He's defending his title and he started this year's Torneo di Capodanno with three wins. Zoltan Almasi leads in Reggio Emilia, ahead of Ni Hua, Dreev and Gustafsson.It's quite an old event already: this year for the 51st time, Reggio Emilia, a to...
The last three rounds of the Elista Grand Prix saw only one decisive game in each round as the players either tired or simply decided to settle for draws. The decisive games and some of the harder fought draws can be found below. The status of t...
All would be decided in the final round, but in the top of the standings nothing changed: Jakovenko (who drew with Alekseev) and Grischuk & Radjabov (who drew with each other) finished shared first at the 3rd Grand Prix in Elista. In the last roun...
The Norwegian Chess Festival runs from 29th December to the 7th January 2009. The event is being held in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Gjøvik Chess Club and is headlined by a fascinating rapid event, the "Aker Chess Challenge" betwe...
The town of Hastings on the southern coast of England is most famous for a pivotal historical battle 'The Battle of Hastings' in 1066, but since the late 19th century it has been better known among chess fans for it's association with the royal ga...
Even quicker than yesterday the score in Elista saw six draws, and again Kasimdzhanov was the only winner, this time against Cheparinov. Jakovenko, Grischuk and Radjabov still lead going into the final, decisive round.The 3rd Grand Prix takes plac...
Not many chess magazines can boast about such a longstanding history as the French monthly Europe Echecs. The January 2009 issue celebrates half a century of chess news and stories in the French language, with 100 pages of looking back.The monthly...
Round 10 of the Elista FIDE Grand Prix was played on Christmas Day, and it turned out to be a White Christmas as 5 of the 7 games ended in victory for the white pieces. However, peace on earth returned the following day in round 11 as only one ga...
After so much excitement on Thursday, the 11th round of the Elista Grand Prix could be described as the round of missed chances. Many favourable endings were not won and in the end it was only Kasimdzhanov who scored a win, with Black against Inar...
Francisco Vallejo Pons and Fabiano Caruana are leading with 2/3 in a strong round-robin that's currently taking place in Pamplona, Spain. In the third round Caruana beat Vallejo - a great game that deserves a separate post here.Photo: Gigi TrosoTh...
On a rare occasion of top level chess on Christmas day there was more fighting spirit than ever which resulted in the best round so far in Elista. Radjabov defeated Alekseev to join Grischuk in the lead. So did Jakovenko, who won against Inarkiev....
Christmas is a time for trees, presents, families, holidays, old men in red suits, snow, reindeer, and... chess. For anybody who wants to focus on that last one, here's an overview of all tournaments that are taking place this period.FIDE Grand Pr...
Now that the super-tournament at Pearl Springs in Nanjing, China is finished* attention turns again to the Elista Grand Prix which continues to provide a good number of exciting games. After 9 rounds Vugar Gashimov (pictured) and Alexander Grisch...
In a new press release the Association of Chess Professionals calls for an "even higher standard of management" and recommends tournament organizers to "act carefully when announcing events which are not completely guaranteed yet." They argue that...
After co-winning the first Grand Prix as the nominated player in Baku, Vuigar Gashimov is also a serious candidate for winning the third, in Elista. Today he trapped Mamedyarov's queen and rejoined Grischuk in the lead, with 6.0/9. Overall leader ...
IM Timothy Taylor, who is rapidly gaining a reputation as an excellent chess writer, has now dealt with the practical aspects of improving your chess in True Combat Chess.This book bears resemblance with Nunn's famous Secrets of Practical Chess, a...
Do you know who Britney Spears' manager is? Do you care? Okay, I admit having read a news item about the breakup between Britney Spears and her previous manager, but, of course, that was not because of the news itself, but because it involved Brit...
Alexander Grischuk beat Wang Yue today to score his third victory in a row in Elista. The Russian leads the 3rd Grand Prix with 5.5/8. Cheparinov sacrificed his queen to force Alekseev's resignation and Kasimdzhanov got his first win, against Akop...
It's clear that the New in Chess publishers are experimenting. In the past, they have mostly published high-quality opening books for the serious chess student, written by famous grandmasters such as Morozevich and Bologan. With The Black Lion, wr...
Melwyn Kenneth Baltazar scored a title twin killed grabbing both the over-all championship and the 12 years and under crowns of the Alay Kay Mayor "Search for the Bagong Bayani" Age-group Active Chess Championship held December 20,2008 at the l...
In round 7 of the Grand Prix in Elista, Inarkiev escaped from a totally lost position and even beat one of the tournament leaders, Radjabov. Eljanov won against Cheparinov and Grischuk beat Alekseev, to share the lead with Gashimov.The 3rd Grand P...
Using the rare Vienna Opening, Vassily Ivanchuk defeated Bu brilliantly to score his first win in Nanjing. The Ukrainian finished shared 5th with Movsesian, who drew with tournament winner Topalov. Aronian finished in clear second place after dra...
After the restday, play resumed in Elista today. In a complicated middlegame Akopian lost an exchange to Alekseev who then showed no mercy. In yet another Berlin Wall Eljanov tried an interesting pawn sacrifice with Black against Grischuk. It didn...
Veselin Topalov has won the 1st Pearl Spring Super GM Tournament in Nanjing, China. While his closest rivals Bu Xiangzhi and Aronian had drawn quickly today, the Bulgarian scored yet another win, with Black against Peter Svidler. Movsesian-Ivanchu...
