WGM Sabina-Francesca Foisor is the 2017 US Women’s Champion and GM Alex Yermolinsky has written a very nice piece about it HERE.  Her result is remarkable, a true tribute in the memory of her mom IM Cristina Adela Foisor who passed away in January, right before the Women’s World Championship 2017 in Tehran she qualified […]

The picturesque beach of Kerame (close to Aghios Kirykos) during sunrise.This year is special for “Ikaros” since the tournament completes 40 consecutive editions spanning over five different decades! The event that commenced as a friendly tournament between local and invited players grew to become the most traditional summer open tournament in Greece attracting every year many Greek and...

Το λιμάνι του Αγίου Κηρύκου από ψηλά Η φετινή χρονιά είναι ξεχωριστή για τον “Ίκαρο” καθώς φέτος οι εκδηλώσεις συμπληρώνουν 40 (!) χρόνια συνεχούς παρουσίας στα σκακιστικά δρώμενα! Οι εκδηλώσεις που ξεκίνησαν το 1978 σαν...

The winner of 2015 and 2016 is also on top in 2017 again – on the final day, the American Hikaru Nakamura again showed his outstanding class and won the Blitz tournament half a point ahead of the Indian Viswanathan Anand and a full point ahead of Ian Nepomniachtchi, who had shared first place with [...]

The 44th Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez de La Roda was organized by the Club Polideportivo de La Roda from 12-16th April, 2017 at La Caja Blanca in La Roda, Albacete, Spain. International Masters Jose Angel Guerra Mendez (Cuba) and Juan Luis Ramiro Ovejero (Spain) excelled in the field of 263 players with 12 Grandmasters to [...]

The 63rd Open Chess Championship of Mexico was held from 11-16th April at the Hotel Radisson Poliforum, León, Guanajuato. More than 1300 players competed in the various age and elo sections. The main open event had 151 participants. Grandmaster Emilio Cordova from Peru emerged clear winner with 7,5/9 points. Official website Final standings: 1 GM [...]

Here’s a pawn endgame that I found very interesting. At first it looks as if it should be winning for Black but he doesn’t have a reserve move to get the opposition and his surviving b-pawn will not be on the 5th rank. Sam Davies

The 18th Karpov Poikovsky Tournament is set to take place from 18-27th April at the Sports School “Neptune” in Poikovsky, Nefteyugansk Ugra, Russia. The round robin tournament with ten players has the average elo of 2679. The event will be visited by Anatoly Karpov, Sergey Karjakin and Olympic boxing champion Vyacheslav Yanovsky. Participants: Ernesto Inarkiev [...]

Round 2 was a good day in our family as we scored 2/2. Unfortunately in Round 3 we didn’t do so well with Gawain playing GM Alan Pichot again and I played our friend IM Lorin D’Costa, one of four English players here! There was a 750 rating points difference between my opponents between the […]

Two articles about education caught my eye recently. The first one concerned science education, and asked at what age children could be taught Scientific Method. You can read it here. Most young children enjoy science at school, particularly if it involves experiments producing bangs or smells. At one level science is about understanding how the […]

The 35th International Metz Open was held from 8-14th April at the Complexe Sportif St Symphorien in Metz, France. Russian Grandmaster Vyacheslav Ikonnikov emerged clear winner ahead of Sergey Fedorchuk and Namig Guliyev. 73 participants competed in the 9-round Swiss tournament, organized by the chess club Metz Alekhine. The total prize fund was 10,000 EUR, [...]

Έφυγε ξαφνικά, χτες, βράδυ Μεγάλης Παρασκευής, ο Δημήτρης Πετσετίδης σε ηλικία 77 ετών. Διηγηματογράφος, σκιτσογράφος και ο γενάρχης της σκακιστικής ζωής της Σπάρτης, πόλης που κατοικούσε μόνιμα. Τα θερμά συλλυπητήρια...

Four rounds have been already played at the 18th European Individual Women’s Chess Championship 2017 in Riga and six players are in the lead. Nana Dzagnidze, the sole leader form the previous round drew her game against Anna Muzychuk, which gave the opportunity for other contestants to catch her lead. Former World Champion Mariya Muzychuk [...]

Live games with analysis

The Dutch qualifier for the 2017 Dutch Chess Championship is taking place this weekend. It is a double round robin 4 player event with Friso Nijboer, Twan Burg, Koen Leenhouts, and Ruud Janssen. More information on Schaaksite.nl, you can follow the games live here or via your mobile phone with the Chess Arena phone application.