Magnus Carlsen suffered his first loss at the Biel Chess Festival on Saturday. With the white pieces Maxime Vachier-Lagrave held a small advantage for long, and eventually managed to break through the Norwegian’s defence with a pawn sac, to score the full point after 96 moves. Alexander Morozevich is just one point behind Carlsen after [...]

The International Chess Festival dedicated to the memory of Miguel Najdorf was held from 14th to 22nd July in Warsaw, Poland. 98 players competed in the Tournament A, which is valid for FIDE title norms, 134 in the Tournament B, and 50 in Tournament C for players born on 2001 or younger.

While he's still in clear first place - both in the tournament and on the rating list - Magnus Carlsen was given a reminder of his humanity today. All it took was Maxime Vachier-Lagrave grinding away for 96 moves! The variation 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 (disallowing the Sveshnikov) e5 (preventing White from getting a different Open Sicilian of his choosing) tends to give White a pleasant and safe...

Armenia extended their lead to two points after 6 rounds of the 8th World Team Championship in Ningbo, China. Levon Aronian's win against Pentala Harikrishna was the only decisive game in Armenia's victory against India. Russia against Ukraine saw all games drawn and the US drew with Hungary on the back of a fine win by Yasser Seirawan over birthday girl Judit Polgar, Zoltan Almasi leveled the...

The 1st Hangzhou Women Grandmaster Chess Tournament was held from 13th to 23rd July in Hangzhou, China. Ten top women players competed in the round robin event that is concurrent with the World Chess Team Championship in Ningbo, also in China.

The FIDE World Cup is a 7 round knockout with 128 players which will qualify the winner to the next World Chess Championship cycle. Not all eligible players are competing but the field is nevertheless very strong with many of the players who took part in the recent Candidates tournament competing. Top 10: Sergey Karjakin, Vassily Ivanchuk, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Ruslan Ponomariov, Vugar...

IM Malcolm Pein looks foward to the start of the British Championship in Sheffield with Nigel Short and Michael Adams. Armenia continues to lead after 5 rounds of the World Team Championship.

In August 2011, GM Mickey Adams will participate in the 1st Metropolitan Chess International to be hosted by Metropolitan Chess, Inc. at the Sheraton in downtown Los Angeles in the heart of the fashion district.

Today's round was a funny one, in that almost all the top teams drew, allowing Armenia to grow their lead by defeating India 2.5-1.5. All three draws in that match were hard-fought, but Harikrishna didn't have enough to hold Aronian. He played the Lasker Defense of the Queen's Gambit Declined, which is a good start for someone trying to be solid, but Aronian produced a fascinating new plan that...

The series on the "Quick" Ruy moves on, but our look at the Berlin ending comes to a close in this week's show. Rather than plow through all the theory on the non-...Kc8 lines, I highlight one particular approach that has seen some very high-level tests the past year or two, and that's 9.Nc3 Ke8 10.h3 h5. I survey the different plans available there and show how superstars like Carlsen, Anand...

Συνεργασία του inspirus Στο 39ο Διασυλλογικό Πρωτάθλημα που ολοκληρώθηκε πρόσφατα στην Ερέτρια, συμμετείχαν ορισμένα πολύ μεγάλα ονόματα του παγκόσμιου γυναικείου σκακιού: πρώτα απ’όλα, η Judith Polgar, η καλύτερη σκακίστρια...

The chess news has exploded this week with three super tournaments taking place at the same time. We’re catching up here and there, and we still owe you a final report about the strong opens in Leiden (won by GM Sergei Tiviakov) and Amsterdam (won by GM Dusan Popovic). Leiden The 5th ‘LCT’ (Leiden Chess [...]

            Στις 16 Ιουλίου ξεκίνησε το φεστιβάλ της Βιέννης. Περιλαμβάνονται σε αυτό αρκετά τουρνουά όπως: Τουρνουά μετρ, ανοιχτό πρωτάθλημα, σκάκι 960, πρωτάθλημα νέων, επιδείξεις σιμουλτανέ...

Here. HT: Chess Today