I have already discussed few checkmate patterns with rook and knight: The corner Mate The Anatasia Mate The Arabian Mate The Hook Mate In this article, we will see a drawing mechanism with rook and knight. Here is the basic pattern: This is just an educational example to illustrate the power of rook on d7 […]

A rapid event for Season 9 to start in September

The 42nd Chess Olympiad is scheduled to start on 1st September with a grand opening ceremony at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan. The team of 400 artists, choreographers, composers and support staff is making the final dry runs of the ceremony that is supposed to last about one hour. The designer of the [...]

Russian Grandmaster Dmitry Andreikin defeated his compatriot Alexandr Predke in the final round of the 23rd Abu Dhabi Masters to emerge clear winner with 7,5/9 points. On the shared second place are B Adhiban (India) and Bassem Amin (Egypt) with 7 points each. Full standings below. The 23rd Abu Dhabi Chess Festival 2016 was held [...]

Setting goals is a vital part of the improvement process but what should they by? The key is to set process goals rather than outcome goals, which is nicely explained here: What are some good process goals for chess? Reading particular books, learning particular openings and solving a certain number of tactical puzzles every day […]

The final ceremony of the European Youth Chess Championship 2016 with the participation of ECU president Zurab Azmaiparashvili was the dignified finish after ten days and 5843 games of chess. The medalists received cups, medals and material prizes. It was well deserved as they were the best of a record number of 1309 chess players. [...]

The 23rd Abu Dhabi Chess Festival 2016 is taking place from 21-29th August at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the UAE. After eight rounds of play Grandmasters Alexandr Predke, Dmitry Andreikin (both Russia) and B Adhiban (India) share the lead with 6,5 points each. Trailing behind the leaders are [...]

The fourth edition of the London Chess and Education Conference will take place on 10-11 December 2016 at the Hilton Kensington Olympia. As usual it coincides with the first weekend of the London Chess Classic held at the Olympia Conference Centre. The theme of the Conference is “The Didactics of Chess”. The event is supported [...]

The solution to last Monday’s problem is that White should play 1.Nd3. His plan is to launch a minority attack by playing b4 to b5. To help this plan, the Knight should be on d3 rather than f3. So it would not help White’s plan if he played 1.Nf3 as the Knight is not covering […]

While it was good to see the UK’s impressive haul of medals at the Rio Olympics, it did raise the issue of sponsorship. There are those who have expressed concern that while we’ve been providing welcome financial support for many sportspeople who were seen as potential medallists, other sports, and, more generally, sports at grassroots […]

From 20 to 24 August 2016 a FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar was organized in Polanica Zdroj, Poland, by the Polish Chess Federation and under the auspices of FIDE. The Lecturer was IA Andrzej Filipowicz (POL), Secretary of the FIDE Technical Commission and FIDE Lecturer, and Assistant Lecturer was IA Aleksander Sokolski (POL). Twelve (12) arbiters from [...]

A new adult student asked me for some good advice regarding the exploration of chess forums. I gave him a one word answer, “don’t!” “What do you mean don’t?” He replied. I diplomatically explained to him that while joining a chess forum could provide a conduit to a great deal of useful information, in most […]

The 2016 SPICE Cup Open, sponsored by Webster University and the Susan Polgar Foundation, is scheduled to take place on 17-22nd October at the Crowne Plaza Clayton Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. The 9-round Swiss tournament is open to the players rated over 2100 FIDE and will provide opportunity for GM/IM norms. Time Control: [...]

The 10th Mikhail Tal Memorial will be played in the Museum of Russian Impressionism (Moscow), one of the leading private museums in Russia. The tournament will be opened on September 25, 2016, and will become the sixth event of the Chess in Museums project. Avtodor Group of Companies will be a co-organizer of the 10th [...]

The 23rd Abu Dhabi Chess Festival 2016 is taking place from 21-29th August at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the UAE. After six rounds of play Grandmasters B Adhiban, Yuriy Kuzubov, Alexandr Predke and Dragun Kamil share the lead with 5,0 points each. Round 6 video courtesy of Vijay [...]