Submitted by
SonofPearl on Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:20pm.
Round two of the Grandmaster Tournament at the Biel Chess Festival continued the high entertainment factor of round one, with a dash of schadenfreude.
Alexander Morozevich (pictured) won again to lead on 2/2, a clear point ahead after just 2 rou... Read more »
1562 reads | 16 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sun Jul 19, 2009 2:09pm.
The grandmaster group in Biel started the first round of their double round-robin event today like they meant business. The only surprise was that just one game out of the three played ended decisively.
An early exchange of queens didn't stop M... Read more »
1317 reads | 7 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sat Jul 18, 2009 9:27am.
Is it just me, or are there more chess super-tournaments these days? With the ink barely dry on Nakamura's cheque for 9,000 euros for winning in San Sebastian, the action shifts to the Biel Chess Festival in Switzerland.
The 42nd Biel Chess Fes... Read more »
1550 reads | 5 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Thu Jul 16, 2009 2:11pm.
He needed a tie-breaker to do it, but Hikaru Nakamura (pictured) has won the San Sebastian tournament in a dramatic finish.
Ruslan Ponomariov won his last round game against Francisco Vallejo Pons to catch Nakamura on 6.5/9 and force the 2-game r... Read more »
2429 reads | 31 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Wed Jul 15, 2009 1:03pm.
With just one round to go in San Sebastian, Hikaru Nakamura (pictured) still leads on 6/8, half a point ahead of his nearest pursuer, Ruslan Ponomariov. But with nerves jangling, there is still all to play for.
In round 7, Nakamura was lucky t... Read more »
2248 reads | 20 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:06pm.
While the traditional Dortmund tournament in Germany has been intermittently entertaining us, the newly minted Donostia/San Sebastian chess festival in Spain has been trying it's best to compete.
The showpiece event is a 10-player round-robin wit... Read more »
2305 reads | 22 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sun Jul 12, 2009 2:21pm.
Going into the last round at Dortmund, Vladimir Kramnik (pictured) only needed a draw to clinch his ninth title. He did better than that, winning the only decisive game of the round against back-marker Naiditsch to finish a point clear on 6.5/10... Read more »
2335 reads | 13 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sun Jul 12, 2009 1:44am.
Dmitry Jakovenko (pictured) is perhaps a less familar name to western chess fans than his peers, but the 26 year old recently surpassed all his compatriots to become the top ranked Russian in the world, at #5 on the rating list.
So when Jakovenko... Read more »
1347 reads | 5 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sat Jul 11, 2009 2:03am.
Much has been written about Vladimir Kramnik's solid style of play - often less than complementary, but if the former World Champion smells blood, he can be a ruthless attacker when the opportunity presents itself.
After all games in round 6 and ... Read more »
1923 reads | 8 comments | 4 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Wed Jul 8, 2009 11:21am.
No, it's not a badly timed April fool's joke. Reliable reports state that retired former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov (pictured) is to play a 12-game match against his great rival Anatoly Karpov.
Before we get over-excited, it should be ... Read more »
8000 reads | 70 comments | 7 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Tue Jul 7, 2009 11:12am.
Tear down that wall! Magnus Carlsen (pictured) wasn't born when the real Berlin Wall fell in 1989, but so far in Dortmund he has made short work of the Berlin "Wall" defence, beating it twice in the first half of the event.
In round 5 in was ... Read more »
2533 reads | 23 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Mon Jul 6, 2009 10:09am.
The Donostia Chess Festival in Donostia-San Sebastian, will take place from 7-16 July.
The showpiece event of the festival is a 10 player round robin competition featuring an interesting mix of players, young and old, with Peter Svidler (pictured... Read more »
1583 reads | 5 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Mon Jul 6, 2009 9:42am.
The basic laws of chess hardly change at all through the years, but there can be a great deal of tinkering around the edges.
The latest official FIDE laws of chess were published on 1 July, and contained a few changes which have been much discus... Read more »
1521 reads | 14 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sun Jul 5, 2009 11:24pm.
After a snoozeworthy round 3, the players in Dortmund provided much more entertainment in round 4, for two of the three games at least.
In last year's tournament, Naiditsch shocked Kramnik with some brilliant opening preparation to win a spectacu... Read more »
1482 reads | 2 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sun Jul 5, 2009 12:01am.
The much anticipated clash between Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik failed to deliver any excitement in round 3 at Dortmund, being drawn in a mere 19 moves.
Kramnik seemed to surprise Carlsen in the opening and he quickly resorted to a repetit... Read more »
1760 reads | 13 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
FM FM_Eric_Schiller on Sat Jul 4, 2009 6:47pm.
The Swine Flu threatens to wreak havoc with major chess events this summer. England is expecting 100,000 new cases per day this August. If a player or member of staff falls ill, whole events will need to be shut down.
The British Championship and... Read more »
787 reads | 12 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sat Jul 4, 2009 12:23am.
Round 2 at Dortmund threw up another thrilling endgame tussle for the purists.
The difference was that whereas in the first round Dmitry Jakovenko (pictured) was the unwilling victim, this time he had a chance to display his own endgame prowess ... Read more »
1136 reads | 4 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Thu Jul 2, 2009 1:52pm.
The first round of the Dortmund super-tournament saw Magnus Carlsen (pictured) defeat Dmitry Jakovenko to take an early lead.
Jakovenko tried to blunt Carlsen's attacking flair with the Berlin defence, but Carlsen showed his maturity with a displ... Read more »
2318 reads | 10 comments | 4 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Wed Jul 1, 2009 11:58am.
The traditional chess super-tournament in Dortmund, Germany takes place from 2-12 July.
This 37th edition of the tournament is a very strong double round robin featuring Magnus Carlsen (pictured) as the top seed.
Magnus Carlsen (NOR)
2772
... Read more »
2321 reads | 11 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Tue Jun 30, 2009 12:56pm.
Veselin Topalov (pictured) is still ranked the world's number 1 player on the latest quarterly official FIDE ratings list, gaining a single point to stand at 2813 Elo. World Champion Viswanathan Anand is second on 2788 Elo and Magnus Carlsen is ... Read more »
2960 reads | 22 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sun Jun 28, 2009 12:37am.
A French team took on the Olympiad Champions Armenia, led by Lev Aronian (pictured) in a rapid match in Paris from 24-25 June.
Each team had 4 players, who met in 8 rounds at a time control of 15 minutes plus a 10 second increment.
Armenia wer... Read more »
1751 reads | 16 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:50pm.
Despite it's proud chess history, the United Kingdom has seen very few strong tournaments in recent years - or decades come to that.
It is therefore with no small sense of excitement and anticipation that the London Chess Centre has announced the... Read more »
1590 reads | 16 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Thu Jun 25, 2009 12:15pm.
Vassily Ivanchuk (pictured) has won the strong Bazna King's Tournament in Romania with a score of 7/10, a clear point ahead of his nearest rival, Boris Gelfand.
Three consecutive wins in rounds 5,6 and 7 propelled Chucky to the top of the standin... Read more »
1716 reads | 17 comments | 8 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:53pm.
Following on from his win in the US Chess Championships in St. Louis, Hikaru Nakamura (pictured) has landed an invite to one of the world's most prestigious tournaments.
Nakamura will be playing with the world's elite in the 'A' Group at the Coru... Read more »
2246 reads | 29 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
manfrommanila on Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:07pm.
Stalled by a round 5 draw 11-year old Melwyn Kenneth Baltazar (Master Kenneth here at chess.com) eked wins in his last two games against Philippine Science High School sophomore Kevin Sicat and Metropolitan Chess Club's Malcolm Kwok to log 6.5 poi... Read more »
603 reads | 0 comments | 1 vote: