The "Ginger GM" Simon Williams enjoys playing the Dragon a lot, but is an even bigger fan of the Dragadorf. But, what happens if the opponent plays the interesting 6.f4 Levenfish variation for White? Simon Williams knew the answer and dominated his opponent. Chris Ward analysed the game closely,...
Castling in endgame studies is a rich and entertaining topic - be it real castling, the threat of castling, or even just retroanalysis that proves that castling is impossible. Last year we began a new series in which we chronologically explore the most interesting endgame studies with castling...
In the diagram position, it is White to move and draw. White is an exchange up but he still is in trouble because his pawns are weak and his rook has trouble defending them. In the game White did not find a way to draw the game and lost. Can you do better?
The second-round games of the Women’s Grand Prix in New Delhi were played on Monday. Bibisara Assaubayeva, the 19-year-old IM from Kazakhstan, is the only player who has so far scored a win in the tournament, as she defeated India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu with black. A look at the standings does not...
Martin B Justesen, the author of Say Chess and Blindfold Opening Visualization: 100 chess puzzles decided to ask Chat GPT-4 what it would do if it was in charge of FIDE. Chat GPT-4 gave useful suggestions, but definitely failed to find an official website of the World Chess Championship 2023....
The Women Candidates Chess 2023 final take place in Chongqing, China. Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie will fight for the right to challenge the current Women;s World Champion, Ju Wenjun. This match sets the stage for a possible all out China domination in the World Chess Championships. Ju Wenjun will...
With the World Champion Magnus Carlsen decision not to defend his title, the chess world is about to see a major change. For the first time in ten years a new champion will be crowned in the match between the winner and the runner-up of the 2022 Candidates Tournament, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding...
Yesterday FIDE announced that Toronto will host the 2024 FIDE Candidates. The announcement came with a statement by the FIDE President Arkadij Dvorkovich, where he said, “The Candidates Tournaments will start in just over a year;s time, but I know many chess fans will already be counting...
The Chess Continental Absolute Championship of the Americas is an official event of the Chess Confederation for America, promoted by the Dominican Chess Federation (FDA). The top four (4) will qualify for the “FIDE World Cup” phase of the Absolute World Championship cycle. The...
The Fagernes Open 2023 is played at the major Norwegian Chess Hotel Scandic Valdresat Fagernes, 187 km north of Oslo.Main organizer is Hans Olav Lahlum in cooperation with Innlandet Sjakkrets.The tournament is taking place from 2-9 April 2023 in Fagernes, Norway. Players receive 100...
The Fagernes GM 2023 is played at the major Norwegian Chess Hotel Scandic Valdresat Fagernes, 187 km north of Oslo.Main organizer is Hans Olav Lahlum in cooperation with Innlandet Sjakkrets.The tournament is taking place from 2-9 April 2023 in Fagernes, Norway. Players receive 100...
The tournament is played at the major Norwegian Chess Hotel Scandic Valdresat Fagernes, 187 km north of Oslo.Main organizer is Hans Olav Lahlum in cooperation with Innlandet Sjakkrets. The Fagernes Chess International 2023 is separated in two categories – Fagernes GM (The GM group...
The 28th Sharjah Rapid Championship is taking place from 26;27 March 2023 in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Players receive 10 minutes for the entire game, plus a 3-second increment starting from move one. It is a 9-round Swiss tournament with participation of Mokliss El Adnani, Adam Tukhaev,...
Hikaru Nakamura pulled through to become the 2023 American Cup Champion after defeating Wesley So 2½-1½ in a difficult final Elimination Match. The finale started out with three solid draws, but finished abruptly in the fourth game after a blunder by So got his queen trapped inside Nakamura’s...
It is usual for rook endgames to end in a draw. At least, they usually have a strong tendency to do so. Recently young grandmaster Iniyan visited our company and showed us a position from one of his games which should be won by White. But he needed to work very hard to do so. Even our endgame...
Toronto will host the 2024 FIDE Candidates and Women’s Candidates, scheduled for April 3-25, with a prize fund of EUR 750,000. It will be the first time in chess history that both events will be held at the same time and venue, and also the first time that the Candidates Tournament is held...
The 37th edition of Reykjavik Open kicks off this Wednesday and will be held from March 29 ; April 4 in Harpa Conference Center. The event broke the participation record with 408 entries and the top-seeds are: GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR, 2664), GM Nils Grandelius (SWE, 2658), GM Aryan Tari (NOR,...
Hikaru Nakamura pulled through to become the 2023 American Cup Champion after defeating Wesley So 2.5-1.5 in a difficult final Elimination Match. The finale started out with three solid draws, but finished abruptly in the fourth game after a blunder by So got his queen trapped inside Nakamura;s...
The FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2022-23 is into its third leg, and it is a huge moment for Indian chess. The start to the event has been rocky. One of the participants, Zhansaya Abdumalik, has withdrawn from the tournament after reaching New Delhi and spending a day at the venue. The players wrote an...
The Kasparov Chess Foundation organized the third annual KCF University Cup in February this year. The tournament, which attracted well over 500 university students from every continent, was won by Texas Tech University. Francesco Bortolussi, who played board 4 for the winning team, sent us a...
Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 118th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues to explain why it is good to study and to play the...
Irina Krush claimed her second consecutive American Cup title in the women’s section after obtaining a 2½-1½ victory over Alice Lee. On Saturday, Lee defeated Krush in classical chess to force a rapid playoff. Krush, however, showed the better nerves in a topsy-turvy pair of rapid games to grab...
The third stage of the Women’s Grand Prix series, set to take place in New Delhi, did not start as scheduled on Saturday, March 25. It was reported that some of the players were not received by official transport at the airport and that, at the hotel, they were informed that the rooms were not...
The Zonal 4.2 2023 is taking place from 25;31 March 2023 in Dimbokro, Ivory Coast. Players receive 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes to the end of the game, plus a 30-second increment starting from move one. It is a 9-round Swiss tournament with participation of Mariano Ortega...
The Women’s Zonal 4.2 2023 is taking place from 25;31 March 2023 in Dimbokro, Ivory Coast. Players receive 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes to the end of the game, plus a 30-second increment starting from move one. It is a 9-round Swiss tournament with participation of Celia...