Chess blog
31 guides on the ideas that decide games: principles, openings you will actually face, and the habits that turn analysis into rating points.
Principles
The rules behind good moves: centre, development, king safety and pawn structure.
- Why controlling the centre decides most chess games
What centre control actually means, how to measure it in your own games, and the three ways to fight for d4, e4, d5 and e5 without overextending.
6 min read
- Develop every piece before you attack
How to count development, why a single-piece attack always fails, and the move order that gets all four minor pieces and both rooks working by move twelve.
6 min read
- King safety: when to castle, when to wait, when to run
A practical guide to king safety: how to judge a castled position, which pawn moves weaken it, and when delaying or avoiding castling is correct.
6 min read
- Pawn structure basics: the skeleton of every plan
Isolated, doubled, backward and passed pawns explained, plus how to read a pawn chain to find which side of the board you should play on.
7 min read
- Rooks belong on open files — and how to create one
Why rooks need open and half-open files, how to open a file on purpose, and the doubling, rook lift and seventh-rank patterns that convert files into wins.
5 min read
- Why bringing the queen out early backfires
The real reason early queen sorties lose games, how to punish one as the defender, and the few openings where an early queen move is genuinely correct.
5 min read
Openings
Plans and structures for the openings you will actually face.
- The Italian Game: the best first opening for White
How to play the Italian Game as White: the Giuoco Piano and Evans Gambit plans, the d3 slow build-up, and how Black equalises with the Two Knights.
7 min read
- The Ruy Lopez explained: plans, not memorisation
The Ruy Lopez without the theory dump: why Bb5 works, the Morphy and Berlin defences, the Exchange Variation and the classic Ruy manoeuvres.
7 min read
- The Sicilian Defence: how to play the sharpest reply to 1.e4
Why 1...c5 scores so well, the difference between the Najdorf, Dragon, Classical and Accelerated Dragon, and the Open versus Anti-Sicilian battle.
8 min read
- The French Defence: solid, strategic and full of counterplay
How to play the French Defence: the ...c5 break against the pawn chain, the problem bishop on c8, and the main Advance, Tarrasch, Winawer and Exchange lines.
7 min read
- The Caro-Kann: a solid defence with a good bishop
The Caro-Kann explained: why 1...c6 beats 1...e6 for bishop development, plus the Classical, Advance, Exchange and Panov lines and their plans.
6 min read
- The Queen's Gambit: the classical way to fight for the centre
Why the Queen's Gambit is not really a gambit, how the Accepted, Declined and Slav differ, and the minority attack plan that wins club games.
7 min read
- The London System: one setup against almost everything
How to play the London System properly: the modern 2.Bf4 move order, the e5 and c4 plans, the Bxh7 attacking pattern, and how strong players punish it.
6 min read
- The King's Indian Defence: let them have the centre, then attack
How the King's Indian works: the fianchetto setup, the ...e5 and ...f5 breaks, the Mar del Plata pawn storm, and how White wins on the queenside.
7 min read
- The Scandinavian Defence: simple, sound and easy to learn
How to play the Scandinavian: the Qa5 and Qd6 main lines, the ...Nf6 gambit approach, and how to avoid losing time to White's developing moves.
5 min read
Improvement
Study routines, counting habits and review methods that raise ratings.
- How to compute the offence vs defence balance before every move
A 15-second counting routine for every move: attackers versus defenders, capture order, and the exchange check that stops most blunders before they happen.
7 min read
- How to reach a 1500 rating: a realistic study plan
A week-by-week plan to reach 1500: blunder-checking, 20 minutes of tactics a day, one opening per colour, seven endgames and reviewing your own games.
8 min read
- 12 common chess mistakes to avoid (and the fix for each)
The twelve mistakes that cost club players the most rating points — from moving without a blunder check to trading pieces at the wrong moment — and how to fix them.
8 min read
- How to analyse your own games (without an engine first)
A repeatable game-review routine: annotate from memory, find the turning point, classify the mistake, then use the engine to confirm — not to replace thinking.
6 min read
Notation
Reading and writing moves properly: algebraic notation, the awkward moves, scoresheets and board memory.
- Why recording your moves matters more than you think
Notation protects your result, settles disputes, and gives you a game to study afterwards. Here is what a scoresheet does for you and what the rules expect.
6 min read
- Algebraic chess notation: the complete technique
Learn algebraic notation properly: files and ranks, piece letters, captures, checks, mate, castling, promotion, disambiguation and the symbols annotators use.
8 min read
- How to notate the tricky moves: castling, en passant, promotion and ambiguous captures
The moves that ruin scoresheets: castling, en passant, promotion and underpromotion, two pieces reaching one square, and what to write after an illegal move.
7 min read
- How to read a top player's scoresheet
Master scoresheets are fast, abbreviated and full of clock notes. Learn to decode the shorthand, the time columns and the margin marks, and rebuild the game.
6 min read
- How to memorise the board: squares, colours and coordinates
Drills that make board coordinates automatic: square colours, diagonals, knight distances and blindfold visualisation, in ten minutes a day.
6 min read
Tournament play
Nerves, etiquette, fair play, the arbiter, the clock and how to prepare for your next event.
- Controlling nerves before and during a game
Routines for tournament nerves: what to do before a game, how to steady yourself after a blunder, and how to stop shaky hands costing points.
7 min read
- Fair play: the rules, the devices and the grey areas
What fair play means in practice: phones and devices, help from spectators, touch-move, agreed results, and how to protect yourself from an accusation.
7 min read
- Win, draw, learn: a healthier way to read your results
How to treat wins, draws and losses as information: what each result actually tells you, and a review routine that turns any scoreline into improvement.
6 min read
- Respecting your opponent: chess etiquette that costs nothing
Handshakes, silence, resigning properly, and the small courtesies that make you the player everyone wants to face — plus the etiquette that is actually a rule.
5 min read
- When to call the arbiter (and how to do it properly)
Illegal moves, a fallen flag, a ringing phone, draw claims: when a game needs an arbiter, and the right way to stop the clock and ask.
7 min read
- Managing the clock: time management that wins games
How to budget your time across a game, which moves deserve a long think, how to handle increments, and how to play well with under five minutes left.
7 min read
- Planning for a tournament: the four weeks before round one
A four-week plan for your next event: openings you will actually face, tactics volume, sleep and food logistics, what to pack, and how to prepare per round.
8 min read
Want to drill patterns instead of reading? Open the tactics library.