The FIDE Women's World Team Championship takes place in Mardin in Turkey 17th-28th December 2011.

Viswanathan Anand has lost rating points in Bilbao, Moscow and London and has dropped to number 4 in the world. Malcolm Pein also looks a recent win from the Bundesliga from Nisipeanu.

The European Rapid and Blitz Championships took place in Warsaw 16th-18th December 2011. Hrant Melkumyan won the blitz event beating Alexey Dreev in a final playoff. Jobava Baadur won the Rapid event with 11/13. Sanan Sjugirov took silver and Robert Kempinski Bronze on 10.5 points after a set of playoffs amongst the players on that score.

After taking some time off from the "Quick Ruy" series, we resume with a look into the Open Ruy; in particular, the Keres Variation with 9.Qe2. Within this system I examine three lines. First, there's the interesting but dubious 9...g5. This can work against an unprepared opponent, but if your opponent knows what he's doing you might become road kill. The other two lines are in the main...

The full, original interview of Vladimir Kramnik by Evgeny Surov is in Russian, but there are some interesting excerpts on the Why Chess site. Worth a quick read.

After Hikaru Nakamura's recent comments about Garry Kasparov and the nature of their work together, it's not exactly earthshaking news to discover that they have ended their professional relationship. That's too bad for Nakamura, I think, but if he uses what he learned from Kasparov and puts in the work - at chess rather than poker or online bullet and blitz - he can vindicate his decision. And...

Η Ε.Σ.Σ.Π. προκηρύσσει τα προκριματικά του ατομικού πρωταθλήματος εφήβων-νεανίδων έως 18 ετών για το 2012.Οι αγώνες θα διεξαχθούν στο εντευκτήριο του Α.Σ.Ακαδημία Πέλοπος Πατρών κάθε μέρα από 26/12 έως και 30/12 με ώρα έναρξης...

Jan Timman was one of the world's absolute elite players from the late 1970s through at least the middle of the 1990s. At one time he was rated #2 in the world, and made it as far as a world championship match with Anatoly Karpov in the era of divided titles. He's also a terrific endgame composer, and putting it all together let me suggest that readers check out this brief summary of Timman's...

Here’s a clip from one of my most recent DVDs, Tricks And Traps In The Flank Openings. Don’t worry, I’m not going to try to sell it to you but a comparison with one of my early efforts (The Pirc) provides a graphic illustration of the value of Chi Kung! Please note that I don’t [...]

Ένα τουρνουά που δεν είχε να ζηλέψει τίποτα από τα συνηθισμένα που γίνονται από σκακιστές με πολυετή εμπειρία διοργανώθηκε την Πέμπτη 15 Δεκεμβρίου 2011 στην αίθουσα πολιτιστικών εκδηλώσεων του Ειδικού Καταστήματος...

Με επιτυχία ολοκληρώθηκε το τελευταίο αγωνιστικό ΣαββατοΚύριακο του 2011 για την Άνοιξη!!Το Σάββατο 17/12 η Σκακιστική Άνοιξη κατέλαβε την πρώτη θέση στην Αττική στο ομαδικό πρωτάθλημα ράπιντ το οποίο διοργάνωσε ο ΕΟΣ...

Με μεγάλη επιτυχία διεξήχθη Επίδειξη Σιμουλτανέ με το κ. Νίκο Σκιαδόπουλο στη σκακιστική σχολή ΣΠΖΚ Αχαράβης. Συμμετείχαν 26 αθλητές από το Θινάλιο Σύλλογο και τον Σύλλογο Παικτών Ζατρικίου Κέρκυρας. Μόλις 2 κατάφεραν...

Don't feel like waiting until Wijk aan Zee in mid-January for your next super-tournament fix? Good news: you won't have to! The annual tournament in Reggio Emilia begins December 27 and has a mighty lineup of all and only 2700s: Vassily Ivanchuk 2775 Alexander Morozevich 2762 (replaing Vugar Gashimov) Hikaru Nakamura 2758 Nikita Vitiugov 2729 Fabiano Caruana 2727 Anish Giri 2714 The double...

The original and full Magnus Carlsen interview is in Russian, but WhyChess has published substantial excerpts in English for the rest of us. Topics include his general approach to chess, how much - or rather, how little - he works at the game, and his essentially positive feelings about his work with Garry Kasparov. HT: Brian Karen

Η σκακιέρα και στο «A shot in the dark» (ελληνικός τίτλος: «Λαγωνικό εικοσιτεσσάρων καρατίων»).  Ο οδηγός ενός πολυεκατομμυριούχου δολοφονείται και ο πρώτος που βρίσκεται στον τόπο του εγκλήματος είναι ο επιθεωρητής Κλουζό...