The 13th Asian Continental Individual Open and Women’s Chess Championships are taking place 16th to 26th April 2014 in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The top five from the 2014 Asian Open Championship qualify for the 2015 World Cup. The 2014 Asian Women’s champion qualifies for the 2015 Women’s World Championship. After four rounds of play [...]

Chinese Grandmasters Yu Yangyi and Tan Zhongyi emerged winners of the Asian Blitz Championships that were held on 20th April at the Sharjah Chess Club. Yu Yangyi won the Open section with 7,5/9 points, leaving Pentala Harikrishna and Ehsan Ghaem Maghami half a point behind. In the Women section Tan Zhongyi was very convincing by [...]

The 45th International Ciudad de Mar del Plata open tournament dedicated to Marcel Duchamp was held on 12-19th April at the Casino Central, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires. 212 players from eight countries competed in the 9-round Swiss event. GM Sandro Mareco and IM Sebastian Iermito shared the first place with 7,5 points each. Mareco [...]

Happy Easter to all my fellow Christians, and for that matter to everyone else reading this as well. For those who might be interested, this traditional Easter reflection on The Crucified God blog may be of interest, and the prior posts on the Lenten season leading up through Holy Week and the Crucifixion are worth reading as well.

Not wasting any time, world champion Magnus Carlsen was the first player to finish in round 1 (along with his opponent, of course), and the only one to come away with a victory. He is thus the early leader of the Vugar Gashimov Memorial, and in the process pushed his all-time rating record to a new high of 2885.7. Carlsen's win came at Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's expense, on the white side of a...

Στη μνήμη του Αζέρου GM Βουγκάρ Γκασίμοβ, ο οποίος έφυγε τον περασμένο Ιανουάριο πρόωρα από τη ζωή, είναι αφιερωμένα τα δυο ισχυρότατα κλειστά τουρνουά που ξρκινούν σήμερα στο Αζερμπαϊτζάν. Στο πρώτο γκρουπ συμμετέχει...

Growing up, as I did, in the 1950s and 1960s, playing board games and card games was something most families enjoyed. There were only two television channels, and of course no computers, video games or DVDs. At home we played board games such as Ludo, Chinese Checkers and probably draughts, as well as games such […]

The Vugar Gashimov Memorial starts tomorrow, and the pairings for the A-group look like this: Magnus Carlsen - Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Hikaru Nakamura - Fabiano Caruana Sergey Karjakin - Teimour Radjabov Play starts at 3 p.m. local time in Baku/Noon CET/6 a.m. ET, and on chess24 Peter Svidler will be giving live commentary.

In a very entertaining and sharp game, Hou Yifan claimed the victory against the Russian Olga Girya and is now on 7,5/9 points, enjoying a two points lead of the second place.

Grandmaster Renier Vazquez Igarza claims the 37th San Sebastian International Open 2014 with 7.5/9 points and grabs the top prize of 1400 €. The event took place from 12th to 19th April, 2014, at the Gros Xake Taldea in Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain. More information here. The last-year champion GM Daniel Alsina Leal shares second place [...]

The 13th Asian Continental Individual Open and Women’s Chess Championships are taking place 16th to 26th April 2014 in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The top five from the 2014 Asian Open Championship qualify for the 2015 World Cup. The 2014 Asian Women’s champion qualifies for the 2015 Women’s World Championship. After three rounds of play [...]

Top Spanish player GM Francisco Vallejo Pons and Filipino GM Oliver Barbosa share first place in the 14th Bangkok Chess Club Open 2014 with 7.5/9 each. The event took place from 12th to 19th April, 2014 at the 5-star Dusit Thani Bangkok Hotel in Bangkok, the capital and the most populous city of Thailand. It [...]

Live games with triple engine analysis

Δυο κορίτσια έβγαλαν μια μικρή σκακιέρα και παίζουν σε δημόσια βιβλιοθήκη του Αμμάν, της πρωτεύουσας της Ιορδανίας. Λένε πως καμιά φορά ο πιο προσιτός τρόπος να γνωρίσεις πτυχές μιας άγνωστης χώρας είναι ο...

Beginners learn how to apply certain principles, such as the opening principles, to guide the movement of pawns and pieces during the early phase of the game. These guiding principles have stood the test of time and are proven to help the beginner master specific strategic and tactical ideas. However, there is a big difference […]