With a full point lead and all his main rivals out of the way, Magnus Carlsen is in excellent shape to win the Group A event of 2013 edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. Today's victim was Hou Yifan, who cheekily played the Ponziani against Carlsen. (Carlsen had played it against Pentala Harikrishna in round 4, winning that game too.) Hou lost a pawn, which (after some ups and down)...

The Asian Zone 3.3 Championships, both open and woman, slated from 21-30 January 2013 in the Philippines, began today with the opening ceremony followed by round one at the Tagaytay International Convention Centre. Zone 3.3 President President “Bambang” Tolentino, who is also National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Secretary General, welcomed the participants and [...]

Swapnil S Dhopade (8.0) become a Grandmaster-elect as he stunned top seed Grandmaster Aleksej Aleksandrov (Belarus) achieving his third and final GM Norm in the tenth and penultimate round of the Chennai Super Kings 5th International Grandmaster chess tournament 2013 at Media Hall, Nehru Stadium, Chennai here today. The crucial win gives Swapnil his third [...]

Μια καλοκαιρινή φωτογραφία από την παραλία του Αρμενιστή στο μέσο του Χειμώνα είναι ό,τι χρειάζεται για να ανέβει λίγο η διάθεσή μας :-)To 2012 ήταν μια ακόμη δημιουργική και παραγωγική χρονιά για το Σκακιστικό Όμιλο...

With minute by minute updates and comments by GM Christian Bauer and IM Aman Hambleton

Δύο νέα τουρνουά θα ξεκινήσουν τις επόμενες μέρες στη Θεσσαλονίκη. Ο Σκακιστικός Όμιλος ΣΑΧ Θεσσαλονίκης διοργανώνει " Το Τουρνουά της Δευτέρας" και το " Το Τουρνουά της Παρασκευής".Αφού καταφέραμε να ολοκληρώσουμε το...

Κάθε Τρίτη και κάθε Τετάρτη στις 21:00 θα γίνονται παρουσιάσεις παρτίδων από τους ισχυρότερους σκακιστές των Ιωαννίνων. Θα ακολουθεί παιχνίδι.Η παρακολούθηση και η συμμετοχή είναι ελεύθερη για όλους! Το καλύτερο ρητό...

Ακολουθούν οι καλύτερες παρτίδες και οι συνδυασμοί από το πρωτάθλημα.Στη θέση του Διαγράμματος τα μαύρα έπαιξαν Rokopis,Dimitris (1000) - Makris,Ksenophon (2180) [D78]Diasullogiko (2), 14.01.2013 24...Qc6+ 25.f3 Nxf3 26.Rxd7 Ne1+ 27.Kh3 Qxd7+ 28.Kh4 Ng2+ 0–1 Στη θέση του...

Σε ένα καφενείο στη Χάιφα του Ισραήλ, σκακιστές παίζουν το αγαπημένο τους παιχνίδι (φωτ. Reuters). Στο μεταξύ οι κάλπες στη χώρα άνοιξαν και ιστορία ετοιμάζεται να γράψει ο Μπενιαμίν Νετανιάχου, στις πρώτες...

Τότε ανέβηκα μόνος της γης τα σκαλοπάτια μέσ’ απ’ την άγρια ζούγκλα των σκοτεινών δρυμώνων ως εσέ Μάτσου Πίτσου. (Πάμπλο Νερούδα, Τα υψώματα του Μάτσου Πίτσου, Μετάφραση Η. Ματθαίου) Το Μάτσου Πίτσου στη γλώσσα...

GM Nigel Davies recently posted the following remarks: A few weeks ago my son won a couple of games with the £$%^&! (sorry, I can’t say what it is) opening, something that has become a firm favorite of his. It’s a kind of secret weapon. There’s a lot to be said for having such weapons, [...]

At least the tournament there will; the place has been around a little longer. It's "only" an open event, but many strong GMs will be there, including 2700+ rated players Vassily Ivanchuk, Gata Kamsky, Michael Adams, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, David Navara, Alexei Shirov and Le Quang Liem. Nigel Short isn't over 2700, but he's close (2696), he has been over that mark, and is the...

I suspect that this is about as "scientific" as phrenology, but it might be good for a few moments' amusement. There's a poll asking which way players orient their knights at the start of the game - facing forward, to the sides, diagonally, etc. The pseudo-science silliness comes in the interpretation - about more, here. But you should first guess which kind of player you take yourself to be - an...

The Armenian Chess Championship was played January 11-21, 2013, in Yerevan. Tigran Petrosian, the reigning champion from 2012, confirmed his title after finishing clear first with 7,0/9. It was one of the most exciting Armenian chess championships ever and it all came to a showdown in the last round. Tigran Petrosian had half a point [...]

These days, chess played by computers has reached a new level of precision. Any desktop computer paired with the latest chess software can beat a human Grandmaster relatively easily. This is one of the reasons the chess world is going to see yet another edition of Martin Thoresen’s Chess Engine Competition, aka TCEC. The goal [...]