As last week’s game showed, Nimzowitsch’s blockading knights were a great feature of his play. This week’s game sees a very strong master humiliated by the said steeds. After being landed with the doubled pawns, Mattison fails to seize the early chances to activate his position, even at the cost of a pawn, by c4-c5 […]

When an amateur defeats a super-GM, it's not only a shocking story but also grounds for hope. Even the greatest players can be upset, and in the case of Florian Armbrust's first round win over Alexei Shirov, they can earn it! The point did not just drop in the winner's lap thanks to a simple blunder; no, he played very well and won a nice game. (Maybe even more impressively, it isn't as if Shirov...

As has been widely reported, there were two deaths at the Tromso Olympiad, both occurring at the end of the event. The first was Kurt Meier, a 63-year-old player from the Seychelles, who died during his final round game. The second was Alisher Anarkukov, an Uzbek player who wasn't part of the country's national team but a participant on a special team for the hearing impaired. (Why being hearing...

The 89th French Individual Chess Championship for men is taking place on 17-28th August 2014 in Nimes, a city located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Cévennes mountains in Southern France. Twelve of the best French players are vying for the title 2014 French Chess Champion: GM Etienne BACROT 2720, GM Laurent FRESSINET 2717, GM [...]

The Amateur Chess Tournament Open Topusko 2014 was organized by Chess Society Sisak, Chess Union of Sisak Moslavina County and TEOS Zagreb at the Grand Hall of Hotel Toplica in Topusko, a spa town in Croatia on 8-15th August 2014. The event was a 9-round FIDE Swiss Tournament open to all players rated below 2301. The [...]

The 89th French Individual Chess Championship for women is taking place on 17-28th August 2014 in Nimes, a city located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Cévennes mountains in Southern France. Twelve of the best French female players are vying for the title 2014 French Women Chess Champion: IM Almira Skripchenko 2438, IM Sophie Milliet [...]

The Grand Asian Chess Challenge International Inter-Varsity Chess Championship 2015 is scheduled to take place from 26th to 31st January 2015 at the Tuanku Bahiyah Residential College at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, the federal capital and most populous city in Malaysia. The event is a 9-round individual Swiss tournament open to all [...]

The 2014 edition of French Individual Chess Championship for Veterans is taking place on 17-28th August 2014 in Nimes, a city located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Cévennes mountains in Southern France. Official website

It seems to me that you might have three reasons for running a national chess project for children. Firstly, you could run a ‘scholastic chess’ project, designed to use chess as an educational tool for young children, without any particular expectation that the children will go on to become strong players. Secondly, you might want […]

The 4th edition of Split Chess Open 2014 is taking place on 16-23rd August 2014 in Split, the second largest city in Croatia. The event is a 9-round Swiss tournament with a prize fund in the amount of 8.500 €. Top seed is Croatian GM Ante Brkic (2596). More information here

ZMDI Open 2014 is taking place on 15-23rd August 2014 at the Wyndham Garden Dresden in the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. The event is a 9-round Swiss Open with first prize in the amount of 2.000 €. Top seed is GM Ferenc Berkes from Hungary (2658) Official website

The 4th International Chess Festival Riga Technical University Open is taking place on 15-24th August 2014 in the Latvian capital. The event is a 9-round Swiss with a guaranteed first prize in the amount of 3.000 €. 212 players from 36 different countries take part in the tournament, including 35 GMs, 34 IMs, 3 WGMs [...]

In past articles I’ve talked about methods you can use to acquire an advantage during the opening and early middle game. We’ve explored some of these ideas, such as having a spacial advantage due to better piece activity or going on the offensive and attacking before your opponent gets a solid foothold in the board’s […]

The 20th Hogeschool Zeeland Chess Tournament took place on 2-9th August at the University of Applied Sciences in Vlissingen, Netherlands. The 9-round Swiss Open was organized by the Stichting Schaak Walcheren. GM Michal Krasenkow repeated the last year’s success and won another trophy in HZ Tournament. Krasenkow edged Grandmasters Sipke Ernst, Vyacheslav Ikonnikov and Sergey [...]

There was some drama on the last day of the Tromso Olympiad, but it didn't have to do with the race for first. In the Open Section the Chinese team crushed Poland and coasted to a 3-1 victory, clinching clear first place. Congratulations to them, and to Ding Liren and Yu Yangyi, their second and third boards, respectively. Ding took the bronze medal on board two, while Yu not only took the gold...