The 19th Sharjah Rapid International Chess Championship 2014 is taking place from 4th to 11th July 2014 at the Sharjah Chess Club in Sharjah, the third largest city in the United Arab Emirates. The event is a 9-round Swiss with a time control 20′ + 10″, organized by Sharjah Chess & Culture Club under the patronage of Sheikh [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed Executive Order On National Awards of the Russian Federation to Foreign Citizens. The awards were presented for the recipients’ great contribution to expanding friendship and cooperation with the Russian Federation and to the development of economic, scientific and cultural ties. The Order of Friendship was awarded to two chess players [...]

The 2nd International Chess Festival Opatija 2014 is organized by the Chess Club “e4″ from 29th June to 6th July 2014 at Grand Hotel Adriatic in Opatija, Croatia. The event is a 9-round Swiss with a time control 90′ + 30″ and prize fund in the amount of 5.000 €. First seed is GM Emir [...]

Exclusive interview with Mr. Willy Iclicki – a player, FIDE arbiter and tournament organizer from Monaco, Belgian citizen, former FIDE Treasurer, ECU auditor, and Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili‘s campaign manager. Why did you join Zurab Azmaiparashvili’s team, but not his ticket? (full ticket list) I have big concern about ECU and current administration. Zurab convinced me [...]

The 19th Sharjah Rapid International Chess Championship 2014 will take place from 4th to 11th July 2014 at the Sharjah Chess Club in Sharjah, the third largest city in the United Arab Emirates. The event is organized by Sharjah Chess & Culture Club under the patronage of Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, Member [...]

The 9th Edmonton Chess Festival took place from 20th to 29th June, 2014 at the Edmonton Chess Club in the city of Edmonton, Canada. GM Vassily Ivanchuk emerged clear winner with 8/9 points, half a point ahead of the runner-up. Amid the scandals shaking the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, the best Filipino chess player GM Wesley So took [...]

The 31st Geneva Chess Open will take place from 29th July to 3rd August at the la Maison des Associations – rue des Savoises 15 – 1205 Genève, Switzerland. The event is organized by the La Fédération Genevoise d’Echecs and is valid for Swiss and FIDE ratings. The playing format is 7-round Swiss and the [...]

Οι αθλητές της ΕΣΣΠ που έχουν δηλώσει συμμετοχή στα Πανελλήνια Νεανικά θα πρέπει: α) να επιβεβαιώσουν την συμμετοχή τους το αργότερο μέχρι την Παρασκευή στις 12:00 το μεσημέρι. Β) να έχουν καταβάλει το παράβολο......

The 42nd Annual World Chess Open will be held from June 30-July 6, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, 2799 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia. More information here.

Continuing my series on my first chess tournament, which I played in 1980, I cover my round 6 game, which ended up being the third draw in 6 rounds. There is a pattern here to note: at this USCF 1500-1600 level of play, games very easily end in draws, because of missed opportunities in the […]

Once again "our" man on the scene Jaideep Unudurti has scored an interview with ex-world champion and current world championship contender Viswanathan Anand. It's a short piece and there's no "red meat" about the coming title tilt with Magnus Carlsen, but there are some interesting comments about the recently completed World Rapid & Blitz Championships, especially the rapid portion of the...

The 4th edition of Mohamed Slama Memorial will be organized by Chess Club La Tour Blanche – Ksibet El Mediouni from 31st August to 14th September 2014, at the hotel Monastir Center in the beautiful touristic city of Monastir, Tunisia. The Festival is split into 6 groups. Four of them are scheduled to be held from 1st to [...]

The FIDE Rules Commission website has the final version of the FIDE Laws of Chess that take effect from 1 July 2014. These rules are to be used for all tournaments starting on or after 1 July 2014. The new Laws of Chess can be download from the FIDE Handbook. The players, arbiters, trainers and [...]

The 4th All-Russian Summer Chess Universiade is taking place on 1-6th July at the Nezhmetdinov Chess School in Kazan. The tournament format is 7-round Swiss in Open and Girls sections with the time control 60 min + 5 sec. The players from the same teams will not be paired one against another. There will be [...]

TCEC Grand Champion Stockfish, modification 260614, leads FRC aka Chess960 with perfect 4/4 score. Houdini 4 is the nearest follower with 3.5 points, a full point ahead of Critter 1.6a and Fire 3.1. Standings after 4 rounds: 1 Stockfish 260614 3168 4.0 2 Houdini 4 3145 3.5 3 Critter 1.6a 3030 2.5 4 Fire 3.1 3067 2.5 [...]