Posted in Asia, Grand Chess Tour, India, Media Stories, Tournaments on Dec 2nd, 2019 No Comments »
Most everyone can recount the history of chess having roots in India, but to see the country taking a prominent (even leading) role in chess expansion is refreshing. The Grand Chess Tour went to Kolkata, India for the first time in an effort to expand the tournament into new markets. Events in both Abidjan, Cote […]
Posted in Asia, China, Grand Chess Tour, Sinquefield Cup, The Chess Drum, USA on Aug 31st, 2019 2 Comments »
Ding Liren after winning 2019 Sinquefield Cup Photo by Lennart Ootes The chess world is still buzzing about Ding Liren’s win of the 2019 Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis. He had to overcome World Champion Magnus Carlsen who has looked unbeatable all year long. This is a landmark win for many reasons. Firstly, it shows […]
Posted in Grand Chess Tour, The Chess Drum, Tournaments on Jul 2nd, 2019 16 Comments »
After the history Rapid and Blitz tournament in Abidjan, the Grand Chess Tour moves to another new city in Zagreb, Croatia. Chess historians may remember the town being host to a number of important tournaments including the 1959 Candidates. Sixty years later, the elite assemble again for the second event of the GCT. World Champion […]
Posted in Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, Grand Chess Tour, Media Stories, The Chess Drum, Tournaments on May 22nd, 2019 No Comments »
Going back to Africa! Before traveling to Francophone (French-speaking) Africa for the first time, I had to brush off my French instruction books from grad school to brush up on vocabulary, cognates, listening, phrases, and passe compose’. I discovered that there were a lot of videos on YouTube and went through a number of them. […]
Posted in Africa, Grand Chess Tour, Media Stories, Nigeria, The Chess Drum, Tournaments on May 18th, 2019 3 Comments »
Nigeria has plans to break through to produce their first Grandmaster and an official campaign was launched in February. One of the hopefuls in the Africa’s most populous nation is International Master Oladapo Adu. A long-time national team member, Adu spent a number of years in the U.S. before returning in 2016 to nurture chess […]
Posted in Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, Grand Chess Tour, Media Stories, The Chess Drum, Tournaments on May 17th, 2019 2 Comments »
GM Maurice AshleyPhoto by Daaim Shabazz Côte d’Ivoire was Maurice Ashley’s 7th African country, all in a relatively short period of time. This would be the first visit to a Francophone African country and the Jamaican-born GM would put his French skills to use. Ashley took up French in high school with a desire to […]
Posted in Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, Grand Chess Tour, Media Stories, The Chess Drum on May 16th, 2019 1 Comment »
The first event of the Grand Chess Tour is officially over and Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire will have in its history and world class chess event. There will be trivia questions such as the players who played, the hotel where it was hosted and that famous icon who was visiting the hotel during the event! All […]
Posted in Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, Grand Chess Tour, Media Stories, The Chess Drum, Tournaments on May 14th, 2019 No Comments »
Congratulations to @MagnusCarlsen for winning Côte d’Ivoire, the first leg of 2019 #GrandChessTour with 2 rounds to spare!! pic.twitter.com/xbEc8RCkTo — Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) May 12, 2019 After the election in the past FIDE election, there was an assertion that the international chess body would be more inclusive. While the Grand Chess Tour is not […]
Posted in Africa, Bulgaria, Cote d'Ivoire, Grand Chess Tour, The Chess Drum on May 13th, 2019 No Comments »
Former World Champion Veselin Topalov with Daaim Shabazz in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. Photo by The Chess Drum. Veselin Topalov has seen a thing or two in chess. Known as a tremendous fighter and the master of the exchange sacrifice, he has playing many a scintillating game. However, he is a bit more relaxed and is […]
Posted in Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, Grand Chess Tour, Media Stories, The Chess Drum, Tournaments on May 10th, 2019 No Comments »
When one thinks of the Ivory Coast, several things come to mind including their world-famous cocoa, but one unmistakable characterization is that the land of 23 million is a football-crazy nation. During the lead up of the Grand Chess Tour, there were a lot of promotional content including photos of Grandmaster Maurice Ashley interacting with […]
Posted in Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, Grand Chess Tour, Media Stories, The Chess Drum, Tournaments on May 9th, 2019 25 Comments »
The Grand Chess Tour has begun! Ten of the world’s top players have assembled in Abidjan, the economic capital of Cote d’Ivoire, to launch the first event of the season. World Champion Magnus Carlsen will headline the 2019 Rapid and Blitz field after having had a blistering first half of 2019. This event is also […]
Posted in Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, Grand Chess Tour, Media Stories, The Chess Drum, Tournaments on May 4th, 2019 3 Comments »
All chess roads lead to Africa! On Tuesday, May 7th, ten of the world’s strongest players will gather in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire for the Grand Chess Tour Rapid & Blitz. It will feature the resurgent World Champion Magnus Carlsen who recently won his third straight supertournament by winning the Grenke Classic in fine style. Now […]
Posted in Africa, FIDE, Grand Chess Tour, Tournaments on Mar 24th, 2019 3 Comments »
When it was announced that Africa would be one of the hosts to a leg of the Grand Chess Tour (GCT), there was a bit of a celebration throughout the continent’s chess community. Magnus Carlsen will compete May 8th-12th in the Rapid and Blitz event in Abijdan, Cote d’Ivoire. He shall be the first sitting […]
Posted in England, Grand Chess Tour, London Classic, The Chess Drum, Tournaments on Dec 12th, 2018 7 Comments »
In the aftermath of a successful hosting of the World Chess Championship that saw Magnus Carlsen defend his crown, the city of London is getting another gem of an event in the London Chess Classic. Fabiano Caruana is back in action after a valiant fight against Carlsen, losing in tiebreaks. This is the last tournament […]
Posted in Armenia, Cuba, Games, Grand Chess Tour, Iran, Media Stories, Sinquefield Cup, The Chess Drum, USA on Sep 3rd, 2017 No Comments »
Drum Interviews @ St. Louis 2017 Rapid & Blitz The inaugural event was launched in St. Louis on the tailend of the 2017 Sinquefield Cup won by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. It is hard to top such a strong field, but the intrigue was heightened when the 13th World Champion decided to play in the St. Louis […]
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