The recent story about Boris Spassky's "great escape" back to Russia seemed a little suspicious to me and to some of you, too, and now it's looking a lot suspicious. It's hard to know what the truth is at this point, but it's looking like he may have been better off back in France.

You might recall that 2010 World Junior Champion Dmitry Andreikin was part of a 6-way tie for first in the recently completed Russian Championship, and then went on to win the blitz playoff. His nicest win in that tournament came on the white side of a Caro-Kann, when he overwhelmed Sanan Sjugirov with a sacrifice-laden kingside attack. It's an attractive game, and one that's practically relevant...

The 14th IBCA World Chess Olympiad took place 10th-19th August 2012. Russia took gold, Ukraine silver and Spain bronze. The UK Braille Chess Association finished seventh overall, four places above their seeding and qualifying for the World Cup next year. You can read more at their website: http://www.braillechess.org.uk/.

The 14th IBCA World Chess Olympiad took place 10th-19th August 2012. Russia took gold, Ukraine silver and Spain bronze. The UK Braille Chess Association finished seventh overall, four places above their seeding and qualifying for the World Cup next year. You can read more at their website: http://www.braillechess.org.uk/.

Garry Kasparov is again in lime-light this time not for chess but because of his political activity. As we all know Garry is opposition leader in Russia and was set on Monday to face police questioning after he was detained at protest during the Pussy Riot trail. He was also accused of biting a policeman. [...]

Alexander Ipatov, a Ukrainian representing Turkey won the FIDE World Junior Championship for players under 20 in Athens which concluded last week.

Alexander Ipatov, a Ukrainian representing Turkey won the FIDE World Junior Championship for players under 20 in Athens which concluded last week.

Στις 17 Αυγούστου 1944, η Νίκαια γνώρισε τη βαρβαρότητα του κατακτητή και των δοσίλογων, με την εκτέλεση δεκάδων πολιτών της στο «Μπλόκο της Κοκκινιάς», στη Μάντρα της Οσίας Ξένης. Στον καθαγιασμένο χώρο των εκτελέσεων...

Today’s little known opening idea is 2.f4 against the French. It leads to closed positions in which White has more space but there’s very little theory. Personally I like this kind of game which is similar to my 2.d3 against the Sicilian. But it’s probably not for everyone. The following highly highly creative game was [...]

Svetozar Gligoric, a giant of Yugoslav chess and one of the world's leading players for more than twenty years has died in Belgrade at the age of 89. The regard in which he was held in his native land cannot be overstated. Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic led the national tributes: "Serbia and our citizens will forever remember the Grandmaster, the King on the chess-board of Serbia...

Svetozar Gligoric, a giant of Yugoslav chess and one of the world's leading players for more than twenty years has died in Belgrade at the age of 89. The regard in which he was held in his native land cannot be overstated. Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic led the national tributes: "Serbia and our citizens will forever remember the Grandmaster, the King on the chess-board of Serbia...

Ο Ρέι Τσαρλς (αριστερά), που είχε μείνει από τα έξι του χρόνια ολοκληρωτικά τυφλός λόγω γλαυκώματος, στη φωτογραφία του Time παίζει σκάκι με τον σαξοφωνίστα Τόνι Χόρβιτς. 
 Στα 15 του, ορφανός πλέον, εγκατέλειψε το σχολείο...

Today’s little known opening is Saveilly Tartakover’s original rendition of the Catalan Opening. Tartakover liked to play 1.d4 Nf6 2.g3, which immediately puts Black on his own resources and has many transpositional possibilities. The traditional argument against this early 2.g3 is that Black can blunt White’s bishop on g2 with …d5 followed by …c6 and [...]

Τα βλέμματα όλων είναι στραμμένα στο ανοιχτό πρωτάθλημα Ελλάδας που διεξάγετε στο Βραχάτι Κορινθίας. Η επίσημη σελίδα το τουρνουά βρίσκεται εδώ.  Μπορείτε να δείτε τα αποτελέσματα από το πρώτο γκρουπ δυναμικότητας...

In this week's ChessVideos show, we examine one of the meatiest variations in the entire Ruy Lopez, the Chigorin Variation. (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5) This complex is too rich to be exhaustively covered in a single video (obviously!), but there is enough material here to get you started and then some. After 10.Bc2 c5 I examine both 11.d3...