The knockout phase of the Airthings Masters is taking place on February 6-10. Three Divisions (with 8, 16 and 32 players respectively) are being played concurrently. Each knockout includes winners’ and losers’ brackets. Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So and Alireza Firouzja are among the 8 participants in Division I. | Follow the live commentary, starting at […]
Monthly Archives: February 2023
The ChessBase Magazine appears six times a year and shows the latest trends in top level chess and opening theory. However, the issues do not get old: the first issue of 2023 is CBM #211, but Davide Nastasio recently had great fun looking at CBM #205. In an impromptu review he writes: every issue of […]
A fourth consecutive win at the Munich Grand Prix left Alexandra Kosteniuk 1½ points ahead of her closest chasers in the standings. On Sunday, the runaway leader defeated Tan Zhongyi with white after finding herself in some trouble during the opening phase of the game. Sharing second place on 2½/4 are Nana Dzagnidze, Mariya Muzychuk […]
The six strongest performers of the Airthings Masters Play-In will join Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So in Division I of the tournament’s knockout phase starting Monday. Meanwhile, 16 players will battle it out in Division II, and 32 will play in Division III. In Friday’s Play-In, Dommaraju Gukesh was the clear winner of the 9-round […]
The recent firefight in Wijk aan Zee was a magnificent tournament. While trying to follow his nose (i.e. not merely checking the engine evaluation) as to what was going on in the players’ minds during the battle, Jon Speelman found a number of remarkable ideas! | Photos: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023
It is rare to see female players take part in the open section of national championships. But 19-year-old IM Nurgyul Salimova decided to do it at the 2023 Bulgarian Championship. She scored an impressive 6/9 and edged past two grandmasters (who also collected 6 points) to finish second overall. Salimova obtained four wins, four draws […]
Alexandra Kosteniuk grabbed a third consecutive win in Munich to get a full-point lead over a 3-player chasing pack at the second stage of the Women’s Grand Prix series. Kosteniuk inflicted Dinara Wagner’s third consecutive loss. In the other decisive game of the round, Zhu Jiner beat Zhansaya Abdumalik with the black pieces. | Photo: […]
By scoring six wins in as many matches, Poland grabbed gold at the first Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities. The team of Physically Disabled Chess Players (IPCA) won second place with 10 match points, while the Philippines took home bronze after outscoring (according to tiebreak criteria) three other teams that also collected 8 match […]
First published in 1828, ‘The Spectator’ is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. In the latest edition of the long-standing publication, an article written by Zoe Strimpel profiling living chess legend Judit Polgar was included in the Culture section. Strimpel writes: “It’s also why Judit Polgár, forty-six and one of the […]
An entertaining second round at the Munich Grand Prix saw Alexandra Kosteniuk and Anna Muzychuk scoring wins with black, as they defeated local representatives Elisabeth Paehtz and Dinara Wagner, respectively. Three other games, albeit not decisive, were fiercely fought, with Humpy Koneru, Harika Dronavalli and Nana Dzagnidze showing great defensive skills to salvage half points. […]