The headline is slightly misleading, as the Chess Cafe website didn't shut down for the past six months, but many of its regular columns were on hiatus from the start of the year. Happily, the columns (including Mark Dvoretsky's) are being updated once again, so those of you who have forgotten about the site over the past half year may wish to renew your acquaintance with it.

Grandmaster Sengupta Deep emerged 2014 Commonwealth Chess Champion by edging the young star IM Aravindh Chithambaram on tiebreak after both players concluded the event with 7,5/9 points each. In the final 9th round Sengupta defeated GM Sahaj Grover, while Aravindh detroned the defending Commonwealth Champion and then leader GM Gupta Abhijeet. The Commonwealth Chess Championships [...]

Federacion Argentina de Ajedrez (FADA) held its elections on 5th July at the Club Ferro Carril Oeste. Representatives of 14 regional federations with power of 122 votes were present. The candidates for the FADA President were Mario Petrucci and Rodolfo Perez Wertheim. Petrucci won the election with 59 votes against 42. Petrucci, who already had [...]

The 42nd Annual World Open was held on June 30-July 6, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, 2799 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia. Grandmasters Ilya Smirin, Illya Nyzynyk and Conrad Holt tied for 1st-3rd in the Open Section with 7 points, winning $9,891 each. In order of tiebreaks Ilya Smirin was 1st, Illia Nyzhnyk [...]

Η Fide ανακοίνωσε τους νέους κανονισμούς για το σκάκι οι οποίοι ισχύουν από 1/7/2014. Η ΚΕΔ σε συνεργασία με τους κύριους Βύρωνα Τσορμπατζόγλου και Σάββα Μαυρομούστακου έχει μεταφράσει το κείμενο των νέων κανόνων στα...

Very often in chess, a positional evaluation can be a simple matter of ‘Problems vs Potential’ (or, to invent a maxim, the ’2 P’s’). “What potential does my position have for me?” vs “What problems is my opponent posing me?” Of course, chess is a game of two sides, so we not only have to […]

1. The Organisers confirm that there is sufficient room for the players, team captains, delegates, commission members, coaches and congress participants. They cannot guarantee that they can find room for all accompanying persons. They are using extra hotels and rooms in hotels that have not been seen by FIDE. They will also be using a [...]

The total domination of Stockfish is obvious after 12 rounds in TCEC Season 6 – FRC. After the perfect 8/8 start, TCEC Grand Champion collected 3 more points out of 4 rounds, without a single loss. The engine made draws only against Fire 3.1 and Tornado 5 to maintain the lead. Houdini is close with [...]

Belgian Individual Men Chess Championship 2014 is taking place from 5th to 13th July, 2014, at the Hotel Charleroi Airport in the city of Charleroi, the fifth most populous city in Belgium. The event is a 10 player round-robin, valid for FIDE rating and norms. The list of participants includes the highest rated Belgian player GM [...]

The 37th Ikaros International Chess Tournament 2014, incorporating the Aegean Open Championship 2014, will take place on 12-20th July in Aghios Kirykos at the beautiful island of Ikaria, Greece. Ikaros 2014 is fast approaching and organizers are arranging the final details for hosting the participants that chose Ikaria as the adequate place to combine chess [...]

The United States Chess Federation has announced the lineups of Open and Women’s teams for the upcoming 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway. Open (in rating order): 1. Hikaru Nakamura 2787 2. Gata Kamsky 2717 3. Alexander Onischuk 2659 4. Varuzhan Akobian 2653 5. Samuel Shankland 2632 Captain John Donaldson Women’s (in rating order): 1. [...]

Bergamo, July 7, 2014, Press Release – ACP Golden Classic 2014 is going to be one of the fifteen strongest chess tournaments of the year. But besides that it is going to be a celebration of sports and athletes. Next Friday the Hotel San Marco in Bergamo will host the opening ceremony of this prestigious [...]

The 2nd International Chess Festival Opatija 2014 took place from 29th June to 6th July 2014 at the Grand Hotel Adriatic in Opatija, Croatia, right after the end of another strong competition – ICCD World Deaf Team Championship 2014. The event was organized by the Chess Club “e4″ and GM Zlatko Klaric with the technical support by Chess Club “Rijeka”. [...]

The first edition of International Chess Tournament Centro Goya is scheduled to take place from 18th to 28th September 2014 at the Lounge of Hotel Cristina***** in Las Palmas, the most populous city of the Canary islands. No doubt, this is a magnificent opportunity to enjoy Chess, in a sunny seaside setting on the beautiful [...]

The 2014 International Star Mixed Pair Chess Tournament takes place from 5th to 9th July 2014 in the city of Chengdu, China. The event will be played in a 5-round format. The teams are paired as follows: GM Nigel Short & GM Hou Yifan, GM Yasser Seirawan & GM Zhou Chen GM Artur Jussupow & GM Maia Chiburdanidze GM Ye [...]