Kib·itz (kib·itzed, kib·itz·ing, kib·itz·es Informal) 1. To look on and offer unwanted, usually meddlesome advice to others. 2. To chat; converse.   Michael Koblentz’s Saturday post Chess Blindness led to some interesting discussion on Nigel’s Facebook page; my own thoughts on true “chess blindness” were: I think chess blindness is due to a narrowing of [...]

Anatoly Karpov has been at least semi-retired for around a decade, but every now and then he has the time, gets the bug and plays. Especially when facing the absolute elite, his results naturally aren't up to their former standard, but he can still perform pretty well against just about everyone else - especially in rapid. Case in point: the ongoing rapid event in Cap d'Agde, the Trophee Anatoly...

We're two games in, with four to go, and so far Dmitry Andreikin leads Ian Nepmoniachtchi 1.5-.5 in this battle of young 2700s. Somewhat like the Kramnik-Aronian match earlier in the year, the audience gets a guarantee of sorts: if the game is drawn in under three hours, the players will face off in a pair of 15' + 10" games after a short break. (Those games won't count towards the official match...

Midwesterners who prefer chess to turkey this November have an attractive-looking option this year: the Thanksgiving Open in St. Louis. Seven grandmasters have already pre-registered, and there are U1800 and U1400 sections as well. For those who want to stick around and make a chess vacation out of it, there's an invitational event afterwards to boot.

The latest FIDE ratings are out, and as most of the big recent events have been rated, including the Olympiad and Bilbao, it's worth a look to see where things stand at the top. Here, with some not completely arbitrary cut-offs, are a few highlights: All: 1. Magnus Carlsen 2848 (just three points from tying Garry Kasparov's all-time record)2. Levon Aronian 28153. Vladimir Kramnik 27954. Teimour...

Saint Louis (October 31, 2012) – Grandmaster Wesley So of the Philippines and Grandmaster Georg Meier of Germany headline the strongest field in the history of the Thanksgiving Open, scheduled to be held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis November 23-25. This FIDE-rated event features a guaranteed prize fund of more [...]

New Delhi (31 Oct 12): Velammal Matriculation Higher Secondary School Chennai bagged the major share of medals in the 1st National School Chess Championship here at Ludlow Castle Sports Complex, Civil Lines on Wednesday. Velammal made a clean sweep in the Under-17 and Under-15 categories of team championship while in Under-13 and Under-9 categories they [...]

He became an icon in his country when he qualified, at 44, to play for the most desirable title of chess, the World Championship. When most of the people predicted that his effort would be disappointing, he managed to draw the series of 12 classical games and, only in a tight tie-break, lose to his [...]

Από Τετάρτη 28 έως Παρασκευή 30 Νοεμβρίου 2012 θα πραγματοποιηθεί στην Αθήνα (Booze Co-operativa Κολοκοτρώνη 57) Σεμινάριο Πιστοποίησης και Κατάρτισης Προπονητών της FIDE με συνδιοργανωτές τη FIDE , τη επιτροπή προπονητών της FIDE (TRG)...

The 16th Unive Chess Tournament had four events. The main one was the crown group while others are : Unive Open and two tournaments for amateurs. The participants in the double round crown group were Hikaru Nakamura (2775), Anish Giri (2693), Sergei Tiviakov (2656) and the Women’s World Champion, Hou Yifan (2623). Nakamura won with [...]

The Italian Chess Championship 2012 will be played at NH Hotel Ambasciatori (corso Vittorio Emanuele 104) in Torino from October 30th to November 10th. This is the first time that Torino is hosting this prestigious event. Twelve players will compete in the round robin tournament. The four-time champion Fabiano Caruana – winner in 2007, 2008, [...]

On the weekend of the 20th/21st, I decided to play in a local  London Congress. I knew I needed to play more games and when you normally have to pay the cost of travel and accommodation a local tournament would be relatively cheap to attend! We had to play 3 rounds on Saturday and then the remaining [...]

The young stars in the U16 section

Στο γρήγορο πρωτάθλημα της Κυριακής πρώτος βγήκε ο Μ. Παππάς. Επίσης είχαμε και μερικές ευχάριστες παρουσίες από νέους παίχτες.Το «αίμα μας» πίσω μπορούμε να πάρουμε την Παρασκευή 2 Νοεμβρίου στις 21:00 το βράδυ. Ο...