Added on 04.04.2020
New video-series and Learning Center course for ICC members! The Sicilian defense is one of the most famous and played openings in chess. A quarter of all chess games start with 1.e4 c5, which is the first move that configures the opening. The Sicilian comes from a remote era, the late 16th century when the Italian players Giulio Polerio and Giachino Greco started playing the Sicilian and left notes about it. One of the most intriguing and played variants of the Sicilian defense is the Dragon....Full StoryAdded on 03.30.2020
The pandemic is spreading more and more all over the World, and until the situation gets back to normality, we're asked to stay home. Social distancing seems to be the panacea to stop this invisible menace. This microscopic, yet lethal, virus is changing, at least temporarily, our life. Now, since we're good citizens, we are staying home. Right? And, in the majority of the cases, we need something to help us kill time. Luckily, we live in a time of accessible communication. The Internet allows...Full StoryAdded on 03.26.2020
Russia, which seemed to be miraculously almost immune from the global pandemic, has suddenly had to face reality, with people getting the COVID-19 infection and illness at a frightening rate. Vladimir Putin announced that starting March, 27th, 2020, all the flights to foreign countries will be stopped. This has left no choice to FIDE, which stopped the tournament to allow people to get back home. Here is FIDE's announcement: Today, the government of the Russian Federation announced that...Full StoryAdded on 03.16.2020
This is a report written by GM Joel Benjamin. Shabalov, Kaidanov, Benjamin, and Yermolinsky (Photo from http://www.wstcc2020.net/) This week I am reporting from one of the most surreal tournament experiences I have ever had, the World Senior Team Championship in Prague, Czech Republic. The US team successfully “three-peated” in the 50+ category, but it was not an entirely pleasant excursion. Chaos enveloped us before the trip began, as Larry Christiansen, who was to join the team for the...Full StoryAdded on 03.08.2020
UPDATE (03/12 - 11:03 AM EDT) It seems like FIDE wants the Candidates' to take place. Caruana will make it, according to this tweet: UPDATE: The spreading of the virus is forcing countries to lock down, and airlines to cancel flights all over the world. Today Fabiano Caruana used Twitter to let people know he probably won't make it to Yekaterinburg. CoronaVirus. This is what everyone is talking about. In the media, on every social, everywhere. And such a pandemic has already affected...Full StoryAdded on 02.18.2020
The Pacific Northwest Chess Center is a new fully-functioning club in the Seattle area. Located some 10 miles north of Microsoft Headquarters in Kirkland, WA, this club is supported by generous efforts of Xuhao He, the dad of one of the most promising young players of the area, Anthony He. I can almost see the readers rolling their eyes, thinking, “yet another chess patron for a day. Wait till the kid grows up and quits chess... “ Yeah, of course, it's impossible to tell what the future might...Full StoryAdded on 02.10.2020
In his acclaimed weekly recap show, today GM Joel presents us with a magnificent collection of great games recently played by women chess players around the world. The Gibraltar Masters attracts a lot of big names every year, but it is particularly strong in the participation of the world’s strongest female players. Gibraltar offers huge prizes for the fairer sex, and with so many evenly matched players, it stands to reason that the winner will be decided in the last round. That makes it...Full StoryAdded on 01.29.2020
With this new feat, GM Davorin Kuljasevic decided to do something slightly different. In his previous courses, Davorin explained how to play in Closed Positions and how to improve one's Calculation skills. Both courses, which had great success, were based on the "canonic" way of thinking. Our GM explained ideas and principles on how to play certain types of positions. In this innovative course, GM Kuljasevic will look at the exceptions to the rules. He is going to show you solutions to problems...Full StoryAdded on 01.26.2020
What a ride! GM Fabiano Caruana from the US, with an almost unbelievable score of 7 wins, 6 draws, and zero losses, won the prestigious Tata Steel Master 2020. In the last round, despite having already conquered the title, Fabiano went all out with Black and defeated a stunned Artemiev. Artemiev's resilience allowed him to play on, trying to calculate all the possible continuations. Still, Fabiano had all of it worked out, and the Black King's walk finished when eventually Caruana was able to...Full StoryAdded on 01.22.2020
The King smirks in the background, as Alireza and Jeffery Xiong play - Photo by Alina L'Ami It looks like the lion came out of his den. Magnus ET Carlsen, after drawing too many games - seven for the record - decided it was time to show once again his colleagues who's the boss. In round 9, Magnus had Black against the wonder of the event, Iran Alireza Firouzja. Socials were taken away by expectancy for this game. Still, the champ destroyed his young opponent with apparent ease, and his...Full StoryAdded on 01.10.2020
It's a tradition: January is the month of one of the most awaited and strong tournaments of the year: The Tata Steel Masters. And, traditionally, it takes place in the small town in the north of the Netherlands Wijk aan Zee. This otherwise godforsaken village is situated north-west of Amsterdam, on the North sea. In this season, it's likely to be freezing up there, despite the climate change. But starting tomorrow, for two weeks, this remote small town will be the center of the action, with...Full StoryAdded on 01.09.2020
GM Misa Pap GM Misa Pap is a new contributor to the Internet Chess Club. Grandmaster since 2011, Misa has been a chess coach for 20+ years, and now he's decided to put all his invaluable experience into a brand new exciting video series! Make the right Decisions in Critical Positions! What does that mean? Isn't every move in chess a "decision"? Yes, of course! But some moves in certain positions are more critical. Typically, these vital moments happen in the middle game, which is one of...Full StoryAdded on 12.30.2019
Happy New Year, Chess Fans! He did it again. If we don't consider the "fake chess," with the pieces randomly placed over the first two ranks, Magnus Carlsen owns all the titles a chessplayer can win. In the last five days, Magnus added to his already fantastic showcase two more World titles: Rapid and Blitz. Now he's again the owner of all the titles and the highest-rated player in the three categories. Most people, when it comes to the end of a year, wish that the new one will be better...Full StoryAdded on 12.22.2019
Ian Nepomnaichtchi of Russia is the winner of the last leg of the FIDE Grand Prix Series, played in Jerusalem, Israel, from December 12 to 22. Besides raising his earning to $29,000 in the series, and much more importantly, with this result Ian secured his seat at the Candidates' Tournament. In the semi-finals, Ian defeated his closest rival for a place in the Candidates'; Maxime-Vachier-Lagrave now is the favorite to get the wild-card, but he can't be 100% sure about his participation in the...Full StoryAdded on 12.14.2019
GM Marian Petrov, from Bulgaria, is a new ICC contributor. He's not new at making video courses for people who want to learn and improve the game. His first video course for the Internet Chess club is "Attacking Chess" or "Attack the King!". In the video lessons, you'll see a lot of different ways to attack the enemy's King: combinations, checkmates, sacrifices, and in general, you'll learn how to attack your opponent's forces in different circumstances. Studying the different patterns that...Full StoryAdded on 12.09.2019
Photo credit: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour Ding Liren finished off a strong year by winning the Grand Chess Tour. Here is Maurice Ashley's interview to the 2019 GCT Champion (starting at 2:37:38): Liren got to the final by defeating Levon Aronian decisively, 19-9. The first victory in that match, coming in the first rapid game, included a truly spectacular move: var viewer = new CHESS.PgnViewer({ pgn_uri:...Full StoryAdded on 11.26.2019
Another day, another tournament victory by the King, Magnus Carlsen. In what seems to be one of the best results ever for the Norwegian wizard, today in Kolkata, India, the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz ha seen the triumph of the reigning World Champion. Only US Hikaru Nakamura was able to almost keep the impressive pace of Carlsen and finished second with an excellent result. Hikaru played phenomenally well in the blitz rounds to score an unbeaten 12.0/18 points. Photo by Lennart Ootes The...Full StoryAdded on 11.18.2019
Alexander Grischuk won the Hamburg Grand Prix, greatly increasing his chances of qualifying for the Candidates Tournament. If he doesn’t emerge as the automatic qualifier from the Grand Prix, he will be the favorite to receive a wild card selection from the Russian Organizers. Here are the current standings of the FIDE Grand Prix, with only Jerusalem's left to play at the beginning of December: Grischuk will not play in Israel, whereas his direct opponents for the final win in the FIDE PG -...Full StoryAdded on 11.03.2019
It's almost worrying when one reads a piece of news which reports about Magnus Carlsen not being the World Champion. Photo from the official website But that is: Wesley So, the American chess wizard, destroyed Carlsen in the finals of the Fischer Random World Championship, to claim the title. The Fischer random variant, also known as Chess 960, was invented by Bobby Fischer, who announced this new game variation on June 19, 1996. Fischer Random Chess employs the same board and pieces as...Full StoryAdded on 10.31.2019
In October, the chess scene has been dominated by the finals of the colossal knockout event in Khanty-Mansiysk, the FIDE World Cup, and the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament at the Isle of Man. Teimour Radjabov won the World Cup, defeating the super-strong Chinese GM Ding Liren. Wang Hao, the Chinese you don't expect to be there on top, won the IoM Grand Swiss. Radjabov's interview right after his brilliant feat at the World Cup With the victory, along with great prize money, Wang conquered the...Full Story
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