About Chess Site Map : A to Z List of All Resource Categories

Alphabetical list of all categories under Articles & Resources.

About Chess is a big site that grows constantly. Here is an alphabetical list of all categories listed under Articles & Resources (and Essentials) in the left hand column of every page on About Chess. If you ever get lost, don't overlook the 'You are here' trail at the top of all pages.

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Art/literature • Chess is more than a game. In many ways the 64 squares mirror the world around them. Artists will show you how and writers will tell you why. Then there's chess just for fun! For many players part of the fun is collecting anything and everything related to chess.

Basic Concepts (Essentials) • Learn to play chess. Here's what every chess player should know -- chess notation, draws, the relative value of the pieces, the phases of the game, tactical play, and more. This is basic knowledge you need to get started on the winner's path.

Beginners • Start here if you want to know how the pieces move -- or if you know how they move but not much else. Every master was once a beginner!

Blogs/mags/columns • Chess is an international game with international interest. Are you looking for game analysis, history, or in depth opening research? Find weblogs, magazines, and columns, online and offline.

Blogs • Blogs, also known as weblogs, are web based diaries where a blogger records personal impressions about anything under the sun. Since chess is a popular activity, you'll find many blogs about chess.

Book reviews • There are more books about chess than about any other game. How do we know which books give the most value? The more books we buy online, with no opportunity to hold and browse them, the more the question becomes compelling. Fortunately, we have Book Reviews to guide us to the right titles. Some of the best chess sites on the web specialize in reviewing chess books.

Books/publishers • Chess has the largest literature of any game on the planet. There are books for beginners and books for experts. There are opening books, middlegame books, and endgame books. Books about players and books about tournaments. Shop for books -- electronic and good old fashioned print. Links to the best reviews and reviewers.

Calendars • Looking for a future chess event? Whether you want to play yourself or follow the top stars, you should find the event listed in one of these online resources.

Chronologies • Blog articles on topics related to a specific subject, usually current events.

Columns • Many of the best chess writers, who are often among the best players, write regular columns on the game. Here's everything that we've found.

Computer chess history • Computers have had a profound impact on the game of chess. In the relatively short time that they have existed, they have generated a significant history covering both hardware and software.

Computer chess • Computers play chess. They play chess well and they're constantly getting better. Only the top players can beat the best computers. Here's how the computers do it.

Correspondence organizations • Want a slower, more reflective pace? Chess can be played at a distance over long periods. Some of the greatest players in the world played correspondence chess on their path to greatness. Find out where to play.

Correspondence publications • Correspondence chess is an important niche that parallels over-the-board (OTB) chess in every way. There are magazines, newsletters, and other publications dedicated 100% to this fascinating activity.

Directories • Maintaining links to all the chess resources on the web is a massive, ongoing job. We often wonder where the people behind the chess portals get the energy to investigate, classify, and maintain thousands of most-relevant links.

Email servers • Correspondence chess play via a server is an evolution of email play. You make your moves using a Web interface, which are then transmitted to your opponents via email. You also receive notification via email when your opponent has moved. Sometimes called 'turn based'. The use of email is optional, but recommended.

Endgames (Essentials) • To become a better chess player, improve your endgame. Some of the most difficult positions have the fewest pieces.

Endgames • Everyone tells you that endgames are important, but no one ever studies them. Be different! An hour spent on the endgame is worth more than an hour spent on the openings.

Endgame tablebases • Endgame tablebases are computer generated databases of the simplest endgame positions. They show perfect endgame play in positions with a small number of pieces on the board.

Equipment • Want a French wood set in the Staunton pattern? Need a new digital clock? Looking for the best price on the Shazam 2800 computer? Shop for equipment -- clocks, boards, sets, and chess computers.

Events • Did the USSR really beat the world in a match? What's category 18 mean? What's so special about Hastings, Linares, and Lone Pine? Find out more about tournaments, matches, and other competitions.

Every Move Explained • In a series of instructional articles -- Every Move Explained, Move by Move -- we step through each and every move of particularly instructive games. Openings, tactics, positional play, and endgame principles are explained from a chess master's point of view, but with beginning and intermediate players in mind.

FAQs • It's a FAQ! As Chess Guide, we have a good idea about what's on your mind. Have a question? Look here for the answer. Sometimes you'll find a fact, sometimes an opinion. If you can't find your question, send us an email. Maybe your question will find its way to a new FAQ!

Game downloads • Chess Downloads. Now that you bought that expensive chess database you want to load it with games, games, and more games. You can find and download digital copies of millions of chess games on the Web. Build your own collection. Trade with other collectors.

Glossary • Chess has a rich vocabulary with many terms and acronyms. Find the most important definitions here.

Guest articles • Your Chess Guide welcomes guest article submissions from visitors whose experience and/or training qualify them to speak with authority on the topic they choose.

History • Can you name the world champions? From its obscure origins in the Orient to the frontiers of artificial intelligence, chess has a rich history, filled with fascinating, sometimes quirky personalities.

How to Play (Essentials) • Learn to play chess. How to set up a chess board, move the pieces, castle, capture, checkmate, and more.

Image Galleries • The Web is a visual medium and we use image galleries as indexes to articles about chess positions, to photo galleries, and to just about anything that can be represented as an image. Here are links to all of our galleries in one single place.

Instruction • Tired of losing? Improve your openings, tactics, positional play, and endgames. Solve puzzles. Get expert instruction to improve your game.

Internet history • The best way to research chess on the Internet is by using the Internet itself. The wonderful Wayback Machine presents historical snapshots of web sites which have long since disappeared. • Q: How do you find the domain names of those early sites? • A: By looking at snapshots of the early chess portals.

Man-machine • Mastering chess has long been ranked among humankind's greatest intellectual challenges. Developing a machine to compete equally with people has been a goal of artificial intelligence since the dawn of the computer age. Man-machine matches, where people play computers, are the testbeds of computer chess technology.

Middle Games (Essentials) • Most chess games are won and lost in the middle game, where your imagination is your greatest ally. Whether formulating a deep plan or calculating a tricky combination, you need to be well rounded in all facets of this most difficult phase.

Mobile/wireless • Mobile/wireless services and software let you play chess using your cell phone, GSM, or other wireless device.

News • Tournaments, matches, world championships, politics. Keep up to date with what's happening in the chess world.

OTB servers • Web-based resources let you play online at any time of the day against opponents anywhere in the world. Crossboard (over-the-board = OTB) servers are the online equivalent of playing face-to-face on a real chess board. You and your opponent are both online at the same time. Each player sees the other's moves immediately.

Olympiad • Every two years over 100 teams representing the countries of the world meet in a team event called the Olympiad. Separate men's and women's events are held at the same time in the same place.

Openings (Essentials) • Your first task in a chess game is to get a good position. To do that you need to know something about the openings. Here are variations, names, and more.

Openings • It doesn't matter how creative you may be in the middle game or endgame if you lose in the opening. Avoid the quick knockout and get a comfortable game. Maybe even deliver a quick knockout yourself!

Organizations and Ratings • Chess is organized at all levels -- schools, towns, districts, states. We can't list them all here, but your national organization can. Find national and international organizations all over the world.

Peer-to-peer • Peer-to-peer software and services let you play chess without connecting to a chess server.

Play online • The best way to improve is to play, play again, and play some more. Play Internet chess against opponents from all over the world. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, someone is waiting somewhere to play you.

Players/people • Philidor, Steinitz, Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik, Tal, Spassky, Fischer, Kasparov, Kramnik. Find out more about these and other great names of the past and present.

Puzzles • Tactical puzzles are great practice even when you only have a few spare minutes. A specific position may never occur in your game, but the theme definitely will. Be prepared!

Quizzes • A reference index for the interactive quizzes on this site.

Ratings • Here are an introduction to chess ratings (sometimes known as Elo ratings), tools to calculate your rating, and external sites which focus on ratings

Reference • When was that player born? What does that term mean? What were the Lewis chessmen and what does ECO stand for? The answers are online if you know where to look.

Resource reviews • Reviews of the About Chess subject categories (under Articles & Resources). We took a fresh look at the links in each of our categories. In most cases we limit the About Chess external links to those sites that we believe do the best job in each category or subcategory. Here are the whys and wherefores.

Scholastic • Kids love chess. And chess loves kids. It helps them develop analytical and problem solving skills. And it's fun! Find out how to get and keep them interested. • Looking for a chess camp? Start here.

Shareware directories • Shareware / freeware directories of chess programs -- software, databases, and utilities -- for downloading.

Shopping • Chess can fit any budget. Unless you're a blindfold whiz, a board and pieces are the bare minimum. Add a clock for serious or blitz games, a few other accessories for tournament use, and you're ready for action. When you want to improve your game, buy a few books or software titles. Shop for equipment, books, software, and databases.

Site map • These are aids to find the many resources available on the About Chess site. Don't overlook the search function at the top of every page.

Software • The personal computer has revolutionized the enjoyment of chess. Use your computer as a sparring partner, study your favorite opening variation, or analyze that incredibly complicated endgame you played last night. Shop for software and databases.

Tactics • See Puzzles.

Teachers/trainers • Want to become a chess master? Hire a teacher, if you can afford it. If you're serious about chess, a good teacher is worth the money. • (Q) You don't need anyone to tell you why you won, but how do you find out why you lost? (A) An experienced player tells you. • NM : National Master. IM : International Master. GM : International Grand Master (Grandmaster).

Themed Sets • If you think that all chess sets have little horses for the Knights, miniature towers for the Rooks, and a King bearing a crown with a cross, then you're missing a fascinating aspect of the royal game. Chess sets with historical, animal, and sports themes have uses beyond the more traditional Staunton chess sets. Along with their use for an occasional game of chess, theme sets are often displayed in the home or study for decorative or artistic purposes.

Tips • Chess is a difficult game, but there are many rules of thumb that help guide you through the complications. Tips can cover any aspect : handling the pieces, the three phases, pre-game preparation, clock use, avoiding blunders, and much more!

Top Blogs • These our our choices for the top chess blogs on the Web. The first few blogs on the list appear in the 'Related Blogs' widget displayed in various places on the site.

Variants • If chess is inexhaustible, so are its variants. They include precursors like chaturanga and cousins like shogi. Has the variant you dreamed up already been invented by someone else? Find out from these sites.

View games • Using the About Chess game viewer, you can step through the moves of a game or click Autoplay to watch the game like a movie. On this page you'll find an index to all games that have been adapted for our viewer. Each index typically lists dozens of games. The chess game viewer is based on Palview technology.

World Champions • Regional chess champions are good players, national chess champions are great players, and world chess champions are the best players.

World Championship • The greatest achievement in the chess world is to win the title of World Chess Champion. Some people have even said that the history of the World Championship *is* the history of chess. Between 1886 and 1993, there were only 13 World Champions. Since 1993, there have been two parallel World Championships with their respective champions.

Years in Review • At the end of each year, we do a special review of the most important chess events in that year.