Live games and information

Live games with analysis

Greek Grandmaster and champion Vasilios Kotronias is the winner of the Aegean Open Championship “Ikaros 2016”. Kotronias collected 7,5 points in 9 games. Despite the presense of many strong foreign participants the 2nd place went also to a Greek player, FM Stathes Gazis who gathered 7 points and continued his traditions of very good performances [...]

The 9th International Open Tournament of Paleochora is taking place from 20-27th July 2016, in Paleochora town, Crete. The tournament is organized by the Municipality of Kantanos-Selino, Chania Chess Academy, Region of Chania and Greek Chess Federation. The tournament format is 9-round Swiss and the playing venue is Paleochora Community Centre. The total prize fund [...]

Here’s a Bobby Fischer documentary that I haven’t seen before. I like the emphasis on Fischer’s dedication, the great key to improvement: Nigel Davies

Top-seed Fide Master (FM) Viktor Matviishen of Ukraine and Candidate Masters (CM) Omran Al Hosani and Sultan Al-Zaabi, the highest-rated Emirati players in the tournament, hurdled their first-round assignments on Wednesday as the rest of the top-seeded players took off to a winning start in the 14th Dubai Juniors Chess Tournament – Sheikh Maktoum Bin [...]

GM analysis of the key Stage 2 game

Someone once joked that Hans Berliner was only comfortable in a position where he was a rook ahead and on the move in an otherwise symmetrical position. So the endgame composers began to compose “Berliner Positions” in which White is rook ahead and on the move in an otherwise symmetrical position and … lost. Today’s […]

The seventh day of the IX Bilbao Grand Slam Masters Final has finished and Magnus Carlsen has taken one step closer to his third title in the tournament contended in Biscay’s capital. The world champion registered a draw in a marathon match lasting more than four hours against the talented young Chinese player Wei Yi, [...]

This article is aimed at beginners and pre-intermediate players only. Though, intermediate players may find it interesting. The pawn, the smallest chess unit, increases its value if it advances to the other side of the board with proper support. This is because of its unique power to promote itself to any other piece except the […]

Video analysis by GM Valentin Iotov

Επίδειξη σιμουλτανέ του γκραν μετρ Βασίλη Κοτρωνιά, με 16 νίκες (!), στην πλατεία Αγίου ΚηρύκουΜε νικητή τον πρώτο Έλληνα γκραν μετρ και πολυπρωταθλητή Βασίλη Κοτρωνιάολοκληρώθηκε το Ανοιχτό Διεθνές Πρωτάθλημα Αιγαίου...

GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan (Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture) and Adela Velikic (University of Belgrade) are the winners of the European Universities Chess Games, which were held in Zagreb/Croatia, 12-15 July in Pauk Hall. In the Open section GM Gabuzyan scored 8 points out of 9 games and convincingly triumphed ahead of his compatriot GM [...]

Teams of Israel in Open section and Ukraine in Girl’s section are the winners of the European Youth Team U18 Chess Championship 2016, which was held in Celje, Slovenia. Both teams dominated the competition and well deserved triumphed. In the Open event Israel defeated Austria in the final decisive round and won with 13 match [...]

As I am still several tournaments behind, this post will bring things up to date. The seventh London Classic was the strongest yet, it was quite an experience to play such an awesome 10 player event. Due to Grand Prix rules I got an extra Black, and the pairings decided I would start with two... Continue Reading