Veselin Topalov explains his thinking behind one of his favourite games, then answers questions from the audience. Official website LIVE games from Gibraltar

The 18th International Lienz Open will be held from 7-14th February, 2015, at the RGO-Arena Julius-Durst-Straße 6, 9900 Lienz, Austria. The biennial event is organized by the Schachklub Volksbank Lienz. There will be two sections: Group A and Group B (< 2000 Elo). Both to be completed over nine rounds of Swiss system. Social events [...]

As a chess instructor and coach, I spend a great deal of time studying the mistakes of my students, especially beginners, in an effort to help future students avoid making those same mistakes. Not surprisingly, these mistakes are common to all novice players and can easily be identified. However, merely identifying the problem does nothing […]

The 2015 Moscow Open – 11th International RSSU Chess Cup is scheduled to take place from 29th January to 9th February in Moscow, Russia. The total prize fund of the festival is 4,300,000 RUB (approximately 57,000 €), more information here. Top seeded players are:  GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian 2714, GM Lysyj, Igor 2700, GM Alekseev, Evgeny 2679, GM Sjugirov, Sanan 2678, GM Inarkiev...

The opening ceremony of the Moscow Open 2015 – RSSU Chess Cup, section H, was held on Friday at the Russian State Social University. The participants were welcomed by the RSSU Rector Natalia Pochinok, prefect of the North-Eastern Moscow District Valery Vinogradov, ECU General Secretary Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou and Tournament Director Alexander Kostyev. More than 700 [...]

Daily news broadcast featuring The Governor of Gibraltar HE Lieutenant General Sir James Dutton, Chess Festival Director Stuart Conquest and some of the top players including Sara Sadat Khadem-al-sharieh, Stephen Whatley and Pentala Harikrishna during the 2015 Tradewise Gibraltar Open Chess Tournament. Presented by: Tania Sachdev (IM) Special guest: Stuart Conquest (GM) Produced by: Georgina [...]

The 2015 Moscow Open B – Women’s Cup takes place from 29th January to 9th February, 2015, in Moscow, Russia. The total prize fund of the festival is 4,300,000 RUB (approximately 57,000 €), more information here. Top seeded are WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra RUS (2451), WGM Lei Tingjie CHN (2429), WGM Szczepkowska-Horowska Karina POL (2415), WGM Kovanova Baira RUS (2405) and [...]

As I’m interested in chess history I found the following documentary fascinating. Many people talk about ‘modern’ chess as if it’s cast in stone, yet chess has constantly evolved throughout its history. My take is that it’s now essential to experiment with other forms of the game to diminish the effect of that computers have […]

The 2015 Vladimir Dvorkovich Memorial, stage of the Russian Chess Cup Men 2015, was held from 18-26th January, 2015, at the Congress Hotel in Taganrog, Russia. The 9-round Swiss tournament gathered 82 players from Armenia, Spain, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia. Among them were 21 Grandmasters. The total prize fund was RUB 1,2 million. Talented junior [...]

The 2nd edition International Prize from His Majesty King Mohammed VI is in progress at the Sacré coeur Cathedral, in the splendid city of Casablanca, situated on the western part of Morocco on the Atlantic Ocean. The event is organized under the auspices of the Council of the Greater Casablanca Region, the Council of the City of Casablanca [...]

The Armenian Rapid Chess Championship 2015 took place on 24th January in Yerevan. 46 players participated in the 9-round Swiss event with the time control 10′+5”. Final standings: 1 GM Petrosian Tigran L. Yerevan – 7 2 GM Andriasian Zaven Yerevan – 6.5 3 IM Kalashian David Gyumri – 6.5 4 GM Sargissian Gabriel Yerevan [...]

The Zurich Chess Challenge 2015 is scheduled to take place from 13-19th February, 2015, at the Hotel Savoy Baur en Ville, in Zurich, Switzerland. The supporting programme features Sergey Karjakin who will be playing a simultaneous exhibition against the sponsors at the “Zunfthaus zur Saffran” on 12th February. A real gem will be the rapid [...]

Yi Liu has become the 2015 Australian Junior Champion after winning the Under 18 Open section of the Australian Junior Championship. He scored 8/9, conceding two draws on his way to first place. Kristine Quek is the 2015 Australian Girls Champion, winning the Under 18 Girls section with 6.5/8. Other title winners were Patrick Gong [...]

I was lucky enough and it gave me a great pleasure to be the first to witness this particular kind of mate!It's not like that this has never occured before, but the way it made its appearance left me completely stunned!You will understand what  I am talking about in a few moments!But let's take this from the beginning!One afternoon my good friend and extremely strong and creative playerGm...

The Cup of Akim Pavlodar 2015 is taking place on 28-30th January, 2015, in the city of Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. The event is a 9-round round-robin tournament with the special participations of 10 players from 4 different continents: GM Adly, Ahmed, Egypt (2684), GM Granda Zuniga, Julio E, Peru (2679), GM Jumabayev, Rinat, Kazakhstan (2591), GM Khalifman, Alexander, Russia (2588)...