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

The Kings Chess Tournament 2012 is shaping up to an incredibly entertaining event, scheduled to take place June 23rd – July 4th in Medias, Romania. The event will feature many of the world’s strongest chess players, promising a clash of the titans with an all-star guest list. The world’s highest rated chess player, Magnus Carlsen, has already confirmed his appearance and will look to repeat on his 2011 first place finish at the 5th King’s [...]

There is no such thing as a “sure thing” in chess. A game is not over until the clock has been stopped and hands have been shook. Comebacks in other sports like basketball and football are easy to spot, as you can’t miss Eli Manning leading Another 4th quarter comeback drive against the Patriots. But events can be a little more subtle on the chessboard. It’s easy for your opponent to be lulled into a [...]

Chess can be divided into 3 stages: the opening, middlegame, and endgame. However the beginner chess player frequently dedicates the majority of studying time to opening play and tactics, ignoring the “boring” positional themes associated with long-term strategy and endgame motifs. The importance of endgame understanding and technique in chess should not be under-estimated, as the vast majority of chess games do not finish in the opening or middlegame. It is all too common that [...]

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2012 is the strongest chess tournament ever held in Wijk Aan Zee, bringing in 14 of the world’s top players in the A group to boast an average FIDE rating of 2755! The organizers have really done an incredible job of putting the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2012 together, featuring 8 of the top 10 highest rated chess players in the world (only missing former World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik [...]

Beginner Chess Opening Preparation can be a tricky subject, but it doesn’t have to be. There’s a variety of approaches to chess opening preparation. For example there are Super-GMs like Vassily Ivanchuk and Hikaru Nakamura that feel comfortable playing almost any opening in any situation. And then there are Super-GMs like Peter Svidler, who almost always plays the Grunfeld Defense as black against d4 because he has so deeply prepared the opening that he is [...]

The 54th “Torneo di Capodanno” Reggio Emilia Super-Tournament ended with an exciting finish yesterday as going into the last round there was a 3-way tie between Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Morozevich, and Anish Giri. It was a chess tournament organizer’s dream, as none of the 3 tournament leaders played each other in the last round of the 6 player double round robin. As Anish Giri was unable to generate a strong attack with the black pieces [...]

Hikaru Nakamura is playing legitimate lights-out chess at the 54th Reggio Emilia “Torneo di Capodanno”, taking the rest day on January 1st after 5 rounds with an undefeated score (3 wins and 2 draws). Nakamura is trailed by a determined Alexander Morozevich at 3.5/5 and Vassily Ivanchuk at 3/5. The younger players in this 6 player 10 round double round robin have not fared well: Anish Giri at 2/5, Fabiano Caruana at 1.5/5, and Nikita [...]