The SportAccord World Mind Games started yesterday in Beijing, and like the London Chess Classic it's an elite rapid tournament with 16 players. (The format is different though: first a 7-round Swiss in rapid chess, then a double round-robin in blitz, and finally five rounds of the "Basque System" - a two-board simul against the same opponent. Additionally there's a concurrent women's event that...

  ΓΕΝΙΚΗ ΠΡΟΚΗΡΥΞΗ ΟΜΑΔΙΚΩΝ ΠΡΩΤΑΘΛΗΜΑΤΩΝ ΚΑΤΗΓΟΡΙΩΝ Ε.Σ.Σ.Ν.Α. 2014  

Η ετήσια Τακτική Γενική Συνέλευση της Ένωσής μας θα πραγματοποιηθεί το Σάββατο 11 Ιανουαρίου 2014 και ώρα 19:00, στην έδρα της ΕΣΣΠ (εντευκτήριο ΝΕΠ), Χαραλάμπη 54 στην Πάτρα. Σε περίπτωση μη απαρτίας η επαναληπτική...

The San Remo Chess Festival is scheduled to take place on 2-5th January, 2014, at the Nyala Suite Hotel, via Solaro 134, in San Remo, Italy. San Remo is a city that boasts exceptional reputation in the chess world, having hosted a famous tournament in 1930 that became legendary with the convincing victory of Alexander [...]

A square or a pawn can become such a critical point of focus that the outcome of the game is determined largely from the build up of force around this square. Isolated Queen’s Pawns are an example. Sometimes the IQP itself is the focal point. In other games, it is the square in front of […]

GM Larry Kaufman is one of the people behind Komodo's success in the recent TCEC tournament, and he has consented to do a sort of informal Q&A on the Quality Chess website's blog. (His answers are in the comments section to this post - scroll down and you'll find them.) Among the answers that I know at least one of my readers will find interesting comes in response to a question about the...

The executive summary of today's action at the London Chess Classic: the favorites are well on their way to qualifying, while the two qualifiers are making a good case for invitation-only participants next time around. In group A, both Viswanathan Anand and Michael Adams won both their games and have practically guaranteed their qualification for Saturday's quarterfinals. Anand has 10 points...

The 23rd Annual North American Open will be held at Bally’s Casino Resort, 3645 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, Nevada. The event has 7 sections: Open, Under 2300, Under 2100, Under 1900, Under 1700, Under 1500 and Under 1250. The Open Section will be a 9-round event held over 5-days (December 26-30). FIDE title [...]

The 76th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament will take place from 10th to 26th January, 2014. This year the event consists of two playing groups – Tata Steel Masters with 12 players and Tata Steel Challengers with 14 players. The fields have been finalised. For the first time the Masters Group will play [...]

Abierto Legislatura de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires “Copa Norberto La Porta” will take place on 14-21st December at the Salon Dorado de la Legislatura de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires – Peru 160 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 190 players are registered to participate in the 9-round open tournament. The tournament is organized by the [...]

Πατήστε εδώ και δείτε ζωντανά το τουρνουά του Λονδίνου στο οποίο συμμετέχουν οι ισχυρότεροι παίχτες του κόσμου.Ζωντανά εδώ.

So yesterday came and went so quickly! I was at work but I managed to bring my kid along for the end of Round 1 and she was well behaved. Whenever I ask her “What is Ga doing?” She replies “Playing chess” and when I ask “What does that mean” she very sweetly puts her […]

Το μεγάλο τουρνουά των GM (London Super Sixteen) αποτελεί την κύρια εκδήλωση του φετινού London Chess Classic. Αυτή τη φορά έχει τη μορφή αγώνων ράπιντ. Χτες παίχτηκαν οι δυο πρώτοι γύροι. Οι σκακιστές χωρίστηκαν σε τέσσερα γκρουπ (αγώνες...

Many people maintained their faith in Lance Armstrong for a long time, and faithful Linus van Pelt is still waiting for the Great Pumpkin to return. I'm sure Borislav Ivanov has his defenders too - though I bet they haven't had to play him in a tournament with money or norms on the line. Anyway, it seems he has unretired for the moment, and readers can catch up on his most recent adventures here...

Day one of the London Chess Classic was a treat for fans of schadenfreude; those who prefer to see good chess may have another opinion. In the first session, Viswanathan Anand blundered against Luke McShane and was quickly in trouble; that turned into "dead" lost after 22 moves. Result? He won. Michael Adams beat Andrei Istratescu relatively cleanly, but Vladimir Kramnik also had something of a...