Find Out Your Summer Chess Horoscope
Summer is here! Find your chess horoscope for July, and check out a top player who shares your star sign! July 2022 brings a supermoon in Capricorn, so it's a powerful time for manifestation (and I'm manifesting for all your opponents to hang their queens). Find out what this means for your chess...
Jump to your sign:
- Spring: ♈ Aries ♉ Taurus ♊ Gemini
- Summer: ♋ Cancer ♌ Leo ♍ Virgo
- Fall: ♎ Libra ♏ Scorpio ♐ Sagittarius
- Winter: ♑ Capricorn ♒ Aquarius ♓ Pisces
- Conclusion
Aries ♈︎
(March 21-April 19)
Aries of the month: Susan Polgar
This should be a cautious month for you, Aries, and it isn't time for you to make any drastic changes to your opening repertoire—I wouldn't even recommend changing your board theme right now. You may see fluctuations in your rating, but try to stay confident and ride out the wave. Things will improve for you after we see a new moon on July 28. For now, focus on puzzles... and if you start to get tilted, make sure you know when to stop. Seriously.
Lucky opening: Scotch Game
Avoid: Scotch Gambit
Taurus ♉︎
(April 20-May 20)
Taurus of the month: Alexandra Kosteniuk
Expect rating gains this month, Taurus. Could you imagine your opponents playing into all your pet lines? This month, Venus is in Taurus, meaning you have the power of luck behind you. It doesn't mean your opponents will all hang mate on f7 (we can but dream), but it does mean you should take advantage of your good fortune and study something new... I know you've been putting it off, but it might even be time to break out a Chess.com Lesson on rook endings. You'll be surprised how much knowledge sticks with you, and there are fewer things more satisfying than pulling off a clinical win in an endgame.
Lucky opening: Play your favorite lines.
Avoid: Drawing lines like the Berlin Defense.
Gemini ♊︎
(May 21-June 21)
Gemini of the month: Peter Svidler
Gemini, I know you've been chasing goals all year, and the results are finally starting to show. You may be tired, but take this as a sign not to give up on what you're working on. When success comes, remember not to get carried away. Those 100 rating points you gained can be lost very quickly if you're overconfident and careless. You may be feeling a lot of pressure, but know that you're on the right track. Still, don't tunnel-vision on your plans (in middlegames or real life), there's much to be gained from taking opportunities as they come to you... like that knight your opponent just hung.
Lucky opening: Catalan
Avoid: Exchange Slav
Cancer ♋︎
(June 22-July 22)
Cancer of the month: Paul Morphy
It's Cancer season, and you should be the main character right now... but expect to face a mixed bag this month. You may find clarity in something you've been working on; trying to understand triangulation or closed center games? Something will click for you this July. On the other hand, you may find yourself getting tilted more easily this month, feeling resentful toward a training partner after losing a few too many games in a row, or you may generally feel out of sorts. It's okay to feel this way, so long as you focus on the bigger picture; your chess progress isn't linear, and you can't win every game.
Lucky opening: Nimzo-Indian Defense
Avoid: Playing the same lines in every game if you face consecutive losses. Step back, take a deep breath, and try a fresh angle.
Leo ♌︎
(July 23-August 22)
Leo of the month: Judit Polgar
Leos should work on helping others this month. Chess is a competitive game, but there's room for collaboration in studying and teaching one another. Could you help a friend with opening prep before their next classical game, or teach someone new to chess how to checkmate with a rook and king? Helping others can be as rewarding as meeting your own goals and can put things in perspective for you. Think of how far you've come with your own chess!
Lucky opening: Italian Game
Avoid: Sicilian Defense
Virgo ♍︎
(August 23-September 22)
Virgo of the month: John Bartholomew
Virgo, July could be a difficult month for you. It's a bad time to try and learn new things... no crazy new openings. You've been eyeing up 1...b6? No, certainly not. It's a bad time to sign up for tournaments or to make promises. While your rating may not go down, you may feel like you've hit a plateau with your chess this July. The heat of the summer can feel a little... stifling. Redirect your focus back to having fun with chess, playing with friends, and maybe even testing out some variants. You have one lucky week this month, starting from the 18th. Use it wisely... or at the very least, promise me you won't spend all your energy on late-night bullet.
Lucky opening: You won't need opening theory where you're going (the variants tab of Chess.com).
Avoid: 1...b6.
Libra ♎︎
(September 23-October 22)
Libra of the month: Wesley So
Now is the time for you to do some goal-setting, Libra. Where do you want to be a year from now; do you want to be 2000-rated? Do you want to know how to checkmate with a bishop and knight? Or do you just want to stop hanging pawn forks every third blitz game? No matter how big or small, these goals help us to keep focused and motivated. Do you have a chess book on your shelf that's been staring at you for the first half of 2022? I'm not suggesting anything so radical as to actually open and... read it, but you can at least write "Read Chapter 1 of 101 Endgames You Must Know" on a to-do list. Yeah, that feels like progress.
Lucky opening: Pick something and stick with it... think long-term.
Avoid: Playing it too safe.
Scorpio ♏︎
(October 23-November 22)
Scorpio of the month: Alexander Grischuk
Staying in your lane, thriving, totally unbothered. That's where you want to be this month, Scorpio, but it will require some focus. External factors may try to interfere with you... like when your mailman rings the doorbell midway through a blitz game, or when your opponent sends a rude message in the game chat. Who do they think they are, interrupting your internal monologue? You need to rise above the noise. Winners don't listen to those trying to bring them down—just like you don't listen to Stockfish when it's telling you that your brilliancy was actually a "blunder."
Lucky opening: French Defense (ignoring the negative press surrounding that c8-bishop)
Avoid: London System
Sagittarius ♐︎
(November 23-December 21)
Sagittarius of the month: Viswanathan Anand
July is going to be a hot mess for you, Sagittarius. It's going to be like one of those "trust the process" TikToks where you can't quite figure out how things turned out well in the end. You need to live in the now and stay hopeful for the future. Dwelling on past mistakes, failed knight sacrifices, and embarrassing opening attempts (what were you thinking trying out the Dutch Defense?!) will only bring you down. Things are going to feel a little chaotic until you start to settle back into a routine, but you shouldn't be afraid to experiment when you're still getting to know yourself.
Lucky opening: Be a chameleon this month; try new things until something sticks.
Avoid: Dutch Defense
Capricorn ♑︎
(December 22-January 19)
Capricorn of the month: Greg Shahade
This is an important month for Capricorns. It's time to be ambitious, so don't hold back. The Capricorn supermoon is an encouragement to work hard on your chess goals: that rating grind you're going for, the over-the-board tournament you're considering signing up for, or that new opening you've been trying to learn. Work hard, play hard. Sacrifice the exchange as a treat.
Lucky opening: Anything you like, so long as you study it.
Avoid: Being out-of-book on move 3.
Aquarius ♒︎
(January 20-February 18)
Aquarius of the month: Yuri Averbakh
There's much in store for Aquarius this month, and you may find yourself too busy to spend much time on your chess, but don't be deterred. You will need to be disciplined, but this doesn't necessarily mean hiding away and studying lines of Najdorf theory late into the night. Take a roll-up board out into the sun, see some friends, and play blitz between the chaos of real life.
Lucky opening: London System
Avoid: Sicilian Defense: Open, Najdorf Variation
Pisces ♓︎
(February 19-March 20)
Pisces of the month: Veselin Topalov
You'll have the opportunity to learn something from a friend this month, Pisces. And I mean something valuable, not some modified Fool's Mate your friend Dan is convinced "good players will fall for too." Have you been envying the way someone at your chess club wins with the King's Indian Defense when you seem only to get cramped and difficult positions? Be receptive and open. It will benefit both your relationships and your chess.
Lucky opening: Try something outside of your usual style. Into open games? Look into 1.d4 for a change.
Avoid: Cheap opening traps that leave you with a worse position in the middlegame!
Conclusion
It's a dynamic point in the year with 2022's brightest supermoon rising in the sky this July. As we reach the second half of the year, take some time to think about the past six months. If you're not where you thought you'd be by the end of June, push yourself a little further. You're capable of achieving your goals, but the stars can only take you so far. Remember that you should still be having fun.
Let us know what you think about your chess horoscope in the comments below, and be sure to check out Lularobs on Twitch!
