GM Ante Brkic had some eventful games at the Zagreb Open. It was Karpov who first demonstrated that White could leave his king on e1 in this line and play for mate. An unusual puzzle at the end.

Τα Ατομικά Νεανικά Πρωταθλήματα Αττικής – ηλικίες έως 8,10,12,14,16 ετών – θα διεξαχθούν από 17-22 Απριλίου 2012 στο Εκθεσιακό Κέντρο Περιστερίου (Αγ. Βασιλείου και Δωδεκανήσου, Περιστέρι – ο αγωνιστικός χώρος είναι...

IV Campeonato Iberoamericano Individual de Ajedrez, the top individual chess championship for Latin America and the region, begins tomorrow with the participation of multiple strong players. GM Lazaro Bruzon, GM Julio Granada, GM Rafael Leitao, GM Ivan Salgado, GM Ruben Felgaer, GM Gilbbrto Milos, GM Manuel Leon Hoyos, GM Ivan Morovich, and a total of [...]

Σε ένα μήνα αρχίζει στη Μόσχα το τελικό ματς για το παγκόσμιο πρωτάθλημα όπου θα αναμετρηθούν ο Ινδός παγκόσμιος πρωταθλητής Βισβανάθαν Ανάντ και ο Ισραηλινός Μπόρις Γκέλφαντ (φωτ.).  Ο γεννημένος και μεγαλωμένος...

Ο φακός του Reuters εστιάζει σε γκρουπ σκακιστών που παίζουν το αγαπημένο τους παιχνίδι στη Market Street του Σαν Φρανσίσκο, 11 Απριλίου 2012.  Η πιο “μη αμερικάνικη” μεγαλούπολη των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών, είναι ιδιαίτερα γνωστή...

Taking a look at the Anand – Gelfand World Championship website I see that the poll makes Vishwanathan Anand a massive favorite. Yet something I agree with Susan Polgar that it might be far tougher than most people imagine. Besides the arguments about Boris Gelfand’s determination, any edge that Anand may have is going to [...]

There's more material in the hopper, but it'll have to wait until another day - it's getting late here. On another tack, I coach chess at a couple of schools, and as the clubs are in hiatus starting next week through to around September I'll be able to accommodate 2-3 new students. Those who are interested are welcome to drop me a note via the "Contact Me" form on the right sidebar. I'm available...

The 2012 European Championship finished about a week and a half ago (for those who missed it or have short memories, it was won by Dmitry Jakovenko), but there were so many great games there that it's worth presenting a selection even at this relatively late date. So without any further ado, here are 13 games from rounds 4-11 that caught my eye. The first twelve are annotated in full or at least...

For my taste, there's little in chess that exceeds a good endgame study when it comes to combining aesthetics and training. Here's a simple study that is extremely easy to goof up if it arose in an actual game: Grinfeld 1903, White to move and win. The solution is here. (HT: CEWN)

(Not literally, of course - ubiquity properly speaking belongs to God alone. And while we're in that ballpark, happy belated Easter to my non-Orthodox readers, and happy upcoming Easter to the Orthodox!) Ken Regan is a mostly retired IM, a highly active computer science professional, and - best of all - a regular reader of and commenter on this blog. He has found areas of intersection on the...

For all Boris Gelfand's many virtues as a chess player and sportsman, being in great physical condition doesn't seem to be among them. Nevertheless, like many a world championship candidate before him, he has undertaken a serious regimen that includes conditioning, and this report (HT: Brian Karen) mentions one fascinating aspect of his preparation: altitude training! The thought is that training...

So says Peter Zhdanov (HT: Brian Karen). The context was Hikaru Nakamura implicitly but obviously tweeting that Fabiano Caruana was cherry picking by playing in the Reyjkjavik Open, looking for easy rating points. So said Nakamura when Caruana passed him on the live rating list, although when in a subsequent open event Caruana fell back Nakamura didn't change his tune. Now, however, Nakamura...

...and blog, and blog, and blog: here we go!

Έχουμε ξαναμιλήσει για την αιώνια μάχη αυτών των δύο κομματιώνστο σκάκι. Φυσικά εάν αυτά τα δύο κομμάτια συνεργαστούν μπορούν να πετύχουν εξαιρετικάπράγματα, μπορούν να κάνουν μέχρι και...

The 4th International Grandmasters’ Tournament the Lublin Union Memorial is set to take place from 23rd to 29th May in Lublin, Poland. Ten players are lined for the round robin tournament which will be an Ukrainian-Polish matter or business as each country is represented with five participants. The tournament is organized by the Lublin Chess [...]