The city of Sao Jose do Rio Preto in Brazil celebrated on March 19 its 160th anniversary with a number of festivities, including an open chess tournament. Federação Paulista de Xadrez, Confederação Brasileira de Xadrez and IA Ramon Arnal Carrasco Júnior organized the six-round Swiss event from 23rd to 25th March at the Rio Preto [...]

Την προηγούμενη φορά που είχαμε διοργανώσει αγώνες στο πρώτοδημοτικό της Ηγουμενίτσας και είχα βγάλει αυτή την υπέροχη φωτογραφία που βλέπετεαριστερά, είχα χάσει την φωτογραφική μου μηχανή… Όμως ο επιμένων νικά και...

Clear first, too, and he did it by defeating Laurent Fressinet, who was himself the sole leader coming into the final round. Jakovenko finished with 8.5 out of 11, half a point more than (deep breath) Fressinet, Vladimir Malakhov, Dmitry Andreikin, Ernesto Inarkiev, Maxim Matlakov, Viktor Bologan, Francisco Vallejo Pons, Yurij Kryvoruchko, Sergei Azarov, Evgeny Najer, Vladimir Akopian, Andrei...

The European Individual Chess Championship 2012 took place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from 19th March to 1st April, 2012. It is part of the World Chess Championship cycle as the top 23 players qualify for the World Cup. After 11 rounds of play, the 3rd seed Dmitry Jakovenko from Russia emerged the new European Champion. Congratulations! [...]

The final part which features some of the sadder aspects of Fischer’s later years. But frankly I’d rather let his games do the talking:   The following encounter shows another aspect of Fischer’s play, an interest in ancient openings and a willingness to revive them. Here he uses Steinitz’s ancient 9.Nh3 with great effect:

Δεν είναι αυτό που θα περίμενε να δει κανείς στο χώρο με τα εκθέματα και τα τρόπαια μιας εκ των ιστορικοτέρων ποδοσφαιρικών ομάδων του κόσμου.  Σκακιέρες στο μουσείο της Ρεάλ Μαδρίτης, στο στάδιο Σαντιάγκο Μπερναμπέου...

Η μοναδική συνέντευξη του Καπαμπλάνκα με εικόνα και ήχο που διασώζεται. Το 1935,  ο ολλανδός δημοσιογράφος Χαν Χόλαντερ συνομιλεί με τους γκρανμέτρ Όιβε και Καπαμπλάνκα για το ματς παγκοσμίου πρωταθλήματος Όιβε –...

Both are taken from recent blitz games on ICC featuring Hikaru Nakamura ("CapilanoBridge") - but both feature in games he lost. I'm not picking on him - he's an incredible blitz player - but his opponents just happened to find some nice moves, and in the first case, a really spectacular idea. Have a look.

FIDE have been convinced to move the Candidates tournament in London to March 2013. In a brief statement, the governing body published a new calendar citing a start date of March 13 2013. I am delighted they have seen sense.

FIDE have been convinced to move the Candidates tournament in London to March 2013. In a brief statement, the governing body published a new calendar citing a start date of March 13 2013. I am delighted they have seen sense.

We're still a bit more than a month away from the start of the Viswanathan Anand - Boris Gelfand world championship match, but it's close enough to start thinking about it. And it's time for the match site to show up, and so it has. You'll find player profiles, a summary of the players' main results (including links to all their previous encounters), the non-predictions of leading players...

Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran will spearhead the Indian challenge when the Indian team takes on Israel in a unique match spread over three days. An initiative of the All India Chess Federation under the aegis of World Chess Federation and with the support of Embassy of Israel in New Delhi, the event will be held at [...]

The 10th Annual Southern Class Championships are taking place from 30th March to 1st April, 2012, at the Wyndham Orlando Resort, 8001 International Drive, Orlando. The event has 7 sections: Master, Expert, Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D and Class E. All sections are 5 round Swiss tournaments with 3-day and 2-day schedules [...]

The penultimate Bobby Fischer day and another great clip:   In the following encounter Fischer takes a break from his usual King’s Indian to play the solid Queen’s Gambit Declined. And he

The ECU and Slovenian Chess Federation are holding the 11th European Senior Teams Championship, from March 26th to April 5th, 2012, in Rogaska Slatina, Slovenia. Entitled to participate are men from the ECU Chess Federations who shall have reached the age of 60 and women who shall have reached the age of 50 years, by [...]