Gawain Jones and Stephen Gordon were the only players to reach 3/3 at the British Championships. Jones overcame Keith Arkell in a messy game where he was worse at one point after Arkell had grabbed two pawns. Stephen Gordon had more success with pawn grabbing against Hugh Murphy. David Howell won a very nice endgame against Jonathan Hawkins to reach 2.5/3 and plays Danny Gormally.

The Quebec Chess Federation (FQE) organized the Quebec Open Chess Championship from 21st to 28th July, 2012, at the beautiful venue College Brebeuf in Montreal, Canada. Canada’s most successful tournament attracted 9 GMs and 1 WGM, as well as 10 IMs looking for GM norms. 32 players competed in the invitational section for a first [...]

The second cycle got underway today at Biel, and Wang Hao still leads after a short and easy draw with the black pieces against Etienne Bacrot. If White ever had anything, it was gone by move 20, and the rest was mass liquidation leading to a draw. Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen had their second draw of the event, and like Bacrot-Wang Hao it was a Gruenfeld. This one too was quicker than it...

This isn't good. It looks like the hitherto seemingly ageless wonder, Viktor Korchnoi, is finally really slowing down (HT: Thomas Richter). His performance in the Swiss Championship was a disaster, and he was listless and playing in a wheelchair. He is 81, it's true, but even a year and half or two ago he was still vigorous and playing excellent chess, even managing to defeat Fabiano...

We're getting close! It's episode XXIX in our series on the Ruy Lopez, and this time around the main lines of the Marshall Gambit are under review. We start with the traditional main lines with 12.d4 Bd6 13.Re1 Qh4 14.g3 Qh3 15.Be3, then move on to 15.Re4 and finally 12.d3. There's a lot of material there, but I've done my best to pick out the most important lines and at least give a good sense...

The 5th tournament of the FIDE Women Grand Prix 2011-2012 took place from 17th to 28th July in Jermuk, Armenia. 12 players competed in the round robin event. The reigning World Champion Hou Yifan of China is the sole winner of the tournament despite the last round defeat at the hands of Kateryna Lahno. Yifan [...]

Η 42χρονη WGM/IM Αλίσα Μάριτς, η πασίγνωστη σκακίστρια και πρώην διεκδικήτρια του παγκόσμιου τίτλου στις γυναίκες, ορκίστηκε χτες 27 Ιουλίου υπουργός Νεολαίας και Αθλητισμού στη Σερβία. Η Μάριτς είναι η μια από τους δυο...

The 20th International Troy Open Chess Tournament will take place on 6th-10th August 2012 at the Anafartalar Sport Hall in Canakkale, Turkey. The 9-round Swiss event is organized by the Turkish Chess Federation and arranged in three playing groups: Category A (Over 1800 ELO), Category B (Under 1800 ELO) and Category Women. Female players can [...]

Chess in Schools and Communities (CSC), a new charity that uses the ancient game of chess as a learning tool in classrooms across England and Wales have been shortlisted and highly commended in the annual Sport and Recreation Alliance’s Community Sport and Recreation awards for 2012. The judging panel, chaired by the BBC’s Eleanor Oldroyd [...]

The Quebec Chess Federation (FQE) is organizing the Quebec Open Chess Championship from 21st to 28th July, 2012, at the beautiful venue College Brebeuf in Montreal, Canada. Canada’s most successful tournament attracted 9 GMs and 1 WGM, as well as 10 IMs looking for GM norms. 32 players are competing in the invitational section for [...]

Mikhail Tal is one of the greats that I actually had the privilege of meeting and playing against. Tal was a really wonderful and funny person who loved to play blitz. His bohemian lifestyle did nothing for his health and he spent much of his life in and out of hospital. What he saw during [...]

Biel is the main event at the moment, but other interesting events are taking place as well. There's the Women's Grand Prix in Jermuk, Armenia; the British Championship in North Shields, England; and a match between a pair of 2700s, Baadur Jobava of Georgia and Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland. 1. Ten of eleven rounds of the Women's Grand Prix have been completed, and the Chinese women are...

The 13th Obert Internacional d’Escacs Ciutat d’Olot will take place on unday, 29th July, at the Casino Olotí (Pg. d’en Blai 6) in Olot, Spain. The 8-round Swiss tournament will have a rapid time control of 15 min + 5 sec per player. The top four prizes are 400€, 250€, 200€ and 150€. Players list: [...]

The Ukrainian Championship takes place 27th July to 7th August in Kiev.This strong event stars Ruslan Ponomariov, Alexander Moiseenko and Andrei Volokitin.

The Ukrainian Championship takes place 27th July to 7th August in Kiev.This strong event stars Ruslan Ponomariov, Alexander Moiseenko and Andrei Volokitin.