The news that AlphaZero annihilated Stockfish after practising chess for just 4 hours should give us pause for thought. Humanity basically lost the battle against computers when Garry Kasparov went down against Deep Blue, but now things have moved to a totally different level. I suspect that it could play a simultaneous display against the […]

Αύγουστος του 1974, ξενοδοχείο Birger-Jarl στη Στοκχόλμη. Πρώτο παγκόσμιο πρωτάθλημα σκακιστικών υπολογιστών. Ελβετικό τεσσάρων γύρων, με 13 υπολογιστές από 8 χώρες. Στη φωτογραφία αριστερά ο Αμερικανός Άλαν Μπέισλι χειριστής...

Robert Houdart speaks about a possible match with AlphaZero

Η ιδιαίτερα δραστήρια Σκακιστική Σχολή Γαλανός εδρεύει στην Κυψέλη και σε σύντομο διάστημα από την ίδρυσή της εξελίσσεται σε σκακιστικό κέντρο με πλήθος εκδηλώσεων. Σημαντικό είναι και το σεμινάριο που διοργανώνει...

Komodo takes the silver, Stockfish the bronze

The 1st English Correspondence Chess Championship Final 2017, which started on 31/03/17, has now had 60 of the 105 games completed. The leading scores so far are myself with 6.5 / 12 (+1 =11 -0), CCE Stan Grayland with 5.5 / 11 (+1 =9 -1) and SIM Alan Rawlings with 5.5 / 11 (+0 =11 […]

The day before the rest day saw a lot of action in London Chess Classic. Once again, only Fabiano Caruana emerged victorious and extended his lead to a full point. Magnus Carlsen’s five-and-a-half-hour struggle against Wesley So did not yield the result he was looking for, giving Caruana a full point lead over the rest [...]

It’s the end of the world as we know it It’s the end of the world as we know it It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine. (R.E.M.) Μια πολύ σημαντική είδηση σαρώνει από χτες όλα τα μεγάλα σάιτ και το ενδιαφέρον της υπερβαίνει κατά πολύ τις κοινές […]

(φωτ. αρχείου) Η εκδήλωση που συνδύαζε σκάκι, σύντομη ματιά του σύμπαντος και αστρονομική παρατήρηση με τηλεσκόπιο απευθυνόταν στα παιδιά που προπονούνται στην Σκακιστική Ακαδημία του Σ.Π.Ζ.Κέρκυρας, αλλά τελικά...

We all know that analyzing our chess game is very important for making progress. But how exactly should this be done? 1. Analysing Other Peoples’ Games: Do this just with a board, pieces, pen and paper. Of course you can use chess programs but I am a bit old fashioned about this. When you physically […]

After four rounds, there is finally a clear leader! Fabiano Caruana spilled first blood by defeating Sergey Karjakin in a complicated Sicilian. At the beginning of London Chess Classic, Caruana said he would be happy to come out unscathed after four games as he had three games with the black pieces. He now stands in [...]

Grandmaster Axel Bachmann from Paraguay announced his retirement from chess at the 3rd International Open of Patagonia which finished this Saturday in Neuquen, Argentina. Bachmann didn’t manage to defend his Champion title at the event which he considers as very important in his chess career, but he used the opportunity to declare his decision in [...]

The World Schools Individual Championships 2018 will be held from 20th to 29th April 2018 in Durres, on the Adriatic coast of Albania, under the auspices of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and the Albanian Chess Federation. All member national federations of FIDE and eligible players are invited to participate in the World School Chess [...]

Ο παγκόσμιος πρωταθλητής των προπολεμικών ετών Μαξ Όιβε υποδέχεται την πτήση που έρχεται από τη Μόσχα στο διεθνές αεροδρόμιο Σκίπχολ του Άμστερνταμ και τον παγκόσμιο πρωταθλητή Ανατόλι Κάρποβ ο οποίος παρά την...

“We are our choices” Jean-Paul Sartre More than a year ago I wrote an article on the same subject. You can review it here and that could help you figure out the solution to this puzzle as well. You could say “But this one has 2 extra pawns in it”, so let’s look into why […]