On Wednesday, Vladimir Kramnik scored his first win in Dortmund, and it was a big one: The 14th world champion beat the tournament leader, Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The two are now sharing the lead at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting together with Vladislav Kovalev and Ian Nepomniachtchi.
To say that our headline of yesterday's news report jinxed it would be too much. Still, Duda lost his very next game after he made such a strong impression in the first three rounds.
In round four,...
Jan-Krzysztof Duda won his third-round game today at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting. He kept his lead by beating his compatriot and last year's tournament winner, Radoslaw Wojtaszek.
The round saw two more decisive games. Again using very little time on the clock, Ian Nepomniachtchi outplayed Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, whereas Anish Giri over-pressed and lost from a better position against Vladislav Kovalev.
Kovalev tried a well-known gambit from the Nimzowitsch Sicilian. Perhaps caught off-guard...
The 2018 Chess.com Speed Chess Championship will feature 16 of the world's best chess players in an innovative eSports bracket tournament and a starting (guaranteed) prize pool of $55,000.
Check out the new 2018 Speed Chess Championship hype video to get you psyched up for the tournament.
You can find important information on the event below.
Broadcast and streaming
Bracket
Matchups and pairings
Fantasy prediction contest
NEW! SmarterChess predictions
Schedule
Results
Event prizes
Detailed...
Alexei Shirov is known for his fiery style, and he is often compared to the legendary Mikhail Tal as both grandmasters had the penchant for blowing their opponents off the chessboard. But Shirov can play subtle and brilliant endgames too, as this lesson will teach you.
Five months ago I laid out my first game on this blog. Then I got an idea and I suggested that readers choose which game is better. This was my experiment. Why not?
Every month I put four games to vote (one for each week).
I tried to select games with: an interesting idea, original play and, of course with a minimum of blunders.You do not need to have a title. You read my blog and told me your opinion. No additional conditions.Today I finish voting in five blogs dedicated to five...
It's a good thing the World Chess Hall of Fame keeps its giant chess set on the ground floor. Sure, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and IM Danny Rensch still do their best to cause maximum carnage, but it's usually only those two that end up sweaty and bruised.
Now take those same oversized pieces and place them atop an apartment complex. What do you get? A type of Newtonian revelry that we will dub the "Gravity Gambit."
That story and much more is in this next edition of In Other News.
Giant Chess...
Some 20 years ago I had a conversation with a grandmaster who grew up in a bad neighborhood. He was recollecting his youth years when street fighting was pretty common.
I don't remember much from his stories, but one of his phrases has stuck in my mind: "It is not the strongest who wins the fight but the craziest!"
A game that was played almost 170 years ago by two of the best Russian players of that time clearly proves the point. Carl Jaenisch developed his Jaenisch Gambit...
Jan-Krzysztof Duda has been going up in the FIDE ratings, and won this year's Polish championship. Yesterday he took the lead at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting as the only winner so far.
Duda scored against Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, who had shown such excellent preparation yesterday against Kramnik. It seems that he has done some serious work for Dortmund, because in round two he played, for the first time, 3.Bb5+ in the Sicilian.
That might have been the reason for Duda to deviate from his...
The Game of the Century is one of the greatest chess games in all of chess history and likely the greatest game ever played by a junior. The 26-year-old international master Donald Byrne took on the young, 13-year-old Bobby Fischer in what would become one of the most famous chess games ever played.
The Game
White: Donald Byrne
Black: Bobby Fischer
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7
Throughout Fischer's career he liked to fianchetto his kings bishop in such openings as the King's Indian Defense...
