For the last few days I have been reading about classical war strategies after reading the sections ‘Practical Chess Strategy’ and ‘The Art of War’ from Rashid Ziatdinov’s book, GM Ram. I have summarised a few points for myself which could be useful in improving my chess game and thought I’d share them with you. […]

Croatian Grandmaster Davorin Kuljasevic is the winner of the 1st International Open Tournament “Castelfranco Veneto”. The event took place in the walled city with medieval castle Castelfranco Veneto, Italy, on 10 – 13 April, 2014. Kuljasevic collected 5.5 points and shared 1st place in a 3-way tie with WGM Iva Videnova (Bulgaria) and FM Xia Jie [...]

The Russian Team Chess Championships for Men and Women took place in Loo, Russia from 7th to 13th April, 2014. The top seeded team of Malakhit took the gold medal with 12 points, leaving ShSM Moscow one point behind. Malakhit consists of eight strong Grandmasters: Karjakin Sergey RUS (2772), Grischuk Alexander RUS (2777), Leko Peter [...]

Live games with analysis

The 9th International Bad Ragazer Oster-Open is set to take place on 17-20th April at the Saal des Mehrzweckgebäudes in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland. Currently 108 players are registered to take part in the 7-round Swiss event. Top prizes are CHF 1000, 700, 500, 400, 300. Last year winner was GM Viesturs Meijers Participants: 1 GM [...]

Live games with analysis

Next month, the top chess players in the country will meet in Saint Louis to compete for the tile of U.S. Champion and U.S. Women’s Champion. The fields are set for both the 2014 U.S. Championship and 2014 U.S. Women’s Championship, scheduled to be held simultaneously May 7 through May 20 at the Chess Club [...]

Metropolitan Chess has just released its first book title: Modernized: The King’s Indian Defense by GM Dejan Bojkov. This book is a full repertoire (from Black’s perspective) for the King’s Indian Defense. By using a variety of theoretical games from recent Grandmaster practice (as well as a number of classical examples), Bojkov covers every major [...]

Ένα εβραιόπουλο και ένας Βρετανός αξιωματικός (τον υποδύεται ο Άλφρεντ Μολίνα) παίζουν σκάκι στην Παλαιστίνη του 1947, λίγους μήνες πριν την ίδρυση του κράτους του Ισραήλ, όταν Εβραίοι της διασποράς κατέφταναν με τα...

This week I’m sharing a smashing game by a teammate of mine, Chris Briscoe, played in the UK’s Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) in March. I manage Surbiton, a team in Division 3, which this year has over 60 teams competing for just three Division 2 promotion spots. Chris is our regular Board 1 player […]

World Champion Magnus Carlsen is currently in Oman where he prepares for the next tournament – Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir, Azerbaijan. Carlsen posted a video on Youtube with description “A combination of training, fun and relaxation.”

A game of chess creates as much emotions, contradictions and admiration for its author as an intriguing writing. If you take a closer look, the course of the game reminds of any story’s plot. The build-up in front of players is always the same: same board, same pieces, but once you make a first move, [...]

The late Azeri grandmaster Vugar Gashimov was not just a tremendously strong player who died at a terribly early age, he was to all accounts very well-liked and admired as well. It is therefore fitting that just a few months after his death he is already being honored with a super-tournament in his memory. It is being held in Shamkir, in his native Azerbaijan, and will run from April 20-30. It is...

So far, this Women's Grand Prix tournament is the Hou Yifan show. She leads with 4.5/5 and a big 2816 TPR. The world's second-strongest chess player with a Hou... name is proving yet again that she is the deserved women's world champion, at least as long as Judit Polgar continues to avoid such events. (Should she continue to do so anymore? I'm not so sure. I hope Hou can make up the 57 points or...

It was "only" a team event, but the Russian Team Championship (April 7-13 in Loo, Russia) included a healthy number of superstars. Alexander Grischuk shined brightest of all, scoring an almost unbelievable 6-1. He gained 15 rating points and is clearly #3 on the live rating list, equalling his career high at 2792.1. He only gave up two draws - both with Black - to Alekseev and Dreev, while...