In a slightly tricky position, Leinier Dominguez missed a nice tactical shot against Le Quang Liem and lost in the final round of the 5th SPICE Cup in Lubbock, Texas. Had Dominguez won or even drawn the game - this was very possible - he would have been the winner. Instead, he tied for second with Georg Meier. In fourth place was Ray Robson, followed by Sebastien Feller (who was lucky not to be...

Iranian GM Eshan Ghaem Maghami was paired with Israeli FM Ehud Shachar in round 4 of the Corsica Circuit, refused to play, and was not only forfeited from the individual game but excluded from the tournament as well by chief arbiter Leo Battesti. Maghami has emphasized that this is not due to any personal problem he has with Israeli players; rather, his decision was due to the political situation...

A double round day meant not so much time to prepare and as my opponent seemed to play lots of different things I took it pretty easy. He chose 1…e5 and 2…Nc6. I decided to go for a Scotch and we followed the critical game Shirov-Kramnik from Wijk aan Zee in January. I deviated on [...]

I often get asked if blitz chess is good or bad for your overall game. My answer? It depends! On the one hand it can provide a lot of ‘experience’ in a short period of time, on the other it can cultivate skills (e.g. finding second best moves quickly) that are not necessarily appropriate for [...]

Άσκηση.Παίζουν τα μαύρα.Αριθμητικά ένας πύργος αξίζει περισσότερο από έναν ίππο. Ο πύργος αξίζει όσο πέντε πιόνια ενώ ο ίππος όσο τρία πιόνια. Αυτό είναι μια αναμφισβήτητη αριθμητική αξιολόγηση, όμως ισχύει πάντα στην...

Malcolm Pein looks at some game of Rafael Vaganian who turned 60 on 15th October.

Malcolm Pein looks at some game of Rafael Vaganian who turned 60 on 15th October.

Ο Ιρανός GM Εσάν Γκαέμ Μαγκαμί αποκλείστηκε από τη συνέχεια του όπεν της Κορσικής επειδή αρνήθηκε να αγωνιστεί κατά τον 4ο γύρο εναντίον του Ισραηλινού FM Εχούντ Σαχάρ. Ο Μαγκαμί διευκρίνησε στους chessvibes πως σε προσωπικό...

Apologies for not updating yesterday. I was simply too shattered after a 74 move game in the second game and only got back to the room at about 10.30pm. But let’s go in order. Round three I had Black against a Bulgarian IM, Radoslav Dimitrov. He played the English and I chose a sort of [...]

Just prior to the start of the Metropolitan International in LA this August, organiser Ankit Gupta treated guests to what would have to rank as the best ‘Chess Dinner’ I have had the pleasure of attending at Providence in Hollywood. We were lavished with a 6 course tasting menus with matched wines. A picture is [...]

The ever interesting Garry Kasparov talks about emotions on this clip and it’s good to see someone take the position that these should be integrating and accommodated in the decision making process rather than banished. Though for many players it is important to improve their sense of well being during a game. So it’s good [...]

Θα ήθελα να σας παρουσιάσω τα πιο αστεία βίντεο για σκάκι! Παρακαλώ καθίστε αναπαυτικά στην καρέκλα σας και απολαύστε τα! Ας ξεκινήσουμε με ένα ωραίο βίντεο από την εταιρία Pixar… Είναι μια εταιρία που ασχολείται με animation...

Από τον πρόεδρο του Α.Σ.Ο. Αιγίου, Κωνσταντίνο Μπούνια, και τον γενικό γραμματέα Αθανάσιο Νικολόπουλο έλαβα επιστολή που απαντά  σε σχόλια που έγραψαν επωνύμοι παράγοντες της περιοχής στο θέμα της...

A few days ago I was really amazed to see the following position as a puzzle in Chess Today: V. Onischuk - S. Dvoirys, Chigorin Memorial 2011, White to move. Why amazed? Because Shirov fell for essentially the exact same trap three years ago in Morelia/Linares 2008 against Radjabov. (The only difference is that Dvoirys's last move was 20...g7-g6? while Shirov played the alternative lemon...

Reader "lwh" was kind enough to email the following delightful game, played yesterday (Monday) at the Corsica Masters. The creative play begins on move 1 and continues throughout: Cheparinov,Ivan (2650) - Pesotskyi,Vitalii (2268) [B12] Corsica Masters 2011 Corsica/France (3), 24.10.2011 1.d4 b5 2.e4 c6 3.Nf3 e6 4.a4 b4 5.d5 Bc5 6.dxe6 fxe6 7.e5 Qb6 8.Bd3 Bxf2+ 9.Ke2 Bc5 10.a5 Qc7 11.Nbd2 d5...