Double Dutch Defense My opponent in this correspondence chess game lives in the Netherlands (Holland) and I played the Dutch Defense against him. That is like playing the French Defense against someone who lives in France. Although I dropped a pawn on move number 20, the game was fairly even. Both sides defended well and […]

Live games with analysis

This is the real secret of life – to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play. – Alan Watts Everyone is aware of the dichotomy of function in the human mind between the left brain and the right brain. […]

England’s Grandmaster (GM) Gawain Jones claimed the Dubai Open Chess Tournament – Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Cup after a masterful performance in Tuesday night’s final round at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. Jones, who also won the Dubai Open Blitz Cup last Friday, outplayed Russia’s GM Boris Savchenko to finish the tournament undefeated with 7.5 [...]

Η Ε.Σ.Σ.Π. προκηρύσσει τα προκριματικά του ατομικού πρωταθλήματος παίδων-κορασίδων ηλικίας έως 16 ετών για το 2016. Οι αγώνες θα πραγματοποιηθούν το διάστημα 3 - 7 Μαϊού στην Πάτρα σε χώρο που θα ανακοινωθεί σε λίγες ημέρες...

The third stage of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix series 2015-2016 was officially opened in the presence of the players, the President of the Georgian Chess Federation Giorgi Giorgadze, the President of the European Chess Union Zurab Azmaiparashvili, the Head of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Archil Khabadze, the Minister of Education, [...]

The Serbian Individual Chess Championship took place from 11-19th April, 2016, in Pirot. The event was a 10 player round robin with classical time control. GM Miroslav Markovic is the new champion after concluding the tournament with 7,0/9 points. Markovic was 1998 Yugoslav champion and world top-100 player in 1999, but he hasn’t played much [...]

Today we will see a typical way of breaking down a fianchetto formation. Here are some points to be considered while attacking fianchetto formation: 1) Try to exchange the fianchettoed bishop which will create a long term weakness around the opponent’s king. 2) Open up the h-file by advancing the h-pawn, sometimes you need to […]

The European Chess Union is organizing the European Senior Team Championships 2016 from 19th to 27th April at Anthemus Sea Resort, Halkidiki, Greece. There are two separate championships: category 50+ for players who were born in the year 1966 or earlier, and category 65+ for the players who were born in the year 1951 or [...]

The 25th Annual Eastern Class Championships will be held from April 22-24, 2016, at the Host Hotel at Cedar Lake, 366 Main St, Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The event has 7 sections: Master, Expert, Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D and Class E. All sections have either a 3-day (April 22-24) or 2-day schedule (April [...]

Russia’s Grandmaster (GM) Boris Savchenko picked up his fourth win in a row at the expense of Dutch GM Ivan Sokolov to grab the pole position with seven points heading into the final round of the Dubai Open Chess Tournament – Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Cup at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. Dubai Chess Open LIVE [...]

GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan of Armenia and WGM Ni Shiqun of China won the men’s and women’s gold medals, respectively, in the FISU World University Chess Championship held at the Khalidiya Palace Raihaan by Rotana in Abu Dhabi. In the final round, Gabuzyan turned back the English Opening of IM Marko Nenezic of Serbia in 65 [...]

Manufacturing passed pawns is a vital endgame skill, but there are a few subtleties which tend not to be covered in most textbooks. Take the position below, which comes from the fantastic new book by Matthew Sadler and Natasha Regan, “Chess for Life”, which I cannot recommend too highly. The obvious way to create a […]

Live games with analysis

Sokolov, Akopian, Jones, Savchenko have six points each British Grandmaster (GM) Gawain Jones and Russia’s GM Boris Savchenko caught up with the leaders after grinding down their respective opponents in drawn-out endgames in the seventh round of the Dubai Open Chess Tournament – Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Cup at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club. Sixth-round joint [...]