Chess Blog

Julius Baer Polgar Challenge 2021 - Games and Results 12/04/2021
The Julius Baer Polgar Challenge took place Thursday 8th Apr to Sunday 11th Apr 2021. 20 young players competed in a Round Robin. They were also divided into two teams one Team Polgar, the other Team Kramnik. Players: Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Sarin Nihal, R Praggnanandhaa, Awonder Liang, Vincent Keymer, D Gukesh, Jonas Buhl Bjerre, Leon Luke […]
Mark Crowther
Chess.com SIG Bullet Chess Championship 2021 - Games and Results 08/04/2021
The Chess.com SIG Bullet Chess Championship final stages took place Tuesday 6th to Wednesday 7th Apr 2021. The final 8 played a KO over two days to decide the champion. The quarterfinal pairings were: Naroditsky-Hansen (Hansen had an issue with take down notices on his YouTube Channel and didn't play because he felt he had […]
Mark Crowther
European Online Chess Club Cup 2021 - Games and Results 31/03/2021
The European Online Chess Club Cup took place on the Tornelo platform Sat 27th Mar to Wed 31st Mar 2021. This rapid event replaced the regular club cup which could not take place over the board. As usual the field was a mix of amateurs and very strong professionals. Leading players include: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Richard […]
Mark Crowther
Giri wins his first Meltwater Champions Chess Tour event - Day 9 21/03/2021
Anish Giri won the Magnus Carlsen Invitational by defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final after a blitz tie-break. The match was extremely close with all four games being drawn on the first day and today there was a further sharp draw in game one before the deadlock was broken. Game two was a Taimanov Sicilian […]
Mark Crowther
Giri and Nepomniachtchi end day 1 of the final of the Carlsen Invitational with honours even - Day 8 20/03/2021
The final of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational between Anish Giri and Ian Nepomniachtchi finished tied at 2-2 with all four games, all Sicilians, drawn. The first game was extremely sharp with opposite sides castling. Giri as white was winning according to the computer but Nepomniachtchi retained very strong practical chances and after 44.f4? (44.Kb1 or […]
Mark Crowther
Nepomniachtchi eliminates Carlsen and meets Giri in the final of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational - Day 7 19/03/2021
Ian Nepomniachtchi emerged the winner of a roller-coaster match against World Champion Magnus Carlsen and with it he reached the final of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational. Earlier Anish Giri - who led his match after day one - won the final game of his match against Wesley So when the latter blundered trying to complicate […]
Mark Crowther

ECF

An evening with GM Michael Adams 12/04/2021
WebAdmin
British Online Chess Championships II 12/04/2021
The British Online Chess Championships 2 is now confirmed for 24th July to 8th August 2021. Further details and entry form are here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/british-online-chess-championships-2021/
WebAdmin
ECF Chess for All Festival 12/04/2021
The ECF Chess for All Festival will take place from Sunday 30th May to Friday 4th June, including coaching sessions, simuls and tournaments. Further details...
WebAdmin
A new type of newsletter from the ECF 09/04/2021
This month, in addition to the normal email version of the monthly ECF newsletter, we’ve added a little extra. Within the Editor’s introduction, you’ll find...
WebAdmin
ECF / ChessKid launch 07/04/2021
I am very pleased to announce that the ECF has arranged a partnership with ChessKid – https://www.chesskid.com/. This is the best software tool on the...
WebAdmin
Gold members email error … 06/04/2021
The membership mailing system has let me down this morning and sent the Gold members email to many people with no Gold membership. Please, if...
WebAdmin

Chessbase

A glimpse into the past: the story of a picture 12/04/2021
On his Twitter account, Scottish chess fan Douglas Griffin regularly publishes historical photos of famous chess players. Photographs that awaken memories and keep them alive, pictures that allow views into the past. On 28 May 2019, Griffin published a photo that shows Max Blümich and Alexander Alekhine playing against each other in the 1941/1942 Krakow/Warsaw […]
Impressive Praggnanandhaa wins Polgar Challenge 12/04/2021
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu kicked off the final day of action in the Polgar Challenge with three consecutive wins to secure first place with a round to spare. Four players finished 1½ points behind — Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Gukesh D, Nihal Sarin and Volodar Murzin. | Photo: Alina l’Ami
Kader-Challenge: Donchenko and Schneider prevail 11/04/2021
The Kader-Challenge came to an end on Sunday. Draws were seen on all boards in the men’s section. At the top of the table finished Alexander Donchenko, Dmitrij Kollars, Matthias Bluebaum and Daniel Fridman, each with 5½ points, with Donchenko getting tournament victory on tiebreak criteria. Meanwhile, in the women’s tournament, Jana Schneider drew Elisabeth […]
Polgar Challenge - Pragg wins! 11/04/2021
The Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour gives young stars a chance to take centre stage. The Polgar Challenge is one of four challenges in which each player faces all 19 other players once at rapid chess — 10 minutes per player per game, with a 5-second increment after each move. The tournament takes place on […]
Understanding before Moving 22: Strong knight vs bad bishop - (2) 11/04/2021
Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 22nd instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman shows another example of a strong knight who fights against a bad bishop. | Photo: Tommy Grooten
Trapping the queen 11/04/2021
It isn't often one sees a game between top programs in which a queen is trapped in the middlegame, but just such a thing happened in a game shared by Peter Grayson. What stood out was how both programs differed on a key juncture, leading him to comment, "Fat Fritz 2 exhibits almost human-like qualities […]

lichess.org

Bortnyk Reigns Supreme 04/04/2021
With a few of the usual favourites distracted by their streams...After getting third in the last Titled Arena GM Oleksander Bortnyk won the April Blitz Titled Arena - it‘s his third win of a TA! GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov came in second and the mysterious GM Grey_parrot took third place. Fourth was taken by GM Zhamsaran […]
Lichess Team
Lichess OTB Mode (not really) 01/04/2021
Back to basics?[EDIT - 2/4/2021] We were just kidding! April fools! With so many people kept away from over the board events by the pandemic, we've been doing our best to fill the gap. But something, something is missing from that true OTB experience. A few things actually. As such, we have decided to implement […]
@Lichess
Andrew Tang holds off Magnus, wins March Bullet Titled Arena. 22/03/2021
GM Andrew Tang won the Lichess Titled Arena on Saturday, holding off a strong challenge from World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen. It was his third Titled Arena victory including many other finishes among the top spots. Third place was taken by GM Oleksander Bortnyk, fourth by IM Vincent Rothuis and fifth by GM David Paravyan. […]
@NoJoke
New feature: Puzzle Racer 19/03/2021
Competitive Puzzle Storm is here, see you on the race-track!Play Puzzle Racer here! Recently we released Puzzle Storm, Lichess's timed puzzle feature and it was reasonably popular, with around 7.5 million completed runs since release, and that doesn't even count all the early restarts! Now, we're pleased to announce a follow-up feature, competitive Puzzle Storm: […]
@Lichess
First Russian-only Titled Arena won by Vladimir Fedoseev 07/03/2021
Calm down everybody, the title is a joke, Russians weren’t the only ones allowed to play in Saturday's Titled Arena, just the only ones allowed to finish at the top. This also wasn’t enforced by a formal rule of the competition but instead by the quality of the Russian players. The top 3 finishers, and […]
@Nojoke
Alireza wins a 13th Titled Arena. 23/02/2021
Another dominant victory.GM Alireza Firouzja won his 13th Titled Arena on Saturday, bringing him almost even with the record 14 won by GM Magnus Carlsen. (EDITORS NOTE: Upon further review, it seems Magnus has actually won 15 Titled Arenas.) Firouzja was quickly among the leaders and eventually pulled away, finishing in 1st by a comfortable […]
@NoJoke

Chess24

Magnus Carlsen to commentate on the Candidates 13/04/2021
World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen will commentate on the event that decides his next challenger when the FIDE Candidates Tournament finally resumes with Round 8 in Yekaterinburg, Russia on Monday April 19th. For Rounds 8-10, Magnus will be joined by Tania Sachdev and David Howell, while for the last four rounds Judit Polgar will team […]
Praggnanandhaa powers into Champions Chess Tour 11/04/2021
15-year-old Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa has won the Polgar Challenge with a round to spare to earn $3,000 and a place in the 5th leg of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, where he’s likely to face World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in less than two weeks’ time. In the end Pragg’s 3.5/4 on the final day […]
Polgar Challenge Day 3: The battle heats up 10/04/2021
Praggnanandhaa leads Nodirbek Abdusattorov by half a point with one day of the Polgar Challenge to go, with the two stars set to meet in the 19th and final round on Sunday. That clash may well decide the fate of the wildcard to the next Meltwater Champions Chess Tour event, but both players losing in […]
Polgar Challenge Day 2: Pragg snatches sole lead 09/04/2021
Praggnanandhaa continued his march on Day 2 of the Polgar Challenge as he racked up 8 wins in a row to take the sole lead on 8.5/10. The last of the wins was a formality, as Dinara Saduakassova unfortunately had to drop out due to internet issues, but that didn’t stop her Team Kramnik matching […]
Polgar Challenge Day 1: Praggnanandhaa storms back to lead 09/04/2021
15-year-old Praggnanandhaa stormed back from a 1st round loss to Volodar Murzin to win his next four games and lead after Day 1 of the Polgar Challenge, the 1st event on the $100,000 Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour. He’s joined on 4/5 by the only unbeaten players, 14-year-old Christopher Yoo and 16-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov. All […]
Karjakin: 'The competition is now much greater' 07/04/2021
31-year-old Sergey Karjakin currently finds himself 16th on the world rankings and in a recent interview for RIA Novosti would only commit to playing on until the age of 35. The Russian former World Chess Championship Challenger explained that getting into or remaining in the world’s Top 10 is much more difficult than it was […]

thechessworld

10 Reasons to Play Alekhine Defense 09/04/2021
The Alekhine Defense is the most famous example of a provocative opening. Black meets 1.e4 with 1…Nf6, attacking the central pawn on move 1 and inviting it to move farther. It is well-known pawns cannot go backward and hence leave weaknesses behind themselves. Still, it is quite a common scenario when White starts pursuing that […]
Jesus Gonzalez
10 Reasons to Play Accelerated Dragon 02/04/2021
The Dragon is one of the most aggressive variations of the Sicilian. Black develops their dark-squared bishop to the most active position from where it puts a lot of pressure on White’s center and queenside. It usually leads to sharp and complicated positions where both sides try to launch an attack as quickly as possible. […]
Jesus Gonzalez
Richter-Veresov Attack with IM Milovan Ratkovic [TCW Academy] 28/03/2021
When someone asks something like, “Hey, I just want to have some fun—and still win games. Which opening should I learn?”… The answer is usually to AVOID the great, old Sicilian or the totally unoriginal King’s Pawn, or any of the popular openings that you constantly hear about for that matter. Instead, you need to […]
Yury Markushin
Evaluation of Positions with IM Mat Kolosowski [TCW Academy] 28/03/2021
Yes, choosing the right candidate move can make or break your position… true that. But what’s even more important? What’s the FIRST step that comes even before looking for candidate moves? That’s right—evaluation of the current position. Who stands better – you or your opponent? Where do your strengths and weaknesses lie? Any threats? Both […]
Yury Markushin
10 Reasons to Prepare a Surprise Weapon for Your Next Game 26/03/2021
The impact that an opening stage makes on the rest of the game is difficult to overestimate. If you get a great position out of the opening, you can defeat even a higher-rated player. On the other hand, if you end up in a worse position after the beginning phase, you might struggle for the […]
Jesus Gonzalez
10 Best Chess Openings for Beginners 23/03/2021
When you only start playing chess, it is enough to know only basic opening principles such as controlling the center, developing your pieces, castling early, and so on. After some learning and practicing, you will reach the point where you will start studying opening theory. It will familiarize you with typical plans and ideas, different […]
Jesus Gonzalez

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