In an excellent recent post, Ashvin Chauhan explained his preference for starting with rooks when teaching young beginners. This is absolutely fine, and, as Ashvin points out, the order used in the Steps course. My course, on the other hand, starts with pawns. I believe this is equally viable and have reasons for my choice. […]

The UGRA Chess Federation has sent a bid to FIDE to hold the Candidates Tournament in March 2014 in Khanty-Mansiysk. President of the UGRA Chess Federation, V.A.Filipenko, confirmed in his letter that the local organizers “guarantee the fulfillment of the requirements specified in the Regulations of the tournament”. According to the Rules & Regulations for [...]

The Serbian Premier League is taking place from 24th August to 3rd September, 2013, in Hotel Šumarice, Kragujevac. Both Open and Women sections have 12 teams participating. Novosadski SK DDOR and SK BAS defend the titles in their respective sections. Full lineups below Live games Premier League, Open (team compositions)   1. Spartak Subotica 1 [...]

The Singapore Chess Federation and the World Chess Federation (FIDE), have the honour of inviting all National Chess Federations and eligible players to participate in the FIDE World Amateur Chess Championships 2014 which are to be held in Singapore from 25th April 2014 to 4th May 2014. The Championships will be governed by the General [...]

The Chess World Cup 2013 continued with the second games of round 5. Today proved to be a good day for the Russians, guaranteeing 3 out of 4 participants in the semi finals will be from Russia. Kramnik and Tomashevsky won their matches 1,5/2 and qualified for the next round, while another compatriot will come [...]

The 2nd International Open Chess Tournament Paleros is being held on 24-31st August, 2013, at the Paleros Resort Beach Hotel, Paleros, Ionian Sea, Greece. The tournament is organized by the Paleros Yacht Club, Paleros Chess Club, Paleros Resort Hotel & Municipality of Aktio-Vonitsa under the aegis of the Greek Chess Federation. 85 players, including a [...]

Ο Νικόλας βρήκε τον παλιό καλό του εαυτό! Και σήμερα έκανε ισοπαλία…  Τα δυνατά του έβαλε ο Κωνσταντίνος και κατάφερε να κερδίσει τον προτελευταίο γύρο. Στον ένατο γύρο αγωνίζεται στο τρίτο τραπέζι και επίσης...

The World Cup was held in a small hotel near Tromso airport: given the eye watering prices in Norway it was suggested to me by a FIDE official that the room rates would have been excessive in the better hotels in the centre where the Olympiad will be sited, although this seemed to be contradicted [...]

Κατά τη διάρκεια της σχολικής χρονιάς 2012-2013 οι Τσολομύτης Αντώνης και Ροκοπάνος Νίκος είχαν  την ιδέα πραγματοποίησης ενός σχολικού προγράμματος για το σκάκι μιας και στο νησί δεν υπήρχε σκακιστικός σύλλογος ή...

Περιμένουμε με ανυπομονησία την επιστροφή του «ήρωα μας» Γιώργου! Έχει 5 βαθμούς σε 7 αγώνες και ακόμη έχει ελπίδες να διεκδικήσει τις πρώτες θέσεις… Εδώ στα Γιάννενα πανηγυρίζουμε με κάθε σου νίκη και ανυπομονούμε να...

Those who teach and coach chess know the importance of analyzing games with their students as part of the learning process. Chess teachers and coaches often use master level games to present important ideas to their students. By playing though these games, students learn the finer points of chess. Key concepts such as tactics can […]

Metropolitan Chess, Inc. hosted two norm round robin tournaments from August 13th to 18th, 2013. These tournaments were the 28th and 29th in its series and were held in Suite C855 of the California Market Center on 110 East 9th Street, Los Angeles 90079. The tournaments are organized by Ankit Gupta, FA, IO. In the [...]

Four matches of the fifth round of the World Chess Cup 2013 have started today. Tomashevsky Evgeny – Kamsky Gata The American Champion defended with the Slav and Tomashevsky didn’t show much of ambition with white, probably being exhausted after the yesterday’s tie-breaks. The resulting pawn structure without the light-squared bishops offered nothing to white [...]

Αυτή την εποχή, όσοι συνθέτες θέλουν να συμμετέχουν στους Διαγωνισμούς του Παγκόσμιου Συνέδριου για Σκακιστικές Συνθέσεις, είναι πάνω από τις σκακιέρες τους και προσπαθούν για το καλύτερο. Μαζί τους κι εγώ και...

I was happy to be invited to play at the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting again after a few years break; I had played there quite regularly since my debut as long ago as 1992. After checking out my pairings before the event I wasn’t very optimistic about my chances , many of the opponents had [...]