The Poikovsky Karpov Chess Tournament 2014, named after the former world champion Anatoly Karpov, was held from 11th to 20th May, 2014. It was the fifteenth edition of the once again strong round robin event, with a time control 100 minutes for 40 moves plus 50 minutes for the rest of the game plus 30 [...]

The Asian Nations Cup for men is taking place from 20rd to 30th May, 2014 in the city of Tabriz, Iran. The event is open to all chess federations in FIDE zones 3.1 to 3.7. It is a team championship, where the teams can participate with 4 players plus 1 reserve. The format of the [...]

The Asian Nations Cup for women is taking place from 20rd to 30th May, 2014 in the city of Tabriz, Iran. The event is open to all chess federations in FIDE zones 3.1 to 3.7. It is a team championship, where the teams can participate with 4 players plus 1 reserve. The format of the [...]

Today we are off to Hungary and before you go thinking I’m not playing a First Saturday! I found the Zalakaros Chess Festival on the FIDE Other tournaments, it has a good prize fund and is very strong! The A Group is meant for 2400+ but I’ve asked the organizer if I could play in it […]

The 6th KIIT International Chess Festival will take place on 24-31st May at the KIIT International School, Patia, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. The Festival is organized by the All Odisha Chess Association, KIIT University, AICF and Odisha Mining Corporation. The Elite Category is reserved for players rated 2000 FIDE and higher. The tournament will be conducted [...]

(φωτ:Δεύτερος κάτω των 18 ετών παγκοσμίως ο Αργύρης Κουμτζής) Του Κοσμά Κέφαλου, Αυγή 17.5.2014 Ήταν, από κάθε άποψη, μια ξεχωριστή διοργάνωση: Από 5 μέχρι 14 Μαΐου συγκεντρώθηκαν στην Κατερίνη 92 σκακιστές και σκακίστριες από 29...

Stockfish with commanding lead after 12 games

The tight drama of the 2014 U.S. Championships turned out to be all for show. Several of the nation’s top 22 players took turns stealing headlines and taking their shots at the top, but when the dust of the near two-week long fight cleared, the two champions left standing were the same two champions as [...]

The International Children’s Tournament “Cup of Lions 2014″ took part on 17-18 May, 2014 at Business Park Sofia in the city of Sofia – the capital and the largest city of Bulgaria. The traditional festival was organized by Chess Club CSKA, in collaboration with the Bulgarian Chess Federation, DSK Bank, Municipality of Region Izgrev – [...]

The Icelandic Individual Chess Championship 2014 will be held from 23rd May to 1st June, 2014 in the city of Kopavogur, Iceland. The tournament is organized by the Icelandic Chess Federation and Breidablik Chess Club and will be played in a 10 player round-robin format with a time control 90 minutes for 40 moves plus [...]

I work with a chess student who sometimes expresses discomfort at facing a particular opening or kind of position. I know this feeling all too well, because I certainly experienced it as a young chess player, and even now as a not-so-young chess player! And I know that all of us have certain preferences. The […]

The ACP Golden Classic international chess tournament will be held in Bergamo, Italy, from 12 to 20 July 2014. The tournament is organized by Asd Caissa Italia and Società Scacchistica Bergamo, under the patronage and sponsorship of the Municipality of Bergamo and other commercial, industrial and non-for profit partners. The tournament is meant to be [...]

My study at home is so full of magazines and books, and not just about chess, that I can hardly move in there! I have been going through the piles of magazines to save any interesting articles and recycling the rest. One interesting snippet I found, in the April 1995 edition of “Chess”, is a […]

The 49th edition of the Tournament Capablanca in Memoriam 2014 took place from 7th to 18th May, 2014 at the Habana Riviera Hotel in La Havana, Cuba. The event is organized by the Cuban Chess Federation and the Instituto Nacional de Deportes Educación Física y Recreación (INDER). More information here. The Elite Group was convincingly [...]

It wasn't easy, but defending champions Gata Kamsky and Irina Krush both managed to keep their U.S. Championship crowns. For Kamsky, this is his fifth title and fourth in the last five years, while for Krush it is her sixth title and third in a row. In the open championship Kamsky had the best tiebreak of the three playoff participants, so he waited for the winner of the bid-Armageddon semi-final...