Sensei Kostya is traveling to Sweden for the inaugural ChessParty, taking place next weekend, April 17–18, at the Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden!

At the halfway mark of the 2026 Candidates, one storyline has taken over: Sindarov is dominating the field. But is this a historic breakthrough—or just a heater that the rest of the players will adjust to? We break down his incredible run, from elite opening prep to relentless time pressure and confident decision-making. Is anyone capable of catching him? Or is it already over? We also dive into Fabi’s quietly strong performance, the psychology of players falling out of contention, and what to expect in the second half of the tournament. Drama, collapse potential, and one big question: is this inevitability… or just the beginning?

In this Dojo Talks episode, we explore blitz chess with NM Jeremy Kane—what it takes to improve, how time management and openings matter, and whether blitz actually helps your classical game. Featuring insights from his work at Chess.com, plus real lessons from blitz rating climbs and practical training advice. If you want to get better at blitz (and understand its limits), this one’s for you.

The 2026 Candidates Tournament is right around the corner, and this field might be one of the most competitive we’ve ever seen. In this episode of Dojo Talks, we break down every player’s chances, compare our picks to the betting odds, and debate who’s truly a contender. From rising young stars to established elite players, we dig into form, consistency, and what it actually takes to win a Candidates. Who do you think will come out on top?

In this episode of Dojo Talks, we explore how having children impacts chess performance, from real examples of world champions to personal experiences as chess dads. With Hikaru Nakamura entering the Candidates as a new father, the question is more relevant than ever. We break down the short-term dip (sleep, focus, hormones) vs long-term recovery—and what it could mean for top players like Magnus Carlsen.

FM James Canty III joins Dojo Talks to talk about becoming the World Chessboxing Champion, how he got into boxing, and what it was like competing with Team USA in Serbia. The conversation also covers training, the connection between chess and combat sports, nootropics and performance, and Canty’s current push for IM and GM norms.

A lively Dojo Talks debate on whether draw offers should be banned in chess. The episode covers the history of draw offers, the role of tournament culture and incentives, the Dubov–Nepo controversy, and whether changing draw rules would actually improve fighting chess.

GM Felix Blohberger discusses the realities of being a modern chess professional, including balancing playing, coaching, content creation, and course development while pursuing a long-term goal of reaching 2600. The conversation explores training methods, opening preparation, tournament economics, and the broader challenges of building a sustainable career in chess.

Interested in having your games and training habits analyzed by one of our senseis? Join the Game & Profile Review! You'll get placed with a cohort of similarly-rated players.

In this episode of Dojo Talks, the Sensei review the Netflix documentary 'Queen of Chess' and discuss Judit Polgar’s rise to the top of the chess world. They break down what the film gets right, what it leaves out about the Polgar training experiment, and what her legacy means for future generations of players.

William John Donaldson joins Dojo Talks to discuss his new book "Inside the Mind of Bobby Fischer", a collection of Fischer’s lesser-known writings and annotations. The conversation explores why Fischer’s games are still highly instructive for modern players, how his practical decision-making shows up in systems like the King’s Indian Attack, and what his approach reveals about classic chess ideas like overprotection and restraint. They also dive into Fischer’s obsession with analytical accuracy, the origins of “the Rat” opening, and the importance of regularly playing tournament games if you actually want your study to translate into better results over the board.

The Aagaard puzzle method emphasizes "deep work" by calculating complex, human-contested positions over long periods away from the computer to build mental stamina. It highlights that while these elite-level materials are often designed for players rated 2200+, the habit of deep thinking is essential for any player looking to improve their pattern recognition and visualization.

In this episode of Dojo Talks, we rank and debate the 10 greatest chess tournaments of all time

In the New Year spirit of resetting goals, GM Kraai explores how fitness and chess improvement are similar in needing structure but fundamentally different because fitness is measurable while chess and mental growth are far more slippery.

Get a Free Month of Dojo Core and 10% off Live Classes

Live class tiers and Black Friday sale end December 2nd!

The Dojo was rocked by the news of Danya's passing.

ChessDojo's interactive group classes start January 1st. Join before December 2nd and get 25% off with the code BLACKFRIDAY!

Solitaire Chess (Guess the Move)!

New Training Plan UI!

All Dojo users now have a default folder called My Games.

It’s been a long journey!

We launched Dojo 4.0!

Our yearly update to the Dojo Training Program is here! Here's all the (major) changes from 3.0 to 4.0

Sensei Kraai is reviving the Dojo's coaching workshops!

Dojo tournaments now have prizes!

Mastering Time in Chess is finally out on Chessable!

Huge update for the Dojo! It is now possible to add custom tasks to the Training Program!

Round robin tournaments are open for non-members, and you can now create custom tasks in your training plan!

The senseis are joined by GM Jon Ludvig Hammer to discuss the 2024 World Rapid & Blitz Championship.

Make your New Year’s resolution and join the Dojo for the month of January at no cost!

The heatmap has evolved! Many thanks to Jalp aka Noobmaster for making a vision into a reality.

Two months ago, we announced our file system for organizing your games and repertoires. Today, we're releasing a major update, which allows you to share folders with other users.

Stockfish 17 (desktop version) and Stockfish 16 (mobile version) are now both available in our game annotator. Both engines run locally in your browser, although...

Dandeer is a member of the 1300-1400 cohort and plays classical OTB at his club in Hungary.

Explaining the math behind ChessDojo's new universal rating converter.

One of the first and essential building stones of the Dojo Training Program was the creation of a universal rating system...

Jan (LifeCanBeSoNice) got the party started with an amazing AI driven hype video, and Sensei David covers German #1 Vincent Keymer's streak in the 2024 Akiba Rubinstein Memorial.

Jan, aka LifeCanBeSoNice, is going for it. Since joining the Dojo last year, he has gained 279 points and has started his own chess improvement channel with his coach IM Jurica Srbis. His goal is 2000 Lichess. It’s a magical number! Will he be able to make it?

The Dojo has a new file system to help you organize and manage your games! A new files tab has been added to your profile. You'll start out with an empty Home folder, where you can add games or nested folders...

Sensei Kraai trusted the program and the results finally came. In a field of legends, 9 GMs and one IM, the sensei won his last four games and scored his fifth GM norm...

We now have a database of master-level games, filterable by time control! We currently have 250,000 games available and are in the process of uploading another 5 million...

GM Jesse Kraai, IM David Pruess, and IM Kostya Kavutskiy forecast who will be the top 10 FIDE rated chess players in June 2025 in today's episode of Dojo Talks, the ChessDojo podcast.

May has been all about the development of our three trainers: tactics, endgame, and positional. On May 1st we posted our tests for 1500-2000 and 2000+. June 1st will see the rollout of tests for all cohorts...

The Dojo has released a new training skill designed to test tactical skill, attempting to improve on the most popular existing "tactics trainers" and provide players a much more realistic "tactics rating"...

We launched the training program 2 years ago with a Google doc and a couple of paper clips. Since then, we've made great technical improvements and learned a lot about what chess improvement involves across the rating spectrum...