The Chilean Women’s Championship is a 9-round Swiss tournament taking place from 6-11 February 2018 in Las Condas. Players receive 90 minutes for the entire game, plus a 30-second increment starting from move one. Starting list Chilean Women Championship 1 WFM Abarca Gonzalez Damaris 2031 2 Sanchez Soto Ana Isabel 2017 3 WIM Jorquera Cabello [...]

The FIDE Arbiters’ Commission has the pleasure to publish online the sixth issue of the Arbiters’ Magazine. We continue our effort to provide Arbiters all over the world with necessary knowledge and information coming from real incidents that happened during recent tournaments and thus making them better in exercising their duties. In this issue we [...]

The 16th Khazar Cup, International Chess Festival, will be organised from 27 February to 6 March 2018 in Anzali, Iran.The tournament is divided in 5 categories. The venue will be Anzali free zone. Top seeded players are GM Gadir Guseinov, GM Eltaj Safarli, GM Sergey Volkov, GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy etc.. live game with analysis will [...]

18th “Mediterranean flower” closed WGM tournament will be held from 24 February to 3 march in Rijeka. It will be 10 players round-robin tournament. Top seeded players are WIM Elena Tomilova, WGM Evgeniya Doluhanova, WGM Keti Tsatsalshvili etc… live game with analysis will be provided daily with the best chess software competing in the Top [...]

Bunratty International Chess Festival will be held from 23 to 25 February. The venue will be Bunratty Castle Hotel. It will be divided in 4 sections. Masters over 2000, Challengers 1600 to 1999, Major 1200 to 1599, Minor under 1200. Top seeded are GM Nigel Short,GM Gawain Jones, GM Luke Mcshane, GM Sergey Tiviakov etc.. [...]

Thanks to Forest Hall Chess Club, international chess is returning to the legendary Chillingham pub in Newcastle after a break of nearly 22 years – with the announcement that the Northumbria Chess Masters is to be held there from February 14-18, 2018. The tournament – a nine-round FIDE-rated Swiss – will have opportunities for international [...]

The seventh International Villach Open will be held from 10 to 17 February in Villach, Austria. Around 100 participants are expected. The top seeded players are GM Rui Gao, IM Jadranco Plenca, WGM Shigun Ni, etc… Starting rank No. Name Rtg 1 GM Gao Rui 2545 2 IM Plenca Jadranko 2463 3 WGM Ni Shiqun [...]

The 4th International Open Chess Tournament Vardaris is organized by Chess Club “SACH” of Thessaloniki and Cooperativa “Allostropos”. It will be held from 15 to 19 February. Playing venue will be Hotel Holiday Inn, Thessaloniki. Swiss System 7 rounds (accelerated for the first round only for A and B group). Tournament is divided in 4 [...]

I’m not a big fan of gambits in general but the Benko Gambit is one of a few that I do like. Black is not aiming for an immediate attack for his sacrificed pawn but rather long term positional pressure against White’s queen side. Here are some brief guidelines on how to play Black: 1. […]

Punjab Qualifying Chess Championship was held from 02/02 to 02/05 in Lahore. Zohaib Hassan Mohamed is the winner after 7 rounds. full standings Punjab 1 Zohaib Hassan Mohamed 6,5 2 Sadeem Lodhi 6 3 Mudasir Iqbal 5,5 4 Tahir Asghar 5,5 5 Ahmad Awais 5,5 6 Tanveer Ahmad Mushtaq 5 7 Nazar Hussain 5 8 [...]

“Everything in life goes back to the basics” Kron Gracie Material balance article was posted HERE Kings’ position article was posted HERE Pieces’ positioning was posted HERE Last but not least one needs to be aware of the pawn structure on both sides. Pawns are a bit of an uncomfortable subject for many a player. […]

The 16th International Chess Festival “Aeroflot Open 2018″ will be held in Moscow from 19th February (the date of arrival) to 2nd March 2018 (the date of departure). This major event is open to chess players of most varied qualification: from unrated to having a top rating. The festival is held “under the wings” of [...]

The 2018 Brazilian Championship is a 16-player knockout tournament taking place from 6-15 February 2018 in Rio de Janeiro. Each Match consist of 2 classical games (90′+30″ per move), if tied a 25+10 match follows, still tied another 3+2 match and finally an Armageddon game (5 vs. 4). With almost double the highest prize from [...]

Hong Kong Chess Championships is held from 01/08 to 03/26. After 4 round the leader is CM Pang Yui Kuen with 4 points. Selection of the 2018 Olympiad team will be based on this tournament. The top 3 shall qualify if they are permanent residents of Hong Kong SAR and members of federation. The winner [...]

International master Semen Lomasov with a brilliant result – 8 of 9 points – celebrates victory of the 2018 Moscow Open Men’s Cup of Russia. Before the last round a 15-year old chess player was half a point ahead of his chasers, and he managed to win over FIDE master Maksim Samusenko (Tatarstan) in the [...]