The March 2015 FIDE Top-100 Players List is once again led by Magnus Carlsen, who has 2863 ELO points. Fabiano Caruana (2802 ELO) is clear second with 61 points gap. Hikaru Nakamura (2798) came on third position after gaining 22 ELO points from Zurich Chess Challenge and Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival. Veselin Topalov (2798 ELO) is currently fourth, while Alexander Grischuk (2794...

The French Championships in Rapid and Blitz for 2015 were held on 21-22nd February in Nancy, France. The Championship was marked by record participation – 156 in Blitz and 220 in Rapid. The Blitz tournament took place on Saturday, and after 11 rounds Russian GM Vladimir Dobrov, and two French Grandmasters Vladislav Tkachiev and Christian [...]

Wesley So ‘will definitely participate’ in the 2nd Vugar Gashimov Memorial, according to the unofficial source close to the player’s management, and it is still not clear which foreign player will be replaced. Following the recent update on the Shamkir tournament, where it was believed that Wesley So cannot travel to Azerbaijan due to participation [...]

Last week I quoted with approval the dictum attributed to Amos Burn: “He Who Combinates is Lost”. Well, sometimes, but not always. Sometimes he who is too scared to combinate is lost. Sometimes he who is too scared to accept his opponent’s unsound sacrifices is lost. Regular readers will have seen the end of this […]

India and China will face off in a Scheveningen Match on four boards at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad from March 1-10. China has had matches with Russia and the United States and it is the first time the Asian giants will face in the chess board in such an exclusive Indo-China [...]

Champion of Azerbaijan GM Rauf Mamedov is likely to replace GM Wesley So, who is playing in the US Chess Championship until 14th April.

Στις 27-02-2015 έφυγε από αυτόν τον κόσμο ο ηθοποιός Λέοναρντ Νίμοϊ (Leonard Nimoy, 1931-2015) που είχε υποδυθεί τον Επιστημονικό Αξιωματικό στην τηλεοπτική σειρά Star Trek.Στην σειρά έπαιζε τρισδιάστατο σκάκι. (Στη φωτογραφία όρθιος ο De...

The 31st International Chess Open Cappelle-la-Grande is organized by “L’Echiquier Cappellois” from 28th February to 7th March, 2015, at the Palais des Arts in Cappelle-la-Grande, France. The event is a 9-round Swiss tournament with tempo of play 90′/ 40 + 30′ + 30″. Top seed is Chinese GM Li Chao (2728). Official website

A FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar and a Refreshing Course for Arbiters are going to be organized from 13 to 17 May 2015 in Esfahan, Iran, by the Esfahan Chess Association, in cooperation with the Iran Chess Federation and under the auspices of FIDE. The Lecturer will be IA Panagiotis Nikolopoulos (GRE), Chairman of the FIDE Arbiters’ [...]

A FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar is going to be organized from 25 to 28 March 2015 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by the Saudi Chess Association and under the auspices of FIDE. The Lecturers will be IA Shaker Alafoo (BAN), FIDE Lecturer and Assistant Lecturer will be FA Yasser Al Otaibi (KSA). The language of the Seminar [...]

Βιβλιοκριτική του Νίκου Ντίρλη Ο Ρώσος GM Igor Smirnov έχει γίνει γνωστός τα τελευταία χρόνια μέσω των πολλών προϊόντων που διακινεί από την ιστοσελίδα του chess-teacher.com και εμφανίζονται σε διαφημίσεις σε πολλά σκακιστικά site...

If you ever have a desire to create an instantaneous atmosphere of depression in a room full of eager chess students, say the following: “No matter how good a move seems, there is always a negative side to that move that has the potential to undermine your position.” That will instantly wipe the smiles off […]

ECU President Zurab Azmaiparashvili and Chessdom editor Goran Urosevic have met in Tbilisi for a long interview on several important subjects – development of chess, events organization, sponsorship, European Chess Union and Batumi Chess Olympiad. The interview will be published in two parts, with the second part coming up in few days. Q: Mr.Azmaiparashvili, you [...]

In a scenario repeating from the previous day, all games of the 11th round of the FIDE Grand Prix in Tbilisi were drawn. The longest game of the round was Giri – Dominguez, where each player tried to win and reach shared third place. After more than six hours of play, nearly causing the delay [...]

Grandmaster Igor Efimov (ELO 2390) has won the 2015 Monaco Chess Championship, which was held at the Monaco Chess Club, from 20-25th February. Efimov scored 5,5 points, the same as Karl Ribbegren (ELO 2202), but thanks to better tie-break, Efimov took the title. GM Algimantas Butnorius (ELO 2377) came clear third with 5 points. Svetlana [...]