Bay Area Chess announced that GM Enrico Sevillano has officially joined BAC as full time coach. He will be coaching exclusively for BAC at the enrichment programs and other classes, and joins a coaching staff at BAC that also includes GM Naroditsky, GM Chirila, GM Izoria, IM Aleskerov and IM Kavutskiy. GM Sevillano has won [...]

The second edition of the IIFL Wealth Mumbai International Open kicks off on Monday, 26 December. The main Open will have a Rs. 12 lakh prize fund and will be an international master/grandmaster norm event that will be played over nine days. Along with the Open, the IIFL Wealth Mumbai Junior International Chess Tournament—world’s richest [...]

Armenian Grandmaster Ashot Anastasian suddenly passed away on 26th December at the age of 52. Anastasian was one of the strongest players in the country, having won the Armenian Chess Championship eight times: 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1994, and 2005. As a member of the national team Anastasian had won two team bronze [...]

Live games with analysis

Live games with analysis

Japan and Singapore could bid for the right to hold the next World Chess Championship Match in 2018, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov stated for TASS agency. Ilyumzhinov said he will soon visit both chess federations and added that there might be a third candidate country from Asia. The bidding for the match could be very [...]

The 5th Torneo Internacional de Navidad Ciudad de Lorca is taking place from 26-30th December at the Hotel Jardines de Amaltea in Lorca, Murcia, Spain. The event is organized by the Club Ajedrez Lorca and will be completed over 9 rounds of Swiss system. 174 players from 22 federations are signed to participate, including 15 [...]

Provoking a weakness is often worthwhile even if it loses a tempo. Here’s a game I played at this year’s Manchester Summer Congress in which my 19.Nc5 looked as if it lost time but when Black drove it back with 19…b6 he could no longer defend the c7 pawn with another pawn. Black’s position started […]

The 26th Annual North American Open will be held at Bally’s Casino Resort, 3645 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, Nevada. The event has 7 sections: Open, Under 2300, Under 2100, Under 1900, Under 1700, Under 1500 and Under 1250. The Open Section is a 5-day tournament (December 26-30) with FIDE norms possible. The Under [...]

The 35th Annual Empire City Open will be held from December 27-29, 2016, at the Hotel Pennsylvania, 401 Seventh Ave, New York. The event has 7 sections: Open, Under 2100, Under 1900, Under 1700, Under 1500, Under 1300 and Under 1100. All sections have either a 3-day schedule (December 27-29) or 2-day schedule (December 28-29) [...]

It appears to by my turn for the Christmas gig this year, so I’m sure nobody will read this. You’ll all be far too busy opening your presents and stuffing your turkey to read internet chess columns, and quite right too. If you’ve been teaching chess (or, indeed, teaching anything) as long as I have […]

The 40th Zurich Weihnachtsopen will take place from 26th to 30th December, 2016, at the Crowne Plaza Zürich in Zurich, Switzerland. The Master Tournament (for players rated over 2000) and General Tournament (U2050) will each be played over 7 rounds of Swiss system. Currently top rated Grandmasters are GM Safarli Eltaj AZE 2691, GM Laznicka [...]

World Championship challenger Sergey Karjakin held a creative workshop in the conference hall of the Law Faculty of Moscow State University on 19th December. After opening the chess school with MSU, Karjakin became the regular guest at the University. The two-hour workshop was attended by more than 600 people. The audience questions were mainly regarding [...]

Chess was mentioned during the Russian President’s press-conference in Moscow. During the annual press-conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin answered a question about state support of chess and Sergey Karjakin’s performance in the World Championship match against Magnus Carlsen. “I don’t think I have the right to interfere the decisions of municipal and regional...

I spoke to a childhood friend last night for the first time in decades. He knew about my career as a musician. However, a great deal of time had passed since we last spoke and he had no idea that I had carved out a modest career teaching chess. We both played in our youth. […]