All Questions

when I load fritz 17 in chessbase, it often shows depth as for e.g. 18/25. what does this mean?

Consider an endgame like the one shown below (white to move): [fen "5k2/5p2/r7/8/6R1/4b1PP/8/5R1K w - - 0 50"] Stockfish gives white a solid +3 advantage here and that seems appropriate ...

I just downloaded Chessbase reader 2017. The design is wonderful the ability to annotate is very useful. However, unlike SCID vs PC (the software for reading and annotating chess games that I am used ...

Here's what I understand about the point of c5 in the French / Advance Caro-Kann pawn structures: if White takes you are very happy, because his e-pawn becomes weak and you get to develop your bishop ...

Lichess analysis annotated 4. Nf3?? as a blunder preferring (4. Nc3) (see on Lichess). I am trying to understand the ideas that make this a blunder. At depth 23 with Stockfish 13+ NNEU, both were ...

I've learned a bit of the Taimanov and have been playing it with some decent results, although I have not gotten very deep at all into it. Still, it bothers me that even though I've looked at a couple ...

I reached this endgame, which Stockfish 10+ evaluates as +3.9, but failed to convert it to a win. I feel that it may be a draw after all. Is that the case? [Title "White to move"] [FEN "...

This line is called the Brooklyn Variation of Alekhine's Defense: [FEN ""] 1.e4 Nf6 2. e5 Ng8!? How did it get its name?

Are there any moves from real, preferably reasonably well known games which humans agree are great moves, but which engines cannot see, or, at least, think are weak/average? Here is an example that I ...

I recently played against a colleague of mine, who claimed to have a chess.com elo of about 1000. I am about 1700 on Lichess. We played 3 matches, where he won two. In these matches I got completely ...

When searching the web about how people learn about chess openings, I see many questions regarding the depth of the opening knowledge one has (with answers such as "I know some lines 20 moves ...

Several high profile bullet chess players (Andrew Tang, Fritzi_2003) on Lichess state on their profile they will block anyone who plays with keyboard, presumably using an extension such as Lichess-...

As an intermediate-level KID player, I'm starting to face Catalan-style setups with d4 / c4 / g3 more often: [FEN ""] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 O-O 5.Nf3 d6 6.O-O Nbd7 7.Nc3 e5 I ...

In Silman's Complete Endgame Course, the author gives this rule in order to gain the Opposition when there isn't a direct connection in between the kings: In this type of situation, the rule is to ...

I'm attempting to use Zobrist hashing in my chess engine, but I'm running into some difficulties getting it to work correctly. I'm using the random numbers from this site so I can test my results ...

I have been looking at the Neo Grunfeld. [FEN ""] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 d5 I am considering Nf3 followed by castling, thereby giving up the pawn. Does White has compensation for the ...

A situation that often seems to confuse me is when I push a pawn alongside two pawns that are head-to-head and my opponent pushes the opposing pawn, such as when Black plays c5 to my c4. rnbqkbnr/...

Recently in an infamous online charity simul, against Vishy Anand's Zukertort opening 1. Nf3, Indian billionaire Nikhil Kamath played the dubious 1...e5?, the so-called "Ross Gambit" by ...

Try solving the following puzzle authored by me (for beginners). White to move and gain a slight advantage, despite being a Queen down for a bishop at present: [FEN "2k1r3/pp6/n5q1/1N3p2/8/3B4/...

I have been playing the reti with 1NF3 2C4 for the past 1 month and want to find a dynamic response to the advance variation (...2 d4) as the engine considers it to be the most critical try for black

What's the name of the mating pattern starting with the move 21...Ng4!? [FEN ""] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. d5 e6 4. e4 exd5 5. exd5 d6 6. Nf3 Be7 7. Bb5+ Nbd7 8. a4 O-O 9. O-O b6 10. Bc6 Rb8 ...

I have been hearing the term LPDO (Loose Pieces Drop Off) a lot lately, which apparently is helping players in the beginning level. If so, does it prescribe some best practices and tips to help ...

I read on some Lichess forum that Stockfish levels use limited computation time and search depth for lower levels. However, it seems like Stockfish also every so often inputs mistakes and blunders, ...

I think it is up for debate as to whether a stalemate should be a win or a draw. I agree stalemates make beginner chess more interesting but we rarely see games at international level end in stalemate....

This is from Yusupov's "Build up your chess" volume 1, chapter 11 (pins). [Event "Munich"] [Site "Build Up Your Chess"] [Date "1994"] [Round "Diagram 11.4&...

I can break my puzzle down into the following: How strong is Leela Zero today in terms of rating / strength, esp when compared with Alpha Zero / Mu Zero? Does its rating get calculated as it ...

Shown below is a game I have been trying to solve, Black has been better for the whole game but resigns at the end. On checking the analysis stockfish says black is still better [Event "Hourly ...

This shows a +5.6 winning for white at depth 33 (Stockfish 13+). White does have a bit of material advantage (knight) and black has more pawn islands. Can black convert this into a draw (assuming both ...

In this ancient r/chess thread, several uses explored the shortest possible 1:16 mutual stalemate. StoofBuzze provided a record in 42.5 moves. However, what is the shortest such game in which the ...

I am new to the game and I so far like it. I have watched people on the internet play, tried to copy their moves and have been maintaining an 800 rating on Chess.com and around 1000 on Lichess. I have ...

I have recently been playing a lot of online chess and have around a 2000 rating in rapid on Lichess (I realize the ratings are not the most accurate, but it is my only point of reference). I'm ...

I came across this interesting position: [Title "Black to move (with full castling rights)"] [FEN "r2qkb1r/pp1nn1p1/7p/5N2/3p4/2P2N2/PP2QPPP/R1B3K1 b kq - 0 1"] On first glance, ...

I play regularly 45+45 games with a duration between 2-4h. During my opponent's time I normally try to guess their moves or try to understand the position better. Regularly I have the problem that I ...

I like to play chess against my Dad. He is almost a professional player. He always finds ways to checkmate my king. Every game I try new blocking strategies, but none of them work.

I was hoping to parallelize the chess engine I was currently working on. I have done some research on some of the various types of algorithms such as YBWC, ABDADA, and LazySMP which is currently used ...

Many years ago I read (in a Russian book) a saying Strategy is creating true values; tactics is refuting the false ones. which the book attributed to Emmanuel Lasker. Does anybody know where Lasker (...

1.g3 is by some databases one of the most successful opening moves, yet it is also much rarer than 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4 and 1.Nf3. Why? Related: Why do masters open 1.d4 more often than 1.c4? and Why is 1....

Recently on Play Magnus app, for age 29, I ended up in following position and the Magnus app resigned. [FEN "rn3bnr/1ppk1ppp/p2P4/3p4/1P2P1P1/8/P1PP2P1/RNBQKBNR w KQ - 0 1"] I just wanted ...

This is the "opposite" of A mobility puzzle - I held it back because it could have interfered with Schwalbe 2021 construction challenge. Thus: Put a maximal number m of pieces on the board ...

Before posting, I searched all around the board to find if anyone else had asked the same question, but no luck. So I am legally blind, but I love to play chess, and I like to annotate games. Chess....

If one side captures everything and promotes all pawns (including the opponent's re-placed pawns) to a queen, it is possible to achieve 206 points of material difference 18 queens, 4 rooks/knights/4 ...

Here are some quotes by by famous English author H. G. Wells.: “There is no remorse like the remorse of chess. [..] It is a curse upon man. There is no happiness in chess.” [source] “The passion for ...

After 10 moves as Black, I often end up in a position very close to this, where I still have left my options open about castling. [FEN "r3k2r/ppqn1ppp/2pbpn2/5bB1/2B5/P1NP1N1P/1PP2PP1/R2Q1RK1 w ...

My five-year-old daughter has learnt the rules of chess and is able to play complete games by herself. I do not have a chess clock and she has never used one. I am wondering if I should let her start ...

When AlphaZero learned on its own that a queen has a value of 9, a pawn 1, knight 3, etc., then did it also need to learn on its own that a piece has a value? Or was it that the concept of value was ...

I've used the ChessBase Replay training feature on my friends PC and now I am missing it. ChessBase is too costly for me. I've tried lichess.org: Practice with computer but instead of playing the ...

First let us start with two definitions. Definition #1: A position is said to be normal if there exists a sequence of legal moves from the classical starting position which lead to this position. ...

What are some tactical openings to consider for my repertoire? A lot of players better than me have said that it's best to learn tactical openings as it will enhance my positional understanding as ...

Why is the last move by white, g3 on the board below, considered a bad move? It was in a game that I played recently and my idea was to protect the bishop in f4 and give the other bishop more space to ...

All my life i was never been able to progress past beginner level. When i read a book or study a game i can't long term memorize what i do or what i read. So in practice what do you do to progress ? ...