If you happen to be Alexander Alekhine your Alekhine Number is 0. If you’ve played Alekhine your Alekhine number is 1. If you’ve played someone with an Alekhine Number of 1, your Alekhine Number is 2. You can maintain a hardline view and only include serious competitive games, or you can take a more lax […]

FIDE elections are coming this October 3rd during the Chess Olympiad in Batumi. Despite being on the US sanctions list and responsible for the closing of the FIDE bank accounts, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is running for President again, with the official support of Silvio Danailov, who is investigated in Bulgaria for embezzlement of public funds in association with a fake “European Chess Union”...

The Open Internacional da Queima das Fitas 2018 was held from 27th April to 1st May at D.Luís Hotel in Coimbra, Portugal. The event is included in “Circuito Nacional de Clássicas” of Portuguesse Chess Federation and was organized by Associação Académica de Coimbra (Chess Club) with the support of the Portuguese Chess Federation (FPX), Coimbra [...]

Japan Chess National Championship was held from 29 April to 5 May in Tokyo. 45 players took part in the event. Before the last round 2 players had 9 out of 10. IM Shinya Kojima drew his game, while CM Tu Thanh Tran won against Ryo Shiomi and won the event with 10 points out [...]

The Prioni beach (located between Therma and Aghios Kirykos. Photo P. Tamvakos).The official announcement of the 41st Ikaros International Chess Tournament 2018 is out containing all the details about the tournament. It can be found here or can be downloaded in .doc or .pdf format.This year, despite the shifting of the tournament dates after mid July (which means that the room prices are...

Reaching 3300 ELO in just two months

The 32nd International Open Tournament Pula 2018 will take place 23-30th June at the Hotel Park Plaza Histria in Pula, Croatia. The 9-round Swiss event is organized by the Chess Club Pula and Croatian Chess Federation. The total prize fund is 5340 EUR. At the present 109 players from 16 countries are registered to take [...]

Άποψη του λιμανιού του Αγίου Κηρύκου από τον παραλιακό δρόμο προς τα Θέρμα (φωτό Π. Ταμβάκος)Κυκλοφόρησε η προκήρυξη του 41ου Διεθνούς Σκακιστικού Τουρνουά Ίκαρος 2018 στην οποία περιλαμβάνονται οι λεπτομέρειες της...

How much opening theory does the average chess player really need to know? Certainly nowhere near the amount book publishers tell us we need to know. Before you opening theory purists start screaming “what does some aged, long in the tooth guitar player who spent most of his career in a Bacchus induced stupor know […]

3:00pm 3rd May Beijing Time, 2018 FIDE women’s world chess championship match begins inside InterContinental Hotel Jing’an Suburb Shanghai. After 5 hours long contest, the challenger Ju Wenjun and the current champion Tan Zhongyi end up with a draw in this first game. In the opening, Tan Zhongyi chose the queen’s gambit accepted with black，that [...]

Άρχισε στην Σανγκάη το τελικό ματς 10 παρτίδων που θα αναδείξει την παγκόσμια πρωταθλήτρια Γυναικών.  Η  νυν πρωταθλήτρια Ταν Ζονγκί (26 ετών, δεξ.) υπερασπίζει τον τίτλο της απέναντι στη διεκδικήτρια Ζου Βενζούν (27...

4th International chess Bodensee-open is held from 5 to 13 May in Bregenz. More then 130 players are expected. Top seeded are GM Momchil Nikolov, GM Roeland Pruijssers etc… list of players 1 Nikolov Momchil 2 Pruijssers Roeland 3 Schlosser Philipp 4 Enchev Ivajlo 5 Henrichs Thomas 6 Milov Leonid 7 Bryzgalin Kirill 8 Sergeev [...]

48th International Chess Tournament „Bosna 2018“ is held from 5 to 11 May. Organizer is Chess Club “Bosna” Sarajevo. Playing Venue is Hotel „SARAJ“, Sarajevo. Rate of Play: 90 minutes per 40 moves, plus 30 minutes till end of game,with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. 164 players are expected. [...]

The Bamberg Open (Prof. Dr. Robert Pfleger Memorial) is a 7-round Swiss tournament taking place from 6-13 May 2018 in Bamberg, Germany. Players receive 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 15 minutes to the end of the game, plus a 30-second increment starting from move one. The prize pool is 10,000 Euro, with 1,500 [...]

The 53rd edition of the Capablanca Memorial is taking place from May 9-19 in the Habana Libre Hotel in Havana, Cuba. The elite group of 6 players honouring the Cuban Chess World Champion José Raúl Capablanca in a double round-robin with new US Champion Sam Shankland the top seed. Players receive 90 minutes for 40 [...]