Michael Adams

The Chess in Schools and Communities Charity is an integral part of the London Classic event and has made great strides in it’s short existence, having introduced an ever growing number of teachers in many schools. In the spirit of this, I read in Chess Magazine that Malcolm Pein had made a visit to Scott [...]

The LCC has established itself very quickly and was as usual well organized. The addition of an extra player proving an inspired decision, as well as evening up the colours, the concept of having the player not playing that day involved with the commentary proved very popular both with spectators at the venue and large [...]

It seems a bit late to write much about the European team championship held in Greece, so instead I will make some comments on the ECU decision to introduce some new rules for the future bringing in a dress code of staggering complexity and dubious enforceability (will the arbiter’s exam in future contain sections on [...]

The Eurocup was held in a pleasant venue in Rogaška Slatina, Slovenia, with several hotels conveniently near the playing hall. The food was also well above average for this event. Unfortunately the event ended in disappointment for my OSG Baden-Baden team. After winning our first five matches and sharing the lead before the last round [...]

The rating lists used for the World Cup qualification were July 2010 and January 2011, so establishing whether or not one was qualified should be simple. However despite several requests for information FIDE treated this data as if it were nuclear arms codes and the players by rating and reserves were only confirmed on June [...]

Just prior to the start of the Metropolitan International in LA this August, organiser Ankit Gupta treated guests to what would have to rank as the best ‘Chess Dinner’ I have had the pleasure of attending at Providence in Hollywood. We were lavished with a 6 course tasting menus with matched wines. A picture is [...]

Too soon after the conclusion of the British, Tara and I jumped on a plane to LA. Ankit Gupta, the organiser, had persuaded me, rather against my better judgement to act as instructor at a 4-day Chess camp. As I had never done anything remotely similar before, this was to say the least somewhat a [...]

England’s GM Michael Adams won the 1st Metropolitan International chess tournament on Sunday in Los Angeles, finishing clear first a full point ahead of the field. This video recap features interviews with GM Adams, GM Mesgen Amanov, GM Loek van Wely, GM Varuzhan Akobian, IM Jack Peters, and IM Andranik Matikozyan. The tournament was organized [...]

The Grandmasters clashed in Rounds 5-7 of the 1st Metropolitan International chess tournament in downtown Los Angeles. This video update features interviews with International Grandmaster Timur Gareev and International Master Danny Rensch.

On August 17th, coincidentally former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik’s 100th birthday, 84 players began play in the strongest chess tournament in Southern California in over 2 decades. Seattle Master Joshua Sinanan talks about his experience playing against GM Michael Adams.

Metropolitan Chess held the 1st Metropolitan International Chess Tournament in Los Angeles, August 17-21. 10 Grandmasters and over 50 titled players comprise the field, making it the strongest tournament in Southern California in over two decades. This video contains interviews with Organizer Ankit Gupta, GM Michael Adams, GM Loek van Wely and GM Melikset Khachiyan.

By now all of British chess is pretty much up to date with T-shirt-gate or Stonewallgate depending on your preferance, so I will try not to belabour the point. Chaos reigned supreme at the time as so often but it does seem quite extraordinary that we still appear to be stalled in an era where [...]

In contrast with the British Championships last year, this time I found the chess hard work. My first game was a gruelling 94 move struggle and I didn’t have many smooth wins. I was also certainly in bad shape at various stages of my games against the other three highest rated players and 2 points [...]

The World Open was the start of a busy chess period for me. It had been nice to get a break in our condo in Key Largo but with kitchen renovations, sunsets and cocktails, Chessbase didn’t get much of a look in! Despite this, I managed quite well in the World Open winning a few [...]

There are many good things about chess organisation in France, where the federation is much more dynamic than in England but this year the French league, played in one block of 11 games, was held in truly dismal playing conditions. The venue which housed the games was a car museum which was not all bad [...]

The day after the RAC simul, fortified by a substantial breakfast we waddled off to cheer on my 4NCL team manager Claire Summerscale in The London Marathon. Unfortunately we maintained the observational skills demonstrated in the Nice Technique post and she sped past us without our even noticing. We managed to track her down post-race [...]

On which square should Black put his queen in this position: b4, c4, a5, a6 or b6? I first visited the prestigious Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall when I was kindly invited there by Ray Keene, I think during an event in Harringay in 1989. Ray is not a man who is prone to [...]