The Saint Louis Chess Club is currently hosting the U.S. Junior, Girls’ and Senior Championships. The center is broadcasting live and the commentary team led by Yasser Seirawan is commenting on the action. Live from 22:00 CEST (16:00 ET, 20:00 UTC).
Monthly Archives: July 2021
Frederick Gordon learnt chess at the age of six. After a week he started beating his parents, both PhDs in mathematics. Now, at the age of ten, Freddy has defeated a full-blown grandmaster, Bogdon Lalic, in a rapid chess game. But, the BBC reports, “the talented young Scottish player did not share his excitement with […]
50 years ago, on 20 July 1971, Bobby Fischer (pictured) and Bent Larsen played the sixth and final game of their semi-final match of the Candidates. Fischer had won the first five games and he also won the sixth. It was Fischer’s 19th win in a row against some of the world’s best players, a […]
An inexpensive chess set can sell for $20, but a handcrafted wooden set certified for the World Chess Championship costs $500. Much of the set’s value lies in just one piece: the knight. Making this one piece takes two hours, and there are fewer than ten people trained to carve knights for the championship chess […]
Upsets continue at the FIDE World Cups in Sochi, as Anish Giri and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov were knocked out by Nodirbek Abdusattorov (pictured) and Haik Martirosyan in the rapid and blitz playoffs of round 3. Meanwhile, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vidit Gujrathi and Mariya Muzychuk won lengthy, exciting matches. The players will have a rest day on Wednesday. […]
Vasily Smyslov defeated Mikhail Botvinnik at the second attempt in 1957 and thus became the 7th world champion in chess history, but had to relinquish the title in a rematch the following year. After that Smyslov belonged to the absolute world elite for many years. His performance in the 1982-1985 World Championship cycle was sensational, […]
Fabiano Caruana was surprisingly knocked out of the FIDE World Cup in round 3, as Kazakhstani GM Rinat Jumabayev beat him with the black pieces in a hard-fought game. Other upsets from the third round include Vasif Durarbayli knocking out David Navara and Amin Tabatabaei leaving Yu Yangyi out of contention. A total of 17 […]
Solving tactical exercises regularly keeps you in shape, helps you to play better and helps you to score more points but it can also make you happy. After all, solving a puzzle usually leads to a little dopamine rush. Mattis Traetmar is a great fan of solving tactical exercises and has selected eight nice examples […]
Thanks to a final-round win over Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Pavel Eljanov took clear first place at the Deutschland Grand Prix in Dortmund. The Ukrainian grandmaster had been in the sole lead until round 7, when he was beaten by Dmitrij Kollars. Kollars, who lost his penultimate game against Kasimdzhanov, finished in shared second place, together with […]
In his third column examining who is the best chess player in history — and his 150th overall — Jon Speelman fast forwards to the present champion, Magnus Carlsen. Speelman considers that Carlsen’s greatest strength is in the endgame, and dares to call him the best ever for this stage of the game. | Photo: […]

