In Sunday’s round Vladimir Kramnik extended his lead to a full point in Dortmund. The Russian grandmaster defeated Hikaru Nakamura with the black pieces, while Ruslan Ponomariov had to be satisfied with a draw against Georg Meier. The game between Anish Giri and Le Quang Liem also ended in a draw. More later. General info [...]

The 2011 Turkish Youth Chess Championships are taking place in Istanbul from July 23rd till July 28th. The tournaments are being played under the Swiss system, 7 rounds, U-13 till U-18 age categories among boys and girls.

The World Team Championship is winding down, and Armenia is in great shape to win it all. They lead by a point and a half with two rounds to go - bad news for the other teams. Today they defeated the Hungarians 2.5-1.5, thanks to a Movsesian win on board 2. On board 1, Aronian held against Leko in a good illustration of what we might call the principle of one weakness. Aronian had an isolated...

Armenia is getting closer and closer to winning the World Team Championship in Ningbo, China. With two rounds to go, the team led by Levon Aronian is three match points ahead of China and Ukraine. Yasser Seirawan, who plays for the USA team, is in top form. The 51-year-old American crushed Judit Polgar in round [...]

Every week we present you an endgame study selected by IM Yochanan Afek: player, trainer, endgame study composer and writer. A week later the solution is published. Good luck solving! –> IM Yochanan Afek’s Official Website D. Gurgendize 2009 White to play and draw Next week the solution. Solution last week V. Vlasenko 2010 new [...]

Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2011 starts July 21st in Germany. It is a double round robin with GM Vladimir Kramnik, GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Anish Giri, GM Ruslan Ponomariov, GM Le Quang Liem, and GM Georg Meier.

World Team Chess Championship 2011 (aka WTCC 2011) starts July 17th in Ngibo, China. Today is the second round and games will be live with computer analysis. Join us for the WTCC starting 10:00 CET and also for Biel later at 14:00 CET.

Amy Jade Winehouse (14/9/1983 – 23/7/2011) Η Amy Winehouse "έφυγε" χθες στα εικοσιεπτά της χρόνια... Η ταλαντούχα μουσικός και τραγουδίστρια με εξαιρετική φωνή από την Αγγλία, δεν άντεξε την πίεση της φήμης και της δόξας και δυστυχώς πλήρωσε με...

Fabiano Caruana inflicted Magnus Carlsen's first classical chess loss since Nepomniachtchi in January in the 5th round of the Biel Chess Tournament. Caruana had the feeling that Carlsen should have been able to equalise straight from the opening but in the later major piece endgame was miserable for Carlsen and Caruana eventually broke through. Carlsen is on 10 points and Alexander Morozevich...

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave inflicted Magnus Carlsen's first classical chess loss since Nepomniachtchi in January in the 5th round of the Biel Chess Tournament. Vachier had the feeling that Carlsen should have been able to equalise straight from the opening but in the later major piece endgame was miserable for Carlsen and Vachier eventually broke through. Carlsen is on 10 points and Alexander...

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave inflicted Magnus Carlsen's first classical chess loss since Nepomniachtchi in January in the 5th round of the Biel Chess Tournament. Vachier had the feeling that Carlsen should have been able to equalise straight from the opening but in the later major piece endgame was miserable for Carlsen and Vachier eventually broke through. Carlsen is on 10 points and Alexander...

Vladimir Kramnik couldn't break through against Le Quang Liem and after a piece sacrifice had to give perpetual check. Hikaru Nakamura has tried to make some changes to his game to make the next step in his career but it isn't quite working, today his position went downhill pretty fast out of the opening against Ruslan Ponomariov and he lost in 41 moves. Anish Giri was almost held by Georg Meier...

Vladimir Kramnik couldn't break through against Le Quang Liem and after a piece sacrifice had to give perpetual check. Hikaru Nakamura has tried to make some changes to his game to make the next step in his career but it isn't quite working, today his position went downhill pretty fast out of the opening against Ruslan Ponomariov and he lost in 41 moves. Anish Giri was almost held by Georg Meier...

Vladimir Kramnik remains in first place, but the 100% score is gone after a draw with Le Quang Liem. Kramnik came out of the opening with an edge, but Le handled the middlegame well and Kramnik forced perpetual early in the second time control with a nice sacrificial line. Ruslan Ponomariov moved into clear second with his second straight win. He avenged his match loss to Hikaru Nakamura...

Ruslan Ponomariov won his second game in a row at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund, Germany. On Saturday he beat Hikaru Nakamura with the black pieces, and is now half a point behind Vladimir Kramnik, who drew with Le Quang Liem. Anish Giri defeated Georg Meier, who blundered in a drawn ending. More later. [...]