Chess Articles

Articles on getting better at chess: making sense of your results, fixing the habits that quietly cost you rating, and understanding what the numbers really mean. Each one also shows how to spot the idea in your own games.

Game review

Brilliant, Great, Blunder: what move classifications actually mean

What the engine is really measuring behind every label, and why a true Brilliant is so rare.

Openings

Finding your opening leaks: the lines quietly costing you rating

How to tell a genuinely bad opening from one you just play badly, and fix the one that matters.

Rating

Reading your rating graph: tilt, plateaus, and real progress

See past the daily noise to the trend that actually shows whether you are improving.

Habits

When do you play your best chess?

Time of day, day of week and session length swing your results more than you think.

Comparison

Comparing players and games fairly: cross-platform ratings and true game quality

Why a 1500 on one site is not a 1500 on another, and why raw accuracy cannot tell you which game was better played.