The 13th World’s Youth Stars tournament, dedicated to the memory of Vanya Somov, is taking place from 19-30th May at the Palace of Culture KINEF in Kirishi, Leningrad region, Russia. The tournament is a 12-player, single round-robin event, according to the acting rules of FIDE. The tournament is valid for IM-norms. Participants: Chigaev Maksim IM [...]

The 24th Annual Chicago Open will be held from 21-25 May, 2015, at the Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel, 601 North Milwaukee Ave, Wheeling, Illinois. The event has 8 sections: Open, Under 2300, Under 2100, Under 1900, Under 1700, Under 1500, Under 1300 and Under 1000. The Open section will be played over 9 rounds [...]

The FIDE Zone 3.1 Championship 2015 kicked off in Muscat, the capital of Oman. The event is organized by the Oman Chess Federation from 17-24th May, 2015 and it was inaugurated by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The FIDE Zone 3.1 Championship for men is a 9-round Swiss tournament, headed by Iranian player GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (2558), while the [...]

A valuable resource to help us save endgames is stalemate. In this week’s problem, White is in big trouble. He has an extra pawn, but the good news stops there. The Black King is so active that it will be able to take all of White’s pawns. However, White can still draw the game. How […]

The Norwegian GM Simen Agdestein (2620) was forced to resign in a game against a 6-year-old girl. The young Like-Merlo Heliesen was named by her parents after the famous sort of grape used for one of the best kinds of red wine in the world. Anyhow, Like-Merlo proved to be more than gifted for chess, defeating [...]

The 16th European Individual Women’s Chess Championship for 2015 is taking place from 18-31st May at the hotel “Oazis Palace Chakvi” in Chakvi, Adjara, Georgia. The Championship is organized by the government of Georgia, government of Adjarian Autonomous Republic and Georgian Chess Federation under the auspices of European Chess Union. The championship is an 11-round Swiss qualification...

The 1st Sivakasi Chess Sparklers (SCS) FIDE Rated Tournament is taking place from 17-24th May, 2015, in Sivakasi, a town in Virudhunagar District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The event is a 9-round Swiss tournament with tempo of play 90′ + 30″. GM Karthikeyan Murali (2502), former under 16 World champion, GM Deepan [...]

The FIDE Zone 3.1 Championship 2015 is taking place from 17-24th May, 2015, in Muscat, the capital of Oman. The event is organized by Oman Chess Federation in a 9-round format with tempo of play 90′/ 40 + 30′ + 30″. Top seed in the Men’s Section is Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (2558), while [...]

Italian-American star Fabiano Caruana moved into lead in the FIDE Grand Prix in Khanty-Mansiysk by scoring a second consecutive victory. Today he won with black against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Serious home preparation of those players who had Black today resulted in three rather quick draws. In other three encounters White had initiative after the opening, and [...]

You will no doubt be aware of Schrödinger’s cat, which is simultaneously both alive and dead. It occurs to me that public perception of chess is full of similar paradoxes. Times journalist Tom Whipple, writing about Nigel Short’s views on women’s chess, chose to tell us the reason why he game up competitive chess in […]

The 3rd Cup Svetozar Gligoric 2015 is taking place from 16-22nd May, 2015, in Hotel Turist, in the Serbian city of Kraljevo. The event is a 7-round Team tournament headed by the team of “Jugovic” Kac with an average Elo rating of 2579. Top seed players are: GM Ivan Ivanisevic SRB (2657), GM Alexey Dreev [...]

The EnterCard Scandinavian Masters took place from 10-15th May, 2015, in Oslo, the capital and largest city in Norway. The event was a 6-player round-robin tournament with the average FIDE rating of 2627. The participants played 5 rounds in a classical format with 2 points for a win and 1 points for a draw, followed by 5 [...]

The 3rd Stein am Rhein Spring Open took place from 1-3rd May, 2015, in a palm garden in Stein am Rhein, a medieval town in Switzerland. The event was a 5-round Swiss tournament with tempo of play 90′ + 30″. Bulgarian GM Boris Chatalbashev emerged a clear winner with 4,5/5 points, leaving the nearest followers [...]

The 34th Zalakaros Chess Festival is taking place from 14-22nd May, 2015, in Zalakaros, a town in Hungary, famous for its thermal bath. The event is 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. The main tournament [...]

One of the thought processing skills that chess helps develop is logic and reasoning. It’s the understanding and employment of logic and reasoning that allows a chess player to determine the best course of action within a given position. The problem that many novice players face when examining a position on the board is not […]