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

Chess960 is always interesting, and in this game I was able to close down the center and gain good control of the light squares. Black was able to gain a lead in development due to white moving her pawns a lot in the opening (d4, f4, c3, e3). With 7. …f6 and 8. …e5 I was able to break the center and gain activity for my minor pieces by opening the position. After winning a [...]

There would be no chess without humble and courageous pawns and their heroic sacrifice in chess battles everywhere. The Sacred Work of Pawns For starters, the pawns, supported by friendly units behind them, are used to create strong points in the center early in the opening. The central pawn structure and well-protected strongholds guard important squares and generally prevent the other warring side from expanding and conquering your territory. The solid pawn set-up in the [...]

Welcome to my 3rd Beginner Chess Openings Series on the Slav Defense. My 1st and 2nd Beginner Chess Openings Series featured the “Stonewall Attack” and the “French Defense.” These three openings represent a comprehensive opening repertoire for the beginner chess player. Examining the big picture of this beginner opening system, you will find that the general ideas and pawn formations are very similar – enabling the beginner chess player to focus more on understanding general [...]

I opened with e4 and black played the Caro-Kann Defense – so I played 3. e5, the Advance Variation. I tried to complicate things early with an aggressive set-up in the center, although black was able to achieve a good outpost on d5. Afer 11. h4!? I think black should have played 11. …Nxe3 to exchange one of his knights off. After 12. Bg5 and 13. Ne2 black’s knights became redundant, fighting for the same [...]

Picture the following scenario: a chess player sits down at the board, shakes your hand and says good luck, and starts blitzing out the first 15 moves in 5 minutes even though you each have 60 minutes for the entire game. Meanwhile, you take a good 25 minutes for these same 15 moves and achieve a healthy advantage out of the opening. This same opponent probably moves this fast against everyone all the time, especially [...]

Ww are proud to announce that after months of work, our video search page and our tournaments page are finally complete. I invite you to watch the video our webmaster, Freddy Lansky, has done outlining the features. Follow William for fresh daily updates: Follow @OnlineChessLess Chess Master Will Stewart specializes in Chess Coaching Online who maintains a daily updated Chess Blog with videos.

For one reason or another, a mysterious aura of excellence seems to exist around all advanced chess players. Beginner and intermediate chess players regard the advanced player with an incredible degree of respect, often resulting in an overestimation of abilities. I’m sure the following scene will be quite familiar to any chess player who’s attended a handful of serious tournaments – It’s a huge Swiss tournament and in the early rounds a young/rising 1700 player [...]