Chess Tutoring, Chess Coaching, Chess Classes with NM Will Stewart

Thank you to Petr Slavik of ELO2000 for graciously taking the time to write this article for us. What opening repertoaire should I build? This is the question that many new chess players ask. Do not worry. You are not the only player who thinks about it. In the following series of articles I would like to recommend you a few solid chess openings which are suitable for chess newbies. At least according to me [...]

Vassily Ivanchuk is has been one of the world’s best players for 2 decades, and yet he is only getting better in 2011 as shown in his exemplary performance in the 2011 Bilbao Chess Masters Final. The 42 year-old Ukranian is really hitting his stride, coming off a 3rd place finish at the 2011 World Chess Cup (which automatically qualifies him for the 2012 World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament) to arrive in impeccable form at [...]

Dragan Solak is a strong Serbian GM with a FIDE rating over 2620. He was kind enough to do an interview with me a few months ago and what he had to say was absolutely fascinating. He’s the first person I met who says he was competing in tournaments by the time he was 3 years old. In it he says you should FORGET about opening preparation until you are at least 2200+ and he [...]

This is our SEVENTEENTH of many live bughouse videos we’ll be releasing. Bughouse is controversial amongst the chess community but like all things, a little bit of moderation is key, and I don’t think it hurts your chess game. More importantly I think it gets kids into chess, teaches you about positional play and teamwork as well. I’m releasing these videos for fun and hope you all enjoy them. My friend Kazim Gulamali is one [...]

Special for Pogonina.com Women’s World Chess Champion Hou Yifan absolutely dominated the Shenzhen FIDE Women Grand Prix 2011 which took place on September 7th-19th, going undefeated to win clear first place by a full point over fellow female prodigy 21 year-old IM Anna Muzychuk.  Hou followed up her 2697 performance rating in the 1st Grand Prix in August 2011with a 2649 performance rating in the 2nd Grand Prix in Shenzhen, pragmatically dominating the opposition to [...]

Ju Wenjun tried to recover from a lukewarm start to press Yifan towards the end of the tournament, however Wenjun was unable to catch up to the lead and finished the tournament sharing 3rd with WGM Tan Zhongyi. Wenjun has had a great 2011 thus far, having dominated the 1st Hangzhou Women Chess Tournament to earn her 1st GM norm with a 6.5/9 score and close to a 2700 performance rating. Watch the game of [...]

The 2011 Bilbao Chess Masters Final begins today, Monday, September 26th. We will surely see some of the best chess matches of the years. Rounds 1 -5 will be played in the beautiful Ibirapuera park in São Paulo, Brazil, followed by rounds 6-10 in Alhóndiga, Bilbao (Spain). The organizers have done an incredible job with some of the world’s best chess players participating in the event. This has to be one of the most high [...]