Six players tied for first place at the Dubai Open. GMs Dragan Solak edged out David Howell, Vladimir Fedoseev, Andrei Istratescu, Ivan Ivanisevic and Eltaj Safarli on tiebreak after all scored 7.0/9. Dragan Solak. | Photo Dubai Chess ...
The next super tournament of 2015 is around the corner. The second edition of Shamkir Chess, the memorial for GM Vugar Gashimov, will be opened on Thursday and the first round will be played on Friday. It's one of the strongest tournaments of th...
[Update 4/13/15: a video with Hikaru Nakamura has been added to the report.] GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Irina Krush both sealed victory today at the 2015 U.S. Championships. For Nakamura, he won his fourth career title, while Krush won her f...
A cheating incident took place on Saturday at the Dubai Open where GM Gaioz Nigalidze was caught using an electronic device in the toilet. The player, who happens to be the reigning champion of Georgia, has been expelled from the tournament. ...
Last year's U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship ended with twin three-way playoffs. The 2015 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship could repeat that if everything falls into place in tomorrow's final round. However, if you ...
After the confusion of GM Wesley So's forfeiture died down today at the U.S. Championships, the women's field came together while the men stayed mostly unchanged at the top. So's six-move game against GM Varuzhan Akobian went down as the second-...
[UPDATE 4/11/15 - The appeals committee has met and decided they cannot help in regards to So's request to not lose points. The committee consisted of GM Ben Finegold, IM Rusa Goletiani, and IA Chris Bird (joining by phone). Finegold told ...
Three players started with 4.0/4 at the Dubai Open: GM David Howell of England, GM Nils Grandelius of Sweden and Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine. Dubai, the emirate with numerous shopping malls, very expensive hotel rooms and the tallest bu...
After GM Hikaru Nakamura's lead whittled away to nothing over the last two rounds of the 2015 U.S. Championship, a quick win with Black to regain sole first place today did not exactly leave him sanguine. "The way I played is just moronic," he s...
NEXT TITLED TUESDAY, May 5th at 11am Pacific 2pm Eastern. GM Georg Meier is a jolly good blitz fellow. Less than two weeks after crushing GM Sam Shankland in Death Match 31, the German grandmaster won the eighth Titled Tuesday event. ...
At the end of the month GM Garry Kasparov will be playing chess again. His opponent will be GM Nigel Short, in a two-day exhibition match of rapid and blitz chess in St. Louis. Hosted by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (...
If chess can sometimes be poetry, today was a Greek epic. Although far from being perfect chess, nine of 12 games produced winners, with GM Ray Robson's back-and-forth battle culminating an eventful day at the 2015 U.S. Championsh...
Today offered a little clarity about the chase group at the 2015 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship. You can thank the Webster University Gorloks for that, as teammates GM Ray Robson and WGM Anna Sharevich both played pivota...
Top seed GM Li Chao won the Neckar Open most convincingly. The Chinese GM only dropped half a point, scored 8.5/9 and reached the #17 spot in the live ratings. GM Li Chao. | Photo Georgios Souleidis. Held for the 19th time, the Neckar Ope...
Easter Sunday at the 2015 U.S. Chess Championships saw some powerful attacks and incredible swings as GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Wesley So, GM Gata Kamsky and GM Irina Krush all won their games in style. Nakamura continued his fearlessness with the b...
IM Mariya Muzychuk is the new Women's World Champion. The Ukrainian lady beat WGM Natalija Pogonina in the second game of the final, which proved decisive after draws in games 3 and 4. Photo Eteri Kublashvili. In what has been described a...
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi edged out GM Daniil Dubov on tiebreak and won the Aeroflot Open in Moscow on Saturday. Nepomniachtchi, who qualified for the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund later this year, also won the blitz tournament on S...
GM Hikaru Nakamura blundered but escaped against GM Wesley So in round 4 of the 2015 U.S. Championship in Saint Louis. Nakamura leads with GM Ray Robson who drew with GM Varuzhan Akobian. On a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Saint Louis, all eyes...
After writing in these pages yesterday about the successes of the three prohibitive favorites, they all struggled in round three of the 2015 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship. GM Irina Krush lost her first game at the champio...
On Friday IM Mariya Muzychuk grabbed the lead in the Women's World Championship's final. The Ukrainian player defeated WGM Natalija Pogonina with the white pieces after a draw in the first game. Photo Eteri Kublashvili. If WGM Natali...
In a day filled with interesting matchups and storylines at the U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championship, top seeds GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Wesley So both moved to 2-0, albeit in much different efforts. Nakamura snatched a pa...
With three rounds to go (and round seven underway at press time) Russian GMs Daniil Dubov and Ian Nepomniachtchi are tied for first place at the Aeroflot Open in Moscow. Photo Boris Dolmatovsky. We left this very strong open tou...
Go ahead and take that vacation; it looks to be an unpredictable two weeks in St. Louis. Some leaders faltered while other top-enders needed reversals of fate, and we're only in round one of the 2015 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women's Championsh...
April Fools! In a stunning decision, World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen has decided to not only relocate permanently to Iceland, but also change federations with FIDE — effective immediately. This was announced today in a press relea...
