Malcolm Pein reports on the start of the 4th Final Masters which takes place in Sao Paulo and Bilbao. He takes a look at Levon Aronian's win against Francisco Vallejo Pons.

το Δ.Σ. της Ένωσης αποφάσισε στο συμβούλιο του Σεπτέμβρη να καλέσει Γενική Συνέλευση στις 22 του Οκτώβρη 2011 και ώρα 19:00 στη Ν.Ε.Π. κι αν δεν υπάρχει απαρτία στις 23 του Οκτώβρη 2011 την ίδια ώρα, στον ίδιο χώρο( Ν.Ε.Π. Χαραλάμπη...

Hi everyone. Just a very quick update to let you know I’m still kicking! Just in Northern Ireland at my parents’ place now but about to head down to Galway where I’m doing a simul this evening and then playing the weekender which starts on the Friday. Check previous updates for the links. I managed [...]

Η Ε.Σ.Σ.Π. προκηρύσσει το Διασυλλογικό Πρωτάθλημα Νέων έως 16 ετών για το 2011. Οι αγώνες θα πραγματοποιούνται κάθε Κυριακή το διάστημα 16/10 - 13/11.Οι ομάδες θα είναι 6μελείς και θα αγωνιστούν σε ελβετικό σύστημα 5 γύρων.Οι...

Ο ΑΣΟ Ναυπάκτου «Έπαχτος» στο πλαίσιο του εορτασμού της Ναυμαχίας της Ναυπάκτου διοργανώνει σε συνεργασία με την Ε.Σ.Σ.Π. , το 3ο τουρνουά σκακιού blitz με την ονομασία «Lepanto», στο «Φετιχέ Τζαμί» στο Λιμάνι Ναυπάκτου.Οι...

The exquisitely talented Hungarian GM, Andras Adorjan, would probably have gone much further had he not been such a perfectionist. In this game his Queen’s Indian Defence goes badly wrong and he only escapes by the skin of his teeth. Garry Kasparov subsequently hired Adorjan as an ‘ideas man’, a move which helped him emerge [...]

4th Final Masters Round 3 report. Magnus Carlsen suffered a shocking loss when he overlooked a simple tactic after blowing a winning position against Francisco Vallejo Pons. As I said at the start of the event "The time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves then 60 minutes and 10 seconds per move for the rest seems calculated to produce more decisive, if not necessarily better, games." Carlsen...

4th Final Masters Round 3 report. Magnus Carlsen suffered a shocking loss when he overlooked a simple tactic after blowing a winning position against Francisco Vallejo Pons. As I said at the start of the event "The time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves then 60 minutes and 10 seconds per move for the rest seems calculated to produce more decisive, if not necessarily better, games." Carlsen...

Η πλατεία Ομονοίας, σε φωτογραφία της δεκαετίας του 1890. Στις 4 Αυγούστου 2011, το (γενικά) αξιόπιστο site chessgames.com δημοσίευσε στη στήλη “game of the day” μια παρτίδα που εικάζεται ότι έχει παιχτεί με αλληλογραφία μεταξύ των...

As usual, Francisco Vallejo Pons was involved in a decisive game, and most of the way he was following the script. He lost his first two games and was well on the way to losing a third game, but a funny thing happened on the way to the finish. Magnus Carlsen had plenty of time - at least for a while - to find a win, but didn't manage. Vallejo had just about equalized when Carlsen uncorked an...

Just came across this earlier today, on YouTube. It's not in TWIC, and while it's not against a professional player, his opponent is at least strong enough for the game to have entertainment value. Here's the video; the game score is reproduced below. Ghannoum vs. Kasparov 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. f4 b5 4. Nf3 Bb7 5. d4 cxd4 6. Qxd4 e6 7. Bd3 Nf6 8. h3 Qc7 9. Be3 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Bxd5 12...

Ας προσπαθήσουμε να δούμε ποιο είναι το σκάκι της Θεσσαλονίκης και ας σκεφτούμε όλοι αν η συνένωση θα οδηγήσει σε ανάκαμψη ή σε πλήρη κατάρρευση.Τα ενεργά σωματεία που συμμετέχουν στις διοργανώσεις της Ένωσης είναι...

Malcolm Pein's Chess in Schools and Communities appearance on BBC Breakfast has prompted an early day motion in the UK Parliament.

Malcolm Pein's Chess in Schools and Communities appearance on BBC Breakfast has prompted an early day motion in the UK Parliament.

No time to annotate or post the games, but after a quick look at some of the top boards I'd suggest interested readers have a look at Jakovenko-Gelfand, Tomashevsky-Ponomariov and Petrosian-Shirov. The first game was a nice endgame win by Jakovenko, demonstrating just how important activity in the endgame can be. The second was a brutal attacking performance by Tomashevsky, and the latter was a...