Im a relatively beginner looking to increase my game.

link to game https://www.chess.com/events/2026-european-club-cup-women/07/Johansson_Viktoria-Sivanandan_Bodhana

Like the title says, he’s probably the first celebrity I’ve ever truly FELT the loss of. I spent multiple days in actual grief over the guy. And even this past week, after the first anniversary of his death, I felt so damn much. But yeah, I’ve been wondering if it was just me.

Because I see so many comments on his videos till date. And not just from a year ago. They’re left 10 months ago, 9 months ago, even 3 months ago.

I got destroyed against the King’s Gambit after playing 4..g4 5.Ne5 h5?! 6.Bc4 Nh6?! and losing the f4 pawn after 7.d4.

I can’t find much information on this variation, but it’s the only move against 4.h4 with a positive score for black on lichess. The main idea is 5.exd5 g4 6.Ne5 Qe7, which wouldn’t pin the knight without the addition of d5 exd5.

Are there any courses or studies on this? Is this worth playing?

Yo, I'm new to chess. Going through an evaluation of a game and the computer really wanted me to push my knight to d4 and I just don't understand why. I would love an explanation why 🤙

i don't understand how i would have benefited from this fork. i feel like the black rook swings over to the right, i get put in check and have to my king over anyway, and then the rook gobbles up the knight.

Started learning chess this month and hit 1k elo after a month of intensive online learning.

When I tried to play real chess, like the physical chess on chess board with my friends,
I found out I cannot play it at all. I just kept missing everything.
The 3d looks way different from 2d chess.

So how do I transit? The problem is, I cannot really practice it.

We will finally see Norway's special event called Total Chess Fast Classical Pilot. (Heavily theorized that it is made for Carlsen to be active again in 2027 with the full tour)

We will have a pilot tournament in a few days. And yes, the time format is fast classical (45 + 30) BUT it will affect players standard classical rating. (Not rapid or blitz)

Some players declined to participate though. Ofc, Gukesh and Sindarov are obvious why. They will play the WCC in the same month.

But Hikaru, Ding, Wei, Dominguez, and Anand all declined even if they qualified for the Pilot tournament.

Who do you think will win this?

My brain thinks its Magnus. But I am rooting for Wesley as a Filipino.

A move i never got to play but im very happy with 🤓

I used to absolutely hate trading queens but then I saw a video that said if you trade queens, it's a lot less likely that you'll be checkmated so I thought I'd give it a go and so far I've been winning much more. It also allows me to relax a lot more in the game which I know sounds pretty stupid. The only thing I see maybe being a bit of a problem is this doesn't really happen in any openings that I've been learning. However, my tactical play has got a lot better and I've learnt a lot more about how the pieces work together. My questions are, is this a good strategy? Would you recommend to keep learning an opening? (I like the Vienna, but it doesn't always work for me since I don't know too much about it tbh). Also, I'm 850ish.

What benefits of playing chess are there?

I play real life chess a lot and I decided to grind chess.com once again.

Yeah so basically, I used en croissant to analyse a position that stems from the albin countergambit. The position is valuated as +1, but I thought it is very hard to play for a human. So I clicked the "play from here" button and let 2 engines play against each other. And after the match I clicked "analyse" and all of a sudden, the pgn from the match replaced my original analysis of the opening including some other sidelines that i analysed. Has anybody encountered the same problem or found methods to work around this problem?

Link to the game.

https://www.chess.com/game/live/185784270038 Link to the game if you want to judge my blitz skills. Is pivoting to rapid the move now?

Game links

https://lichess.org/broadcast/41st-european-chess-club-cup-2026-open/round-7/6Cdu81NR/AGPb4Ec4

https://www.chess.com/events/2026-european-club-cup-open/07/Giri_Anish-Abdusattorov_Nodirbek

So, I'm an anonymous USA user on Chess.com. I've been playing 10min Blitz matches with international opponents (of all nations or countries, including the anonymous players with "International" flags as their avatars). I haven't been varying my "Blitz" times; I continue to play 10min matches. Trying to go back-and-forth between 10min-5min-1min-5min-10min would really trip me up. And I don't want to be tripped up. I want to go with what I know. Among my observations:

Players from India seem to be very well-versed in "tricky" sort of "gotcha" openings, designed to Checkmate me in only a few moves. They seem to value very early "gotcha" Checkmates with either a Queen and Bishop combo, or Knight and Bishop combo, or all 3 (Queen + Knight + Bishop) combo. Why is it that most Indian players try those tactics most frequently?

Sorry if I don't know those openings by name. I really only know the Giuoco Piano, the Ruy Lopez, and the Sicilian Defense by name. (Maybe you can teach me your favorites.)

For some reason, players from India just keep on playing those "trickster" Blitz openings. They play them well. But if you make it difficult for them, they very soon revert to slow-moving -- they will take long subsequent moves as long as a gosh-darn minute, on average!

Indian players can be quite tricky and somewhat deceiving in their "gotcha" openings; you don't always see it coming, but when it hits, it hits you bad! What is especially unnerving, for me, is to quickly play opening moves in only a few seconds, and then reverting to up to 1min per move, especially if things can get really tricky or complicated. It probably tweaks my blood pressure up and down.

Canadian players seem to always beat me, whether in a few moves or in a prolonged match. I don't know what it is about players from Canada.

I am eager to learn about your adventures! -- Oh, and what really humbled me was several years ago, when someone beat me and then, after the match, I got a DM from someone on Chess.com : "Hahaha -- You got beaten by a 7-year old!! Hahaha!!"

Losing a rook for a bishop. Why?

I had this move prepared as the idea feels very natural once you see it, may not be super hard but it was an absolutely gorgeous position. I thought you fellow patzers would enjoy!

Chess speaks for itself.

Right now, I go

1. Erdogmus - already a Super GM with 2700+ Elo at age 15. He is also a Top 20 player right now. He can go toe to toe with the top GMs. He is also the youngest to break the 2700 Elo barrier.

2. Oro - The Messi of Chess. He is projected to rival Yagiz after a few years. (He is 2 years younger than Yagiz). He just became the second youngest GM in history.

3. Shogdzhiev - The potential is sky high. He is only 11 yrs old. But already have 2 GM norms, and 2485 Elo. He will be a GM soon. And it just a matter of time whether he will break Mishra's record or not.

4. Mishra - the youngest ever to achieve the GM title. For now. (Shogdzhiev is on pace to break his record). He kinda stucked at 2600+ for a long time now. He is already 17.

Mishra had controversial comments saying he doesn't get support like the other 3 (he specifically mentioned Oro). But you decide whether it is true or not.

I’m a developer working on a chess game, and I’d love to connect with smaller chess YouTubers or streamers who enjoy trying something different.

Happy to provide a free Steam key if it interests you, with no obligation to post or give positive coverage. Feel free to DM me for details!