
You're a chess player—a chess freak even, but you don't earn from it. It's difficult to earn from it, right?…
Why Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu Could Be One of the Greatest Chess Players
When a chess prodigy from Chennai begins toppling the biggest names in the game before turning twenty, the world pays…
What is the FIDE World Championship Circuit?
For the average chess player, the FIDE World Championship Circuit can be a tad bit confusing. Even top players have…
Top 10 Most Brilliant Chess Prodigies in 2025
There is an interesting appeal that follows when kids are talented in any sport. That they can show such immense…
Tactics
12 Important Chess Tactics You Should Know
Chess Tactics is a move or a combination of moves that pose one or more instant dangers to an opponent.…
How to Solve Chess Puzzles
Solving chess puzzles is one of the most effective ways to improve your game. It sharpens your tactical vision, deepens…
What is an Interference Chess Tactic?
Chess is full of clever tricks. One such trick is Interference. It's not as famous as other chess tactics like…
What is a Clearance Chess Tactic?
Like the popular saying goes, chess is 99% tactics. However, some tactical concepts are uncommon and might not be well-known…
Fide Titles
How to Become a FIDE Certified Chess Coach?
Being a certified chess instructor is a fantastic method for chess players to earn more money with their chess talents,…
How To Become a Woman Grandmaster in Chess
To become a Woman Grandmaster (WGM) in chess, you'll need to achieve three norms and have a minimum Elo rating…
How To Become a National Master in Chess
The title of “National Master” (NM) is awarded by some national chess federations. These titles are not recognized by FIDE,…
Duties and Roles of a Chess Arbiter
Arbiters are highly trained referees with official certification from the World Chess Federation (FIDE), who ensure games adhere to the…
Boards And Pieces
How Wooden Chess Pieces Are Made
Chess pieces come in different forms: plastic, ceramic, aluminium or wood. Some of the luxury ones are even made with…
The Game Of Thrones Chess Set (And Characters Represented)
It is not news that chess is a way of life. An excellent chess player can see life through the…
Chess Boards: A Complete Overview
Chess is a battle of minds in which a player's wildest imaginations become reality. There are endless possibilities that can…
How to Take Care of Your Chess Sets
Chess sets come in all sorts of materials to accommodate players of various styles and skills levels, with wooden sets…
Checkmate Patterns
How To Play The 2 Move Checkmate
The 2 move Checkmate, also called the Fool’s Mate, is a combination of moves in a chess game that allows…
40 Checkmate Patterns Sure To Win You Games
A large percentage of chess skills ride on pattern recognition. For instance, you see certain pieces placed in certain positions…
Learn The Bishop And Knight Checkmate: Understanding The Chess Pieces
This pattern works by limiting the opponent's king to a corner of the board, where the bishop and king take…
How To Carry Out The Queen And King Checkmate in Chess
The queen and king checkmate happen frequently in chess games. Many games conclude in King + Queen vs. King, with…
Flank Openings
How To Play the Benko Opening For White And Black
The Benko Opening (also known as the Hungarian Opening) is a unique opening that begins with 1. g3. It is…
An Introduction To Flank Openings
Flank openings are openings where the earliest moves do not emerge from either of the centre files (c and d…
The Complete English Opening Repertoire for White and Black
The English opening is a unique type of opening where White seeks to control the center without using the e…
How To Play The Reti Opening For White And Black
The Reti opening is a hypermodern opening that was created by one of the pioneers of hypermodern chess, Richard Reti.…
Chess Variants
Popular Chess Variants You Probably Didn’t Know Existed
What makes a game or sport more fun than its original form is its variants. Variants of a game or…
How To Play Three Player Chess: A Simple Beginners Guide
Chess is a popular strategy board game that is played worldwide. There are over 600 million people that play the…
Four Player Chess Rules You Should Know
For over two hundred years, people have invented and reinvented several variants for four player chess, formed by adding a…
Chess960: The Ultimate Guide to Freestyle/Fischer Random Chess
What if we could make chess even more unpredictable by adding a chaos factor? Something that could reignite creativity from…
Chess Hypotheticals
Ranking Movie Characters That Would Make Great Chess Players
We all have our favorite movie characters. The larger-than-life figures always seem to come out on top of obstacles and…
Why Does Elon Musk Hate Chess?
Many famous people have expressed their admiration for chess, but one of the biggest celebrities in recent times and the…
Top 10 Chess Players with the Most Aura
Chess is a game of calculation. But some players bring something more to the board, something that can’t be measured…
Can Online Chess Cheating Be Stopped?
Cheating has always haunted chess, but the digital age has made it more complicated. Online chess brought excitement, convenience, and…
Unconventional Openings
10 Weird Chess Openings with Animal Names
We have always been fascinated with the creative and amusing names of some chess openings. Openings like these are usually…
10 Openings Named After Famous Chess Players
There are thousands of openings (along with variations) in chess theory. Many chess players discovered chess openings and stamped their…
Top 10 Popular Chess Gambits To Try Out
As chess players, our styles of play sometimes depend on our mood and, of course, the importance of the game.…
Top 5 Most Effective Chess Traps for Beginners and Intermediates
There's something very satisfying about springing a well-laid chess trap. That moment when your opponent's confident smile fades as they…
Books
10 Of The Best Chess Books For Intermediate Players
A huge portion of chess players gets stuck on the intermediate level. This is why attaining mastery in chess is…
The Best Chess Books of all Time: From Beginner to Advanced
Reading chess books is one of the primary ways a chess player acquires knowledge. However, the most instructive and suitable…
Famous Chess Players Who Wrote Great Books
Some players dominate on the board. Others leave their mark on paper. A few do both, and those are the…
ChessForSharks News
5 Surprising Facts Behind Why We Celebrate International Chess Day
Each year, on July 20th, the global chess community gathers, on and off the board, to celebrate International Chess Day.…
ChessForSharks Summer Showdown 2025: Blitz, Brilliance, and Global Rivalry
When 380 chess players from across the world gathered on Lichess this October, no one expected such an electrifying contest.…
Endgame
5 Endgame Concepts You Must Know to Play Better Chess
At a point in the game, you say to yourself "Stockfish ought to take a few lessons from me". You…
Chess Endgames: The Great Element Of Chess Mastery
Introduction Chess is categorized into three phases; the opening, the middlegame, and the endgame. The phases are identified to enable…
Chess Tournaments
ChessForSharks Summer Showdown 2025: Blitz, Brilliance, and Global Rivalry
When 380 chess players from across the world gathered on Lichess this October, no one expected such an electrifying contest.…
2025 U.S. Chess Championship: Caruana and Yip Triumph Amid Tragedy
The 2025 U.S. Chess Championships concluded in St. Louis with Fabiano Caruana and Carissa Yip lifting the national crowns. It…
Chess Traps
3 Popular Traps in the English Opening
The English Opening is renowned as one of the most strategically rich openings. It is a positional and calm opening.…
3 Popular Traps in the Caro-Kann
The Caro-Kann Defence begins with 1.e4 c6 and is known for its solid structure and counterattacking potential. But even this…
Strategy
3 Popular Traps in the Scotch
While the Scotch is sound enough to appear at the top level, it hides some nasty traps that can punish…
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