Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:18pm.
All Games End Decisively In Round 6
The draw percentage at this year's Biel tournament was already low, but fell still further in round 6 as Carlsen (pictured), Bacrot and Dominguez beat Pelletier, Alekseev and Onischuk respectively.
Dominguez... Read more »
481 reads | 7 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:25pm.
The annual festival of chess in Mainz - the "Chess Classic Mainz" - starts on Monday in this historic German city.
There are so many fascinating competitions being held that it truly an embarrassment of riches for any chess fan. The mai... Read more »
82 reads | 0 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Fri Jul 25, 2008 1:48pm.
Carlsen And Alekseev Share The Lead
The only decisive game of the 5th round at Biel occurred in the clash between the two players at the bottom of the leader board, Etienne Bacrot (pictured) and Yannick Pelletier.
Pelletier played the so... Read more »
827 reads | 5 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
erik on Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:42pm.
I got an email from IM Jeremy Silman (who writes some amazing Chess Mentor courses!!) today about a TV show he helped consult on =>
"MONK AND THE GENIUS is on USA Tomorrow evening (Friday July 25th)! If you love chess on TV, this episode is f... Read more »
505 reads | 9 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:15pm.
Judit Polgar is comfortably the strongest female chess player in the history of the game. Born on 23 July 1976, she has been successfully playing the top male chess players on equal terms for over a decade.
She achieved the Grandmaster ti... Read more »
317 reads | 13 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:50pm.
Carlsen caught by Alekseev
Another two decisive results in round 4 at Biel, but neither to the benefit of Carlsen, who was held by Onsichuk today despite his best efforts to take the full point.
Alekseev (pictured) took full advantage by beati... Read more »
1124 reads | 2 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:49am.
Kramnik starts the psychological war
The first game of the World Chess Championship match between India's Vishy Anand and Russia's Vladimir Kramnik is only 82 days away, but the mind games have started already.
In a recent interview Kramnik qu... Read more »
2553 reads | 44 comments | 4 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:36pm.
The US teams for the Dresden Olympiad have been announced. The Chess Olympiad is the premier team chess event in the world and takes place biennially. The 2008 event takes place from 12-25 November.
In 2006 the US Men's team won the ... Read more »
1096 reads | 22 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:08pm.
As reported earlier at Chess.com, the World Mind Sports games are taking place in Beijing later this year and chess is part of the planned events.
The entrants for the men's and women's individual titles have now been announced and listed ... Read more »
175 reads | 2 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:58pm.
Magnus takes the sole lead at Biel
Is Magnus Carlsen (pictured) already so good that his opponents are in awe of him? Etienne Bacrot played well with the Black pieces against the Norwegian boy wonder, and may even have been better at some ... Read more »
669 reads | 6 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:00pm.
Standings unchanged after well-fought draws
In round 1, Magnus Carlsen seemed to work some strange magic to win in the ending despite the presence of the notoriously drawish opposite-coloured bishops. In round 2, the bishops reasserted the... Read more »
873 reads | 5 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:57am.
Carlsen and Alekseev earn first round wins
The first round of the premier event at the International Chess Festival in Biel produced some fascinating games and two decisive results.
Rank outsider Yannick Pelletier tried a Queen's Indian agains... Read more »
1609 reads | 8 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:58am.
The 41st edition of the Biel International Chess Festival kicks off today in Switzerland and runs until 1 August. This popular annual event consists - appropriately - of many 'Swiss System' tournaments of different categories:
M... Read more »
1273 reads | 6 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sat Jul 19, 2008 1:16am.
For several years Rybka has been the strongest chess engine by a mile, topping all the usual computer rating lists like the SSDF. However, Chessbase have the most popular user interface and Rybka was not available directly on this platform (... Read more »
721 reads | 9 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:57am.
The Poikovsky tournament ended in a four-way tie for first place on 5.5/9 between Alexei Shirov (pictured), Sergei Rublevsky, Alexei Shirov, Vugar Gashmiov and Dmitry Jakovenko.
Shirov had a hot streak, winning in rounds 5,6 and 7, but ... Read more »
978 reads | 13 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
Patzer24 on Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:33pm.
The 2008 Irish Chess Championships took place July 5-13, 2008 at the Academy Plaza Hotel in Dublin, Ireland. After 9 hard fought rounds GM Baburin and GM Greenfeld split first place with an impressive score of 8/9 which was 1.5 points out in front... Read more »
779 reads | 5 comments | 2 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:31pm.
Pal Benko (pictured) turned 80 years of age on 14th July 2008. He was raised amongst poverty in Hungary and emigrated to the US in 1958 by defecting when attending a chess tournament in Iceland. He went on to finish first, or shared first, i... Read more »
1280 reads | 13 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Mon Jul 14, 2008 12:56pm.
Wesley So (pictured) isn't a 'household' name in the chess world - yet, but this young Filipino player is making waves with his attacking play and strong results. In December 2007, he became the 7th youngest Grandmaster i... Read more »
2117 reads | 33 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
Patzer24 on Sun Jul 13, 2008 2:43pm.
The 2nd New Jersey Futurity International was held from July 7-11, 2008 In New Jersey, USA. GM Sergey Erenburg won the event with a score of 7.5/9, a full point ahead of second place and by doing so successfully defended his victory from last year... Read more »
875 reads | 7 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
erik on Sat Jul 12, 2008 9:33am.
Let's face it: 99% of us don't play chess as well as we would like to, and the other 1% needs to learn some humility. One of the worst feelings in chess is missing those clearly winning moves that would have ended the game, but instead you... Read more »
2612 reads | 25 comments | 9 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Sat Jul 12, 2008 7:40am.
The Women's World Chess Championship will take place in Nalchik, Russia from 28 August to 19 September, as reported previously at Chess.com. The draw for the first round has now been announced and as expected, the top rated chess player... Read more »
644 reads | 2 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
Patzer24 on Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:44pm.
The 2008 South Carolina Open was held from June 27-29, 2008 in Greenville, SC. The event had 2 GMs and 6 NMs to make a very competitive field. GM Roman Dzindzichasvili and NM Chris Mabe both of who scored 4.5/5 and went undefeated split first plac... Read more »
1405 reads | 8 comments | 3 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Wed Jul 9, 2008 12:00pm.
Top seed Alexei Shirov (pictured) heads the lineup of this 10-man round-robin tournament being held in Russia between 8-17 July. The tournament website can be found here (in Russian only), but beware - there are some unconfirmed reports that... Read more »
1475 reads | 7 comments | 0 votes:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Tue Jul 8, 2008 12:57pm.
The Russian GM Evgeny Najer (pictured) has won the 'World Open' event played between July 1-6 in Philadelphia. The nine-round swiss tournament ended with four players tied for first place on 7/9. Along with Najer they were, Par... Read more »
1181 reads | 7 comments | 1 vote:
Submitted by
SonofPearl on Mon Jul 7, 2008 12:24pm.
The 18 year-old Ukranian GM Sergey Karjakin (pictured) has won his rapid match in Kiev against the veteran British GM and former World Title challenger Nigel Short. The time control was 25 minutes per game plus a 10 second increment per move... Read more »
1772 reads | 8 comments | 0 votes: