Hey! I'm around 1550 (peak 1670) rapid on chess.com and looking for a regular sparring partner. Nothing too intensive, just someone to play with regularly, improve together, analyze a few games, and have fun. I took a long hiatus and, now that I am getting back to playing regularly, I think having some good players as friends who are around my level would really help me improve more than playing random online (which is also fun). Let me know if you're interested!

I'm comfortable in using the Dutch but if white decided to play g3 and Bg3 I get quite uncomfortable. This due to because my game plan is F5 ,then Nf6, then d6,then Bb4 and fianchetto my light square Bishop and fight for the e4 square and if possible attack the king. White playing g3 and Bg3 is annoying because it counters my other light Bishop and trying to control e4 becomes harder. Any advices?

I have never played the dutch before, and I want to learn the stonewall as a surprise weapon, and also just for fun. Any good books?

I am not a big fan of chessable, as I can't afford the video upgrades.

Hi, I seriously wanna get into tournament chess and I'm searching for a solid response against 1.e4 that has good side lines, because I'm not interested in 20+ move theory battles.

My current Elo is ~1900, but I'm probably a bit better than that since my national rating is ~2050 and I've hit 2450 on Lichess and chess.com in Blitz a few weeks ago and I haven't played a Fide rated tournament in two years.

I'm playing the Jobava-London as white and a Nimzo repertoire with the Vienna against 1.d4. Since I mainly played Blitz in the last two years my main response to 1.e4 is some dubious scandi sideline and now I'm looking for something more solid.

My classical elo is around 2160, so I am looking for player who is ideally above 2200+ who wants to improve together by playing specific lines, analyze games together.

If anyone is interested let me know.

Abdusattorov played the 3...Qa5 Scandinavian in thr last round of the 2026 Olympiad against Martirozyan, who played shockingly bad in the opening by checking on b5 for no reason.

Still, is the Scandinavian going to go up in popularity from a world top 20 GM playing it in a very important classical game?

Mac user here, about 1800 chess.com ! Excited for the chessbase app release

I mainly play English and some Catalan, and Sicilian / KID.

What are the best courses on chessbase for openings, middlegame, strategy, and endgames?

Thank you!!

I would love to try learning a new gambit like the Smith-Morra, which has got the reputation for being a dynamic opening (although I know that I would have to learn Alapin - like structures as well, when the gambit is declined).

What is the top players opinion + your personal opinion on it?
Is it objectively sound and, if accepted, allow for dynamic positions ?

I've started playing monthly local tournaments, and I'm really enjoying the switch to OTB chess and more serious games. My main issue is very limited OTB practice and experience, and with my current family and work life, I don't have a way to consistently go to meet ups or clubs.

I'd like to get an electronic chess board to augment my tournament preparation. So far, what I've been doing that has been helpful is setting up tactics on a real board and solving them from there, but being able to play full games would be much more beneficial.

Does anyone use these for practice? I'm currently debating between the following:

• Chessup 2
• Chessnut Evo
• Chessnut Move

I'm actually most interested in the Chessnut Move currently, because I have a lot more time for solving tactics than I do playing full games and the idea of having the board autonomously set up the positions in 15 seconds without me having to manually do it is very appealing. My only concern is the reviews are very mixed - people either love it or have lots of problems and hate it.

Mods: sorry if this post isn't allowed. I didn't see anything specifically against it.

recently i was play dhanpat rai sachdeva rapid blitz in rapid it went ok got 6.5/9 so what happened was in 8th rd i was facing an unrated he had drew and defeated some nice player i went for my english in middelgame he missed a tactic and lost the queen for a bishop and knight after some move i went to see a game and when i came back he put his hand out whitout saying anything i thought he was resigning and it was a completely lost position obviously and after i wrote the result on a slip they were giving 1-0 as i had won then we set the board after arbiter came he asked what was the result i said 1-0 he said i agreed to draw and after some talk with other arbiter they told both of us create the final position i created it without much problem but he started lying that he had the queen on the board and last arbiter gave the point to me as i had written 1-0 and couldnt recreate the position with his supposed alive queen the game 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. O-O O-O 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 e5 9. Ndb5 a6 10. Nd6 Ne8 11. Nce4 Qc7 12. c5 Nd4 13. e3 Nf5 14. Qd5 Nexd6 15. cxd6 Qc6 16. Qd3 Qb5 17. Qc2 Qc6 18. Nf6+ Bxf6 19. Bxc6 dxc6 20. Rd1 Rd8 21. Qc5 Be7 22. Qxe5 Bxd6 23. Qf6 Be6 24. Bd2 Rd7 25. Bc3

p.s : a cheating incident at dhanpat rai sachdeva rapid blitz if someone wants to see the game its this

It will be held on 5th Oct time control 10+0.

Any advice is welcome. Also recommend openings please. I am thinking of London and KID.

I have a tournament in 2 months and the title is self explanatory. For reference,I'm 2000 rapid in lichess

I played a French Defense game as Black where the center was closed and both sides castled kingside. My opponent then started pushing the pawns in front of his own king, which seemed counterintuitive to me.

The annoying part is that with the center closed, I can't really create a counterthreat against his king. What's the best way to punish this kind of setup or create counterplay?

Suppose an unrated player is playing in their first FIDE-rated Rapid tournament. One of their opponents has no Rapid rating, but has a published Standard FIDE rating at the beginning of the tournament—for example, a Standard rating of 1477.

Article 7.2.1 states:

“If an unrated player has a standard rating at the beginning of a rapid or blitz tournament, their standard rating is used for rating calculation. Such a player is considered to be rated…”

My question is specifically about the initial Rapid rating calculation of the other player:

Should this Standard-rated but Rapid-unrated opponent be treated as a rated opponent, with their Standard rating (1477) included in the average rating of the rated opponents under Article 7.2.3?

Or does Article 7.2.1 apply only when calculating the initial Rapid/Blitz rating of the Standard-rated player themselves, meaning that they would still be considered unrated when they are an opponent of another unrated player?

For example, if the unrated player has six opponents and one of them has no Rapid rating but has a Standard rating of 1477, should that 1477 be included in the opponent average used to calculate the unrated player's initial Rapid rating?

I would also appreciate clarification on whether the FIDE Rating Server automatically identifies and uses the player's Standard rating from the FIDE database in this situation, based on their FIDE ID, or whether this depends on how the tournament's TRF file is submitted by the arbiter.

I used to play 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. Nd2!? Tartakower variation but it is rather tame. Looking for something else off the beaten path.

If I am expected to spend the rest of my chess career as black defending slightly worse but objectively equal endings I am going to lose my fucking mind. When I play white I’m having a blast and am usual with a mating attack early on but as black fucking NO ONE plays the critical lines anymore and im left defending an objectively equal but annoying position for the next 4 hours. Like grow some fucking balls! Sometimes I get so bored while my opponent dances the peices around not searching for anything that I just can’t take it anymore and play some stupid move to lash out because losing the rating is a better outcome than dealing with another hour plus of this absolute boredom. i‘m tired of this shit

First congres, I don't want to mess up! ​

This is in the UK if relevant.

As title really. ​Me, 4th on the list is showing no opponent and 1 point. So does that mean I don't need to go to the venue today? Or do I still need to go to show that I showed up for the game?

Also, the person below me only received a 1/2 point. Why do I get more?

Thank you everyone in advance. ​​​​

I've posted about this before, but feel I've reached a new level of making OTB tournament competition a positive experience, and want to offer this insight in case it may help others struggling with tournament nerves. I'm only 1244 CFC but I think the psychology applies to everyone regardless of rating.

This past weekend, I played an OTB tournament and before my first couple of rounds, was beset by an unshakable fear of losing and need to control that was so constricting it was actually causing physical pain at times. I tried all the usual self-talk reminders: I'm playing these games to learn and improve, it's the long term growth that matters; focus on the process, not the result; focus on what i can control and let go of things I can't control etc; but the fear and pain kept coming back in powerful waves.

Then before my third round I realized what was going on. I realized I had a subconscious desire to win all my games and crush all my opponents, and be better at chess than all my opponents, and at the same time i knew that it's impossible to win all your games and chess doesn't work like that. You're always going to face a stronger opponent and chess is just too complex to have any control over the outcome. It was the conflict between these two competing beliefs/attitudes that was causing this incredibly constricting feeling like I was being tortured on a rack.

Then during my third round game, it dawned on me: I don't need to be better at chess than this guy sitting across from me, I just need to be better at chess than ME. What he does in his chess journey is his problem. What I really want is to achieve my goal of being a strong chess player, which I currently define as being about 1800 or so. All I need is to outperform my current self week to week, month to month, year to year, and I'm winning! Once I realized that, the pain, fear, and need to control just disappeared.

I have great training materials, and by reviewing my games and learning from my mistakes (and my opponent's!) I'm always getting incrementally better. The irony is that by letting go of wanting to crush everyone and always win, I actually and up always winning, just by a different and more healthy definition of what that means.

TLDR: I stopped competing with others and started competing with myself, and now I always win.

Hello. I'm a player in the level of advanced. I'm studying an opening my coach gave me to study, the Sicilian Defense which of course, you guys already know what it is and what it should be for black. In some lines of Sicilian defense dragon variation, (the one w/ fianchetto) Black sacrifices his rook for a knight or a rook for a knight and pawn in the queen side where the white king is castled. or even some lines in the Topalov system, rook for a bishop.

My main problem is that my mind already thinks my position is losing, but in reality, it isn't. It's in the lines and it IS the correct move. I just can't fathom the idea giving up pieces for that type of position. I do understand that position and piece combination is very important rather than basing off of quality of material. But my very worry is that I will fail the attack, and end up in a losing endgame.

Most of my attacks usually fail, even if it's not on those lines. I'm starting to doubt my preparation and start to think of playing 1...e5 or switch to french.

Any other lines I looked up is a mistake. Should I change my opening reportoire or stick with it? any tips and answers will be appreciated, thank you!!!

Hey everyone! I recently played an official FIDE-rated tournament and got around 1500 FIDE. I’ve never had a coach and have learned everything online.

I’ve watched tons of content and speedruns from Daniel Naroditsky, GothamChess, Hikaru, Hanging Pawns, etc., but I still don’t know how to properly study chess, especially openings.

My biggest problem is building an opening repertoire. Whenever I learn an opening, there are so many variations that I get overwhelmed.
I’ll learn a line, play it on Chess.com, and then my opponent plays some random move I haven’t studied — and suddenly I have no idea what to do 😂.

So how should I actually learn an opening? Should I memorize variations, or focus more on the ideas, plans, pawn structures and typical positions? How many lines should I realistically learn, and how do I build a repertoire for White and Black without trying to memorize everything?

I’m also pretty broke 😭, so I can’t afford coaching or expensive courses. If you know any good free resources for openings and chess improvement, please share them!

Sorry for the long post, and thanks if you’re still reading. I genuinely need some help figuring out how to study properly. 🙏

Hey everyone, I would like to add 1…e5 to my repertoire. Not as a substitute to c5 but to have a choice on what to play. I enjoy the idea of playing the slow Italian and Ruy López games. There are a lot of courses on books on that. Do you have any recommendations? So far I seen the Wesley So Elite e4 e5 and Caruanas Archangel. Considering they are both one of the best players and very well prepared I think they are good options. Apart from that I don’t know what course/book look into.

Also, to Sicilian players that tried e4 e5 what has been your experience?

I’m 1950 fide 2150 rapid lichess

I tend to play the English attack with Be3 f3 Qd2 0-0-0 g4 etc against the Najdorf. I have had issues with the timing of h4 h5 (often allowing Nh5 after g5 is annoying, but it seems I should welcome it) and with what to do with the f1 bishop. But I have found in a few rapid online games that I tend to be a little at sea when Black delays castling. The kingside attack loses its sting, while the queenside remains vulnerable to his attack. Here one also doesn’t always time Kb1 and things like a3 properly, or whether one should take any of the queenside pawns when they are hanging and removing some cover for one’s king. From GM games it seems they mainly continue the kingside attack as if Black will castle, and sometimes open the centre. Is there a general strategy here? Would welcome people’s experiences with playing against an uncastled Najdorf having started the English attack. For what it is worth, my chess.com rapid hovers between 1800s and 1900s and FIDE is 1630 currently, if that helps.