It was an unlikely run for Anna Ushenina of Ukraine, who came in to the title tournament in frigid Khanty-Mansiysk as the 20th seed, but after defeating Antoaneta Stefanova 3.5-2.5 (1.5-.5 in the rapid playoff) she is now the 14th women's world chess champion. Congratulations! In the first rapid game, Stefanova obtained a slight edge with White, but couldn't find anything special to do with...

The Panamerican Women’s Chess Championship 2012 took place from 23rd to 30th November 2012 in the Sala Ernesto Campos of Municipal Palace in Montevideo, Uruguay. The tournament was played over nine rounds of Swiss system with the rate of play 90 minutes + 30 seconds from the first move. The 21-years old WIM Carla Heredia [...]

Οι απονομές του Πανελλήνιου Πρωταθλήματος 2012 και του Πανελληνίου Πρωταθλήματος Γυναικών 2012 θα πραγματοποιηθούν την Κυριακή 2/12/2012 και ώρα 17:00 Οι απονομές των Πρωταθλημάτων της ΕΣΣΝΑ που εντάσοσνται στα πλαίσια της...

Τα αποτελέσματα του 80υ (προτελευταίου) γύρου: ΑΝΔΡΕΣ: Φίλιππας – Μαστροβασίλης Θ. 0-1, Νικολαϊδης – Μουτούσης 1-0, Σκέμπρης – Καπνίσης 0,5-0,5, Νικολάου – Παυλίδης Αντ. 0-1, Γαλόπουλος – Μαλικέντζος 0,5-0,5. ΓΥΝΑΙΚΕΣ...

Anna Ushenina from Ukraine became the new Women’s World Champion after defeating Antoaneta Stefanova from Bulgaria in the final match by 3,5-2,5. Congratulations! The score after the four classical games was tied 2-2, with Ushenina winning the third game and Stefanova striking back in the fourth. The rapid tie-break match was played on Saturday. Ushenina [...]

Σκακιστική σκηνή από την ταινία The Hustler (ελληνικός τίτλος: ο κόσμος είναι δικός μου), παραγωγής 1961, με πρωταγωνιστή τον Πολ Νιούμαν. Μνημειώδες κοινωνικό μελόδραμα με στοιχεία νουάρ και συνάμα ένα υπαρξιακό σχόλιο πάνω...

Τα αποτελέσματα του 7ου γύρου: ΑΝΔΡΕΣ:  Γαλόπουλος – Φίλιππας 0,5-0,5, Μαλικέντζος – Νικολάου 1-0,  Παυλίδης Αντ. – Σκέμπρης 1-0,  Καπνίσης – Νικολαϊδης 1-0, Μουτούσης – Μαστροβασίλης Θ. 1-0. ΒΑΘΜΟΛΟΓΙΑ: 1-2. Παυλίδης...

Yesterday, all the players alongside Chief Organizer Malcolm Pein came to Olympia and attended the press conference. There were questions from the floor as well as questions submitted online. Ga was asked “What is your expected score” and his answer was something along the lines of “Just wanting to play proper chess and hopefully win [...]

Η κλήρωση για τη φάση των 8 θα γίνει την επόμενη Παρασκευή 7 Δεκεμβρίου στις 9μμ. Παρακαλούνται όλοι οι συμμετέχοντες έως τότε να έχουν ολοκληρώσει τους αγώνες τους.

14-year old Kerala boy S L Narayanan kept improving by the day scoring over Grandmaster M R Venkatesh in the tenth and penultimate round of the Apollo Engineering College Commonwealth Chess Championships 2012 at Multipurpose Indoor Stadium, Chennai here today. Narayanan moves into the top of the table with 8.5 points sharing the lead with [...]

We’ve all heard the above phrase, which by now is a well-established part of popular culture. There is even a song by this title, with lyrics by Willie Nelson  By the way, I also rather liked this one about the Old Sidewinders (Swindlers with poisonous fangs) The full phrase goes either “Old age and treachery [...]

(That's today for many of you, tomorrow for the rest.) As usual, it's a very strong event, featuring a blend of players in the absolute elite and some very strong British participants. Here are the round 1 pairings for the 4th London Chess Classic: Luke McShane (2713) - Magnus Carlsen (2848) Levon Aronian (2815) - Hikaru Nakamura (2760) Vladimir Kramnik (2795) - Judit Polgar (2705) Gawain Jones...

Peter Leko drew his first seven games at the FIDE Grand Prix event in Tashkent, and the other five games today were drawn as well. "Therefore", it's only natural that Leko would win his eighth round game, and with Black! His victim was Gata Kamsky, who just isn't receiving the proper reward for filling in as a last-minute substitute for Vugar Gashimov. With the win, Leko joins three other players...

Game 4 of the final match at the 2012 Women's World Chess Championship was a must-win for Antoaneta Stefanova, and win she did. Trailing Anna Ushenina 2-1 after a loss in game 3, she at least had the advantage of the white pieces, and she used them successfully. She had a better sense than her opponent of how to play the Anti-Meran system in the Semi-Slav, and soon after leaving theory she had...

Pablo Lafuente started playing from 5 years of age, became an IM at 18 years and GM at 21 years of age. He represented the Argentine team in the Chess Olympiad 2010 at Khanty Mansiysk, Russia, and in the Continental Championships in Mexico in 2011. A traveling coach, Pablo, 27, moved in to Port Elizabeth, [...]