Αγαπητοί Φίλοι,   σας επισυνάπτω την προκήρυξη του Διεθνούς Σκακιστικού Τουρνουά "Ίκαρος 2012" που θα διεξαχθεί στον Άγιο Κήρυκο Ικαρίας το διάστημα 7-15 Ιουλίου 2012, με την παράκληση να την αναρτήσετε στις ιστοσελίδες...

O ΣΟΠ είναι ο μεγάλος νικητής του ντέρμπυ της δεύτερης φάσης του κυπέλλου επικρατώντας με 3-1 επί της ισχυρής ομάδας του Πέλοπα ( νίκες για Μουρούτη,Σπυρόπουλο και Κανελλόπουλο Π.). Στα άλλα παιχνίδια νίκες για ΝΕΠ, ΕΣ...

The 22nd Open Internacional de Ajedrez Activo Villa de Móstoles was held on 1st May at the Pabellón Polideportivo Los Rosales in Móstoles, Spain. The rapid tournament was played over 9 rounds and with the time control of 15 min + 5 sec per player. 125 players competed. GM Alexei Barsov from Uzbekistan took a [...]

One of my top improvement recommendations is to play correspondence chess because of the possibilities it offers to do some opening research during the games (providing this is allowed by the tournament rules). Correspondence servers such as the Free Internet Chess and Go Server offer an excellent interface for such games. Many players prefer to stay relatively [...]

The US Chess Championships take place in Saint Louis 8th-19th May 2012 (play-off, if required 20th). Hikaru Nakamura returns after missing last year. Defending champion Gata Kamsky, Alexander Onischuk and Yasser Seirawan are also in the 12 player field. Anna Zatonskih is favourite to retain her title with Irina Krush as second favourite in the women's 10 player event. We're back to straight...

Defending champion and favourite Vassily Ivanchuk moved into the sole lead after two rounds of the Capablanca Memorial Elite Group. He beat Leinier Dominguez Perez. Ivanchuk is well known for his ability to play all sorts of position but tends to score most heavily in technical chess positions. Here put the pressure on Dominguez on the run up to first time control and only tactics might have kept...

The International Chess Festival Nakhchivan Open 2012, dedicated to the memory of Heydar Aliyev, took place from 28th to 6th May at the Chess Center in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. After nine rounds of play, Grandmasters Viorel Iordachescu, Sergei Zhigalko and Eltaj Safarli shared the first place with 6.5 points each. Iordachescu and Zhigalko entered the final [...]

The 2012 Latvian Chess Championships for men and women were held concurrently in Riga from 29th April to 5th May. IM Vitalijs Samolins, who emerged leader in the penultimate round of the tournament, drew IM Vladimir Sveshnikov on the last day and waited for the results in the other top games. GM Ilmars Starostits was [...]

Δύο όμορφα σκακιστικά προβλήματα του Τσεχοσλοβάκου (γεννημένου στην Βοημία) σκακιστή και σκακιστικού συνθέτη Oldrich Duras (1882-1957) θα παρακολουθήσουμε σήμερα. Ο γκρανμαίτρ Oldrich Duras υπήρξε ένας από τους ισχυρότερους...

There will be a lot of coverage of the World Championship Match between Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand, a match that starts this Friday. I'm willing to offer some in-depth coverage too, but only if there is subscriber interest. Rather than blogging my analysis, I'll send analysis in PDF and PGN files, and a video format too, all of which can be downloaded to your computer. But only if...

In round 1 of the Elite Group of the 47th Capablanca Memorial in Havana, Cuba, Leinier Dominguez was the only winner, defeating Viktor Laznicka. In round 2, their fortunes were reversed: Laznicka beat Yuniesky Quesada while Dominguez lost to top seed Vassily Ivanchuk. Round 3 just started a few minutes ago, with the pairings Quesada-Ivanchuk, Dominguez-Vladimir Potkin and Ian...

You can find a short video here with Vladimir Kramnik discussing the Berlin Defense in the context of his match with Levon Aronian. One especially insightful remark notes that just because someone (e.g. Aronian) plays an opening successfully with one side doesn't necessitate being adept at that same opening (e.g. the Berlin) from the other side of the board. With some openings it's probably not...

In other news, the Latvian Gambit is awful, as Abby Marshall kindly details in her Chess Cafe column this month. She advocates Leonhardt's 4.Nc4 (after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5?? 3.Nxe5 Qf6) while I've been partial to 4.d4 (which she also likes), but there's more than one way to skin this cat. Happy hunting!

The New Zealand Chess Federation has announced the lineups for the World Chess Olympiad, which will be held in August in Istanbul, Turkey. Open team (in board order): IM Puchen Wang, FM Nic Croad, IM Russell Dive, FM Mike Steadman, Luke Li. Captain and team manager Hilton Bennett. Women’s team (in board order): WIM Sue [...]

35ο Σκακιστικό Τουρνουά “Ίκαρος” 2012Ανοιχτό Πρωτάθλημα Αιγαίου 2012(7-15 Ιουλίου 2012 Άγιος Κήρυκος, Ικαρία)Χώρος:                     Άγιος Κήρυκος, Ικαρία, Αθλητικό Κέντρο...