Guides, tips and stories about chess.
The Légal trap, the Fried Liver, the Blackburne-Shilling, the Englund mate, Noah's Ark, the Lasker trap and the fishing pole: seven chess opening traps, move by move, and how to avoid falling for them.
How to checkmate in a few moves and how to defend: Scholar's Mate, Fool's Mate, back-rank mate, smothered mate and the patterns that decide most games.
Every chess rule explained step by step: how each piece moves, castling, en passant, promotion, check and checkmate, and all five ways a game can end in a draw.
A practical guide to improving at chess: the opening principles that actually matter, the tactical patterns that decide games, and the four endgames you must know.
Which opening to pick for your style: Italian, Ruy Lopez, Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann, Queen's Gambit and the London System — with their first moves and their plans.
Fork, pin, skewer, discovered attack, double check, deflection, decoy and overloading — the eight tactical patterns that decide games, and how to spot them.
How to mate with king and rook, opposition in pawn endings, the square rule, rook and pawn endgames and when a position is drawn. Essential technique, step by step.
What your Elo actually means, the real formula behind it, what each rating band represents, and the five things that genuinely make it go up.