Stockfish, Andscacs and Jonny tied for second

Today we will see a typical sacrifice on f6 (f3) in order to destroy a king’s pawn cover. Earlier we discussed the classical Bishop sacrifice and Lasker’s double Bishop sacrifice which had the same goal. Before sacrificing piece on f6 (f3) one should carefully evaluate the possibility of participation of his major pieces along the […]

The 38th Nezhmetdinov Cup started with the rapid tournament that was held on 29-30th May at the Central Chess School in Kazan, Russia. The tournament format was 9-round Swiss with the time control 15 min + 5 sec. GM Gata Kamsky took a clear first place with 7,5 points in the field of 107 players. [...]

On Tuesday Renault Russia company entered a partnership deal with the Russian Chess Federation. The papers were signed by Andrey Pankov, General Director of Renault Russia, and RCF President Andrey Filatov. According to this deal, Renault Kaptur becomes the official car of RCF and will be granted to the winners of men’s and women’s Superfinals. [...]

The 2016 Icelandic Chess Championship takes place from 31st May to 11th June at the Tónlistarskóli Seltjarnarness in Reykjavik. Twelve players with the average elo 2403 compete in the round robin tournament. Participants: GM Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn ISL 2580 GM Steingrimsson Hedinn ISL 2574 GM Hjartarson Johann ISL 2547 IM Kjartansson Gudmundur ISL 2457 IM [...]

The 2016 ICCD World Individual Deaf Chess Championships (Men-Ladies-Juniors-Blind-Seniors-Open-Blitz) were held from 17-25th May in Yerevan, Armenia. The 16th ICCD Championship for men saw 24 players play in a 9 round Swiss tournament. IMs Duilio Collutiis of Italy and Milan Orsag of the Czech Republic finished with 6.5/9 points, but Collutiis won the title on [...]

The Irish teams for the upcoming Chess Olympiad in Baku have been finalised. The Men’s (Open) team is as follows: Alexander Baburin, Mark Heidenfeld, Stephen Jessel, Conor O’Donnell and Colm Daly. The Women’s team is as follows: Diana Mirza, Alice O’Gorman, Poornima J.Menon, Karina Kruk, and Gearodin Ui Laighleis. ICU website Excerpt from the comment [...]

WIM Yuliya Shvayger (ISR 2415) took the sole lead at the European Individual Women’s Chess Championship 2016 after defeating WGM Zeinab Mamedjarova (AZE 2236) in the 4th round. The Israeli player is definitely a surprise of the tournament, starting as the 15th seed and emerging as leader with the rating performance of amazing 3091 points! [...]

Something the chess books never mention is the importance of the right attitude to the game. And the most important quality I know of is the ability to respond to failure in a productive way. The easiest way is to relegate the importance of the game so that a disappointment is deemed to have little […]

The 2016 Kadyrov Memorial rapid chess tournament was held on 28-29th May at the Olympic Sports Hall in Grozny, Chechen Republic, Russia. 130 players competed in the 11-round Swiss event with the time control 15 min + 10 sec. Grandmaster Adam Tukhaev from Ukraine took a clear first place with 9 points. Full standings below. [...]

2ος ΣΚΑΚΙΣΤΙΚΟΣ - ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΤΙΚΟΣ ΓΥΡΟΣ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗΣ 2016Για 2η συνεχή χρονιά, ο Σκακιστικός Όμιλος ΣΑΧ Θεσσαλονίκης διοργανώνει το Σκακιστικό – Πολιτιστικό Γύρο Θεσσαλονίκης κι επισκεπτόμαστε 4 από τα σπουδαιότερα...

The 17th European Women’s Individual Chess Championship takes place from 26th May to 8th June at the complex Comandor-Amiral in Mamaia, Romania. The Championship is organized by the Romanian Chess Federation, “Mind Games & Events” Sports Association, under the auspices of European Chess Union. After three rounds of the competition four players emerged as leaders [...]

The solution to last Monday’s problem is that White wins with 1. d3! a2 2. c4+ Kc5 3. Kb7 a1=Q 4. Be7 mate. Of course, Black can avoid checkmate, but in all other lines he cannot promote his pawn. This week’s position comes from a new training technique I have been experimenting with. I have […]

Οι σκακίστριες και σκακιστές που ανήκουν στο δυναμικό της ΕΣΣΠ και επιθυμούν να συμμετέχουν στα Πανελλήνια Ατομικά Πρωταθλήματα Παίδων-Κορασίδων 2016 θα πρέπει να υποβάλλουν δήλωση συμμετοχής έως 8/6/2016. Αναλυτικές...

A rapid tournament dedicated to the memory of GM Igor Kurnosov was held from 26-28th May at the congress hall of the World Trade Center in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk took a clear fist place with 9,0/11 points in the field of 143 players. The stage of the Russian Rapid Grand-Prix was organized by [...]