The 2nd Grand Prix tournament hasn't finished yet, but still we think it's good to warm up the chess fans a bit already for what will be happing next week. In Moscow, 18-30 August, there's the Tal Memorial, and in Amsterdam, 20-30 August, the NH C...
Round 11 was another exciting round at the Sochi Grand Prix with Lev Aronian (pictured) benefitting from a blunder by Boris Gelfand to win their game and take the sole lead on 7/11 with just 2 rounds of this closely fought contest to go. Dmitry ...
The 2008 Najdorf Memorial took place in Warsaw, Poland from August 2-10, 2008. This was a category XV event with an average rating of 2608. GM Sasikiran won clear first with a score of 6.5/9 a full point ahead of second place and going throughout ...
We have just published a new book, called Play 1.b3!, written by Russian IM Ilya Odessky.The popularity of the Nimzo-Larsen Attack is largely based on its surprise value, but 1.b3 is in fact one of White's more logical first moves. By immediatly...
What do you play with White? The solution will be published tomorrow. Yesterday's solution:
The 10th round of the 2nd Grand Prix Tournament in Sochi was definitely the most spectacular one, with five decisive games, and now we have a shared lead of Aronian, Gashimov, Radjabov and Wang Yue.But you might wonder why there's a photo up here ...
The Race Hots Up With 3 Rounds To Go Round 9 was a relatively quiet affair which produced only one decisive game with Wang Yue of China (pictured) beating Teimour Radjabov to swap places with him as joint leader with Ivan Cheparinov. Round 10 ...
If the pieces are not remembering him enough, there's always the annual Staunton memorial of course. Adams and Timman had the best start in the 2008 event, and are leading with 2.5 out of 3.Actually it's one of the most famous misconceptions, that...
What do you play with White? The solution will be published tomorrow. Yesterday's solution:
The British Chess Championships 2008 was held recently in Liverpool and ended in victory for Stuart Conquest, with Jovanka Houska taking the women's title (both pictured). Conquest had to win a playoff with rival Keith Arkell after they finished...
It's about time to stop mentioning the Beijing Olympics and the Chinese number 8, and start confirming that Wang Yue is just a very strong chess player. Once more he showed fine technique in a bishop ending, and defeated Radjabov to take over ...
What do you play with White? The solution will be published tomorrow. Yesterday's solution:
Already in April this year it became known that Serbian GM Dusan Popovic was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure, and is hoping for a transplant soon. Next Monday, August 11th, Magnus Carlsen will play a fundraising simul on ICC to help him.On A...
In Chinese culture, 8 (?•‚Ķ¬´?جº?Ã?¶??Ã) is a lucky number because it sounds like the word "prosper" or "wealth" (?•?‘ - short for "?•?‘?®¬¥¬¢", Pinyin: f?Ñ?). It was certainly not a coincidence that the Olympic Games were opened yesterday, ...
The Berlin Defense to the Ruy Lopez is known as the Berlin Wall for a good reason. Many great players have struggled to breach this solid barricade, not least of which was Garry Kasparov who tried and failed 4 times whilst losing his World C...
What do you play with White? The solution will be published tomorrow. Yesterday's solution:
As nobody of you will have missed, tonight the Beijing Summer Olympics have officially been opened. Again, chess is not part of the biggest sports event of the year. Is this a bad thing?Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the President of the F?ɬ©d?ɬ©ration Int...
After a bomb exploded about 40 km away from the venue in Sochi, it seemed the players were even more cautious than usual. No less than six games ended in a draw and Karjakin won a drawn endgame against Al-Modiahki."A bomb explosion in Sochi killin...
What do you play with White? The solution will be published tomorrow. Yesterday's solution:
Last weekend Veselin Topalov won a strong rapid tournament in the Spanish town of Villarrobledo. The Bulgarian scored 8/9 and finished half a point clear of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Participants included Ponomariov, Shirov, Ljubojevic, Van Wely and ...
A quick update on events in the second Grand Prix in Sochi where Ivan Cheparinov and Teimour Radjabov are joint leaders after 7 rounds, with Vugar Gashimov and Lev Aronian only half a point behind. The results in round 6: Cheparinov, Iva...
New In Chess 2008/5 is full of interesting stuff: -- Magnus Carlsen on his win in Foros -- Moro on his win in Sarajevo -- Kasparov on his win against Karpov (in 1985, that is) -- Leko on his win in Dortmund -- Bologan's essay on...
After the first rest day on Tuesday, the Sochi Grand Prix tournament proceeded yesterday with the sixth round. Once more, Radjabov escaped, against Gelfand, and got a full point more than we expected, while Cheparinov won convincingly against Gris...
What do you play with White? The solution will be published tomorrow. Yesterday's solution:
