“Here in Reykjavik, Iceland to play in the famous open tournament. Waterfalls, geysers, hot springs, restaurants and great night life. This place is amazing!” ~GM Maurice Ashley GM Maurice Ashley is playing in his first international tournament in many years and he will no doubt have a chance to get inspiration from visiting the last [...]
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Nakamura seeks third U.S. Championship Title in St. Louis By Mike Wilmering February 22, 2012 Hikaru Nakamura will be in the strongest U.S. field in history. Photo by Fred Lucas. ST. LOUIS, February 22, 2012 — The fields are set for both the 2012 U.S. Championship and 2012 U.S. Women’s Championship, scheduled to be held [...]
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Zachary Ramsay, The Jamaica Chess Federation February 5, 2011 Davy and James Take John Powell Memorial Chess Open University of the West Indies students Damion Davy and Stuart James tied for first place in the 2012 John Powell Memorial, after both finished on 5 points from 6 games. The tournament which took [...]
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GM Levon Aronian (Armenia)2012 Tata Steel ChampionPhoto by Fred Lucas. Levon Aronian of Armenia continues his string of career successes by adding yet another accolade. The 2012 Tata Steel at Wijk aan Zee was a powerhouse tournament with the strongest assembly of players the tournament has seen to date. Certainly, the majority of chess fans [...]
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Philadelphia is where chess happens! The “City of Brotherly Love” has become the hub for several major U.S. tournaments on the east coast. The Sheraton Hotel is also the home of the Philadelphia International, World Open, the National Congress and the Liberty was having its 44th edition during the King Holiday weekend. The tournament drew [...]
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Posted in Tournaments on Jan 24th, 2012 1 Comment »
With five round left in the 2012 Tata Steel tournament, the world’s two highest-rated players hold the lead in a tight race. Both Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian hold a half-point lead over Teimour Radjabov and a mere one-point lead over Vassily Ivanchuk, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. There are some marquee matchups in the [...]
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If someone had predicted that Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian would be leading the Tata Steel Chess tournament (3/4), it would not be much of a surprise. The tournament has been rather competitive with Fabiano Caruana putting in a strong performance in joint second with Teimour Radjabov on 2.5/4. There is a quintet of players [...]
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WFM Sabrina Chevannes of Birmingham, England penned an article for ChessBase about her American chess experience. Late last year, Sabrina told me she was coming to the U.S. for a visit. I had been covering her chess activities since she was around 13. Unfortunately, she would be too far away for an overdue face-to-face meeting, [...]
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In a couple of days, Wijk aan Zee will host the strongest field in its 74th edition. The average rating is 2754 with several of the top players on the card. Sponsored by Tata Steel conglomerate, the power-packed lineup includes reigning champion Hikaru Nakamura, the world highest-rated player Magnus Carlsen and world number two Levon [...]
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Posted in Hip-Hop, Tournaments on Dec 9th, 2011 1 Comment »
Hip-Hop Chess Federation Hosting Pawn Storm Invitational Free All Ages Chess Event Combines Chess and Life Strategy Themes Dec 8th, 2011- San Francisco, CA- The Hip-Hop Chess Federation (HHCF) is proud to announce the Pawn Storm Invitational will be held on December 10th 2011. It all takes place at John O’Connell High School in San [...]
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The four 2800-rated players will repeat (from the 2011 Tal Memorial) the headlining of a super-GM event as the London Chess Classic begins with the opening ceremonies on tomorrow. World Champion Viswanathan Anand and world’s #1 player Magnus Carlsen will be joined by fellow 2800s Levon Aronian (new addition) and Vladimir Kramnik. Carlsen has won [...]
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The Botswana Closed Tournament will be held at University of Botswana starting Friday, 2nd December 2011 to Sunday, 4th December 2011. The drawing of lots will be on Wednesday, 30th at sedibeng @ 19:00. The Botswana Chess Calendar comes to an end with resounding bang as the best chess brains in the country lock horns [...]
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Magnus Carlsen has made his late spurts legendary as he won yet another tournament in the late stages. In one of the strongest tournaments ever (four 2800s), he was near the top the entire tournament, but a last-round win over Hikaru Nakamura helped him to claim the crown on tiebreaks over Levon Aronian. Aronian had [...]
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GM Hou Yifan, Women’s World Champion Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich for FIDE. Hou Yifan successful defended her title against Koneru Humpy by drawing the eight game in the Women’s World Chess Championship in Tirana, Albania. This was her first title defense and she won in convincing manner by 5½-2½. Perhaps her bad stretch months ago [...]
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With the current five-way tie, the 2011 Tal Memorial will come to an exciting end. Photo by russiachess.org. 2011 Tal Memorial is one of the strongest tournaments in history and is going down to the wire. There is a five-way tie for first with only two rounds remaining. Levon Aronian, Magnus Carlsen, Vassily Ivanchuk, Sergey [...]
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International Arbiter Carol Jarecki starts the clock for Hou Yifan in Game #7 against Koneru Humpy. In a must-win situation, Koneru Humpy of India was certainly looking to steal a game with a surprise in the opening. Eschewing the Sicilian once again, Humpy tried a peculiar line (9…Qd7) against the Ruy Lopez, but was not [...]
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Hou Yifan was somber in victory. Her health scare was soothed by a nice win. Last night things were not looking well for Hou Yifan. According to ChessBase, she fell ill and was rushed to emergency for severe stomach pains. After tests were conducted, doctors attributed her condition to stress from the match. The defending [...]
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Panoramic view of the playing hall. In today’s game, Hou Yifan and Koneru Humpy fought to another draw repeating the same opening from Game #4. Yifan tried 12.cxd4 attempting to improve on yesterday’s game where she got a slight advantage but was unable to make anything of it. This game seem to offer few chances [...]
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Koneru Humpy (right) on the move against Hou Yifan. Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich for FIDE. After breaking out on top with a win yesterday, Hou Yifan had the white pieces against her Asian rival, Koneru Humpy. Looking to put a comfortable distance between them, Hou started the game with 1.e4 and perhaps expected another Petroff. [...]
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Hou Yifan broke on top in a tense game which ended with Koneru Humpy’s position collapsed under pressure. Photo by Anastasiya Karlovich for FIDE. China’s Hou Yifan won the first decisive game of the match after struggling to hold in the first two games. In the Queen’s Gambit, Hou played actively and aggressively expanded on [...]
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