The 14th edition of Malahide Millenium Tournament is taking place from 3rd to 5th May, 2014, at Hilton Dublin Airport Hotel, in Malahide, a coastal suburban town near the Irish capital Dublin. The tournament will be a 6 round Swiss, split into 3 Sections – Senior (open to player rated over 1800), Intermediate (open to [...]

Η γνωστή ιστορία του μικρού σκακιστή-πρωταθλητή από το Μπανγκλαντές που παραλίγο να απελαθεί από τη Γαλλία γιατί δεν διέθετε χαρτιά έγινε βιβλίο. Αναγκάστηκε να εγκαταλείψει την πατρίδα του, το Μπανγκλαντές, για το...

Η τελική φάση του προγράμματος «Παίζω σκάκι – Μαθαίνω σκάκι» με την συμμετοχή 14 σχολείων θα πραγματοποιηθεί την Κυριακή 11 Μαϊου 2014 στην αίθουσα εκδηλώσεων του 25ου Δημοτικού Σχολείου (Μαραγκοπούλου 30) στις 10:00 π.μ.

In some previous posts I mentioned a tactic that Michael Hoffer and his students call “the chicken bone” because Black chokes on White’s king pawn like a chicken bone. Hoffer and company think that this tactic gives White quite an advantage, but I believe that White’s advantage is more psychological than it is tactical. White’s […]

The Individual Chess Championship of Lithuania took place from 24th April to 1st May, 2014 in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. It was a 10 player round robin with an average ELO rating of 2388. GM Sarunas Sulskis is a deserved winner with 7,5/9 points, leaving the runner-up 1,5 point behind. GM Aloyzas Kveinys took [...]

The Latvian Open Chess Championship is taking part from 29th April to 5th May, 2014, in Riga, the capital and largest city of Latvia. The event is a 9 round Swiss Open with 30 players included. Top seeded is GM Igor Kovalenko. See the list of participants here

The 2014 Russian Higher League for men and women is scheduled to take place on 3-14th June at the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok. The total prize fund is increased by one million rubles, compared with last year, and will be 4 million rubles (approx 112,000 USD). At the present 41 men and 34 [...]

The 2014 Estonian Chess Championships for men and women are being held from 28th April to 4th May in Tallinn, the capital and largest city of Estonia. The Men’s Section is a 10 player round robin tournament, currently led by GM Kaido Kulaots with 5/6 points. FM Ottomar Ladva is second with 4.5/6 points, while [...]

The 32nd Open International d’échecs de Metz is set to take place on 3-9th May at the complexe sportif Saint Symphorien in Metz, France. The tournament will be completed over 9 rounds of Swiss system and in two sections – Open A (players rated over 1900) and Open B (U2000 players). The prize fund for [...]

IM Michael Wiedenkeller from Luxembourg is the winner of the inaugural European Small Nations Individual Championship – FIDE Zone (1.10) Championship! In a thrilling last round, his crucial game against Olaf Berg was, fittingly, the last to finish, and the victory scored clinched him first place on tie-break, the winner’s cup and a spot in [...]

Stockfish 4, modification 080414, claims TCEC Season 6 – Stage 3 with the impressive score of 21.5/28 points. Houdini 4 and Komodo 1217 expectedly move on as well with equal points – 18.5/28. Fourth place goes to Critter 1.6a who is the last to join TCEC Season 6 – Stage 4. Thus, Stage 4 will [...]

Αύγουστος του 1974, ξενοδοχείο Birger-Jarl στη Στοκχόλμη. Πρώτο παγκόσμιο πρωτάθλημα σκακιστικών υπολογιστών. Ελβετικό τεσσάρων γύρων, με 13 υπολογιστές από 8 χώρες. Στη φωτογραφία ο Άλαν Μπέισλι (αριστερά), χειριστής του...

In the final round of my most recent tournament, I was scheduled to play Black against a particular opponent whom I have faced several times before. Because I had lost one game so far, I had to win this game to have any chance at catching the leaders in the tournament and winning it. So […]

In my round 9 post I lamented the possibility that Magnus Carlsen would win the Vugar Gashimov Memorial on tiebreak over Fabiano Caruana in case their last round game was drawn, given that Caruana won their game from the first cycle. Fortunately, Carlsen stepped up like a champion and defeated Caruana convincingly. He finished clear first with 6.5/10, scoring a very impressive 4/5 in the second...