February is “Black History Month” in the U.S. and each year people of African descent celebrate the accomplishments of their past and present. Blacks have storied histories in science, law, business, politics, arts and athletics. Most may not know or realize that Blacks also have a fairly rich (albeit recent) history in chess. Queen Nefertari [...]

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This is an open forum for teams and players to write about their experiences at the 2010 Chess Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. There are 157 teams scheduled to participate and an important FIDE election for the office of President. Olympiad tournaments are filled with memories, so we would like you to share yours with [...]

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Like many African nations, Kenya is one with an interesting history. However, their chess history is a bit less storied. Kenya has a small community, but the passion runs high. As part of an ongoing initiative to ignite excitement in Kenya, a friendly match was proposed. Mehul Gohil of the Kenyan “Simbas” sent in the [...]

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GM Loek Van Wely vs. FM Jake Kleiman and GM Mesgan Amanov vs. GM Gabriel Sargissian. Photo by Daaim Shabazz. The 2009 Chicago Open has begun and a number of strong players are present. Top seed appears to be Armenia’s Gabriel Sargissian. He was spotted in St. Louis at the U.S. Championship where he was [...]

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Photos by Daaim Shabazz (Round #8) Following are images from the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis. This venture was financed by Rex Sinquefield a retired investor and chess promoter. In the words of Robert Hess, this is arguably the best chessclub in the U.S. No quarter was spared in giving chess its [...]

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GM Maurice Ashley recently spent time in South Africa touring the schools and promoting chess. He was able to leave the students with some valuable life lessons. The host was David Berman who runs the program, “Chess for Change”. Ashley sent the following letter: Hey Daaim: I just came back from a deeply humbling yet [...]

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Another year has passed for The Chess Drum, one of the mainstays of chess coverage on the Internet. The idea of the site is to highlight the accomplishments of players of the African Diaspora, but the diverse content is designed to show the universality of chess. The face of chess is changing and chess media [...]

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Men Final The Armenian men repeat, Israel second… the USA wins bronze! China 1½-2½ Armenia USA 3½-½ Ukraine Israel 2½-1½ Netherlands Russia 2-2 Spain France 1½-2½ Azerbaijan Women Final Georgian women edge Ukraine for the gold… USA women match men’s performance, power over France to bronze! Poland 1½-2½ Ukraine Georgia 3-1 Serbia USA 2½-1½ France [...]

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Top Boards Ukraine tops Israel… Poland wins, sits atop women’s field! Ukraine 2½-1½ Israel Serbia 1-3 Armenia England 1½- 2½ China Slovenia ½-3½ Russia Spain 3-1 Bulgaria Pregame Analysis: Israel is attempting to hold onto a slim lead going into the 10th round match with the Ukraine. Boris Gelfand is in form 6.5/8 and Maxim [...]

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Top Boards Armenia 1½-2½ Israel Poland 2-2 Germany 1 Russia 1½-2½ Ukraine Serbia2½-1½ Azerbaijan France 1-3 China Round #9 Analysis: Before the tournament, practically every chess pundit and journalist picked Russia to win the gold medal primarily because of the powerful individual players with an average rating of over 2750. Even others who did not [...]

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Top Boards Armenia crushes France… USA women beats Russia! France ½-3½ Armenia Israel 2½-1½ Germany 1 USA 1½-2½ Russia China 2-2 Vietnam Ukraine 4-0 New Zealand Azerbaijan 2½-1½ Croatia Bulgaria 2-2 Belarus England 2½-1½ Georgia Slovakia 3-1 Greece Turkey 1½-2½ Poland Rround #8 Analysis: If Armenia did not make a statement by beating Russia in [...]

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On Labor Day weekend in Chicago, the Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation hosted a chess event at the RKNIGHTS Chess Pavilion and it appeared to be quite successful. The organization was founded back in 2005 and is designed to present chess as an educational tool. The group had a set up at the African Festival where [...]

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Who are those “Drum Majors” with Maurice Ashley?(Hint: All have FIDE titles.)

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The title is not some catchy phrase, but it does describe the names of three top tournaments in progress in Mexico, Moscow and France. Lots of heated chess action! Viswanathan Anand enroute to defeating Magnus Carlsen Moreilia, Mexico (Linares SuperGM XXV) Linares SuperGM XXV (Morelia, Mexico & Linares, Spain) The top venue would be Morelia, [...]

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Photo 1 Who is this 8-time National Champion? I just found an exciting game involving Emory Tate (who else?) and Sheldon Wong from the 1991 World Open. Wong is a Jamaican national of Chinese descent and is considered a legendary figure in the annals of Jamaican history. According to Ian Wilkinson, In 1976 sixteen year-old [...]

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Photo 1 Blitz Battle in New York!A blitz match and several “Drum Majors” (Black Masters) watching attentively.Four are IMs. Do you know them? Photo by Daaim Shabazz. Photo 2 Who got next? Another blitz session with a nice crowd. The player on the right is Steven Kawuma of Uganda. Ignatius Njobvu of Botswana has the [...]

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Olympiad tournaments are quite interesting. Of course traveling to foreign countries can be fulfilling, but the Olympiad tournament has a mystique like no other tournament. Being able to see flags hoisted during the opening ceremonies is an interesting spectacle along with the renewing of friendships and the development of others. I have found Olympiad tournament [...]

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Can you name five people in this classic picture? (Hint: All but two have at one time achieved Master level. One is a Grandmaster and two are IMs. )Photo by Jerry Bibuld.

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