The seventh edition of the Salamanca Chess Festival takes place on May 21-25 at the “Centro Internacional del Español” in the city’s prestigious university. The Masters Tournament, including Michael Adams, Mariya Muzychuk and Ruslan Ponomariov, kicks off on Wednesday. The tournament, featuring four men and four women, is a single round-robin with a time control […]
Monthly Archives: May 2024
Round 7 of the Sharjah Masters saw former sole leader Aravindh Chithambaram losing his game with white against Iranian GM Bardiya Daneshvar, the 50th seed in the event. Daneshvar thus leapfrogged Aravindh in the standings, as he is now sharing the lead with Sam Shankland. Shankland defeated his compatriot Hans Niemann after the latter misplayed […]
In any sport, the win can be the result of a mistake, and a player’s exploitation of it! The time has come to cut out the funny business, quit over-thinking, and go mate your opponent. There’s no better way to claim a quick victory than an efficient, well-executed attack. But then you need to have […]
Magnus Carlsen scored 4½/6 points to claim outright victory in the inaugural edition of the Casablanca Chess Tournament. On the second day of action, Carlsen beat Bassem Amin and signed draws against Hikaru Nakamura and Vishy Anand. Nakamura finished in second place with 3½ points. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Draws on the top three boards in round 6 of the Sharjah Masters allowed Aravindh Chithambaram to keep the sole lead in the standings. Arjun Erigaisi and Alexey Sarana grabbed full points to join the chasing pack, which now includes six players. Meanwhile, fourth seed Teimour Radjabov obtained a remarkable win over Arseniy Nesterov, his […]
The Sicilian Dragon is full of options for White, after the first 8-12 moves have been played. One of them is, to place the Knight on e4. But is this a good idea for White? Chris Ward doesn’t think so, and shows us a couple of ideas for Black to deal with this unusual progression. […]
Casablanca Chess made a strong impression on the first day of play in Morocco. The innovative format, where games start in positions selected from historical encounters, brought excitement to both participants and spectators. Following three rounds, Magnus Carlsen is leading with 2½ points after grabbing wins over Viswanathan Anand and Hikaru Nakamura. | Photo: Lennart […]
Aravindh Chithambaram became the first sole leader at the 2024 Sharjah Masters after beating Saleh Salem in Saturday’s fifth round. The 24-year-old Indian GM has so far collected 4½ points and stands a half point ahead of a 4-player chasing pack consisting of Amin Tabatabaei, Hans Niemann, Sam Shankland and Bardiya Daneshvar. Aravindh is set […]
Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Viswanathan Anand and Bassem Amin are testing the Casablanca Chess Variant in Morocco, as they play rapid games (15+10) starting from carefully selected positions derived from historical games. Rounds 1-3 take place on Saturday, while rounds 4-6 take place on Sunday. | Follow the games live starting from 17.15 CEST (11.15 […]
Two years ago Eftratios Grival, grandmaster and international chess trainer, published a large volume (520 pages, Thinkers Publishing), called ‘The Grivas Anti-Sicilian Bible’ – a necessary companion to ‘The Modernized Grivas Sicilian (512 pages). In the 7th Sharjah Masters-Challengers Grivas had an opportunity to test his Sicilian – against a 15-year-old from India. A highly […]