Analysis of Carlsen's Games
FM MidnightFox is systematically going through Carlsen's games on his YouTube channel, starting early in his career. It's a great idea for a project. Why not check it out? https://www.youtube.com/@LinusChessChannel
A good browser for playing bughouse
Just wanted to let the bug community know that if you're having glitches or technical difficulties playing bughouse, the brave browser might fix this. It worked for me, and I was about ready to buy a new computer. Using brave in a private ...
Breaking 1700 in Bughouse
Strength in bughouse is not fixed. It doesn't make much sense to say that one player's strength is 2005, and another's is 1768. Someone may be better with certain partners, with certain kinds of piece flow, and this can cause big swings in a playe...
Bughouse Puzzles
There's a good website for bughouse puzzles. All of these puzzles include both of the boards. Some of the puzzles are local puzzles--mating on your board. Some involve sacrificing for a piece for your partner. Others involve asking your partn...
Partner Requests in Bughouse
Some chess coaches have reservations about bughouse. Doesn't it harm a player's standard chess? Why would it? The new rules create new patterns, but this in itself shouldn't matter. Bughouse is harmful to chess only if it erodes what someone knows...
Reasons to Prioritize Piece Development in Bughouse
It's universally accepted in standard chess that piece development is important, and that neglecting it leads to indefensible or hard to defend positions. The chaotic nature of bughouse means that it is less obviously true that there is a need to ...
Spell Chess Opening Theory
In the last post, I recommended Black respond to 1.e4 with 1.Nc6. I now think 1.Nc6 doesn't work at all. (You will need to visualize a bit, and you will also need to forgive some places where I inserted some nonsense chess moves to get to Spell Ch...
Quick Guide to Spell Chess
Spell Chess is an imaginatively crafted variant. It's the best one in the /variants part of Chess.com. Sort of close to chess, and also unique. All of the standard rules apply, but each player has 5 freeze spells and 2 jump spells, and these spell...
The World Chess Championship
Magnus Carlsen has announced that he's not going to defend his title of world champion. If I were Ian Nepomniachtchi, or Ding Liren, I wouldn't play in a match which doesn't include Carlsen, the strongest human player. I wouldn't see the p...
How to Theorize in Bughouse
In bughouse, relative mastery is rather straightforward to achieve. Whereas in standard chess, years of dedication may pay off very little, many bughouse players achieve a rating of 2300 and higher in less than a year. This is because bughouse is ...
Esoteric Wisdom of the Ancient Bughouse Masters
Theory Bughouse is far too chaotic for theory to play the role that it does in standard chess. In standard chess, theory may proceed for thirty or more moves. This is possible because there are no external factors, such as a possible Knight and ...
Have Engines Killed Chess?
Part of a comment from a now closed account which expresses the thoughts and feelings that many Chess players seem to have about engines. I don't use computers before a game, only after. And so many times I analyze a game where I thou...
Case Studies in Chess Variants
Since my previous posts on variants, why they work, and why they don't, I've been hearing from some inventors and designers of variants. A variant has been implemented based on my an idea of mine. Here I develop and sometimes revise the ideas in o...
Bughouse for Beginners: Defending Against Sacrifices
You should not only be ready for your bughouse opponents to sacrifice on you--you should want them to. It might seem scary at first, but eventually you can learn to swat aside any early attack. Instead of being a sac sitter, you will do bette...
The Problem with Sequels
It can be very difficult to develop a good idea. How do you build on something memorable, yet simple, in such a way that doesn't let it spiral out of control? Musicians, poets, novelists, and of course film directors all experience these diff...
Why Do(n't) Chess Variants Work?
What's the most fun you've had with a chess variant? Perhaps like me, it's playing bughouse, which is not only innately fascinating, but a good way to make friends and interact with people who are not solely interested in taking all of your elo...
Bughouse Buttons
The buttons in bughouse allow players to make requests without typing. There are buttons such as "trades are good", "trades are bad", "sit", "go" and requests for each of the pieces. FICS has some good buttons, and some questionable ones, includin...
The Bughouse Sicilian
The Sicilian Defense in Chess is a double-edged fighting weapon. Whenever a strong Grandmaster is in a must-win situation as Black, they will often respond to 1.e4 with 1...c5. This move controls the d4 square, without being vulnerabl...
Bughouse for Beginners: Commonly Missed Opportunities
Often in the random pool, I'm playing as a 2400 with three 1800 players, and I have noticed a few recurring patterns; opportunities that are often missed. There is no real structure to the things that 1800s tend to miss, so I just give these as th...
What is Chess Strength?
You've probably got that one player, always rated 100 or so points higher than you, who you seem to do well against. If not, then you've definitely got players for whom you are that "good customer"; players with significantly lower ratings who are...
Bughouse for Beginners: Coordination and Strategy
Chess is a game of complete information. You can look at the board and know what's going on. Sometimes you might need to know if one side has moved their King or not, to know if it is legal to castle. But in that case, you could just look at the s...
Controlled Chaos: Interview with a Bughouse Master
Jarl Carlander: Could you tell us a little about yourself, and how you found bughouse? HelmsKnight: My dad taught me to play chess when I was five years old. He basically introduced me to how the pieces move and got me to pla...
The Bughouse London System
In chess, 1.d4 used to be considered a little taboo. During the romantic era, it was rarely seen. Players did not know how to handle the closed positions. Later, that changed. Most of the games from the Capablanca-Lasker (1921) matches and Capabla...
Why Chess Works
When parents ask chess coaches why their children should study chess, the coach will often give an answer which might well be true of other games. Chess brings out discipline, patience, a fighting spirit, and other worthwhile traits, in anyon...
Beginning At Bughouse On Chess.com
Every bughouse player has different reasons for being drawn to the game. Some like the collaborative aspects, some like the increased depth, and some like the fancy checkmates. I'm sure if you try bughouse, you will be hooked like I was. This is a...
