The 1959 Candidates Tournament saw an inspired Mikhail Tal emerging victorious with 20/28 points in a quadruple round-robin. On his way to victory, Tal, aged 22 at the time, defeated Bobby Fischer, aged 16, in all four of their confrontations. GM Daniel King analysed one of these games, where Tal fearlessly grabs material, allowing Fischer […]
Monthly Archives: February 2024
The Saint Louis Chess Club is excited to announce the return of the American Cup, one of the nation’s premier chess tournaments, to Saint Louis. Now in its third year, the event will run from March 12-21, 2024, at the iconic World Chess Hall of Fame, featuring sixteen of America’s top chess talents. With $400,000 […]
On 19 February 2024 David Bronstein, one of the most creative players in the history of chess, who in 1951 missed the World Champion title by only a draw, would have celebrated his 100th birthday. Emil Sutovsky pays tribute to this outstanding grandmaster. | Photo: juegosdeajedrez.com
The 4th Djerba Chess Festival kicked off on Sunday with a strong Masters line-up as the headliner. In addition to some young guns, including Hans Niemann, chess legend Vasyl Ivanchuk is also taking part. After two rounds, Bilen Bellahcene and Hans Niemann sahre the lead with 1.5/2 each. | Photos: Tournament page
Monday 26 February 2024 is the official opening of the Prague Chess Festival 2024 and the first round will be played on Tuesday 27 February. Both the Masters and the Challengers tournaments have an interesting and strong field and with Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Vincent Keymer the four best junior players in the world […]
The Mitropa Cup is taking place on February 15-23 in Apolda, Germany. Ten teams from Central Europe (also including Italy) are playing single round-robins in the open and the women’s categories. After five rounds, the German squads are leading both competitions. In the open, Germany have a perfect 10/10 score, while in the women’s, Germany […]
Jan Henric Buettner, the driving force behind the G.O.A.T. Freestyle Challenge, had promised that the tournament in Weissenhaus would set a new milestone in the presentation of chess. This was indeed the case, and expectations were exceeded. It was the players themselves who had the most fun. The focus was not on opening knowledge, but […]
The experiment of preparing to win a tournament as the lowest rated player in just 30 days is running, and the first week started. ChessBase content manager Arne has to start somewhere. But where? By writing a Masterplan! With this, he can concentrate on tactics, openings, middlegames, and endgames for the upcoming weeks. Furthermore, Arne […]
The Arabian Karpov Cup, as part of the 1st Jeddah International Youth Festival, successfully fulfilled its mission: to present a platform for young players from the Arab and African regions to play in an international tournament, so as to increase their rating or simply to gain experience. Emirati WCM Rouda Essa Al Sarkal, aged 15, […]
Today’s column is about sacrifices and the exchange in particular. If you’re shown a chess position cold, then the first thing you do normally is to count the pieces just to check that the material is fairly balanced. But the relative activity is at least as important. The “joy of innumeracy” might turn out to […]