Some strong players often ask me about making a living from chess; they’ve worked hard on improving their game but then discover that it doesn’t pay the rent. At one time titled players were supported by the state, especially in eastern Europe, but those days are long gone. So what are they to do? Well […]

Information from the All India Chess Federation We are happy that preparations for the FIDE World Championship Match 2013 at Chennai are in full swing. The organizing committee is taking all efforts to make the championship a grand success. The championship is fully funded and supported by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamilnadu. The organizing [...]

The 15th International Chess Open de Sants, Hostafrancs & La Bordeta was held from 23rd August to 1st September at the Auditori del Centre Cívic de les Cotxeres de Sants in Barcelona, Spain. The tournament format was 10-round Swiss. There were two playing groups: Open A (all players eligible) and Open B (U2000). In the [...]

In the third game of the final match in 2013 World Chess Cup Dmitry Andreikin deviated from the earlier openings and defended with the Chebanenko Slav. Kramnik replied with the quiet e3-b3 setup and the play soon transposed into some sort of Queen’s Gambit Accepted. The position was totally equal but Kramnik tried to complicate [...]

The International Chess Tournament named after the former world champion Anatoly Karpov is taking place from 27th August to 7th September in Poikovsky, Russia. After the rest day the event was resumed with the round 4 games. Viktor Bologan provided us with a valuable endgame lesson in his clash with Ivan Cheparinov. The game was [...]

The 17th Torneo di Cesenatico is taking place from 31st August to 8th September at the State Middle School n. 1 Viale Torino in Cesenatico, Italy. 160 players compete in three groups – Open A (elo 1900 and higher), Open B (U2000) and Promotion (juniors born on 1997 and later). Top rated players are GM [...]

The 2013 edition of Oslo Chess International will take place in Norway, 29 September – 6 October 2013. The tournament organized by Hans Olav Lahlum and Akademisk Sjakklubb Oslo is a 9-round Swiss open for all players having the official titles GM, IM, FM, WGM, WIM or WFM from FIDE. Also qualified are other male [...]

I explained in my previous post that I prefer to start by teaching the pawn move. Here, in more detail, is my first lesson. The order in which I do things will change slightly depending on the age of the children: with younger children I’ll only tell them about captures when I introduce the third […]

The second game of the final match in 2013 World Chess Cup between Dmitry Andreikin and Vladimir Kramnik was again the Queens’ Gambit Declined, only with reversed colors. Andreikin used the 5.Bf4 line but already for the 7th move he spent more than 20 minutes of his time. During the exchange of the central pawns, [...]

The 2013 Missouri State Chess Championship is scheduled to take place from 27th-29th September at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The Championship will be held in two sections – Open and Reserve (U1600). Both sections will be played over five rounds of Swiss system. The guaranteed prize fund is $3000. Open: [...]

The 11th International Chess Festival “Città di Amantea” is taking place from 1st to 8th September at the Hotel La Tonnara in Amantea, Italy. The Festival will consist of three events: Master Open (for players rated above 1850), Open B (1500-1900 elo) and Open C (U1500). The total prize fund is 6500 EUR. Thanks to [...]

Παίζουν τα μαύρα και κερδίζουν            Με μεγάλη μας χαρά συμμετείχαμε, μαζί με το φίλο και συμπαίχτη Μ. Παππα, στο πρώτο πανελλήνιο πρωτάθλημα Blitz! Αν και ταξιδέψαμε για πολλά χιλιόμετρα δεν...

French Grandmaster Andrei Istratescu demolished the opposition in the 9th Dieppe Open to convincingly take the first place with 8,5/9 points. Istratescu won eight games and conceded only one draw to the similarly inspired GM Simen Agdestein of Norway. Agdestein “allowed” one draw too many and finished clear second with 8,0/9, point and a half [...]

The 2nd International Open Chess Tournament Paleros was held on 24-31st August, 2013, at the Paleros Resort Beach Hotel, Paleros, Ionian Sea, Greece. The tournament was organized by the Paleros Yacht Club, Paleros Chess Club, Paleros Resort Hotel & Municipality of Aktio-Vonitsa under the aegis of the Greek Chess Federation. A total of 87 players, [...]