As a tumultuous year is about to end, let us highlight three tournaments that were particularly impactful in the world of chess. Granted, this list does not intend to be all-encompassing, but it features three events that are sure to be remembered for many years to come: the Candidates Tournament in Madrid, the Chess Olympiad […]
Monthly Archives: December 2022
Magnus Carlsen has become World Blitz champion for the sixth time in his career. He won it in 2009, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019 and now 2022. The Norwegian also became World Triple Crown champion for the third time in his career (2014, 2019 and 2022). Unlike 2019, this time Carlsen became a clear champion by […]
Our time travel journey is over, and we return from 1972 to the present. This year we reached a new world record, with almost 7200 (!) answers. Were the questions too easy, or was the topic particularly interesting? But there was something else, wasn’t there? Yes, we solve the tricky last question, which of course […]
64 squares. For some they mean the world. In the past month, the World Congress for Chess Composition was held, as I quickly reported. Among the new books there was also the FIDE Album 2016-2018 (for a history of the FIDE Albums see our September 2019 article) | Photo: Pixabay
The World Blitz Championships are taking place on 28-29. Going into the final day of action, Hikaru Nakamura has a full-point lead over a five-player chasing pack. In the women’s section, Valentina Gunina and Polina Shuvalova are sharing the lead on 7½/9 points. | Follow the games live with expert commentary, starting at 09.00 CET […]
Now that Argentina has won the FIFA World Cup in memorable fashion, it is a great time to reminisce on the legacy of Miguel Najdorf. ‘Don Miguel’ was born in Warsaw, but was among the many European players who found themselves in Buenos Aires when the Second World War broke out in 1939. Najdorf stayed […]
The World Blitz Championships are taking place on December 29-30 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The open section sees players competing in a 21-round Swiss, while the women’s tournament is a 17-rounder. Magnus Carlsen and Tan Zhongyi will be eyeing to claim a second world title in the Kazakh city, as they come from winning the World […]
The young Uzbek team winning this year’s Olympiad came as a pleasant surprise, but it is not an isolated example in the recent shift of world chess power. Other Central Asian countries are also looking to become more relevant in the elite chess scene, including Kyrgyzstan, a land that was once part of the Timurid […]
In the first press conference of the World Rapid and Blitz Championships, Magnus Carlsen and FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich answered a broad set of questions from the media. Among other topics, Carlsen discussed his ambitions in Almaty, chess and mental health, and whether he will play Hans Niemann if they happen to be paired up […]
The World Rapid Championships 2022 kicked off on the 26th of December 2022 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Five rounds were played in the open section and four rounds in women. We have four leaders in the open with 4.5/5 and they are Magnus Carlsen, Arjun Erigaisi, Vladimir Fedoseev and Jorden van Foreest. Meanwhile in the women’s […]