The 87th Paris Chess Championship will take place from 7th to 15th July at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin, 82 avenue Georges Lafont 75016 Paris. The Championship will be played in 4 Groups and is open to all players of FIDE federations. Currently 532 players are signed to take participation. - FIDE Open: 9 rounds [...]

Σκακιστικά επεισόδια στην κωμωδία του Μελ Μπρουκς «το μυστήριο με τις δώδεκα καρέκλες» (1970).  Βασισμένη σε ένα βιβλίο των Ιλφ και Πετρόφ  και τοποθετημένη στη Ρωσία του 1927, αυτή η αγαπημένη ξεκαρδιστική κωμωδία...

Nigel Short won the 7th Edmonton International by 3 points (3 points for a win) from Viktor Mikhalevski (who beat Short in the first round). Short made light work of the bottom of the field. Mikhalevski lost to tale ender Dale Haessel in round 7 in a refreshingly direct approach by white. He followed this by blowing a completely overwhelming position against Irina Krush in Round 8. Short blew...

Για 8η συνεχόμενη χρονιά διοργανώνεται το Διεθνές τουρνουά Γαζίου-Ηρακλείου στις αρχές Αυγούστου και συγκεκριμένα από 4-11 Αυγούστου 2012. Το τουρνουά είναι 9 γύρων και διοργανώνεται από τη Σκακιστική Ακαδημία...

Yesterday my son and I had a long discussion about the incident(s) between Wilhelm Steinitz and Joseph Henry Blackburne in which Steinitz is supposed to have spat at his opponent and Blackburne punched Steinitz through a window, giving him a black eye in the process. Sources differ as to whether Steinitz spat before or after [...]

Here (HT: Hylen). There's a surprising amount of content, including remarks on his own levels of motivation. Slightly pungent, though many would agree with it, was a remark en passant about Boris Gelfand: "Boris is of course a tremendous chess player, but… the current Gelfand isn’t a player of the class to have claims on the title!" Seriously? Gelfand had to win ten matches in a...

GM Daniil Dubov's remarkable result last week at the Higher League has caused some excitement in Russia, particularly after Garry Kasparov lamented the lack of any up and coming talents. The 16 year old matched many of Russia's finest players as he secured qualification to the Russian Championship Superfinal. Several world class players failed to make the cut. The Superfinal will be a huge step...

GM Daniil Dubov's remarkable result last week at the Higher League has caused some excitement in Russia, particularly after Garry Kasparov lamented the lack of any up and coming talents. The 16 year old matched many of Russia's finest players as he secured qualification to the Russian Championship Superfinal. Several world class players failed to make the cut. The Superfinal will be a huge step...

Igor Lysyj and Roman Ovetchkin, The Berlin Defence (Chess Stars, 2012). 276 pp. Garry Kasparov may have been more popular than Vladimir Kramnik and the Najdorf more popular than the Berlin, but at the moment Kramnik's approach has carried the day. Many top GMs include the Berlin as a regular part of their repertoire, and while it has been a while since I've seen a new Najdorf book, I can...

The World Rapid and Blitz Championships take place in Astana. Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin, Alexander Grischuk, Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler, Vassily Ivanchuk, Teimour Radjabov, Veselin Topalov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Boris Gelfand, Viktor Bologan etc 2nd-4th July sees qualifying competitions for those not yet invited. Rapid event 6th-8th July. Blitz 9th-10th July.

The Russia vs China Match in Saint Petersburg takes place 2nd-6th July for Classical games and 7th-8th for Rapid. A number of Russian players who might otherwise have played will go to Astana later in the week for the World Rapid and Blitz. Official live coverage at: http://online.russiachess.org/. 12pm BST start each day. Games. I may try and sort some live coverage out at some point but...

Fresh from yet another successful title defence, World Champion Viswanathan Anand, of India, became the first player to sign-up to play in the 4th London Chess Classic, at Kensington Olympia, 1-10 December, 2012. It is no secret that London is one of Anand’s favourite cities, and this will be his third successive appearance in the [...]

At this tournament in Caracas, all players were provided with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In addition, all boards, sets, and clocks are provided. Each participant also received a T-shirt as well as other goodies. There is no entry fee and the organizer is not trying to make money from these children’s parents. Winners even get cash scholarships to support their chess endeavors. This event...

Ο ισχυρός Μολδαβός GM Ντμίτρι Σβετούσκιν αγωνίζεται στην 1η σκακιέρα του Πειραϊκού, μιας ομάδας που παραδοσιακά στηρίζεται στις δικές της δυνάμεις, αλλά φέτος με την προσθήκη δυο ξένων (Σβετούσκιν και Βόισκα) στοχεύει...

Nigel Short leads the 7th Edmonton International by a point (3 points for a win) from Viktor Mikhalevski (who beat Short in the first round) with a round to go.