r/chess Weekly Discussion Thread

https://www.chess.com/events/2026-us-chess-championships-open/05/Woodward_Andy-Caruana_Fabiano

https://www.totalchess.com/total-chess-rating

https://www.chess.com/events/2026-us-chess-championships-open/05/Robson_Ray-Niemann_Hans_Moke

https://www.chess.com/events/2026-us-chess-championships-women/05/Abrahamyan_Tatev-Lee_Alice

I just wanted to share this piece sacrifice from today's game between Mishra and Sevian. Here Mishra played Qxc5. White is better in this endgame and eventually won, but only after a long grind where black had multiple chances to draw.

Instead, the best move is Bf5!! One of the most amazing piece sacrifices I have ever seen. The point is to open the e file. Qxf5 doesn't work after Rxd4+. And after exf5, Rhe1!! And with Qf7 coming next, black's entire position falls apart. Just truly beautiful, and goes to show the power of ceding material for positional advantages.

According to Stockfish, the best move is bc8, retreating the bishop. In the game I played O-O-O instead, sticking to early game fundamentals I thought.

I work at doubleAI. The 63 checks position from our team blew up here way more than we expected, so here's another one :)

White to move. Both sides have exactly one legal move for 12 moves straight, then it's mate:

38.Nc8+ Qxc8+ 39.Kxc8 Rxf8+ 40.Ne8+ Rxe8+ 41.Qd8+ Rxd8+ 42.Kxd8 Rg8+ 43.Bf8+ Rxf8#

This position is reachable in a legal game (see the comments), and as far as we can tell it has never been beaten.

Now... we usually point our system at code optimization and science but chess was a fun side project. So I'm openly inviting anyone with a chess curiosity to suggest other records, and we can throw some serious firepower attempting it!

Not talking about GMs or people who are massively higher rated.

Some players just make normal moves, don't go for crazy tactics, don't seem to have any deep opening prep, and somehow you end up with a terrible position 20 moves later.

I find that style of chess more intimidating than someone who plays aggressively from move one.

What actually makes those players so difficult to play against?

I hope Witty can get another win but keep his clothes on 😂😂

My elo is 1135 and I feel like I'm constantly winning games at the middle game, however, I start to freak out about any possibility of a threat and I either make a terrible blunder or I stop the positional advantage that I had in order to defend against that non-existent threat.

In the position above, I'm afraid of the pin against my knight, which, later I realized, can't be attacked more than once lol. I played Kb3????? and this move made me lose my a3 pawn and activated the opponent's rook, etc.

I believe the plan should have been the moves Re1, Rf3, f5 trying to trade the e-f pawns, but I'm not sure of that either.

So, what should I do in positions like this to remain calm? Do I have to study calculation harder? Or how to defend positionally?

Tnx

I used to have a rating of over 2000 in Lichess rapid chess, but I stopped and only recently came back. In blitz, I reached almost 1800. Currently, my rating in rapid is around 1700 and in blitz, around 1500. I have US$31 available to spend on "Forward Chess". I thought about buying "Woodpecker", but perhaps there's a more comprehensive book that covers several areas at once, while "Woodpecker" focuses only on tactics. Anyway, I don't know, please help me.

My wife and I are moving soon and the library in our new town does not have a chess club of any sort. I have spent the last 6 months collecting old wooden sets for very cheap on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. I now have 13 sets, with 3 more to be picked up this weekend.

Any advice on cheap but durable ways to store pieces for the non-folding boards?

Any easy ways to distinguish which pieces are part of which set, in case they get jumbled?

Any cheap recommendations for clocks, or recommended apps that individuals could use their phones to engage with?

A player has been reporting possible problems with Chess.com’s sandbagging detection since 2024, and is still posting examples in chess.com's Cheating Forum. Danny mentioned the thread in the latest Q&A, and Chess.com’s response to a Q&A submission said a fix should arrive “in a month or so”. https://www.reddit.com/r/Chesscom/comments/1w1pli1/state_of_chesscom_qa_submissions/

Here’s my understanding of the timeline:

• The original reports include claims that the system’s checks for players far below their peak rating before tournaments aren’t working as intended, as well as examples of players repeatedly resigning quickly in very short games.
• The forum OP says Chess.com spent roughly the first 18 months asking for more examples. The thread now contains several hundreds of examples.
• In December last year, Chess.com said it was actively working on the issues.
• In February, staff said a solution was expected around mid-year. 3 months ago when that deadline passed, Chess.com said they would provide a revised timeline, but we are still missing the updated timeline.
• The OP is still posting examples, and the promised fix is still missing along with a new timeline.

Does this kind of issues reasonably take this long to investigate and address?

Some points the OP is making: If there are known bugs in the cheat detection system, why should we trust the reported numbers by chess.com? Sandbagging is mainly causing problems for low rated players, why would new chess players prefer chess.com over eg lichess? Chess.com lack "communication skill", eg sparse communication in the thread, broken promises. Was it ok by chess.com to keep asking for more examples for 18 months or so?

https://x.com/_doubleai_/status/2109988775388455091

I tend to lose motivation when my opponent wins a pawn or piece without compensation. Sometimes, I feel like my position is losing, but when I analyze it with an engine, it turns out to be equal.

Even when there are still drawing chances, I sometimes prefer to resign rather than prolong the agony of defending a worse position.

How can I improve my fighting spirit and mental resilience in chess? Any advice or tips would be appreciated!

This is an engine move that I saw analysing one of my games. Not a move I think I would have found in classical and I'm 1750 fide...

I have always wanted to play the Semi-Slav but found myself too concerned about the theory required. I now believe I'm at the right level to start picking it up, and I am enjoying it so far, but 5.Bg5 is tricky for me to decide an answer for.

I am currently using the Cambridge Springs to answer it, but I am wondering whether I should commit to learning the Botvinnik or Moscow lines, and whether they provide good learning opportunities. I don't mind losing provided that I'm able to take away something from the game and learn from my mistakes.

I would be interested to hear any suggestions for 5.Bg5, namely for variations that you think have good learning value.

I have been playing chess for around a year,not very constant at first but started playing more lately around 3-4 months ago.i am stuck. I am at 1000 Elo and i keep losing,i feel like i make no progress at all and lately ive been Just losing every single game (10 minutes) and only once in a while winning,i got to 1050 and now im back to 977 again,i feel like i lack end game tactics and middle game too,how can i improve even a Little bit? Any tip helps