This week, I’m looking at calculation and what’s reasonable for a mere human being without excessive genuflection to our silicon lords and masters. One thing that the silicon brings us is a totally unprejudiced “eye”, but seeing far enough in difficult positions over the board is something any competitive player needs to develop properly. | […]
Monthly Archives: November 2023
Fabiano Caruana became the 2023 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz champion after a dramatic final day of blitz, which came down to a winner-take-all last round game against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Caruana ended with 21/36 points, Vachier-Lagrave finished second with 20.5, while Ian Nepomniachtchi and Le Quang Liem tied for third place with 20 points each. […]
The 13th edition of the London Chess Classic will take place on December 1-10 as a 10-player single round-robin with a classical time control. The event will feature nine Super Grandmasters, including the rising star of Indian chess, Dommaraju Gukesh, and the American Hans Niemann, whose sensational victory over the then world champion Magnus Carlsen […]
Flashy games were seen on the top boards of both sections in round 6 of the European Team Chess Championships. In the open, England obtained a clear 3½-½ victory over the Netherlands to join Germany in the lead. Romania and Serbia are sharing third place, a match point behind the co-leaders. Meanwhile, in the women’s […]
Fritz 19 is in the lead again with 2.5 to 1.5. But maybe our strong club level player Jan Jettel, perhaps better known as Schachnotizen, can defeat the tricky engine opponent. You either love, or hate to play against an ultra-aggressive club player, who pushes pawns forward non-stop, and sacrifices pieces with delight. The Swindler […]
At the age of 29 years, Vidit Gujrathi did something very special: he won the FIDE Grand Swiss outright and with it a spot in the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024. In an personal conversation with Sagar Shah, Vidit speaks about what the title means to him, the role of his family and parents, and reveals […]
Three more games to go, and the score between humans vs. Fritz 19 is now 1.5 to 1.5, after Robert Ris conquered the aggressive bull. Svitlana Demchenko’s opponent is the turtle, an endgame aficionado. This animal is considered one of the more challenging Fritz 19 characters, and difficult to break. In the Sicilian Kan Variation, […]
Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, author, organiser, commentator, chess book collector and editor-in-chief of the renowned chess magazine “New in Chess”, has conducted numerous interviews with top players over the last four decades. When Sagar Shah, founder and director of ChessBase India, recently visited Holland, he changed roles and interviewed the experienced interviewer. This led to […]
Germany beat Armenia to grab the sole lead after five rounds in the open section of the European Team Championship. Wins for Vincent Keymer and Matthias Bluebaum, both with black, gave the Germans match victory. Four teams are sharing second place a match point back, including Romania, who defeated the former co-leaders from Poland. In […]
The St. Louis Rapid & Blitz started on Monday at the Saint Louis Chess Centre. Three rounds of rapid chess will be played over three days. The local starting times of the rounds: 13:00 (19:00 CET), 14:30 (20:30 CET), 16:00 (22:00 CET). Broadcast with a 15-minute delay. With the videos and commentaries from the Saint […]