The 3rd round of the European Individual Women’s Chess Championship 2015 brought about lots of surprises. The first seed and Georgia #1 GM Nana Dzagnidze (2570) saved the game against GM Elina Danielian (ARM 2458) and managed to draw with a perpetual check. (Note: Dzagnidze is not paired for the remainder of the event) On [...]

We have been sadly informed that Portuguese International Master Joaquim Durão passed away today, at the age of 84. Mr. Durão was the first Portuguese player to win the title of International Master in 1975 and represented the country in 10 Chess Olympiads. He was 13 times Portuguese Chess Champion and President of the Portuguese [...]

A FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar is going to be organized from 13-16 August 2015 in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, by the Trinidad & Tobago Chess Association and under the auspices of FIDE. The venue of the Seminar will be the Tennis Center of Port of Spain. The Lecturer of the Seminar will be IA [...]

A FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar was organized from 21 to 24 April 2015 in Blantyre, Malawi, by the Malawi Chess Association, in cooperation with the Africa Chess Union and under the auspices of FIDE. The venue was the Shire Highlands Hotel, in Blantyre. The Seminar was held concurrently with the FIDE Zone 4.3 Individual Chess Championships. [...]

Top rated German chess player Arkadij Naiditsch is set to change the federation and play for Azerbaijan in the future, Stefan Loffler reports for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Naiditsch is the only German player rated over 2700 FIDE and he defeated the World Champion Magnus Carlsen twice in six months. Naiditsch has long been at [...]

On June 20-28 the biggest world nutrition exposition will offer the chance to taste some “food for the mind” thanks to “Expo Milan 2015 Chess Move”

The 2nd round of the 16th European Individual Women’s Chess Championship 2015 finished on Wednesday without any major upsets. The first seed Nana Dzagnidze (GEO 2570) defeated IM Marina Guseva (RUS 2391), while GM Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL 2512) convincingly won against WGM Daria Charochkina (RUS 2391). Russian favourites in Chakvi, WGM Olga Girya (2479) and [...]

From 9 to 13 May 2015 a FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar was organized in Pattaya, Thailand, by the ASEAN Chess Academy, in cooperation with Thailand Chess Association and under the auspices of FIDE. The venue of the Seminar was the Dusit Thani Hotel in Pattaya, Thailand. The lectures were in English language. The lecturer was IA [...]

Fabiano Caruana, Peter Svidler and Sergey Karjakin won their respective games in the 6th round of the FIDE Grand Prix in Khanty-Mansiysk to occupy the top spots on the crosstable. Sergey Karjakin added another victory after the rest day, inflicting loss to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, the French Grandmaster’s third in a row. Peter Svidler defeated Anish [...]

90% of chess books you can open, read page 1, and close the book for ever.” – Polugaevsky In August, 2015 it will be 20 years since Lev Abramovich Polugaevsky departed this Checkerboard of Nights and Days. I’m currently reading  Grandmaster Preparation (Pergammon Press, 1981, ISBN 0-08-024099-2 hardcover 0-08-024098-4 paperback), Kenneth P. Neat’s English translation...

The 24th Croatian Cup is taking place from 20-24th May, in Bol, a town on the south of the island of Brač in the Split-Dalmatia County of Croatia. The event is a 6-round Swiss team event with an average Elo rating of 2223. Top seed is “Liburnija” Rijeka with members: GM Ivan Saric, GM Robert [...]

The 2015 Chinese Individual Chess Championship for women is taking place from 18-29th May, in Jiangsu Xinghua, a city under the administration of Taizhou, Jiangsu province, China. The event is a single round-robin tournament with the participation of: WGM Tan Zhongyi 2475, WGM Lei Tingjie 2449, IM Shen Yang 2449, WGM Ding Yixin 2433, IM Guo Qi 2424, [...]

Turkish IM Ogulcan Kanmazalp emerged clear winner of the 4th Open Internacional Llucmajor, that was held from 10-17th May at the Club Náutico Viejo de LLucmajor, near Palma de Mallorca. The 9-round Swiss tournament attracted 201 players from 32 countries. Among them were 27 Grandmasters and 26 International Masters. Ogulcan Kanmazalp finished on top with [...]

Το 58ο Παγκόσμιο Συνέδριο για Σκακιστική Σύνθεση (World Congress on Chess Composition, WCCC) και το 39ο Παγκόσμιο Πρωτάθλημα Λύσης Σκακιστικών Προβλημάτων (World Chess Solving Championship, WCSC) θα διεξαχθούν στο χρονικό διάστημα 01-08 Αυγούστου 2015 στην...

The 2015 Chinese Individual Chess Championship for men is taking place from 18-29th May, in Jiangsu Xinghua, a city under the administration of Taizhou, Jiangsu province, China. The event is a single round-robin tournament with the participation of: GM Ding Liren CHN 2757, GM Yu Yangyi CHN 2723, GM Wei Yi CHN 2718, GM Wang Hao [...]