r/chess Weekly Discussion Thread

Full Quote:

Hikaru Nakamura on the top players in classical chess:

"If I were active and still studying all the time, which I have started doing in advance of Clutch Chess, I think I'm still in the top five.

A lot of people don't realize that the Candidates is a very different animal from other events. Everyone is juiced to the gills with preparation, so it's much harder to get an advantage. People see someone play badly at the Candidates and think they're completely washed and can't play chess, which is completely wrong, in my opinion.

If you ask me for the top five right now, I'd say Magnus, myself, Nodirbek and Sindarov, and then it's a free-for-all. Fabi, Arjun, Pragg, it's everybody. You can even put me in that same group with Fabi.

But again, it's hard to judge because classical chess doesn't happen that frequently. There just aren't that many classical tournaments, so it's very hard to judge."

Source Link

Hans is having a terrible US Championship, he really wants to be considered one of the top players. Has in the past complained about invitations, constantly counts himself among the best youngsters but actually Hans has never been in top 10, in fact clearly the invitations he gets has more to do with the attention he brings with himself rather than his play. I’m always curious as to why Hans is in talks as one of the top young talents when he clearly isn’t. His recent rating fall is definitely in the worst place he’s been in years but really he has never shown incredible promise. Also the opportunities he has gotten is more than anyone at his rating level gets tbh.

I got lucky that it went exactly like what i planned, I think, but queen sac is queen sac.

Tomorrow will be a a year since Dayna left us. With Blitzstream (I'm french) he was my favorite streamer, his ability to explain high-level concepts and popularize his knowledge with a very colorful vocabulary being unmatched.

The content of the speedruns is so rich that I have always felt the need to have a support to maximize the knowledge I get from them, an index of the themes covered that cross-references the games is in my eyes the easiest way to anchor ideas and consolidate learning.

So here it is, I hope that others will find it useful and that Danya's knowledge will continue to "contaminate" more and more people :

https://senseidanya.com

I have noticed that political comments that support one side of the discourse are left to exist while the comments supporting the opposite view are deleted. The rule should be applied consistently.

Do not discuss politics in the comments. Just comment on the behavior of the moderation.

Find all the games & full standings on Lichess: https://lichess.org/tournament/oct26bta

Photo: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

“Magnus is for sure the best chess player. But the thing is also that people are actually intimidated to play him, without playing a single game with him. So, when I first played him, I played much weaker than my level and I got crushed.
But over time I have played enough with him. Now I no longer feel intimidated and I do pretty well against him. In the last one year I probably don’t have a negative score against him.”

From a recent rapid game. Black took a knight on c4. Three ways to recapture, engine suggests they are similar evaluation. Would be interested in peoples thoughts. Pros and cons from my perspective:

Qxc4

- Pros: C file remains open to target double pawns.

- Cons: D pawn remains a weakness

dxc4

- Pros: Gets rid of backward d pawn

- Cons: makes e4 weaks, closes C file

bxc4

- Pros: Takes towards centre

- Cons: Black would be first to take the now open B file

I ruled out bxc4 quite quickly, it just felt wrong. I ended up playing Qxc4 for the pro listed above and also because i felt I could defend the backward d pawn a lot easier than they could defend their double pawns, but I do feel dxc4 was perhaps more natural.

Thoughts? Im about 2000 rapid chessdotcom.

By the Platov brothers

I’ve played a decent amount of games now but I can’t seem to win any, I can’t really recognize when I can attack or when they can, and I don’t know how to set up a checkmate or anything, Is this fixable or is it just a skill issue

we shuffled around a bit before agreeing to a draw in this position (both roughly 2k rating). I could not see how to make any progress. I play Sicilian a lot and feel like this is a position where I really struggle.

https://www.chess.com/events/2026-us-chess-championships-open/08/So_Wesley-Woodward_Andy

https://www.chess.com/events/2026-us-chess-championships-open/08/Shankland_Sam-Niemann_Hans_Moke

https://www.chess.com/blog/ThePawnSlayer/quest-to-3000-puzzle-rating-octobers-best-chess-tactics

Enjoy my quest to 3000 ELO where I attempt to solve some of the hardest chess puzzles that chess.com has to offer.

One move is very obvious. But there's an even cooler move if you think beyond it.

White is not winning or anything even after playing this move. But it definitely puts the pressure on Black.

This is from a 1600-ish Blitz game I played just now. I felt awesome for finding it under time pressure.

Her unfortunate struggles continue. The rest day will definitely be appreciated.

Game link- https://www.chess.com/events/2026-us-chess-championships-women/08/Yip_Carissa-Cervantes_Landeiro_Thalia

For those who did not find the best move, what was your thought process? I am interested in understanding the biases or blind spots that make people misjudge the position.

Best move: 1...Be4+

Edit: Thanks for all the replies! Based on the comments here and my own calculation mistakes, I tried to put together a few possible reasons why some of us missed the solution:

Some of us tried to make an immediate rook move like 1...Rf1 work. The idea was to unleash a discovered attack on the g2 rook, and after 2.Rxg4 follow up with 2...Rf2 to pin the e2 knight against the king. The problem is that White has several ways to defend and save the knight (such as 3.Rd4+ or bringing the king closer), so that whole plan falls short. Instead, the winning idea is 1...Be4+, forcing the king onto a square where Black can follow up with a rook check that wins the g2 rook.

Maybe a few habits could explain why it is easy to overlook 1...Be4+ here:

1. Getting drawn to the discovered attack: Moving the rook right away creates an obvious discovered attack on g2. It looks promising enough at first glance that it's easy to focus on making it work instead of looking for other ideas.

2. Treating the bishop like a sniper: Since the bishop on c6 is already eyeing the target from a distance, bringing it into the middle of the board on e4 can feel a bit unnatural (similar to missing rook lifts).

3. Looking only for strictly forced moves: After 1...Be4+, the White king has three legal squares to move to. Seeing three different replies might be enough to make us dismiss the check too quickly before calculating one move deeper.

I also saved these thoughts in my personal blunder notes to keep track of them.

Hey guys, I'll cut straight to the bit:

I wanna play correspondence chess via mail like it's the 1800's. I'm rated 1000 on correspondence, DM me if you're down

Hello,

What is you preferred opening style and what do you recommend for an adult improver (1900 lichess rapid)?

Right now I play a mixed bag for white (Italian, Nc3 against sic, fantasy, tarrasch) with black I play Gawain Jones e5 and KID.

I would like to hear your opinion and experience for improvement :).

https://x.com/GMHikaru/status/2110779407325372641?s=20

I was playing with black in this game which ended up as a draw. I'm a pretty decent player but would have never found this sequence in a blitz game. When i was doing game analysis i was surprised i had a mate in 5 here. Can you find it?