It was a new day, a new round but sadly the same old story at the 2019 Sinquefield Cup. Round seven again ended with all draws. More than the result itself, the players have taken a safety-first approach, which has resulted in just four decisive results out of a total of 42 games.
The game between joint leaders Ding Liren and Viswanathan Anand was the only one that looked likely to have a decisive result, but even that ended in a draw as the latter has failed to bring home the...
GM Evgeny Tomashevsky and WGM Olga Girya are the winners of 2019 Russian Championships Superfinals, which took place in Izhevsk and Votkinsk, Udmurt Republic.
A view of Votkinsk. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Each year the Russian Chess Federation chooses an unusual venue for the national main event—and in recent years it has selected locations in the Ural region. Like Satka chosen a year ago, Udmurt Republic has never seen a remarkable chess event, even in Soviet times,...
NM Bojan Lukajic's (@lasker_fiverr) notes on Chess.com are an incredible testament to the affection and appreciation of his students. Probably no coach on Chess.com has so impressed his students with such dedication and effort. NM Lukajic truly cares about his students and has helped many significantly improve their games. If you are looking for an affordable chess coach, you can't go wrong with Bojan!
Readers seeking private instruction can contact NM Lukajic via his Chess.com profile (@lasker_fiverr)...
Whenever you learn an opening, you need to know the common traps and tactics that arise from the position. In this review of the Tarrasch, find out what you need to look out for as you add the opening to your repertoire.
Every so often while panning for new ideas I come across one that meets all my criteria for what I consider to be the perfect novelty:
Shock-Factor: Is the idea deep or bizarre enough to even stump computers at first? Does it camouflage well and not sit waiting to be skimmed as the machine's first suggestion?
Innovative/Theoretical Value: Does the novelty occur within the first 10 moves or the first 30? Is it a one-off idea with a clear solution or a bombshell that'll keep giving headaches to opponents...
With an open qualification process that began in April, the FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship continues the final qualification phase as it plays down to the final six players who will qualify for the quarterfinals in early October.
The fourth of six knockout qualifiers will be hosted on Chess.com this Sunday, Aug. 25, featuring some of the strongest players in the world, including three-time world blitz champion Alexander Grischuk and fan favorite Peter Svidler who headline...
If you have seen the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, you may remember one of the Washington Square Park hustlers who held a sign offering a photograph or a game with the man who beat Mikhail Tal.
Just like most of the movie's chess characters, this guy really existed. His name was Josif Israel Zilber.
Vasek Simek as Josif Israel Zilber in the 1993 film Searching for Bobby Fischer.
Here is what the movie's Wikipedia page says about him:
The Russian player in the park...
After yesterday's rest day, everyone expected some action at the 2019 Sinquefield Cup! But round six saw an anti-climatic end to a round where once again all six games ended in draws. Joint leader Viswanathan Anand had Anish Giri on the ropes but failed to put the ball in the back of the net. The two winners of round five, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren played each other and drew after a good fight.
Caruana vs. Vachier-Lagrave was the most followed game of the day. | Photo: Lennart...
When we talk about blitz chess, we usually think about tactics, blunders and opening surprises that force our opponents to spend their precious seconds. I doubt that many people would mention good endgame technique as an integral element of blitz.
Indeed, most times when a blitz game reaches an endgame, both players have just seconds on their clocks and usually have only two rules to play by: Do not lose on time and do not blunder too much.
Here is a very recent example. Just watch the last...
