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

Hey everyone!

I just found out that I'll be playing against Marie Sebag, a French Grandmaster, in a simultaneous exhibition tomorrow. She'll be playing against 20 players at once.

I have no idea whether I'll be playing White or Black, and I don't know the time control either but I suspect classical as we are booked for 2 hours.

A bit about me:

- Chess.com ratings: 1700 bullet, 2000 rapid. I mainly play bullet.

- I'd describe my style as fairly strategic, but I'm also happy to get into complications and sacrifice material when I see an opportunity.

- My biggest weakness is probably my opening preparation. I tend to improvise rather than study specific lines.

- I've never been in a chess club

I'm not expecting to beat a GM, obviously, but I'd love to make the most of the experience and put up a decent fight.

For those who've played in a simul against a titled player, what would you recommend? Would you prepare a specific opening, try to keep things simple, or ...? Any tips on how to approach the game mentally would also be welcome!

Thanks!

The Image is showing top 6 club in the cup, but there is something 100 club in the tournament if i'm not mistaken.

Tomorrow there will be opening ceremony and the matches will start at 17 October to 23 October.

Bayegan Pendik is the most strongest team in the cup i think. Superchess romania is also seems dangerous too.

I'll follow erdogmus matches. Because of, maybe after this tournament he could go 2740+ which is absurdly crazy as an 15 years and 4 month old GM

Complete team list is here team list

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.

(Cooked study , this is on move 3 of the study)

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.

Hi all, is fan zone worth in Fide world championship? The price is 20CHF, not expensive but i am wondering if it is waste of time.

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?

For me, mainly Ruy Lopez as white, and as Black, Caro-Kann.

Also, which openings should I study to improve my overall knowledge and game sense/awareness? Lemme know!

I need someone to help me with the fact that I'm not bad but I really have this episodes where my mind gets lazy or my vision phases out. I can be playing really good chess for 2 days then I go on a 5 day " let's see how much I can blunder episode" just bare blindness and making the most crazy choices. I've tried breaks from playing but it's still a really bad habit I need to break. I'm 1500 on chess.com and 1700 on lichess ( Rapid)

Finally my first smothered ma… oh nevermind….

It was an analysis of a Ruy Lopez Karpov game. The maxim around never move your f pawn as white I get, but this was during the middle game and seemed like every other move.

I’ve been tracking my games for a few weeks and noticed something odd: I win far more in the morning than in the evening. Same time control, same openings, same opponents’ rating range.

In the morning my calculation feels clean and I actually check for my opponent’s threats. By evening I’m playing on autopilot, missing simple tactics and tilting after one bad loss.

A few things I’m curious about:

• When do you play your best chess, morning, afternoon, or late night?
• Have you checked your actual stats by time of day, or is it just a feeling?
• Does coffee, work fatigue, or screen time change it for you?

Wondering if it’s just me or if a lot of people see this.

Question about this strategy. Gotham says that when the white pawn takes your black knight, mate is unstoppable.

But what if white takes the knight, you take the pawn but then white moves their castle to G1?

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

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?

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.