Cuba National Championship for men will be held from 2 to 10 February in Havana. It will be round-robin with 10 people. The top players are GM Yusnel Bacallao, GM Yuri Gonzalez, GM Reynaldo Ortiz, GM Yasser Quesada etc… Last year winner was GM Lazaro Bruzon.

The FIDE Arbiters’ Commission has the pleasure to announce the starting of the procedure for the 2018 Arbiters’ Awards. The requirements for the Arbiters to be awarded are: (a). to have obtained the IA title since 1983 (35 years of service as an IA) (b). to have worked as an Arbiter in at least three [...]

GM Levon Aronian is the winner in Gibraltar open 2018. 276 players took part in this tournament. It was traditionally the strongest open around with more then 100 GMs, including many of the top 10. GM Hikaru Nakamura was leading during the whole tournament and was on course for his 4th straight victory here. But [...]

The 8th HDBANK Cup International Open Chess Tournament will be held from 9th to 16th March 2018 in HaNoi, VietNam. The venue will be Army Hotel. The tournament will be divided in 2 sections. Master Category: for players rated above 2100 and women rated above 2000. Challenger Category: for players rated below 2100 or unrated. [...]

Here’s another nice video by Lucas Anderson, this time on Wilhelm Steinitz. Steinitz is worth studying so as to better understand the development of modern chess strategy. Nigel Davies

From 26 to 28 January 2018 a FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar was organized in Chennai, India, by the Tamil Nadu State Association, in cooperation with the All India Chess Federation and under the auspices of FIDE. The venue of the Seminar was the Royal Regency Hotel, in Chennai. The Lecturer was IA Prof. R. Anatharam (IND), [...]

Κείμενο: Ζωή Αναγνώστου Ο Σκακιστικός Όμιλος ΣΑΧ Θεσσαλονίκης διοργανώνει το Διεθνές Τουρνουά «Βαρδάρης». Φέτος λοιπόν, για 4η χρονιά φυσάει «Βαρδάρης»… που αποτελεί πλέον έναν άνεμο ανανέωσης, εξέλιξης και...

Chess Open Graz 2018 starts on 17th of February and lasts until the 23rd. It takes place in Hotel Novapark. The tournament is divided in 3 sections. A-tournament: open; B-tournament:

The International Chess Festival “Fajr Cup” will be held in Amol, Mazandaran, Iran from February 3 till February 10 2018. The tournament will be held at the ballroom of “Oxin City Center”, Amol, Mazandaran, Iran. Organizers are Mazandaran Chess Association under the auspices of Iranian Chess Federation (IRCF). The tournament will be played according to [...]

2018 Korea National Championship for Men was held in Seoul from 25.January to 1 February. Four people have shared the first place with 5 points out of 7.The winner is FM Martin Walker. the full standings here Name FED Rtg Pts. FM Walker Martin G KOR 2079 5 CM Kwon Sehyun KOR 2176 5 Kim [...]

Korea National Championship for Women was held in Seoul from 01/26 to 02/01. It was 10 players round-robin. WFM Wang Chengjia is the winner with impressive result 9 out of 9. full standings here. Name FED Rtg Pts. Wang Chengjia KOR 2033 9 Kim Yubin KOR 1729 6,5 Lee Seyeon KOR 1758 6,5 Dovchin Bolortungalag [...]

7th National School Chess Championship were held from 28 January to 1 February in KIIT University, Patia. The winners in all category groups follows. U7 boys 1. Rosh Jain 2. Vittanala Shanmuk Saish 3. Raj Jaivardhan U7 girls 1. Luxshana B K 2. Aarika Kapoor 3. Abhishree Deepu U9 boys 1. Priansh Das 2. Adireddy [...]

GRENKE Chess Classic 2018 will be held from March 31 to April 09 in Karlsruhe, Baden Baden. It will be the fifth edition of the super tournament. So far the event has had different winner in each edition – Viswanathan Anand, Arkadij Naiditsch, Magnus Carlsen, and Levon Aronian. The world champion Magnus Carlsen is expected [...]

GRENKE Chess Open will be held in Karlsruhe from March 29 to April 2. The venue will be Congress Centre Karlsruhe. The prize fund of the event 60.000 EUR. Grenke Chess Open is divided in 3 sections. A-Open (for Players national rating/ELO >1850) B-Open (for players national rating/ELO < 2000) C-Open (for Players national rating [...]

This was a game in our club championship. Ben looked to avoid theory with 1.a3. Nigel stopped at 9…Qe7 preferring 9…Re8. He suggested that the Queen can become a target on e7 to Nf5 ideas. Re8 may be better to prepare …Nf8-g6 and whether White plays e3-e4 or d3-d4, Black gets some kind of space […]