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Why Online Chess Feels Nothing Like Playing Over the Board
The six real differences between playing on a screen and playing across a table, and why so many people play considerably worse in their first tournament.
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Answers to what you actually wonder when you want to play better.
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How to Prepare for Your First Over-the-Board Chess Tournament
What to bring, how a round works, what to do with the clock and the scoresheet, and the differences from online chess nobody warns you about.
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Nerves Before a Chess Game — What to Do About Them
Why they show up, why you should not try to make them disappear, and five concrete things that reduce calculation errors under pressure.
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How Is Chess Elo Calculated, and What Does Yours Mean?
How the rating system works, why online and FIDE ratings do not compare, and what level of play each band genuinely represents.
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Rook and Pawn Versus Rook — The Endgame That Decides Most Games
Philidor to defend, Lucena to win, and the five practical rules of rook endings. Two positions worth hundreds of half points.
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What Is a Plan in Chess, and Why Does Yours Not Work?
What counts as a real plan, where it comes from, how long it should last, and the three errors that turn a good plan into a lost position.
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How to Think in the Middlegame When There Is No Tactic
The four-question method for finding a useful move in quiet positions, which is where most players run out of ideas.
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The Chess Endgames You Absolutely Have to Know
Five endgames that come up constantly and decide half points. How long they take to learn and why this is the study that pays back fastest.
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Do You Have to Memorise Chess Openings? What to Do Instead
Why memory pays so little below 2000, what you actually study about an opening, and how to prepare for the move your opponent leaves the book.
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What Chess Opening Should I Play? Building a Repertoire That Works
How to pick openings based on how you like to play, how many you actually need, and why copying a grandmaster's repertoire is a bad deal.
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How Much Does It Cost to Learn Chess in 2026?
What you can do for free, what is worth paying for and when, and three concrete budgets depending on how much you want to invest.
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Can You Learn Chess From Free Videos Alone?
How far free material takes you, where it stops, and how to use it well so you do not spend years knowing a lot and playing the same.
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How to Choose a Chess Coach (and What to Ask First)
What actually matters in a coach, why the FIDE title says less than it seems, and the five questions worth asking in the first lesson.
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Chess Course, Private Lessons or a Club — Which One Do You Need?
The three ways of studying chess compared by what they cost, what they give, and who each one genuinely suits.
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Is a Chess Coach Worth It? What Changes, and When
What a coach does that a course or a video cannot, when it genuinely pays off, and how many lessons it takes to notice.
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Where Can I Learn Chess Online? An Honest Guide to the Options
What actually works at each level: free material, recorded courses, lessons with a coach and clubs. Where to start and when paying is worth it.
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The 10 Mistakes Every Beginner Makes in Their First 100 Games
The errors that show up in almost every game below 1000, why they happen, and how to clear them one at a time.
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The 10 Opening Principles That Last a Lifetime
The principles that replace theory while you do not need theory yet, and why they still hold once you do know named openings.
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How Long Does It Take to Get Good at Chess?
What "good" means at each stage, how long each one takes, and why progress arrives in steps rather than in a straight line.
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What Age Should a Child Start Playing Chess?
What can be taught at each age, what to realistically expect, and how to avoid the mistake that makes a child quit chess after three months.
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Am I Too Old to Learn Chess? Starting at 30, 40 or 50
What genuinely changes with age, what changes nothing at all, and why an adult learns faster than they expect at almost everything that matters.
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How to Learn Chess From Scratch — A Guide to Starting Properly
What to learn first, in what order, and what to skip. The road from the basic rules to playing complete games without feeling lost.
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How to Analyse Your Own Chess Games (and Only Then the Engine)
The five-step method for getting everything out of a game, why the engine goes last, and what to write down so the analysis becomes a study plan.
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Blitz or Long Games — Which Actually Makes You Better at Chess?
What each time control trains, which one is good for what, and the ratio to play them in if your goal is to climb.
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Why Do I Lose Games I Had Won?
The four ways to throw away a winning position and what to do about each. An advantage does not defend itself.
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How Long Does It Take to Go From 1200 to 1600 in Chess?
What actually separates those two bands, how long the crossing takes, and what has to change in your training for it to happen.
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Do Chess Puzzles Actually Help You Improve?
Yes, but only when done a specific way. Why a thousand rushed puzzles do nothing for your rating and fifty done properly do.
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How Many Hours a Day Should You Study Chess?
How much time it actually takes to climb, how to spread it across the week, and why half an hour a day beats five hours on Sunday.
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Why Am I Not Improving at Chess, Even Though I Play Every Day?
The seven real causes of a plateau, how to recognise which one is yours, and what to do about each. Playing a lot is not training.
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How to Improve at Chess — The Plan That Actually Works
A concrete method for getting better: what to study at each stage, how much time it takes, and how to tell whether you are actually progressing.
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