Best Chess

Widely considered the greatest player in history, Garry Kasparov dominated chess for over two decades. He became the youngest undisputed World Champion in 1985 and held the #1 ranking for 255 months, a record. Known for his ferocious attacking style and deep preparation, he defended his title succes...

The rivalry between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov is one of the most significant in the history of chess. The two Soviet grandmasters contested five World Chess Championship matches between 1984 and 1990. Their first encounter was controversially halted by the FIDE president due to physical exha...

The chess rivalry between Soviet grandmasters Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov spanned five World Chess Championship matches between 1984 and 1990. Their encounters totaled 144 games, testing the physical and psychological limits of both players over grueling, multi-month formats. The rivalry was f...

A physical, high-quality set of pieces that allows a beginner to focus purely on the rules and movement patterns without digital distractions. It's excellent for learning the fundamentals of piece value and opening theory. The main drawback is that learning strategy requires dedicated play against a...

The chess rivalry between world champion Garry Kasparov and the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue consisted of two historic matches held in 1996 and 1997. In the first match, Kasparov won overall, though Deep Blue secured a victory in the first game, marking the first time a computer defeated a world cham...

The Fischer-Spassky rivalry is a famous chess rivalry that symbolized the intense geopolitical tensions of the Cold War. American grandmaster Bobby Fischer challenged Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky for the World Chess Championship in a 1972 match held in Reykjavík, Iceland. Fischer's victory ended...

The Queen's Gambit is a 2020 Netflix limited drama series created by Scott Frank and Allan Scott from Walter Tevis's 1983 novel. Anya Taylor-Joy plays Beth Harmon, an orphaned chess prodigy whose rise through competitive chess unfolds alongside addiction, isolation, and changing relationships during...

The Lewis Chessmen represent a remarkable collection of twelve carved ivory chess pieces dating from the 12th century. Discovered on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, they are notable for their intricate Norse design and exemplify high medieval craftsmanship. The pieces, fashioned from walrus ivory, pr...

John Bartholomew's Chess Fundamentals is a YouTube instructional series by FIDE Master John Bartholomew covering core chess concepts systematically, widely recommended as a resource for improving beginners.

Muddy Waters – At Newport 1960 is a live recording of Waters’ performance at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival. This album marked a significant moment in blues history showcasing Chicago's electric blues to a large audience including folk music fans. It provided a crucial bridge between the established...

The Carlsen-Nakamura rivalry in chess centers on Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who held the World Chess Championship from 2013 until voluntarily declining to defend the title in 2023, and Hikaru Nakamura of the United States. Their encounters span classical over-the-board tournaments as well as rapid an...

Muddy Waters’ *Fathers and Sons* (1969) is a significant blues recording featuring collaborations between the legendary Chicago blues artist and rising white rock musicians like Paul Butterfield. The album captures live performances showcasing Waters' enduring style alongside interpretations from yo...

Daniel Naroditsky’s YouTube channel offers detailed chess instruction primarily focused on strategic thinking and game understanding. The channel features insightful analysis of complex positions, particularly showcased through his impressive speedrun chess matches. Naroditsky's content is valuable...

The N-Queens Problem is a classic combinatorial puzzle first published by chess composer Max Bezzel in 1848. The challenge requires placing N queens on an N×N chessboard so that no two queens threaten each other, meaning no two queens share the same row, column, or diagonal. Beyond its recreational...

Muddy Waters’ 1964 Chess Records album presents an intimate exploration of Chicago blues. Featuring collaborations with Buddy Guy, it showcases raw acoustic performances rooted in traditional blues forms. This collection is significant for its directness and offers a valuable listening experience to...

Retrograde chess analysis is the art of deducing the history of a chess position from its current state, with the field systematically developed by composer Thomas Rayner Dawson and popularized through journals in the early 20th century.

“Muddy and the Wolf” is a 1980s collaborative album featuring recordings by blues legends Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Released on Chess Records, it showcases pivotal tracks from these two influential figures who shaped Chicago electric blues. The collection offers a valuable listen for fans of cl...

GothamChess is a chess education and entertainment channel created by American International Master Levy Rozman. Its videos include beginner lessons, opening explanations, game recaps, tournament coverage, and commentary on prominent players and online chess events. Rozman uses an accessible, humoro...

Emanuel Lasker held the World Championship title for 27 years (1894-1921), a record for the longest reign. He was a profound thinker who approached chess as a struggle, often making psychologically challenging moves to unbalance opponents. A mathematician and philosopher, Lasker's play was pragmatic...

Shotgun King presents a unique strategy experience blending classic turn-based gameplay with roguelike elements. Players control a solitary black chess king equipped with a devastating shotgun. The game’s innovation lies in this unconventional weapon and its impact on tactical combat. It is designed...

ThinkFun Solitaire Chess is a single-player chess logic puzzle in which every move is a capture, notable enough to be studied in computational complexity research.

Garry Kasparov Teaches Chess is a MasterClass video course led by former world chess champion Garry Kasparov. The lessons address topics such as openings, tactics, positional play, calculation, endgames, analysis, and the psychological demands of competition, with examples drawn from notable games....

The Knight's Tour is a chess-based mathematical problem requiring a knight to visit every square of the board exactly once, with solutions documented as early as the 9th century by Arab mathematician al-Adli ar-Rumi.

DragonBox Learn Chess is a 2019 game developed with chess champion Magnus Carlsen that teaches piece movement, tactics, and strategy through progressive quests.

The 'Magician from Riga,' Mikhail Tal was the eighth World Champion and the ultimate attacking player. His style was based on intuitive, chaotic sacrifices that created immense practical problems over the board. He became the youngest champion at the time in 1960 by defeating Mikhail Botvinnik. Whil...

5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel is a 2020 video game developed by Thunkspace for Windows, macOS, and Linux. The game incorporates multiverse time travel mechanics, enabling piece movement across timelines alongside traditional chess rules. It includes variant starting positions and a puzzle mod...

Pawnbarian is a turn-based roguelike puzzle game developed by j4nw that merges chess mechanics with deckbuilding. Players navigate a character across compact grid-based boards by playing cards based on traditional chess pieces, such as knights, bishops, and rooks. Each card dictates the hero's movem...

"Chicago Bound" is a compilation album collecting recordings from the 1950s by American blues guitarist and singer Jimmy Rogers, released on Chess Records. Rogers was a prominent figure in the Chicago blues scene and served as a guitarist in Muddy Waters' band during the genre's formative years. The...

GothamChess is a chess-focused YouTube channel operated by American International Master Levy Rozman. The channel features instructional content on chess openings, tactical puzzles, and analyses of historical and contemporary grandmaster matches. Rozman frequently uploads game reviews and streaming...