Fabiano Caruana amazed the chess world with his performance in the first half of Sinquefield Cup 2014. The Italian-American player starter the strongest ever closed championship with a perfect 5 out of 5, defeating every single opponent in the event. With his achievement Caruana emulates the start of Ivanchuk at Mtel Masters and is chasing [...]

In the sixth round of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Sharjah, UAE both Ju Wenjun and Hou Yifan won their games against Alina L’Ami and Anna Ushenina respectivly. It was a lucky day for the Chinese players as Zhao Xue also won today. Xue defeated Humpy Koneru, who suffered the third loss in the [...]

Here’s an unmissable documentary from 1986 that I found on Youtube: Nigel Davies

Καθώς το αεροπλάνο προσγειωνόταν στην Ζυρίχη, το πρώτο πράγμα που σκέφτηκα αντικρίζοντας κάτω από τα πόδια μου εκείνη την εκνευριστική, σχεδόν χειρουργική ευταξία χωραφιών, κήπων, κτιρίων, δρόμων και υποδομών, ήταν...

Το πρωί οι εκπρόσωποι (delegates) των χωρών συνεδρίασαν για τις τελευταίες αποφάσεις. Το επόμενο Παγκόσμιο Συνέδριο για την Σκακιστική Σύνθεση (58 WCCC) θα γίνει στην Ostróda της Πολωνίας από 01 μέχρι 08 Αυγούστου 2015. Η Οστρούντα...

My last two articles considered two possible reasons for running a junior chess project: to produce young people with a lifelong interest in chess and to identify and train potential IMs and GMs. There is a third reason which is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world: scholastic chess. This involves using chess as an educational […]

There were two decisive games and four draws in the fifth round of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Sharjah, UAE. The sole leader after four rounds, Ju Wenjun, was the first one to finish the game. Her opponent Batchimeg Tuvshintugs decided not to tempt the luck today and the players repeated the moves in [...]

The 31st International Chess Festival Conca Della Presolana was held from 20-28th August at the Centro Sportivo Comunale in Castione della Presolana, Bratto, Italy. The event was organized by the “Scacchistica Milanese”, historical chess club founded in 1881, Italian Chess Federation, and ScacchiRandagi. The Festival had five sections: “Master” tournament – 9 round...

The 136th Annual New York State Championship will be held from August 29-September 1, 2014, at the Albany Marriott, 189 Wolf Road, Albany, NY. The event has 5 sections: Open, Under 2100, Under 1800, Under 1500 and Under 1200. The Open section has either 4-day (August 29-September 1) or 3-day (August 30-September 1) schedules to [...]

The International Chess Federation (FIDE), the Brazilian Chess Federation (CBX), the Minas Gerais Chess Federation (FMX), the System X Schools Chess and Degraus Education System have the honor to announce the X World Schools Chess Championships 2014 (Individual) to be held in Brazil, in the city of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais state, between November [...]

Three rounds, three wins and a commanding lead: Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana has been unstopped in the 2014 Sinquefield Cup. The “lowest” rated players in the field, GMs Veselin Topalov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – officially, the eighth and ninth-best players on earth – earned full points in Friday’s third round, while the top-two players on the [...]

The pawn is the most misunderstood member of the beginner’s army. While the experienced player knows just how valuable an asset pawns are during all phases of the game, the novice player views them as expendable. In the eyes of an inexperienced player, pawns are on the bottom rung of the chess ladder for a […]

The 14th European Youth Rapid & Blitz Championships (U8-U18) are set to take place on 12-17th November at the Meriton Grand Conference & Spa Hotel in Tallinn, Estonia. The organizers of the Championship are the European Chess Union and Estonian Chess Federation. Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It is an internationally [...]

The 22nd Nikaia International Chess Open 2014 is taking place from 26th August to 2nd September 2014 in Nikaia suburb in the western part of the Athens-Piraeus agglomeration, in Greece. The event is dedicated to the National Resistance against the occupation forces from 1940 to 1944 and is played at the Cultural Complex “Manos Loizos” in a 9-round [...]

The 3. International Erfurt Women Grandmaster Tournament takes place on 24-31st August 2014 at the Radisson Blue Hotel in Erfurt, a capital city of the German Federal State of Thuringia. Georgian GM Bela Khotenashvili is a sole leader with 4,5 points out of 6 rounds. She won against GM Monika Socko (Poland), IM Ketino Kachiani-Gersinska (Germany) [...]