Hello and welcome to Chess Hacks! My name is Leo and I’m on a mission to give you simplified and actionable advice on chess improvement. Chess Hacks was established with the goal to provide ...
Read more »If you’re an experienced chess player, you have likely heard of these before. Opening principles that have been passed on from chess generation to chess generation until today. Little has changed over the centuries regarding these principles (but also some has changed indeed and I will add something extra at […]
1. Not having a plan I firmly believe that it is not necessary to know much of opening theory when you’re a beginner. But this is not to say that you should play random moves. You should always follow opening principles or at least you should have very good reasons […]
Everybody plays some kind of openings, right? I mean, you can’t play chess if you don’t play some form of opening with your first moves in each game. When you start as a beginner, openings don’t matter a lot. Games are won and lost mainly during the middlegame or the […]
You may think you know all the basic principles in chess. That you’re past the ‘how to avoid beginner mistakes’ tutorials. Well, think again! Nobody is immune from ‘easy’ and avoidable mistakes –especially if there’s lack of concentration. And I would be the first to raise my hand and admit […]
We’ve all been there. You play an opening you like. It may not be a very well-known opening. Maybe few GMs play this opening. But you like it. After all, you have some good results with it. You have won many good games employing this same opening. Maybe your opponents […]
There are so many books out there on openings. No other phase of the game has been studied so much by chess players. Whether this is right or wrong is a matter for another discussion… But let’s assume for now that you want to learn how to play an opening […]
Openings are one of the most important phases of every chess game. They’re also the focus of attention of most chess players. Most chess books (and DVDs) are dedicated to them as a result. But some openings have a lot of variations and sidelines. This is why there are whole […]
You may have already met them. At your local chess club or in chess tournaments. Children (or even young teenagers) who have started playing chess early and have developed remarkable chess strength for their age. They may be so short that you have to be careful not to accidentally knock […]
That’s supposed to be an easy one, right? I mean, everyone dreams of being paired in a tournament with a weaker player, someone they can just have an easy game with, correct? Well, not so fast, Magnus! While it is undoubtedly true that you have far better prospects against weaker […]
If you ever take part in chess tournaments (or even play chess online), then you’re often paired to play against higher rated players. And some of them can be much higher rated than you. So, how do you deal with that? What are your underlying thoughts? Do you change the […]