Recently, I’ve been looking at some of my old middlegame books, both as potential teaching material and for the pleasure of reminding myself what the bods had to say. A few of the found jewels: Max Euwe and Hans Kramer’s two-volume work on the middlegame; three volumes of “Complete Chess Strategy” by Ludek Pachman; “A […]
Monthly Archives: September 2023
My readers, and all my friends in the chess world, know that I am fond of puzzles. I keep giving the most talented chess players non-chess problems to solve, and they keep coming back for more. Here one I tormented my 2600+ friends with. Warning: it can only be solved by a certain section of […]
The Netherlands hosted Eurochess, a now traditional bankers’ tournament, and offered the guests from Europe a nice visiting programme. The host team from De Nederlandsche Bank (the Netherlands’ central bank) won the team competition, while Razvan-Alexandru Sebe-Vodislav finished first in the individual standings. Gerd Densing played for the Bundesbank and found time to prepare a […]
In an interview published in India’s “The Week” magazine, Viswanathan Anand talked about young Indian talents, how the pandemic impacted chess, his ongoing career as a professional player, among other topics. Referring to his young compatriots, Anand said: “They are all in the 2,700-plus group (rating). And they are all under 20. That just does […]
On the second day of the Armageddon Championship Series: Grand Finale, Nodirbek Abdusattorov emerged victorious against Richard Rapport, winning the match thanks to his speed and composure in the Armageddon game. In the matchup between Humpy Koneru and Bibisara Assaubayeva, Assaubayeva secured a win in the first game but fell short in the second. The […]
The Grand Finale of the Armageddon Series is taking place on September 14-20 at the World Chess Club in Berlin. On the first day of action, Gukesh D faces Wesley So and Jan-Krzysztof Duda faces Sam Shankland. | Follow the games live with expert commentary by Simon Williams and Jovanka Houska, starting at 19.00 CEST […]
From 22 to 26 September, Ilya Levitov is organising a “Chess Week” for the second time. Ten strong players will compete in a double-round rapid chess tournament, including two former world champions, Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. Four years ago, the winner was Ian Nepomniachtchi, who will attempt to defend his title in Amsterdam. | […]
The Armageddon Championship Series: Grand Finale began on September 14 at the World Chess Club in Berlin. In an evening filled with suspense and strategic brilliance, Gukesh D and Jan-Krzysztof Duda emerged as victors, each securing a commanding 2-0 win against their formidable opponents, Wesley So and Sam Shankland. | Photo: World Chess
Vladimir Kramnik recently caused a stir with an online game against Hans Niemann, in which he wanted to let himself be mated quickly in protest of Niemann’s alleged cheating in the previous game. Kramnik, however, is not so much concerned with Niemann himself, but with the cheating problem in online chess in general. He estimates […]
Grandmaster Leon Mendonca is a rising star in the chess world and one of India’s most promising young talents. This year, at seventeen, he crossed the 2600 Elo barrier (current Elo is 2622) for the first time and is probably one of the most active chess players in 2023 (almost 100 rated games). Leon has […]