The ninth and final round of the FIDE World Chess Sharjah Grand Prix was played today at the Sharjah Cultural and Chess Club. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alexander Grischuk played a relatively short draw, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov used the opportunity to defeat Hou Yifan and join them on the shared first place. The final ranking was [...]

This video shows that everybody can blunder as Magnus Carlsen loses his queen with Qxg4. The fact that this was against an amateur was probably even worse, but it’s very heartening for everybody else. Sam Davies

I was saddened to hear of the recent death of Raymond Smullyan at the impressive age of 97. Smullyan was a mathematician, stage magician and concert pianist as well as a philosopher, but was best known as the author of many books on logic. He was also interested in chess and published two books of […]

Ο νεοσύστατος Σκακιστικός Σύλλογος Ζακύνθου σε συνεργασία με την ΕΣΣΠ και την Διεύθυνση Πρωτοβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης Ζακύνθου διοργάνωσε στις 18 Φεβρουαρίου το μαθητικό πρωτάθλημα για την περιοχή της Ζακύνθου.

The pin, at least as far as chess is concerned, is mightier than the sword! In the last three articles, we looked at a tactic called the fork. Like the fork, a pin requires that the tactician (you) keep an eye out for pieces that lie on ranks, files and/or diagonals. Unlike the fork, a […]

Σε αίθουσα του Capsis Hotel στη Θεσσαλονίκη θα διεξαχθεί από τις 4 έως τις 12 Μαρτίου το 66ο Πανελλήνιο Ατομικό Πρωτάθλημα.  Συμμετέχουν (με σειρά κλήρωσης): 1. Ν. Γαλόπουλος 2. Α. Κελίρης 3. Ι. Συμεωνίδης 4. Αντ. Παυλίδης 5. Ι...

This will be the first in a series of articles in which I will present several techniques to improve the calculation of variants. First of all I would like to answer the question that many students ask me: When is it the time to calculate? In general there is no exact answer to this question, […]

Chess openings tend to drift in and out of fashion apparently depending on spurious factors such as whether or not they have a strong player using them. A good example is the Raptor Variation of the Trompowsky which goes 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.h4!?, a one time favourite of UK GM Julian Hodgson which all […]

Many chess amateurs like to talk about whether certain openings are unsuitable because they don’t suit their personal style. They might additional argue that their chess style is something which very hard to change because it reflects their nature. I don’t believe in this at all and would like to explain my reasons. The formulation […]

The fourth round of the FIDE World Chess Sharjah Grand Prix was played today at the Sharjah Cultural and Chess Club. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeated Michael Adams in an aggressive display of the Queen’s Gambit Exchange variation. White got better out of the opening, but black has put up an inspired defence. Only in the time [...]

“Pay attention, we’re gonna ask questions later!” Buddy “Cloudy” Russo, The French Connection How many of you have seen The French Connection movie? Gene Hackman is front and center in it as detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle; together with his partner Buddy “Cloudy” Russo (Roy Schneider) they are trying to get to the main source of […]

The third round of the FIDE World Chess Sharjah Grand Prix was played today at the Sharjah Cultural and Chess Club. The top two finishers in the four-tournament series, which will also include competitions in Moscow, Geneva and Palma de Mallorca, Spain, will qualify for the Candidates tournament next year to select a challenger for [...]

Έφυγε απρόσμενα από τη ζωή η επί 36 χρόνια υπάλληλος της Ομοσπονδίας μας Πηνελόπη (Πίτσα) Πιτσιγώνη. Όλες και όλοι οι άνθρωποι του σκακιού την γνώριζαν, αφού επί τρισήμησι δεκαετίες συντέλεσε από τη δική της θέση στην...

Η Σκακιστική Ακαδημία Πύργου είναι η φετινή πρωταθλήτρια του προκριματικού ομίλου της Β Εθνικής μια αγωνιστική πριν την ολοκλήρωση του αφού με την νίκη της επί της ομάδας του Προμηθέα εξασφάλισε και μαθηματικά την...

I liked this game by Mikhail Botvinnik because he showed how to build a centre for White in the Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation. This is an alternative plan to the minority attack with b2-b4-b5. Sam Davies