The 40th Guernsey International Chess Festival will be held on 19-25 October 2014 at the Peninsula Hotel, Guernsey. The Open Tournament – Sponsored by Intertrust Guernsey A Seven Round, FIDE rated, Swiss Competition, open to players of any grade Players with low ratings will be encouraged by the organisers to enter the Holiday tournament Time [...]

Τα δύο βιβλία της σειράς Σκακιστικά Βήματα που κυκλοφορούν σε λίγες μέρες στα ελληνικά από τις εκδόσεις “Κλειδάριθμος” φιλοδοξούν να είναι απλά και ευανάγνωστα ώστε να είναι κατάλληλα για τους αρχάριους...

When I was in my final year of high school, I played in the last tournament of my life before I returned to chess two decades later: I played in the 1987 Michigan High School Team Championship. I ended up winning the first board prize with a perfect score of 5 points, but I always […]

The mega derby of TCEC stage 1a

The 14th Individual IPCA World Chess Championship was held on 15-24th September 2014 in Banja Junakovic – Apatin, in Serbia. Vojvodina Chess Federation (SSV) and International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA) organized the event in a 9-round Swiss format with a time control 90′ + 30″. IM Andrei Obodchuk (Russia) emerged a clear winner on 7,5/9 points, [...]

Rapid games are great for opening news. ‘Grandmasters often prepare unusual opening schemes’, writes Alexey Kuzmin in New In Chess Yearbook 112 that was published this week. ‘Sometimes strange, sometimes dubious, often risky, but frequently concealed in them are pearls of creative searching. It is like an exhibition of avant-garde paintings.’ Kuzmin, who is a [...]

Zadar Open 2014 is scheduled to take place on 14-20th December 2014 at the Falkensteiner Hotels & Resorts Borik, in Zadar, a city in Croatia, situated on the Adriatic Sea. The tournament will be organized by the Croatian Chess Federation and Chess Federation Zadar and will be split into two Groups – Open A (9-round Swiss valid [...]

The exciting seventh season of the strongest computer chess championship TCEC is in progress and the reigning champion Stockfish takes the lead. The engine with modification 160914 has 3,5/4 points, followed by Gull 3, Critter 1.6a and Chiron 2 on 3/4 points each. Protector drew against Stockfish in the third round of the competition to stop [...]

Ένα πολύ σημαντικό γεγονός για την ιστορία του παιχνιδιού συνέβη πριν λίγες μέρες στο Σεντ Λούις των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών. Έξι κορυφαίοι σκακιστές συναντήθηκαν σε πουλ διπλών γύρων, με τον “χαμηλότερο” να είναι το...

Normally, I use books which advocate a step by step method in order to teach kids, but every kid is different and you can’t apply the same method to all of them. One day I came across the following sentence when I was reading Chess Fundamentals. “The first thing a student should do, is to […]

The PokerStars Isle of Man International Chess Tournament is set to take place from 4-12th October at the Villa Marina, Isle of Man. The event will consist of three sections: Master (9-round Swiss), Major and Minor (7-round Swiss each). Rate of play: 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then [...]

The 2014 FIDE World Chess Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand will be held on 7-28th November in Sochi, Russia. AGON has set a page for members of the media to receive accreditation and request assistance with visas and other issues. The Match will take place in the Sochi Olympic Village. AGON has [...]

Of all the chess books that I have decided to spend money on, (and there have been many over the years), those of the late Alexander Kotov (1913-1981) are among my most prized. His books, ‘Think Like a Grandmaster’, and ‘Play Like a Grandmaster’, although being rather ambitiously titled, give a great insight into the […]

An often overlooked aspect of getting better chess results is to have a thorough understanding of how the clock and time limit, not to mention keeping your score sheet up to date. I’ve lost a game because I thought the clock was about to add me some time on when it didn’t! And I lost […]

The Annual Women’s Tournament Satka Autumn 2014 is organized by Chess Club “Vertical” on 20-30th September 2014 in Satka, a town on the western slope of the Southern Ural Mountains in Russia. 32 female players are vying in a 9-round Swiss format. Top seeded are last year’s winner IM Anastasia Bodnaruk (2434), WGM Aleksandra Goryachkina [...]