The 14th world chess champion turns 38 today. I hope he and his family enjoy the day, forgetting the frustrations of the past few months, and comes back strong in the remainder of the year. His most important upcoming event is the World Cup starting this August, but before that there's Dortmund in early July and, starting tomorrow, the rapid Geneva Chess Masters (Nakamura, Mamedyarov...

The five first places will qualify to the Russian Superfinal

Με θέα τη γέφυρα του Ρίου και το φετινό πρωτάθλημα!Είμαστε πλέον λίγες μέρες πριν το Πρωτάθλημα της Α' Εθνικής Κατηγορίας(Τελική Φάση) στο οποίο θα συμμετέχει για δεύτερη φορά στην ιστορία της  η Σκακιστική...

The main attraction is an elite rapid tournament with a very interesting format

Ασυναγώνιστος στην Κατηγορία Νηπίων ο Γιώργος Κωστελίδης με 9/9 νίκες!Συνεχίζουμε την ανασκόπηση του πρώτου εξαμήνου του 2013 με τις σημαντικότερες ατομικές διακρίσεις των σκακιστών μας. Αυτές ήρθαν φέτος...

Στιγμιότυπο από τον αγώνα  ΠΣ Περιστερίου-Σκακιστική Άνοιξη 4-4Ενόψει του πρωταθλήματος Α' Εθνικής 2013 που θα γίνει και φέτος την Πάτρα απο 2-7 Ιουλίου 2013 , παρουσιάζουμε μία σύντομη ανασκόπηση των ομαδικών...

The Israeli super-GM turns 45 today, but to judge only by Boris Gelfand's results the last few years one might think he was an up-and-comer like Magnus Carlsen. Thanks, Boris, for the great chess and for inspiring middle-agers to realize that one can play his best chess well past the days of his youth! A bio and links to many of his games, including a number of "notable" ones are here; lovers of...

From reader Scott McMullen: The user in the article is talking about using these with GPS or listening to music... but the first thing I thought of was cheating at chess. Because the implant is/has a magnet it should be detectable by scanning devices, but apart from a few special FIDE events those simply aren't used. (Also, there's no word yet on whether these are NSA-approved.)

On Sunday, IM Daniel Naroditsky went clutch to win his final game of the 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship, breaking a tie with FM Luke Harmon-Vellotti and earning the crown in clear first – proving, once again, that slow and steady wins the race. Article by Brian Jerauld. Naroditsky finished with 6.5/9 after going directly [...]

The 17th Peter Izmailov Memorial, a stage in the Cup of Russia for men, was held on 11-19th June in Tomsk, administrative center of Tomsk Oblast, Russia. 90 players from Kazakstan, Mongolia and Russia took participation. Among them were nine Grandmasters and six International Masters. After nine rounds of play, Grandmasters Pavel Maletin, Viacheslav Zakhartsov, [...]

The 8th International Chess Tournament Open Teplice 2013 was held from 15th to 23rd June at the Estrade Hall in Culture House of Teplice, Czech Republic. The 9-round Swiss event has attracted 160 players from 16 countries, including 18 Grandmasters and 18 International Masters. Eight players shared the first place with 7,0/9 points each, but [...]

I am delighted to announce that the 5th London Chess Classic will take place at Olympia from Saturday December 7th to Sunday December 15th. The 5th Classic will not feature top level Classical Chess, but it will be headlined by a world class Rapid tournament as well some celebrity contests if I can find some [...]

A discussion broke out on Facebook last week about defending difficult positions. I’ve had a lot of experience of this, perhaps through playing the Modern Defence for so long! And my recommendation is to read the chapter by Paul Keres on this in The Art of the Middle Game. Essentially Keres states that one must [...]

Magnus Carlsen finished in sole second place

The second tournament of the FIDE Women’s Grand-Prix 2013-2014 is taking place from 16th to 28th June in Dilijan, Armenia. Humpy Koneru and Anna Muzychuk won their respective games against Antoaneta Stefanova and Nana Dzagnidze to extend the leading margin from the rest of the field. This was the third consecutive loss for the former [...]