French Grandmaster Andrei Istratescu is the winner of the main event of 9th Arad International Chess Festival that was held 6-12th August in Continental Hotel in Arad, Romania. Istratescu collected 7,5 points from 9 rounds, leaving a large group of followers half a point behind. The main event Railway Bank – Astra Open had 247 [...]

The 1st Yerevan International Open Tournament is set to take place from 1-11th October, 2016, at the Chess Academy of Armenia in Yerevan. The tournament is open to all Fide rated players and the playing format is 9-round Swiss system. The entry fees range from 50-160 USD and the total prize fund is 16,000 USD. [...]

   My opponent is an IM of the postal era - he was rated 2350 in 1993 - and have played hundreds of competitive Correspondence games. His transition to the computer era wasn't very smooth - thus the rating fall -and combined with his age, this put me in a position of technological advantage. There was no question however, that he was - and still is - the better chess player. I was...

After a seven hour day, the standings didn’t change and all ended in a draw. Wesley So is still leading with only two rounds to go, trailed closely by Vishy Anand and Veselin Topalov, who are both half a point behind. Unlike yesterday, which saw several tumultuous games, today’s round was rather uneventful, except for [...]

The Chess Club Brda, City of Split and Croatian Chess Federation are organizing the 6th Split Chess Open 2016 on 13-20th August at Hotel Zagreb in Split, Croatia. The tournament system is 9-round Swiss and the total prize fund is 7500 EUR with 1300 EUR reserved for the winner. Among the 192 registered players from [...]

This is more of a cautionary warning directed at chess parents and potential chess parents. I had an article written about the Scotch Opening all ready to submit, but a posting on Nigel’s Facebook page this weekend derailed my plans. What kind of social media posting could yield such power? A posting about a young […]

The rest day was exactly what the doctor prescribed, as the players were rejuvenated and came ready to fight. After three days of quiet games, Round 6 produced five exciting games and three decisive results. The most dramatic result of the round came when Wesley So beat Veselin Topalov, surpassing him by half a point and [...]

Question and Improve Your Chess I KEEP six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. I send them over land and sea, I send them east and west; But after they have worked for me, I give them all a […]

The 1st East Asian Youth Chess Championship has been completed in the city of Kangwon-do, South Korea. Something of importance was the South Korean Chess Federation President, In Suk Hyun, invited the North Korean Chess Federation to join the East Asian Youth Championships. The tournament had 14 countries represented from China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, [...]

From 12 to 16 July 2016 a FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar was organized in Tehran, Iran, by the Iranian Chess Federation and under the auspices of FIDE. The lecturer of the Seminar was IA Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh (IRI), FIDE Lecturer and Assistant Lecturer was IA Shohreh Bayat (IRI). The language of the Seminar was English, with translation [...]

From 3 to 5 August 2016 a FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar was organized in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, by the US Chess Federation and under auspices of FIDE. The Lecturer of the seminar was IA Carol Jarecki (IVB), FIDE Lecturer and Assistant Lecturer was IA Ken Ballou (USA). The venue of the Seminar was the Indianapolis Marriott [...]

The International Chess Festival “Terre degli Elimi” 2016 concluded with a closing ceremony at the conference hall of Palazzo Sales in Erice, Italy. The growth in participation in this traditional festival is expressed by 135 participants with a number of foreign players from 10 different nations. The main Open A concluded with three players sharing [...]

Women’s World Chess Champion Hou Yifan visited the legendary Vicente Calderon stadium where she attended training session of Atlético Madrid and met with striker Fernando Torres. Torres, who is very popular in Asia, presented the Chinese star with a club shirt with her name on it. Torres also said that he knows how to play [...]

The International Chess Festival Baku Open 2016, dedicated to the Independence Day of Republic of Azerbaijan, will take place from 17-26th September at the AF Hotel near Caspian Sea. The Festival is organized by the Azerbaijan Youth & Sport Ministry and Azerbaijan Chess Federation. The total prize fund is 25,000 USD and the first place [...]

1. P-Q4 P-Q4 leads to nothing. – Bobby Fischer I play much better than I did 30 years ago when my rating was higher. I depended more on memorization 30 years ago than I do now. Returning with White from 1. g3 to my love of long ago 1. d4 I find that I sometimes […]