Here are the round 1 pairings; full pairings (in crosstable format) can be found here. (HT: Allen Becker) Aronian - Agdestein Karjakin - Topalov Grischuk - Caruana Svidler - Kramnik Carlsen - Giri There was some discussion during the live broadcast about what number one ought to pick, given the chance to choose first, and it seems that the current consensus is that pairing #5 is preferable to...

The fun at the Norway Chess event began today with an unrated blitz event used to determine pairing numbers for the main, classical tournament which starts tomorrow. Magnus Carlsen was generally convincing in his games and won with an impressive score of 7.5/9, only giving up draws to Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk and Vladimir Kramnik. Carlsen was in deep trouble in only one game, a roller...

The 11th Deltalift Open – Inbjudan 2014 took place from 29th to 31st May, 2014 at the Tylosand Hotel in the city of Halmstad, situated on the Swedish west coast. The event was an 8 round Swiss Open with a first prize of 12 000 SEK. Top seeded GM Hillarp Persson (SWE) shared first place [...]

The 8th Wunsiedel Chess Festival was held from 29th May to 1st June, 2014 in the town of Wunsiedel, situated in the Free State of Bavaria, in Germany. The event was a 7 round Swiss Open with the Fischer time control (40 moves in 90 min plus 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus [...]

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΣΚΑΚΙΣΤΙΚΗ ΟΜΟΣΠΟΝΔΙΑ ΕΠΙΤΡΟΠΗ ΚΑΛΛΙΤΕΧΝΙΚΟΥ ΣΚΑΚΙΟΥΑθήνα, 2 Ιουνίου 201413ος ΠΑΝΕΛΛΗΝΙΟΣ ΔΙΑΓΩΝΙΣΜΟΣ ΛΥΣΗΣ ΠΡΟΒΛΗΜΑΤΩΝΗ Ελληνική Σκακιστική Ομοσπονδία (Ε.Σ.Ο.) προκηρύσσει τον 13ο Πανελλήνιο Διαγωνισμό...

GM Aleksandr Dronov of Russia has won the latest ICCF World Title scoring 9.5/16 in the World Championship 27 Final (Category 14 event) which started in 2011. This is his second World Title having won his previous one in the World Championship 22 Final (Category 13 event) which started in 2007. In second position was […]

Our time in Zalakaros came and went so quickly! It feels like we’ve been here forever (just over a week) but we haven’t been able to do so much. It’s weird when I’m explaining to our non chess playing friends what your schedule is like when you are playing a tournament. They really can’t believe […]

The 33rd Zalakaros Chess Festival was held from 23rd to 31st May, 2014 in the Hungarian city of Zalakaros, famous for its thermal bath. The 9-round Swiss Festival with the hefty prize fund in the amount of 16 130 € was split into two open tournaments - Open A, Gyula Sax Memorial, dedicated to the memory of Hungarian [...]

The 67th Russian Individual Chess Championship for men – Higher League will take place from 3rd to 13th June, 2014 in the city of Vladivostok, the largest Russian port on the Pacific Ocean. It will be a 9 round Swiss Open with a time control 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the [...]

The 64th Russian Individual Chess Championship for women – Higher League will take place from 3rd to 13th June, 2014 in the city of Vladivostok, the largest Russian port on the Pacific Ocean. It will be a 9 round Swiss Open with a time control 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the [...]

One more GM coach joins the team

The Icelandic Chess Championship 2014 took part from 23rd May to 1st June, 2014 in the city of Kopavogur, Iceland. The tournament, organized by the Icelandic Chess Federation and Breidablik Chess Club, was the strongest Icelandic Chess Championship ever, consisting of 6 GMs. Surprisingly, nobody of the Grandmasters emerged a winner, but the 26-year-old IM [...]

Pairings and live games with triple engine analysis

This week’s “creeping move” is the example quoted by Kotov, in his classic instructional book “Think Like a Grandmaster”. It is taken from game 7 of Boris Spassky’s 1968 Candidates Final match against Viktor Korchnoi. In the position after 25…Nc7, it is clear that Black’s position is creaking very badly. White’s pieces are all much […]

From today's Chess Today (issue 4950): Recently I received an interesting book called "Sacking the Citadel" (Russell Enterprises, 2011, 400 pages, $25). This book, written by Jon Edwards, is devoted exclusively to the Greek Gift sacrifice (Bxh7+, usually followed by Ng5+). It contains 308 examples of this theme, which is probably about 300 examples more than one needs to study in order to...