Transposing into rook endgames when material up can be dangerous because there’s a tendency for them to be drawish. This is why my Dad thought for a long time before exchanging queens in this game. The other interesting point is that he got his rook behind the passed d-pawn after which Black’s rook was forced […]

Ξεκίνησε το Σάββατο 17 Ιουνίου το 20ό Όπεν Ηρακλείου στο οποίο έχει ενσωματωθεί και το Ανοιχτό Πρωτάθλημα Αττικής 2017. Στον πρώτο όμιλο  ανάμεσα στους συμμετέχοντες οι GM Γιάννης Νικολαϊδης και Κρουμ Γκεοργκίεβ καθώς και...

Don’t worry. Although this might start off like a post on politics, it’s actually about something else. Most things, in my experience, are not about what most people think they’re about. If it really was a post on politics, Nigel, quite rightly, wouldn’t publish it. After all, this is a chess blog. In the aftermath […]

The Commonwealth Chess Championship 2017 will be held from 2-10th July at the Leela Ambience Convention Hotel in New Delhi, India. The event is organized by the Commonwealth Chess Association, All India Chess Federation and Delhi Chess Association. The tournament will be conducted as per FIDE Laws of Chess and FIDE Swiss System with 9 [...]

IA Zoran Bojovic and IA Branislav Suhartovic 292 pages, Hardback, 1st Edition 2017 Competitive chess is not only about presenting your chess knowledge and turning it into a full point or defending a position for 5 hours and then missing to claim a three-fold repetition just because you are unaware of the chess rules and [...]

A surprise of the start was a tie in the match Turkey vs. Ukraine: all four games were drawn.

Levon Aronian emerged winner of Altibox Norway Chess 2017 which was held in Stavagner, Norway from 5th-17th June. Aronian showed that he is in a great form having already won two tournaments this year (Grenke Chess Classic and now Altibox Norway Chess) and crossing again the 2800 line. Aronian was among the 10 of the [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his greetings to the participants of the FIDE World Team Chess Championships which is ongoing in Khanty-Mansiysk. The message reads, in part: “Hospitable Yugra Territory is famous for hosting chess tournaments at the very highest level, and it has repeatedly hosted the most prestigious among them. Now, for the first [...]

When beginners learn and begin to master the opening principles they often think, after the last basic principle has been applied, that it’s time to start attacking. While attacking is the crucial factor when it comes to winning games, launching into one prematurely can and usually does, lead to a weakened position from which one […]

The Opening Ceremony for FIDE Open and Women’s World Team Chess Championships took place in the capital of Ugra. For the first time in the history of chess, both events will be held at the same time and in the same place from June 16 to June 27, 2017. Grand opening ceremony was staged in [...]

The 11th Philadelphia International will be held from June 24-29, 2017, at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, 1201 Market St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event will be a single section with 9-rounds of Swiss system and the time control 40/2, SD/30 d10. FIDE title norms are possible. The total prize fund is $10,000 guaranteed: $3000-1500-1000-700-600-500-400-300-200, top FIDE [...]

Ο βετεράνος μετρ Ηρακλής Γεωργίου επιθυμεί να δωρίσει τα σκακιστικά του βιβλία σε συλλόγους. Επιθυμία του είναι τα βιβλία να δωθούν μόνο σε συλλόγους της περιφέρειας και κατά προτίμηση νεοϊδρυθέντες. Για περισσότερες...

The European School Chess Championship 2017 has started on 10th June in Budva, Montenegro. The short opening ceremony was held just before the start of the first round where the speech took the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro Dr. Srdjan Darmanovic who declared the Championship opened. The opening ceremony was attended the President of [...]

This game has already getting well known but it’s worth reposting here, Levon Aronian wins really brilliantly against the reigning World Champion, Magnus Carlsen. Besides the later fireworks the move 10.Bd3-c2 is worth noting, creating problems for Black as Peter Svidler explains: Nigel Davies

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