Mark's Chess Blog

The Slav Defense (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6) is the opening of World Champions. It was used by Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, and Smyslov, and is in Vladimir Kramnik's arsenal. The idea ... Read More

Now that the chess world has a unified World Championship, what happens next? The scenario foreseen after the 2005 FIDE World Championship, San Luis, Argentina, won by Veselin Topalov, was to have ... Read More

The match between World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik and Deep Fritz starts today, 25 November, and we will be following the event in Kramnik vs. Deep Fritz - Day by Day. Have ... Read More

Q: What do you call a chess opening that everyone plays? A: Popular. • Q: What do you call an opening that only a few people play? A: Unorthodox, irregular, and off-beat are a ... Read More

Just in time for the holidays, we reviewed the external links under our Products / Shopping topic. This included the three categories that we include in our Buyer's Guide: Chess Equipment Chess Books Chess Software Our ... Read More

In Feedback : Chess Gifts, your Chess Guide asks for comments on Top 10 Chess Gifts for this Holiday Season (2006-7). The first comment was, 'Item number one. Pirates of the Caribbean Chess Game. ... Read More

Binds are fairly common in chess. We don't often see them in master games because good players prefer to avoid getting into binds and will even sacrifice a Pawn to ... Read More

Often overlooked, there is an important difference between the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and other organizations which have created their own World Chess Champion titles. Not only does FIDE organize ... Read More

In Kramnik vs. Deep Fritz, oldrlyeh says, 'This upcoming match reminded me of something I've wondered about the past few years as top GMs have lost and drawn matches against computer programs. ... Read More

Looking for a gift idea for a chess player? Under these links below you'll find chess sets, boards, and specialty items. These should give you lots of ideas plus a ... Read More

End September, when we last visited the chess blogs, the World Championship Unification match was in crisis. Vladimir Kramnik had forfeited game five, the cheating accusations were getting the kind ... Read More

In 10 ways the Internet has boosted chess, your Chess Guide asks, 'I'm looking for ideas for a top-10 list on "ways the Internet has boosted chess". If you have an opinion, ... Read More