With the increasing popularity of 'cloud' computing and online applications for many kinds of tasks, I had wondered for quite a while why no-one seemed to have invented a way of opening and managing PGN files online, eliminating the need to downlo...
Kenneth Rogoff (pictured) was a gifted young Grandmaster of the 1970s who quit being an impoverished chess player for a successful and lucrative career in economics. Now, some decades later he is the 58 year-old Professor of Economics at Harvard ...
The New York chess club Chess NYC has a very special chess camp lined up starting 20 August 2012. From the ChessNYC website... A lucky group of young aspiring Chess Masters and game lovers will spend an entire week of Camp with The World's #...
Today is the 10th Anniversary of Ruslan Ponomariov winning the 2002 FIDE World Chess Championship in Moscow. Regardless of gripes about the KO format and time control (90 minutes + 30 seconds per move), it was a remarkable achievement for the (...
I'm a big fan/user of Google services, from Gmail to Reader, Docs to Calendar, not to mention "search" obviously. So I wasn't too concerned when back in March 2010 Google bought the online photo-editing suite Picnik, which has been my photo-edito...
Judit Polgar is the greatest woman chess player of all-time, heading the women's ratings since 1989 and reaching #8 in the world against her male peers in 2005. After taking some time off to start a family she has been playing more regularly agai...
I was absent-mindedly looking through the official FIDE chess ratings when it occurred to me that although I'm never going to be the best chess player in the world (I still wince a bit as I admit that simple fact), I could still potentially be the...
Are you the sort of chess fan who wonders why Garry Kasparov doesn't seem to play much chess any more; who thinks Florencio Campomanes is doing a great job with the FIDE presidency, and that Bobby Fischer will definitely be making a co...
It's another new year again, that time of the year when we are filled with renewed hope and determination to improve ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually. In the spirit of the season, I thought I'd blog about a few of my resolutions in ...
Former world champion Garry Kasparov was still arguably the best chess player in the world when he retired in 2005, and he casts a long shadow over the current crop of players trying to make an impact. Despite his involvement with Russian politic...
I love chess. I hate reality TV shows. I have no idea what to make of the concept of a reality TV show based around chess. "American Chess Star" is the name of the show. I've watched the trailer below, and I still have no idea what the show will ...
Hou Yifan has just retained her Women's World Chess Championship title by beating Humpy Koneru 5½-2½. The excerpts below are from an interview by A. Karolvich and A.Burtosava at the official match website. How did you prepare for the match? It ...
Shape up scruffbags! At the latest meeting of the General Assembly of the European Chess Union (ECU) in Greece it was agreed that from 1 January 2012 all players taking part in ECU events will have to abide by a dress code or face expulsion from ...
The game below is unremarkable for me, especially the fact that I lost , but it is significant because it's the first LIVE game that I've played on the new updated Chess.com iPhone app! I love it! Thanks to all the clever coding guys who made it ...
The game of Chess has stood the test of time, lasting for centuries with few changes to the basic rules. Here are eight reasons why chess is the best game in the world.1. Easy To Learn, Hard To MasterThe basic rules of chess are so simple to u...
Every now and then I stumble across a little gem on YouTube. Here are two videos of a 13 year-old Carlsen beating Karpov and drawing with Kasparov at the 2004 Reykjavik Rapid tournament. Wonderfully made and fascinating to watch! First a blitz g...
I'm always on the look out for interesting reading material, and recently discovered The Browser, (thanks to Stephen Fry) which has the admirable aim of "creating a 21st century library of Writing Worth Reading". Among the articles on topics as d...
30 years ago - on 1 August 1981 - MTV launched on an unsuspecting American public and music was never the same again. It was a revolution which spread around the world and which changed the whole music industry. Fast forward to today a...
Please help me out. I can’t decide whether incremental time controls are a good thing or a bad thing, and until I decide one way or the other the question is gnawing away at me like a tricky mate in 5 that I just can’t solve.Modern digital c...
At its heart, chess is a mathematical game and aptitude for mathematics and chess often go hand in hand. But genius also needs a spark of creativity to make solving problems easy. If you can whiz through the tricky puzzles below, you're probab...
The road to chess improvement is normally a long and difficult struggle which requires a lot of hard work and commitment. According to accepted wisdom you should: practice as much as possible by playing lots of games, especially at slow time c...
“Parcheesi was a game that held Bobby’s interest for a while. He liked moving his tiger and elephant pawns through his opponent’s blockades, but he became furious if, owing to a toss of the dice, he was captured and sent back to ‘Start’...Ulti...
ENDGAME: Bobby Fischer’s Remarkable Rise And FallBy Frank BradyPublished by Constable (UK, 2011)Frank Brady is perhaps uniquely placed to write with skill and authority about the enigmatic and controversial 11th World Chess Champion, Bobby Fisc...
How significant a part of your life is chess? Can you take it or leave it, or are you totally addicted? Try the not entirely serious quiz below to find out just how obsessed you are with chess! Pick the answer that’s closest to the truth! Sco...
