After five rounds of the ACP Golden Classic in Bergamo, Italy, new American player GM Wesley So leads with 3 out of 4. A bit of explanation is needed -- the tournament comprises seven players, so every round one player sits out. In addition, adj...
Last year's inaugural Sinquefield Cup was the strongest tournament ever held in the U.S. -- the average FIDE rating was above 2790. The organizers in St. Louis don't seem to know when to stop. This year's lineup is almost complete, and the list ...
The Olympiad title defense of the number one women's national team may be over before the event begins. According to a letter released today by the 2014 Olympiad Organizing Committee (COT2014), all teams that did not file the appropriate paperwork...
The reduction in players and rounds from last year's Sparkassen Chess Festival in Dortmund, Germany makes getting off to a quick start all the more important. So far, top seed GM Fabiano Caruana is quickest off the blocks. The world number four ...
The intimate six-player double round robin in Biel, Switzerland got underway yesterday. This 47th edition once again takes place in the capital of Swiss watchmaking, and two players showed their precision on day one. GMs Hou Yifan (2629) and Rad...
He's not on life support! After a three-year hiatus, 41-year-old GM Loek van Wely returned to the Dutch Championship this year in Amsterdam, at a former hospital. After a nine-year gap, he found himself in the winner's circle. The former Du...
Rarely do two important chess events begin on the same day. Today, no less than three grandmaster tournaments commenced, all about five hours between them by car. With a little luck, you could theoretically visit all in one long day. Later this ...
The World Open began as the largest open tournament in the U.S. when it started in 1973. Back then, the total prize fund was "only" $15,000, while this past year, the first prize in the Open Section was $20,000 by itself. No one won quite that m...
They were the clear favorites and started with two wins, but then stumbled. Hou Yifan and Nigel Short had to be satisfied with third place, behind shared winners Zhu Chen/Yasser Seirawan and Xu Yuhua/Yu Shaoteng, at the International Sta...
Last year he started with 3.0/3, and this year it's not much worse. GM Wouter Spoelman, who rarely plays chess these days as he is very busy with his studies, is leading the Dutch Championship with 2.5/3, ahead of GMs Loek van Wely and Sipke Ernst...
A remarkable chess event has started today in Chengdu, China: the “International Star Mixed Pair Tournament.” As the name suggests, not one but two players sit behind one chess board, and face two opponents. Each pair consists of a s...
The Ukrainian Chess Federation has sent an open letter to the World Chess Federation (FIDE) “in respect of the exclusive jurisdiction” and “to express grave concern on increased number of serious violations of FIDE rules and prin...
Ding Liren managed to retain his title at the 5th Hainan Danzhou tournament. In the last round, on Friday, the 21-year-old grandmaster from Wenzhou defeated Xiu Deshun with the black pieces to reach a 6.5/9 score. In doing so, he caught tournament...
Magnus Carlsen still has a whopping 72-point lead in the world rankings. In the July 1 FIDE rating list, the triple world champion is rated 2877 for standard chess, and is followed by Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2805) and Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2...
Nearly two years since Chess.com hosted its first all-female Death Match, the next iteration will feature its first all-GM Death Match between two women. GM Irina Krush and GM Nadezhda Kosintseva will compete in Death Match 26 on Saturday, July 26...
Hou Yifan won the Women's Grand Prix tournament in Lopota, Georgia on Tuesday after dominating the event from start to finish. The 20-year-old Chinese grandmaster eventually scored 9.0/11 (a 2772 performance), and that was 2 points ...
Bringing a phone to the playing hall may lead to a loss, an illegal move will lose the game also in rapid chess, and two illegal moves lead to a loss in classical chess. These are some of the changes in the new rules of chess, which come in effect...
On Sunday Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine won the Edmonton International in Canada with the excellent score of 8.0/9. The only other 2700 player in the field, Wesley So of the Philippines, came second with 7.5 points while Sam...
On August 11th, 2014 the new FIDE president will be elected at the General Assembly, held during the Olympiad in Tromsø. The two candidates, the incumbent President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and his opponent Garry Kasparov, are fighting hard for t...
Once again Hou Yifan is in a class of her own in a women's event. The 20-year-old Chinese grandmaster is 1.5 points ahead in Lopota, Georgia with three rounds to go. And, with a live rating of 2646.5, she is only 29.6 Elo points behind J...
The two top seeds of the Edmonton International, Vassily Ivanchuk and Wesley So, are sharing the lead after five rounds. Both players won four games, and drew against each other. Like every year, the Canadian tournament is a 10-player round robin ...
A huge change is coming to ChessVibes: on Friday, June 27th we will start forwarding all news articles to Chess.com's news pages. This also means that readers won't be able to leave comments anymore on ChessVibes. On October 3rd, 2013...
Right after the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championship, Magnus Carlsen didn't return immediately back to Norway. Instead he travelled to Armenia, where the World Champion made a three-day trip together with his manager. The two were jo...
Everyone and their cousin knew GM Boris Avrukh needed a lead going into the bullet portion of Death Match 25 on Sunday. When he stretched the margin to five games, most thought the distance was enough. All except his opponent, IM Yaacov Norowitz. ...
