The land of Ugra met the participants of the Women’s World Chess Championship with bread and salt. Early in the morning today the flight from Moscow brought most of the contenders for the chess crown to the capital of Ugra. Among them were sisters Muzychuk, Antoaneta Stefanova, Chinese women’s team led by current world champion [...]

Upon the end of the official opening ceremony of the FIDE Women’s World Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk, Governor of Ugra Natalia Komarova and FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich answered the questions of the mass media. The President of FIDE Arkady Dvorkovich told about the importance of Women’s World Championship. “I’m happy to attend another big chess competition in [...]

On November 2, the FIDE Women’s World Championship 2018 officially started. The Opening Ceremony of the event was held in the Organ hall of the Concert and theater center “Ugra-Classic”. Guests and participants had a chance to enjoy fairy-tale organ melodies performed by Elena Kozemirenko before the official part of the ceremony. The first part [...]

Live games with analysis

Από 2 έως 8 Ιανουαρίου 2019 στην πόλη του Ρεθύμνου θα διεξαχθεί το Πανελλήνιο πρωτάθλημα σκακιού εφήβων και νεανίδων. Η ΣΑΧ έχοντας παράδοση μεγάλων διοργανώσεων επιθυμεί να προσφέρει μία ψηλού επιπέδου διοργάνωση...

In a previous article, I discussed the importance of doing tactical puzzles to improve your overall game. Obviously, doing tactical puzzles will greatly improve your tactical abilities. The successful use of tactics can give you a game winning material advantage so it’s important to master them. The best way to improve your tactical abilities is … Continue reading "Anatomy of a...

Photos and opening ceremony

The 44th Guernsey International Chess Festival was held from 21-27 October 2018 at the Peninsula Hotel, Guernsey. The Open Tournament, sponsored by Intertrust Guernsey, was a 7-round Swiss event with 46 participants. Grandmasters Tiger Hillarp Persson from Sweden and Jean-Pierre Le Roux of France shared the first place with 6,0 points each. Hillarp Persson took [...]

At present I am going through some of Alekhine’s games; I believe he had very unique ability to build the attack and this is something I am not very good at. Here I would like to share few examples: Alekhine vs Rubinstein, 1923 – White to Play Here Alekhine played Ne4! This offers c5 pawn … Continue reading "Learn from Alekhine"

TCEC is looking for emotes for its Twitch chat, so a TCEC Emote Design Contest (EDC) is opened. You are invited to send in you own original designs for evaluation by our Emote Jury, consisting of 5 members. The contest opens on 11 November 2018 and after selecting winners, these will gradually be released in [...]

“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer” Bruce Lee A quick reminder how to do it: Have a look at the position for 1 minute (watch the clock) Think about the choices in front of you and pick the one you feel it … Continue reading "“What Say You?” The 1 Minute Challenge (19)"

Radoslaw Wojtaszek emerged winner of the 2018 edition of chess.com Isle of Man International Tournament, by defeating Arkady Naiditsch in a playoff match for the first place. While Wojtaszek was playing for gold, his wife, Alina Kashlinskaya, beat American Grandmaster Sevian Samuel to reach 6 points and 7.000 £ prize, reserved for the best Women [...]

The 12th Torneio Internacional da Figueira da Foz is taking place from 28th October to 4th November at the Casa do Paço in Figueira da Foz, Portugal. The 9-round Swiss tournament is organized by Assembleia Figueirense. Tournament director is António Mota Cardoso and Chief Arbiter is IA Carlos Oliveira Dias. Among 50 participants from 12 [...]

The 22nd Annual Eastern Chess Congress was held from October 26-28, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency Princeton, 102 Carnegie Center, Princeton, New Jersey. The event consisted of six sections: Premier, U2100, U1900, U1700, U1500 and U1250. The playing format was 5-round Swiss with the time control 40/100, SD/30, d10. The main Premier section 43 participants. [...]

The endgame is my favourite part of the game, maybe because I have spent so much time studying endgames with my Dad. So here’s a game by one of the greatest endgame players, the Swedish Grandmaster Ulf Andersson, in which he tortures the English Grandmaster Michael Stean. Dad says that Stean gave up chess to … Continue reading "Endgame Torture"