Problems & Puzzles Archives

Posts categorized “Problems & Puzzles”

Playing blitz with Eric Li, much to the delight of the employees (but not to mine: I lost badly).

Best of CLO 2018 #6-US Chess School in San Fran by Shlyakhtenko

The #6 article in Best of CLO 2018 is US Chess School in San Fran: Sam Takes the Chocolate by NM Robert Shlyakhtenko. Judges praised Robert’s humor…

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Hikaru Nakamura Crowned Grand Chess Tour Champion

Hikaru Nakamura was crowned Grand Chess Tour Champion on December 17 in London after a tight match against the #2 rated blitz player in the…

Kasparov Chess Foundation Camp in New York: Solve Like a Young Star

The Kasparov Chess Foundation (KCF) and Saint Louis Chess Club have been running the very successful Young Stars program for the past six years. The…

isle of Man Chess International, Round 7, 26 October 2018. Photo by John Saunders

Jeffery Xiong and Hikaru Nakamura Among Leaders at IOM – 2 Rounds to Go!

To give us some perspective on how incredible Xiong’s performance has been so far, let’s compare his results to many of the world’s best in the standings.

The 2018 Women's Olympiad Team (from left to right): Tatev Abrahamyan, Irina Krush, Captain Melikset Khachiyan, Jennifer Yu, and Anna Zatonskih. Photo: David Llada

Can You Calculate Like a US Olympiad Team Member?

This year’s Olympiad featured a riveting fight by the U.S. Women’s team and a tie for 1st (winning Silver by tiebreaks) by the U.S. Open team. Test out your own tactical abilities with these puzzles from key victories.

Simona Nayberg: World Youth Spotlight

15-year-old Simona Nayberg is currently competing at the World Youth in Haldiki, Greece. Simona, who hails from San Francisco, California created ChessBrainGames, a tactics website….

Alex Lenderman at the 2018 U.S. Championship. Photo: Spectrum Studios

Lenderman Perfect at Manhattan Open

GM Alex Lenderman won the Manhattan Open with a perfect 5-0 score. The Manhattan Open was held August 3-5th, which unfortunately coincided with the second weekend…

Can You Calculate Like the 2018 Sinquefield Cup Co-champions?

Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, and Levon Aronian, the winners of the first three Sinquefield Cups in 2013, 2014, and 2015 respectively, have tied for the 2018 title.

Let’s take a look at the critical moments of tactics, intuition, and endgame determination that led to their victories.

Halftime at the 2018 Sinquefield Cup

Despite the high drawing percentage thus far (80%), many hard-fought, fascinating games have been played.

Test your tactical, positional, and endgame skills with puzzles from key moments from the first half of the tournament.

(From left to right: Jason, Eric, Davis and Merric)

Learning from the Best: 44th U.S. Chess School

A thick coat of shouting filled the room as if mocking the earlier silence portrayed during an exhausting puzzle. “Knight wins queen!”, my partner reiterated as he joyfully slammed the clock, and even it seemed to laugh in joy as chess pieces went flying like boomerangs around the seemingly endless array of black and white squares.

US Chess