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Bio
IM Kostya Kavutskiy is a professional chess author, journalist, coach, commentator, and player. As a part of Chess.com's content team since 2009, Kostya has recorded many video lectures, covered elite tournaments, written instructive articles & blogs, and has done many live commentary shows for Chess TV. Kostya has also written a number of articles for Chess Life magazine and Chess Life Online, and is currently an instructor for Chess University. In 2015, Modernized: The Open Sicilian was released, which Kostya co-authored with IM Zhanibek Amanov. Kostya's tournament accomplishments include winning the 2014 Southern California Closed Championship, as well as achieving his IM title in November 2016. In April 2017, he placed 6th in the star-studded 2017 Reykjavik Open. He currently resides in Mountain View, CA, and his plans are to pursue the GM title while working actively as a coach.
Hey guys, the San Jose Hackers are back! Check out this quick preview featuring our team: Official Site: https://www.bayareachess.com/sanjosehackers/ 2018 Schedule and line-up: https://www.prochessleague.com/san-jose-hackers.html ...
Hi folks, I've just released the first lesson of my new (!) course for Chess University, Positional Sacrifices - Volume 1: Pawns on YouTube (video below). In this course I explore the vast topic of positional pawn sacrifices, wher...
Hi guys, I recorded a quick tour of the 2017 Reykjavik Open -- check the video out for a tour of the tournament hall, the top boards, the commentary room, and see if you can find the cameo by a certain Anish Giri...
Hey folks, I'm in Reykjavik (Iceland!), playing in the Reykjavik Open! I'm staying with my friend CM Isaac Steincamp, and since it's 1 round a day at the tournament, we thought it'd be fun to post a video recap of our round each day. My first ro...
Unfortunately the San Jose Hackers' season came to an end Wednesday night, as the Webster Windmills won the Divisional Semifinal by a score of 9.5-6.5. After the first round was tied 2-2, the Windmills won the second round 2.5-1.5, while the 3rd...
TODAY at 6:50 PM PST, the San Jose Hackers will take on the Webster Windmills In the Divisional Semifinals! There will be substitutions aplenty for both teams, with San Jose using 8 different players and Webster using 9 (!), with a total of 11 GMs...
In one of the closest and thrilling matches of the year, the San Jose Hackers emerged victorious over the Dallas Destiny on Wednesday night, winning by a score of 8.5-7.5. Not only the smallest margin possible, but considering Dallas had "draw odd...
The San Jose Hackers (4-3) faced the Saint Louis Arch Bishops (6-1) in the final week of the PRO Chess League, a match which saw the Arch Bishops winning by a score of 10-6. Despite a playoff spot already secured for all teams in the Pacific Divis...
After a hard-fought match with the Las Vegas Desert Rats finished with a score of 8.5-7.5 in favor of the Rats, the San Jose Hackers ended up winning the match after an overturned result, due to Chess.com's Fair Play Violations. At this ...
The San Jose Hackers (3-2) bounced back with a huge win over the Budapest Gambit (3-2) last Saturday in Week 5 of the PRO Chess League. This was a hugely important win for the Hackers, as we kept our playoff hopes very much alive in the Pacific Di...
Coming off of two losses, the San Jose Hackers (2-2) will look to rebound today against the Budapest Gambit (3-1) during inter-divisional play in the PRO Chess League. I'll be back to provide live commentary of the match on my Twitch Cha...
It was a hard-fought match but the San Diego Surfers (4-0) proved to be the better team last Wednesday, as they handed the San Jose Hackers (2-2) their second loss in a row, by a final score of 10-6. GM Cristian Chirila streamed live comme...
If there's one thing Californians can agree on, it's that the Golden State is the best place in the world to live in, hands down. Warm weather, beaches, Silicon Valley, avocados, wine, In N' Out Burger, Hollywood and the list goes on and on and on...
It was a hard fought match, but ultimately the San Jose Hackers (2-1) succumbed to the Rio Grande Ospreys (2-1) 7.5-8.5 for the Hackers' first loss of the season. Despite our strong lineup, the Ospreys played fantastically overall and de...
Tonight, the San Jose Hackers (2-0) will take on the Rio Grande Ospreys (1-1) in Week 3 of the PRO Chess League. The match starts at 6:50 PM Pacific, and once again I'll be streaming the match live on my Twitch Channel. Be sure to tune in to ...
On Wednesday night the San Jose Hackers (2-0) defeated the San Francisco Mechanics (1-1) in the 'Battle of the Bay', as the PRO Chess League made Week 2 its unofficial 'Rivalry' week. The final score was 10-6 in favor of the Hackers, in a very har...
It's the Battle of the Bay, as Week 2 of the PRO Chess League will feature the San Francisco Mechanics vs. San Jose Hackers facing off today at 6:40 PM Pacific. Both teams are powerful, ambitious, and contain enough talent to win it all. Here...
In Week 1 of the first season of the PRO Chess League the San Jose Hackers (1-0) defeated the Webster Windmills (0-1) by a score of 11-5. Here was the match lineup, including how each player scored: San Jose Hackers Webster Windmills ...
It starts today! The San Jose Hackers (0-0) will face the Webster Windmills (0-0) in Week 1 of the inaugural season of the PRO Chess League! As a proud Hacker I will be posting weekly previews/recaps of each match, as well as doing live commentary...
A few weeks ago I traveled to Calgary for the second time to play in the 2016 Calgary International, a nine-round open tournament with a strong turnout, held at the Calgary Chess Club. The tournament was organized and run well by Vlad Re...
I'd like to break down some of the most common phrases used in chess commentary that, as far as I know, have never been clearly defined by any other source. This is a topic I've long wanted to write about, because I watch a *lot* of chess commenta...
I recently came across a famous game played by Soviet legend GM Mark Taimanov. Taimanov, by the way, is still alive at age 90! Before going into the game, I wanted to share how I first heard about Taimanov. When I was much younger, around 6...
Hi folks, in previous blogs I've offered coverage of an online training league, known as Slomski's Rapid Chess Training League. The league is open to players rated around 1600-2300, who are looking to get some extra competition against other ...
Those that have been closest to me personally know that one of my lifelong goals is to be able to travel and play in strong chess tournaments simultaneously. It is mainly for this reason that I semi-committed to becoming a chess professional in my...
Hi folks, I'm back again with the Slomski Rapid Chess Training League, a rapid league for players in that intermediate-advanced range, looking to play against other strong opponents in weekly matches. Make sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2, wher...
