The Korinthia Chess Academy “Argonaftis” organized the 4th International Chess Tournament Isthmia 2014 on 18-25th August at the Alkyon Hotel in Vrachati, Korinthia, Greece. The tournament gathered 99 participants from 13 different countries, including 14 GMs, 3 IMs, 6 FMs, 2 WGMs and 6 WIMs. First place was shared by GM Evgeny Postny (ISR) and GM Hristos Banikas (GRE) on [...]

«Ο ουρανός συννέφιασε, ψιλή βροχούλα έπιασε» Όλα τα είχε η Μαριωρή, η βροχή της έλειπε. Από το μεσημέρι η κοιλάδα του Άαρ (ναι, ο γνωστός από τα σταυρόλεξα παραπόταμος του Ρήνου) καλύφθηκε από ένα λεπτό πέπλο υδρατμών...

It is such a pity to learn of the retirement of Grandmaster Judit Polgar, who confirmed that she is leaving professional chess at the end of the 41st chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway. This ended on August 14th; and with it, then, chess lost one of its strongest exponents and finest ambassadors. The reasons for […]

The opening ceremonies and such begin tomorrow (Tuesday), but the real action begins on Wednesday. It's a double round-robin with six great players: Magnus Carlsen Levon Aronian Fabiano Caruana Hikaru Nakamura Veselin Topalov Maxime Vachier-Lagrave The average rating is over 2800! More info about the Sinquefield Cup here.

Here's the website, and here are this week's pairings.

Whatever problems exist for the "men's" world championship, their cycle is at least reasonably clear and logical compared to the convolutions FIDE has generated for the women's world title. Sometimes the champion is determined by a knockout event, other times in a match between the defending titleholder and the winner of the Grand Prix cycle - or in case the champion is also the Grand Prix...

And in other news: ten is greater than five and Usain Bolt is faster than I am. Still, the story is more interesting and the match was closer than one might expect. In fact, the match between the latest version of Stockfish and Hikaru Nakamura (currently #7 in the world; more precisely the #7 human chess player in the world*) was quite close, the 3-1 score notwithstanding. It wasn't an even...

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. Official website

Όπως ξέρετε, συμμετέχουμε στο Παγκόσμιο Συνέδριο για την Σκακιστική Σύνθεση, που φέτος γίνεται στην Βέρνη της Ελβετίας.Φτάσαμε χθες αεροπορικώς με Alitalia (Αθήνα - Ρώμη με καθυστέρηση, τρέξιμο με την ψυχή στο στόμα για να...

The 75th Armenian Men’s Individual Chess Championship is taking place from 21st August to 4th September in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. The event is a 14-player round-robin tournament. Top seed is GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan (2582). Official website

The 5th International Chess Festival “Yaroslav the Wise” features a double round robin tournament of six European Chess Champions in the period 2009-2014. The participants are: Alexander Motylev (European champion in 2014), Alexander Moiseenko (2013), Dmitry Jakovenko (2012), Vladimir Potkin (2011), Ian Nepomniachtchi (2010) and Evgeny Tomashevsky (2009). More information here

Pairings and information

Να’ μαστε κι εφέτος στο πλέον σημαντικό γεγονός της χρονιάς για το Καλλιτεχνικό Σκάκι! Αυτή την φορά στην Βέρνη της Ελβετίας, χώρας που άμα ξαναδεί WCCC εμένα να με φτύσετε πατόκορφα, για λόγους που θα εξηγήσω στην...

The 5th International Chess Festival “Yaroslav the Wise” will feature a double round robin tournament of six European Chess Champions in the period 2009-2014. The rapid event with the time control 15′+10” will be held on 26-27th August at the Yaroslavl State Historical and Architectural Museum. The participants are: Alexander Motylev (European champion in 2014), [...]

The 21st Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival Masters Tournament is taking place from 20-29th August at the Abu Dhabi Chess & Culture Club in United Arab Emirates. The main event of the Festival is Masters Tournament for foreign players rated above 2000 elo and all Abu Dhabi players. After five round of play Russian Grandmaster [...]