By CEO National Master Evan Rabin Capture, attack and pressure are words that beginners often use interchangably but mean different things. Each words relates to creating complications for one’s opponent but they are not synonymous. Let’s discuss the nuances: Capture means the act of taking one’s opponent’s piece, which is symbolized by an “x”. For …
By CEO National Master Evan Rabin Occasionally I will see a beginner count the number of pieces of the board and say “the position equal. white and black have the same number of pieces.” Of course every piece is not equal as the pieces have values: Pawn 1 Knight 1 Bishop 1 Rook 1 Queen …
By CEO National Master Evan Rabin A few years ago, I had an adult private student who was unrated and was about to play his first tournament, The Manhattan Open. He was rated 1600 on Chess.com and asked me if he should play in the U-1600 section or the U-1400 section. I surprised him when …
By Franci Haskell, Founder of Beautiful Jewish Life I do life coaching. I use many different tools to help my clients. Part of my coaching business includes helping people deal with conflicts in their relationships, due to different religious views and values. I decided to add this service as I am in a similar situation. I …
By National Master Evan Rabin The last few days I played lots of crazyhouse on www.lichess.org. Since I was seven-years old, I have enjoyed playing bughouse, where two players team up and every time one teammate captures a piece, he gets to give it to his partner, who can place it anywhere on the board, …
By National Master Evan Rabin Happy Halloween, everyone! Did you know that the holiday has a chess gambit named after it? Unlike the Queen’s Gambit, popularized by the world famous Netflix series, which isn’t truly a gambit (white can win back the pawn by force if he chooses to) , in the Halloween gambit, you …
By National Master Evan Rabin A few hours after writing “Don’t Push the Cart Before the Horse” post, I was shocked as Wesley So lost a game after trying to castle illegally at the World Fischer Random Championship. Wesley So thought he could castle as it would only require moving his rook from h8 to …
By National Master Evan Rabin YesterdayI substituted for a class with 12 kids, all beginners. I asked what they learned last week and a few of them said opening principles, e.g, developing their pieces. I then set up this simple position: 4 I said it is black to move and asked what this position was, …
By National Master Evan Rabin Earlier this month I travelled to Cyprus to attend the wedding of one of my good friends and business partners. As I celebrated the wedding, consorted with friends and adventured there and in Israel, I learned three important lessons- to not care and results will come, just have fun, and go. …
By CEO National Master Evan Rabin “6-6-6” is not always unlucky contrary to popular belief. It is important to celebrate milestones as every we publish gratitude posts for every 100 additional Facebook likes. If one avoids artificial barriers, he can accomplish a lot. Six Years ago, I left corporate America to cofound Pillar Sales and teach …
