The Zurich Chess Challenge 2015 is scheduled to take place from 13th to 19th February, 2015, at the Hotel Savoy Baur en Ville, in Zurich, Switzerland. The super-tournament is a 5-round event with the classic tempo of play 120′/ 40 + 60′/ 20 + 15′ + 30″. Participants: - Fabiano Caruana (2820), 23 y.o., Italy - [...]

The 133rd MGU Open 2015 was held on 24-25th January, 2015, at Chess Club MGU, in Sofia, capital of Bulgaria and the fifteenth largest city in the European Union. The event was organized by FA Dimitar Iliev and Chess Club “An Pasan” in a 6-round Swiss FIDE format, open to all players rated below 2200 and it is valid [...]

11. INTERNATIONAL SOLVING CONTEST, 25 JANUARY 2015RESULT (Category 1)(country) :GREECE/ ATHENSM = male  /  F = female      0=wrong solution  “-“=no solution NAME Date of birth 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 TOT.Pts. TIME 1 TIME  2 TIME total PLACE Kourkoulos Arditis Stamatis 7/6/1998 5 4 0 3 2,5 - 5 ...

Games start at 15:00 CET

One of the greatest dangers of facing an unorthodox opening is psychological; it’s very easy to feel contemptuous of your opponent’s moves, or even insulted. And it has happened even to the best players, for example when Anatoly Karpov lost to Tony Miles when the latter answered 1.e4 with 1….a6. Magnus Carlsen manages rather better […]

The 38th Cardinal Open Chess Tournament was held on 23-25th January, 2015, at the Embassy Suites Airport Hotel in Columbus, Ohio, USA. The event had five sections: Open (FIDE rated, FIDE rules), U2100, U1800, U1500 and U1200. The playing format was 5-round Swiss with time control 40/120, SD/60 d5. A total of 183 players competed, [...]

January 15th was a great day for all chess enthusiasts attending the TataSteel Chess Tournament in the Telstar Soccer stadium. The event was packed with both beginners who were eager to learn and masters who were more than happy to help. Among the crowds some recognizable figures, like Chess Master and TV personality Hans Bohm, [...]

The 134th MGU Open 2015 is scheduled to take place from 31st January to 1st February, 2015, at Chess Club MGU, in Sofia, capital and largest city of Bulgaria. The event will be organized by FA Dimitar Iliev under the auspices of the University of mining and geology “St Ivan Rilski” Sofia,  Chess Club “An Pasan” and “Zora” [...]

It isn't Wijk aan Zee, but the annual open tournament in Gibraltar is an attractive part of the chess fan's yearly calendar. The web coverage is generally very good, and there's a nice mix of elite players and "ordinary" GMs that ensures a lot of fighting chess and plenty of interesting games every round. I'm not going to cover this event in the kind of depth I gave to Wijk aan Zee, but I'll...

The 2nd edition International Prize from His Majesty King Mohammed VI is scheduled to take place from 28th January to 4th February, 2015, at the Sacré coeur Room, 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 [...]

The Central Florida Class Championships 2015 were held from 23-25th January at the DoubleTree by Hilton Orlando at SeaWorld, 10100 International Dr., 32821. The event had six sections: Master/Expert, Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D and U1200. The tournament format was 5-round Swiss with time control G/120, d5. 125 players participated in the [...]

The January “Lviv Tradition” round-robin tournament is taking place from 27th January to 1st February, 2015, at the Hotel Nton, in the splendid city of Lviv, situated in western Ukraine. The event is a 10-player tournament with tempo of play 90′ + 30″. The participants are: WFM Osmak Iulija UKR 2419, IM Golubka Petr UKR 2399, IM [...]

The 2015 Azerbaijani Individual Chess Championship for women took place from 16th to 25th January 2015 in Baku, the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan. The event was a 9-round Swiss tournament with time control 90′/ 40 + 30′ + 30″. WGM Zeinab Mamedjarova emerged a clear winner with 7/9 points, leaving the nearest followers [...]