The Azerbaijan Women’s Championship was a 9-round Swiss open which took place in ACF in Baku from 18-26 February. The leader after 8 rounds Balajayeva made draw with white against Narmin Soyunlu,while WGM Zeinab Mamedjarova,who needed a win lost against Gunay Mammadzada. So in the end the winner is WFM Khanim Balajayeva with 6,5 points [...]

The Joy Luck Club (1993) του Γουέιν Γουάνγκ. Βασίστηκε σε μυθιστόρημα της Έιμι Ταν που γράφει με πάθος για το τι μένει και τι χάνεται ανάμεσα στις γενιές όσο τα χρόνια περνούν. Τέσσερις γυναίκες που άφησαν για πάντα πίσω τους την...

“Castle early and often” Rob Sillars An interesting article “When to Castle” has been posted a while ago by Hugh Patterson. You can review it HERE Castling is something we learn about from the very beginning and after we overcome the challenge of doing it correctly, moving our king to safety seems like a logical […]

The 11th edition of the international tournament named after the 8th World Champion Mikhail Tal will be played in the Museum of Russian Impressionism (Moscow), one of the leading private museums in Russia. The tournament is a part of the international programme implemented by Russian Chess Federation (RCF) together with the Charitable Foundation of Elena [...]

The 25th Annual Western Class Championships will be held from March 2-4, 2018, at the Airtel Plaza Hotel, 7277 Valjean Ave, Van Nuys, California. The event has 7 sections: Master, Expert, Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D and Class E. All sections have either 3-day (March 2-4) or 2-day (March 3-4) schedules to [...]

This new 48 page booklet is now freely available to download as a PDF from cis.fide.com. Chess – A Tool for Education and Health Booklet (PDF) In this new edition, we hope to disseminate throughout the worldwide chess community the benefits of education, health, as well as the use of chess in different social and [...]

The German Chess Federation in cooperation with FIDE and FIDE Events Commission is holding a seminar for the International Organizers from 22-24th June in Kassel, Germany. Lecturer is IO Horst Metzing and the lectures will be in German Language. Applications are accepted until May 10, 2018, to Olga Birkholz, Training Officer, olga.birkholz@t-online.de Regulations in German [...]

Seven rounds of the International chess festival Aeroflot Open 2018 are played in Moscow. The leader of the main tournament Vladislav Kovalev (Belarus) made a draw against Igor Lysyj (Russia). It allowed Amin Tabatabaei (Iran) to catch up with him after beating Krishnan Sasikiran (India). Kovalev and Tabatabaei have scored 5.5 points each. Vladislav Artemiev, [...]

Kragerø Resort Chess 2018 was held from 21st to 25th February. 52 players took part in the A tournament. The winner is the top seed GM Jon Ludvig Hammer with 7,5 points out of 9. He was leading during the whole tournament and deserved his title. Second is IM Bragi Thorfinnsson with 7 points and [...]

The 2018 Bunratty Chess Festival was held from 23 to 25 February. The venue was Bunratty Castle Hotel. It was divided in 4 sections. Masters over 2000, Challengers 1600 to 1999, Major 1200 to 1599, Minor under 1200. It was a record breaking event in many ways but mainly in having the highest number of [...]

Since switching to 1.e4 last November my most successful opening has been the King’s Indian Attack. My Dad has played this a lot and taught it to me by showing me some thematic games and quizzing me about what I should do next in certain positions. I think this is a better way to learn […]

Ο Αθλητικός Σκακιστικός Όμιλος Ναυπάκτου(ΑΣΟΝ 'ΕΠΑΧΤΟΣ') σε συνεργασία με την Ένωση Σκακιστικών Σωματείων Πελοποννήσου, διοργανώνει την πρώτη φάση του περιφερειακού πρωταθλήματος σκάκι μαθητών-μαθητριών Δημοτικών...

5th International Karun Cup was held from 17 to 24 February in Ahvaz-Golestan. The tournament was divided in 3 sections. Around 300 people took part in all the events. The winner is GM Masoud Mosadeghpour with 7 out of 9, followed by GM Shahin Lorparizangeneh and GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami with 6,5 points. final standings [...]

There seems to be a general misunderstanding, at least in this country, about what ‘chess in schools’ means. Let me try to explain. If you attend the Chess in Schools conference you’ll be informed about what they call Scholastic Chess. Last year it was suggested that Educational Chess might be a better term, as Scholastic […]

The Chilean Championship is a 12-player round-robin tournament taking place from 24 February to 4 March 2018 in La Prado. Players receive 90 minutes for the entire game, plus a 30-second increment starting from move one. Top seeded is GM Cristo Henriquez Villagra. Live games with analysis will be provided daily with the best chess [...]