Romanian WGM Mihaela Sandu (2300) maintains the lead at the 16th European Individual Women’s Chess Championship 2015 in Chakvi, Georgia. Sandu is definitely the biggest surprise of this year’s edition as she managed to score 5 wins in a row in a very strong competition. In the 5th round she defeated Georgian IM Lela Javakhishvili [...]

I’ve written many times about the problems facing junior chess here in the UK. Two weeks ago I considered GM Simon Williams’s critique of what’s happening at top levels of junior chess. Last week I looked at some contradictions in the public perception of chess. Today I want to highlight the one thing that is […]

In February 2014, a man on the Forbes list became head of the Russian Chess Federation. We took a pause and then invited ourselves to a meeting with 43-year-old Andrey Filatov. The billionaire invited us to the Chess Museum on Gogolevsky Boulevard, which had been restored at his expense. We looked around: Q: Is there [...]

Romanian WGM Mihaela Sandu (2300) takes the lead at the European Individual Women’s Chess Championship 2015 in Chakvi after 4 rounds. Sandu defeated WGM Olga Girya (RUS 2479) with Black pieces, and with a draw between IM Alina Kashlinskaya (RUS 2423) and IM Nino Batsiashvili (GEO 2473) she became the sole leader with maximum score. [...]

In the extremely exciting 8th round of the FIDE Grand Prix in Khanty-Mansiysk the overnight leader Fabiano Caruana lost to Dmitry Jakovenko, allowing Hikaru Nakamura and Leinier Dominguez to catch up on the shared first place. Nakamura defeated Baadur Jobava, while Dominguez held a draw against Evgeny Tomashevsky. In the other decided games Alexander Grischuk [...]

Every chess player has found themselves in a position so seemingly bad that it’s as if they were on a sinking ship. I say seemingly because often appearances can be deceiving. Beginners, who lack playing experience, tend to give up hope when hitting the smallest bump in the positional road. Of course, there are positions […]

The 34th Zalakaros Chess Festival was held from 14-22nd May, 2015, in Zalakaros, a town in Hungary, famous for its thermal bath. The event was organized by the Hungarian Chess Federation and Zalakaros city, under the patronage of Dr. Miklós Seszták, President of the Hungarian Chess Federation, and Mr. Ferenc Novák, Mayor of Zalakaros. Latvian player GM Igor [...]

The 10th American Continental Chess Championship is currently in progress in the Telecommunications Tower (ANTEL Tower), in Montevideo, the capital and largest city of Uruguay. The event is organized by the Uruguay Chess Federation (FUA), under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Montevideo Municipality and ANTEL Telecommunications company and at the end of the competition...

The 9th BPB Limburg Open 2015 is taking place from 22-25th May, in the Sports Hall Geusselt, in the town of Maastricht, capital city in the province of Limburg, in the Netherlands. Total of 430 players from 21 different countries participate in the festival. The strongest event is Open A, a 7-round Swiss tournament for players [...]

The scandal with the European Youth Chess Championship in 2013 that forced Vladimir Sakotic to resign from his position of MCF President might have much deeper implications than the breaking of the law concluded by the local authorities. The current ECU Board was asked to investigate a number of issues concerning the organization of the [...]

After a very successful first edition of International Etna tournament in Nicolosi (CT), in December, a new event – 6th International Terre degli Elimi Tournament will be held this summer from Alessandro Monaco and his chess club “Amici della Scacchiera” (Chessboard Friends) on the west side of the Sicily island in Erice. Three Opens, A [...]

The FIDE Events Commission is organizing the 8th Internet based FIDE Seminar for International Organizers from 22-25 June 2015. Successful Seminar attendees will be granted a FIDE IO Norm necessary for the FIDE IO title application. Applications for titles can reach FIDE office until 1st of July for the 2015 FIDE Congress in Abu Dhabi. [...]

The 1st Sivakasi Chess Sparklers (SCS) FIDE Rated Tournament took place from 17-24th May, 2015, in Sivakasi, a town in Virudhunagar District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The event was a 9-round Swiss tournament with tempo of play 90′ + 30″. Former Asian Junior champion GM Deepan Chakkaravarthy took the trophy in a 493-player competition. Deepan shared the [...]

They’re creepy and they’re kooky, Mysterious and spooky, They’re all together ooky, The Addams Family. Their house is a museum Where people come to see ’em They really are a scream The Addams Family. So get a witches shawl on A broomstick you can crawl on We’re gonna pay a call on The Addams Family. […]

The 10th American Continental Chess Championship is currently in progress in the Telecommunications Tower (ANTEL Tower), in Montevideo, the capital and largest city of Uruguay. The event is organized by the Uruguay Chess Federation (FUA), under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Montevideo Municipality and ANTEL Telecommunications company. The first two tables were occupied...