Posted in FIDE, Tournaments, World Cup on Aug 30th, 2011 7 Comments »
2011 World CupAugust 26th-September 21st, 2011(Khanty Mansiysk, Russia)Round #2 # Name Flag Nation Result Name Flag Nation 1 Karjakin, S RUS 2½-1½ So, W PHI 2 Alekseev, E RUS ½-1½ Ivanchuk, V UKR 3 Mamedyarov, S AZE 2½-1½ Fridman, D GER 4 Ni Hua CHN 2½-3½ Ponomariov, R UKR 5 Gashimov, V AZE 1½-½ Azarov, [...]
Posted in FIDE, Tournaments, World Cup on Aug 28th, 2011 13 Comments »
2011 World CupAugust 26th-September 21st, 2011(Khanty Mansiysk, Russia)Round #1 # Name Flag Nation Result Name Flag Nation 1 Karjakin, S RUS 2-0 Kaabi, M TUN 2 Ivanchuk, V UKR 2-0 Steel, H RSA 3 Mamedyarov, S AZE 2-0 Ibrahim, H EGY 4 Ponomariov, R UKR 1½-½ Gwaze, R ZIM 5 Gashimov, V AZE 2-0 Hansen, [...]
Posted in FIDE, Tournaments on Aug 25th, 2011 36 Comments »
In a few weeks, Russia will host the FIDE World Cup beginning tomorrow with 128 players from around the world vying for a qualifying spot for the 2012 World Championship. The seven-round tournament will feature a knockout format with the winner continuing onto the next stage. Khanty-Mansiysk, the host of the 2010 Olympiad, will stage [...]
Posted in Drum Majors on Aug 25th, 2011 2 Comments »
Owen Clarkin sent me notice of a Black chess player from the 1900s named William E. Griffin. The following entry appears to have been a biography from page 34 of the February 1905 American Chess Bulletin. He was born in Missouri and apparently had achieved moderate success. Griffin mentioned that he did not know of [...]
Posted in FIDE, Media Stories, Netherlands, Opinion/Editorials, Tournaments, USA on Aug 23rd, 2011 3 Comments »
GM Hikaru Nakamura, 2770 ELO on FIDE list. Photo by Daaim Shabazz. The pairings of the first round of the FIDE World Cup were released in July and after a couple of changes will commence on August 26th in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Russia will bring a delegation of 26 players. China will bring nine players; the [...]
Posted in Africa, Mozambique, Tournaments on Aug 22nd, 2011 44 Comments »
The 10th All-Africa Games will take place in 2011 in the capitol-city of Maputo, Mozambique. Maputo’s hosting will be only the third time the games will have been held in the southern part of the continent. The 2009 All-Africa Games was held in Algiers, Algeria. The awarding of the games comes after Zambia and Ghana [...]
Posted in Africa, Media Stories on Aug 21st, 2011 No Comments »
The recent cover of New in Chess shows the changing of the guard as both Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin are featured. The two are the most prominent “prodigies with Carlsen being the top-rated players and Karjakin still the record-holder of making Grandmaster (12 years, 7 months). The new issue has some interesting articles including [...]
Posted in Tournaments on Aug 19th, 2011 12 Comments »
2011 Manhattan Open at the posh New Yorker Hotel.All photos by Adia Onyango. The Manhattan Open is in full swing and some surprise entrants are competing. Besides U.S. Open Aleksandr Lenderman, GM Maurice Ashley is playing in his first major tournament since the 2003 U.S. Championship. GM Maurice Ashley in action. Poker star FM Ylon [...]
Posted in Scholastic on Aug 18th, 2011 1 Comment »
Chicago has a long history of chess. The famed Palmer House was once a hub for major tournaments in the U.S., but over the decades has lost its luster due to a number of factors. Chicago Public Schools also has a history of producing strong scholastic players, but activities are usually handled by dedicated volunteers [...]
Posted in Media Stories on Aug 17th, 2011 No Comments »
Websites and blogs come and go. While the winds of change render some sites passe’, other seize a niche and develop a healthy following. One such site is Online Chess Lessons (onlinechesslessons.net). The site has only been in existence since January, but has wide following and has amassed a large cache of instructional videos. The [...]
Posted in Africa, Zimbabwe on Aug 15th, 2011 28 Comments »
IM Robert Gwaze is not the only Zimbabwean who can win nine games in a row in an important tournament. Rodwell Makoto won the Zimbabwean National Championship with a perfect 9/9. This dominance follows his credible showing at the African Individuals back in June. His strong showing may identify him as a rising talent in [...]
Posted in Interviews on Aug 12th, 2011 2 Comments »
Daaim Shabazz and Kazim Gulamali at the 2003 Peach State Open. Upon visiting the 2011 U.S. Open in Orlando, Florida, I caught up with my long-time friend FM Kazim Gulamali. Kazim is a New York-born, Atlanta-raised resident who began playing chess at the age of three. His father Mumtaz Yusef, a Pakistani immigrant, used to [...]
Posted in Tournaments on Aug 9th, 2011 3 Comments »
Orlando International Airport where the Hyatt Hotel resides. One should never miss a flight! Photos by Daaim Shabazz. Aleksandr Lenderman has had a lot of fortune as of late. He was awarded the Samford Fellowship, a $42,000 award for top young chessplayers and now has joined the hallowed halls of those having won the prestigious [...]
Posted in Africa, Drum Majors, Scholastic, South Africa on Aug 5th, 2011 5 Comments »
Dewain Barber with co-champs Michael Brown & Justus Williams. Photo by Melinda Matthews. Justus Williams shared joint 1st with Michael Brown at the K-8 Championship during the U.S. Open in Orlando. Justus finished on a sparkling 5.5/6 to push his USCF rating to 2265. He beat Cadet champion Arthur Shen in an exciting game. According [...]
Posted in Media Stories, Scholastic on Aug 4th, 2011 3 Comments »
Both Vanita Young and Dyhemia Young (unrelated) have traveled the beaten path of life. Both have had tremendous challenges to face and both were raised outside of the traditional family setting. The two got to the Polgar tournament on different paths but finally crossed in Lubbock, Texas. Vanita Young (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Dyhemia Young (San Francisco, [...]
Posted in Caribbean, Jamaica, Tournaments on Aug 4th, 2011 No Comments »
Jamaican has a new national champion and yet again, it is another face. After years of dominance by a handful of Jamaican veterans such as Shane Matthews, Warren Elliott and Jomo Pitterson, Jamaica’s talent pool has widened and a few new faces have emerged. With the aforementioned stars absent, the stars of tomorrow took center [...]
Posted in Drum Majors, Games, Tournaments, World Open on Aug 3rd, 2011 9 Comments »
FM William Morrison (right) facing NM William Wright. The World Open is perhaps the largest stage of American chess. The tournament has been in Philadelphia for the past 39 years but after its 40th anniversary in 2012, it will find a new home in Virginia for the 2013 edition. William “The Exterminator” Morrison is not [...]
Posted in Scholastic on Aug 2nd, 2011 No Comments »
The Muhammad University of Islam (MUI) will host the “Chicago Southside Classic” on August 27th at Mosque Maryam. The tournament is open to adults and children. Date: Saturday, August 27 · 7:30am – 7:00pm Location: Mosque Maryam, 7351 S. Stony Island Ave, Chicago IL, 60649 Kareem Abdullah (center) with some of the players in the [...]
Posted in Caribbean, Scholastic, Trinidad on Aug 2nd, 2011 1 Comment »
MEDIA RELEASE Date: August 1st, 2011 To: Sport Editor From: Trinidad & Tobago Chess Foundation Contact: Edison Raphael – President 678-0132 Caribbean Juniors Clash in Chess Carnival Leading junior chess players from across the Caribbean and Venezuela will join youngsters from Trinidad and Tobago in vieing for honours at the Caribbean Chess Carnival which comes [...]
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